Save and Invest to catch FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early)

  Hello folks! Hope everyone doing well! Even most people are not familiar with Intel, however this is part of our life for last few decades. Let me tell my side of the story: I bought my first computer in 1997. Back then laptops were almost nonexistent. I had back bending hard time moving that heavy monitor and CPU to my upstairs room. The first thing I remember seeing that shiny blue sticker on CPU “Intel inside”. Till these days most CPU and laptops come with same blue sticker. Isn’t amazing so many years later same company running the brains of computer across the world. Intel is known for manufacturing processors for computers, data server. If you are not familiar with processor, it’s simply what brain does for a human body, that’s what processor does for computers.  Intel enjoys dominating the processor market for many years. Although in recent years AMD, NVIDIA are biting some of its market share. However, Intel is like that 1000-pound gorilla that is hard to push around. I

  Hello folks! Hope all are doing great and ready for the long Labor Day weekend! I am sharing the stocks/ETFs added to my taxable brokerage account in August. Usually, I like to add about $1500 to $1700 monthly to this account, but August was bit stressful. I had couple of sudden medical and repair bills to pay, so added only about $500 to this account. I guess maintain the same investment amount every month is kind of hard for most folks. We are frugal in our monthly spending but once a while either medical bill or some sort of car/house repair just drains out that month’s investment amount. It is what is it! Can’t complain much! But I try not to focus too much on those situations, but rather try to maximize investing in next month. Luckily, contribution to my 401K is at steady rate $1400/month for last one year and my contribution to Roth IRA is completed for 2020. This August I added following equities in my brokerage.  I added few Canadian dividend stocks to my portfolio. TD

  Hello folks! Hope all are doing ok! Seems like pandemic thing is bit under control but still a big danger to resume regular activities. In this post I like to discuss why a good chunk of my portfolio is invested in consumer staple stocks/ETFs (some call them Boring!). They don’t create buzz in media like Netflix, Tesla or Amazon stocks make 😊 This sector mostly covers companies that are either in production or distribution sides of foods and beverages, cleaning products, personal care products, household items, Cosmetics etc. Some of the most common name that may pop up in my mind are say Coca-Cola, P & G, Clorox, Kellogg, Walmart, Target, Costco so on. In stock market terminology, this sector is called Non-cyclical, cause does not matter what happens to greater economy, they perform relatively stable. The reason is obvious, does not matter what financial situation we are in, we still need to go to groceries, still need to by toothpaste, toilet paper, laundry powder etc.

  Hello folks! How is going? I am sharing what stocks and ETFs I added in July 2020 into my taxable brokerage account. I am using this account to build a dividend focused portfolio, so in early retirement it can supply needed passive income to cover some living expenses. I added three high dividend stable companies like Intel, Honeywell and 3M. These are solid dividend payers for many years. I love the solid balance sheet and strong industry presence of each of them. As you can see, I also added five different Vanguard ETFs. Some of them are sector specific (like Utilities, Materials, IT industry) while others are based on market cap size. ETF s are big part of my portfolio as I find they bring considerable diversity and stability into my portfolio.     Disclaimer:  This article shows my personal opinion and it’s for entertainment purpose only. This is no way professional financial advice. You may seek professional advice or conduct own research before investing. This sit

Hello folks! How is going? Today I like to bring up an issue that is so common to anyone going through 8-5 grinding at work.   I think work related stress is real and a significant issue in most people’s life. The cause of work-related stress can be diverse but here are few I think are major: stressful job assignments, multiple project deadline, long commute, tough manager, corporate b.s. To name a few. Now, the problem is we need to go through all of these year after years without better alternate. The obvious reason behind is that we all eagerly wait for that paycheck end of every month. Does not matter how stressed you are, you are going to be grinding coz you just can’t afford a month without that paycheck. Also not mentioning dependence on employer sponsored health insurance.  I have been working for last several years on varying engineering roles. Sometimes I feel like to leave everything behind coz the stress is slowly building upon me year after year. Two of my maj

Hello folks! Hope all are doing great! Who wants more vacation days?? The answer is, I want, you want, everyone wants!! Today I am going to share few thoughts on what I am doing to get more vacation days from work and hence reduce burn out from work stress. One of the major downsides of corporate America is fewer paid vacation days compared to Europe and Canada. On average, we get about two weeks of paid vacation days per year. Depending on employer, it can be few days more or less but I guess this is a good average number. I find this few paid vacations are no way enough for working people to de-stress and recharge! In most European countries and in Canada, the number of paid vacations is more than 4 weeks/yearly. I think we should have more paid vacation days to bring more quality to life. If I think the total number of off days I get from office are about total little over 3 weeks = 2-week vacation + 1 week (Christmas, New year, Thanksgiving etc.). So technically this m

Hello folks! Hope all are doing well! We are having high infection rate in Texas, so I was mostly indoors during this 4 th of July break. In addition to all the turmoils, the movement in stock market is giving me a hard time to concentrate. Seems like recent upward trend already counted in post pandemic recovery although pandemic is nowhere near to be over. Tesla stock is on fire and $1400 price point seems quite expensive to me. Listening to few expert analysts, a good valuation may be around $800. I guess lot of inflow to that stock is due to fear of missing out. As long as fed is pumping zero interest money in market, I am not expecting much of pull back in this market. IT sector saw the most rapid recovery from the march dip. Overall, I think work from home is going to be here even pandemic is over. Also, most of large retailer are going to adopt online based business model rather than brick and mortar stores. All these are going to just drive the demand for software a

Hello folks! Happy Sunday morning! just made my French roast coffee and feeling like sharing few thoughts with you all. I am not sure if other folks who are working from home having this less gloomy Sunday evening feeling. Previously before the pandemic, when I had to go to office on Monday, from Sunday afternoon I used to feel bit depressed. Seemingly, after I started working from home, that sad vibe is almost gone! I guess the thought of getting up early, driving through traffic and fighting for a parking spot, all creates unnecessary panic among regular 8-5 office going folks. I feel like working from home making me much relaxed and productive. Most of my colleagues expressed the same opinion and our management informed that they are seeing higher productivity across all departments 😊 Hopefully, once pandemic is over, we will still be allowed to work from home. I can feel that I am getting two extra hours everyday that was lost on commuting back and forth to office. Additi

Hello there all! Hope everyone is safe and doing well! Few days ago, I was reading a blogpost and there was discussion about how people struggle to save and invest consistently for longer period. After thinking about this issue for some time, I assume most probable cause is non-enjoyment. Vast majorly of people who fail to stick to saving & investing (s&i), force them to continue the journey rather than enjoying it. We need to remember s&i is not a bitter pill to swallow for some time and one day we will be financially independent (f&i). For most of average income folks like me, it will easily take 12 to 20 years of consistent s&I to be f&i. To me, this process is fairly like sticking to a healthy diet and physical exercise routine. Personally, I was not a big fan of healthy diet and exercise in my younger age. I enjoyed eating out almost every day and had to had burgers and fries almost 3-4 times a week. Although I signed up several times on gym me