HUMBLEDOLLAR FOUNDER and longtime Wall Street Journal columnist Jonathan Clements passed away earlier this week. He was 62.
I reached out to several of Jonathan’s close friends and colleagues to ask for their remembrances. Taken together, they paint a picture of someone who was as beloved by his peers as he was by his readers.
As Jason Zweig put it, “I have just lost a friend, and so have you.”
Christine Benz,

If this post is appearing, it means I’ve succumbed to cancer or one of its side effects. Please don’t feel sad for me. I’ve had a life filled with love, great experiences and wonderful career opportunities. Despite my demise at a relatively young age, I consider myself beyond fortunate.
I’m hoping that, under the tree in front of our little Philadelphia rowhome, my wife Elaine will place a stone tablet inscribed with my name, and the year I was born and died.

The first movie I ever saw in a theater was 2001: A Space Odyssey. My sister Carol took me to it when I was six years old. She wasn’t sure I’d like it, but I really loved it—except for a bit of primitive violence in the opening scene that was too intense for my young eyes (and stomach). In particular, the future technology depicted in the film fired my imagination. People in 2001 casually used video telephone calling and iPad-like tablet computers.

So much of what we do in life involves money, and yet the vast majority of these transactions quickly disappear from our memory. What sticks? Here are nine of my most vivid money memories.
1. My older brothers—who are identical twins—and I were regulars at the local community pool, starting when I was age four. Our parents or our au pair would throw pennies into the pool, and we’d dive in and fish them out.
How much were these pennies worth?

Does the larger societal era from your childhood influence your financial outlook as an adult and beyond into retirement? This question came to mind while I was responding to a comment by bbbobbins on an article I’d posted to The Humble Dollar forum.
For example, my childhood was set against the immediate backdrop of social and civil unrest in my local community in Ireland. This was compounded by the overarching global tension of superpower rivalry during the Cold War,

-During a dinner a year or so ago with some of my recently-retired but still working friends, talk turned to what toys the fellas were buying with their “bonus” income. Most of the guys had big-ticket items to report: expensive new trucks, recreational vehicles, motorcycles…things like that. I didn’t have a lot to add to that conversation, but when I was pointedly asked what I’d bought for fun, the most extravagant item I could come up with was a new Trek bicycle that cost me a little under a thousand dollars—far more than I’d ever paid for a bike previously.

I’m not the same person I was when I retired at 59. Back then, I was frugal to a fault, afraid to spend money, even on myself. Now I treat myself more often, take better care of my health, and I like to think I’ve grown more patient. But the biggest change is this: I cry more easily.
I didn’t use to understand that kind of emotion. When I was about 11, I was watching television with Uncle Lou.

Ben Carlson’s column today is titled “The Ovarian Lottery”. Where and when you were born has a whole lot to do with how your life turns out. You could be capable of becoming a great artist, but if you were born female for most of human history you wouldn’t be able to reach your potential. Born a serf in medieval Europe? You were going to stay a serf. Sure, hard work helps, but if your particular talent isn’t in demand,

It would have been my mum’s 91st birthday this week. She passed two years ago this June after the long goodbye from the thousand small cuts of dementia. Although I experienced grief and sadness, it truly was a relief to bid my mum the final farewell after the long marathon of loss over many years. I gave a final kiss to the echo of the woman before me as the heat of life left mum’s body.

In my childhood, I grew up in public housing. From the age of 11, I attended what in the UK is the rough equivalent of a public high school. This was during a very volatile and violent phase of societal change in my country, set against a backdrop of illegal paramilitary organisations. They effectively “hoovered up” a high portion of my childhood friends, regurgitating them as dead bodies or incarcerated prisoners with no future. This was the reality of my childhood and formative years.

A couple weeks ago, the team I was part of was eliminated.  My boss- and his boss-were also laid off, along with about 10 of us.  The industry is facing significant headwinds, and our organization was no exception.
This is the first time in my life I’ve been laid off, and I never imagined finding myself in this situation. I’ve always believed in strong work ethic in creating and delivering value to both the organization and the customer.

More than 13 months ago, I was given 12 months to live.
I like to think I took my diagnosis in stride. I moved quickly to simplify my financial affairs, toss unwanted possessions, get new estate-planning documents and change HumbleDollar’s direction so the site could live on after my death.
I also focused on getting the most out of each day. Partly, that meant taking some special trips and spending more time with family.

I belong to a club I never wanted to join: women who have outlived their husbands. Like me, millions of baby boomer women, and now Gen Xers too, will face life without their long-term partner.
Thankfully, today’s widows have more choices than our great-grandmothers did. Some of us embrace living solo. Others are surprised to find companionship again, sometimes even love. That next chapter can be sweet, but it’s also financially complex.
I know this firsthand.

I just turned 69 and I feel that there isn’t something quite right with that! The feeling has more to do with where I am in my life than feeling 69. I don’t know what it will be like when I turn 70.
To get prepared I read an article about being 70 and found a list, of all things, that I liked so much that wanted to share it.  Do you have anything to add to this list?

When I was in third grade, my mom worked at a small diner near our house. Every morning before school, I’d walk there for breakfast and read the sports section of the Canton Repository. That habit stuck with me, and soon I was arriving early to school just to read the newspaper in the library.
I wasn’t the best student, but if they had quizzed me on what was going on in the world,