Once you achieve Financial Independence, you may choose to leave salaried employment but with decades of vibrant life ahead, it’s too soon to do nothing. The new stage of life between traditional employment and Full Retirement we call Victory Lap, or Victory Lap Retirement (also the title of a new book to be published in August 2016. You can pre-order now at VictoryLapRetirement.com). You may choose to start a business, go back to school or launch an Encore Act or Legacy Career. Perhaps you become a free agent, consultant, freelance writer or to change careers and re-enter the corporate world or government.
I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well, I could tell by her blood-stained hands, sing it
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need — You Can’t Always Get What You Want, by The Rolling Stones
By Noah Solomon
Special to Financial Independence Hub
Apropos of what has been clearly driving markets over the past several weeks, in this month’s commentary I will discuss tariffs. Specifically, I will demonstrate that although they can, in theory, produce certain benefits, in reality, they are far more likely to cause more harm than good, both for economies and markets.
A Boon to Humanity
The entire world has benefitted immeasurably from global trade in the postwar era. Its expansion has vastly expanded the supply of most goods, leading to lower prices. In simple terms, globalization has led to more things at lower prices, which has made the world far wealthier and led to a phenomenal increase in standards of living.
Consumers and businesses in the U.S. and other developed nations have benefitted from the fact that most things can be made for less in other countries. To be sure, the windfall of cheaper goods has involved the dislocation of manufacturing jobs over the last several decades. However, the percentage of the American workforce in manufacturing currently stands at roughly 8%, and less than 14% in 2000.
Furthermore, most experts agree that technology and automation, as opposed to trade, have been primarily responsible for the decline in manufacturing employment in the U.S. Also, given that the U.S. is currently at full employment, it stands to reason that dislocated jobs have been replaced. Importantly, the net benefit of trade has been massive, enabling citizens of advanced economies to enjoy higher standards of living than if they were forced to buy only domestically produced goods.
The Theoretical Benefits of Tariffs
Although the benefits from free trade are undeniable, governments are periodically tempted to tweak trade relationships in their favour to maintain or augment globalization’s existing benefits while minimizing or eliminating its relatively minor drawbacks. These initiatives entail some degree of restrictions on trade. Today, the U.S. is pursuing such policies by imposing tariffs on imported goods.
The purported benefits of these particular tariffs are:
Benefit #1: Improved government finances: This argument contends that tariff revenues will afford the government some flexibility with respect to fiscal policy. Specifically, the revenue which is collected via tariffs will be used to reduce the ever-expanding U.S. deficit. Alternatively, these revenues could serve to increase government spending and/or reduce taxes without a deterioration of the government’s fiscal position.
Promise #2: A manufacturing renaissance: Another potential benefit involves the bolstering of certain industries via reduced competition from imports, with an associated boost to employment in these areas. The current U.S. administration has been particularly vocal about the ability of tariffs to revitalize manufacturing in states where it was once prominent.
Promise #3: A Better Deal: This argument holds that tariffs will force other countries to the negotiating table and put the U.S. in a strong position to secure better trade agreements and/or end unfair trade practices that hurt its economy.
Einstein’s Warning
Albert Einstein famously stated, “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” In theory, tariffs can deliver on the aforementioned promises, but the reality is that not only are they unlikely to do so but stand a very good chance of causing more harm than good.
Very little, if anything, in the modern global economy occurs in a vacuum. One specific policy or event can easily start a chain reaction of subsequent policies and events. Although some of these cascading effects can be anticipated, their magnitude is almost impossible to predict. More ominously, many of them are unforeseeable (the technical term used by economists for such developments is “unintended consequences”). As a result of such reverberations, few, if any of the purported benefits of tariffs are likely to materialize, should they remain in place. Moreover, their associated consequences could prove severe.
Improved Government Finances: Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
Escalating tensions and the prospect of long-lasting trade wars have resulted in a heightened state of uncertainty among both businesses and consumers, which may have a significant impact on their investment and spending. Continue Reading…
This article was about retirement satisfaction and asked if having little money, a reasonable amount of money or lots of money made a difference.
I have followed Mark’s writings for years and was surprised that Mark, to make his point, was hawking annuities.
Mark explains that you could put $100,000 into an annuity and receive $501 per month guaranteed for your lifetime. This equates to $6,012 per year or a 6% return.
