Goal Update: End of August 2016

At the end of each month, I post an update of my goals, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred during the month. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of August, 2016 Current value: $25,001 Change from last month: +$174 Percent of Goal:  22.99% Note that the funds in this account are invested in...

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Why I Got Out Of My Annuity

Last week, I spoke a bit about annuities. I can see where they may have their place, particularly those that have a fixed, well-defined payout. For me, they are just a bit too complicated and the particular one I had just didn’t have enough positives going for it. It had a heap of negatives though. Let’s look at those. Fees, Fees, and More Fees As I have written about before, fees will kill your investment returns. Furthermore, you may not...

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Welcome New Readers!

I just wanted to say hello to those that have found my little site from Rockstar Finance and The Financial Diet. I'm honored to have been mentioned on those sites! Getting mentioned on Rockstar Finance has been a long time goal of mine. Getting mentioned on The Financial Diet was an extra bonus! Kinda like finding a twenty dollar bill in the pocket of an old jacket. This blog documents my quest to buy a Tesla Model S using only passive income....

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Annuities Are Confusing

I’m a firm believer in the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid. This is even more true when it comes to financial accounts. No one should ever invest in anything they don’t fully understand. If an investment is too complex for you to understand, it’s likely there are some fees you don’t know you are paying that will cost you a lot of money in the long term (and possibly even the short term too). Annuities are complex financial instruments....

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Are You Good At Ignoring People? You'll Probably Do Well In Investing!

When I was writing up the post for my June 2016 Goal Update, I was surprised to discover our net worth had increased by over $10,000 that month. When I looked into it, I discovered most of that gain had come from our investment accounts. That was a total surprise to me. I was actually thinking our net worth might have dropped that month. A few days earlier, the Brexit vote had passed and stock markets all over the world dropped. Here in the US,...

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Goal Update: End of July 2016

At the end of each month, I post an update of my goals, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred during the month. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of July, 2016 Current value: $24,827 Change from last month: +$742 Percent of Goal:  22.83% Note that the funds in this account are invested in stock,...

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