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: 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 […]

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 met with a family a few weeks ago for an introductory conversation. I’m always interested to learn about people’s history with money. It’s an open-ended question that allows for a multitude of interesting answers. This family explained that ~20 years ago, they received a significant lump sum payment. They reached out to a financial […]

‘Twas the night before Christmas, etc. etc., and you’re jazzed. Christmas is great! Morning comes, you let the dog out to pee and fix yourself some coffee. Fresh cinnamon buns! Soon it’ll be time to open presents. You bend down low by the Christmas tree, and there, behind the nicely wrapped boxes and doo-dads, you […]

I started a great dialogue with “Carl” in August and immediately felt a kindred lifestyle connection. Carl and his wife, “Colleen,” are about my age, with young children, and they earn a healthy-but-not-astronomical income ($160,000 pre-tax, which puts their family in the ~75th percentile). Carl reached out to share some exciting news:  Their family surpassed […]

It can be fun to ponder the details of your specific portfolio allocation. Should it be 70% stocks? 75%? Maybe even 80%?! We had a terrific question from reader “Vince” about just this idea: Winning the Game: Retiring at 57 with $4.2M Those conversations move the needle and are essential to an overall financial plan. […]

Friend-of-the-blog Anthony is a personal friend who read my very first articles when I shared them on Facebook. He’s seen The Best Interest grow over time.  A couple of years ago, I told him that The Best Interest wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I felt directionless at the time, and was considering hanging up […]