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Percentage that “age in place”

Keith Pleas | May 24, 2026

"Count my husband and me among those aging in place. We’re both 83 and in reasonably good health. Our house, which is over 100 years old, is 21/2 stories— not including the basement. We still use all of it — though we’ve remodeled over the years to accommodate living only on the first floor if that becomes necessary. We hire lawn care and snow removal, and have a contractor who quickly responds to any maintenance issues. I still cook the majority of meals and my husband and I split housework tasks— we’ve tried a number of cleaning services but so far all seem to leave the house dirtier than they found it! Our neighbors are both younger and some even older than we are. That’s great— we really like interacting with the young kids, teens, as well as the adults of varying ages. We also go to the gym three times a week; it is operated by the Unuverdity and caters to an older clientele— nobody wears spandex! I see independent living in a CCRC as a big gamble that can sacrifice loss of privacy and monetary resources. Both of my parents and in-laws died within months of receiving diagnoses of serious illness; that fact may color my judgment. Both my husband and I have Long Term Care insurance, and our pensions would also cover nursing and memory care. Our children have been told that we will accept care if and when we need it. (Our son is an MD, and I know he surreptitiously checks our mental and physical abilities every time we meet.). We will have to pay higher rates for direct admission to assisted living and above, but we have the resources to do that. The best CCRCs in our area offer that option, but we will probably relocate closer to one of our kids. I have many friends who are following a similar plan as ours, but I also know a few who have entered CRCCs. I truly doubt either option is totally perfect. I also know one couple that has an apartment in a CCRC, but continues to live in their house a few miles away. I guess that’s the ultimate hedging their bets!"

