Jonathan Clements's Blog, page 6
November 12, 2025
How Has Living in a CCRC Affected Your Monthly Bills?
As I have written recently we have begun investigating CCRCs. I am curious as to what other bills that you paid when you owned a house are eliminated or reduced, and if reduced by what percentage. Also what additional charges/bills might be incurred from the CCRC other than the obvious monthly fee.
Ideas I’m thinking may be eliminated are expenses such as property taxes, fuel for heating/cooking etc. is electricity included in the monthly charge. How many meals etc. I would assume these vary by facilities/contracts etc. I assume most get renters insurance which I would figure is less expensive than homeowners insurance.
Just curious, and thanks for any input which might be provided.
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Jonathan’s Service
Those of us on the west coast were delighted to see the video of his service and it is good to see the good work continue. I am certain Jonathan would be pleased.
All the best,
Dennis McGillis
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Patient uses AI to reduce hospital bill by 83%
A post on X (was Twitter) offers an interesting twist -
"A guy just used @AnthropicAI Claude to turn a $195,000 hospital bill into $33,000. Not with a lawyer. Not with a hospital admin insider. With a $20/month Claude Plus subscription. He uploaded the itemized bill. Claude spotted duplicate procedure codes, illegal “double billing,” and charges that Medicare rules explicitly forbid. Then it helped him write a letter citing every violation. The hospital dropped their demand by 83%. This isn’t just a feel-good story. It’s a preview of what AI will really do next: flatten systems built on opacity. Hospitals, insurance companies, legal firms—all rely on asymmetry. They win because you don’t have access to the same data, code books, or language. Claude gave one person the same leverage as a compliance department. That’s a revolution. We thought AI would replace jobs. Turns out, it’s replacing excuses."
Here's the original article: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-ind...
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Purple Handcuffs and the Gift of Time
I think on occasion it's nice to highlight a simple little pleasure of retirement—nothing earth-shattering, you understand, just something the gift of retirement time has allowed you to accomplish.
Late yesterday morning I found myself standing on a mile-long sandy beach, the Atlantic breakers sounding like a jet engine and the wind trying its playful best to knock me over. I was accompanied by eight other retired individuals as we marshalled ourselves to conduct a voluntary beach and sand dune clean-up.
We had a successful day together and unbelievably managed to gather nearly half a ton of discarded litter—a sad reflection on the attitude of some who visit our coastal retreats. We ran a fun little competition, keeping a separate small bag for our most unlikely find of the day.
I thought I'd clinched victory with a slightly battered and rusted can of fly spray bearing Russian Cyrillic lettering, but at the end of the clean-up, the winner was crowned: a pair of purple fluffy handcuffs discovered deep in the extensive sand dune network.
One can only imagine the story there. Though perhaps it's best not to.
As we walked back to the car park, wind-battered and pleasantly tired, there was that satisfaction that comes from a job well done. Retirement has given us the luxury of time, and what better way to spend it than giving something back to the place that gives us so much?
We stood huddled around someone's tailgate, passing around a thermos of coffee that tasted far better than it probably was, warming our hands on the cups and laughing about the day's finds one more time. Then, with promises to do it all again in a few months, we went our separate ways—already looking forward to the next improbable treasure hunt along our battered but beloved stretch of coastline.
Retirement is a wonderful thing.
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November 11, 2025
To Help, And To Be Helped
Managing money may be simple, but it isn’t easy. Most of us struggle to save diligently, invest intelligently and figure out what will make us happy. HumbleDollar aims to help readers make rational financial decisions, especially when it comes to retirement. But we’re also acutely aware of the human side of money.
Those are Jonathan’s words. They are as close to HumbleDollars mission statement as I can find. This forum is Jonathan’s plan to perpetuate his dream. If we’re not careful, we might blow it up.
Arguing about whether or not a politician lied, or someone slowed down the checkout line by having the audacity to write a check, has nothing to do with HD’s purpose. We need to tell our stories in ways that current and future retirees find helpful. People can benefit from knowing what we did right, and learn from the mistakes we made along the way.
I like to tell friends who are checking out HumbleDollar for the first time to read anything written by Clements or Grossman, but I’ve also gleaned a lot of knowledge from many of you.
Nothing is accomplished by debating the tax code. The tax code is what it is. Our job should be to figure out the best strategies to deal with it. Roth versus Traditional, short term vs long term, bond durations, buy versus lease. Also lifestyle discussions; life after divorce, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, a single parent re-entering the workforce, things we volunteer for, things we do in our communities. That’s why I’m here; to help, and to be helped.
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October 18, 2025
Have you ever met “they?”
Have you ever met “they?” Me neither, but from what I hear, he or she is a pretty bad dude.
“They” is responsible for every ill we face from rent prices to mortgage interest rates and student loans. “They” have caused housing prices to rise and inflation too. “They” have rigged the system, even health insurance premiums. “They” made Social Security a scam. “They” is why people don’t earn what they think they should.
“They” seem have total control over our economy with the ability to Ignore supply and demand and prices.
Blaming “they” is an easy substitute for reality and in my opinion most often a crutch to ease the burden of individual responsibility and poor decisions.
I have yet to get anyone to define “they” so I guess it depends on a persons particular gripe. I have concluded “they” may be the wealthy, the government, insurance companies, or big corporations.
I think we need more “I” and “me” and less “they” when it comes to our economy wellbeing.
I have also observed that when “they” is blamed it is most often accompanied by a lack of information, misinformation or simply subject matter ignorance.
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Housing options for older Americans
I wanted to share this article and I hope our dear HD readers comment and tell us if they are doing what is suggested in the article and how it’s working out. I am at the beginning of trying to figure out my housing options and what is described in the article sounds good.
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relatio...
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Money Pit
It's time to rewatch the 1986 Tom Hanks/Shelley Long cautionary tale about their dream house gone wrong.
After spending last year's home improvement efforts on my newly-acquired tin can casita, my used car of a fishing cabin in the Sonoran Desert, I'm back in the city for some long-pondered home renovation. It ain't been pretty, at least when I review the hit to my portfolio. Everything from a piece of lumber to a square foot of cement is more expensive than I'd imagined. Plus, it's all taken much longer than expected, and the planned summertime work will stretch into late fall. The primary goal here is to improve the property so it's in good condition for my older years, should I stay in it rather than move elsewhere. The secondary goal is to increase its appeal to younger homebuyers, should I downsize or leave it behind altogether.
I'm also listening to long podcast discussions on "rent v. buy". I'm renting the spot where my retirement experiment, my owned park unit sits (it came to rest there 40 years ago, been through many owners before me) so I'm actually on both sides of the discussion for the first time in decades.
The thing is, as is the case for many other homeowners, the house I've lived in for over 30 years has become a sizable element in my portfolio. A 401k only requires an occasional rebalance, a small pension is completely on autopilot. But like most homes, mine benefits from ongoing maintenance and occasional improvement.
Instead of selling the big house and living full-time in my remote 370-square-foot unit, I may downsize into a smaller house nearby. At least for a few years, I'd like to retain regular contact with my kids, old friends and neighbors, enjoy city life on occasion, cook with the finest fresh foods in the country, eat at my favorite restaurants, and take breaks from savage climate and rattlesnakes. One or another of my kids has been sharing the house with me the last few years, which means I have someone to tend to it when I'm in my bliss at the edge of the universe.
But smaller homes on the market here are almost as expensive as what I'd list my "big house" for. The less expensive ones are in very worn condition, as this is a century-old neighborhood, or at the more dodgy ends of the neighborhood, not especially safe for an older person on their own.
So that leaves me to work on my current house, and if I find a nicer smaller place, I can sell it. To the next starry eyed couple looking for their "forever home".
No one goes shopping for a money pit, right?
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It is never too late. By Chris
I would like to dedicate this post to Jonathan.
My spouse and I started with nothing. We left college with debt and moved to a HCOL area in the mid 1980s. We knew nothing about money other than “if you can’t pay your credit card off each month, quit charging until it is paid off”.
We are Christians and felt called to tithe our income, so we worked up to the full 10% of gross income that is traditional. We never missed it. Even when times were hard, we were always ok. Sometimes I have no idea how, but after 40+ years I know for a fact that you can never out give God.
We never made more than $100k in a year until the last 8 years my spouse worked. We were the first generation who had to figure out our own retirment b/c the pensions changed to 401ks. We were so dumb that we didn’t understand the part about leaving money on the table if you don’t put enough in to get the company match. We had no idea how much we should put in the 401k until later. For many years we just put enough to get the match. We didn’t know you have to put in more. Our HR was not as good to help as I am sure RDQ’s was.
In the early 1990s I listened to Christian radio and found a few programs that talked about finances. I started to check out books from the library. In my studies I never came across Jonathan’s writings, believe it or not. I wish I had, it would have saved some time. I didn’t find him until HD.
We were way behind on our retirement savings. As I learned more, we did better. By 2016 I had finally found Jonathon and HD. HD was one of my favorite websites to read. I learned so much from all the writers. I used the guide to research topics I didn’t know about.
The past 10 years have been amazing for us. Everything finally “clicked”. My spouse found a well paying job that made low $100k. I didn’t waste the opportunity and used what I had learned from HD and others to play catch up. And we were able to catch up. Our net worth now is in 7 figures and we retired with dignity 21 mos ago.
We are a Humble Dollar success story. We are just regular people. I hope what I have written will encourage any others like us that even if it is late in the game, you can still get there. I so wish Jonathan was here to read my post, this is why he was so passionate about what he did. Chris
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October 17, 2025
Is The Stock Market Overvalued?
Should this worry us?
Since ancient times, soothsayers have been attempting—without luck—to forecast the future. As it relates to investment markets, the frustrating reality is that no one knows what the future will bring. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do.
As investor and author Howard Marks emphasizes in Mastering the Market Cycle, we can still do our best to make judgments with the information we have. We aren’t completely in the dark.
What does the data say? In short, the market has had a remarkable run. Since the market bottom in 2009, the S&P 500 is up about 1,200%, including dividends. Over the past 10 years, it’s gained more than 14% a year—far above the long-term average of 10%.
Other metrics tell a similar story. The market’s price-to-earnings ratio is north of 23. That compares to a 40-year average of just 16. Investors today, in other words, are paying nearly 50% more for each dollar of corporate earnings.
The cyclically-adjusted P/E (CAPE) ratio, developed by Yale professor Robert Shiller, employs an even longer-term dataset, going back to the 1800s. It indicates that today’s market is even more expensive than it was at the peak in 1929, and that the only time it’s been more richly valued was in 2000, just before it dropped 60%.
There are other risks. Washington seems as divided and dysfunctional as ever. That’s another reason observers feel the stock market is out of touch with reality.
In late-September, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell commented that stocks were “fairly highly valued.” Others share this opinion.
Aswath Damodaran is a professor at NYU and well known for his expertise on valuation. In response to Powell’s recent comments, he put together a detailed analysis and reached this conclusion: “It is undeniable that this market is richly priced on every metric…”
Morningstar analyst Dan Kemp makes this observation: “The fact that equity prices have rallied as economic risks have grown suggests that we may be entering the ‘all news is good news’ part of the market cycle…”
Longtime investment manager Jeremy Grantham is even more pointed in his commentary: “This is the highest-priced market in the history of the stock market in the U.S.” In the past, Grantham has also pointed to another indicator as a market barometer: He looks for signs of what he calls “truly crazy behavior.” He saw this in 2020 and 2021, when meme stocks, SPACs and other speculative crazes drove the market higher and higher. We’re seeing shades of the same behavior today.
Consider the Meme Stock ETF (ticker: MEME). It launched in 2021 but liquidated two years later, after the market sank and the fund lost most of its value. But now it’s back. The fund’s manager just relaunched a new MEME fund, similarly designed to take advantage of the market’s current highfliers.
Or consider the flurry of new leveraged funds, with some promising to magnify daily returns by three, four and even five times. The Wall Street Journal discussed this trend in a recent article titled “These Funds Can Go to Zero.” That wasn’t hyperbole. Some leveraged funds have literally lost all of their value, and yet, fund companies are bringing more of them to the table.
Along these same lines, while I recognize the danger of anecdotal evidence, I thought it was notable last week when a high school student shared with me that he had been trading options—and making money at it.
Where do all these data points leave us?
Howard Marks offers what, in my view, is the best prescription. “We can’t predict,” he says, “but we can prepare.” Here are ways you might put that into practice:
Step one would be to bear in mind the lesson of 1996. That was when Alan Greenspan, then the chair of the Federal Reserve, declared that the market was exhibiting “irrational exuberance.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable observation: At that point, in December 1996, the market had gained nearly 70% in the space of just 24 months. And Greenspan’s concern was ultimately validated: In the end, the market did drop, by more than 50%. The problem, though, is that that decline only came later. After Greenspan’s warning, the market continued to rise for three more years, nearly doubling again before it dropped.
The result? When stocks did eventually fall, they never fell as low as they were on that day in 1996 when Greenspan issued his warning.
The lesson for investors:
Sometimes when the market looks too high, it is indeed too high. But there’s no guarantee that it can’t go higher still before it goes lower. Timing, in other words, is always an open question. Even when all of the data and all of the commentators seem to agree, we can never be sure.
That’s why it’s so important to consider your timeframe. If you have no foreseeable withdrawal requirement, then a reasonable response to a pricey market might be to do nothing at all.
On the other hand, if you do have an upcoming need for a withdrawal, then this would be a good time to audit your risk level and to take it down, if need be.
Either way, consider both your quantifiable needs as well as what you might call the Alka Seltzer question:
Ask yourself how you might react if you saw your portfolio drop 30% or 50% even if you have no immediate need for a withdrawal. Then work backward and ask whether an adjustment to your asset allocation might be in order.
I’ve often compared the market to a Rorschach test, and that’s very much the case today. That’s why the most important thing, in my view, is to maintain a balanced outlook. The reality is that even the smartest and most knowledgeable market observers still can’t see the future.
And market-timing strategies, appealing as they might seem, tend to be unreliable in practice. In his recent analysis, Aswath Damodaran tested a number of approaches to see if they would have helped investors through past downturns. His conclusion? Because every downturn is different, “there is not a single market timing combination” that would have been consistently profitable.
That’s why this is a good time—while the market is strong—to prepare, even if we can’t predict.
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 Is The Stock Market Overvalued? appeared first on HumbleDollar.
