AI, Bankruptcy, Investing, Pop Culture, Retirement

What to do when your stocks turn back into a pumpkin

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Happy Halloween to all you boys and ghouls out there!

Sorry, couldn’t help myself with the Halloween humor. I stole that line straight from the crypt keeper from Tales from the Crypt. You know because the good ones borrow and the great ones steal. haha

Enough with my All Hallows’ Eve humor. We are here to talk about something other than scary costumes and bopping for apples.

Something that is scarier than Friday the 13th.

Falling stocks!

It’s scary enough to make even chicken little faint.

Before, you read any further, know that this post is not for the faint of heart.

Money is still a mystery to many folks. It’s so mysterious, that I don’t even think Scooby and the gang could solve it.

As the 2026 midterm elections are coming to a rapid end, the market has dropped faster than a new Drake album.

As reported by NBC news, During the severe market sell-off on Friday, October 30, 2026, technology stocks suffered a massive rout, erasing more than $1 trillion in market value in a single afternoon. The decline was triggered by intensifying investor anxiety over whether the hundreds of billions of dollars tech giants are pouring into artificial intelligence (AI) will generate sufficient near-term profits.

Tech companies are spending billions on capital expenditures (capex) and that has people spooked! As the only people to reap any benefits from AI have been the Magnificent Seven of stocks.

The Magnificent Seven (or “Mag 7”) is a group of seven dominant U.S. mega-cap technology and growth companies:

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL / GOOG) – Parent company of Google

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) – one of the biggest online marketplaces in the world.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) – think iTunes and of course the iPhone.

Meta Platforms Inc. (META) – Parent company of Facebook and Instagram

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) – maker of Windows and Xbox.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) – the world’s most valuable company with a $5 trillion market cap.

The lose of a trillion dollars in value has the market feeling like this haunted house pictured below.

Market Influence: These seven companies wield massive influence over major U.S. stock indexes like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, accounting for roughly one-third of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization.

And it is rightfully so that people are scared. Major shifts in currency movement and events are nothing new, but can be how fortunes evaporate.

Let us not forget Blockbuster.

What is Blockbuster, you ask?

For those of you born after 1999, let me remind you.

Blockbuster Video

Blockbuster LLC was a dominant American home video and game rental corporation that reached its peak of over 9,000 stores worldwide before declaring bankruptcy and shutting down its corporate footprint.

The Last one standing (last remaining store)

Bend, Oregon: Only one Blockbuster store remains open today, operated as an independent franchise in Bend, Oregon. It functions as both a working video rental shop and a pop-culture museum.

Rise and Fall

How Blockbuster went from a $3 billion dollar company to bankruptcy

Founding & Peak: Founded on October 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, the chain grew rapidly through franchising and acquisitions (including turning down a chance to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000).

Per Business Insider, it was once valued as a $3 billion company, in just one year, Blockbuster earned $800 million in late fees alone.

However, as the old sayings go nothing lasts forever and what a difference a decade makes.

But fast-forward a decade, and Blockbuster ceased to exist, having filed for bankruptcy with over $900 million in debt. So, what happened?

Bankruptcy & Closure: Crippled by the rise of digital streaming and online video, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2010, and the last corporate-owned stores closed by January 12, 2014. Dish Network acquired the remaining assets in 2011.

Basically, it comes down to not innovating and keeping with the dinosaurs. They went extent.

Blockbuster did not keep up with the times.

Either you innovate or die.

The phrase “innovate or die” is a famous business maxim attributed to management consultant and author Peter Drucker, who popularized ideas around corporate evolution and change in his 1985 book Innovation and Entrepreneurship (writing that “the enterprise that does not innovate ages and declines”).

Robert Iger: Former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, who wrote in The Ride of a Lifetime: “Innovate or die, and there’s no innovation if you operate out of fear of the new or untested.”

Blockbuster failed and Netflix succeeded because Blockbuster relied on an outdated brick-and-mortar store model burdened by late fees, whereas Netflix continuously innovated around customer convenience, shifting from DVD-by-mail to digital streaming.

Who doesn’t know the saying Netflix and Chill.

However, no one under the age of 25 remembers the saying let’s make it a Blockbuster night.

Let’s dig a little deeper.

Why Blockbuster Failed

Heavy Reliance on Late Fees: Blockbuster earned massive revenue from penalizing customers who returned tapes or DVDs late, which created severe customer dissatisfaction.

Brick-and-Mortar Overhead: Operating thousands of physical stores was expensive, hard to manage for quality control, and forced customers to drive to a location.

