Roaming Returns

In this episode, we’re giving the latest update on our CONY YieldMax Experiment — and this is a big one: the loan is finally paid off.

The original idea was to test whether we could take out a loan, invest the money into a high-yield ETF like CONY, and use the dividend payouts to cover the loan payments. In theory, it sounded like a way to use other people’s money to build an income-producing asset.

In reality? It got ugly.

CONY started strong with a massive early payout, but the combination of declining distributions, NAV erosion, a reverse split, Coinbase volatility, crypto weakness, and high loan interest turned the experiment into a very expensive lesson. The loan carried a 17.25% interest rate, and the total interest paid was over $2,200, making the recovery math even harder.

Now that the loan is paid off, the experiment has entered a new phase. There are no more monthly loan payments dragging it down. The only question left is whether the remaining CONY position can recover if crypto and Coinbase rebound — or whether we eventually need to sell what’s left and redeploy into better high-income opportunities.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why we started the CONY YieldMax Experiment
• How the loan-based high-yield ETF strategy failed
• Why the interest rate mattered so much
• How declining payouts and NAV erosion changed the math
• What the reverse split did to the position
• Why the loan payoff changes the next phase of the experiment
• Whether CONY could rebound if crypto winter is over
• When selling and redeploying may make more sense
• The biggest lessons learned from this experiment
• Why concentration risk matters with high-yield ETFs

This is not a victory lap. It’s a real-world case study in high-yield ETF risk, leverage, income chasing, and what happens when a juicy payout turns into a principal-destroying machine.

Now we wait and see: can we recover our investment, or is this just the slow eulogy of a failed experiment?

View The Spreadsheet:

• Direct Link
• Youtube Video

Relevant Videos

• CONY Experiment Series

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

Can A High-Yield ETF Income Portfolio Replace Spending Cash?

This is the first major update on our $52,000 high-yield ETF income portfolio experiment.

After selling the condo, we had a choice: keep the money in cash and slowly spend it down for living expenses, or invest a portion into high-yield ETFs and use the income to stretch that money further.

We chose the income portfolio.

The goal is not long-term capital appreciation. The goal is cash flow. We want this portfolio to generate monthly income so we can cover living costs while letting our main portfolio compound without withdrawals.

This is also the replacement experiment for the failed CONY YieldMax loan experiment. CONY taught us the hard way that high-yield ETFs need to be actively monitored, diversified, and managed. This new income portfolio is built around that lesson.

So far, the portfolio has collected about $15,000 in dividends on an initial investment of about $52,000, meaning roughly 29% of the original investment has been recouped. The portfolio value has dropped to around $46,000, but monthly income has stayed surprisingly consistent around $1,600+.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why we put $52K into high-yield ETFs
• How this strategy compares to simply spending cash
• Why the goal is income first, not principal preservation
• How much has been recouped so far
• Why NAV erosion matters but does not tell the whole story
• Which ETFs were sold, trimmed, or added
• Why this strategy requires active monitoring
• How this protects the main portfolio from withdrawals
• Whether this income portfolio can outlast the original cash pile

This is not a “set it and forget it” strategy. It is a real-time experiment in high-yield ETF income, active portfolio management, NAV erosion, dividend capture, and cash-flow survival.

Can this portfolio recoup the original $52K and keep paying longer than cash would have lasted?

That’s what we’re about to find out.

View The Spreadsheet:

• Direct Link
• Youtube Video

Relevant Videos

• Live Stream of High Yield Income Portfolio Initial Investment
• CONY Experiment Series

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

In this episode, we’re breaking down our July cash flow—the real numbers and how our flexible budgeting system handled a messy month without falling apart.

July came in at about $2,850 in total expenses and about $5,652 in total income, including rental income, dividend income, and a one-time billboard payment. Even with unusual costs, we ended the month with roughly $842 going back into savings after expenses, reinvestments, and paying off the CONY Experiment.

We also talk about why our cash flow system does not depend on perfect monthly consistency. Some expenses are fixed, some are lumpy, some are lifestyle-based, and some are just life doing what life does. Instead of obsessing over a rigid zero-based budget, we use buffers, credit card timing, dividend income, and savings flexibility to keep everything moving.

In this episode, we cover:

• July income vs expenses
• How much we spent living on the road
• Dividend income from the income and main portfolios
• Unexpected income and expenses
• The CONY Experiment loan payoff
• Why flexible budgeting works better for irregular expenses
• How van life keeps core living costs relatively low
• Why savings buffers matter when life gets weird

This is not a perfect-budget fantasy. It’s a real cash flow disclosure with real numbers, real tradeoffs, and a system designed to bend instead of break.

Follow Along With The Cashflow Numbers:

• Spreadsheet Access
• Youtube Video

CONY Experiment

• Watch series

Carm's Music

• Links to all streaming platforms

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

This week’s economic data is not screaming collapse, but it is flashing warning signs.

Retail sales dropped sharply in July, showing that consumers are finally pulling back after months of using debt, savings, and paycheck juggling to keep spending alive. The weakness showed up exactly where you’d expect: furniture, electronics, clothing, hobbies, restaurants, and other discretionary categories.

At the same time, consumer sentiment fell near historically ugly levels. Households are not just spending less—they’re losing confidence that their income can keep up with inflation.

And while Main Street is tightening belts, Treasury quietly doubled its long-end bond buyback operations. It is technically not QE, but it still matters because Treasury is stepping in to support liquidity in the 10-year to 30-year bond market and help keep long-term borrowing costs from spiraling.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why July retail sales suggest the consumer is finally cracking
• How discretionary spending is weakening first
• Why consumer sentiment is sitting near recession-level lows
• What Treasury’s long-end buybacks actually mean
• Why “not QE” can still feel like stealth liquidity support
• This week’s Top 5 IINvestments going ex-dividend
• Portfolio updates, including trimming NVDW and PLTW, adding USOI, AVGW, CEPI, and continuing the STK build

If you like weekly market breakdowns with a dividend-income lens—and you want the details behind the “everything is manageable” headline—this is your IINsights drop.

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

This week’s market data looked clean enough for Wall Street to celebrate, but the details underneath were not nearly as comforting.

The big story is the labor market. July payrolls came in negative, prior months were revised sharply lower, and more than 100,000 previously reported jobs disappeared in the revisions. That matters because the labor market has been one of the main pillars holding up the “soft landing” narrative.

Inflation also gave markets something to cheer about. CPI and PPI looked softer on the headline level, giving the Fed more room to talk about potential rate cuts. But everyday costs are still sticky where people actually feel them: energy, utilities, medical care, dining out, and key grocery staples.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why the July jobs report was worse than the headline suggests
• How labor market revisions erased previously reported strength
• Why low jobless claims can hide quiet workforce cuts
• What CPI actually says versus what households feel
• Why PPI looked friendly on the surface but messy underneath
• Why Wall Street got the rate-cut narrative it wanted
• This week’s Top 5 IINvestments going ex-dividend
• Portfolio updates, including selling COIW, rotating into CEPI/XDTE/QDTE, exiting USOY, adding USOI, building STK, and adding FOXY Cleopatra

If you like weekly market breakdowns with a dividend-income lens—and you want the version that reads past the headline instead of clapping at Wall Street PR—this is your IINsights drop.

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

This week’s economic data is not screaming recession—but it is absolutely flashing “stuck.”

Mortgage rates eased slightly, but housing demand did not magically come back. Buyers are still pinned down by affordability, high prices, and the lock-in effect keeping existing homeowners from selling.

The labor market is sending the same frozen signal: layoffs are still historically low, but hiring plans collapsed to the weakest July level in years. Workers may not be getting fired in mass numbers, but finding a new job is getting harder—and the job-hopper premium is shrinking.

Meanwhile, services are still expanding, but employment inside the services sector contracted while prices paid jumped again. That keeps the Fed in a messy spot: the economy is not weak enough for easy cuts, but inflation pressure is still too sticky to ignore.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why lower mortgage rates did not fix housing
• How the lock-in effect is freezing inventory
• Why low layoffs do not mean strong hiring
• What collapsing hiring plans say about the labor market
• Why services inflation is still a Fed problem
• How trade, construction, and factory orders confirm the goods side is dragging
• This week’s Top 5 IINvestments going ex-dividend
• Portfolio updates, including selling YMAX, adding STK, trimming concentration risk, and building weekly income

If you like weekly market context with a dividend-income lens—and you want the details behind the “everything is fine” headline—this is your IINsights drop.

Where You Can Subscribe To Our Weekly Updates

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

This week’s economic data is messy in exactly the way investors hate: the headline says slowdown, the details say private demand is still hot, and the Fed is clearly not united on what happens next.

Q2 GDP came in weaker than expected at 1.5%, down from Q1 and below consensus. But under the surface, the private domestic economy looked much stronger, with households and businesses still spending aggressively.

That creates the problem: consumers are still resilient, but part of that resilience is being funded by shrinking savings. Spending rose faster than disposable income, the personal savings rate fell again, and inflation is still too high for the Fed to comfortably pivot.

Meanwhile, the Fed held rates steady, but three hawkish members pushed for an immediate rate hike. That split matters because markets keep hoping for cuts, while parts of the Fed are still worried inflation has not cooled enough.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why the GDP headline looked weak
• Why private demand still looked surprisingly strong
• How consumers are spending through a shrinking savings cushion
• Why PCE inflation still complicates the rate-cut story
• What the rare hawkish Fed dissent tells us
• Why low jobless claims do not automatically mean strong hiring
• This week’s Top 5 IINvestments going ex-dividend
• Portfolio updates, including VSNT in the retirement portfolio and more RNTY in the income portfolio

If you like weekly market context with a dividend-income lens—and you prefer the details behind the headline instead of the “everything is fine, ignore the smoke” version—this is your IINsights drop.

