That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.
There is so much scandalous bullshit thrown out about personal finance that it's enough to make a goat lose its lunch. But most personal finance topics (once you weed out all the bullshit and bad advice) are pretty …
I just finished "The Affluent Investor" by Phil DeMuth. Phil defines "affluent" as having between $100,000 and $10,000,000 in assets. (Very high net-worth individuals have a different set of challenges that are not covered in this book.) I'm not yet affluent by this definition, but still found …
In my piece on the Four Percent Rule, I talked about Jeremy Grantham's November 2012 essay, "On the Road to Zero Growth[1. Available from the "Jeremy Grantham's Letters and Articles" section of the GMO website, but only after you register. Registration is free.]. In that piece I listed some …
I recently finished "Think, Act, and Invest Like Warren Buffett: The Winning Strategy to Help You Achieve Your Financial and Life Goals," by Larry Swedroe. The Warren Buffett stuff is just a facade -- a shtick to get investors who are frightened by scholarly works to read the book. Nevertheless, the …
I'm intelligent, talented, have a good job that pays me well, and have had more good luck in this life than I deserve. So why am I broke?
Broke? Yes. I'm 40 years old, have zero credit-card debt, few savings, owe back taxes, and my wife has student loans. Our …
Continuing our detailed review of "The Investor's Manifesto" by William J. Bernstein, we're going to look at Chapter 6, "Building Your Portfolio."
This chapter boils down to one sentence of advice from Mr. Bernstein: "Save as much as you can, start as early as you can, and do not ever …
Continuing my chapter-by-chapter notes on William Bernstein's "Investor's Manifesto," here we take up Chapter 5.
I'll open with a quote from Bernstein that nicely summarizes the chapter:
The prudent investor treats almost the entirety of the financial industrial landscape as an urban combat zone. This means any stock broker …
When I first heard about Healthcare Savings Accounts, I was intrigued, then disappointed, and then forgot about them.
The idea behind an HSA is that you put money in an IRA-like account (tax-free) that can only be used for healthcare expenses. My medical expenses aren't that high -- why do this …
This is a short course in Financial Competence, written for fellow autodidacts. The texts in the "Essential Reading" section are exactly that -- books, articles, white papers, and web pages -- that constitute the minimum of essential reading for anyone interested in reaching financial competence.
Please note that at this time …
If you're an investor counting on the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate for your retirement planning, your pucker factor should be going up to about an eight right now.
I first heard of the "Four Percent Safe Withdrawal Rate" via Mr. Money Mustache. It states that if you draw down …