Increasing The Safe Retirement Withdrawal Rate At The Wrong Time

If you’re increasing your safe withdrawal rate for retirement now, you’re likely making a mistake. You might be inadvertently top-ticking the market as the Fed embarks on what is likely a multi-year rate cut cycle. One of the main reasons the Fed is cutting rates is due to growing weakness in the labor market. Inflation […]

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Resist The Temptation To Do A Cash-Out Refinance As Rates Collapse

With record-high home equity and declining mortgage rates, the temptation to do a cash-out refinance is growing. I’ve certainly considered it myself. However, after careful reflection, my conclusion is that it’s probably not the best move. Having written about refinancing since 2009, I’ve seen too many unfortunate cases where people took out a Home Equity

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Car Insurance Fraud As A Side Hustle Is Not Worth The Money

In my post about illegal immigration, a commenter pointed out that I was lucky to avoid greater financial consequences from my car accident. It turns out that the maneuver where a car accelerates from a stop and then suddenly slams on the brakes is a common insurance scam. This tactic is known as the “sudden

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Bumped Into An Illegal Immigrant And It Could Have Been Costly

Like millions of others, I watched with intrigue the first—and potentially only—Donald Trump and Kamala Harris presidential debate. One of the most important topics discussed was illegal immigration and how the Biden/Harris administration allowed millions of illegal immigrants to enter the country. If you’re willing to flee your country and attempt to enter America illegally,

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Maximizing Real Estate Returns In A Multi-Year Rate Cut Environment

At long last, the time has finally come for the Fed to begin cutting rates in September. As a result, real estate investors will likely benefit from a tailwind over the next couple of years, after a rough prior two years. Mortgage rates peaked in October 2023 but rose again from December 2023 through April

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MIT and Yale’s New Class Profiles Post Affirmative Action Ban

In 2013, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed a lawsuit against Harvard University in the U.S. District Court in Boston. They alleged that Harvard’s undergraduate admission practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian Americans. As an Asian American, I was intrigued. After lower courts upheld Harvard’s limited

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Direct Indexing: A Growing Investment Strategy Among The Wealthy

One of the investing strategies growing in popularity with the wealthy is Direct Indexing. Before my consulting stint at a fintech startup in 2024, I had never really heard of Direct Indexing. If I did, I likely assumed it simply meant directly investing in index funds, which many of us already do. However, Direct Indexing

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