LISTEN TO THE financial news, and you’ll often hear reference to “the VIX.” But what exactly is the VIX, and how important is it?
The VIX index is intended to be a measure of investor sentiment. For that reason, it’s often referred to as the market’s “fear gauge.” How can investor sentiment be measured? While the math is complex, it’s based on a straightforward principle: When investors get nervous, they look for ways to protect their portfolios and are sometimes even willing to pay for that protection.

MANY PEOPLE don’t know, but there is a net investment income tax of 3.8% that applies to some of your income. Today, I want to discuss what it is, how we can reduce its impact, and how we can save money.
Let’s dive right in:
Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)
The net investment income tax is imposed on investment income if the modified adjusted gross income (adjusted gross income + foreign income exclusion) is more than $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for those married filing jointly.

Gold fever seems to be everywhere at the moment. My grandson asked me the other day, “Do you own any gold, Pops?”
I said no and asked why he was curious. Apparently, even ten-year-olds know that gold is having quite a run. Pushing through the $5,000 mark had captured his imagination.
There’s something amusing about being financially questioned by a ten-year-old who only recently discovered the tooth fairy isn’t real. I’ve been investing for decades, and I’m getting the third degree from a kid whose worldly wealth consists entirely of football cards and a bag of loose change.

We could just ship a pallet full of the things that Chrissy’s niece, Liz, had stored in her mother’s basement before she passed. But doing that would spoil the fun of renting a minivan, loading it up, and driving from Ohio to Los Angeles to spend some quality time with Liz. I also have a couple old friends in LA that I would love to see. 
I thought that I might put my rudimentary knowledge of AI to use in planning the trip. 

Here’s a link to a youtube video below between Ben Carlson & Mike Piper discussing the topic of Soc Sec going bankrupt. For those who may not recognize the names, Carlson is part of Ritholz Wealth mgt and author of “A Wealth of Common Sense” email blog. Mike Piper is a CPA, author of the “Oblivious Investor” email blog and creator of the Open Social Security calculator (https://opensocialsecurity.com/).  Here’s the url to their

The Trump administration plans to increase payments to next year’s Medicare Advantage plans by less than 0.1% on average — far below what the industry had expected.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also proposed to restrict further how insurers can code the illnesses of their Medicare Advantage enrollees.
These moves are probably necessary given MA costs Medicare more than traditional coverage as opposed to the planned savings.
HOWEVER, retirees using MA may be in for a shock.

I paid the property taxes on my vacation home the other day. That got me thinking about the reality and impact I have on the local area and the ongoing debate around property prices.
I suspected property prices in the small coastal village where I have a vacation home were inflated, partly because of owners like myself buying in the area. But I recently discovered just how bad things have become. The village has the largest disconnect between median wages and median house prices in my entire region: properties cost 11.3 times the median annual wage.

I love a New Year. It’s a great time to evaluate your current situation and make changes as necessary. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently:

1. We adjusted the tax withholding for our Social Security payments. Current withholding options are 0%, 7%, 10%, 12% and 22%. We reduced our withholding from 15% to 7% since our income is lower than when we were working and refunds were getting too large.

2. We opened a new checking account with a $500 sign-up bonus and couldn’t be happier with the improved service.

I recently received an e-mail survey from the Senior Citizens League, a senior advocacy group. Out of curiosity I completed the survey so I could see all the questions. They are all leading questions all focused on getting more for seniors. 
What is not contained in the e-mail is reference to the financial status of Social Security and Medicare, the need to lower costs or increase FICA taxes or both.  As I read it, it is all about me,

The other evening I looked at the clock for the fifth time: 3:26am. I just couldn’t get to sleep. My mind was like a merry-go-round with different payment obligations occupying the funfair horses: wedding dress 1, wedding dress 2, vacation home property tax, a $10,000 down payment for a wedding reception here, an upcoming $6,000 payment for a summer trip there. They all revolved around my mind, and they all had one thing in common—an end of January payment date.

🤑

For the 2026 AFC Championship game between the Broncos and Patriots in Denver on January 25, 2026, tickets are available from approximately $307 to over $1,000+ depending on seating. What they call VIVID seats are $30,000.

WHO has that kind of money to spend on a football game? Apparently 76,000 people do. Oh yeah, parking is about $50.00

I wonder if this counts as a emergency fund expense😁

I’m sure there’s a few readers on Humble Dollar with a Scottish heritage and you might also be aware that tonight in Scotland, the air will be thick with the scent of haggis and the sound of bagpipes. It’s Burns Night, the annual celebration of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. While he’s famous for “Auld Lang Syne,” Burns wasn’t just a romantic; he was known as a “Ploughman Poet” who knew the weight of debt and the grind of manual labor.

Every now and then I come across an idea that is immediately both interesting and “feels right”. I recently came across one such idea in a podcast from Tim Hartford, his “Cautionary Tales” episode about Tony Hsieh, the billionaire CEO of Zappos. The concept is “obluiqity”, that the best way to actually reach a goal is often to not focus directly upon that goal.
The term was coined by the economist Professor Sir John Kay, who noticed that often when companies had a focus purely on profit,

Root canal, kaput refrigerator, major car repairs, expensive prescription, 🤑shopping cart dents your car😎
What do the above have in common? They can legitimately be called a financial emergency, and they can happen to retirees as well as anyone else. 
New research from the Center for Retirement Research (How Much Are Emergency Expenses for Retirees and Are They Prepared?) shows that the typical retired household spends 10 percent of income on unexpected expenses in a normal year.

After church service, I said hello to a fellow parishioner. I asked him, how are you doing. He replied, I’m fine, but I wish my friends would stop dying. I said nothing. Upon reflection, I should have replied, well you need to make new friends.
I retired early three and a half years ago at age 57. I spent my days going to the gym (lifting weights) and swimming (getting my cardio). I would say hi to a few folks,