As you can imagine, a lot of planning is required to reach early retirement. Despite all the planning, projections, and running different scenarios, there will always be some level of uncertainty when it comes to … Read more

I find it rather annoying to waste my time. Unfortunately, it seems I have to tag that handle onto my threshold rebalancing strategy over the last ten year period. A quick recap: I follow a once and done rebalance strategy anytime my equity holdings drift 15% from their normal allocation. The idea is to capture upside during a rebound. After a recent post about my experience doing a rebalance during the April ’25 “liberation day” […]

Here’s our latest interview with a millionaire as we seek to learn from those who have grown their wealth to high heights. If you’d like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics. This interview took place in October. It’s a long one (which I love!) so I’m breaking it into two separate posts. If you missed part one, you can catch up by reading Millionaire Interview 463. My questions are in […]

🎙️Episode #479 – Rental cash flow doesn’t usually die from one big disaster, it bleeds out from small maintenance mistakes. Learn how proper inspection, documentation,… The post These Maintenance Mistakes KILL Rental Cash Flow appeared first on Coach Carson.

All Insights | Brokers Commission-Free Brokers in 2026: PFOF is Dead. Long Live Conflict of Interest (It’s Worse). Definitive guide to choosing a stock broker – Part 6 This is part 6 of Bankeronwheels.com Definitive Guide to choosing a Stock Broker.  ‘Free trading’ often advertised by Brokers is not as free as you think it is. Often, higher spreads are what Commission-Free brokers use to get compensated, and investors are hardly aware of it.  In the past your trades were sold, and matched on an exchange – often German – with a single market-maker. It often resulted in worse prices. The broker got a kickback for selling your order. That’s how Trade Republic, Scalable Capital or Smartbroker got some of their revenues. After investigating the practice, the EU banned it. In June 2026, a EU-wide ban comes into effect, and these payments will no longer be allowed. But as usual in finance, legislation is a step behind financial engineering and creativity. Today, let’s see how commission-free brokers went around the ban.  KEY TAKEAWAYS The classic brokerage model is most transparent. It benefits individual investors by routing orders to transparent venues like XETRA, where multiple market makers must fiercely compete to fulfill the trade, ensuring high liquidity, tighter spreads, and reduced conflict of interest for the broker. The Single Market Maker (SMM) model was common among EU commission-free brokers until the 2026 ban. It routed orders to a single market maker in exchange for a PFOF kickback (aka legal bribe), which funded “free” trades but often burdened investors with higher hidden costs due to a lack of price competition and wider spreads. The 2026 ‘de facto SMM model’ made conflicts of interest worse. For example Scalable Capital via their own European Investor Exchange, circumvents the 2026 EU PFOF ban by creating a “closed-loop” system where the broker operates the venue and assigns only one specific market maker per instrument. The incentive to route to their own venue is stronger than the incentive to route to an external PFOF venue before the ban. The irony is that the EU ban made the conflict of interest even worse. Independent studies consistently show that SMM models and most likely their 2026 ‘de facto’ successors deliver worse execution quality. Price deterioration occurs in up to 86.4% of cases and may only benefit very small trades. Despite the PFOF ban, the disadvantage for investors remains unchanged. Conflicts of interest are

Sammie Ellard-King I’m Sammie, a money expert and business owner passionate about helping you take control of your wallet. My mission with Up the Gains is to create a safe space to help improve your finances, cut your costs and make you feel good while doing it. Share to Facebook _*]:min-w-0 gap-3″> Meta has filed lawsuits against four scam operations in Brazil and China who were using AI-generated deepfakes of celebrities and doctors to sell […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Match Day is just around the corner on Friday, and we’re celebrating all the graduating MS4s by offering a free WCI course. If you book a consultation with StudentLoanAdvice.com-the best in the business for helping you save money with your student loans-we’ll send you the Fire Your Financial Advisor: RESIDENT course (a $299 value) FOR FREE! Make sure to hurry, though. This offer ends on March 23. Saving huge money on your student […]

Hey everyone! Have you seen Alysa Liu’s Gold medal cinching performance at the Olympics? It was carefree, joyous, and inspirational. She glided over the ice and won the heart of everyone watching. Words can’t do it justice—go check it out if you haven’t seen her programs. I haven’t watched figure skating in years, but I tuned in at the right time this year. I’m a huge fan now. [embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=CVmCfiFjoVE&feature=oembed[/embed] The Burnout How is this related to FIRE? Well, she retired from figure skating four years ago, when she was only 16! At the time, she had already won two U.S. National Championships and numerous other prizes. But Alysa was burned out. She was discouraged by the total lack of autonomy. Coaches controlled every aspect of her life: what to eat, when to practice, and who to see. At 16, she didn’t yet know how to advocate for herself. She stopped enjoying the sport, and her performance declined. In 2022, she announced her retirement and went off to find herself. Finding Yourself After retiring from figure skating, she tried to be a regular teenager. She enrolled at UCLA to study psychology, trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp, got her driver’s license, and hung out with friends. Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly “normal,” but good for her! In 2024, she went skiing at Lake Tahoe and rediscovered the “need for speed.” If you’ve ever gone skiing or snowboarding, you know how addictive speeding down the slope can be. It reminded Alysa of how skating used to feel, and she wanted more. She went to a rink, tried a double Axel, and realized she still got it. Alysa decided to try for a comeback, and this time she will control her destiny. She picked a coach who let her be herself, Phillip DiGuglielmo. She skated for her own joy, rather than for the prize, and the result was Olympic Gold. That’s what autonomy gives you (and a world-class talent.) The FIRE Lesson Regular folks like us don’t have Alysa’s talent, but that’s where FIRE comes in. Financial Independence can give us that same autonomy. Alysa was 16 when she hit her wall; I was 16 years into my engineering career when I hit mine. Burnout has no age limit. Whether you’re an elite athlete or a Senior Engineer, the symptoms are identical. You feel like you can’t continue, and you need to GTFO. Many people hold on and become miserable because they have no choice. However, FI gave me a chance to step away. I retired from engineering and became a blogger/SAHD. The last 14 years were awesome. However, life changes. My son is older now and doesn’t need me as much, and blogging is almost dead. But I’m fine with that because FI is still here for me. I’m looking forward to the next chapter. Even if you love your job today, I encourage you to prioritize financial independence. You never know when life—or your feelings about your career—will