Where You Can Subscribe To Our Weekly Updates

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

Investing IINsights — Weekly Email Audio Edition Topic: The Economy Isn’t Breaking... It’s Splitting

This week’s economic data is not screaming “doom,” but it is definitely not giving clean recovery either.

The headline numbers look strong: jobless claims fell to historic lows, housing starts jumped, and regional manufacturing surged. But once you dig into the details, the economy looks less like one unified story and more like a split-screen reality.

The labor market is still tight, but that does not mean everyone feels financially secure. Housing starts jumped, but the strength came almost entirely from multi-family construction while single-family homes continued to struggle under high mortgage rates and weak affordability. Manufacturing also improved, especially in the Mid-Atlantic, but national output is still moving slowly and supply chain bottlenecks are making everything more expensive to produce.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why low jobless claims complicate the rate-cut narrative
• Why housing is not “back”—rentals are
• How high mortgage rates are feeding the permanent-renter trend
• Why manufacturing strength is regional, not universal
• How supply chain delays and input costs are squeezing margins
• This week’s Top 5 IINvestments going ex-dividend
• Portfolio updates, including new RNTY positions and more TSCO

If you want weekly market context with a dividend-income lens—and you prefer reading the details instead of clapping at the headline number like a seal—this is your IINsights drop.

Where You Can Subscribe To Our Weekly Updates

• Email Subscription
• Substack Newsletter Subscription
• LinkedIn Newsletter Subscription

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

Investing IINsights — Weekly Email Audio Edition Topic: Inflation Cooled on Paper But The Details Still Look Sticky

Inflation cooled in the headline numbers this week—but that does not mean the inflation problem is solved.

In this episode, we break down the latest CPI, PPI, and retail sales data through an income-investor lens. CPI dropped sharply month-over-month, helped heavily by falling energy prices, but core inflation stayed sticky and shelter costs continued rising. Producer prices also looked better on the goods side, but services inflation is still running hot, which matters because the U.S. economy is heavily service-based.

We also dig into why retail sales data can be misleading when prices are rising. Consumers may be “spending more” in dollar terms, but that does not always mean they’re buying more. Sometimes it just means the same stuff costs more.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why CPI cooled—but may not stay cool
• How energy prices distorted the inflation report
• Why shelter and services inflation are still sticky
• What PPI says about business margins
• Why retail sales can look stronger than consumers actually feel
• How investors can use valuation instead of trusting headline noise
• This week’s Top 5 IINvestments going ex-dividend
• Portfolio updates across the income, main, and retirement portfolios
• June dividend results and where cash is being deployed next

If you like weekly market breakdowns, dividend-income investing, and a little healthy skepticism toward headline economic data, this is your IINsights drop.

Where You Can Subscribe To Our Weekly Updates

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• LinkedIn Newsletter Subscription

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.

Monthly Cash Flow Disclosure: May + June Van Life Budget Breakdown

In this episode, we’re back with a real monthly cash flow update—covering May and June spending, income, dividends, and budget swings.

May was a high-expense month, coming in around $4,871 in total spending, driven by bigger one-off costs like bike-related expenses, van-life upgrades, lifestyle improvements, health-related spending, and other irregular purchases. June dropped sharply back down to about $2,580, showing how much monthly spending can swing when you’re living a flexible, mobile lifestyle.

The interesting part? Income stayed fairly steady: about $5,117 in May and $5,173 in June, including rental income, dividend income, and other cash flow sources.

In this episode, we talk through:

• May vs June spending differences
• Why one expensive month does not automatically mean the budget is broken
• How we use cash buffers, credit card timing, and dividends to manage irregular expenses
• Van-life categories like groceries, gas, utilities, tools, upgrades, hobbies, and recurring costs
• Why flexible budgeting works better for us than rigid zero-based budgeting
• How dividend income and rental income help smooth out lumpy spending months
• What the cash flow actually looked like after expenses

This is not a polished budget. It’s the messy real numbers, the weird categories, the rollover payments, and the actual system we use to stay flexible while living on the road.

If you like transparent budget breakdowns, dividend-funded lifestyle updates, and realistic van-life finance talk, this episode is for you.

Spreadsheet Access

Ongoing Cashflow Tracker

*Note - changes were made after doing this episode. Categories and forgotten expenses.

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DISCLAIMER Ticker metrics change as markets and companies change, so always do your own research. The content in this podcast is based on personal experience and is for educational purposes, not financial advice. See full disclaimer here.

Episode music was created using Loudly.