Vanguard: Recommended Strategies for Maximizing Retirement Income

Posted on June 9, 2026 // 2 Comments

Vanguard Research recently released a whitepaper titled Vanguard’s Principles for Retirement Income (direct PDF link) and I was surprised to find it rather substantial – almost a short book on retirement income planning that provides valuable insight into their (growing!) financial advisory services. The focus is clearly about creating a sustainable income from your portfolio, not the usual stuff about growing your portfolio.

Focusing on income rather than account balances can lead to clearer decision-making in retirement.

Without a defined income plan, investors may spend too cautiously or risk drawing down their assets too quickly. With an income-focused framework, you can better understand how to turn your savings into spending by having a clearer view of:

– How much you can withdraw over time.
– How long your assets may need to last.
– How different risks can affect outcomes.

As a start, you have your sources of guaranteed income (pensions, annuities, Social Security) and roughly 3.5% to 4% of your portfolio, based on historical numbers:

Here are some of the recommended strategies to help stretch things further to create enough income for the rest of your lifetime. Some are more for those that really need to make some big, hard decisions in order to not run out of money, while others are more about marginal improvements.

  • Work longer. Not ideal, but powerful. You earn more, you also delay the start of Social Security claiming, and you have a shorter retirement period to cover.
  • Dynamic spending. Rather than a fixed percentage withdrawal rate, dynamic spending extends the life of the portfolio by reducing withdrawals if there are poor market returns. There are many ways to implement this.
  • Convert some assets to SPIA (single-premium income annuity). If you need to support a hard floor in your income to support essentials, an SPIA can help provide the reliable income needed.
  • Tapping home equity. Something to consider if necessary to provide for essentials, especially later in retirement.
  • Roth conversions. Converting tax-deferred investments to Roth when your marginal tax brackets are lower (like right after you stop working) can reduce your overall tax paid.
  • Tax-efficient withdrawal strategy. In general, you should withdraw from taxable accounts
    first, then tax-deferred, then save Roth for last.

If anything, this paper provides some good places to dig deeper when the time comes.

Filed Under: Annuities, Investing, Retirement, Taxes //

Plynk Brokerage App: Dividend Match (25% Bonus up to $250 per Year)

Posted on June 3, 2026 // Leave a Comment

Plynk is a standalone brokerage app that is quietly a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. It seems to be a place where they can experiment with a younger target audience with tools like automatic recurring investments, simulated trading, educational tools, etc. They’ve also offered a few worthwhile bonuses in the app. Plynk just underwent another design reboot, and – surprise! – the interface now looks a lot more like Robinhood.

Plynk also just added a new promotion called Dividend Match (hat tip DoC), which pays you a bonus of 25% of the dividends your taxable brokerage account holdings earn each calendar month, up to $250 max per year. Important highlights:

  • Dividend match is available to both existing and new customers. No opt-in required.
  • Eligible shares. For common stock and non-daily accrual mutual funds and ETFs, you must hold for at least 30 calendar days prior to the ex-dividend date to receive the Bonus. For mutual funds and ETFs that accrue daily interest and generally pay a dividend at the end of each month, there is no required holding period.
  • Formula: Eligible_Shares × Dividend_Per_Share × 25% subject to the $250 annual cap on Bonus amount.
  • The annual cap resets on January 1 of each year.

An interesting bonus that would seem to incentivize customers to maintain their (dividend-paying) holdings at Plynk. The S&P 500 dividend yield is only around 1% now, but if you moved over around $100,000 and normally would get $1,000 in annual dividends, now you could get an extra $250 in dividends.

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) is a daily accrual ETF that holds short-term Treasury bills and can be a useful approximation of cash. Right now, SGOV has a 30-day SEC yield of 3.54%. If you got a 25% bonus on that yield, you would be getting 4.43%.

You could also do this with Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) which has a slightly lower expense ratio and thus slightly higher SEC yields, but a tiny bit higher bid/ask spread at times (although it is pretty much one cent like SGOV).

You’d have to hold a little over $28,000 in SGOV/VBIL in order to reach the $1,000 in annual dividends to max out this promo.

I’m guessing the money would be reported as 1099-MISC, so the tax rate would also be higher than normal interest.

This would be nice if it was a permanent or guaranteed feature. I’m considering it especially as I already have an open account, but I’m afraid Plynk will end the promo quickly even though it is meant as an ongoing offer with no set expiration date.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

Still Buying the Haystack and Sleeping Well Because I’ll Own The Needles (Winners)

Posted on June 1, 2026 // 3 Comments

In 2019, I wrote the post Buying The Haystack: Sleeping Well Because I’ll Own The Winners (Needles). Recently, Hendrik Bessembinder updated his previous research with the paper One Hundred Years in the U.S. Stock Markets (SSRN/PDF), which tracked the “investment outcomes for 29,754 common stocks listed on the public U.S. stock markets over the 100-year period from 1926 to 2025”. Some highlights:

  • Total Net Wealth created over that period: ~$91 Trillion.
  • The 0.2% Needles: Just 46 stocks (roughly 0.2% of the ~30,000 total stocks) were responsible for generating 50% of that $91 trillion.
  • The 4% Needles: Only 4% of all stocks accounted for 100% of the net value creation. The other 96% collectively just matched risk-free US Treasury bills – many were complete or nearly complete losses, the rest had smaller gains that only just offset those losses. This means that the top 4% created all of the net wealth creation.

Here is a chart that summarizes this info from a Vanguard Australia article Equity market skewness: The few mega-winners and the case for diversification:

I will simply quote Bogle and myself now, because I am lazy and honestly that’s how investment writing works. You just end up repeating and/or repackaging the same 10-25 rules over and over again.

As the late Jack Bogle told us: “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack.”

I don’t know which will be the most successful US companies in the future, but I know that I will own them via the total US index fund in my portfolio. I will own the next Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, or Visa. I’ll also own whoever disrupts them after that. Since I own a big chunk of global stocks inside the Vanguard Total International Stock Index fund, I’ll be covered if they come from the other side of the world.

In 2026, this means I own NVIDIA/Alphabet/Google/Microsoft, but in 10 years, I know that the picture will be at least somewhat different.

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement //

Advantages of Owning Vanguard Total US and Total International Stocks ETFs Separately

Posted on May 18, 2026 // 4 Comments

One of the most popular ways to build out the stock portion of a simple index fund portfolio is to own the following two Vanguard ETFs:

  • Vanguard Total US Stock Market ETF (VTI), which tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index representing ~100% of the investable U.S. stock market and includes large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap stocks.
  • Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), which tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index representing equity market performance in developed and emerging markets, including 48 countries and excluding the United States.

However, a lesser-known option is to own a single Vanguard ETFs that attempts to track all the investable stocks in the entire world:

  • Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT), which tracks the FTSE Global All Cap Index, a free-float-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the market performance of large-, mid-, and small-capitalization stocks of companies located around the world.

You may already have noticed that VTI/VXUS together have a lower blended expense ratio than VT, at least partially due to how big they are and their economies of scale. This Elm Wealth article goes into detail about one of the major benefits of owning them separately in a taxable brokerage account: the ability to obtain the Foreign Tax Credit. VT is ~60% US stocks and thus does not qualify for the Foreign Tax Credit.

The net result of this is that VXUS effectively earns you an extra 0.23%, which when added to the expense ratio difference in a blended 60% VTI/40% VXUS portfolio ends up being worth 0.13% annually. The effect of an extra ~0.13% in essentially guaranteed extra performance every year (in a taxable account) is pretty significant and can really compound over time. I’m happy to see a number placed on this benefit.

The article includes other good points, with the overall takeaway being that owning both VTI and VXUS has a lot of notable advantages and only minor disadvantages. VTI and VXUS are my largest holdings by far, and I agree that it’s hardly any extra work to add the tiny bit of complexity of owning two ETFs (that mostly already rebalance automatically with price changes).

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement //

Best Interest Rates on “Cash”: Bank Accounts, Treasury Bills, Money Markets, ETFs – May 2026

Posted on May 14, 2026 // 1 Comment

Here’s my monthly survey of the best interest rates on cash as of May 2026, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Banks and brokerages love taking advantage of idle cash, and you can often earn more interest while keeping the same level of safety by moving to another FDIC-insured bank or NCUA-insured credit union. Check out my Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to see how much extra interest you could earn from switching. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 5/14/26.

TL;DR: Savings account interest rates dropped slightly overall. You can get 4.4% APY if you accept certain hoops/restrictions, but most are under 4% now. Short-term T-Bill rates ~3.7%. Top 5-year CD rates are ~4.1% APY, while the 5-year Treasury rate is also ~4.1%.

High-yield savings accounts*
Since the huge megabanks still pay essentially zero interest, everyone should at least have a separate, no-fee online savings account to piggy-back onto your existing checking account. The interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, so I list the top rates as well as competitive rates from banks with a history of competitive rates and solid user experience. Some banks will bait you with a temporary top rate and then lower the rates in the hopes that you are too lazy to leave.

  • The top saving rate at the moment: Pibank at 4.40% APY (no min), but they have some weird restrictions; you can only use wire/Plaid to deposit and wire transfers to withdraw funds?! CineFi (no min) is at 4.34% APY, a division of Southern Bancorp Bank. OnPath FCU held at 4.25% APY with $25,000 minimum balance. CIT Platinum Savings held at 3.75% APY with $5,000+ balance, with a new 4.10% APY for 6 months Boost promotion; open your account by 5/31. There are many banks in between.
  • SoFi Bank is at 3.30% APY (new customers can get up to 4.00% APY for 6 months + increased $425 bonus with qualifying direct deposit. You must maintain a direct deposit of any amount (even $1) each month for the higher ongoing APY. SoFi has historically competitive rates and full banking features.
  • Here is a limited survey of high-yield savings accounts. They aren’t the top rates, but a group that have historically kept it relatively competitive such that I like to track their history. This month they start at 3.10% APY on up.

