About Hankincents

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Hankincents is…
a blog about life and money by Kellen Henry– sometimes known as “Hank” for short.

It’s the spare change dish of my life after grad school, in which I’m nominally employed in a struggling industry, in an expensive city.

“Hankincents” (rhymes with frankincense) is also a shout-out to the three apocryphal Magi and their pricey gifts in a short-story by O. Henry (O. Hank?) that you probably read in high school.

I feel a little bit of kinship with the poor protagonists in The Gift of the Magi, who are trying to make Christmas happen on $1.87– 60 cents of it in pennies. They make some rash but heartfelt decisions, disregarding the opportunity costs, and end up giving each other physically useless but emotionally valuable gifts.

Here’s a snippet:

But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.