A 30-year-old with $94,000 invested today — and zero additional contributions — would reach $1 million by age 65. No 401(k) match needed. No aggressive savings rate. No side hustles. Just compound growth doing what it does over 35 years. That’s coast FIRE in one sentence. Most people hear “financial independence” and picture decades of … Read more
An index fund and an ETF can hold the exact same 500 stocks, charge nearly the same fee, and deliver nearly identical returns. VOO and VFIAX both track the S&P 500 — one costs 0.03%, the other 0.04%. Performance over the past decade? Within 0.01% of each other annually. So the index fund vs ETF … Read more
A 0.03% expense ratio and a 1.00% annual fee sound almost identical. The difference is less than a single percentage point. Most investors glance at it and move on. That’s a $49,000 mistake. On a single $10,000 investment left untouched for 30 years, the fund charging 1.00% costs you $49,000 more than the one charging … Read more
You opened a brokerage account. Maybe you even funded it. Now you’re staring at a search bar with 3,000+ ETFs and no idea where to start. This is where most new investors stall. Not because investing is hard — but because the options are overwhelming. So here’s the shortcut: you don’t need 3,000 ETFs. You … Read more
$10,000 invested in VOO at launch in September 2010 is worth roughly $75,000 today. No options trades. No earnings calls at 4 a.m. No “conviction picks” that cratered 60%. Just one ticker, held for 15 years, compounding at about 14.5% annually with dividends reinvested. VOO — the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF — is the most … Read more
