Andy, over at Military Finance informed me this week that Betterment had launched their Capital Loss Harvesting solution. In my opinion this was one area where they were falling behind as firms like WealthFront and Future Advisor were already offering this. I’ve previously reviewed Betterment, and looked at WealthFront and Betterment in their marketing strategies […]
Archives for June 2014
My goal is to beat the system. Everywhere. I hope you’ll join me.
I remember being told off for my negative approach to discussion. If something wasn’t quite ‘right’ I would start out with a “No, that’s different”, in fact I still do it, but eradicating this is habit is on my self improvement list. The lesson I received was to look to Comedy Improv training. In that, when […]
Pirates and Hippies – lessons on Asset Allocation and Asset Location
If you can understand the essence of a concept, it is much easier to fit the pieces of the puzzle together and understand higher level aspects of it. Let’s explore Asset Allocation, and its twin Asset Location from the ground up for a change. The greatest issue that society faces today is the depth of […]
The true cost of a $5,000 Engagement Ring
Originally, engagement rings were used to lock down the good looking ladies when you popped off for a crusade. The theory being that if you were going to race off to battle invading Moorish folk, or dragons, then it was only reasonable that your betrothed had some sort of income protection in the event of your […]
7 ways to get a Credit Card without a SSN
I am often asked how people can apply for credit cards with a Social Security Number (SSN). For the most part this applies to people with certain immigration status, such as International Students, or people on certain types of visa. One such type is the H4 Visa, for spouses of H1-B visas, a very common […]
Backdoor Roth IRA – building a Roth IRA when income limits exclude you
One of the biggest frustrations to high earning people is how to build retirement assets when their income precludes them. Due to salary phases outs many tax incentives do not qualify for such earners, including the Traditional and the Roth IRAs. However, there is a way to create Roth IRA accounts using the Backdoor Roth […]
Do you need an HSA account?
Health Savings Accounts, or HSA’s are a very important part of your financial planning process. They are particularly good for people with high incomes that are seeking to reduce taxation, and work towards that in several ways. Before we go on, we need to quickly differentiate a HSA from a FSA, as the two are […]