Short-term guaranteed rates (1 year and under)
A common question is what to do with a big pile of cash that you’re waiting to deploy shortly (plan to buy a house soon, just sold your house, just sold your business, legal settlement, inheritance). My usual advice is to keep things simple and take your time. If not a savings account, then put it in a flexible short-term CD under the FDIC limits until you have a plan.

  • No Penalty CDs offer a fixed interest rate that can never go down, but you can still take out your money (once) without any fees if you want to use it elsewhere. Marcus has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 3.80% APY ($500 minimum deposit). Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 9-month No Penalty CD at 4.00% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit). USALLIANCE Financial CU has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.90% APY ($500 minimum deposit). CIT Bank has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.75% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit).
  • E-Trade Bank has a 12-month CD at 4.10% APY (no minimum deposit). Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.
  • Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 12-month CD at 4.00% APY with new money required. $1,000 minimum to open. Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.

Money market mutual funds
Many brokerage firms that pay out very little interest on their default cash sweep funds (and keep the difference for themselves). Note: Money market mutual funds are highly-regulated, but ultimately not FDIC-insured, so I would still stick with highly reputable firms.

  • Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) is the default sweep option for Vanguard brokerage accounts, which has a 7-day SEC yield of 3.55% (changes daily, but also works out to a compound yield of 3.61%, which is better for comparing against APY). Odds are this is much higher than your own broker’s default cash sweep interest rate.
  • Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) is an alternative money market fund which you must manually purchase, but the interest will be mostly (100% for 2025 tax year) exempt from state and local income taxes because it comes from qualifying US government obligations. Current 7-day SEC yield of 3.61% (compound yield of 3.67%).

Treasury Bills and Ultra-short Treasury ETFs
Another option is to buy individual Treasury bills which come in a variety of maturities from 4-weeks to 52-weeks and are fully backed by the US government. You can also invest in ETFs that hold a rotating basket of short-term Treasury Bills for you, while charging a small management fee for doing so. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local income taxes, which can make a significant difference in your effective yield.

  • You can build your own T-Bill ladder at TreasuryDirect.gov or via a brokerage account with a bond desk like Vanguard and Fidelity. Here are the current Treasury Bill rates. As of 5/13/26, a new 4-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.66% annualized interest and a 52-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.80% annualized interest.
  • The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) has a 3.55% 30-day SEC yield (0.09% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years. The Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) has a 3.59% 30-day SEC yield (0.06% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years.

US Savings Bonds
Series I Savings Bonds offer rates that are linked to inflation and backed by the US government. You must hold them for at least a year. If you redeem them within 5 years there is a penalty of the last 3 months of interest. The annual purchase limit for electronic I bonds is $10,000 per Social Security Number, available online at TreasuryDirect.gov.

  • “I Bonds” bought between May 2026 and October 2026 will earn a 4.26% rate for the first six months. The rate of the subsequent 6-month period will be based on inflation again. More on Savings Bonds here.
  • In mid-October 2026, the CPI will be announced and you will have a short period where you will have a very close estimate of the rate for the next 12 months. I will post another update at that time.

Rewards checking accounts
These unique checking accounts pay above-average interest rates, but with unique risks. You have to jump through certain hoops which usually involve 10+ debit card purchases each cycle, a certain number of ACH/direct deposits, and/or a certain number of logins per month. If you make a mistake (or they judge that you did) you risk earning zero interest for that month. Some folks don’t mind the extra work and attention required, while others would rather not bother. Rates can also drop suddenly, leaving a “bait-and-switch” feeling.

  • La Capitol Federal Credit Union pays 6.50% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases of at least $5 each per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization, Louisiana Association for Personal Financial Achievement ($20).
  • OnPath Federal Credit Union (my review) pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and login to online or mobile banking once per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization. You can also get a $150 Visa Reward card when you open a new account and make qualifying transactions.
  • Genisys Credit Union pays 6.75% APY on up to $7,500 if you make 10 debit card purchases of $5+ each per statement cycle, and opt into online statements. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Oklahoma Central Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases (non-ATM) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union if they are “affiliated with another credit union”.
  • First Southern Bank pays 5.50% APY on up to $25,000 if you make at least 15 debit card purchases, 1 ACH credit or payment transaction, and enroll in online statements.
  • Credit Union of New Jersey pays 6.00% APY on up to $25,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit, online bill payment, or automatic payment (ACH) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Andrews Federal Credit Union pays 5.25% APY (decreased) on up to $25,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization.
  • Capitol Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $15,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization ($5 to Wild Basin Wilderness).
  • Find a locally-restricted rewards checking account at DepositAccounts.

Certificates of deposit (greater than 1 year)
CDs offer higher rates, but come with an early withdrawal penalty. By finding a bank CD with a reasonable early withdrawal penalty, you can enjoy higher rates but maintain access in a true emergency. Alternatively, consider building a CD ladder of different maturity lengths (ex. 1/2/3/4/5-years) such that you have access to part of the ladder each year, but your blended interest rate is higher than a savings account. When one CD matures, use that money to buy another 5-year CD to keep the ladder going. Some CDs also offer “add-ons” where you can deposit more funds if rates drop.

  • NASA Federal Credit Union has a 5-year certificate at 4.18% APY ($1,000 minimum), 4-year at 4.10% APY, 3-year at 4.05% APY, 2-year at 4.00% APY, and 1-year at 3.95% APY. Early withdrawal penalty for the 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone nationwide can join via a complimentary membership to the National Space Society (NSS).
  • Advancial Federal Credit Union has has a 5-year certificates at 4.14%/4.24%/4.34% APY APY based on either a $1,000/$25,000/$50,000 opening balance. Early withdrawal penalty for the 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone nationwide should be able to join via membership with partner organization US Dog Agility Association, but I would call to verify first.
  • Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) has a 5-year certificate at 4.05% APY ($500 minimum), 4-year at 4.00% APY, 3-year at 4.00% APY, 2-year at 4.20% APY, and 1-year at 3.90% APY. Early withdrawal penalty for the 4-year and 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization American Consumer Council (use promo code “consumer” when joining).
  • You can buy certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. You may need an account to see the rates. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance and easy laddering, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. Right now, I see a 5-year non-callable brokered CD at 4.10% APY (callable: no, call protection: yes). Be warned that both Vanguard and Fidelity will list higher rates from callable CDs, which importantly means they can (and will!) call back your CD if rates drop significantly later.

Longer-term Instruments
I’d use these with caution due to increased interest rate risk (tbh, I don’t use them at all), but I still track them to see the rest of the current yield curve.

  • Willing to lock up your money for 10 years? You can buy long-term certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. You might find something that pays more than your other brokerage cash and Treasury options. Right now, I see a 10-year CDs at [n/a] APY (non-callable) vs. 4.44% for a 10-year Treasury. Watch out for higher rates from callable CDs where they can call your CD back if interest rates drop.

All rates were checked as of 5/14/26.

* I no longer recommend fintech companies due to the possibility of significant loss due to poor recordkeeping and the lack of government protection in such scenarios. The point of cash is absolute safety of principal.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing // Tagged:

SoFi Promos: 2% ACAT Transfer Bonus, $425 New Checking Bonus, $300-$1000 Loan Bonuses

Posted on May 12, 2026 // 80 Comments

(Updated: 2% ACAT transfer bonus is back, valid on both IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts. For example, $2,000 on a $100,000 account value. 5-year minimum hold. Only a 1% bonus on 401k rollovers. )

SoFi (“Social Finance”) is an all-in-one finance app that expanded from students loans into banking, stocks, crypto, credit cards, and more. They often run a bunch of different promotional offers; New users can receive a separate opening bonus for each separate part of SoFi (Money, Invest, Loans, etc).

  • SoFi Checking Referral Offer: Up to $425 new account bonus. Open a new SoFi Checking account and add at least $50 to your account within 21 days, and get $25. Then get up to $400 additional bonus with qualifying direct deposit. Plus up to 4.00% APY for 6 months.
  • SoFi Credit Score Monitoring Offer: $10 bonus. Earn $10 in rewards points when you activate free credit score monitoring. Also get a few free points when your score rises.
  • SoFi Invest Referral Offer: $25 new account bonus. Taxable brokerage account. Open an Active Investing account with $25 or more, and you’ll get $25 in stock.
  • SoFi Crypto Referral Offer: $25 new account bonus. Open a new SoFi Crypto account (you’ll need a SoFi Checking and Savings account), make a single qualifying purchase of at least $50 within 30 days, and get a $25 bonus.
  • SoFi ACAT Transfer Offer: 2% Match Bonus. Get a 2% match on ACAT transfers to IRA or taxable brokerage accounts (max $100,000 on $5,000,000 transferred). Minimum hold period for five (5) years from the settlement date.
  • SoFi 401(k) Rollover Offer: 1% Match Bonus. Get a 1% match when you roll over your 401(k) into a SoFi IRA. Minimum hold period for five (5) years from the settlement date.
  • SoFi Student Loan Refi: $300 bonus. Warning: Do your research before refinancing your Federal student loans to a private lender. You may lose some protections.
  • SoFi Doctors and Dentists Student Loan Refi: $1,000 bonus. Special low rates just for doctors and dentists.
  • SoFi Private Student Loan: $300 bonus. For those looking for a new student loan (not a refinance).
  • SoFi Personal Loans Referral Offer: Fixed $300 bonus. Fixed $300 bonus, 90 days after successful funding. The loan has no fees and you can pay it back in full after 90 days (you can pay it down to $50 before then to accrue minimal interest, thus making it an opportunity to make a net profit).
Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing //

Vanguard To Add Morningstar Branding to Several Index Funds

Posted on May 5, 2026 // 5 Comments

Last month, I mentioned that Morningstar had bought the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) from the University of Chicago. CRSP started out as a non-profit, but was later converted to an LLC and sold for $375 million. Vanguard used these low-cost indexes to keep their expense ratios extremely low, and I expressed concern over this as Morningstar is a for-profit, publicly-traded corporation. This contrasts with Vanguard’s famous “at-cost” structure.

Vanguard just announced that starting in July 2026, Vanguard will add the “Morningstar” brand to 13 different US stock index funds (across 51 different share classes). Just a few examples:

  • Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)
  • Vanguard Morningstar Large-Cap ETF (VV)
  • Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF (VTV)
  • Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR)

Was this a strategic blunder on Vanguard’s part? CRSP basically only had one client: Vanguard. According to RIABiz, “Vanguard funds accounted for 97% of all assets tracking CRSP indices” at the time of sale.

Vanguard should have either bought CRSP themselves or switched to in-house indexes. In-house indexes are exactly how Fidelity offers their ZERO fund line with 0.00% expense ratio. The Four Fidelity ZERO Funds:

  • Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Total Investable Market Index.
  • Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund (FNILX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Large Cap Index.
  • Fidelity ZERO Extended Market Index Fund (FZIPX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Extended Market Index.
  • Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) tracks the Fidelity Global ex U.S. Index.

I don’t think poorly of Morningstar, but at the same time they did not create these indexes out of some exceptional skill or store of knowledge. Morningstar does make other (not so popular) indices, but they just bought these from a university that needed money.

I can only speculate that Morningstar went to Vanguard and said something like “We own these indexes now. We’ll keep the price the same so your expense ratios don’t blow up… IF you add our name to every fund that uses them.” They get name recognition in lieu of bigger cash payments. Here’s what RIABiz says:

A Vanguard spokesman confirms better economics in the form of “cost certainty,” is part of the “agreement,” following the rebrand. “Consistent with our longstanding commitment to low-cost investing, our agreement includes long term cost certainty for Vanguard,” he says, in an email.

“Cost certainty” may prove a polite way to say that Morningstar can’t use its monopsonistic market power to ask for a bigger cut of revenues over time.

Overall, seems like a clever move my Morningstar, not so much from Vanguard. Vanguard does use other index providers like Russell and FTSE, but historically do not use their name on their flagship low-cost index funds.

Filed Under: Investing //

2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes

Posted on May 4, 2026 // Leave a Comment

The 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting occurred on May 2nd, 2026. Here is the full 5-hour meeting (pseudo-transcript) and a 7-minute highlight reel from CNBC from Omaha. This is the first one where Warren Buffett was not on stage answering questions as the CEO, but it still felt very similar to past meetings. I think they are lucky that both Buffett and Abel don’t have enormous egos and are allowing for a gradual transition. In addition to the main meeting, there was also a ~25 minute CNBC interview with Warren Buffett (transcript). Did you also know that Bill Murray was also interviewed as a shareholder since the 1970s and regular meeting attendee?

In a way, this meeting was a throwback in the way that focus was more the details of BRK as a company instead of Buffett and Munger talking about worldly wisdom. I still enjoyed watching and listening to the entire Q&A session with new CEO Greg Abel, Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer, and NetJets CEO Adam Johnson. Of course, Charlie Munger’s unfiltered honesty was still sorely missed. It does get a bit sleepy when everyone is so polite.

Here are a few personal takeaways and notes.

Transition is going well, still lots of cash because they see prices as too high, and are still holding cash for the next inevitable crisis. From the Buffett interview, I thought this was a nice summary of the current situation.

Well, I think it’s all working. It’s all working. It isn’t our ideal surrounding area or environment, I should say, in terms of deploying cash for Berkshire, but in terms of how we got the right management, we got the right arrangement, and you know, we can pick our spots, and nobody can tell us what to do exactly. And so sometimes we’re doing nothing, but other times we get quite active.

Gambling is everywhere. I’m seriously disturbed by the amount of people who think that zero-day options are their path to financial freedom. More truth from Buffett:

Well, it feels like, you know, I’ve compared the markets to a church with a casino attached. And people can move between the church and casino. And I would say there are more people in the church and more people in the casino, but the casino has gotten very attractive to people. If you’re buying one day options, or selling them, I mean that is – that’s not investing, it’s not speculating, it’s gambling.

