The Perfect Time to Invest

Like everyone, I sometimes struggle with waiting for the perfect time.

You wait for the perfect time to have kids, learn a new skill, quit a bad habit. And then after you just do the thing, you always wonder why you waited so long. Life is better now.

It’s no different with investing. If you’ve never invested before it’s hard getting started. It’s even harder if the market’s been steadily rising. Almost impossible when everyone is predicting a recession.

So what most people do is...

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By Chris Reining / 2 Comments

Things Now, or Time Later

I don’t own a car anymore, and so I’ve been riding a 12-year old bike. It takes a lot for me to buy anything.

Like I’m writing this on a two-year-old laptop, which replaced a laptop that was six years old, which replaced a laptop that was six years old.

I’ve been wearing the clothes in my closet until they’re worn out, and then not replacing them. I’m down to just a few pieces of clothing.

It’s not about living like a monk, or being...

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By Chris Reining / 11 Comments

5 Thoughts on Financial Freedom (My 3-Year Update)

What’s the first thing you’d do if you won the lottery? Like anyone posing with a door-sized check says, “I’m quitting my job!”

That’s why I really admire anyone who loves what they do, who can sit there doing the same thing for half a century, because in reality 85% of people hate their job. So while lottery tickets are one way to escape the rat race, isn’t there a more practical strategy?

Well, I can tell you like 99% of...

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By Chris Reining / 1 Comment

Why Pros Can’t Beat the Market, but You Can

A small part of my investment portfolio is an index fund tracking “the market”, and apparently I’m not alone.

Over the past few years trillions of dollars have flowed into index funds as people realize highly paid professional money managers seldom beat the market.

Bill Mann, after spending eight years running active funds, explained why that’s a difficult task:

“Fund managers are under pressure to be predictable by showing low tracking error, which essentially means funds have to try to beat their...

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By Chris Reining / 4 Comments

How Not to Invest $100,000

A friend called me up scared. They’ve spent the past 20 years working to pay off student loans, buy a house, raise a family, and so saving for retirement wasn’t a priority. “Where do I start?”

It was a good reminder: it’s easy to forget how confusing and daunting investing is when you’re getting started. Which reminds me of a story about a guy who had $100,000 to invest.

The first thing he did was buy 20 stocks, putting $5,000 into each. But then...

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By Chris Reining / 0 Comments