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…
Risk-free government Treasury yields have risen dramatically over the past year. The increase was 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…
My Uncle gifted me one share of Chevron stock in 1995, seeding my lifelong dividend stock investment portfolio. But I didn’t start living off dividends until I left my IT career in 2022. There were no online brokers or index ETFs making it easy to start investing in 1995. Trades cost $30+. IRAs and mutual…
November is American Diabetes Awareness Month. To raise awareness, I’m highlighting 12 diabetes stocks helping to make the lives of people with diabetes more normal. Parents of kids with Type 1 Diabetes laugh that it starts the day after Halloween. My 10-year-old son was diagnosed in September 2021. Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder…
Doing taxes is never fun. But each year, I find that our income has become more diversified than the previous. We now earn more than 7 streams of income — not counting my salary. A salary is great if you don’t mind full-time work. But it can become an unhealthy addiction. You can break the…
A young reader reached out to me about how investing and finance are underserved topics in high school. He was eager to share that he earned 20%+ returns from day trading in just a few months because he’s spent a lot of time learning how to invest and perfecting his trading strategy. Day trading returns…
I’ve maintained a long-term buy-and-hold investing strategy since about 1995. The month-to-month details have changed quite a lot over the years, but the basic principles are mostly the same: Invest first, spend second Max out tax-advantaged accounts first Invest in taxable accounts second Keep transaction costs and stock sales to a minimum Diversify income streams…
Over the winter, I had a large maple tree cut down in my backyard to make room for a shed. The cleanup required several multi-hour sessions of chopping and stacking firewood. Podcasts helped to pass the time. I’ve listened to the Rule Breaker Investing podcast for a few years, but not as often since the…
The U.S. government is borrowing $1.9 trillion to provide pandemic relief and stimulate the economy. A big chunk of that will be direct payments to Americans. I won’t get into the details of who gets what; you can find that here. Long story short, many Americans will get more than a thousand dollars deposited to…
What’s the best choice between growth stocks vs. dividend stocks? The answer depends on which strategy helps you to best achieve you investment objectives. One of the biggest financial mistakes I ever made was selling a stock. In 2006, I bought 40 shares of Apple (AAPL) for about $58 a share. I called myself a…
There’s no shortage of small investment ideas now that financial platforms are finally catering to investor demand. Many of the asset classes we take for granted today weren’t readily available to beginner investors more than a decade ago. Access to commission-free online brokers, fractional shares, and innovative exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has broadened the universe of…
There are two primary ways to self-fund a retirement. 1) Live off of the output from income-producing assets. 2) Drawdown retirement savings by selling investments. My retirement strategy is to combine both methods to diversify my retirement income streams. By spending money from income-producing assets first, I’ll reduce the amount I need to sell in…
Patience is not a skill or an inherent ability. It’s a practice, one that does not necessarily develop with age or wisdom. Successful investing takes patience because as you extend your investment horizon, your chances of success increase. You can’t expect good results in the short-term, but you can expect excellent results 10-20 years out…
I’m excited to present a guest post this week from a prolific YouTuber named Ryan Scribner. Ryan talks about investing and personal finance on his YouTube channel, where he’s amassed a following of nearly 500,000 subscribers. He also runs the blog Investing Simple where he shares reviews and investing tips for beginner investors. When he…