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Notes on personal finance, investing, markets, and the cognitive biases that get in the way.
The Rule of 55, Rule 72(t), and Retiring Early
What's the #1 thing people know about retirement accounts? They are good for your taxes, but they lock your money up until you are 59½. This is generally…
Updating My Asset Allocation Model for 2025
For the past month I've been working on a few improvements to the asset allocation model that underpins my portfolio management process at Luther Wealth.…
Avoiding Double Taxation in Your Traditional IRA
For many investors, traditional IRAs are a cornerstone of their retirement strategy, offering the promise of tax-deferred growth and, in some cases,…
Robo-Advisor Clients Should Worry About Synapse
Last year, a fintech company called Synpase went bankrupt, affecting bank accounts of over 100,000 clients. This bankruptcy sent shockwaves through the…
TreasuryDirect is My Favorite Way to Buy Bonds
I love TreasuryDirect! It's a free site run by the US Government to allow people to buy US debt. I don't think there's any other situation in which an…
Questions You Should Ask Your Financial Adviser
Working with a financial advisor can be one of the most important decisions you make for your financial future. A good advisor acts as a trusted guide,…
The Flip-side of Efficient Markets: It's Hard to be Bad
There is a lot of debate in finance about the Efficient Market Hypothesis, and to what extent it applies to real markets. I'm generally an efficient…
Do an IRA Rollover After Leaving Your Job
I often encounter questions about the best strategies for managing retirement savings. One common query is whether employees should transfer their 401(k)…
Adding a Private Git Dependency to a render.com Project
This post is very off-topic for me, but I just spent a lot of time trying to figure this out and figured I would make a post here in case it could help…
Tax Strategy
Tax strategy is one of the three pillars of sound investment strategy, along with minimizing fees, and diversification. In this article, I'll explore a…
Is the S&P500 Index Actually Diversified?
The S&P 500 index, a widely followed benchmark of the U.S. stock market, has long been considered a reliable indicator of the overall health of the…
Backdoor Roth IRA Strategies
For many individuals, saving for retirement is a top priority. One popular savings vehicle is the Roth IRA, known for its tax-free growth and withdrawals.…
Investment Accounts for Children
I frequently get asked about investment options that parents can establish for their children. It’s an important question, and there are several options…
Inflation Risk and How to Protect Your Portfolio
The biggest financial headlines in 2022 have been about poor market performance amidst high inflation. This has led many investors to search for ways to…
Five Reasons to not Panic in a Bear Market
2022 has been an extremely bad year for almost every asset class! Stocks and bonds have suffered large losses. And inflation has been high, further…
SEP Plans are a Valuable Tool for Small Businesses
Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) Plans are a fantastic tool for small business owners, and employees of small businesses, to save and invest for…
Can You Beat Me at Picking an Active Manager?
I am a big proponent of passive investing. But, recently, I have been running a little experiment running a paper trading account with actively managed…
Why I Cover My Clients' Commissions
Most retail securities brokerages now offer commission free trading. However, I elect to use a brokerage platform that still charges commissions (IBKR…
Critical Flaws in Binance and Other Crypto Exchanges
For most of 2022, financial news has been filled with stories about big losses across all asset classes. But one of the biggest losers has been…
Direct Indexing in Luther Wealth's Future
In the great divide between active and passive investing strategies, Luther Wealth is definitely in the passive camp. All of my clients are fully invested…
Was Wordle Sold for a Fair Valuation? Probably Not.
Admit it-- we're all hooked on Wordle. It's annoying and cluttering up everyone's social media, but we can't stop doing the daily puzzle and checking our…
My Favorite Financial Sites
A quick list of my favorite financial sites and what I use them for. It's a fairly short list, because most financial sites are harmful.
RMDs: Required Minimum Distributions
Do you have money invested in a retirement account? If so, you may be responsible for taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) every year to avoid IRS…
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a monetary system. The best way to understand it is in comparison to two other monetary technologies: the gold standard and the U.S. Federal…
Should I Buy A New Car?
For several years, I've been thinking about buying a car. This is a big deal for me, because I have owned exactly one vehicle in my life, a 2004 Ford…
Avoid Sketchy Financial Adviser Fees
How much is your financial adviser charging you? You might not know, and if you think you know, you might be wrong. The industry is rife with deceptive…
Seven Layers of Investor Protection at Luther Wealth
Investor protection is probably the 1 thing I spend time thinking about at Luther Wealth. As an independent financial adviser, it can be tough for a…
Please Don't Buy Penny Stocks
I can't think of a worse investment than penny stocks. Maybe a Ponzi Scheme is worse? Debatable. Penny stocks seem to be gaining popularity as a water…
Launching Indie Adviser Next Week
I have been using a self-developed web app called Indie Adviser for the past year to help with my work as an independent financial adviser. Next week, I'm…
Acorns is Overpriced and Underpowered
I have been hearing a lot lately about Acorns. It's a savings app which automatically rounds your card purchases up to the nearest dollar and invests that…
Everyone is Lying About Texting and Driving
I just finished a run in my neighborhood. Took about 70 minutes. To pass the time, I decided to keep track of how many drivers I ran by that were texting…
Integrating your Luther Wealth investments with Mint and other finance apps
When I am working with a new client for Luther Wealth, the first thing I do is make them count all their money. It sounds silly, but if you've had a few…
The Hidden Economic Miracle of Driverless Cars - Way Fewer Dead People
Driverless cars are coming! And along with robot drivers, a lot will change in American culture. One aspect that will change, that I think is…
You Shouldn't Invest In The Company You Work For
Young investors usually start off investing in stocks through mutual funds, often through retirement vehicles like 401k funds and IRAs. In many cases,…
Best Financial Reads This Week - 11 Feb 2020
My favorite article this week shows how in the past 20 years or so, the age cohort of American CEOs hasn't changed at all (i.e. baby boomers). Stay tuned…
Tax Day Is Also Last-Minute IRA Contribution Day
Most people know that April 15th is the deadline for tax returns. But it's also an important deadline for your retirement savings. April 15th is also the…
Reading List – 5 December 2019
Great example of status quo bias in an article about the flu this week. And EU privacy laws are helping a murderer wipe his history from Google. Fun…
I Ran A Marathon! Also, Here's How to Read a Prospectus
I ran the Philly Marathon this past Sunday! It was my first, and I definitely didn't run it fast, but I finished. I wasn't a fan of the rain and snow at…
Reading List – 14 November 2019
The most important financial news of the past two weeks is that scientists have discovered that Jackson Pollock's technique cleverly avoided a…
You Can't Beat the Market and You Should Stop Trying
Here are some common questions I get asked as a financial adviser. What's your system? What's your investment strategy? Do you focus on market timing or…
Extra Spooky Reading List – 30 October 2019
OK fine, this reading list is not spooky. But it's still really good. Google posts a 23% decline in profit! And a very interesting piece by Tyler Cowen on…
Wednesday Reading List – 16 October 2019
Two articles this week on how investing is hard-- one about why rich people are bad at it and one about how everyone is bad it. Fun! - Investing for the…
What Are Repo Rates and Why Are They Messed Up?
Two weeks ago, something weird happened in the lending markets that businesses and banks use to shuffle their spending money around. A sharp increase in…
Wednesday Reading List – 25 September 2019
An extra long list this week to catch up after Hurricane Dorian. Favorite quote this week: "Thus, accumulating evidence shows that over-representation of…
School Shootings and Availability Bias
Did you know that today's young parents were about 58% more likely to get shot at school than today's school-aged children? Contemporary thirty-somethings…
Wednesday Reading List – 28 August 2019
Really great post from Cliff Asness at AQR this week on bond valuations. - The 1619 Project. NY Times. - Are Health Administrators To Blame? Alex…
How To Protect Your Portfolio From The Yield Curve Inversion
You've probably read some stuff about the yield curve inverting earlier this month. Or at least heard someone talking about it in the last few weeks.…
Wednesday Reading List – 14 August 2019
I really enjoyed the article about Google's internal culture, but the key article this week is a short blog from PIMCO on the possibility of negative…
How Should Your Teenager Spend Their Summer?
