The 2024 Social Security COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment) for over 71 million Americans is +3.2%. What was even more impressive was the 2023 Social Security COLA was a whopping 8.7%! An increase of that size is both huge and head-scratching. The 2023 Social Security COLA is huge in comparison to 2024 and prior years […]
The Social Security COLA Is Huge: Traditional Retirees Rejoice! Read More »
Why The Federal Reserve Does Not Control Mortgage Rates
The Federal Reserve Doesn’t Control Mortgage Rates, The Market Does Read More »
Much has been said about inflation hurting society. As people’s buying power decreases, life gets more costly. Heck, the Fed seems hell-bent on causing another recession to contain inflation. However, as I look at the historical price changes of some of our most important consumer goods and services, I can’t help but think combatting inflation
Combatting Inflation Is Straightforward But Not Easy Read More »
Taxes are most likely our largest ongoing liability. Therefore, we should understand the latest tax brackets for 2023. I go through this exercise every year to guide how I will spend my time, my most valuable asset. Based on a thorough understanding of the 2023 tax brackets, we can then logically come up with the
2023 Tax Brackets: The Best Income To Live A Great Life Read More »
In 2023, I couldn’t help but shovel more money into Treasury bonds. With 3-month-to-2-year Treasury bonds yielding 5%+, I felt like the guaranteed return was too high to pass up with about half of my new free cash flow. But the more Treasury bonds I bought, the more I wondered whether I would regret the
Why You Won’t Regret Buying Treasury Bonds Yielding 5%+ Read More »
As someone who wants to buy a new car this year, given my car is 10 years old, I’m having second thoughts. With the average new car price at almost $50,000, it seems like only the rich can buy new cars today! Think about it. If you follow my 1/10th rule for car buying, you
Only The Rich (Or Fools) Can Afford To Buy New Cars Today Read More »
I have a love-hate relationship with owning real estate because something always comes up. The more physical rental properties you own, the more problems you will have as a landlord. In June 2022, I decided to rent out a fully remodeled single-family home I had purchased in 2019 to a second family. We had originally
How Landlords Can Create Teachable Moments For Their Kids Read More »
Although it’s a bummer to hear about more layoffs as the economy slows, I also feel a lot of hope and excitement for those who have lost their jobs for two reasons. First, there is the benefit of getting a severance package. Imagine getting a severance package worth six months of salary and then finding
How One Man Negotiated A $40 Million Mass Severance Package Read More »
Do you need more incentive to generate passive income in order to give yourself more freedom? Then look no further than the below two charts. They show the 2024 capital gains tax rates by income for both short-term and long-term. The short-term capital gains tax rate is equivalent to your federal marginal income tax rate.
Short-Term And Long-Term Capital Gains Tax Rates By Income Read More »
After writing about building passive income since 2009, people still seem to be confused about the difference between active income and passive income! Let me finally put this confusion to rest because I don’t want people to get tricked into thinking earning passive income is easy. It is not! In order to generate passive income,
The Difference Between Active Income And Passive Income Read More »
