Quotations by Kristy Shen

To get a more accurate estimate of your housing costs, use the Rule of 150: Take your monthly mortgage payment and multiply it by 150%. If the Rule of 150 monthly cost is higher than rent, rent. Otherwise, buy. Always "math shit up" before you buy. [2019] - Kristy Shen

Put assets that pay interest or non-qualified dividends in your tax-deferred or tax-sheltered accounts. Put assets that pay qualified dividends in your normal investment accounts. [2019] - Kristy Shen

Following the 4% rule still gives you a 5% chance of running out of money, due to a phenomenon known as sequence-of-return risk. Your backup plan: 1) Cash Cushion - A reserve fund held in a savings account that you can use to avoid doing a full portfolio withdrawal during down years. 2) Yield Shield - "Temporarily" pivoting your portfolio into higher-yielding assets: Preferred shares (e.g. XPF), REITS (e.g. XRE), Corporate bonds (e.g. XCB), Dividend stocks (e.g. XDV). The size of the Cash Cushion = (Annual spending - Annual yield of your portfolio) x Number of years it takes for a stock market to recover from a big crash (e.g. 5) [2019] - Kristy Shen

Travel Hacking: Apply for credit cards with big sign-up bonuses, match the required spending, then cancel the cards. Wait for 3-6 months and do it again. [2019] - Kristy Shen

We recently purchased a year's worth of expat insurance from IMGlobal, up to $1,000,000 in coverage with a deductible of $2,500. the cost was $156 a month. [2019] - Kristy Shen