Free is a Good Price

I like free stuff.  Especially, if it's something I use frequently or need.

• My tennis club allows family members  or junior members (17 and under) to use indoor tennis courts for free, if they "walk on" a few minutes before and don't make a reservation.  I do walkon with my son 2 times a week, which saves 50-75 dollars a week if I reserve and pay the hourly charge.  We live 5 minutes away from our tennis club.   This more than covers the cost of our membership fee, which includes swimming during the summer.
• My grocery and hardware store occasionally offer coupons for free items to membership customers.  Sometimes awesome products, sometimes minor products but free.   My grocery free items are usually 1-2 dollars and no other purchase is required.  My first free hardware item was $16.99 and it was useful.
• My neighbor and I routinely share tools and help each other with DIY repairs.   I admit, he gives much more than me, but we consider it fair.  My best story about him:  I inherited a snow blower from my in-laws which hadn't been used for 5 years and the gas had not been drained.  As a result, it wouldn't start.  I moseyed over to his garage to borrow some carburetor cleaner.  Instead, he decided to take apart the carburetor, clean it and reassemble it.  It started after he did that.
• My broker financial advisors did a free analysis on when I should start taking Social Security payments.  Two different brokers recommended the same:  take as soon as possible. 
• The tax preparation company I worked in would offer free tax planning advice throughout the year to every client who had paid to do the previous year's taxes.  Despite being free, clients never took my offer and didn't contact the company off season.

OK, some may point out that these aren't really free.  After all, I have already paid a club membership fee, bought some product, or contracted for a service.  I'm just getting extra product or service in addition to what I already purchased.  Fair point, but I still feel like I get it for free because it would be an out of pocket cost if I did it elsewhere.  Feel free to convince me otherwise.

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

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Bond Values Drop when Interest Rates Rise

Most of my account values are falling due to interest rates rising.  That's because bond/CD values go down when interest rates go up.  Similarly, bond/CD values go up when interest rates fall.

I'm not worried about bond/CD values going down since my plan is to hold to maturity, which means I receive 100% of par value, which is usually the issue price. While waiting for maturity, I am paid a 4-5% total annual payment for holding the bond/cd, no matter what the interest rate is.   The bond/CD payment is what is really important to me, and it will be consistent no matter what the interest rate is.   

That is my strategy for retirement income at this time so that I can be stock market volatility agnostic.  This will be one of the first tests on the strategy.

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

This is not financial, fixed income, nor retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

No Believable TACO, Stocks Fall

The stock market has become accustomed to President Trumps TACOs, on Tuesday no less.   This time he tried to TACO pre-Tuesday, but the UAE has denied requesting a delay.   

Lately, the runups from TACOs have lasted for shorter times.  This runup barely lasted Tuesday morning before collapsing.

Buying expecting a TACO works until it doesn't.  Maybe that is now...

We'll see at EOD whether a weak TACO works.

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

Holding Off Buying More Fixed Income for Now

Arrrgh!  Interest rates are going up.  Recently, I've been buying 20 year Treasuries which are yielding 5%.   I've been scaling in just in case interest rise.

I'm going to stop buying the 20 year Treasury for now and wait for interest rates to be close to 5.5% before resuming.  I will also stop buying municipal bond funds at this time due to interest rates rising.

However, this will be a good test of my current strategy of creating a retirement paycheck and being agnostic to stock market and interest rate volatility.  We'll see how the strategy weathers this event.

Of course, it works until it doesn't and YMMV.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

I've Been A Stock Market Scaredy-Cat

In the past, with every market pump, I've been scared to get in.  When the market finally dips, I've been scared to get in.  I expect that the Great Recession/Depression type bear market is going to happen.

As a result, I've never been fully invested in equities.

I still think that there will be an inevitable bear market.  The stock market can't keep going up forever, even with President Trump continuous encouragement and TACOs.  However, I have developed an investment strategy that will help me weather a bear market and keep my kids fully invested for the long term.

For now, I believe that March 31, 2026 is the bottom from which this rally has started. Although, I bought the dip prior to March 31, I'm going to hodl there is a clear top, which sometimes is hard to define.   In the meantime, I'm buying bonds and bond funds to create regular income, which should enable us to survive the stock volatility downward should it occur suddenly.

I still don't see a clear top yet.   So, I'm hodling at this time.

On the other hand, I'm having them make monthly investments into the S&P 500 Index in their Roth accounts, when they qualify for them, and continue to do so for 40 years.   For their 529 plan, they are invested mostly in CDs since they need the money in few years.  However, we're putting new 529 contributions into an S&P 500 Indext.

We shall see if this cures me from being a Scaredy-Cat.  Of course, this works until it doesn't and YMMV.  

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

United Explorer Visa Card Bonus Rewards

All our credit cards earn points or cash back.  I try to use the card that benefit us the most.   Sometime this involves managing which card to use since some card offer bonus rewards periodically.

I have a United Explorer Visa card that I rarely use.  I originally got the card because we were flying United and it enabled us to check two bags for free.  In addition, I received two passes to their lounge, which we did use.  Also, I just found out I can use United points to pay the annual card fee.

However, I don't use the United Explorer card much except when they have occasional points bonus reward of 1000 point when spending $500 and and additional bonus of 1500 points if done in all three bonus months.  Recently though, the United Explorer increased the number of ways to get bonus rewards.

• $100 flight credit for spending $10000 in a calendar year.
• 6000 bonus miles for spending $7000 in a specified 4 month period.

Right now the bonus mile programs overlap in timing which means the same spending can apply to both bonuses.

For us, this is not additional spending.  It's just a choice of which card to use for rewards, since we use credit cards for almost everything, groceries, entertainment, travel, online purchase, etc, except if there is a added charge for using a credit card.

I estimate all the bonus miles will get me close to one economy round trip flight on United for one person.

Disclosure: No compensation from United or Visa was received for this post.

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

This is not financial, credit card, nor travel advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Still Hodling "Buy the Dip Stocks" for Now

Volatility makes it challenging to hodl buy the dip stocks.  When a very profitable stock dips 20, 30 or 50%, my instinct is to sell and keep some profit. Or if it drops right after I buy, I tend to sell once it recovers to a small gain.  As a result, I sold AAPL that I bought in 1990 right before the Desert Storm drop, sold AMZN in 2009 after the Great Recession drop, and sold GOOGL during the Great Recession drop.   These shares would now be worth mult-millions, even though I invested only a few thousand in each.  My problem is not having enough conviction to keep the position.

Unfortunately, I tend to hodl stocks that drop and never recover.  LOL.

However, at this time I have a bit of conviction for the "buy the dip" stocks  I am hodling:

• I believe the negative impact of AI on SAAS software stocks is overblown.  I think companies will learn that the effort to use AI instead of Customer Relationship Software programs will be more effort than paying for the service.   For example, people can do a tax return on their own on a spreadsheet, which I do, instead of purchasing Tax Prep software, but very few people do that.
•  I believe the input stocks, such as memory and chips, to AI infrastructure will continue to do well in the near term.  

On the other hand, I'm sure this will be like the railroad, car companies and airlines when the first started.  There will be many AI based companies, more than are economically sustainable.   It is not clear to me right now which ones will survive.  So I am sticking with the two big names, GOOGL/GOOG and MSFT.

My spouse has been hodling GOOGL and GOOG since 2015.  I tried to convince her to sell some at $150, $200, and $300.   Each time she declined.  Her GOOG and GOOGL stock are up 19X since 2015.

My final conviction is not stock related.  I firmly believe President Trump will frequently TACO to support the stock market advance continuing until the midterm elections in 2026.  TACO works until it doesn't.  We shall see.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Patience, Young Grasshopper

"Patience, young grasshopper." ~ Master Po 

This was the advice given to his student Kwai Chang Caine to develop patience, maturity, wisdom in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu.  

One can also apply this concept to investing.  Building wealth takes time.  The first decade or two seemed excruciatingly slow to us.  Significant investment gains take years not months or days in come cases.  Buy and holding works best for most people.

However, with the advent of the online trading, no trading fees, and short dated options, people are expecting faster, almost immediate big returns.  Instant gratification.

I admit, I have fallen into the instant gratification trap at times.  Recently, I expected my "buy the dip" stocks to immediately rebound.   A few did, the the rest are still rebounding.  

Yes, for these "buy the dip stocks," it's time for patience, young grasshopper.😎

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Impressed with Oscillating Multi-Tool

I acquired most my tools in my 20s and 30s.   I added a few in my 40s and have been set since then.  Or so I thought.

Recently,  we purchased a TV/Entertainment stand.  I needed to cut out part of the back panels to fit in our CD player, which was slightly deeper than the entertainment stand. I thought about how I would do it with my corded tools, such as a drill and jigsaw.  It was a tight fit, which was made more difficult with a electric cord.   Also, it would be tough to cut straight lines.

My neighbor let me a corded oscillating tool for casts, after I discussed the idea of using a reciprocating saw.  He thought the panel might be too thin and vibrate too much with a reciprocating saw.   Then, after explaining what I wanted to do, the furniture company lent me a battery operated oscillating multi-tool to use for cutting out the back panel.  I used it to easily cut out the 95% pre-cut panels in the back.   To do the big cut out, I bought a half moon blade that would cut flush to the bottom.  On benefit of the half moon blade was it allowed easy cutting of straight lines.

I was impressed and decided to shop for the tool.  Luckily for me, there were several DEWALT multi-tool packages on sale for about 1/2 off at several home improvement stores. I decided to buy one and add it to my collection of useful do-it-yourself tools.

Disclosure:  No compensation was received from DEWALT for this post.

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

This is not financial, do-it-yourself, nor tool advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Buying 20 year Treasuries Yielding 5%

Historically, 5% has been a good yield to get on a CD or Treasury bond.  I've decided to lock in that return for 20 years with some of my fixed income funds.  When I started working my goal was to save a million dollars and earn 5% interest to yield $50,000 per year.   That would have been about 2-1/2 times my starting salary. 

Of course, critics will note that I wasn't accounting for inflation and increased lifestyle amenities back then.   However, in my experience, 5% has been on the higher end, but not the highest, of interest rates.  So, I've decided to lock in 5% for 20 years for a portion of our investments in fixed income.   If interest rates go up, I can invest some more at higher rates.  If interest rates go down, I already will get 5% for up to 20 years.   Since it is uncertain which way rates will go, getting 5% long term seems like a win-win for me.

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

This is not financial, saving, nor interest rate advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC