One of the most well known advocates for elder care, who worked for a prominent national health center, was talking with me about a year ago.  When I asked him what his plan was for he and his wife, as they aged, he replied “ I have four daughters”.
This was pretty shocking to me, given that he worked in this industry, and specialized in helping adult children and their parents to talk about future health care planning.

Oh, index funds have a tale to tell,
Of how they invest and invest quite well.
They’re cheap, they’re easy, they’re widely adored,
But here’s the twist that can’t be ignored:
They lean on the work of those active and wise,
The managers, experts, with sharp, watchful eyes.
While index funds follow the market’s parade,
It’s active decisions that have the path laid.
Active managers toil, they measure, they scheme,
Allocating the dollars, fulfilling the dream.

THE STOCK MARKET HAS been one of my life’s enduring interests. No, it’s not because I try to pick market-beating investments. I gave up on that nonsense more than three decades ago.
Rather, I’m fascinated by the way we humans engage with this maddening market that promises both riches and peril, and which seems both ruthlessly efficient and utterly nuts. What have I learned from a lifetime of following the stock market? The sad truth is,

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, the conversation around money was stressful in our home. I was the third oldest in a family of ten (seven boys, three girls). Yes, we’re Irish and Catholic. As you can imagine, the regular paycheck from my dad’s job came in and went out even quicker. Typically, all the money was spent even before the next paycheck. Despite my mom working intermittent part-time jobs, they had no savings to access.

In a previous post I outlined what I see as the dilemma Americas face when it comes to paying for health care. 
Since then I have been tracking social media comments on the topic. If the people posting are close to reflecting a significant portion of the population, we are in trouble. 
I suspect the lack of a fundamental understanding of insurance, how companies operate and individual responsibility is not limited to health issues, but also explains a lot about how people manage their finances and use the resources available to them –

I’m no fan of large organizations. They’re too bureaucratic, too unresponsive and too resistant to change, plus they tend to attract employees who are comfortable in that environment, which makes things even worse.
I saw this at Citigroup. Every January or February, senior management would roll out a corporate initiative designed to bring a renewed sense of urgency to the organization. It would be kicked off at “town halls,” and was followed by department staff meetings.

PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME say I’m sentimental, and they’re right. I like visiting places like my elementary school, the house where I grew up and my first home away from home. They bring back fond memories.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more nostalgic, and it isn’t just me. I heard that the ashes of my childhood friend Brian were spread over our grade school grounds. He must have had a touch of nostalgia,

Living in a 55+ community, I have heard about some elderly residents who have issues regarding unpaid bills, delayed payments, losing money in scams, and investing in high risk stocks. These residents were financially very savvy a few years ago and now they have difficulty keeping up. In some cases, their children have started handling their finances.
 
An article ( ” Dollars and Dementia – An early warning system” in AARP Bulletin, December 2025 issue) points out this could be an early warning sign that their cognitive abilities are declining.

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea. I’d signed up for the August 2025 Ironman Ottawa to celebrate my 70th birthday and thought, “Why not jump on the Ozempic bandwagon for six months to drop some significant excess weight before the heavy training starts?”
I’ve struggled with my weight for years. My doctor calls me an emotional eater. I thought, if I dropped the weight and committed to keeping it off,

An eighteen year old girl married her high school sweetheart who had dropped out of high school to join the army. They lived on an army base. Shortly they had a baby. They were transferred to another post.
Not many months after settling in at the new base he receives orders for the first of three tours in Vietnam. The young lady and child move in with her parents while he is in Vietnam. 
Upon his final tour,

ONE DAY, AS I WAS walking through the mathematics building at the community college I attended, I saw a poster that screamed, “Math Majors?”
That got my attention. The poster introduced me to a career possibility: becoming an actuary. My job path was set. Or so I thought.
The actuarial career path consists of passing either five or 10 standardized tests. Complete five, and you become an associate. Complete 10, and you’re a fellow.

When you compare HD readers on subjects like Social Security, health care, retirement, saving and investing, 401k, managing money and all that goes with those topics, with the general public, well, there is no comparison. HD readers know their stuff or know when to ask when they aren’t sure of the facts. 
And, of course, discussions, even disagreements remain civil – except maybe when I write about my theory of retirement income replacement. 😎.
I scan several social media sites each day.

IMAGINE TAKING DOLLAR bills and inserting them into a shredder. This is how you might think about a concept that economists call “deadweight loss.” As its name suggests, a deadweight loss occurs when there’s an irrevocable loss of economic output.
Deadweight losses can occur under a variety of circumstances. Among them: when tariffs are imposed. It’s for that reason that the incoming administration’s tariff plan has raised concerns. But how worried should we be?

MANAGING MONEY IS about managing risk. But which risks? We all have a different collection of financial worries, and that drives the investments we buy and the insurance we purchase.
Problem is, every choice we make comes with a tradeoff. If we seek to fend off one risk, we often open ourselves up to other dangers. Consider five such tradeoffs:
1. Dying young vs. living long. When should we claim Social Security?

So reads a Wall Street Journal headline.
This begs the question, how do Americans want to pay for their health care?

They don’t want to spend their money- even for relatively minor expenses like a co-pay
They want someone else to take the risk, but not make any money 
They want quality care, but with little idea how to define that other than more of it at high prices
They don’t want high premiums or taxes
They don’t want to wait for care
They don’t want restrictions on accessing care or selecting a provider
They don’t want anyone approving care or denying to pay for it.