Category: Investments
Dividend Stocks vs. Income Stocks: What is the Money Difference?
We all go to the stock market to achieve various results. Some of the reasons are to generate income, build wealth, and provide tax shelter through capital gains. No matter the reason that attracts you to the world’s biggest stage, you’ll need to be intentional with your money and investing goals. Not all stocks and…
Options Trading for the Everyday Person
Money doesn’t grow on trees; however, we can plant trees that grow money. We can use multiple income streams to create the lifestyle we envision for our family and friends. But how do we get to the point where our money works for us? Society seems to be withdrawing more money from our accounts than…
Dividend Investing with a Splash of Options Trading
Who doesn’t love getting a paycheck? Receiving our weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly paychecks is perhaps one of the greatest feelings you can have while in the workforce. Do you know what’s even better? Getting a paycheck when you didn’t work for it is much more exhilarating. That’s the magic of income investing; it allows you…
High Yield Savings vs. Certificates of Deposit vs. Treasury Bills vs. Money Market Funds
Every dollar that flows into your household should serve a purpose, even if its primary goal is sometimes to sit in an account until you need it. As we become more financially sophisticated, we find ourselves using multiple types of accounts to ensure we are good stewards of our resources. Each account type serves a…
Investing for Interest 118: The Magic of Money Market Funds
As we transition from savers to investors, so should our mindset about the types of accounts we hold. High-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposits are great for building emergency funds and saving for house down payments. However, these accounts are a few steps removed from the stock market. If we want to become major…
Preferred Shares vs. Mortgage REITs: Take Your Income To Next Heights
All is fair in love and war; however, income investing has different rules. Your income investing portfolio is just that—yours. How you build your income investing portfolio is near and dear to your heart and your circumstances. But it is essential to look at the options at your disposal. Today, I want to talk about…
The Importance of Treasuries 2: The Value of High-Yield Bond Reinvestment
Reinvesting a portion of your returns is critical to compounding your investment portfolio. As we invest in Treasuries, we should reinvest some coupon payments into similar-yielding products. But what if we reinvested into much higher-yielding income-focused products like closed-end funds, mortgage REITs, and preferred shares? Welcome back to The Importance of Treasuries series (Part 1),…
Let’s Get Started with Index Funds: From Saving to Investing
We should all love to save our money; however, many of us have a tough time when it comes to investing. Putting our money into the stock market can be intimidating if we don’t understand the reason why. The last couple of years have been nice for our high-yield savings accounts and other savings vehicles…
The Importance of Treasuries: How to Define Risk
Many young investors get burned by trying to double or triple their money in a few months. Because of these unrealistic expectations, they chase bad cryptocurrencies, meme stocks, and shady real estate deals. These investors aren’t bad; they probably don’t know how to define their risk profile. Understanding how bonds work is essential to becoming…
Where Should You Save Your Emergency Fund? The First Step to Building Wealth
Where you hold your emergency fund is a deeply personal choice that originates from how you feel about money. Ultimately, it’s about whatever allows you to sleep well at night. Where you hold your emergency fund also depends on how large of an emergency you can expect or how much risk you can accept. The…
Santa’s Bringing Closed-End Funds for Christmas
It’s a jolly good time of the year to have a bank account full of income. How could you use an extra $500, $1,000, or $1,500 per month in revenue? Would receiving an extra $500 monthly in guilt-free dividends change your life? I know that it has changed mine in spectacular ways. Often, we ask…
5 Takeaways from “The Options Wheel Strategy”
“The Options Wheel Strategy” by Freeman Publications covers the cycle of using cash-secured puts and covered calls together. I have personally used this strategy to some extent. The book details the options wheel, selecting the right stocks, and positioning your wheel alongside your more extensive portfolio. After using the wheel for six months, I am…
The Magic of Trading Long Strangles: The Best Passive Options Trading Technique
Have you ever dreamed of creating a money machine? Well, the secret to getting rich is finding a way to generate out-sized returns—and continually repeating the process. I stumbled upon trading long strangles through my options trading journey. The returns have been magical. I am still waiting for the downside to show its face. In…
Income Investing for the Win!!
Have you ever felt totally in control of your life? Have you ever felt that you can handle any and every problem that comes your way? That’s how I feel nowadays. But it wasn’t always like this. Less than five years ago, the world told me what to do, and I followed. The world bullied…
7 Reasons to Become an Income Investor
Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck or being broke? Do you crave to take your family out to nice restaurants and sports events on the weekends? There are three ways to climb out of the rat race: getting promoted, living on a budget, OR taking control of your passive income. The first two…
Winning the Lottery with Options Trading: How to Control Your Fear and Greed
One of the biggest tests of self-control is the ability to trade options on the stock market calmly. It can be an emotional roller coaster because the stock market can be irrational, especially if you need it to go in a particular direction. I won the lottery three times this month while trading options, once…
Spicy Dividends for a Bland Life: Make More Money for Doing Less Work
I remember my life as an employee. The military paid me twice a month for over 24 years. They used to call it “three hots and a cot.” For the first 20 years, my only income derived from those two monthly paychecks. They increased yearly, but my expenses increased more than my pay raises. Soon, the…
The Options Trading Debit Card: Create the Best Weekends of Your Life
I have been going on and on about my Dividend Debit Card (Part #1, Part #2, Part #3) over the last three years. It is incredible to receive dividends directly to my Cash App spending card. This month (November 2023), I am on track to receive $400 in dividends directly to my Dividend Debit Card.…
It’s Time to Purchase a Certificate of Deposit: The Magic of High-Yield CD Reinvestment
I just received an email from Discover (where I have my high-yield savings account) offering me 5.20% interest on a 12-month certificate of deposit. It’s been a long time since CD yields were this high, and I fear they won’t last much longer. I personally have a higher risk tolerance than most, so CDs aren’t…
Covered Calls vs. Cash-Secured Puts: The Best Strategy for Beginners
So you want to trade options, huh? Welcome to this magical and dangerous world that most try to avoid at all stops. The key to trading options successfully is having a clear income goal, defined expectations, and a rock-solid plan to avoid being greedy. Greed is the number one way to lose lots of money…
