Last weekend, my wife and I returned to our former southeastern PA home town.  The occasion was a series of events with family and good friends, many former colleagues of mine.  On Friday night we had a happy reunion with a group that made up a wine making team, beginning in 2012, and continuing until Covid shut us down.  Most of the team is now retired, and much of the talk was about retirement, pensions, Medicare,

“Everyone” knows that Social Security was never intended as the sole source of retirement income or even the majority of income – but apparently not everyone knows it if you believe the rhetoric. 
Many people claim that the COLA in inadequate, even unfair, some rage that what they receive from Social Security is not what they were promised or what they paid for. 
Truth is that it is what was promised and we did not pay for our benefits,

“JOIN US”
“PASSIVE INCOME SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR RETIREMENT”
The tri-fold color high-gloss mailer went on to say, of course, that “SEATING IS LIMITED. REGISTER TO ATTEND!”
Registration required entering a code at WWW.YOURSVP.COM, which makes it clear that not only has financial advisory services become an industry but so has signing up for their free steaks (in this case BBQ, though at one of Kansas City’s finer establishments). I had previously been to JackStack Barbecue for a previous “COMPLIMENTARY DINNER PRESENTATION” that was a whole bunch of nothing but decided to return as the thought of unlimited beef brisket and writing “Jack .

We’re reaching a milestone. Our oldest is going off to college and I’m curious how much parents provide their young adults on a monthly basis for food and incidentals. My son has worked consistently since age 15 but is only now finally getting the importance of saving. As such he doesn’t have much to show for his efforts except a bunch of Uber Eats receipts, shoes and clothing that he purchased. He’ll be staying on campus,

My Youtube feed lately seems to be filled up with a lot of “10 things that are no longer worth your money” videos. Sometimes the number varies ….. 5, 12, whatever. But the message is always similar – avoid expenses that will hurt your financial health over time. And generally the message is pretty sound – avoid car loan repayments, multiple subscriptions, take away food deliveries.
But a recent video from Christina Mychas left me feeling sort of sad.

IN 2020, ELECTRIC car maker Lucid Motors brought in revenue of $4 million. Five years later, sales had risen impressively, to more than $1 billion. In 2025 alone, sales grew 68%. That sounds like a success story, and through that lens, it is. And yet, over that same period, the company’s stock dropped more than 89%.
What happened?
A better question is: What didn’t happen? Despite growing sales, the company has struggled to turn a profit.

I WAS 48 years old when the judgement was final and the papers were signed. My former wife and I split our net worth 50/50. There were no arguments over household items like furniture; I didn’t care about that stuff. Pam gladly accepted my proposal that she keep the house, and all its equity, in exchange for me keeping an offsetting amount of the IRAs and my 401(k), a very good move for my future self.

The great football coach Vince Lombardi would often start each season by holding up a football in front of his team and saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” His point was simple but powerful: even the greatest players must return to the fundamentals if they want to succeed.
The same is true with investing. Whether you are a young person just starting out or someone who has been saving for decades, it helps to go back to the basics.

Over the years I have mentioned some of this before, but the perception of unfairness and complaining about what others have is getting worse in my view. Did I and others in my generation have everything easier because we were born in the 1940s?
True I wasn’t burdened with student loans, but on the other hand I never had the full college experience and most of my night school was paid by the GI Bill.  I was never burdened by credit card debt,

I always thought waiting until 67 to take Social Security was the responsible choice, until life gave me a reason not to.
I retired early, but I’ll save that story for another time.
What mattered then was this, I’d earned enough credits to claim Social Security at 62. Under Jonathan’s guidance, the plan was simple, we wait until 67 and lock in a larger monthly check. It was sound advice, grounded in math and discipline. So I held onto it.

I’ve written two recent posts about our decision to buy a new (to us) home and sell our condo. I appreciate all the comments and well-wishes I’ve received, but I’ve decided to be candid about one aspect of this big “little” move: It’s financially stressful at a period of life where that might not seem to be…prudent.
First, the nuts-and-bolts. The home we bought is more expensive than the one we’re selling (a little more than 50% higher if you go by both sales prices).

My wife Suzie is in Spain visiting her dad and I’ve taken the opportunity for a solo trip to my vacation home. On the fourth day Suzie rang for a catch-up and told me all about the visit. After we rang off I thought back over the last few days and realised I hadn’t interacted with anyone in a meaningful way since leaving home.
It wasn’t a conscious decision. I’d visited the local grocery store and loaded up on supplies but used the self service tills,

Good Lord, I just turned to AI for a few fun facts. It answered by asking me if my question was in reference to the piece I submitted to HumbleDollar today. While I find that a bit creepy, it gave me an interesting factoid. Here it is, word for word:
The “Hidden Surcharge” Fact: > Most people think the highest marginal tax rate in the U.S. is 37%. However, when you factor in the MAGI “cliff”

It was the first time that Ron’s tax return had a balance due, and he kind of freaked out. On the recommendation of the advisor at his bank, Ron purchased municipal bonds because they were tax exempt. He was shocked to learn that his Social Security benefit became partially taxable. I explained that tax free muni interest was added in with other sources of income to determine if any Social Security income would become taxable. He immediately called his bank person,

Our condo HOA monthly fee is $950. It was $700 when we purchased in September 2018. All of the increase was higher costs associated with upkeep and maintenance, not improvements or added services. 
Now it’s likely the increase in July will be 7.4% to $1,020. ($840 a year). 
Annually the increases averages 4.82% since 2018. For reference the annual rate of inflation since September 2018 was about 3.65%, but that is not directly applicable to running a complex of nine buildings where repairs are needed on everything from elevators to fountain pumps.