This morning’s daily summary for NMUG contains this link to an offer of a perpetual license (for only one computer) for Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021—list price $250—for only $50:
UPDATE 2022-02-15
I ended up buying this perpetual license through an AppleInsider link to this this offer. Apparently, you can buy only one license at this price for each email address you submit to them for purchase.
Pages, Number, and Keynote are worthy applications. In the end, however, I just had too much FUD to give up Office at this time.