Good morning friends!

Hope you’re having a fantastic New Years so far, and didn’t get too much coal for Xmas like me :)

It’s been a whirlwind of events over here, between family events and kid stuff and the holidays, and then *right* when we were about to get back to normal again the SNOW came in and hit us! Over 10 inches which we never get! The kids were ecstatic, of course, but man it’s finally nice to be back to a regular schedule again…

I did somehow manage though to shoot out a couple of new posts on the blog:

I would rather play chicken with my bills than with my savings

(A pretty interesting chat with a fellow coffee shop goer! Where I repeatedly had to ask him to repeat what he just said to make sure I got it down correctly 😂 A few of my favorites were: “I spend a lot of money looking for women”, “I threw away my debit cards”, and “I would rather play chicken with my bills than with my savings”)

“The Purpose Code” – New Book and Giveaway!

(Giving away a blogger friend’s latest book, centered around one of those things that occupies my brain way more than I care to admit: the purpose of life! Which apparently I’m not alone in, as this “purpose anxiety” has been proven to affect 91% of people! Crazy!)

Give them a shot if you’re looking for some fun reading this morning! Or continue browsing down below to other great articles I’ve bookmarked from around the community…

Hope you’re doing well so far this year!! Any big plans or events or goals??! I don’t really set New Year resolutions anymore as I’m *always* working on some sort of challenge over here, but I do still think they’re great for those needing a little motivation! And hopefully no one’s given up on them yet!

Have a fantastic weekend ☕

PS: check out these stickers I saw on a car recently – our type of person! :)

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Favorite Reads Around the Community:

Why Saving The First $10,000 Is Critical via Wallet Hacks — “Your first goal is to save up $1,000. Scratch and claw your way to $1,000. Then, set your sights on $10,000. $10,000 is far but within reach. It’s also a sum that can be attained through the cutting of expenses and budgeting. You can save your way to $10,000. Then, invest that $10,000… If you don’t, you will forever be trading your time for money.”

The One-Box Challenge: A Simple Trick for a Clutter-Free Life via The Frug — “If you’re interested in decluttering your life but find it challenging to get started, I’ve devised a straightforward method to keep you on track every day. We’ve placed a sizable cardboard box in our hallway, right next to the hamper. Anytime Kelly or I stumble upon something we no longer use or want, it finds a new home in this box. Typically, after about a month, the box is nearly full, and it’s time to swiftly pack it up and transport it to Goodwill. ”

How it’s going after a full week without caffeine via George Poulos — “At what point does discipline cross over the line from being beneficial into a toxic form of self-restriction? As far as I can tell, life seems to be a constant process of experimentation, a never-ending balancing act and oscillation between these two ways of being.”

How to Avoid Getting Lost in Thought via Raptitude — “Humans [have] evolved the ability to hallucinate stuff we’re not presently sensing. We can summon to mind images of territories that exist elsewhere or even nowhere. Money we haven’t earned yet. Predators we’ve never encountered. Disappointments we haven’t suffered yet… This ability has allowed us to build cities, establish moral codes, and go to the moon, but it also presents a huge liability: confusion about what’s there and what’s merely being thought about.”

Don’t Take the Market Personally via A Wealth of Common Sense — “The stock doesn’t know you own it. All those marvelous things, or those terrible things, that you feel about a stock, or a list of stocks, or an amount of money represented by a list of stocks, all of these things are unreciprocated by the stock or the group of stocks. You can be in love if you want to, but that piece of paper doesn’t love you, and unreciprocated love can turn into masochism, narcissism, or, even worse, market losses and unreciprocated hate.”

When ‘Ho Ho Ho’ Turns to ‘Owe, Owe Owe’: 5 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2025 via USA Today [Shameless plug as I was featured in it! ;)]

Leaving Things Better Than We Found Them via Frugal Girl — “I don’t think it’s possible to do it perfectly, but I want to live my life so that the places I’ve been and the people I’ve interacted with are better for me having been there.”

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Book Spotlight:

The Purpose Code: How to unlock meaning, maximize happiness, and leave a lasting legacy . This book comes from fellow PF’er, Jordan Grumet of Earn & Invest podcast, and in celebration of its release we’re giving away a few copies of it over at Budgets Are Sexy! So be sure to click over there next and enter if you’re interested in it!

More about the book via Amazon:

“Worried about purpose? Most people are. But no one has to be. Brené Brown meets Malcolm Gladwell in this ground-breaking self-improvement book that reveals how to make a mark and how to set goals in life without falling into the anxiety traps of conventional success principles books. The ultimate in purpose anxiety relief, and a map for anyone to find happiness.”

