In fact, even though the wicked economy continues to put a scare into most people, when it comes to celebrating what was originally known as All Hallows’ Eve, spirits remain high.

So just how hot is Halloween? Well … it’s still as popular as ever. So much so that it’s, dare I say … downright spooky.

To prove it, here are a few bone-chilling financial facts from the National Retail Federation — along with some other horrendous Halloween trivia I managed to, um … dig up:

1. The Halloween business is absolutely monstrous. Americans will spend $8.1 billion this year on everything from candy and costumes to decorations. That’s only slightly less than the $8.7 billion consumers spent last season.

2. Here’s another shocking survey finding: The average consumer intends to spend $112.12 on Halloween products this year. That’s $5.85 less than last year.

3. According to the latest available US Census Bureau figures, there were 38 million trick-or-treaters in 2024 between the ages of 5 and 14. What’s unknown is just how many cranky old people sat on their front porches screaming, “Get off my lawn!”

4. This year, almost 6 in 10 Americans plan to celebrate Halloween. I assume the other four prefer gardening. Or giving trespassing kids the evil eye.

5. Then again, who says Halloween is just for the kids? Believe it or not, this year adults will spend $180 million more on Halloween costumes for themselves than their own little hobgoblins.

6. Don’t forget Fido: Americans spend more than $300 million annually to dress up their pets for Halloween. The most popular pet costume? A pumpkin.

7. With billions of dollars being spent on Halloween costumes alone, it’s no wonder that there are currently 1218 costume rental establishments across America.

8. If you plan on attending a neighborhood Halloween party this year, you can reduce the chance of bumping into your sartorial doppelganger by avoiding the most popular adult costume for him and her in 2026: Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin. No, really.

9. Of course, I’d be lying if I told you I’m glad the “vampy vixen” failed to crack the ten most popular adult costumes this year. Believe it or not, as recently as 2011 the vampy vixen ranked seventh. Ah … the good ol’ days!

10. Census data shows that 92% of American households consider their neighborhoods safe. Yes, that includes the folks living in places like Tombstone, Arizona and Cape Fear, North Carolina.

11. Even so, that won’t stop parents from checking the kids’ Halloween candy for signs of tampering.

12. If it makes parents feel any better, there has been only one documented case since 1974 of a child being killed by a lethal Halloween treat — and in that lone instance, the Grim Reaper turned out to be the father.

13. On the other hand, Halloween can still be dangerous for young children. In fact, a recent JAMA Pediatrics study found that 4- to 8-year-olds are ten times more likely to get hit by a car on Halloween than any other night of the year.

14. By the way, if you hate crowds, make sure you avoid the stores on October 28; that happens to be the biggest day of the year for candy sales.

15. In all, Americans will spend more than $2 billion on candy to keep the neighborhood goblins happy. Hopefully, they’ll avoid the 13 Halloween treats kids hate more than anything. One of the most despised: mints.

16. Somewhat ironically, a lot of kids will tell you that many of the most popular Halloween treats don’t involve chocolate at all.

17. Still, if you insist on giving out chocolate this Halloween, you’ll probably want to know that the four most popular candy varieties are: Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat, and M&Ms.

18. Here’s an eerie trick for scaring up your favorite treats: Kit Kat lovers might be interested to know that they have a 37% better chance of scoring that crispy confection at a ranch-style home. And any self-respecting Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup fan should realize they have a 26% greater chance of getting those tasty treats at two-story houses. Then again, I usually avoid the hassle entirely by just buying — and squirreling away — an extra bag for myself. Just don’t tell my kids.

Photo Credit: Kathy Kimpel

The post 18 Frightening Facts You Didn’t Know About Halloween appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.

Well… another busy week is behind us. So with that in mind, let’s get this party started!

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect income and savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.

– Alan Greenspan

Credits and Debits

Credit: Did you see this? The latest annual Social Security (SS) cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) is projected to be 3.5% in 2027. This is the last official projection of the year; if it’s correct, that would boost the average retiree’s monthly check by $68, from $1940 to $2008. Wow. Try not to spend it all in one place, folks.

Debit: In other news, we noticed that commercial office loan delinquencies are now at 12%; that’s near an all-time high and, remarkably, beyond the levels seen in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. Meanwhile, $64 billion of additional commercial office loans come due this year and next, with nearly $40 billion of that pile already delinquent, in default or flagged as potentially troubled. The good news is that interest rates are falling sharply, which will go a long way toward helping distressed debtors. Oh, wait…

Debit: For an example of just how distressed the commercial real estate market is, consider Chicago’s Aon Center: The 83-story skyscraper sold for $712 million in 2015. Today the building is worth nowhere near that amount, with its latest appraisal coming in at just $195 million —that’s a 73% decline since 2015. Even worse, the debt matured in July, but the owner couldn’t repay it and asked its lender for more time to sort things out. Not surprisingly, the creditor wasn’t interested. Imagine that. As for the residential market, well… the jury is still out.

Debit: Speaking of distress, last week’s failure of Nano Bank brings the total number of bank closures this year to six; compare that to only two all of last year. The primary culprit this time? The aforementioned commercial property slump that is resulting in too many non-performing loans on the banks’ books. If only Nano had focused on auto loans…

Debit: By the way, in 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit the 10,000 milestone; it’s now hovering near 51,000, which is a nominal gain of approximately 416%. That sounds fantastic, until you notice the sleight of hand: Consumer prices have risen 103% over the same period, meaning today’s Dow is only 25,500 when measured in 1999 purchasing power – resulting in a significantly lower real gain of 155% over the same timeframe, and representing a very modest annualized gain of just 5.7%. True; that’s still not bad – but it’s not going to make anyone filthy rich either.

No joke… Here is time-capsule proof of shrinkflation trickery. The candy bar on top was manufactured in 1991 and was recently found in the home of a hoarder by a cleaning crew that was assigned to get the house ready for sale. Now compare that to today’s candy bar on the bottom. (h/t: @historyinmemes)

Debit: Meanwhile, real GDP has grown about 82% and real median household income is only up 19%. At the same time, the supply of US dollars (USD) in circulation has exploded 424%. As one analyst puts it, when it comes to the Dow, home values, and our annual incomes, “Celebrating the nominal number without adjusting for the shrinking measuring stick is increasingly like celebrating that your kid grew from four feet to eight feet after you changed the definition of a foot to 6 inches.” Uh huh. Unfortunately, while you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time…

Credit: Needless to say, the declining value of the USD is affecting the change in our pockets too. In fact, a Presidential Executive Order (EO) issued last year halted US penny production because each penny costs four cents to produce – so ending penny production would save $56 million annually. But EOs can be reversed by new administrations. So the House passed a bill last week which aims to halt US penny production permanently; it would also require all cash transactions to round to the nearest nickel. The only thing stopping it now is final passage in the US Senate. And, yes, we hear some of you snickering in the back of the room. Frankly, we too don’t hold much hope of this bill getting beyond the do-nothing Senate.

Scott Adams – Dilbert

Debit: Of course, all of these problems are due to the US government spending far beyond its means since 1971, which has led to a runaway $40 trillion National Debt that doesn’t include future debt obligations such as Social Security (SS), Medicare and federal pensions. A government has a few ways to shrink a debt bigger than a year’s national income: 1) It can spend less than it collects; 2) It can grow the economy faster than the interest bill; or 3) It can force its lenders – US Treasury bond (UST) holders – to accept interest payments far lower than the rate of inflation. For those not paying attention, the US government’s only reasonable remaining choice is Option 3. Even so, it still won’t stop the eventual reckoning…

Credit: On the other hand, Zero Hedge recently pointed out that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could theoretically buy back roughly $40 trillion in federal debt using cash from the Treasury General Account. Now for the punchline: For that to happen, the government would first have to revalue its gold reserves at Fort Knox, the Denver Mint and several other places. How so? Well… by devaluing the US dollar (USD) relative to the yellow metal. As for the gold price required to clear America’s $40 trillion debt, well… that comes to roughly $155,000 per ounce. Hey… we’re not sayin’. We’re just sayin’. But short of returning to the gold standard, it’s the only way out. Even so, most economists pretend that the bond market will eventually make this inherently broken fiat system well again. Insanity!

Gary Larson – The Far Side

Debit: As we wrap up, we see the 30-year UST yield is at its highest point since 2004, while the 10-year UST yield is now at its highest level since the spring of 2007. For those who need reminding, 2007 was shortly before the Great Financial Crisis began, which signaled the beginning of the end for the global debt-based fiat monetary system, and ushered in an era of unprecedented currency printing, along with artificially-suppressed interest rates. So it’s not unreasonable to believe that ill-winds are blowing yet again. This time, we’re expecting the next major crisis to be the one that finally ushers in a severe devaluation of the USD relative to the yellow metal and a jaw-dropping loss of purchasing power for USD holders – if not an entirely new monetary system altogether. Got gold?

By the Numbers

With the third quarter behind us, let’s take a look at the year-to-date performance of select asset classes through 30 September 2026:

-14.7% Silver

-8.0% US 10-Year Treasury

-3.3% Gold

2.4% GDX (Gold miners ETF)

3.6% SIL (Silver miners ETF)

5.2% Dow Jones Industrials

7.2% HOMZ (Residential housing proxy ETF)

11.5% Russell 2000

11.6% S&P 500

20.6% Nasdaq 100

Source: Google AI

Last Week’s Poll Results

What’s the smallest coin you’ll pick up from the street?

• Dime, nickel, or penny    74%
• Quarter    9%
• Paper currency or bust!      7%
• Half-dollar    6%
• Dollar      4%

More than 2400 Len Penzo dot Com readers responded to last week’s question and it turns out that 1 in 4 of you won’t pick up anything smaller than a quarter. Me too… although if the USD loses much more purchasing power, I’ll also stop bending over to pick up those random quarters!

If you have a question you’d like me to ask the readers here, send it to me at Len@LenPenzo.com and be sure to put “Question of the Week” in the subject line.

The Question of the Week

Useless News: Dominic’s Dad

“Today we’re going to relax a little and play a spelling game before we head home for the long weekend,” said Mrs. Anand, the primary schoolteacher. “Each of you will stand up, tell us your name, what your father does, spell what your father does, and then explain it to us. All right, Jack, you can go first.”

The first boy in class stood up and said, “My name’s Jack. My father is a plumber, P-L-U-M-B-E-R, and he plumbs houses and fixes lots of clogged sinks and toilets.”

Mrs. Anand smiled and said, “That’s very good, Jack! All right … Dominic, it’s your turn.”

So Dominic stood up, with his eyes looking down at the floor. He shuffled his feet for a few seconds, then he said, “My name is Dominic. My father is a pharmacist, F-A-M … F-A-R-N … F-U-R-M …”

The teacher shook her head and said, “Dominic, I want you to go home tonight and learn how to spell pharmacist.” She then pointed at the next student and said, “OK, Bobby – you’re next.”

Bobby stood up and said, “My name’s Bobby. My old man is a bookie, B-O-O-K-I-E. And if he was here, he’d give you five-to-two odds that Dominic won’t be able to spell pharmacist by tomorrow.”

(h/t: Nathan)

Squirrel Cam

Believe it or not, the squirrels know that our cameras (and by extension, the people in the house) are watching them. They will often look right into those cameras when there is no food out there, as if to say, “Hey! Where’s our lunch?” This one thought it had hit the jackpot after mistaking a rock on our porch as a giant nut. When the squirrel realized it was a rock, it went to the camera…

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More Useless News

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Letters, I Get Letters

Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment — assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it’s interesting or not! You can reach out to me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

Reader Bill had this to say after reading last week’s article highlighting 10 things that today’s middle class can no longer afford:

Social media has people foaming at the mouth to have the same or better than everyone else. I’m not in junior high school, and I don’t care what you ate for lunch.

Fair enough, Bill … then could I interest you in a few quick pics of last night’s dinner?

If you enjoyed this edition of Black Coffee and found it to be informative, please forward it to your friends and family. Thank you!

I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.

Photo Credit: public domain

The post Black Coffee: Pennies from Heaven appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

That decision is one of about five that land in the last few years before retirement. Each is permanent or close to it. Each is worth more than what a planner would charge to check it. This is the one stretch of your financial life where paying for advice is plain arithmetic, and where paying the wrong way costs more than the advice is worth.

The decisions that don’t come back

For thirty years the job was to spend less than you earn and buy index funds with the difference. That job is finished. The new job is a handful of choices you make once.

Social Security timing is the big one, and it pulls on everything else. The years between your last paycheck and your first benefit check are usually the lowest-tax years you will ever have. That is the window to convert traditional IRA money to Roth at 12% or 22% instead of paying more later, when required distributions start in your mid-70s. Convert too much and you push yourself into a higher bracket. Convert too little and the window shuts.

Then there is the order you draw down accounts. Taxable first, then tax-deferred, then Roth is the textbook answer, and it’s wrong for plenty of people. The right order depends on your bracket, your Social Security date, your state, and whether you care what your kids inherit. Get it wrong and you pay a few percent extra in tax every year for twenty-five years.

Retire before 65 and you need health insurance until Medicare. The price of a marketplace plan depends on your reported income, which is one more reason the Roth conversion amount matters. It changes your premium.

And there is cash. Too little, and a bad first year forces you to sell stocks at the bottom. Too much, and inflation quietly eats it.

None of these is hard alone. The problem is they pull on each other, and you get one attempt.

Build the plan yourself first

Do not walk into a planner’s office with a shoebox. You will pay $300 an hour for someone to type your account balances into software.

Write down what you spend, what comes in, every account with its tax status, and the one-time events ahead: the last mortgage payment, a roof, a wedding, the car that won’t make it to 2032. Then put it in a month-by-month retirement planner and see what happens if the market drops 40% in your second year, or if you claim Social Security at 67 instead of 70. If you’re 58 and wondering whether you can stop contributing now and just cover expenses until you quit, a coast FIRE calculator answers that in a minute. Both tools are from firenum. They run in your browser and don’t ask for an account.

You will finish with a plan that is about 80% right and a short list of questions you couldn’t answer. That list is what you buy advice for.

Buy the advice, not the relationship

The most common way advisors charge is 1% of your assets, every year. On a $1 million portfolio that is $10,000 a year, and the bill grows with your balance. For that you get ongoing management you may not need, and a fee that keeps running long after the five hard decisions are made.

A flat-fee or hourly planner charges for the work. Industry surveys put the median one-time plan at about $3000 and the median hourly rate around $300. A focused review of your Social Security date, your Roth conversion schedule and your withdrawal order takes a few hours. The Social Security decision alone can be worth more than that fee in the first year of benefits.

The math is not close. Three thousand dollars once, against ten thousand a year for life, for advice you mostly need once.

Getting your money’s worth

Bring the plan and the question list. Ask whether they are fee-only, which means no commissions, and whether they act as a fiduciary, which means they are legally required to put your interest first. Get the price in writing before the first session. Then spend the hours on the permanent decisions and nothing else. Don’t let the meeting drift into fund selection. Your index funds are fine.

Finding one is the annoying part. Plenty of planners who advertise “fee-only” still want the 1% arrangement. The same site keeps a short list of fee-only financial planners who take flat-fee or hourly work, and several offer a free introductory call. NAPFA and the Garrett Planning Network are two more places to look.

You spent thirty years saving. The next thirty run on five decisions you make in the next five. Pay someone once to check them.

Photo Credit: stock photo

The post Five Years From Retirement Is the One Time to Pay a Planner appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

Healthcare is one of those areas of life where expenses can be difficult to predict. Routine appointments may be relatively manageable, while dental care, wound treatment, or difficulty accessing primary care can create different financial considerations. Including healthcare expenses in a broader financial plan can help people think beyond their immediate needs and consider costs that could arise over time.

Dental Needs Can Become Part of Financial Planning

Dental care is an important part of healthcare planning because significant dental needs can involve expenses that are not always part of an everyday household budget. Tooth loss, for example, can affect a person’s need for ongoing dental care and potential restorative services.

The scale of tooth loss in the United States also illustrates why dental expenses can be relevant when considering long-term financial needs. According to the American College of Prosthodontists, more than 36 million Americans do not have any teeth. Planning for healthcare expenses does not have to focus solely on routine appointments. It can also involve considering how more extensive needs may affect future spending.

A financial plan can provide a framework for thinking about different categories of healthcare expenses. Someone may already budget for insurance premiums, medications, or regular appointments, but dental care can require a separate consideration depending on individual circumstances. Setting aside money for healthcare-related needs can give a household another category to account for when managing its finances.

Major Medical Needs Can Have Significant Costs

Some healthcare needs can involve considerably more expense than people anticipate. This is one reason medical costs can deserve attention when creating a financial plan, even when someone does not currently expect to need extensive treatment.

Wound treatment provides an example of how healthcare expenses can reach substantial levels. According to the National Library of Medicine, estimates for Medicare spending on acute and chronic wound treatment range from $28 billion to $97 billion. While those figures represent costs across Medicare rather than an individual’s personal expenses, they demonstrate the broader financial scale associated with certain types of medical care.

For individuals and families, the practical takeaway is that healthcare planning can involve more than preparing for predictable expenses. A financial plan may need to account for the possibility that medical needs can change and that some forms of treatment may require greater financial resources than an ordinary healthcare budget anticipates.

This can make flexibility valuable when organizing household finances. Rather than treating healthcare as one fixed expense, people can consider it as a category that may change depending on their circumstances and future needs.

Access to Care Can Affect Financial Considerations

Financial planning for healthcare is also connected to the ability to obtain care when it is needed. Even when someone has allocated money for medical expenses, accessing the appropriate care can present another challenge.

