I think on occasion it’s nice to highlight a simple little pleasure of retirement—nothing earth-shattering, you understand, just something the gift of retirement time has allowed you to accomplish.
Late yesterday morning I found myself standing on a mile-long sandy beach, the Atlantic breakers sounding like a jet engine and the wind trying its playful best to knock me over. I was accompanied by eight other retired individuals as we marshalled ourselves to conduct a voluntary beach and sand dune clean-up.

Managing money may be simple, but it isn’t easy. Most of us struggle to save diligently, invest intelligently and figure out what will make us happy. HumbleDollar aims to help readers make rational financial decisions, especially when it comes to retirement. But we’re also acutely aware of the human side of money.
Those are Jonathan’s words. They are as close to HumbleDollars mission statement as I can find. This forum is Jonathan’s plan to perpetuate his dream.

An AI editor helped research and polish this, but the overthinking is all mine.
Two months into retirement,  I’ve been thinking less about how to build wealth and more about what to do with it once you’ve reached a point where you feel “done” with the accumulation game. Maybe you’ve been there too—saved enough, checked the boxes, and then looked around wondering, *What now?*
One recent post on Of Dollars & Data estimated that a U.S.

It was a beautiful November Saturday, sunny, with temps approaching 70 degrees. It was as if some benevolent spirit had ordered up this unseasonable pleasant weather. 
Our day kicked off at Saint Peters Church in Philadelphia. Saint Peters first opened for business in 1761. Its first rector, William White, was also the chaplain to the U.S. Congress, during the Revolutionary war. The original high-backed box pews are still in use today, including the box reserved for the then mayor Samuel Powel,

Now that the World Series is complete, MLB news at this time of year will typically be all about awards for last season and trades for next season. But instead, we get the bombshell that Emmanuel Clase and Luis Oritz of the Cleveland Guardians are accused of throwing pitches in MLB games to profit themselves and a group of bettors. It would appear very likely to end their baseball careers.
Now, you might think that these guys must have been offered enormous sums of money to risk their professional baseball earnings.

When I was in my early 40s, I went through a divorce and found myself facing a radically changed financial landscape. Because I had stayed home for a few years off after my son was born, I didn’t have the same earning potential or job security I would have had otherwise. I don’t for a minute regret taking that time off, but as the academics on this forum know, once you hop off the tenure-track, it’s not easy to get back on.

The old adage “money can’t buy you happiness” is a concise articulation of a simple truth: there are much more important things in life than the accumulation of riches. A reminder of the shortcomings of wealth can be a positive step toward embracing other, more meaningful uses of our time rather than focusing on the value of one’s portfolio and constant low-level worry about the markets. And, after all, we all love a little list.
So what are these intrinsic values,

I’m pretty sure we can agree when using the word “affordable” there are as many definitions as the number of people involved.
I observe the debate in Congress over the premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and wonder, what they are thinking.
Regardless of your views on that, we tend to forget we are all subsidized for our healthcare. It may be through the ACA, more often our employer, perhaps Medicaid and for many of us Medicare. 

I’m pretty much a non-judgmental person, though this isn’t a virtue I’ve cultivated or a moral position I strive toward. As my wife Suzie has pointed out on many occasions, normally in an exasperated tone, I tend to wander through life in a state of “fuzzdom.” Suzie’s phrase, not mine.
Case in point: last week my opinion was asked about the dress sense of the weird guy with the high heels, lime green miniskirt, and shocking pink topknot hairstyle we passed while crossing the road.

Thank you to all who attended the service. It was good to have met so many of you. Here is a video of the service.

LAST WEEK, OPENAI founder Sam Altman sat down for an interview with venture capitalist Brad Gerstner and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Both are investors in OpenAI, so it seemed like a friendly audience. But Gerstner posed a question that seemed to make Altman uncomfortable.
Since introducing ChatGPT three years ago, OpenAI has posted impressive growth, but Gerstner wondered whether the company was, nonetheless, getting ahead of itself.
“How can a company with $13 billion in revenues make $1.4 trillion of spend commitments?” Gerstner asked.

MANY PEOPLE ARE familiar with tax loss harvesting, where you sell a losing security/ETF and rebuy a similar, not identical, security/ETF.
But often we don’t really think about the opposite side of the coin: sell a winning security/ETF and rebuy the exact same, or a different, security/ETF.
That strategy is called tax gain harvesting, and because it’s a gain, the wash sale rule doesn’t apply.
 
Execution
Long-term capital gains can be taxed at 0% depending on your income.

By William Housley and my thinking partner AI (GPT-5)
A Changing Market Mood
William: It seems like the market is running on excitement. The big AI stocks are still climbing, and anyone who hesitates feels like they’re missing the boat. When everything moves that fast, can a contrarian approach really work anymore?
AI: That’s a question investors have wrestled with for centuries — what happens when momentum becomes the market itself?

Goodness. A trillion dollars—$1,000,000,000,000.00 That’s a massive potential compensation package and an awful lot of zeros. I guess if you’re already worth 400 billion, you might as well take a leap of faith and shoot for the stars. I really doubt Elon Musk will hit all the numbers to unlock the full amount. The sales and profit targets seem very ambitious, maybe even beyond Musk’s ability to achieve.
Although I personally think the possible compensation package is an obscene amount of money,

Connie and I were out to dinner recently with two other couples – longtime friends.
During the conversation one of the wives asked the other if they had received their $1200 state property taxes rebate. Yes, we got it yesterday was the reply. Connie looked at me and asked if we received it. I tried to give her a visual high-sign, but she asked again. I said no. “I guess you forgot to apply, right? I was silent and tried another “look” to signal “cool it” on the conversation.