The blog post of March 23 implies that a “steady-as-you-go” approach to investing during these times is a good idea. Think long term, attend to your asset allocation, rebalance on schedule, and provide for some cash. The post two days later (March 25) advised us to be generous if we can—many people don’t have portfolios and the economic disruptions are severe. But neither discusses why we should have faith.
Continue reading
Monday we mentioned that now is a time for generosity. If you have a portfolio, you’re fortunate. Millions of people don’t, and they may need your help. How do you handle that in a compassionate and reasonable way?
To begin, you must know how your portfolio functions in your life: do you depend on it for year-to-year living? Or is it for extras like travel, gifts, or luxuries? That distinction is important because if you help by selling investments and giving the proceeds, you reduce future investment income. That’s not the case with income from work—giving part of a month’s income to a relative in need doesn’t reduce next month’s income. Continue reading
Fear can paralyze us. We fear the Coronavirus, getting sick, and long waits for treatment. We fear the reactions to the virus, including those of business and government. We are shutting down normal life under the edicts of common sense and government proclamation. Retirees, we’re told, are especially vulnerable because of our age, and we seem psychologically vulnerable as well. Gyrating asset markets add to the stress, and many retirees depend on portfolios for their livelihood. Several people I’ve spoken with wonder whether they’ll be able to sustain themselves through and after this crisis. What should we do? Continue reading
While young people are usually healthy and full of life, old people experience increasing pain, disease and death. That’s a conventional wisdom, and it’s not wholly wrong. Yet research claims that older people are happier than most age groups, with happiness peaking in our 60s or 70s. We often see people in their 80s and beyond who still live happy lives. Continue reading
Over a year ago I purchased hearing aids.
Several months ago I fell down the bottom three stairs in our house and landed with my back against the wall, chipping the plaster. No injury.
In early October, 2019, my wife and I drove to Maine for vacation. Barbara planned to meet three high school friends in Bar Harbor, and I was hoping to explore Down East Maine, that part of the coast northeast of Bar Harbor. As we entered Maine, I began to shake uncontrollably. After dropping Barbara and reaching Lubec, at the New Brunswick border, I holed up in a motel, alternating between periods of cold shakes and fevers. A few days later when I picked up Barbara, we headed directly home, calling ahead for a doctor’s appointment and postponing a side trip to western New York to visit my oldest brother, Wayne. Continue reading
Destiny: when I was in high school, I dreamed of becoming a hunting guide in Alaska, and now, at 75, I just took my first trip to our 49th state, after a career as a forestry professor. Did you also miss your life?
Continue reading
For several months I woke each day thinking about what to include in six courses on investing for members of our local OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute). OLLI is sometimes called kindergarten (or college) for retirees. We have classes, social events, and after school activites, all for people over 50. It’s become an important part of the lives of retirees here in Athens, Georgia.
Amish people work. Often they farm, but they also work in other jobs and businesses. Their church recommends acceptable types of work, which may vary among churches. If they can’t work, they rely on their families and communities for help. Amish usually don’t accept welfare, food stamps or use unemployment insurance.
Continue reading
Just a short note to share an experience and a memory. Today I went out to our deck to contemplate. Usually I mix a little prayer with a meditation on some aspect of life, then try to move to what I call contemplation: just sit with God—being aware of His presence—and experience what’s true and loving. Today I woke early and went out before dawn.
In November I traveled to the Big Valley (Kishacoquillas Valley) in central Pennsylvania, about 70 miles northwest of Harrisburg. The Big Valley is home to three or more Amish groups, yet it’s off the well-worn paths around Lancaster, PA. Amish people wear their religion on their sleeves, heads, legs and feet. They travel in old ways with horses and buggies, maintain their homes without most modern conveniences and are among the remaining successful family farmers. They make their own clothes, prepare wonderful food, hardly eat in restaurants, restrict their interaction with outsiders, marry within their religion, and form tight-knit communities. Amish people believe God asks them to live this way. Despite all these differences from the rest of the U.S., their populations appear to be growing and there is a general diaspora among Amish communities: the children grow up, get baptized in their church, marry, and often move out to new places where they buy farms, start businesses, have children, and form new communities.