Prepared for a Major Stock Market Decline?

This week was ugly for stocks, with the S&P 500 index falling 1.97% and the Nasdaq composite falling 4.53%.   Investors were a little skittish about oil prices going up, interest rates going up, memory stocks falling significantly and AI companies business models and financial situations in question.  The cracks in the stock market are getting bigger.

I expect a major decline to take place sometime within the next 6-18 months, but when I don't know. As Yogi Berra once said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

However, I am preparing for the inevitable. I've sold all of my memory stocks that were purchased in 2026 at a profit.   I thinning out my SAAS software stocks.   I've bought some fixed income (treasuries yielding 5% and muni bond fund yielding 4% tax free).  I'm keeping a few years of expenses in money market funds.  I've bought a few SPY put lotto options (100-150 strike expiration Jan 2027).  We're paying off our credit cards each month.  Finally, we bought a couple 1oz gold bars and will continue to hold the 90% silver coins we bought at the bottom in 2011.

For our children, I'll start scaling into the S&P 500 index mutual fund once decline is 10-15% or more, with the expectation they will hodl for 40 years.

If the decline doesn't happen or takes longer to happen, we'll still be OK since we will continue to hodl most of our equity with the plan and expectation of not needing to sell in the next 5 years.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Commanders Vs. Giants OT - Worse than High School Mistakes

Last weekend, I was in Maryland and watched the Commanders Vs. Giants game.    The game went to OT and could have been won by either team.  However, mistakes kept both teams from scoring.  Surprisingly, these are mistakes kids make in little league and high school, should not be made pros being paid millions of dollars, who have years of experience

Here is the OT mistake summary.  Missed 46 yard field goal by the Giants, but this wasn't the big mistake. Later, the Giants drove to Commanders 24 yard line, close enough for a field goal. The Giants decided to get it closer and the running back fumbled the ball.  Then the Commanders drove the Giants 24 yard line, close enough for a field goal, but decided to run the ball with 55 seconds left.  Then, with seconds left and no time outs, the Commanders ran the ball, got tackled in bounds with 4 seconds left and the clock ran out.

I was a running back in little league, high school, and college and I never experienced such mistakes in all that time, and would have never have expected to see all of them happen in one game or one period, much less in the pros.

Here’s how both the Giants and the Commanders turned a likely victory into a tie

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Voted Yesterday - The Choices Were Really Ugly

I decided to do early voting yesterday.   It was ugly.  I didn't like most of the candidates.   I only voted for two people in major parties, one Republican and one Democrat, both of which live in my immediate neighborhood.  Otherwise, I voted for write-in or other party candidates and didn't vote for anyone else.   

When  I said, "I have a complaint," to the election officials, they became extremely serious and asked, "What is it?"   I said, "There needs to be better choices of candidates on the ballot!"  They hesitated a second, and then everyone within hearing distance started laughing.   The sad part is they knew my statement was true.

As I walked out, I told my two favorite politician jokes.

1.  Me:  How do you tell when a politician is lying?
   Ans:  When his lips move.
   
   
2. Me: What's the different between a politician and a catfish?
   Ans:  One is a bottom swimming, scum eating, and slimy creature.  The other one is a fish.
   

Both got a laugh from everyone that heard it. 

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

This is not financial, election, nor political advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Medicare is NOT Free, Nor Simple

"Medicare for All" is a common political rallying cry by Democrats/Progressives, especially Senator Bernie Sanders.   The implication voters leave with is that Medicare for All is free.

Being over 65, I'm on Medicare.

Here are the really reallies of original Medicare based on 2026:

• Premium - $202.90/mo per person.  There is no family plan.
• Annual deductible- $283/year
• Co-insurance - 20% of costs since only 80% is covered by Medicare
• Prescription drugs - not covered by original Medicare.  Pay out of pocket (OOP) or pay additional for supplemental insurance.
• Supplemental Insurance - Also know as Medigap insurance.  Pays for some or all costs not paid by original Medicare, i.e. the 20% co-insurance.  There is Medicare Advantage, part C, which is usually small or no additional cost and includes additional benefit.  There is prescription drug coverage, part D.  There a more expensive plans (up to letter N) that cover most or all of the co-insurance and prescription cost, and may cost an additional $150/mo.

So Medicare really costs $202.90 minimum, which high out of pocket costs.  Addition Medigap insurance ranges from $0 to $160 (estimated), but may have high maximum out of pocket costs up to $9800.

Net, Medicare for All is a great rallying cry, but is still expensive when cost details are shared, and definitely NOT FREE.

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

This is not financial, medical insurance, nor Medicare advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Future Lack of Good Judgement

AI elimination of entry level position will have an unexpected consequence, creating a dearth of good judgement in younger generations. Why?  Because they lose the benefit of experience.

Here's my paraphrased quote from a Goldman training session in Liar's Poker:

Trainer:  An important skill to develop is good judgement.

Student:  How does one develop good judgement?

Trainer:  Experience.

Student:  How does one get experience?

Trainer:  Bad judgement.

So true, IMHO.  However, without entry level positions, employees will no longer be able to have low risk bad judgement events.  I expect this will have unintended consequences.

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

This is not financial nor entry level employee advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My Fear of Volatility is Due to Emphasis on Growth

The main reason I feared volatility and focused on locking in profits was due to emphasis on growing the all of our portfolios.   Growth meant getting bigger.  Going smaller, even by a little, was losing.  Fear of losing created the fear of outliving declining retirement funds.

I've tried to change that mentality, from growth to income stability.  Now, my strategy is to create a monthly "retirement paycheck," one that I can depend on whether the market goes up or goes down. I've been doing this strategy for almost 2 years.  It has helped me become volatility agnostic.  The main difference from a working paycheck is there is variability in monthly payments since I have not sequenced the payments to have equal monthly payments.  Way too much work. It has served us well for the past two years.  While the going has been good, the strategy has not been tested in a significant bear market. 

This strategy is based on blending fixed income, social security, dividends, and rental income with growth investments.  Up until 2023, fixed income was paying very little.  Now interest rates have increased to the point of 10 year Treasury yielding over 5%.  One can count on 5+% returns for 10, 20, or even 30 years.   Of course, there is always the risk of inflation, but I think that social security, dividends and rental income with help offset inflation and mitigate the impact of a market downturn.

Since I expect a market downturn in the near future, we'll soon see if the retirement paycheck strategy with fixed income was a good choice, in hindsight. 

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

This is not financial, investment, bond, CD, nor retirement income advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

DIY - A Feel Good Story

Last week my spouse commented that a garage outlet was sparking when plugging or unplugging.  That's not an issue if it's rare, but it was happening fairly often.  It sparked three times when I went out to check.  In addition, the top outlet was a little spongy when plugging in a cord.

I decided it would be a simple case of changing the receptacle and putting spacers on the top screw.  I knew I had a receptacle, purchased many years ago, but hadn't used in a previous house. Fortunately, I had a idea where it was and found it.  I also knew where the spacers were that I purchased about 5 years ago.  Then, I turned off the circuit breaker, which I had marked over 20 years ago.  Upon taking off the wall plate, I noticed electrical gang box was not flush with the wall, and recessed about 1/2", making it not in code.  As luck would have it, I had purchased box extenders to correct such an issue about 5 years ago and the items were in the same location as the spacers.  It took me about an hour to diagnose all the issues and find the relevant parts, which avoided going to the hardware stores or ordering online

Back to actual fixing the issue.  One I had all the part, it took about 30 minutes to take off the old receptacle, wire the new one, add the box extender, and attached the new receptacle and reattached wall plate.  Now we have a safe outlet.

The feel good element is that:

• I remembered I had previously bought all the parts for other projects.
• I could find them, partly because I had labeled the containers previously.
• I had all the tools,
• I had the knowledge.
• I could execute quickly, since I had experience.

And it only took about 90 minutes.  Without any help from AI.😎

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

How to Speak to an Audience

I thought this was a great tutorial and am sharing it with my readers.

MIT professor gave the same ‘How to Speak’ lecture for 40 years. Here are his 5 pearls of wisdom.

The headline of each of the five pearls is listed below.

1. Have a strong opening
2. Say it three times
3. Use props
4. How to inspire people
5. End with a joke and salute

I plan to use the elements when I speak going forward.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Impacts of Interest Rates Increasing Significantly

It appears that interest rates will continue to go up.  Here are the impacts to many individuals:

• Pros
• CD, Bond and Money Market Rates will go up.  People will earn more money using this vehicles for savings.  High yield saving accounts will go up.   Unfortunately, most regular savings accounts will not change.
• Cons
• Interest on credit card debt will go up.  People will go into further debt.
• Mortgage rates will go up. Commercial mortgages that balloon will need to be refinanced at a higher rate.  It will be harder financially to buy a house.    Home sellers will get fewer buyers. 
• Variable interest rates will increase.  Adjustable rate mortgages will adjust upward.
• Bond mutual funds will decline in value.  Some mine are down 5-6% in 2026.
• Bond principals will decline in market value.  Some of my treasuries are down 4% in 2026.

Looks like the cons outweigh the pros.

Hopefully, interest rates rising significantly won't cause an economic decline nor, even worse, a recession.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Blog Therapy

I am, therefore, I blog.  It's my therapy.

I restarted blogging daily on My Wealth Builder on August 21, 2025.    Since then, I have posted one blog, or more, every day.

I started blogging the year of my dad's death in 2006.  It was a substitute for talking to my dad when he was alive.  I quickly started blogging everyday, but started tailing off after 5-6 years and even skipping 2014.  From that point, I blogged at a low level, maybe a few times a month.   Instead, I started connecting with long ago friend groups via annual holiday get togethers.

Then COVID struck. I decided at that time to have more connections via email with some college roommates and friends. These are guys I bonded with, lived through ups and downs and were life time bros, or so I thought.  I would share my thoughts, opinions, complaints and interesting experiences with them.  In addition, I would get their input on simple issues I had, like installing new interior door knobs.

I soon learned they didn't want to hear my thoughts, opinions, complaints and experiences, to the point of bantering turning into giving me grief.   Once one them cussed me out in front of my children because I was not voting for his candidate for President.  (For reference, I voted for an independent candidate and he was voting for one of the major party candidates.)  When he started bullying me after the election, I decided it was time to pull back significantly on communications, despite his apology for inadvertently, in his mind, insulting me.

It was time for me to stop over communicating with great friends from the past expecting the same result. I realized it's hard to bring back the best of the past. People have become different from who we once were, which is the way of the world.  

Thus, I returned to blogging.  I needed an outlet for my thoughts and ramblings. My blog lets me discuss without judgement. Blogging is better than any diary I could keep.  I enjoy the opportunity.  No one is bothered or needs to help me.  I find joy in posting.   Everyone wins.  

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC