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…
Investing
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Should You Pay Off Debt or Invest? The Honest Answer
Before anything else, let’s acknowledge something: if this post applies to you, that is a win. It means you’ve worked your way to a place where there’s money left over — money that isn’t already spoken for by a bill…
When to Sell a Stock
In How Many Stocks Should You Actually Own?, we covered how to build a portfolio of individual stocks. Now comes the question that experienced investors often say is harder than buying — when should you sell? Selling is one of…
The Beginner’s Guide to Building Wealth
Introduction Most people think building wealth is out of reach—and because of that, most people don’t think about it at all. That mindset is a big reason why so many people live paycheck to paycheck. This beginner’s guide to building…
Understanding Cap Rates: A Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing
If you’re starting your real estate investing journey, you’ll quickly come across the term Cap Rate. This is short for Capitalization Rate. While not a perfect science for evaluating properties, Cap Rate is a great starting point to assess a…
Retirement Savings 101: What’s Your Magic Number?
At first, it felt too early in the life of this site to write about retirement savings—but today, it suddenly felt like the obvious topic. Why? Because saving and building net worth makes more sense when there’s an end goal…
Avoid Market Timing Mistakes with This Simple Investing Strategy
I’ll say this many times: I’m not here to give you stock advice. I’ll share what I personally do, what I’ve done, and even the trades I’ve made—but my goal is to educate you. I want you to understand key…
Trying to Time the Market? Here’s Why That’s a Costly Mistake
There are many approaches to investing in stocks: day trading, value investing, growth investing, index investing, dividend strategies, and more. In the spirit of diversification, your portfolio might contain elements of several. But regardless of your investing style, one strategy…
What are Dividend Stocks?
Introduction Dividend stocks are a type of equity investment that can provide investors with a steady stream of income. These stocks are issued by companies that regularly share a portion of their earnings with shareholders in the form of dividends.…
Start Your 401K Early: Why It Matters
When you’re young, it’s easy to think of retirement as something far off in the distant future. However, the truth is, that the earlier you start saving for retirement, the better off you’ll be in the long run and starting…
Basic Introduction to Investment Property
One of the main reasons I launched this site is because I’ve seen so many people make poor financial decisions, often struggling to live comfortably—let alone retire with peace of mind. I firmly believe we cannot rely on Social Security…
Your 401K is NOT a Savings Account
You might think the subject of this post is an obvious concept, but you would be surprised how many 401(k) early withdrawal requests cross my desk that are simply meant to cover unexpected expenses. This is truly why I felt…