Barclays Bank Delaware has a Select Savings account (currently at 4.00% APY on all balance tiers) as part of their “AARP® Digital Banking” package which also offers Select CDS (with currently subpar rates) that is only available to AARP members with an active membership number. (AARP membership regular price is $15 for the first year when you sign up for automatic renewal, with no age requirement. You can turn off the renewal later.)

Right now there is a $400 bonus for new members that deposit $40,000+ in new funds. You must fund within 30 days of opening, and maintain the balance of at least $40,000 for another 120 consecutive days after funding. Bonus arrives after another 60 days. You must be a new Select Savings from Barclays customer. Note that they have other flavors of savings accounts, so be sure to apply for the right one. Direct deposit is not required. Offer expires 7/31/26. Thanks to reader Bill from Wisconsin for the tip.

Bonus math. This is a 1% bonus on $40,000 if you keep it there for 120 days, which makes it the equivalent of 3% APY annualized. Bonus will be paid around Day 180 and the account must be open at that time, but you only need to maintain full balance through Day 120 after funding. The bonus is on top of the standard interest rate, currently 4.00% APY.

The equivalent of roughly 7.00% total APY over 120 days makes it a decent offer for those with compatible balances looking for short-term place to hold their cash for a few months. Might be worth paying $15 for an AARP membership.

Last month, I mentioned that Morningstar had bought the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) from the University of Chicago. CRSP started out as a non-profit, but was later converted to an LLC and sold for $375 million. Vanguard used these low-cost indexes to keep their expense ratios extremely low, and I expressed concern over this as Morningstar is a for-profit, publicly-traded corporation. This contrasts with Vanguard’s famous “at-cost” structure.

Vanguard just announced that starting in July 2026, Vanguard will add the “Morningstar” brand to 13 different US stock index funds (across 51 different share classes). Just a few examples:

• Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)
• Vanguard Morningstar Large-Cap ETF (VV)
• Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF (VTV)
• Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR)

Was this a strategic blunder on Vanguard’s part? CRSP basically only had one client: Vanguard. According to RIABiz, “Vanguard funds accounted for 97% of all assets tracking CRSP indices” at the time of sale.

Vanguard should have either bought CRSP themselves or switched to in-house indexes. In-house indexes are exactly how Fidelity offers their ZERO fund line with 0.00% expense ratio. The Four Fidelity ZERO Funds:

• Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Total Investable Market Index.
• Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund (FNILX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Large Cap Index.
• Fidelity ZERO Extended Market Index Fund (FZIPX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Extended Market Index.
• Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) tracks the Fidelity Global ex U.S. Index.

I don’t think poorly of Morningstar, but at the same time they did not create these indexes out of some exceptional skill or store of knowledge. Morningstar does make other (not so popular) indices, but they just bought these from a university that needed money.

I can only speculate that Morningstar went to Vanguard and said something like “We own these indexes now. We’ll keep the price the same so your expense ratios don’t blow up… IF you add our name to every fund that uses them.” They get name recognition in lieu of bigger cash payments. Here’s what RIABiz says:

A Vanguard spokesman confirms better economics in the form of “cost certainty,” is part of the “agreement,” following the rebrand. “Consistent with our longstanding commitment to low-cost investing, our agreement includes long term cost certainty for Vanguard,” he says, in an email.

“Cost certainty” may prove a polite way to say that Morningstar can’t use its monopsonistic market power to ask for a bigger cut of revenues over time.

Overall, seems like a clever move my Morningstar, not so much from Vanguard. Vanguard does use other index providers like Russell and FTSE, but historically do not use their name on their flagship low-cost index funds.

The 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting occurred on May 2nd, 2026. Here is the full 5-hour meeting (pseudo-transcript) and a 7-minute highlight reel from CNBC from Omaha. This is the first one where Warren Buffett was not on stage answering questions as the CEO, but it still felt very similar to past meetings. I think they are lucky that both Buffett and Abel don’t have enormous egos and are allowing for a gradual transition. In addition to the main meeting, there was also a ~25 minute CNBC interview with Warren Buffett (transcript). Did you also know that Bill Murray was also interviewed as a shareholder since the 1970s and regular meeting attendee?

In a way, this meeting was a throwback in the way that focus was more the details of BRK as a company instead of Buffett and Munger talking about worldly wisdom. I still enjoyed watching and listening to the entire Q&A session with new CEO Greg Abel, Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer, and NetJets CEO Adam Johnson. Of course, Charlie Munger’s unfiltered honesty was still sorely missed. It does get a bit sleepy when everyone is so polite.

Here are a few personal takeaways and notes.

Transition is going well, still lots of cash because they see prices as too high, and are still holding cash for the next inevitable crisis. From the Buffett interview, I thought this was a nice summary of the current situation.

Well, I think it’s all working. It’s all working. It isn’t our ideal surrounding area or environment, I should say, in terms of deploying cash for Berkshire, but in terms of how we got the right management, we got the right arrangement, and you know, we can pick our spots, and nobody can tell us what to do exactly. And so sometimes we’re doing nothing, but other times we get quite active.

Gambling is everywhere. I’m seriously disturbed by the amount of people who think that zero-day options are their path to financial freedom. More truth from Buffett:

Well, it feels like, you know, I’ve compared the markets to a church with a casino attached. And people can move between the church and casino. And I would say there are more people in the church and more people in the casino, but the casino has gotten very attractive to people. If you’re buying one day options, or selling them, I mean that is – that’s not investing, it’s not speculating, it’s gambling.

Investing and insurance both involve saying “no” a lot. From Ajit Jain:

You know, insurance, like investing, is a game of patience. It’s extremely difficult to get people to sit idle and do nothing. When I recruit people, my usual approach is to tell them upfront. I say, your job is to say ‘no.’ You will be bombarded day after day with various deals, but your fundamental responsibility is to say ‘no.’ I tell them, occasionally you’ll come across a deal that hits you like a plank, shouting ‘money here,’ and that’s when you come to me, and then we’ll decide together whether to proceed.

You know, joking aside, when everyone else is being hustled by brokers and taken to London, it’s really hard to just sit there and do nothing. I believe that in the insurance industry, and certainly in the investment field, the true test of success lies in the ability to say ‘no.’

This feels similar to what individuals face these days. There are so many things that will gladly take your money. Crypto memecoins, sports betting, prediction markets, risky options, Buy Now Pay Later debt, margin leverage.

As a shareholder, I feel that we’ll have to be patient as well to see what happens as Abel takes a more active role in improving the internal operations.

Past BRK meetings:

• 2025 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2024 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2022 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes

Ally Invest has a new $200 bonus offer for opening a new brokerage account with them, however it is specifically targeted to existing Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who have never had an Ally Invest account before. (Some of us may have Ally Invest accounts that were previously TradeKing.)

This offer is only available to current active Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who do not have, nor previously had, an account with Ally Invest.

If you don’t have an Ally Bank account yet, check out this $100 new Ally Savings account bonus first.

Here are the details for their traditional self-directed brokerage account, with zero commissions on trades and no minimum balance requirement. (I wouldn’t recommend opening their Robo account, too complicated to unwind later with all those tax lots).

• Open an eligible new Self-Directed Trading account by selecting Open Account on this page by 12/31/2026.
• Transfer in a minimum of $1,000 in cash and/or securities within 30 days of opening it. (FYI: It’s OK to do so over multiple transfers.)
• Once at least $1,000 has posted to your account, you’ll need to keep it there for a minimum of 90 days.
• We’ll pay your cash bonus within 30 days of all steps being completed — including the 90 day minimum.

Note that the $1,000 must come from a non-Ally account to get the $200 bonus. If you transfer from an Ally Bank account, you’ll only get a $100 bonus.

Still, this is a pretty easy bonus if you qualify. Move over $1,000, get $200. The promo is scheduled to run until end of 2026, so there should be time to open a new Ally Savings account first for $100 and then stack this bonus on top. Then I’d wait to see if the $300 Ally Checking account bonus comes back.

Bonus extended. Ally Bank is one of my favorite banks in terms of user interface, practical features, customer service, and reliability. They were my primary checking account for years (the checking can auto-draft from the savings). Unfortunately, their savings account rates have been lagging the top rates recently. Despite that, I still keep maintain active accounts there because I use them as my central hub connecting all my many different bank accounts with fast transfers and a clear schedule of exactly when the money will be withdrawn and deposited.

Ally is running a $100 new account bonus by referral only (that’s mine, thanks if you use it). You must first enroll with your name and address by 12/31/26, and then using the same e-mail address open one of two possible account types (Ally Spending, Ally Savings) within 30 days of enrollment and make qualifying transfers to get the $100 bonus. You are not eligible if you are a current customer (with any Ally product), or has had any Ally account open since January 1, 2024.

Thus, my recommendation is to first open a Savings account with this offer (which works for both Savings and Checking but only works if you have no Ally accounts at all) and if you can, wait until their Spending account bonus comes back (last year it was for $300).

Here are the details for the Savings Account. Taken from full terms and conditions [pdf].

Ally Bank Savings Account

1. Once your Savings Account is open, setup (within your new account) a monthly automated recurring transfer of any amount and have it start within 30 days of account opening.
2. Complete an automated recurring transfer at least once a month for at least three months in a row.
3. Your $100 Welcome Bonus will be deposited within 30 days of receiving your third consecutive monthly recurring transfer. To be paid, make sure you keep your Savings Account open and in Good Standing through the Payout Date.

What do they mean by “automated recurring transfer”? I tried it out in my Ally account it just means setting up as little as a $1 transfer every month into your savings account. You can connect an external bank account to fund the transfer.

Overall, the requirements are pretty easy for a $100 bonus and it has useful characteristics noted above. I personally use this account nearly every week to manage my interbank transfers. I even hit their maximum limit of 20 linked external accounts.

Every existing I Bond will earn this inflation rate of ~3.36% eventually for 6 months; you will need to add your own fixed rate that was set based the initial purchase month. See you again in mid-October for the next early prediction for November 2026.

Original post from 4/12/2026:

Savings I Bonds are a unique, low-risk investment backed by the US Treasury that pay out a variable interest rate linked to inflation. With a holding period from 12 months to 30 years, you could own them as an alternative to bank certificates of deposit (they are liquid after 12 months) or bonds in your portfolio.

