Good Morning! ☕

A fresh new day has arrived! What are you planning on doing with it??? :)

I was on a podcast recently, and at the end of it they asked me where people could find me and what my next goals were, and without hesitation I blurted out that I’m really not working on anything outside of just *staying alive*, lol…  I mean, I have the revamped blog and this newsletter of course, but instead of trying to promote all my stuff I decided to share a silly little ritual I do every morning instead.

Which is basically:

1. Shoot straight up as soon as I come to consciousness
2. Look from side to side to get my bearings and make sure I’m indeed alive!
3. Press my hands together to shoot off a quick note of “thanks” to whoever’s up there listening for granting me a brand new day 🙏

I pretty much do it out of habit now, and so far it’s working as I continue to wake up ;)

It also reminds me to focus more on the *important* stuff in life too when all trivial stuff tries taking over!! Which I still fall for, but much less in recent years since enacting this ritual of gratefulness.

And when I do get caught up, I try to harness the four magical words of Letting That $hit Go. I literally conjure up that image up there in my head, and almost immediately a little peace comes back into my life, haha… Shout to 5AM Joel for finding that gem, and feel free to steal and share around yourself!

Have a great day out there – thanks for being alive with me 🙌

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Posts on Budgets this week:

Share Your 401(k) Story For a Chance at $1,000! — Love your 401(k) and tell everyone you know to be invested in it too?! Make sure to apply to this year’s 401(k) Champion® Award contest where you can win one of three $1,000 cash prizes! Check out the post to learn more… (3 of the last 6 winners were BudgetsAreSexy readers btw, so the luck favors you! :))

10 Quick Hits 💰 — 10 timely financial tips by Consumer advocate and personal finance journalist, Rita R. Robison. Whose weekly newsletter I just started following as it’s excellent!! And something I rarely do!

PS: want to get my blog posts emailed to you the day they come out? Sign up to my blog newsletter here.

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Favorites Around The Community:

I Used My Emergency Fund, and I Liked It @ She Picks Up Pennies – “The first mistake we make when we talk about emergency funds is talk about making money from them. I have no interest in making money on my emergency fund, and neither should you. I don’t view it as an asset. Instead, I look at it as a safety device. It’s a form of insurance. I want it to exist and hope to never need it.”

The Power of a “What If We Didn’t Own This?” Bag @ Rich in What Matters – “The purpose of material possessions is to be used for some good. If we’re holding onto things that have no value, we are keeping them from fulfilling their true purpose in someone else’s life.  A “What If We Didn’t Own This?” Bag winnows out things from your home that, for you, no longer hold a purpose.”

Custer Had A Plan Too @ A Teachable Moment — “Your quest is finding what works and, more importantly, what helps. Anything else is a waste of time.”

How Will I Take Advantage of Today? @ Becoming Minimalist – “You and I are different, I’m sure, in countless ways:  Our family, our upbringing, our location, our career, our passions, our hobbies, our goals. But there is one thing that all of us have in common:  We woke up this morning.  And we have been provided this day to make the most of it.”

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Clips & News From The Community:

Interesting passages that caught my eye this week…

• Physician on FIRE ruminates on 3 years of being FIRE’d
• “Did you know… You can get rid of your negative thoughts by writing them down onto a piece of paper, then ripping that paper up and throwing it in the trash?  It’s true.  A bunch of studies prove that turning our thoughts into material objects —> increases or decreases our mental impact depending on what we physically do with them.  It works the same with positive thoughts… Writing them down on a piece of paper, and putting that paper in your pocket or saving in a personal drawer will strengthen the positive feelings.” – 5AM Joel
• “Did you know that $SBUX is a bank 🏦 that happens to sell coffee ☕️. The company has more than $1.5B in cash from its rewards and gift cards program. That amount is more than 85% of banks in the US. And get this…10% of the money is never used!” – @BuildingBread
• “No matter why one invests in income stocks, one way to evaluate potential picks is the so-called “The Chowder Rule“. The framework can be summarized like this:  The Chowder Rule is a rule-based system used to identify dividend growth stocks with strong total return potential by combining dividend yield and dividend growth.  It states that stocks are attractive when they offer a good combination of dividend yield and dividend growth — it does not make sense to look at only one of these.” – LazyManandMoney.com
• “The National Foundation for Credit Counseling offers real-time help for getting out of debt. Contact them at nfcc.org or 800-388-2227.” – Rita R. Robison

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Video of The Week

Jerry and Marge Go Large: 60 Minutes’ original story on the Selbees’ lottery loophole @ YouTube — “Jon Wertheim’s report on Jerry and Marge Selbee, a retired Michigan couple who made $26 million using “basic arithmetic” to crack the code on certain lottery games.”

Such a wild story!! It’s 15 mins long but well worth it if you’re into this type of stuff… Makes you wonder what other things are out there right now just waiting to be hacked (legally!). Shout to Apex Money for finding this gem.

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Happy Weekend ⚡

 

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Morning!

If you feel like dissecting Kanye West today, or making millions picking up trash around parking lots, or ways to spend your money without regrets, or the ultimate sin: financial bloodletting (that’s right – financial bloodletting!), you are in the right spot 😎

Scroll below to feast on my hand-picked articles just for you, and then come back again next week for a second helping of more.

Love you always, kthxbye.

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Posts on Budgets this week:

A User’s Guide: How to Gamble in the Stock Market and Lose Everything — If you ever considered trading options, or any stocks for that matter, this post is for you. New blogger on the scene, Kalen Houck, stops by the blog to share one of his #fails from yesteryear – and it’s a whopper!

“I Make $650,000/year Cleaning Up Trash” — A Q&A with Brian Winch who created a multi-million dollar empire on cleaning up trash over the past few decades! Who you might recall from Side Hustle #71 over 5 years ago… Super fantastic (and inspirational!) guy, and was fun to have him back on to pick his brain on the top tips and tricks for success. He likes to say this is “America’s simplest business” and he wouldn’t be wrong!

PS: to get Budgets Are Sexy posts in your inbox the day they come out, subscribe to the newsletter here.

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Favorites Around The Community:

Spending Without Regrets @ Of Dollars and Data — “One of my favorite techniques to spend without regret is called the 2x Rule. The idea is that when you save for something you should save 2x the original price. So if you were going to buy $500 concert tickets, you’d also save another $500 to invest in income-producing assets. The beauty of this rule is that it is easy to remember and it will also benefit you in the future.”

“I’m Not Gonna Argue With People That Are Broker Than Me About Money…” @ The Best Interest – “What follows are some thoughts from one of those “broker” people. Yes, like Kanye, I’m referring to myself.  Maybe you’re laughing. Maybe you agree with him. And when the dice fall, maybe Kanye will end up being right. Maybe he is the only person on the planet who can save The Gap.  But can we pause, take a deep breath, and collectively vomit?”

Lessons of a House Fire @ DINKS On a Bus – “A house fire is something I don’t wish on anyone. It’s something I can honestly say that I thought would never happen to me. But in the summer of 2017, a house fire turned our lives upside down. Now, 5 years later, I’m sharing our major lessons learned, and who knows, maybe even some silver linings.”

35 Facts That Will Make You Indestructible @ Steve Adcock – “If you want to be a strong, confident, and fearless human being, there are certain things that you need to understand.”

The Ultimate Guide to Helping a Sick Friend @ Bitches Get Riches — “”If you need anything, let me know!” This is the default thing to say to a sick friend. I hate this phrase. People often say it just to be polite, so it’s rarely literally sincere. And when it is, it’s so vague and nonspecific that it’s hard to know what scope of help you’re actually offering. So don’t say that. Instead, try… “I’m free all day Friday. Can I come over for a few hours? I can help around the house or we can just hang.” Make the nature of your offer clear.”

What Financial Health Means To Me @ Kate Horrell — “My first financial goal, wherever the Navy sends us, is to have the financial flexibility that I could put my family of six people on a plane today, to go wherever we need to go, and eat, and rent cars, and do whatever else is necessary to care for the six of us while also being where we need to be for the people we love.”

Artfully Dodged @ Humble Dollar – “Masterworks is a company that buys multi-million dollar works of art, creates a Delaware limited liability company to own each one and sells shares in that company to the public. It resells the art a few years later, presumably at a higher price, and then disburses the proceeds to shareholders. Masterworks enables the fractional ownership of art—basically art for the little people.”

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News From The Community:

Some interesting news that caught my eye this week…

• Poor. Choices. reflects on 2 years of blogging
• Frugalwoods is now offering private reader case studies
• Dig to Fly’s 5 Day Journaling Challenge starts this upcoming Monday, Sep 26th

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Clips From The Community:

Interesting passages that caught my eye this week…

• “When you delay your savings for one day, you don’t lose today. You’re losing that last day your money would’ve been invested before you started taking withdrawals. If you’re going to invest for 20 years, that’s 7300 days of investing. You’re not giving up Day 1, you’re giving up the fact that Day 1 will have been invested for 7300 days. That’s a lot of money.” – Wallet Hacks
• “Helping your child build a superior credit score offers more significant future benefits than maniacally obsessing about their SATs. Unlike the SAT, credit scores retain permanent shelf lives.” – A Teachable Moment
• “A good rule of thumb in decision making is, whenever you cannot decide what you should do, choose the action that represents a change, rather than continuing the status quo. If the choice is between action and inaction, and you’re genuinely unsure about what to do, choose action.” – MyMoneyBlog.com

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Documentary of The Week!

Get Smart With Money | Official Trailer @ YouTube – “Financial advisers share their simple tips on spending less and saving more with people looking to take control of their funds and achieve their goals.”

I’m a bit late sharing this so you’ve probably already seen it by now, but if not check it out sometime this weekend as it features many of the people you probably know from our space! Mr. Money Mustache, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, Tiffany Aliche aka The Budgetnista, and (new to me) Ro$$ Mac. How bad ass to get your own NETFLIX gig?!!

Here’s the teaser:

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Happy weekend 🙌

 

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Good morning!

I survived FinCon!

Here are a bunch of pretty pics to prove it :)

Me and the incomparable Trip of a Lifestyle duo – Steven and Lauren. Who both retired at 29 and now travel the country and wherever they want! Been enjoying their blog for a few years now so was super excited to meet them in real life. And for all those who remember Money Mozart back in the day, that’s Chris Muller in the background photobombing us!

Me and my homeboy/roommate/business partner, Nate St. Pierre. Gotta love his tee he custom created, lol…

Me and Jeff from Homo Money on the left / Tom from The Frugal Gay on the right who BOTH brought home Plutus Award trophies making them officially award winners now!! Jeff took home Best New Personal Finance Blog and Tom won Best Real Estate Content for his Twitter account.

Dawned on me that they’re both also CLIENTS of my blog coaching services (which inspired this pic!), so either a) I’m super blessed to have amazing clients – OR – b) they became amazing from a little J. Money sprinkling, haha… But let’s definitely say it’s the former as they were already on their way ;) I only aim to ELEVATE!!! Congrats guys!

Nate all gussied up before our closing party… which if you know Nate you’ll now this is NOT LIKE HIM at all! Never have I seen him wear nail polish – especially pink polish! – nor rock a hat like that (it’s mine) or even *smile* for that matter 😂 But we must have caught him in a good mood, and he even went back to his 2010 roots of reminding everyone to Change The World.

And lastly, here was a shot of the pools and water slides right off our balcony… was hard to complain, that’s for sure ;) (Though I did make the mistake of sending it to my kids who were less than pleased that I came here without them!)

So as you can probably tell, I was glad I went, and somehow even managed to come back unscathed health-wise unlike my roomies who are just now finally recovering from a nasty flu a week later :(

I always wonder if it’ll be my last year there now having gone to 10 of them altogether (!), but seeing how next year’s will be in New Orleans, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop just yet ;)

There’s a killer ROTATING PIANO BAR there that I just have to re-visit again!

