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You are here: Home / Money / Stockchoker: A look back at what your investment might have been

Stockchoker: A look back at what your investment might have been

by jlcollinsnh 14 Comments

stockchokerOG

Back in February Mr. 1500 Days invited me to participate in his 10 Questions and a Pizza Place interview series. It was fun to do, readers seemed to enjoy it and the 1500 Days are cool folks. So of course I’ve been planning to steal the idea ever since.

When I came across Todd Froemling and his newly created Stockchoker.com, I knew the time had come.

I love simple and this tool couldn’t be more simple. Enter three data points — a stock or fund, a date and the amount invested — and it spits out how you would have done. Along with a snarky comment.

The next time your broker, advisor, brother-in-law (not all the same person, I trust) or your drunk and bankrupt…

Mature man w/glass of beer

Uncle Dick tells you:

“Index Funds? Those are for weenies. Put your money in XYZ stock or my secret high-fee star manager fund. That’s what all the smart money does!”

…you’ll be able to pull out your (Stockchoker) tool and see just how many used Honda Civics you could have bought with your losses.

My thanks to my pal Kathryn who brought Stockchoker to my attention when she profiled Todd on her wonderful MSB Cheatsheet. You’ll find a link to it in the interview.

But now, let’s put Todd under the bright light and interrogate him…

First, let’s talk about Stockchoker:

What is Stockchoker?

Stockchoker is a simple new web tool that answers a fundamental question: What would a past investment be worth today?

You get to pick the company or fund, the investment date and the investment amount. Once you’ve done that, Stockchoker tells you how much the investment would be worth today and provides some other useful information, such as the annual rate of return, the net gain (or loss) and the number of tacos you could order at Jack in the Box with that much money.

Where did the cool name come from and what’s the meaning of the “choker” part?

I love puns and I wanted the site to have an easy-to-remember name. There isn’t really another word I can think of that rhymes with “broker” and makes sense given the content of the site.

Joker was already taken, plus it might’ve cast doubt on the accuracy of the data. So that leaves croaker, poker, soaker, toker…

…toker would’ve been kind of funny, now that I think about it.

What prompted you to create the site?

I was discussing investment strategies with my parents several months ago. They compete against each other with their respective Roth IRAs to see who can do better, which seems like amazing fun (even though it’s probably a bit dangerous if you’re over-competitive).

At one point, the topic turned to Apple stock. If their Roth IRA competition is a game, Apple stock is my dad’s cheat code. He mentioned a friend who’d sold several hundred shares in the early 2000s and then started trying to calculate the size of the fortune that was lost.

I hopped online, assuming there was a popular tool that answers these sorts of questions. As it turns out, there wasn’t. That’s when I decided to build Stockchoker.

What makes it great?

Its simplicity. On most financial sites, you’re bombarded with charts, graphs and other statistics that are tough for non-finance people to comprehend. Stockchoker’s data should make sense to anyone with a fourth-grade education, but it’s also sophisticated enough to use as a legitimate comparison tool.

Kathryn Cicoletti

Kathryn Cicoletti, horseshit

Kathryn Cicoletti

…the mastermind behind the MSB Cheat Sheet, suggested using the site as a quick and easy way to evaluate funds that a financial advisor might try to sell you. Using Stockchoker, it’s incredibly easy to compare the funds they peddle to lower-cost index funds over any period of time. If the index funds have a better return, you’d probably be better off going that route.

Where does the data come from?

Yahoo! Finance is kind enough to provide current and historic stock data to programmers.

Do the results include stock splits and dividends reinvested?

Yup. To quote Yahoo! Finance:

“Data is adjusted using appropriate split and dividend multipliers, adhering to Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) standards.”

How are ERs (expense ratios) accounted for in the results?

These are baked into the data Yahoo! provides. As an example, compare VTSMX and VTSAX. Those funds have identical holdings, but VTSAX has a slightly lower ER (because it requires a larger minimum investment). You’ll notice VTSAX always comes out a little ahead thanks to the lower ER.

How about fees paid to advisors and sales loads (commissions)?

You’ll have to account for these yourself. It’s not possible to factor in any financial advisor fees since those would vary from person to person. Don’t overlook these; they can add up fast.

I love the gratuitous, free smart-ass comments that come with each result. What’s up with those?

smart ass

I wanted to soften the blow for users when they see how much they could’ve made on an investment by converting the dollar amount to something goofy. For instance, losing out on a private Toto concert doesn’t sound nearly as bad as losing out on a couple hundred thousand dollars. Well, that’s just my opinion.

