Everyone has a breaking point and the trigger can be anything but I think for most people it’s usually money related. Perhaps the cost of food at the grocery store? Or maybe insurance costs for health, home, or auto? Or maybe property taxes or HOA fees that don’t seem to relent? For me, right now,…
Category: Money Management
Q1 2026 Returns
I had hoped to have created some dashboards of all brokerage accounts today but I got too busy at work and other activities but I did run summaries and critiques of my accounts. Because every broker has different file formats when downloading transactions it creates extra work. AI can parse through most of it but…
New Credit Card: Chase Sapphire Reserve – Maxing Points
This year I dumped my airline branded credit card. After waiting hours at TSA on a recent flight I decided I will be minimizing my flights and traveling by car, train or smaller airports to avoid TSA nightmare lines. Since most smaller airports don’t have lounges or other amenities, the card made little sense. Additionally,…
New Ex-Dividend Calendar App
I haven’t been able to build apps lately since I’ve been extremely busy at work however necessity is the mother of invention and I had an annoying problem that I needed to fix so I sat down this past weekend and developed a new app to manage ex-dividend calendar. The ex-dividend date is the date…
I Owe Uncle Sam $10k For 2025
I am relieved that I only owe Uncle Sam $10k for 2025. I had a well thought out strategy to minimize my taxes that all went berserk when I got laid off but things turned out fine. Ironically, I got about $10k in unemployment benefits which I kept in interest bearing accounts knowing that most…
What Are Key Financial Preparations For A Fiscal Crisis?
Yesterday, I wrote about Key Financial Warning Alarms and today I’m going to tell you some of the things I’ve been doing. Liquidity Protection What Should You Do? I have no idea, you and I don’t have the financial intimacy needed to give you any kind of advice but I do know that you should…
What Are Key Financial Warning Alarms To Monitor?
I’ve spent the week prepping for a Financial Apocalypse that may or may not come but I’d rather be prepared than not. There’s a saying, “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it!” As a follow up to Is Your Personal Finance Ready For War, I decided to…
Update On 401K For 2026
It’s March and I am approaching the $24,500 2026 limit for 401k contributions. People over 50 can contribute an additional $8000 however if you were classified as a highly compensated employee those contributions need to be made to a Roth IRA vs a deferred 401k contribution. I called my 401k provider to understand my options…
Boosting FICO Score By Timing Payments?
I pay off my credit card every month. I didn’t always do that and I recall 25+ years ago when my wife and I first got married that the interest charges on those cards exploded the balance when not paying the off immediately. It was a tough lesson to learn during those early years. Because…
Made 20% Return In One Day By Accident
What a crazy week. The volatility in this market has been insane. Yesterday I attempted to sell 10 contracts for January 2027 on a particular equity I own and I accidentally clicked BUY instead of SELL in the options screen. I quickly tried to undo it by selling them back but the market moved due…