- Marilyn Lavin

Inflation and Innovation

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | May 23, 2026

ECONOMICS IS KNOWN as “the dismal science,” and perhaps for good reason. Oftentimes it can be abstract and overly academic. There are, however, certain economic concepts that can be helpful to individual investors. Below are two that I see as especially important. When it comes to the government’s ability to control—or least influence—the economy, there are two main levers. The first is fiscal policy, which refers to Congress’s (as well as state and local governments') ability to levy taxes and to spend money. The most well known economist associated with fiscal policy was John Maynard Keynes. During economic downturns, Keynes argued, governments shouldn’t hesitate to spend more—and to run deficits, if need be—to help reduce unemployment and lift the economy back up. This is a generally accepted concept today, but in the 1930s, in the depths of the Great Depression, it was not obvious, and many believe that policymakers’ efforts to exercise fiscal discipline by balancing the budget during the Depression ended up prolonging the misery. It wasn’t until the mid-1930s, in fact, that President Roosevelt changed his view on this question. In their correspondence, Keynes convinced Roosevelt that loosening up on fiscal discipline, though counterintuitive, was the best way to bring the economy back to health. This approach has been used in every recession since. Most recently, during the pandemic, the government issued several rounds of stimulus payments to help bolster consumer finances. Monetary policy is the government’s second key lever. Unlike fiscal policy, monetary policy is the domain of the Federal Reserve. When you hear about the government “printing money,” it’s the Fed they’re referring to. Through a unique process, the Fed is able to create dollars out of thin air and then to use those dollars to help support the economy during downturns. During the pandemic, the Fed created trillions of new dollars through this mechanism. The Fed also lowered short-term interest rates, which it controls, in a further effort to nudge consumers to open their wallets. Both fiscal and monetary policy are powerful. But as we’ve seen in recent years, each can also carry side effects. In the case of fiscal policy, spending too much for too long can drive the deficit to unsustainable levels. This has become a persistent problem. Though it’s now been several years since the pandemic, the federal government is still running deficits of about $2 trillion per year. In round numbers, taxes bring in about $5 trillion, but spending exceeds $7 trillion. Of particular concern is the fact that more than $1 trillion of that $7 trillion must now be allocated to interest payments on all the accumulated debt. To put that in perspective, we’re now spending more on interest than on defense. Is this situation sustainable? Here’s how I think about it: Imagine an individual with an annual income of $50,000 who spends $70,000 each year, including $10,000 in credit card payments. At some point, something will need to change, but neither political party seems interested in tackling it, for the obvious reason that any solution would require either raising taxes or cutting spending. Neither would be popular, so the deficits persist. The consequence of overdoing it with monetary policy is also serious: inflation. That’s what we saw very significantly in 2021 and 2022, and that’s where monetary and fiscal policy can become intertwined. For a brief period during the pandemic, a concept known as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) gained popularity. The argument was that countries like the United States, with very large economies, were essentially immune to inflation risk and could print money almost without limit. It turned out, though, that MMT was a theory with no basis in reality, and that deficits do matter. Since ancient times, excessive use of monetary policy has always resulted in inflation, and that was exactly what we saw as a result of the Fed’s extraordinary monetary interventions in 2020. After inflation rose to nearly 10% in 2022, the Fed was forced to reverse course and raise interest rates. That had the desired effect of slowing inflation, but it then caused another problem: Since the government has to issue new bonds practically every day, higher rates have the effect of driving up the government’s borrowing costs, which then worsens the deficit. Higher interest rates also hurt consumers, especially those looking to buy homes. This, unfortunately, describes the situation we’re in today. In an effort to combat the pandemic, the government used both of the levers that it had, but now it’s effectively out of ammunition. Federal debt held by the public just recently climbed above 100% of gross domestic product for the first time since 1946. The Wall Street Journal referred to this as “a once-unthinkable threshold.” But before we declare the situation hopeless, it’s important to look at a separate concept in economics. In 1942, Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter released a book titled Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. Among the concepts Schumpeter proposed was the notion of “creative destruction.” The idea—central to capitalist systems—was that entrepreneurs could always be counted on to move technology forward. At the same time, this meant that older technologies and companies would regularly find themselves pushed aside by new innovations. Importantly, though, Schumpeter argued that the net effect would be greatly positive. The evidence in favor of Schumpeter is all around us. Horse-and-buggy companies went out of business when the automobile was invented. Pony Express gave way to the telegram, then to the telephone. Typewriter manufacturers are mostly gone. And so on. And yet, despite all these changes, unemployment is under 5%, the economy is larger than it’s ever been, and income-per-capita is at an all-time high. What’s the relationship between Schumpeter’s theory and the earlier discussion about the government’s debt situation? You may recall that in the late-1990s, the federal government surprised observers when it began to run budget surpluses after years of deficits. How did things suddenly improve? Most attribute it to the productivity boom and stock market rally set in motion by the popularization of the internet. It's too early to know whether artificial intelligence will deliver the same economic benefits in the coming years as the web did 30 years ago. But as investors, this history is important to keep in mind. It’s a reminder that, in making financial decisions, we should be careful about reacting to economic forecasts. To be sure, the government’s financial health doesn’t look great, but as history has shown, this could change. Adam M. Grossman is the founder of Mayport, a fixed-fee wealth management firm. Sign up for Adam's Daily Ideas email, follow him on X @AdamMGrossman and check out his earlier articles.

Gift to Myself

ArticleKathy Wilhelm | Apr 12, 2024

LATE LAST OCTOBER, I was one of the first to move into the new building at my chosen continuing care retirement community, or CCRC. Now, more than five months later, I’m more confident than ever that I made a good decision.

I’m in my mid-70s, single and childless, with relatives 3,000 miles distant in both directions. Both bathrooms at my old home were up 15 stairs. Aging in place was not a good option.

Now, I have a large apartment, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a den and a balcony. There's plenty of daylight, including in the kitchen, which has full-size appliances and a huge island. The washer and dryer, also huge, have their own closet. My study—with its six bookcases and a big desk—occupies the second bedroom. The setup of both the study and the main bedroom are effectively unchanged from my house. The apartment is cleaned weekly—I'm planning to switch to every other week—and the guy who answers my maintenance requests is great.

There’s no shortage of advice on “aging well,” which generally includes recommendations to exercise, eat a healthy diet and stay socially engaged. Since I moved in, I've been using the weight machines and the treadmill in the well-equipped gym, and I'm starting tai chi. In the week ahead, for those of us in independent living, there's a choice of more than 40 exercise classes, including aqua exercise, barre and cardio strength—and that doesn’t count table tennis and pickleball games.

