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... and thereby missing out on the power of compounding Sanjib Saha 27 April 2025 Many of us work hard, live within our means, and make a conscious effort to save money. That’s an admirable habit—and an essential first step toward financial security. Sadly, there’s a common mistake that even the most disciplined savers often make: they stop at saving and never make the leap to investing. Wealth building is a three-legged stool – Earn, Save and Invest. Without the third leg these diligent savers fail to benefit from the tremendous power of compounding growth. At first glance, this doesn’t…

Going on a Road Trip in a New Country Without a Map? Sanjib Saha 18 April 2025 Many of us go through life without a clear vision of what a fulfilling life looks like. I'm not referring to a detailed 50-page document outlining our future, but rather, having a broad perspective on life that helps guide us. As we step into adulthood and get busy with careers and day-to-day activities, having a “50,000-foot view” of where we’re headed can be incredibly helpful. Start with envisioning big life milestones. For a young worker starting out afresh, the milestones might include living…

Five easy steps to figure out your Annual Household Expenses in five minutes Sanjib Saha 20 March 2025 How many of us know our annual household expenses with 90% accuracy? Chances are, we either have a vague number in mind that’s far from the actuals, or no clue at all. Tracking every expense sounds daunting, but if your bank allows transaction downloads, figuring your annual spending is surprisingly simple. Here’s how: Step 1: Download Transactions Most households use a single checking account for payments. Log in and download all transactions from any recent 12-month period (e.g., March 1, 2024 –…

Tariffs, Inflation, Recession, Market Drop – Should We Be Worried? Sanjib Saha 13 March 2025 Everywhere we turn, headlines scream about tariffs, inflation, and a looming recession. It's enough to make any investor nervous. Should we sell? Should we invest in something else? What do we do? Short answer for long-term investors who follow certain basic rules of investing: Tune out the noise and stay calm. Stock market investment is for the long-term – money that you don't need to cash out in several years. Market goes up over the long run, but it can be volatile and uncertain in…

Part III - Dividend Investing Considerations Sid Roy & Sanjib Saha 22 December 2024 Read Part II (Questions 5-8) 9. What are the unique risks associated with a dividend paying stock? In general, companies pay and increase dividends to signal financial health. This creates a false impression that all companies that issue dividends are stable companies. Conversely, dividend cuts are perceived as company’s downfall, even though such cuts are necessary for long-term prospects. These perceptions influence management decisions about managing the company’s ongoing income and distract management’s focus from the overall wellbeing of the business. Dividend paying stocks expose the…

Part II - Dividend Investing Basics Sid Roy & Sanjib Saha 22 December 2024 Read Part I (Questions 1-4) 5. What is Dividend Investing then? Dividend Investing is simply investing in stocks that issue dividends to their shareholders. The focus of Dividend Investing is to receive regular income from stock holdings. As such, Dividend Investing influences selection of stocks and prioritizes companies or industries that deliver relatively bigger dividends. Investors of well-diversified stock funds, including broad market index funds, periodically receive dividends simply because many of the underlying companies issue dividends. However, this isn’t Dividend Investing, as the receipt of…

Sanjib Saha 12 November 2024 The S&P 500 Index reached two celebratory milestones this year. The first was to top 5,000 for the first time in Feb 2024. The next was to surpass the 6,000 mark this week. Here’s a brief history of its journey to 6K. March 1957 – The current version of the S&P 500 Stock Index was introduced to capture the stock market performance of the 500 largest US companies. At that time, the index was at around 44. August 1967 – The index more than doubled in the preceding decade to end at around 94. May…

Sid Roy & Sanjib Saha 16 July 2024 If you’re questioning the value of bonds after a challenging 2022, you’re not alone. Many investors have learned the importance of balancing their investments between stocks and bonds. Stocks and bonds are expected to behave differently—when one falls, the other should stay put or even rise—creating a more stable portfolio overall. Yet, we've recently experienced a period that challenges these assumptions and shakes up our investment approach. Both stocks and bonds ended 2022 with significant losses. This wasn’t supposed to happen, right? How can bonds lose so much value when stocks are…

Sanjib Saha 29 December 2023 It’s hard to believe that 2023 is almost over. As we get ready to welcome the new year, here are a few trivia facts about how the US large company stocks did this year. After a disastrous show in 2022 and dropping by almost 20%, the S&P 500 Index has gained almost 25% this year. Investors who stayed course are handsomely rewarded for not panicking or switching to safety of cash/CDs offering juicy interest rates. While the S&P Index is yet to surpass its record close figure from December 2021, it’s total return reached an…

Sanjib Saha 22 November 2023 While heartbreaking and nerve-wracking headlines dominate the news—stories of innocent people suffering from wars and unprecedented natural disasters— there are still many reasons to be thankful for Falling Inflation: After surging above 9% last year, inflation is coming down steadily and hovering slightly above 3%. This doesn’t mean prices are coming down across the board, but they aren’t skyrocketing either. Rising Stock Market: Market goes up and down, there is no escape from it. Still, going through a bear market takes a toll on investor sentiments. After a steep drop last year, the market seems…