I like using the logic of financial analysis to solve everyday household problems. In the past, I have looked at whether I should bail on my old truck,…
Friday Reading List – 2 August 2019
Support for minimum wage hikes, food stamps, passive indexing, and free trade. I'm kind of all over the place this week. Plus an engraving of Adam Smith…
News Sources: How to Stay Informed and Limit Bias
The reliability of various news media was a focus of discussion during the 2016 and 2018 elections. Various news sources have been criticized as biased,…
Friday Reading List – 26 July 2019
- 16,000 Readers Shared Their Experiences of Being Told to ‘Go Back.’ Here Are Some of Their Stories. NY Times. - New Inequality Data Is a Gift to…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 19 July 2019
- How U.S. Tech Companies are Helping Build China's Surveillance State. The Intercept. - How Iran Sees Its Standoff With the United States. Foreign…
Should You Go for an MBA?
Last month I took a look at a question with some relevance to me personally: should I buy a new car? In a similar vein, this week I'd like to take a look…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 12 July 2019
Lots of different topics this week-- investing, Mueller, AOC, minimum wage law. If you have to pick one, read the AOC interview at New Yorker. - Should…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 5 July 2019
Really great article from Barron's this week on an upcoming 401(k) rule change. My take: this change is designed to help insurance salesmen at the expense…
Financial Mad Libs: How To Recognize and Ignore Them
The online media ecosystem is filled with all kinds of financial news. Quarterly earnings reports, Fed watching, political commentary, early retirement…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 28 June 2019
- Democratic Debate Ignores Illegal Immigration’s Cause: No Visas. Cato Institute. - How China Really Sees The Trade War: Xi Still Believes He Has The…
What Happens At Your First Financial Adviser Meeting?
So, you've done your homework, you've researched financial advisers, you've been reading the LWM blog, and you've made the decision to call up Luther…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 21 June 2019
Two of my favorite investors chat this week! Great stuff. Also an opposing take on my support of stock buybacks. - MIB: Jonathan Stein, founder and CEO of…
Is The New Healthcare Rule A Sly Stimulus Program?
Last week, President Trump announced a change to federal healthcare rules which will affect employers that offer Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs).…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 14 June 2019
- SNAP Caseload and Spending Declines Have Accelerated in Recent Years. CBPP. The recovery is real but no one seems to believe it. Times are pretty good!…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 7 June 2019
Continuing a streak of going heavy on off-topic articles. But... DINOSAURS!! - Make School Hard Again. Reason. HT Tyler Cowen. - The Day the Dinosaurs…
Political News in 2018 That Mattered To Your Portfolio
Last week I wrote a bit about how many unethical financial advisers make extensive use of pressure sales tactics. Political news items are some of the…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 31 May 2019
Mostly off-topic stuff this week. Some great articles here though! - A shocking share of the public thinks randomized trials are immoral. Vox. Very…
Financial Articles I’m Reading This Week – 24 May 2019
Here are a few financial and economic articles that I found interesting this week. Lots of good stuff to read about the US - China trade dispute. - John…
Cognitive Bias Series: Confirmation Bias
This is Part 1 of a series of posts about various cognitive errors that lead to poor investment decisions. Part 1 deals with confirmation bias. I know…
Financial Articles I'm Reading This Week - 17 May 2019
Here are a few financial articles that I found interesting this week. Let me know if I missed some! - Is it True that 40% of Americans Can't Handle a $400…
Stock Buybacks Aren't Evil
I have read several articles over the past year that include some harsh criticism of corporate stock buybacks. Most include a version of the argument:…
401k Selection: Focus on These Two Things
401k investments are often the entry point for young investors into the market. There are a lot of factors that can and should influence an investor's…
Cowen has Misled Us On AOC's Marginal Tax Rate Idea
Tyler Cowen is my favorite blogger. He is completely unique, brilliant, and infinitely curious. But he just wrote a really bad article for Bloomberg on…
Personal Finance Basics
The past 50 years have seen incredible advances in investment accessibility for average Americans. With the development of simple indexed mutual funds in…
21 Inc. is Worse than Vox Thought
Recently I have seen several headlines surrounding a new tech firm 21 Inc. that has raised a considerable amount of capital. They specialize in bitcoin…