Life Events

A $300 a week drug habit.
Over a year, it’s more than $15,000.
Over a decade, it’s well into six figures.
Over a lifetime, the total can be staggering.
After my sister died from a fentanyl overdose last year, I found out the cost of her addiction.
Then I realized I was measuring the wrong loss.
Some struggles arrive suddenly. Others quietly settle into a family and remain there for decades.
My sister struggled with addiction from her teenage years onward.

In April 2025, I watched the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral for the umpteenth time. I found tears rolling down my cheeks as one of the characters read the poem “Funeral Blues,” written by W.H. Auden, at the memorial service for his partner. What sparked the tears? The poem tells of the emotional devastation of losing a loved one. But for me, it highlighted my distress at knowing that all that brings me happiness—Elaine,

There are people who pass through our lives briefly, yet leave marks that time never erases. I briefly mentioned him in last week’s article, but his story deserves its own telling.
He was a teacher named Richard Hunter, though to nearly everyone at Bryanston School in Dorset, England, he was simply known as “Bunty.”
I arrived at boarding school at the age of ten. To some boys it may have been an adventure, but for others,

JUNE MARKS THREE years since my mum passed from complications of vascular dementia. It was a tough couple of years, watching her mind slowly fail and her world shrink a little more with each passing month. Anyone who has cared for a loved one in the late stages of dementia will know how difficult and disjointed even the simplest conversation becomes. The loops, the confusion, the frustration of trying to redirect someone you love from a thought they can no longer find their way out of.

Jonathan’s book, Money and Me, will be available on Amazon on May 26, with preorders open now.   (Click here to preorder.)
The book includes Jonathan’s reflections after his cancer diagnosis, along with his lifelong insights on money, financial management and living wisely.
Jonathan is missed by many. One meaningful way to honor him is by buying his book, and sharing it with those seeking financial freedom.
If for some reason the above link doesn’t work,

During a recent trip to the Philippines, I found myself watching the people who keep everything moving. From construction workers under the heat of the midday sun, laborers doing jobs that most would quietly avoid, jeepney drivers bringing people from A to B while barely making a profit. After that visit, I sat down and wrote a poem about their struggles. This is my attempt to turn that reflection into something more.
What I saw stayed with me.

I WAS 48 years old when the judgement was final and the papers were signed. My former wife and I split our net worth 50/50. There were no arguments over household items like furniture; I didn’t care about that stuff. Pam gladly accepted my proposal that she keep the house, and all its equity, in exchange for me keeping an offsetting amount of the IRAs and my 401(k), a very good move for my future self.

I LOVE TO PLAN. My wife, Sharon, often catches me nestled in my chair, gazing out a window at a distant object as my mind wanders even farther afield. My musings become scribbles on a scrap of paper, destined for discussion with Sharon at length over coffee and long walks. Eventually, we hammer out the settled strategies we think will best bring us happiness in adventures ranging from our next hike to the next few decades of life.

Three funerals in four weeks. A friend taken by bowel cancer. Another by a stroke. A third, most heartbreakingly of all, by his own hand. It’s got me thinking about life. The big questions no longer feel abstract; they feel like they’re sitting across the table, waiting.
So. Do you have any regrets about the choices you made in your younger years?
As the song goes, I have a few. Not spending more time with my daughters while they were growing up.

For context, I am 65, retired for seven years, married and have children and grandchildren. The lists below are based on my specific life details. I know items on your lists may be different, but I’d love to hear about them to learn from your experience.
Things I Am Doing Now As Compared To When I Was Younger

Learning to splurge a little more (as I am able)
Flying instead of driving
Using an Uber (versus park at the airport or ask someone for a ride)
Making larger financial gifts to loved ones (now instead of later)
Paying for meals at restaurants for our adult children and their families
Saving for the educational expense of grandchildren
Answering questions as the Identified go to person in my family for financial matters
Participating more at the local senior center I recently became a member.

I’m Jonathan’s brother, Andrew Clements.
I remember the crash of 2008–2009. Markets were nosediving with no end in sight. Fear was everywhere. Like many people, I wondered whether this time was different,  whether things might not recover.
I called my brother, Jonathan.
He told me to stay in the market. It would go back up, he said. And if it didn’t, well, then we were all royally screwed anyway.
So I stayed invested. And of course,

My hat’s off to the couples that got hitched right out of school and stayed that way, happily. That was not my reality. Young love, often ignited by intense physical attraction, often doesn’t ask the hard questions, or require clear answers even if the right questions are asked. And while achieving the age of 73 doesn’t make me an expert, I think everyone is entitled to my opinion, so here goes😉.
That intense physical energy is going to change over time,

My London based daughter came home again on Thursday for a long weekend, this time to go wedding dress shopping with the ladies of the family. The girls had a get-together the evening before the big dress shopping extravaganza, and since wedding talk was firmly on the agenda, I was duly exiled to my sunroom for the night. I’m pleased to report it was a successful mission and the bride said yes to a dress.
One of the greatest benefits of the wedding planning has been the regular visits home of my daughter.

SOMETIMES WORLD events beyond your control create a hard reset point in your financial life. A before and after. For me, that point was the 2007 Great Financial Crisis (GFC). The psychological scars still reverberate into my current life.
 
Looking back, I was aware of something rumbling about in the financial landscape but didn’t take much notice due to being deeply involved in running my business. Little did I realize the impact heading my way.

Another year begins, and I’m already thinking about how it might end—or if not this one, the next. I’m not sure “lucky” is the right word, but I’m past the hardest of my own sandwich years. Both my parents are gone now. My mum was the last to go, two years ago, after five years of slow decline from vascular dementia—five difficult, traumatic years. Through the pain of her loss, I also felt grateful it was over.