New inflation numbers were announced at BLS.gov, which allows us to make an early prediction of the May 2026 savings bond rates just before the official announcement on the 1st. This also allows the opportunity to know exactly what an April 2026 savings bond purchase will yield over the next 12 months, instead of just 6 months. You can then compare this against a November 2025 purchase.

New inflation rate prediction. September 2025 CPI-U was 324.800. May 2026 CPI-U was 330.213, for a semi-annual inflation rate of 1.67%. Using the official composite rate formula:

Composite rate formula: [Fixed rate + (2 x semiannual inflation rate) + (fixed rate x semiannual inflation rate)]

This results in the variable component of interest rate for the next 6 month cycle being ~3.34 to 3.39%, depending on the fixed rate.

Tips on purchase and redemption. You can’t redeem until after 12 months of ownership, and any redemptions within 5 years incur an interest penalty of the last 3 months of interest. A simple “trick” with I-Bonds is that if you buy at the end of the month, you’ll still get all the interest for the entire month – same as if you bought it in the beginning of the month. It’s best to give yourself a few business days of buffer time. If you miss the cutoff, your effective purchase date will be bumped into the next month. (You should always sell at the very beginning of the month.)

Buying in April 2026. If you buy before the end of April, the fixed rate portion of I-Bonds will be 0.90%. You will be guaranteed a total interest rate of 0.90 + 3.13 = 4.03% for the next 6 months. For the 6 months after that, the total rate will be 0.90 + 3.36 = 4.26%.

Buying in May 2026. If you buy in May 2026, you will get ~3.36% plus a newly-set fixed rate for the first 6 months. The new fixed rate is officially unknown, but is loosely linked to the real yield of short-term TIPS with some reductions. In the previous 10 days, 5-year TIPS real rates have ranged from 1.34% to 1.42%. If I had to guess, I’d put a new fixed rate somewhere between 0.9 to 1.0%, for a total rate of about 4.26%. Every six months after your purchase, your rate will adjust to your fixed rate (set at purchase) plus a variable rate based on inflation.

If you have an existing I-Bond, the rates reset every 6 months depending on your specific purchase month. Everyone will eventually get this variable rate. Your bond rate = your specific fixed rate (based on purchase month, look it up here) + variable rate (total bond rate has a minimum floor of 0%).

Buy now or wait? Between those two options, if you are a long-term holder, you may consider waiting until May or even October to see if the fixed rate goes up a little. You may also think higher inflation is coming, and you’ll get that next inflation rate sooner if you buy in May. See below for why I am buying TIPS instead.

Unique features and benefits! There are definitely reasons to own Series I Savings Bonds, including inflation protection, tax deferral, exemption from state income taxes, and potential tax benefits if used toward qualified educational expenses.

Unique drawbacks! You can only buy new savings bonds through TreasuryDirect.gov, which is limited in its customer service resources and features. There is also no option for paper tax forms nor statements (or even online monthly statements), so your heirs may never know they exist! If they do find it, it may take them several months and a lot of effort to close out all the estate paperwork. If you forget your password, it may take weeks or longer to unlock your account.

If you become a victim to theft or fraudulent activity, they will not replace any lost or stolen savings bonds. They explicitly accept no liability:

§ 363.17 Who is liable if someone else accesses my TreasuryDirect ® account using my password?

You are solely responsible for the confidentiality and use of your account number, password, and any other form(s) of authentication we may require. We will treat any transactions conducted using your password as having been authorized by you. We are not liable for any loss, liability, cost, or expense that you may incur as a result of transactions made using your password.

The juice may not be worth the squeeze when you can own individual Treasury bonds or TIPS within any full-service brokerage account. It’s sad that they’ve basically let this investment decay away due to neglect.

I also used to believe that the government would not tamper or attempt to politically influence these BLS CPI statistics that are at the core of many important functions, including Social Security inflation adjustments, TIPS, and these Savings Bonds. Now I’m not so sure. I found this guest article from TIPSWatch to offer some perspective: A historical look at political influence over the BLS.

Personally, I sold all my savings bonds in 2024 and do not plan to buy any more. I’m older now and I feel the small potential benefit just doesn’t outweigh the small possibility that I could lose the entire amount due to estate-handling mistakes or online hack. I’d rather own TIPS and US Treasuries directly in a full-service brokerage account. As a long-term holder, I can lock in a 2 to 2.7% real yield with a longer term TIPS bond.

Annual purchase limits. The annual purchase limit is now $10,000 in online I-bonds per Social Security Number. For a couple, that’s $20,000 per year. You can only buy online at TreasuryDirect.gov, after making sure you’re okay with their poor service. (No more tax refund savings bonds.) Technically, the purchase limits are per Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. For those looking for another way to expand their purchasing power, that means you can also buy for a child, grandchild, LLC, or a trust.

Bottom line. Savings I bonds are a unique, low-risk investment that are linked to inflation and only available to individual investors. You can now only purchase them online at TreasuryDirect.gov. They have both unique benefit and drawbacks. For more background, see the rest of my posts on savings bonds.

