“THE INVESTOR’S CHIEF problem—even his worst enemy—is likely to be himself.” So wrote Benjamin Graham, the father of modern investment analysis.
With these words, written in 1949, Graham acknowledged the reality that investors are human. Though he had written an 800-page book on techniques to analyze stocks and bonds, Graham understood that investing is as much about human psychology as it is about numerical analysis.
In the decades since Graham’s passing, an entire field has emerged at the intersection of psychology and finance.

I HAVE NEVER BROKEN a New Year’s resolution—because, until this year, I’ve never made one. But now that I’m retired, with time on my hands, I figure my wife and I ought to challenge ourselves with 10 financial resolutions for 2020:

We’ll continually monitor routine spending with the goal of reducing or eliminating at least half-a-dozen expenses this year. That’s one every two months. Phone companies, internet providers and insurers, be warned: Here we come.

WANT TO IMPROVE your investment results? The deadly sins below are not only among the most serious financial transgressions, but also they’re among the most common. I firmly believe that, if you eradicate these 12 sins from your financial life, you’ll have a better-performing portfolio.
1. Pride: Thinking you can beat the market by picking individual stocks, selecting actively managed funds or timing the market.
Antidote: Humility. By humbly accepting “average” returns through low-cost index funds,

DEAR READER, I MAY write for you. But I also write for myself. Many of my articles grow out of intriguing ideas I stumble across or half-baked notions I want to explore further. The next thing I know, I’m scouring the internet for additional information and typing furiously on my laptop, all because I’m interested—and I hope you will be, too.
The good news is, after 34 years of writing about finance, I’m still learning things and still tripping across topics I’m curious about.

WANT TO TAKE SOME simple steps to improve your life, as well as that of those around you? Here are 11 things to do today:

Look somebody in the eye and say, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
Stop talking about yourself and, instead, ask folks about their life.
Throw out something you’ve been meaning to get rid of.
Read an article by somebody you disagree with—and think hard about whether he or she might be at least partially right.

IT WAS 1989 AND I WAS living at home with my parents after obtaining my finance degree. I still harbored dreams of playing professional baseball, but let’s just say I also embraced learning about the financial-planning trade.
A year later, my why—my purpose—was born. In 1990, my father’s employer went bankrupt. As my 59-year-old dad looked for a new job, I felt the stress level in the house rise. My mother didn’t understand why it took so long for him to find work,

SOCIAL SECURITY HAS come under political attack over the years. With the federal deficit ballooning, will there be another round of attacks in the run-up to 2020’s election?
I hope not. Here are 15 reasons we should all want to preserve Social Security benefits, no matter which political party we favor:

It helps many. About 63 million people get a Social Security check each month. That’s one out of six Americans.
It provides insurance.

I’M GUESSING OUR credit cards are excited. It’s the holidays, so they’ll get to see the light of day more often. December is a time for spending, for throwing caution to the wind, for rationalizing what we and our children need or deserve. It doesn’t help that we’re barraged with advertising tugging at our heart strings.
Perhaps it’s time to counterattack, to apply logic and to think not about the joys of Christmas morning presents or the next Chanukah gift,

BAD INVESTMENT AND personal finance books get cranked out every year with catchy titles and celebrity authors. But skip such pulp fiction. Instead, give yourself or someone you know the gift of timeless investment wisdom with one—or all—of the following classics. 

Why? Perhaps you’ve heard that indexing is the way to go. Or that you should insist on low-cost funds. Or that stocks are the best asset class, and should be bought and held.

WORDS AND PHRASES have a powerful impact. They motivate and mislead. They’re subject to perceptions and preconceived notions. They come and go in fashion. Whatever happened to the word “gobbledygook”? Okay, I admit it, I’m also a fan of “curmudgeon.”
Today, there are several words and phrases in fashion that pack an emotional punch, but sometimes they’re misunderstood or go unquestioned. When you hear the following 10 words and phrases, I’d advise you to put them under a magnifying glass:
1.

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST financial risk we face? Today, many folks would point to the possibility of a recession, a stock market plunge and perhaps both. Indeed, those are perennial perils—but perhaps they shouldn’t be our biggest worries. Looking to lose sleep? Here are 50 other dangers we face:

Really, really long-term care.
Your financial advisor turns out to be a crook.
Your spouse leaves.
Double-digit inflation.
Your new neighbor specializes in personal-injury lawsuits.
Your son just got his driver’s license.

TAKE ANY MONEY ISSUE and you’re sure to find detailed guidance—some so complicated that it’s largely ignored, regardless of its potential benefit.
The following is not intended to make light of the difficulty some people have with money. Still, a little straightforward information helps. Let’s strip personal finance down to its basics:
1. “I can’t afford to save.” It’s easy: Put savings first, and then figure out what you can and can’t afford.

PREPARING FOR retirement is like running a marathon. It requires dedication, discipline and endurance.
But there’s also a crucial difference.
When you cross the finish line in a marathon, you know the race is over. But when you quit the workforce, it’s much harder to figure out whether you’ve successfully reached retirement. Why? A happy and prosperous retirement is about money, but it’s also about so much more than money. Here are 15 signs that a wonderful retirement likely lies ahead:

You don’t need an online calculator to tell you that you have enough money,

IT’S THE LABOR DAY weekend, which is hardly the time for a nerdy article on the finer points of personal finance. Instead, I’ll leave you to spend the weekend pondering 11 great unanswered financial questions:

Who does more financial damage, stockbrokers or life insurance agents?
Is taking Social Security early and then assuming you’ll make double-digit gains by investing the money a brilliant strategy—or utterly delusional?
Is a home the best investment you’ll ever make or a money-sucking pile of bricks?

IDEAS ARE TOOLS THAT can help us see the world with greater clarity. Indeed, I find myself returning to certain financial notions again and again, because they’re so fundamental to understanding the world of finance and how we can make our lives better.
What are the most important ideas? I decided to create a new chapter for HumbleDollar’s online money guide, which covers the 15 notions I consider most crucial:

Humility
Simplicity
Control
Instincts
Future Self
Hedonic Treadmill
Signaling
Human Capital
Be an Owner
Risk and Reward
Opportunity Cost
Compounding
Skewness
Risk Pooling
Enough

Arguably,