In the meantime though, we just keep doing our thing and seeing what the next year brings! Always makes for a great “check-in” on your business/blog/projects and you always tend to come away feeling re-motivated again…

So thanks to everyone who made it a point to stop by and say hi! And thanks to you all who continue to allow me into your lives and share my projects. Can’t do any of them without you. 🙏🙏

Favorite articles and clips from the week are down below, and will be back again next week for another fresh report…

Your (grateful) friend in finance,

 

Posts on Budgets this week:

This week was a full week of giveaways! Which all ended at the end of each day, but there’s still one last one live right now that ends at 5pm EST if you’re interested… Today we’re giving away a coin collecting package, a handful of financial greeting cards, some killer Vanguard mugs!, and a “Love and Money” course and books…

Click here or the picture below to enter for any of them:

PS: to get Budgets Are Sexy posts in your inbox the day they come out, subscribe to the newsletter here.

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Favorite Reads Around The Community:

The Best Personal Finance Books for Every Stage of Your Money Journey @ Rich Frugal Life – “Since discovering the FIRE movement in late 2018, I’ve read dozens of personal finance books and hundreds of blog posts. Here are my picks for the best personal finance books for the different stages of your money journey…”

We Didn’t Start The FIRE: The True History of Financial Independence @ Get Rich Slowly — “Who started the FIRE movement? Who “invented” financial independence? Who first came up with the concept? Today, using my collection of old money books, let’s take a look at where the notion of financial independence originated.”

The Surprising Inspiration to Declutter I Found At the Museum @ No Sidebar – “If I could live for 1000 years, what would I keep? When I am gone, what do I want archaeologists to learn about me from my stuff? What about you?”

The “No Risk” Portfolio: Stock Upside Exposure with 100% Money Back Guarantee @ My Money Blog – “Insurance companies already sell complicated equity-indexed annuities that extend a form of this “no principal loss” to investing. But why not apply it to DIY investing?”

A Humanistic Concept of Net Worth @ Douglas Tsoi – “Here’s the truth: a person’s financial net worth has little to do with their human net worth. It says nothing about their resilience, their depth or their happiness. It does not define their participation in community or their generosity. Financial net worth is an advantage that some leverage for good and others flaunt or squander or worse.”

Do You Rent Or Own Your Job? @ Financial Panther – “You can rent a job. Or you can own a job. It’s not easy to own a job. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with renting a job either. But for me, owning a job is the way I’d rather do it. If I’m going to have to work, I’d rather work at a job I made for myself, even if it means I have to take all the risks.”

Forgotten Treasures: The Stranger Things People Leave in Library Books @ Euro News – “The documents left in between book pages range from the tantalizing to the mundane: bookmarks of children’s art, Christmas snapshots, family photos, weekend to-do lists, letters written but never sent and notes from lovers.  Each of them offers a snapshot of the life of the person who left it there.”

The Case for Timeshares – Who Should Buy @ Financial Success MD — “Not everyone should consider owning a timeshare. Meeting the following criteria first is crucial to becoming a happy timeshare owner. Those who do not meet these criteria, however, should not acquire a timeshare at any price, not even if it is free, because they will be unhappy.”

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Timeshares get a lot of bad press, and rightfully so, but there *are* people who thrive off them and absolutely love them! One of these is Dr. Cory S. Fawcett who I finally got to meet in person at Fincon this week, and who just came out with a book on the very topic: A Guide to Loving Your Timeshare: How to Get the Most for Your Money in Family Fun and Experiences. They may not be for everyone, but for some they can be great! And Fawcett has been taking advantage of them for over 20 years now…]

[Links to book are Amazon affiliate links]

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News Around The Community:

Some interesting news that caught my eye this week…

• Financial Mechanic just quit her job!
• Fiery Millennials got a promotion and a raise
• Julie B. Rose celebrates 2 years as a nomad

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Clips From The Community:

