Tag: Financial Independence
Options Trading in Your 60s: Retirement Planning Made Easy
You’ve prepared your entire life for this moment. You are retiring from the workforce, drawing your pension, and signing up for social security. This is the point at which most people stop their retirement planning. But I love the concept of living a Happy Cash Flow Retirement. My Happy Cash Flow Retirement system consists of…
Tobacco Stocks vs. Mortgage REITs: Who is the High-Yield King?
I love my tobacco stocks! Some people don’t invest in “sin” stocks like tobacco, casinos, and cannabis companies. I can separate my personal values from my investing references. To each their own. I also love investing in Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (mREITs). These companies pay high yields but are extremely sensitive to interest rates.…
Earning $2,100 Per Month in Dividends: It’s All in the Numbers
They say you must become passionate to achieve your goals. Most of us believe that means we should find a career field that matches our dreams. However, that’s a tough call. I was blessed to love being a US Marine for 24 years, but I found something I am even more passionate about than serving…
Trading Long Strangles vs. Money Market Funds
Where we put our emergency fund money says much about who we are. Some people use high-yield savings, and others use treasury bills. Investors are usually more comfortable using money market funds to house their emergency funds. These funds allow us to trade into the action when the stock market gets spicy. The only thing…
The Illusion of Freedom: The True Three Paths are Military, College, or Trade School
During my entire 24-year career in the United States Marine Corps, people questioned how I could give up my freedom and liberties. They said it’s better to be able to quit their job whenever they like, travel where they want, or do as many drugs as they deem necessary. For 24 years, I kept my…
Earning Your First Dollar in Dividend Income: The Hardest Buck You’ll Ever Make
What would you do for a dollar? Most of us get up at five am, shower, shave, drive, and work to earn a few dollars. We have done this for years. In fact, that’s how they taught us to earn a dollar. Once we receive our paycheck, we use the money to pay for bills,…
Financial Freedom: The True American Dream
Nobody wants to work—or, better stated, nobody wants to be forced to work. We would all love to be “work-optional.” To become work-optional, you must first become financially free. Becoming financially independent isn’t as tough as people think; however, the media does an excellent job of making it seem out of reach. Ultimately, your version…
Retiring on Dividends 104: Income Investing (Closed-End Funds)
Retirement planning is just like the years you spend at work—you require income to fund your lifestyle. There isn’t a magic formula that will allow you to retire. The simple truth is that you need more income than your expenses. Once you can achieve this without working, you’ll be financially free. Therefore, during retirement, you…
Options Trading in Your 50s: Generating Major Income
Welcome to your 50s. For many people, the 50s are their highest earning years. They will have climbed the corporate ladder, raised their kids, bought a house, and saved for retirement. However, the worst thing we can do before retirement is become complacent. We can’t let our money stay stagnant. Our 50s are a fantastic…
Retiring on Dividends 103: Dividend Growth Investing (High-Yield)
You need to earn 10% interest on your investments to beat inflation while paying taxes. However, there are many different ways to generate 10% annual returns. You can take the growth model, investing in index funds and growth stocks like Facebook (META) and Amazon (AMZN). My favorite way to invest is in high-yielding products that…
Options Trading in Your 40s: Taking on More Risk
Our 40s can be a fantastic time. We could be married, our kids could be older and more self-sufficient, we may have climbed the corporate ladder, or we may be in a two-income household. Most importantly, we may have some time to ourselves. We can use this time to build a decent-seized options trading portfolio.…
Bonding with Bonds: Why Do We Need Bonds in Our Portfolio?
Human nature makes us do funny things, especially when it comes to money. Every human exhibits a different behavior regarding money. Some people love to place spectacular bets at a casino, lottery, or sporting event. Others keep all of their money in a savings account, earning 0.1%. The key to winning with money is understanding…
Don’t Be ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, But Employed
We need jobs for one reason: to buy assets. Somewhere along the way, we started using jobs to pay bills. That’s how we got on the never-ending hamster wheel. They have a new term for this phenomenon—the working class. This means you will always work, grind, and still barely survive. I’m no longer part of…
The Four Principles of Income Investing
I’m a huge fan of the magic of dividend growth investing. DGI uses the power of compounding to create massive income and capital gains in the future. However, as much as I love DGI, I prefer the magic of income investing. Income investors seek current income that produces cash today—not tomorrow. When you purchase one…
5 Takeaways from “The Myth of Making It”
“The Myth of Making It” by Samthi Mukhopadhyay is a hands-on account of what it takes to make it in corporate America. I was drawn to the book because I spent 24 years in the Marine Corps trying to “make it.” Becoming successful in America is challenging for everyone, especially if you become a manager…
The Four Principles of Dividend Growth Investing
The best way to become a great investor is to have principles you stand by. Conversely, it is good to understand the principles of strategies you follow. Most people follow the 401 (k) investment philosophy. This philosophy states that you invest in low-cost mutual and index funds until retirement. Upon retirement, you sell shares to…
Retiring on Dividends 102: Dividend Growth Investing (High Growth)
There are many ways to retire on dividends, but you’ll have to pick the best path according to how you want your future life to look. Some people love to see their portfolio’s total value grow and compound, while others prefer to see their portfolio’s income grow and compound. Welcome back to the Retiring on…
Options Trading in Your 30s: Passive Income During Family Season
For most of us, our 30s are a time of personal growth and financial turmoil. So many things are going on at once that it can be overwhelming. In our 30s, we are getting married, having kids, building our careers, and buying homes. This season is already stressful enough; the last thing we want to…
Retiring on Dividends 101: Preparing for Passive Income
They taught us to work for money. Working is so ingrained in our nervous system that we get anxious when not working. When we aren’t working, we feel the world will collapse upon us. But the rich don’t work for money; they work for assets. Once they have enough assets, the assets work for them.…
Options Trading in Your 20s: Build Wealth at 30% Annual Returns
Most of us don’t have a lot of money in our 20s. In fact, we spend our 20s trying to have fun on a budget. If you can devote just a tiny portion of your 20s to income generation, you can exploit the power of compounding at an early age. But what is the best…
