Is Renting a Waste of Money?

I Lost $5,000+ Gambling on Stocks

On February 9th, 2021, I sold $22,860 worth of the only investment I held in my Roth IRA: FZROX (Fidelity’s Zero-Cost Total Market Index Fund).Then on February 25, 2021, I contributed $5,000 to my ROTH IRA to max out my annual contribution for 2021. I had previously contributed $500 on January 1st and $500 on […]

Is Elon Musk’s Twitter the Most Powerful Market Moving Social Media Account?

Ever since @realDonaldTrump’s account was permanently suspended, I think it’s safe to say there’s a new king of the hill on Twitter, and his handle is @ElonMusk.You may know Elon for one of many things:He’s the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.He’s the founder of companies like The Boring Company, Neuralink, and OpenAI.He’s also (sometimes) the […]

I Started Buying Bitcoin

Disclaimer: None of what you’re about to read is investment advice.–I first caught wind of Bitcoin back in 2017. In one year, the value of BTC went from $965 to just under $20,000 per coin. Bitcoin became the bell of the ball. So many of the podcasts I listen to, YouTube Channels I watch, and […]

My Money Flowchart

I’ve spent the last 5+ years self-educating myself on personal finance. I’ve read damn near every book and listened to practically every podcast on the subject.  One of the main things I learned is wealth generation happens in 3 separate phases:Make MoneyKeep MoneyGrow MoneyMore importantly, each phase takes a different set of skills. I’m an expert at […]

Comparing Our Net Worth to the Ultra-Rich

I found this infographic from a survey conducted by Edward N. Wolff back in 2017. It’s called The Composition of Wealth.Sidenote: The most right (ultra-rich) bar has a typo: 6.7% for liquid assets should read 4.6% as per actual study data (page 48).Each bar accounts for 6 items as a % of net worth (NW):Principal […]

Luna’s College Fund

My parents paid for my entire college experience.TuitionHousingMeal PlanBooksLate Night Pizza, Taco Bell, …BoozeAll of it. Covered. I never saw a bill from the Bursar Office or heard anything about what my education cost them. But it didn’t start there, my parents also paid for my last two years of public high school because we moved […]

Pay Less Income Tax

In September of 2019, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics published a Consumer Expenditures report for the years ending 2016, 2017, & 2018.  See Table A. Below.The average income before taxes per consumer unit for 2018 was $78,635. The average expenditure per consumer unit for 2018 was $61,224. Source: BLS.gov*The meaning of the blue dots will […]

Personal Capital

I have a not-so-secret obsession with personal finance. I love to talk about taxes, retirement accounts, credit card points, etc. I geek out on tracking our income and expenses. It sounds ridiculous, but I treat our personal finances like a business.  Around the 4th day of the month, I download the transaction summary for the prior month […]