Dismissal of Netflix: In 2000, Blockbuster executives passed on a chance to buy Netflix for $50 million, laughing off the service as a small niche business.

Crushing Debt and Slow Adaptation: By the time Blockbuster tried to respond with online rentals and store-hybrid programs, it was weighed down by roughly a billion dollars in debt. It filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

And what happened to that company Netflix? It turned into a juggernaut.

Netflix grew into a massive global entertainment giant.

It rakes in billions in revenue yearly and is now worth over $250 billion.

Why Netflix Succeeded

Subscription Model Without Late Fees: Netflix launched with a DVD-by-mail subscription system that eliminated annoying late fees and offered greater movie variety.

Embracing Data and Personalization: Netflix used online watch histories and user ratings to recommend movies tailored to individual tastes. Personalization beats unfamiliarity. Emily Post would be so proud.

Early Pivot to Streaming: Recognizing the growth of broadband internet, Netflix transitioned to digital streaming in 2007, allowing instant access from home.

Willingness to Disrupt Itself: Instead of clinging to a dying format, Netflix continuously reinvented its business model—moving from physical mail to streaming, and eventually into award-winning original content.

The AI Boom is another disruptor.

Similar to the invention of the lightbulb, telephone and internet.

Disruptions changes things. And disruptors have made fortunes rise and fall.

Getting back to the title of this post, what to do when your stocks turn back into a pumpkin.

I obviously borrowed and ripped that title off from a scene in Disney’s Cinderella (1950).

To turn into a pumpkin is a humorous idiom that means it is time to go to bed, go home, or stop an activity because it is getting late.

The Cinderella Fairy Tale: The phrase comes from the story of Cinderella, whose magical coach and gown turn back into ordinary items (including a pumpkin) at midnight when the spell wears off.

Therefore, in my POV, the market appears to be in correction territory. Similar to how Cinderella turns back into her real and ordinary self without all the bells and whistles.

It was reported by NBC news, that the sell-off pushed the Nasdaq 100 close to what is known as “correction territory,” which is a decline of 10% or more from an index’s last record high.

Why this is scary?

The stock market takes an average of about 2 years to recover from a full bear market (a drop of 20% or more), though recovery times range dramatically from just a few months to several years depending on the cause.

Let’s dig a little deeper.

Corrections vs. Crashes

Market Corrections (10% to 20% drop): These happen roughly once a year and typically take about 3 to 8 months to recover.

Bear Markets / Crashes (20% or greater drop): These occur roughly once every 6 years and average 2 years and 3 months to reach a full recovery.

Examples of Past Recoveries

COVID-19 Crash (2020): A sharp 34% drop followed by a record-fast recovery of about 4 to 6 months. This is what every investor dreams of.

Global Financial Crisis (2008): A severe 49% decline that took about 4 to 5.5 years to fully recover.

Dot-Com Bubble / Great Recession Era: Some prolonged downturns stretched over 5 to 7 years.

The Great Depression (1929): An 82% drop that took over 15 years to reach breakeven for investors who stayed in the market.

Taking a deeper dive into the stock market crash of 1929, It took the Dow Jones Industrial Average 25 years to return to its pre-crash high from September 1929, finally recovering on November 23, 1954.

That is a lifetime.

Some folks got lucky and cashed out before the crash. However, unless you have a crystal ball, there is no way you are going to know when a crash of that magnitude is going to come.

So what can us mere mortals do?

We can plan ahead for the future. Since we know corrections and crashes happen, we can take some steps to prepare ourselves when the rain comes. Do not ever look for anyone to save you. You must save yourselves.

Let us not forget this quote by author Mark Twain, “A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”

Meaning

Fair-Weather Support: Financial institutions are eager to give you money or credit when you are already doing well and do not really need it.

Disappearing Help: The moment you run into financial trouble or a storm hits, they pull back their support or demand repayment immediately.

Knowing this handy knowledge, I always refer back to the book I read years ago called The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach.

He stated in his book that the future will always be more expensive as prices go up along with inflation. Meaning investing is a way to beat inflation.

The “Latte Factor”—a concept popularized by financial author David Bach—describes how small, routine daily expenses can grow into massive sums of wealth over time if invested instead.

It may sound crazy but, a $5 a day habit could cost you a million bucks!

To see how your regular daily habit impacts your future net worth, use the interactive calculator below. By default, it assumes a $5 daily coffee habit ($150 per month) invested over 40 years at an 10-12% annual compound return.

