Posts on living off investments, investment income, alternative income investments, dividend investing, covered call writing, strategies for living off investments, REITs, MLPs.
Covered calls can be an excellent income source for stock investors, but it can be confusing to know the best option expiration to choose for the call being sold. The further out the option expiration, the higher the premium and the longer the stock has to reach the strike price. How far out you …
Does everything you need to know about investing really fit onto one side of a cocktail napkin as touted by more than one wildly famous financial author? Well, the answer depends on: Your personal wealth plan How long you have to save and invest Your net worth How much money you need to retire …
Beginner To Advanced Investing Strategies | What’s Best for You?Read More »
Saving a million dollars used to mean that you were financially set for life. Can you live off a million dollars today, and for how long? The answer depends on 3 factors: how much money you spend, the method you choose to live off the million dollars you’ve accumulated, and how much return the million …
Creative income streams have been the saving grace for my family. I think they can be for millions of retirees willing to think and act outside the box. In this post I’ll share what I’ve learned after testing and implementing over 15 creative income streams from investing, consulting, online business and real estate along with my husband. While I’m …
There are two major reasons you invest; for cash flow or for capital gains. What’s the difference between cash flow and capital gains investing? Cash flow investing buys assets that generate income while capital gains investing buys assets with the expectation they will increase in value. There are some important nuances with both …
Difference Between Cash Flow and Capital Gains with ChartRead More »
Can you retire at 55 with 2 million? The inspiration for this post came from exploring this possibility recently with a wealth coaching client. Like my client, the answer for you will depend on your expenses, chosen retirement method plus current and future income streams. In this post we’ll address each of these factors. This question hits close to …
Can You Retire at 55 with 2 Million Nowadays? [Videos]Read More »
An exciting and promising shift is happening right now in the way we retire. Fortunately, changes stemming from the rise of the internet now lead to rewarding retirement opportunities for those not interested in living on less while working crossword puzzles for brain stimulation in their golden years. The younger generations are living proof of …
It’s stressful knowing that the consistent (and delightful!) monthly deposit into your bank account will end when you retire. But there are many ways you can increase income before retirement to ease the abrupt end of that sweet reliable employment income. Stock dividends, covered calls, alternative investments, various real estate investments, and even consulting or online …
How to Increase Income Before Retirement [With Video Challenge Series] Read More »
A million dollars no longer guarantees a comfortable retirement complete with cruises and luxury cars. How long will a million dollars last in retirement? In this post, you’ll see. The inspiration for this article comes from working with a 55-year-old wealth coaching client who was wondering how long her million dollars would last in retirement. Let’s …
How Long Will a Million Dollars Last in Retirement?Read More »
A lot of investors get confused about wealth building vs income but these terms are the starting point for investing. Don’t get me wrong: More income is always good to have! And it can be saved to build wealth over time. But, as you’ll see below, it can make sense to forego a focus on …
True financial independence is being able to live off investment income without spending down your investment capital. Here’s how to calculate investment income: Multiply the investment cost by the yield to get the amount of annual income. For example, if an investment which cost $100,000 yields 3%, investment income will be $3,000 a year. Investment …
The old model of retirement no longer works for a lot of people who want to live well in retirement. Old retirement strategies include basics like delaying social security, working longer and part time employment. But, fortunately, there are now some more innovative and lucrative retirement strategies that can be a real godsend for retirees. Many millennials are already using some of these new retirement …
Consistently saving money and investing it in stocks and bonds builds wealth over many years. The problem is that this strategy usually takes at least two decades, and most people don’t begin this discipline until it’s too late to save enough to retire comfortably. Alternative wealth solutions exist, however, for anyone willing to think and invest outside the …
For those planning to retire soon, retirement can feel scary from both a financial and a lifestyle perspective. Fear of retirement boredom is a very legitimate reality, especially for certain personalities. Here are 7 ways to address that subtle and almost embarrassing fear that you could be bored to tears in retirement. Read my own …
True financial independence is reached when you can live off investment income. Living off investment income has many advantages that often require a shift from traditional investing in stocks and bonds, but there are also a few disadvantages to living off investment income. In this post, I’ll share and explain the 22 advantages and 6 …
Living Off Investment Income | Advantages and DisadvantagesRead More »
