Jonathan Clements's Blog

Today, 11/24/2025, I logged into mysocialsecurity.gov account. On the Benefit Verification Letter tab I found my December 2025 benefit amount that will be paid in January 2026. There was currently no indication of my 2026 SS benefit on the main SSA splash page. The gross amount for 2026 was equal to my 2025 gross amount plus the announced 2.8%  COLA as rounded down to the whole dollar. My 2026 Medicare Part B premium deduction was the standard $202.90 per month as previously publicly announced.

I expect there are others that are gathering available 2026 information that may find such final information useful in their planning. I had previously established both ID.me and login.gov security identifications so I do not know if the previously user ID and password are still functional for logging on.

Best wishes for a joyful Thanksgiving.

The post Your 2026 Social Security Benefit amount appeared first on HumbleDollar.

Like everyone, I’m frequently asked at the checkout of drugstores and retail outlets if I have a credit card linked to the store and, if not, why don’t I quickly apply then and there to get a discount or cash bonus when my application is approved?  I was recently tempted by $50 offered at the local chain drugstore, but then I thought about the time and energy to unfreeze my credit score and declined the $50 offer (but I continued to think about it for a short while 😊). However, when I got a notice last week that my backup credit card, currently with a $0 balance, is increasing its annual fee from $99 to $249, I decided it was worth my time and energy to apply for a $0 or low fee card. After all, this is just for my convenience and peace of mind if the one I use all the time needs to be replaced. Quick research found a no-fee card with the same bank. Though I haven’t yet followed through with the application process or the unfreezing, I have learned that everything can be done either online or on the phone and takes well under 10 minutes per scoring company. I think it will be worth my time to follow through later, but I’m interested in your opinions before doing so. Thanks.

The post When is it worth your time to unfreeze your credit score? appeared first on HumbleDollar.

Driving home from the airport yesterday morning after dropping off a friend, an amusing thought crossed my mind: what if I actually calculated my billable hours for the past week? Since retiring, I've noticed that friends and family have come to see me as their go-to problem solver whenever something needs doing. The assumption seems to be that old Mark just sits around doing nothing while everyone else is busy being productive.

Let me walk you through my week. I took a friend's daughter to the hospital for her 20-week pregnancy scan and spent the appointment in the waiting room entertaining her two-year-old. I collected another friend's car and drove it across town to get its mandatory annual safety inspection. And as I mentioned, there was that airport run yesterday morning.

But let's really examine my billable hours. On Friday afternoon, I ran a two-hour pickleball clinic for 16 seniors who wanted to learn the sport. I taught them the rules, covered playing tactics, organized practice games between participants, and walked them through proper court safety and age-appropriate warm-up routines. That's got to be worth a few billable hours, surely.

Now, I'll give myself a free pass on the three days I spent ferrying my grandkids to and from school. Billing for that would be pushing things a bit far.

By my rough calculation, that's at least $400 to $500 worth of services I've provided for free this week. It just goes to show how much society benefits from the goodwill of us retired folks who are supposedly standing around doing nothing all week.

I wonder what job title I should give myself? needs to be something fancy to justify my wages: Community Logistics & Wellness Coordinator sounds about right, I'm feeling very important now, I might get myself some new business cards printed up.

Just saying 😉

 

 

Billing Period:,"November 17 – November 23, 2025"

Billed To:,"The Community (Friends, Family, and Society at Large)"

Consultant:,Mark

Title:,Community Logistics & Wellness Coordinator

 

Services Provided This Week

Monday

Hospital Caregiving & Support: Providing childcare/entertainment during friend's daughter's 20-week scan (Waiting Room Attendant / Child Supervisor)

1.5 hours @ $50/hour = $75.00

Wednesday

Automotive Fleet Management: Collecting, driving, and coordinating mandatory annual safety inspection (Logistics & Transport Specialist)

1 hour @ $65/hour = $65.00

Friday

Professional Athletic Instruction: Developing and delivering two-hour Pickleball Clinic (Certified Wellness & Sports Instructor)

2 hours @ $100/hour = $200.00

Saturday

Executive Travel Coordination: Early morning airport drop-off (Dedicated Chauffeur/Logistics Specialist, including premium for early hour service)

1.5 hours @ $75/hour = $112.50

Complimentary Services

Pro Bono Publico Deduction: Family Transport Services (Grandkids school runs x 3 days) = $0.00

Total Hours Billed: 6 hours

Total Amount Due: $452.50

 

The post Fantasy Retirement Billable Hours appeared first on HumbleDollar.

A more realistic title would be “when”, not “if”. It doesn't take much, especially if you're over 65: a broken bone, a joint replacement, failing eyesight, a stroke or heart attack, dementia. If you have a partner, and rely on the partner for transport, the same problems apply.

My mother, born in 1906, spent over 90 years living in England without ever learning to drive. There are a few cities in the US where that's possible – New York, Chicago, San Francisco, for instance – but in most of the country you need a car. There was a grocery store “near” the house I lived in before moving to a Continuing Care Retirement Community, but it would have been a three mile round trip to the other side of a major four lane road. No-one wants to do that, pushing a shopping cart and a cooler, during a North Carolina summer, with temps and humidity consistently in the nineties. Nothing else I might need was even that close.

Consider two of my friends. One, let's call her C, is my next-door neighbor at the CCRC. After she had joint-replacement surgery she came back to the Skilled Nursing facility, and then to her apartment. Meals were delivered, and her on-site physical therapist took her down for treatments in a wheelchair. The CCRC also provides transport to off-site medical appointments.

Then there is my friend M, still aging in place. When she had joint-replacement surgery she constructed a massive spreadsheet to track all of the people coming to look after her, provide physical therapy, and take her to appointments. That's a lot of effort, with plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong.

Which would you rather be?

(BTW, M is moving to a facility with Independent and Assisted Living in January.)

The post What would you do if you couldn’t drive? appeared first on HumbleDollar.

We know the equity in a home can be important and is part of net worth. It can be used to purchase with cash when downsizing. It can be sold and the cash used for living expenses - tax-free income up to a point. It can be used as income via a reverse mortgage. It seems a growing number of seniors are using home equity to pay an entrance fee to a CCRC. Or it may be part of inheritance.

But those strategies require the ability to sell. Prices keep rising, but we are also told it is becoming very difficult for younger families to afford today’s prices. In some areas, required down payments are 5% or less just to make a house available to purchase. 

When we sold our family home in 2018, it took longer than anticipated and the price was $70,000 less than needed to cover the cost of our condo. Doing so today may well be more difficult.

The good news is the selling price for our condo today has increased about 60% and they sell quickly in our 55+ plus community. But will that continue?

So, the question becomes, how important is home equity as part of your retirement planning and what creative ways are you (planning to) using it? 

Do you have concerns that changes in the real estate market may upend your plans?

The post Is the value of your home an important part of retirement plans? appeared first on HumbleDollar.

Now we've all had a little reminder over the last few weeks of what it feels like when Mr Market smacks us in the face with a loss, I think it's an excellent time for everyone to assess how they truly feel about their losses. Are you indifferent? Maybe it's made you slightly stressed, a bit edgy about the future? Or are you constantly checking your account and wishing you had done something before the losses piled up?

Considering your current frame of mind, what do you honestly think your feelings would be if we had a sudden further market drop of 30 percent? If you have an average 60:40 portfolio, that's going to show up as a massive 18% drop in your wealth. If that really concerns you or possibly makes you feel queasy, it might be a good indication you need to think about derisking some of your equity holdings into short bonds or cash and cash equivalents like treasury bills.

But before you pull the trigger, might it be prudent to think through your situation? Especially if you're in retirement and drawing from your portfolio for everyday living. Take the 60:40 portfolio as an example. You probably have at least 10 years of spending needs already pretty well insulated from our hypothetical 30% equity drop, sitting safely in your bond and cash allocation.

Although it's simple finance 101, during a big downturn this fact gets overlooked in the panic of the moment. By switching where you draw living expenses from—prioritizing your bond and cash allocation—you're not selling distressed assets from your equity holdings. You're letting them recover while your portfolio does exactly what it was designed to do: protect you.

Ultimately, these thoughts serve as a crucial reminder that risk management is not a knee-jerk reaction, but a calm, calculated process. While the feeling of being smacked in the face by the market is a powerful prompt for reflection, the most prudent response is always a pause. Before you radically derisk out of fear, take the time to evaluate your emotional tolerance and your portfolio's practical ability to weather the storm.

If you have a bond and cash buffer protecting your immediate needs, you're already insulated. By prioritizing calm thinking over panic selling, you avoid turning a temporary market dip—be it 6 months or 6 years—into a permanent loss, ensuring your long-term financial strategy remains intact and aligned with your personal goals.

Always remember: equity losses are nothing more than numbers on a screen until you sell and crystallize them in the real world. Don't let Mr Market bully you into making that mistake. Use your bonds and cash as designed, stay the course, and let time do the heavy lifting.

The post Don’t Let Mr Market Bully You: A Gentle Reminder of Your Built-In Protection appeared first on HumbleDollar.

Dear HumbleDollar Community,

Last week there was a forum post penned by Dick Quinn on shopping carts.  This post was an inappropriate and unkind rant/lament that had no place on HumbleDollar.  We can all agree that this post should have been better moderated and that the comment thread which turned acrimonious should have been stopped. 

Going forward, I kindly ask commentors take a mindful pause before commenting to prevent further igniting an already incendiary post.  And I kindly ask those who pen forum posts to think carefully about the personal finance lessons or observations they are sharing.  HumbleDollar provides a wealth of information from both its content and its community, so questions are always welcome.

My husband Jonathan often spoke to me about the overall kindness, civility and intelligence of the HumbleDollar community.   Please do not prove him wrong.

The post Letter from Elaine appeared first on HumbleDollar.

Recently, we needed a new dishwasher.

The appliance company crew went about removing the old unit, making adjustments in order to install the new unit, then installing the new unit.  They provided a quick explanation of the controls.

After the crew left, I realized there was only a single basket for the knives, forks, spoons, etc.

Realization:  I should have pulled out the multiple baskets in the old unit!  Those baskets  might have saved the need to find and buy some after market baskets.

if I hadn't used them, the retained baskets could have been donated to our local ReStore for Habitat for Humanity.

This idea might apply to other appliances, and perhaps tool kits as well.

The post Replacement of Kitchen Appliances appeared first on HumbleDollar.

FOR DECADES, RESEARCHERS have been looking at the link between money and happiness. The findings? In short, it’s a mixed bag.

To be sure, there are ways that money can boost happiness, and below are some ideas to consider. But there are also obstacles to contend with. We’ll look first at the obstacles before turning to the recommendations. 

The most significant challenge is the fact that—to a great extent—our happiness level is hard-wired into us. Everyone has a happiness “set point,” with the result that some people simply end up being happier than others, regardless of their finances or circumstances. People debate about how much that set point matters. To one degree or another, though, researchers agree that happiness isn’t entirely in our control.

Another reality to be aware of: Happiness for most people follows a predictable pattern throughout life. Specifically, that pattern tends to be U-shaped, with happiness often dipping in early adulthood, as responsibilities begin to pile on. Buying a home, climbing the career ladder and raising children—these things all take work and can take a toll. The good news is that happiness tends to start rising again by the time folks hit their 40s. But it’s hard to sidestep those earlier, more challenging years.

The third obstacle is what’s known as the Easterlin paradox. Richard Easterlin was a leading researcher on the psychology of money. One of his key findings was that when societies experience economic growth, the resulting rise in prosperity, counterintuitively, doesn’t seem to affect people’s happiness levels. Roughly the same percentage of Americans today report being very happy as did a hundred years ago, despite the vast improvement in our standard of living.

Someone with just an average income today enjoys luxuries that John D. Rockefeller might have only dreamed of. Why doesn’t happiness improve along with standard of living? Easterlin’s conclusion was that it’s not just our absolute standard of living that matters; it’s our relative standing. That’s why Scandinavian countries tend to rank highly in global happiness surveys. If there are fewer people with outsized—and ostentatious—wealth, that tends to make everyone feel better.

To be sure, these three factors are obstacles to contend with, and they’re generally hard to avoid. The good news, though, is that there are plenty of things that are well within our control, regardless of age or stage or financial standing. Below are five strategies you might consider as the new year approaches.

Plan

Suppose you’re thinking of taking a vacation next summer. Even if it’s several months away, happiness researchers suggest you start planning that vacation today. That’s because a finding in the research is that we derive enjoyment from looking forward to things. So if you increase the lead time before a vacation or other event you’re looking forward to, you’ll increase the enjoyment you derive from that experience.

Give

In a finding that’s been replicated more than once, giving has been found to boost happiness. Whether it’s to family, a friend in need or to an organized charity, giving almost universally brings us joy. According to the research, we get a lift from each gift we make. So writing five or 10 modest-sized checks may have more of a positive effect than one large donation.

Organize

Psychologists talk about the damaging effect of “open loops” in our minds. This refers to tasks that are unfinished. According to the research, they’re particularly unpleasant because they occupy disproportionate mental space. Suppose you have five items on your to-do list, but one of them is overdue. That one overdue task will tend to loom large, sapping energy, even while you’re working on the other items. That’s why I suggest keeping your financial life as simple as possible. The result, generally, will be fewer open loops to worry about.

What does this mean in practice? First, I suggest structuring your household finances so that as many things as possible run on autopilot. If you have a credit card or cards, turn on the auto-pay feature so you don’t have to keep track of deadlines. Do the same with your rent or mortgage, with your insurance and with other critical services.

If you’re in your working years, I suggest the pay-yourself-first approach to budgeting. Instead of trying to track every dollar—a task that few people have the time or discipline to undertake—instead simply divert a portion of your paycheck into savings before it even reaches your checking account.

Other steps you can take to streamline your finances in 2026: If you have more than one bank, credit card or brokerage account, see if you can consolidate any of them. If you have old 401(k) accounts, roll the balances into your current employer’s plan or into an IRA. And within each account, see if you can streamline the number of holdings.

You could use a free tool like Portfolio Visualizer to examine the correlation between two funds and see whether your portfolio would be materially affected by consolidating into just one.

Buffer

In organizing your finances, another step I recommend is to build in a buffer. While cash isn’t a great long-term investment, it can serve an important purpose in reducing open loops. Even if your bank doesn’t pay much in the way of interest, I’d still maintain an amount large enough that you don’t have to ever worry about running low. If that means selling some stocks now to build up a cash reserve, that strikes me as worthwhile.

Delegate

My neighbor tells me that he has an assistant who works remotely—from Romania. She takes care of standard things like managing his calendar but also helps with a variety of other tasks that he finds tedious, like booking travel and paying bills. All of this can be done from afar. A service like this might not make sense for everyone, but there’s a useful takeaway: If there are tasks you really dread, don’t resign yourself to living with them. Instead, see if there’s a way to delegate them. Indeed, one of the best possible uses for money is to buy time. On this point, all happiness researchers agree.

 

Adam M. Grossman is the founder of Mayport, a fixed-fee wealth management firm. Sign up for Adam's Daily Ideas email, follow him on X @AdamMGrossman and check out his earlier articles.

The post Money, Happiness, and Choice appeared first on HumbleDollar.

NOVEMBER IS A GOOD time for tax planning. You still have enough time left in the year to make tax moves, but you’re close enough to December 31st to know what your income, deductions and credits might look like.

Here are some tax moves to consider:

 

1. Maximizing retirement contributions

Before the year ends, if you have the means, consider contributing the maximum allowed $23,500 to traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), and similar workplace plans.

Even if you can’t max it out, increasing your contributions in November and December can still make a meaningful difference. And if your employer offers a match, make sure you’re contributing at least enough to get the full match.

 

2. Mega Backdoor Roth

This strategy allows high-income earners to save even more in a Roth account, if permitted by a workplace retirement plan. For example, say you contribute the entire $23,500 to a pre-tax 401(k), and receive $10,000 in employer match. You can still contribute $36,500 to after-tax account if allowed by your plan.