[Image: US Savings Bond advertisement – source]

Improved 150k offer. The revamped Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is now offering a 150,000 Ultimate Rewards points bonus. This card stacks a high annual fee with a long list of perks. I don’t know about $6,000, but we are definitely talking an easy $1,000+ in net first year value for this card. Highlights:

• 150,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $6,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• $300 Annual Travel Credit. Every year, the card will automatically rebate you back up to $300 in travel purchases such as airfare and hotel nights charged on your card.
• NEW: $250 Chase Travel hotel credit for 2026. Get up to $250 in statement credits through December 31, 2026 on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings for stays with IHG® Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. Two night minimum required. If you are careful, you can stack this credit with the “Edit” credit below.
• $500 in annual credits for prepaid bookings at The Edit hotels. This is a specific list of higher-end hotels. Broken down into $250 from January to June and $250 from July to December. Two-night minimum required. You also get extra perks like $100 property credit, free breakfast for two, and room upgrades (if available).
• $300 StubHub credit. Get up to $150 in statement credits from January through June and again from July through December for a maximum of $300 annually for StubHub and viagogo purchases through 12/31/27. Activation required.
• Free Apple TV+ and Apple Music subscriptions through 6/22/27 — a value of $250 annually, as Apple TV+ runs $12.99/month and Apple Music is $10.99/month normally.
• $10 Lyft credit monthly, worth up to $120 annually, to use on rides through 9/30/27.
• $10 per month back on eligible Peloton memberships in statement credits through 12/31/27, for a maximum of $120 annually. Activation required.
• $300 in annual dining credits at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables. This is a specific list of restaurants. Broken down into $150 from January through June and $150 from July through December for a maximum of $300 annually for dining at restaurants that are part of Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables with reservations through OpenTable.
• 8X points on all purchases through Chase Travel, including The Edit hotels.
• 4X points on flights and hotels booked direct.
• 3X points on dining worldwide at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services.
• 1X points on all other purchases. (1 point per $1 spent.)
• Up to $120 statement credit towards Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck® every four years.
• Airport lounge access via Priority Pass Select membership. Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass Select. Plus, get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass.
• New: Access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, which are new airport lounges starting at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs.
• Annual fee is $795; $195 for each additional authorized user.

Note the following offer language:

This credit card is unavailable to you if you currently have one open. The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you currently have any other personal Sapphire cards open, previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. We may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed, as well as other factors in determining your bonus eligibility.

Ultimate Rewards points. This card also allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points into hotel and/or airline miles. Transfer to United Airlines, British Airways, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest, Hyatt Hotels, IHG Hotels, and Marriott Hotels at a ratio of 1 Ultimate Rewards point = 1 mile/hotel point. Miles redemption continue to offer great value for savvy travelers, especially for last-minute travel and business class seats.

Personally, my preferred redemption method is Hyatt points, where I can consistently get over 2 cents per points of value for my hotel bookings. Recently, I have also been using my Ultimate Rewards points on the new Air Canada option.

Cash redemptions are a simple and easy option, but the conversion is a straight 100 points = $1.

Booking on Chase Travel portal. Book flights, hotels, car rentals, and activities directly through Chase. Points are worth up to 2 cents each on select hotels, meaning 100,000 points = $2,000 in travel. However, I’d compare with the cash cost if you booked directly through the hotel.

Sharing points. Ultimate Rewards points are instantly transferable to other accounts like family members, as long as they have their own Chase card with Ultimate Rewards as an authorized user (free with Chase Freedom). This way, you can pool points together for transfers and redemptions if you like.

Additional card benefits:

• Dedicated customer service line with a live person that answers the phone 24/7. No waiting or complicated phone trees.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Auto Rental Coverage. Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. Most other cards only offer secondary coverage that kicks in only after the deductible of your individual insurance policy is used. (Specific limitations apply to New York residents: Auto Rental Coverage – inside the United States coverage is secondary to your personal automobile insurance.)
• Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance. If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.
• Trip Delay Reimbursement. If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 6 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement. – Up to $2,000 per bag and $10,000 for all covered travelers per trip.
• Enjoy special car rental privileges from National Car Rental, Avis, and Silvercar when you book with your card.

Bottom line. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card has a huge sign-up bonus, huge annual fee, and huge list of perks. It’s not for everyone, but there is definitely a lot of value for those that can take advantage of its annual credits.

Shopping cashback portal Rakuten is offering an additional bonus on select Bank of America credit cards. The values may fluctuate as with all their payout rates, but currently I am seeing the following:

• $250 cash back on the BofA Travel Rewards credit card.
• $150 cash back on the BofA Customized Card Rewards credit card.

This is on top of the existing sign-up bonus for each card, so it should be worth clicking through Rakuten before applying. I usually don’t experience 100% perfect tracking from shopping portals in general, but Rakuten has been pretty reliable for me. If you don’t have an account yet, you can open a new Rakuten account through my referral link for an extra $50 bonus after you spend your first $50 through the portal.

Historically, these are two of my favorite BofA rewards credit cards. They have no annual fee, but really work best on an ongoing basis if you can move over stocks/ETFs to Merrill Edge brokerage and hit the highest tiers on their Preferred Rewards program. Unfortunately, BofA recently raised the balance requirements. If you are an existing Preferred Rewards member, you may have an extra year before the change takes effect, depending on your anniversary month.

Still, even without the Preferred Rewards, the first-year value for both cards will get you in the $500 range when you add both bonuses together. Keep in mind that you can buy Costco gift cards after picking the “Online Shopping” category of the Customized Cash card (which can earn 6% cash back during first year, up to $2,500 per quarter).

Vanguard has a new article 50 years. 50 facts. Indexing since 1976. with some interesting bits for investing enthusiasts.

I feel like younger folks simply know index investing as the default for essentially every single 401k plan out there. Most own index funds without even thinking about it. However, 50 years ago, it was called “Bogle’s Folly” when a young Jack Bogle went against Wall Street and introduced his index fund to everyday people.

Even 25 years ago when I started out, you really had to make a conscious choice to buy a Vanguard index fund. If you didn’t open an account directly at Vanguard, you were looking at high commissions on every trade because Vanguard refused to pay kickbacks to brokers to keep them on “No Transaction Fee” lists. Vanguard may send me glossy brochures now, but back in the day, they were super-thrifty with zero ads.

I always find it amazing that Jack Bogle started thinking this up as an undergraduate in college! It took him another 25 years to create the retail index fund, which is also an impressive level of stubbornness. Fact #6:

6. In his 1951 undergraduate thesis for Princeton University, Mr. Bogle highlighted the crucial role of costs in the long-term returns earned by investors. He identified costs as a drag on the performance of the industry, which was then entirely actively managed.

I think it’s important to remember that index funds won despite being hated by Wall Street because well, they made people a lot of money. Their performance is excellent, and every year that record is cemented even further. Fact 32:

32. What if, at the fund’s inception in 1976, you’d put $10,000 into what are now called Investor Shares of Vanguard 500 Index Fund? The investment could have grown to nearly $2.2 million by February 28, 2026—illustrating the powers of discipline, low-cost investing, and compounding.

Index funds aren’t magic. They mostly win for the simple reason of low costs. This is important because Wall Street will keep continuing to spin out new products that offer you the possibility of higher returns while giving them the certainty of higher fees in their pocket.

YieldMAX ETFs. High costs. Buffer ETFs. High costs. Private equity. High costs. 2X Leverage ETFs. High costs.

Don’t let the allure of a successful gamble distract you from how badly high costs tilt the odds against you. Over time, the house is going to win.

I remain grateful for Jack Bogle and his unwavering message. Save your money and buy all the winning businesses (own the entire haystack). Enjoy maximizing your returns by keeping costs low. Buy low-cost index funds and ignore the rest of the advertising noise. It worked. It works.

(Update: Offer is back. Again available to both new and existing customers depositing new funds. For existing customers, the deposits must be in addition to your balance as of 4/19/26.)

Live Oak Bank is an FDIC-insured internet bank that is focused on lending to small businesses. Their personal savings account has a limited-time offer of a $200 bonus if you deposit $20,000+ in new funds into their online savings account by 11:59 p.m. ET on 5/31/2026 via this special offer page and keep it there for 60 days. The current interest rate is 3.80% APY. Direct deposit is not required. Valid for both new and existing customers, as long as you are adding new money (lookback date is 4/19/26).

Unlike some other deposit bonuses, the 60-day window starts when the new money hits:

Beginning on the date in April or May 2026 when the new account attains a balance of at least $20,000, if the balance remains equal to or exceeding $20,000 for 60 consecutive days, then the account will be eligible for the bonus if all other conditions are met. If all eligibility criteria are met, the $200 cash bonus will be deposited to your open, eligible account within 45-days following the expiration of the 60-day period.

Bonus math. This is a 1% bonus on $20,000 if you keep it there for 60 days, which makes it the equivalent of 6% APY annualized. Bonus will be paid around Day 105 and the account must be open at that time, but you only need to maintain full balance through Day 60. The bonus is on top of the standard interest rate, currently a competitive 3.80% APY as of 4/22/26.

This equivalent of roughly 9.80% total APY over 60 days makes it a solid offer for those with compatible balances looking for short-term place to hold their cash for a few months. Live Oak Bank seems to come and go with the competitiveness of their rates, but it’s nice that this is available to existing customers.

Updated offer details. Brokerage firms compete for “assets under management”, and many are willing to give you cash to encourage you to move your assets over to them. The bonus size will usually vary with the amount transferred, but also pay attention to the minimum required holding period. This one has a relatively short 90-day hold.

JP Morgan Self-Directed Investing (a part of JP Morgan Wealth Management, which in turn is part of JPMorgan Chase) is currently offering up to $1,000 new money bonus, depending the value of assets that you move over (either moving cash, transferring securities, or rolling over existing retirement assets from another institution). The current offer end date is 7/21/2026, but it is often extended.

