Good morning fellow friends!!

Another week down, another week closer to your Best Life since I last emailed!! You still making moves over there?? At least one of them? :)

If not, your mission this weekend is to cross off *one* thing that gets you closer to your dream lifestyle, whether it has to do with money, living arrangements, friendships, cars, clutter, lovers (ow ow!), or anything else that’s been on your heart lately. Then if you’re feeling ballsy enough, shoot me a note once you cross it off so I can give you a virtual high five! 👊 (or apparently a fist bump! lol..)

As for me, you know I’m still rollin’ high on life and steroids over here 🤣 I swear it feels like I have caffeine flowing through my veins 24/7 and Gawd I hope it doesn’t stop anytime soon… I’m getting so much stuff done!!

In fact, let’s start there with the latest news –

1) GIVING CARDS ARE BACK!!!! Where we hand out $20 gift cards for people to go out and do GOOD in their communities ❤️ Followers of Rockstar Finance and All-Star Money last Xmas will recall this project, and while it’s always been a fun side thing we’ve done attached to one of our larger projects, it’s now officially it’s *own* with hopes of it continuing on and growing even larger over the years.

Take a peek here –> GivingCards.org

(UPDATE: The project has since wrapped up)

I’m taking a lessor role in this project and helping out as the main advisor to it, but it’s being led my best friend/biz partner, Nate St. Pierre, who originally came up with this idea for me years ago for Rockstar, and whom long term followers will remember from our Love Drop days circa 2010!

If anyone’s interested in participating in the project though in some way, just hit reply to this email or reach out directly to Nate, and we’ll connect you up and add you to the party! We literally just soft-launched it yesterday so it’s SUPER in its early stages even though we’ve proven the concept over the years and know how much love it pours into the world…

It’s about the money, but it’s really not – it’s more about getting people to stop and *think* about how big of a difference they can make without actually needing that much money at all.

We’ve seen people take the concept and turn it into bigger movements in their community, we’ve seen people accidentally 10x the amount when their friends/family get word of their project idea, and we’ve even seen recipients of the love turn around and then pay it forward to someone less fortunate than even them – even though they can barely spare a dollar! It really is such a beautiful concept, and super proud to be a part of it all these years 🙏🙏

You can see some of the creative things people have done with only $20 here: givingcards.org/stories

And then here are all the ways you can participate if you would like!!

• Volunteer a skill of yours (email me!)
• Bring the idea to your business/job to do an event with us!
• Share it across your social channels/newsletters to help get the word out 👍
• Grab a card to Do Good (givingcards.org/request **cards limited at the moment, but hoping to have more once the word spreads and people support us :))

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In other fun news…

#2. My podcast with Grant Sabatier (Millennial Money) just dropped! — This is a very fun – high energy! – show we recorded last week covering everything from my “awakening” after my mysterious disease, the value of community, selling/re-acquiring my blog, life transitions, my latest obsession at 42, and why I blew up all my old habits and systems to reset.

If you’re looking for some good ear candy, check it out! It’s about 40 mins long:

EP38: Second Chance at Life w/ J. Money

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And then the bigger announcement for the week….

#3. I OFFICIALLY OWN BUDGETS ARE SEXY AGAIN!! AHHHH!!!!

I signed the contract Wednesday, wired the $$$$ yesterday, and today woke up with the full realization of what I just did… And can’t be more excited!! Nervous as hell, but excited!!

It’ll still be a week or so until I get it all xfered over and redesign wrapped up (it’s going to look so clean and clutter-free and LEGIBLE!!), but of course you’ll be the first to know once it’s out the door and back in action… Shooting for a re-launch two Mondays from now, June 13th 🤞

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And those are the biggies for now! Hope all your projects and goals and life stuff is going well!

Remember, if you’ve been slacking, take some time this weekend to do *one* thing that gets you closer to your ultimate lifestyle. Pick up the phone, shoot out an email, do 10 minutes of research – doesn’t have to be anything too major, just do SOMETHING which is always better than NOTHING! :) Then tell me what you did!

Favorite articles, and community news!, from the week are posted below…

Have a productive happy weekend!!

XOXO,

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Favorite Reads This Week:

Why Your Future Is Going To Be Awesome @ 1500 Days — “When I first discovered FIRE, I dove in and started consuming All. The. Things. I devoured the information and embraced FIRE without hesitation. But, one thing about index funds bothered me. I understood how index funds worked and why they’re better; it’s very difficult to pick single stocks over the long-term. However, there was something that I didn’t understand: why does VTSAX go up and to the right over the long-term?”

Buy High Sell Never @ Humble Dollar – “Remember Bob when investing during volatile markets, such as the one we’re currently in. If you’re buying stocks today, you have already outdone Bob. But don’t forget the secret to Bob’s success.”

Introducing The Lazy Man Rule of 20 @ Lazy Man and Money — “One of my good friends has an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) that she loves. An IPS puts down in writing how you are going to invest in advance of any market conditions. The beauty is that once you have your philosophy in black and white you simply have to just execute it.”

Just Because You Use an Item Doesn’t Mean You Need to Keep It @ Becoming Minimalist – “There is freedom to be found in realizing you don’t need to keep everything you use. In my opinion, “What would I use if I didn’t own this item?” is a much more helpful question to ask than “Do I use it?”“

Sorry, Collectibles Are Terrible Investments @ Full Stack Economics – ”This is the central paradox: if you’ve heard of a collectible, you’re already too late. But collectors and their promoters will often blur the distinction between rare items and common ones, in order to draw new people in.

Scambaiters: Meet the Modern-Day Heroes Who Scam Scammers @ Get Rich Slowly – “I have zero patience for scammers. Zero. I believe they deserve the harshest possible punishments. But, as Rober mentions in one video, it’s like playing whack-a-mole. You put one scammer out of business and five more rise to take his place.”

Favorite Video This Week!

Romano Tours – SNL via YouTube – “Joe Romano (Adam Sandler) clarifies what his tours of Italy can and cannot do for customers.” Hat tip to Apex Money finding this one as I missed the last SNL show :) So true on all accounts this video, whether on vacation or after having hit FI!! You’re still YOU when you get there – your problems don’t magically disappear!!

Some News Around The Community

Lastly, here’s a bunch of bloggers celebrating some big milestones around the community… Always interesting to hear how people fare once they hit FIRE and what they thought would be different or not when actually living it!

And of course similar to the above video, it’s never all sparkles and rainbows even if you’ve mastered the Money Game… There are so many other Games we need to manage in our life!! Money is just one of them!

• Monevator: FIRE Update: One Year Anniversary
• Rich Frugal Life: Early Retirement Update: The Second Year of Freedom
• Retirement Manifesto: 4 Lessons From 4 Years of Retirement
• Retire by 40: 10 Years After Early Retirement
• Mad Fientist: The Best Advice from Mr. Money Mustache (In celebration of Brandon’s podcast hitting 10 years!)

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