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APP Spotlight:

Spend — This is a new’ish budgeting app a colleague of mine is working on… I haven’t tried it yet but according to him once people check it out they tend to stay. So maybe give it a shot if you still haven’t found a good Mint replacement? I do really like its “Safe to Spend” feature.

(They have a free version and a paid version ($7.99/mo or $79/yr), but he’s currently running a promotion for anyone who signs up in January: access to the paid version for 1 entire year – free. Let me know if you test it out!)

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*Links to Book are Amazon affiliate links

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Happy holidays, friends!

I hope you have some fun festivities lined up! :) But before we get to all that, I’m on a mission to raise a little money for my cold and hungry homeless friends out there, while also trying at the same time to tackle one of the hardest areas known to entrepreneurs:

OUR HORDE OF DOMAIN NAMES! 😂

Which, of course, are all awesome and *worth millions* if we ever get them off the ground, but as author Derek Sivers is fond of saying – ideas are worth nothing unless executed. And, well, despite how much I’d love to execute on ALL of these one day, I’m pretty sure if I haven’t done it in the past 10 years I never will…

But maybe one of YOU could use these domains? Perhaps one of these is the missing puzzle to finally getting your own passion project off the ground?!

If so, I’d love to make a deal with you today :) If you donate some money to help replenish my Community Fund that goes 100% to my poor – yet positive! – friends living on the streets, I’ll give you one of these epic domain names in return.

What do you say?

Here are the domains up for the taking:

• PFBloggers.com – Great for anyone who wants to bring back a blogger directory to our space! (gone! Thanks Tom!!)
• PFChat.com – Great for anyone wants to bring back a lively *forum* to our space :)
• MoneyLatte.com – Great for telling everyone how much they can save on brewing coffee at home! Lololol… (gone! Thanks Jessica!!)
• DebtDrop.org – Great for anyone trying to help others tackle debt

DM me if you have any interest at all, or check out this recent blog post to learn more: Want Any of These Domain Names?

We’ve already raised $600 for the Fund so far (you can donate even if you don’t want a domain!) but would love more than anything to raise even more. It’s the worst season for our unhoused friends right now ‘cuz it’s so dang cold and nasty out!

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In other not-nearly-as-important-news, I’ve been obsessed with coin boards lately :) Which you can probably still appreciate whether you’re into coins or not cuz it’s super nerdy!

• Check out the “normal” coin board here: Custom Coin Board (via my blog, CoinThrill.com)
• And then the supercharged one here: Custom Coin Board… Table! With Legs!

And then lastly, that very same Derek Sivers mentioned above came onto my blog last month to spit some financial truth… His equation says it all: Wealth = Have ÷ Want

I hope something here helps you in the future!! Thanks for reading all these years, and have a very merry blessed and happy holidays!!

Your FBFF (Financial Best Friend Forever),

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Favorite Reads Around the Community:

You Only Have to Get Rich Once @ Young Money — “The only thing worse than not making life-changing money is losing the life-changing money that you just made.”

Why I Write A “Love Letter” Every Year @ The Retirement Manifesto — “None of us want to die. All of us will. In preparation for that inevitability, I write an annual “Love Letter” to my wife. In the event of my passing, my wife will know exactly what needs to be done.  I’ve never written in detail about my love letter on this blog. That ends today.”

How To Avoid Investment Fruit Loops @ A Teachable Moment — “Simple beats complex. Beware of excess ingredients in your food and investment portfolio.”

Advice For The Kids @ Humble Dollar – “Don’t read too much into texts and emails, especially those from colleagues. Most people aren’t artful in their use of language, so their intent may be muddied, and things will likely be even worse if you try to read between the lines. Instead, until people prove themselves untrustworthy, give them the benefit of the doubt. That attitude will make the world seem like a more pleasant place, and you’ll spend far less time fretting unnecessarily.”

Mary Buffett & The Difference Between Gifting Cash and Stocks @ My Money Blog — “In a recent Fortune article, Mary Buffett shared an anecdote about how her former father-in-law Warren Buffett changed the way he gifted his family $10,000 every year, from cash to shares of stock… Giving shares of stock instead of cash was a small nudge that made a difference.”

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Quote of The Month:

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” – Arthur Ashe

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// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn

Morning friends!!

Been super busy behind the scenes here, and hoping to be able to share my next project with you soon!

