Wealth Foundations
Find a guide for account choices, IRA rules, investment taxes, and the costs that affect long-term returns.
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Latest Wealth Foundations Guides
Investing basics, account strategy, portfolio construction, fees, taxes, and long-term decision rules.
Aug 25, 2026
Qualified Dividends: When You Get Lower Tax Rates (and When You Don’t)
Updated: October 17, 2026 Qualified dividends can receive lower federal tax rates, but an amount in Form 1099-DIV Box 1b does not automatically settle the question. Box 1b is already…
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Aug 22, 2026
Roth IRA Contribution Limits for 2026: Phaseouts, Deadline, and What Counts
2026 Roth IRA contribution limits are $7,500, or $8,600 at age 50+. Check the income phaseouts, April 15, 2027 deadline, and calculate how much you can contribute directly.
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Aug 20, 2026
FIFO Stock Sales vs. Specific Identification: Which Tax Lots Should You Sell?
Updated: October 19, 2026 Bottom line: compare adjusted basis and holding period together before a taxable partial sale. Specific identification gives you control over which eligible lot is treated as…
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Aug 17, 2026
Wash Sale Rule: 30-Day Timing, Replacement Shares, ETFs, and IRA Traps
Updated: October 17, 2026 The wash sale rule can disallow a stock or securities loss even when you never buy the investment back in the same taxable account. Sell an…
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Aug 16, 2026
Mutual Fund Capital Gains Distributions: Taxes and Year-End Timing
Learn how mutual fund capital gains can create a tax bill without a sale, how distributions affect NAV, and when year-end purchase timing may matter.
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Aug 13, 2026
Capital Gains Tax on Stocks: Short-Term, Long-Term, and Cost Basis Rules
How capital gains tax works on stocks, including 2026 rates, cost basis, short- vs. long-term gains, loss netting, and tax filing rules.
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Aug 12, 2026
HYSA vs Money Market Fund: 3 Quotes, 1 Costly Mistake
HYSA vs money market fund: APY, a 7-day yield and a T-bill quote are not directly comparable. Compare after-tax dollars before chasing the highest rate.
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Aug 9, 2026
SIPC vs. FDIC: Which Protection Applies to Your Money?
SIPC vs FDIC applies differently to bank deposits, broker cash, cash sweeps, and money market funds. Learn which protection fits each failure and asset.
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Aug 6, 2026
Cash Account vs Margin Account: 5 Critical Checks
Cash account vs margin account: check permissions, buying power, interest, implementation and house rules before borrowing. More buying power adds risk.
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Aug 4, 2026
What One Missed Roth IRA Contribution Actually Costs
The same $7,500 contribution produces an $8,834 gap in one thirty-year model and no gap under a fully tax-free path. See which assumptions change the result.
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Wealth FoundationsBuild the System Before You Pick the Assets
Long-term wealth is usually won or lost in the setup.
We break down investing basics, account rules, fees, taxes, allocation, and the behavioral decisions that compound for decades.
Primary Sources
Long-Term Math
Practical Decisions
The Foundation
How We Build Stronger Wealth Foundations
Good investing starts before a ticker enters the conversation. These guides focus on the account structure, costs, risk capacity, and repeatable rules that determine whether a sensible plan survives real life.
01 · Plan
What job does this money need to do?
We start with goals, time horizon, liquidity, and risk capacity so the portfolio is built around a real obligation rather than a generic return target.
02 · Friction
What quietly reduces the return?
We trace fees, taxes, account restrictions, trading costs, and default settings that look small in one year but become large over a full investing lifetime.
03 · Behavior
Can the plan survive a bad market?
We favor rules that remain usable during volatility, when a mathematically sound portfolio is most likely to be abandoned or changed at the wrong time.
Educational guides for building an investing system, not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice.