When my Father-in-Law asks a timely question about passive index fund investing, it surely means many of you have the same question. And it’s regarding a unique scenario unfolding due to the upcoming SpaceX IPO on Friday, June 12th. It is the largest IPO in history, and it’s going to impact your retirement portfolio. How…
The April 2026 CPI number came in hot, confirming what most of us are feeling in our pocketbooks — rising prices. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April crept up to 3.8%, the highest since May 2023. Core Inflation, an adjusted number that excludes food and energy prices, rose to 2.8%. This one isn’t as…
Our perceptions of the value of time and money shift as we age. In early adulthood, time is abundant, while money is scarcer. We want more money and are willing to sacrifice our time to get it. By middle age, a thriving career helps us earn more, but job and family obligations consume our time….
One of the more common retirement concerns I hear from new subscribers is the transition from saving for retirement to spending retirement savings. During our careers, we’re programmed to sacrifice spending to invest in accounts we don’t plan to use for decades. But when “decades later” arrives, retirees don’t want to spend what’s accumulated. The…
Over the past 150 years, the U.S. stock market (including dividends) has ended the year positively roughly 75% of the years, according to many studies, including one by Visual Capitalist. So if you max out your IRA during the first week of January in the tax year of the contribution, there’s a 3-in-4 chance your…
One thing I’ve learned from 30 years of investing and DIY money management is that there is always another way — and often the other way is more “optimized” than the current way. I put optimized in quotes because the opinion of what is better or perfect is based on history, not a crystal ball….
I recorded a new YouTube video this week about the various benefits of a simplified retirement portfolio and how to get there (I’ll share when it’s live). Most of us — myself certainly included — have a portfolio that is more complex than we want it to be or that it should be. Complexity does…
I recently had lunch with a former coworker. He was on the interview team that hired me years ago, and my direct manager on the very last day of my corporate consulting career. Our conversation provided an opportunity for me to explain in more detail why I left. Ultimately, it was a data-driven decision. I…
My Uncle gave me my first share of stock for my birthday in May of 1995. That one share of Chevron set me on a path to learning to invest most effectively — by doing it myself. All the books, blog posts, videos, courses, and talking heads are no substitute for brunt work and bruises….
A fundamental strategy for any U.S.-based DIY retirement planner is to accumulate as much retirement money as possible in a Roth IRA. Roth IRA contributions and conversions grow tax-free, and withdrawals are tax-free and not subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs). I didn’t have a Roth IRA for the first 15 years of my investing…
At an early age, I was attracted to the allure of living off of interest — having enough income-producing cash and invested assets to retire on dividends and interest without spending any of the principal. This is appealing because it would provide the ultimate sense of financial security. When investors can generate enough income to…
The market is in volatile shape right now, and there’s little we can do about it. New information comes to light every hour, but the fog persists. With so much being unknowable, the market will fluctuate until policies and corporate earnings become clear and the trauma subsides. Companies, consumers, and the market need time to…
This week’s blog post points to my latest YouTube video where I share an update on my two taxable dividend income portfolios. The combined portfolio pays me about $13,633 per year in dividend income or about $1,136 per month. The video shows my Fidelity and M1 Finance portfolios and a combined future dividend income view…
The Pittsburgh Steelers won four Superbowls in the 1970s — a legendary run. My Uncle was a diehard Steelers fan in the 1970s and 1980s. He had season tickets, fabricated an Iron City Beer “kegerator” in his basement, and bet on the outcomes of the games. Sports betting is commonplace today. But back in the…