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Do you have an idea for a business or a product? Don’t just sit on the idea, put it into action. In fact, put it on your 2026 to do list. Continue Reading The post Monday Money Motivation-Put Your Ideas into Action appeared first on My Worthy Penny.
Today
Lucky Charms was my favorite breakfast cereal as a child. I ate a bowl of Lucky Charms almost every day. Those sweet marshmallow bits and pulverized oats powered my brain on the mornings I learned to read, write, add, and subtract. I wasn’t one of those kids who ate only the marshmallows and left the oats behind. But I did wait for everything to become soft in the skim milk before devouring it. The legend of the Leprechaun was burned into my brain as the box stared at me from across the counter. At the end of every rainbow, there was a magical pot of gold, if only you could find it. Green clover, purple horseshoe, red balloon, pink heart, rainbow, orange star, pot of gold, and blue moon were the magical, lucky charms of Lucky the Leprechaun in the early ‘90s. Like a child learning the truth about the pot of gold, I often find myself deflating the dreams of investors. “Why can’t we just own the stocks that are doing the best in my portfolio?” is a question I was asked recently. If only it were that easy. One of the downsides to investing in the 21st century is having all the data immediately available. We can scan the market to identify which stocks were the top performers last year, last month, last week, and yesterday. If only we had owned those and nothing else. Markets are a strange mix of human behavior and financial and economic data. There are some truths about investing; however, that seem to hold up almost like the laws of physics. Here are a few. No risk, No RewardThere is no free lunch in investing. You have to to take risk to earn returns. That risk is not visible at all times, nor is it evenly distributed across your portfolio. Risk also takes various forms. It can be defined as the risk of loss of principal, price volatilty, loss of purchasing power, and underperformance relative to a benchmark, to name a few. While risk and return are related, taking risk does not guarantee a return. Far from it. Taking more risk widens to possibly of outcomes, from very high to very low. Reducing risk narrows outcomes at both ends. It is possible to take an extremely risky bet and lose it all, just as it is possible to take a very risky bet and earn astronomical returns. While we are having this discussion, it’s important to point that there are no “risk free” solutions for investing. Cash loses value through purchasing power, and cash under the mattress is easily stolen, lost, or burned in a fire. TLDR: Risk is required. You Cannot Have Your Cake and Eat it Too Why not own stocks when the market is going up, but move to cash or bonds when the market is going down? There are trend-following strategies that attempt to time to market. They are imperfect, flawed but often directionally correct. All are impossible for
Image source: shutterstock.com Most shoppers assume the price on the shelf is the price they’re stuck with, no matter when they run errands. But if you watch your local drugstores the way couponers watch grocery sales, you’ll start to notice patterns in when the best prices show up. Some of the sweetest pharmacy deals only appear during quiet hours, short promo windows, or shifts when staff are clearing shelves. For families trying to save on […]
We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Bill Gates Having been retired for over 10 years now and taken 9 years to get to Financial Independence, we know that playing the decades-long game is the key to success. And that goes for things other than investing and retirement, like a marriage, a passion project, raising kids, friendships, etc. […]
Today
Chart updated to end of NOV in sidebar.Stocks/cash decreased -$11,265 (-2.30%) to $487,063.Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) decreased by -$20,392 (-0.88%) to $2,295,343.As I am currently unemployed/retired there are no contributions adding to the balance, so this decrease was due to both market losses and the small monthly decline in the ‘guaranteed cashback’ value of my QSuper pension accounts (
The search for grocery clearance deals often starts and ends at one designated aisle. However, the truly savvy shopper understands that clearance is not a single location. It is a rotating, predictable system of markdowns spread across the entire store. Managers use specific timing and color-coded stickers to signal price reductions. Learning these codes and locations transforms the shopping trip. It turns a mundane chore into a profitable treasure hunt. Image source: shutterstock.com The Manager’s […]
Now that the shutdown is over and we can stop worrying about pay (at least until January), it’s time to get back on track! The next regular military payday is Monday, 15 December 2025. As usual with Monday paydays, things get a little tricky if your bank or credit union deposits early. And in December,… | Read More… The post When Is The Next Military Payday? appeared first on KateHorrell.
When you’ve got kids, groceries, sports gear, and a job to get to, a car is not a luxury, it’s survival. The problem is… The post Best budget cars for families on the move appeared first on Wealthysinglemommy.com.
As a younger reader not of traditional retirement age, I am interested in learning more about the financial subscriptions HD readers are willing (or would recommend to others) to pay for such as financial periodicals, journalism, software, etc. For example, I have enjoyed for years Wall Street Journal and some Bloomberg journalism. I didn’t find Kiplinger subscriptions to be of value to me. There have been some discussion threads that mentioned free retirement calculation software […]
Investing Blog Roundup: Northwestern Mutual Recruits Sold a “Dream Job.” Reality Was Very Different.
Today
On financial blogs, forums, reddit and so on, a common discussion topic is the problematic nature of financial advisory professionals being paid a commission. It creates a tremendous conflict of interest. Less frequently discussed is the fact that many such firms are taking advantage of the advisors themselves. A significant portion of the people in that position are very recent college grads. The firm tells the potential recruit that they’ll be a respected professional, caring […]
Image source: Amazon Comic book superheroes can sometimes be boring because publishers have a character status quo they strive to maintain. Creators change the status quo from time to time, but it always reverts back. Tony Stark is a womanizing tech genius. Steve Rogers is a flag-saluting super soldier. Peter Parker is a broke, wall-crawling do-gooder. Sometimes these characters get a revamp, but they always revert to status quo. It’s why comic book antiheroes are […]
A new proposal in Congress aims to substantially increase Social Security survivor benefits for widowed individuals and surviving divorced spouses. The plan arrives as roughly 5.8 million Americans rely on survivor benefits nationwide; nearly 4 million of them widowed and many struggle under rules that reduce payouts for younger survivors or those with disabilities. Read the rest
The long, cold dark of winter can feel suffocating. We get tired early due to the lack of daylight, and the frigid air makes us … Read more