I’m no fan of large organizations. They’re too bureaucratic, too unresponsive and too resistant to change, plus they tend to attract employees who are comfortable in that environment, which makes things even worse.
I saw this at Citigroup. Every January or February, senior management would roll out a corporate initiative designed to bring a renewed sense of urgency to the organization. It would be kicked off at “town halls,” and was followed by department staff meetings.

PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME say I’m sentimental, and they’re right. I like visiting places like my elementary school, the house where I grew up and my first home away from home. They bring back fond memories.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more nostalgic, and it isn’t just me. I heard that the ashes of my childhood friend Brian were spread over our grade school grounds. He must have had a touch of nostalgia,

Living in a 55+ community, I have heard about some elderly residents who have issues regarding unpaid bills, delayed payments, losing money in scams, and investing in high risk stocks. These residents were financially very savvy a few years ago and now they have difficulty keeping up. In some cases, their children have started handling their finances.
 
An article ( ” Dollars and Dementia – An early warning system” in AARP Bulletin, December 2025 issue) points out this could be an early warning sign that their cognitive abilities are declining.

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea. I’d signed up for the August 2025 Ironman Ottawa to celebrate my 70th birthday and thought, “Why not jump on the Ozempic bandwagon for six months to drop some significant excess weight before the heavy training starts?”
I’ve struggled with my weight for years. My doctor calls me an emotional eater. I thought, if I dropped the weight and committed to keeping it off,

An eighteen year old girl married her high school sweetheart who had dropped out of high school to join the army. They lived on an army base. Shortly they had a baby. They were transferred to another post.
Not many months after settling in at the new base he receives orders for the first of three tours in Vietnam. The young lady and child move in with her parents while he is in Vietnam. 
Upon his final tour,

ONE DAY, AS I WAS walking through the mathematics building at the community college I attended, I saw a poster that screamed, “Math Majors?”
That got my attention. The poster introduced me to a career possibility: becoming an actuary. My job path was set. Or so I thought.
The actuarial career path consists of passing either five or 10 standardized tests. Complete five, and you become an associate. Complete 10, and you’re a fellow.

When you compare HD readers on subjects like Social Security, health care, retirement, saving and investing, 401k, managing money and all that goes with those topics, with the general public, well, there is no comparison. HD readers know their stuff or know when to ask when they aren’t sure of the facts. 
And, of course, discussions, even disagreements remain civil – except maybe when I write about my theory of retirement income replacement. 😎.
I scan several social media sites each day.

IMAGINE TAKING DOLLAR bills and inserting them into a shredder. This is how you might think about a concept that economists call “deadweight loss.” As its name suggests, a deadweight loss occurs when there’s an irrevocable loss of economic output.
Deadweight losses can occur under a variety of circumstances. Among them: when tariffs are imposed. It’s for that reason that the incoming administration’s tariff plan has raised concerns. But how worried should we be?

MANAGING MONEY IS about managing risk. But which risks? We all have a different collection of financial worries, and that drives the investments we buy and the insurance we purchase.
Problem is, every choice we make comes with a tradeoff. If we seek to fend off one risk, we often open ourselves up to other dangers. Consider five such tradeoffs:
1. Dying young vs. living long. When should we claim Social Security?

So reads a Wall Street Journal headline.
This begs the question, how do Americans want to pay for their health care?

They don’t want to spend their money- even for relatively minor expenses like a co-pay
They want someone else to take the risk, but not make any money 
They want quality care, but with little idea how to define that other than more of it at high prices
They don’t want high premiums or taxes
They don’t want to wait for care
They don’t want restrictions on accessing care or selecting a provider
They don’t want anyone approving care or denying to pay for it.

In late November, I wrote an article that encouraged readers to stick with foreign stocks. I suspected the article would receive a mixed reaction. I wasn’t disappointed.
Meanwhile, there’s a move afoot to put out a compilation of my old Wall Street Journal columns, which will likely appear after my death. The book’s royalties will be used to fund what I hope will be a unique financial-literacy effort geared toward young adults from less-affluent families.

I want to ditch my great 401(k).
When BrightScope rankings of 401(k) plans were available to individual investors, mine ranked very highly. By most measures in this Morningstar article on whether to keep your 401(k) in retirement, mine merits keeping. Besides these factors, I have a few of my own reasons that I like it.
First, I like its stable value fund, which is managed to keep a $1 per share price (not guaranteed) but with a higher return than any money market I’ve seen.

In the 80’s when I started to learn about investing and mutual funds I would devour magazines and books on the subject. I even fell for some goofy newsletter that claimed to have market timing figured out. Now at age 72, with investments in index funds I’ve lost my passion for ways to get rich quick. I’m content with my investment mix, just doing the minimum to manage allocations.
I used to stay on top of changes to tax law each year and did my best to convey pertinent information to my friends and clients.

Health care, the cost of health care, is a hot topic. Many theories exist on what causes high health care costs. There is a great deal of misinformation  out there and people tend not to connect the dots as to cause and effect. 
The cost of health care is driven by use and the price of each service provided. Utilization is both justified and excessive. Some people demand more care, some doctors provide extra care as defensive or on occasion to generate revenue.

AFTER WATCHING MY wife bake a loaf of wheat bread, I thought I’d try making my mother’s cornbread. Luckily, I kept her recipe, along with those for some of her other delicious dishes.
My mother’s recipes can bring back cherished memories—like the time I visited my parents when they still had their dog. Brandy would always greet me when I walked in the front door. She’d jump up and down knowing I would give her a treat.