The Cost of Daily Habits Over Time

To understand the compounding breakdown, here is what a $5 daily habit looks like when converted to a monthly investment ($150/month) at an 8% expected market return:

  • 1 Year: $1,800 saved | ~$1,880 total value with compound interest
  • 10 Years: $18,000 saved | ~$27,300 total value with compound interest
  • 20 Years: $36,000 saved | ~$86,000 total value with compound interest
  • 30 Years: $54,000 saved | ~$212,000+ total value with compound interest

Those sips on your pumpkin spice lattes can be very expensive.

Beyond the Coffee Cup ☕

The Latte Factor isn’t just about coffee. You can apply this calculation to any small, recurring leak in your budget:

  • Subscription Creep: Unused streaming or app memberships ($15–$50/month).
  • Dining Out: Buying lunch daily instead of meal prepping ($10–$15/day).
  • Delivery Fees: Frequent food delivery service fees and tips ($20–$40/week)

It all adds up my friend.

I recently went to the store and saw a pack of cigarettes cost $10-$13. That means a pack a day habit would could cost $300-$390 a month.

How many people have you heard say they cannot afford to retire and put away a measly 450 bucks a month, while chain smoking and dragging on a cig?

David Bach’s compound interest chart in The Automatic Millionaire shows how small, consistent daily or annual savings grow exponentially over time when invested at an assumed 10% to 12% annual return.

The chart in his book famously highlights the power of starting early versus starting later, proving that early savers can contribute far less total money and still end up with more at retirement.

The Classic Comparison: Start Early vs. Start Late

The Early Starter (Ages 19 to 26):

  • You save $2,000 per year for just 8 years ($16,000 total invested).
  • You stop investing at age 26, but leave the money invested to grow until age 65.
  • Total at age 65: Over $941,000 to $1.35 million+ (depending on exact compounding frequency and return assumptions).

The Late Starter (Ages 27 to 65):

  • You save $2,000 per year for 39 straight years ($78,000 total invested) starting at age 27.
  • Total at age 65: Roughly $802,000 to $85,000+ (depending on how the chart scales).
  • The Result: The early starter invested far less cash out of pocket, yet ends up with more money because compound interest had decades longer to work.

Key Takeaways from the Chart

  • Pay Yourself First: Automate a fixed portion of your income straight into a retirement or investment account (like a 401(k) or IRA) before you ever see or spend the cash.

The Latte Factor: Cutting or redirecting small, daily waste (like a $5 daily habit) into investments yields massive long-term wealth.

Time Beats Amount: Time in the market matters more than the sheer volume of cash you scrape together later in life.

Paying yourself first is a must.

Think of it like this. How about you put away the equivalent of one hour of your pay rate per week. At $30 an hour, that would be $30 x 52 weeks = $1,560 per year. At a 11 percent interest rate compounded annually, you would have $1 million in 40 years.

If you cannot save one hour per day for yourself, then you need to make some lifestyle adjustments.

The goal is to get in the habit of saving.

Time in the market always beats timing the market.

If you need more money, may I suggest to negotiate everything like your life depends on it.

Especially, a starting salary. That is when an employer wants you. People are more willing to paly ball when they want you batting for their team.

If you can negotiate a higher pay, why not see if you can put the difference in the first offer and the last offer in investments.

For those that may not know her, a blogger created a website called Her First 100k. She talks about how she had invested $100k in her retirement accounts by the age of 25. She then launched her blog into a full scale financial services business and became a millionaire at 27.

All of that would not have been possible with loads of debt and without saving.

Let us also be reminded of what Warren Buffet says causes financial disaster: liquor and leverage.

The warning really came from his second in command.

Charlie Munger famously said: “Smart men go broke three ways: liquor, ladies, and leverage.

That is code for: bad habits, divorce, and debt.

Again, let’s dig a little deeper.

The Quote and Its Meaning

The Core Quote: Longtime Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger used the phrase as a blunt warning about how intelligence alone cannot save someone from ruin.

Warren Buffett’s Addendum: Warren Buffett later joked in a CNBC Interview that Munger added the first two items simply because they started with the letter “L”—and that leverage (excessive debt or borrowing) is the real danger that causes financial destruction.

Why Leverage Matters: Debt turns normal market volatility or a bad week into a permanent, irreversible loss of capital.

It is incredibly hard to pay off debt because you are overspending and over leveraged.

The best way to keep yourslef out of harms way is to do the following:

  • Keep a 3 – 6 month emergency savings in cash.
  • Have a cash cushion large enough to weather financial storms such as a stock market crash. Keeping funds in brokerage and savings accounts will allow you to weather the storm as it typically can take 9 months to find a new job after a layoff or up to two years for a market correction.
  • Build up $100,000 somewhere. This can be in your 401k.

Charlie Munger also famously stated that reaching your first $100,000 is the hardest part of building wealth, remarking in the late 1990s: “The first $100,000 is a b***, but you gotta do it.”

There are no shortcuts. There is no free lunch.

Like Britney Spears says, you better work B***h!

Charlie Munger Said, ‘Find A Way To Get Your Hands On $100,000‘ Even If It Means Walking Everywhere — The Magic Number If You Want To Be Rich

He didn’t believe in shortcuts, but he did believe in thresholds.

And if you ever asked him how to get rich, he had a number ready: $100,000. Hit that, he said, and you’ll have the momentum to keep going. Fail to hit it, and you’ll spin your wheels forever.

Why $100,000?

The power of compounding.

This amount invested over 30 years at a 10 percent return can turn into a million. That is no joke and is some serious coin.

Many people will look at you crazy and say that’s too long.

Put it like this, let’s say you hit $1 million at age 55.

Do you see any 55 year old’s complaining about being millionaires?

I rest my case.

About the Author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive

Fictional characters Cartoons and Money, Pop Culture

Candy bars are for millionaires

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“I’m Making Chocolate, Of Course.” – Willy Wonka

Chocolate. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

No matter how I’m feeling, chocolate always lifts my mood and brightens my day.

I think no one has expressed their love for candy and chocolate better than children’s author Roald Dahl. He was a British author, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot who became a prominent writer for both adults and children in the 1940s.

I would have to say the gold standard or golden ticket standard would have to be the literary work he wrote called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1964.

Dahl loved chocolate because of his childhood memories and his time as a chocolate taster for Cadbury while at boarding school. As chocolate was a rare treat and luxury during his childhood in the 1920’s.

Dahl also kept a lifelong passion for sweets, famously eating a Kit Kat every day and studying candy bars like a scientist.

Like him, I too am a sweets afficionado as well as one in personal finance. Hint, hint this website.

His love of chocolate runs deep. He even wrote a book called The Witches in 1983 devoted to children’s love of candy.

I enjoyed the 1990 movie so much, that I wrote a blog post on it. See it below by clicking on the link.

Money and Chocolate: Life Lessons from the film The Witches

I am guessing if they were able to go through with their plans for candy stores in the movie, it would look something like this below. This window dressing of candy is almost too good to pass up. I mean how can little children possibly resist.

However, I am here to talk about another side of chocolate besides just the love of it.

The expensive side.

Personally, I feel that candy bars are becoming prohibitively expensive.

There was a time you could buy a Snickers for 50 cents. Last time I was in the supermarket, it was going for $2.

Before, you bust my chops on the price of a Snickers being only $2, let me give you some background here on this particular candy bar.

The Snickers candy bar is the best-selling candy bar in the world, pulling in roughly $2 billion to $3.5 billion in global annual sales.

Snickers: Introduced by Mars in 1930, this classic mix of nougat, caramel, peanuts, and milk chocolate is what makes this candy bar so special.

Snickers holds the crown for the #1 top-selling traditional molded candy bar globally and nationally.

Why Snickers Leads the Market

  • Global Reach: Made by Mars, Incorporated, Snickers is sold in more than 100 countries.
  • Classic Recipe: It combines roasted peanuts, caramel, and nougat inside a milk chocolate coating.
  • Strong Marketing: Iconic campaigns like “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” helped keep the brand on top for decades.

A standard full-size (1.86 oz) Snickers bar typically costs between $1.00 and $2.20, depending heavily on where you purchase it.

Average Price by Retailer

Prices vary across major store chains for a single standard bar:

Alternative Sizes and Bulk Pricing

If you buy in bulk or choose different sizes, the unit pricing changes:

  • Share Size (3.29 oz): Usually costs around $2.50 to $3.00 at stores like Target or Walgreens.
  • 6-Pack Bags: Retails for around $6.48 to $8.39, dropping the individual bar price closer to $1.08 to $1.40 per bar.
  • 48-Count Bulk Box: Usually priced between $45.00 and $53.00 at wholesale clubs like Sam’s Club, bringing the price down to about $1.09 per bar.

Now that you know what it costs to buy a Snickers, let’s talk about what else that money can buy.

A standard New York City subway or local bus ride costs $3.00, and you do not need to buy a traditional physical pass. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) relies on the OMNY contactless payment system, which features automatic weekly fare-capping.

The regular bas fare on WMATA in the Washington DC metro area is $2.25.

