Passive Income Ideas
Portfolio (March 2023)
Dividend Aristocrats
The 50-Year Home
My parents were born and raised in the south hills of Pittsburgh. They attended the same high school but didn’t start dating until five years after graduation when they were in a wedding party together. Dad was a high school teacher on the other side of town. He wanted a shorter commute, a big yard,…
The Noise We Don’t Ignore
Inflation is destroying wealth and making food so expensive. The Fed keeps raising interest rates — how can the housing market survive it? The 16th largest U.S. bank failed a few months back. Then the 14th largest bank failed! The COVID-19 pandemic happened. That sucked. Now there’s a stupid war in Eastern Europe. The stock…
Arrived Homes Review: Invest in Rental Homes Hassle-Free
This Arrived Homes review was last updated on 04/26/2023. Arrived Homes is a real estate crowdfunding platform allowing non-accredited investors (all U.S.-based investors 18 and up) to own shares of single-family and vacation rentals. Arrived uses real estate crowdfunding laws to simplify the investor experience and broaden access to a Buffett-approved asset class with no…
How to Leave a Career You Don’t Genuinely Love
Common advice from life coaches and career gurus is to build a career you love so much you don’t want to retire. I appreciate this advice and wish I’d followed it more in my 20s and early 30s. But genuinely loving what you do is a rare privilege. Most people don’t love their jobs, let…
8 Reasons to Pursue Early Retirement
Early retirement is a loaded phrase that ignites internet skepticism. We can partly blame the mainstream financial media for picking up stories about “early retirees” that run six and seven-figure businesses. Inconsistent messaging among early retirement bloggers doesn’t help, and I suspect the phrase is tossed around liberally on YouTube and TikTok. The FIRE crowd…
Create Multiple Income Streams for Security and Wealth
When I lost my job in 2017, my former employer didn’t have the means to pay me a severance. Our family had emergency savings, but our multiple income streams kept us afloat. Five years earlier, a job loss would have been much worse. But since I saved and invested while times were good, I could enjoy…
When to Sell Stocks and Buy Bonds
Risk-free government Treasury yields have risen dramatically over the past year. The increase is a direct result of the Federal Reserve rate increases that started in 2022. Higher short-term yields are good for retirees and give us multiple options to earn risk-free returns on idle cash while maintaining liquidity. But the fast pace of the…
The Fortysomething Guide to Creative Self-Employment
I spent the summer of 1996 tending the 13th street beach stand just off the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD. Beachgoers came to me for rentable beach chairs, umbrellas, and bodyboards. On a good day, I’d sell about $500 and receive 20% as pay. It was an excellent summer gig compared to the $7.77 that…
Autobiography is not Financial Advice
The Atlantic writer Derek Thompson wrote an article about the best career advice he’s come across that “might be marginally useful.” Your Career Is Just One-Eighth of Your Life was applicable to my situation back in September 2022 when I was approaching my career departure date, and it’s still relevant today as a self-employed blogger….
NewRetirement Review: The Complete DIY Retirement Calculator
NewRetirement is an online retirement calculator and planning tool. It’s the most comprehensive financial tool I’ve ever used — miles better than any elaborate spreadsheet. I’ve been tinkering with NewRetirement since 2017, when I met the Founder, Stephen Chen, and explored the tool for some articles I was writing at the time. I used the…