If you’re concerned that investing in traditional stocks and bonds with a common asset allocation won’t provide a comfortable retirement for life, you’re not alone. We had those same concerns over a decade ago, along with millions of other investors over 50, and here’s what we discovered. Alternative retirement investment strategies can result in higher …
12 “Slightly” Alternative Retirement Investment Strategies Read More »
Just past midlife, many people get super focused on increasing net worth before retirement. What net worth do you need to retire? It depends on how much money you spend, how your net worth is allocated among assets, the income those assets generate and their potential to increase in value, and other income sources. In this post I’ll address …
Updated: October 9, 2019 By definition, retirement is the time when you can live off investments. The traditional retirement model is to withdraw 4% a year from your retirement savings to live but an increasingly popular alternative is to get income from investments instead. Is it safest to withdraw or get investment income to live in …
Is It Safest to Withdraw or Get Investment Income? ChallengeRead More »
Updated May 6, 2020 At the end of the strong bull market of the 1990’s, a few brave financial experts predicted the next decade would not be a good one for stock investors. What will stocks do over the next 10 years? Ray Dalio, Warren Buffett, Rob Arnott, Liz Ann Sonders and John Bogle have told us what …
Knowing how much money you need to live off investments can seem daunting but it’s really just a few steps and math. Let’s say you want to generate $ 10,000 a month to live off investments. We can back into the amount of money you need with the following formula: Amount of Desired Monthly Income/Expected Yield = …
Is 1.5 million enough to retire? The answer depends on your age, assets, spending, investment returns and how many income sources you’ll have in retirement. In this post, I’ll show you how to see if 1.5 million is enough for you to retire based on your own situation. At Retire Certain, the goal of my articles is to …
After surviving a few bear markets over the past 40 years as an investor, I’ve learned many lessons from them. Reducing risk in stocks before bear markets take full hold helps investors protect their net worth as well as have capital to invest in stocks again once unusually low valuations are reached. This sounds almost too obvious to write, but most investors don’t take …
Reducing Risk in Stocks | 13 Lessons from Past Bear MarketsRead More »
You may have noticed that you’ve gotten both capital gains and dividends from investing. Are dividends or capital gains better? While I wouldn’t turn down either, dividends are better when you have decided to live off investments, and capital gains are better for building wealth. The Difference Between Capital Gains and Dividends While making money …
You may have heard that selling covered calls can increase earnings from stocks. How do covered calls work exactly? Covered call writing is a strategy where a stock investor sells call options that give the call option buyer the right to buy the stock from the stock investor at a set price and within a certain …
Selling in the money covered calls can be an excellent income generating strategy for those living off investments. An in the money covered call strategy involves selling a call option with a strike price lower than the cost of the underlying stock. This strategy is commonly used when the call writer expects the stock price to decrease, …
In the Money Covered Call Strategy | Benefits and ExamplesRead More »
If you’re exploring early retirement like we were well over a decade ago, you may be wondering about the income provided from the standard 4% retirement withdrawal rule. Does the 4% rule include dividends, specifically? Or do investors using this popular plan get to withdraw 4% annually in addition to dividend income? The 4% rule …
Growth investing is usually done during an investor’s high income years while income investing is usually done during retirement, but the best time to transition from growth to income can be unclear. If you’re wondering when to switch from growth to income investments, the answer depends on several factors including net worth, income sources, wealth …
When to Switch from Growth to Income [With Videos]Read More »
If you’re approaching retirement, that anticipated time when you can live off investments or at least work fewer hours own your schedule, you’re probably transitioning to income investing. You may be wondering how to buy assets that generate income. The way you buy income generating assets depends on the type of asset you’re buying. For example, …
If you’re concerned about having enough income to live comfortably in retirement, you may want to start one or more income streams beforehand but you’re not sure where to start. To choose the best income stream to start before retirement, consider your desired income, eventual capital gain, acceptable risk and lifestyle. It’s easy to get …
The Best Income Stream to Start Before RetirementRead More »
You may be thinking of transitioning from growth to income investing before retirement. The pros and cons of income investing are outlined in this post based on what I’ve learned from almost 40 years of investing in stocks and bonds with a focus on more alternative income investing for the past 15 years. While I’m …
Covered calls can be an excellent way to increase income from stocks but like all investments, covered calls aren’t perfect. The problems with covered calls include stock market risk, company risk, high capital, missing capital gains, taxes, and management. It is my belief that the benefits far outweigh the problems with covered calls for income …
