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(Lack of) Disclaimer I don’t make a penny from credit card recommendations. There are no affiliate links in this post.   Background I’ve been a long-time user of Bank of America credit cards, particularly the Customized Cash Rewards and Premium Rewards cards, though it’s been several years since my last update (see previous posts: link1, … Read more

I loathe Robinhood for a multitude of reasons, but I transferred the entirety of our ~$200k Roth IRA balances to them six months ago because they offered us a 3% bonus (~$6k). The bonus was paid in full, tax-free, directly into the Roth IRA, with the condition that the money remains there for five years … Read more

Buffett’s Folly I was fortunate enough to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger in person at the Berkshire meetings several times. Their wit and common-sense wisdom never ceased to amaze me. One of the many lessons I’ve internalized from Buffett over the years is the reality of opportunity costs. Here’s how Buffett thought about them … Read more

If you’ve followed this blog, you will know that I find tracking personal finances both fascinating and insightful. With the recent bull market, our cumulative (nominal) investment gains since the birth of the blog 8 years ago surpassed $1M last month.   Some Backstory A little over eight years ago, I completed my twelfth year … Read more

  Edit November 11, 2024 The card appears to have been nerfed with the introduction of the new Smartly 4% card on Nov 11, 2024. Existing users can still use the card, but it seems to be closed to new users. RIP. I asked ChatGPT to eulogize it. Here’s what it came up with: Farewell … Read more

For the past seven summers, I have gone backpacking with a group of undergrad friends (who I met in 1999). We’ve gone to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Peru. 25 years after meeting each other, we decided to backpack Alaska. Ironically, it was a Bogleheads post that inspired that decision. We eventually converged on this packrafting … Read more