Articles from the Uncategorized Category
2023 Increases for Social Security Income, Retirement Plans, HSAs & IRAs
November 30, 2022 | By David Lowe
There are some bright spots amid inflation news. Social Security benefits are set to increase, and workers will be able to contribute more to their retirement accounts in 2023 than in 2022. The following details are important considerations for open…Read More
What To Do With All That Home Equity?
May 3, 2021 | By Kevin Smith
Elon is here and he brought Tesla. It seems like a new celebrity or ultra-wealthy tech investor moves to Austin every week, and I hear casual Austin references in podcasts so often I barely take note anymore. This type of…Read More
Our Updated View on Bitcoin
January 22, 2021 | By Kevin Smith
We have been studying Bitcoin for a few years, trying to understand it from many angles to figure out why, how and when it might make sense to buy. ‘Because the price of Bitcoin has gone up dramatically’ is not…Read More
Cracked screens and the sunk cost fallacy
September 11, 2020 | By Kevin Smith
I almost got tripped up by the sunk cost fallacy. Almost! This is a public service announcement to help others avoid a costly mistake. A sunk cost is the time and/or money already spent. It’s done. For example, you spent…Read More
Great companies at bad prices
July 22, 2020 | By Kevin Smith
Prices matter. In fact, we think prices matter a lot. There is a price low enough to make an unimpressive investment attractive. There is a price high enough to make an amazing investment unattractive. Today, investors in the US stock…Read More
Three Mortgage Refinance Strategies
July 6, 2020 | By Kevin Smith
After a video interview with Nick Flanagan of Summit Funding, I asked if he could share some helpful examples of the different types of mortgage refinancing. Here is what he gave us. Special thanks to Nick for the education. Cost…Read More
How much MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, FB do I own?
May 21, 2020 | By Kevin Smith
When you own a diversified portfolio, it doesn’t feel like owning stocks. What you see on your statement is a list of ETFs or mutual funds with names that describe the type of stocks you own “US Large Cap”, “International…Read More
Podcast: “Personal Finances and COVID-19”
May 4, 2020 | By Kevin Smith
Follow this link to our latest podcast. This is a conversation with Austin-based tech entrepreneur, Kevin McLaughlin. He and I regularly discuss the financial challenges and economic opportunities of the Millennial generation. We talk about methods to deal with losses…Read More
Investing during a crisis: Coronavirus
February 28, 2020 | By Kevin Smith
Stock prices adjust to reflect the collective expectations of all investors. The basic formula for estimating a stock price is estimating future cash flows and discounting them based on risk. Lower expected cash flows = lower price. Higher risk =…Read More
Your Budget in a Recession
September 26, 2019 | By Kevin Smith
As of September 2019, life is good here in Austin, TX and much of the United States. Wages are up, jobs creation is abundant, the business community is thriving, home values have been on the rise for years. People under…Read More