Can AI have other Benefits than Productivity?

People always talk about how AI increases productivity.  I think AI can make a bigger difference in society, without eliminating jobs.   What if AI can be use to prevent crimes and significantly improve health.  Here are my proposals:

• Detect, Identify and Prevent Internet/Phone/Email scams against the elderly.
  
  
• Detect, Identify and Stop Fraud against bank accounts.
  
  
• Identify and Propose Cures for both frequent and rare diseases.

Maybe I'm way off base, but I haven't heard much about the above opportunities for using AI and was just wondering.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial, fraud/scam protection, health nor AI advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Best Post Retirement Education I Received

After I retired, I was given a $5000 to use towards post retirement training, which excluded golf lessons.  I chose to use my grant towards the following at a local vocational school and a local community college:

• Plumbing - It was an intro course to be an apprentice plumber.   I learned how to make many simple repairs, such as changing faucet stems, and attempted to learn soldering copper tubes.  I didn't pass the soldering part.  One takeaway that I had was to have a local shutoff valve for all faucets and appliances.  When adding new faucets, I always insist of having a local shutoff valve.  It has be a saving factor when I had a faucet leak that could be isolated by the local shutoff valve instead of using the whole house shutoff.
  
  
• Electrical - This was also an intro course to being an apprentice electrician.  Being taught the basics of wiring fixtures and switches safely was great.  I used this skill many times in our home.  The second best part was getting a list of must have tools to be a DIY electrician.
  
  
• Masonry - My key learning in this one is that I shouldn't attempt any big projects in this area.   I did horribly as laying brick.   My only venture in this area is to occasionally repair damaged mortar. 
  
  
• Real Estate - I though being a real estate agent might be a good part time retirement job.  I took a course at a local community college to learn the material to pass the licensing course.   Although the course material was good, I didn't take the test.  I learned that being a part-time agent requires paying a number of fees to keep the job.   It was a money losing proposition unless I sold at least a couple houses a year.  I decided to pass.
  

In addition, I got some useful free education through one post retirement job.

• Tax Professional -  This was actually a part time job that provided education for employees. While the pay was minimum wage plus commission, the real benefit was the tax education I was able to take at no additional cost.  I achieved the highest level tax advisor at the firm which qualified me to handle most tax returns.   I did this for about 5 years before "retiring."    The education and experience I received has helped me immensely in doing my own tax returns and in deal with the IRS and state tax agencies when necessary.

Overall, I've been able to put my post retirement education towards many DIY projects around the house.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial, education, tax, nor retirement jobs advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Hodling My "Buy the Dip" Software Stocks

Ouch, ouch!

My "buy the dip" software SAAS stocks are taking a big hit today, anywhere from 7-18% down.   Service Now (NOW) reported earnings yesterday that disappointed.  I'm underwater on all my software "buy the dip" stocks, but I'm not going to panic sell at this point.  I think their devastation by AI is over exaggerated and they will recover, although it may take longer than I expected.  I'm HODLing at this time.

In the past, I would not have been so calm with this level of volatility.  I would have high anxiety.   This time, I waiting out the volatility and not getting worried, for a few reasons.  First, we don't have significant funds invested in these stocks.  Second, our accounts are still producing income for our monthly retirement paycheck.  Third, I still expect these purchases will profitable in the future.

After this round of "buy the dip," I'm going to avoid buying any new stocks on a dip, though I may still trade these stocks.   That way, I limit the number of individual stocks I need to watch, as I sell off these buy the dip stocks for a profit, hopefully.  It's taking more time and effort than I intended to manage these "buy the dip" stock purchases.

If I were in my 20s now, I would primarily invest in mainly total market index funds since I expect these index funds to go up over the longer term.    I wish I had that confidence when I was 20 something, instead of starting to have it now that I'm retired.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor stock investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

A Car Feature I Would Rather Not Have

My first car was basic.  Radio, single strap seat belts, manual windows, manual mirrors and cigarette lighter.  No A/C nor airbags. The only amenity was automatic transmission. 

There has been a lot of amenity creep since my first car.  Electric windows, electric mirrors, ABS brakes, cruise control,  air bags, CD players, blue tooth, which we have in our newest 2012 car.   While I don't really "need" some of these, I am willing to have then.   We still don't have GPS nor car cameras.

However, one feature we have that I view as unnecessary, because of the cost to replace when it stops work.  That feature is the pressure monitor for tires.  Recently, the warning light went on for low tire pressure.  I checked all four tires and they were at target pressures.   It turns out the battery for one sensor had gone dead.  Cost to replace at the dealer?   $260 for one or $740 for all four, since all are likely to fail soon also.  Huh?  That's almost the coast of replacing 4 tires with top of the line tires.

