Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: I originally wrote this in 2021 (31 lessons in 31 years). But here in 2025, I’ve had a crazy busy week and not enough time to write a brand-new article. Perfect timing though! My birthday is Saturday, so let’s […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: Jesse – I’m confused about how “the 4% rule” and other “safe withdrawal rates” can change so rapidly in such a short period of time.  If someone had retired in the middle of 2022 (a bear market), their “safe” […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: Do you know that scene in Gladiator where Russell Crowe’s character, Maximus, yells to the crowd, “Are you not entertained?!”  Yeah, this scene. I’m more interested in Maximus’s next line:  “Is this not why you are here?!” You see, the […]

Most readers of The Best Interest do not come here to learn about Ice-T. But here we are. Perhaps you know him best as “Fin” – a mean-mugging detective on Law and Order: SVU. He’s not happy… Or, maybe you remember his West Coast hip-hop days from the 80s and 90s. The fair question to […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: I’m reading Morgan Housel’s recent book, Same as Ever, right now. One of the chapters is called “Best Story Wins.”  [While I’m not sure it’s word-for-word the same, this chapter can be read (for free) via Morgan’s blog: https://collabfund.com/blog/story/] Housel’s idea […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors: Reader Phil wrote in last weeK Jesse – I appreciate everything you have to say on stock investing and low-cost, diversified index funds. I also love all the Warren Buffett wisdom you share. But, at least when it comes to […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on The Best Interest Podcast: My daughter, Maeve, is about to turn 8 months old. She’s chunky, smiley, and effortlessly sits like Buddha while playing with her toys. No crawling or walking yet. She did recently learn to wave (…flail her arm) to say hi to people. […]

Before the article, here’s what’s happening this week on The Best Interest Podcast: Do you know someone who cheers for a particular sports team simply “because?” They usually have a mundane reason, like “I just liked their logo when I was a kid…so I started cheering for them” or “my dog was named Viking, so […]

Richard Nixon remains one of the more fascinating and complex figures in American history, embodying well-known deep flaws in parallel with acts of brilliance.  His most infamous role was as the puppet master behind the Watergate scandal, ultimately leading to his resignation from the Presidency and scarring his legacy. Some historians point to Watergate as the […]

I’ve had a few clients reach out to me over the past couple weeks (the last week of December 2024 & first week of 2025) with similar concerns: “How and why did my account go down at the end of 2024?!” The short answer: accounts are down because the market is down, and the market […]