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Retirement, One Year On

DrLefty | Jul 1, 2026

"“Dust to settle” is a good way to put it, especially having just moved and planning a remodel. I’m getting my mind around the idea that this move means we’ve chosen some disruption of what was a comfortable life. Sometimes changing things up is good, though. But we’ll get back to calmer waters…eventually. I will pass on your kind words to the Mr. With a planned reduction to 50% time this fall for him, hopefully new music will emerge!"

- DrLefty

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Mark Crothers | Jun 25, 2026

"Leave it up to a Clements to cut to the quip 😁"

- DavidHLancaster

Jonathan’s Parting Thoughts: No. 9

Jonathan Clements | Jul 3, 2026

"Concise financial wisdom."

- Edmund Marsh

Disposing of Questionable Assets

Mark Crothers | Jul 2, 2026

"Dan, I think the sponsorship application just requires a fondness for stout and a healthy disregard for trifling things like rules, my uncle would have qualified twice over. Free national healthcare and complimentary Guinness means you could blow half your portfolio and never worry about the medical bills. As for the family's questionable track record, there are plenty more stories where that came from, I just need to keep finding a financial angle sturdy enough to hang them on!"

- Mark Crothers

What’s in your portfolio ?

Larry | Jun 12, 2026

"Thanks for posting. I agree with you, I believe it's an ongoing topic that continuously changes at different stages of life. For some more than others"

- L H

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

R Quinn | Jun 21, 2026

"That Halloween raven sounds amazing! Not for the first time, I wish we could post photos here."

- DrLefty

Exercising true frugality

R Quinn | Jul 1, 2026

"For about $17, you can get a box of cards at Costco (50 I think) that has a few for all possible occasions."

- Mike A

Independence Day

D.J. | Jun 29, 2026

"Michael, I share your goal of counting my individual stocks on one hand. Steady as you go, you'll get there. I keep a short "sell next" list of the stocks that I want to sell and update it at the beginning of each year. Some carry over from one year to next but invariably I seem to sell at least two every year. This year I have sold two already (and invested the proceeds promptly in various index funds). One approach that can add a little "juice" on the way out is to sell covered calls on the stocks you are looking to sell.Sometimes you can do this numerous times before the stock finally gets "called away". Whether the stock gets called or not, you have a nice little cash infusion from selling the covered calls for investing in....you guessed it..... index funds."

- Dunn Werking

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Andrew Clements | Jul 1, 2026

"Thank you so much Dan for your kind words. I smiled at your opening line. I often wonder how much of who we become is shaped by our experiences and how much by the people who come into our lives along the way. Whatever the answer, I know the Dolezals played an important part in mine. I’m grateful our paths crossed, and even more grateful that Mrs. Dolezdal’s letter reminded me of that all these years later."

- Andrew Clements

Luck, Stupidity, Automation and Inertia

Mark Crothers | Jun 27, 2026

"Kenneth, as you say, it's not rocket science — though I think having the excess means to do so is a harder ask than it used to be."

- Mark Crothers

Four Walls

Andrew Clements | Jun 24, 2026

"For those that would like to listen to the song on YouTube. https://youtu.be/1Psjws97FoA?is=mI0yZ0sAmmNjjLEf"

- Andrew Clements

Mr Market visits Art Basel

ricardodiaque | Jun 29, 2026

"I've been trading for a short amount of time Mark, but to answer your question: yes, but with crypto. The conclusion that I arrived at is that gains were made when I was watching the computer all the time, and as soon as I took a day off; losses took place. I do not want to live my life stuck in front of a computer, so I desisted. The long term plan would be to start my own venture, but not leave the workforce all together, again, that lifestyle seems lonely and harsh."

- ricardodiaque

Retirement, One Year On

DrLefty | Jul 1, 2026

- DrLefty

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Mark Crothers | Jun 25, 2026

"Leave it up to a Clements to cut to the quip 😁"

- DavidHLancaster

Jonathan’s Parting Thoughts: No. 9

Jonathan Clements | Jul 3, 2026

"Concise financial wisdom."

- Edmund Marsh

Disposing of Questionable Assets

Mark Crothers | Jul 2, 2026

- Mark Crothers

What’s in your portfolio ?

Larry | Jun 12, 2026

"Thanks for posting. I agree with you, I believe it's an ongoing topic that continuously changes at different stages of life. For some more than others"

- L H

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

R Quinn | Jun 21, 2026

"That Halloween raven sounds amazing! Not for the first time, I wish we could post photos here."

- DrLefty

Exercising true frugality

R Quinn | Jul 1, 2026

"For about $17, you can get a box of cards at Costco (50 I think) that has a few for all possible occasions."

