Home - HumbleDollar

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Andrew Clements | Jul 1, 2026

"Thank you so much. The Dolezals truly were a remarkable family, and I was fortunate to have them in my life. As for my parents, despite the challenges our family faced, they gave us values that stayed with us. Looking back, I’m grateful for the many people who helped shape the person I became."

- Andrew Clements

Exercising true frugality

R Quinn | Jul 1, 2026

"Oh, good, I was wondering whether any other HD readers go digital with e-cards. I've used them for years. There are classy ones available by subscription and some with a free tier, e.g., Ojolie, Blue Mountain, Jacquie Lawson. Huge selection for any type of event, available any time day or night, to send on a scheduled day or immediately, plenty of room to write your message, and no postage cost. True, can't enclose ca$h or check. So just Venmo or Zelle."

- 1PF

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

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Mark Crothers | Jun 25, 2026

"Andrew, I'm glad you caught the main point of the article — unfortunately I buried it too deeply, and it got missed because I harped on about the aircon so much. I've a habit of talking around the point instead of getting to it, definitely an Irish problem lol. As for the trade, that's a hard pass! I've mitigated the problem by decamping to our coastal home for the rest of the summer... the north Atlantic breeze shall keep me cool."

- Mark Crothers

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

R Quinn | Jun 21, 2026

"We have 929 units."

- Ormode

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

Independence Day

D.J. | Jun 29, 2026

"Congratulations. I’d at least like to be able to count my individual stocks on one hand; currently I can’t count them on two. "

- Michael1

Lessons Learned Along the Way

Dan Smith | Jun 25, 2026

"Olin, yeah, I was kind of an anomaly when I took the tests to become securities licensed at age 50. Many of my coworkers from the beer business expressed a desire to try something different, but lacked whatever motivation it took to get outside their comfort zone. "

- Dan Smith

Reminded of Jonathan’s Grace

rkhamilton920 | Jun 29, 2026

"I’m reading “Money and Me” too but I’m trying to read just a few chapters at a sitting to savor the wisdom and voice of Jonathan. I guess I will have to step up my pace as my borrowing from my local library (where I requested the book and they ordered it for me) has the book due back soon. This is a must read for so many family of friends who I will recommend it for but few will take the time to pick it up to read it. Very worthwhile to put on your reading list (or ask your library to order it as I did)."

- Brian Frisch

Automatic Income stream? How important to you?

R Quinn | Jun 26, 2026

"I would expect, to protect themselves at least, prudent plan sponsors would be very careful when selecting the annuity option to include in their plan and to communicate the full picture to plan participants. In addition, offering in the group market allows insurers to be more flexible than in the individual market."

- R Quinn

The cost of foreign taxes on returns

Matt Halperin | Jun 25, 2026

"I appreciate the info on the cost of having foreign investments in non-taxable accounts. There may be a better place to mention my observation, but here goes: I've been thinking about reasons why I (or anyone) would have foreign investments in a non-taxable account. The main one is that I can rebalance without running into capital gain tax effects. If all my foreign investments were in taxable accounts, the selling of such that I've done for the last year or so would have been tax-costly. With Matt's analysis, I can see the cost of the "insurance" I have against these taxes when I hold foreign investments in a Roth (or IRA) acct."

- F William Matthewson

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Andrew Clements | Jul 1, 2026

- Andrew Clements

Exercising true frugality

R Quinn | Jul 1, 2026

- 1PF

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

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Mark Crothers | Jun 25, 2026

- Mark Crothers

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

R Quinn | Jun 21, 2026

"We have 929 units."

- Ormode

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

- ricardodiaque

Independence Day

D.J. | Jun 29, 2026

"Congratulations. I’d at least like to be able to count my individual stocks on one hand; currently I can’t count them on two. "

- Michael1

Lessons Learned Along the Way

Dan Smith | Jun 25, 2026

- Dan Smith

Manifesto

Jul 1, 2026

NO. 19: WE SHOULD make future spending as exciting as possible, so we’re less tempted to spend today. That means visualizing our goals and imagining how great it’ll be to achieve them.

act

Jul 1, 2026

TRIM YOUR CHECKING account. If there were a guaranteed way to earn a few extra percentage points a year on your investments, you’d jump at the opportunity. So why would you leave excess cash in your checking account, where it likely isn’t garnering any interest, when that money could be in a high-yield savings account earning a decent sum each year?

