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

                              Past few days, I was thinking about how to modify my existing portfolio for a possible downturn in US stock market. In my retirement (401K and Roth IRA) and personal brokerage, about 90% holdings are on US Stock and ETFs. My portfolio is very much on domestic equities and luckily, I ripped benefits from the roaring US equity market in last several years. Same may not be true for our fellow investor friends on other side of the pond or in Asia/Latin Americas. While our benchmark S&P 500 index returned over 180% since 2010, rest of the world index returned mere 15-20%. I hope in 2020, US stock market will keep roaring but analyzing the historical trends invoking some new thoughts. Recently I came across a very concise article on this from Fidelity Investment and here I am trying to summarize it. Apparently, there is cyclical turn between US vs International marke...

                               Hello Y’all! Just enjoying my last off day     before daily grinding starts in full swing from next week ☹ This week I just worked in first two days and took days off with holiday on 1 st January. This feels like a comfortable mix of work and relax days to me. It   gives me a good taste of semi-retirement or semi-FIRE   plan I am contemplating for last couple of years. Personally, I was never a big fan of full retirement except for poor health issue. Not sure I or folks in my circle would just enjoy sitting on couch and watching TV all day for 365 days..haha..that will be hell boring! Even people I see in Travel blogs/Vlogs, sailing around on boat or driving in Van, work on some income generation activities in some capacity. So at least for me, a combination of off day with low stress part time would be best combination. For a full-blown F...

                                          Hello folks, Happy New Year! This is my first post in 2020 and looking forward to writing more this year! My new year resolution! I hope all you had well deserved holiday time with family & friends and charged up for 2020 ahead! In this post, I will discuss one of the cornerstones of my portfolio strategy as part Financial Independence (FI) journey. As you know, I am big proponent of dividend investing due to cash generation and reinvestment at this point of my journey. Ultimately after reaching FI, I like to cover most of my living expenses with dividends only, without touching my principle. While screening for a dividend stocks, I usually use the dividend aristocrat list for that year. By the way, this aristocrats list are not only for aristocrats, but for average Joe like us to invest and get rich 😊 Here are few facts ab...