Financial Dream To Reality

03/06/2026

30/05/2026

Do you understand the underlying assets of your investments?!?

People want to make money investing, but you need to first understand the BASICS of some of the most common asset classes: stocks and bonds.

Fundamentally, these assets are quite simple. It's more common to understand the definition of a stock. When you buy a stock, you are buying a piece of a company. That means that your share will (in theory) fluctuate in value depending on how well the company does, you may be entitled to direct payments of the companies profits, and sometimes you may even be able to vote for big decisions the company needs to make!

Bonds are much less commonly understood than stocks are. When you buy a bond, you are actually lending your money to an institution. This could mean a company, but it could also be a government or another type of establishment. You are lending them money with the expectation that they will pay you premiums on that money for getting the loan. The premiums that you are paid will usually be higher if the loan is risky, and lower when the loan is safe (like when loan the U.S. government money).

Make sure you understand what your assets are and it will help you to understand why you are buying what you are buying!

- Matt

P.S. I use SoFi for my high-yield savings accound and they are running a sign-up bonus where you can get $400 with opening a new account. Comment "HYSA" and I'll send you a link to get your bonus!

27/05/2026

Learn when transferring your 401(k) to an IRA is worthwhile — and when it’s best to leave it untouched.

26/05/2026

You’d be surprised

I asked all my service providers for lower prices. Here's what happened.

23/05/2026

OpenAI’s new personal finance features may feel similar to budgeting apps, but experts say AI conversations can create different privacy concerns.

20/05/2026

20/05/2026

16/05/2026

If you're feeling that your finances aren't where they should be, make sure you're using the right benchmarks to measure your progress.

13/05/2026

The US Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve.

13/05/2026

How many of these are you SURE aren't costing you?

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it should give you an idea how to think about the hidden costs that are quietly bleeding you.

I think they mainly fall into 2 categories: Things you're paying for and not using, and things you're using but paying too much for.

The first one is obvious. Everything nowadays is a monthly subscription. Large companies charging you monthly subscriptions aren't usually the ones to say "hey, stop paying us! You haven't been using your account!" That's your job. If you're not using it, cancel and resub when you do need it again.

The next one is less obvious to the naked eye, but still needs to be checked on. This is the "right sizing" what you're buying.

Wifi is a great example of where this is easy to happen. A lot of wifi companies will gladly sell you a 100-300mbps plan for heavy use, while you literally might only need 25mbps if you're just using your wifi for basic internet browsing. Again, the wifi company will gladly let you pay for the 100mbps plan, even if you are just using it to check your email and watch youtube videos.

Don't let these costs bleed you without giving you any value. Block off a Sunday afternoon and check in on all your "secret" costs!

- Matt

P.S. I'm a HUGE index fund guy, so I made a free index fund guide explaining them and laying out options to create an index fund portfolio at different brokers (Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, etc). Comment "guide" and I'll send you a link to get the PDF!