A list of amazing feature writer portfolio examples from few of the top minds in the field!

Feature Writer Portfolio Examples

Married at First Sight Australia. Photo / Nine OPINION Archaeologists recently discovered in the sewers beneath the Colosseum the remains of snacks – grapes, cherries, walnuts, olives – enjoyed by the citizens of Ancient Rome as they watched…

Diana Wichtel: Married At First Sight and lessons in reality TV

An emotional Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at Rātana Pa Marae. Photo / Mark Mitchell OPINION: “Ridiculous!” cried the host of Three’s AM breakfast show, Ryan Bridge. Jacinda Ardern had resigned. Bridge read…

Diana Wichtel: The sexism Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern endured

Diana Wichtel never misses TVNZ 1's The Chase hosted by Bradley Walsh and sometimes starring Shaun Wallace, aka The Dark Destroyer. Photo / The Chase It hasn’t been much of a summer so far, but a break is a break, even when outside is battleship grey…

Diana Wichtel: Free TV is alive and kicking but far from decent

Matariki was celebrated for the first time in 2022. Image / NZME OPINION The holiday season: Southern Hemisphere rhythms demand that we stagger through December negotiating an obstacle course of extreme shopping, Secret Santas, work deadlines and…

Diana Wichtel: ’Tis the season to reflect

Season 5 of Netflix's critically acclaimed show 'The Crown' has confirmed to be releasing November 9. Video / DiscussingFilm These days Netflix acknowledges in its official description of The Crown, that it is a “fiction dramatisation”, “inspired” by…

Diana Wichtel on The Crown season five: Charles, Diana - and the truth

Kanye West. Photo / AP OPINION Things my daughter and I message each other about: which of us was visited by the most adorable tiny goblin on Halloween; a video of a baby sloth being reunited with its mother (flurry Unlock this article and all of our…

Diana Wichtel on Kanye West storming the limits of tolerance

Even Larry, Downing St's Chief Mouser, has better political instincts than the Conservative Party. Photo / AP OPINION Dame Judi Dench for UK Prime Minister. Why not? She has the qualifications. Apart from that time she donned whiskers and a costume…

Diana Wichtel: Fact and fiction increasingly blurred in modern Britain

The Women's Rugby World Cup match at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport It was one of those days. We got left on the wharf, both going to and coming home from Waiheke Island. Auckland and its endlessly aggravating public transport needs a new motto: City…

Diana Wichtel: the Black Ferns and Auckland - City of Snarls

In The Handmaid's Tale, people who should be allies tear each other apart. OPINION "By her hand," intones former handmaid June. She is messing with the biblical language of the tyrannical patriarchal theocracy of the Republic of Gilead – "By His…

Diana Wichtel: 21st century world, Handmaid's Tale-style

Lifestyle 24 NZDF personnel will march alongside their Australian and Canadian counterparts with UK Armed Forces and other Commonwealth countries who have significant links to the late Queen. Video / NZDF OPINION I think it was on Newshub – after…

Queen Elizabeth death: The 'unthinkable' passing that stopped the world - Diana Wichtel

OPINION: Glass of wine topped up? Box of tissues to hand? Check. All set for the return of Three's David Lomas Investigates, the latest season of the latest iteration of a long line of shows

Diana Wichtel: Outdated Adoption Act getting long overdue overhaul

Joni Mitchell performed her first full-length concert in nearly two decades at the Newport Folk Festival last month. Photo / AP OPINION Who? Doing what? Where? Joni Mitchell, apparently, performing a set at the Newport Folk Festival for the first…

Diana Wichtel on the power of music to make us feel again

Lifestyle Auckland mayoralty candidate Leo Molloy talks to Guy Williams on New Zealand Today. Photo / Three OPINION Many practitioners of the media's dark arts will have experienced an uncomfortable stab of recognition the first time they came across…

Auckland mayoralty: Diana Wichtel on Guy Williams and Leo Molloy - infotainment or interview?

