My Wealth Builder

Lower College Costs with 100% Free Tuition Credits

2026-04-07T08:00:00.019-04:00

This billionaire is quietly giving away free college to 800,000 people through the organization Modern States Education Alliance.. The program offer free online courses to prepare students for the CLEP (College Level Examination Program) exams that give college credit. These credits area accepted at many colleges and universities when passing the test. See the CLEP website for a list of schools and accepted credits. There is no cost to the passing student since the organization reimburses the $100 test fee for a passing grade.

This is a great way to get a college education at a reduced cost by getting some credits through CLEP. It can even be done while working a job.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor higher education advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

I Appreciate our Bank's Fraud Protection Group

2026-04-06T08:00:00.045-04:00

Recently, our bank seems very diligent about protecting customers from fraudulent transactions. Here are some recent actions that give me confidence I am being protected.

My partnership in commercial real estate property recently changed management firms. When the distribution check was issued, my bank flagged it as a potentially fraudulent check. The reason was my bank was unable to contact the issuer of the check to confirm legitimacy.

The scam they were protecting me from was one where the check issuer pays more than requested and requests a refund of the difference. The recipient pays the difference with a personal check. In the meantime, the original check bounces and the recipient loses the difference.

Although it took a week to resolve and the funds were deemed no available, I appreciated that my bank was watching out for me.
Recently, one of our brokerage accounts made a legitimate small deposit. Our bank flagged it as a potential scam to link our account to a scammers bank account. The deposit was legitimate and there was no issue.

Although there was no issue with either transaction, I appreciate our bank erring on the side of caution to protect our deposited funds.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor banking advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Arthritis and Me

2026-04-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

Arthritis typically hasn't bothered me much in the past. I have ankle injuries from playing football and the resulting arthritis has been present for 20+ years, but hasn't hampered me from any activities. A few years ago, my right knee starting bothering me and it turned out to be arthritis due to a torn meniscus when from playing rugby. Both the ankle and knee have been treated by a orthopedic specialist.

About a few months ago, the joint pain starting to bother my hands more. I don't know whether it is because of arthritis or medication I am taking for my heart. I talked to my primary care doctor about my hands and he said the main treatment was to relieve the pain with acetaminophen if needed. Not much else can be done.

We'll see how that works.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Recurring Dreams

2026-04-04T08:00:00.070-04:00

Over the past 10 years I have several interesting recurring dreams. Here are some that I remember the most.

The most frequent one is a work trip to an international destination. Sometimes, I have trouble finding my room. Other times the room is a strange design. Often, I don't have a return airline ticket. Also, I have trouble getting ground transportation to the airport.

The flight usually makes a connection which requires us to transfer to another terminal after talking to the gate agent, who is not sure where we need to go.

I always wake up before arriving at the final destination, so I don't know how this ends.
Still working at the same company despite of already retiring. In this dream, I keep showing up to work, getting paid, and no one seems to challenge that I am no longer employed. I just keep showing up.
In this one, I'm playing football for my school team. I have trouble finding the entrance to the locker room. Then I can't find my locker nor my equipment. I go the bathroom and all the toilets are strangely designed and out of order. Then, after I get all my equipment on, I have trouble finding the field

I have no idea these dreams but apparently they represent some unsolved issue I am facing. Luckily, it's doesn't seem to be about our finances.😎 Maybe I'll read up on dream analysis some time.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor dream advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Experimented with Investment Strategies

2026-04-03T08:00:00.071-04:00

In late January 2018, I started testing investment strategies for our retirement accounts. I tried both index investing and choosing individual stocks.

Here's an headline summary of the strategies I tried:

International Index
S&P 500 Index
Growth Index
Value Index
Dividend Stocks
Bitcoin Related Stocks
Smallcap Biotech Stocks
Midcap Biotech Stocks
Momentum Stocks
REIT Stocks
Trading Fallen Stocks
Trading Rising Stocks

I ended the test in 2024. Although, I did a quantitative analysis, I am giving a qualitative summary below.

My overall return was positive but not a large positive. Although some strategies lost money, most other strategies were positive and made up for the loss.
My biggest losing strategy was Trading Fallen Stocks. I learned that most falling stocks keep falling or don't recover. Unfortunately, I held on to losing stocks instead of cutting my losses early.
I had a few big wins, but I sold many gains too early for small gains of 10-20% when some would have returned very big gains if I had held. TSLA was one example that I sold too early instead of holding.
I did not do better than just investing in the S&P index. In fact, I didn't come close.
It was way too much time and effort to manage individual stock portfolio when buying the index did much better for almost no time and effort beside making the purchase.

As a result, going forward, I will be investing mainly in the S&P index and holding for the equity part of our accounts. I will still trade some individual stocks, but these will be mostly vibe/bet investments that attempt to make a small profit, for a little fun and excitement.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Mailed in Hardcopy Tax Returns This Morning

2026-04-02T20:00:00.003-04:00

When I was working, I usually applied for an automatic extension to October. That only extended the filing date and did not extend paying taxes owed, which were still due on April 15. Thus, I had a rough draft of the return already done. However, I usually procrastinated to confirm the calculations and then do the tedious job of filling out the forms and making copies.

The worst part was by October, the next tax season was almost over and I would have to start doing taxes again. In addition, my spouse also objected to waiting so long to file, but I had the excuse of work.

After retiring, I continued to file the automatic extension and file by October since I didn't receive a refund. However, about 10 years ago I started getting a refund due to over withholding and I started filing on or before April 15 to get the refund. Now I get ready to file as early late January, but I usually need to wait for some 1099 forms that arrive in late February.

Nowadays, I can be ready to file by mid March, which means we can get our refund in April. This year, I didn't mail the hard copy returns until today, which means we'll probably get our refund in May. I filed one state return electronically and hope to receive the refund in a couple weeks.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial, tax, nor tax filing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Lottery Jackpots: Then and Now

2026-04-02T08:00:00.072-04:00

I remember when lotteries had the first million dollar jackpot in the 70s. That was big, becoming an instant millionaire. Back then a million was BIG bucks.

Fast forward 50 years. Big jackpots are now $1 billion, which is really BIG bucks. Even when it's split, it's still a lot of money for the winner.

I wonder what jackpots may be 50 years from now. Maybe $1 trillion. Woohoo!

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor gambling advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Speaking of Taxes

2026-04-01T20:00:00.058-04:00

I finished doing our taxes yesterday: Federal and 2 states. I still do and file taxes the old fashion way, by hand, although I use Excel to do all the calculations. I used to fill in the forms by hand too. However, last year, I started using the PDF fill in forms since the IRS was cut back and stopped mailing form in time to complete a tax return by April 15. Do returns with the PDF fill in forms made inputting the info much easier since errors can be easily changed and reprinted, versus rewriting the entire form.

We're getting a HUGE federal refund which I am not particularly proud of since I prefer to get a little as possible or even owe a little. I don't like the idea of the government using my money without paying interest for most of the year.

I filed one state electronically and will put the Federal and one state a tax return in the mail by end of week.

I've already started managing income and withholding for our 2026 tax returns. The new Trump tax breaks are reducing our tax liability significantly if I take some action, though not as much as eliminating taxes on Social Security, which was promised. Still I'm getting some helpful tax breaks, which I plan to maximize over the next three years.

I still have to do my daughter's tax return, but that is relatively easy. I had her file an "exempt" W4 for federal withholding since she is in college and earns below the single standard deduction and, therefore, has no federal income tax liability. Unfortunately, our state doesn't allow "exempt" withholding except for a few limited cases. However, she gets a 100% refund from the state. Interestingly, my state allows me to file for her electronically with her permission, which she will gladly give me. Better than going to one of the big three tax prep companies, which probably would charge a couple hundred bucks for a very simple return. I just expect a "thank you" for my 10 minutes of effort.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Who Pays the Majority of Income Taxes

2026-04-01T08:00:00.013-04:00

It shouldn't be a surprise that the rich pay most of the federal income taxes. According to The rich pay majority of U.S. income taxes, the top 10% paid 72% of income taxes in 2022, up from 55% in 1986. The next 59% paid the remaining 28% of income taxes and 31% paid zero federal income taxes.

