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Johnathan Clements

sma3
edited June 2024 in Other Investing
I have been reading his blog an WSJ column for decades. His "Humble Dollar" provides good, if somewhat basic financial advice, and the comments and guest commentaries are always interesting

Last Saturday in a post " The C Word" Clements disclosed he has stage 4 lung Cancer with brain mets.

Typical of Jonathan, he followed the details of his diagnosis and treatment with a discussion of financial advice for someone facing death in a time sooner than he expected before the diagnosis.

He now is starting a forum where readers can post, changing from his previous format of longer articles edited with reader comments.

IF you don't know the site "Humble Dollar" it is worth looking at, especially for folks with limited financial experience. An equally f good reason is to boost the site views and support Jonathan in his upcoming treatment.

Comments

  • CrashCrash
    OMG. He's got big balls. My hat is off to him. Oh, that's dreadful news.
  • catch22catch22
    edited June 2024
    I too have enjoyed his writings over the years. He seemed to be the type of person who would be willing to sit and have a few cups of coffee with you.
    Indeed, sad news.

    His 'C' page write, from June 15, is here.

    ADD: there is a comments area below his page write.

    Respectfully,
    Catch
  • Tarwheel
    I’m sorry to hear that. I used to read his columns regularly, and I think I read one of his books.
  • yogibearbullyogibearbull
    Follow him on X/Twitter at https://x.com/ClementsMoney
  • Derf
    @catch22 : Thank you for the link.
  • MarkMark
    An article today by Ron Lieber, NY Times. (Free read)

    A Money Guru Bet Big on a Very Long Life. Then He Got Cancer.
  • hank
    Nice article @Mark. Poignant.
  • CrashCrash
    What a genuine, real soul. Thanks for the link. So smart, and humble, too. "The Humble Dollar." Yeah.
  • yogibearbullyogibearbull
    Jonathan Clements (62) passed away. RIP.
    https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/jonathan-clements-longtime-wsj-columnist-dies-at-62-8753c01d
  • larryB
    So sorry to read this. One of the good guys.
  • Observant1
    I'm saddened by this news.
    I've enjoyed reading Mr. Clements since his WSJ days.
    He died much too young.
    Alternate link below.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/investment/jonathan-clements-longtime-wsj-columnist-dies-at-62/ar-AA1N5AAO
  • Observant1
    Jonathan's farewell post.
    https://humbledollar.com/forum/farewell-friends/
  • yogibearbullyogibearbull
    @Observant1, thanks for the MSN link.
    I have noticed that many subscription links end up as open at MSN. But there must be a delay. When I posted the WSJ link, I also looked for a MSN link but didn't find any. If I search now (title followed by MSN), I can find the link you posted. I don't know what kind of deal MSN has with the news media.
  • Observant1
    edited September 23
    "I have noticed that many subscription links end up as open at MSN.
    But there must be a delay.
    When I posted the WSJ link, I also looked for a MSN link but didn't find any.
    If I search now (title followed by MSN), I can find the link you posted."

    Many WSJ/Barron's articles can be found on MSN.
    I execute a search using the exact title of the article.
    If the search results don't return a corresponding article on MSN,
    I'll add "MSN" after the title as was mentioned.
    Sometimes article titles will differ between WSJ/Barron's and MSN.
    Locating these retitled articles requires additional work...
  • FD1000
    While I enjoy Clements’s articles and perspectives, they often feel repetitive. His main message boils down to: invest in index funds, save consistently, start early to benefit from compounding, live frugally, and remember that money alone doesn’t bring happiness.

    That said, it was Bogle who pioneered the first S&P 500 index fund and promoted it decades ago. He wrote extensively about the benefits of low-cost indexing and his belief in American exceptionalism. Bogle was a true giant—the one who convinced me to start investing in the S&P 500/VTI.

    By contrast, Jason Zweig’s articles strike me as far more engaging and thought-provoking. While he covers similar ground, he also explores the psychological side of investing—how to manage our own minds and emotions
  • MarkMark
    Man people beginning their investment journey feel like they are entering a cave (black hole) of quite dense smokey fog, So much advice coming from all directions and often conflicting. For them Clements was, along with others, a perfect way to get one's feet wet. His advice beared repeating and was sound and sometimes a consistent drumming was necessary.
  • mskursh
    Mark said:

    Man people beginning their investment journey feel like they are entering a cave (black hole) of quite dense smokey fog, So much advice coming from all directions and often conflicting. For them Clements was, along with others, a perfect way to get one's feet wet. His advice beared repeating and was sound and sometimes a consistent drumming was necessary.

    i've said this before but I was at another company and my sales dept hired a ton of young people. many of them were starting their first 401ks. one of them asked me if i sat through the 401k meeting. I had not . They were so entirely confused they had no idea what to do. i got the recording of the meeting and watched and what i saw was 50 minutes of almost purposefully confusing jargon and instruction. I told the young woman if she were my daughter, i'd tell her to invest in the sp500 or total market index we had access to and just pump as much as I could into it. I gave her a few points as to why. she passed it a long and pretty soon many of these young kids followed suit. They were like this was so much easier to understand.

  • FD1000
    edited September 23
    Nothing much changed for the average Joe investor.

    The classic investment guide A Random Walk Down Wall Street was first published in 1973. It was written by Princeton University economist Burton Malkiel.
    Burton Malkiel served on the Board of Directors and as a trustee for The Vanguard Group for 28 years, ending his service in 2005. His time at Vanguard was highly influential, as he was a close friend of founder Jack Bogle and a strong supporter of the company's pioneering work in index funds.

    No other book taught me more about investing, and I read many for decades after that.

    You can learn a lot by reading articles by Charles Lynn Bolin. I have used similar techniques that I developed myself.
  • mskursh
    the first books recommended to me when I began my "i need to learn this stuff better" journey was Random Walk and where are all the customers yachts. I think its hilarious the latter was written in the aftermath of the great depression. it reads like it was written a decade ago.
  • WABACWABAC
    The first "investment" book I read was The Money Game by George Goodman, AKA Adam Smith. I wonder what I would think of it now.

    “If you don’t know who you are, this is an expensive place to find out.”

    That still makes sense.
  • davidrmorandavidrmoran
    mskursh said:

    the first books recommended to me when I began my "i need to learn this stuff better" journey was Random Walk and where are all the customers yachts. I think its hilarious the latter was written in the aftermath of the great depression. it reads like it was written a decade ago.

    The information contained herein, while not guaranteed by us, has been obtained from sources which have not in the past proved particularly reliable.
  • mskursh
    haha
  • hank
    edited September 25
    My first investment book was Andrew Tobias’ The Only Investment GuideYou’ll Ever Need. Most memorable point was that if the stock market ever enters bubble territory you should sell everything and move to cash. I may now be in flagrant violation of Tobias’ advice.

    I didn’t know FD needed books. Seems to operate by Divine Inspiration.
  • Observant1
    "My first investment book was Andrew Tobias’ The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need."

    I've read this book early in my investment journey long ago (mid-to-late 90s).
  • FD1000
    edited September 25
    hank said:

    My first investment book was Andrew Tobias’ The Only Investment GuideYou’ll Ever Need. Most memorable point was that if the stock market ever enters bubble territory you should sell everything and move to cash. I may now be in flagrant violation of Tobias’ advice.

    I didn’t know FD needed books. Seems to operate by Divine Inspiration.

    I read many investment books/articles and many papers trying to find how to have a better risk/reward performance. I found it in 2000.
    After 2008, when I lost 25%, the only year I ever lost, I did a lot more reading and research on how to do timing. I tested hundreds of scenarios but none worked. I had to invent it.
  • mskursh
    hank said:

    My first investment book was Andrew Tobias’ The Only Investment GuideYou’ll Ever Need. Most memorable point was that if the stock market ever enters bubble territory you should sell everything and move to cash. I may now be in flagrant violation of Tobias’ advice.

    I didn’t know FD needed books. Seems to operate by Divine Inspiration.

    are you sure?

    "Don’t get caught up in bubbles, don’t overpay, and keep a diversified mix. Cash has a role, but not as a tactical bet against markets."

    I have the OG version of the book from 1978. guy was like the OG Dave Ramsey.
  • MrRufflesMrRuffles
    mskursh said:

    hank said:

    My first investment book was Andrew Tobias’ The Only Investment GuideYou’ll Ever Need. Most memorable point was that if the stock market ever enters bubble territory you should sell everything and move to cash. I may now be in flagrant violation of Tobias’ advice.

    I didn’t know FD needed books. Seems to operate by Divine Inspiration.

    are you sure?

    "Don’t get caught up in bubbles, don’t overpay, and keep a diversified mix. Cash has a role, but not as a tactical bet against markets."

    I have the OG version of the book from 1978. guy was like the OG Dave Ramsey.
    He’s still around, posts regularly to his website, and updated his book in 2022. I find him much more reasonable and sensible than Dave Ramsey (which, admittedly, isn’t a high bar).
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