Therefore, $2-$3 can literally get you across the city.

Shuttling you to work, doctor appointments, museums, and school.

This could also buy you a half a tank of gas.

A half gallon of milk.

A case of water.

You get my point.

When did nougat, peanuts and chocolate get so expensive?

Did the chocolate overlords decide that sweets are a luxury and you have to pony up for the experience?

That money could be used for so many other things.

I know. I am starting to sound like Mr. Money Mustache on his tirade that pizza delivery is for millionaires.

However, before judging me too harshly, I want you know keep this in mind.

I started investing with $5 dollars. Had I bought a candy bar instead, I may not have started this blog and grew my retirement account to over $600,000 USD.

The point I am making here is that all things come with a price tag. There is an opportunity cost with every dollar we spend.

Millionaires can easily afford this cost. However, when you are still trying to grow your wealth, you must stop and take pause on what you are buying. No matter how big or small.

Case in point, I figure at this rate, my retirement accounts would hit $1 million within 1,000 days.

Therefore, I ask you, much like the Automatic Millionaire asks if drinking coffee is worth losing out on $1 million, is a candy bar?

About the author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Celebrities and Money, Pop Culture, Relationships

Inside Taylor Swift’s reported $2 Billion Dollar Prenup

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Happy belated 4th of July!!!

As we come out of out post 4th haze of fireworks and celebratory drinks for America’s 250, we come back down to reality.

For Taylor Swift, who got married in a $30 million-dollar wedding on Friday, July 3rd at Madison Square Garden, I am sure this means shoring her her finances and protecting her assets. She is worth a reported $2 billion dollars.

Who is Taylor Swift and how rich is she?

Taylor Swift is now the richest female music star in the world, boasting a staggering net worth of $2.1 billion (£1.6bn), according to Forbes. Her landmark The Eras Tour is the highest-earning tour of all time, having grossed over $2 billion (£1.5bn). 

Swift’s record-shattering The Eras Tour kicked off in March 2023. The monumental tour became the highest-grossing of all time after surpassing the $1 billion (£736m) gross mark. By the time it wrapped in December 2024, the tour had grossed an estimated $2 billion (£1.5m). When factoring in other revenue streams such as merchandise, The Eras Tour generated an estimated $4.1 billion (£3bn).

Swift reportedly earned an average of $13.6 million (£10m) for every concert she performed. However, touring isn’t the only income stream that’s helped her join the ranks of the exclusive 10-figure club…

Her Eras Tour movie grossed $261 million at the box office.

She has sold millions of records worldwide.

In yet another money-spinning move, Swift released The Eras Tour Book in November 2024, further capitalizing on the success of her record-breaking tour. The self-published book retailed exclusively at Target for $39.99 (£30). A roaring success, the book sold almost one million copies within its first week.

This is a tough blow for publishing as she cashed-in on her own popularity without a book deal. Ms. Swift, like AI, is disruptive!

She bought back her music masters or $360 million.

In her new record deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, she negotiated to retain full ownership of her future masters.

But that wasn’t the only groundbreaking aspect of the deal. Her contract also includes a key provision that benefits thousands of other musicians. Universal Music Group must share a portion of any future profits from its Spotify shares with all its artists, not just Swift.

This agreement ensures that UMG’s artists will receive payments from the sale of Spotify shares on a non-recoupable basis, meaning they’ll get the money even if they haven’t fully paid off their advances.

Taylor is killing it out here!

She is a capitalist queen. And the queen of Spotify.

Swift reportedly earned over $100 million (£74m) from Spotify alone in 2023. She was named Spotify’s Top Global Artist of 2023 after achieving a staggering 26 billion streams on the platform.

Overall, Swift has achieved over 100 billion streams on Spotify, earning her close to $500 million (£368m).

Property Portfolio

In total, Forbes estimates that Swift has amassed $800 million (£589m) from royalties and touring. Meanwhile, her music catalogue is valued at a plump $600 million (£441m). 

In addition to her music income, Swift has grown her fortune through savvy real estate investments. Forbes estimates her property portfolio is worth $110 million (£81m). Her enviable collection includes a luxurious penthouse and a Greek-inspired mansion in Nashville, as well as mansions in Los Angeles and Rhode Island, and another penthouse in New York City.

Social Media Master Influencer

With a staggering 280 million followers, Swift is also one of the most-followed stars on Instagram. For some degree of comparison, this mammoth figure is larger than the populations of Pakistan (240 million), Brazil (216 million), and Russia (144 million).

