Investing in wine can be very lucrative, often yielding double digit returns. This easy beat most other forms of investments and can be a profitable investment alternative. A word of caution; investing in wine has a high barrier to entry, as most of the investment grade wines sell for thousands of dollars per bottle. …
Welcome to 2020. I hope that all of you are achieving all your goals and have mapped out a plan for the year ahead. Things are starting out well for me. With the record highs in the markets my portfolio is sitting at near highs as well. I’ve also seen some more debt reduction since…
As a bit of a follow up to my article on retirement and low interest rates, I’m going to discuss a few smart money moves to make in a low interest rate environment. We’ll call these short to mid-range time horizon moves since we are playing on rates. Rates can and do change, but it…
2019 is already over. This year seemed to fly by. Since this will be my last personal update of the year it is a good time to look back and review 2019 from a personal finance standpoint. Wealth Building 2019 was a very good year for my portfolio. I’m up just over $70,000 for the…
Have recent interest rate cuts impacted retirement? The short answer is yes. Things can get complicated, but low interest rates do have long-term effects on the economy and could alter your retirement planning. Retirement Income One of the most obvious short-term effects to lower interest rates is a decrease in income generated from CD’s and…
I’m posting a mid-month update. No changes to assets or debts since the beginning of December, but on a personal note we just finished up a rather significant project at our camp. I figured I’d share some of our progress and take a little break from the normal personal updates that I’ve been posting. If…
It’s hard to believe that it’s December already and that there is less than a month left of 2019. The year went by fast, but a lot was accomplished during that seemingly short time span. Christmas shopping has begun, and it’s being cash flowed as planned. Plans are being made to visit family, attend a…
Should basic personal financial literacy and skills be taught in school? It’s an interesting idea and one that I happen to support. There is a growing movement to implement such classes in school. A quick Google search will pull up commentary from financial gurus, financial websites, colleges and universities, and parent and teacher groups all…
We recently returned from a 10-day trip out west. We hiked in the Nevada high desert, went to Lake Tahoe, stayed a few nights in Yosemite National Park, sat in hot springs in the California Mountains, spent 3 days in San Francisco, visited the Red Wood Forest on the California coast, and hiked in several…
November is here and with it comes the falling leaves, chilly nights, and shorter days. They are calling for snow showers in the next few days. I bought oil for the tanks to keep the furnace running, and I got a load of firewood for our camp for the winter. Hunting season is fast approaching…