Not a day goes by that I don’t read something like “Americans say they will need $1.8 million to retire or $1.46 million or $X million” to retire “comfortably.”  “Experts” say it’s a multiple of retirement expenses –  25X I think – as if those expenses are steady and predictable over a retirement lifetime. 
Of course, many headlines talk about $1,000,000 as well. 
I see posts on social media- “I have $800,000 saved, can I retire?” The answers in reply are entertaining because based on the limited info given –

WHEN I LOOK BACK at my career, I see that the key to my long tenure with one employer was my desire to learn new skills and help expand the business. That mindset, I believe, helped me survive multiple rounds of layoffs.
I’m hoping that same mindset will help with retirement.
Many retirees say, “I just want to relax. Get rid of the alarm clock. No more classes or schedules for me.” While that feels good for a while,

DURING MY INSURANCE career, I worked for a company that focused solely on certain types of businesses, or what’s known as niche underwriting. One niche was called senior living, and it insured continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs.
These communities typically consist of apartments where retirees live alongside an adjoining nursing home. One benefit: When residents need nursing home care, it’s right next door. If they’re married, the healthy spouse can just walk to the nursing home to visit his or her beloved.

This past weekend, my wife Lisa and I traveled to Middleburg, Virginia—a little over an hour west of Washington DC. My son’s father-in-law Matt, who also happened to be one of my college apartment-mates, is turning 60 soon and his family threw him a huge surprise party. Most of Matt’s immediate and extended family members were there, as well as key people from his career, church and other parts of life. I was part of the college friend contingent.

Recently Connie said she needed some makeup so off to the makeup store we went – and I do mean store, an entire rather large store selling just makeup. We were greeted by one of a dozen young ladies dressed in black. They are there to help you find what you are looking for or perhaps more accurately, to educate you on what you should be looking for.
I stood by the entrance patiently waiting until I was called for my opinion –

During my teen years, I loathed the feeling of pockets empty of money. I was happy to forgo most spending on food, entertainment or the other sundry treats that entice kids to part with their treasure. Instead, I liked to keep my pockets full–or nearly so.
Later, as my wife and I began our life together, we owned the adult equivalent of empty pockets—depleted savings and retirement accounts with a zero balance. On top of that,

WHEN WAS THE LAST time you got scammed? Mine was about a year ago, when I threw more than chump change into a red-hot newfangled exchange-traded fund called the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (symbol: JEPI).
Now, JEPI could be the name of someone’s pet poodle, but it’s actually one of the more misunderstood high-income products in the burgeoning world of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Just how red hot is the fund? Around for only four years,

As I’ve written here before, my mother-in-law has been dealing with Alzheimer’s, and this last year has been a constant learning curve of navigating long-term care policies, trying out in-home caregivers (pretty major fail), and finally a memory care residential facility.
Well, this past week was a new challenge. My MIL passed away suddenly on Tuesday night. We got a call from the memory care facility that she’d fainted several times,  so they’d called an ambulance.

I’ve written before that I’m an introvert. My personality has controlled my social life for as long as I can remember. I’ve always preferred spending time alone to spending it with others. But I’m convinced my personality has affected many aspects of my financial life as well. 
Some HumbleDollar readers might be familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test. Years ago I took the test. I am classified as an INFJ. When I read a summary of the traits typically exhibited by people with this personality type,

MONEY MANAGERS Raj Rajaratnam and Joel Greenblatt share a number of similarities. They’re almost exactly the same age. Both received business degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and both started well-known hedge funds. But the similarities end there.
During the 10 years that Greenblatt operated his fund, Gotham Capital, it delivered returns averaging 50% a year, versus 10% for the S&P 500. Thanks to his success, Greenblatt retired from full-time work in 1994 at age 37.

FIRST WAS THE VOICE of my father’s friend. Then a policeman came on the line. While riding his bicycle, my 75-year-old father had been struck and killed by a speeding driver.
That was 2009. There were no goodbyes. Instead, seared into my memory are the photograph I was shown at the hospital, so I could identify my father’s body, and the details in his final medical report, which I never should have read.
My death will be far different.

Ever have one of those moments?  You you’ve been reading HumbleDollar for a couple years and your 26 year old son calls and says “Dad, work is going to start kicking in %5 for a 403(b), what should I do?” “Well, son, let me tell you about low cost index funds…”
Anybody else had softballs teed up like this ?  🙂

Can you identify your biggest blind spot? Sure, you’re smart. You’ve worked hard, planned ahead, marshalled your resources over the years. Heck, you even read Humble Dollar to check all the boxes.
But I can guarantee you there’s one aspect of life you haven’t considered.  Have you considered what happens as you get older and need help with your day to day life?  You see, we suffer from a lack of imagination.  With all the workouts,

We have multiple insurance programs – based on age and income, there are differences among the states, who pays how much is a mess – many seniors pay more than younger Americans at the same income level.
Enrollment periods and rules differ by type of coverage. Out of pocket costs frequently ignore ability to pay. Employers try to mask costs via FSAs, HSAs and HRAs – if you can afford to contribute. Trying to deal with out-of-pocket costs jeopardizes the ability to save for retirement.

The Social Security trust fund is a foolish piece of accounting nonsense—and the blathering about how the trust fund is running out of money is just a gigantic distraction from the Social Security system’s fundamental problem. To understand why, ask yourself two questions.
First, when the trust fund cashes in some of the special Treasury bonds it holds, where does the Treasury Department get the money to buy back those bonds? The same place that money comes from to fund all government operations: by levying taxes and by issuing more debt.