It’s not often in life that we get a chance to meet our heroes and, even better, become friends with them.
Over the past three years, I’ve been fortunate to build a friendship with someone I’ve long admired: the noted financial journalist Jonathan Clements.
I first came across Jonathan’s writings 30 years ago when I was a relative newbie to the world of investments. At the time, I had just started out in the corporate world after a stint as a journalist. I’d just been handed the position of manager of financial communications, a job I knew nothing about. In college, I’d majored in English Literature and had avoided financial-related classes like the plague.
Needing a crash course in finance and investments, I got a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and started reading it every morning. Jonathan’s personal finance columns were one of the first things I turned to when I opened up my copy of the paper. I was drawn by the way he was able to explain complex financial subjects in clear, layman’s prose free of jargon and gobbledygook.
Financial subjects that were once Greek to me now started making sense. Finance, I discovered, was not rocket science. It was something everyday people like me could understand and master.
Largely based on Jonathan’s advice as well as that of other mentors at the company, I began to delve into investments, both through my corporate 401(k) savings plan as well as a taxable account. When, in 1997, I was promoted to director of Investor Relations and suddenly was taking calls from Wall Street analysts, my reliance on Jonathan’s advice grew.
Through him, I learned about the importance of minimizing taxes and investment fees and the power of investing in passive, low-cost index funds such as those advocated by the likes of Warren Buffett and Jack Bogle.
More than 30 years later, I think it’s safe to say that whatever small measure of financial independence I’ve been able to achieve in my life, I owe much of it to Jonathan’s sage advice.
After leaving the Journal in 2008, Jonathan spent a number of years at Citigroup heading up the company’s financial education group, but that job didn’t suit his mission of spreading financial literacy to the masses. So in 2016 he founded HumbleDollar, which has grown into one of the largest, most widely read websites on money and investments.
If you haven’t seen HumbleDollar yet, I highly recommend it. The site is chock full of articles from Jonathan and others focused on various aspects of managing money and planning for retirement. Best of all, it’s subscription-free.
Three years ago, on a whim, I decided to submit an article to HumbleDollar about my decision to leave the corporate world after a 30-plus-year career and take a shot at my long-held dream of being an author. To my surprise, Jonathan accepted the piece, while saying nice things about my writing.
Since then, I’ve published a couple dozen articles in HumbleDollar as well as contributing to Jonathan’s most recent book, My Money Journey, which features the stories of everyday people who have achieved financial independence. Jonathan even kindly wrote a positive blurb about my debut book, The Long Walk Home, when it came out in 2022.
As Jonathan lives close by in Philadelphia, we’ve been able to meet in person a number of times in the city. What I’ve found is that despite his success and renown, Jonathan is as humble and down-to-earth as the name of his website. The man carries no airs and is genuinely interested in the story of everyone he speaks to.
Last evening, Rachael and I met up with he and his wife Elaine for the first time since Jonathan disclosed to his thunderstruck readers that he has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and likely has less than a year to live.
Despite having been given this death sentence, Jonathan continues to soldier on through rounds of chemo and radiation, enlightening his readers with his wisdom on financial topics large and small.
In fact, he just posted another article this morning on the importance of being resilient in the face of market fluctuations. As he told me yesterday at dinner, “What am I going to do—sit around on the couch for the next year and do nothing?”
No, that wouldn’t be Jonathan’s style. He’s determined to keep going as long as he is able.
His readers, including me, have remarked on Jonathan’s equanimity and bravery in revealing his diagnosis to the world and keeping his readers updated on his treatment and condition. To him, though, it’s not brave at all. It’s all part of his life’s mission of being a writer.
“If you want to reach people,” he says, “you have to be willing to bare yourself.”
As a writer myself, I find this inspiring. It’s the reason I write as well—to reach people; to move them; to help them.
I don’t have nearly the audience as Jonathan, but I hope somewhere out there is at least one person whose life has been changed for the better by something I’ve written, in the same way that Jonathan’s writings have changed mine.
For all that I owe him, Jonathan wouldn’t let me pick up the tab for last night’s dinner. It was his pleasure, he said.
That’s Jonathan: a class act.
He and I are making plans to get together again in the fall, assuming his health holds up.
In the meantime, I’m praying he will be around for many more months to come. I, and the world, have a lot more to learn from him.
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