Upon graduating in the early 1990s with a degree in English, folks would routinely ask: “Are you gonna teach?” That wasn’t in my plan, though. Instead, I landed an office job as a writer at a major magazine. The pay wasn’t great, but I could say I was a professional writer.
While there, I became eligible for my very first 401(k), administered through Vanguard.
Lucky for me, around that same time, Human Resources brought in a financial advisor to meet with my department,

My Father: The Peace He Never Found
My grandfather left school at 14 with little formal education. Determined that his children would have opportunities he never had, he pushed both his son and daughter toward academic success.
My father, Richard Clements, rewarded that faith.
He attended University of Cambridge, became an economist, worked as a financial journalist for the Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph, and later accepted a position with the World Bank in 1966.

Have you ever come across a clever idea, and kicked yourself because you didn’t think of it first? Well this is one of those times for me. Tom Walton is the retired editor of my home town newspaper, and one of my favorite writers. Tom writes a humorous article for the paper every other Sunday. A recent piece hit home and cracked me up.
Among the thoughts he submitted, is the idea that, if your age begins with the number eight,

A friend shared an interesting idea from David Bach’s “IRA Flat Tax” proposal, and it got me to thinking.
Here is the white paper if you haven’t read it:
IRA Flat Tax White Paper – David Bach.pdf – Google Drive
The basic idea is simple: for a limited window, maybe 2026–2033, retirees could voluntarily withdraw money from traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar retirement accounts at a flat federal tax rate — possibly around 12%.
The goal would be to make it easier for retirees to use the money they spent decades saving,

I just finished reading Morgan Housel’s The Art of Spending Money, and it hit a different nerve than most financial books.
Most of us spend years talking about how to earn more, save more, invest better, and retire sooner. All of those matter. But Housel pushes a harder question:
What is the money actually for?
Is it buying back time? Peace? Family memories? Health? Independence? Or is it quietly being used to chase status,

I was in Barcelona today watching the world famous FC Barcelona win in front of their home fans. Being on my own, I headed back to the hotel after the game and caught the PGA Golf Championship on the screen in the hotel bar. With nothing better to occupy my mind, I started wondering how a golfer actually gets started on the professional tour.
After some googling and a conversation with Claude AI, I discovered a high-risk,

My opinion is that there is no such thing as a tax loophole. Plus it has a negative connotation I don’t think is accurate. In addition, there is a tendency to apply the word to others – mostly the wealthy, but not ourselves
Look up the word and you likely see something like “ A tax loophole is a provision, ambiguity, or gap in tax law that allows a person or business to legally reduce the amount of taxes they owe — often in ways lawmakers may not have originally intended.”
Long term gains are taxed at lower rates to make investing attractive.

I have on occasion criticized politicians and/or people of wealth for not remembering where they came from. Other times I have read articles enumerating retirement account balances by age, and commented negatively about young people’s failure to prepare for their future.
There is validity to feeling that way to a certain extent, still, in doing so we may be denying our own past. While I’m proud to have achieved a two comma net worth, that didn’t happen until sometime in our 7th decade of life,

I WAS SCROLLING through social media recently and saw somebody dismiss retirement accounts as “paper wealth.” The argument was familiar: Your money is locked away and you’re waiting for permission to access it.

There’s a grain of truth here. Retirement accounts do come with rules. But much of the discussion online ignores how flexible these accounts actually are. More important, it ignores the enormous tax advantages.
Most people today will likely live well beyond age 59½.

BACK IN 2010, at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, a shareholder challenged Warren Buffett. Noting that shares of motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson had nearly tripled over the prior year, he asked Buffett why he had chosen to buy the company’s bonds rather than its stock. Buffett’s reply was a two-minute masterclass in how to think about investments. It’s worth walking through it point by point.
To start, Buffett acknowledged that hindsight can be cruel.

Have you ever watched a small, entirely avoidable expense reveal itself as a window into how modern spending actually works? I recently received a masterclass, courtesy of a Nerf gun, a glass light shade, and my own stubborn refusal to just buy a new kitchen fixture.
It started on New Year’s Eve, or early New Year’s Day, to be precise. Two of the twenty-something guests had discovered my grandkids’ Nerf gun stash and declared war. Being the mature,

Medicare is starting a program called the GLP1 Bridge program.
The basics of the program are:
1) This is available to Medicare recipients but is a special program not associated with your drug plan.
2) Begins 7/1 and runs through 12/31/27, with no details at this time as to what will occur after the scheduled end date.
3) $50 copayment is for all four levels of dosages (some other programs only cover the starting dosage then the copayments sky rocket).

Jonathan’s book, Money and Me, will be available on Amazon on May 26, with preorders open now.   (Click here to preorder.)
The book includes Jonathan’s reflections after his cancer diagnosis, along with his lifelong insights on money, financial management and living wisely.
Jonathan is missed by many. One meaningful way to honor him is by buying his book, and sharing it with those seeking financial freedom.
If for some reason the above link doesn’t work,

Every evening Connie and I watch a few game shows, old ones. Sometime during the show the host asks the player “what will you do with the money if you win.” Sometimes there is group of players. 
Invariably the answer is something like…I always wanted to go bird watching in the Amazon, I’m buying a new motorcycle. Taking the entire family to Europe is high on the list as is buying a dream car. I’m  saving for a new tattoo.

By the early 2000s, our business was heavily tied to the hotel industry, though over time we had added apartment complexes and office buildings to our customer base. When 9/11 happened, we suddenly felt exposed. Travel slowed, hotels struggled, and uncertainty was everywhere.
Then something unexpected happened. The Vice President of Operations for a major hotel brand called me personally and said, “Don’t panic. We’ll get through this.”
And somehow, we did.
My divorce became final in 2004.