I recently read an article on Marketwatch about some kid that lost his life savings doing some fancy stock market thing that I didn’t really understand. According to the article, this dude lost his life savings trading something called a “contract for differences.” Whatever that is, it predictably ended up not working out and he […]
Investing
Stop Worrying About The Market, Your Investments Aren’t Your Income
A buddy of mine messaged me recently asking me whether it was time to worry about his investments. Over the last couple days, the market has apparently taken a big dip – it’s got people like him worried that this might be the big correction that we’ve all been waiting for. His question was, what […]
Don’t Worry About Rate Of Return, Worry About Savings Rate
A friend of mine recently remarked to me about how much his Amazon stock has grown over the past two years. He bought his shares back in 2015 when Amazon was selling at around $400 per share. Today, Amazon sits at over $1,400 per share. As my buddy made clear, that’s well over a 200% increase. […]
How Much Can You Contribute To Your Solo 401k?
My brother recently asked me to help him figure out how much he can contribute to his Solo 401k. He has a pretty successful business in which he’s a sole proprietor – last year, he made well over six-figures in net revenue. When you have a business that makes that much, it’s really important to […]
Start With Betterment or Wealthfront, Graduate To Vanguard
A few days ago, I received an email from Betterment notifying me that I had maxed out my Roth IRA for the year. It marks the third year in a row that I’ve maxed out my Roth IRA. Maxing out my Roth IRA might not seem like all that big a deal, but I think […]
The Many Ways To Get Triple Tax-Advantaged Savings
It’s open enrollment season right now and I’m a little bit bummed. For the past few weeks, I’ve been getting text messages from my previous employer (which happens to be the State of Minnesota) reminding me to enroll in my workplace benefits for the coming year. Since I no longer work for the state, I […]
What Is The Best 529 Plan – A Guide To Choosing Your College Savings Plan
Until a few years ago, I’d never heard of a 529 plan. A basic description is that a 529 plan is essentially a Roth IRA that can only be used for educational expenses. Money goes into the 529 plan post-tax, grows tax-free within the plan, and can then be withdrawn tax-free at any time so […]
Don’t Get Taken Advantage Of When It Comes To Your Retirement Plan For Work
One of the things you have to figure out whenever you start a new job is what retirement plan options your new employer offers. If you’re lucky, you’ll be in a job that has a good retirement plan that doesn’t take too much work to set up. That’s the situation I was in when I got my […]
For The New Investor – It Doesn’t Matter What The Market Is Doing Now
A question I often get from people beginning their working careers is whether they should wait for the market to cool off a bit before they get started investing. For the new investor, my response is always the same – ignore whatever the market is doing and just get started now. Of course, I totally […]
What To Do With Your 401k When You Change Jobs
Now that I’ve recently changed jobs, I’m once again trying to figure out what to do with all of my old retirement accounts. Luckily, I’ve got a little bit of experience in this area. I’ve switched jobs twice in a little over a year – first leaving my biglaw associate position to work as a […]
