WE RECEIVED A PHOTO Christmas card from a guy I used to work with. The picture was taken at his daughter’s wedding, with my old colleague standing next to his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Picture perfect.
The only problem: His story isn’t picture perfect. When he and I first met, we worked in the same division at an insurance company. Right before the division was closed down, I transferred to a different department. Eventually,

And by that, I mean shopping for 2025 health insurance.
For my 2024 coverage  (57-year-old male, zip code 64108) I’ve used HealthCare.gov to get coverage via Ambetter Standard Expanded Bronze for $803/month ($7,500.00 deductible/$9,400.00 max out of pocket/$50 copay).
For 2025 Ambetter actually reduced my premium to $731/month.
Since I’m quite healthy I wanted to get a plan with a lower premium and tried ehealthinsurance.com but the best they could offer was $827/month for an Ambetter Health Solutions Bronze HSA ($6,400 deductible/$8,050 max out of pocket/20% Coinsurance after deductible copay).

As someone who has never done a QCD, this article by CPA Mike Piper (www.OpenSocialSecurity.com, Bogleheads speaker, etc.) was very helpful. Anyone with experience on making QCDs, IRS inquiries about QCDs, etc., have any wisdom or personal experience to add to this?

THE GAP BETWEEN theory and practice will never be wider than in the world of networking. And you will not find a finer example of this hard reality than in the rollout of Wi-Fi 7, the latest version of wireless networking from the Wi-Fi Alliance and IEEE.
A quick web search today turns up no end of stories from bloggers and journalists who breathlessly repeat the same promises of Wi-Fi 7: higher bandwidth, lower latency,

ThinkAdvisor has a list of the 12 cheapest states for retirees to live a comfortable retirement. The estimated income needed ranges from about $63,000 to $58,000 a year. 
Their report defines “comfortable “as individual’s spending on housing, groceries, transportation and health care in each of the 50 states to determine the average retirement income necessary for a comfortable retirement lifestyle.
There is no single definition of comfortable retirement. Alabama is one of the states on the list.

MORGAN HOUSEL, author of The Psychology of Money, once made this observation: “Before the 1700s, the richest members of society had among the shortest lives—meaningfully below that of the overall population.”
It was counterintuitive, but Housel cited a hypothesis, developed by historian T.H. Hollingsworth, to make sense of it: “The best explanation is that the rich were the only ones who could afford all the quack medicines and sham doctors who peddled hope but increased your odds of being poisoned.”
Housel then added this thought: “I would bet good money the same happens today with investing advice.” Wealthy folks,

I’m starting to see sites offering passkeys. There’s a good explanation at this link of what passkeys are, how they work, and why they’re even better than passwords with two-factor authentication.
If you’ve begun using passkeys, what has been your experience?

I’m sure many Humble Dollar readers have read various iterations of this innumerable times.
I was just reading Adam Grossman’s (soon to be published on the HD website) weekly email where he quotes Warren Buffet as stating, “Performance comes, performance goes. Fees never falter.”
John Bogle’s is famously quoted as saying, “You get what you don’t pay for. Costs matter.”
Yesterday I was speaking with my daughter in law about these famous quotes when urging her to investigate what her 403b fee is.

THIS HAS BEEN A YEAR of living large in the Kerr household.
I just finished adding up the numbers for 2024, and between my son’s wedding in Colorado in June, my own wedding in October, our honeymoon afterward, a vacation to Key West, a new car for my new wife, and various long-overdue repairs to Rachael’s townhouse, I spent upwards of $60,000 on items I hadn’t budgeted for in 2024.
The tally doesn’t include the $9,000 I spent on a hot tub for the mountain house.

I was just reading an article on net worth on Boldin (previously New Retirement), and it got me wondering how often this is performed, and why, by my fellow HumbleDollar readers.
As for me, as I have written before, I calculate this number quarterly because we’re living off of our retirement assets until, most likely, we turn 70 in 3-4 years. If our retirement assets sink to an admittedly somewhat random level, we would claim my wife’s (the lower income’s) benefit to stretch our savings.

We often talk about narratives—the stories we cook up to explain why, say, the stock market went up yesterday or why our favored political candidate didn’t get elected. These stories are simplified versions of what actually happened and they may take liberties with the truth, but they also help us to make sense of the world.
But what about the narratives we tell about ourselves?
Most of us have a collection of jokes and anecdotes that we tend to repeat,

Happy Thanksgiving from Kill Devil Hills, NC.  This is our family’s annual Thanksgiving vacation at the beach. It started on a whim in 1995. We rented a 7 bedroom house. Twenty-nine years later we are 46 strong, and rent a 27-bedroom house.  It’s a testament to my in-laws who founded a strong, loving family, who somehow manage to enjoy each other’s company. The family is also a shining example of the tenets espoused on HD –

IT’S THAT TIME OF year when people think about giving. For my wife, this is what she lives for. She loves buying presents. She’s a very giving person and puts a great deal of thought into the gifts she buys.
She’ll buy gifts all year round, even when the event—such as Christmas—is months away. Problem is, she frequently forgets where she’s stored the presents she’s bought. They’ll eventually be found, but in many cases long past the date when she wanted to give them.

Based on a Kiplinger e-mail I just received, this year’s Thanksgiving meal, including turkey and all the trimmings, will, on average, cost $58.08, or about $5.80 per person.
A 16-pound turkey now averages $25.67, or $1.60 per pound, 6% less than last year. 
Yesterday I paid $3.49 a pound for a 18 lb fresh turkey. I can’t be average with money matters even on a holiday. 🦃

“YOU WILL ROTH!”
“But Dad, I’m only 10.”
“Evan, it is never too early to start saving. Besides, this gives you 70-plus years of compounding.”
“Yes, Dad, but didn’t you tell me last week that I need a job and earned income to contribute to a Roth?”
“We can arrange to get you a paycheck. I’ll get a friend or neighbor to hire you. What would you like to do?”
“I like to play soccer.”
“Evan,