Will the Stock Market Go Up or Down Immediately after Midterm Elections?

Yes, it will (go up or down), but really I don't know.  If I did really know, I wouldn't be telling anyone.  I would just buy options and become the next billionaire or even trillionaire.😎

Remember, as Yogi Berra once said, "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future."

Anyway, here's what I expect:

• If the Democrats take the majority in one or both houses, I expect the market to decline immediately, but recover.
• If the Republicans keep the majority in both houses, I expect the market to decline immediately, but recover.

Net, I expect the same downward initial reaction and then recovery no matter which party wins the majority in Congress.

Investors, Hedge Funds, Market Makers, and Gamblers will react negatively first and then return to advancing the stock market.  That's what I expect based on all the reactions to negative news over the past 2 years. Of course, it works until it doesn't.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Continuing to Sell Software Stocks for a Profit

Yesterday, I sold about 10% of the software SAAS stocks I bought on the dip in February 2026.  While AI and memory stocks were hit hard (6-12% declines), software stocks actually advanced.  I took the opportunity to start taking profits.   In some cases, the price of stocks I sold advanced 2-3% higher.

Hopefully, the software stocks will continue to advance today, allowing me to exit some more with higher gains.  While I have gains as much as 100%, I no longer have conviction the rally will continue much longer.  Also, there is significant uncertainty with the midterm elections.  Thus, I will continue to scale out the software stocks I bought in February 2026, but will continue to hodl the core positions in the previously managed account.

Crossing my fingers for a bounce for the stock market and/or continued upward momentum for software stocks.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Reversion to Normal ...

Futures are showing a likely decline in the market today.

What could go wrong?

Remember when

• wars/conflicts, 
• inflation, 
• increasing interest rates, 
• increasing U.S. debt, 
• high personal debt
• more debt defaults
• high margin debt at or near all time highs

cause the market to go down?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

The stock market advance has been too good to be true.   When a correction comes, it may be surprisingly big.  I'm buying a some insurance, January 2027 SPY puts, strike price 550.  Otherwise, I'm waiting, scaling out of recent equity purchase, hodling my fixed income portfolio and keeping cash.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Significant Fixed Income Losses

My bonds and bond funds have declined significantly over the past month, due to interest rates increasing.  Some of my bonds, specifically 20 year Treasuries, are down as much as 14% since their purchase in 2023, when interest rates started increasing.  Many are down 4-8%.

Here's why I am not worried...yet:

• Other than 1% bonds that are maturing in the next two months, out taxable bonds pay an minimum of 3.75%, with over 90% paying 4-5% for 3- 20 years.  I will get paid this amount for up to 20 years, no matter what future interest rates are.  
• Historically, 5% is a good interest rate for long term bonds.
• I am getting sufficient income to support our "retirement paycheck" strategy, which is giving us a monthly payment for our retirement expenses.
• I am holding the bonds until maturity, which means I receive the par value and losses go to 0% or may even be a small gain.
• For bond funds, which are primarily muni bond funds in taxable account, I can do tax loss harvesting to offset stock gains, and rebuy the bond fund at a lower price.
• Finally, I have cash in money market funds or treasury bonds (1 year less Treasuries), which will pay more if interest rates go up.  About 40% of our investable funds are in this category

Here's what would could go wrong:

• Long term interest rates could go up significantly.  In 1981, the 10 and 20 year Treasuries yield as much as 15.8%.  
• Inflation could go up significantly to double digits.
• The U.S. could default.

Right now, the probability of what could go wrong is still very low, less than 1%.  However, the probability continues to increase as the U.S. deficit increases, the wars continue, and inflation continues to rise.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Roth Conversion Hack for Trump Accounts

This is a hack for making Trump account withdrawals tax free in the future.

At age 18, Trump accounts convert to traditional IRAs, with all the associated rules.  Since contributions are made after tax, only earnings are taxed when withdrawing from a Trump account IRA.  

Here's the hack.

• If the child is still a dependent and not earning wages,  the standard deduction is up to $1350 (for 2026) of unearned income.  Thus, the child can convert up to $1350 of IRA earnings to a Roth account tax free.  Since contributions are prorated between contributions and earning, the child will also convert some untaxed original contribution.
• If child has earned income, the standard deduction is earned income + $450 unearned income, up to the single standard deduction of $16100 (for 2026).

If planned well, the entire Trump IRA can be converted to a Roth IRA with little or no tax.

My son is 14.  If I open a Trump account for him, we can contribute up to $5000/year to the account, up to age 17.  At that point, he may have $20,000 to convert to a Roth, provided the investments don't decline. 

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

This is not financial, retirement savings, nor Roth Conversion advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Selling and Taking Some Profit

I plan to scale out of some of my SAAS software stocks and take some profit this week.  The market looks very weak, with the tech stocks looking like the worst.   At this point, I still will hodl some of the shares, in anticipate on a possible President Trump TACO and a rebound.   

I'm still ambivalent about the stock market reaction to the midterm elections.   Even if Congress becomes a Democratic majority, the stock market may go up or down, significantly.  So I'm taking some profit, but not selling out the positions, as a hedge for the market moving either way.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Now is the Time to Plant Grass or Over Seed

Many homeowners believe the best time to plant grass is in the Spring.  Wrong.  The best time to plant is early fall, September to October, when weather gets cooler and before the leaves fall. 

This year I seeded in a early October.  I didn't fertilized with starter fertilizer until a week later due it being out of stock.   I seeded right after mowing the lawn and skipped one week.  By the first week, some seeds had sprouted.  By the second week, it appeared most seeds had sprouted, based on the bare spots

I seeded with Finelawn Tall Fescue, which is what I used several years ago, before switching to Titan Tall Fescue.   I switched back because Finelawn has better shade and drought tolerance.   We'll see how it does next Spring.

Disclosure:  I was not compensated by Finelawn nor Titan for this post.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

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