Some interesting passages that caught my eye this week…

• “Every hour you spend exercising is likely to give you six to eight hours of additional healthy life.  There is no other lifestyle change that even comes close.” – Of Dollars and Data
• “Some luxuries won’t make your life any better, but losing them after having experienced them will certainly make your life worse.” – Nassim Taleb (via Young Money)
• “Working such long hours is not good for your health. In fact the Japanese government recognise that more than 80 hours a month overtime can lead to certain risks. What are these risks? Well, you know. Just working yourself to death or Karoshi as the Japanese call it. In 2017, Miwa Sado (31) died according to a labour standards office, as a result from overworking. This is Karoshi. Death by overworking.  In the lead up to her untimely death from heart failure, Miwa logged over 159 hours overtime in the prior month of work.” – Foundered
• “Petrichor”. It means: a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather. – 5AM Joel

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Video of The Week:

Money Advice from Financial Experts (FinCon Money Nerds) by Jason Brown via YouTube — “I was blessed with the opportunity to attend FinCon 22 in Orlando, Florida, which is affectionately dubbed as the place where “Money Nerds Unite.” Since I was surrounded by nearly 2,000 so-called nerds (who I consider financial experts in their chosen genre) I thought it would be an intriguing idea to walk around the conference asking people the BEST and WORST financial advice they’ve ever heard. There’s a lot of wisdom in these responses. Hope you learn something… I know I did!”

Lots of people you’ll recognize in this! Including *myself* who kicks off the series with some financial tips (along with my grovely voice which I’m about to lose after days of talking non-stop!). Thx for having me on, Jason!

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And that’s it for this week!

Hit reply and tell me what you’ve been up to!

 

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Morning, friends!

Getting into anything good this holiday weekend? Any juicy biz or financial things poppin’ off?

No luck w/ our Big Idea we pitched that company the other week, but FinCon is around the corner so we’ll see if we can snag any good ears with a hefty stockpile of cash that wants to be invested… It’ll be my first time back to the conference in three years too, so I’m excited to see everyone live and in person!

It’ll also be the first time away from my family for more than a minute, so will have to make sure I don’t get too carried away and revert to my old partying ways, lol…  Ya know, since Covid is still around and my forever disease is always looking to take me down. 🙃

My mom hates it that I’m about to hop on a plane and “risk it all”, but I feel like if I don’t I might as well just crawl back into my bed and wish for the days to pass again. Or maybe something a bit less dramatic, but either way I just need to leave the nest and live a little…

So, sorry Mom – I’m going! But I love you to pieces!

And if anyone else is going, make sure to snag me in the halls so we can catch up!! You can then report back to my mother that her good son is behaving (and lie if I’m not!).

Favorite articles and snippets from the community posted below… Not sure if I’ll get to next week’s newsletter due to the aforementioned festivities, but if not I’ll be sure to hit you upon my return.

Have a great weekend over there! Hope you can get into something thrilling too!

Your friend who’s risking it all,

// Photo up top from FinCon 2012!

Posts on Budgets this week:

Life and Fines of the 1940s — Did you know that it was once illegal in our city to dance from 2am-8am during the week? Or you weren’t allowed to work on Sundays?! Check out what it was like to live in the 1940s as well as what happens if you dare mess with the law ;)

How Do You Deal With Financial Loss? — Here are 3 tricks I use to help myself get over financial pain and loss… It doesn’t take away the entire sting, but it does get me through!

PS: to get these in your inbox the day they come out, subscribe to the Budgets Are Sexy newsletter

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Favorite reads from the community:

Why I’m Appreciating FI More Than Ever Now @ Mad Fientist — “I’m ridiculously pleased to tell you that there is now a Mad Fientist Jr. :) He arrived on July 14th and Jill and I are both over the moon! I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated what FI provides more than I do now.”

The Health Work Love Play Dashboard @ Brewing FIRE – “Here’s your homework assignment. Go fill out the Health Work Love Play Dashboard for your life as it currently stands. Then think about the improvements you can make right now, over the next few weeks, and long-term.”

Some Things I Like and Don’t Like About Student Loan Forgiveness @ A Wealth of Common Sense – “I don’t like rich old people complaining about young people getting handouts.  Rich old people have been getting tax cuts for decades. They’ve been getting handouts for years.  Give me a break.”

