My hope is this resonate with some of you and you will tell your own story. It’s probably more of an article, but my hope is it creates good conversation and your wisdom as well.
The life we built, the family we raised, and the future we prepared for were not handed to us. They were built—day by day, dollar by dollar, choice by choice.
Most people will never have the exact same story.

IT’S BEEN MORE than six years since Covid first entered our vocabulary. It goes without saying that investors have experienced a lot, and for better or worse, recent market events provide some useful lessons. The first has to do with the nature of the stock market.
What drives stock prices? Open a finance textbook, and the answer will be clear: The value of a stock should equal the sum of the company’s future profits.

I LOVE TO PLAN. My wife, Sharon, often catches me nestled in my chair, gazing out a window at a distant object as my mind wanders even farther afield. My musings become scribbles on a scrap of paper, destined for discussion with Sharon at length over coffee and long walks. Eventually, we hammer out the settled strategies we think will best bring us happiness in adventures ranging from our next hike to the next few decades of life.

A RECENT article by Adam Grossman relayed an interesting story of the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz.  One of the aspects that made this merger unique was the involvement of Warren Buffet. Adam’s story is a cautionary tale for investors – research shows that, more often than not, the hoped-for corporate synergies and growth are elusive. The story provides more evidence for the benefits of indexing to investors.
There is, however, another side to this story that is very important to an individual’s personal financial life.

The Tension Worth Keeping
Andrew Clements wrote an excellent piece about growing up in Bangladesh and the idea of “enough.” I’d add this: some have earned great sums, yet decided—quite intentionally—what “enough” would be for them.
We sometimes talk as if there are two kinds of people: those who pursue wealth and those who give it away.
History suggests a third category—those who do both, and do both seriously.
There have always been men and women who earned great sums and gave great sums.

I thought I would seek solace in the Humble Dollar community for my latest self inflicted wound: an own goal of reasonably epic proportions.
It started innocently enough. I noticed a split developing on our twenty year old, 600 gallon plastic oil storage tank. Visions of catastrophic failure danced in my head. I pictured the tank groaning under a full load of fresh kerosene and then… well, you can imagine.
After gathering quotes for supply and installation of a replacement,

I asked my friends AI, what percentage of pre-retirement income to retirees actually live on. Of course, most of the data is survey based. The answer was 66% on average. 
A T. Rowe Price/NewRetirement survey found that, nearly three years into retirement, retirees report living on 66% of pre-retirement income on average—and 57% said they live as well or better than before. 
A Goldman Sachs Asset Management survey showed retirees receive ~60% of pre-retirement wages on average,

How your spouse handles an inherited IRA can shorten—or extend—your children’s tax-deferred growth.
I read, but did not comprehend the article (link below) which I received from Morningstar this morning, but think it may be of value to others.
Bottom line for me is I will inform my wife this morning that after my death she should not do anything with my traditional IRA until she discusses this issue with our estate attorney.
PS Does anyone else despise the term Kids as my wife and I do?

I recently explained some facts about Social Security spousal benefits and upon doing so discovered there were some questions related to the linkage of spousal and survivor benefits. I delved deeper into survivor benefits and found some interesting facts about them as well.
Survivor vs spousal benefits. Survivor benefits are separate from spousal benefits. While spousal benefits are capped at 50% of the workers full retirement amount (FRA), survivor benefits can pay up to 100 % of what the deceased was receiving or entitled to receive.

In 1966, our family moved from Richmond, England, to Maryland after my father accepted a position with the World Bank—an opportunity too good to turn down. His early work took him across Africa, but in 1972 he was assigned to Bangladesh for what was meant to be a two year posting. It became four. For three young boys and our four year old sister, it proved to be an experience that stayed with us for life.

According to the 2025 Trustee Report, the actuarial deficit for the combined Social Security trust funds under the intermediate assumptions is 3.82 percent of taxable payroll for the 75-year period 2025-99.
We could discuss endlessly how and why we got to this point, but I hope we can agree there is no excuse having had thirty plus years to deal with a coming crisis.
I have a suggestion to get on the right track- take a concept from private pensions.

When my husband and I bought our brand-new condo in Davis, California in 2019, the move made sense to a lot of people in our lives. We were empty-nesters in our late 50s, our youngest child having left home for college in 2014. The four-bedroom home we’d purchased in 1998 and where we’d raised our kids was more than we needed and was getting older. Our dog had died in 2018, so we didn’t need a yard as much anymore,

I’m going to display my ignorance to a few of my most trusted friends…..
AGNC a REIT with a 4 yr history of 12-13% dividend payouts that currently pull out 98% of earnings, like most REITs.
Why doesn’t everyone flock to this stock?

We recently had another meeting with my wife’s financial advisor. At our previous meeting I’d been fairly open about my opinion that he hadn’t delivered meaningful investment gains compared to my own self-managed Vanguard portfolio, and at considerably higher fees. I suspect he wasn’t thrilled about that.
He came prepared. He presented a multi-sheet analysis of how his firm had managed my wife’s investments in the lead-up to the 2022 bond crash: aggressively de-risking into ultra-short duration bonds and cash-like instruments,

“We lament the grocery-store coupon left at home, and yet we’ll raise our bid for a house by $10,000 without a second thought.”
This was one of Jonathan’s quips that appeared at the top of the blog a few months back. I immediately was reminded of a day spent with my pal Kenny and his wife in Las Vegas, sometime in the early 1990s. Ken and I were seated at a $5 blackjack table when his wife approached,