Financial Education for Colorado Educators (and those they love). Absolutely Free.
This blog has never been particularly focused on FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). Rather I've focused on the FI part (Financial Independence), as that's useful and helpful to everyone whether they want to retire early or not. Having said that, this blog also focuses on public school educators and, historically at least, they have often … Continue reading Pension FI(RE)
The Colorado Sun ran an article titled "As retiree pensions shrank, Colorado PERA paid its staff millions of dollars in bonuses". This article has lots of good and relevant information in it, and this is a legitimate topic to debate. But I was disappointed in some of the things the article left out. There are … Continue reading Is PERA Paying Its Investment Staff Too Much?
Last year I suggested PERA-related legislation that eventually turned into HB26-1026 and became law. I am now reaching out to my Colorado representative and the other two co-sponsors of that bill with a new PERA-related proposal. Here is the email I sent to those legislators. If you think this is a good idea, please consider … Continue reading New Proposal for Colorado Legislation: PERA 457b Auto-Enroll and Auto-Escalate
I've written previously about Colorado HB26-1026 and am happy to share that the legislature passed it and the Governor has now signed it. This bill has three provisions. New Option for Purchasing PERA Service Credit: PERA members have previously been able purchase up to 5 years of nonqualified service credit, but they had to have … Continue reading Great News! Colorado HB26-1026: Expanding Plan Options for PERA is Signed Into Law
I learned something new this week about how PERA calculates service credit in the School and DPS Divisions. I knew the basics (and the basics are what applies to most people). I knew: To earn a month of service credit, the member must earn at least 80 times the current federal minimum wage in the … Continue reading How Colorado PERA “Front-Loads” Service Credit in the School and DPS Divisions
Each year I'm sharing what our current portfolio looks like. This is what it looks like as of January 1, 2026. (Here is April 2022, January 2024, January 2025). 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 … Continue reading Our Current Portfolio and Recent Returns as of January 2026