If I ever write a book, I think I might title it, “The Nature Of Compounding”. Afterall, I spend more time writing and thinking about compounding more than I do almost any other topic on this blog.
Compounding itself is a fantastic thing — A magical mathematical force that allows for very small amounts of money to grow into a much larger nest egg. Interest built upon interest, where it grows in an exponential curve towards infinity…
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Every year right around the end of January, I try to plan out my dividend income and capital allocation goals for the year. I started doing this in 2017, continued the process in 2018, and still find the process useful enough that I’m doing it again in 2019.
At the most basic level, my planning process amounts to putting excess cash to work from our Big Fat Cash Pile AND trying to put that cash into smart places that generate a growing stream of dividend income. The devil is in the details of course…
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On your journey to financial independence, someone is inevitably going to find out you’re not exactly doing things “the normal way”. Maybe your friends and family find out. Or, perhaps a neighbor or co-worker. Heck, maybe you even start a blog where you tell the world your whole financial story…
Without fail, somebody somewhere is going to throw some shade your way. Shade — meaning negativity, criticism, or hatred…
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Like it or not, we live in a modern hyperconnected world. Always on, always connected. 24/7. The average consumer is constantly told what to eat, how to live, and where to invest. It’s no wonder that “fake news” is now a thing.
We try to tell ourselves “Hey, I’m a free thinker. I not influenced by the media!” But it’s far more likely we’re simply influenced by the most convincing voices around us…
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I’m not going to sugar coat the obvious here… the Tako family net worth declined in 2018. The year 2018 turned out to be a perfect showcase for stock market volatility.
Most of the year the stock market was in a happy place — The economy was growing, consumers were borrowing and spending more, and unemployment was also super low (all of which are important ingredients for a rising stock market).
It looked as if 2018 was going to be yet another year of positive stock market returns…
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December is gone and a new year has begun! Now that 2019 is here, it’s time I did one of those final “tally-up” blog posts which detail all of our annual numbers. I’m usually just as curious as you guys to see how much we spent … and earned in dividends for 2018!
This last year was just a blur of activity…
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Happy New Year! Whew, the holidays are finally over! Things can finally get back to normal. I’ve been so busy lately with visiting family, taking care of kids, and completing holiday gifts that I’ve hardly had time to pump-out a blog post for the last couple of weeks.
A typical holiday (or school day-off) can be no picnic for your average financially independent SAHD…
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With just a couple of days left in 2018, it appears extremely likely the stock market is going to end the year in negative territory. As of writing this blog post, the S&P is down around -7.59%. This will not go down as a stellar year for stock market returns… but it is well within the bounds of “normal” for a single calendar year.
Of course, this fact does nothing to make individual investors feel better about losses. The market value of your assets is going to be less than what you started the year with. That doesn’t make anybody feel good…
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Presents. Trees. Gift giving. Just general overspending. If you take a look around at how most people celebrate Christmas these days, it’s all about the spending!
Capitalism has officially taken over Christmas, and has convinced everyone that spending is the right way to do it…
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