“Your family could be your greatest asset – or your greatest liability.”

— Book: "The Best of Jonathan Clements" (Subtitle to Section I)

You may be familiar with Jason Zweig, the well-respected personal finance columnist of the Wall Street Journal, who has been dispensing his wisdom in weekly “The Intelligent Investor” columns since 2008. But you may be less familiar with his predecessor, Jonathan Clements, who wrote the weekly “Getting Going” personal investing column from 1994 to 2008, and again in 2014 to 2015. In all, he wrote over 1,000 weekly columns, in which he commented on all things money in crisp, thought-provoking 800-word columns.

Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Jonathan Clements recently published a book, The Best of Jonathan Clements, which synthesizes his best 62 columns into an easy-to-read and fascinating education on investing, money, and life. When I read this book this summer, I was not only struck by the quality of thought of the content and advice itself, but also by the structure of the book, the depth of the Foreword and Afterword, and praise for the book. Let me explain.

Jonathan Clements, WSJ columnist and author

The structure of a book can be revealing. The frameworks we chose to organize and communicate our thinking matter. The organization of the 62 columns into 11 sections is very telling. They include:

1. Your Money and Your Family

2. Your Money and Your House

3. Your Money and the Market

4. Making Sure It Adds Up

5. Lists to Help Your Money Along

6. Your Money, Bulls and Bears

7. Your Money and Wall Street

8. Your Money and Your Brain

9. Your Money and Your Strategy

10. Money Over Your Lifetime

11. Your Money and Your Well-Being

Of course, investment and market commentary matter for a financial columnist, but those sorts of topics only get treated in chapters 3 and 6. In contrast, the theme of how money relates to a person and their loved ones is much more prevalent, spanning chapters 1, 2, 8, 10, and 11. As the opening quote of this blog suggests, throughout many of his columns, Clements focuses on sensitizing readers to the importance of their own human capital and empowering those around them, for example, by instilling good money habits in their children.

Besides book structure, the second thing that struck me about this book is the thoughtfulness of the praise it received from investment luminaries whose work I respect. In the Preface, famous author and financial theorist William Bernstein (you may know his Four Pillars of Investing) comments on Clements’ work by stating, “Jonathan cast his net far beyond the confines of mere investment advice, seeking answers to life’s deeper financial questions: Will money actually make me happy? And by the way, what’s it for, anyway? How do I trade off my time and my money? And, perhaps most importantly, how do I raise financially competent kids?” It is this connection between investing, money, and life more broadly that I find interesting.

In the introduction to the book, Clements’ successor at The Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig says that “Instead of telling people what they wanted to hear, he told them what they needed to know.” Can we expect more from good journalists?

“He has made personal finance personal.”

— Financial Planner Allan Roth in the Afterword to Clements' book

Allan Roth (of Wealth Logic) continues, “Jonathan’s Getting Going columns became a lifeline for readers seeking clarity and simplicity amid the contrived complexities of money management… With his website, HumbleDollar.com, Jonathan extended his mission to create a community where anyone – regardless of experience or background – could learn, grow, and find support.”

And lastly, famous The Psychology of Money author Morgan Housel states that “He will go down as one the greatest gifts to personal finance education we’ve ever seen.”

Wow, what praise. When so many experienced and thoughtful industry leaders comment so strongly on somebody’s work, we better pay attention and listen. If you have not read it yet, get this book, and enjoy and embrace its lessons.

Jonathan Clements

Jonathan Clements

Theodore Roosevelt

Investing Giants and Me