Lifestyle National party leader Christopher Luxon is questioned on abortion law in New Zealand. Video / Mark Mitchell OPINION Prices are rising, inflation is inflating. The cost of living is high. It just got higher for women and not just at the…

Diana Wichtel: Cost of living high and it just got higher for women after Roe v Wade overturned

Lifestyle Auckland's Stardome Observatory and Planetarium kicked off its Matariki celebrations with an immersive light and sound installation. OPINION I love Christmas. We're the house with Santa in the cabbage tree out front and some tatty strings…

Diana Wichtel: Celebrating Matariki this year is making history

A hologram of Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation in the Gold State Coach during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Photo / AP OPINION A hologram in a 260-year-old gold carriage: the Queen attended her Jubilee Pageant parade in pixels if not in…

Diana Wichtel: Jubilee and Kid Sister show value of traditions

Life is short, Shorty goes on, seemingly forever. That makes about as much sense as anything these days. I was a television critic with a new baby when the show started. The old theme song

Diana Wichtel: Life is short but Shortland Street goes on forever

Abortion rights protesters during a demonstration outside the US Capitol building in Washington DC. Photo / AP OPINION I am woman, hear me sigh in an I-cannot-believe-this-crap-is-still-happening kind of way. When we arrived in New Zealand, my…

Diana Wichtel: Women still fighting misogyny

Opinion Another day, another ill-advised interview by a member of the House of Windsor. Prince Harry has a way to go to outdo the output of his parents as their marriage collapsed like a derelict Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber?…

Diana Wichtel: Harry follows parents' foot-in-mouth steps

Lifestyle OPINION I have been judged. At a mothers' group with my voracious newborn, known as "the jaws of doom", I hid my bottle of supplementary formula. Breast is best but sometimes you need to live Subscribe to continue reading. Already a…

Diana Wichtel: Parenting is a lifelong minefield of doubt and insecurity.

This is a collection that contains all your pieces.

Roy does some reflecting, Keeley hires an old friend, and Richmond returns to the Premier League. Alex McDaniel, Caroline Darney, and Kyle Bandujo break down Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 2, '(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea'Follow Alex on Twitter…

"Ted Lasso" Recap: S3, Ep2: '(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea' with Alex McDaniel and Caroline Darney

"Ted Lasso" is back, and so are Alex McDaniel and Kyle Bandujo with our Big Screen Sports episode recaps! We kick off S3 talking Ted's future in Richmond, Roy & Keeley, perfectly executed music cues, how exactly Richmond can compete with West Ham,…

"Ted Lasso" Recap: S3, Ep1: 'Smells Like Mean Spirit' with Alex McDaniel

Fans of Apple TV+’s wildly popular series, Ted Lasso, are gearing up for the show’s third season, which premieres March 15. There’s plenty of speculation around whether this is the last season of the Emmy-winning series. While no one has confirmed…

Brendan Hunt says Ted Lasso Season 3 is 'not necessarily the end of everything'

Editor’s Note: The following contains a spoiler regarding the plot of Season 3: Episode 1 of Ted Lasso. Being a Ted Lasso fan has always been a test of faith. First, we had to trust the show’s creators — Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt…

Ted Lasso's third season feels like the end — now we have to trust them to stick the landing

With "Ted Lasso" S3 about to debut, it's time to look back and pick the best of the best. Alex McDaniel, Caroline Darney, and Mike Golic Jr join Kyle Bandujo to draft the best of S1 & S2 of "Ted Lasso," then go over some S3 mailbag questions from the…

The "Ted Lasso" Episode Draft + Mailbag with Alex McDaniel, Caroline Darney, and Mike Golic Jr

Rom-Com month rolls on with the definitive NBA Finals movie, "How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days." Caroline Darney, Alex McDaniel, and Haley O'Shaughnessy join Kyle Bandujo to talk hot couples, workplace HR violations, and the best rom-coms of the past…

Rom-Com Month: "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" with Caroline Darney, Alex McDaniel, and Haley O'Shaughnessy

Rom-Com month kicks off with a break-up movie. Gang's all here, as Caroline, Alex, Mike, and Kyle talk Hawaiian vacations, dark ominous tones, and everything else in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."Follow Caroline on Twitter @cwdarney, Alex…

Rom-Com Month:: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" with Caroline Darney, Alex McDaniel, and Mike Golic Jr.

