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I've been a home-based PR consultant for nearly 30 years -- now mostly for small medical device companies -- after a spectacularly undistinguished career in TV news. I live in Bremerton, Washington, where I still referee soccer, sing barbershop, perform in local theater, pump a little iron and deliver for Meals on Wheels.
Comments
Good stuff, Mark. The hardest thing for most people — and a rare gift if you have it naturally — is writing the way you talk. One technique I’ve recommended for folks who find this challenging is to actually speak what you want to say into a recording device, then play it back and transcribe it. You’ll find yourself with a very rough outline of an article that actually sounds like yourself. And it overcomes the biggest obstacle for amateur writers, which is the first sentence.
Post: Short Form Writing 101
Link to comment from October 24, 2025
That is a post that needed to be very carefully worded, and it was not. It’s the responsibility of the poster to make sure it is not misunderstood.
Post: Waiting Until We Turn 70
Link to comment from October 23, 2025
Another vote for Schwab. I’ve been a customer there for 33 years. Never been anything less than delighted with their customer service. Can’t comment on QCD’s and RMD’s because I’ve never done them.
Post: Disappointed (and annoyed) with Vanguard.
Link to comment from October 22, 2025
Being childless, I never got to file as head of household until my MIL and SIL came to live with us. Now, pushing 70, I finally have dependents. You know what? It feels great.
Post: Taxpayers Say the Darndest Things
Link to comment from October 3, 2025
what a great comment.
Post: Success Has Many Flavours
Link to comment from September 24, 2025
Dana, I think this is a lovely idea for a tribute article.
Post: Thank you, Jonathan
Link to comment from September 24, 2025
Thank you! I knew the magazine had a significant circulation, but I have been startled by the number of responses I have gotten from people who saw it.
Post: A Contrarian View of a Mortgage
Link to comment from August 20, 2025
Same here, Jack. I don’t understand the stuff, and to me the volatility isn’t worth the risk. Especially to my stomach lining.
Post: Supercharging Your Retirement with Crypto: A Wise Move, or a Risky Bet?
Link to comment from August 8, 2025
Greg, I can absolutely relate to the tut-tutting and refusal to buy. I will only service my one addiction in this world, Diet Pepsi, if it’s on sale, and then I buy it in bulk. Matter of principle. I believe most Americans relate to grocery prices on a similarly visceral level, whether or not affordability is an issue, and there will be great anger at these increases. But for those who weigh every penny of their grocery costs — the folks I talked to yesterday while delivering Meals on Wheels – there’s more fear than anger.
Post: Reacting to the Tariffs
Link to comment from August 8, 2025
I was speaking of mankind in general. Most of human civilization was still on a barter economy, as with your examples of cattle and salt, until the last 1000 years or so.
Post: How Important Is Money?
Link to comment from July 18, 2025