Over the years, she’s leveraged her huge fanbase to secure numerous lucrative endorsement deals with big-name brands such as Diet Coke, CoverGirl, Keds and Elizabeth Arden. According to Entrepreneur, she’s earned at least $33 million (£24m) from the various collaborations.

Breaking down the Prenup

According to the New York Times, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reportedly signed a 40-page, highly specific prenuptial agreement ahead of their wedding. Given Swift’s massive $2 billion net worth and Kelce’s $70–$90 million fortune, the ironclad agreement is designed to protect their respective empires and future earnings.

While the couple has not publicly disclosed the exact details of the contract, legal experts and financial analysts expect it to include the following clauses:

Title-Based Asset Division: All intellectual property—such as Swift’s highly valuable music catalog—and pre-marital wealth remain separate property. Similarly, Kelce’s existing endorsement deals and trademarks stay his.

Infidelity Clause: Rumors heavily suggest the agreement contains a morality or infidelity clause, with high financial penalties if either party violates the terms. It is being reported this could be as high as $20 million per violation!

Joint Purchases: Any homes or major assets bought together during the marriage would likely be divided based on the exact financial contribution each spouse made.

Whew! That’s a lot to unpack.

When you have this kind of money though, it just makes sense.

Regardless of whether Swift and Kelce even have a prenuptial agreement, prenups aren’t just for the rich and famous. Younger couples are driving a rise in their use, and many Swift fans have voiced support for the idea of the singer protecting her assets with one.

I concur. With the divorce rate in this country being 50%, best to protect your assets in case of a split.

The prenup boom

Not just Ms. Swift, but more engaged couples are signing prenups.

I guess with all the newly minted millionaires from AI startup IPO’s, more people are saying sign this prenup before walking down the isle and saying “I do.”

According to Bloomberg , they cite a growth in women’s earnings, people marrying later in life and marriage being an institution primarily reserved for well-educated, affluent people who have more assets and earnings as some of the potential reasons why prenups are on the rise.

While it varies by city and state, a prenuptial agreement can cost between $1,000 to $10,000 to have drafted, according to The Knot.

So it cost a pretty penny to protect big bucks!

I am not a romantic when it comes to money.

I firmly believe anyone with significant assets that they want to protect should sign a prenup.

Tons of relationships go bust every year.

Recently in the news, I have seen 20 plus year marriages end.

No one wins in divorce, but having a prenup sure makes things easier in the end. It is always better to do things in a state of love than in a state of hate.

About the Author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

AI, Financial Independence, Investing

SpaceX is minting millionaires

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Good Afternoon Ladies and Gents! As I write this, the New York Knicks have won the NBA Playoffs and became the 2026 NBA Champions! They have won the 2026 Championship for the first time in 53 years!! Congrats to them! Go Knicks!!

The New York Knicks have won 3 NBA championships in franchise history, most recently ending a 53-year drought by defeating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals!

The Championship game 5 happened on Saturday June 5.

However, also in New York, there was another celebration going on. This one happened at the Nasdaq site in Times Square.

SpaceX had its historic, record-setting initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol SPCX.

The listing, which debuted on June 12, 2026, became the largest IPO in history, raising $75 billion and valuing the company at over $2 trillion. Shares were initially priced at $135 each and closed the first day of trading above $161.

According to reports, even SpaceX cafeteria workers are poised to become millionaires after the blockbuster IPO — 4,400 employees set to hit 7-figures.

One employee, who has 6,500 shares, has enough SpaceX shares to be worth over $1.1M.

These workers have now become instant millionaires!

Many of these workers who are now new millionaires, including some cafeteria workers whose compensation packages include employee stock options.

There are even some workers that will make 8-figures. That is $10 million dollars folks!

This is life changing.

These folks can cash out and retire early.

Personally, I have bought shares of SpaceX.

As I did not want to miss the boat again, from a possible tidal wave of money coming in.

I missed out on Facebook when they did their IPO back in 2012. It was going for $25. It then went on to $650 a share!

One Personal Finance blogger I know made like $200k investing in META when it popped!

There is definitely money to be made out here.

I like to invest in companies that are disruptive. With Google signing a deal to pay SpaceX $900 million a month to do business with them, I think they are poised to bring plenty of disruption!

After passing the $500,000 mark, my next goal is $750,000 in investable assets in my stock portfolio. If I keep increasing my investment contributions annually, I plan to hit $1 million in a few years!

Raising a glass to all the newly minted millionaires.

Here’s to investing your way to financial freedom!!

