Archive for August 2025
A Young Adult’s Smart Guide to Money
(What I wish I’d known at 18, 24, and 30 – from parents and grandparents who’ve been there, and a financial planner who can translate those experiences into actionable advice for today.) If you’re in your late teens or twenties, you don’t need an “investment guy”, a six-figure income, or a meme stock or hot…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Dividends, Rents, and the Illusion of “Income”
The dividends-versus-total-return debate has (mercifully) cooled. Most investors now accept there’s nothing magical about dividends – it’s just cash carved out of total return. The real “magic” is reinvesting, i.e., putting the slice back into the cake so it keeps baking. And yes, ex-dividend, a stock’s price typically drops by roughly the dividend amount –…
Read MoreThe Credit Card Combo You’ve Been Sleeping On
We just got back from Scotland – a trip that involved epic hiking in the Highlands, duck-feeding along Loch Ness, and a quick stop in Glasgow so our daughter could “manifest” her future university choice. We covered nearly 500 miles in a rental car, used our umbrellas exactly once, and, thanks to some smart credit…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Conscious Spending Edition
Like a lot of money nerds, I’ve always loved a detailed budget. There’s comfort in seeing where every dollar goes, especially when life throws its usual mix of irregular income and surprise expenses. Still, I was curious: what would happen if I ditched the details and looked at our finances the way author Ramit Sethi…
Read MoreHow I Invest My Own Money
*Updated for Aug 1, 2025* Regular blog readers know that I’m a big proponent of passive investing with low cost, globally diversified index funds and ETFs. Why? Low fees are the best predictor of future returns. Global diversification reduces the risk within your portfolio. Index funds and ETFs allow investors to hold thousands of securities…
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