My favorite word is “aware.”
I believe that missed opportunities, stress, poor decisions of all types, just many of the things we complain about result from not being aware of what is happening around us. 
Being aware means having knowledge or perception of something. It involves noticing, recognizing, or being conscious of what’s happening either around you or within you.
In essence, being aware is about being connected to what is happening, both internally and externally,

I was reading an interesting article by Kristine Hayes, a contributor to Humble Dollar a few weeks ago. In it, she discussed her introverted nature. Since then, a thought’s been developing in my mind: Could an introvert have a distinct advantage when accumulating wealth for retirement and an above-average chance of enjoying a successful retirement?
I consider myself, for want of a better description, a “closet introvert.” While many people who know me genuinely think of me as the “life and soul of the party,”

AT THE 2016 SUMMER Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos challenged Michael Phelps for the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly. A famous image emerged from that event: Throughout the semifinal, Le Clos repeatedly looked over at Phelps as he struggled to keep up. Meanwhile, Phelps just kept looking forward. The result: Phelps ultimately won the gold, while Le Clos trailed in fourth place.
I believe there’s a parallel between what we saw in that race and what we see in the investment world.

An article in Employee Benefits News paints a dim picture of retirement. One that may reflect the real world beyond the HumbleDollar community.
Here again we are relying on a survey so who knows how accurate, but I bet worrying and anxiety over money in retirement is not uncommon. Can you imagine retiring with no clue about the viability of your finances?
It says retirees are struggling to make their savings stretch.
According to Schroder’s 2025 U.S.

I worked up quite an appetite at the gym late this morning. Luckily there is a great little diner just 2 doors down in the same strip. I’ve always enjoyed great food and friendly service at the Sunrise Skillet, but today was a little different, as service was a tad slow. Honestly I was preoccupied perusing my smart phone and barely aware of the time. Eventually my waitress, Britt, came to my booth, empty handed, telling me that she was paying for my lunch because she forgot to put in the order. 

Even though I’m retired now, I have certain routines to get me going every day. First, I make the coffee, then I peel an orange, and finally I curl up on my sofa with my coffee, orange and iPhone and read the latest posts that come into my inbox from Humble Dollar.
This week on two occasions, I didn’t receive my daily newsletter!  I finally went directly to the website and got caught up on all the recent posts that I may have missed.

My favorite, beautiful word is “consequences,” and how it seems to be ignored.
We tend to forget that no matter what we do, there will be a result, a reaction. There will be consequences, some intended, others not.  We tend to address one problem but fail to think through possible consequences. 
The best examples are at the national level. Apply a surcharge such as IRMAA and people will attempt to keep income lower.  
Roth accounts were intended to increase retirement savings,

I usually go for my four-mile walk before sunrise. I like to get an early start to my day. I’ve gotten to know a few folks who I see on my way around the neighborhood. We exchange pleasantries as we pass each other.
But there’s one gentleman who is not so friendly. He looks like he’s in his early thirties—about forty years younger than me.
All the people I encounter walk on one side of the sidewalk,

Many Humble Dollar readers, including myself, are on the older side – approaching retirement or already retired. Readership tends to be relatively affluent and educated. Our financial and social perspective may at times be influenced by a generational outlook. At the risk of overgeneralizing, here are some possible baby boomer versus Under 40 year old viewpoints:

Artificial Intelligence

Baby boomer: A new development with many unknowns and exciting possibilities. AI could play a dangerous role in future scams targeting them. 

I love going to bed. There’s something comforting about lying in the darkness, wrapped in the sheets and blankets, knowing the wider world is unlikely to intrude. What bad could possibly happen? To me, there’s no safer place.
No doubt others feel differently, finding a sense of security elsewhere—in their SUV safely separated from other drivers, in the hefty balance in their checking account, in their large house fenced off from their neighbors, in their modest monthly financial obligations,

The Cancer Center seemed a little bleaker and colder during my last session.  My husband usually accompanies me to my sessions but I was alone for the first time.
I noticed the woman in the cubicle next to me, as we had both been there at the same time for the past 4 weeks.  She was also alone, getting her treatment, wearing a bonnet- the bonnet type hat many women wear who have lost their hair to chemotherapy.

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?