Towards the bottom of Mr. Quinn’s lengthy thread on spreadsheets and budgets I mentioned that I expect to spend a bit under 1% of my portfolio this year. Dick said that he would feel nervous in that situation. I am not currently feeling nervous, but since that percentage will increase over time, maybe I should be. I thought I would ask my fellow contributors what they thought.
Some background: I agree with Dick in seeing my income as just Social Security,

I worked up quite an appetite at the gym late this morning. Luckily there is a great little diner just 2 doors down in the same strip. I’ve always enjoyed great food and friendly service at the Sunrise Skillet, but today was a little different, as service was a tad slow. Honestly I was preoccupied perusing my smart phone and barely aware of the time. Eventually my waitress, Britt, came to my booth, empty handed, telling me that she was paying for my lunch because she forgot to put in the order. 

MarketWatch posted that the Trump administration is rescinding Biden administration’s guidance that discouraged cryptocurrency investing by 401(k) plans.
The 2022 guidance directed plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before adding cryptocurrency to investment menus. That caution has now been removed.
I’m thinking removing urging “extreme care” for 401k plans is not such a good idea. Is the 401k the place for such an investment?
 How many people actually understand cryptocurrency? Not me 
I can just see some employees (like the ones taking the financial literacy test) jumping on the bandwagon if they have the opportunity.

Want to help a young person get started on a lifetime of investing? Hear all about the Jonathan Clements Getting Going on Savings Initiative on this podcast hosted by Rick Ferri. My fellow guests on the podcast were Morningstar’s Christine Benz and The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig. Please give a listen—and please consider donating. One way to donate: Buy copies of  The Best of Jonathan Clements, a collection of my Wall Street Journal columns.

AARP updated their 1040 free Tax Estimator for 2025 today. The calculator is before any changes in the H.R. 1 bill passed by the House recently.
One easy work around to see how the proposed law change may impact your 2025 taxes is plugging into the AARP calculator itemized deductions – interest the H.R. 1 additional $4K and $2K (if you are filing MFJ status) if you think the additional senior standard amounts will become law in 2025 plus your standard deduction for 2025.

I found this financial literacy quiz this morning. It comes from the Stanford Center on Longevity. According to the site, only 29% of American adults can correctly answer the three questions in the quiz.
I’m guessing most HumbleDollar readers will Score 100%. I did.
Take the quiz.

My perception is Americans have become obsessed with taxes. They complain loudly about high taxes. Some vocal seniors don’t think they should pay property taxes or income taxes on Social Security or extra premiums for Medicare (not actually taxes).  
There seems a general lack of understanding of what taxes provide.  The tax collector has been vilified throughout history. Our Country was founded as the result of taxation. 
Paul in Romans 13:1-7, explicitly mentions paying taxes: “This is also why you pay taxes,

Here’s another car-themed Forum post. Last June I wrote a Humble Dollar article about vehicle ownership and longevity. I ended that article with a description of the most recent major repair required for my 2011 Subaru Forester when the clutch assembly failed and required replacement. Those of you wishing to revisit that article can view it here.
I mentioned at the end of that article it might be time to search for another Subaru. At the end of 2024 I read about the introduction of a Subaru Forester option in the new model year –

A recent paper published by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research examined changes in the SS claiming age since 1985, and more recently during the Covid pandemic. The study shows that there has been a fairly dramatic decline in the percentage of those people claiming at 62 in the 20 years leading up to Covid, and that trend has remained steady since then. The study also shows that the average claiming age has increased by about 2 years.

It was some time in the 2000s, and I was at the outlets in Flemington, New Jersey. I stumbled upon a pair of black leather Cole Haan shoes priced at $75, marked down from $300. It was the only pair left, and the shoes happened to be my size. How could I possibly resist?
I hated those shoes. No matter how many times I wore the darned things—and, trust me, I didn’t give up easily—my feet screamed.

Based on the feedback I have received on HD over the years mostly directed at my failure to budget or track expenses in detail using spreadsheets, my selection of some high expense investments and to not pay much attention at all to our investments, failure to use financial or retirement planning services, retaining life insurance in retirement, beginning Social Security at FRA while working, buying cars for cash, retiring at age 67(part of my income replacement strategy),

Every so often, markets go stark, raving mad. Think about the tech-stock bubble of the late 1990s or the real-estate market in 2005 and 2006. But most of the time, markets—which reflect the collective wisdom of all participants—are smarter than any one individual. For proof, look no further than the sorry track record of professional money managers.
That’s why I think it’s worth paying attention to how the stock, bond and currency markets react to news.

IF THE NAME LIZ TRUSS sounds vaguely familiar, there’s a reason: Truss was once the prime minister of the U.K.—but for just 45 days.
How did Truss lose public confidence so quickly? The bond market forced her out. Shortly after taking office in the fall of 2022, Truss proposed substantial tax cuts for both corporations and individuals. That would have been a popular move, except that her budget didn’t include any offsetting spending cuts.

I’ve been retired from the practice of law since 2017, but I still receive the State Bar of Texas monthly magazine, The Texas Bar Journal. Towards the end of each issue is the Memorials section which contains obits for our fallen brothers and sisters of the bar. (There are a lot more brothers than sisters listed since most of the departed are older types who came of age when there was a much larger skew towards men in the legal profession.)
The obits are brief and contain the basic information such as city of practice,

My 2014 Honda Accord recently hit 99,000 miles. It’s nothing fancy to look at, but it drives well. Recently I’ve been having an issue with the starter. The push start works intermittently. Sometimes it starts on the first push, sometimes it takes multiple tries. I think the most it has taken is 6 tries.  I’ve kept up with the maintenance, but I drive it infrequently, so the time between service has spread out. It was due for an oil change,