Dear HumbleDollar Community, Last week there was a forum post penned by Dick Quinn on shopping carts.  This post was an inappropriate and unkind rant/lament that had no place on HumbleDollar.  We can all agree that this post should have been better moderated and that the comment thread which turned acrimonious should have been stopped.  Going forward, I kindly ask commentors take a mindful pause before commenting to prevent further igniting an already incendiary post.  And I kindly ask those who pen forum posts to think carefully about the personal finance lessons or observations they are sharing.  HumbleDollar provides a wealth of information from both its content and its community, so questions are always welcome. My husband Jonathan often spoke to me about the overall kindness, civility and intelligence of the HumbleDollar community.   Please do not prove him wrong.

NOVEMBER IS A GOOD time for tax planning. You still have enough time left in the year to make tax moves, but you’re close enough to December 31st to know what your income, deductions and credits might look like. Here are some tax moves to consider:   1. Maximizing retirement contributions Before the year ends, if you have the means, consider contributing the maximum allowed $23,500 to traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), and similar workplace plans. Even if you can’t max it out, increasing your contributions in November and December can still make a meaningful difference. And if your employer offers a match, make sure you’re contributing at least enough to get the full match.   2. Mega Backdoor Roth This strategy allows high-income earners to save even more in a Roth account, if permitted by a workplace retirement plan. For example, say you contribute the entire $23,500 to a pre-tax 401(k), and receive $10,000 in employer match. You can still contribute $36,500 to after-tax account if allowed by your plan. After contributing to the after-tax account, you can roll the funds over to a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), shielding them from future tax.   3. Backdoor Roth If you have a high income, you can’t contribute to a Roth IRA directly. But, there is a strategy called “Backdoor Roth”. It involves making a non-deductible contribution (so no tax deduction) to a Traditional IRA, and then converting the amount into Roth.  Importantly, you need to ensure that you have a $0 Traditional IRA/Rollover IRA/SEP/SIMPLE by December 31, otherwise, the conversion will be partially taxable. I wrote more about the Backdoor Roth strategy in a previous issue.   4. Optimizing Charitable Contributions If you’re planning to donate to charity before the end of the year, consider donating appreciated shares from your taxable brokerage account instead of cash. When you donate stock that has increased in value, you can deduct the full market value of the shares (up to a set AGI limit) without paying capital gains tax on the appreciation. After the donation, you can use the cash you had originally planned to give to buy back the same shares. This effectively increases your cost basis in those shares, which reduces your future capital gains tax when you eventually sell them.   5. Tax Loss Harvesting If you have stocks/ETFs that have a loss, consider selling them to offset gains from other investments or to claim up to a $3,000 capital loss deduction on your tax return. This strategy, known as tax loss harvesting, can reduce your taxable income and lower your overall tax bill. A common strategy for some investors is to sell a fund that tracks the S&P 500 at a loss, and rebuy a similar fund, say the Total US Market Fund. Looking at the S&P 500, it's down ~5% from its all time highs, so it could be a decent move. Just remember the wash sale rule: don’t buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days before OR after the sale, or the loss will be disallowed for tax purposes.   6. Tax Gain Harvesting If your taxable income is below $48,350 (or $96,700 for MFJ) in 2025, consider selling appreciated securities at a gain and buying them back. This increases the cost basis of your investment and lowers future tax liability. However, if state or local taxes apply, this strategy may not be worthwhile due to the opportunity cost of paying those taxes. This strategy is ideal for an investor in a no income tax/no capital gains tax state.   7. Maximize HSA HSAs provide many tax benefits, including a tax deduction, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for medical expenses. You can contribute $4,300 for individuals or $8,550 for families if you have a HDHP (minimum deductible of $1,650 for individuals and $3,300 for family coverage). Individuals age 55 and older can contribute an additional $1,000 "catch-up" contribution.  