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THE END OF ONE YEAR and the beginning of the next is always a time to look back, and to think about the successes and failures of the year past.
It was a good year in many ways. My wife and I enjoyed excellent health, we’re surrounded by happy, talented and nearly perfect grandchildren, and we had an outstanding corn crop.
Financially, though, it was the pits.
Although I’ve retired from one job, both Julie and I work every day at our farm and small business.
ACCORDING TO THE consensus of HumbleDollar’s thoughtful and learned readers and contributors, I’m making a mistake by actively managing my investments instead of passively investing in index funds. In an earlier piece, I touched briefly on my reasons for doing so. It’s simple. I do it because I like to do it.
After the past few months, when my investments have definitely lagged the averages, I’ve decided to revisit my decision. What I write here is in no way intended to influence anyone else’s decision.
WE BOUGHT A FARM earlier this year. We already have a greenhouse business, where we grow flowers, as well as several small tracts of land. The purchase was part of our farming plan, which involves expanding our crop business as opportunities arise.
But buying a farm is also part of our estate plan—and our fishing hopes. We now have two ponds with fish. True, they’re very small fish, as far as we can tell from three afternoons of fishing,
I RETIRED FROM MY other job in 2022, so I could return to our family farm. Upon leaving, one of the first decisions I had to make was whether to take my pension as a lump sum or as monthly annuity payments.
The pension plan based the lump sum on length of service, salary and age, plus the interest rate as of the prior December. The lower the interest rate at the time of retirement,
RETIREMENT IS A HUGE decision, as readers of HumbleDollar well know. Retirement from a multi-generational business is even harder, because there isn’t really a day when you can say, “I’m retired.” Like the Hotel California, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
I’m 65. That’s an age that carries a lot of social expectations. Age is not a continuum, but rather a series of milestones,
Comments
my wife’s parents would lock the caregiver we hired out of the house, my parents have grudgingly accepted help two days a week. The thought of willingly moving into a CCRC is as foreign to my experience as space travel will my wife and I do better? I certainly hope so, although facilities in our rural area are decidedly below any acceptable standard. Blake Hurst
Post: CCRC – continuing care retirement community
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
Good article. Thank you it occurs to me, at least from my own experience, that if vanguard’s customer service doesn’t improve, they won’t have to worry about large ownership in individual stocks.
Post: Unwanted Attention
Link to comment from August 31, 2024