Save, invest, prosper with My Own Advisor. Weekend Reading – Creating Your Retirement Paycheque Hello! Welcome to a new Weekend Reading edition about creating your retirement income paycheque. I’m developing mine in real-time!  In case you missed my most recent post, here was our June 2025 dividend income update. It moved higher… June 2025 Dividend Income Update Weekend Reading – Creating Your… Join the million dollar portfolio journey. The article Weekend Reading – Creating Your […]

The Biden administration’s controversial SAVE student loan plan is officially on life support. Following multiple court rulings declaring the plan illegal, President Trump’s Education Department is stepping in to restore legal compliance and fiscal sanity. Beginning August 1, interest will resume on all federal student loans enrolled in SAVE; a plan that Biden promised would cancel debt but instead left millions in financial limbo and taxpayers holding the bill. Read the rest

When you’re dealing with financial struggles, you might need to tap into all of your resources. It can feel really uncomfortable to drain your emergency savings, max out your credit cards, and… finally… start pulling money out of your retirement accounts. That’s the situation I was in a few years ago when I had a major health crisis. And it felt like I’d never recover physically or financially. But I did, from both setbacks. And […]

We’re continuing our series on the Top Seven Retirement Activities—the key habits and routines that make for a fun, meaningful, and well-rounded life after work. So far, we’ve covered: #1: Exercise and Staying Healthy #2: Building and Maintaining Strong Social Connections #3: Some Form of Work If you missed any of these, be sure to go back and check them out so you can catch up. Last time we only got through the “work” part […]

Hey Everyone! Did you have a good month in June? I’m a bit late with this update, but life has been hectic at the RB40 household. We’re getting ready to take a road trip to California and there are so many things to deal with. Also, we are getting ready to remodel our kitchen. Man, it’s expensive and stressful.   On the personal finance side, things are good. Our net worth hit a new high because the stock market is nuts. I’m still bracing for a downturn, but I’ll enjoy feeling rich while we can. On the other hand, our cash flow was negative in June. This will be the new normal going forward. We are entering the drawdown phase of life. I’ll write a post about it soon. I feel okay because our withdrawal rate is pretty low. It should work out.   Alright, I’ll share how I’m doing with my New Year goals. Then, I’ll go over our net worth and cash flow. Let’s go! 2025 Goals Here is my 2025 goal spreadsheet. It’s great. Try it out if you can’t keep up with your New Year goals. The key is to review the spreadsheet monthly to track your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention and work on them. It looks like I’m on track for most of my goals. Financial Goals Sell Rental Condo This was my main goal for 2025. The previous tenant moved out of our rental condo in January. I fixed it up and listed it for sale. Unfortunately, the condo market was terrible in Portland. We only had one viewing over 4 months! I think buyers are afraid right now. The economy is too uncertain and the interest rate is high. That’s why I decided to rent out the condo for now. We’ll put it on the market again in a few years. Anyway, I plan to travel more and don’t want to be a landlord. I’d rather invest in real estate crowdfunding. That’s much easier. Prep duplex for sale Along the same line, I want to sell our duplex* after RB40Jr finishes high school in 2029. We want to move to California to be closer to families. Mrs. RB40’s parents are getting older, and they need help. *We live in one unit and rent out the other. This year, I wanted to repaint the exterior. However, the plan changed to kitchen remodeling. We are getting the cabinet resurfaced and a new countertop. This will give our kitchen a much-needed facelift. I’m looking to put new flooring in the kitchen as well. I’ll probably do the flooring myself. Remodeling is no fun. Max out my Roth IRA The Roth IRA is the best investment account you can have. You don’t have to pay tax on the gains when you withdraw. This is huge. If you start young and max out your Roth IRA every year, it’ll be a great resource in retirement. I’ve maxed out my

Taxes are not only determined by how much income you receive but also by the type of income generated. Some income is taxed at ordinary rates, while other sources qualify for lower, preferential rates. Understanding how these different forms of income interact can open up valuable planning opportunities.   The U.S. tax code is progressive, meaning taxes are assessed at increasingly higher rates on increasingly higher incomes. It also treats ordinary income and preferential income differently. […]

I remember my first “mobile phone” like it was yesterday (calling it “mobile” was a stretch). It was the late 1980s, I was in my first sales role, and our VP wanted all sales reps to be accessible while traveling.  I recall the technician installing the “box” part of the phone in the trunk of my company car, and how I had to remove it from the mount and into a case for carrying.  The […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: Paul wrote in and said: I’m years away from RMDs, but all the bad stuff that comes with them makes me worry…. Forced to withdrawal more than I need, withdrawal rates that start too high and just keep going up, trigging higher taxation of Social Security, increasing IRMAA Medicare rates, no more stretch provision for heirs. But a particular fear is self-inflicted sequence of returns damage. I re-balance in May. As part of that, I figure that’s when I’ll take my RMD. Let’s say my IRA balance was $1M as of 12/31.  However, the market dropped 30% in February and it has not recovered.   I’m forced to calculate my RMD against a balance that doesn’t even exist anymore. My balance is down to 700k. Conceivably, this could happen many times over 20+ years. The RMD might force me to withdraw 5% or 6%, when (if I were in control) a guardrail approach might only suggest 2% for that year.   Basically, when there’s a hole in the boat, best to not make it any bigger.  I find this scenario very troubling. Paul outlines a fascinating and possibly scary concern. Do required minimum distributions (RMDs) have a destructive synergy with the sequence of returns risk? Can this combo “sink your boat?” Let’s dive in. I’ll add some color and explanation to Paul’s question, walk you through my thoughts, and ultimately leave you with a solid plan of how to mitigate (or even avoid) these bad outcomes in your retirement. Basics – RMDs, Sequence Risk, and Other Concerns First, I would like to provide some background on Paul’s question so that you can fully understand what he’s asking. Required minimum distributions, or RMDs, are mandatory withdrawals you must take each year from certain tax-deferred retirement accounts (like traditional IRAs and 401(k)s) starting at age 73, age 75, or possibly other ages pending future legislation. The RMD amount is based on your account balance and remaining life expectancy. Just like other withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts, RMDs are taxed as ordinary income. The sequence of return risk states the following: not only does the magnitude of investment returns matter, but the sequence of those returns matters as well. Specifically, a particularly poor series of investment returns during the early years of retirement can permanently damage and derail a long-term retirement plan. To learn more about the sequence of return risk, tune into Episode 87 of Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: Paul, who asked the question, outlines a couple of other concerns too. I’ll explain them below, but won’t dive much deeper. Higher taxation of Social Security**. Depending on your total income, only a portion of your Social Security income is actually taxable. Granted, these income brackets are relatively low. For example, a married couple earning $44,000 (or more)