Stoic Financial

08/31/2026

The Politics of Inflation

08/28/2026

Permission to Spend in Retirement: A Skill Rarely Taught

For decades, you trained one financial muscle: save, invest, don't touch it. Then retirement arrives and asks you to do the opposite.Nobody teaches that part. There is no course on how to spend the money you spent a lifetime building, so the discipline, the caution, and the watchful eye on every bal...

08/26/2026

This month's chart unpacks where we most commonly go for information. Take a look, and you'll see one source stands out from the rest.

08/24/2026

Trending Higher

08/17/2026

Back-to-school season is bringing higher costs for many families.

A new analysis found that a typical basket of school items, including notebooks, lunch boxes, and index cards, is up nearly 8% compared with last year.

School lunches are also more expensive, with the cost of a typical packed lunch up 11%.

The analysis estimates families may spend roughly $4,000 per student on school supplies and lunches this year, including about $175 on school items and $3,800 on packed lunches.

Some items have seen especially sharp increases. Lunch boxes are up 27%, one-subject notebooks are up 23%, and index cards are up 22%.

Higher tariffs, imported school supplies, food prices, and energy costs are all contributing to the increase.

For families, back-to-school shopping is a reminder that seasonal expenses can add up quickly, especially when everyday costs are already stretching household budgets.


Source:

U.S. households will spend roughly $4,000 per student on school supplies and lunches this year, a new analysis found.

08/10/2026

Fear & Greed & Investors

08/05/2026

What to Do With Your Next Dollar: A Financial Order of Operations

What do you do when you earn well and have generally dialed in the fundamentals: save, invest, reduce debt, stay protected? The challenge was never knowing what to do. It's knowing what to do first, and in what order.That's a harder question than it looks. Each of these priorities is sound on its ow...

08/03/2026

What is it about August?

07/20/2026

Small business owners often think of their employees as family, but are they set up like it? This post opens the conversation around retirement options available to small business employees, reminding owners that a 401(k) isn't the only choice and that some options are built specifically for smaller teams.