A down in the weeds investing post! Very exciting. I want to talk about Exchange Traded Funds, commonly known as ETFs. ETFs are fantastical little pieces of financial wizardry, some of the smartest minds on Wall Street spent a long time coming up with them. Anytime someone says that phrase little warning bells should be […]

The Grizzlies did something this week that everyone should take advantage of if they are able to. We set our 401k contributions to the maximum allowable under each of our respective plans. For Mrs. Grizzly that’s 50% of her pretax income and for me its 75%. Time is money, and it this case that statement is […]

Like all good residents of the Bay Area the Grizzlies were loyal Apple Worshipers. Followers of the Cult of Cupertino, with the current High Priests Ive and Cook. We made our bi-annual pilgrimages to the local temple – known to many as the Apple Store.  We paid our respects to the relics of Steve Jobs – it […]

The Grizzlies used to belong to a gym. It was the type of gym that people like us usually belong too. A gym with a name like Equinox, Club Oracle, or The Setai. The personal trainers are all fit 20 somethings. The climbing wall is newly installed and in constant use. The exercise equipment gleaming […]

A couple of weeks ago, an RV carrying a large cargo of model rockets burst into flames during my evening commute, causing traffic to grind to a halt during rush hour.  Fortunately, no one was hurt; emergency personnel managed to save the driver of the RV before the fire completely engulfed the vehicle, and police […]

It’s like Shark Week but with less blood (hopefully, we’ll see when we’re finished). Open enrollment for affordable care act plans starts tomorrow! That means now is the best time to talk about and try to decipher exactly what health care will cost for a couple early retirees and their kids. There’s a ton of fear […]

There’s an old parable about five blind men who come across an elephant for the first time. They sense something immense but they understand little. One takes the elephant by the tail and exclaims to the other three, “An elephant is like a rope! Long and thin.” Another places his hands on the elephant’s side […]

I hate emergency funds. I hate them with a firey passion for the simple reason that they’re recommended to financial and investing newcomers without a solid discussion of the benefits, risks, potential problems or alternatives. I have come across FAR too many people who have $30-60k sitting in a checking account because they read something […]

One big elephant in the bear cave is the price of a college education for the current baby bear and any hypothetical baby bears to come. We plan on sending them all to public school when they’re young, but even public universities have grown increasingly expensive in the US of late. So let’s dive into some […]

So I’ve gotten a few comments that my last post on how to access your retirement accounts was a bit opaque on the details. In order to remedy that, I’ve pulled together a quick little calculator to show exactly how all this works! The Roth Conversion Ladder Calculator You can find the calculator along with […]