Right now, I'm staying with my primary care physician, rather than switching to the onsite clinic, but I’m getting my vaccinations there. I could attend a webinar on tinnitus next week or one on diet later in the month. And I've already seen the continuing care concept at work: A couple of residents injured themselves during move-in. After time in hospital, they stayed in the CCRC’s skilled nursing facility, before being cleared to move into their apartments.

There's a lot going on, including charitable activity for both onsite and offsite recipients. Residents run the gift shop and a semi-annual yard sale to raise money for the residents’ association. This funds the budgets for 15 main committees and a number of sub-committees, including the library, which is run by residents and led by a former professional librarian. A professional director for the choir and a trainer for the dance team are also paid out of these funds. A residents’ council with elected representatives from the various floors and cottage groupings oversees the association's budget and acts as the liaison with management.

There are separate fund-raising drives for the foundation that supports residents who run out of money and for employee appreciation. (There's no tipping.) Then there's an annual event for Rise Against Hunger, and ongoing projects for homeless veterans and a local charity shop. Plenty of social events, too. I volunteer in the gift shop and the library, and put puzzles together for the charity shop. I've been on lunch outings, socialized at “meet and greets,” attended committee meetings, classes and onsite entertainment, and made new friends.

I've seen complaints on HumbleDollar about living with a bunch of old people. Of course, there are very old people here—residents seem to live a long time. There are also a lot of less old people, especially in the new building where I live. Some people are still working, while others are active volunteers offsite. You need to be at least age 62 to move in, but your spouse could be as young as 55.

Food is a perennial topic of conversation, and its quality varies. There’s some excellent but expensive food—paid in dining points—which I indulge in only once or twice a month. The two bars offer very good bar snacks that don't quite make a meal. A sit-down restaurant with table service usually has good food, but occasionally misses. Other options are a not-bad cafe and a food-court-style eatery that I find short on healthy options. Still, the dining director does listen to residents and some better choices are showing up. For instance, all locations recently switched from white to brown rice.

Between making new friends and volunteering, I’ve been staying very busy—so busy, in fact, that I’m blocking off Sunday as “introvert recharge day.” A friend who’s considering his next move is concerned that a CCRC is no place for an introvert. But if you want to eat all your meals in your apartment, and only venture out to pick up your food and your mail, you could. Still, given the advice to maintain social connections as we age, that doesn't seem like a particularly good idea.

It's a bit early for me to be sure how the financial side will work out. My move wasn't cheap—I’d used the same senior movers before—and I had some distinctly expensive periodontal work done in December and January. I’ll know more when I see the effect of the change on my tax situation. Part of my monthly fee is deductible as a pre-paid medical expense, as was part of my entry fee.

Existing residents are extremely welcoming and seem happy. I still believe, as I and others have posted here before, that a move to a CCRC is the best gift you can give your kids. If you're childless, it's the best gift you can give to yourself. But research is critical. Avoid for-profit CCRCs, make sure the facility will keep you if you run out of money, check the financials and be sure to visit in person.

Kathy Wilhelm, who comments on HumbleDollar as mytimetotravel, is a former software engineer. She took early retirement so she could travel extensively. Some of Kathy's trips are chronicled on her blog. Born and educated in England, she has lived in North Carolina since 1975. Check out Kathy's previous articles.

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Time to scrap IRAs, 401k, 403b and all the rest

R Quinn | May 21, 2026

"Just like a Roth you would not be taxed on after tax contributions or earnings."

- R Quinn

The Financial Stress a Simple Document Could Have Prevented

Lucretia Ryan | May 23, 2026

"My understanding from my reading The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Tock Louder by Ed Slott (considered the preeminent expert on IRAs) is that trust should generally not be the beneficiary unless there are very specific circumstances such as minor children, or it is a see through trust. After reading the book I contacted our estate attorney and he confirmed our estate is designed appropriately."

- David Lancaster

Should Retirees Get a Temporary Flat Tax Window on IRA and 401(k) Withdrawals?

