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It’s been a strange week – my latest career reinvention is coming to a conclusion, and in a few months it will be the first time I’ve not worked or studied since age sixteen. A friend in a similar position had informed me at the start that the average tenure of such jobs was roughly 5 years, and he turned out to be precisely correct to within a week. The end of this position, while […]
Don’t miss an episode of our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. Available on all podcast players. Here’s the latest episode: Jay wrote in and asked: I’m curious if you’ve gone over DINK (double income no kids) options for those that don’t feel the need to pass on any money to future generations either. For example, if we eventually have no mortgage on our house a reverse mortgage sounds appealing. Let’s cover the basics of reverse mortgages, share some of the pros and cons, and ultimately discuss when they might be worth looking into. The Basics of a Reverse Mortgage Standard reverse mortgages are a special type of home loan available to homeowners aged 62 or older. They allow these homeowners to convert part of their home’s equity into cash without selling the house or making monthly mortgage payments. So far, it sounds a little too good to be true. The homeowner keeps their house and receives a lump-sum payment? Yes, but there’s a catch. The homeowner is now indebted to a lender, just like in any other mortgage. And the debt grows over time due to interest and fees. The loan is typically repaid when the homeowner sells the home or passes away. At that point, the proceeds from the home’s sale are used to pay off the loan, with any remaining equity going to the homeowner or their heirs. Reverse mortgages can be a lifeline for retirees needing extra income. But they also reduce home equity, come with interest and fees, and can complicate estate planning. The Pros of a Reverse Mortgage Most financial products are a combination of heaven and hell, and reverse mortgages are no different. Let’s start with heaven. What are the pros of a reverse mortgage? There are no monthly payments. You can stay in your home without a monthly bill, freeing up cash flow in retirement You keep your house and you can age in place. The title still has your name on it and you can’t be forced out as long as you meet the terms of the loan. The proceeds are tax-free. The money doesn’t count as income so it generally doesn’t affect retiree taxation concerns. The loan is non-recourse, which is a fancy way of saying that neither you nor your heirs will ever owe more than what the home is worth. Even if the loan balance ends up exceeding the home value, FHA insurance covers the shortfall. Your heirs will have options. They can keep the home by paying off the loan or by paying 95% of the home’s appraised value (if that’s a lesser number). The Cons of a Reverse Mortgage Heaven seemed nice! What about hell? There are high upfront costs. Commonly, there’s an initial FHA mortgage insurance premium (2% of the home’s value), origination fees (many $1000’s), and closing costs. It’s an especially expensive proposition
Looking for fun things to do on weekends without spending a lot of money? We’ve all been there. Friday rolls around, you’re excited to have a couple of days off, but when the weekend finally arrives, you can’t think of anything to do. And while going out to dinner, catching a movie, or planning a day trip sounds fun, those activities can get expensive quickly. The good news is that you don’t have to spend […]
The email lands on a Tuesday afternoon. No warning meeting, no heads-up from your manager. Just a calendar invite titled “Important Update,” and then it’s over. You walk away with a box of desk items and no severance check. Layoffs are climbing again in 2026. For a growing share of workers, the debt that follows a job loss is bigger now. It is harder to escape than it used to be. Hiring Has Nearly Stalled […]
Roughly 4 in 10 workers earning above $300,000 say they’re living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new report.
Steven Kotler is a bestselling author and the executive director of the Flow Research Collective, where he studies the science of peak performance. Public Release: Oct 27. Members have access now.Join us. Most of us have felt it. Hours disappear, everything else fades away, and the work seems to do itself. But what’s actually happening in those moments, and can you make them happen on purpose? Kotler has spent decades studying flow, and he makes […]
Risk is a tricky word to pin down. Some people might say “riding a bicycle on the road is too risky” or “I only have a cash ISA because shares are too risky”. Others will think those views are silly. There isn’t a clear line between risky and acceptable. It’s a personal question of what you feel able to tolerate. When it comes to investing, people fixate on the risks of the stock market: What […]
In 2026 I hit a milestone that seemed like a distant, foggy dream back in my corporate days: the ten-year anniversary of my retirement. If you want to go to the beginning and get the details on that blessed event, check out I Retired! There are some fond memories for me in that post! Anyway, my plan to celebrate this momentous occasion is to write several “10 Things” posts about retirement. So far, here are […]
My Sweet Retirement OUE REIT 3Q 2026 Business Result OUE REIT 3Q 2026 business result demonstrates how the REIT is successfully balancing income growth, capital recycling and portfolio optimisation despite ongoing tenant transitions within its office portfolio. According to the latest quarterly update, OUE … OUE REIT 3Q 2026 Business Result My Sweet Retirement
I get a guest-post pitch almost every day and decline about 99.5% of them. This one got through because of a single line in the email: “15.3 million American seniors now live alone, up 32% in a decade.” Justin Lindholm, who runs The Canny Vulture, mined U.S. Census data to unearth that number. A second line from his email stayed with me too: “7.4 million people over 65 report serious difficulty doing errands on their […]
A practical guide to WordPress hosting in Australia. Compare managed, unmanaged, and fully managed options for better performance. The post Ultimate guide to the best WordPress hosting in Australia first appeared on Captain FI.
Life insurance comes in two main forms: term life and whole or permanent life. Both types come with benefits and drawbacks. Knowing which works best for your situation will help you provide the right protection for your family. While there’s really only one kind of term insurance, permanent insurance has several variations. Here, we’ll talk about whole life insurance, the most commonly used permanent policy. Ask almost anyone – except an insurance salesman – and […]
Earlier this week I was talking to some friends and somehow it came up that we only pay $25 per month for each of our phones. They were shocked! They are currently paying $70 for each of their phones. Yikes! How much are you paying for your cell phone plan? I want to help you lower that amount so that you have more money to put toward debt or whatever financial goal you’re working on. […]