In all my years of driving, I only had couple times that a tire pressure sensor would have been helpful.  In one case, I drove a couple miles with a flat tire that occurred at my home.  In another case, I had a flat tire in a parking lot and called AAA to change the time, which took about an hour of wait time. Otherwise, I generally have slow leaks due to a nail and I discovered the issue way before it is flat.   

My only other direct experience with a tire pressure sensor was on a rental car that flashed a warning when we drove to a mountain top in Hawaii.  The cold temperatures caused the tire pressure to go down, but the sensor didn't go off immediately when we got back to sea level.  In this instance, it showed which tires were low.  Quite annoying for a few days since we didn't have easy access to capability to put air in the tire.

If I could eliminate this feature on our next new car purchase, I would.  For reference, I did find a less expensive replacement option: Costco will replace the sensor batteries for about $60 dollars a tire and they don't charge for the initial inspection.

Disclosure: I was not compensated by Costco for this post.

For more on Crossing Generations check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor car amenity advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Lotto Option Bets on Possible President Trump Stock Support

Currently, investing based on President Trump's actions and tweets seem to be the norm.   Traditional fundamental and technical analysis don't have much capability for assessing value of individual stocks anymore. It seems vibe investing based on expected President Trump's tweets or TACOs yield good results.

IMHO, President Trump is in tune with what his supporter and non supporters want.  I'm guessing that he will do some executive orders to attract non supporters for the midterms.   Here are two specific areas:

• He may make marijuana a schedule III classification, down from a schedule 1 classification.  This would potential increase the value of marijuana growing companies.
• He my support EV vehicles more,  which would help EV related stocks such as battery and charging station companies.

I own some marijuana growing companies and EV battery companies.   I may buy some call options on this stocks in addition with less than $50 total as a lotto bet..

Disclosure::We own shares of SNDL, TLRY, SLDP, TSLA and EVGO.   We also own January 2027 expiration call options for SNDL and EVGO.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance check back every Wedenesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, investment, stock options, nor stock picking advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

2026 tax brackets

Now that our 2025 tax returns are filed, I'm getting an early start on our 2026 estimated return.  Below is the article and table that I am referencing for 2026.

What Are Federal Income Tax Rates for 2025 and 2026?

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every  Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

If It's Tuesday, There will Be a TACO

President Trump extended the deadline for the Iranian ceasefire, after the market closed. I expect stocks to pop in the pre-market and at the open on Wednesday.

Tomorrow may be volatile.   An opportunity to buy or sell.  I'm planning to hold unless that is a major movement, either way, on one of my positions.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Prepping Snow Blower for Summer Storage

Although we still have frost warnings, I don't expect any more snow storms.  We got good use out of our snow blower, which we inherited from my in-laws.   We had several storms that ranged from a couple inches to a foot on our driveway.

When we inherited the snow blower, it had not be used for 7 years, since my father-in-law had passed way.  It did not start up.  I asked a neighbor whose hobby is restoring cars for some carburetor cleaner.  Instead, he took apart the carburetor, cleaned it and put it back together, without any instructions.  It started up right away.  

Now that Spring is here, it's time to "summerize" the snow blower so that I won't have the problem again and it will easily start up the next winter.   First, I always turn off the fuel and let it run until it stops.  That way no gas is remaining the carburetor which will gunk up when the gas evaporates.  Next, empty all the gas in the in the tank.   That's about all I do.   I change the oil every couple years at the beginning of winter.

This process has worked well since the snow blower starts up every winter right away.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every  Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor maintenance advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

This is a Bull Market, Not Brilliant Investing by Me

The last three weeks have been great for our investments.  I'm enjoying the market rebound since March 30, 2026.   Our accounts are up nicely and at or near all time highs.  The buy the dip stocks are recovering again.  I'm feeling brilliant again.

However, I am experienced and old enough to know that I am nowhere near brilliant in stock picking.   I'm just lucky and going along for the bull market ride.

Here's what I think is brilliant for my kids:  Buy a market stock index, such as the S&P, and hold for 40 years.   Put $159 per month in the account. Hold through all the ups and down.  Expect to have $1,000,000 dollars after 40 years.

For more on Strategies and Plans Ideas, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My "Investing" Lotto Buy for Tomorrow

Given the uncertainty of the Schrödinger's Strait of Hormuz (which is both open and closed).Ceasefire (maybe, maybe not), my plan for tomorrow, Monday, April 20, 2026 is to buy a few lotto OTM (out of the money)calls, especially if the market dips. 

Why?  The news is bad right now.  And I expect President Trump to tweet his standard, "Everything is going well." post tomorrow sometime tomorrow.  While I don't know the timing, if it happens during the market hours, the calls may print.   

I already have two call options on BB (Blackberry) and SLS (Sellas Life Sciences Group).

Either way, I consider these lotto tickets, which means they will likely expired worthless, like my real lotto tickets.   But at least I get to take a tax deduction with option lotto tickets.

Disclosure:  I current own shares and call option for BB and SLS.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment  advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC