Better Living Notes

I Used to Chase Dividends. Now I Wait for Opportunities There was a time when I believed dividends were the answer. Dividend ETFs made me feel productive. Watching monthly cash roll in was comforting — like my portfolio was "doing something." But it also made me passive. I wasn’t responding to the market. I was reacting to fear of missing out, to a need for stability that wasn’t actually grounded in strategy. But I started noticing something strange: the market would rally, but my income stayed the same. I wasn’t participating in growth. I was just collecting crumbs. The Power of Income — and the Need to Look Beyond There’s no denying it: regular income brings comfort. It gives structure, predictability, and a sense of progress. That’s why so many investors chase monthly yields. And for a while, I did too. But in the stock market, comfort isn’t the whole story. If you want to grow, you have to observe. You have to study. You have to wait for the moment that fits...

Cash Is Not Lazy — It’s Your Strongest Investing Tool (Olivia Investing Series Part 3) I Used to Think Holding Cash Was Weak I used to believe this: “If you’re holding cash, you’re not really investing.” I thought cash was lazy. Passive. A waste. But the market taught me the opposite — the hard way. Back in 2022, I had almost no cash cushion. Even minor market swings shook my real life. A flat tire felt like a financial emergency. A dip in stocks felt like the world collapsing. I wasn’t investing. I was surviving. There Are Two Kinds of Cash. You Need Both. I break cash into two types: Life Cash For dentists, broken phones, or sudden rent hikes — to absorb life’s chaos. Volatility Cash For when markets drop and panic rises — to see opportunity instead of stress. If you don’t separate them, you’re always torn between surviving and growing. You shouldn’t have to choose. Cash Isn’t for the Lazy — It’s for the Ready This isn’t about market timing...