With all of the anticipation and accolades by early readers Jonathans final book Money and Me received, I thought it deserved another round of comments and reviews by those of us who have now read the book since its release in late May.
I read a lot of books on financial education/planning, retirement (all aspects not just money), investing and personal finance but Money and Me is nothing like any of the other books in this crowded section of the library bookshelves.
Perhaps it’s hearing Jonathan’s familiar voice from the many columns and podcasts and other books he’s written, but reading this book was like Jonathan’s was giving me a personal road map of how to build and live a Happy, productive and successful life without regrets. I wish I could have read this book when I finished college and was just starting my career and family, but it is still relevant at this point in my life being retired and living my remaining years (as many and as hopefully long those might be) to the fullest extent possible.
Not to diminish Jonathan’s extraordinary explanations of investing and financial planning, which he describes beautifully from the essays from Humble Dollar, but the last 3 chapters of the book starting with “Cancer” should be “must reading” for anyone at an advanced stage of their life. The way he so calmly explains how he went about his life after receiving the devastating news of his terminal cancer diagnosis is both brave and insightful and advice all of us could learn from. I was almost in tears reading these last chapters and essays and didn’t want the book to end. Regular readers of Humble Dollar are familiar with many of these words and advice, including his final Farewell essay, published in Humble Dollar by his loving wife Elaine upon Jonathan’s death.
This is an extraordinary book that I have already recommended to many friends and I hope to be able to get my adult children to read. If you haven’t already read the book, you must put it on your list to read soon.
Jonathan was a unique voice that is already sorely missed.
Have you gone into any of the large Supermarket chains stores and seen how they are copying the Costco marketing strategy? Here in NJ we shop at Shop-Rite and they sell many items similar to Costco in Large bulk sizes, portable room air conditioners, and other non-food items (besides clothes). The strategy to get you in the store (without a membership fee) with weekly specials (3 cases of 24 count Poland Springs water for $10.88) obviously works to sell other higher margin stuff! You have to shop somewhere (or pay for delivery in some form if you don’t want to go into the stores), so controlling your urge to impulse buy anything is not Costco’s fault.
I’m reading “Money and Me” too but I’m trying to read just a few chapters at a sitting to savor the wisdom and voice of Jonathan. I guess I will have to step up my pace as my borrowing from my local library (where I requested the book and they ordered it for me) has the book due back soon. This is a must read for so many family of friends who I will recommend it for but few will take the time to pick it up to read it. Very worthwhile to put on your reading list (or ask your library to order it as I did).
Employment stability with a large company with good benefits. I was fortunate to join a great Fortune 500 company, 10 years into my career. They offered an employer paid pension, a great 401k plan with a matching contribution that went as high as 117% of employee’s contributions (based on years of service) and a stock purchase plan. As a young father at the time, I realized that taking advantage of these benefits would be important to supporting my family and eventual retirement.
I was lucky (and Automated as Mark’s adjacent Forum article stated) to have a 34 year career with this company, maintaining these benefits for just about the entire time until my retirement 3 years ago. No magic formula, just persistence and patience to plough thru my career with a goal in sight.
Greg, I appreciate your perspective of the adult children. As I sit here having breakfast with my younger daughter (39) and one of my grandchildren, that’s exactly the perspective that she has and I’m fine with that! And Gary, I’m sorry that your prior comments on a similar topic were received with negative reactions. I had stopped posting here for quite a while due to a negative tone by many readers. It seems to have gotten more civil of late.
Where are those of you who have already obtained the book (hard copy, not audio book or e-book) bought it from? None of the bookstores near me in NJ, including Barnes & Noble have it but all would “order it” for me. I also went to my local library who said they hadn’t ordered it. I told the reference librarian who I know to tell the buyer to order a few copies for circulation. It will be a very popular book for borrow.
Javier, good post and valid questions. Here is my take on your post and questions.
First, as a CPA as my professional training and working in finance in the insurance industry for most of my career, I was not engaged in financial planning on a personal level. I was engaged in financial controls for businesses that I worked in (and audited). I had no training in investments nor was this an area that I practiced in for the businesses I worked for. My area of expertise was more in the area of generating cash flow and budgeting, managing expenses, etc. All important factors for business that had application to personal finance, but far from the type of planning that was useful for retirement investment and planning.
I was fortunate to have access to great employee benefits at the companies that I worked for most of my career, including a company provided non-contributory pension plan upon retirement and a generous 401k plan that included a company match of 117% of the employees contribution after x number of years (and for most of my 34 year career at this one employer). The investment options were the usual Vanguard Mutual funds as well as company stock during much of my career. Even without the investment return, I was making over 100% return on my contributions. As my wife and I were getting closer to retirement (about 7 years ago) we decided to look for and after interviewing several, we engaged with a financial planner who followed the philosophy of the Bucket Plan which made a lot of sense to us. We were both free to transfer portions of our 401k assets to the planner who put these funds into various investment products that fit into the NOW, SOON and LATER buckets leading up to our retirement, 3 years ago. We are very happy with the relationship we have built with our advisor and consult with him as needed. The investments have done very well and we have barely had to touch any of our assets due to our other income sources of Pensions and now Social Security. As for the 2nd question, many people like to learn about and invest their assets on their own and feel they don’t need (or want to pay) a financial planner. We had no interest in taking on this responsibility of learning about investment options and risking our hard earned assets via Do It Yourself. There are plenty of planners out there (probably not all great) but if individuals aren’t interested in engaging them or doing the work to vet them to find a good one, they will not be assisted. You can lead a horse to water…
Good analogy, Mark. An important reminder. I hope many “younger readers” get the message but I doubt there are many of them reading this site. As for “teaching our kids” these lessons, they are so involved in surviving the costs you’ve mentioned that saving for retirement is probably far from their thoughts. Perhaps they are relying on the inheritance from their parents who took your advice to help them in their retirement?
Comments
With all of the anticipation and accolades by early readers Jonathans final book Money and Me received, I thought it deserved another round of comments and reviews by those of us who have now read the book since its release in late May. I read a lot of books on financial education/planning, retirement (all aspects not just money), investing and personal finance but Money and Me is nothing like any of the other books in this crowded section of the library bookshelves. Perhaps it’s hearing Jonathan’s familiar voice from the many columns and podcasts and other books he’s written, but reading this book was like Jonathan’s was giving me a personal road map of how to build and live a Happy, productive and successful life without regrets. I wish I could have read this book when I finished college and was just starting my career and family, but it is still relevant at this point in my life being retired and living my remaining years (as many and as hopefully long those might be) to the fullest extent possible. Not to diminish Jonathan’s extraordinary explanations of investing and financial planning, which he describes beautifully from the essays from Humble Dollar, but the last 3 chapters of the book starting with “Cancer” should be “must reading” for anyone at an advanced stage of their life. The way he so calmly explains how he went about his life after receiving the devastating news of his terminal cancer diagnosis is both brave and insightful and advice all of us could learn from. I was almost in tears reading these last chapters and essays and didn’t want the book to end. Regular readers of Humble Dollar are familiar with many of these words and advice, including his final Farewell essay, published in Humble Dollar by his loving wife Elaine upon Jonathan’s death. This is an extraordinary book that I have already recommended to many friends and I hope to be able to get my adult children to read. If you haven’t already read the book, you must put it on your list to read soon. Jonathan was a unique voice that is already sorely missed.
Post: What Remains: Money and Me
Link to comment from July 13, 2026
Have you gone into any of the large Supermarket chains stores and seen how they are copying the Costco marketing strategy? Here in NJ we shop at Shop-Rite and they sell many items similar to Costco in Large bulk sizes, portable room air conditioners, and other non-food items (besides clothes). The strategy to get you in the store (without a membership fee) with weekly specials (3 cases of 24 count Poland Springs water for $10.88) obviously works to sell other higher margin stuff! You have to shop somewhere (or pay for delivery in some form if you don’t want to go into the stores), so controlling your urge to impulse buy anything is not Costco’s fault.
Post: Frittering away Frugality
Link to comment from July 9, 2026
I’m reading “Money and Me” too but I’m trying to read just a few chapters at a sitting to savor the wisdom and voice of Jonathan. I guess I will have to step up my pace as my borrowing from my local library (where I requested the book and they ordered it for me) has the book due back soon. This is a must read for so many family of friends who I will recommend it for but few will take the time to pick it up to read it. Very worthwhile to put on your reading list (or ask your library to order it as I did).
Post: Reminded of Jonathan’s Grace
Link to comment from June 30, 2026
Employment stability with a large company with good benefits. I was fortunate to join a great Fortune 500 company, 10 years into my career. They offered an employer paid pension, a great 401k plan with a matching contribution that went as high as 117% of employee’s contributions (based on years of service) and a stock purchase plan. As a young father at the time, I realized that taking advantage of these benefits would be important to supporting my family and eventual retirement. I was lucky (and Automated as Mark’s adjacent Forum article stated) to have a 34 year career with this company, maintaining these benefits for just about the entire time until my retirement 3 years ago. No magic formula, just persistence and patience to plough thru my career with a goal in sight.
Post: Why can’t more people plan for their retirement future?
Link to comment from June 28, 2026
A beautiful tribute to Jonathan as well as a thought provoking question for all of us! Thanks, Andrew.
Post: What Remains: Money and Me
Link to comment from June 10, 2026
Greg, I appreciate your perspective of the adult children. As I sit here having breakfast with my younger daughter (39) and one of my grandchildren, that’s exactly the perspective that she has and I’m fine with that! And Gary, I’m sorry that your prior comments on a similar topic were received with negative reactions. I had stopped posting here for quite a while due to a negative tone by many readers. It seems to have gotten more civil of late.
Post: Time to share our financial info with children?
Link to comment from June 7, 2026
Wow, such a powerful reminder to appreciate everyday we have and the people around us who make our lives so happy. 😢
Post: Mourning the World
Link to comment from June 5, 2026
Where are those of you who have already obtained the book (hard copy, not audio book or e-book) bought it from? None of the bookstores near me in NJ, including Barnes & Noble have it but all would “order it” for me. I also went to my local library who said they hadn’t ordered it. I told the reference librarian who I know to tell the buyer to order a few copies for circulation. It will be a very popular book for borrow.
Post: Money and Me
Link to comment from June 2, 2026
Javier, good post and valid questions. Here is my take on your post and questions. First, as a CPA as my professional training and working in finance in the insurance industry for most of my career, I was not engaged in financial planning on a personal level. I was engaged in financial controls for businesses that I worked in (and audited). I had no training in investments nor was this an area that I practiced in for the businesses I worked for. My area of expertise was more in the area of generating cash flow and budgeting, managing expenses, etc. All important factors for business that had application to personal finance, but far from the type of planning that was useful for retirement investment and planning. I was fortunate to have access to great employee benefits at the companies that I worked for most of my career, including a company provided non-contributory pension plan upon retirement and a generous 401k plan that included a company match of 117% of the employees contribution after x number of years (and for most of my 34 year career at this one employer). The investment options were the usual Vanguard Mutual funds as well as company stock during much of my career. Even without the investment return, I was making over 100% return on my contributions. As my wife and I were getting closer to retirement (about 7 years ago) we decided to look for and after interviewing several, we engaged with a financial planner who followed the philosophy of the Bucket Plan which made a lot of sense to us. We were both free to transfer portions of our 401k assets to the planner who put these funds into various investment products that fit into the NOW, SOON and LATER buckets leading up to our retirement, 3 years ago. We are very happy with the relationship we have built with our advisor and consult with him as needed. The investments have done very well and we have barely had to touch any of our assets due to our other income sources of Pensions and now Social Security. As for the 2nd question, many people like to learn about and invest their assets on their own and feel they don’t need (or want to pay) a financial planner. We had no interest in taking on this responsibility of learning about investment options and risking our hard earned assets via Do It Yourself. There are plenty of planners out there (probably not all great) but if individuals aren’t interested in engaging them or doing the work to vet them to find a good one, they will not be assisted. You can lead a horse to water…
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from May 30, 2026
Good analogy, Mark. An important reminder. I hope many “younger readers” get the message but I doubt there are many of them reading this site. As for “teaching our kids” these lessons, they are so involved in surviving the costs you’ve mentioned that saving for retirement is probably far from their thoughts. Perhaps they are relying on the inheritance from their parents who took your advice to help them in their retirement?
Post: Don’t Kick The Can Down The Road
Link to comment from May 27, 2026