The #1 Best Way To Track Credit Card Rewards @ Route To Retire – “Although my spreadsheet is extremely useful, you still need to remember to go into it to stay on top of things. With Travel Freely, you get emails as needed along the way. This can ensure that you don’t miss bonus deadlines, annual fee alerts, or opportunities to really crush the travel rewards.”

17 Business Ideas Free for the Taking! @ Side Hustle Nation – “Today we’re giving away a bunch of business ideas, and to help me do it is Steve Chou. In this one, we go back and forth brainstorming some ideas that we think should exist in the world.  Here are 17 business ideas we came up with that you’re welcome to take for free and run with!”

A Workbook on the Kind of Bullsh*t You Need to Do When Someone You Love Dies @ ms-demeanor – “This is an eighteen page book that you can print out, download, share, and give away; it is meant to be used to collect information about funeral planning and account management after a death OR you can use it BEFORE you die and give people information so they’re not stuck playing Nancy F*cking Drew…”

Why You Should Never Retire @ Can I Retire Yet? – “I recently received an anonymous email from someone who identified themself as a 70+ year-old long-time blog reader who is well past the point of financial independence. I challenged him to explore what was behind some of his sentiments. In turn, he challenged some of my deeply held beliefs.”

PrepperFI 2022: Taking Control of Your Future Beyond Just Money @ Women’s Personal Finance – “There is an interesting subset of people in the financial independence movement, and I guess I’m one of them. I’m going to call them the financial independence PREPPERS. The folks endeavoring at PrepperFI.  You’ve heard of preppers. You’ve probably seen some tv shows. They probably seem a little cooky at times.”

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News from the community:

Some interesting news that caught my eyes this week…

• A Purple Life celebrates 1 year of running
• Frugalwoods buys a brand new car (*gasp*)
• Karen Trefzger revises her popular book, A MINIMALIST HOLIDAY: Simplify Your Celebration for More Meaning and Joy*

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New Merch on PF Swagger!

It’s been a hot minute, but I’ve added up some new merch over at PF Swagger that I thought was dope. It comes from fellow blogger, Financial Common Cents, who provides “educational tools to assist individuals with practicing better financial habits, with a focus on budgeting, saving, debt management, and rebuilding and repairing your credit… using Financial Common Cents.” That’s her mission statement anyways. I much prefer her motto “Bad Girl, Good Credit” ;)

(This is the same person behind that credit score rap video we featured a couple of weeks ago too – full of spunk, that one!)

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And that’s it for this week!

Cause some good trouble out there, but keep that credit on lock! 💪💪

 

*Link to book is an Amazon affiliate link

 

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Good morning!

In a world where you can be anything, be kind :)

(Don’t you love that quote???)

I’ve been coming across all kinds of reminders like this this week, so thought I would take it as a sign to keep passing on the good word…

As you get into the weekend, be sure to keep all of these in mind for your human-kind! (see what I did there??? Someone stop me!!)

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“Give at least one sincere compliment every day. The only thing people remember about you is how you made them feel.”

– A Teachable Moment

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“Being nice is an investment.

Being mean is an expense.”

– Carl Richards

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“Be kind — everyone is in a battle… All judgments are incomplete. We never know the full story. So be kind. Cut those around you much slack. It is hard getting through life. Others look like they are skating effortlessly but they, like you and me struggle with all kinds of things that are concealed. So be kind. Don’t bear a grudge. Don’t keep score. Give people around you the benefit of the doubt. Wag more, bark less.” – Russ Roberts

*****

And always remember, it costs nothing to be kind :)

Favorite posts, and snippets, from the week are collected below for your enjoyment…

Hope they give you a little extra inspiration today 🙏

Posts on Budgets this week:

I did surveys for money (and I liked it!) — AmeriSpeak got me hooked and now addicted to sharing my opinions for rewards! (Imagine that, a blogger who likes sharing opinions, lol…)

Going After Uncollected Judgment Money! (Side Hustle Idea #85) — In which an investor reaches out to help me recover long lost money owed from a lawsuit settlement I won years ago… Always some way to earn money out there! You can even make stuff up out of thin air like this guy! :)

PS: to get these in your inbox the day they come out, subscribe to the Budgets Are Sexy newsletter

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Favorite reads from the community:

My Twelve Rules for Life @ Russ Roberts – “Learn to enjoy saying “I don’t know.”  If you enjoy saying it, you’ll say it more often. It’s not easy to enjoy — it’s definitely an acquired taste. When you’re young, it hurts to say it. As you get older, you can savor saying it. Work on enjoying it. Remember that honesty is better than posing as the expert that you’re not. Say it calmly with open eyes. Don’t look away. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” (Shout to Apex Money for this find!)

