The Blog
Why Everyone Should Learn Poker
As fun as they are, games are a phenomenal way to learn. We use ‘educational’ games to teach toddlers their shapes and colors, we use similar games in school to encourage students to learn math and read. Why stop? The two games that I am convinced are probably the...
Cash Flow: The Key to Financial Independence
The goal of this post is to get everyone to think about stable cash-flow in their personal portfolios. Anyone looking to become financially independent will tell you they are trying to have their ‘passive income’ exceed their expenses. But what is passive income?...
Financial Independence: The misleading 4% rule
Achieving financial independence is a great goal. Not having the overhang of financial pressure changes your perspective on why you do what you do, and let’s you take calculated risks with your time. That being said, it is really difficult to figure out what it will...
2021 Year in Review
2021 has been an interesting year. Many things have changed – I moved cities after 25 years in Atlanta, switched industries, and got engaged. And yet…in many ways things have stayed much the same. The news cycle starts with COVID, follows with interest...
1H 2021 RWM Financial Review
Time to take look at the first half of 2021 from an investing and saving / lifestyle perspective and then look ahead to the rest of the year to see what (if any) changes I am planning to make. *As a caveat - I am not a licensed financial advisor and all of the...
So you want to start a side business?
I have a ton of admiration for people who start a business, particularly as a side hustle. Personally, I think it’s highly logical to have multiple income streams. You diversify your asset allocation…why not do the same for your income. I am not here to tell you how...
Lessons learned: 3 years as a consultant
This post is going to be a different than my normal personal finance post. If you have been reading RWM, you’ll know that my financial system focuses across the spectrum of earning, saving, and investing. In order to increase the value of your time while actively...
Escaping the Rat Race
“Study hard to get good grades, to get into the best college, to land a high-paying job where you will have the job security to work past your 50s.” I know I am not the only one who heard this over and over … and over growing up. Despite my rebellious teenage years, I...
Consuming Digital Content: Building Habits
Today I’m going to talk about how I consume digital/print content to stay up to date on what’s happening, learn more about the world, and enjoy some much-needed R&R (yes, this includes my Netflix binging). Last week, a private equity fund, Apollo Global...
Capital gains taxes and why they matter
Everyone is talking about capital gains taxes these days. To give you a baseline to understand the news on this topic, I’m going to walk through some key details around what capital gains taxes are and how they impact your portfolio. Also, in light of President...
Value of suburban living with hybrid work-from-home
I grew up in a suburb of Atlanta. For years, my parents would drive almost 50 miles a day commuting to and from work. The value proposition of living in a suburb seemed to make sense for a lot of people. Back then you could get a lot more space for a fraction of the...
The Economics of Rental Properties
I first got fascinated by financial markets after reading the book The Big Short by Michael Lewis about the ’08 financial crisis (I have since tried to read everything he has ever written…the books are amazing). The intricacies of our financial system and the way that...
Q1 2021 Recap
Q1 2021 has been a pretty exciting time with the accelerated pace of vaccinations pulling forward the timetable on when things will reopen. Many states have reopened vaccinations to all adults and companies are pulling back on remote working (Google, one of the first...
Your city matters when chasing financial independence
In the wake of the flight from big cities as a result of the pandemic (and my own plans to move cities in the next 3-4 months), I wanted to take some time to look at how your choice of location impacts your ability to quickly achieve financial independence. None of...
Career Planning: Selling Time
A lot of personal finance writers talk about FIRE, or the Financial Independence Retire Early movement. I get it. There is a LOT of appeal to building your financial reserves to the point where your passive investment income makes more than your expenses, allowing you...
Reflections on 1.5 Years of Expense Tracking
My main motivation in writing this blog is that I have seen too many people, both well into their career and just starting out, who are intimidated by personal finances and as a result don’t take actions that are critical to their financial well-being. This can have...
Automating your investing
It’s been awhile since I’ve taken some time to write, and I have quite a few topics on queue. For now I am going to start with some suggestions for automating your investing. In a world where everyone is talking about which week…day…hour they bought Gamestop shares or...
Oil prices falling and why you should care
10-second version: Oil prices have fallen considerably in the last month and are a signal that traders are anticipating slower global growth. Oil prices are impacted by a variety of macroeconomic factors and following them can often give you a synopsis of what is...
Why your portfolio could be less diversified than you’d think
The 10-second version: The goal of diversification is to maximize your return for the risk you are taking on. Many people only diversify between stocks and bonds, however, this could result in a less diversified portfolio than you’d expect. Stocks and bonds are...
15-minutes a day, invest away
The 10-second version: Reading a daily and weekly newsletter is critical to developing and maintaining a view on what is happening in financial markets. This will allow you to make more informed decisions about your portfolio and avoid panicking at the wrong time. I...
Looking into 2019
The 10-second version: We are likely in the late-stage of the business cycle, so buckle up for some continued volatility. Despite this, you should not try and actively manage your portfolio to time the market, but should pay attention to key hotspots in the news to...
How I invest my money
The 10-second version: Keep your investment horizon and risk tolerance in mind when you are investing. When you are building up your portfolio initially, look to invest in funds that mirror indexes like the S&P 500 (i.e. SPY) and avoid trying to pick stocks. There...
The sky is falling
The 10-second version: Despite recent market volatility, I would advise sticking to your standard investment strategy and not trying to time the market. Most of the time trying to buy low and sell high results in losing out on cyclical price appreciation, paying lots...
Scheming for retirement
The 10-second version: Start maxing out your 401K and IRA as soon as possible. Due to the tax-advantaged nature of the accounts, you can generate significant long-term gains by starting early. Also, look into a Roth vs. a traditional version of the accounts to ensure...
Building a budget
The 10-second version: Building a budget will help you balance your spending with your income and build up your net worth over time. Using budget tracking tools like Mint will help you visualize what you are spending vs. expectations in real time and maintain your...