Finance
in Focus.

◆ Expense ratio — lower is better
◆ AUM — assets under management
◆ Liquidity — avg daily volume

Growth — reinvest profits, scale fast
Value — underpriced vs fundamentals
Dividend — pay you to hold them
Cyclical — move with the economy
Defensive — hold up in downturns

Support — price floor, buyers step in
Resistance — price ceiling, sellers push back
Breakout — price moves through S/R on volume
Volume — always confirms or denies the move

Individual coverage: $4,150
Family coverage: $8,300
Age 55+ catch-up: +$1,000
Requirement: Must be enrolled in HDHP

Most people use HSA like a checking account — pay medical bills and drain it.

The power move: Pay medical expenses out of pocket. Let your HSA grow invested. After age 65, withdraw for anything (not just medical) — taxed like a traditional IRA.

Result: A 4th retirement account with better tax treatment than most.

Doctor visits, prescriptions, dental, vision, mental health, medical equipment, long-term care premiums, COBRA premiums, Medicare premiums in retirement.

Fidelity HSA — best for investing, no fees
Lively — clean UI, fee-free
Optum Bank — common employer plan

A HYSA is a savings account at an online bank that pays significantly higher interest than traditional banks. FDIC insured. Same safety. 40–50x higher yield.

Long-term investment money. Anything with a 5+ year horizon belongs in a brokerage or retirement account where it can compound at 8–10%+ rather than 4–5%.

Hold investments over 1 year for long-term capital gains rates (0%, 15%, or 20%). Short-term gains taxed as ordinary income — potentially 22–37%.

Dividend Kings — 50+ consecutive years of increases
Dividend Aristocrats — 25+ consecutive years
KO — 60+ years  |  JNJ — 60+ years
PG — 67+ years  |  MMM — 60+ years

Qualified dividends — taxed at long-term cap gains rate (0–20%)
Ordinary dividends — taxed at income tax rate
Dividends in Roth IRA — zero tax ever
Most S&P 500 dividends qualify for the lower rate

Dividend Reinvestment Plan — automatically buy more shares with your dividends instead of taking cash. Compounds wealth aggressively over time.

LPs — pensions, endowments, family offices fund the pool
GP — manages fund, makes investment calls
Invests in 20–30 startups
Most fail or return little
1–2 wins pay back the entire fund
GP earns 2% mgmt fee + 20% carry

Sequoia · a16z · Tiger Global · Accel
Seed — idea stage, pre-revenue
Series A — product-market fit proven
Series B/C — scaling fast
IPO / Acquisition — VC exit event

Blackstone · KKR · Apollo · Carlyle
Manage trillions in assets
Take companies private
Paid via 2% mgmt fee + 20% carry

VC — early stage, equity only, minority stake
PE — mature companies, leverage, control stake
VC — most investments fail by design
PE — lower failure rate, higher debt risk

You earn returns on your original investment AND on all previous returns. Growth builds on growth. The longer it runs, the faster it accelerates.

Divide 72 by your return rate to find how long until your money doubles.

8% return → doubles every 9 years
10% return → doubles every 7.2 years
12% return → doubles every 6 years

Person A invested 3x less money and still ended up with more. That's the power of a 10-year head start.

Where to find earnings: Earnings Whispers, Bloomberg, company IR pages, Seeking Alpha, CNBC earnings calendar.

Conventional — standard, 5–20% down
FHA — government-backed, 3.5% down
VA — veterans, 0% down
USDA — rural, 0% down
Jumbo — above conforming limits (~$766k)

A Real Estate Investment Trust is a company that owns income-producing real estate. By law, they must distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders as dividends. Result: high yields.

🏢 Office  |  🏪 Retail  |  🏭 Industrial
🏥 Healthcare  |  📡 Cell Towers  |  💾 Data Centers
🏠 Residential  |  🏨 Hotels  |  🌲 Timber

REITs — liquid, diversified, no mgmt headaches
Physical — leverage, appreciation, tax advantages
REITs — start with $100, no down payment
Physical — higher potential returns, more control

Sell VOO at a loss → Buy VTI (similar but not identical) ✓
Sell VOO at a loss → Buy VOO in 30 days ✗ wash sale
Sell AAPL at a loss → Buy QQQ (tech ETF) ✓

Year-end (Oct–Dec) is prime season. Market volatility creates harvesting opportunities throughout the year. Robo-advisors like Betterment do this automatically.

Split your after-tax income into three buckets.

Income - All expenses = $0. Every dollar has a job. More intentional than 50/30/20. Best for people serious about controlling spending.

🏠 Housing (ideally under 28% of gross)
🚗 Transportation (under 15%)
🍽️ Food (groceries + dining out)
💊 Health (insurance + expenses)
🎯 Discretionary (wants)
💰 Savings rate (track this weekly)

YNAB — zero-based, best in class
Monarch Money — clean, modern
Mint (sunsetting) → migrate to Monarch
Copilot — best for Apple ecosystem

Emergency Fund: Marcus or SoFi HYSA
Sinking Funds: Ally (savings buckets feature)
Down Payment: SoFi or Fidelity CMA
Investing: Fidelity or Schwab brokerage

DRIP = Dividend Reinvestment Plan. Instead of taking your dividend as cash, you automatically use it to buy more shares of the same stock or ETF. More shares = more dividends next time = exponential growth.

Go to your brokerage settings → find the DRIP or dividend reinvestment toggle → turn on for each position. Takes 30 seconds. All major brokerages offer it free.

Strategy: invest in companies that consistently grow their dividends every year. Over time, your yield on original cost becomes enormous.

✗ Late or missed payments
✗ High credit utilization (above 30%)
✗ Closing old accounts
✗ Applying for too many cards at once
✗ Collections or charge-offs
✗ Maxing out credit cards

✓ Never miss a payment — ever
✓ Keep utilization under 10% (not 30%)
✓ Keep old cards open even if unused
✓ Become an authorized user on a family member's old card
✓ Ask for a credit limit increase (doesn't require spending more)
✓ Dispute errors on your credit report (free at annualcreditreport.com)

Credit Karma — free, updates weekly
Experian — free FICO score
Your bank/card app — most show it now

Cashback — simplest, great for beginners
Travel — points/miles, best value for travelers
Secured — requires deposit, best for building credit
Business — higher limits, business expense tracking

✗ Store credit cards — high APR, low limit
✗ Cash advances — fees + immediate interest
✗ Minimum payments — debt grows forever
✗ Annual fee cards before maximizing rewards

Open a new card, hit the minimum spend requirement for the bonus (usually $3–5k in 3 months), earn 50k–100k points. Worth $500–$1,500+ in travel. Only do this if you were spending that money anyway.

Research shows snowball users pay off debt faster in practice — because they stick with it. Pick the one you'll actually follow.

✓ Balance transfer to 0% APR card (18–21 mo offers)
✓ Negotiate lower interest rate with lender
✓ Apply every tax refund, bonus, windfall to debt
✓ Cut subscriptions and redirect savings to debt
✓ Increase income through side hustles
✓ Refinance high-rate debt to lower-rate loan

Redirect every dollar that was going to debt into investments. The monthly payment that was killing you becomes your wealth-building engine.

✓ Checking + savings account balances
✓ Brokerage + retirement accounts (Roth, 401k, IRA)
✓ Home equity (home value − mortgage balance)
✓ Car value (at current market rate)
✓ Business equity
✓ HSA balance
✓ Crypto, gold, other investments

✗ Mortgage balance remaining
✗ Car loan balance
✗ Student loan balance
✗ Credit card balances
✗ Personal loan balances
✗ Any other debt owed

These are averages — use them as context, not judgment.

Monarch Money — best all-in-one tracker
Personal Capital — free, investment-focused
Spreadsheet — manual but total control
Review monthly. Net worth going up = on track.

Any side income over $400/year must be reported. You'll owe self-employment tax (15.3%) plus income tax. Set aside 25–30% of every side income payment. The upside: business expenses become deductions — phone, equipment, subscriptions, home office.

Inflation is the rate at which prices rise over time — meaning the purchasing power of your dollar falls. At 3% inflation, $100 today buys what $97 bought last year. Over 25 years at 3%, your dollar loses half its purchasing power.

CPI — Consumer Price Index (headline #)
Core CPI — excludes food + energy (more stable)
PCE — Fed's preferred measure
Fed Target — 2% annually

✗ Cash sitting in a 0.01% savings account
✗ Fixed-rate bonds in high inflation
✗ Not negotiating raises that beat inflation

Save aggressively, invest in index funds, reach a portfolio large enough to live off forever. Work becomes optional — not because you're rich, but because your money generates enough income to cover your expenses.

Lean FIRE — retire on $25–40k/year, very frugal
Fat FIRE — retire on $100k+/year, comfortable
Barista FIRE — semi-retire, work part-time for benefits
Coast FIRE — save enough young, then coast to retirement