One of the main principles of investing is the Risk vs. Return trade-off, which according to investopedia.com:
Risk vs. Return trade-off states that the potential return rises with an increase in risk. Using this principle, individuals associate low levels of uncertainty with low potential returns, and high levels of uncertainty or risk with high potential returns.
It is a principle that every investor needs to understand before they buy their first stock or preferably their first broad-based low-cost index fund (BBLCIF).

I posted this on Bogleheads and got some good suggestions. I welcome the comments and suggestions of the HD audience as well.
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I serve on the board of a large (60k members) non-profit. I am on the Finance Committee which, among other things, monitors our investments. We sold real estate in 2024 that doubled the size of our investment portfolio to $3M. We also requested proposals for investment advisory services and selected a firm to provide those services.

In a recent post Dick Quinn asked for help about buying a car. He was in a time crunch because he and his wife were heading to Florida in a few days, I presume to get out of the cold. I live about an hour south of Dick, and I can attest that it has been cold of late in the northeast. We’ve had single digit mornings, and feels like temperatures too low to mention.
I enjoy living in a location with distinct seasons. 

IT’S THE ONE ASSET we’re all born with, and it pretty much defines our financial life. I’m talking here about our human capital, our ability to pull in a paycheck.
That paycheck—or the lack thereof—drives our ability to save, service debt and take investment risk. It also dictates our insurance needs and how much emergency money we should hold. Put it all together, and our human capital should arguably determine how we manage our money over our lifetime.

My ten year old car needs $8,000 in repairs. It’s worth about $5,500. I’m thinking not worth more investment.
So, do I pay cash, loan or lease?
Take a deal on a loaner with 6,100 miles or go for something new?
Have to decide in four days. HELP😩

As I read through the comments and posts on HD I often see a comment related to a spouse’s employment/retirement. Is a two income family as common as it appears to be?
How does a dual income impact financial and retirement planning? Is it easier or more complicated? Are family finances viewed as one pool or separate?
Are there conflicts when one spouse retires while the other works?
Are financial/Investment decisions made by individual or as one portfolio?

We can all recite countless reasons for wanting money. It might be travel, sleeping well at night, early retirement, buying whatever we want or supporting our favorite charities. But if we were going to boil all this down to a single phrase that describes our key motivation, what would we choose?
Here are some possibilities:

To feel financially safe
To spend our days as we wish
To help others
To feel successful
To spend freely
To not worry about money
To leave a legacy
To demonstrate our success to others

There’s obvious overlap among some of these.

Recently, and spurred by the horrific fires in L.A., there’s been a lot of attention on home insurance, including skyrocketing premiums. Like many people, we have our home, auto, and umbrella policies with the same company, and have seen our premiums increase dramatically in the last few years.
I’ve occasionally heard mention, without much in the way of specifics, of a “longevity benefit” in staying with the same insurance company rather than constantly shopping around and switching.

DRIVING CROSSTOWN, my brother and I stopped at an onramp, where a man held a cardboard sign.
“Does anyone give these people money?” my brother asked, then immediately answered his own question by mentioning a friend who hands out bottles of water instead. “Anything helps,” read the man’s sign.
“Sure,” I said. “I’ve seen people pass $5 bills out the window.” A single dollar used to be enough for a panhandler to end his shift and shuffle off to the nearest mini-market.

 
I am not nor do I claim to be a skilled investor. I don’t analyze stocks, I don’t pay much attention to expense ratios, I don’t study trends or even read prospectuses. There is nothing I do that anyone else can’t do as well, probably better. 
That’s my point, investing for the future is possible for anyone at just about any income and skill level. In other words, there is no excuse. A minimal effort to learn the basics is sufficient. 

While there are thousands who have been following Jonathan’s columns and articles for decades, I started reading his articles only about a year and a half ago.
His articles influenced me to change my investing behavior. Now I am focused only on broad market ETFs and not reacting to frequent market gyrations. I am sure many of you have learned much from him and made changes to how you think about investing.
This goes beyond financial lessons.

I had my regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment for this quarter last week.  At the end of the appointment, my Primary Care Physician  informed me that she was closing her office on February 1st, 2025.  She gave me a document to give my new physician, so they could transfer my medical records, covering the last 10 years.
What has your experience been with issues like this?  I have to ask it has happened to other HD readers.

Many people are convinced that buying term life insurance is the best option from the standpoint of both affordability and coverage. However, I bought whole life insurance a long time ago. The agent represented MONY, and at the time MONY was a very highly rated insurance company. I got married (first time) in 1978. My employer at the time provided bare minimum benefits, and I thought insurance to protect my young wife, who was still in school,

Wanted to share a story. Our son started a new job at the first of the year that paid more than his last one. He got his first paycheck last week and the net amount was less than he expected. We talked about it and what the problem could be. He was not in a higher tax bracket.   I asked about W4 and he did need to adjust it. He also needed to get his taxable income down,

A recent post by Dick Quinn asked an important question in personal financial planning – “do we understand our risk tolerance”. The post linked to an investment risk tolerance assessment. I took the assessment twice and received a similar score each time – an average/moderate tolerance for investment risk. I’m wasn’t surprised by the score, especially now that I’m retired.
Risk tolerance describes our “psychological willingness to take on risk”. Although there are likely some inherent aspects to our risk tolerance,