Book Notes: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

I'd never heard of Shonda Rhimes before stumbling across Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person. Apparently, she created some huge TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder). However, the … [Read the rest]

Spending Diary: The Most Commonly Ignored Personal Finance Advice?

After finishing The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack, I found it to be a solid all-around personal finance book that joins others like If You Can by William Bernstein and The Richest … [Read the rest]

The Personal Finance Index Card: Book Version Differences

After rediscovering the young adult versions of fitting personal finance advice on an index card, I decided to go back and read the book The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack. (I was … [Read the rest]

Blue Zones: Financial Lessons From the World’s Oldest People

While learning about Okinawan centenarians, I also came across the idea of Blue Zones - places where a high concentration of people live past 90 without chronic illnesses. While the eating habits of Blue Zone residents have been mentioned a lot, … [Read the rest]

How Often Should You Cook at Home on Weeknights?

I subscribe to a NY Times e-mail newsletter called Five Weeknight Dishes, which sends - you guessed it - five weekly "fresh dinner ideas for busy people who want something great to eat". However, one of the recent newsletters was titled How Often … [Read the rest]

Vanguard to Launch Low-Cost Commodity Strategy Fund

Vanguard announced in a press release that it is creating a new actively-managed mutual fund using the Bloomberg Commodity Total Return Index as a benchmark. The Vanguard Commodity Strategy Fund will have an estimated 0.20% expense ratio and June … [Read the rest]

The Lifestyle Secrets of Okinawan Centenarians

CNN has a new series called "Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta", and its first episode examines the lifestyles of the impressive centenarians of Okinawa, Japan. Nearly two-thirds of the residents of Okinawa are still functioning independently … [Read the rest]

Buying The Haystack: Sleeping Well Because I’ll Own The Winners

Vanguard has a new research paper on How to increase the odds of owning the few stocks that drive returns [pdf], found via How Concentration Affects Portfolio Performance by Michael Batnick. Inside, there is a chart that sorts the individual … [Read the rest]

Schwab Commission-Free ETF List Review (Updated 2019)

ETFs are surpassing mutual funds as the standard building blocks of stock and bond portfolios. Here's a closer look at the latest updates to the Charles Schwab commission-free ETF list. While the commercials often focus on quantity instead of … [Read the rest]

Best Interest Rates on Cash – April 2019

Here's my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash for April 2019, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. The big news is that we are starting to see some slight rate drops in CDs! Folks who locked in at 4% APY may end up … [Read the rest]

Barron’s Best Online Broker Rankings 2019

Each year, Barron's releases their list of top online brokers. I like read and share it, hoping to find deeper insights into industry trends and specific broker features. However, this year their 2019 rankings article is firmly behind a paywall. … [Read the rest]

US Household Spending Breakdown: Top 20% vs. Bottom 20%

Engaging Data has another neat visualization tool up, How do Americans Spend Money? US Household Spending Breakdown by Income Group, using household spending data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Below is a screenshot of this interesting … [Read the rest]