Cheers,

Miriam

About the author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Celebrities and Money, Taxes and Insurance

Untrusted Funds: How Disney actress Haley Mills lost millions

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What I mean by this blog title is that Trust Funds are not a financial catch-all. They cannot really be trusted until the money is actually in your hands.

Disney Child Star lost millions

The Tax Man can giveth or taketh away.

My favorite young actress from the 60’s is none other than Haley Mills. Her turn as twins in the 1961 movie Parent Trap rocketed her to the top spot of most popular actresses of the 1960’s.

The Disney legend became a household name after appearing in projects such as Tiger Bay (1959), The Parent Trap (1961), and That Darn Cat! (1965). 

I also really liked The Moon-Spinners (1964).

My favorite movie of hers was Summer Magic (1963). It’s synopsis reads:
When a close-knit Boston family loses their fortune, they find a wealth of secrets, young love, and more in Beulah, Maine. It’s Nancy (Mills), the eldest of three children, who finds the family’s new home—along with a jolly postmaster, a pretentious cousin, and a mysterious absentee landlord.

Looking back over this movies premise, come to think of it, was this story foretelling her future. Like the owl in that Tootsie Roll commercial, the world may never know…well, until she wrote that memoir that is.

Disney darling Hayley Mills revealed she lost millions of dollars due to financial advice from her father’s financial advisor, Stanley Passmore.

Hayley Mills lost the vast majority of her childhood Disney fortune to a massive 91% British tax rate and poor trust fund planning orchestrated by her father’s financial manager.

This unfortunate turn of events was detailed in her memoir.

The critical factors behind the loss include:

  • Improper Trust Structure: Her earnings from massive hits like Pollyanna and The Parent Trap were placed into a trust, but the business manager failed to set up the trust correctly to protect her from extreme tax brackets.
  • Crippling Taxes: When she turned 21 and gained access to the fund, British “supertaxes” and surtaxes were hovering around 90%. Consequently, nearly the entirety of her reported $10 million+ earnings were wiped out by the government.
  • Failed Legal Appeals: While she briefly won an appeal in the 1970s when a judge ruled it was unfair to tax her earnings this way, the House of Lords overturned the decision, finalizing the financial blow.

As detailed in her memoir Forever Young, Mills never actually got to hold or enjoy the bulk of her early success.

Hayley Mills’ exact salary per individual movie was never widely publicized, but her six-film contract with Disney reportedly accumulated an estimated $17 million (equivalent to over $21 million today) in a trust fund.

Unfortunately, because her early British earnings and Disney wages were placed into a trust fund incorrectly managed by her father’s attorney, almost all of it was lost. The specific details regarding the loss of her childhood acting wages include:

The Tax Man: Mills ultimately lost the vast majority of her multi-million dollar Disney fortune due to a brutal 90% British “super-tax” rate in effect at the time for high-earning minors.
Failed Appeals: Although she fought the British government for years and briefly won a 1973 ruling to keep her money, the House of Lords ultimately appealed and ruled against her in 1975, leaving her trust fund virtually empty.
Memoir Reveal: Mills discussed the heartbreak of never actually seeing her Disney wealth, likening it to a vanished dream.

Literally four years after making Summer Magic in 1963, by 1967, she lost pretty much her entire fortune that was built after a decade of hard work.

It broke my heart to hear her story. She worked so hard to lose so much. She had truly earned her financial freedom. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Her story, like Shirley Temple’s, was another fiscal cautionary tale. You must become financially literate or bad things can happen.

The best gift I feel I can give myself when it comes to money is the gift of financial literacy.

I voraciously read dozens of books on personal finance and business. I may not have went to an Ivy League School or gotten a PHD, but I made sure to give myself a self-taught education in finance. Some of the books I read were even written by people who went to Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Columbia.

I made sure to get an Ivy League education in financial literacy.

By managing my own finances, I can avoid being overcharged and underpaid.

Reading about money taught me that you can either be rich or look rich, but you can’t be both.

For every 8-hor day, I try to invest at least 1-hour of what I earn.

Therefore, if you earn $100,000, then the goal would be to invest between 10 to 20 percent.

The current 401k and Roth IRA limits are $24,500 ad $7,500, respectively.

Selling a property also helped me boost my savings. Real estate can help you build a fortune.

After reading about Haley Mills and other actresses, athletes and musicians, I truly believe that there should be a class for celebrities called Finance 101.

Once I hit $250,000 in investments, I knew I could teach others.

Let’s not wait one more second to learn about money. It’s not only a retail apocalypse out there, but a financial knowledge desert and job apocalypse. Meta and Google and numerous other companies are laying off tens of thousands of workers. Saving and investing are ways to protect yourself from the pink slip apocalypse.

Your girl, Greenbacks Magnet, is here for you.

Just call me or tweet me. I am here for you anytime. A mere tweet away.

I’m just like Buffy says…👇

About the author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Investing, Retirement, Self-Made Millionaires

Are you there cappuccino? It’s me, Greenbacks Magnet

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“Pay yourself first.” Treat your savings like a mandatory bill and pay yourself at least one hour a day of your income. – David Bach, author of the Automatic Millionaire

“Don’t go to Starbucks today for a coffee… Invest $5 a day for 40 years @10% and you’ll have $948,611 in savings in your retirement account. The fact is that investing works when you work it.” – David Bach

I know that skipping the latte is a part of the latte factor philosophy, but sometimes I just need a cappuccino!

Therefore, I found other things to cut back on in order to find more ways to save and invest that money.

It seemed better to indulge and splurge on the things I really wanted and then cut mercilessly the things I don’t like.

This meant paying off debt.

I rather cut out shots at the bar at happy hour on Taco Tuesdays than not having my coffee or tea fix!

I mean everything is good in moderation, right?

You should be able to sip coffee and buy stocks.

My niece (Tiana) even bought me a juice shot at Trader Joe’s recently. She said, “shots on T”. She also likes to say Tiana runs on Dunkin. She loves her coffee. And she occasionally likes juice shots too.

Some were pretty pricey. I guess I can just eat the fruit and drink water to save on that. Who needs $5.99 juice shots? That should still count as saving on unnecessary drink spending. I mean a drinks a drink, right?

Lately, I have noticed that everything is behind a paywall. So I started cutting out or avoiding subscriptions.

Most movies and shows end up on Prime or Netflix anyway. I will catch it eventually.

Sacrificing present pleasure for future security is how the game of financial independence is played.

However, I can recollect hearing many stories of financial mismanagement. It’s a tale as old as time.

Hollywood Child Stardom gone bust

One of my all time favorite child actors is Shirley Temple. She was wise beyond her years. An absolutely incredible talent for such a young age. She started out by taking dancing lessons and then also starting her career at age 3. By age 6, she was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Shirley Temple, a beloved child star who made 29 films by age 10. Talk about a work ethic! All that just to be fired in 1941 by Fox Studios at the tender age of 11 for slumping ticket sales. Her contract was picked up by MGM, but by 1950 her Hollywood movie career was over at the young age of 22.

At the peak of her career, Shirley commanded a salary of $10,000 a week, earning her a healthy $3.2 million along with other income from merchandise.

She didn’t live a fairy-tale existence. During the years of her greatest fame, she worked punishing hours, received death threats and inappropriate advances, and retired at 22 with just $40,000 in the bank.

Ninety-seven cents of every dollar she made was gone. Due to bad investments made by her father.

Shirley Temple Black was an American actress, singer, dancer, politician, and diplomat, who was Hollywood’s number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938.

Childhood Earnings: During the 1930s, she was the highest-grossing star in Hollywood, earning roughly $3.4 million. However, by the time she was 22, the vast majority of these earnings had been squandered or lost in poor investments managed by her parents.

Adult Rebound: Despite losing her childhood fortune, she rebuilt her wealth through strategic business endeavors, marriage to wealthy businessman Charles Black, and a highly successful career in international relations, serving as the U.S. ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia.

Estate & Assets: Her estate included high-value personal property, most notably a rare 9.54-carat “Fancy Deep Blue” diamond ring. The ring was purchased by her father in 1940 for about $7,200 and was auctioned off post-mortem by a private buyer for an estimated $25 to $35 million.

At the time of her death in 2014, Shirley Temple had an estimated net worth of $30 million. Her wealth was accumulated through her legendary childhood acting career, successful adult ventures, savvy real estate investments, and a prominent second career as a United States diplomat.

Her story taught me something. Never to give up.

If I wanted financial independence, I would have to work for it!

I drove my old car from college into the ground. Paying that off along with a $20,000 personal loan that cost me $333 a month, helped me get on more solid financial footing.

Paying off debts laid the groundwork for what was to come. Amassing $580,000 in investments. I am mere thousands away from $600,000.

Although I did not cut out tea and coffee, I did cut out luxury cars and personal loans from my budget. The $750 I was saving on these two line items alone far eclipsed the $50 budgeted monthly for my caffeine fix!

I won’t stop until I hit my target of $1 million. I am more than halfway there.

Let me reward myself by taking a sip of my coffee.

About the author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Financial Freedom built attracting one dollar at a time