Become a Patron! A few years back I wrote a goofy post trying to look at car ownership not as a personal consumption expenditure, but as a productive input; as a profit center, not a cost center. For the last few months I've been fooling around with our local "micromobility" services, in particular the Bird dockless electric scooters and Capital Bikeshare bikes which I have … [Read more...] about What are the most lucrative things you can do with free transportation?
Free and discounted “micromobility” services
Become a Patron! One of the most bizarre things to emerge from the era of free money were the so-called "micromobility" companies, which have littered the streets and sidewalks of major American cities with their cumbersome scooters and e-bikes. On the one hand, these companies have not and will not ever make any money. On the other hand, the scooters are kind of … [Read more...] about Free and discounted “micromobility” services
How to think about stockpiling Series I savings bonds
Become a Patron! A reader whose financial savvy I highly value surprised me the other day by saying that he'd been maximizing his Series I Savings Bond purchases for many years. This surprised me since the "fixed" portion of the semi-annual composite interest rate had hovered between 0% and 0.5% APY since 2012, and the "inflation" portion of the composite rate between 0% … [Read more...] about How to think about stockpiling Series I savings bonds
Preserving your eligibility for paid family and medical leave
Become a Patron! I've covered extensively my experience using the District of Columbia's paid family and medical leave program to take time off to care for a family member. Since I began that series, the program has been reinforced even further, with the addition of 2 weeks of paid prenatal leave and an extension of personal medical and family caregiving leave to 12 weeks. … [Read more...] about Preserving your eligibility for paid family and medical leave
Schwab’s forthcoming direct indexing platform might be worth a look for the merely affluent
Become a Patron! All the way back in 2020 I offered some speculative predictions about the future of so-called "direct indexing." This is the logical end point of the proposition, promoted by the tax-evasion industry, that by swapping between closely-correlated-but-not-identical securities, those with taxable investments can generate capital losses that can be used to offset … [Read more...] about Schwab’s forthcoming direct indexing platform might be worth a look for the merely affluent