Truths

Jun 30, 2026

NO. 101: THE TIME horizon for your portfolio may extend beyond your lifetime. Suppose you’re age 75. If you have more than enough set aside for your own retirement and plan to bequeath assets to your children or grandchildren, you might be dealing with a time horizon of a half-century or more. That’s plenty of time to make good money in stocks.

think

Jun 29, 2026

OVERCONFIDENCE. Most of us believe we’re above-average drivers, smarter than most and better looking. This overconfidence is often a good thing—it can boost happiness and help our careers—but it’s terrible for investment results. As they try to beat the market, the overconfident trade too much, take unnecessary risk and buy costly investments.

Money Guide

Manifesto

Jul 1, 2026

NO. 19: WE SHOULD make future spending as exciting as possible, so we’re less tempted to spend today. That means visualizing our goals and imagining how great it’ll be to achieve them.

Spotlight: Cars

Wrong Number

Kenyon Sayler | May 21, 2024

WE BOUGHT A SAILBOAT and trailer in 2008 for our son for his 15th birthday. At the time, he was too young to own a boat, so I registered it in my name.
Fast forward 15 years, and we finally got around to transferring the title to our son. Transferring the boat was quick and easy. Transferring the trailer was not.
Cars, trucks, boats and trailers all have unique vehicle identification numbers, or VINs.

Our Chosen Road

Kenyon Sayler | Apr 12, 2022

CONSUMER REPORTS and other authorities will tell you that you get the greatest value for your car-buying dollar by purchasing a two- or three-year-old vehicle. They also often recommend selling your current car after you’ve owned it for about seven years.
We favor a different strategy—one that suits our family but certainly isn’t for everybody.
My wife’s No. 1 priority is that her vehicle be reliable. She insists that every time she gets in the car,

How have you decided when it’s worth it to fix an old car?

Rick Connor | May 23, 2025

My 2014 Honda Accord recently hit 99,000 miles. It’s nothing fancy to look at, but it drives well. Recently I’ve been having an issue with the starter. The push start works intermittently. Sometimes it starts on the first push, sometimes it takes multiple tries. I think the most it has taken is 6 tries. I’ve kept up with the maintenance, but I drive it infrequently, so the time between service has spread out. It was due for an oil change,

Racking Up the Miles

Jeff Bond | Jun 28, 2024

AS AN ENGINEER and a believer in keeping things running, I haven’t owned many automobiles during my lifetime. Instead, my focus has been on extending each one’s longevity.
Among the maintenance and repairs I’ve undertaken: oil changes, spark plug and wire replacements, carburetor cleaning and adjustment, belt and hose replacements, distributor and timing settings, brake replacements (disk and drum), master and slave brake cylinder repairs, clutch adjustment, alternator repair, radiator repair, heater core repair,

What’s the best strategy for getting a good deal on a car?

Jonathan Clements | May 14, 2021

Driving a Bargain

Logan 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,

Driving Me Happy

Howard Rohleder | Dec 6, 2021

MY CAR EMAILED ME to say its tire pressure was low. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say it this way: An email from Subaru was triggered by data uploaded from my 2020 Forester, all part of the automatic safety and maintenance technology built into the vehicle. The email confirmed the dashboard light indicating the same problem. My frugal friends and I have had friendly debates about car buying. Is it better to buy a used car and avoid the instant depreciation when you drive off the dealer’s lot? Or should we pay more to purchase a new car, with a plan to drive it for many years? This same debate was featured in the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. Their research for the 2010 edition found that the millionaires surveyed were split on the issue, just as my friends and I are. The book said 63.4% of millionaires were buying new, versus 36.6% choosing used. Historically, I’ve bought new vehicles. The Subaru replaced a 2008 Mercury. Our second car is a 2010 Honda. Like the Subaru, we purchased both the Mercury and Honda new. I dislike the car-buying experience, so I want our vehicles to last. I buy new and keep up with routine maintenance to delay the need to replace them. My push to shop for a new car in 2020 was because of the new safety technology now available. Many studies have shown that 80% to 90% of Americans feel they’re “above average” drivers—a statistical impossibility. Based on my wife’s reactions in the passenger seat, I’ve concluded that I must be average at best. When Consumer Reports began touting the many safety improvements available today, I couldn’t ignore the opportunity to improve our safety. After buying the Forester, I became…

Location, Location

Howard Rohleder | Oct 12, 2023

WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR portfolio’s long-run performance? You could boost your stock allocation—something I wrote about last year—or cut your investment costs. But don’t overlook another key strategy: thinking carefully about which accounts you use to hold your various investments, or what financial experts call “asset location.” My wife and I have taxable accounts, Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs and a health savings account. Earnings in each account get different tax treatment both now and in the future. By carefully allocating our investments among these various accounts, we can reduce the taxes we pay over the long term. Time horizon is a key consideration. We’re unlikely to ever spend down all our assets. As a result, some accounts have an unknown but likely very long time horizon. At the same time, we need to generate some income to cover living expenses, so other accounts have a much shorter time horizon. Because we have some guaranteed cash flow coming in from a pension and annuities, and will eventually have more from Social Security, we’ve settled on an overall stock and alternatives allocation of 75%. How should we allocate our investments among our various accounts? We sought some professional advice and, based on that, here’s how we’re thinking about each account type: Taxable accounts. Our top priority is to maintain sufficient cash for living expenses and financial emergencies. That money is invested conservatively and generates interest income that’s taxed as ordinary income. The key is to have enough cash, but not too much, to meet current spending needs. The remainder of our taxable money is invested in individual stocks and stock funds. That helps to minimize our tax bill, because the dividends and capital gains are taxed at preferred rates. Over time, we’ve added more index funds, which are less likely than actively…

Pin Money

Howard Rohleder | Aug 25, 2023

I'M OLD ENOUGH TO remember when companies rewarded employee anniversaries with lapel pins. The number of years you served determined the quality of the metal and how many jewels were embedded in the pin. I also remember when two different hospitals where I worked moved away from this practice in the 1980s and 1990s. Human resources departments came to realize that many employees didn’t value the pins. Perhaps there had been a day when pins were something people wore, but by the 1980s it was a thing of the past. Instead, creative vendors developed catalogs of merchandise that employees could choose from. The value of the merchandise varied with your tenure. At the time of the transition, the value was set to correspond to what the organization had previously paid for the anniversary pins. Therein lay a big surprise—and it explained the frustration of the HR staff: Those anniversary pins, particularly for long-tenured employees, were expensive. The jewels may have been small, but the higher-level pins were gold. As the price of gold went up, so did the cost of the pins. As a result, instead of pins, long-tenured employees could be offered nice clocks, luggage or household appliances. The feeling was that an employee would value the recognition more if they picked something they wanted or needed, rather than receive a pin that would live out its life in a drawer or a jewelry box. One of the more ironic choices I observed as a hospital CEO: A woman, who had completed 35 years in the hospital housekeeping department, selected a new vacuum cleaner. Certainly, people who clean the hospital also have to clean at home, but it didn’t seem very sentimental. I hope she thought of us when she used it. This whole transition hit home for me…

College in Retirement

Howard Rohleder | Jun 29, 2023

I RECENTLY COMPLETED a course called England: From the Fall of Rome to the Norman Conquest. Before that was Books That Matter: The Federalist Papers. Okay, I’m a nerd, I’ll admit it. Since I retired, I’ve looked for avenues to broaden and deepen my understanding of subjects that I was taught in high school and at the liberal arts college I attended. Back then, there were college courses, like accounting, that I felt I had to take to earn a living. Still, some of my favorite courses were American history, Shakespeare, philosophy and poetry. If I could go back, I might take more of these latter topics—and less accounting. But wait, I can go back. For years, retirees interested in learning needed to find a way to take a class at a local college or build their own curriculum with books they borrowed from the library or bought. Later, books on tape and CDs offered a way to bring courses to your dashboard or den. Now, quality courses can be streamed. While some educational resources are available on a subscription basis, many courses are available free or at a low cost. And those accounting courses taught me that free is good. My go-to source for serious college content is The Great Courses offered by The Teaching Company. I’ve worked my way through dozens of its courses. The company offers a wide variety of subjects. Some I have no interest in, but many others are on my wish list. The marketing material brags that the company seeks out professors known for their teaching ability. No disagreement here. I’ve yet to come across a dud. The courses I’ve taken range in length from six to 36 lectures, each 30 minutes long. The longest I’ve seen in the catalog is a 48-lecture course…

Mission Accomplished

Howard Rohleder | Jan 27, 2023

I JUST GOT A RAISE from Uncle Sam—and relief from one of early retirement’s biggest unknowns. In December, when I turned age 65, I swapped my bronze-level Affordable Care Act policy for Medicare plus a Medigap policy. My wife was already on Medicare. Compared to 2020, when neither of us had Medicare coverage, our monthly cost today for health insurance is $684 lower. My calculated risk has paid off. As a young adult, I set my sights on early retirement. In 2012, at age 54, I pulled the trigger. The question I struggled with: Would there be enough for our remaining retirement years once I hit age 65? The biggest risk to our early retirement was getting and maintaining health insurance. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we had coverage. But an unexpected medical diagnosis could have drained our finances and compromised our lifestyle. While I was still working, I plugged $30,000 a year into my early retirement budget as a worst-case estimate for health care costs. The reality wasn’t quite that bad. With health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, including the dentist and optometrist, our average cash outlay over 10 years was just under $20,000 a year. Now, 10 years later, I have reached “normal” retirement age. We aren’t bankrupt nor has our future standard of living been compromised. In fact, due to 10 years of a mostly surging stock market, we’re well ahead of where I expected us to be. What did we do right? The quick answer is save, save, save. Thanks to extra-principal payments, we made our last mortgage payment in 2000, when our oldest graduated from high school. We finished paying for private college for our two children in 2007, the year our youngest graduated from college. From then until 2012, we accelerated our regular…

Save the Savers

Howard Rohleder | Sep 25, 2022

I LEARNED IN COLLEGE economics classes that there’s a time value to money. A dollar today is worth more than the promise of a dollar a year from now. Result? If you’re going to promise me a future dollar, you have to make it worth my while by paying me some interest. This was certainly true in 1980, when I graduated with an economics and management major. Admittedly, inflation was even higher back then. Still, one-year Treasury bills were paying almost 11% and the newly popular money market mutual funds were yielding more than 12%. Today, after rates hovering near zero for years, one-year Treasury bills are yielding over 4% for the first time since 2007, while my money market fund is paying more than 2%. The years of low interest rates have been perpetuated by one financial crisis after another: the dot-com bust, the Great Recession and the COVID-19 economic shutdown. Just as one crisis abated and rates started to rise, another crisis came along. One consequence is we have an entire generation who think that near zero interest rates are “normal.” There are also powerful economic players who relish this situation. Stock investors see share prices propelled higher as folks seek an alternative to the tiny return on their cash. Businesses can borrow to make capital investments at a low cost. Real estate investors and developers can also borrow cheaply to launch their projects. Perhaps most significant, governments can run larger deficits because their borrowing costs are low. Who loses? One answer is responsible individual savers. This was true of my mother. She had diligently saved all her life, shopping carefully and preparing for retirement. When she retired, she had no debt of any kind, while keeping a lot of cash in certificates of deposit and money market…

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Exercising true frugality

Luck, Stupidity, Automation and Inertia

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

Four Walls

Mr Market visits Art Basel

Independence Day

Lessons Learned Along the Way

Reminded of Jonathan’s Grace

Automatic Income stream? How important to you?

The cost of foreign taxes on returns

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Exercising true frugality

Luck, Stupidity, Automation and Inertia

The Price of a Cool Pillow

Thinking about downsizing? Think seriously

Four Walls

Mr Market visits Art Basel

Independence Day

Lessons Learned Along the Way

Free Newsletter

Get Educated

Manifesto

act

Truths

think

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Cars

Wrong Number

Our Chosen Road

How have you decided when it’s worth it to fix an old car?

Racking Up the Miles

What’s the best strategy for getting a good deal on a car?

Driving a Bargain

Spotlight: Rohleder

Driving Me Happy

Location, Location

Pin Money

College in Retirement

Mission Accomplished

Save the Savers