It’s not going to relate to personal finance for once in my life – hah – but it is something that could help save you money and/or improve your business if you happen to run or manage a business :) It also heavily relies on AI, so if you’ve been trying to figure out the best way to incorporate that into your work flow, this may be a good way to get started!

But first – we need some beta testers to help break it/improve it/give feedback!! Check out this note from my business partner, Nate, and if you qualify we’d love to give you a sneak peek of it – 100% free:

We need 10 volunteers

[If you quality – and are interested! – email me and I’ll add you to the list!]

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In other fun news – I’m still publishing regularly on Budgets Are Sexy! Got two new posts on there with one of them being pretty embarrassing and the other hopefully making up for it 😂

Check ’em out:

• My $507.34 Ridiculous Mistake — I’ve been doing something really stupid for the past 5 years: not only have I been paying for a subscription that I’ve never used (!!), but throughout these years the price has gone up 300%+ and I didn’t even notice!
• The 10-2 Challenge — The perfect way to get moving on a project!! Set aside 10 minutes every day for two years straight, and you’ll have spent 7,300 minutes on it or roughly 122 hours. Just like that! The time is going to pass anyways, why not get something extra out of it?

And then here’s a recent post on my coin blog… because I’m a nerd like that:

• What to Do With Fake Coins (and Are They Still Worth Anything?) — This is a follow up post to one I ran over a year ago (oops), and gets into the details of what you can do when you come across fake coins in a collection you’re valuing for someone, or perhaps even one you find in your own collection! It’s not totally a lost cause! :)

It’s been a pretty fantastic month on the productivity side and feeling good about that. On the flip side, I can already tell that life is starting to SPEED UP AGAIN so I gotta remember to slow it down and not rush the month away just cuz I want to get more stuff done! Which is so easy to do when you have deadlines to meet, whether self-imposed or otherwise. We’re always trying to hurry up and speed through tasks but that also speeds through LIFE!!

So if it feels like you’re doing the same right now, take a step back with me and slooooow it down a little. Even if it’s only 10-15 minutes a day. No matter what we’re working on or going through, we have to remember that WE’RE more important than any other task. Get outside, take some walks, incorporate some meditation, do whatever helps you re-connect to the *present* again so we don’t accidentally fast forward everything.

I’ll be working on the same this week :)

Favorite articles down below as always, and if you ever get tired of reading these you can hit that “unsubscribe” link anytime down at the bottom. I’ll only cry for a few seconds, promise!

Your faithful scribbler,

PS: I had to change email platforms as my old one raised the rates by almost triple (!), so if anything looks or feels funny here that’s probably why… Hopefully it doesn’t affect anything else, but if it does please let me know!

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Favorite Reads Lately:

What’s on Your List? via Humble Dollar — “What would you do if you only had one day left to live? Would you plant a tree? Would you rob a bank? Would you tell someone how you really feel?”

It Pays to Know If You’re Making a One-way or Two-way Door Decision via Poor. Choices. — “Use Amazon’s best kept secret for high-velocity decision making when making your biggest purchases.”

We are creating a new town called Esmeralda! via @devonzuegel – “Our team has an exclusive option on a beautiful piece of land 90 mins north of SF, in California wine country… Our five design principles are all interconnected & reinforce each other:

1. Support a multi-generational community
2. Prioritize pedestrians & cyclists over cars
3. Cultivate a culture of learning & building
4. Protect & harmonize with nature
5. Promote health & wellness”

Living A Simple Life Is Actually Cool via No Sidebar — “When you learn to buy less, you learn to live with less. When you learn to live with less, you learn to find joy in more. That, my friends, is the precursor to a damn good life… If you do it right.”

Lessons from Emma the Farmer via Douglas Tsoi — “Attention is the source of pleasure; you can’t enjoy something unless you pay attention to it. In offering attention to what it takes to grow food, we enjoy the food more.”

No College Education – No Worries! @ 5am Joel – “Much to everyone’s surprise, I’ve actually grown up to become a semi-successful human being. I’ve never struggled to find work or accumulate wealth, and I’m just as competent and reliable as the next guy. I live a happy and free life. I missed the college boat and somehow still turned out OK. How did this happen?”

Humans Are About to Learn Like Never Before via Raptitude — “Humans aren’t good at predicting the future, but sometimes you can see a trend that promises something great — like “a genie is granting your wish” great. I think this might be happening right now with one of my genie wishes, maybe yours too.”

Hire My Talented, Full-Time Team via David Perell — LOVE this way of wrapping up a project!! Totally stealing for my next failed venture, lol… (But are failed ventures really “fails”??)

Business Broker Fees: A Complete Guide for Small Business Owners via Nav.com — An old friend of mine, Gerri Detweiler, wrote a piece on selling companies through a broker and what it all entails, including price structures. I had helped broker her own site back in the day, and she kindly highlighted me in it! A good read if you’re considering selling a project or company too 👍 (and *ahem* you know someone who can assist you in this! ;))

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Photo of The Month:

Ran into my homeless friend (remember Lizzy?) and she gave me this bracelet 🥹 Doesn’t own a thing, and yet with a full heart wanted me to have this after I had commented on how beautiful it was! Can you imagine??

Friends who are bursting at the seams with possessions don’t even do this, yet she freely and immediately took it off her wrist and put it on mine to make me happy. (And because I knew it would mean a lot to her, I warmly accepted it.)

Every day I am surprised by how much hatred is directed at others out there, and particularly towards the unhoused community, and then gestures like this reminds me of humans’ capacity to LOVE just as fiercely. So thank you, Lizzy. I will wear it – and appreciate it – every day! And hope to continue learning from you on our daily chats too.

(I was also wearing a bracelet at the time, so I ended up giving her mine and now we roam the streets together – in very different ways! – with this gentle reminder of love :))

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Video of The Month:

#ProjectTurntable | Adobe MAX Sneaks 2024 via YouTube – “Project Turntable technology allows you to see your 2D vector drawings in a whole new way! This feature allows you to rotate your drawings in 3D while still retaining the 2D art style at any angle. This incredible feature also ensures that the vector graphics stay true to their original shape, retaining all the key components of the design even at a new angle.” Crazy what you can do these days! So different than 10, 15, 20 years ago!

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Quote of The Month:

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Gobble Gobble 🦃

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Morning friends!

Having a great week over there? Month? YEAR??

All good and happy on these fronts… I’m healthy, busy (on things I want to be busy on!), and lately  – excited for a couple new possible projects that may be lurking around the corner. One with my old philanthropy buddy, Nate St. Pierre!

Gotta keep that brain active so it doesn’t turn into a prune 😎

I’ve also been enjoying being back at the blog again after accidentally taking half the year off.

Ponder the titles of these last two posts of mine and see if any look interesting enough to click! They’re both super helpful, but in completely different ways:

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I froze my credit and it was SO EASY! (And Free)

(Took under 15 minutes, and I share the three links you need to click on so you can promptly forget about it all and move on with your (hack-free) life too! Cuz ain’t nobody gots the time – or desire – to mess around with identity theft!)

You must begin from where you are

(A handful of inspirational one-liners from yoga that very much applies to finances too. And if you can believe it, it’s now been 1 year straight of doing yoga for me and I’ve literally taken over 250 classes in that time frame! Someone stop me!! ;))

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Lastly, the blog buying/selling game has been hot these last couple of months, so I’ve been busy connecting people and helping make some fun deals.

If you’ve ever thought of scooping up a blog or financial biz to expand your portfolio (or you’re looking to sell one!) hit me up and we can discuss. You can also sign up to my (free) private buyer’s list where you’ll get notified any time a new blog or financial biz from the community comes on the market: Blogs For Sale

We’ve currently got two sites looking for a new home:

• YoungFinances.com ($7,500) – a 14 y/o personal finance blog
• Emancipare.com ($99,000) – a boutique financial planning business

DM me for more info!

Other favorite reads from around the community this month down below…

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you’ve been up to lately! :)

XOXO,

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Favorite Reads From Around the Community:

Don’t Give In To That First Desire via Darius Foroux — “Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said something that helps with managing our first impulsive desire: ”‘Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.” This is a timeless truth about human nature and how we’re constantly pursuing our first desire. ”

Why I Have a Secret “Classified” Email Address via Wallet Hacks — “The United States Government has classified and unclassified systems and the basic premise is that the two shall never meet. Sensitive and important information lives in the classified world. Less important, less sensitive information lives in the unclassified world… This is what I do with my email system.”

AI That Works: How To Build A Youbot via Nate St. Pierre – “A Youbot is a personalized AI assistant that functions as a supercharged extension of yourself.  It’s built to understand your background, your goals, and your needs already in context, so you don’t have to explain everything every time you need help. Youbots are designed to work with the same kind of background information that anyone close to you would already know, but they bring that information into the conversation instantly, and at a much larger scale.” [This is a project by my bestie who I might be partnering up with to expand this! AI is here to stay no matter how anyone feels about it, so why not harness it to improve your life?]

Build a Personal Monopoly via David Perell — “When you build your Personal Monopoly, you say yes to playing a worldwide game that most people don’t even know exists. Forge a distinct path instead of copying what everybody else is doing. Work on ambitious projects, study the unexplored intersections of ideas and find the questions that people are asking but nobody is answering.”

A Smartphone That Can Charge Itself From Sunlight via Tech Radar — “Imagine a world where your smartphone charges itself simply by being exposed to sunlight, with no cords or power outlets required. Researchers have long sought ways to integrate renewable energy into everyday objects, and this futuristic vision is now closer to reality, thanks to a breakthrough that could potentially allow devices to charge directly through their screens.” [Hat tip AGaiShanLife.com]

On Becoming Who You Are via Nate St. Pierre — “If I can give you a piece of advice that’s resonated with me over the years, it’s to never be afraid to be who you are. Don’t do what everyone else is doing just because you think it’s expected of you or because you’re afraid of being judged. Be your authentic self, believe what you believe, love what you do, and you’ll find your life’s work along with your community of kindred spirits.” [Two articles from the same person today! But I couldn’t pass it up – goes in line so much with the theme of building your own personal monopoly 💪 (Plus it just gave me all the feels)]

Shaq on Being Blown Away by Investing in Ring via Moneywise — “Despite being a multimillionaire, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal balked when a private contractor quoted him a staggering $80,000 to upgrade his home security. Instead of paying up, Shaq did what most of us would do — he opted for a DIY solution. He headed to Best Buy, bought a set of Ring security cameras, and took matters into his own hands. “I hooked it up myself…”

Metric-Less Success via More To That – “Traditional success will get you on magazine covers, but metric-less success will get you on family albums. While society as a whole worships quantifiable success, what will ultimately matter most to the individual is everything that can’t be counted.”

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Juicy Blogger News:

• Darcy at We Want Guac reaches $500k net worth!
• Financial Mechanic hits 2 years of early retirement
• Accidentally Retired hits 4 years of early retirement
• A Purple Life also hits 4 years of early retirement!

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Poem of The Month:

Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver

“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”

[via Financial Mechanic]

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Pic of The Month:

[Great reminder to be careful of what you’re chasing!

Snagged from The Belle Curve]

Have a fantastic weekend ✨

 
// Robot pic up top by Nate St. Pierre – made with AI!
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// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn

Good morning, coin lovers!!

Especially those coin *collecting* lovers! ;)

I just got a new collection to inventory and evaluate (WOO!!!), and inside it I found that bad boy above just waiting to be brought into the light of day again. After 300 years of being passed around – and through some pretty TOUGH times from the looks of it! – it’s now settled at the bottom of an old raggedy bag just wishing it could be useful again, womp womp…

And unfortunately, just like modern coinage it probably never will be 😢

But… At least for today, we can show it some love by clicking over to my coin collecting blog to learn all about it!! That’s right – I have a coin collecting blog too!

CoinThrill.com

Fun Fact: The more you click the happier the coin gets!

Fun Fact II: If you have any coins yourself that you’d like to learn more about and/or sell, I offer coin evaluation services so just give me a shout and I’d be honored to serve you too. 🙌

In other news, I have two new blog posts on BudgetsAreSexy! I’ve been a writing machine!! ;)

The first was pulled from a recent interview I did on early retirement – and specifically on what to watch out for before jumping in – and the other is a new giveaway going on right now of a gaggle of new money books that have recently hit the shelves…

You can find both new blog posts here:

3 Things You Should Never Do in Retirement

6 New Books on The Scene! [GIVEAWAY]

And as always, you can scroll below for some other great articles I’ve found around the community lately! Thanks so much for being here all these years! 🖤

I launched this newsletter back in November of 2018, and it’s been a fun outlet and extra way for me to connect with y’all so hopefully you’ve been enjoying it just the same :) And if not, all you gotta do is click that “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of these notes! I won’t hate you too much for it!

