Last year I had accumulated $30k in municipal bonds in my taxable brokerage account as part of my tax strategy to earn tax free income and I’m happy to report that now a little over a year later I have $60k in munis earning a blended return of 5 percent. This is the tax free…
Four Funerals and No Weddings
In 1994 a movie entitled, Four Weddings and a Funeral was released and became a huge hit worldwide. I vaguely remember that movie but I never forgot the title and hadn’t thought about it since this year when I’ll have attended four funerals by the time the year ends and no weddings. So far this…
Fidelity’s Retiree Health Care Estimate
Fidelity released their annual retiree health care estimate and rather than write a post about it, my favorite bond blogger recently published a video worth watching if you’re planning on retiring soon or are already in retirement. With the ever growing cost of health care insurance and the already ridiculously priced health care services, it’s…
Inflation At Costco
I went on a recent trip to Costco and was floored by the cost of stuff. I spent $215 on 13 items and these were normal every day items not electronics or jewelry. I had an inflation category on my old blog where I would periodically track the cost of a cart of groceries but…
New 401K Investment Rules – Gambling Allowed
The administration signed a new rule around alternative investments in 401k’s today. The summary is below and I asked AI to give me a risk matrix for anyone considering adding speculation to your 401k. Key Developments President Trump signed an executive order on August 7, 2025, aimed at allowing alternative assets—such as cryptocurrencies, private equity,…
Insurance Inflation Is Insane!
I got an email notice from my insurance company that they will now start charging a $5 fee for using credit card to pay my insurance premiums which I do because the whole thing is automated and I don’t want to write checks or pay bills online. They even charge $5 for using a debit…
Municipal Bonds At 8 Percent Tax Equivalent Yield
I’ve been sitting and waiting to buy more municipal bonds for my portfolio in my cash accounts for tax free income. With the administration pressuring the Fed to cut rates and the recent miserable jobs report, the Fed may finally start cutting rates so I’m pulling the trigger on buying some bonds before those sweet…
How To Tell If Your Company/Firm Is Doing Poorly
Unemployment has been creeping up, the core inflation report released today shows inflation running hotter and there is still a great deal of uncertainty around tariffs and economic policies which begs a fundamental question: how do you know if your firm/company that you work for is doing poorly? Back at the end of May, I…
Zepbound: My Health Journey – July Year 2
For the month of July, I was traveling and I was greatly concerned about my weight loss plan given we were eating out at restaurants most of the time and snacking in between meals in the most unhealthy way with processed food. The good news is we walked many miles every day so if we…
Have You Heard Of Showrunner?
In late February of 2024, I wrote a post entitled, “The Number 1 Skill To Have Now – AI” that outlined what I think would happen with AI over a long enough time frame. Specifically, I wrote the following: “I have a ton of books that I love such as Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist and would love…