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Are you paying 1% of your portfolio every year for advice you could largely get from a $15 book and a low-cost brokerage account? That question makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Financial advisors are credentialed professionals. They use terms like “holistic wealth planning” and “risk-adjusted returns.” It’s easy to assume you’re getting sophisticated expertise …
Updates: the new I bond rate for November, 2025 to May, 2026 has been set at 4.03% APR for new purchases. If you find that appealing, here is how to buy I Bonds. For those who previously purchased, it may be a good time to close I bonds with variable rates and inflation having declined …
PSA to readers who have had an interest in U.S. Treasury I Savings Bonds in recent years, as I have – you can purchase I bonds at treasurydirect.gov at the current new I bond rate of 4.03 APR%. If you’re not familiar with them, see my I bonds overview for a primer on what they …
The buzz around I bonds in the personal finance community has been off the charts the last few years, with guaranteed interest rates not seen anywhere else in recent decades, and no risk-free comparable investment alternatives. I gave an in-depth I bond overview and covered how to buy I bonds previously to help readers take …
At a recent social gathering, I was introduced to a pediatric surgeon – a younger guy, probably in his early 30s. We got to chatting about what we do for a living, as strangers often do. After discovering that I was a personal finance writer, he offered the following admission and question: “I have a …
I recently highlighted a few different alternatives to stocks and low-interest cash savings. One of the options I mentioned was a money market fund (also known as a money market mutual fund). Money market funds are often confused for similar-sounding money market accounts – a type of savings account that banks offer, but they are …
On September 18th, the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its targeted Effective Federal Funds Rate (EFFR) – the rate at which banks borrow and lend each other money- by 0.5% from 5.25-5.50% to 4.75%-5.00%. The Fed also signaled a potential additional 0.5% rate decrease at the next Federal Reserve meeting, which takes place in early November. …
Capital gains tax rules do not make for a particularly thrilling topic. But, seeing that this is a personal finance blog geared towards young professionals and we should all be investing as early as we possibly can, capital gains (and losses) related to investing are something I wanted to do a “101”-type overview on. And …
