“It’s déjà vu (all over again),” is a quip often attributed to beloved baseball philosopher Yogi Berra. He might as well have been referring to the highly regarded and much awaited 2024 S&P Global Report on the comparative performance of actively managed and passive mutual funds. Its conclusions will come as no surprise to readers of Humble Dollar: Index funds drubbed those run by portfolio managers.
Here’s a quick read. Most actively managed stock funds underperformed their relevant benchmarks.

It’s been a long and wonderful journey. I have nothing to complain about, but I was reading an article that triggered a thought. Did I have it easier simply because of the years in which I grew up? Are things that much harder now? They are very different for sure. 
Was I just fortunate even when things weren’t so great after all?
I grew up in an apartment with my parents and two sisters. My father was a car salesman,

NINE MONTHS AGO, Jonathan Clements shared with readers that he’d been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. It was devastating news, especially for longtime readers, many of whom regard Jonathan not only as a journalist but also a friend. I count myself among them, so I was grateful that Jonathan agreed to sit for an interview to share more about his background, his early years and his current thinking. 
You’ve joked that,

I own two individual stocks, both utilities. One I follow closely. 
Over the last year it reached $94.00 but today it is $77.00
Some analysts predicted $101, others in the 80s and 90s. At any point you could find upbeat predictions and more depressing ones.
Buy, hold, sell they said, all at the same time, all after looking at the same data. 
All the company reports and forecasts are positive. Earnings are good, it all looks good…but 

Connecting with younger people is like a rejuvenating fountain of life for me.  Since many of us are fortunate to have children and grandchildren  nearby, we can enjoy being a part of their everyday life,  allowing us to share a special bond with them.
But some of us are restricted by the confines of chronology, and cut off from interaction with younger people. Small wonder that so many seniors retire to college towns. Being around younger people reminds me how thrilling it was when I was young—when the future was bright,

Given that we seem to be entering “interesting” times, I’m revisiting my rebalancing strategy
to ensure my approach remains calm and rational.
I’ve generally got a vanilla approach with a 60% stock and 40% bond and cash mix with low-cost index funds and 3-5 years of cash/cash equivalents worth set aside for living expenses.
My re-balancing strategy is generally “Do it once a year or if any one major category drifts more than 5% from it’s target.” 

I’m breaking up with my bank, my credit cards, and my mutual fund company.
My reasons were influenced by three things.

Many years back Roy and Pauline came to me for tax prep. Though not wealthy, they had about two dozen disparate investments in everything from amusement parks to oil wells. My first thought was that if Roy died first, Pauline was going to have a difficult time dealing with this veritable spaghetti bowl of K1s.

We need words of wisdom dealing with the stock markets.

This is not criticism, it’s an inquiry.
Over the years I have read many times on HD about tracking expenses/spending. Some people pursue this in great detail, some seem to approach it like a hobby. There may be something motivating in knowing how every penny is spent. 
As you may suspect, I don’t know in detail where or how we spend our money. As long as the big picture is in balance I am happy. 
What I do know is the bank balance is $X at the end of the month,

We sold our S&P 500 shares from one retirement account to roll them into another, perfectly timing the market peak. I’d love to boast it was our shrewd insight that nailed the sale, but honestly, it wasn’t. We were just moving money from our 401(k) to our Vanguard IRA. Picture a typical morning—coffee in hand, idly glancing over our account balances during our usual monthly check-in.
No brilliance needed—just sheer luck. Some label it dumb luck,

During his final months, my husband Jonathan worked tirelessly to complete his last book, Money and Me.  The book is now available for pre-order and will be released in May 2026.
What’s so special about this book?  This book features Jonathan’s best and most personal HumbleDollar articles.  The articles are curated in such a way to teach everyone about personal finance through Jonathan’s own money journey.  And sadly, his terminal cancer diagnosis is part of this journey about which he candidly writes.

The signs of this looming crisis are everywhere. Expensive home care, long term care and end of life care are going to be the biggest challenges facing baby boomers.
There are over 69 million baby boomers, 21% of the US population, holding 50% of wealth. Unfortunately, most are unprepared to face this crisis. I find that in my retirement community, most have not investigated options to provide for such care and have shown little interest. They say they will handle it if and when they need it.

Notice anything different? Today, the articles and “Second Look” sections disappeared from HumbleDollar’s homepage. What replaced them? You’ll find three new features.
First, at the top of the page, you’ll see a section called “Latest Posts” that includes nine Forum posts and articles. All new posts will appear here, along with other pieces—new and old—that are currently garnering comments.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the homepage are two new “Spotlight” features. One section focuses on pieces devoted to one of 23 topics.

I just returned from a six-day silent retreat. What in the world could that have to do with retirement and financial life?  Maybe nothing or maybe a lot.  I’ve been going on silent retreats for more than 20 years, ever since I became a minister and they were part of my spiritual and professional development. These days in my semi-retired lifestyle they are still part of both.
One of my goals for the retreat was to write a draft article about moving to California for Humble Dollar.

Twenty years ago I would not have written this, but I have grown less naive.
Consider human nature…when thinking about paying for healthcare and generating retirement income
We have tried countless schemes to manage health care costs, and expand coverage.  Similarly we provide incentives to get people to save for their retirement. The evidence shows only modest progress, but nothing has really solved the basic problems. 
We humans are just short-term thinkers.
Over 20 million Americans still have no health insurance.