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How it all pencils out–or at least, we hope so! (Our Big “Little” Move, Part 3)

DrLefty | Apr 22, 2026

"Thank you!"

- DrLefty

Lonely Island (Correct Edit)

Mark Crothers | Apr 22, 2026

"Is Irish English spelling different from English English spelling?"

- mytimetotravel

Rethinking the “Right” Time for Social Security

Andrew Clements | Apr 23, 2026

"LOL! C"

- baldscreen

Fixing Social Security once and for all

R Quinn | Apr 15, 2026

"Many in those age groups call SS a scam, see Medicare as socialized medicine. They don’t have a clue and get their info from absurd social media memes. It will indeed be interesting and perhaps disastrous."

- R Quinn

Hidden Surcharge

DAN SMITH | Apr 21, 2026

"I remember this one now. Thanks, John"

- DAN SMITH

A Life You Build

Jeff Peck | Apr 19, 2026

"Jeff, thank you for sharing your story, I found it very inspiring. Chris"

- baldscreen

Staying Rational

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | Apr 18, 2026

IT'S BEEN MORE than six years since Covid first entered our vocabulary. It goes without saying that investors have experienced a lot, and for better or worse, recent market events provide some useful lessons. The first has to do with the nature of the stock market. What drives stock prices? Open a finance textbook, and the answer will be clear: The value of a stock should equal the sum of the company’s future profits. This idea is known as intrinsic value, and it’s the textbook explanation of how stock prices work. But there’s clearly a disconnect, since stock prices bounce around far more than the math suggests they should. How can we square this circle? Over the long term, the data tell us that intrinsic value is a valid idea. Chart the price of any given stock, then overlay the company’s profits, and there will often be a reasonably close relationship. But only if you’re Rip Van Winkle. Over shorter periods of time, anything can happen. Stocks often move far above or far below their intrinsic values in response to the news of the day. Especially during times of economic uncertainty, intrinsic value analysis is typically cast aside and replaced by some combination of emotion, conjecture, speculation and storytelling. That’s what we saw in the early months of 2020. Stores were closed, employees had been sent home and the economy went into recession. And since no one had a crystal ball, that’s when storytellers were able to step in with their extreme predictions, causing the stock market to drop more than 30% in the space of six weeks. The lesson for investors: No one can predict when the next crisis will roll around or what form it will take. But there is one very reasonable way to be able to keep it in perspective: by remembering that, at the end of the day, intrinsic value is what matters, and ultimately that’s what drives stock prices. Basic arithmetic illustrates how this can help us manage through the next crisis. Consider that the price-to-earnings ratio of the U.S. stock market has historically averaged around 16. The average company’s total stock market value, in other words, has been equal to about 16 times its annual profits. Now let’s imagine that the next crisis results in every company in America losing an entire year of earnings. That’s extreme and hasn’t happened since the Depression, but it’s useful as a thought experiment. In that scenario, what would be the impact to those companies’ intrinsic value? In simple terms, it would be just one-sixteenth, or a modest 6%. What if a crisis were so severe that a company lost two years of earnings? Using this simple model, the impact would be about 12%. This is meaningful, I believe, because crises typically result in stock price declines that are far more severe than just 6% or 12%. In 2000 and in 2008, the market dropped more than 50%. While every crisis is different, I think it’s useful to keep these numbers in mind whenever the next geopolitical event causes stocks to drop. When that occurs, storytellers will inevitably take over, and the news will be downbeat. But if stocks drop to an extreme degree, as they have in the past, we can probably view it as an overreaction. That won’t help anyone’s portfolio recover any faster, but it should help us tune out the worst of the forecasters and maintain our equanimity. How else can you maintain an even keel during a market crisis? It’s important to understand the impact of recency bias. This bias is the tendency to extrapolate from current conditions, to assume that the future will look like the present, and to downplay the possibility that things might change. That tendency is what contributed to the cycle of negative news during the depths of 2020, and this is why I think it’s so important for investors to be aware of market history. Again, extensive analysis isn’t required. We need only look back across some of the crises the country has weathered, from the Civil War to the Depression to World War II. In each case, the economy recovered and went on to become larger and stronger than before. The lesson for investors: In the depths of a crisis, it’s very difficult to know when or how it will end. But a sense of history can help carry us through. Those are ways to manage through a crisis. Covid also provided a lesson on how to prepare—specifically, how to prepare our portfolios—for a future downturn. In 2022, investors were caught flat-footed when popular total-bond market funds delivered surprising losses. These funds are one pillar of the well-known three-fund portfolio and have traditionally been viewed as the default choice for a set-it-and-forget-it bond allocation. But in 2022, when the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, these funds dropped a surprising 13%. That was during the same year that the U.S. stock market dropped nearly 20%, creating a very difficult situation for those in retirement and needing to withdraw from their portfolios. The lesson for investors: Total-bond market funds may be well diversified, but they carry risk along another very important dimension known as duration. This is a bond metric that measures, in simple terms, how long it will take for bondholders to be repaid, and it’s a key determinant of risk. The longer the duration, the greater the risk of loss when rates rise. While total-bond market funds have holdings across a broad range of durations, they average out to nearly six years. That’s why they lost so much value in 2022. What’s the alternative? Short-term bond funds tend to have a duration in the neighborhood of just two years. As a result, in 2022, short-term government bond funds like Vanguard’s Short-Term Treasury ETF (ticker: VGSH) lost a far more manageable 4% of their value. To be sure, every crisis is different, and it’s easy to rationalize about the past once it’s in the past. But these lessons, I think, can help us better prepare both our emotions and our portfolios for whatever comes next. 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.

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

DAN SMITH | Apr 21, 2026

"Tax revenue"

- R Quinn

Navigating a Turbulent Career

ArticleRichard Connor | Apr 18, 2026

A RECENT article by Adam Grossman relayed an interesting story of the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz. One of the aspects that made this merger unique was the involvement of Warren Buffet. Adam’s story is a cautionary tale for investors – research shows that, more often than not, the hoped-for corporate synergies and growth are elusive. The story provides more evidence for the benefits of indexing to investors. There is, however, another side to this story that is very important to an individual’s personal financial life. In addition to being investors, most of us are, or were, employees of a corporation. What if you are an employee of a company that is acquiring another company, being acquired by another company, or part of a merger? How do you navigate the challenges of this significant career event? In late November 1985, I interviewed with RCA’s Astro Space division in East Windsor, NJ. Several weeks later I interviewed with GE Aerospace in King of Prussia, PA. In between those 2 interviews it was announced that GE was acquiring RCA. I received an offer for a position in the thermal engineering group of both companies. The GE offer was for $32,000, $4,000 more than the RCA offer. The GE plant was about 8 miles from our home; the RCA plant was 62 miles from our home. I accepted the GE offer. When I called the RCA manager to tell him my decision, he was professional and understanding. He remarked that “who knows, we may end up working together and you got a better deal out of it”. Four months later that RCA manager became the senior manager of the merged thermal engineering organization – my new boss’s boss. Seven years later my division was sold to Martin Marietta, whose space operations were based in Denver, CO. Two years later Martin Marietta merged with Lockheed, in Sunnyvale, CA, to form Lockheed Martin. Later that year it was announced that the company was closing its 2 east coast plants and moving the work to Sunnyvale and Denver. Over the 31 years starting in 1986, I was part of numerous acquisitions, mergers, two plant shut-downs, and being sold to a private equity company. Somehow, I managed to stay employed, and grow my career. I wasn’t special – hundreds of colleagues trod the same path. When I look back I can identify some of the attributes that helped me navigate a turbulent career. Build your Reputation: Be someone that people want to hire. If you move up, be someone that people want to work for. My first senior manager position came about because the hiring team remembered me from 4 years previous Maintain Flexibility: Are you willing to travel or relocate? Would you take a lateral position, or even a step down, if it meant keeping a job? During my career I traveled extensively, commuted 62 miles for four years, and took new positions that challenged me and my family. Focus on your Skills: What are the skills and behaviors that are valued by your company, and differentiate successful employees? These include technical, leadership, managerial, and interpersonal skills. My first GE manager provided a sound technical base, but also taught me just as much about work ethic, and professionalism. Focus on the Culture: Combing organizations means combining cultures, just as much as products or processes. This may require you to be open to a different way of doing things. It requires a willingness to learn and grow. It will also likely require some diplomacy skills. Change is hard for employees, and nobody enjoys being told their processes or products are inferior. When we merged with RCA, we found there was a significant difference in the way that managers and senior technical leaders challenged their employees in public forums, in front of customers. GE preferred to work out technical differences and approaches in-house, and present a united front to customers. This took some time to resolve into a shared approach. Focus on the People: When my first GE manager retired, we held a group luncheon. He was universally liked and respected. Someone described him as the best “BTU chaser” he’d ever seen, which was high praise. He gave a short speech at his retirement, where he discussed the exciting space programs he had supported. He ended that the thing that made his career special wasn’t the projects and technology, it was the people. I was also fortunate to work on some exciting, ground-breaking projects. It wasn’t always easy, and the path certainly wasn’t straight. Looking back, it is the people I think of most, and I miss the most. Richard Connor is a semi-retired aerospace engineer with a keen interest in finance. He enjoys a wide variety of other interests, including chasing grandkids, space, sports, travel, winemaking and reading. Follow Rick on Twitter @RConnor609 and check out his earlier articles.

The IRA Decision That Affects Your Kids

David Lancaster | Apr 17, 2026

"My understanding is yes if the state specific rules are followed and the disclaimer is filed timely. Dr. Dahle's post in the above linked post lists six key general aspects for a disclaimer to be valid. I think the need to file a disclaimer could often be eliminated with appropriate planning and action during life."

- William Perry

Financial Tension

William Housley | Apr 17, 2026

"Curry is smart… he will figure out how to invest."

- William Housley

Driving a Bargain

ArticleLogan Murray | May 20, 2022

"NEVER BORROW MONEY to buy a depreciating asset." This personal finance tip is often used to dissuade folks from taking out car loans. But does a car really leave folks poorer?

When we value an asset, it’s typically thought of as its dollar value on a balance sheet. The monetary value of my car might indeed decline, and quickly at that, but it has far more usefulness than my personal balance sheet shows. When I consider my car’s true value, I think of how much it improves my life.

I made a major change in 2018, moving from Philadelphia to Scottsdale, Arizona. I landed with two suitcases, a backpack and my cat. I had a job starting in three weeks in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale—a pricey area.

In Philadelphia, I’d never needed a car. There’s great public transportation and I could get almost anywhere by walking or taking the train. If you’ve ever been to Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs, it’s a different story. It sprawls in every direction and lacks decent public transportation.

As a young professional 2,000 miles from home, I needed to travel this big expanse. I also wanted to do some exploring in the West, so I took out a loan to buy a new car.

I don’t imagine I’ll ever recoup the money I paid for the vehicle. In fact, I suspect that my car will always be asking me for more money—for maintenance and repairs—even after I’ve paid off the loan. That’s fine. My expectations are set on this because I see so much additional value in owning a car.

Monetary benefits. Old Town Scottsdale’s rents are at least 20% higher than some surrounding areas. I can live less expensively nearby as long as I can handle a 10- to 15-minute commute.

My car also provides me access to a larger pool of jobs. On top of that, I have reliable transportation, which makes me a more dependable employee. Finally, in this gig economy, a car opens up opportunities for self-employment, a side gig or temporary income during a gap in employment. This could come from signing on with services like Uber, DoorDash and Instacart.

Emotional benefits. My car is truly liberating. It can buy me time by making travel more convenient. It allows me to live where I want and gain happiness through new experiences outside of my neighborhood. The ability to go anywhere at any time is hugely appealing.

If it takes a loan to realize these benefits, I’m willing to bear that cost. I think most Americans would agree with me. Even when you’ve decided that a car is worth buying, however, another financial argument breaks out. It’s about whether it’s better to buy a new car or a used one. [xyz-ihs snippet="Mobile-Subscribe"]

This is where I find the biggest ridicule from finance influencers. They advise never to buy a new car, and especially never to buy a new car with a loan. That’s because the moment you drive a new car off the dealer lot, it takes a big hit, thanks to depreciation.

Perhaps, in an ideal world, we’d all buy a good used car with cash. But that option isn’t available to many people. Moreover, even if you can afford to pay cash, there can be a good reason to buck the conventional wisdom. The benefit I’ve received from buying a new car can be summarized in one word: reliability.

A new car brings me peace of mind, knowing it’s unlikely I’ll be waiting on the side of the road for AAA. I don’t have to leave an extra hour early for work in case my car doesn’t get me there. I also knew I’d be traveling along dirt roads and across state lines to do some exploring, so reliability was nonnegotiable with my car purchase.

A new car works out well for me on another level. I’m not a car guy. I lack the understanding of how to take care of one. The new car warranty typically covers the scheduled service for the first few years. I’m happy to pay more to get that responsibility off my plate.

My goal has never been to turn around and sell my car for a decent sum when I’m done using it. Instead, I want to pull out all the value I can along the way. I’ll increase both my life experiences and my financial wealth through its use—and not by selling it at the end. Logan Murray is a solo financial advisor. His company Pocket Project offers subscription-based financial planning services to young professionals. For more financial insights, read Logan’s blog, connect with him on LinkedIn and check out his earlier articles. [xyz-ihs snippet="Donate"]

How it all pencils out–or at least, we hope so! (Our Big “Little” Move, Part 3)

DrLefty | Apr 22, 2026

"Thank you!"

- DrLefty

Lonely Island (Correct Edit)

Mark Crothers | Apr 22, 2026

"Is Irish English spelling different from English English spelling?"

- mytimetotravel

Rethinking the “Right” Time for Social Security

Andrew Clements | Apr 23, 2026

"LOL! C"

- baldscreen

Fixing Social Security once and for all

R Quinn | Apr 15, 2026

- R Quinn

Hidden Surcharge

DAN SMITH | Apr 21, 2026

"I remember this one now. Thanks, John"

- DAN SMITH

A Life You Build

Jeff Peck | Apr 19, 2026

"Jeff, thank you for sharing your story, I found it very inspiring. Chris"

- baldscreen

Staying Rational

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | Apr 18, 2026

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

DAN SMITH | Apr 21, 2026

"Tax revenue"

- R Quinn

Navigating a Turbulent Career

ArticleRichard Connor | Apr 18, 2026

Manifesto

Apr 22, 2026

NO. 68: AS INDIVIDUAL investors, we enjoy a key advantage: While money managers risk losing their job if their short-run results are lousy, we can invest for the truly long term.

think

Apr 23, 2026

RISK POOLING. When we purchase health, life, auto and other insurance, we contribute to a pool of money overseen by an insurance company. Those who crash their car or suffer ill-health collect from the pool. Those who get through the year unscathed pay their premiums and get nothing in return—which is what you want, because it means life is good.

act

Apr 22, 2026

BUYING A CAR? Think twice before financing it through the dealership. While dealership loans are convenient, the interest rate charged will include the dealership’s markup. You can likely get a lower rate by going to a bank or credit union—or using a home equity line of credit. One warning: Interest on home equity borrowing for a car purchase is no longer tax-deductible.

Truths

Apr 21, 2026

NO. 20: DOLLAR-COST averaging isn’t magical—but it is worthwhile. Investing the same sum every month in stocks supposedly improves the odds of making money. But in truth, dollar-cost averaging is about investor psychology: It helps us to overcome our reluctance to invest in stocks, instills discipline and makes stock market declines more palatable.

Money Guide

Manifesto

Apr 22, 2026

NO. 68: AS INDIVIDUAL investors, we enjoy a key advantage: While money managers risk losing their job if their short-run results are lousy, we can invest for the truly long term.

Spotlight: Estate Plan

Field of Dreams

Blake Hurst | Jul 14, 2023

WE BOUGHT A FARM earlier this year. We already have a greenhouse business, where we grow flowers, as well as several small tracts of land. The purchase was part of our farming plan, which involves expanding our crop business as opportunities arise.
But buying a farm is also part of our estate plan—and our fishing hopes. We now have two ponds with fish. True, they’re very small fish, as far as we can tell from three afternoons of fishing,

Death Benefits

Jonathan Clements | Oct 19, 2024

I TURN AGE 62 IN January—which means I could claim Social Security retirement benefits and perhaps collect at least a few monthly checks before I succumb to cancer.
But is that the smartest strategy? One of my top priorities is ensuring Elaine is financially comfortable after I’m gone, so I want to make sure she gets as much from Social Security as possible.
We got married in late May, a few days after I was told I had lung cancer that had metastasized to my brain and elsewhere.

Getting Along

Tom Sedoric | Jun 7, 2024

ONE OUT OF SIX of our nation’s children lives in a blended family, with 40% of today’s marriages defined as blended, meaning that one or both spouses had been previously married. I live in one of those blended households.
Three decades ago, the data on children from “broken families” weren’t encouraging. I can happily debunk that early data, which didn’t give our family much hope. My two exceptional stepchildren, and our biological daughter, are all productive and contributing adults.

One Life to Live

Sundar Mohan Rao | Jun 10, 2024

DURING A GATHERING of retired friends, the topic of wills came up. Many had completed their wills and had their finances in order, while others were working on updating their wills. But there were several who hadn’t even started thinking about it. One of them said, “As a retiree, I’m just starting to enjoy my freedom and have some fun. It’s too stressful to think about death. I’ll get to it someday.”
As you might imagine,

A Basis for Decisions

Michael Perry | Aug 1, 2023

I’VE WRITTEN BEFORE about harvesting tax losses and using them to offset the gains from selling other investments. We have a bit of a sprawling portfolio, with numerous small positions and lots of embedded capital gains.
Gradually harvesting gains would simplify the portfolio and make it more tax-efficient. And if we do so during these early retirement years, while our income is low, and if we can partially offset those gains with realized losses,

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,

Retirement Realignment

Ken Cutler | Jan 12, 2025

I retired from my 38-year career as an electrical engineer with the country’s largest operator of nuclear power plants on September 5, 2023. I’d often dreamed about having an enjoyable encore career, and a week after retirement I began working part-time as a Chief Engineer in a consulting firm with a few hundred employees. The job has largely been true to my dream. In the roughly 16 months since I retired from full-time work, my wife Lisa and I have undergone many changes related to our financial lives. Here are 10: Emptied our TreasuryDirect accounts. Given the current mediocre returns on savings bonds, along with a desire to simplify our finances, we cashed in all our on-line savings bond holdings, zeroing out our TreasuryDirect accounts. Cashed in paper U.S. Savings Bonds. The process of dealing with the Federal Government bureaucracy to redeem savings bonds seems clunky and slow. Many banks are no longer redeeming bonds, even for longtime customers. My bank still provides that service, so I’ve been cashing them in there. I’ve worked through all the highest denomination bonds. This has had tax implications as our interest/dividend income has been much higher than normal. I’ve adjusted my pension and earnings withholdings accordingly. Went on Medicare. Well, at least Lisa did. It was a very smooth process, all successfully completed online. I didn’t even feel the need to purchase ‘Medicare for Dummies’ to help navigate through the decision making. Plenty of good information was available here on HumbleDollar. And no, she is not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. Spent 50% more on eating out. My son Dan and I meet almost every Thursday for lunch. Dan is a software engineer who works from home and lives about a half hour away from me. My wife, daughter and daughter-in-law get…

Frugal but Foolish

Ken Cutler | Apr 18, 2024

JEFF WAS A NEW engineer who began his nuclear power career a couple of decades ago as part of my group. He’d graduated from a middling engineering school with a stellar grade point average. Quiet, though not shy, he had a serious demeanor. Jeff had a goal of purchasing a house as soon as possible. Needless to say, this was a tall order for someone just starting his career. He lived a spartan lifestyle, trying to quickly amass as much money as possible for a down payment. Two examples of his extreme frugality stand out in my memory. First, he favored buying expired food at a deep discount to keep his grocery bills low. One time, I noticed him eating yogurt that was a couple of weeks past its due date. Second, he parked in the outer lot, far away from our office. As an in-house employee, he was permitted to park in the inner lot, close to our building. But he chose not to. I knew a few people who, on occasion, would purposely park in the outer lot to get some exercise with the longer walk to the office. That wasn’t Jeff’s motivation. Rather, he wanted to save money on gas by not driving the extra several hundred yards to the inner lot. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggested this ritual saved him at most three cents on gas each day. I think Jeff might have been used to being a big fish in a small pond at school. Despite being a star at his college, his work performance in our group was nothing remarkable. I don’t think he was accustomed to getting critical feedback. A brilliant and experienced engineer named Wes was assigned to be his mentor. Wes’s career with the company spanned more than three decades. He had…

Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene (With Apologies to Thomas Sowell)

Ken Cutler | Aug 3, 2025

-During a dinner a year or so ago with some of my recently-retired but still working friends, talk turned to what toys the fellas were buying with their “bonus” income. Most of the guys had big-ticket items to report: expensive new trucks, recreational vehicles, motorcycles…things like that. I didn’t have a lot to add to that conversation, but when I was pointedly asked what I’d bought for fun, the most extravagant item I could come up with was a new Trek bicycle that cost me a little under a thousand dollars—far more than I’d ever paid for a bike previously. Still, several other purchases in retirement have brought me significant satisfaction. I bought a standing desk, which almost miraculously cured the chronic neck pain I’d been experiencing. I purchased a Weber charcoal grill, which has taken our cookouts to the next level. I replaced three clunky older cordless drills that I had inherited with a brand new DeWalt drill. This exchange allowed me to complete some much-needed repairs on my mailbox without it becoming an all-day ordeal. Finally, I bought several dozen interlocking, brightly-colored anti-fatigue foam pads and created a path around my concrete basement floor’s most trafficked areas. My back has thanked me ever since. The total cost of these four purchases was around $500, hardly requiring me to continue working. Yet they really are the most significant lifestyle-enhancing purchases I’ve made since retiring. -I’m less fascinated by my financial spreadsheets these days. Before I retired, they helped give me a sense of progress toward our retirement readiness. Today, the numbers seem increasingly meaningless. I’m convinced our combination of cash flow and assets is likely “enough” for our relatively modest lifestyle. Constantly sorting data to check our income or net worth now seems like a somewhat empty exercise, although…

Full Circle

Ken Cutler | Jun 2, 2025

My first encounter with Jonathan was at an annual client appreciation event in Hershey, PA hosted by my in-laws’ financial advisor, Tim Decker. My wife Lisa and I attended as guests of her parents. The snacks served were nothing special, but the evening was still very worthwhile. Tim gave an “state of the union” update for his many clients in attendance and then turned the microphone over to Jonathan for the keynote presentation. I can’t recall any details from Jonathan’s talk that night a decade ago but I remember finding it quite interesting. I was happy to leave with a signed copy of his book Money Guide 2015, which is sitting on my desk in front of me as I type this. It wasn’t until about eight years later that I was re-introduced to Jonathan, when I stumbled across HumbleDollar. As fee-only advisors, Tim and his associates have done a good job for my in-laws. My father-in-law passed away a few years ago but my 91-year-old mother-in-law remains a satisfied client. Knowing I had an interest in personal finance, over the years Mom would occasionally pass along information or advice that Tim provided. Eventually, I got on Tim’s mailing list and started listening to podcasts of his weekly radio program that airs on a local AM station. I even paid for an hour of Tim’s advice several years ago when I first started contemplating retiring. I’m a bit sporadic listening to Tim’s podcast these days. I typically scan the weekly email topic summary to see if anything catches my interest. Today’s email included the following: “Tim announces that a very special, well-known guest will join him for the show on June 21.” HumbleDollar readers are a sharp bunch and you already know the rest. Jonathan is that special guest. I…

They Made the Lists

Ken Cutler | Dec 12, 2023

THERE’S AN OLD SAYING: Good things come in threes. That’s certainly been true for one aspect of my life. I’ve lived in just three locations—and all of them have been featured in national “best places” lists. My early years were in Moorestown, New Jersey, a quiet town with a population of some 20,000. It’s an affluent suburb of Philadelphia that defies stereotypes about New Jersey. In 2005, Money magazine identified Moorestown as the best place to live in the country. This was well after I’d moved away. Still, the town was certainly a pleasant place to grow up during the 1960s and '70s. Moorestown has a strong school system, which I experienced first-hand. It also has a relatively low crime rate, a charming downtown and beautiful public spaces. It’s a little over an hour’s drive from the Jersey Shore. One downside: The town is so popular that homes have been richly priced for decades. After I graduated from Moorestown High School, I made my way to Blacksburg, Virginia, to attend Virginia Tech. Blacksburg regularly makes lists of desirable places to live. For instance, Forbes included the town in its 2016 list of the top 25 places to retire. In 2018, Blacksburg was named the 63rd best place to live in the country, according to Livability.com. I was only in Blacksburg for four years, back in the 1980s. It was an idyllic place to attend college. With the town located in the Blue Ridge Mountain range, it was easy to get away, even without a car. Within 10 minutes of leaving campus on a bicycle, you could feel like you were completely away from civilization. The college itself has a mix of academic sophistication and friendly country charm. In a survey a few years back, Virginia Tech’s student quality of life…

The Road Trip

Ken Cutler | Aug 19, 2024

This past weekend, my wife Lisa and I traveled to Middleburg, Virginia—a little over an hour west of Washington DC. My son’s father-in-law Matt, who also happened to be one of my college apartment-mates, is turning 60 soon and his family threw him a huge surprise party. Most of Matt’s immediate and extended family members were there, as well as key people from his career, church and other parts of life. I was part of the college friend contingent. The bash, replete with food trucks, lawn games for the kids, and a great band, was a smashing success. The location for the event was Welbourne Inn, a huge estate that dates from 1775 and sprawls over 500 acres. The main house, which has 10 large bedrooms, has been inhabited by the Dulany family since 1833. Guests there can be forgiven for thinking they are spending a night at the museum (or in our case, two nights). Our spirited hostess, friend of Matt’s wife, and Dulany family member Rebecca stated that the house contains over 9000 books, the accumulation of eight generations. I picked a volume out at random in one of the libraries. It had been published in 1840. The collection of furniture, paintings, and artifacts housed at Welbourne is astounding. A sizable portion of the estate’s land is dedicated to an equine retirement community. People pay to have their beloved horses live out the rest of their days being cared for in an idyllic setting. About 90 horses make Welbourne their home. My wife and I, along with college friends Bill and Catherine, journeyed into this wonderland our first evening there. As much as I love animals, I’ve never spent much time around horses. When six or eight of these giants came lumbering over to us, I wasn’t quite…

How it all pencils out–or at least, we hope so! (Our Big “Little” Move, Part 3)

Lonely Island (Correct Edit)

Rethinking the “Right” Time for Social Security

Fixing Social Security once and for all

Hidden Surcharge

A Life You Build

Staying Rational

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

Navigating a Turbulent Career

The IRA Decision That Affects Your Kids

Financial Tension

Driving a Bargain

How it all pencils out–or at least, we hope so! (Our Big “Little” Move, Part 3)

Lonely Island (Correct Edit)

Rethinking the “Right” Time for Social Security

Fixing Social Security once and for all

Hidden Surcharge

A Life You Build

Staying Rational

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

Navigating a Turbulent Career

Free Newsletter

Get Educated

Manifesto

think

act

Truths

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Estate Plan

Field of Dreams

Death Benefits

Getting Along

One Life to Live

A Basis for Decisions

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

Spotlight: Cutler

Retirement Realignment

Frugal but Foolish

Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene (With Apologies to Thomas Sowell)

Full Circle

They Made the Lists

The Road Trip