How Minimalism Saved Our Family of Seven from Financial Ruin @ Becoming Minimalist — “It’s one of the best things we have ever done for ourselves and our children. If you have been struggling with where to start, I would encourage you to pick just one category, such as your own t-shirts, and see if you can reduce the number by half. I’m so glad we did!”

38+ Life Lessons That Helped Me to Retire Early @ Accidentally Retired – “As I reflect back on my life, I can’t help but think that it all just goes by too fast.  I don’t want to live my life with regrets. When I’m 80, I want to look back at my life and know that it truly kicked ass.”

Buy Nothing Group: 10/10 @ The Frugal Girl – “Buy Nothing groups are hyper-local Facebook groups where people give things away (and also sometimes ask for stuff). The idea is to keep things out of the trash but also to keep things local. That way people aren’t having to ship stuff or drive a long way to pick up freebies. I really love my Buy Nothing group. A solid 10/10 from me!”

My Ever-Evolving Relationship With My Clothes @ Frugalwoods — “I’ve only recently realized how intertwined my clothing obsession was with my previously undiagnosed depression and anxiety. I’m starting to unravel the emotions I carried in my clothes and my appearance. It’ll probably take me the rest of my life, but I’m happy to take you along with me. So this post isn’t about money, but it is about how material things can take on too much importance in our lives. How we can define ourselves by what we own–by what we buy.”

Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Highlights (Up to $20,000) @ My Money Blog – “The big news today was that a Biden administration executive order granted a one-time forgiveness of up to $20,000 in federal student loan balances (based on income) for tens of millions of borrowers.”

What Would You Do if You Were Rich? @ Darius Foroux – “What matters is that we make our life decisions based on the lifestyle we want to have. Not based on external factors like being famous, having status, or having a certain amount of money.”

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Clips & news from the community:

Interesting clips and news that caught my eyes this week…

• Lazy Man is on an epic European Disney Cruise

• “Do whatever you want now. The past? That’s what we call our memories. The future? That’s what we call our imagination. Neither exists outside of your mind. The only real time is this moment. So live accordingly.” – Derek Sivers via DariusForoux.com

• “The Yield Shield & the Cash Cushion was what ended up saving our butts. Because we had arranged our portfolio to pay us a yield in the form of dividends and interest that, when combined with our cash cushion, was sufficient to cover out living expenses, we were able to sit confidently on the sidelines as everyone panic-sold. Not only that, when the stock market eventually rebounded, our portfolio ended up even higher than when we started.” – Millennial Revolution

• “I’ve talked about how much I love the Fitbod app since it takes a lot of thinking out of the picture for me. I just click on the “Workout” tab and it tells me what exercises I’m doing, how many sets/reps, the weight to use, etc. It all builds on my previous workouts so it’s custom to me. I love this app and probably wouldn’t be working out as religiously as I do (usually 5 days a week) if it wasn’t for Fitbod. It’s helped me grow from a novice to an intermediate and to be more confident in what I’m doing… I love it.”
  – Route To Retire

• “When you first start to study a field, it seems like you have to memorize a zillion things. You don’t. What you need is to identify the core principles – generally three to twelve of them – that govern the field. The million things you thought you had to memorize are simply various combinations of the core principles.” – Collaborative Fund

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Pic of The Week:

That’s a shot of my beer bread!! The easiest bread to make ever – just flour, sugar, and a bottle of beer 😎 Recipe can be found here (2nd pic)…  (And you can test different beers too for slightly different tastes!)

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HAPPY WEEKEND 🙌

 

 

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