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1074 articles
The FIRE movement shows that financial independence is achievable through aggressive saving and smart ETF investing. Learn how to calculate your FIRE number and build the portfolio to get there.
Coast FIRE means investing enough early that compound growth alone will fund your retirement, freeing you to work less or pursue passion projects without worrying about saving more.
Lean FIRE proves you do not need millions to retire early. Learn how to build an ETF portfolio that supports a lean retirement lifestyle on annual spending under 40,000 dollars.
Barista FIRE blends part-time work with investment income for a flexible semi-retirement. Learn how to build an ETF portfolio that supports this popular FIRE variant.
A 25-year ETF investing plan provides a roadmap for building significant wealth through five distinct phases. Learn how your strategy should evolve as your career and life progress.
Building generational wealth with ETFs involves more than just investing. Learn how to structure accounts, minimize transfer taxes, and teach the next generation to grow the family's wealth.
Starting to invest in 2026? This guide covers the current market environment, the best ETF strategies for new investors, and how to build a portfolio positioned for long-term success.
Your ETF strategy should evolve as you move through life. Learn the optimal asset allocation, contribution strategy, and financial priorities for each decade from your 20s through retirement.
ETFs are surrounded by tidy-sounding myths that quietly cost beginners money. Here are the most common misconceptions, busted one by one with how it actually works.
The time to design crash protection is before the crash, when you can think clearly. Here is a concrete defensive playbook and how each asset actually behaves when stocks fall.
The old '100 minus your age' rule for bonds is a decent starting line, not a finish line. Your real number depends on your timeline, your stomach for losses, and your goals.
When an advisor or robo holds ETFs for you, you pay twice: the fund's expense ratio plus a wrap fee on top. The second layer is the one that quietly does the most damage.
Tracking error is the gap between an ETF and the index it promises to copy. For a fund like VOO it's a rounding error; for a leveraged or exotic fund it can be the whole story.
ETFs trade like stocks, so day-trading them is entirely possible. The harder question is whether you should — and the evidence on day-trading outcomes is not encouraging.
There's no way to eliminate crash risk, but a few durable habits soften the blow — diversification, bonds, a cash buffer, and the discipline not to sell at the bottom.
For a quality dividend ETF, roughly 1.5%–4% is a healthy range. A very high yield often signals trouble rather than a bargain. Here's how to read a yield in context.
The expense ratio looks tiny, but it's charged every year on your whole balance and compounds against you. Over decades, the gap between 0.03% and 1% can be six figures.
International stocks make up a large share of the world's market, yet most investors hold too few. A common target is 20–40% of your stock allocation — here's how to choose your number.
An advisor's value is real for complex situations and behavior coaching — but their typical 1% fee compounds heavily over decades. Here's an honest framework for deciding between advice and DIY.
Robo-advisors automate the boring parts of investing for about 0.25% a year. That's a fair deal for hands-off investors, but a DIY three-fund portfolio does most of the same job for less.
It's a myth that advisors dislike ETFs — most fee-only planners use them heavily. The ones who don't are usually paid by the products they sell, and ETFs don't pay commissions.
A decade in a broad U.S. index fund through the 2010s roughly tripled invested money. The lesson isn't the exact multiple — it's what time in the market does, and why timing it is so hard.
The honest answer is that no one ETF is best for everyone. But for the core of most portfolios, the choice narrows to a handful of cheap, broad funds. Here's the framework.
ETF dividends are usually taxable, but how much you pay depends on whether they're qualified, and where you hold the fund. Held in a Roth IRA, the same dividends can be completely tax-free.
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The My ETF Journey team — independent ETF educators who do not accept payment from fund companies or brokers. Every article is unbiased, research-backed, and written to help you invest smarter.
Yes — every article is written in plain English with zero jargon assumed. Financial terms link to our glossary so you can learn as you read. We cover beginner fundamentals through intermediate strategies.
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