I got lazy and ended up using a lot of items I’ve purchased throughout my life so I didn’t have to spend too much time looking up prices. So there’s a lot of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Nintendo references. I’m super cool, BTW.

Your site doesn’t provide much data – can you rely on it to make smart decisions?

It’s great for comparing long-term investments – particularly when looking at mutual funds. Just make sure you go back far enough.

Looking at short-term returns can be extremely misleading. Take Nintendo stock (NTDOY); It’s up 50 percent from a year ago. Must be a great stock, huh? Well, not if you back up five years. It’s down nearly 40 percent.

I wouldn’t base a major financial decision only off of Stockchoker, but it’s an excellent place to start.

Are you planning to add to the site?

There are several improvements I’m planning to make when time allows. For instance, right now you can only go back 20 years. I’d like to extend that for companies and funds that have a longer history.

A blog is also in the works. I’d like to think I’m a reasonably smart dude, but in spite of that, I’ve made some really dumb investing mistakes in the past year. Luckily, it’s kind of balanced out with a handful of good moves (thanks, Under Armour).

It might be helpful for newer investors to read about the missteps and why I thought they seemed like smart moves at the time. Hopefully, they avoid similar mistakes.

Personally, I’d love to be able to compare stocks/funds side-by-side. Any plans to make that possible?

I’ll add it to the to-do list. Thanks for the suggestion!

OK, now tell us about Todd!

Most readers of my blog are at or are pursuing FI (financial independence). Is this a goal of yours?

Forrest-Gump-Wave-on-Boat

I always think of a line from Forrest Gump when I hear this sort of question. It’s when Forrest finds out part of his shrimpin’ fortune was used to start Apple Computer, Inc:

“Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don’t have to worry about money no more. And I said, that’s good! One less thing.”

That last part sort of sums up my feelings perfectly. My desire to invest well isn’t motivated by extravagant things I want to purchase down the road. As a person who craves simplicity, my goal is to reach a point (in a couple decades) where I never have to think about finances again.

Do you have an investing background?

No, not at all. My wife and I bought a house recently, so we transitioned from saving-for-a-house mode to saving-for-retirement mode. I’ve always had a strange obsession with stats and numbers, so stocks and investing naturally became my favorite thing to read about.

So you own rather than rent? Explain yourself!

Yeah. For one, my wife and I both hate moving, so a sense of permanence was very appealing. Throw in super-low interest rates and a housing market that’s still not fully recovered from the Great Recession and it seemed like an ideal time to buy.

How have you learned what you’ve learned about investing?

Lots of reading and, unfortunately, a little bit of trial and error. The tricky part is you can’t trust a lot of what you read.

For instance, you could hop online right now and find five articles that explain why the energy sector is going to continue its crash. Then you could find some other articles explaining why it’s set to make a huge rebound at any moment. Who’s right?

Most of my mess-ups have occurred when when I try to time the market based on something I’ve read. When Carl Icahn insisted back in May that Apple shares were worth nearly double what they were selling for, it seemed like a great time to buy. Since that point, Apple stock is down double digits. Whoops.

My advice today would be this: automate, diversify and self-regulate. My wife and I set up our Vanguard accounts to automatically invest in our Roth IRAs each week as well as Vanguard’s most diversified index fund. That’s a much better and healthier approach than what I was doing initially – trying to manually buy at low points in the hope that I was catching the bottom.

I’ve done well with the handful of individual stocks I’ve purchased, but it’s a dangerous game to play (imagine the poor people who bought Volkswagen stock last week). That’s where the self-regulation comes in. I won’t ever be more invested in individual stocks than index funds, as tempting as it might be at times.

What’s been your worst mistake?

That time last fall when I thought energy was about to rebound so I bought some VGENX (Vanguard’s energy fund).

genie

If a magic genie gave you 1,000,000 tax free dollars, what would you do?

I’d add a zero to the weekly amount my wife and I auto-deposit into Vanguard’s total stock market index fund (VTSAX). I’d also go to Chipotle a lot more.

What’s your day job?

I’m a software engineer at Motorola Solutions. I specialize in web-based user interfaces.

What’s your all-time favorite job?

I lived with my brother in San Francisco for a couple summers. One of those summers, I worked at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. as a host (that’s probably why I have every line of the movie memorized).

My job a lot of days was to talk to visitors during the minute or two before they were seated. There were a ton of international visitors, so I’d try to guess what country they were from. I was always blown away by how nice everyone was, even when my guesses were completely wrong.

The biggest perk, though – shrimp meals every day. It might’ve gotten old, but it was glorious for the two months I was there.

Favorite music?

I’m a little all over the place. The Beatles are at the top of my list. My other favorites, in no particular order, are David Bowie, Elton John, Lady Gaga and Billy Joel. Since I grew up in a St. Louis suburb, Nelly has to be on the list, too.

When I’m coding, I can’t do music with words; it’s too distracting. In those cases, I’m all about Lord of the Rings music and the Interstellar soundtrack. I think I inherited that behavior from my brother, who’s the most brilliant programmer I know.

In what region of the country do you live?

I’m in the Midwest, about an hour west of Chicago. On a related note, I’ve heard that Midwesterners are the only people who use minutes rather than miles to explain distances between two places. I’m not sure if that’s true or not.

If I could live anywhere in the world I’d be in…

The Caribbean, on a small tropical island with high-speed internet and a Chipotle. It would also need to have an airport with direct flights to and from Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco. Could I buy that with $1 million? I might need to change my earlier answer.

What kind of car do you drive?

A nine-year-old Honda Civic (if you were wondering – yes, that’s one of the “you could’ve bought” items that appear on Stockchoker periodically). My beloved 1998 Toyota Camry died last year. #neverforget

If I could meet anyone in history, I’d be sitting down with…

Abe Lincoln

Abe Lincoln

And the first question I’d ask would be…

How close was Daniel Day-Lewis? Did he deserve the Oscar?

Lincoln-Daniel

Daniel Day-Lewis

In 50 years (maybe tomorrow  we’ll all look back and ask: What the hell were we thinking when we…

Let the Kardashians have TV shows. They’re useless.

The biggest threat to the human race is…

The Interview 2, if someone ever decides to make that movie.

Who inspires you?

My family.

(JL: Here he clearly misses the opportunity to herald jlcollinsnh.com)

So those are the questions I wanted answered. Got some of your own? Ask in the comments and we’ll keep Todd under the bright lights till he responds.

Update January 20, 2016:

Todd just added two cool new features:

  • Stock Wars: A tool that allows you to compare the performance of two stocks and/or funds.
  • Quizzes: I took both. I’m a “goat” in the first and a “coyote” in the second. You can do better. I dare ya!

Addendum 1:

Want more? Here’s Kathryn’s video interview with Todd

 

Important Resources:

  • Vanguard.com (unfortunately Vanguard doesn’t have an affiliate program)
  • Personal Capital* is a free tool to manage and evaluate your investments. With great visuals you can track your net worth, asset allocation, and portfolio performance, including costs. At a glance you’ll see what’s working and what you might want to change. Here’s my full review.
  • Betterment* is my recommendation for hands-off investors who prefer a DIFM (Do It For Me) approach. It is also a great tool for reaching short-term savings goals. Here is my Betterment Review
  • YNAB* has the best budgeting tools going and just might be the Best Place to Work Ever
  • Republic Wireless* is my $10 a month phone plan. My daughter is in South East Asia and is on the $5 a month plan. We talk whenever can and for however long we please. My RW Review tells you how.
  • Tuft & Needle helps me sleep at night. Unfortunately they are no longer an affiliate, but still a very cool company and a great product.

*These are affiliate links and should you chose to do business with them, this blog will earn a small commission.

Unrelated, but here’s what I’m currently or have just finished reading and enjoyed:

Turbo Capitalism

If you are interested in income inequality, this poorly titled (should have been Unfettered Capitalism – more accurate and more descriptive) is a great discussion of the pros and cons of our current system. Luttwak clearly has his own biases, but is remarkable evenhanded in presenting both sides.

Written in the late 1990s, it is a bit of a time capsule and fun to see how the past 20 years have actually unfolded.

Leave it to Psmith

“Crime not objected to.”

One of my favorite characters from a favorite author. If you like it, here are two more:

Mike and Psmith

Psmith Journalist

Jack Reacher roams around the country carrying only a folding toothbrush. When his clothes get dirty he buys new ones. Oh, and he kills lots of bad guys. “Make Me” is the most recent in the series, but not the best. That might be this one:


First line: “People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.”

Last Line: “This ends my true account of how I avenged Frank Ross’s blood over in the Choctaw Nation when snow was on the ground.”

How we came to be what we are, behave the way we do and believe what we believe. My favorite in this group.

