Don’t look now, but September is already done! Where does the time go? September was a very exceptional month on many fronts — both financial and on my daily schedule.
The most important change was that the kids started school again! In person school! Woohoo!
Read more
The stock market is booming this year, and at the time of writing the S&P 500 is up a healthy 16% YTD. Along with it, most portfolio balances are reaching new highs. This has put a lot of otherwise smart investors in a very good mood.
Euphoric might be a good word for it…
Read more
To say that I’m always on the lookout for new investing ideas, is something of an understatement. It’s a constant process of discovery, education, and investigation. Every time I pick up a new product in the store, or encounter a new service online, I’m always checking to see if it’s a public company. It’s practically a habit these days to check and see if it’s public…
Read more
Summer always speeds by faster than I’d like. It’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of moment here in the Pacific Northwest. Owing largely to our very short summers…
Read more
Compounding. In a word, it’s the “secret sauce” that makes wonderful things like retirement possible. If you want to have enough money to retire someday, you really WANT to compound your money. And there’s no better investment to compound money than common stocks.
Sure, you could stash your savings in a bank account, but at today’s interest rates you won’t be compounding more than a few pennies per month…
Read more
There are few things in this life that give more more personal satisfaction than admitting I was wrong. On one hand, being able to admit I was wrong implies my brain still has a certain amount of mental flexibility and open-mindedness. Frankly, that’s pretty darn rare these days.
How often do you hear people doing a complete about-face when it comes to strongly held personal beliefs?
Read more
July is a month of abundance. Mother nature provides an abundance of sunshine that produces wonderful fresh food, and families get to spend an abundance of time together on vacation.
The Tako family enjoyed the abundance of life in July on both fronts…
Read more
This time of year my thoughts seem to be less focused on investing, saving, and blogging than they probably should be. Admittedly, I’m spending a lot less time on the computer these days, and a lot more time outside!
When the weather is nice here in the Pacific Northwest, the Tako family gets outside as much as we can!
Read more
Every once in awhile a new investing book (or personal finance book) comes along that gets an incredible amount of attention. It’s on all the best seller lists. Everyone on your Twitter feed is talking about it. Amazon reviewers give it glowing 5-star reviews, and many people you respect and follow are recommending it.
It seems like the book is the best thing since sliced bread.
Any time I see this much positive buzz, I get skeptical. Maybe it’s the contrarian in me, but all that marketing looks like a giant flashing-red warning sign…
Read more