Jeff Peck | May 18, 2026

"What about state and local income tax? How would that work?"

- Ormode

Deeply Rooted

ArticleMark Crothers | May 23, 2026

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. Mum had been comfortable, if lonely, in retirement. She was a widow for twenty-five years, and she often said with genuine surprise in her voice that she was better off financially than at any other point in her life. Not having to worry about money was a relief she never took for granted. But here's the thing: she never really thought about money either. She wasn't driven by possessions or status. She had what she needed, she was grateful, and she got on with living. Money was background noise to her, not the tune she danced to. What surprised me most came in her final year, when she was deeply confused and often entirely detached from reality. Among all the things her mind could have snagged on, the one conversation loop she returned to with unsettling clarity was money. She was convinced she had none. It made her anxious in a way that was painful to witness, a raw, childlike insecurity that seemed to rise from somewhere far deeper than conscious thought. I would reassure her, calmly and repeatedly, that her savings were healthy and there was absolutely nothing to worry about. I would joke about her bank balance making me jealous and she needed to go on a shopping spree. Sometimes it settled her. Often it didn't last more than a few minutes before the worry surfaced again. The memory care unit understandably discouraged residents from keeping personal cash, but I often broke that rule. Whenever I visited and could see that familiar agitation building, I'd press a few low value bills into her hand. Nothing significant, just the texture of something real. It worked in a way that words alone couldn't compete with. She'd look down at the money, close her fingers around it, and the tension would ease from her shoulders. She felt safe again, at least for a little while. Although, we often moved on to worrying about finding a purse to stash the bills in. For a woman who gave so little thought to money and nothing to status, I found it striking, strange even, that financial anxiety was what surfaced when the rational layers of her mind were stripped away. It made me think about what dementia actually reveals. It doesn't invent fears, it sometimes uncovers them. The fog clears away the learned, the sophisticated, the socially conditioned, and leaves something older and more fundamental underneath. At the time, I read up on this anxiety, there's some neuroscience behind it. Emotional memory, the kind wired to survival and feeling rather than fact, is stored differently in the brain and tends to be far more resilient. Dementia strips back the rational layers first. What it sometimes leaves behind is older, deeper, and harder to reach. In my mum's case, that something was the primal need to feel secure. She had grown up shaped by post-war austerity, widowhood, and years of careful budgeting on a single income. She would have been a young woman when rationing finally ended. In the world she grew up in, money wasn't abstract: it was coal for the fire and food on the table, shoes that lasted another winter without needing replacing. I think that connection between having and feeling safe wasn't a conclusion she'd reasoned her way to. It was lived, year after year, until it settled somewhere beneath thought entirely. Security and money had become inseparable, written into her long before she ever had reason to question it. I've thought about this a lot since we lost her. The concept of financial security isn't just something we think about, it seems to be something we feel, right down in the oldest parts of ourselves. It runs beneath logic, beneath personality, beneath even memory. My mum could and did forget my name on a bad day, but she could not shake the feeling that not having money meant not being safe. That instinct had been laid down so early and reinforced so consistently across a lifetime that dementia, for all its cruelty, couldn't fully reach it. To me, it says something profound about how deeply rooted our relationship with money really is. It seems to be wrapped around the core of our being. Losing my mum the way I did, piece by piece and conversation by conversation, was one of the hardest things I've been through. But in the heartbreak, she gave me this unexpected insight, pressed into my mind just as firmly as I had secretly pressed those bills into hers. Beneath everything we build and believe and become, there are feelings so fundamental they outlast nearly everything else. She reminded me that understanding our relationship with money isn't just a financial exercise, it's a deeply human one. Maybe it goes some way to explaining why we make choices that are sometimes irrational. And she did it, characteristically, without ever meaning to teach me a thing.

Mark Crothers is a retired small business owner from the UK with a keen interest in personal finance and simple living. Married to his high school sweetheart, with daughters and grandchildren, he knows the importance of building a secure financial future. With an aversion to social media, he prefers to spend his time on his main passions: reading, scratch cooking, racket sports, and hiking.

My Father: The Peace He Never Found

Andrew Clements | May 20, 2026

"Thank you for such an honest and thoughtful comment. I think many people quietly wrestle with the same fears you described, especially after decades where work, responsibility, and providing for family become such a large part of our identity. One thing writing this article taught me is that retirement itself is not the destination we sometimes imagine it to be. Financial security matters greatly, but purpose, connection, structure, and relationships matter just as much. The fact that you are already reflecting so deeply on these things tells me you are approaching retirement with a great deal of self-awareness. I suspect that awareness will ultimately serve you well. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts."

- Andrew Clements

Final Arrangements: A Learning Curve

DrLefty | Aug 18, 2024

"Thanks for this reminder. It’s not an easy thing to do but it must be done!"

- Nick Politakis

Final Countdown

ArticleMichael Perry | Sep 15, 2021

AS I TYPE THIS, I’m less than a week from walking out the door of my workplace for the last time, bringing my second career to a close. I’m looking forward to the rest of my life. We’ve been anticipating this day and we’re more than ready. My wife is already retired. My work for a large corporation is fine, but I’m not passionate about it. While there are some positive aspects to where we currently live, the best part is the airport. We predicted some time ago that, if my job still had us here when we got to this point, we’d be calling it quits and taking our life’s possessions elsewhere. We’ve thought a lot about how we’ll support ourselves financially—what combination of pension benefit, retirement accounts, taxable accounts and Social Security benefits will carry us through the rest of our lives. Maybe that’s a topic for a future article. Short version: We’re comfortable with our situation and we have no hesitation about our decision to retire. We’ve also thought a lot about where and how to live, which is also a subject for another day. Short version again: We haven’t decided. We aren’t in as much of a hurry to move as we expected to be. One reason: We didn’t anticipate some of our close relatives would be living in Spain. There’s no telling how long they’ll be there, so—before we do anything else—we’ll spend some time with them. And who knows? In the next few years, we may make a surprise addition to our future hometown shortlist. A lot of folks find it bittersweet to leave behind fulltime work. I get it. Leaving my first career in the military was like that. But this time, I’m happy to say it’s all sweet.

Country Club Venture Capital

Mark Crothers | May 17, 2026

"My girls were singers, not dancers. In high school, my older daughter got into the madrigal choir, which required a renaissance costume. I paid $1500 for a local seamstress to make it for her. This was back in 2004! I was quite relieved when her younger sister chose the jazz choir instead. That outfit only cost $200."

- DrLefty

Taste Bud Training

Mark Crothers | May 22, 2026

"We did a chauffeured foodie tour in the region and went to a Balsamico farm (?) which included lunch for just the two of us. In addition we went to a Lambrusco winery which is the grape they use to make Balsamico, as well as a Reggiano parmasean (I affectionately call it Reggie) facility. To see the wheels stacked floor to ceiling was amazing."

- David Lancaster

Percentage that “age in place”

Keith Pleas | May 24, 2026

- Marilyn Lavin

Inflation and Innovation

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | May 23, 2026

Gift to Myself

ArticleKathy Wilhelm | Apr 12, 2024

I’m in my mid-70s, single and childless, with relatives 3,000 miles distant in both directions. Both bathrooms at my old home were up 15 stairs. Aging in place was not a good option.

[xyz-ihs snippet="Donate"]

Time to scrap IRAs, 401k, 403b and all the rest

R Quinn | May 21, 2026

"Just like a Roth you would not be taxed on after tax contributions or earnings."

- R Quinn

The Financial Stress a Simple Document Could Have Prevented

Lucretia Ryan | May 23, 2026

- David Lancaster

Should Retirees Get a Temporary Flat Tax Window on IRA and 401(k) Withdrawals?

Jeff Peck | May 18, 2026

"What about state and local income tax? How would that work?"

- Ormode

Deeply Rooted

ArticleMark Crothers | May 23, 2026

My Father: The Peace He Never Found

Andrew Clements | May 20, 2026

- Andrew Clements

Final Arrangements: A Learning Curve

DrLefty | Aug 18, 2024

"Thanks for this reminder. It’s not an easy thing to do but it must be done!"

- Nick Politakis

Manifesto

May 24, 2026

NO. 49: WE SHOULD ensure our family will be okay financially, even if we aren’t around. That means making sure there’s enough money—and making sure our affairs are well organized.

think

May 25, 2026

IMPUTED RENT. Folks love to boast about their home’s price appreciation. But after deducting maintenance costs, property taxes and insurance, we might barely break even on the price gain. Instead, often the biggest return comes from the imputed rent—the fact that we get to live in the place. Each year’s imputed rent might equal 6% or 7% of a home’s value.

act

May 25, 2026

CHECK YOUR CREDIT reports. Every week, you can get a free copy of your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus by heading to AnnualCreditReport.com. Look not only for mistakes, but also for accounts you don’t recognize. The latter could be a sign that your identity has been stolen. While you’re at it, you might find out your credit score.

Truths

May 24, 2026

NO. 60: SHORT-TERM results matter to long-term investors. Even if you’re investing for the long haul and have a strong stomach for short-term price swings, this volatility can have a huge impact on your long-run returns. Want to retire rich? Pray for lousy markets as you regularly save money during your working years—and buoyant markets as you approach retirement.

Money Guide

Manifesto

May 24, 2026

NO. 49: WE SHOULD ensure our family will be okay financially, even if we aren’t around. That means making sure there’s enough money—and making sure our affairs are well organized.

Spotlight: Estate Plan

The predatory nature of T. Rowe Price (TRP) when trying access to my parents assets

Nivek Mah | Jun 22, 2024

Below is a copy of a review I left on trust pilot. It’s hardly any consolation that I was not the only person to experience their deceptive tactics. See link below: (https://www.trustpilot.com/review/troweprice.com)
This review is in response to T.Rowe Price’s (TRP) concerted efforts to prevent me from getting access to my parents assets after their passing. As an executor and trustee I had full and legal rights to these funds. My estate attorney was “quite frankly ASTOUNDED” by their refusal to share information with me in spite of my status of trustee.

Signing up for pre-planned funeral services: Is it worth it?

smr1082 | Jul 23, 2024

The last few days have been hectic, attending a funeral for a friend as well as an information session by a local funeral home.
I learned a lot from the presentation on funeral services. Pre-planned funerals can ease the burden on survivors. They claim it is cost effective by locking in current prices. Services these days can be extensive and cover death even on a cruise ship or a foreign country. They also offer incentives (discounts,

How young is too young to receive an inheritance?

Rick Connor | Aug 25, 2024

My wife and I just had our wills and POAs redone. We changed our domicile form PA to NJ a few years ago, and it was recommended we have them updated. I was surprised how different some of the documents were from state to state. For example, NJ has an 11 day period before a will can be probated, starting form the date of death. PA does not have that. The Medical POA and Advanced Directive was very narrative driven;

In My Absence

Dennis Friedman | Apr 26, 2024

EVER SINCE I RETIRED, mornings are the best part of my day. I always go for a long, quiet walk before sunrise. The only person I usually see is Mark, walking his dog. It’s a great way to start my day. By the time I get home, my wife is up and we have breakfast together.
Last week, I had coffee with Eric, Rob and Craig. We met at a Starbucks in the neighborhood where I used to live.

Follow Those Values

Douglas W. Texter | Jul 26, 2023

I SAT IN THE LAWYER’S office in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2011. He was handling the high six-figure inheritance I was about to receive. I should have been overjoyed, but I was exhausted.
In fall 2004, my mother, a 70-year-old former elementary school teacher, had suffered a massive stroke and developed vascular dementia. My father, a 76-year-old former elementary school principal, had tried to take care of her by himself. He fell ill in summer 2006 and died that fall.

No Slowing Down

Jonathan Clements | Jul 27, 2024

WHO HAS TIME TO die? I never realized death would be so busy.
I thought I had my financial affairs in good order. But in the two months since my cancer diagnosis, I’ve made countless financial tweaks, mostly with a view to making things easier after my death for my wife Elaine and my two children.
Here are just some of the steps I’ve taken:

I took my two checking accounts—my personal account and the business account for HumbleDollar—and made Elaine the joint account holder with rights of survivorship.

Friends at Every Turn

Jeff Bond | Sep 11, 2024

MY RETIREMENT IN July 2020 came at a stressful time. I was recovering from knee replacement surgery and we were in the midst of the pandemic. Luckily, I had physical therapy goals to meet, and I’d already purchased a huge supply of reading material. TV, music and my laptop were also there to distract me. In addition, my wife had retired eight months before, so we had each other for company. As the pandemic stretched on, we invited friends to visit. We met on our uncovered open-air porch. Summers in North Carolina can be hot and buggy affairs, but our porch features the afternoon shade of a big poplar tree, and we had several large fans. As summer progressed to fall and winter, we added a propane porch heater and a collection of electric blankets to the mix, so everyone could be as comfortable as possible. All this was part of a conscious strategy. I make a big effort to stay connected with friends and family, and I don’t necessarily wait for someone to contact me. The fact is, social connections are crucial to a happy retirement. Loneliness has been described as an epidemic, and its health impact has been compared to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. I’m often the organizer of get-togethers because I enjoy them, plus many of my friends are still working, so for me it’s not a huge effort to send out a couple of emails to organize a small gathering. In fact, I’ve learned that there are ample opportunities for a vibrant social life. For instance, I often reserve Thursday nights to play pool with a collection of friends who I mostly met during my time as a Boy Scout leader. We spend a few hours talking about kids, grandkids, activities, vacations and current events,…

Updating by Addition

Jeff Bond | Oct 23, 2024

MY WIFE AND I purchased a 1942 bungalow when we got married in 2013. It met many of our criteria: price, location, spacious backyard, access to greenways and more. But the place also had drawbacks—including the one described below. The entryway to the house included a climb up seven steps to a stoop. The stoop was small, large enough for only one person to stand while opening the storm door. The only protection from the weather was an old canvas awning. The precast concrete steps were structurally sound but had shifted. This was a known issue and obvious when we agreed to purchase the place. The last step up to the stoop was around 11 inches, while the others were around seven-and-a-half inches. Rust was consuming the iron handrail. The longer we lived there, the more I thought we should remove the stoop, steps and railing, and add a front porch large enough to entertain friends. The porch would be open air, but with a roof and overhangs, have safe stairs, sturdy handrails and sufficient room to maneuver around our front door. My wife was not keen on the idea. She thought our uncovered back deck had plenty of space for entertaining. Still, we agreed to investigate cost and design ideas with a general contractor. We knew the contractor from an earlier project. He responded with double-barrel unwelcome news. First, the estimated cost was sky-high, more than we expected. Second, he said that the porch would violate zoning setback requirements, meaning it would be too close to the property line. Over time, we knew that we had to do something to address the steps. We spoke to a friend, one who’s also a contractor. He showed us his suggested design, which we liked. He thought he could do all the construction work…

Choosing the right executor/trustee

Jeff Bond | Dec 10, 2025

Creating a will or trust is an important part of financial planning. Consider how the asset allocation of your retirement investments might change with age, perhaps being aggressive when you’re young and becoming more conservative as you get older. When you create your will as a young person with a growing family, your concerns are different from when you are older and evaluating your ability to retire. For example, my first wife and I created wills that provided for each other if one of us died early, and to provide for our children if both of us died. In addition to assessing financial considerations, it required us to identify who would raise our children if we were both out of the picture. Fortunately, none of those circumstances occurred. My second wife and I have created wills and trusts that protect each other. I am five years older than my wife, and women on average live longer than men. I will likely die before she does, so my will and trust take that into account. But the trusts also consider that we both have children from prior marriages. We want to make sure our assets are not comingled, ensuring that my wife’s children receive her financial legacy, and my children receive mine. This sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. My wife and I keep our finances separate except for a joint checking account and a few credit cards. Our home is jointly owned with the right of the survivor to stay in the home. Eventually our children will receive the proceeds from the sale. I served as executor and trustee to my father’s estate. My mother predeceased my father by five years, so he was executor and trustee of her estate. After my father died, I found that he had not…

How Did You Announce Your Retirement?

Jeff Bond | Aug 13, 2024

Ken Cutler’s question about his retirement status made me think about how my retirement started. I’m curious about what path you all followed. As I approached retirement in 2020, I considered how much notice to give my employer. I had worked for the company for 20 years. I was not a manager, but I was an expert technical professional and had carved out a very specialized niche within the organization. Substantial organizational changes were implemented during the first three months of the calendar year and as a result I had three different managers over a very short span of time. Because I had questions about exit benefits, vacation pay, 401(k) handling, and other details, I decided to discuss my thoughts with HR. My HR contact set a time for a confidential discussion. I told her I planned to provide notice three to four months in advance, and leave on the last Friday of June 2020, which would be the 26th. I was very surprised to hear her response. She said I did not owe my employer that kind of notice. I should give notice two weeks before I plan to leave. Employee loyalty was misplaced for anyone not working in the executive suite. The company could choose to lay me off at any time with no warning. Performance and salary reviews would occur during that span of time, and I would lose the incremental increase if they knew I was leaving. She also recommended I wait one more week, because leaving on July 3rd meant I would be paid for the July 4th Holiday on the following Monday. I scheduled knee replacement surgery to happen very early in the year. The pandemic put that on hold, but I was still able to get the surgery done in May. I was…

DST Transitioning

Jeff Bond | Nov 9, 2024

This has nothing to do with HD finances, but much to do with HD living. Every six months or so we see newspaper or online articles questioning the value of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Some argue that it should never be implemented, while others say it should be permanent, with no changes. Others like it the way it is. Before I retired, DST really had a minimal impact on me. Except for a short stint on a construction site, my career positioned me in an office fulltime. I had to transition my sleeping habits a bit, and that’s really it. I modified my daytime activities such as exercise, yardwork, or consideration for sleeping neighbors, but that was easy. Now that I’m retired, I don’t really care about DST at all, as I can pick my time for important activities whenever I wish. Before retirement, I got up each morning at 6 AM for 40+ years. I’ve been retired for 4 years. I still wake up early, and that’s OK with me. I enjoy the early morning solitude. I try to be quiet for the benefit of my still-sleeping wife. There is one member of our family that has great difficulty with DST. Liza, our dog, is currently waking an hour early (based on the human clock). This impacts me, as I am the main provider of early morning services such as walks, food & water, and medication. I realize it’s been barely a week since we went off DST, but she is stubbornly hanging on to “her” habits of when to go out and when to be fed. This lack of transition especially impacted me this morning, as I was sleeping very soundly when she barked with insistence about an hour earlier than I wished. This caused a change from…

Rolling Right Along

Jeff Bond | Jun 4, 2024

I BEGAN MY CAREER as a part-time employee for an engineering consulting firm. At the time, I was working on my master’s degree in mechanical engineering. I shifted to full-time when I’d wrapped up my coursework but before completing my research and oral defense. Over the next four years, I finished that degree and passed the national exam to become a registered professional engineer. I also got married, and bought a dog, a second car and a house. In other words, I jumped straight into middle class life. I was the company’s seventh employee. The firm grew and I progressed. When I turned age 30, I opened IRAs for both me and my wife, thinking we’d never work for companies that provided pensions. An acquaintance recommended I choose Vanguard Group’s S&P 500-index fund (symbol: VFIAX) and Windsor Fund (VWNDX). At the time, an individual’s annual IRA contribution was limited to $2,000. In the early 1980s, my employer introduced a 401(k) plan and I immediately joined. The plan was administered by a bank and the fund offerings were less than stellar, but it allowed me to contribute more than $2,000 a year. Meanwhile, after some years of success, the company started to struggle. A slowdown in our core business led to shrinking paychecks for principals like me, so I ceased contributions to the 401(k). Everyone else did, too. I found out the company hadn’t made all the plan contributions for months, even though the money had been withheld from our paychecks. We later learned that the same was true for state and federal tax withholding. The chief financial officer monitored the mail for checks every day. One day, he received a check large enough to cover all missed contributions to the 401(k). When he returned from the bank, he turned in…

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Choosing the right executor/trustee

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