Getting Started

The $697,544 mortgage number that tells you almost nothing. Discounted at the loan's own rate, every term's payments are worth exactly what you borrowed.

Income explains about 8% of credit score variation. What the score actually measures, why a higher score can sit on a weaker balance sheet, and when to stop optimizing.

The portfolio may be passive. The investor never is. Every square of the meme, annotated: what each debate really asks, and which ones actually matter.

A 20bp optimization that costs $2,000 a year in effort needs $1M of assets just to break even. A framework for when the next optimization is not worth it.

Skip each decade's 10 best days since 1930 and 19,975% becomes 45%. Skip the 10 worst too and you beat buy-and-hold. Why that chart proves less than it seems.

No research supports a universal vacation percentage. Three tests decide it: cash flow, liquidity, and FI impact, where $1,000 a year of travel adds $25,000 at 4%.

At 20% a year, $1 million compounds into over $9 billion in 50 years. So why do reliable 20-30% return claims collapse under scrutiny, and what should DIY investors expect?

Trump Accounts give eligible children a $1,000 federal investment seed, but they are not Roth IRAs or 529 plans. The benefits, drawbacks, tax rules, and when to contribute.

Summitward now imports Monarch Money balance-history CSVs. Export your data in two clicks, seed your net worth history, and map every account for FI planning.

High risk tolerance gives you a bigger risk budget. Spend it on risks you get paid to bear, like the broad market, and keep speculation small enough that a total loss can't break your plan.

A stock growing earnings 20% a year can still return only the market average once its multiple normalizes. Why growth describes a company, and the price you pay drives what you actually earn.

Ramsey calls debt a wrecking ball. But about 38% of households who prepay their mortgage instead of investing leave money on the table. Debt and investing are mirror-image tools for moving money across time.

Dave Ramsey told a caller she could withdraw 8% of a $1.5M portfolio forever because stocks average 12%. Historically that survived just 1 in 5 retirements. Why an average return is not a safe withdrawal rate, with a calculator.

QQQ holds great companies chosen by an arbitrary rule: where they list. Why I skip the Nasdaq-100, what I own instead, and how to unwind big QQQ gains tax-aware.

Ben Felix holds his public equities in one fund. When is one fund enough, when do taxes justify more, and where does diversification turn into clutter?

Factors are not dead, but the durable premium is smaller than the backtests and much of it is eaten by costs. What the research says and how to size a tilt you can hold.

An opinionated, tiered, evidence-based reading list: the durable core, the gateways you graduate from, deeper portfolio books, history for humility, and what to skip.

Americans' 2026 retirement "magic number" is $1.46M, up $200K in a year on sentiment. Why a national average is the wrong target, and how to compute your own. With a calculator.

Low-cost investing solves one problem. Your household still needs rules for taxes, risk, incapacity, retirement, and the handoff. With a plan gap-audit tool.

There are more US fund products (12,843) than companies. Indexing is the right default, but which index, how much risk, and for which goals is the real work. With a calculator.

Accredited investor status changes which private deals you can be offered. It does not make them better, more suitable, or higher returning. Plus accredited vs. qualified purchaser, the evidence, and a suitability calculator.

Most people with a simple situation can do it themselves. Here is how to tell when paying for advice is worth it, what type of advisor fits, and how to vet a specific person before you hire.

Your savings gap matters more than your lattes. The math of growing income faster than expenses, why it beats small-expense guilt, and how to spend more as you age while still building wealth.

Is $1 million enough to retire, or is $3 million the new benchmark? See how withdrawal rates, Social Security, FIRE math, inflation, and spending flexibility set your real number.

Yes, count your home and cars in net worth, but not in your FIRE number. Learn the four-net-worth framework, how home equity funds retirement, and the house-rich, cash-poor trap.

The most heavily marketed financial products are often the most profitable for the seller. Learn the five marketing tactics, six risk lenses, and a hurdle calculator to evaluate any product.

Half of Americans can't afford a $400 emergency? The Fed's 2025 data says 63% would pay it with cash. Here's what it really shows, and how to build true liquidity.

AUM is not inherently bad, and hourly is not inherently good. Learn the three dimensions investors confuse (fiduciary, compensation source, billing method), what the academic evidence actually shows, and where commission-driven sales models like Edward Jones fit. Includes an interactive Advisor Fee Compass.

Answer 7 questions and see where you are on the 7-camp climb from budget to summit. A modern, personalized take on the r/personalfinance flowchart with 2026 IRS limits and Summitward tool deep-links.

A trillion-dollar IPO with a 5% public float is not the same as a trillion-dollar IPO with 90%. Free-float adjustment, seasoning rules, and the methodology differences between CRSP, S&P 500, and Nasdaq-100 decide how much exposure your index fund actually takes. Includes a Mega-IPO Index Impact Calculator.

HML is the academic version of value investing: a transparent, rules-based long-short factor that asks whether cheap stocks outperform expensive ones. What the evidence says, how it differs from AQR and Avantis, and a Value Tilt Pain Test calculator.

The 2010 $75k plateau was an oversimplification. PERMA-V, time affluence, and how to use your portfolio to fund a good life, not just to maximize net worth. Includes a Time Affluence Calculator.

Most people expect investing to be about having an opinion. Systematic investing is about having a process. The evidence, the levels ladder, and the friction calculator that quantifies how small mistakes compound.

$47.5B in credit card rewards earned in 2024, but $160B in interest was paid. Where rewards fit in a plan, who should optimize, and who should not.

Account labels are wrappers; risk and return live at the household level. Reichenstein after-tax, Viceira human capital, the asset-location 80/20, and a Household X-Ray calculator with location flags.

Markowitz's portfolio choice for individual investors. Two-asset variance with correlation, the 'correlations go to one' supplement, the marginal-fund test, and a portfolio impact calculator.

Nick Maggiulli's six wealth levels, the 0.01% rule, UBS distribution data, and the liquidity / age / geography corrections peer book reviews skip. With total-vs-liquid calculator.

JL Collins's FU Money is enough accessible wealth to refuse a bad deal without your life falling apart. Five autonomy levels, the Fed and Vanguard data, and a runway stress-test calculator.

AQR tested 196 buy-the-dip rules; most lost. Vanguard, Dimensional, PWL, and Morningstar agree. The empirical case for investing today, with a cost-of-waiting calculator.

Nick Maggiulli's accumulation rule, what it gets right, the savings-vs-returns crossover most peer posts miss, and which dollars it doesn't apply to. With calculator.

Med, law, and MBA students often save little or borrow during school. Here's the academic case (Choi, Carroll), the risks, and the middle ground.

58% of U.S. stocks since 1926 lost to Treasury bills lifetime. Just 4% account for all stock-market wealth. Here's why broad diversification wins mathematically.

The 3-6 month rule is lazy. BLS data shows unemployment duration varies by industry. A job-risk matrix and sizing calculator for your household's real income-shock risk.

Your first 90 days as an investor. Prioritize spending, open the right account, pick two index funds, and let compounding work. Evidence-based, no jargon, with an interactive compound interest calculator.

Calculate your personal FIRE number from your spending and safe withdrawal rate. Reference tables for FIRE numbers by spending level, a savings rate timeline chart, and three fully worked examples at different income levels.

How does your net worth compare? See average and median net worth by age group from Federal Reserve data, understand percentile rankings, and learn the metrics that matter more than the number itself.

Everything you need to know about FIRE: how to calculate your number, types of FIRE, the five pillars of financial independence, and how to build a plan that actually works.

Calculate your Coast FIRE number with step-by-step formulas, comprehensive tables by age, and three worked examples. Find out if you have already reached Coast FIRE and what to do next.

Net worth is the single most important measure of financial health. Learn what to include, how to calculate it, which tracking method fits your style, and how to turn raw numbers into a plan for financial independence.

Coast FIRE is the point where compound growth alone will carry your portfolio to financial independence. Learn the math, see worked examples by age, and understand how it compares to Barista FIRE and Lean FIRE.

Compare the two most popular debt payoff strategies side by side. Learn the math behind avalanche and snowball methods, see how extra payments accelerate your timeline, and explore when investing beats paying off debt.

Your FI number is the portfolio size that lets you stop working. Learn how to calculate it from your spending and safe withdrawal rate, and explore Lean, Comfortable, and Fat FI tiers.

Your net worth is only half the picture. CEFR measures whether your assets can actually cover your future liabilities, from mortgages to healthcare.