After contributing to the after-tax account, you can roll the funds over to a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), shielding them from future tax.

 

3. Backdoor Roth

If you have a high income, you can’t contribute to a Roth IRA directly. But, there is a strategy called “Backdoor Roth”.

It involves making a non-deductible contribution (so no tax deduction) to a Traditional IRA, and then converting the amount into Roth. 

Importantly, you need to ensure that you have a $0 Traditional IRA/Rollover IRA/SEP/SIMPLE by December 31, otherwise, the conversion will be partially taxable. I wrote more about the Backdoor Roth strategy in a previous issue.

 

4. Optimizing Charitable Contributions

If you’re planning to donate to charity before the end of the year, consider donating appreciated shares from your taxable brokerage account instead of cash. When you donate stock that has increased in value, you can deduct the full market value of the shares (up to a set AGI limit) without paying capital gains tax on the appreciation.

After the donation, you can use the cash you had originally planned to give to buy back the same shares. This effectively increases your cost basis in those shares, which reduces your future capital gains tax when you eventually sell them.

 

5. Tax Loss Harvesting

If you have stocks/ETFs that have a loss, consider selling them to offset gains from other investments or to claim up to a $3,000 capital loss deduction on your tax return. This strategy, known as tax loss harvesting, can reduce your taxable income and lower your overall tax bill.

A common strategy for some investors is to sell a fund that tracks the S&P 500 at a loss, and rebuy a similar fund, say the Total US Market Fund. Looking at the S&P 500, it's down ~5% from its all time highs, so it could be a decent move.

Just remember the wash sale rule: don’t buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days before OR after the sale, or the loss will be disallowed for tax purposes.

 

6. Tax Gain Harvesting

If your taxable income is below $48,350 (or $96,700 for MFJ) in 2025, consider selling appreciated securities at a gain and buying them back. This increases the cost basis of your investment and lowers future tax liability.

However, if state or local taxes apply, this strategy may not be worthwhile due to the opportunity cost of paying those taxes. This strategy is ideal for an investor in a no income tax/no capital gains tax state.

 

7. Maximize HSA

HSAs provide many tax benefits, including a tax deduction, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for medical expenses.

You can contribute $4,300 for individuals or $8,550 for families if you have a HDHP (minimum deductible of $1,650 for individuals and $3,300 for family coverage). Individuals age 55 and older can contribute an additional $1,000 "catch-up" contribution. 

I personally maximize my HSA every year since my employer also provides a matching for it. It's a great way to save/invest for the future healthcare costs.

 

8. Business Entity

If you are a business owner, choosing the right business structure can have a big impact on your taxes. For individuals with net income above $100,000, electing S corporation status could be a smart move.

An S corp allows you to split your earnings between a reasonable salary and distributions. While your salary is subject to payroll taxes, distributions are not, which can reduce your self employment taxes. However, you have to analyze the payroll costs, including compliance, for maintaining that S corp status. 

 

9. Track Expenses

Most small business owners or people with a side hustle overpay taxes because they don't keep a good track of their expenses. Some of the smaller things like entity formation or business meals could get missed. This is why it's a good practice to have a separate business bank account and connect it to various bookkeeping softwares.

Last minute bookkeeping often leads to missed opportunities and higher taxes. For self-employed individuals, tracking income and expenses consistently throughout the year can make quarterly estimated tax payments more accurate and reduce the risk of penalties.

 

10. Gift

In 2025, you can gift up to $19,000 ($38,000 for married couples) per person without impacting your lifetime estate and gift tax exemptions ($15M in 2026). This won't reduce your taxes now but will allow you to strategically transfer wealth to your heirs tax free. This is especially relevant for individuals living in states that have a low exemption (like Oregon with $1M)

Which ones are you going to take advantage of this year? Let me know in the comments!

 

Bogdan Sheremeta is a licensed CPA based in Illinois with experience at Deloitte and a Fortune 200 multinational.

The post Year-End Tax Planning Moves appeared first on HumbleDollar.