Our Kids Have Found Their Own Path

Many years ago, I once commented to someone that my kids aren't like me.  I was hoping they would follow the same path that I did since I feel I have been relatively successful.   Other than working hard on education, they chose their own path, which has turned out well.

As background, I was a four year varsity letterman and starting fullback in football.  I was the starting fullback on the state runner-up team my junior year, and on the state championship team my senior year. I was also one of four valedictorians.

Both kids did well in school and continue to do well.  Outside of education, they followed their own path and I'm glad they did.     

My daughter did horseback riding, soccer and flute when she was younger.   Flute stuck and she achieved mastery and excellence in flute.   Me... I'm completely inept and tone deaf when it comes to music.  Good thing my spouse had music skills and could help guide my daughter.  Playing the flute as become a great anchor for my daughter in college.  

My son, who is younger, tried all the sports: soccer, T-ball, flag football, golf and tennis.  He was not a star in any of these, but tennis stuck.  He works hard at tennis and plays with heart, which is all that I ask.  Also, whatever he achieves, I've counseled him that the number one test is that he enjoys playing.  I think tennis will be a great anchor for my son in high school and, maybe, college.

My kids have done well.   I am glad they found their own path and I am proud of them.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Working Through Lunch was Not a Good Choice

Before I retired, I constantly worked though lunch, often skipping having anything to eat.  I thought I would be more focused and productive by continuing to work.  Now that I'm retired, and eating regularly with several snack, I realize that skipping lunch was a bad choice.

Here's why it was a bad choice:

• I was less healthy.   Being hungry, eating more junk food at meals, and drinking much more coffed.
• I was more stressed.  I should have taken time for lunch, and perhaps a couple breaks in the morning and afternoon.
• In hindsight, I wasn't more productive.  I just spent more time doing the work and stretching it out.
• I extended skipping meals to skipping dinner at times.   Again, not a good choice.
• Even though I was skipping meals, I gained weight. Hmmmm.

Now, I make sure I have breakfast everyday.   I split lunch time up in the 2-3 segments, usually a large salad without dressing, a vegetarian burger, and sometimes a soup.   Dinner is a little more random, but I always eat healthy, another salad and/or a bean dish.   I avoid fried foods, and high fat foods.  Also, 80-90% of our meals are home made.   We rarely eat out nor have frozen meals.

 Looking back, I should have eaten regular meals while working.   I expect I would have had a healthier lifestyle and been more productive.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

End of Cardiac Rehab

Last month, I completed my cardiac rehab sessions.  This is my third time in cardiac rehab.  I pushed it a bit harder this time to confirm that the procedure was successful.  I achieved the same of METS that showed an anomaly on the treadmill stress test without any issue. 

In addition, I spent the last two weeks adding weight training to my exercise routine.  

After the last two times, I didn't continue my exercises after rehab.   I didn't do any weight training the first two times.

Over the past 13 years, I thought managing my diet was the most important factor.    I guess I was wrong.  This time, I plan to continue doing the aerobic exercise and do the additional weight training.   Hopefully, that will decrease my propensity for blockages in the future.

We shall see.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Dick Tracy and the Jetsons

"It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." ~ Yogi Berra

When I was a kid, I watched Dick Tracy and The Jetsons cartoons.  The tech was amazing to me at the time.  Dick Tracy had a watch phone.   The Jetson had flying cars.

Well, the watch phone became reality, while the flying car (looking at you Muskman) is not a reality yet.  Cool that these things have happened in my lifetime.

Oh, and Lost in Space, which aired in 1967, took place in 1997.   Still waiting for that to happen.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

SpaceX or ScamX?

Let's just say, I didn't buy any of the SpaceX IPO shares.  I didn't buy any SpaceX in the open market today.  I have no interest in buying SpaceX in the near future.  The valuation doesn't make sense to me and is way to high.   