In some countries, the tax on the wealthy is very high. Tax on some wealthy French sometimes top 100 percent of income.

Disclosure: This is not an April Fool's post.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.
This is not financial nor tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Plant Grass in the Fall and Do Spot Weed Control in the Spring

2026-03-31T08:00:00.027-04:00

I start preparing out grass for the Spring in the late Fall of the previous year. I over seed my lawn in September with starter fertilizer. In addition, I put winter fertilizer down by October. While I don't see any benefits immediately, I get an awesome lawn the next Spring. At that time, I also do spot broad leaf weed control, making our lawn even more awesome. I prefer spot weed control over using fertilizer with weed control since it is applied only to the weed and not to the entire lawn.

My neighbors sometimes ask me who does our lawn service since it looks so good. I proudly tell them I do the lawn service, except for mowing, myself. I confess, I use a mowing service since it saves me about 3 hours a week for our yard.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor lawn service advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Today would be my Dad's 100th Birthday

2026-03-31T01:00:00.020-04:00

Yes, my dad would be 100 today if he were alive. I miss him lots. He always made sure I had the best equipment for every sport I played. He supported me for the costs of going to an Ivy League school. He's the reason I followed in his footsteps and became a chemical engineer. He showed me how to be a great father.

I didn't show my appreciation enough when he was alive. I should have thanked him and my mom more. I was lucky to have them as my parents. I wouldn't be where I am today without their great support.

Thanks Dad and Mom.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor family advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Striving to be Volatility Agnostic

2026-03-30T08:00:00.049-04:00

Maintaining consistent monthly income is my current strategy for our retirement savings. My goal is to maintain a specific income range, no matter what the stock market is doing, especially when it is declining. To do this, I am investing in fixed income (CDs, bonds, and mutual funds) and dividend stocks, and reducing dependence on gains in stocks. In addition, we have monthly Social Security payment and a quarterly distribution from a rental property.

Up until the end of 2025, the strategy has been working, but it has been mainly an advancing market. Now, the test will be in a declining volatile market at is happening currently. I'll see now if the "monthly paycheck" can be maintained in 2026.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial, investment, nor fixed income advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Controlling Lesser Celandine and Garlic Weeds

2026-03-29T08:00:00.020-04:00

Lesser celandine is one of the toughest broadleaf weeds to eliminate, other than using glyphosate (commonly known as Roundup) which I don't like to use since eliminates desirable plants too. Last year, I found a broadleaf weed killer (Bonide Brush Killer) that works on lesser celandine that does not damage the grass. Last year, it cut back some patches, but did not eliminate completely since I applied it late in the growth cycle. I will be using it again this year, but earlier.

Bonide Brush Killer also did work well on completely eliminating garlic, which has been plaguing one area for many years, since no other weed killer worked without also killing the grass.

Disclosure: I received no compensation from Bonide for writing this post.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial, grass care, nor broadleaf weed elimination advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

TIL: Amish is a Religion

2026-03-28T08:00:00.008-04:00

We visited Amish country and took a tour of the area. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about Amish life.

First, I always assumed that Amish was only about simple way of life, i.e. no modern conveniences such as electricity, and powered tools/appliances. WRONG. I learned Amish is a religion. There are four sects, each with differing rules. For example, one sect is allowed to use e-bikes.

Second, I learned that the Amish are self sufficient. The residents farm and or have cottage businesses, e.g. roofing, woodworking, that are needed in the community. The Amish support each others business within the community.

Third, I learned the Amish don't buy or have any insurance. The community comes together and helps those that need it. For example, someone's barn burned down. The community rebuilt the barn and put it up in three days.

Fourth, I learned the Amish buggies are different and all the same for each of the four Amish sects. Some buggies don't have rear view mirrors, while others do. Some have flashing reflector lights, other don't. All buggy accessories are determined by the bishop of each sect.

Fifth, I learned the Amish legally end education at 8th grade and are allowed by a Supreme court decision in their favor, Wisconsin vs. Yoder. Each Amish neighborhood will have a parochial school in the neighbor hoods since the students walk to school.

Finally, I learned that despite the commitment to simplicity, some modern amenities are slowly allowed into some sects. For example, one sect is allowed to have e-bikes. What is allowed and not allowed is determined and approved by the bishop.

I was impressed by the culture of the Amish. There are some aspects, e.g. self sufficiency and community support of others, that would be beneficial in any society.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial, society, nor culture advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Preserving Capital

2026-03-27T08:00:00.008-04:00

"Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule #2: Never forget rule #1." ~ Warren Buffet

These are good investing rules that are even more important in retirement. I no longer have time to recover from significant losses. In addition, we are dependent 100% on our retirement savings and income, since we have no wage income. So I try to make sure we have a sufficient margin of safety, in case there is a big market downturn.

Right now, I am cautiously invested in stocks. At this time, there is more downside risk than upside potential and there is high volatility. So while I am maintaining our core positions, I am trimming positions outside of core, e.g. short term trades and excess shares of core holdings.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back Fridays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Old School - Praying Before Football Games

2026-03-26T08:00:00.034-04:00

Our football team used to say the Lord's prayer before every game. I attended a public high school and every player participated. There were no complaints by the players. We did this all four years that I played. It was never an issue. No player ever complained about the ritual.

I wished the praying had helped. We were reduced to 26 players and only won 2 games near the end of the season. However, everyone had a good time playing.

Nowadays, group praying before a game probably is no longer allowed in schools.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor sports advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Investment Plan for Tomorrow

2026-03-25T23:00:00.025-04:00

The only thing that seems likely is that interest rates are inching up. My plan to start scaling into fixed income, CDs and Treasuries starting tomorrow. I expect I will be able to lock in 4% or a little higher for 5 and 10 year maturities.

I plan to only put 5-10%% of the funds in at this time. That way if interest rates keep rising, I can lock in even higher rates.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, fixed income, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Funding College: Then and Now

2026-03-25T08:00:00.009-04:00

When I went to college, it seemed relatively simple to cover the costs.

College Jobs - In my freshman year, I worked in the cafeteria about 8 hours a week. It paid about 2X the minimum wage. As an upper classman, I also tutored and sold class rings.
Summer Jobs - I was fortunate to get an Engineer Intern summer job right after high school.
Student Loans - I took out the maximum ($1500/semester) of federally subsidized student loans in my upper class years.
Parent Funds - My parents paid the difference between the costs and what I could cover.

By senior year, I was covering over two thirds of my tuition, room and board costs, and all my personal expenses. For reference, I attended an Ivy League school. A friend of mine attended a local state school, lived at home and was able to pay for tuition, fees and books from working a part time job.

Nowadays, I think it would be difficult for students to cover their costs at a local state school. It is likely that parents and student loans will cover the majority of cost, if the family isn't eligible for financial need scholarships. In our case, we have been saving for our children's college costs since the day we adopted them. This has enabled us to cover the eldest's entire education costs at a local state school. Hoping to cover our youngest's education costs in the future too.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor education advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Ouch! The Knife Keeps Falling on the BET Strategy

2026-03-24T20:00:00.030-04:00

BET (Buy Expected TACO) strategy didn't work today. Volatility was the main actor today. The market fell at the open, bounced and continued to fall midday as Iran denied agreeing to any of the U.S. demands to end the war before rebounding in the afternoon then dumping at the close..

I am still holding and avoiding further buying any BET stocks right now. There is a reasonable possibility that the stock market may keep drilling further to a bear market 20% drop. More and bigger TACOs will be needed to prevent this from happening.

I will wait for the bear market OR additional TACOs to happen before making any significant number of BET purchases.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking nor stock investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Buy Expected TACO (BET) Strategy

2026-03-24T08:00:00.017-04:00

The markets were up big yesterday, due to Trump delaying destroying Iran's power infrastructure for 5 days. It used to be buy the dip (BTD). Now it's the Buy Expected TACO (BET).

It appears that Trump is sensitive to the stock market response in the short term. Trump seems to responds with a TACO when the market dips. This started about a year ago with the implementation of tariffs in April 2025 and has consistently happened since then.

It's hard to predict what Trump will do. For now, buy expected TACO seems to be working. While it seems to be consistently a good strategy until now, it'll work until it doesn't. Once BET stops working, a significant correction may occur.

As Yogi Berra once said, "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future."

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Cataract Surgery Lens Plan

2026-03-23T08:00:00.053-04:00

I'm getting cataract replacement this year. Currently, the left eye is very near sighted and the right eye is less near sighted and I only wear correction in both eyes for driving and sports. To avoid requiring to use glasses for reading or driving, I'm going with right eye at 20/20 and the left eye at about 20/150 (about -3) for near vision. I won't need any glasses with this vision.

My brain is already used integrating different focal lengths with my uncorrected vision at 20/400 (L) and 20/200 (R). Doctor says DMV only requires one eye at 20/50 or better, I think, to drive without correction

Despite a friend having excellent results, I decided not to go with multi focal lenses.

I tested multi focal contact lenses about 5-10 years ago and didn't like them. It was the worst of both worlds for me. I couldn't see close work and distance vision was a slightly blurry sometimes.
A tennis player on the court before us said he started with multifocal but had to change to single focus and redo his cataract surgery.
My eye doctor said he usually does not recommend multifocal. He has seen two different people with technically the same conditions get very different results, one good and one bad.

Medicare will still cover glasses 100% to correct vision. My Medicare Advantage said they would cover contact lenses for 20% copay, which I will probably do for one eye for sports.

I've been testing wearing one contact part of the time to experience how it would be like after cataract surgery. Although not a perfect replication, I am comfortable enough to proceed with the. Since one eye is done at a time and the distance eye is done first, I will have a couple weeks to confirm my decison.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Only a Few Stocks Provided Majority of Our Gains

2026-03-22T08:00:00.064-04:00

I recently reviewed my investment results and concluded that the majority of the investment gains were due to a few stocks that we owned. For example, great returns on GOOGL, NVDA, MSFT, AAPL and VISA contributed a lot to our investment accounts. A large percentage of the other stocks were either negative or contributed very little.

This is also supported by a chart I found on LinkedIn:

My conclusion:

Pick only winning stocks. Highly unlikely for me to do this consistently or even at all.
Diversify enough to also purchase the winning stocks, but also own on the non contributing stocks. This requires owning numerous stocks and significant effort to manage on an ongoing basis.
Buy an index, which diversifies and periodically eliminates poor performers. This involves owning just a few EFTs or mutual funds.

I've tried #1 and failed. I've tried #2 and although returns were positive, my returns were less than the indices. I'm moving to #3 for most future investments, and will by only individual stocks on an occasional basis.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Services and Utilities That Are Great Time Savers

2026-03-21T08:00:00.071-04:00

What a great time to be alive. There are so many services provided to me that I have much more time than people from 100 years ago.

Here are some of the services that make life easier and better:

Running water - For drinking, cooking, washing, bathing and human waste removal. It would take me lots of time to haul water to the house, boil/sterilize it, and disposed of used water. It only costs us about $200 a month and takes almost no time.
Garbage collection - For $90/3 months, our garbage is taken away weekly and recycle is taken away every other week. It would take lots of time to haul our garbage to a dump. Just takes a few minutes a week to put the garbage at the curb.
Grocery shopping - Yeah, it still takes several hours a week to grocery shop. However, that beats the amount of time growing, harvesting or hunting/cleaning our own food.
Electricity - This powers all of our appliances to use in our house, which saves a lot of time. Washing machines, dishwashers, furnaces, air conditioning, water heater, oven, stove, refrigerator, etc, etc, etc. I would be working exclusively on

These are basics that I take for granted every day and yet, if I didn't have them, I would be spending way more time on getting necessary things done every day.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

My Rules to Manage Spending in Retirement

2026-03-20T08:00:00.007-04:00

I wrote this back in 2017 but forgot to post it. Most of the points are still relevant so I am posting it now. We're still following the principles, though the percentages may have changed some.

