Open World Financial Life Planning

08/07/2026

In life we pull from a plethora of different experiences to share our opinions. In gaming, this can lead to mastery of a category. Knowledge you gain from playing Magic: The Gathering can be helpful when you play Frosthaven later on. While these two games are not the same, they share elements.

Some gaming knowledge also generalizes to finances. Idle games are very close to investing. You want to set up a system that delivers XP (or dollars) in the background and requires very few interactions. You log in and check on it every so often, and perhaps tweak it slightly with new information or ability. Other than that, your investments just keep going. They are working in the background to make sure you keep getting gains and don't require your attention often. In fact, more tweaking may halt progress.

Learn more about investing in my upcoming book, Informed Investing:

Informed Investing is the next step for the financial adventurer who has questions about the complexities of the investing world. You've beaten the tutorial, gotten your household in order, achieved accumulation, and now you need to unravel the arcane mysteries of the financial system. Look no fu...

08/04/2026

Investing metrics start simple and get as complicated as you want them to be. For most people, knowing the average 10 year return of an investment, the expense ratio, and the range of possible returns an investment is likely to have should be good enough. Bonus points if you understand negative correlation and can work that into your portfolio!

Did all of that sound like dwarvish to you? Perhaps you should check out Informed Investing. The book launches on 08/28/2026 and will feature a full explanation of all of these metrics and more!

07/30/2026

Are you in a target-date fund in your 401(k)? If so, don’t panic. Turns out, they are pretty decent investments for a lot of people’s goals. That’s why they exist in the first place!

If you are in this investment, the bigger red flag is that you probably defaulted to it without knowing why. 401(k)s rarely come with strategy guides or video essays on investing attached. Understanding what a target-date fund is and how you might be able to pivot your investments more specifically for your goals is one of the topics covered in Informed Investing.

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07/29/2026

Taxes are a big part of why financial planners recommend certain account types. Knowing how each investment will be taxed helps you make decisions about using the money you’ve earned. Make sure your investment strategy allows you to maximize your after-tax return, not just your returns within the accounts.

You can learn more about it by reading Informed Investing when it drops on August 28th!

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07/27/2026

Real estate investing goes in and out of popularity. Right now it’s harder to pull off, thanks to higher interest rates and home costs. Rents haven’t kept up in a lot of areas for single family homes. If you want to invest directly in real estate, but do not want the financial risk of buying a home, you have another option. REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are a topic covered in Informed Investing and can be the solution to this problem.

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07/24/2026

Did you know that Informed Investing is part of a 3 part series? The first book “A Gamer’s Guide to Money: Level 1” talks about the core parts of a financial plan. It’s an exceptionally quick read, but serves as a simple guide to what I do.

The second book “Achieving Accumulation: A Gamer’s Guide to Money Level 2” talks about how to examine your income, spending habits, save, and get out of debt. It’s a little longer, but remains a quick read with some helpful exercises at the back.

Then there’s “Informed Investing: A Gamer’s Guide to Money Level 3”, which comes out on August 28th. It’s a big leap in complexity as I dive into investments, investing strategy, evaluation tools, and taxes! The book covers a lot, but I still managed to squeeze a few helpful exercises in at the end.

Each book roughly doubles in size compared to its predecessor, which is a nod to how financial topics get more complex the deeper you go. We'll see if the next book goes from Informed Investing's 122 to a new record of 244 pages, but I sure hope not!

You can see the series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH5P83W9?binding=kindle_edition&qid=1784904397&sr=8-1&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tkin

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