Tag: Stocks
Don’t Gamble with Retirement 13: Serious Lives Lead to Extraordinary Retirements
Why is being serious considered a bad thing? I was always a serious person, and it has served me well. I joined the Marines 10 days after high school in 1999. In the Marines, I never got passed over for promotion because I always took my job seriously. I retired at 42 and never have…
My Three Favorite High-Yield Savings Accounts: Get Paid While You Save
Most Americans realize the importance of saving money—whether they choose to save is a different story. Saving is a mechanism we put into place to protect ourselves from emergencies while also preventing us from using our investment accounts. I always tried to save early in my adult life—to no avail. However, in 2019, I started…
Trading Long Strangles vs. Mortgage REITs: The Most Hardcore of Income
The goal of life is to make money while you sleep; there is simply no other way to get ahead of life expenses. But how do you make passive income? Some people turn to the stock market to earn dividends while they sleep; others use the options market to create large amounts of passive income.…
Life as an Income Investor 2: How to Become a Cool Kid
I always wanted to be a cool kid, but sadly, this wasn’t the case. I never thought I would have the chance to be the coolest kid on the block—but then I became an income investor. Becoming an income investor isn’t about bragging to others about how much money you make. Instead, you get a…
Selling Cash-Secured Puts vs. Preferred Shares: The Most Hardcore of Income
You’ll have to take risks to become wealthy, but how much risk is enough? The answer depends on many factors, the chief of which is your emotion toward money. I absolutely adore preferred shares; however, I must take a gamble to get the best deals. Selling cash-secured puts is relatively safe, but there is a…
Stocks, Bonds, & Options in Your 60s: Ensuring a Great Retirement
Our 60s should be a time of joy and celebration. In fact, the only stress we should have is from babysitting our grandkids. But these magical times don’t just happen; we must create them. We must build a level of financial sophistication that ensures we can weather any economic storm. This foundation starts by understanding…
Selling Covered Calls vs. Trading Long Strangles 2: Combine Them For More Passive Income
Options trading isn’t for everyone, but that doesn’t mean most people should overlook this incredible opportunity to make passive income. Americans put far too much emphasis on their W-2 jobs while passing over other opportunities to make money. Many times, we exclude other opportunities because of fear of the unknown or the possibility of risk.…
Selling Covered Calls vs. Trading Long Strangles: What Are Your Passive Income Goals?
Why do people decide to trade options? It can be a very dangerous and risky proposition for most traders, so why all of the love? Options trading can be a lucrative wealth generator if you take the time to learn the ropes and create a system that works for you. “The Options Playbook” discusses over…
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…
Dividends Forever! Inflation-Proof Your Retirement
No matter your retirement plans, dividends can help you get there. More importantly, dividends can help you stay there (retired). Recently, I have read many stories about retirees going back to work because their incomes cannot keep up with inflation and cost-of-living increases. This is sad. Most people have never learned how to invest for…
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…
The Options Wheel vs. Certificates of Deposit: Create Your Own Yield
Why would I compare a safe account at a credit union to a “risky” account on the options market? Because we all need to earn yield while our money sits still. Although certificates of deposit and the options wheel offer two different spectrums on the risk scale, they both serve the same goal: to earn…
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…
Become a Digital Nomad with Options Trading: Living the Laptop Life with Options
Do we all dream of traveling the world while making money from our laptops? I know that was my dream for a long time. I am over the long road trips after touring extensively for the US government for 24 years. However, the idea of becoming a digital nomad, even a US-based one, is still…
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…