According to the Keck School of Medicine of USC, three in 10 people in the United States report difficulty accessing primary care. This highlights why financial preparation cannot be viewed entirely separately from the broader experience of obtaining healthcare. Having resources available is one consideration, while being able to access care is another.

For households, this can make it useful to think about healthcare planning from several perspectives. A budget may include expected medical expenses, but individuals may also need to consider how their healthcare needs could change and what types of care they might require.

Ultimately, healthcare expenses deserve consideration alongside other financial priorities because medical needs can vary considerably from one person to another. Dental care, significant treatment needs, and access to primary care all illustrate different aspects of planning for healthcare costs. Building healthcare into a broader financial plan can help people account for these possibilities rather than treating medical expenses as an afterthought.

Photo Credit: stock photo

The post Healthcare Expenses: Why They Deserve a Place in Your Financial Plan appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

Owning a vehicle is a major financial responsibility, and the costs can extend well beyond a monthly payment and fuel. Repairs, insurance, maintenance, unexpected breakdowns, and accidents can all place pressure on a household budget. Taking steps to prevent avoidable problems can help protect both your vehicle and your finances. A proactive approach to vehicle ownership can make driving more predictable while reducing the likelihood that a preventable issue turns into an expensive emergency.

Understand the Real Cost of Vehicle Ownership

A car can be one of the most useful purchases a person makes, but its expenses do not end when the vehicle leaves the dealership. Oil changes, tires, brakes, batteries, fluids, inspections, registration, insurance, and unexpected repairs all contribute to the total cost of ownership. Building these expenses into your regular financial planning can make them easier to handle. Instead of treating maintenance as an occasional surprise, consider it part of the normal cost of keeping your transportation reliable. Setting aside a small amount each month can also create a financial cushion for expenses that arise later.

Maintain an Older Vehicle With Purpose

Vehicle age is an important consideration when planning a transportation budget. The average vehicle on the road in the US is 12.6 years old, meaning many drivers are relying on cars that have accumulated significant mileage and wear. Older vehicles are not automatically unreliable, but they may require more attention as components age. Regular maintenance can help identify worn parts before they contribute to a larger problem. Keeping records of services and repairs can also help vehicle owners understand upcoming expenses and make informed decisions about whether to repair, replace, or continue maintaining a car.

Create a Preventive Maintenance Budget

Preventive maintenance can be easier on a budget than dealing with a major repair after a component fails. Routine services such as oil changes, tire rotations, brake inspections, fluid checks, battery testing, and manufacturer-recommended maintenance can help keep a vehicle operating as intended. The specific schedule depends on the vehicle, driving conditions, mileage, and manufacturer’s recommendations. A useful financial strategy is to review the maintenance schedule at the beginning of each year and estimate the likely costs. Dividing those anticipated expenses across several months can make them less disruptive to your household finances.

Make Tire Care a Financial Priority

Tires are essential to vehicle control, braking, and traction, making tire maintenance an important part of both safety and financial planning. Drivers should regularly check tire pressure and pay attention to tread condition and uneven wear. Proper inflation can also support fuel efficiency and help tires wear more evenly. Replacing tires when they are no longer suitable for safe use is an expense, but delaying replacement can create additional risks and potentially contribute to a crash. Setting aside money for tires before they reach the end of their service life can make this necessary purchase easier to manage.

Keep Distractions Out of the Driver’s Seat

Financial planning for safer driving also means considering the behaviors that can contribute to crashes. Cellphone use is a particularly important concern because it can take a driver’s eyes, hands, and attention away from the road. At least one driver was using a cellphone in over 40% of all car accidents that result in an injury or death, highlighting how frequently phone use can be associated with serious crashes. Keeping a phone out of reach, setting navigation before driving, and waiting until safely parked to handle messages can reduce unnecessary distractions.

Think About the Financial Impact of an Accident

An accident can create expenses that go far beyond repairing a damaged bumper or replacing a windshield. Depending on the circumstances, drivers may face insurance deductibles, higher premiums, medical costs, lost income, towing expenses, rental transportation, and vehicle repairs. Even when insurance covers a significant portion of the damage, the remaining costs can affect a household budget. Understanding your insurance coverage before an accident occurs can help you know what your policy does and does not cover. Reviewing deductibles, liability limits, collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, and other applicable protections can be an important part of responsible financial planning.

Drive in a Way That Protects Your Investment

Driving habits can influence both vehicle longevity and accident risk. Aggressive acceleration, hard braking, excessive speeding, and ignoring road conditions can contribute to additional wear and increase safety risks. Smooth acceleration and braking, maintaining appropriate speeds, leaving enough following distance, and adjusting driving for weather can help create safer conditions. Seat belt use should also remain a basic part of every trip. NHTSA identifies speeding, impairment, distraction, and lack of seat belt use among important contributors to roadway fatalities and injuries. Responsible driving is therefore not only about protecting people; it can also help protect the financial investment represented by a vehicle.

Take Road Safety Seriously

The consequences of vehicle-related problems can be substantial. An estimated 41,00 people in the US died in motor-vehicle crashes in 2023; such numbers reinforce why preventing crashes should be part of responsible vehicle ownership. While no driver can eliminate every risk on the road, maintaining a vehicle, avoiding distractions, following traffic laws, and making thoughtful decisions can help reduce preventable problems.

Plan Ahead Instead of Reacting Later

A reliable vehicle strategy is ultimately a financial strategy. Budgeting for maintenance, watching for warning signs, caring for tires, understanding insurance coverage, saving for unexpected repairs, and practicing attentive driving can all help reduce the chance of a costly transportation emergency. Planning does not guarantee that a vehicle will never break down or that an accident will never happen, but it can improve your ability to respond when something goes wrong. By treating vehicle maintenance and safe driving as ongoing financial priorities, you can protect your transportation, your budget, and the people who share the road with you.

Photo Credit: stock photo

The post Before the Breakdown: Financial Car Strategies for Safer, More Reliable Driving appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

That being said, it’s always best to try and keep your debts to a minimum. So with that in mind, here are, in no particular order, the top 100 quotes about debt compiled by my crack research team, and presented for your enjoyment.

If you’re in the mood, I’d love it if you share your favorite quote from this list — and please … don’t forget to tell everyone why it’s number one in your book!

1. “Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.”
— American Proverb

2. “What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?”
— Adam Smith

3. “Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them.”
— Ogden Nash

4. “Rather go to bed supperless, than rise in debt.”
— Benjamin Franklin

5. “One can pay back the loan of gold, but one lies forever in debt to those who are kind.”
— Malcolm Forbes

6. “Interest works night and day; in fair weather and in foul. It gnaws at a man’s substance with invisible teeth.”
— Henry Ward Beecher

7. “If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.”
— Earl Wilson

8. “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.”
— J.P. Getty

9. “Debts are like children — begot with pleasure, but brought forth in pain.”
— Moliere

10. “It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times.”
— Rutherford B. Hayes

11. “The impulse dances inside the debt.”
— Jareb Teague

12. “Never spend your money before you have it.”
— Thomas Jefferson

13. “Rich people plan for four generations. Poor people plan for Saturday night.”
— Gloria Steinem

14. “The man who never has money enough to pay his debts has too much of something else.”
— James Lendall Basford

15. “A promise made is a debt unpaid.”
— Robert W. Service

16. “It is poor judgment to countersign anothers note, to become responsible for his debts.”
— The Bible

17. “Here is an equation worth remembering: Five dollars earned minus seven dollars spent equals an unhappy life.”
― Jon Morrison

18. “Debts are like children: the smaller they are the more noise they make.”
— Spanish Proverb

19. “Debt is the secret foe of thrift, as vice and idleness are its open enemies.”
— James H. Aughey

20. “The only man who sticks closer to you in adversity than a friend is a creditor.”
— Unknown

21. “A small debt produces a debtor; a large one, an enemy.”
— Publilius Syrus

22. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan doth oft lose both itself and friend.”
— William Shakespeare

23. “Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”
— Norman Vincent Peale

24. “Promises make debt, and debt makes promises.”
— Dutch Proverb

25. “Debt is a mistake between lender and borrower, and both should suffer.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

26. “A hundred wagon loads of thoughts will not pay a single ounce of debt.”
— Italian Proverb

27. “When you get in debt you become a slave.”
— Andrew Jackson

28. “Tis against some men’s principle to pay interest, and seems against others interest to pay the principle.”
— Benjamin Franklin

29. “This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.”
— Earl Wilson

30. “When a man is in love or in debt, someone else has the advantage.”
— Bill Balance

31. “Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.”
— Ambrose Bierce

32. “No man’s credit is as good as his money.”
— E.W. Howe

33. “There are three kinds of people: the haves, the have-nots, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-haves.”
— Earl Wilson

34. “Forgetfulness is a gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.”
— Ambrose Bierce

35. “Some people use one-half their ingenuity to get into debt, and the other half to avoid paying it.”
— George Prentice

36. “A man who pays his bills on time is soon forgotten.”
— Oscar Wilde

37. “Remember this: debt is a form of bondage. It is a financial termite.”
— Joseph P. Wirthlin

38. “A man in debt is so far a slave.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

39. “Interest on debts grow without rain.”
— Yiddish Proverb

40. “He that dies pays all debts.”
— William Shakespeare

41. “If someone takes your time, it is the only debt that can’t be repaid.”
— Unknown

42. “It’s better to be anonymously rich than deceptively poor.”
— Len Penzo

43. “Wouldst thou shut up the avenues of ill, Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

44. “If one wants to get out and stay out of debt, then he should act his wage.”
— Unknown

45. “The borrower is servant to the lender.”
— The Bible

46. “Debt is like any other trap, easy enough to get into, but hard enough to get out of.”
— Henry Wheeler Shaw

47. “Lying rides upon debts back.”
— Benjamin Franklin

48. “Debts and lies are generally mixed together.”
— Francois Rabelais

49. “Worrying is like paying on a debt that may never come due.”
–– Will Rogers

50. “Who goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing.”
— Thomas Tusser

51. “I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety.”
— Andrew Jackson

52. “Debt is the worst poverty.”
— Thomas Fuller

53. “Speak not of my debts unless you mean to pay them.”
— George Herbert

54. “One of the greatest disservices you can do a man is to lend him money that he can’t pay back.”
— Jesse Jones

55. “Youth is in danger until it learns to look upon debts as furies.”
— Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

56. “Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound.”
— Samuel Johnson

57. “He looks the whole world in the face for he owes not any man.”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

58. “Creditors have better memories than debtors.”
— Benjamin Franklin

59. “Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you will find it a calamity.”
— Samuel Johnson

60. “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”
— Herbert Hoover

61. “Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, nineteen pounds; result, happiness. Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, twenty-one pounds; result, misery.”
— Charles Dickens

62. “A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man; a debt he proposes to pay off with your money.”
— Gordon Liddy

63. “Running into debt isn’t so bad. It’s running into creditors that hurts.”
— Unknown

64. “I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse.”
— James Madison

65. “A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money.”
— Everett Dirksen

66. “You can’t spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.”
— Daniel Hannan

67. “Debt is a prolific mother of folly and of crime.”
— Benjamin Disraeli

68. “The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that.”
— Alan Greenspan

69. “Debt is dumb. Cash is king.”
— Dave Ramsey

70. “Debt can turn a free, happy person into a bitter human being.”
— Michael Mihalik

71. “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
— Warren Buffett

72. “If you’re thinking of debt, that’s what you’re going to attract.”
— Bob Proctor

73. “Many delight more in giving of presents than in paying their debts.”
— Sir Philip Sidney

74. “Poets, like friends to whom you are in debt, you hate.”
— William Wycherley

75. “There are no shortcuts when it comes to getting out of debt.”
— Dave Ramsey

76. “A grudge is just another debt owed.”
— Alex London

77. “If you have debt I’m willing to bet that general clutter is a problem for you too.”
— Suze Orman

