Predictable Inflation Adjusted Payments - The Gold Retirement Standard

It would be great if retirees received a predictable inflation adjusted monthly payment that covered all one's expected and discretionary expenses.

• Predictable
• Inflation Adjusted
• Expenses

Unfortunately, there isn't an option that meets all the criteria.

• Predictable - The options usually are fixed or the inflation adjustment doesn't deliver enough.   Annuities or long term bonds have predictable fixed payments, which meets one criteria.  However, they don't increase with inflation, nor do they necessary cover increasing expenses with aging.
  
• Inflation adjusted -  Social Security payments are "inflation adjusted," but do not necessarily cover the items that retired people need.  TIPS bonds are inflation adjusted and theoretically, so are equities, but neither are guaranteed.
• Expenses - The reality is living expenses will grow and new health and aging care expenses will be grow more than expected as on gets older.  

Here's my attempt at mimicking a gold standard of payment:

• Predictable -  Buying 20 year Treasuries yielding 5%.  I've stopped for now but will buy more if yields rise to 6-7%.   
• Inflation adjusted - Social security, rental property, TIPS bonds, and equities.   Social security, rents and TIPS are broadly inflation adjusted, but don't necessarily match cost increases experienced by and individual.   Equities have downside risks but do rise in the long term and provide an inflation cushion.
• Expenses - We purchased long term care insurance when  I was in my 20s and later for my spouse in her 30s when we got married, when premiums were much less expensive.  We also have retiree health care insurance from my company and Medicare (me) which has more coverage and is less expensive than the ACA health insurance.  Finally, we have saved for our children in college 529 plans from the time we adopted them.  We expect to 100% cover their college expenses for both our 21 year old and 14 year old.

But as Yogi Berra once said, "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future." We have covered what we can control as best we can, and will have to adjust for elements we don't control such as inflation, the economy, stock market volatility and health.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My Father-in Law's Investing Strategy

My Father-in-Law had a very successful stock investment strategy which beat the S&P returns until 2011 when he passed away.

Here's what he did:

• Identified potential stocks through The Motley Fool and Jim Cramer's Mad Money Show.
• Using standard metrics such as P/E, he determined the "fair" price.
• He would put in a good-til-canceled (GTC) limit buy order at the fair price, which was typically below the market price.
• Once he acquired the stock, he would calculate a sell price, again based on metrics.   He would put in a GTC limit sell order at the sell price.
• He checked his portfolio status once per month.

Since he regularly beat the S&P 500,  I was impressed and tried to copy a few of his stock picks, but was unable to match his success because I didn't have the same conviction in the methodology that he did.   

Disclosure:  I was not compensated by the Motley Fool nor CNBC for this post.

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

Correction? It May Happen Soon

Today's decline in the stock market may be the beginning of the long awaited correction.  Maybe and maybe not.   However, it's best to be prepared if a correction should happen.   

I can't control the market or the economy.   I can control the actions I take to be prepared.  Simply, here's what I'm going to do:

• I will continue to hodl the equities, bonds and mutual funds that I currently own.  No need to sell at a discount.
• Continue taking monthly distributions of investment earnings (dividends, interest, rental) and combine with Social Security payments and determine what percentage of fixed expenses are covered in a downturn..
• Use money market funds, if needed, to weather an extended (say 1 year) downturn.  Expect to cover any shortfall caused by the decline.
• I won't be buying the dip, except if GOOGL drops to around $285.   I will wait until a 10% before adding an S&P 500 ETF or mutual fund, more municipal bond funds.   I plan to wait until the 20 year treasury exceeds a 6% yield before adding more.

Earlier I posted about what I would tell my younger self or do for my kids:

Stock Market Warning Articles. What to Do?

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

HIghly Viewed Posts in August 2026

Here are the most viewed posts in August 2026 from My Wealth Builder:

Historical

These the three posts from the archives that received the most number of views in August 2026.

