HSA Conversions for Very Early Retirees

I've written previously about the incredible opportunity of using your HSA as a stealh retirement account (for those who can afford to do so). More recently, I wrote about a variation on that strategy for folks who were not maxing out their Roth contributions. Today's post is about a strategy that some very early retirees … Continue reading HSA Conversions for Very Early Retirees →

The State Tax Deduction Many People Miss

This post comes with the usual caveat: I am not a tax expert and this is for informational purposes. One of the great things about the tremendous decrease in the cost and difficulty of investing (thank you Jack Bogle) has been that many more people are investing in stocks and bonds through brokerages like Vanguard … Continue reading The State Tax Deduction Many People Miss →

Tax Breaks for Paying for Continuing Education

While many professions require continuing professional education, this blog mainly focuses on K-12 educators. I've written previously about the importance of advancing horizontally on the salary schedule as quickly as possible. Sometimes when we discuss this in my financial literacy class for Colorado educators participants will acknowledge this, but also bemoan the cost of taking … Continue reading Tax Breaks for Paying for Continuing Education →

Educational Session: Tax Planning, Safe Withdrawal Rates, and Withdrawal Strategies in Retirement

I'm going to be offering an educational session on tax planning, safe withdrawal rates, and withdrawal strategies in retirement on Saturday, May 2nd, from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm at Koelbel Library in Centennial (Colorado). To be perfectly clear, I am not an expert on these topics. Instead, I will be facilitating the session, sharing … Continue reading Educational Session: Tax Planning, Safe Withdrawal Rates, and Withdrawal Strategies in Retirement →

Our Current Portfolio and Recent Returns as of January 2026

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 →

Our BETR Roth Conversion Decision Spreadsheet

Roth Conversions are a topic that comes up occasionally so I thought I'd talk a bit about how we currently think about this. For those who aren't familiar, a Roth Conversion is when you take some of (or all) the money that is currently sitting in a pre-tax IRA/401k/403b/457b and move it to a Roth … Continue reading Our BETR Roth Conversion Decision Spreadsheet →