I have no desire to oversee a website where folks work out their anger issues by posting snarky political comments. But lately, that anger has been on full display, and we all know why. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump clearly elicits strong emotions.
But here’s the thing: Those strong emotions may be justified—but they’re hard to justify on financial grounds, just as they were hard to justify during the Biden presidency. Consider:

The unemployment rate was 4.1% when Biden left office,

At a time when American society has become increasingly polarized, I can’t think of a more propitious time to look at an example of how respect, civility and friendship  can flourish and overcome dissenting factious opinions.
There is no finer example of this than the friendship that existed between former Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg,  who eventually became to represent two branches of the Supreme Court.  Affectionately known as R.B.G by her supporters,

I’M ALL IN FAVOR of striving. But I’ve also belatedly come to see the appeal of acceptance.
Should we strive for more, or should we accept what we currently have and what’s currently on offer? As I’ve noted in earlier articles, there’s great pleasure in striving. We love the feeling of making progress, even if our achievements don’t make us happy for long. It’s an instinct we no doubt inherited from our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

From the outset let me be clear I am not a religious person for several reasons, one being my personality. My personality is the type that has to see something to believe it. However there is song  Walk On by U2 which has some of the most poignant lyrics in music history. There is a phrase that goes, “
“You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been.
A place that has to be believed to be seen.”
Why am I quoting U2?

I have been pondering over this post for several days. I fear it will be misinterpreted, but here goes.
I don’t feel comfortable being wealthy. Like it or not, justified or not, planned or not I meet the typical definition of wealthy. These days that seems a dirty word – even though I’m not near the eight figure mark let alone ten.
I just finished our income taxes and it actually feels like we did pay our fair share.

They say at 20 years of age you have the face that nature gave you.  At 40, you have the face life gave you and at 60, you have the face you deserve. This is a variation on a quote attributed to both George Orwell, author and essayist, and Coco Chanel, fashion maven. If this is true, it means  that our choices and attitudes leave an indelible mark on our character which ultimately surfaces in our physical appearance.

If you could offer your fellow readers one piece of advice that you’re confident would improve their life, what would it be?
To get us rolling, here’s my suggestion: Be generous with others—but do it when they aren’t expecting it. For instance, folks expect to receive gifts on their birthday, so any gifts you give likely won’t seem all that special. What if, instead, you present them with a gift out of the blue? The element of surprise has the potential to make the gift especially meaningful.

Henry James is one of my favorite authors.  In the late 1880s He wrote a novel, Washington Square,  which was adapted into a play and an award winning movie, “The Heiress”.  Olivia dehavilland starred as Catherine Sloper, a shy, ordinary looking, socially awkward young woman, who stands to inherit a large fortune.
Montgomery Clift, was Morris Townsend, her handsome, charming but ne’er do well suitor—and a wonderful English actor, Ralph Richardson, as Dr. Austin Sloper, Catherine’s father.

There was a time when I probably did- that was many years ago when sailing around the Mediterranean in my luxury yacht was a fantasy. Once, decades ago, I actually explored the cost of renting such a yacht. Back then it was $200,000 a week, plus tips for the crew and the cost of the food you selected. I was afraid I couldn’t afford the tips- but I could bring eight friends to impress.
These days I don’t envy of the billionaires,

WHEN I STARTED writing about personal finance in the late 1980s, my focus was on giving “actionable” money advice. Here, at the end of my career, I’m more interested in offering thoughts that’ll help folks with all areas of their life, financial and otherwise.
I’m not sure how many articles I have left in me. Fingers crossed, it’ll be many more than my current diagnosis suggests. But whatever the case, here are four thoughts that I’d like readers to remember:
1.

“Do your own research” are words that pop up in many forum posts, and I agree it’s important for people to dig into various things before making a purchase or forming opinions on important matters. Research for an unbiased writer probably includes things like interviewing sources, checking their facts, citing references, furnishing bibliographies, and etc. At the other end of the spectrum someone like my friend Bubba down at the local watering hole might consider Facebook,

As one saying goes, there are three things that should not be talked about in polite company: money, politics, and religion.  Here at HumbleDollar, we are given license to discuss (politely) the first topic. And have we ever discussed money here! Pretty much any aspect of personal finance you can think of has been addressed thoroughly and intelligently somewhere on this website.
When the conversation has veered into the second topic, politics, the discourse can get a bit chippy.

Hi Jonathan,
I found you by reading an article you wrote for AARP, which led me to your HumbleDollar site and everyone’s articles. Very informative and useful!
I too got a surprise diagnosis of metasticized cancer a few years ago and fortunately have been successfully treated, so far. It has indeed illuminated my perspective on life. I expect to have more than a few months but am more cognizant of what is truly important in life.

MANY FINANCIAL IDEAS are tough to embrace. But perhaps the toughest can be summed up in one simple word: enough.
Will we ever feel like we have enough and that we’ve accomplished enough? Accepting that we have enough and done enough might seem like worthy goals, a serene acceptance that’s possible for those at peace with themselves and the world around them. Indeed, for many, “retirement” and “enough” seem to be pretty much synonymous,

IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD, there are signs saying “we buy junk houses” and “we buy ugly houses.” These businesses target undesirable homes—those that have fallen on hard times and can’t be easily sold.
Maybe the homeowners couldn’t afford the upkeep or got tired of caring for the place. Whatever the reason, the result is houses that look sad and have lost market value. Contrarian buyers see the houses not for what they are, but for what they could be.