• $50 with $5,000 – $24,999 in qualifying new money.
• $150 with $25,000-$99,999 in qualifying new money.
• $325 with $100,000–$249,999 in qualifying new money
• $1,000 with $250,000+ in qualifying new money

Here are the steps:

1. Open a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account through this page by 07/21/2026. (Includes Individual/Joint Taxable Brokerage, Traditional IRA, or Roth IRA accounts.)
2. Transfer – You have 45 days to fund your account with qualifying new money (cannot be existing deposits, funds or securities held by you at JP Morgan, Chase or affiliate partners). Your bonus will be determined on day 45.
3. Maintain your new funds for 90 days and the bonus will be added directly into your account within 15 days. (Losses due to trading or market fluctuation will not be taken into account.)

The features for the account itself seem like most other online brokerages. Unlimited commission-free online stock, ETF and options trades (+ $0.65 per-contract fee). You can trade ETFs, fixed income, mutual funds, and options. The interface is more on the basic side, but you can perform instant funds transfers between the brokerage account and your Chase checking account, which may be convenient.

Here is their fee schedule. They have recently eliminated their $75 IRA annual maintenance fee, but they still have a $75 IRA account termination/transfer fee. They also have a $75 outgoing ACAT transfer fee.

Here is more fine print:

You can only participate in one J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing new money bonus in a 12 month period from the last bonus coupon enrollment date. Coupon is good for one time use and only one bonus per account. To receive the bonus the enrolled account must not be closed or restricted at the time of payout. Account types and other restrictions apply. Offer terms are subject to change and/or termination without advance notice. The value of the cash award may be considered income, and we may be required to send you, and file with the IRS, a Form 1099-MISC (“Miscellaneous Information”), or a Form 1042-S (“Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding”) if applicable. You are responsible for any tax liability associated with the award. Please consult your own tax advisor if you have any questions about your personal tax situation.

Thoughts. These bonus tiers are not the best in terms of percentage (1% of $5,000, 0.6% of $25,000, 0.325% of $100k, 0.40% of $250k), but you technically can wait to fund until the end of the initial 45-day window, and then hold the assets there for a minimum of 90 days which is a relatively short period. You might get 2% somewhere else, but have to keep it there for 5 years.

If you are transferring cash, you can immediately purchase an ETF like SGOV or VBIL if you want to earn some competitive interest. Usually, the easiest thing is to perform an in-kind ACAT transfer of existing securities, which takes less than a week and all of your tax basis information should also move over after another few days. Your old broker may charge you an outgoing ACAT fee – you may ask Chase/JPM if they can reimburse you for this fee (especially if you have a in-branch rep to speak to) but they don’t advertise it as a benefit.

Citizens Bank is offering a $400 checking bonus with relatively simple requirements. However, they only offer checking accounts to residents of certain states mainly in the Eastern and Northeastern US (CT, DC, DE, FL, MD, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT or VA; they will use your zip code to verify). Thanks to reader Steve for the tip.

Bonus requirements. You must open your first new personal checking account between 4/1/26 and 6/30/26 and have at least one single direct deposit of $1,000 or more within 60 days of account opening. Note: Primary signer may not be or have been a signer on any other Citizens personal checking or savings account within the previous six months. New account(s) must have a balance greater than zero and remain open and active through the payout date.

Eligible checking accounts. The lowest-cost option appears to be the “One Deposit Checking”, which has no monthly fee as long as you make one deposit of any kind during each statement period (otherwise it is $9.99 per month).

This is another relatively easy bonus for those that can switch/split their paycheck direct deposit easily online. Mine is split five different ways sometimes…

Fraud attempts seem to be coming at us 24/7, and this story of a couple losing $180,000 from their brokerage account was very sad. However, what really caught my eye is that not only could they not track down the funds (where was it withdrawn to? shouldn’t they only let you withdraw to a linked bank account?), Tastytrade only agreed to reimburse half of the $180,000 stolen from their account. Their reasoning was that the customer did not sign up for two-factor authentication (2FA), even though it was available.

In an email exchange, Tastytrade confirmed that the “intrusion” took place, but said it wasn’t the company’s fault, because the couple failed to sign up for an optional two-factor authentication protection.

“We rolled out this additional security feature to mitigate the risk of this occurring to our customers,” the email from a fraud manager read.

“I know that this was an option, but it was never made mandatory,” Erez said.

I hadn’t heard of this as an excuse before, but it is definitely something worth nothing. While I feel like 2FA with text codes are sort of the minimum level of security most people should maintain, I also feel that a broker needs to provide clear notice if it absolves them of liability. Either that or simply require it.

I found another example of a $37,000 Tastytrade hack, this time from a customer who claims they did enable 2FA. This time Tastytrade denied all liability.

We see that your username and password was obtained by the nefarious party outside of the control of our Firm. Because of this, we will unfortunately be unable to extend any relief or concessions.

Many of the major brokerages offer security guarantees (although I could not find one for Tastytrade!), for example the Fidelity Customer Protection Guarantee and Vanguard security promise. I looked and Fidelity and Vanguard do not explicitly require you to use 2FA, but I’m also not sure if 2FA is already required of everyone. I would note that none of these “guarantees” or “promises” will apply (as far as I’ve seen across the major brokerages) if you got tricked into giving out your password:

Fidelity will reimburse you for losses from unauthorized activity in your Covered Accounts occurring through no fault of your own.

What are examples of when I won’t be covered?
If you grant access or authority to, or share your Fidelity account access credentials or information with, any persons or entities, their activity will be considered authorized by you and not covered by the Customer Protection Guarantee.

The problem is, how do they know how the hackers got the password? What if it was obtained from an inside job from a brokerage employee, or an undiscovered hack?

Photo by Dan Nelson on Unsplash

I’ve gotten a few reader questions about my personal cash and bond holdings, so I thought I’d combine them here. You may be surprised that I don’t chase the top rates that much myself anymore, although I still do attractive deposit bonuses (most recently CIT Bank and Marcus). I’ve found that I can get pretty darn close to the top rates without being spread across as many bank accounts as in the past. My specific situation is that I have state income taxes of ~10%, so the fact that US Treasury obligations are exempt from state income tax makes a significant difference to me.

Big picture, I am roughly 70% stocks and 30% bonds and I let it float between 65%/35% or 75%/25% without worrying about. I mostly rebalance with both new cash inflows and internal flows of interest/dividends.

30% in bonds is broken down into 20% US “Regular” Treasury Bonds and/or FDIC-insured deposits and 10% US Treasury Inflation-Protected Bonds. For the US Treasury bonds, I hold mostly Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF (VGSH). The current 30-day SEC yield is 3.83%. Again, this converts to a tax-equivalent yield of ~4.25 APY due to the state-tax exemption for my situation.

VGSH is essentially a basket of US Treasury bonds held at a rock-bottom expense ratio of 0.03% with an average effective maturity and average duration of about 2 years. I converted to the ETF because the equivalent mutual fund has an expense ratio of 0.06%. If you think about it, a ladder of 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 5-year bank certificates of deposit (CDs) with an added rung of “0-year” cash has an average duration of 2 to 2.5 years depending on how close they are to maturity. I used to spend a lot of time creating a 5-year CD ladder with top rates spread across multiple different credit unions, but right now I doubt you’ll beat a weighted average rate of 4.25% (again due to my 10% state tax rate).

What about more interest rate risk? The Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF (VGIT) has an average duration of 5 years. The current 30-day SEC yield is 4.02% (roughly 0.20% higher). The steepness of the yield curve changes, but for the most part it is pretty flat right now, such that I haven’t felt that the slight increase in yield is worth the added interest rate risk. If interest rates go up, then that little bit of extra yield can be offset completely. Overall it’s a minor difference, VGIT would be fine really, but I do make sure to avoid long-term bonds. I used to own both short-term and intermediate-term funds, but now it’s just short-term for simplicity and lower stress. I choose to take my risk in the stock portion of the portfolio.

What about more credit risk? I can compare with Vanguard Total US Bond ETF (BND), which contains corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities and such, with a current 30-day SEC yield of 4.34%. While BND also holds some Treasuries, it doesn’t meet the 50% threshold requirements for California, Connecticut, and New York, so residents don’t get any tax break in those states. That makes the difference only about 0.10%. For me, the extra risk doesn’t seem worth the extra yield.

Municipal bonds are also not competitive right now if you compare them directly (AAA-rated short-term munis to short-term Treasuries). I have held Vanguard muni bond funds in the past when their tax-equivalent yield was a full 1% higher than the same term US Treasury.

(* I know that there is discussion about the credit quality of the United States, which is fine and fair, but I still think they are the relative safest and don’t feel the need to diversify into corporate bonds or debt from other countries. The Treasury literally creates the money. Inflation is more of a concern to me.)

Speaking of inflation, my 10% in TIPS is mostly held in individual TIPS bonds because I can buy them in my Fidelity Solo 401k account and I can pick them up when the real yield is high and lock in that real yield for the entire term of the bond. That’s a very unique feature. I also hold TIPS ETFs like SCHP when I am looking to buy but the real yield is not good enough to lock in for a longer term. I got rid of my precious savings bonds because I don’t want my spouse to deal with TreasuryDirect if something happens to me.

Cash. As part of my bond allocation, I include at least a year’s worth of expenses in “cash”. Let’s say my rough withdrawal rate is 3%, so I keep about 3% of my portfolio in cash. This is mostly held in a combination of the following three accounts and whatever deposit bonuses I am currently pursuing.

• Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) has a currently APY equivalent of ~3.68%, which converts to a tax-equivalent yield of ~4.08% APY due to the state-tax exemption. Vanguard is a traditional brokerage and doesn’t provide things like Bill Pay or checking account features, but it is also where most of my stock dividends and bond interest payments land every quarter. Too bad they don’t offer VUSXX as a default sweep option, even though their default is pretty good.
• Fidelity® Treasury Only Money Market Fund (FDLXX) has a currently APY equivalent of ~3.3%, which converts to a tax-equivalent yield of ~3.67% APY due to the state-tax exemption. This is not as good as Vanguard or the very top online savings accounts, but I like that it usually stays relatively competitive without having to move any funds. I also use Fidelity for its brokerage/IRA/Solo 401k already. Direct deposit (and some dividends) goes in, and Bill Payments go out. Fidelity “pushes” these payments out. I don’t use Fidelity for anything else requiring their routing numbers, checkwriting, or debit card (anything “pulled” from Fidelity). Many of their banking services are farmed out through UMB Bank and if there is any kind of issue (like debit card fraud or ACH fraud), then dealing with them can be a pain as they can blame each other for the problem. Also see: Fidelity Treasury Only Money Market (FDLXX) as Fidelity Core Position Workaround.
• Ally Savings, SoFi Savings, and CIT Bank. I’ve used each of these for a while and I like that they are reliable especially when dealing with lots of smaller transactions (ACH pulls, check deposits, Venmo, etc) and interbank ACH transfers. They have competitive interest rates, if not the highest every month. They each also have invested in their own user interface for interbank transfers. Honestly, I’d stick with just Ally if I could as I like their system the best, but they’ve been lagging in the interest rate department recently.

Here’s my 2026 1st Quarter income update as a companion post to my 2026 1st Quarter asset allocation & performance update. Even though I don’t focus on high-dividend stocks or covered-call strategies, I still track the income from my portfolio as an alternative metric to price performance. The total income goes up much more gradually and consistently than the number shown on brokerage statements, which helps encourage consistent investing. Here’s a quote from Jack Bogle (source):

The true investor will do better if he forgets about the stock market and pays attention to his dividend returns and to the operating results of his companies. – Jack Bogle

Stock dividends are a portion of profits that businesses have decided to distribute directly to shareholders, as opposed to reinvesting into their business, paying back debt, or buying back shares. They have explicitly decided that they don’t need this money to improve their business, and that it would be better to distribute it to shareholders. The dividends may suffer some short-term drops, but over the long run they have grown faster than inflation.

Here is the historical growth of the S&P 500 total dividend, which tracks roughly the largest 500 stocks in the US, updated as of 2026 Q1 (via Yardeni Research):

Tracking the income from my portfolio. Three of the primary “trees” that produce “fruit” in my portfolio are Vanguard Total US Stock ETF (VTI), Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), and Vanguard Real Estate Index ETF (VNQ).

In the US, the dividend culture is somewhat conservative in that shareholders expect dividends to be stable and only go up. Thus the starting yield is lower, but grows more steadily with smaller cuts during hard times. Companies do buybacks as well, often because they are easier to discontinue. Here is an updated chart of the trailing 12-month (ttm) dividend per share over the last 15 years paid by the Vanguard Total US Stock ETF (VTI) via WallStNumbers.com.

European corporate culture tends to encourage paying out a higher (sometimes even fixed) percentage of earnings as dividends, but that also means the dividends move up and down with earnings. The starting yield is currently higher but may not grow as reliably. Here is an updated chart of the trailing 12-month (ttm) dividend per share over the last 15 years paid by the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS).

In the case of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), they are legally required to distribute at least 90 percent of their taxable income to shareholders as dividends. Historically, about half of the total return from REITs is from this dividend income. Here is an updated chart of the trailing 12-month (ttm) dividend per share over the last 15 years paid by the Vanguard Real Estate Index ETF (VNQ).

The dividend yield (dividends divided by price) also serve as a rough valuation metric. When stock prices drop, this percentage metric usually goes up – which makes me feel better in a bear market. When stock prices go up, this percentage metric usually goes down, which keeps me from getting too euphoric during a bull market.

Finally, the last income component of my portfolio comes from interest from bonds and cash. Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF (VGSH) and Schwab US TIPS ETF (SCHP) are example holdings, with the actual amount varying with the prevailing interest rates, the real rates on TIPS, and the current rate of inflation.

Dividend and interest income yield. To estimate the income from my portfolio, I use the weighted “TTM” or “12-Month Yield” from Morningstar (checked 4/8/26), which is the sum of the trailing 12 months of interest and dividend payments divided by the last month’s ending share price (NAV) plus any capital gains distributed (usually zero for index funds) over the same period. My TTM portfolio yield is now roughly 2.61%.

In dividend investing circles, there is a metric called yield on cost, which is calculated by dividing the current dividend by the original purchase price. In other words, while my portfolio yield today is may be lower than say a target withdrawal rate of 3%, that is because the current market price is also a lot higher. Due to increasing dividends on average over time, my yield-on-cost based on my portfolio value from 10 years ago is over 5%.

What about the 4% rule? For big-picture purposes, I support the simple 4% or 3% rule of thumb, which equates to a target of accumulating roughly 25 to 33 times your annual expenses. I would lean towards a 3% withdrawal rate if you want to retire young (closer to age 50) and a 4% withdrawal rate if retiring at a more traditional age (closer to 65). It’s just a quick and dirty target to get you started, not a number sent down from the heavens!

During the accumulation stage, your time is better spent focusing on earning potential via better career moves, improving your skillset, networking, and/or looking for asymmetrical (unlimited upside, limited downside) entrepreneurial opportunities where you have an ownership interest.

Our dividends and interest income are not automatically reinvested. They are simply another “paycheck”. As with our other variable paychecks, we can choose to either spend it or invest it again to compound things more quickly. You could use this money to cut back working hours, pursue a different career path, start a new business, take a sabbatical, perform charity or volunteer work, and so on. You don’t have to wait until you hit a magic number. Our life path has been very different because of this philosophy. FIRE is Life!