Investing and insurance both involve saying “no” a lot. From Ajit Jain:

You know, insurance, like investing, is a game of patience. It’s extremely difficult to get people to sit idle and do nothing. When I recruit people, my usual approach is to tell them upfront. I say, your job is to say ‘no.’ You will be bombarded day after day with various deals, but your fundamental responsibility is to say ‘no.’ I tell them, occasionally you’ll come across a deal that hits you like a plank, shouting ‘money here,’ and that’s when you come to me, and then we’ll decide together whether to proceed.

You know, joking aside, when everyone else is being hustled by brokers and taken to London, it’s really hard to just sit there and do nothing. I believe that in the insurance industry, and certainly in the investment field, the true test of success lies in the ability to say ‘no.’

This feels similar to what individuals face these days. There are so many things that will gladly take your money. Crypto memecoins, sports betting, prediction markets, risky options, Buy Now Pay Later debt, margin leverage.

As a shareholder, I feel that we’ll have to be patient as well to see what happens as Abel takes a more active role in improving the internal operations.

Past BRK meetings:

Filed Under: Inspirational, Investing //

Ally Invest: $200 Bonus for New Brokerage Account

Posted on May 3, 2026 // 1 Comment

Ally Invest has a new $200 bonus offer for opening a new brokerage account with them, however it is specifically targeted to existing Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who have never had an Ally Invest account before. (Some of us may have Ally Invest accounts that were previously TradeKing.)

This offer is only available to current active Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who do not have, nor previously had, an account with Ally Invest.

If you don’t have an Ally Bank account yet, check out this $100 new Ally Savings account bonus first.

Here are the details for their traditional self-directed brokerage account, with zero commissions on trades and no minimum balance requirement. (I wouldn’t recommend opening their Robo account, too complicated to unwind later with all those tax lots).

  • Open an eligible new Self-Directed Trading account by selecting Open Account on this page by 12/31/2026.
  • Transfer in a minimum of $1,000 in cash and/or securities within 30 days of opening it. (FYI: It’s OK to do so over multiple transfers.)
  • Once at least $1,000 has posted to your account, you’ll need to keep it there for a minimum of 90 days.
  • We’ll pay your cash bonus within 30 days of all steps being completed — including the 90 day minimum.

Note that the $1,000 must come from a non-Ally account to get the $200 bonus. If you transfer from an Ally Bank account, you’ll only get a $100 bonus.

Still, this is a pretty easy bonus if you qualify. Move over $1,000, get $200. The promo is scheduled to run until end of 2026, so there should be time to open a new Ally Savings account first for $100 and then stack this bonus on top. Then I’d wait to see if the $300 Ally Checking account bonus comes back.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

Savings I Bonds May 2026 Rate: 0.9% Fixed Rate, 4.26% Total Rate for 6 Months

Posted on May 3, 2026 // 5 Comments

May 2026 update: Savings I Bonds bought from May 1, 2026 to October 31, 2026 will have a fixed rate of 0.90% and inflation rate of 3.36%, for a total composite rate of 4.26% for the first 6 months. For comparison, the current Treasury yields are 1-year @ ~3.7% and 5-year @ ~4.0%, while TIPS real yields are 5-year @ ~1.33%.

Every existing I Bond will earn this inflation rate of ~3.36% eventually for 6 months; you will need to add your own fixed rate that was set based the initial purchase month. See you again in mid-October for the next early prediction for November 2026.

Original post from 4/12/2026:

Savings I Bonds are a unique, low-risk investment backed by the US Treasury that pay out a variable interest rate linked to inflation. With a holding period from 12 months to 30 years, you could own them as an alternative to bank certificates of deposit (they are liquid after 12 months) or bonds in your portfolio.

New inflation numbers were announced at BLS.gov, which allows us to make an early prediction of the May 2026 savings bond rates just before the official announcement on the 1st. This also allows the opportunity to know exactly what an April 2026 savings bond purchase will yield over the next 12 months, instead of just 6 months. You can then compare this against a November 2025 purchase.

New inflation rate prediction. September 2025 CPI-U was 324.800. May 2026 CPI-U was 330.213, for a semi-annual inflation rate of 1.67%. Using the official composite rate formula:

Composite rate formula: [Fixed rate + (2 x semiannual inflation rate) + (fixed rate x semiannual inflation rate)]

This results in the variable component of interest rate for the next 6 month cycle being ~3.34 to 3.39%, depending on the fixed rate.

Tips on purchase and redemption. You can’t redeem until after 12 months of ownership, and any redemptions within 5 years incur an interest penalty of the last 3 months of interest. A simple “trick” with I-Bonds is that if you buy at the end of the month, you’ll still get all the interest for the entire month – same as if you bought it in the beginning of the month. It’s best to give yourself a few business days of buffer time. If you miss the cutoff, your effective purchase date will be bumped into the next month. (You should always sell at the very beginning of the month.)

Buying in April 2026. If you buy before the end of April, the fixed rate portion of I-Bonds will be 0.90%. You will be guaranteed a total interest rate of 0.90 + 3.13 = 4.03% for the next 6 months. For the 6 months after that, the total rate will be 0.90 + 3.36 = 4.26%.

Buying in May 2026. If you buy in May 2026, you will get ~3.36% plus a newly-set fixed rate for the first 6 months. The new fixed rate is officially unknown, but is loosely linked to the real yield of short-term TIPS with some reductions. In the previous 10 days, 5-year TIPS real rates have ranged from 1.34% to 1.42%. If I had to guess, I’d put a new fixed rate somewhere between 0.9 to 1.0%, for a total rate of about 4.26%. Every six months after your purchase, your rate will adjust to your fixed rate (set at purchase) plus a variable rate based on inflation.

If you have an existing I-Bond, the rates reset every 6 months depending on your specific purchase month. Everyone will eventually get this variable rate. Your bond rate = your specific fixed rate (based on purchase month, look it up here) + variable rate (total bond rate has a minimum floor of 0%).

Buy now or wait? Between those two options, if you are a long-term holder, you may consider waiting until May or even October to see if the fixed rate goes up a little. You may also think higher inflation is coming, and you’ll get that next inflation rate sooner if you buy in May. See below for why I am buying TIPS instead.

Unique features and benefits! There are definitely reasons to own Series I Savings Bonds, including inflation protection, tax deferral, exemption from state income taxes, and potential tax benefits if used toward qualified educational expenses.

Unique drawbacks! You can only buy new savings bonds through TreasuryDirect.gov, which is limited in its customer service resources and features. There is also no option for paper tax forms nor statements (or even online monthly statements), so your heirs may never know they exist! If they do find it, it may take them several months and a lot of effort to close out all the estate paperwork. If you forget your password, it may take weeks or longer to unlock your account.

If you become a victim to theft or fraudulent activity, they will not replace any lost or stolen savings bonds. They explicitly accept no liability:

§ 363.17 Who is liable if someone else accesses my TreasuryDirect ® account using my password?

You are solely responsible for the confidentiality and use of your account number, password, and any other form(s) of authentication we may require. We will treat any transactions conducted using your password as having been authorized by you. We are not liable for any loss, liability, cost, or expense that you may incur as a result of transactions made using your password.

The juice may not be worth the squeeze when you can own individual Treasury bonds or TIPS within any full-service brokerage account. It’s sad that they’ve basically let this investment decay away due to neglect.

I also used to believe that the government would not tamper or attempt to politically influence these BLS CPI statistics that are at the core of many important functions, including Social Security inflation adjustments, TIPS, and these Savings Bonds. Now I’m not so sure. I found this guest article from TIPSWatch to offer some perspective: A historical look at political influence over the BLS.

Personally, I sold all my savings bonds in 2024 and do not plan to buy any more. I’m older now and I feel the small potential benefit just doesn’t outweigh the small possibility that I could lose the entire amount due to estate-handling mistakes or online hack. I’d rather own TIPS and US Treasuries directly in a full-service brokerage account. As a long-term holder, I can lock in a 2 to 2.7% real yield with a longer term TIPS bond.

Annual purchase limits. The annual purchase limit is now $10,000 in online I-bonds per Social Security Number. For a couple, that’s $20,000 per year. You can only buy online at TreasuryDirect.gov, after making sure you’re okay with their poor service. (No more tax refund savings bonds.) Technically, the purchase limits are per Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. For those looking for another way to expand their purchasing power, that means you can also buy for a child, grandchild, LLC, or a trust.

Bottom line. Savings I bonds are a unique, low-risk investment that are linked to inflation and only available to individual investors. You can now only purchase them online at TreasuryDirect.gov. They have both unique benefit and drawbacks. For more background, see the rest of my posts on savings bonds.

[Image: US Savings Bond advertisement – source]

Filed Under: Banking, Investing, Retirement, Savings Bonds //

Vanguard Index Funds at 50: Cost Still Matters

Posted on April 26, 2026 // 6 Comments

Vanguard has a new article 50 years. 50 facts. Indexing since 1976. with some interesting bits for investing enthusiasts.

I feel like younger folks simply know index investing as the default for essentially every single 401k plan out there. Most own index funds without even thinking about it. However, 50 years ago, it was called “Bogle’s Folly” when a young Jack Bogle went against Wall Street and introduced his index fund to everyday people.

Even 25 years ago when I started out, you really had to make a conscious choice to buy a Vanguard index fund. If you didn’t open an account directly at Vanguard, you were looking at high commissions on every trade because Vanguard refused to pay kickbacks to brokers to keep them on “No Transaction Fee” lists. Vanguard may send me glossy brochures now, but back in the day, they were super-thrifty with zero ads.

I always find it amazing that Jack Bogle started thinking this up as an undergraduate in college! It took him another 25 years to create the retail index fund, which is also an impressive level of stubbornness. Fact #6:

6. In his 1951 undergraduate thesis for Princeton University, Mr. Bogle highlighted the crucial role of costs in the long-term returns earned by investors. He identified costs as a drag on the performance of the industry, which was then entirely actively managed.

I think it’s important to remember that index funds won despite being hated by Wall Street because well, they made people a lot of money. Their performance is excellent, and every year that record is cemented even further. Fact 32:

32. What if, at the fund’s inception in 1976, you’d put $10,000 into what are now called Investor Shares of Vanguard 500 Index Fund? The investment could have grown to nearly $2.2 million by February 28, 2026—illustrating the powers of discipline, low-cost investing, and compounding.

Index funds aren’t magic. They mostly win for the simple reason of low costs. This is important because Wall Street will keep continuing to spin out new products that offer you the possibility of higher returns while giving them the certainty of higher fees in their pocket.

YieldMAX ETFs. High costs. Buffer ETFs. High costs. Private equity. High costs. 2X Leverage ETFs. High costs.

Don’t let the allure of a successful gamble distract you from how badly high costs tilt the odds against you. Over time, the house is going to win.

I remain grateful for Jack Bogle and his unwavering message. Save your money and buy all the winning businesses (own the entire haystack). Enjoy maximizing your returns by keeping costs low. Buy low-cost index funds and ignore the rest of the advertising noise. It worked. It works.

Filed Under: Investing //

JP Morgan (Chase) Brokerage Transfer Bonus: Up to $1,000 for $250k/90 Days

Posted on April 19, 2026 // 2 Comments

Updated offer details. Brokerage firms compete for “assets under management”, and many are willing to give you cash to encourage you to move your assets over to them. The bonus size will usually vary with the amount transferred, but also pay attention to the minimum required holding period. This one has a relatively short 90-day hold.

JP Morgan Self-Directed Investing (a part of JP Morgan Wealth Management, which in turn is part of JPMorgan Chase) is currently offering up to $1,000 new money bonus, depending the value of assets that you move over (either moving cash, transferring securities, or rolling over existing retirement assets from another institution). The current offer end date is 7/21/2026, but it is often extended.

  • $50 with $5,000 – $24,999 in qualifying new money.
  • $150 with $25,000-$99,999 in qualifying new money.
  • $325 with $100,000–$249,999 in qualifying new money
  • $1,000 with $250,000+ in qualifying new money

Here are the steps:

  1. Open a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account through this page by 07/21/2026. (Includes Individual/Joint Taxable Brokerage, Traditional IRA, or Roth IRA accounts.)
  2. Transfer – You have 45 days to fund your account with qualifying new money (cannot be existing deposits, funds or securities held by you at JP Morgan, Chase or affiliate partners). Your bonus will be determined on day 45.
  3. Maintain your new funds for 90 days and the bonus will be added directly into your account within 15 days. (Losses due to trading or market fluctuation will not be taken into account.)

The features for the account itself seem like most other online brokerages. Unlimited commission-free online stock, ETF and options trades (+ $0.65 per-contract fee). You can trade ETFs, fixed income, mutual funds, and options. The interface is more on the basic side, but you can perform instant funds transfers between the brokerage account and your Chase checking account, which may be convenient.

Here is their fee schedule. They have recently eliminated their $75 IRA annual maintenance fee, but they still have a $75 IRA account termination/transfer fee. They also have a $75 outgoing ACAT transfer fee.

Here is more fine print:

You can only participate in one J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing new money bonus in a 12 month period from the last bonus coupon enrollment date. Coupon is good for one time use and only one bonus per account. To receive the bonus the enrolled account must not be closed or restricted at the time of payout. Account types and other restrictions apply. Offer terms are subject to change and/or termination without advance notice. The value of the cash award may be considered income, and we may be required to send you, and file with the IRS, a Form 1099-MISC (“Miscellaneous Information”), or a Form 1042-S (“Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding”) if applicable. You are responsible for any tax liability associated with the award. Please consult your own tax advisor if you have any questions about your personal tax situation.

Thoughts. These bonus tiers are not the best in terms of percentage (1% of $5,000, 0.6% of $25,000, 0.325% of $100k, 0.40% of $250k), but you technically can wait to fund until the end of the initial 45-day window, and then hold the assets there for a minimum of 90 days which is a relatively short period. You might get 2% somewhere else, but have to keep it there for 5 years.

If you are transferring cash, you can immediately purchase an ETF like SGOV or VBIL if you want to earn some competitive interest. Usually, the easiest thing is to perform an in-kind ACAT transfer of existing securities, which takes less than a week and all of your tax basis information should also move over after another few days. Your old broker may charge you an outgoing ACAT fee – you may ask Chase/JPM if they can reimburse you for this fee (especially if you have a in-branch rep to speak to) but they don’t advertise it as a benefit.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //
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