TL;DR: Financial Literacy for Alabama Public School Teachers: Optimizing Financial Decisions Based on Your TRS Benefits

I just wanted to share my latest book, this one for teachers in Alabama Public Schools, focusing on financial literacy and making the most of their TRS pension benefits. Please consider sharing with any educators you know in Alabama. This is the latest in the TL;DR Financial Literacy series. If you know educators in the … Continue reading TL;DR: Financial Literacy for Alabama Public School Teachers: Optimizing Financial Decisions Based on Your TRS Benefits →

Colorado PERA: Automatic Adjustment Provision Trigger Coming Soon?

Every four years Colorado PERA does an Experience Study. This is a process where their Actuarial Consultant takes a look at the assumptions inherent in the calculation of PERA's funded status in light of current economic and demographic assumptions as well as the actual experience in PERA's plan over the last four years. Based on … Continue reading Colorado PERA: Automatic Adjustment Provision Trigger Coming Soon? →

Time to Buy! Buy! Buy! (Service Credit, 2025 Edition)

Just a little over 3 years ago I wrote a post encouraging folks to purchase service credit in their pension system if they were eligible and could afford to do it. While the entire post is worth reading for the full context, I wanted to pull out this quote, The second reason I think purchasing … Continue reading Time to Buy! Buy! Buy! (Service Credit, 2025 Edition) →

Our Current Portfolio and Recent Returns

Each year I'm sharing what our current portfolio looks like. This is what it looks like as of January 1, 2025. (Here is April 2022 and January 2024). Asset Location Like many people, by necessity we have our investments in multiple places due to past employers, HSAs, and different types of taxable accounts. Taxable Investments: … Continue reading Our Current Portfolio and Recent Returns →

Should I Invest in My Traditional, Roth, or Taxable Account?

IT DEPENDS! Okay, I really wanted to just leave this as a two-word blog post, but I decided that probably wasn't all that helpful. The genesis of this post was a discussion on Facebook where people were giving advice about what account someone should invest money in. Often these folks are really big fans of … Continue reading Should I Invest in My Traditional, Roth, or Taxable Account? →

Asset Allocation and Rebalancing Spreadsheet

One of the most important aspects of investing is setting your asset allocation. There are a variety of factors that go into your asset allocation including your goals, your investing time horizon, your risk tolerance, and the rest of your financial situation. Once you've set an asset allocation you need to pay attention to it … Continue reading Asset Allocation and Rebalancing Spreadsheet →