The idea behind Social Security is remarkably simple. People aren’t disciplined enough to save and invest their money responsibly. Hence, the Social Security program automatically deducts 12.4% of your income from every paycheck (half directly from you, and the other half from your employer). And once you retire, you receive a pension roughly proportional to … Continue reading Social Security could have been paying us twice as much
Disclaimer: This discussion centers around American tax law. If you aren’t American and don’t live in America, you may not get much value out of this. Real talk. I thought I knew a lot about personal finance. I thought I knew everything I practically needed to know to minimize my tax bill as an average … Continue reading Nonqualified Dividends – You’re Probably Paying Too Much in Taxes
If you’ve done your research on Retirement Planning, you might have come across FIRE - Financial Independence Retire Early. Usually when people talk about FIRE, it’s an overnight switch that involves a massive lifestyle change. Quitting your job, pulling your kids out of their current school, moving your family to an entirely new low-cost-of-living region, … Continue reading Aim to be Financially Independent
Disclaimer: The intended audience for this article is someone who is reasonably savvy on financial planning. If you’re a novice, stop reading now and just do whatever your financial planner tells you to do. The conventional advice for financial planning in retirement has generally been the 4% rule. Ie, on the day of your retirement, … Continue reading The New Rules for Retirement Financial Planning
As someone who’s given a number of talks on personal finance and managing your investments, there’s one piece of advice that I keep hearing from people over and over again. “Buy low, sell high”, they usually whisper to me in a sagely tone, as though they have discovered some profound truth that will unlock investment … Continue reading Buy Low, Sell High: The Worst Financial Advice of All Time
Do you want to be a millionaire? The odds may certainly seem to be stacked against you. Less than 0.2% of the world's population can claim to be millionaires. The average American household before the financial crisis in 2008 had a financial net worth of roughly $100,000. Today, the situation is even more dire, with … Continue reading The ABCs of Personal Finance
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