Tag: retirement
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…
BCRE: Become Capitalist Retire Early
Do you really want to work until you are 65? At some point in my working life, I thought I would have a 30-year military career followed by 20 years in the civilian workforce. And then I changed my mind. In 2021, I wrote “No Freaking Way I Am Working Another 25 Years.” That was…
$5,000 Dividend Shopping Spree!
Isn’t it fun to go shopping with money someone else gives you? I remember my parents giving us $100 in 1991 to shop for the school year. We had to purchase our jeans (Wranglers), T-shirts, socks, and underwear (whitie-tighties). We had so much fun during those times. Those days were over once I turned 16…
Dividend Investing for Everyone! Change Your Life Today
Are you tired of being the low person on the totem pole? Do you hate not having money in your pocket when you want to purchase something? I hated working hard for money and not having enough money in the budget to take my family to the movies. But I changed my life. I now…
I Bought a Tiny Home: Are They the Solution to the Housing Crisis?
Millions of Americans are experiencing the housing crisis. Those who bought homes before 2020 should be sitting pretty. However, things look bleak if you are in the market after the pandemic. Personally, I believe the solution lies in having multiple families living together and saving money. Eventually, they will be able to afford a home…
The Sacrifice of Retirement: It Won’t Come Easily But Is Possible
When did we start believing that retirement would come easily? Why do we think someone would pay us for our most unproductive years? The concept of retiring is a reasonably new idea. People who owned farms and businesses usually worked until they died. When social security became an entitlement, the government believed people would only…
Don’t Work Hard for Money 2; Work for Income-Producing Assets
Why do you go to work? Is it to pay bills or provide for your family? Do you go to fund your kid’s college tuition or purchase a home? These things are noble but may not get you the desired results. In fact, there is truly only one reason to work—at least at first. Why…
Count Every Penny: Budgeting Your Way to Financial Independence
Why is it so difficult for us to budget and save? Why do we use scapegoats like inflation, price increases, and wage stagnation to deflect? The simple fact is that we must count every penny that enters and leaves our homes. That’s the only way we will build wealth and retire early. But somewhere along…
The 40-40-40 Plan vs. Happy Cash Flow Retirement
They told us that if we worked hard, were smart with our money, and planned well, we would have a great, exciting retirement. How is that working out for you? The 40-40-40 plan involves working 40 hours a week for 40 years and receiving 40% of your income during retirement. That was the plan they…
The Options Wheel vs. Dividends
We need to keep our money working for us at all times—in the safest way possible. Sometimes, this means using a high-yield savings account, investing in dividend stocks, or even trading options. I recently discussed selling covered calls and cash-secured puts versus buying dividend-paying stocks. The conclusion was that trading options can be much riskier…
Cash-Secured Puts vs. Dividends: The Best Passive Strategy
The best way to retire early is through dividend investing—hands down. But that doesn’t mean that dividend investing is the best way to generate income. The goal is to create a Happy Cash Flow Retirement where new money comes in every day. Dividend investing can create lots of cash flow, but you will surrender much…
Selling Covered Calls vs. High Yield Savings: The Best Way to Invest $1,100
I love comparing various financial products against one another, but this one will take the cake. How do you compare the safest option to the riskiest one? So, let’s simplify the comparison: How would I safely grow a small nest egg of $1,100? The easy answer is to put the money into a high-yield savings…
Covered Calls vs. Dividends: The Best Passive Strategy
If you want to retire in America, you must build a stream of passive income. There are many ways to generate income in your sleep; however, understanding these streams is vital to building wealth. Two ways to generate a return on your invested money are selling covered calls and investing in dividend stocks. Both options…
Should You Take a Home Equity Loan? There Will Be a New Gold Rush
The new rush to gold will be home equity loans; mark my words. The average American homeowner is up to their eyeballs in debt, and the federal government has a solution. Instead of teaching people fiscal responsibility, the government wants to support the secondary market for home equity loans (or secondary mortgages). This means the…
Secondary Mortgages for Everyone! The Government wants to get into the Home Equity Loan Business
The US economy is stalling because the average consumer is overburdened with debt. The answer is for everyone to live below their means, pay down debt, and generate passive income from investments. But that sounds boring. The easy answer is to offer everyone the ability to assume more debt. That’s precisely the route the federal…
