Tag: Dividends
Build Your Own Target Date Fund: We Can Do Better
Target date funds are all the rage nowadays, especially inside company-sponsored 401k (k) programs. However, I don’t trust them and don’t like them for a few reasons. Let’s review our retirement goals before I get into the target date funds. We want to preserve capital, facilitate growth, and generate income during retirement. That’s why many…
My 2024 Passive Income Streams: How My Finances Look Today
Every year, I write my passive income resolutions. I put them out on New Year’s (2022, 2023, 2024) so that they can set the pace for my financial ambitions. This year, I want to supplement my resolutions with some hard data on how my finances look at mid-year. This update will serve as a guiding…
Can You Retire on Dividends? The True Crown Jewel of Your Career
I spent 20 years in the workforce, not knowing what to do with my money. I thought that my 401 (k) was my emergency fund, and I believed that putting money in a standard savings account was enough. I was wrong on all accounts, and my family suffered because of my ignorance. Our household dealt…
Stocks, Bonds, & Options in Your 50s: Extracting What We Need From Capital Markets
It’s time to take the world by storm. In our 50s, we clearly see how we want the back halves of our lives to look. We know how much we want to travel, spend, and give. Now, it is all about creating and executing a plan with extreme passion. For obvious reasons, money will play…
30 Monthly-Paying Stocks, One Account: Can I Get Paid Every Day?
I created a Frankenstein brokerage account because nothing is more exciting than receiving dividends. I loved getting my dividends so much that I wanted to feel that love every day. So, I opened a brand new brokerage account under the SoFi (SOFI) platform in June 2023. SoFi stands for Social Finance Technologies. This account is…
The Dividend Snowball Effect: How to Harness Compound Interest
Dividends, Dividends, Dividends. Why all the talk about dividends? Some people live and die by dividend investing, while others pay them no mind. Why such a stark contrast? The simple answer is that some people want to become rich, and others want to be wealthy. Rich people have a plethora of assets that are worth…
Stocks, Bonds, & Options in Your 40s: Determine Your Reality
Welcome to your 40s, when you start to see the light at the end of the financial tunnel. Now is a great time for you to make some big bets while also playing it safe. Does that sound strange? Again, welcome to your 40s. The essential part of getting your money right in your 40s…
Know Your Money: High-Yield Savings vs. Series “I” Bonds vs. Certificates of Deposit vs. Treasury Bills vs. Money Market Funds
How many of you feel that you know your money well? If you received $3,000 tomorrow, where would you place it? More importantly, why would you place it there? Most of us spend our 20s and 30s building and ignoring debt. At some point, we get out of debt, and then we are left in…
Preparing for a Recession #3: The Five High-Yielding Saving Products
Nothing is more important than having money during a recession; however, the days of stuffing cash under the mattress disappeared a while ago. We need to become much more sophisticated with our money, resources, and assets. Cash is an asset, and we must value it as such. Welcome back to the Preparing for a Recession…
It’s Raining Money: How Dividends Can Change Your Life 2
Most people enjoy rainy days as long as they don’t need to leave home. There is something soothing about listening to the raindrops outside their windows. Something I find even more soothing is the sound of dividends hitting my brokerage and checking accounts. There is nothing quite like getting a text, email, or notification saying…
Stocks, Bonds, & Options in Your 30s: Prepare for Financial Compression
I am going to start calling the 30s “the compression years” because you spend the entire decade being compressed financially. In your 30s, you are trying to climb the corporate ladder, get married, have children, and buy a house while living the American dream. It’s no wonder that most people have upside-down bank accounts after…
Recipe for Wealth: Trading Long Strangles and Living Below Your Means
There are only two ways to become wealthy: reducing expenses and increasing income. Most people fail to get rich because they don’t succeed at both. If you can lower the stakes on one side of your life, you can increase the risk on the other. For example, you can fund your options portfolio if you…
Stocks, Bonds, & Options in Your 20s: Mitigate Risk while Building Wealth
People in their 20s have trouble with their finances because they have two objectives: building wealth and funding their future. The financial media always tells the younger generation about compound interest and how vital it is to save and invest early in life. The stark reality is that people in their 20s must contend with…
The Options Wheel vs. An Online Business: The Best Way to Make Money From Home
Everyone wants to make money from home. Imagine making $2,000 per month from the safety and security of your cozy house. What’s not to love about the idea of generating revenue without having to get dressed? However, making any type of income from your home is extremely challenging. Since everyone wants to be the next…
Trading Long Strangles vs. Rental Properties: The Best Use of Leverage to Build Wealth
Owning a home has become increasingly difficult. Most people view homeownership as the simplest way to build wealth, but those days may be over. Further, owning multiple properties and becoming landlords allowed people to grow their net worth, increase their passive income, and build generational wealth. However, purchasing a primary residence is challenging enough; how…
Nobody Owes You Anything 2: Build Your Own Financial Success
We have become a “society of entitlement.” We want things for free or that we can receive with little effort. But the true path to financial freedom is treacherous and difficult. To free ourselves, we must not expect anything from anyone. That’s not to say we become independent warriors; we simply take matters into our…
Selling Cash-Secured Puts vs. Book Royalties: The Best Passive Income Strategy for the Average Person
It takes money to make money; this is usually the case. However, there are some things in life that we can create for free. The goal of financial freedom is to collect as many income-producing assets as possible. Most of these assets require capital to obtain. Some income-producing assets are treasury bonds, dividend-paying stocks, rental…
Selling Covered Calls vs. Renting Rooms: The Best Passive Income Strategy for the Average Person
Many people dream of becoming high-flying options traders who can double their money in a month. Sadly, they are more likely to lose their money than double it. Trading options is not for the faint of heart. It requires nerves of still and the ability to detach your emotions from what’s happening. I love trading…
Retiring on Dividends 106: Income Investing (Dividend ETFs)
The world is full of choices, especially regarding dividend-paying stocks. How can the average investor choose from so many great companies? One way to collect a bucket full of companies is to purchase index funds. The S&P 500 Index Fund (SPY) collects 500 of the US’s top companies. However, the yield on SPY is relatively…
Options Trading in Your 70s: Avoiding the Stock Market At All Costs
We should all be winding down in our 70s. We want to enjoy our days and love our nights, but we don’t want a lot of stress from the financial markets. If you have all of your finances squared away in your 60s, then your 70s and 80s will just be a continuation of those…