To say Joe Burrow is having a moment isn’t just an understatement — it’s misleading. Burrow’s “moment” has lasted years at this point, both for his talent and ability to bounce back, and his star isn’t fading anytime soon. The Bengals quarterback is…

Joe Burrow thirst is raging on TikTok and y'all should be ashamed

Caroline Darney, Alex McDaniel, and Kyle Bandujo celebrate the holiday season by swapping houses, befriending senior citizens, and basking in the glow of Jude Law's hotness. Today we're talking "The Holiday."Follow Caroline @cwdarney, Alex…

"The Holiday" with Alex McDaniel & Caroline Darney

Football fans are stunned by the sudden loss of Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach, whose offensive prowess and eccentric personality made him one of the most compelling figures in college sports. Leach, 61, died Monday night after complications…

Mike Leach's death has stunned and saddened the sports world

Weeks after Taylor Swift’s Internet lit up over speculation that she might be playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Swifties are buzzing about an “exclusive premiere” (possibly a video?) set for next week’s broadcast of Thursday Night Football on…

Taylor Swift might drop a 'Midnights' video on Thursday Night Football hours before the album comes out

Update (2:55 p.m. ET): Variety is reporting that Taylor Swift is, in fact, performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, according to three unnamed sources — but People just reported Swift is not, in fact, performing. STOP PLAYING WITH US. Twitter lit…

Is Taylor Swift playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show? AN INVESTIGATION

In today’s Totally Normal and Fine sports news, let’s take it over to the Pac-12 where a college student was reportedly arrested this week for having too much Utah in her. According to KSL.com, a University of Utah student is being investigated over…

A Utah fan allegedly threatened to detonate a nuclear reactor if her team lost

The band gets back together to steal the Declaration of Independence. Alex McDaniel, Caroline Darney, and Kyle Bandujo talk horrible fashion, bad security, and everything else that comes with the Patron's Movie of the Month, "National…

"National Treasure" with Caroline Darney and Alex McDaniel

Even following last week’s nail-biter against UNC, it’s understandable why Appalachian State students wouldn’t make the trip from Boone, North Carolina to College Station this weekend to watch the Mountaineers face off against No. 6 Texas A&M. For…

App State students flooded the streets after upset over Texas A&M and it was THRILLING

In their first performance since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters were joined by celebrities and musical guests in London Saturday to pay tribute to their bandmate and friend. “Tonight we’ve gathered here to celebrate the life, the…

Taylor Hawkins' teenage son played an emotional 'My Hero' tribute with Foo Fighters

For those of us who are firmly centered in the Venn diagram of football and lightweight romantic comedies, Peyton Manning stole our hearts in January with his VERY ACCURATE REVIEW on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” about the hit Netflix…

Peyton Manning foolishly passed on an 'Emily in Paris' cameo to enjoy a romantic vacation with his wife

WARNING: THERE ARE WORDLE SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT THE AUGUST 25, 2022 WORDLE ANSWER SPOILED FOR YOU. Ready? OK. As far as hardest Wordle words go, Thursday’s answer wasn’t that bad. If you’re here, you’re probably…

Wordle today: Answer, clues for Thursday, August 25 2022 word of the day

It’s Tom Brady’s birthday, and let’s face it, he looks fantastic for someone who can barely handle a White Claw and hasn’t eaten a processed carb in decades. Brady’s refusal to age on or off the field is equal parts fascinating and infuriating, but…

45 really old things that are still younger than Tom Brady

Vin Scully, beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster at the helm of the Dodgers for 67 years, died Tuesday at age 94. A cherished voice, not only among Dodgers fans but all who loved baseball, Scully was the longest-tenured broadcaster of a team in the…

The best Vin Scully moments from the final years of his career

A confluence of government, academia and industry has emerged, determined that Australia does not miss out on quantum technologies. By Wilson da Silva AUSTRALIA’S BURGEONING quantum industry is booming, thanks to decades of investment in basic…

Quantum ‘Tipping Point’ Has Arrived for Australia

Rising sea levels, coupled with the natural variability of coral reefs, is creating new uncertainty in international law, with geopolitical implications. By Wilson da Silva CORAL REEF islands and their reefs — found across in the Indo-Pacific —…

Is Climate Change Disrupting Maritime Boundaries?

Experts at the recent Quantum Australia conference and careers fair assert Australia’s burgeoning quantum industry is booming, here's why. By Wilson da Silva AUSTRALIA’S BURGEONING quantum industry is booming, thanks to decades of investment in basic…

Australia’s quantum ‘tipping point’ has arrived

Previously unknown effect makes compact, ultra-fast control of spin qubits in quantum computers possible. By Wilson da Silva AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERS have discovered a new way of precisely controlling single electrons nestled in quantum dots that run…

Accidental Discovery Brings Billion-Qubit Quantum Chips Closer

Processed foods lack protein, so the body compensates by overeating, study shows. By Wilson da Silva A YEAR-LONG STUDY study of the dietary habits of 9,341 Australians has backed growing evidence that highly processed and refined foods are the…

‘Protein Hunger’, Processed Foods Key to Rising Obesity

Quantum computing will render most modern cryptography futile. And while it may be years away, experts are already preparing for that day. By Wilson da Silva IS THERE A THREAT that quantum computing will make financial transactions — or military and…

The Death of Cryptography in a Post-Quantum World

Electric vehicles are finally taking off in Australia, but sales will need to grow much faster to reach Australia’s emissions targets. By Wilson da Silva SALES OF NEW electric vehicles in Australia rose 86 per cent in 2022 to 39,353 – or about 3.8…

Electric vehicle sales rise sharply, but off a low base

Fewer links to frontal lobes than expected, but more links to visual networks. By Wilson da Silva THE MOST DETAILED map ever made of the communication links between the hippocampus — the brain’s memory control centre — and the rest of the human brain…

Most Detailed Map of Brain’s Memory Hub Finds a Puzzle

New technique developed by geoscientists can determine the health of coral reefs from space. By Wilson da Silva HOW HEALTHY are coral reefs? And how are they responding to climate change? After more than 10 years of monitoring the Great Barrier Reef,…

Using Satellites to See How Coral Reefs Cope With Climate Change

The Lord Howe Island wood-feeding cockroach — long thought extinct — has been rediscovered. By Wilson da Silva A LARGE WINGLESS wood-eating cockroach, unique to Australia’s Lord Howe Island and thought extinct since the 1930s, has been rediscovered…

‘Extinct’ Wood-Eating Cockroach Rediscovered After 80 Years

The Milky Way is girdled by a gargantuan necropolis of ancient dead stars bigger than the galaxy itself. By Wilson da Silva BILLIONS OF black holes and neutron stars must have formed since our galaxy was born — but where they ended up is a mystery. A…

Graveyard of Suns: Milky Way’s Galactic Underworld Discovered

By Wilson da Silva Is there a threat to modern data security algorithms that could make superannuation transactions crackable by cybercriminals? Yes, the threat is real – quantum computing will eventually render most public key cryptography futile.…

Data security in a post-quantum world

A puzzling image from the James Webb Space Telescope, which had astronomers stumped for months, has finally been explained. By Wilson da Silva A BIZARRE IMAGE of the distant star surrounded by concentric squarish ripples, captured by the James Webb…

‘Cosmic Spiderweb’ Mystery Solved

A boom in the global space industry will eventually see people flying anywhere on Earth in less than an hour. And that’s just the beginning. By Wilson da Silva IN THE 1930s, the notion that, within decades, people would be flying to any point on the…

Have Rocket, Will Travel: The Coming Age of Intercontinental Spaceflight

Jacinta May had always been interested in music and literature, but also physics and chemistry. Then, on “one magical day”, she was enthralled by a lecture on quantum computing – and knew it was for her. By Wilson da Silva BORN TO A FAMILY OF…

Entranced by the majesty of nature

Maggie Liuzzi studied economics then landed a job in artificial intelligence – which led her, in a roundabout way, into the exciting world of quantum technologies. By Wilson da Silva WHEN MAGGIE LIUZZI, 28, completed her Bachelor of Economics in…

When the improbable becomes real

Sam Roberts long had a passion for abstract maths, and thought he’d end up teaching it at university. Instead, he’s pushing the limits of linear algebra to encode data into particles of light. By Wilson da Silva THE AMBITION of PsiQuantum, a…

Solving equations at the speed of light

How PhD Student Irene Fernández de Fuentes found the freedom to explore her passion for quantum physics – and make lasting friendships – on the other side of the world. By Wilson da Silva “QUANTUM COMPUTING is a hot topic,” says Irene Fernández de…

A universe of possibilities

Arjun David Rao wanted to join a start-up that would bring quantum computing to the world – a path that led him to the Sydney Quantum Academy. By Wilson da Silva “PHYSICS IS my entire life, I love the problem-solving side of it,” says Arjun David…

Where physics and start-up culture mix

Despite facing stumbling blocks, Ritika Bazzad has retained the resolve she needed to build a career at the forefront of quantum technology. By Wilson da Silva THE PAST SEVEN YEARS have seen a flurry of challenges for Ritika Bazzad, 22. Despite this,…

Venturing into the quantum world

Find all my articles in one place and up-to-date. Or receive a weekly email alert when a new one is published.

Like my articles? Get alerts when new ones are published 😎 

Since it began occupying its new arena in 2016, the Sacramento Kings basketball team has been moving many of its workloads — email systems, file servers, Microsoft 365 — to the cloud. One thing was missing, however: a seamless disaster recovery…

How the Cloud Has Revolutionized Disaster Recovery

Simplicity has been Fordham University’s game plan for the past decade. Since shifting its enterprise resource planning system from its New York campus to Amazon Web Services in 2012, the school has moved about 85 percent of its infrastructure to…

HCI, IaaS Help Universities Simplify Infrastructure Management

In the year since the city of Tampa, Fla., moved its human resources and finance systems to a cloud-based Software as a Service platform, HR signed three new union contracts and had to get the new compensation and rules into the system. The project…

Agencies Simplify and Improve HR Services with Business Process Automation

(Clockwise from top left) Jogbra inventor Lisa Lindahl, OME Gear’s Jules Weldon and Stacey Pierce, and MitoChem Therapeutics co-founder Bärbel Rohrer As she sits outside Normandy Farms near her home in West Ashley, Lisa Lindahl glances at a young…

Mothers of Invention: Get inspired by four local women whose ingenious ideas revolutionized industries and defied the odds

There’s a lot of waiting around in hospitals. Patients wait for rooms, doctors or test results. But medical teams spend a lot of time waiting too. “It’s frustrating as a clinician to not have a real-time view of where important things are inside the…

How Mobility Helps Hospital Staff Find Efficiencies and Navigate Complex Facilities

An old landscape architecture adage is that you never build paths, you let people beat them. Troy Miller’s family has done its share of path-beating throughout Riverland Terrace on James Island. His grandfather, Aaron “Harry” Miller, caddied at the…

Riverland Terrace: Discover where to eat, shop, and play when you’re in the neighborhood with Troy Miller, the architect behind the Muni’s renovation

Graffiti breeds graffiti. It’s a reality that prompted city leaders in Tempe, Ariz., to set a goal of reducing it to one instance per four square miles. “If you don’t clean it up quickly, it attracts more and detracts from the overall appearance of…

Smart Cities Team with Universities to Launch Smart City Projects

On July 2, 2021, while preparing to kick off the holiday weekend, Stephen Jauregui got an alert about a malicious .crt file on six servers. His company, Baxter Credit Union, based in Vernon Hills, Ill., was one of thousands hit by the notorious…

How Managed Detection and Response Keeps Businesses Safe from Ransomware

Healthcare organizations across the U.S. are under tremendous pressure as the growing need for nurses outpaces a shrinking workforce. There have been unprecedented challenges from the large, aging baby boomer population. Nurses are also getting…

The Rise of the Virtual Nurse

Community Medical Centers had a growing demand for data analytics. So in 2017, when Javier Romo started as associate manager of business intelligence at the Stockton, Calif.-based nonprofit, he turned to legacy tools — mainly freeware — to meet the…

How Healthcare Organizations Are Understanding Data Better to Drive Change

Discover this scenic, funky slice of the coast through an island artist, pro surfer, and chef As temperatures climb, landlocked beach lovers flock to Folly, the “Edge of America” outpost that packs in more characters, adventures, and sights than its…

The Insiders’ Guide to Folly: Find beach bliss at the Edge of America this summer with advice on where to eat, drink, play, and explore from three local experts

Kyle Barnette and Brian Porter aren’t afraid to shake things up. Since their meet-cute in 2003 during stints at Memphis’ famed Playhouse on the Square, they’ve routinely asked themselves, “What if?” As in, what if they brought boundary-pushing shows…

In the Neighborhood: Exploring the best of Avondale with Kyle Barnette and Brian Porter

When 12-year-old Herbert Henry Dow set out to invent a chicken egg incubator, it took 40 tries before he was successful. For much of the past 125 years since he founded his namesake chemicals company, scientists at Dow have followed in his footsteps,…

With AI Platforms on the Cloud, Businesses Reinvent Their Processes — and Themselves

The cats, octopuses, and other critters in Nathan Durfee’s whimsical paintings find themselves atop mountains, under water, nestled in tree branches, or lounging at home. But in the past two years, the acclaimed artist has added some recurring…

In the Neighborhood: Exploring Wagener Terrace with resident artist Nathan Durfee

Months before mask mandates, variants and mRNA vaccines became part of the common lexicon, Farm Credit Administration Chairman and CEO Glen Smith spoke on Capitol Hill about the economic outlook, with one qualifier: His forecast was solid, barring an…

Fusion Centers Find Their Way into the Federal Government

Shuai and Corrie Wang in front of their celebrated Spruill Avenue eatery, Jackrabbit Filly. Since moving from New York City to Charleston in 2014, Corrie and Shuai Wang had dreamed of opening a “neighborhood joint”—the kind of place where everyone…

In the Neighborhood: Discover Park Circle with resident author and restaurateur Corrie Wang

The Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois (RTA), faced with sweeping shutdowns due to COVID-19, announced that its workforce would be fully remote after March 13, 2020, until further notice. Everyone, that is, except for its call…

Cities Adopt Cloud Computing and IoT for Smarter Transportation

When the 13,000 employees of long-term-care provider PruittHealth meet with patients, they can’t spend time troubleshooting technology issues. They need to count on quick IT support. For years, however, they could only submit service requests and…

How the Shift to Digitally Streamlined Workflow Helps Improve Care

As the world grappled with the ramifications of a mysterious new illness in early 2020, the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories returned to their World War II–era roots. The labs, created to develop the atomic bomb, came together during…

Temporary COVID-19 IT Solutions Provide Permanent Options for Federal Agencies

From patient questionnaires to Internet of Medical Things devices, healthcare systems collect, store and rely on massive streams of data to deliver care, especially as they undergo digital transformations. In North Carolina, Chapel Hill-based UNC…

Access and Action: Healthcare Systems Put Big Data to Work

My favorite articles on IT, business and finance

Articles about culture, food, entertainment, neighborhoods and travel

I never want this to happen to you. Michael Lewis – the author of Moneyball, The Big Short, The Blind Side, etc – has a terrific podcast called Against the Rules. In a recent episode, Lewis and famous baseball statistician Bill James were discussing…

