Richard Quinn

I DON’T LIKE SPENDING, though the older I get, the more I loosen the purse strings. Still, I rarely enjoy spending money. I think I got this from my mother and grandparents.

My grandparents reused Christmas tree tinsel year after year. My grandfather removed every strand—made of metal back then—and placed it in a box for the following year. My grandparents also had two sets of rugs, one for winter and the other—made of woven rattan—for summer.

MEDICARE GETS A LOT of criticism these days. Some view it as socialized medicine. Others fret over the hospital trust fund, which covers Medicare Part A and is expected to run out of money by 2036.
Meanwhile, some policymakers want to cut back on traditional Medicare and promote privatization through Medicare Advantage plans, otherwise known as Part C. That reflects the philosophy that health care costs, access and quality will be improved if we obtain health care as we do other goods,

WHEN I REACHED AGE 70, I felt a sense of accomplishment, a bit of weird pride. At 75, I had a similar feeling. But when I turned 80 last year, things felt different. It was like I was an overachiever. Suddenly, the future wasn’t as long.

For many years, I’d searched for a high school friend who’d been my navigator at sports car rallies, but with no luck. Then, recently, I stumbled across his obituary.

IS A 55-PLUS community for you? Do you want to spend your later years surrounded by folks just like yourself—mostly crotchety, demanding old people?
I’m joking, of course. But am I exaggerating?

My wife Connie and I made the move from our New Jersey single-family home to a nearby 55-plus community six years ago. Like the idea of a 55-plus community? Here are some factors to consider.

First, a 55-plus community requires defining. There are several types and sizes,

BEFORE 2022, OUR investments were held by multiple financial firms, more by chance than choice. Fidelity Investments was the 401(k) recordkeeper. My two individual stocks were held by separate transfer agents. My brokerage account was with Alight Financial. My two annuities and a small IRA were with RiverSource. It was a mess.

Each had different processes, websites with different functionality, and customer service that ranged from nonexistent to annoying. In one case, I couldn’t take a required minimum distribution online.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY an “enjoyable” retirement?

I suspect there are as many answers as there are retirees. But one thing remains a constant: the need for an adequate income. Given a choice, I don’t think many people would choose to live a frugal, barely financially sufficient retirement.

My father retired at age 66. I say “retired,” but the reality is one day the owner called him into the office and said he was no longer needed.

I’VE OFTEN BEEN TOLD that I’m too direct. To me, “direct” means to focus on the facts, get to the point, eliminate the fluff, keep matters as simple as possible.

Guilty as charged.

Think of all the time wasted by fluff. After making something more complicated than necessary, somebody is ready to provide a solution to what may or may not be a problem. Fluff thrives on confusion. It can scare folks unnecessarily. Most Americans don’t know how to deal with financial fluff.

I’VE BEEN WRITING FOR and reading HumbleDollar for more than six years.

I’m struck by the number of articles and comments that talk about things like divorce, job loss, health issues, adverse financial events and caring for elderly parents.

When articles discuss such experiences, the pieces are typically well read, with numerous comments, including many expressing empathy. The amount of personal information shared is amazing. No doubt readers can relate to many of these events.

I MARRIED CONNIE because she’s four years older than me. That meant our life expectancies would be similar and hence a survivor annuity would be less expensive.
I am, of course, joking. Sort of.
Providing for Connie, should I be the first to go, is among my top financial priorities. During my working years, I received far too many calls from new widows who had just learned their husband’s pension stopped when their husband died.

OUR ANNUAL INTEREST and dividend income in 2024 will exceed my inflation-adjusted pay as a mailroom boy in 1961. Of course, back then, I earned a bit over minimum wage. It’s been a long journey.

Below are the daily net portfolio gains and losses for the third and fourth weeks of last month. These figures reflect our cash account, index and actively managed stock funds, corporate and municipal bond funds, two utility stocks and two variable annuities.

EVERY TIME I READ about the decline in traditional defined-benefit pension plans, and the rise and supposed failure of 401(k) plans, I get annoyed.
You’d think all Americans once had good pensions that provided a secure retirement. That isn’t—and never was—true. Barely half of American workers ever had a pension and many of those received little value from them because their job tenure was too short. Job tenure has long averaged some four years or so.

FOR THE PAST SIX years, we’ve rented a house in Florida for a month or so. We used VRBO, and all went well. Even minor problems with a house were quickly addressed by the owners or their rental agents.

Not this year.

In September 2023, we rented a condo on the beach in Hillsboro Beach for February 2024. In December, I received an e-mail from the rental agent, Houzlet, Inc., saying the owner had financial problems and was selling the place,

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS nonsense about Social Security? It’s nothing but a Ponzi scheme. The trust fund is just IOUs. My favorite: I’d rather invest the money I pay in Social Security taxes because I’d get better investment returns.

All three claims reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of Social Security and how it works. Social Security is insurance—a form of annuity, a type of pension, a social safety net. It isn’t an investment and shouldn’t be viewed that way.

BETWEEN INVESTMENTS and our two homes, Connie and I have accumulated a respectable net worth. I don’t expect we’ll need those assets to live on. What will happen to our money?

It’ll continue to grow, I hope. I want to be sure there’s sufficient wealth if, say, we need to pay for long-term care.
I want the income generated by our investments to be available to Connie, should I predecease her. She’ll also receive Social Security and survivor benefits from my pension.

I’VE BEEN CHALLENGED—by Mr. Clements, no less. Jonathan didn’t actually say it, but his challenge was to defend my unorthodox views on investing and retirement, and the actions I’ve taken as a result.

Some of my decisions will seem illogical to others. Some don’t maximize investment returns. Some are very conservative, others not so much.

I don’t like math. I don’t like details. I haven’t used a spreadsheet in 30 years. I focus on the big picture and long-term goals.