My perspective and why
Here’s the problem that I have with this.
Inflation. As inflation has heated up after years being quiet, your $501 monthly check is going to buy you less and less over time. The erosion of buying power will not be noticed at first but over the years it certainly will. This is a huge negative for me.
Once you turn your money over to the annuity company, you no longer have control of it and possibly it is no longer part of your estate. This means you cannot leave it to your spouse, a child, grandchild or your favorite cause. And remember, your annuity is only as good as the company that backs it. If they have dereliction in management or other calamities you could be getting back pennies on the dollar. It happens.
In the example with this annuity It will take you about 16.5 years to break even with your investment.
What if you die before that?
My suggestion
There are other options if you have $100K and want a 6% yield for income and still keep control of the asset.
For instance, you could purchase any or all of these high yielding dividend-paying stocks.
AT&T (T) yield 4.04%
Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) yield 9.10%%
Energy Transfer (ET), yield 7.32%
Exxon Mobil (XOM), yield 3.84%
Main Street Capital (MAIN) yield 5.51%
In this example, you could put $20,000 into each of the above for a 5.96% average yield or $5,962 per year income. Also, there is potential for these equities to increase in value as well as raise their dividends. So, in this case, you have the possibility of being able to reinvest any amount over the 6% giving you the opportunity to increase your holdings while still covering the $6,000 annual income.
Other options
However, if you are not comfortable owning three out of the five stocks in the energy field, for more diversification, you could purchase DVY, IShares Select Dividend ETF with a portfolio of 100 different companies and with a 3.72% yield.
The idea here is to receive the 3.72% dividend distributions and sell off $2,280 worth of shares annually to make the 6% yield.
How is that done? You invest 100K into DVY taking the quarterly dividends which amount to a 3.72% yield. After one year-and-a-day (so that you meet the long-term capital gains requirement), you sell off $2,280 worth of shares.
DVY 10 Year Total Return = +9.40%
In this example based on the past 10-year performance of DVY, your principal would have grown to approximately $109,400, year one, which is a 9.4% annual total return. You receive $3720.00 in dividend income and $2280.00 in capital gains = $6000.00, leaving approximately $103,400 invested.
We all know that past performance is no indication of future results, but there are no guarantees in retirement, investments, nor annuities.
Kevin Depocas Dumas says even with current U.S.-Canada tensions he’s not seeing a lot of Canadians who want to sell their Florida properties.
In the latest episode of Two Way Traffic, he and host Darren Coleman discussed issues affecting Canadians who own property in the state. About half a million Canadians are in that boat.
Dumas is Associate Vice President of Business Development of NatBank, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Bank of Canada that’s operated in Florida for over 30 years.
Topics he and Coleman discussed include:
Difficulties Canadians in the U.S. have in getting a mortgage from an American bank and what to do about it.
Problems Canadians in the U.S. – even wealthy ones – have in obtaining credit or getting a loan.
Why it’s cheaper to deal with an American financial institution than a Canadian one when in the U.S., but there could be issues you may not anticipate.
Today I’m joined by Kevin Dupocas Dumas, AVP of NAT Bank in Florida. So you guys have offices in Naples. Where else?
Kevin Depocas Dumas
We have three other branches on the east coast of Florida. One in Hollywood. One in Pompano Beach. And one in Boynton Beach.
Darren Coleman
This conversation is going to be helpful for Canadians who have or want to have property in Florida. So let’s guide people through this. Who is NAT Bank?
Kevin Depocas Dumas
Kevin Depocas Dumas
NAT Bank was created 30 years ago and we are a wholly owned subsidiary of National Bank of Canada. We’ve been operating here for 30 years offering financing solutions or banking solutions primarily for Canadians. A lot of Canadians may not have access to the financing market or the banking market here. We take care of those needs for them, especially for those who spend half their year in Florida.
Darren Coleman
You and I just happened to meet each other. I was in Naples and you guys were doing a presentation in your branch for your clients. You had a cross-border attorney doing the presentation and it just happened to be my friend Shlomi Levy who’s been on this podcast. I should give full disclosure since I was a vice president at National Bank Financial for five months after they acquired HSBC. So what are some of the challenges if Canadians have property or wish to buy property in the U.S.? How easy is it to go into a U.S. bank and say I’d like a mortgage on my condo? Or a mortgage on my property? How easy is it to get a U.S.-domiciled mortgage?
Kevin Depocas Dumas
This is actually the biggest problem for Canadians coming down here. They cannot use their Canadian credit history or their Canadian assets. They’re not going to be using any documents that come from Canada. So they don’t qualify for a loan, or if they do, they have to go to the private lenders: which usually won’t do a loan at more than 50% LTV. So Canadians are not only faced with the currency exchange, but where are they going to get funds from investments they’re holding and putting it into buying the property? This is the biggest thing they’ll face here. Continue Reading…
Freelancers are growing in abundance. The gig economy benefits from the rise of digital platforms connecting workers to customers for short-term employment. While the whole setup affords freedom and flexibility for many, it also comes with financial uncertainty.
Unlike traditional employees, gig workers don’t have a steady paycheck that comes through from month to month. There are also no work benefits nor guaranteed work hours. The unpredictability of gigs can make it difficult for people in the industry to save and build an emergency fund.
Why Gig Workers need an Emergency Fund more than ever
An emergency fund is any gig worker’s safety net. Your unique circumstance as a freelance worker makes income inconsistent and paid sick leave non-existent. This lack of employer-sponsored benefits necessitates creating your own cushions. However, financial planning is even more challenging as a gig worker : medical emergencies, vehicle breakdowns or slow business months can become financial disasters without proper savings.
Building an emergency fund ensures you’ll be prepared when income dips or unexpected expenses arise.
Smart Saving Strategies for Gig Workers
It’s challenging, sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Here are ways to help you start your savings journey:
Automate Your Savings From Gig Payments
Every time you receive your paycheck, set up an automatic transfer to a high-yield savings account. Some banks allow their users to automate transfers so they can set aside a portion of every deposit. If your bank doesn’t, you can do the same with apps like Digit, Qapital or Chime.
Automating your savings allows you to set it up once and forget you’re actively saving in an emergency fund. Even 5% to 10% of each payment can add up to a significant amount over time.
Use High-Yield Savings Accounts
Keep your emergency funds in a savings account with high returns rather than a checking account that pays very little interest. A high-yield savings account is an accessible and secure place to save your emergency stash. You’ll earn competitive interest while the money is idle and can withdraw cash whenever needed. Many online banks offer this benefit so you can grow your savings.
One word of caution, though: You should not put all your money in one high-yield savings account. Diversifying them creates better financial resilience.
Implement the “Pay Yourself First” Strategy
Robert Kiyosaki popularized the “pay yourself first” scheme. This method means prioritizing your saving goals before your expenses. If you treat your savings like a monthly nonnegotiable expense, you ensure you funnel some money toward financial security over discretionary spending.
Budget Based on your Lowest Income Month
Because gig work is unpredictable, you should budget every month as if it’s slow. Calculate your lowest earning month and structure your essential expenses accordingly. Put any excess in your savings fund.
Cut Unnecessary Expenses and Redirect to Savings
Do you eat out more often than you should, or buy new clothes you don’t always wear? Are you being tempted to swipe your credit card for every purchase? Assess areas in your life where you most indulge in spending money.
Knowing where your money goes can reduce shelling out where you don’t need it. Cancel unused subscriptions and opt for public transportation rather than Uber to your location. Cook at home instead of dining out and take advantage of discounts and cashback rewards. Every dollar saved can go toward building your financial cushion.
Leverage Microinvesting Apps for Small Gains
Microinvesting allows you to start saving with minimal capital, often investing spare change from day-to-day purchases. Apps like Acorns and Stash round up your purchases and invest the spare change. While not suitable as a primary emergency fund, these microinvestments are perfect for beginners and those with limited funds to supplement their savings over time.
Diversify your Income Streams
Decrease your financial vulnerability by tapping into multiple income sources. Consider taking on different types of gigs to ensure a steady flow of earnings. Whether freelancing, online tutoring or renting out a spare room, extra income streams can help you save more consistently. Continue Reading…
Looking to break away from the traditional 9-to-5 path to Financial Independence? In this expert roundup, professionals share the platforms and resources that helped them explore alternative ways to build wealth, from niche investment tools to entrepreneurship communities.
Whether you’re just starting out or refining your strategy, you’ll find practical insights and trusted recommendations to guide your journey.
