Clear-eyed essays on money, scams, pensions, planning, and the practical anxieties of modern life.
The new middle-class poverty does not always look poor. That is what makes it so awkward. It wears a decent coat. It pays on time. It says, “No, no, I’m fine,” with the crisp little laugh of a person mentally…
There is a quiet sort of social change that does not announce itself with placards or headlines. It turns up at a retirement lunch with one chair missing. I have noticed it more and more lately. People arriving alone who…
This rewritten version is published for readers arriving through OldGreyThinker.com. The original Substack piece is here: The Phone Call That Knew My Card Number. If you want the essays as they land, subscribe on Substack. The phone call sounded exactly…