Moneyball’s Essential Stock Market Lesson

Saving money is a no-brainer. Its benefit is obvious. You have more money! Your bank account grows. Your 401(k) grows. You can retire (potentially early) and do fun things with the savings you’ve built up over time. But there’s a second, hidden…

The Hidden Benefit of Saving Money

You’re seeing Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the news. People are comparing it to the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. What’s going on? Let’s talk about Silicon Valley Bank in simple terms. I’m writing this ~2pm EST on Sunday March 12. I will update…

Silicon Valley Bank 101

Outsiders think they know how something works. You know the type. Those armchair experts opining at the Thanksgiving table. The least experienced are the most confident in their knowledge. Insiders actually know how something works. And that, as the…

Great Investors’ Little Secret

Lawrence recently wrote in: Dear Jesse, My wife is 70 and I’m about to turn 70, and we’ve been retired for 8 years, and even with the tough market in 2022, our portfolio is up 40% from when we retired – from ~$3M to $4.2M. But I can’t bring myself to…

Dying with Millions

The McDonald’s Test is a simple way to ask yourself: am I really enjoying the fruits of my labor? While chatting with a client last year, we discussed a vital financial planning topic: spending their retirement savings. It’s challenging for many…

The McDonald’s Test

Retirement math can be complex. Investment returns, Social Security, spending rates, etc. But we’re keeping it simple today. We’re going to cover a basic concept that will allow you to retire decades early. Imagine a married couple with the following…

How to Retire Decades Early

Rochester is home to a dedicated clutch of platform tennis addicts. And you ask: what is platform tennis? Platform tennis (a.k.a. “paddle tennis” or, most often, just “paddle”) is an outdoor-only cold-weather racket sport, played almost exclusively…

The Negative Arts of Money and Paddle

As of October 2022, stocks were down 25% from their previous high. Bonds were down 15% over the same period. A “balanced” 60/40 portfolio was down 21%. It was, by some measure, the worst investing year in a lifetime. But life goes on. What’s happened…

Portfolios Are Up How Much?!?!

Samuel Bolton Jr. was a successful businessman, brewer, politician, and philanthropist in Troy, NY in the late 1800s. Why, then, did Bolton kill himself by diving into a vat of hot beer? He didn’t understand risk. No, not the risk of diving into…

The Investor Who Died In a Vat of Hot Beer

I wish I could run 5 miles a day without the discomfort, the exertion, and the required hour of time. (Yeah, I’m slow). But there’s no such thing as “passive running.” You either run or you don’t. The same goes for a healthy diet. And reading. And…

Don’t Be A Dummy. Be A Chicken.

What happens when you die? Will your soul travel to an ethereal plane? Does your spirit remain on Earth? Or, more simply, does your body decompose from whence it came? Welcome to The Existential Interest, a new blog where I wax philosophical on the…

Estate Planning 101

Investing is all about risk and reward. When investors take more risk, they demand more reward. One such “risk premium” is the concept of illiquidity. Liquid assets are easily converted to cash. Stocks are liquid. You can buy or sell them five days a…

The Easiest Money That Investors Ignore

For you cave-dwellers, Wordle is a word-guessing game where you have six guesses to correctly find a 5-letter word. After each guess, you learn which letters you’ve guessed correctly and if you placed those letters in the right/wrong spot. There are…

Wordle’s Hidden Financial Lesson

All the following inflation data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food at home costs are up 12% year-over-year. This affects you! (Unless you’re a mystical no-food yogi…yikes). We all need to eat. But can we make economical food choices to…

The Secret To Beating Inflation

Math can unlock the world for us. But only if we use it accurately. A quick lesson today on investment performance. Apologies if I end up being soap-boxy. But bad math (especially by experts) ruffles my feathers. To start, it’s high time The Best…

Even “Experts” Measure Stupidly

Another quarter in the books! Every three months, I take a look at my personal finances, share recent news from The Best Interest, and show you more dog pictures. Here are my previous quarterly updates: Why share this info? To brag about money?! No…