Excessive Investment Fees: Is Your Portfolio Being Feasted Upon?
One of the most entertaining scenes in the movie ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ is when Mark Hanna (played by Matthew McConaughey) explains to new recruit Jordan Belford (Leonardo DiCaprio) how stockbroking business works over lunch of martini and cocaine. “F*** the clients. Your only responsibility is to put meat on …
Why I’m Saving More in a Taxable Brokerage Account, Maybe You Should Too
Ever since I paid off our mortgage, I’ve been buying a mortgage worth of stocks in my taxable brokerage account. Now that I’m inclined to retire early, I plan to stash even more into this third bucket I proudly refer to as my “war chest.” Sure, every budding early retiree …
Why You Absolutely Don’t Want to Miss the Best Days
The past 90 days were particularly exciting if you’re a stock market investor. It reminds me of the Hershey Park roller coaster I was compelled to ride to accompany my 10-year-old nephew. It was a terrifying experience, but not for my nephew, who was having a blast the entire time, …
The Power of Compounding Continues to Amaze Me
Let’s say you’ve saved Warren Buffett’s cat from falling into a ditch. Extremely grateful, he offered a reward that lets you pick between two options: Which option would you pick? Option 1 or Option 2? If you picked the first option, congratulations, you’re $3,000,000 richer: But then, you just short-changed …
Why You Probably Don’t Want to Trade Options
When the market is moving haywire, many DIY investors are tempted to be more creative with their investments. So, they resort to strategies that will likely ruin their portfolios: day trading, buying on margin, short selling, etc., instead of sticking to the proven, slow-and-steady, or buy-and-hold approach to investing. One such strategy …
Why There’s No “Bad” Time to Invest
Many newbie investors have second thoughts about investing their hard-earned money in the stock market, which is completely understandable. But some ask silly questions like, “Should I invest now or wait for the bottom?” And I’m like, “Good luck finding the bottom!” The truth is, whether you invest at the …
Keep it Simple, Sister! KI$$ Investing for Millionaire Dummies
One reason why this blog will never achieve mainstream is I couldn’t share it with my family or friends. How could I when I’ve been blogging about the intimate details of my finances— and theirs too! I first blogged about my sister’s finances in 2017 when she had a net …
How to Survive and Thrive from a Bear Market Attack
Imagine you’re hiking in the Alaskan wilderness with a friend, and not far away, you spot two little cubs heading toward you both. Your heart starts pounding, wondering where momma bear is until you get startled by the sight of an angry grizzly ready to pounce the two of you …
War is Stupid, So is Panic Selling
Russia has invaded Ukraine, another black swan event to wreak havoc in the stock market just when the world has barely recovered from the effects of COVID-19. Putin must have lost his mind— a scary proposition considering that Russia has the most nukes in its arsenal. What’s next? The Chinese …
Calculating Warren Buffett’s Rate of Return (and what you can learn from it)
In a 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, Warren Buffett stated that if someone invested $10,000 in a stock index fund back in 1942, it would have been worth $51 million. An index fund is a type of mutual fund designed to match the performance of the overall market. For …