What’s Your Answer?
What’s Your Answer?
Jonathan Clements | Apr 15, 2023 HumbleDollar
COMMENTS FROM READERS are one of HumbleDollar’s greatest strengths. Just finished perusing an article? If you don’t scan the comments posted below, you’re often missing out on some savvy financial insights and eye-opening personal stories.
With an eye to tapping into this strength, I launched the Voices section two years ago. My hope: The questions—now 133 in total—would offer a way to organize readers’ collective wisdom and become a go-to resource for those seeking help on a particular financial topic.
To be honest, the Voices questions haven’t garnered as much reader participation as I’d hoped. Still, I find the answers fascinating and, fingers crossed, perhaps the section will eventually catch fire with readers. Meanwhile, here—in order—are the nine questions that have so far generated the most responses:
1. What’s the best financial book you’ve ever read? Among the 45 comments, there’s a wide array of books and authors listed. But perhaps the most mentioned are The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, John Bogle’s books, Burton Malkiel’s A Random Walk Down Wall Street and William Bernstein’s books.
Incidentally, Bill has a new edition of The Four Pillars of Investing coming out in July. I had the privilege of writing the foreword. Bill also contributed an essay to My Money Journey, the HumbleDollar book that’ll be published later this month.
2. What percentage of a stock portfolio should be invested abroad? This has long been a raging debate among investors, and the responses reflect that, with folks suggesting foreign-stock allocations ranging from 0% to 50%. After strong U.S. stock returns over the past decade, maybe it isn’t surprising that many folks are content to have no money invested abroad. But if foreign markets have the edge in the decade ahead, will they feel differently? I, for one, would be happier. As I’ve mentioned before, my single biggest fund holding is Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund (symbol: VTWAX), which has 41% allocated to foreign markets.
3. What’s your favorite financial quote? This question generated a slew of entertaining and thought-provoking responses. Among those offered, my favorite—given today’s inflation—originated with comedian Henny Youngman: “Americans are getting stronger. Twenty years ago, it took two people to carry $10 worth of groceries. Today, a five-year-old can do it.”
4. What costs are you most loath to pay?
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