Financial Lessons from my Parents' Generation Re-Learned

Not Buying Things I Don't Need

Achieving Financial Freedom - I've Retired In My Forties

Current

These are the recent posts from August 2026 that received the three highest number of views:

Oh No, I Felt Brilliant This Week

Stock Market Warning Articles. What to Do?

Using AI to Cure Cancer

I hope you enjoy these posts as much as other readers have.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Stock Market - Too Good to Be True?

"If it's too good to be true, it probably is." ~ old adage

The stock market is at all time highs despite:

• War with Iran since February 2026.
• Increasing Inflation
• Higher oil and gasoline prices
• Higher food prices
• Second highest Shiller PE ratio, with the dot.com era being the highest
• $40 trillion U.S. debt
• High company layoffs due to AI

Add to that my apparent brilliance:

• My buy the dip SAAS software stocks are up 20% on average since February 2, 2026, with the biggest gaining up to 145%.
• My tax loss harvesting strategy of buying first and selling later has worked to my financial advantage almost every time.
• Recently, all my accounts have achieved all time highs and continuing to rise.

Since the market has been known to be irrational for long periods before, I'm hodling most of my equities, especially those in a taxable account.  However, I am taking the opportunity to scale out of some of my riskier (IMHO) buy the dip stocks, in the interest  of  working towards my goal of simplifying our investments.  

Note:  Specifically, I sold our CRM holding in the tax advantage accounts since it popped 26% on Thursday, August 27, 2026 on good earnings and a partnership with Anthropic.   Even though CRM was up another 3% yesterday, I don't regret the sale.  It's one less stock I need to follow, which is working towards my simplification goal.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

What to Expect in the Second Half of 2026

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

Weather forecasters and stock market pundits get paid whether they are right or wrong.  LOL.   Here's a rare, if not the only,  positive 2026 forecast for the stock market based on historical returns.

The S&P 500 returned 10% in the first half of 2026. Here's what history says happens in the second half.

 The table below shows results since 1991:

Year	1st half return	2nd half return	Full-year return
1991	+12.4%	+12.4%	+26.3%
1995	+18.6%	+13.1%	+34.1%
1997	+19.5%	+9.6%	+31%
1998	+16.8%	+8.4%	+26.7%
1999	+11.7%	+7%	+19.5%
2003	+10.8%	+14.1%	+26.4%
2013	+12.6%	+15.1%	+29.6%
2019	+17.3%	+9.8%	+28.9%
2021	+14.4%	+10.9%	+26.9%
2023	+15.9%	+7.2%	+24.2%
2024	+14.5%	+7.7%	+23.3%
2026	+10.2%	?	?

Source data: Yahoo Finance.

If history rhymes, 2026 will be another positive and banner return year.  

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Oh No, I Felt Brilliant This Week

Through Thursday this week, 90% of my buy the dip stocks went up, and sometimes by a lot.   Many of my long term "loser" stocks in a separate account also went up this week, with a few becoming profitable, which I quickly sold for small profit.

This week was exciting, enjoyable and very low anxiety.   However, although I felt brilliant, I know the results were too good to be true.  It really is just a great, outstanding, maybe even once in a lifetime bull market.  It works until it doesn't, which is why I'm sticking to my plan, and avoiding being greedy.

Here's the plan I'm continuing:

• Build and maintain a "retirement paycheck" through dividends from stocks and interest from fixed income.
• Simplify stock holdings by reducing individual stock holding and increasing broad market fund holdings.  Sell some positions for tax loss harvesting.
• Continue to hodl "buy the dip" SAAS stock with a target until midterms.   
• Stop buying stocks during a market dip.
• Scale into high interest rate treasuries on bond mutual funds since interest rates may go up.

Most of all avoid being greedy when selling stocks.  I kept this in mind as I reduced our stock holdings; I did not try to extract the last cent from selling. Sell, simply and feel good is my new mantra when simplifying.

Edit:  My positions held up until Friday's close. Woohoo!

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Stock Market Warning Articles. What to Do?

