We’re not actively looking to buy more real estate right now, but every week or so, I look at certain geographies I’m interested in – one of which is upstate New York near Albany. We already know the area because I helped a friend who lives there come up with viable alternatives when a rent-to-own deal went bad. There are several small towns clustered together, and as it turns out, there’s a duplex, walkable to the town center, in our favorite of the small towns. A duplex within three hours of NYC for under $150,000! We like the town because [...]

How often do you adjust your investments? Periodically (annually, quarterly), one should rebalance their portfolio. If one asset class has run up in value, you might have more money invested there than you originally intended. Similarly, if an asset class has decreased in value, you might have too little exposure, if that investment still fits in with your plans. As we look at our investments, potential overexposure to Jacksonville real estate is front of mind. I consider our investment portfolio pretty well-diversified. Our net worth is split almost evenly between real estate and traditional paper assets at 45% of our [...]

Asian Persuasion made its worldwide premier at the Soho International Film Festival in New York City on September 16. Luckily, I was already going to be in New York that week, when director Jhett Tolentino texted me an invite to the premier and afterparty! I had profiled Jhett in my Forbes column (read his fascinating career pivot story from accountant to Tony-award winning Broadway producer!), and he’s been kind enough to give me script feedback on Legacy Breed. Of course, I was excited to support Jhett on his directorial debut. Being in love with food, NY and childhood dreams Asian [...]

Given that all our online behavior is tracked, I must be tagged as a cynic, pessimist or doomsday thinker because several posts about the negative aspects of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement were suggested to me: Fortune wrote about early retirees feeling lost and unfulfilled. Gobankingrates.com was even more to the point with their take: I Retired Early And Regret It (subtitle: Why I Went Back To Work To Continue Building Wealth). Ramit Sethi is not a Negative Nelly on FIRE and presents a healthy, balanced approach to money. Still, one of his podcast episodes was suggested to [...]

I loved seeing this post on Business Insider featuring five different real-life examples of house hacking House hacking is renting out part of your home to cover your mortgage and potentially even make a profit. In the post, you’ll see owners who took on roommates for spare bedrooms or bought a duplex to live in one unit and rent out the other. One owner renovated an unfinished basement to rent out even more space. One couple had six-figures in student loans and worked low-paying social work jobs but still managed to house-hack into a situation that cut their mortgage payment [...]

In 2008, Dr. Regina Lark was laid off from her role as Director of the extension program at UCLA. A PhD in women’s history, Lark had worked in the university system since she graduated and was 50 years old when she was laid off. Yet, instead of finding another role in academia, Lark founded A Clear Path, a professional organizing firm based in Los Angeles, which now has 13 employees, seven figures in revenue and 15 years in business. I love Lark’s story as a real-life example of a late-career pivot. Too many late-career professionals assume there’s an expiration date [...]

According to a press release from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (known as the IPPYs), 500,000 new books are published each year in the US alone, with millions of new titles worldwide. The pitch I received also highlighted that 80% of people have considered writing a book! 80% seems really high, given that Statista calculates the mean number of books read in the US at just over one per month per person – and that includes e-books and audiobooks. Still, I often hear anecdotally that being a published author is a bucket list item. This hedge fund lawyer by day/ [...]

Analysis of Google search data, courtesy of luxury real estate platform RubyHome, shows that searches for ‘HELOC’ – the acronym for “home equity line of credit” -- more than tripled in the United States as of July 2023. This is the highest level of search interest in internet history for the topic. The report suggests that the increased interest is due to people looking for relief from rising costs and a buffer in case of recession. Here are three possible downsides to having a HELOC and corresponding ways to ensure you are using a HELOC the right way. Downside 1: [...]

I read a lot of personal finance, but somehow missed Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money when it debuted in 2020. I learned of Housel when a blog of his was spotlighted by Todd Tressider at Financial Mentor, one of my favorite personal finance resources: Is the goal financial, or is it just to become independent? Do you want more money, or do you want to no longer need to think in terms of money? Todd Tressider Tressider then linked to a Housel post on The Highest Forms of Wealth, a short but powerful piece that made me want to [...]