- Mike A

Independence Day

D.J. | Jun 29, 2026

- Dunn Werking

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Andrew Clements | Jul 1, 2026

- Andrew Clements

Manifesto

Jul 3, 2026

NO. 76: WE SHOULD take comfort in knowing we made the best financial decisions possible with the information available at the time, while also realizing that’s no guarantee of success.

Truths

Jul 3, 2026

NO. 61: WILD investments can tame a portfolio. Prefer the comfort of U.S. large-cap stocks? You can modestly reduce short-term volatility by adding smaller U.S. companies and foreign shares. Such diversification is even more important over longer holding periods, because—in any particular decade—these three sectors often notch sharply different results.

humans

Jul 2, 2026

NO. 9: WE FAVOR possessions for their lasting value, but experiences often leave us happier. Why? Possessions’ lasting value is also their weakness. We have to maintain them and watch them deteriorate. By contrast, experiences are time limited, leaving us with fond memories that may grow fonder, as we forget the annoyances and recall the highlights.

think

Jul 2, 2026

LEVERAGE. Using debt can boost returns—or leave us broke. Let’s say we buy a $250,000 home. We put down 20%, or $50,000, and borrow the rest. If our home’s value rises to $300,000, the price gain is 20%, but the increase in our home equity would be 100%. Leverage, however, can cut both ways: A 20% price decline would wipe out our home equity.

Money Guide

Manifesto

Jul 3, 2026

NO. 76: WE SHOULD take comfort in knowing we made the best financial decisions possible with the information available at the time, while also realizing that’s no guarantee of success.

Spotlight: Houses

The Big Garden Dilemma: Aging in Places vs. Future Planning

Mark Crothers | Jul 3, 2025

As I’ve talked about recently I’m currently at my holiday home but strangely I’m thinking about my other house. I wanted to share something that’s been on my mind a lot lately, a kind of internal debate, I’m good at them! My wife, Suzie and I are in our late 50s, and we’ve reached a point where we feel it’s starting to feel important to get ahead of the curve and plan for our future living situation,

Financial Question

Martin Turnauer | Mar 26, 2025

My wife & I are 80 years old and planning to move into an over 55 age community.
We will sell our current home to purchase a home in the new community, however, the difference between selling and purchasing will leave us with about $200,000 shortfall.
Our combined total investments are:
$2.5 million in our IRA
$1.4 million in our Roth accounts
$2.1 million in our taxable brokerage accounts
Which would be the best source(s) for us to take the money for our new home purchase concerning taxes and additional financial points you are aware of?

California On Our Minds

Don Southworth | Mar 4, 2025

I just returned from a six-day silent retreat. What in the world could that have to do with retirement and financial life? Maybe nothing or maybe a lot. I’ve been going on silent retreats for more than 20 years, ever since I became a minister and they were part of my spiritual and professional development. These days in my semi-retired lifestyle they are still part of both.
One of my goals for the retreat was to write a draft article about moving to California for Humble Dollar.

An Excellent Morningstar Article on CCRCs

David Lancaster | Aug 7, 2025

I just read an excellent synopsis of continuing care retirement communities on the Morningstar website. I figured since this a frequently addressed topic on the HumbleDollar this article may be helpful for some. I have already bookmarked it for myself for future reference.
https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/is-continuing-care-retirement-community-right-you?utm_source=eloqua&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningDigest&utm_content=None_66051&utm_id=34267

Selling Your House and Reaping Tax Free Capital Gains May be in Jeopardy

David Lancaster | Jul 24, 2025

The National Association of Realtors forecasts that by 2035, close to 70% of homeowners might have gains exceeding $250,000 and 38% of them will have more than $500,000.
Per AI
I just read an article in which it was reported that in comments to the press on Tuesday the President suggested he is considering eliminating capital gains taxes on the sale of homes.
The article reviews the rules to claim this benefit which is definitely in the near(er) future for Humble Dollar readers
If you have lived in it as your primary residence for at least 24 months (consecutively or not) in the previous five years before you sell it,

Bankruptcies in continuing care

Joe Kiefer | Jul 7, 2025

From the Wall Street Journal this morning: More than 1,000 families have lost a total of at least $190 million in 16 bankruptcies at continuing-care retirement communities since March 2020, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Chapter 11 filings rose during the pandemic period primarily because these facilities didn’t have enough new move-ins. And because of the way bankruptcy proceedings work, secured creditors get paid before residents.
I ended my online subscription to the WSJ a few months ago,

Those Millennials

Jiab Wasserman | Aug 16, 2019

MUCH CRITICISM IS leveled against millennials, often defined as those born between 1981 and 1996. The criticism is frequently directed at their money and career decisions, including their purportedly foolish spending, excessive borrowing, job-hopping, self-absorption and sense of entitlement. The perception is so pervasive that even millennials buy into this view of themselves. But I wouldn’t be too quick to criticize millennials or compare them unfavorably to older generations. Each generation confronts its own unique challenges and difficulties, so it’s unfair to judge one generation’s choices based on what the previous generation did. How any generation turns out is largely a byproduct of two influences: the unique set of circumstances they face and their upbringing by the generation before. While baby boomers grew up in a world of relative security and steadily increasing prosperity, millennials grew up with the global uncertainty wrought by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. They came of financial age during the Great Recession, the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. They saw the impact of a dramatic decline in property values—touted by the previous generation as one of the safest investments. They also saw the collapse of major companies like Enron, Lehman Brothers and Countrywide. Told that the pathway to success was through higher education, they faced explosive increases in tuition, with the cost of attending a university increasing nearly eight times faster than wages between 1989 and 2016. According to Pew Research Center, millennials suffer higher levels of poverty, student loans and unemployment, along with lower levels of wealth and personal income, than the two prior generations had at the same stage of their lifecycle. The upshot: They are the poorest generation since the Second World War. A survey by TD Ameritrade shows that how parents handle money influences their children’s spending habits. If we don’t…

Grab the Wheel

Jiab Wasserman | Mar 13, 2020

WHILE JIM AND I cooked dinner the other night, we talked about the old cars we drove when we were younger—and how they tended to pull to one side if we took our hands off the steering wheel. We humans have a similar tendency: We head in one direction unless we make a conscious effort to be more rational. That brings me to the coronavirus and accompanying stock market plunge. We all have gut reactions to news like this. Many of us drift toward fear and even panic. If you find that happening, try these three steps: 1. Have a roadmap. Instead of reacting to the news, each of us needs a plan that’ll keep us on course. As we go from childhood to adult life to retirement, we all have financial goals along the way, things like funding college, building an emergency fund, paying off debt, amassing wealth, starting a business and more. Once we’ve developed a financial plan to take us from here to where we want to be, we need to stick with it, no matter how great the temptation to stray. For instance, three of my top priorities were saving for my children’s college, paying off the mortgage and retirement. The 2008-09 Great Recession was perhaps the scariest financial time since the Second World War. But at that juncture, my goals were still many years away, so I stuck with my plan. I continued to fund college and retirement accounts, while also sending in extra mortgage payments as often as I could. I had to cut back on luxuries, including vacations, but I kept my priorities dead center. 2. Know your risk tolerance. We need to be aware of how we react during times of stress and then plan for it. For example, when stressed, do…

Resolved: New Journeys

Jiab Wasserman | Jan 23, 2022

WE RETIRED AND MOVED to Spain in 2018. We were excited and eager to explore our new home and a new culture. We traveled a lot, mostly in Spain, but also the rest of Europe and Asia. But since the pandemic started, our travel has been limited. Indeed, COVID-19 sped our return to Dallas. I’m happy that we’re now closer to our sons, and can see family and friends in person. But having lived in Dallas for 28 years, I already know the city well. Still, I plan to keep exploring—but this year I’ve resolved to take my retirement journey in two different directions. First, during the ultra-strict Spanish lockdown in early 2020, I discovered my love of drawing and painting, and even set up online art shops. Creating art has helped me deal with the stress of the pandemic and of my mother's situation. It has become my way of turning off the outside noise. This year, I’ve resolved to continue to draw and paint in my sketchbook every day. Whether that will translate into making more money isn’t important to me, though I’ll admit that I get excited and enjoy the extra validation that comes with selling a piece of art. My second journey for 2022 is returning to graduate school. Like my husband Jim, I was recently admitted to the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program at the University of Texas at Dallas. My focus will be gender studies and economics. Why? I spent my career in the male-dominated world of finance and banking, and I’ve written about my experiences and the challenges women face. I’ve also been interviewed about the gender pay gap. It’s an issue I’m passionate about and want to explore in depth. Classes are set to start in late January. I hope that, by drawing…

Harder for Some

Jiab Wasserman | Jul 30, 2021

IS SUCCESS WITHIN reach for anybody willing to work hard? We like to think of the U.S. as a meritocracy with a one-to-one correlation between effort and achievement. It’s a notion that allows us to feel that we’re in control of our destiny and that we’ve fully earned the success we enjoy. But in truth, there are many factors that continue to tilt the playing field one way or another. Socioeconomic status, race and gender still sway the game. While the impact of such factors may have been reduced, comprehensive data show they remain important. Warren Buffett is clearly a winner at the success game, but even he says that not every person gets an even chance. Acknowledging persistent gender and race discrimination, he used the phrase "ovarian lottery" at a 1997 shareholder meeting. The ovarian lottery is “the most important event in which you’ll ever participate,” Buffett said. “It’s going to determine way more than what school you go to, how hard you work, all kinds of things.” He noted that he didn’t have to overcome barriers of race or gender. As Buffett admitted, “We won it by being White. You know, no tribute to us, it just happened that way.” [xyz-ihs snippet="Mobile-Subscribe"] Buffett’s comments from 24 years ago are still valid today. Consider three recent studies: A 2019 study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation examined inequality and concluded that, no matter where you're born, “life will be harder if you are born a girl.” A large genome-based study of economic data bluntly challenges the idea of our system being a pure meritocracy, summed up by the headline, “It’s better to be born rich than gifted.” It found that the least-gifted children of high-income parents graduate from college at higher rates than the most-gifted children of low-income parents.…

Living Small

Jiab Wasserman | Mar 29, 2019

WE MOVED FROM a 2,700-square-foot home in the U.S. to an 850-square-foot apartment in Granada, Spain. Nothing makes you come to grips with how much stuff you have like moving to a small European apartment. We ended up taking less than a third of our clothes, along with other “necessities,” in four large pieces of luggage. The process was both hard and liberating. As the old saying goes, they may be called “possessions,” but do we possess them or does our stuff possess us? Moving compels us to face our true nature, as reflected in the accumulated artifacts of our past choices. It also affords the chance to purge the burden of those past choices, giving us a rare opportunity for liberation. In the process of performing triage on our life, we came to learn much as we adjusted to “living small.” Living small doesn’t mean living less. If anything, we feel like we now live more—for six reasons. 1. There’s the liberating satisfaction of knowing we can carry on with life, without having to own what is advertised as a “must have.” 2. Living small often eliminates the temptation to shop, because there simply isn’t room. For any potential new item, we are compelled to weigh whether the item is worthy of taking up residence in our home—and what has to depart to make space. 3. Less time maintaining an expansive home means more time for activities we truly enjoy—things like writing, tennis, reading, sightseeing and spending time with friends. Living for more experiences and less stuff also means fewer wasted resources—and less stuff that’ll eventually become junk taking up space in landfills. 4. Less indoor space induces us to go outside more, making us healthier mentally and physically. Most Spaniards spend a lot of time outside, especially when the…

A Sad Situation

Jiab Wasserman | Jul 26, 2022

I RECENTLY CHATTED with a clerk at an art supply store. We both complained about the Texas heat. Whenever I engage in small talk or meet new people, the weather is my safe, go-to topic. As the saying goes, “Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.” Changes in the weather affect us to varying degrees—pun intended. Some effects are minor, like rain interrupting our outdoor plans. Others are more serious. When the fall and winter bring darker and colder days, many people experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Symptoms vary, but SAD is manifested by listlessness or sadness, if not outright depression. In extreme cases, there’s a feeling of hopelessness or worthlessness and an all-around negative view of life. It’s an extensively documented medical condition. An estimated 6% of the U.S. population are affected by SAD. Another 14% suffer from a lesser form of seasonal mood change known as the winter blues. It’s more common among people living farther from the equator, where daylight is in shorter supply. Fourteen percent of residents of Oslo, Norway, have seasonal affective disorder compared to 4.7% in New York City. This mood disorder can affect our decision-making, including our financial decisions. Negative and unsure feelings increase risk aversion among investors. Risk-averse investors are less willing to buy stocks, and may even consider selling the stocks they already own. According to a paper that analyzed the flow of money between mutual fund categories, investors prefer safer mutual funds in the fall and riskier funds during spring. The same researchers found this trend was offset by six months in Australia, where the seasons are reversed. A study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta concluded that stock returns vary seasonally with the amount of daylight in the fall and winter. Another study by…

Retirement, One Year On

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Jonathan’s Parting Thoughts: No. 9

Disposing of Questionable Assets

What’s in your portfolio ?

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

Exercising true frugality

Independence Day

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Luck, Stupidity, Automation and Inertia

Four Walls

Mr Market visits Art Basel

Retirement, One Year On

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Jonathan’s Parting Thoughts: No. 9

Disposing of Questionable Assets

What’s in your portfolio ?

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

Exercising true frugality

Independence Day

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Free Newsletter

Get Educated

Manifesto

Truths

humans

think

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Houses

The Big Garden Dilemma: Aging in Places vs. Future Planning

Financial Question

California On Our Minds

An Excellent Morningstar Article on CCRCs

Selling Your House and Reaping Tax Free Capital Gains May be in Jeopardy

Bankruptcies in continuing care

Spotlight: Wasserman

Those Millennials

Grab the Wheel

Resolved: New Journeys

Harder for Some

Living Small

A Sad Situation