78. “Debt is the slavery of the free.”
— Publilius Syrus

79. “There are four things every person has more of than they know: sins, debt, years, and foes.”
— Persian Proverb

80. “Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he’s really selling himself to it.”
— Benjamin Franklin

81. “Why will some people who have $20 buy something for $40 if it’s marked down from $100?”
— Clifford Cohen

82. “It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.”
— Cicero

83. “Debt on anything that depreciates is disastrous.”
— Orrin Woodward

84. “Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well.”
— Andrew Jackson

85. “It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.”
— Aesop

86. “It takes as much imagination to create debt as to create income.”
— Leonard Orr

87. “A habit of debt is very injurious to the memory.”
— Austin O’Malley

88. “In the long run we shall have to pay our debts at a time that may be very inconvenient for our survival.”
— Norbert Wiener

89. “A mortgage casts a shadow on the sunniest field.”
— Robert Green Ingersoll

90. “Those have a short Lent, who owe money to be paid at Easter.”
— Benjamin Franklin

91. “Wars in old times were made to get slaves. The modern implement of imposing slavery is debt.”
— Ezra Pound

92. “The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
— George Bernard Shaw

93. “Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately, and it gives you a lift. The hangover comes the day after.”
— Joyce Brothers

94. “Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt.”
— Henrik Ibsen

95. “The second vice is lying. The first is running in debt.”
— Benjamin Franklin

96. “I like my players to be married and in debt. That’s the way you motivate them.”
— Ernie Banks

97. “There are but two ways of paying debt: Increase of industry in raising income, increase of thrift in laying out.”
— Thomas Carlyle

98. “A creditor is worse than a slave-owner; for the master owns only your person, but a creditor owns your dignity, and can command it.”
— Victor Hugo

99. “Buying on the installment plan makes the months shorter and the years longer.”
— Unknown

100. “We all think we’re going to get out of debt.”
— Louie Anderson

Photo Credit: Zak Greant

The post 100 Famous Quotes About Debt appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

Personal Loans

When it comes to personal loans, you have several options. These options are available at banks, credit unions, and online lenders. Your first option should be a unsecured loan. An unsecured personal loan often requires a good credit score in order for you to qualify. Interest rates are often over 10%. If your credit score drops while you are in repayment, or you miss payments, you risk your interest rate increasing.

Another personal loan option is a secured personal loan. This type of loan requires some form of collateral, and encompasses home equity loans as well as home equity lines of credit. Interest rates are lower — although they still depend upon your credit score — but the risk is higher. If you default on your loan, you could end up losing what you put up for collateral, whether it’s your car, your house, or some other valuable asset.

If the loan amount is smaller, then you can try an online lender. They often promote smaller loan amounts of $5000 or less. Some websites help borrowers get bad credit loans by working with lenders that can help those with poor credit. But be wary: these loans have high interest rates!

Cash Advance

If you have a credit card, you most likely have access to a cash advance. These advances can be taken out through an ATM withdrawal, withdrawal from a bank, or by check. They’re fairly similar to a short-term loan. There is usually a transaction fee associated with a cash advance, and the interest rates are higher on these loans than the regular APR on your credit card. The interest rate varies by credit card company, but it is a viable option if you need money to cover a purchase that you can’t charge.

Peer to Peer Loans

Peer to peer loans — also knows as marketplace loans — are financed by people who are interested in investment lending. Much like any other type of loan, the interest rate for peer to peer loans vary based upon your credit score. With a good score, your interest rate could be as low as 5%. However, a poor credit score could mean an interest rate above 30%. There are also fees associated with these loans that depend upon your score. You may need to provide proof of employment; such as pay stubs in order to qualify. Sticking to the payment schedule, much like any other loan, is a must. Otherwise, you could be faced with late fees and damage to your credit score.

Borrow from Family

It may be awkward, but you can try borrowing money from a family member or friend. These loans are the least risky financially. However, borrowing from family or friends can strain a relationship, especially if you don’t pay the loan back in a timely manner. It usually helps to draw up a payment agreement, including interest, that the both of you can agree on.

If you find yourself in need of extra money, don’t dip into your retirement savings and risk losing a good portion of what you worked so hard to put in. With a little bit of research, you can find a better alternative that is more manageable and stay on a successful financial path.

Photo Credit: Infrogmation

The post Early 401k Withdrawals: Here Are 4 Alternatives That May Be Better appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

You can do that by setting up, and following, a realistic budget.

Not So Scary

It might be best to offer a trigger warning before even mentioning a budget. Some people think of them as nothing but a series of restrictions that hamper their enjoyment of life.

That’s not how you should view a budget. A budget is actually a liberating mechanism that will enable you to enjoy yourself while also maintaining sound financial responsibility. Think of it as an effort at putting your finances on a diet. It may require some self-discipline, but in the end you’re a better person for it.

Here’s how you can retire on a budget and enjoy life at the same time.

Take a Financial Snapshot

The first thing you want to do is get an understanding of your finances. Before you can determine how much you can spend, you must first know how much you’ll have.

Compile your 401(k) and IRA financial statements as well as your non-retirement related financial documents. Add it all up and get a sum total of what you’ve got.

Keep in mind: You’ll still be receiving additional income in your sunset years. That will come from returns on your financial accounts as well as your Social Security income.

To get a picture of how much you’ll be able to spend, you’ll also have to calculate your anticipated life span. This can be a grim effort, but it’s part of the number-crunching process. If you outlive your money, then you’re going to be somebody’s dependent.

Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to help you out with this process.

Track Your Spending

Once you begin your employment-free adventure, you’re not only going to have to start following the guidelines put forth in your budget, but you’re more than likely going to need to make some adjustments.

Why? Because situations never turn out in real life as they appear on paper.

It’s likely that you’ll have a higher expense item than you anticipated (note: you’ll almost never have a lower expense than you anticipated you can thank Murphy’s Law for that). When that happens, you’ll need to reassess and redraw your budget.

This is perfectly normal. It’s also likely that you’ll need to revisit your budget on more than one occasion. That’s not unusual, either.

Get the Support of Friends and Family

Obviously, if you have a significant other, you’re going to want to make sure that your spouse is on board with your financial plans. To try to do this as a solo act is a recipe for tension in the relationship.

Bounce ideas off of close friends, associates, and family members. Get their feedback about how you should budget your money. It’s an especially good idea to talk to people who are already retired. After all, they’ve been down this road before.

Consider Making Changes to Suit Your New Life

Perhaps you’re an empty nester. Your children are grown and have left the house. Even worse, they live a couple of thousand miles away and hardly have time to visit.

There is a growing trend towards remodeling projects with old age in mind, and this is all part of practical planning. Incorporating easy-to-use appliances and devices might cost a significant amount later down the line, so you need to analyze both your situation now as well as keeping in mind that your needs will change in 20 years.

Ask yourself: Do you really need those two extra bedrooms in your house? Can you get by if you downsize and keep the money that you earn from the sale of your home (minus taxes and the amount required for the smaller house, of course)?

What other assets can you sell? Do you have a vintage car that will bring in some cash? Do you have a boat that you won’t use any more?

This is the time to liquefy your not-so-liquid assets that you don’t use any more. That way, you’ll have some extra cash on hand.

Be a Savvy Shopper

You’ll have some extra time in your retirement years. Why not use part of it clipping coupons? You could also browse the Sunday circulars in search of the best deals.

Your retirement years are a great time to hone your skills as a consumer. If you’re a smart shopper, you’ll find it’s easier to stay in budget.

Your golden years are just in front of you. Make sure that you spend them the right way by spending your money the right way.

Photo Credit: Tax Credits

The post A Guide to Retirement Budgeting on a Fixed Income appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

After all, more money means more choices — for everything from the food we eat and the clothes we wear, to the cars we drive and the homes we live in.

Of course, there’s the flip side too: Less money provides fewer choices. My fantastic free-spending teenage son, Matthew, discovered that for himself last week; and it all started with an innocent question …

“Hey, Dad! Can I go to Disneyland with Brandon and his parents tonight?”

“Tickets to Disneyland are very expensive, son. Do you have enough money?”

“No. I was wondering if you could buy my ticket and I’ll do a few projects around the house to pay you back later.”

“You’re asking for a lot of cash, Matthew. Did you know Disneyland tickets are more than $100 now? And that doesn’t include food or anything else.”

“Wow.”

“‘Wow’ is right. So now you know why we’re always nagging you to set aside at least some of your money for a rainy day. How much do you have saved up right now?”

“Zero.”

“Nothing? Didn’t you get almost $100 for your birthday a few weeks ago?”

“Yeah, but I spent it already.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m not going to just give you $100 today.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I’m sorry, son.”

“But what if I put that fence screen up for you? How much money would I earn for that?”

“$20.”

“Okay. What if I wash your car too?”

“Ten bucks. Unfortunately, son, there’s just not enough time left today to earn the money you’ll need for tonight. The trick is to have the cash before you need it.”

“But I didn’t know that Brandon was going to ask me to go to Disneyland until today!”

“Exactly. Thanks for making my point on the importance of saving.”

“But that’s not fair at all, Dad!”

“Boo hoo. Look … If you had $30 or $40 in savings, coupled with money earned for the fence screen and car wash, then I could have helped you out with a small loan from the Bank of Dad — but you don’t.”

That was no comfort to my son. “Whatever, Dad.”

“Look at the bright side,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“Since you’re not going to Disneyland, that means you get to join the family when we go out to dinner tonight.”

“How is that better than going to Disneyland?”

“Because,” I said with a smile, “It’s my treat!”

My son didn’t find that quip to be very amusing. But hopefully, he’s learning that, just as accruing excessive debt makes us indentured servants to our lenders by severely limiting our future financial flexibility, failing to save money — or being dependent on friends and family for income — severely limits our choices in life too.

***

(Note: This is an encore version of an article that was originally published on May 26th, 2014.)

Photo Credit: pasotraspaso

The post Money, Freedom, and a Lesson on the Importance of Saving appeared first on Len Penzo dot Com.

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.

Well… another busy week is behind us. So with that in mind, let’s get this party started!

With bombs and fires, you only get one mistake.

– Red Adair

Credits and Debits

Credit: Did you see this? Multi-millionaire investor Kevin O’Leary shared the advice he gives his children to keep them on track toward a healthy retirement nest egg. The rule: Take 15% of every dollar you receive, whether it’s from your paychecks, side hustles, or birthday money from grandma, and put it directly into the market. He says, “If you make the average salary of $68,000 a year, and you do this your entire life, you’ll end up a millionaire in retirement at 65.” He’s right, you know. For example, an annual contribution of 15% ($10,200) that generates an average return of 7%, would leave $2.2 million in your portfolio by the time you retire. It all sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Especially if your household has two earners… or not.

Credit: As Yahoo!Finance points out, the 15% rule may not work for everyone – especially for people earning $68,000 or less per year. Applying the 15% rule on annual income of $68,000 requires investing roughly $850 per month. The fact is, for many people, expecting them to have $850 available after paying their living expenses, debt payments, a little mad money, and any other financial obligations is an unrealistic expectation. That being said, if you think they have problems, well…

Scott Adams – Dilbert

Debit: In other news, after Nike’s stock traded this summer around levels investors had not seen in more than a decade, the company is now about to suffer another symbolic blow: Nike is going to be removed from the S&P 100 due to years of chronic underperformance. In fact, the company has lost $200 billion in market value since 2015. As for the cause of Nike’s woes, well… there are more than a few, including numerous marketing blunders; the first of which happened just prior to Nike’s current 11-year business decline. We’ll leave the specifics of that one, along with Nike’s many other self-inflicted advertising bungles over the years, as an exercise for the student.

Debit: Last month there was another milestone that hadn’t been breached in more than a decade; this one, relating to the housing market. It turns out that, the supply of existing homes for sale in the US is at its highest point in 10 years. Despite this fact, the median sales price rose 1.6% from a year ago to $429,100, extending a streak of annual price increases that began more than three years ago. The big question is: What does the market seem to know that others don’t? Remember… markets aren’t infallible. But that’s okay; because these guys aren’t either…

Debit: Speaking of rising prices, my grocery bill has more than doubled since 2020. The good news is that, according to federal government bureaucrats, inflation is running at 3.4% year-over-year. So there’s that. As for the shopping situation over in Europe, well… it seems to have better perks.

Debit: Then there’s this: For the first time in history, the US national average diesel price has surpassed $6.00 per gallon – and in some parts of California it has reached $9.99. You know what that means: It’s almost time to change the pump prices to quarter-gallons. And here’s something else that needs changing…

Credit: Since the US dollar’s (USD) anchor to gold was broken in 1971, Fed policy has slowly driven homebuyers from the housing market by escalating real estate speculation with loose monetary policy. The proof is in the pudding, such that the median home price to median personal income ratio is currently 9.5 – compared to 5.1 in 1970. As macro analyst David Jensen notes, since 1971, incomes have failed to “keep up with escalating cost of living prices – especially given the continually redefined lower CPI (Consumer Price Index) measures issued by” the government. Ya think?

h/t: rd.com

Debit: The incessant expansion of the US currency supply has resulted in a staggering 95% loss of the dollar’s purchasing power since 1913, with nearly half of its purchasing power wiped out in the last 25 years. And if you think that is alarming, even more mind-boggling is the fact that the USD has lost 22% of its purchasing power in just the last six years alone. No, really. If this were 1926, he said, we would be having this conversation about the pound sterling as the world’s reserve currency, the obvious place of safety. Britain was bankrupt fifty years later. In other words: We’re dealing with a ticking time bomb. Let’s hope somebody out there knows how to defuse it …

Debit: The fact is, whether its the Spanish silver dollar (piece of eight), the Dutch guilder, the French franc, or the British pound sterling, history shows that global reserve currency status has never been permanent, and that any unwinding is painful for everybody – not just the country with that exorbitant privilege – because when any reserve currency runs into trouble, everyone around the world who is holding it inherits the problem.

(h/t: @thebubblebubble)

Gary Larson – The Far Side

Credit: Thankfully, there is still some good news for those of us whose retirement savings are denominated in USD: Our wealth can be insured from the collapsing purchasing power of the USD by holding physical precious metals. Got gold?

By the Numbers

With nine million Americans having at least one credit account that is either delinquent or in forbearance, the personal-finance company WalletHub today released its latest report on the states with the most – and least – people in financial distress.

50 Kansas (least distressed)

49 Louisiana

48 Florida

47 Texas

46 South Carolina

5 Michigan

4 Vermont

3 Hawaii

2 Rhode Island

1 Maine

Source: Wallet Hub

Last Week’s Poll Results

Which of these celebrations do you enjoy the most?

• Christmas    61%
• Thanksgiving    35 %
• Halloween      4%

More than 2700 Len Penzo dot Com readers responded to last week’s question and it turns out that 1 in 25 of you prefer Halloween to both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I actually thought that figure would be a bit higher, but what do I know? As for me, there’s something about Thanksgiving that makes it the top holiday for me. Maybe it’s because of the cherry pie.

If you have a question you’d like me to ask the readers here, send it to me at Len@LenPenzo.com and be sure to put “Question of the Week” in the subject line.

The Question of the Week

Useless News: Good Collateral

An old Native American man had a need to borrow $500, so he went to his local bank and asked to speak with the loan officer.

The banker welcomed the old man and then told him that a loan application form would need to be completed first. The banker then took a form from his desk drawer and began questioning the old man.

“You said you need $500. What exactly are you going to do with the money?”

“Buy silver, make jewelry, then sell it,” the Native American responded.

“Okay. And what have you got for collateral?” asked the banker.

“Don’t know collateral,” replied the old man.

“Well… collateral is something of value that you provide us with to cover the cost of the loan if you fail to repay,” said the banker. “For instance, have you got any vehicles?”

“Yes; a ’79 Chevy pickup,” replied the old man.

The banker shook his head, “I’m very sorry but, unfortunately, that simply won’t do. How about livestock?”

“I have a horse back on the reservation,” replied the old man.

“How old is it?” the banker enquired.

“Don’t know; has no teeth,” replied the old man.

The conversation went on like this for a while, but eventually the banker decided to grant the $500 loan to the old man.

Several weeks later the old man returned to the bank.

He pulled out a very large roll of $100 bills from his pocket. “Here to pay,” he said.

He then handed the banker five $100 bills to repay his loan.

“Business has been good I can see!” said the banker. “So … what are you going to do with the rest of that money?”

“Keep it close to me,” the old man responded.

“But that’s a lot of cash. Why don’t you just deposit it in my bank?” the banker enquired.

“Don’t know deposit,” replied the old man.

“Well,” the banker responded, “you just put the money in our bank and we will take good care of it for you. Whenever you want to use some of it, you can withdraw it.”

The old man then leaned across the desk, looked the banker in the eye, and asked, “What you got for collateral?”

(h/t: Cowpoke)

Squirrel Cam

That’s definitely not a squirrel… .

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Buy Me a Coffee? Thank You!

For the best reading experience, I present all of my fresh Black Coffee posts without ads. If you enjoyed this week’s column, buy me a coffee! (Dunkin’ Donuts; not Starbucks.) Thank you so much!

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More Useless News

Hey, while you’re here, please don’t forget to:

1. Subscribe to my weekly Len Penzo dot Com Newsletter!

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Letters, I Get Letters

Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment — assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it’s interesting or not! You can reach out to me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

This week Jill dropped me a nice note that started off with this comment:

Hi, Len! I want you to know that I found your wonderful blog by mistake.

Welcome to Misfit Island. That’s how most of us got here — including me!

If you enjoyed this edition of Black Coffee and found it to be informative, please forward it to your friends and family. Thank you!

I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.

Photo Credit: public domain

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