I personally maximize my HSA every year since my employer also provides a matching for it. It's a great way to save/invest for the future healthcare costs.   8. Business Entity If you are a business owner, choosing the right business structure can have a big impact on your taxes. For individuals with net income above $100,000, electing S corporation status could be a smart move. An S corp allows you to split your earnings between a reasonable salary and distributions. While your salary is subject to payroll taxes, distributions are not, which can reduce your self employment taxes. However, you have to analyze the payroll costs, including compliance, for maintaining that S corp status.    9. Track Expenses Most small business owners or people with a side hustle overpay taxes because they don't keep a good track of their expenses. Some of the smaller things like entity formation or business meals could get missed. This is why it's a good practice to have a separate business bank account and connect it to various bookkeeping softwares. Last minute bookkeeping often leads to missed opportunities and higher taxes. For self-employed individuals, tracking income and expenses consistently throughout the year can make quarterly estimated tax payments more accurate and reduce the risk of penalties.   10. Gift In 2025, you can gift up to $19,000 ($38,000 for married couples) per person without impacting your lifetime estate and gift tax exemptions ($15M in 2026). This won't reduce your taxes now but will allow you to strategically transfer wealth to your heirs tax free. This is especially relevant for individuals living in states that have a low exemption (like Oregon with $1M) Which ones are you going to take advantage of this year? Let me know in the comments!   Bogdan Sheremeta is a licensed CPA based in Illinois with experience at Deloitte and a Fortune 200 multinational.

ON AUG. 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon made the weighty decision to end the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold. By doing so, he drove a stake through the heart of the gold standard, a monetary system which fixed the worth of a unit of money to a specific amount of physical gold. Before that day, foreign central banks were able to exchange $35 for one ounce of gold from the vaults of the U.S. Federal Reserve. By closing the so-called gold window half a century ago, Nixon ushered in the current era of fiat money. Fiat currencies—which include all currencies in existence today—aren’t backed by anything tangible. Rather, their value depends entirely upon the collective trust of people making transactions in those currencies. If that confidence evaporates, so does the value of that money. What can lead to a loss of confidence in money? In a word, oversupply. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, and so it is with money. Print too much money and you devalue it. When a currency is devalued, inflation results. Gold is called a precious metal precisely because it’s rare and difficult to mine. Though many have tried, gold cannot be fabricated. Because of this and other unique qualities, the yellow metal has been a store of value for over two millennia. Gold’s value as an investment is far more controversial. Gold isn’t an investment in the traditional sense because it generates no cash flow. Result? There’s no way to assign an intrinsic value to an ounce of gold. In this regard, gold resembles other commodities. In all likelihood, however, gold will remain a store of value. Those who own gold, as I do, know that currencies have an uncomfortable history of being devalued. In my mind, gold is a form of insurance against this risk. How has gold performed as an investment over the past five decades? Surprisingly well, it turns out. In U.S. dollar terms, gold has appreciated 8.2% annually, on average, since Aug. 15, 1971. But what has really happened is that the dollar—and other currencies—have depreciated against gold. If you hold the value of gold constant, the U.S. dollar has lost 7.65% in purchasing power per year, on average, since the nation left the gold standard 50 years ago. Incidentally, advocates of cryptocurrencies claim they’re a store of value, too. Some go so far as to call them “digital gold.” I’m not smart enough to weigh in on cryptocurrencies. But it seems noteworthy to me that the number of cryptocurrencies has exploded from 66 to more than 5,000 since 2013. I prefer to own gold, which has a far longer history as a store of value.

FOR DECADES, RESEARCHERS have been looking at the link between money and happiness. The findings? In short, it’s a mixed bag. To be sure, there are ways that money can boost happiness, and below are some ideas to consider. But there are also obstacles to contend with. We’ll look first at the obstacles before turning to the recommendations.  The most significant challenge is the fact that—to a great extent—our happiness level is hard-wired into us. Everyone has a happiness “set point,” with the result that some people simply end up being happier than others, regardless of their finances or circumstances. People debate about how much that set point matters. To one degree or another, though, researchers agree that happiness isn’t entirely in our control. Another reality to be aware of: Happiness for most people follows a predictable pattern throughout life. Specifically, that pattern tends to be U-shaped, with happiness often dipping in early adulthood, as responsibilities begin to pile on. Buying a home, climbing the career ladder and raising children—these things all take work and can take a toll. The good news is that happiness tends to start rising again by the time folks hit their 40s. But it’s hard to sidestep those earlier, more challenging years. The third obstacle is what’s known as the Easterlin paradox. Richard Easterlin was a leading researcher on the psychology of money. One of his key findings was that when societies experience economic growth, the resulting rise in prosperity, counterintuitively, doesn’t seem to affect people’s happiness levels. Roughly the same percentage of Americans today report being very happy as did a hundred years ago, despite the vast improvement in our standard of living. Someone with just an average income today enjoys luxuries that John D. Rockefeller might have only dreamed of. Why doesn’t happiness improve along with standard of living? Easterlin’s conclusion was that it’s not just our absolute standard of living that matters; it’s our relative standing. That’s why Scandinavian countries tend to rank highly in global happiness surveys. If there are fewer people with outsized—and ostentatious—wealth, that tends to make everyone feel better. To be sure, these three factors are obstacles to contend with, and they’re generally hard to avoid. The good news, though, is that there are plenty of things that are well within our control, regardless of age or stage or financial standing. Below are five strategies you might consider as the new year approaches. Plan Suppose you’re thinking of taking a vacation next summer. Even if it’s several months away, happiness researchers suggest you start planning that vacation today. That’s because a finding in the research is that we derive enjoyment from looking forward to things. So if you increase the lead time before a vacation or other event you’re looking forward to, you’ll increase the enjoyment you derive from that experience. Give In a finding that’s been replicated more than once, giving has been found to boost happiness. Whether it’s to family, a friend in need or to an organized charity, giving almost universally brings us joy. According to the research, we get a lift from each gift we make. So writing five or 10 modest-sized checks may have more of a positive effect than one large donation. Organize Psychologists talk about the damaging effect of “open loops” in our minds. This refers to tasks that are unfinished. According to the research, they’re particularly unpleasant because they occupy disproportionate mental space. Suppose you have five items on your to-do list, but one of them is overdue. That one overdue task will tend to loom large, sapping energy, even while you’re working on the other items. That’s why I suggest keeping your financial life as simple as possible. The result, generally, will be fewer open loops to worry about. What does this mean in practice? First, I suggest structuring your household finances so that as many things as possible run on autopilot. If you have a credit card or cards, turn on the auto-pay feature so you don’t have to keep track of deadlines. Do the same with your rent or mortgage, with your insurance and with other critical services. If you’re in your working years, I suggest the pay-yourself-first approach to budgeting. Instead of trying to track every dollar—a task that few people have the time or discipline to undertake—instead simply divert a portion of your paycheck into savings before it even reaches your checking account. Other steps you can take to streamline your finances in 2026: If you have more than one bank, credit card or brokerage account, see if you can consolidate any of them. If you have old 401(k) accounts, roll the balances into your current employer’s plan or into an IRA. And within each account, see if you can streamline the number of holdings. You could use a free tool like Portfolio Visualizer to examine the correlation between two funds and see whether your portfolio would be materially affected by consolidating into just one. Buffer In organizing your finances, another step I recommend is to build in a buffer. While cash isn’t a great long-term investment, it can serve an important purpose in reducing open loops. Even if your bank doesn’t pay much in the way of interest, I’d still maintain an amount large enough that you don’t have to ever worry about running low. If that means selling some stocks now to build up a cash reserve, that strikes me as worthwhile. Delegate My neighbor tells me that he has an assistant who works remotely—from Romania. She takes care of standard things like managing his calendar but also helps with a variety of other tasks that he finds tedious, like booking travel and paying bills. All of this can be done from afar. A service like this might not make sense for everyone, but there’s a useful takeaway: If there are tasks you really dread, don’t resign yourself to living with them. Instead, see if there’s a way to delegate them. Indeed, one of the best possible uses for money is to buy time. On this point, all happiness researchers agree.   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.