Good afternoon!

Thank you for reading The Best Interest​

And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors​

From the blog...

I’ve struggled with this concept. I’ve seen many others struggle with it, too.

Step 1: We discover a new shiny idea (…Roth conversions! …Small-cap value investing! …Qualified charitable distributions!)

Step 2: This idea’s shiny appeal pushes it to the top of our priority list.

Step 3: Blinded by the light, we mistakenly overemphasize this new idea to the detriment of the big picture.

In various fields, this is called a “novelty effect” or “novelty bias.” It affects long-term investors and DIY financial planners, too, as they contemplate retirement and other long-term goals.

What if, instead, we had a simple, prioritized list of ideas that long-term investors ought to consider? Something that wipes away bias and cuts straight to the facts.

We need an “order of operations” that ensures you focus on the most important things first, before getting to the shiny new idea.
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​The Long-Term Investor's Order of Operations​

On the podcast...

Episode 131 takes on annuities.

Not with a sales pitch or a blanket dismissal, but by putting them under a rigorous planning lens rooted in risk, probability, and real retirement outcomes.

No, I'm not a fan of annuities. But why? It's good to understand why.

The heart of the episode introduces the concept of ergodicity and uses examples to show how retirement planning is fundamentally dominated by tail risks, timing, and one irreversible life path.

​"The Devil's Advocate Buys An Annuity..." | E131​

Weekly Top 3 - Other Content You Can't Miss

• 🧮 From Retirement Researcher: why marginal tax rate is more important than average tax rate.
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• 📊 From Nick Maggiulli: a statistical analysis of how to get wealthy​
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• 🦹🏻 From Mike Piper: financial fraud happens more on mobile​

I made some podcast guest appearances over the past week.

• Jesse on Marriage, Kids, and Money. We discuss my wife and my journey reaching to "CoastFI" at 35.

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• Jesse on Catching Up to FI. We discuss underspending in retirement.
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• Jesse on The Personal Finance Podcast. We discuss retirement planning mistakes.
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• Jesse on Earn & Invest. We discuss misinformation in financial advice.

What Are *Your* Questions?

I've been creating "ask me anything" episodes on the podcast, where I answer your questions about investing, financial planning, and retirement. They are quickly becoming my most popular episodes.
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Want to check them out? They're all here:

🔗 All of My AMA Episodes​

I'm collecting questions for AMAs 16 and 17.
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Reply to this email or send questions to jesse@bestinterest.blog​

Work with Jesse!

I work for a fiduciary wealth management firm in Rochester, NY, helping busy professionals and retirees avoid costly mistakes and grow lasting wealth to and through retirement.

Learn more here --> Work with Jesse​

Until Next Week

Thank you, as always, for reading, listening, and getting in touch. The project continues because you are a fantastic audience. People like you send me questions every single day.

Send an email or ask me question: ​​jesse@bestinterest.blog​

Until next week,

Jesse