Forget SPY. iShares Runs the Same S&P 500 for a Third of the Fee
SPY has ruled S&P 500 investing for three decades, but a structural quirk baked into its 1993 design quietly bleeds returns that most long-term holders never notice they are losing.
All Work
David Beren
This S&P 500 Fund Pays You Every Friday and Still Returned 20% Over the Past Year
A younger S&P 500 covered call fund exploits a structural blind spot that quietly costs older strategies their best gains, and it deposits cash into your account every single Friday.
SCHD vs. DGRO: Which Dividend Growth ETF Makes More Sense After 60?
SCHD and DGRO both screen for dividend quality, but they define it in ways that produce very different paychecks depending on where you stand in retirement. Picking the wrong one at the wrong moment…
Forget SPY: This Shareholder Yield ETF Has Beaten It by 12 Points This Year
Most S&P 500 investors assume they own the market, but one overlooked mechanism quietly determines how much cash actually flows back to shareholders, and ignoring it this year has carried a measurable price.
Forget EFA. iShares’ Own Replacement Charges 78% Less for the Same Developed Markets
EFA has dominated international investing for over two decades and commands $75 billion in assets, yet iShares quietly placed a nearly identical fund on its own shelf that most long-term investors have no idea…
Max Out a Trump Account and Your Kid Could Have $185,000 at 18
The government is dangling a six-figure number to get parents to open Trump Accounts, but that headline figure comes with a set of assumptions most families will never hit. Here is what the math…
Covered Call Investors Are Crowding Into the Same Two Indexes and Missing These 3 ETFs Yielding Up to 12 Percent
Most covered call investors have piled into the same two giant indexes, but a handful of overlooked ETFs are harvesting premiums from corners of the market JEPI and QYLD never touch.
Trump Says Kevin Warsh “Wants to Do the Right Thing.” But Could He Raise Rates This Week?
Kevin Warsh opens a two-day Fed meeting with inflation data that gives him cover to hike rates, a bond market signaling it expects cuts, and a president publicly telling him what to do. Something…
International Dividend ETFs Still Pay Nearly Double SCHD and These 3 Are Beating the US Market Too
Three international dividend ETFs have been quietly outpacing the most popular US dividend fund while paying nearly twice its yield, and each one gets there through a completely different strategy.
Trump Criticized Biden for Draining America’s Oil Reserves. They’re Now at a 43-Year Low Amidst a Middle East War.
Donald Trump spent his 2024 campaign hammering Biden for emptying America's emergency oil stockpile, pledging to refill it the moment he took office. Now a shooting war in the Middle East is testing whether…
Your Broker Is Pocketing the Yield on Your Idle Cash. This ETF Hands You Roughly 4%
Most brokers quietly earn the full short-term Treasury rate on your uninvested cash while crediting you a fraction of a percent, and the dollar difference on a typical balance over a year is not…
New for 2026: Workers 60 to 63 Can Put Away an Extra $11,250. Almost Nobody Does.
SECURE 2.0 handed workers ages 60 to 63 one of the most powerful retirement savings tools ever written into tax law, yet the people who need it most are almost universally ignoring it. Here…
The Social Security Tax Torpedo Can Double Your Tax Bill on a Single IRA Withdrawal. Here’s How to Defuse It
A routine IRA withdrawal can quietly trigger a tax bill on income you never actually received, and most retirees crossing certain thresholds discover this only after the damage is done.
Forget VIG: DGRO Pays 26% More Dividend Income for Nearly the Same Fee
Two nearly identical dividend growth ETFs charge almost the same fee, but one quietly puts more cash in your pocket every year while also posting stronger total returns across every time horizon that matters.
Miss Medicare Enrollment at 65 and the Penalty Isn’t a Fine. It’s a Higher Premium for Life.
Most people treat Medicare enrollment at 65 as a formality they can circle back to later. The federal government treats every month of delay as a permanent pay cut from your retirement income.
Want $6,000 a Year on $100K in Bonds? Capital Group’s ETF Delivers What the Index Doesn’t
Index bond funds promise safety and simplicity, but a quiet corner of the active ETF market has been paying income-focused investors nearly twice the yield on the same principal, and the tradeoffs are not…
Forget EEM. iShares Sells Nearly the Same Emerging Markets for 87% Less
BlackRock quietly launched a second emerging markets ETF that costs almost nothing compared to its famous sibling, and the long-term performance numbers reveal just how expensive investor loyalty to the original has become.
Why XDTE’s $12.65 annual payout might be half what it seems
XDTE's weekly payouts and 30-plus percent trailing yield look like an income investor's dream, but two payments buried in 2025 year-end data may be doing far more heavy lifting than most buyers realize.
The Medicare IRMAA Surcharge Can Add Thousands to Your Retirement Costs. Here’s How to Avoid It
A hidden Medicare surcharge blindsides thousands of retirees each year, and the income decisions you make today are already setting the bill you will receive two years from now.
The Average Retiree Owes $11,349 the Day They Retire: What 97% Carry Into Social Security, in Dollars
Most Americans picture retirement as the moment they finally get ahead, but a sweeping analysis of tens of thousands of credit reports reveals the opposite is true for nearly everyone crossing that threshold, and…