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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I recently wrote about the retirement issue of having most of your wealth tied up in your home. You can read about that at House-Rich Cash-Poor in Retirement. This post is covering a different topic and I do use my…
My mother owns her home outright, owns a rental property outright, and has a retirement account that I manage for her. I tell her all of the time she is a millionaire on paper. That does not matter to her…
When I was younger, “millionaire” was the finish line. It was the lofty goal. It was the word people used to mean you had made it. It showed up in game show titles, in song lyrics, in the quiet way…
I have gotten to the office early my entire working life. First one in, every job I have ever held, because I get a lot done before the world wakes up and I have never needed much sleep. I am…
Why Businesses Succeed and Households Struggle After more than three decades working in some type of finance role, I have come to learn what makes businesses successful — and what makes businesses fail. The companies that survive and those that…
In How to Research a Stock Before You Buy It, we covered the basics of figuring out whether a company is worth owning. Once you start putting that knowledge to work, the next question is — how many stocks should…
In my last post, ETFs and Index Funds vs Individual Stocks, we talked about when it makes sense to start adding individual stocks to your portfolio. If you have decided you are ready to take that step, the natural next…
If you have read What Is an ETF? and Index Funds vs ETFs, you understand how to get into the stock market with one simple investment that instantly diversifies your money across companies and/or technologies. The next question almost every…
If you have learned what an ETF is, you have probably come across the term: index funds. In What Is an ETF?, we discussed the confusion of where to put your money once you have started saving it. Stocks, bonds,…
If you have started saving money — or are starting to think about it — or are sitting on money you have been afraid to invest — the next question is simple: What do you actually do with that money?…
As retirement is likely not on your mind when receiving your first paycheck, it is easy to think that saving some of that first paycheck doesn’t really matter. This is why it is so important to start saving with your…
Introduction I believe a budget is a critical step on the road to building wealth. Most people don’t have one—at least not one that reflects how they actually spend their money. Because of this, most people don’t fully understand where…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Much of this site is about helping you save money and build long-term wealth. Along those lines, let’s talk about one of the most underrated tools for doing just that: the 15-year mortgage. When people think about buying a home,…
“Little Things Make Big Things Happen.” — John Wooden Atomic Planks may not sound inspirational at first, but the concept behind them absolutely is. It’s all about changing yourself for the better—just 1% at a time. Atomic Planks is meant…