Farewell friends

humbledollar.com

351 points by mooreds 3 days ago


Narciss - 3 days ago

It is always very humbling to read such notes - the self-written post passing away letters. There have been others in hacker news, and they always make me think about life, about what matters to me the most and of course, what matters to others.

What struck me most about this one is that it spoke much more about the professional life then about the personal one. I would imagine that if I were to ever write one (which I won’t, cause I’ll live forever) it will be more on the side of outside work experiences.

Life is a beautiful gift, and it’s worth remembering that every day. Do what you love, do a lot of it, be kind to others, hug your cherished people, laugh, enjoy, smile…breathe.

I love you all, and hope you’re enjoying every moment of this incredible journey through the Universe on this floating space rock.

fellowniusmonk - 3 days ago

I often think of Speaker for the Dead.

My parents died just as I was entering adulthood many years ago. They were both kind/accidental iconoclasts with lives that were unusual to the tune of 1 in a billion, or really, discretely unique, like all people perhaps. They bridged eras, continents, cultural inertias, familial blendings.

I lost so much... everything really, when they died. I have so many questions I forgot to ask, so many things I forgot to write down.

People are important. Even people who go unnoticed can have weird and niche insights.

I think of ImageNet. People are far more important and their lives and insights far less uniform. We miss much by letting all these people go without hearing them, without trying to understand them.

re - 3 days ago

Some additional context about the author:

> Jonathan Clements founded HumbleDollar at year-end 2016. Earlier in his career, he spent almost 20 years at The Wall Street Journal, where he was the newspaper's personal finance columnist, and six years at Citigroup, where he was director of financial education for the bank's U.S. wealth management arm. He was also the author of a fistful of personal finance books, including My Money Journey and How to Think About Money.

* https://humbledollar.com/about/jonathan-clements/

* A Money Guru Bet Big on a Very Long Life. Then He Got Cancer. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/your-money/jonathan-cleme...

* https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/1npe...

* Tributes to Jonathan Clements https://humbledollar.com/2025/09/tributes-to-jonathan-clemen...

* Best of Jonathan’s HumbleDollar Posts https://humbledollar.com/2025/09/best-of-jonathans-humbledol...

* Choosing Happiness https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32804468 (3 years ago, 101 comments)

AfterHIA - 3 days ago

I'm suffering from a serious lung illness that might, "take me out of the game" and honestly it's so cathartic to read stuff like this. You get a sense that death is just another milestone. It isn't degrading. I hope as an atheist that it is, "the end" in the Buddhist sense when I go.

I'm so tired and angry. I miss the calm of the evening. I don't miss my friends. I never fell in love and I don't regret it. Life is worth losing.

Noumenon72 - 3 days ago

I learned a lot about investing and index funds from his Getting Going column. A shame that he didn't get to retire on all of his frugally invested money. He was 62.

andrewinardeer - 3 days ago

How would one employ a dead man's switch to post a blog entry like this?

Are there any services you would recommend?

kwar13 - 3 days ago

Money seems like everything until you realize there is an end to all of this.

susiecambria - 2 days ago

Farewell notes offer an interesting peak into the world of another and are so much more engaging, honest, and grounded than the paid obits which commonly mention how the deceased was beloved by everyone.

I got a sense of Jonathan while reading his farewell note. And the note challenges me to do and be better. RIP Jonathan.

joemazerino - 2 days ago

Followed humble dollar during my stint in personal investing. There was a revival of personal blogs pitching index funds alongside books like The Wealthy Barber.

Its sad and scary to see just how fast he died from cancer. Also bewildering he stopped smoking at 27.

All in all, RIP.

OhMeadhbh - 3 days ago

Nobody gets out of here alive, but that's a great goodbye note. I especially liked one of the articles linked to by the one posted here: https://humbledollar.com/2024/06/the-c-word/

gerdesj - 3 days ago

What a lovely note. Very reminiscent of the old school Chrimbo catch up letters but with the hefty twist ("Soz, going to have to bugger off now - cheers!)

I (Jon) lived in Twikkers too, a few years later than this Jon was born there.

Rest in peace mate.

nothrowaways - 3 days ago

RIP

mvcosta91 - 3 days ago

Viveu jovem e morreu livre

dimgl - 3 days ago

RIP

Rakshith - 2 days ago

[dead]

jewelry - 3 days ago

[flagged]

bcraven - 3 days ago

I have to admit I don't understand the epitaph "Family • Readers • Words"

Is it a reference to something?