Mini Thoughts

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Category: Investing

  • Still Shocked by CoastFIRE Math

    Does tax planning make aggressive retirement funding worth it once you hit your CoastFIRE number? We run the 2026 tax numbers for a family with three dependents to find the zero-tax breakpoint.

  • CoastFIRE Tax Strategy: What Happens When You Stop Maxing Retirement?

    Is maxing out every tax-advantaged account mid-career actually “worth the squeeze” if you aren’t retiring super early? We run the exact 2026 tax math for a $150k household—comparing a “Pedal to the Metal” tax shelter stack against a CoastFIRE strategy—to see if the current cash-flow hit pays off

  • August 2026: Debt Progress

    Life threw a few very expected summer expenses our way this month—between a $1,200 van maintenance, $400+ electric bills, and a 6-month auto insurance premium. Despite those speedbumps, we still knocked out over $2,700 in total debt reduction while navigating a credit card fee waiver and prepping for our upcoming 2026 HSA strategy.

  • July 2026 End of Month Update: Minor Side Hustle Income

    July turned out to be a massive month for side hustles and passive income. By optimizing our FreeCash funnel, managing covered calls, and capturing extra dividend income, we pushed our year-to-date side hustle total past $11,000—while maintaining a 78% profit margin on mobile game offers.

  • Six Month Check-up: Investment Policy Statement

    Updating my Investment Policy Statement (IPS) meant swapping my 10% bond allocation for REITs to capture higher long-term growth. Here is a look at my revised target allocation (50% US, 30% International, 10% REITs, 10% Dividends), how my actual portfolio balance compares today, and how close these passive income streams are getting us to our…

  • To Dividend Reinvest or Not: That is the Question

    Instead of letting every fund buy more of itself, directing dividends straight toward share goals in ARR and AGNC slashes my snowball timeline down to 29 months. Here is how optimizing dividend allocation gets the portfolio to $750/month in passive income much faster.

  • Six Month Snowball Fund Review: High Octane Became Ashes

    My journey to $1,000 a month in passive income just got a major reality check. From realizing the true cost of weekly NAV decay to mapping out a safer $108,000 portfolio strategy, here is how I’m restructuring my dividend snowball for actual, long-term growth.

  • July 2026: Six Months of Debt Work, How’s it Going?

    Facing a mid-year reality check, a raw audit of $80,000 in year-to-date debt movements strips away the illusions of credit card cash-back optimization to reveal the real culprit: a perfect storm of medical bills, property emergencies, and historical renovation balances.

  • Sofi Wants to be an Everything Platform

    Arbitraging a 6.06% personal loan against a 10% HELOC balance unlocks guaranteed interest savings, while leveraging an honest, multi-layered tax breakdown reveals the exact math behind where math optimization ends and true investment cash flow begins.

Monthly Dividend Progress

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