401(k) Contribution Limits Have Increased For 2018

The start of a new year brings with it many things and I’m not just talking about a bunch of resolutions you will break before February first rolls around. I’m talking about important stuff - stuff that will alter your paycheck. Your Paycheck Is Going To Change New tax rates go into effect at the first of the year, so you’ll likely notice the amount you have withheld in taxes changes. You could end up with a slightly bigger or smaller paycheck...

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Option Writing For Passive Income Part Two

Back in August, I wrote about making passive income by selling cash backed naked puts. If you haven't read that post, I suggest you first go back and do that now. After four months of doing this, I thought I'd post about how it's going so far. I made four trades total, each time selling 5 or 6 contracts with an expiration date three to four weeks out. Details of three of those trades can be found at these two posts. The fourth trade ended the...

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Cryptocurrency Update

Back in July, I wrote about how some people are putting their retirement savings into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. This is incredibly risky and stupid. However, if you have some extra money you can afford to lose, gambling money, if you will, it might be fun to experiment with cryptocurrencies. As I mentioned in that post, that is what I did. My Experience With Cryptocurrencies I initially purchased $200 worth of Ethereum around...

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Goal Update: End Of November, 2017

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 November, 2017 Current value: $37,550 Change from last Month: +1,385 Percent of Goal:  34.53% Note that the funds in this account...

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Equifax Gives Free Credit Monitoring To Pretty Much Everyone In The U.S.

In July, Equifax discovered its security systems had been compromised and the financial data of up to 143 million Americans had been stolen. Compromised data included names, addresses, social security numbers, drivers license numbers, birth dates, and credit card numbers. It was, quite frankly, a colossal screw up. Equifax has a website you can use to see if your data was part of the compromised information. Visit https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html...

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I Reached A Passive Income Milestone! Let Me Show You How You Can Do It Too.

I’ve written before about passive income and why it is great. It’s the underlying basis for this blog – I plan on paying for my Tesla with passive income. Sometimes, passive income can be boring. Actually, I prefer it to be boring. When I talk about passive income, I want the same, predictable amount coming to me each month (or, even better, an increasing amount). I’m not looking for huge gains one month and losses another. Slow and steady...

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Your House Is Not An Investment

"Your house is not an investment." - My grandfather My grandpa told me this one day when I was a teenager. He was driving me home from somewhere and we were stuck in traffic on the freeway. I don't remember what the whole conversation was about, but that line stuck in my mind because it was the opposite of what I heard so often before: "The path to the American Dream starts with home ownership." Many people, including financial advisors, advocate...

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Goal Update: End Of October 2017

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 October, 2017 Current value: $36,165 Change from last Month: +1,201 Percent of Goal:  33.3% Note that the funds in this account...

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When Stocks Keep Giving After You Have Sold Them

Over a year ago, I wrote this piece about how to go paperless. As a small aside in the post, I said: (I have been involved in some class action lawsuits regarding stock purchases made years ago, so I felt I should keep all my old brokerage statements.)  Class action lawsuits against companies are somewhat controversial. On the one hand, they do serve a valid purpose of holding companies accountable when they wrong a large number of people...

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Pie-Based Investing with M1 Finance

Pies are delicious and with the holidays approaching, I'm looking forward to the cornucopia of pies that my family seems to produce this time of year. Those pies do a great job expanding my waistline, but they don't do so well when it comes to expanding my financial accounts. Financial Pies  Enter M1 Finance. This innovative new way to invest combines the automation of robo-brokers with the flexibility and control of a traditional brokerage...

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Goal Update: End of September 2017

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 September, 2017 Current value: $34,964 Change from last month: +$1,099 Percent of Goal:  32.15% Note that the funds in this account...

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The Crazy Seattle Housing Market

I just bet $20,000 that a house has nothing seriously wrong with it, based on nothing more than a 10 minute walk-though by myself and my wife. Although I enjoy going to Las Vegas, I’m not usually one to make such large bets. Seattle forced me to. This Market Is So F-ing Crazy! Housing markets vary across the country. In Arizona, when we sold our house a month ago, the market was fairly depressed. Prices had rebounded some from their all-time...

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Goal Update: End of August 2017

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, 2017 Current value: $33,865 Change from last month: +$1,583 Percent of Goal:  31.14% Note that the funds in this account...

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Option Writing For Passive Income

As I've written about in the past, my real estate partner doesn't have enough deals to invest in, so I've been looking for alternate places to put my funds to work. I was toying with the idea of investing in RealtyShares. I think this is a viable option for the future, but right now I need my funds to be a little bit more liquid. I'm looking to buy a house after our move to Washington. The funds I am investing are technically my Tesla funds, but...

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