IDEAS ARE TOOLS THAT can help us see the world with greater clarity. Indeed, I find myself returning to certain financial notions again and again, because they’re so fundamental to understanding the world of finance and how we can make our lives better.
What are the most important ideas? I decided to create a new chapter for HumbleDollar’s online money guide, which covers the 15 notions I consider most crucial:

Humility
Simplicity
Control
Instincts
Future Self
Hedonic Treadmill
Signaling
Human Capital
Be an Owner
Risk and Reward
Opportunity Cost
Compounding
Skewness
Risk Pooling
Enough

Arguably,

U.S. CREDIT CARD fraud topped $8 billion in 2015 and should surpass $12 billion next year. You can reduce your exposure to such incidents with a few simple steps. Why bother? Won’t the bank pick up the tab when unauthorized purchases show up on your account? Generally, yes, thanks to the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. But there may be limitations on that protection, based on how quickly you notify your bank when you discover unauthorized charges.

THE SUDDEN BULL MOVE of 1991 enraged me. Mr. Market waved the red flag and I charged. Forget balanced, S&P 500 and large-cap value funds. I was gonna get me one of them aggressive funds that goes up 99% in a year.
I greedily and resentfully scanned the list of 1991’s 10 top-performing mutual funds. Why didn’t I own any of them? Oppenheimer Global Biotech was up 121%. Vanguard Windsor II, which I owned around that time,

I’VE READ A LOT of articles about why Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement. Most of the articles lay the blame on our spending habits and the debts we’re servicing.
For instance, some point the finger at the gourmet coffee we buy each morning. Suze Orman says, “You need to think about it as: You are peeing $1 million down the drain as you are drinking that coffee.”
Similarly, others point out we’re spending too much on unnecessary items like vacations,

SOCIAL SECURITY remains a great mystery to many Americans and is widely misunderstood. For instance, when Social Security’s trustees release their annual report, we get vastly different interpretations. One group will read the report and conclude there’s a “surplus” and plenty of money to improve benefits. Meanwhile, another concludes that the program is in fiscal trouble and fixing it is vital.
Headlines frequently state the program is going bankrupt. It isn’t. Today’s level of benefits may not be sustainable,

THE CLASH, THE U.K. punk-rock group, famously asked, “Should I stay or should I go?” Retirees and job changers need to tackle the same question when they leave their employer.
At that juncture, you have four options for your 401(k) or 403(b) account: You can leave the balance in your old employer’s plan, roll over the balance to a new employer’s plan, roll over the balance to an IRA or close out the account.

FRAUD WEARS MANY faces. But depending on who you believe, potentially the most unusual is that of Jeanne Louise Calment. For years, the French-born Calment, who claimed to have been born in 1875, was celebrated as the world’s oldest person. By the time she died in 1997, she would have been 122— if she’d been telling the truth. New research, however, casts doubt on Calment’s claim. 
The real story, it turns out, may be that Calment actually died many decades earlier—in the 1930s.

STOCKS MARCH EVER higher, portfolios get ever fatter and yet the conundrum facing investors remains the same. We have no idea what will happen next to share prices—and no reliable way of figuring it out. Consider:

Valuations are rich, but they have been for much of the past three decades. Indeed, if above-average valuations were your signal to sell, you likely would have dumped stocks long ago and missed out on substantial gains. The reality: Valuations don’t predict short-term returns,

OUR WEALTH IS usually measured by net worth, which is total assets minus all debt. But there’s an alternative measure—which is to assign our wealth to the purposes it serves. What purposes? Two come to mind: physical and social.
Let’s start with physical wealth. We’re talking here about a family’s ability to maintain basic physical comforts, such as enjoying decent food, a comfortable home, a reliable car and access to good health care.
You don’t have to be rich to afford these.

IN THE PAST, WE’VE always bought certified preowned cars. We know new cars lose a big chunk of their value when you drive them off the lot, so we had our eye on a used car when we started our search earlier this year.
Our goal was a Mercedes Benz GLC 300 AWD 4MATIC. My husband enjoys the negotiating and drama that comes with buying a car, so he investigated choices, checked out prices at dealerships and was ready to start his usual two-to-three-month car hunt.

THE MOST WIDELY READ book of all time, the Bible, has a lot to say about money. According to biblical scholars, money and wealth are mentioned more than 2,000 times. Out of the roughly 40 parables Jesus told, nearly half speak of money.
Why does the Bible make such a big deal about money? The answer belongs in a Sunday sermon, not here. Still, I believe there’s a great deal to be learned from what the Bible says about money.

INCOME ANNUITIES ARE a simple, cost-efficient way to generate guaranteed retirement income, and yet they account for just 5% of overall annuity sales. My contention: They can play a unique role in a portfolio—and deserve serious consideration by anyone planning for retirement.
When most people hear the word “annuity,” they cringe, and rightfully so. Over 95% of the annuity market is made up of tax-deferred variable and fixed annuities—investment products that are often complicated and expensive.

THE FINANCIAL SITE MarketWatch has been running a series about the lives and budgets of Americans who retire abroad. My wife Jiab and I—who moved from Texas to Spain—were one of the first couples featured, along with a husband and wife who now live in Chile. Both articles made clear there were plusses and minuses to such a move—experiencing new things, but also being away from family—and that we weren’t advocating this for everyone.

A NEW FIRM CALLED Life + Liberty Indexes has created what it calls the Freedom 100 index of emerging markets stocks. Unlike other indexes, which typically weight stocks by their market value, the Freedom 100 weights countries by measures of freedom. These include freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, among others. In short, the Freedom 100 looks like it could have been created by the authors of our Declaration of Independence.

CALL IT THE NEW conventional wisdom: Forget trying to spend less—and instead focus on earning more.
This change in thinking is no great surprise. We have endless opportunities to make an extra buck, thanks to all the “side hustles” available in our “gig economy.” Meanwhile, many folks bristle at the admonitions to spend less on lattes, happy hours and avocado toast. Let’s face it, will eliminating such expenses really put us on the fast track to financial freedom?