See ya back here again soon,

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Favorite reads around the web:

ProjectSkydrop.com — “Project Skydrop is a real-world treasure hunt. A precious object, made of 10 troy ounces of 24K pure gold, has been placed somewhere in a circle that starts out 500 miles in diameter. Over the course of three weeks, that circle shrinks day-by-day. At the end of the hunt, the circle will shrink down to a single foot, pinpointing the exact treasure location.” [It just launched YESTERDAY and ends on October 10th!! So lots of time to enter if you’re interested!! I want to hear all about it if you do, please! :)]

The Anonymous and VERY happy $500 Million Man via Noah Kagan — “Last week, I met someone with a net worth of $100m in cash. He has 0 social media, and you wouldn’t recognize him on the streets… That’s the fascinating part about wealth, most of our stories and judgments about it are wrong.”

How to Track Your Net Worth (ft. my FREE Net Worth Tracker) via Of Dollars and Data — “Do you know your net worth? How often do you check it? If you have found it difficult to track your net worth over time or you don’t track it at all, then this post is for you.”

The Best Interest Rates on Cash via My Money Blog — “Here’s my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash as of September 2024, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. There are lesser-known opportunities available to individual investors, often earning more money while keeping the same level of safety by moving to another FDIC-insured bank or NCUA-insured credit union”

My Barista FIRE Net Worth Reveal: How Much I Had When I Semi-Retired at 36 (And Now) via Julie B. Rose — “I’ve been a travel, finance, and nomadic lifestyle blogger for YEARS, but I’ve never publicly or broadly revealed (only alluded to) my early retirement / Barista FIRE numbers. While withholding this over the years may have protected me from ill-intentioned suitors looking to take advantage, I realize it may have erstwhile been a disservice to some of my readers.”

What could be the world’s most expensive coin collection is going up for auction — after being banned from sale for a century via CNN — “People who are exclusively devoted to their business make a great mistake. I, for one, could never imagine thinking about nothing but butter until my dying days.”

Financial Confidence is the New Financial Independence via Retire Before Dad — “While financial independence remains a desirable goal, it can seem distant or unattainable for many. It can also be elusive and come and go as the market fluctuates. On the other hand, financial confidence is an achievable state of mind for anyone willing to learn, implement best practices, and continuously refine their knowledge.”

Stop Protecting Your Old Self (The Real Root of Procrastination) via Darius Foroux — “I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”- Marcus Aurelius

Time Is Precious: Rekindling Relationships Is Now a #1 Priority via Route To Retire — “You can’t stop the bad things from happening to those you care about. It’s pretty straightforward – the longer you live, the more you’ll start to see others you’re close with start to disappear. That’s the circle of life and you can’t prevent it. What you can do though is regroup more often with those people you care about by working on rekindling relationships.”

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Clips that got me thinking:

“Each year since 2011, Gallup has asked people what they think is the best long-term investment. After a brief love affair with gold, real estate has been in the top spot every year since 2013. Stocks are a distant second.” – A Wealth of Common Sense

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“Goodbye, physical US savings bonds! Per this TreasuryDirect announcement, the US Treasury will no longer allow to you to buy an additional $5,000 in paper Series I savings bonds each year with your tax refund, effective January 1st, 2025. (If you haven’t filed your 2023 Tax Year returns, you can still get them with your late filing by October 15, 2024 using IRS Form 8888.)” – My Money Blog

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“Legacies are overrated. Don’t believe me? Ask the Sumerians. They lived in what is now Iraq between 4100 and 1750 BCE. Sumerian accomplishments include but are not limited to Developing one of the world’s first writing systems, Inventing the wheel, Urbanization, Building massive Temples, and developing Mathematics, Astronomy, and Legal Codes. I defy you to find more than one in a thousand people who could give you a detailed description of this great civilization… Keep this in perspective, and for God’s sake, stop taking yourself so seriously!!!!!” – A Teachable Moment

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“The purpose of a gift is to show love. Once a gift has been given, its purpose has been served.  In a healthy relationship, holding on to that item doesn’t make you any closer to or loved by the giver. Your relationship with a person is not held in a physical possession. Nor is it strengthened if you begrudgingly hold on to the no-longer-needed things they’ve given you.” – Rich In What Matters

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“Personal finance experts hate debt. I don’t share that view. I’m not of the opinion that every big purchase in your life has to be made with cash. Debt in and of itself is not bad. Debt is like a hammer. It can be used to both build and destroy. The intelligent use of debt has brought far more flexibility to my financial life.” – A Wealth of Common Sense

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“How would you change your life if you knew you had just a year or two to live? I’m getting the chance to answer that question, and I consider it a great privilege.” – Humble Dollar

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Pic of the week ;)

[Me neither, Gordon… Me neither..]

Happy Weekend 🙌

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