My Financial Independence Journey » Investing
A Brief Primer on Options: Part 2 (Reading an options table, opening and closing options)
Previously, in part 1 of our options primer we discussed what options are and why you might want to use them. Now it’s time that we move onto part 2, where we’ll focus on how to read an options listing and how to go about selling cash-secured puts and covered calls. We’ll also cover how to escape from an option that you no longer want and remind you once again of the risks of dabbling … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
A Brief Primer on Options: Part 1 (What are options?)
I love options. I particularly love selling cash-secured put options. But the best place to start is the beginning. So for the purposes of this post, I’m going to walk us through the basics of options. What they are, how do they work, and why you might be interested in them. A word of caution before we begin. Options trading can become super complicated. The more complicated the trades, the more sophisticated you need to be … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
Savings Rate is the Key to Achieving Financial Independence
Achieving financial independence requires only two things, a high savings rate and a descent rate of return. But what constitutes a high savings rate? What if you just want the lowest possible savings rate that will still get you to a comfortable retirement? Can you really expect to achieve financial freedom faster if you load up on high yield stocks? Answers to all of these questions are revealed as we explore the magical worlds of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing, Reflections, Retirement
A Brief Primer on Dividend Growth Stocks Part 2: Basic stock screening
I thought it would be a good idea to follow up part one of my primer on dividend growth stocks with second part, that is all about some of the basic criteria that can be used to evaluate a dividend growth stock that you’re interested in. If you are going to evaluate whether to buy an individual stock or not, you need to have some kind of objective criteria established. If the stock meets your … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
A Brief Primer on Dividend Growth Stocks Part 1: What are they and how do they make money?
In the opinion of this humble blogger, dividend growth investing is a great way to build wealth over time. Dividend growth investing is a branch of value investing, that focuses on buying shares of companies with a consistent history of raising dividends. As I was putting together the initial content for this blog, it dawned on me that readers green to the idea of financial independence, dividend growth investing, or investing in general might be … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
All About the Emergency Fund
The emergency fund is an incredibly boring but absolutely critical part of your financial strategy. Basically it’s a pile of cash, just sitting there. Waiting for something bad to happen to you so that it can jump in and save the day! Like a superhero, but with less spandex. Those of us seeking early financial independence or early retirement should pay particular attention to their emergency funds. As should those of individuals who make a living … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing, Reflections
The Difference Between Yield and Yield On Cost
Yield is basically just a fancy term for return on investment. However, “Yield” and “Yield on Cost” (YOC for short) are two related terms that I see confused, conflated, and generally misunderstood by way too many people and way too often. This usually happens when someone fires off an article or blog post saying how dividend growth investing is a terrible idea. Familiarizing yourself with the difference between these two terms is easy and very … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
Getting to Know the S&P500
Everybody and their uncle is familiar with the S&P500 index as a indicator of how well the economy is doing and as a benchmark for their own success as an investor. But how much do people really know about the S&P500 and it’s component companies? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
The Pitfalls of Ethical Investing
From time to time, I hear about people who are concerned about ethical investing. Ethical investing does not refer to avoiding the Goldman Sacs style of investing where you sell a product to one group of people while simultaneously placing bets against the product. That would definitely not be ethical, although it is a shrewd business model. Rather, ethical investing is all about making sure that your investments are properly aligned with your moral and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
A Primer on Federal Income and Investment Taxes
Tax season is upon us yet again. We all pay an exorbitant amount of money in taxes. Seriously, go look at your pay statement and see how much money was ripped out of it by the government. It’s okay if you feel the need to sob uncontrollably while drowning your sorrows in a bottle of vodka after that. I’ll wait. I think most of us are intimidated by taxes, but because we pay so much … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing, Reflections
