We’re here to say that you should fund your Roth even when you can’t afford it. Even if the savings are going to be for purchasing your first home and not retirement, you should fund your Roth.

Tax opportunities present themselves at every level of income. Although for most tax brackets we recommend avoiding realizing capital gains, if you are in the 0% capital gains bracket, we have a completely different recommendation.

After automating your entire investment plan, your default will be to grow rich by living well below your means and saving and investing the difference. A little bit of planning will reward your future self with the riches of automatic prudent behaviors.

Which retirement account to fund, a traditional or Roth account, is a difficult decision to make. The tax bill of the present makes a Roth account feel costly. But, as with many financial decisions, such gut feelings deceive us.

Portfolio design and rebalancing is both a science and an art. Understanding the science is akin to understanding the physics of why a spinning ball hooks and bends. The art is the execution of the science such as when you are actually playing soccer or golf. It is the execution and follow-through that produces the desired outcome.

Rebalancing is the process of buying and selling assets in order to move your portfolio in alignment with its original target allocation. Rebalancing can both boost returns and lower volatility, but most investors do not understand how. Without understanding the science of rebalancing, average investors do not properly implement the art of rebalancing their portfolios. At best, they simply buy and hold their investments.

Many investors ask about the cost-benefit analysis of financial planning. Fee-only advisors can claim their compensation is straightforward and easy to understand. In contrast, commission-based advisors, due to their complex billing, are hard pressed to provide you with your true costs. Thus you may already be paying more than you realize.

Schwab offers a canned asset allocation generated from a risk tolerance personality quiz that forces you into a one-size-fits-all rebalancing algorithm. It ignores your contribution and withdrawal schedule and could create problems as a result.

The American brokerage and banking company Charles Schwab recently has released Schwab Intelligent Portfolios (SIPs), “an automated investment advisory service.” Advertising claims it “makes professional advisory services available to anyone with $5,000 to invest.” Despite its name, SIPs isn’t actually that intelligent. It offers one service: to “build, monitor and rebalance your portfolio,” and it doesn’t do that well.

While stranded on foreign soil, cooped up in a hotel room with reporter Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras with arguably the strongest world power out for his blood, Edward Snowden said, “The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change.” In 2013, Snowden revealed the U.S. government was actively pursuing the constant surveillance of everyone’s digital life.