However, I'm not going to bet against Muskman, who has been doing masterclass in financial  engineering and corporate finance to maximum valuations for his companies.  I'm going to watch from the sidelines for now.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Inspirational Movies for Me

Here's my list of recently watched movies that I found inspirational:

• Remarkably Bright Creatures - About aging, finding connections, and making peace with the past and narrated by an aquarium octopus.  Great plot twist.
• Hacksaw Ridge - About Medal of Honor winner medic Desmond Doss at Okinawa, who was a conscientious objector that refused to carry arms in the battlefield and save the lives of over 100 men.
• Miracle - About the underdog US Olympic hockey team road to the Gold medal in 1980 at Lake Placid, which included defeating the USSR 4 time Olympic Gold medal team.
• You Gotta Believe - Underdog team makes it to the Little League World Series to honor their coach who has terminal cancer.

These films moved me and brought tears to my eye.  I tend to root for the underdog, which I have experienced being many times.

Disclosure:  I received no compensation for posting about these movies.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Saved by TACO Thursday

President Trump cancelled the Iran strikes scheduled for this evening.  The markets reacted by reversing on going up significantly.   

At this point, I am no longer buying the dip in anticipation of a TACO.   I'm just hodling what I have already.   Some are up and some are still down from my buying the dip  in February 2026.  Most of the stocks are SAAS software stocks that are down 50-70% from their highs. 

Although each succeeding TACO has less impact, I expect President Trump to continue TACOing up until the midterm election.  It may be hopium to hodl and we shall see.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Aspire to Be a Hundred Millionaire or Billionaire

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." ~ Yogi Berra

A million ain't what it used to be either.

When I was growing up, becoming a millionaire was considered an aspirational financial goal.  Very few people had a million dollars  and my parents bought a new house for $28,000.  A million dollars seemed very unattainable.  In 1965, there were 100,000 millionaires in the US.  I thought becoming a millionaire was a stretch goal.

Today, a million dollars seems much more achievable. In 2020, the there are over 18 million millionaires in the US.   That house I grew up in is valued at $421,000 on Zillow.   Many families have dual incomes, leading to over a million dollars salary over their lifetime.

 $100 million would have been a better aspirational financial goal.   In 2020, there were about 80,000 households with over $100 million, which is close to the number of millionaires in 1965.  $100 million would have been a appropriate inflation adjusted goal.

Maybe ambitious kids today should set $1 Billion as a stretch goal to achieve in their future.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

I'm Awful at Stock Picking

I initially thought I could beat the market by buying specific stocks.  I did this for many years, and had some big wins, but I also had big losses.  Recently, I did an evaluation of my stock investments in the last 10 years.   The good news is that I had a gain overall.  The bad news is that I would have had higher gains from  owning an S&P index fund or ETF.   In addition, I would free up the time that I spend evaluating, buying and selling stocks.

Based on this learning, here the actions I'm taking:

• Scale out of owning most individual stocks.   I am avoiding starting new positions.  I will add to some existing positions that are negative, but plan to scale out later when the entire position is positive.   I am holding long term losses in a separate account to remind myself of my previous poor choices.
• Going forward for stocks, invest in total market index funds and etfs, specifically the S&P, total market and growth stock index funds.  This is much easier to manage since stock risk is eliminated.
• For kids' accounts, dollar cost average (DCA) into their investment accounts and hodl.

I expect this to reduce my anxiety when the market declines and help me be agnostic to short term volatility, which seems to be frequent nowadays.

This approach has been helpful so far this year, but there hasn't been a major correction or bear market yet.  That will be the true test on my new investment strategy.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Just Hodl

Currently, there is lots of volatility in the stock market.  Earnings beats, earnings miss, disappointing forward guidance, ceasefire ending, ceasefire extended, President Trump TACO, ceasefire broken, stocks go up, then down, then up again.   What's an investor to do?

The approach I used to follow was to react to the volatility.   Sometimes it was sell; other times it was buy the dip.   Usually, this resulted in a whipsaw effect, sharply up, sharply down and a roller coaster. When the stock went up quickly,  I would sell with small gains of 5-15% and watch the stock go up much further.  When it went down, I would hold hoping to get back to even to sell and exit the position.  I would sell the one's that went above breakeven, but, unfortunately, there were ones that took forever, or never, to recover.

My new strategy now is hodl through the volatility, since I'm no longer depending exclusively on stock gains for our retirement income.   Hodling has significantly reduced my anxiety of owning stocks, since capital gains are no longer the main source of retirement income.  Thus, I am more comfortable hodling though the corrections that inevitably happen.   Of course, the real test will be if I hodl through a bear market, which has not happened since I started this investment strategy.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC