FILIGHTER Podcast with Lambo

Episode 023 Filighter Podcast with Lambo

Aerospace Mechanical Engineer to Financial Advisor with Jesse Cramer

Show Notes

Guest: Jesse Cramer

Interview Date: June 11, 2026

Jesse is a Full Time Financial Advisor, but today we are going to focus on his career path, how he got to where he is today, and believe it or not he once was designing telescopes for SPACE!!

The second half of our episode covers some best practices and topics for those just getting started in their 20's-30's, Middle Age Personal Finance issues, and finally, retirement issues for early and soon to be retirees.

But First, Congratulations Jesse!! Your podcast Personal Finance for Long Term Investors achieved 20,000 downloads for May 2026!!!

Links discussed in this episode:

Jesse's Blog: Best Interest Blog

Jesse's Podcast: Personal Finance for Long Term Investors

Books Discussed:

Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement – Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney

Trillions – Robin Wigglesworth

The Simple Path to Wealth – JL Collins

Blog Postings Discussed:

The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser - Jason Zweig

Fee-Only, Flat Fee, Fee-Based?! A Full Description of How Financial Advisors Charge Fees – Jesse Cramer

Why 10% Creates an Infinite Difference – Jesse Cramer

Post 10.0 –> Three Lies You Tell Yourself about Your Finances – Paul Lambert

Other Items Discussed:

Stacking Benjamins – Joe Saul-Sehy

Open Social Security – A free, open-source Social Security strategy calculator – Mike Piper

Choose FI – Brad Barrett

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:

www.filighter.com

Email:[email protected]

X: FILIGHTER1 (formerly Twitter)

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

Remember our FILIGHTER Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Episode 022 Filighter Podcast with Lambo

Tax Planning with Sean Mullaney

Show Notes

Guest: Sean Mullaney CPA, Coauthor: Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement

DISCLAIMER: The discussion is intended to be for general educational purposes and is not tax, legal, or investment advice for any individual. Paul Lambert and the FILIGHTER Podcast do not endorse Sean Mullaney, CPA, Mullaney Financial & Tax, Inc. and their services.

Book Review: TAX Planning To and Through Early Retirement

Authors: Cody Garett, CFP and Sean Mullaney, CPA

Author Websites:

Sean W. Mullaney

Cody Garrett

Link to Buy Book: Amazon Link to Book

Other mentions during this episode:

Mike Piper CPA, Website

Social Security Open Source Calculator

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:www.filighter.com

X: FILIGHTER1 (formerly Twitter)

Email:[email protected]

Remember our FILIGHTER Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

Join us today as we dive into the world of MINI-RETIREMENTS! You will be surprised how many ways these can benefit your career, personal life, and even the organizations you work with as you focus for a month or more on recharging adventure or activity.

Jillian Johnsrud, author of Retire Often, never expected to be able to retire early, so she hatched a plan to retire often. Inspired by the idea of sabbatical years, she set out to sprinkle our retirements throughout her working life.

At 40, Jillian and her family have taken over a dozen mini retirements. These allowed them to pursue dreams like living abroad, traveling to 27 countries, adopting four kids (plus two biological kids), investing in real estate, and traveling the U.S. in a camper.

Jillian has taught, coached, and wrote about mini retirements for almost a decade. She hosts the Retire Often podcast and is a popular speaker and consultant for mini retirements. She lives in Montana, where she spends time in her garden drinking tea.

Jillian' s Website

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email:[email protected]

Remember our Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

In this solo episode of The FI-light-ER Podcast:

Lambo reviews the top 15 daily percentage moves for the S&P 500 during the modern post war era

Join me as we walk down memory lane in detail discussion of Black Monday 1987, Financial Crisis 2008, Covid 2020, and finally the Trump Tariffs of 2025.

15 of the biggest market move days for the S&P 500

The single largest down day of (20.5%) on October 19, 1987

The single largest up day of 11.6% on October 13, 2008

Sit back and thing through these esperiences!

Source: List of largest daily changes in the S&P 500 Index - Wikipedia

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email:[email protected]

Remember our Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

In this episode of The FI-light-ER Podcast:

Lambo interviews author Jordan Grumet, MD about his new book,

The Purpose Code

How to Unlock Meaning, Maximize Happiness, and Leave a Lasting Legacy

The Purpose Code is scheduled for release January 7, 2025.

Find out more about Dr. Jordan Grumet at his website www.jordangrumet.com (you can find links on where to pick up The Purpose Code on this page).

SHOW NOTES - EPISODE 19 of the FI-light-ER Podcast with Lambo

We had a great discussion in this episode and I'm excited to share it with all the FILIGHTERS out there!! There is something in this episode for everyone. No heavy personal finance stuff, this is all about PURPOSE!!

Jordan's Website: https://jordangrumet.com/

Jordan's Podcast: Earn and Invest Podcast

Jordan's Last time on the podcast was Episode 15 back in July 2022 when we discussed his previous book Taking Stock - A Hospice Doctor's Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life

Other Mentions in this episode:

Joe Saul-Sehy: Joe Saul-Sehy | Creator, Co-Host, Author, Coach

Sean Mullaney: The FI Tax Guy – The Tax Efficient Path to Financial Independence

The Mad Fientist: Mad Fientist - Financial Independence and Early Retirement

Paula Pant: Home - Afford Anything

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email:[email protected]

Remember our Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

A quick episode to celebrate a Friday 5 years ago, on yet a Friday!!

Lambo returns with first episode in 2023

We reflect on the past year and discuss Priorities, Goals, Communication, and types of FI (Financial Independence) Coast FI, Lean FI, FI, and Fat FI

Disclaimer:

The discussion is intended to be for general educational purposes and is not tax, legal, or investment advice for any individual.

Episode Recorded Tuesday, November 14th, 2023

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG: www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email: [email protected]

Remember our FILIGHTER Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

Episode 16 Sean Mullaney – FI TAX GUY – SOLO 401(k): The Solopreneur's Retirement Account

Episode 16 Show Notes-->

Book Link on Amazon

SOLO 401(k) The Solopreneur's Retirement Account

FIRE Tax Strategies for Beginners: https://fitaxguy.com/top-four-tax-moves-for-financial-independence-beginners/

QBI Deduction for Beginners: https://fitaxguy.com/section-199a-for-beginners/

Sean's Twitter: @seanmoneyandtax

Sean's Website: FITaxGuy.com

Sean's YouTube Channel: Sean Mullaney - YouTube

Other Mention: CampFI Southwest October 7-10, 2022

Disclaimer:

The discussion is intended to be for general educational purposes and is not tax, legal, or investment advice for any individual.

*Correction: Episode Recorded Wednesday, September 28th, 2022

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email:[email protected]

Remember our FILIGHTER Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

The FILIGHTER Podcast EPISODE 15 – Jordan Grumet MD Interview

Show Notes -->

Taking Stock A Hospice Doctor's Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life – Jordan Grumet MD

Preorder the Book: Taking Stock Book (Available August 2, 2022)

Jordan's Website: https://jordangrumet.com/

Jordan's Podcast: Earn and Invest Podcast

Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin

Bronnie Ware – The Top Five Regrets of the Dying

Jessica Lynn – The Fioneers

Heidy Dusek – Ordinary Sherpa

The Whitecoat Investor – Dr. Jim Dahle

Stacking Benjamins Podcast – Joe Saul-Sehy

FI-light-ER WEBSITE and BLOG:www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email:[email protected]

Remember our Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify): Another Day – MJ Torrance

FILIGHTER Episode 14 – I-Bonds

SHOW NOTES

Lets learn about I-Bonds from the US Treasury that are currently yielding 9.62% in May 2022

Treasury Direct Website

May 2022 I BOND RATE CHART.XLSX (treasurydirect.gov)

*Gotta hold them at least 12 months

*Three month penalty if held less than 5 years

*Rates are set 2 times per year and hold for 6 months (Base Rate, currently Zero, and Inflation Rate, currently 9.62%)

*Must purchase from TreasuryDirect.gov

FILIGHTER WEBSITE and BLOG:

www.filighter.com

Facebook Group

Email:[email protected]

Remember our Disclaimer: I want to remind each of our listeners that content in this podcast including any show notes or links, the Filighter Blog, and the Filighter Website are entirely educational or entertainment in nature and you should seek a professional for Tax, Investment, or Legal advice or otherwise. We are not Tax or Investment experts and are not in any way providing expert advice so please seek your own tax, legal, or other professional for advice and counseling. Filighter or its creators accept no responsibility or liability for any actions or activities you may take based on anything discussed on the website, podcast, postings, or comments.