I am not a big fan of budgeting. Here are a some rules that we used to control our spending while were saving for retirement.

Pay yourself first - When I first started working, I would pay all my bills and expenses first and whatever was left at the end of the month was my savings. Except for my first month of working, I was pretty good at having something left at the end of the month. Later, I realized a better approach would be to take out my savings first, and the pay my bills and spend on expenses afterwards.
Buy only what we need - Marketer are adept at getting consumer to buy stuff. The challenge to sort the needs from the wants. Do I really need a smart phone, cable TV, a large screen TV or a luxury car? The answer is probably not. Not buying these can reduce spending by hundreds of dollars one time or every month. A related rule to this is to live below our means.
Spend only cash - Using only cash is an easy way to limit spending. Once the cash runs out, the spending stops

By using these rules, it was easier to control spending to better meet savings goals.

However, now that we've both been retired almost ten years, I've concluded we need a different set of spending rules. We have been living primarily on our retirement savings, so the above spending rules prior to retirement many need to be adjusted. For us, this is important, since we don't have pensions and are not eligible for Social Security yet.

Here's what we've been doing on an experimentation basis:

Use an allowance - We've been giving ourselves a monthly allowance that covers our living expenses, except for paying taxes (income and property) and health insurance. I estimated the amount based on our pre-retirement spending pattern This has seemed to work well for most of the time, even when we have a large expenditure such as a new appliance or a vacation. This worked well in a low inflation environment, which we may not have in the upcoming years.
Use a percentage - When I add the taxes and insurance in, we are withdrawing about 4% of our current retirement savings each year. It was closer to 6% during the great recession in 2009, but our investments have grown since the bottom. So we use a percentage to allocate our allowance each year. Also, we may need to adjust the percentage in years where the market declines or advance significantly.
Keep 3-5 year cushion in cash/cash equivalents - That way if the market decline significantly, we can avoid selling investments for a few years while continuing to make the same withdrawal. This will allow the investments to recover instead of selling them when they are down.

This has worked so far. So we are going to continue this approach of giving ourselves a 4% allowance. An adjustment we may make is to increase our withdrawal slightly after a good investment year and either increase our spending that year, or set it aside for additional spending in a future year. Another adjustment may be giving ourselves a raise periodically, especially after several years of good return.

Finally, we'll need to get used to spending down some principal as we balance withdrawals with mostly earnings and part principal. This will be a toughest adjustment for us to get used to since our pre-retirement goal was to always maintain or grow our principal.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back Fridays for a new segment.

This is not financial, retirement or spending advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

House and Car Expected Features Creep

2026-03-19T08:00:00.122-04:00

Buyers expect much more from their homes and automobiles than when my parents were purchasing these items. Part of the increased costs of cars and houses is due to the increase in expected in these products.

In my parents first purchased house, they had all the contemporary amenities: air conditioning, dishwasher, Formica countertops, intercom system, car port, and a 1/4 acre lot in a newly build subdivision. The first car my dad bought was a stick shift and maybe a radio. The second car he bought had automatic transmission and a radio, which was the first car that I drove. The third car was the same, just automatic transmission and a radio. Finally, in the fourth car, we got air conditioning.

The first house I bought was a 70 year old fixer upper, from which I learned I wasn't good at renovating houses. I only had the basics refrigerator, stove over an oven, Formica countertop and steel sink without a garbage disposal. The second house, which I bought 20 years later had still had a basic kitchen, but also had a laundry room, a whole house vacuum system, whole house stereo speakers, a finished basement and a three car garage. It also cost 8 times more.

The first car I bought new was a manual shift, because I wanted one, with A/C and radio which were now standard. The second car I bought used was still a manual shift, with A/C, radio and tape deck, electric windows/mirrors and was a convertible. My third car, was used also, added air bags, ABS brakes and multi CD player. For my fourth vehicle, which I bought new, I regressed and bought a manual pickup truck, with air bags, ABS brakes, A/C and radio/cassette player.

Of course, no one wants to go back to only the base features that were only available many years ago. And I realize that a portion the increased costs for houses and automobiles may be due to features that are now expected.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.