Blessings Come From the Worst of Times
Welcome to the Inspiration side of this site. I shared the short version of my story in the ABOUT section. I am 58 years old so there are a lot of stories to my life but this story is THE…
How My 18-Year-Old Daughter Got a Credit Card Without a Job—and How She Is Building Credit
My daughter started at LSU this fall. She is eighteen, she does not have a job nor has she ever held a job, and in September she was approved for a student credit card in her own name with a…
Weekly Notes — October 10, 2026
It has been a rough week of being sick. I have slept a ton but thankfully, prior to going down and out, Cerebras provided a teaching moment, and driving in to work Friday at 4:30 a.m. provided another as I…
Weekly Notes — October 3, 2026
I am working on this post mid-flight heading out to see my daughter for Family Weekend at LSU. The prices you see below are Thursday’s closing prices from October 1st. Once I touch down in Louisiana, we have a crazy…
Weekly Notes — September 26, 2026
The stock market had a quiet week. The Dow finished up 0.28 percent, the S&P 500 up 1.21 percent and the Nasdaq up 2.06 percent. Mortgage rates did not have a quiet week. I do not know if that is…
Which Home Loan Is Right for You? Conventional, FHA, VA and Jumbo
When people came to me interested in a home loan, many just wanted to know how much home they could qualify for. Some had an idea where they wanted to live and needed to know whether they could get into…
Weekly Notes — September 19, 2026
It took me quite a while to live what I am trying to demonstrate here. I once held my breath on bad stretches in the stock market. When COVID began and the market absolutely plummeted, it took every ounce of…
Roth IRA vs Traditional IRA: Two Differences, Not One
This is the third post in a series. The first compared a Roth IRA against a Roth 401(k). The second compared the traditional and Roth sides of a 401(k). This one compares the traditional and Roth sides of an IRA.…
Roth 401(k) vs Traditional 401(k): The One Difference That Matters
This post is continuing in a series that began with Roth IRA vs Roth 401(k). Admittedly that was a complicated post discussing a workplace plan vs a non-workplace plan. This post will be much more manageable. It is designed for…
Weekly Notes — September 12, 2026
I went back and forth this week to find a teaching moment within the news then the inflation report came out Friday and the market rallied on it. I want to spend a little time walking through those numbers because…
Feels Like Ten Minutes Ago
It is September 11, 2026. Twenty-five years since the horrible events that took place in New York, Virginia and a field in Pennsylvania, but on this day it always feels like it happened ten minutes ago. In many ways the…
Roth IRA vs Roth 401(k): The Six Differences That Actually Matter
Yes both of these accounts carry the name ‘Roth’ and both carry the same promise. You pay your tax on the way in meaning you are funding these accounts with after tax dollars. When you make a qualified withdrawal later,…
Weekly Notes — September 5, 2026
It is Friday night and I am working to get this post published. Tomorrow is the start of all the big college football games. I am excited to watch my Georgia Bulldogs. They are mine…… not because I graduated from…
Weekly Notes — August 29, 2026
Why Nvidia fell and then rose an hour later Nvidia earnings came out Wednesday afternoon, after the market closed. The numbers were good. Sales were $96.2 billion, more than double what they were a year ago, and higher than what…
Accessible Wealth vs. Retirement Accounts: When You Can Use the Money, and What It Costs to Use It
Most retirement advice is about one thing: how much to save. Save more. Contribute more. Get the match. All of that is sound and good advice and things I talk about on this site. But it addresses only half of…
When Should You Actually Take Social Security?
The question people ask about Social Security is how the program works. The question that actually needs answering is when should you file for benefits. That decision has three realistic answers. You can file at 62, which is the earliest…
Weekly Notes — August 22, 2026
This was the second week in a row dropping a child off to college so I did not micromanage the daily news. From a distance, things felt very extreme. Big swings. The market headed one direction, I would work a…
Weekly Notes — August 15, 2026
Not that Weekly Notes is meant to be long but I have to keep this short this week. I have been in Baton Rouge moving my daughter into LSU, and I needed to savor every remaining moment I had with…
Weekly Notes — August 8, 2026
There were no notes last Saturday. August 1st belongs to my daughter Isabella. Since she passed away 23 years ago, I have never worked on her day. Three good quarters, three different reactions I have spent a lot of time…
Isabella’s Day 2026
It has been 23 years since Isabella both entered and exited this world. Straight from the warmth and comfort of her Mom directly to the hands of God. That is what I believe. That belief is in large part how…
The Headline Is Not the Story: Three Companies, One Week
Last week I published a post on how to read an earnings release. It focused on United Airlines (Ticker UAL) and Johnson & Johnson (Ticker JNJ). This week the market provided a few more earnings releases that helped solidify some…
Weekly Notes — July 25, 2026
We have spent more time on artificial intelligence in these notes than I planned to when I started writing them. I will be honest about that. But it is what is driving the markets right now. And if I am…
How to open your first Roth IRA: a step-by-step walkthrough
A couple of my daughter Thalia’s friends asked me recently how to open a Roth IRA. They had just turned 18, they had some summer job money, and they wanted to know where to actually put it. I had not…
Weekly Notes — July 18, 2026
Short one this week. Another hard stretch on my end and I want to spend the time I have on what actually matters. I did just get a post out on How to Read an Earnings Release so check that…
How to Read an Earnings Release
Four times a year, every public company you own puts out an earnings release. Most casual investors do not really dig into the detail when this happens. They quickly see if the company beat expectations and look to see how…
How to Evaluate an Investment Property — The Honest Math
I strongly believe in utilizing investment property to supplement your income and diversify your wealth. If you do not want to be dependent on Social Security income in retirement, investment property is a great way to lessen that dependency. It…
Weekly Notes — July 11, 2026
This one is going to be a little different from usual. I want to open with something personal and let the market piece follow. It has been an unusually hard week for me at home, and honestly, showing up to…
Dear Isabella
In June of this year I wrote a letter to Thalia as she prepares to leave home for college next month. That letter is called Fly Away Princess and it is on this site. What most readers do not know…
I Believe In Angels
This post first appeared on my old blog Good Plus One in July 2011. That blog was started when my wife was diagnosed with cancer a second time. I am bringing it over here because it is a big part…
Weekly Notes — July 4, 2026
Happy Fourth of July weekend. Some quick housekeeping before we get started. The U.S. stock market was closed Friday for the Fourth of July holiday, so this week’s official close is Thursday July 2. On to the notes. I will…
Trump Accounts: Is the Money Really Tax-Free? Not the Way You Think.
I want to preface this post with a few comments: Now to the post. After reading so much about these accounts, the main question I kept coming back to is likely one you might have as well: Does the money…