Theme Music (Available on iTunes or Spotify) : Another Day – MJ Torrance

FILIGHTER PODCAST LINKS:

FILIGHTER on APPLE

FILIGHTER on STITCHER

FILIGHTER on SPOTIFY

FILIGHTER on GOOGLE

What is a Series I Savings Bond?

A savings bond that earns interest based on combining a fixed rate and an inflation rate for up to 30 years.

Twice a Year Rates are set and there are TWO Rate Components to a Series I Savings Bond:

• Fixed Rate
• Inflation Rate

The Composite interest rate combines these two separate rates:

A fixed rate of return, which remains the same throughout the life of the I bond.

A variable semiannual inflation rate based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The Bureau of the Fiscal Service announces the rates each May and November. The semiannual inflation rate announced in May is the change between the CPI-U figures from the preceding September and March; the inflation rate announced in November is the change between the CPI-U figures from the preceding March and September.

Because it combines two rates, the interest rate on an I bond sometimes is called the composite rate or the overall rate.

0.0% + 3.54% May 2021

0.0% + 7.12% Last November 2021

0.0% + 9.62% May of 2022

While the inflation rate can be negative, the composite rate floor is set to never be less than zero. The only two periods since 1998 that negative rates for inflation were used took place in 2009 and 2015.

Using our 20/20 hindsight vision, Say between May 2000 and October 2000 you were buying an I-Bond, your two combination rates would be a FIXED RATE of 3.6% plus an Inflation Rate of 3.89% for a combined rate of 7.49% at the time. ROLL THE CLOCK FORWARD TO TODAY, and that base rate bond of 3.6% and the new 9.62% Inflation Rate would take you to 13.39% composite rate for your bond.

How would you like more than 13% rates on a US Government backed savings bond?

Just FYI the last time you could have bought a bond with a fixed rate above zero, was November 2019 through April of 2020. During that 6-month period, the fixed rate was zero point two percent. 0.2% or 20 basis points in financial rate lingo. A basis point is 1/100th of one percent.

May 2022 I BOND RATE CHART.XLSX (treasurydirect.gov)

If you purchase a bond during the 6-month window your bond will receive the current rate for 6 months then interest at the end of the period will be compounded to your balance semi-annually and invested at the then new rate for the next 6 months.

If you bought a bond today, May 24th, 2022, your bond would reset rates every May 1st and November 1st

If you bought on 4th of July, your rates would reset each July 1st and January 1st

There are some opportunities to either report income earned annually, or all at the time the bond is cashed out.

There are some key points to know before buying a Series I Savings Bond:

1) You must hold it for at least a year.

2) If you cash out in less than 5 years, you forfeit the last 3 months interest.

3) When the bond is 30 years old, or at maturity, the bond no longer earns interest.

Sounds great right? So want to buy some? Easy does it wrangler….

How do you buy a Series I Savings Bond, or I Bonds for short….

• Go to Treasurydirect.gov and research the I-Bond (There are other types of bonds, notes, and bills but we are going to limit our scope today to I-Bonds)
• Create an Account
  1. Your account when set up will be linked to a bank account that transactions will utilize. When you purchase a bond, the funds will be drafted from the account, when you redeem or cash out of a bond, the funds will be deposited into your account.
• Once your account is created, you have several options to purchase I bonds:
  1. LIMITS – There is a $10,000 limit per person per calendar year.
  2. The only way to buy more than $10,000 is to utilize an IRS Refund to purchase a paper bond up to an additional $5000. This may be the ONLY good reason to overpay your federal income taxes. When you file your tax return include IRS FORM 8888 and purchase as little as $50 or as much as $5000 in multiples of $50 increments.
  3. MIMIMUMS, $25 on Electronic and $50 on Paper – remember paper can only be purchased with a Federal Tax Refund
  4. Lump Sum Purchase, Log in and decide on an amount and buy it all at once.
     1. This is the method I used and frankly it was probably the simplest, one and done for the year.
  5. Payroll Savings Plan
     1. Like direct deposit in your checking or savings account, you can purchase I-Bonds directly by payroll deposit. There are more instructions on the Treasury Direct site if you are an individual or employer and want to better understand the set up. If I still had W-2 Income, this may be a great way to automate the purchases. The other nice though on the back side when selling each of these bonds will mature at a different time and can be used to meet expenses later, say when funding a child's education or your own retirement expenses.
  6. Schedule Purchases
     1. Recurring options:
        1. Weekly,
        2. Biweekly, every other week
        3. Monthly,
        4. Bi-monthly, every other month
        5. Quarterly,
        6. Semi-annually, every 6 months
        7. and Annually
     2. Schedule your own dates
        1. Birthday every year
        2. Monthly except June and November when Property Taxes are due (in Texas) and funds are needed elsewhere

• Basically, you can automate and utilize the site to buy whenever you want.

• OWNERSHIP – before you purchase a bond you will need to decide if the ownership will be either:
  1. Sole Owner
  2. Primary Owner
  3. Beneficiary
  4. In our case, I set up my I-Bonds as myself as First Named Registrant and my wife as Second-Named registrant Payable on Death
  5. You will need a Tax ID number for each owner listed, in my case that is my Social Security Number
• Other Options:
  1. GIFTS – you can set up a gift box and purchase bonds for someone else. Say your children, grandchildren, or anyone else. They will need to set up a Treasury Direct Account and provide the number to you for your transfer of the bonds from your gift box into their account.
  2. The rate is set at the time you buy the bond for the gift, so if you want to lock in the 9.62% current rate, be sure to buy the gift bond before the end of October 2022.
  3. At the time the gift bond is transferred it counts against the recipients limit for the calendar year. It may be a good idea to let a recipient know you intend to purchase an I-bond and be sure they have not already used up their max $10,000 for the year.
     1. Some vloggers on you-tube get creative with the ways this can be manipulated. For instance, they buy bonds for their spouse as a gift to lock in rates but don't transfer it out of their gift box until the following year. Kind of like the gift box is LIMBO and those don't count against the giver or receiver limits until they are transferred. I AM NOT SUGGESTING anyone game the system, just that it is best to clearly understand the rules and complications and when you play with fire you might get burned if you don't dot all the "I"s and cross all the "T's".

How do you know if these are something that fit into your portfolio?

1. Does your Strategic Asset Allocation include a Fixed Income Component?
   1. Most asset allocations include components for EQUITIES, FIXED INCOME, and CASH
   2. If a portion of your allocation goal is FIXED INCOME, consider if I-Bonds make sense as a portion of your target allocation.
2. Do your diversification goals within Fixed Income include Inflation protected components?
   1. For instance, if you hold the Vanguard BND ETF there is not specific inflation indexed bonds withing the portfolio, but if you hold VTIP Vanguard Short-Term Inflation Protected Securities Index Fund ETF shares, you already have exposure to inflation protected financial instruments.
3. If you routinely Rebalance your portfolio, these bonds may not be sellable (Less than 12 months, or less than 5 years (3-month penalty) so consider these as a longer term component of your allocation and perhaps sell a bond mutual fund or ETF to accomplish the goals of rebalancing by Asset Allocation.

I have been interested in I-bonds since the coverage started in May 2021 when the rate was 3.54%. When the rate went to 7.12% we made our first purchases in November 2021. Then again on the first of January, we purchased additional bonds. The November purchases reset to 9.62% this month, May 2022 and the January purchases will reset in July to 9.62%. Many bloggers published content as to whether you should buy at the old rate before the reset to push out the tail on higher rates as inflation declines. It makes little difference to me, and I like to employ my Half Right Half Wrong philosophy, if you think it makes a difference buy half before and half after. You will be "right" if there is such a thing on half of your purchase and can you really be "WRONG" for buying at 9.62%? You will get 6 months of each rate once you buy as long as you hold the bonds up until 30 year maturity.

What are other factors to consider in your purchase decision?

1. You will have to set up ANOTHER account
2. You will need to let your financial advisor know you have holdings in a treasury direct account for purposes of any allocation or rebalance planning.
3. If you are very risk averse, the fact that the US Government stands behind these bonds will help you rest easy at night.
4. When you are in a drawdown stage, these will have to be sold separately from your other asset or investment accounts.
5. Liquidity, if you need your money back over the short term (less than a year) they are not for you, or at least the portion you need on the short term. It may make sense to buy and hold for 18 months and then liquidate, you will receive the interest and some compounding but give up the last 3 months interest.

Look into I-Bonds, they could be a good fit, or not! Hopefully this is now a topic that is no longer something you didn't know you didn't know. 😊

More Education is good! Mind the Gap! Lambo