Pundits are highlighting the Schiller P/E as an indicator of a near term market top followed by a bear market.  This article from Yahoo Finance shows the Schiller P/E at the second highest level with the 2000 dot-com crash being the highest.

This stock market indicator just flashed a warning not seen since the dot-com bubble

The Motley Fool warns that margin debt is also indicating a possible top followed by a bear market based on recent history.

The Stock Market Is Doing Something Observed Only 4 Times Since 1997 -- and the Previous 3 Instances Ended in Disaster for Wall Street | The Motley Fool

Here's a new one that I just learned about: increasing corporate bankruptcies and private credit yield spreads.

An economist who studies financial crises says the US is on the brink of recession. These are the 2 warning signs.

I admit, when I was younger, I used to worry a lot about another 1929 crash occurring.   As a result, I often sold my winners for a small profit, especially since individual stocks would have high volatility in a crash, sometimes with the result of never recovering.  As a result, my returns are much less than the the total market returns.

What is an investor to do?

In hindsight, here's what I would do:

• In my 20-30s, I would put at least $159 per month into a broad market, low fee mutual fund (around 0.1% or less fees).   I would do an S&P 500 mutual fund.   I would just hold until my 60s, before withdrawing or selling any funds at which point the account would be about $1 million.  In the long term, the overall stock market always goes up.
• When bonds or CDs are 5% yields or higher,  I would start buying longer term, say 5-20 years and hold.   If in a taxable account, I would withdraw the interest earned and spend, since I am already paying income tax on the interest.  If in a tax advantaged account, I would leave and use to invest in a broad market mutual fund.
• I would save 6 months to 3 years of cash and keep it in a money market fund.
• In my 40s-50s, I would start increasing funds put in fixed income.   I would still not sell any of the equity mutual fund investments.
• Retired and/or in my 60s-70s, I would start scaling out of some of individual stocks and/or market mutual fund while going up or very high.  Transfer to money market or short term fixed income.
  

I think there is a future opportunity to find a sweet spot for percentages to have, sell or transfer at different times.  But that is for another future TBD post.

Of course, YMMV.

Disclosure: I did not receive any compensation from Yahoo Finance nor The Motley Fool for this post.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

I Don't Use Margin for Stock Investments

I never use margin, which is borrowing money to invest for stocks. 

While using margin can turbo charge or amplify gains, it can also quickly eliminate equity if the stock drops, resulting in a margin call which is a request for more funds to meet maintenance requirements or 100% liquidation of the stock or other position.  That is just too much stress and anxiety for me.   A stock falling 20% is enough anxiety for me; I don't need the additional stress of being required to deposit more funds or get liquidated.

I guess I'm never going to  make billions, like Leopold Ashenbrenner.  Then again, I won't get margin called and lose billions either, like what happened in July 2026.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Memory Stocks are Back - For Now

Despite the roller coaster volatility in memory stocks, I've been hodling.  Last week, the memory stocks roared back, not yet to all time highs, but within 10-15%.   That's good enough for me since they both dipped about 40% from the ATH.  My gains are about 25% since May 11, 2026.

My plans are to hodl until at least 100% gains, and then start scaling out.  The plan may change if the gains my never get that high, which is a possiblity..   

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Selling a Stock is a Difficult Decision for Me

I don't have a good methodology for deciding when to sell a stock. I usually base the decision on vibes or locking in a certain percentage of gains.  Unfortunately, this approach sometimes causes me to miss out on big gains as described in Panic Selling Winners Reduced My Investment Returns.  I tend to sell my winners, for small gains, especially after they have dipped significantly.

My spouse tends to ignore the volatility and just hodl.  As a result, she has up to 1800% gains on GOOGL which she has held since 2013.    On the other hand, I probably sold at 20 to 30% gains and never bought back in.  The difference is she held through all the dips instead of panicking and selling later.

That's what is difficult for me, holding after a big dip.  I have had some stocks go up 500-1000% which then go down  50% or more and never rise again.  Psychologically, I am afraid that will happen with any stock that rises and then dips.  So I settle for locking in profits at much lower gains.

I've only kept one profitable stock long term, stock from the company I worked for and retired from.  That stock is in my profit sharing retirement account, which was contributed 100% by the company.   I've held it partly because of NUA tax benefits, partly because of inertia of transferring the shares, and partly because it is a good company.  The shares are up 2700%.   Woohoo.

If only I was able to do that reproduce by not selling and hodling stocks like AAPL, GOOGL and AMZN.  Ah, hindsight is 20/20.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Making Bank on Buy the Dip Stocks - For Now

I bought the dip on SAAS software stocks in early February 2026.  They dipped further before rebounding overall for gains in March.  Then they dipped again in April 2026 and then rebounded again in May 2026.  The big swoon happened in June with most buy the dip stocks going underwater as much as 50% and flattening in early July.   Then another big rebound in late July and early August gave me the highest overall gains to date, despite a few stocks still being underwater.  

It's been quite a roller coaster ride.  The biggest gainer is TEAM, up about 75%, followed by MSFT, up about 25%, both of which were my largest share purchases.  Two fallen stocks are down about 5% and 18%.   In total, I'm up about 14%.  Not bad for a little over 7 months.

Data as of the close on August 12, 2026.

While I'm enjoying the gains, I have quit buying dips.   I continue to hodl to September,  just before midterms.

Of course, it works until it doesn't.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Keeping Oil and Precious Metal Stocks

With Iran claiming that they are willing to wait until 2029 to end the war, I'm hodling (for now) my oil and precious metal stocks for now.  Oil reserves are very low, the dollar is weakening, and there is no end in sight for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

However, I am not buying more oil or precious metal stocks. I feel I have enough holdings already.  However, I plan to sell some holding into strength, especially if they rise to new 52 week highs.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Market Rewarded my Patience with Enjoyment, Excitement and Profit

I've been holding my "buy the dip" stocks since February 2026, through the ups and downs.  I was convinced they were oversold by the AI hype, and that gave me conviction to hold even when the positions went significantly negative.

The stocks were mainly SAAS software stocks, which the Situational Awareness hedge fund was shorting.  Recently, Situational Awareness closed out all their shorts, which may be partially responsible for the recent rebound in SAAS software stocks. I believe there is more room to run for the SAAS software stocks and continue to hold.  I'd like to see them reach about 80% of their previous all time highs before selling significant amount of shares.  

Since I am moving towards simplicity, I will keeping moving towards fewer individual stock positions as the "buy the dip" stock become significantly profitable. This is likely the last time I will purchase "buy the dip" stocks in multiple positions.  While it is an adrenaline rush when the positions go up significantly, there is also more anxiety with the likely volatility, that causes me to be more engaged on a daily basis, which is the opposite of simplicity. 

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Situational Awareness Status

Last week, Leopold Aschenbrenner's letter to investors said that despite a 67% decline in July, Situational Awareness is still up 80% YTD.   The fund has taken steps to stop the decline and preserve fund assets. The fund has survived to see another day.

However, based on what I've read in different articles, it doesn't compute.  For example, one article described the fall from $45B to $10B which is greater than 67%.  I guess there must be other funds besides Situational Awareness in this decline.

Oh well, I expect more details will be share in the coming weeks or months.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Are SAAS Stocks Back?

I'm still hodling my buy the dip stocks that were purchased in February 2026.  It's been a wild ride.  First they appeared to be recovering.  Then they dropped to 52 week lows last week.  Now, they are up 20-40% in just the first three days of this week.  What a roller coaster.

In the meantime, memory and space stocks which were on a tear since the beginning of 2026 are now down as much as 50% in the past month.   Muskman is no longer a trillionaire.  Muskman has lost his shine, along with the decline of space stocks and TSLA .  AI has also become tarnished as its capabilities seem less miraculous than doomsayers claim.  On the other hand, SAAS stocks have regained their previous luster. 

As I wrote two weeks ago, I've stopped buying the dip.   I'm sticking to that right now.  However, I'm slightly scaling out of one position, HUBS, since I am a little overinvested in HUBS. Otherwise, I am comfortable hodling my SAAS stock positions for a 100% return by end of year.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Muskman has Lost his Shine

SPCX, or SpaceX, hit new all time lows this week.  To me the appropriate ticker is SCAMX, since it is based entirely on Muskman's credentials, which have been sinking precipitously since SPCX has been offered to the public.   Investors seem to be realizing that Muskman is not all knowing brilliant, and maybe he just has been at the right place and the right time.

I have changed my mind about hodling my few shares of TSLA.  There are rumors Muskman plans to have SpaceX buyout TSLA.   Since Muskman has controlling interest and over 50% of voting shares, he can make it happen.   Unfortunately, I believe that will reduce the price/value of TSLA further than it has already declined.   

Thus, I plan to sell TSLA on the next bounce which may make my shares profitable again. Probably won't happen since this is more hopium on my part.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

I Quit Buying the Dip

I've stopped buying the dips.  I admit that is has been exciting, an adrenaline rush, that I have enjoyed; but it's not a long term situation that is sustainable. It requires more attention and work than I want in the future.  The index funds are less exciting, but less volatile, and require much less attention.  Overall, I have done better with the index funds than the individual stocks at this point.  Thus, I'm moving back to thinning out my individual stock holdings and investing in broad market equity funds and fixed income.

Basically, it's no longer fun and is becoming stressful.  If I had sold all my buy the dip stocks when initially profitable, I would have made money on all but one.  Instead, I held, hoping for bigger gains and instead half of them dropped to 52 week lows.  Psychologically,  I'm now a long term investor (cynically known as bag holder), waiting for them to profitable again, if ever.   Definitely, not fun and is stressful.

However, I plan to still hodl the buy the dip software stocks I purchased in February 2026.   I won't add to them if they decline further, and I won't sell if get slightly above breakeven.   Also, I still reserve the option to occasionally purchase an individual stock, but I plan to add no new positions and, longer term, reduce to only 10-20 individual stock positions maximum.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Being More Greedy for Now

I've been selling off our small share holdings just as they become profitable, even though it is a small percentage.   This is consistent with my objective of simplifying our equity holdings.  However, lately, if I had held some of this small positions a bit longer, I would have had more gains.  For example, I sold SandDisk for 58.51 for a very small gain in September 2025, after it was spun off from Western Digital in March 2025 and carried a loss.   Today, SandDisk is about $2000, benefitting from memory shortage due to AI needs.

Of course, even if I had held it, I would have sold long ago, probably less than $100 since I have had previous stock pop over 100% only to pull back and go below my purchase price.  However, now I have a few more stocks that are approaching breakeven after being down many years including: KOPN, DFTX, OUST, CLOV, PSNL, and NWL.  While my strategy is to sell immediately when profitable, I'm temporarily going to be more greedy and hold for bigger profits.

Being greedy can backfire and lose the small gains that I have, but it seems the market is irrational enough that I can stay greedy at least until October 2026, just before the midterm elections.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Wendy's - A Lotto Buy on New WSB Meme Stock

Every so often, Wall Street Bets focus stock becomes a meme stock that members are enthusiastic about buying.  The most famous and biggest meme stock surge is GameStop in 2021.  Others have had much smaller advance, but still attracted buyers.

The latest meme stock is Wendy's (WEN), which is a well know fast food chain.  Wendy's is the most famous running jock on Wall Street Bets, working there officially or unofficially (NSFW) due to losing bets in the stock market.  However, this time the members are out to save Wendy's with a concerted effort to help the stock surge.  Additional factors that may help the surge are:  New management and about 35% short interest.

A number of WSB members are buying large amounts of WEN and gambling on a big win.  Not me.  I just consider this a lotto ticket, likely to lose but entertaining to buy some.   I bought 10 shares of WEN last Thursday.  It's more expensive than most scratch off tickets, but I can deduct the losses when I have a losing lotto stock pick.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC