Laura E. Kelly

Comments

• Richard Hayman just posted what looks like an excellent CCRC search resource that starts with region and then drills down into amenities and prices. You start here: https://mylifesite.net/search-communities-new/ N.B. When I looked up a CCRC in my region I saw that it said "plans to welcome its first residents in 2023." So, in this case at least, the $ numbers and info that this resource site is showing are likely out of date.

  Post: Starting Over, if you can. Some decisions are subject to change (I apologize for its length)

  Link to comment from August 10, 2025

• My husband and I often talk about selling our aging house and going... somewhere else (that part is still hazy). I used this article and its very helpful comments to once again try to have a discussion with my husband about CCRCs. At age 67, he just doesn't want to talk about it. "That's for 10 years from now," he says. But I know we are at the back end of the baby boom and long waitlists are forming for these rather scarce lifeplan communities. A second obstacle is that to afford a CCRC, we'd probably have to move far from where we've been living (in a NYC suburb); the few good-sounding ones around this region cost so much upfront that our house's sale would cover only about half that cost, and then the monthlies are quite high, too. For me to scout out ones in other states on my own would be a real undertaking. I guess I'd better start planning, though. In the meantime, I'm trying to collect details and lists of the good CCRCs and what to look for. Sharing this recent "Is a Continuing Care Retirement Community Right for You?" info article from Morningstar.

  Post: Starting Over, if you can. Some decisions are subject to change (I apologize for its length)

  Link to comment from August 10, 2025

• My version of diving for pennies was less athletic than the boys who dove into a pool for pennies. I would dive and scrounge beneath every cushion and between every sofa crack in our house hoping for a flash of silver—a nickel or dime—to buy some Good ’n Plentys or Kit Kats. My other early memory was getting a bank passbook and a surprise monthly sum from my parents when I turned 14. “What’s this for?” I asked. “This is your allowance, because time for you to learn how to handle money,” I was told. I was earning a bit of money through babysitting and giving piano lessons at that point, so I saved every cent of that allowance, figuring that’s what you were supposed to do with gift money like that. When my younger siblings started getting their allowances, theirs would be spent by the end of the day. My mother was taken aback by how differently we treated the money, and then asked me why I wasn’t spending my allowance. I had no good answer—I’m sure the Kit Kats were calling to me— but for some reason I resisted the call. Looking back, I realize that 14 years old IS a good time to learn how to “handle money,” but my mother and father were too distracted to consistently impart any real lessons. Banking and saving were a mystery to us four kids, and for years we all just followed our natures. That’s why I heartily support Jonathan’s Getting Going on Savings Initiative, because someone has to step in and teach young people all the reasons to earn, save, and invest—and the earlier the better!

  Post: My Money Memories

  Link to comment from August 9, 2025

• Before my father died 10 years ago in another state, he asked me to look after my younger sister (then in her early 50s with bipolar/ADHD, unemployed since age 35) who lived near him. I went to a local NAMI support group soon after that and listened to all the parents of people in their 20s and 30s talk about their dawning realization that the problems with their kids might not go away as hoped.  When it was my turn to introduce myself, I ruefully told the group, “I am the ghost of Christmas future. My sister is in her 50s, my parents are deceased, and now it has fallen on me to look out for her.” (I have two other siblings—one is not willing; the other is not capable.) The situation is complicated (she is a single mother with a child now in a state college) and, as others have written here, it’s all been expensive and not easy to deal with.   My husband has been understanding of the ongoing monetary support for my sister’s shelter and bills for many years now, and has only requested one thing: “Never invite her to live here with us.” Might not sound very nice, I guess, but it’s part of a “save yourself” mentality.

  Post: Family Dynamics, Part 2: Supporting Adult Children

  Link to comment from July 27, 2025

• I grew up in Detroit and want to share a side story to your Studebaker one.  The Fishers were a large family of German immigrant blacksmiths and woodworkers who settled in Norwalk, Ohio. The family became known as excellent carriage-makers in their new homeland. The two eldest Fisher sons moved to Detroit in 1903 (the year after Studebaker, a wagon-making company, made their first automobile) to work for their uncle at C.R. Wilson, an early manufacturer of bodies for horseless carriages.  The Fisher brothers were apparently the first to realize that an enclosed car body would be more convenient for driving and eventually founded Fisher Body in 1908, initially producing bodies for various manufacturers, including Ford, Cadillac, and, yes, Studebaker. The seven Fisher brothers (five younger ones had joined the enterprise) soon became wealthy leading citizens of Detroit, and even wealthier when Fisher Body was acquired by General Motors in the 1920s. The slogan “Body by Fisher” was stamped into cars for decades to come.  I guess the point of this little Detroit history is that there may be only one famous first mover who’s the original contrarian. But there is a lot of runway (and money) for the young and hungry ones who come along next to refine a product, as we saw with the internet and now see with all the startups working to expand AI. Luckily, with total index funds, we can ride along with the success of “the young and hungry ones.” [I cobbled this side story together from Google and https://www.detroithistorical.org/learn/online-research/blog/fisher-family-story]

  Post: Under Pressure

  Link to comment from July 19, 2025

• As someone who has admitted in previous comments that I’m envious of your company-pension situation, Richard, I appreciate this thought experiment you’re doing here. I posted last year how I went about trying to concoct a simple, self-made peace-of-mind inflation-indexed pension that, along with Social Security and some growth in my remaining savings, is intended to get me across the finish line. You write: “I would keep track of what Social Security would provide to us.” I, of course, used my and my husband's projected SS figures in my plan. But now reading the warnings about possible cuts of around 25% in 2033, three years after I was planning to start collecting, I guess I need to recalculate my numbers, just in case this situation finally comes to head instead of getting fixed. (My husband is sure the politicians will somehow put it back on track 100% for everyone; I’m not as sanguine about that.)  I now see that “set it and forget it” for newer retirees might really only be available to those in your situation with guaranteed pensions, and maybe not even then if inflation eats away at other parts of your savings and SS doesn’t hold firm.

  Post: A theoretical, simplified road to retirement income without a pension. I’ve learned it doesn’t exist. 

  Link to comment from June 28, 2025

• In Jason's WSJ article about the program, he shows a beautiful Monet painting from the Barnes Foundation and captions it, "One of Clements’s favorite paintings is ‘The Studio Boat’ by Claude Monet." I read on Wikipedia about this famous painting of a painter at work in nature, and wondered if you have a chance, Jonathan, could you share your thoughts about why this is a personal favorite?

  Post: Do It for the Kids

  Link to comment from May 10, 2025

• I wasn’t sure what a “DAFfy fund” was and how it worked, and I couldn’t find a simple explanation of it using the HumbleDollar.com search bar. I knew it must have been discussed many times on HD, though, so did a reverse Google search which led to this useful post from Jonathan in 2023, with its comments on Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs): https://humbledollar.com/2023/03/more-than-enough/ Google listed many other HD.com posts on charitable giving, as well. I also learned that "Daffy" is a "donor-advised fund (DAF) and a not-for-profit community," or a financial platform for giving.

  Post: Do It for the Kids

  Link to comment from May 10, 2025

• Love Jason Zweig's WSJ article on your “Getting Going on Saving Initiative,” Jonathan. What a worthwhile legacy. I will buy three copies of your book—one for myself, and two for my college-age nieces (one a very low-income student, the other not) and give them the book with an inscription asking them to read the book sooner rather than later (one can hope!). Maybe my signed inscription will encourage them to keep the book around for many years. Meanwhile, if there are any funds left over from the 529s I set up for them, I plan to take advantage of the current ability to transfer those leftover funds into starter Roth IRAs in their names. I know I will have to train the two girls to let those invested funds ride and NOT use the Roth as an immediate bank account as they start their working lives.  So, I’ll be following with interest the part of your Roth IRA program that is researching whether giving young adults from lower-income families a Roth early on will “motivate inexperienced investors to stay the course and to add more money as they gain experience.” I hope both my nieces and the fortunate young adults in your program take full advantage of the early helping hand they’re getting!

  Post: Do It for the Kids

  Link to comment from May 10, 2025

• Will gladly share those two real-time SS application stories as they progress.

  Post: Buying an Annuity from the SSA

  Link to comment from May 3, 2025