Where people who live to be 100+ live, how they live and what they eat.

Bad monkeys are Sapiens that need killing, and Jane is on the job. If you are already paranoid, you might want to skip chapter: white room (iv)

Why the future might be incredibly good. Unless the grey goo gets us.

This might be the most enlightening and entertaining take on American history I’ve yet to read.

And here are some of my all time favorites:

The book that has most influenced how I live my life.

Deceptively simple, but really all you need to know about becoming wealthy.

Very possibly my all-time favorite novel.

“The Fall of Edward Barnard” is very possibly my all-time favorite short story.

Perfect for the readers of this blog.

“Bartleby the Scrivener” is very possibly my all-time favorite novella. Don’t be put off if you struggled with Melville’s “Moby Dick.” This is a much better and easier read. Plus it will teach you the most important phrase in the English language:

“I would prefer not to.”

*If you click on the books you’ll go to Amazon, an affiliate partner. Should you choose buy them, or anything else while you there, this blog will receive a small commission. This doesn’t affect what you pay.

 

Related

Important Resources

  • Talent Stacker is a resource that I learned about through my work with Jonathan and Brad at ChooseFI, and first heard about Salesforce as a career option in an episode where we featured Bradley Rice on the Podcast. In that episode, Bradley shared how he reached FI quickly thanks to his huge paychecks and discipline in keeping his expenses low. Jonathan teamed up with Bradley to build Talent Stacker, and they have helped more than 1,000 students from all walks of life complete the program and land jobs like clockwork, earning double or even triple their old salaries using a Salesforce certification to break into a no-code tech career.
  • Credit Cards are like chain saws. Incredibly useful. Incredibly dangerous. Resolve to pay in full each month and never carry a balance. Do that and they can be great tools. Here are some of the very best for travel hacking, cash back and small business rewards.
  • Personal Capital is a free tool to manage and evaluate your investments. With great visuals you can track your net worth, asset allocation, and portfolio performance, including costs. At a glance you'll see what's working and what you might want to change. Here's my full review.
  • Betterment is my recommendation for hands-off investors who prefer a DIFM (Do It For Me) approach. It is also a great tool for reaching short-term savings goals. Here is my Betterment Review
  • NewRetirement offers cool tools to help guide you in answering the question: Do I have enough money to retire? And getting started is free. Sign up and you will be offered two paths into their retirement planner. I was also on their podcast and you can check that out here:Video version, Podcast version.
  • Tuft & Needle (T&N) helps me sleep at night. They are a very cool company with a great product. Here’s my review of what we are currently sleeping on: Our Walnut Frame and Mint Mattress.
  • Vanguard.com

Filed Under: Money, Random cool things that catch my eye, Stuff I recommend

« Case Study #14: To Dream the Impossible Dream (and then realize it)
Personal Capital; and how to unload your unwanted stocks and funds »

Comments

  1. Fervent Finance says

    October 1, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    Sounds like this Todd guy and I have a lot in common. Our $1m windfall answer seems exactly the same (been cutting back on my Chipotle consumption – stuff is worse than nicotine). I’m also a HUGE Forrest Gump fan and have been to the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurants in NYC and Cancun. The waiter at the NYC one tried to stump me with all the trivial he could throw at me – I got them all right. Especially what kind of shoes Jenny was wearing at her wedding (child’s play).

    Reply
  2. RobDiesel says

    October 1, 2015 at 12:30 pm

    This looks a bit similar to http://longrundata.com which I have used to see what past performance has been.

    It’s a little easier layout, though I’d request that when “something went wrong”, it shouldn’t clear the stock window. I entered a date prior to when a stock was listed and then had to enter the ticker and and date all over again when all I should have to do is fix the date.

    Todd – if you like ethereal music for coding, check out Wardruna: https://soundcloud.com/wardruna

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      October 2, 2015 at 5:32 pm

      Hey Rob…

      I’m not sure if Todd as started listening to Wardruna….

      but I have it on as I type. very cool, unique stuff.

      thanks!

      Reply
    • Todd says

      November 15, 2015 at 5:02 pm

      Finally remembered to check out Wardruna – awesome stuff! Thanks for the recommendation.

      I’ve been mixing that in along with rainycafe.com, which a co-worker told me about last week. I can’t decide if it’s the dumbest or most brilliant background noise site ever.