Prioritize Autonomy Over Liquidity
The Motley Fool: Comprehensive Financial Education
Tim Ferriss Show: Disciplined Wealth-Building Systems
Side Hustle School: Practical Income Ideas
Mad Fientist: Balanced Approach to Saving
NAPFA: Personalized Financial Guidance
Morningstar: Diverse Investment Strategies
Prioritize Autonomy over Liquidity
Frameworks that map autonomy before liquidity targets have reshaped how to allocate personal capital. For example, layering $25,000 into private credit offerings that yield predictable monthly payments has more impact on Financial Independence than a $300,000 retirement account you cannot touch for 20 years. This logic came from dissecting how quiet operators generate cash flow without public scale or visibility. Their systems work because they are boring, consistent, and mechanical. That mindset shift pulled me away from chasing numbers and toward protecting hours.
Skip platforms that market freedom as a finish line and look for models that treat Financial Independence as a structural asset class. Follow people who explain how they built repeatable systems with clean numbers: no fluff, no pitch. If someone makes $900 monthly from a vending machine route and spends 4 hours managing it, study that. It might be low-scale, but the math still applies. What I am getting at is this: financial freedom shows up in how your time behaves, not how your balance sheet looks. — Eric Croak, CFP, President, Croak Capital
The Motley Fool: Comprehensive Financial Education
One resource that has been crucial for my understanding of alternative financial paths is The Motley Fool. This site provides wide-ranging content around personal finance, investing, and wealth-building processes, encouraging me to be a more critical thinker regarding the diversification of my financial portfolio. While my experience has centered so far around the precious metals exchange, The Motley Fool‘s observations about stock, bond, and market trends have made my thinking about various ways of wealth-building more comprehensive.
What makes The Motley Fool stand out is that it offers a synthesis of research, educational articles, and investment analysis that contains actionable tips to realize Financial Independence. The ongoing posts about current market conditions and performances of individual stocks have proven particularly useful in judging risk and uncovering emerging opportunities. It has assisted me in streamlining my investment plan and made me comfortable venturing outside my original area of interest in order not to be heavily reliant on a given asset class.
For anyone interested in designing financial liberty, I recommend researching The Motley Fool’s publications. They foster a balanced attitude toward building wealth through a combination of long-term investing and general financial advice. Whether you are a new investor or a professional investor, the site provides simple techniques and information that are easily understandable and implementable into any financial process. The most important thing to take away is to stay educated, diversified, and calculated in your choices. — Brandon Thor, CEO, Thor Metals Group
Investopedia: Up-to-Date Financial Knowledge
One of the most useful resources I have used is the Investopedia website. I recommend that others explore this resource and the various articles it offers, specifically in the personal finance category. This is a website that is constantly updated with new information that is relevant and comprehensive. When learning about alternative paths to financial independence, it’s important to have a source that contains a network of resources covering all financial levels. For some people, this is a site to learn about the basics of finance, while for others like me, it allows us to constantly get updates within the field we work in. — Peter Reagan, Financial Market Strategist, Birch Gold Group
Indie Hackers changed my approach to business and entrepreneurship. The content on Indie Hackers provides examples of how independent creators and small business owners develop digital products, content brands, or niche services that support their independence.
As someone running a blog rooted in curation and personal shopping, it’s given me real-world examples of monetization through affiliate content, digital products, and community building. If you’re even a little curious about earning independently through content or software, I’d say spend a weekend exploring Indie Hackers. — Danilo Miranda, Managing Director, Presenteverso
Reddit: Diverse Financial Wisdom
One of the key resources that has been instrumental in informing my road to financial freedom is the collaborative platform, “Personal Finance Subreddits.” These forums are filled with experiences from individuals at various points in their financial journeys, sharing straightforward advice on topics such as the best investing tips and how to shed costly habits. The diversity of experience gained has served me well in challenging conventional financial wisdom and in innovating more freely toward building wealth.
What is interesting about these subreddits is their emphasis on real-world strategies individuals implement to accumulate wealth. Whether learning to take advantage of tax benefits, following stock market trends, or investing in alternative assets such as precious metals and cryptocurrencies, these communities offer actionable information. I discovered that engaging in dialogue around alternative investments, especially in sectors such as precious metals, has been instrumental in informing Alloy’s financial product approach.
If you are considering venturing into alternative routes to fiscal freedom, I highly recommend exploring these kinds of forums. They have a treasure trove of information at your fingertips, which tends to be backed up by real-world case studies and anecdotes. You’ll find techniques that defy mainstream wisdom and encourage you to think differently about how to build your wealth. The icing on the cake is that all these communities evolve continuously, which means you stay informed about current trends and thinking as they emerge. — Brandon Aversano, CEO, The Alloy Market
X: Direct Access to Wealth-Building Minds
I’ve explored countless resources for alternative wealth-building paths. The platform that has been absolutely game-changing for me is Twitter (now X).
Most people use Twitter incorrectly: they scroll mindlessly or argue about politics. However, when you curate your feed with the right financial minds, it becomes an incredible learning tool that costs nothing but attention.
What makes Twitter invaluable is the real-time access to people who have actually built wealth through unconventional means, not just theory. You get daily insights from entrepreneurs, investors, and creators who are doing the work right now.
For example, I learned about affiliate marketing strategies that helped me scale by following people who were transparent about their successes and failures. No nonsense, just practical advice you can implement immediately.
The beauty of Twitter is that it’s not just consumption: you can directly engage with these people. Ask questions, share your progress, build relationships. That kind of access used to require expensive masterminds or conferences.
If you’re serious about Financial Independence, start by following 20-30 people who have built what you want to build. Don’t just follow the big names: find the practitioners who are openly sharing their journeys. Then actually implement what resonates, don’t just collect information.
Remember though: no platform will make you wealthy if you’re just consuming content. The magic happens when you take what you learn and actually execute on it consistently. — John Talasi, Entrepreneur, JohnTalasi.com
One resource that has really stood out to me is ChooseFI, both the podcast and the broader community around it. It’s not flashy, but it’s full of practical, real-world conversations that challenge traditional ideas of work and retirement. As someone who works in the construction value stream, I appreciate systems thinking, and ChooseFI breaks down Financial Independence like a process: identifying waste, streamlining inputs, and looking for long-term sustainability.
It helped me rethink how I approach personal finance, not just for myself but in advising others on business efficiency and risk. What really makes it valuable is the variety of stories — teachers, tradespeople, small business owners — people who found unique paths to build security and freedom, often without earning six figures.
I’d recommend diving into the early episodes where they lay out the core principles. Even if you’re not aiming for full early retirement, the mindset shift around intentional spending, value-based living, and building flexibility into your life is incredibly useful. It’s not just about money: it’s about designing a life that actually works for you. — Andrew Moore, Director, Rubicon Wigzell Limited
Reframe Expenses in Hours Worked
Reddit’s r/financialindependence has reshaped how I think about money, especially after reading a post where someone broke down the true cost of their car in hours worked, not just in dollars. They added up the loan payment, insurance, and maintenance, then compared it against their take-home pay. It came out to roughly 21 hours a month just to keep the car. That hit me harder than any financial advice I had read before, because it shifted the decision from, “Can I afford this?” to, “Is this worth that much of my life?”
I took that same method and applied it to a few things in my own budget. I started with recurring costs like software subscriptions and monthly meals out. Some of them made sense. Others felt absurd once I saw the time attached to them. That one shift made it easier to simplify without turning everything into a sacrifice. Framing expenses through time instead of just money gave me a cleaner way to decide what stayed. The posts in that subreddit don’t offer perfect answers, but they push you to ask sharper questions. That’s what I keep returning for. — Robbin Schuchmann, Co-founder / SEO Specialist, EOR Overview
Podcasts: Accessible Financial Insights
I’m always on the lookout for tools and resources that offer fresh perspectives, both for my clients and myself. One that has consistently stood out over the years is podcasts. They’re accessible, insightful, and often make complex financial ideas feel surprisingly relatable. Two podcasts I frequently recommend are The Ramsey Show and Odd Lots from Bloomberg.
The Ramsey Show is a great example of how powerful simple financial habits can be. It focuses on helping people get out of debt, live within their means, and build a strong foundation for long-term Financial Independence. It’s full of real-life stories that remind you you’re not alone in trying to figure it all out. Financial freedom doesn’t always require complex strategies; it often starts with small, consistent steps.
Odd Lots, on the other hand, offers a deeper dive into the financial world. It’s ideal for anyone curious about how investing, markets, and the wider economy work. It’s helped me, and many on our team, stay informed and engaged with the broader forces that shape our clients’ financial plans. Continue Reading…
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