A Tale of Excess forum

FINANCIAL EMERGENCIES have a way of compounding when least expected. This is often coined as a correlated risk. I call it running out of clean underwear. My father used to profess, in emergencies, that turning pairs inside out was a legitimate way to extend undergarment use under duress. Financially, this is merely extending the life of a depreciating asset. I am sure my mother would have refuted this concept. Nevertheless, before you judge me too harshly, allow me to share the situational details. Three weeks ago our 7 year old washing machine, an example of aging capital equipment, began exhibiting signs of being possessed. Wash cycles were accompanied with grinding noises and violent walks across the floor. Spin cycles initiated poltergeist-like behavior, with heavy banging and metallic thuds made by nether-world demons. An internet search revealed the probable cause of the machine’s paranormal behavior, which was likely broken suspension rods or damaged shock absorbers holding the inner tub in place. After watching 8 or 9 YouTube videos, I decided that I had the inner fortitude to de-demonize our beloved washing machine. And being thrifty, I wished to avoid the major capital expenditure of replacing the washer. I consider myself handy and even pride myself on the 65% success rate for fixing household appliances. Yes, I freely admit that past performance is no guarantee of success. However, since I was attempting to maintain my existing emergency fund, I ordered new drum s

RECENTLY, A READER —let’s call him Tom—posed this question: If stocks historically have delivered far better returns than bonds, then why should an investor own any bonds at all? Even with the stock market's unpredictable ups and downs, wouldn't you end up way ahead by betting only on stocks over the long term? It's a fair question. Over the past 100 years, stocks have delivered returns of roughly 10% per year, while bonds have returned just 5%. More recently, that gap has been even wider. Between 2016 and 2025, the S&P 500 gained nearly 15% per year, on average, while bonds gained less than 2%. And as we've experienced in recent years, bonds aren’t without risk, so why not just go all in with a 100% stock portfolio? The most common answer to this question involves a phenomenon known as sequence-of-returns risk. That’s the risk posed to retirees by an unpredictable stock market. Suppose, for example, you retire on a Friday, and stocks drop the following Monday. This would, of course, be unnerving, but it could become a real problem if you’re forced to sell stocks while they’re depressed. Too many forced sales can cause a portfolio to deplete too quickly. Tom, the reader who posed this question, is an experienced investor and well aware of sequence-of-returns risk. His view, though, is that it’s a fear that’s overblown. Even if stocks drop from time to time, he argued, the impact should be modest. That’s because the loss an investor actually experiences in any given year would

On 9/29/2026 the US Senate passed the Claiming Age Clarity Act that the US House passed in December 2025 and the the legislation is now on the way to the President for his signature to become law. In a nutshell the law changes the terminology about how the claiming ages are referred to by the Social Security Agency. H. R. 5284 Section 2 of the pending bill as adopted by the Senate without amendment reads as follows - SEC. 2. Changes to social security terminology . Not later than the later of the date that is 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act or January 1, 2027, the Commissioner of Social Security shall ensure that, in any rules, regulation, guidance, or other materials of the Social Security Administration, whether online or in print— (1) the term “early eligibility age” is replaced with the term “minimum monthly benefit age”; (2) the terms “full retirement age” and “normal retirement age” are replaced with the term “standard monthly benefit age”; and (3) the term “delayed retirement credit” shall not be used and any reference to age 70 as the maximum age up to which delayed retirement credits can be received shall be replaced with the term “maximum monthly benefit age”. Passed the House of Representatives December 1, 2025. Hopefully the new terminology may lead to better claiming decisions. The post Claiming Age Clarity Act appeared first on HumbleDollar .

Over the past year, we received many comments expressing difficulty in logging in to HD from third-party sites such as Facebook, Disqus, etc. And we listened. A new feature on upper right-hand corner of the homepage navigation bar is an account/profile button from which you can register or convert a third-party login into a direct HumbleDollar login. Under FAQs there’s a new explainer animation that shows exactly how to do this: https://humbledollar.com/direct-login/ And if you're logged out and don't already have an account you can register using this process which is also linked in the nav https://humbledollar.com/register/ Once logged in you can edit your email address or set a new password: https://humbledollar.com/account/#login And you can also update your profile details here: https://humbledollar.com/account/#profile There is also an enhanced search bar on the home page upper right corner to help find articles/posts by topic, author, or other keywords. And recent articles that appeared on the forum homepage will now be listed among all discussions. The post Login Enhancements appeared first on HumbleDollar .

Lido Lanes died a slow and painful death. It had always been a microcosm in its neighborhood. Bowling in Toledo used to be a huge pastime, generations of neighborhood families shared the lanes, participating in leagues and tournaments, eating and drinking together. My first connection with Lido was when I began working for the beer distributor in the 70s. The camaraderie there sucked me right in, it truly was a place where you were only a stranger once. They also had an event hall and an excellent catering business in the basement that hosted weddings, graduations, birthday parties, you name it. The expertise in food service extended into the lounge; bar burgers, hotdogs, and sandwiches were always on the menu, along with daily specials like meat loaf, spaghetti, strip steaks, and best of all, Yellow Lake Erie perch that were all good enough to put many full-service restaurants to shame. The business had been built from the ground up by Eggsie, who left it to his kids when he passed. The neighborhood had been a blue collar working class area, but like many similar neighborhoods, suburban flight began to take its toll. Customers moved away, but came back to bowl and maintain friendships from the old days. I came to know many of them. Brothers Larry and Jerry, both firemen who helped out at the Catholic church that they attended as kids, located on the street behind Lido. They bowled with their dad, who suffered a fatal heart attack while bowling with his boys; probably just ho

This recent article in the WSJ got me thinking. https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/inflation-proofed-retirement-cd2a387a?st=cvZSf3&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink I read it and tried to relate to it. I wanted advice on how to invest with this inflation that is causing my nest egg to be worth less. I found the article telling me to stop spending. I got that under control but what about investing? so HD readers what are you doing to inflation proof your retirement? The post How do you inflation proof your retirement? appeared first on HumbleDollar .

Readers of HD know I’m a big fan of a steady income stream in retirement, obsessed perhaps. You may not agree on how that can be achieved, but as interest rates have risen and likely to go higher, is now the time to consider an immediate annuity to supplement SS income or perhaps just enough to cover some key monthly bills? With higher rates you get more for your money. MarketWatch just had an article with a chart showing how the monthly payment for a fixed annuity purchase grows with higher rates. Not trying to debate annuities, but food for thought. To me it seems no more a risk than using savings to delay SS income in the quest for a higher benefit a few years in the future. The post Is now the time for an annuity? appeared first on HumbleDollar .

Spare a thought for your future self. Down the road, will we be happy with the financial decisions we make today? I think this question has four crucial aspects. First, there’s the obvious: Will our future self be happy with the amount we’re saving each month? Every dollar we spend now is a dollar our future self can’t spend. Second, when we borrow money, the loan may come from a bank or a credit-card company. But in effect, we’re borrowing from our future self, who will have to repay the money involved. How will our future self feel about forking over those loan payments? Third, when we purchase a car, house, piece of art work or some other possession, we’re expecting our future self to live with these possessions and look after them. Will the person we become be happy with the choices we’ve made? Finally, whenever we upgrade our lifestyle—flying business class, purchasing luxury cars, eating out more, staying at finer hotels—our future self will want that lifestyle to continue, and that comes with a cost. A related point: One of life’s great pleasures is a gradually rising standard of living. If we stay at Motel 6 in our 20s and 30s, Hyatts will seem pretty darn nice in our 40s and 50s. What if we start staying at Ritz-Carltons in our 30s? After that, not much will seem special, and yet we’ll be loath to stay anywhere less fancy. The post Jonathan’s Parting Thoughts: No. 6 appeared first on HumbleDollar .

Standing on a small stepladder in the understairs closet, I recently passed an uncelebrated milestone: I swapped out the last incandescent lightbulb in the house. It was hardly a grand achievement, just the natural result of traditional bulbs failing one by one over the years. Still, my frugal nature found it pleasing, and worth (pardon the pun) shining a light on. Having changed every bulb with my own fair hand, I can confidently tell you there are 78 in the house. LED lighting should provide a decent "humble saving" from here on. Take our kitchen/dining area as a small case study. It has 18 bulbs in total. Before LEDs, the fully lit space drew over 1kW of power, and now it draws under 200 watts. That is a wonderful 80% reduction in running costs. I won't claim every room saw a cut that big, since the kitchen/dining area was always the worst offender. But with 78 bulbs, the savings add up. Assuming roughly a fifth of the lights are on for four or five hours a day through winter, and far less in summer, I reckon we're saving around $150 a year. There's also a small investment lesson hanging in that closet. The incandescent bulb reigned for well over a century and seemed about as permanent as the light switch itself. Then a better idea came along, helped by a nudge from the regulators, and the old order was gone. Some manufacturers adapted. Others, and anyone who'd put all their faith in them, were left in the dark. No need to panic. But it might make me gentle question any co

I just asked ChatGPT for the median household income of Americans age 65-75 and 75- 80. The answer was a bit of a shock. It said in part, “If you're interested because you're comparing this with your $x income, I can also show what percentile $x puts an 80+ American in, which is a very different comparison.” The scary part is the $x it quoted was my income in 2025 and it knew my age group. Where did it get the income? From my TurboTax filing, from something I wrote? I never wrote it in any public forum. How does it know my age group? No doubt somewhere out there is my year of birth and of course, Starbucks gives me a free coffee on my birthday. Not long ago I was curious what college professors might earn in a certain state. I got the answer and the reference was college payroll records. It seems our money, our income, indeed our lives have few secrets these days, let alone privacy. The post If you don’t think AI is powerful and scary, think again! appeared first on HumbleDollar .

I was 9 years old when my parents sent me to boarding school in England. I would spend the next seven years there, far from home, struggling academically, enduring the teasing of other boys and counting the days until I could leave. At the time, I couldn’t have imagined where my life would eventually take me. I only knew how that young boy felt: frightened, lonely and, in many ways, broken. Nearly 50 years later, I tried to put those feelings into words in a poem I called A Broken Boy, see the comments section. It’s hard to fathom that during those seven years, I spent far more time at boarding school than I did at home. With a few short-term breaks and a longer summer vacation, we had about 12 weeks each year with our family, leaving roughly 40 weeks at school. Fortunately, a few close friends occasionally took us home with them on weekends, giving us a welcome escape. When I say “we,” I’m including my twin brother, Nicholas, who shared those seven years with me. In 1977, Nick and I finally returned home to Maryland and enrolled in high school. Our credits from boarding school would have allowed us to skip 11th grade and go directly into 12th, but our parents felt an extra year would give us time to adjust. Academically, high school seemed easy compared with the English school system, and socially I wasn’t intimidated. In fact, our English accents created a certain fascination among our classmates. I made several close friends, some of whom remain friends to this day. More i

Hoping the HD community can provide some clarity on this issue. We are in retirement, have some pension income, drawing the lesser social security benefit and deferring the larger till 70. We are 4 years from the larger SS benefit and 9 ears from RMDS. We have relatively large traditional IRAs as well as Roths which were funded during our working years, however, we have minimal taxable investments. We are starting to visualize the tax, IRMAA, surviving spouse penalty freight train that is coming down the track once SS and RMDs turn on. We have done periodic small Roth conversions but they're not moving the needle in terms of meaningfully reducing our traditional IRA balances (and the resultant prospective RMDs). The only way we could do large Roth conversions would be to pay the tax out of tax deferred funds. This, however, seems to violate what appears to be a cardinal rule of Roth conversions - Always pay the tax out of after tax cash. I recently came upon this video by Ben Brandt and he takes a completely different perspective saying it's perfectly fine for "super savers" to pay the Roth conversion tax out of tax deferred dollars because their goal is not the perfect Roth but rather to reduce traditional IRA balances. He basically says after tax sourcing would be ideal but don't be a Roth "purist" or "perfectionist" and just pay the tax from wherever you can. Further, paying the tax out of IRA withholding allows one to pay any taxes owed in December (assuming that's the ti