      Reply
  3. Tracy says

    October 1, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    This is awesome! I just used it to look up all the funds and stocks that my advisor has me in at Merrill. Then I compared it to VTI. Yeah, almost all his funds underperformed VTI for the time period since I started that account. :o( Now, I just figure out how to break up with an advisor who is also a friend…

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      October 1, 2015 at 6:59 pm

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298nld4Yfds

      Reply
      • Tracy says

        October 1, 2015 at 10:54 pm

        Hahaha!!! So I can just send that Paul Simon song to him and he’ll get the point?!? ;o)

        Reply
      • jlcollinsnh says

        October 2, 2015 at 12:33 pm

        think of it more as an instruction manual. 😉

        Reply
  4. Todd says

    October 1, 2015 at 7:13 pm

    Rob – good call on keeping the inputs as they were in “something went wrong” cases… just re-coded it so it behaves that way.

    Fervent – I never actually got to ask the trivia questions at Bubba Gump’s (the waiters did that), but I’d hear them a lot as I walked past tables. My favorite trivia moment: one table got “What was Forrest Gump’s last name?” incorrect. A great example of overthinking.

    Lots of people miss the wedding shoes question – nice work!

    Reply
  5. Em Jay Gee says

    October 2, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    I love the interview series at 1500Days and now here, but I always wish the million dollar question was “what would you do if you were FI NOW” because I’m so interested in the ‘life’ part of the dream we’re all working towards. I’d love to know what non-money goals and interests people have because that’s the bit I’m trying to work on now. I have a decade or more before FIRE and I don’t want to wish my life away waiting for the goalpost. Everyone is sensible with their million, no surprise there, but if someone were to wax poetic about their dream to finally find all the Waldos, well then that’s something new! 🙂 Thanks very much, I love this blog.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      October 2, 2015 at 5:34 pm

      That would be a great question!

      If I ever do this format again, and if I remember ( 🙂 ), I’ll include it.

      Reply
  6. Pat says

    October 4, 2015 at 7:55 am

    Totally off-topic, but Canadians measure distance in time regularly – it is 5 hours from Montreal to Toronto, 14 hour straight driving from Ottawa to Moncton, etc. It is such a standard behavior that it was a joke in Reader’s Digest way back (1950’s?).

    Stockchoker is a nice idea, time to look up the stock I almost bought 27 years ago. I used the money that could have bought that stock to buy too much car instead. Ouch.

    Reply
  7. Ang says

    October 5, 2015 at 12:27 pm

    A few things I want to add:

    The tool and longrundata are nice for lump sum investment, but in case you wanted to know how a regular contribution would result (which removes severe over and under valuation noise), http://www.buyupside.com/calculators/dollarcostave.php is a nice tool

    Secondly, while Yahoo finance data is good and accomplishes for the most part what it needs to, it does a terrible job at accounting for two things: 1) spin offs – an example is Philip Morris and Altria/Kraft, and 2) it uses a formula to calculate dividend reinvestment instead of actual payouts, and over LONG periods of time, can really mess with the reality of return results, but this is over 20+ year periods of time, and since the starting year can only be 1996, it doesn’t seem to be as big of a problem. Besides the point, most of the audience on this blog index anyways, so won’t really be affected by the spinoff conundrum.

    Reply
  8. Mike and Lauren says

    October 14, 2015 at 7:23 am

    Todd sounds awesome. Thanks for the interview. Any friend of Chipotle is a friend of mine 🙂 Someone tweeted a couple years ago: “I just want to make enough money to never have to think twice about adding guacamole.”

    Reply

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      • The House Hacking Strategy
      • What does buying a new car really cost over the years?
      • Why we bought a brand new car
    • ► August (1)
      • A Guided Meditation for When the Stock Market Is Dropping
    • ► June (2)
      • 7 Days in Heaven: or Why Slowing Down Will Get You There Sooner
      • Quit Like a Millionaire
    • ► March (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXV: Investing for Seven Generations
    • ► February (1)
      • Chautauqua 2019 - UK & Portugal - Tickets Now Available
    • ► January (2)
      • Mr. Bogle passes
      • "I wanted the unreasonable"
  • ► 2018 (16)
    • ► December (1)
      • Happy Holidays! and a bit on Mr. Market
    • ► November (3)
      • Truly Passive Real Estate Investing
      • Car Talk: An update on Steve and looking at Leafs
      • Chautauqua 2018 Greece: A week for the gods!
    • ► October (1)
      • On Twitter, gone for Chautauqua and dark on comments till November
    • ► September (2)
      • What we own and why we own it: 2018
      • Tuft & Needle: Our Walnut Frame and Mint Mattress
    • ► August (1)
      • Kibanda Part 5: Pretty, and pretty much done
    • ► June (3)
      • Stocks--Part XXXIV: How to unload your unwanted stocks and funds
      • Tracking your holdings
      • Stocks -- Part XXXIII: Optimism
    • ► May (2)
      • Kibanda Part 4: Quicksand!
      • My Talk at Google, Playing with FIRE and other Chautauqua connections
    • ► March (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXII: Why you should not be in the stock market
    • ► February (1)
      • Chautauqua 2018: Mt. Olympus, Greece
    • ► January (1)
      • An International Portfolio from The Escape Artist
  • ► 2017 (15)
    • ► December (2)
      • The Bond Experiment: Return to VBTLX
      • How to Invest in Bitcoin like Benjamin Graham
    • ► October (1)
      • Kibanda Part 3: Running the numbers
    • ► September (1)
      • Sleeping soundly thru a market crash: The Wasting Asset Retirement Model
    • ► August (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXI: Too hot. Too cold. Not pure enough.
      • Kibanda, Part 2: Negotiating the deal
    • ► July (2)
      • Time Machine and the future returns for stocks
      • Kibanda: Mr. Anti-house buys his dream house
    • ► June (2)
      • Is there an interior designer in the house?
      • The Simple Path to Wealth goes Audio!
    • ► May (1)
      • Life on the Beach
    • ► April (1)
      • Sell! Sell!! Sell!!! Sell?
    • ► March (1)
      • Vicki comes to Chautauqua: United Kingdom
    • ► January (2)
      • Chautauqua - Ecuador 2017 open for reservations
      • Chautauqua - United Kingdom: August 2017
  • ► 2016 (22)
    • ► December (3)
      • Season's Greetings and other cool stuff
      • Angel Investing, or Angel Philanthropy?
      • Mr. Bogle and me
    • ► November (1)
      • Where did you learn about money?
    • ► October (2)
      • Buy Your Freedom; Rent the Rest
      • So, what do you drive?
    • ► September (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXX: jlcollinsnh vs. Vanguard
      • A visit to the Frugalwoods
    • ► August (1)
      • What the naysayers are missing
    • ► July (1)
      • Reviews of The Simple Path to Wealth; gone for summer
    • ► June (2)
      • The Simple Path to Wealth is now Published!
      • A peek into The Simple Path to Wealth
    • ► May (1)
      • It's better in the wind. Still.
    • ► April (3)
      • Cool things to check out while I'm gone
      • Stocks — Part XXIX: How to save money for college. Or not.
      • Help Wanted: The Book
    • ► March (1)
      • F-You Money: John Goodman v. jlcollinsnh
    • ► February (2)
      • Q&A - V: The Women of Amphissa
      • jlcollinsnh gets a new suit
    • ► January (3)
      • Chautauqua 2015 Reviews, 2016 registration open
      • Case Study #15: The Scavenger Life -- Freedom first, then Financial Independence
      • 3rd Annual (2015) Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest results, and my forecast for 2016
  • ► 2015 (18)
    • ► December (2)
      • Q&A - IV: Strawberry Patch
      • Seasons Greetings! and other cool stuff
    • ► October (2)
      • Personal Capital; and how to unload your unwanted stocks and funds
      • Stockchoker: A look back at what your investment might have been
    • ► September (2)
      • Case Study #14: To Dream the Impossible Dream (and then realize it)
      • Hotel Living
    • ► August (1)
      • Mr. Market's Wild Ride
    • ► June (4)
      • Gone for Summer, an important note on comments and random cool stuff that caught my eye
      • Around the world with an Aussie Biker
      • Case Study #13: The Power of Flexibility
      • Stocks — Part VIII: The 401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA & Roth Buckets
    • ► March (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXVIII: Debt - The Unacceptable Burden
      • Chautauqua October 2015: Times Two!
    • ► February (2)
      • YNAB: Best Place to Work Ever?
      • Case Study #12: Escaping a soul-crushing job before you're 70
    • ► January (3)
      • Case Study #11: John, a small business owner in transition
      • Trish and Stan take an Intrepid Sailing Voyage
      • 2014 Annual Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest results, and my forecast for 2015
  • ► 2014 (29)
    • ► December (2)
      • Diamonds and Happy Holidays!
      • Micro-Lending with Kiva
    • ► November (3)
      • Chautauqua February 7-14, 2015: Escape from Winter
      • Stocks -- Part XXVII: Why I Don’t Like Dollar Cost Averaging
      • Jack Bogle and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
    • ► October (3)
      • Tuft & Needle: A better path to sleep
      • Nightmare on Wall Street: Will the Blood Bath Continue?
      • Help Wanted
    • ► September (1)
      • Chautauqua 2014: Lightning strikes again!
    • ► August (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXVI: Pulling the 4%
      • Stocks -- Part XXV: HSAs, more than just a way to pay your medical bills.
    • ► July (3)
      • Stocks -- Part XXIV: RMDs, the ugly surprise at the end of the tax-deferred rainbow
      • Summer travels, writing, reading and other amusements
      • Moto X, my new Republic Wireless Phone
    • ► June (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXIII: Selecting your asset allocation
    • ► May (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXII: Stepping away from REITs
    • ► April (3)
      • Q&A III: Vamos
      • Q&A II: Salamat
      • Q&A I: Gaijin Shogun
    • ► March (2)
      • Top 10 posts
      • Cafe No Se
    • ► February (4)
      • Chautauqua 2014 preview, closing up for travel and other random cool things that caught my eye of late.
      • Case Study #10: Should Josiah buy his parents a house?
      • Case Study #9: Lars -- maximizing some good fortune and considering "dollar cost averaging"
      • Case Study #8: Ron's mother - she's doin' all right!
    • ► January (4)
      • roundup: Some random cool things
      • Stocks — Part XXI: Investing with Vanguard for Europeans
      • Case Study #7: What it looks like when everything financial goes wrong
      • 1st Annual Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest 2013 results, and my forecast for 2014
  • ► 2013 (41)
    • ► December (4)
      • Closing up for the Holidays, see you in 2014
      • Betterment: a simpler path to wealth
      • Case Study 6: Helping an ill and elderly parent
      • Stocks -- Part XX: Early Retirement Withdrawal Strategies and Roth Conversion Ladders from a Mad Fientist
    • ► November (3)
      • Death, Taxes, Estate Plans, Probate and Prob8
      • Case Study #5: Zero to 2.6 million in 25 years
      • Case Study #4: Using the 4% rule and asset allocations.
    • ► October (3)
      • Republic Wireless and my $19 per month phone plan
      • Case Study #3: Let's get Tom to Latin America!
      • The Stock Series gets its own page
    • ► September (2)
      • Case Study #2: Joe -- off to a fast start!
      • Chautauqua 2013: A Week of Dreams
    • ► August (1)
      • Closing up shop plus an opening at Chautauqua, my new podcast, phone, book and other random cool stuff
    • ► July (1)
      • They Will Kill You For Your Shoes!
    • ► June (4)
      • Stocks -- Part VIII-b: Should you avoid your company's 401k?
      • Shilpan's Seven Habits to Live More with Less
      • Stocks -- Part XIX: How to think about money
      • My path for my kid -- the first 10 years
    • ► May (5)
      • Why your house is a terrible investment
      • Stocks — Part XVIII: Investing in a raging bull
      • Dining with the Ghosts of Sarah Bernhardt and Alfons Mucha
      • How we finally got the house sold
      • Stocks — Part XVII: What if you can't buy VTSAX? Or even Vanguard?
    • ► April (4)
      • Greetings from Prague & a computer question
      • Swimming with Tigers, a 2nd chance on the Chautauqua, a financial article gets it wrong and I'm off to Prague
      • Storage, Moving and Movers
      • Homeless, and a bit on the strategy of dollar cost averaging
    • ► March (4)
      • Wild Turkeys, Motorcycles, Dining Room Sets & Greed
      • Roots v. Wings: considering home ownership
      • How about that stock market?!
      • The Blog has New Clothes
    • ► February (5)
      • Meet Mr. Money Mustache, JD Roth, Cheryl Reed & me for a Chautauqua in Ecuador
      • High School Poetry, Carnival, cool ads and random pictures that caught my eye
      • Consignment Shops: Best business model ever?
      • Cafes
      • Stocks -- Part XVI: Index Funds are really just for lazy people, right?
    • ► January (5)
      • Social Security: How secure and when to take it
      • Fighting giraffes, surreal landscapes, dancing with unicorns and restoring a Vanagon
      • My plan for 2013
      • VITA, income taxes and the IRS
      • How to be a stock market guru and get on MSNBC
  • ► 2012 (53)
    • ► December (6)
      • See you next year....until then: The Origin of Life, Life on Other Worlds, Mechanical Graveyards, Great Art, Alternative Lifestyles and Finding Freedom
      • Stocks -- Part XV: Target Retirement Funds, the simplest path to wealth of all
      • Stocks -- Part XIV: Deflation, the ugly escort of Depressions.
      • Stocks Part XIV: Deflation, the ugly escort of Depressions.
      • Stocks -- Part XIII: The 4% rule, withdrawal rates and how much can I spend anyway?
      • How I learned to stop worrying about the Fiscal Cliff and you can too.
    • ► November (2)
      • Rent v. owning: A couple of case studies in Ecuador
      • So, what does a month in Ecuador cost anyway?
    • ► October (4)
      • See you in December....
      • Meet me in Ecuador?
      • The Podcast: You can hear me now.
      • Stocks -- Part XII: Bonds
    • ► September (6)
      • Stocks -- Part XI: International Funds
      • The Smoother Path to Wealth
      • Case Study #I: Putting the Simple Path to Wealth into Action
      • Tales of Bolivia: Calle de las Brujas
      • Stocks -- Part X: What if Vanguard gets Nuked?
      • Travels in South America: It was the best of times....
    • ► August (1)
      • Home again
    • ► June (4)
      • Yellow Fever, closing up shop for the summer and heading to Peru y Bolivia
      • I could not have said it better myself...
      • Stocks -- Part IX: Why I don't like investment advisors
      • Happy Birthday, jlcollinsnh; and thanks for the gift Mr. MM!
    • ► May (6)
      • Stocks -- Part VIII: The 401K, 403b, TSP, IRA & Roth Buckets
      • Mr. Money Mustache
      • The College Conundrum
      • Stocks -- Part VII: Can everyone really retire a millionaire?
      • Stocks -- Part VI: Portfolio ideas to build and keep your wealth
      • Stocks -- Part V: Keeping it simple, considerations and tools
    • ► April (6)
      • Stocks -- Part IV: The Big Ugly Event, Deflation and a bit on Inflation
      • Stocks -- Part III: Most people lose money in the market.
      • Stocks -- Part II: The Market Always Goes Up
      • Stocks -- Part 1: There's a major market crash coming!!!! and Dr. Lo can't save you.
      • You can eat my Vindaloo, mega lottery, Blondie, Noa, Israel Kamakawiwo 'Ole, art, film and a ride on the Space Shuttle
      • Where in the world are you?
    • ► March (7)
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part V: Sold! and the taxman cometh.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part IV: I become a Landlord.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part III: The Battle is Joined.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part II: The Limits of the Law.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part I: Impossibly Naive.
      • You, too, can be conned
      • Armageddon and the value of practical skills
    • ► February (6)
      • Rent v. Owning Your Home, opportunity cost and running some numbers
      • The Casanova Kid, a Shit Knife, a Good Book, Having No Regrets, Dark Matter and a bit of Magic
      • What Poker, Basketball and Mike Whitaker taught me about Luck
      • How to Give like a Billionaire
      • Go ahead, make my day
      • Muk Finds Success in Tahiti
    • ► January (5)
      • Travels with "Esperando un Camino"
      • Beanie Babies, Naked Barbie, American Pickers and Old Coots
      • Selling the House and Adventures in Staging
      • The bashing of Index Funds, Jack Bogle and a Jedi dog trick
      • Magic Beans
  • ► 2011 (22)
    • ► December (1)
      • Dividend Growth Investing
    • ► November (2)
      • The Mummy's head, Particle Physics and "Knocking on Heaven's Door"
      • "It's Better in the Wind" or why I ride a motorcycle
    • ► October (1)
      • Lazy Days and School Days
    • ► July (2)
      • The road to Zanzibar sometimes goes thru Ecuador...
      • Johnny wins the lotto and heads to Paris
    • ► June (16)
      • Chainsaws, Elm Trees and paying for College
      • Stuff I’ve failed at: the early years
      • Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat
      • The. Worst. Used. Car. Ever.
      • Top Ten reasons your future is so bright it hurts my eyes to look at it
      • The Most Dangerous Words Your Customer Can Say
      • How not to drown in The Sea of Assholes
      • What we own and why we own it
      • The Ten Sales Commandments
      • My ever so formal and oh so dry CV
      • How I failed my daughter and a simple path to wealth
      • The Myth of Motivation
      • Why you need F-you money
      • My short attention span
      • Why I can’t pick winning stocks, and you can’t either
      • The Monk and the Minister

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