In this time of low dividend yields, increasing stock income by selling call options on stocks you already own sounds pretty appealing to yield hungry investors. Are covered calls a good strategy? Selling covered calls increases stock income significantly while decreasing risk. They can be an excellent income strategy for stock investors willing to forego …
Every day more investors are getting into entrepreneurship or real estate and you may be wondering if either makes sense for you. The opportunities from owning a business vs. real estate vary based on available time to manage, time to generate income or capital, available capital, risk tolerance, income goal, wealth building goal, ease of …
Owning a Business Vs Real Estate | What I Learned from EachRead More »
Updated August 8, 2019 Investing in bonds definitely has risks, contrary to what many investors think. Just what are the risk of bond investments? They include interest rate risk, default risk, inflation risk, call risk and economic risk. The fact that bonds are used to offset risk from stocks, and the very long bull …
What Are the Risks of Bonds? Chart Stocks Vs BondsRead More »
Income investing comes with both risks and rewards, just like all investments. The risks of income investing in bonds includes interest rate risk, default risk, inflation risk and more. And for stock income investors, there is bear market risk and political risk. Both bond and stock income investors face company or entity specific risk and …
A wealth coaching client recently asked “How much do I need to invest to make $10,000 a month in income?” So, we explored several options based on her net worth and chosen level of risk. To see how much you need to invest to make $10,000 in monthly income, or any other amount, simply multiply …
How Much Do I Need to Invest to Make $10,000 a MonthRead More »
Most investors own stocks in their portfolio with the expectation to build wealth while also getting dividend income. Investors can sell covered calls for income on their stock holdings and receive 6 to 9 times the income that’s derived from dividends alone. They must, however, accept that they may have to sell the stock at …
Covered Calls for Income – Example of a Recent Strategy I Did with ROI [Charts]Read More »
Living off investments defines financial independence, but getting there can be challenging. How much money do you need to live off investments? Here’s the formula. Divide the desired annual income by the expected yield. If you want $10,000 monthly investment income, and expect a 5% yield, divide $120,000 by 5% for the amount of …
How Much Money Do You Need to Live Off Investments? [Videos+PDF]Read More »
Stocks dividends are an easy way to get passive income, but it takes a lot of capital to make a significant amount since dividend rates are low for most stocks. I bought my first dividend oriented mutual fund at Fidelity Investments almost 40 years ago, and I’ve owned many dividend stocks since then. Is Dividend …
Investors spend most of their lives concentrating on investing for growth vs investing for income. The way to generate more income from investments, then, is to simply shift your overall objective from growth to income. Here are 44 ways to get more income from your investments ranging from stock dividends to alternative income investments, such …
How to Get More Income from Investments – 44 StrategiesRead More »
Are you tired of seeing the passive income ads with the rented Ferrari parked in front of someone else’s mansion? It leads one to ask: Is passive income real? The answer is yes, passive income is real, with these important caveats below which no one mentions. In this post I’ll share some truths for income …
Are you concerned about having enough money to retire? Does it seem impossible to reach your retirement income goal? I get it! About a decade ago, after facing the realization that income from stocks and bonds alone may not sustain our standard of living for life, we set a retirement income goal to replace our …
Are you wondering if living off covered calls is feasible? Income from covered calls realistically ranges from about .50% to 3% a month, or 6% to 18% annualized, depending on a stock’s movement and volatility. For a $100,000 stock portfolio, covered call income estimates range from $6,000 to $36,000 a year. Over ten years ago, …
Does interest off 1 million dollars seem like it would provide plenty of income for life? In this article, I’m going to show you how much interest income you’ll get from a million dollars. Let’s face it; a million dollars sounds cool. So we’ll use it as the foundation for this post. Many people spend …
Have you heard that the past reliable retirement withdrawal strategies don’t work anymore? Well, there is good news, and bad news around that rumor. The good news is that retirement withdrawal strategies can work for those seeking to withdraw 1 to 4% a year from their investment accounts as a passive source of funds. The bad …
Retirement Withdrawal Strategies – Do They Still Work?Read More »
Are you searching for income producing assets that pay you consistently, often, and much more than the low dividend rate that you get from a stock portfolio nowadays? In this article, I’ll share with you 9 income producing assets. We are currently using all but one of these income producing assets as of this post, …
You may be wondering how to live off investments, especially in this day and age of extremely low interest rates when your investments don’t earn much income. Simply put, you can live off investments in one of three ways: Spend your savings and the growth from that money Spend the income your savings generates for …
How To Live Off Investments During Low Interest Rates [Videos]Read More »