Good morning fiscal friends!!

Been a fun couple of weeks over here…

First, I find a handful of rolled coins in my safe that I had long forgotten about (!!), and then I use said rolls (+ $100 more) to pick up a new long board to add to my family of boards!

Take a look at this beauty…  It’s a surfboard on wheels!!! Lol…

[That middle board is pretty big in itself, so comparingly this new one is a behemoth!]

[$80 worth of change found – woo!]

I also finally put together two bigger than usual posts that I’ve been working on that I hope you’ll like…

The first is the story on how I became addicted to juicing this past month (veggie juice!!! A game changer!!) and the other on how I figured out a bunch of coins I was evaluating for a client WERE FAKE!! $500+ worth! (Never fun to realize)

• You can learn more about my new juicing habits here (you need to watch the doc featured in it!): I’ve turned into a juice freak!! 🥦🥬🥕
• And you can read all about my counterfeit detecting here: An 1895 Fake Morgan and More!!

Hope your week has been just as eventful!

More great articles worth your time down below – particularly the first one 🙏

XOXO,

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Articles I enjoyed around the web this week:

The Beginning, Again @ Love Bomb Team — My boy Nate reboots his old weekly missions!! “Change the world in just 10 minutes a week!” Come join us! :)

Finding Hope @ Humble Dollar — “I quickly learned that my wife had been hiding accounts, credit cards and a post office box from me… I discovered that we had a combined debt of $200,000, not including our mortgage. I was embarrassed that I was so out of touch and let things get so out of control.”

What Would Sunshine Do? @ No Sidebar — “Sunshine is the best me that I can be but she isn’t the best. She still makes awkward small talk with strangers and creates way too many dishes when cooking dinner. She tries her best though and that is what is most important to remember.”

The Many Flavours of FI @ Money Flamingo — “Financial Independence is a fantastic concept and a very worthwhile goal. However, the truth is that the plain vanilla version (aka standard FIRE) isn’t an ideal fit for everyone…This has led to the birth of many new “types” of Financial Independence that reflect the different values and priorities, life circumstances and financial objectives within the broader FIRE movement.”

17 Questions That Changed My Life [PDF] via Tim Ferriss — “Reality is largely negotiable. If you stress-test the boundaries and experiment with the “impossibles,” you’ll quickly discover that most limitations are a fragile collection of socially reinforced rules you can choose to break at any time.” [Thanks to Apex Money for finding this one!]

Does all the financial advice you need still fit on an index card? @ Wallet Hacks — “Over ten years ago, Harold Pollack interviewed Helaine Olen and famously said that the best financial advice for most people could fit onto an index card… I was curious: How does it look after ten years? Does it still fit in a world where people shell thousands on an NFT or cryptocurrency? What about when interest rates are the highest it has been in decades?”

Time to FIRE Spreadsheet 2023 (Template for Google Sheets & Excel) @ Accidentally Retired — “There are many amazing retirement simulators out there like Empower’s and CFIREsim This is not one of them. In my Time to FI Spreadsheet, you plug in a few things and you’re done! It’ll give you a general idea of your “Time to FI” and you can begin to eye potential retirement dates.”

Change Your Environment, Change Your Life @ Rich In What Matters — “An area of my friend’s life that had felt stagnant now felt revived, all thanks to changing her environment. An uncluttered space shifted her outlook to a more positive space.”

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Morning!

If you’re reading this right now, it means I have Covid.

On the plus side, I’ve had nothing but time to read and write and think so there’s lots of great articles for you to gander down below 😁

I’m also feeling MUCH better than I was in the beginning (thanks Paxlovid!) so things aren’t looking too bad over here… Another cple of days and I can re-join society again – woo!! (Isolation is truly the worst… I literally stream Coffitivy 24/7  just to feel like I’m around people still, haha… (all it does is stream “coffee shop sounds”!! Genius!)

Pre-covid, however, I stumbled across 3 new life hacks for me and blogged about it here: 3 Random Life #Hacks. It covers mowing lawns, trash can ease, and remembering stuff when you’re naked 😏

Maybe you do some of these too??!

In other news, huge shout to Pat Flynn for totally making my kids’ year this week… You may remember him from his old school blog, Smart Passive Income, from a decade ago, but unbeknownst to me he started getting into Pokémon too and is apparently a pretty famous YouTuber now!

I had no idea. Until last week when I heard a voice that sounded awfully familiar on a video my boys were watching, and when it panned to the guy’s face I saw my old buddy Pat there! I screamed “I know that guy!” and my kids promptly LOST IT, haha… They couldn’t believe that I not only knew him, but even more impressively that we were friends! (*loose* friends, I should say… if we were that close I’d have known he was a famous YouTuber!! ;)) I DM’d Pat this, and he thought it was hilarious and told me to secretly shoot him my address and he’d send them over something special in the mail.

A few days later a big ol’ package landed on our doorstep and included not only a BRAND NEW box of Pokémon cards that were just released (!!!) but also came with three autographed cards from him and a nice letter thanking them for watching his show!! So nice!! They were mindblown and it’s all they’ve been talking about for days now :)

So thank you, sir!! You made 3 little boys (and their dad) super happy!

You can find Pat, and his Pokémon antics, @ DeepPocketMonster – it’s exceptionally good.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks for reading, and beware of the Covid!!!

Yours in isolation,

PS: That $1 note up top was found in my change! “Ben T. Is #1″ is scribbled in red, and then I think “Love, Gigi“? Hopefully they got together in the end ;)

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Articles I enjoyed around the web this week:

Hold Fast @ Happily Disengaged — “I’m not sure why the wack trend in the FIRE community these days is to demonize frugality and saving discipline. A rush of books and figure heads have come out that have pushed this alternative FI thread that sacrificing and delayed gratification is somehow suddenly a bad thing.  Why the big change?”

My $1,000 Monthly Pension @ We Want Guac — “In my work towards financial independence, I have stumbled upon a monthly pension granting me $1000 every 30 days.  I didn’t really review this until I sat down with my financial officer.”

It Happened Out of Nowhere @ Millionaire Habits — “It’s funny what happens when we stop using pharmaceuticals to mask legit problems. We stop the “Everything’s fine” charade and start fixing shit. I bet on myself. It paid off. I quit my job nine years ago.”

Tesla: BOOM or Doomed? @ 1500 Days — “On a silly whim, I bought Tesla stock back in 2012 and held on for dear life. It’s been a crazy ride, but now I’m a Teslanaire.  I got extremely lucky. Like unicorn lucky. But never forget this:  Most companies will die.”

The Second Bowl of Cereal and Other Economic Theories @ Poor. Choices. — “Cereal is great, but only a psychopath would eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast.  In fact, I’m pretty sure Lord Voldemort ate cereal for breakfast. It’s in the 5th book. Look it up.  No. True cereal aficionados know cereal is the perfect afternoon or late-night snack.”

How to Avoid Type 2 Money Mistakes @ Wallet Hacks — “Type 1 money mistake is one that is clearly bad at the time you make it. Paying for a Netflix subscription but never using it. Type 2 mistakes are more pernicious. It’s harder to identify because it’s the type of error that hurts you far into the future, long after the decision was made.”

How to Start A Plant Propagation Business from Non-Rooted Cuttings @ Investment Soup — “Did you know you can start a plant Propagation business just from taking small cuttings off shrubs and trees in your own yard?  Other than selling your 1990 Pearl Jam ‘Temple of the Dog’ t-shirt or those old Chuck Taylors you used when you were a rad skate-boarder; propagating plants from others you have in your own yard is the next best thing.”

If Your Employer Refuses To Negotiate Salary, Try These 11 Creative Counteroffers @ Bitches Get Riches — “When an employer refuses to negotiate salary, they’re giving you leverage to ask for other things. Today, I’ll give you a few ideas for creative counteroffers that will make your life better and sweeten any job transition. Even better, I’ll suggest some simple scripts you can follow to maximize your chances that they’ll say “yes.””

Friedrich Nietzsche: Amor Fati and Rejection of Objective Truths @ Darius Foroux — “Combining Nietzsche’s “amor fati” (love of fate) with his concept of “perspectivism” provides a powerful mental model for dealing with the challenges of today. I call it “open-minded resilience.””

Never Look Down the Road Not Taken @ Of Dollars and Data — “After winning the NBA championship in 1980, Johnson was offered sponsorship deals from Converse, Adidas, and Nike. While Converse offered the most money, Phil Knight, the head of Nike, told Johnson that instead of cash, he could give him shares of Nike.  Johnson, not knowing much about stocks at the time, took the Converse deal. After all, money talks.  But, when Johnson ran the numbers years later, he realized that the Nike stock he turned down would be worth nearly $5 billion today, or 8x his current net worth.”

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Collaboration of The Week:

Santa Cruz + Pokémon skateboards!! AHHH!!! You literally OPEN THEM UP like packs of cards and get surprised by the board you get! And not only that – they have special golden ones you can “pull” that I’m sure will fetch a butt ton of money for those who find one, lol… They’re just like Willy Wonka’s golden ticket, only golden skateboards!! So rad!! 🤩

More here (they come out on the 13th) –> santacruzskateboards.com/pokemon

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Morning morning!!

Dedicating today’s newsletter to my man Freddy Smidlap who ran a fun (and feisty!) money blog for a number of years now, and then suddenly it went blank last week 😱😱

Fortunately for us superfans he’s alive and well and chillin’ on Twitter now (never know when things like this happen!) but the PF world lost a great voice in the space and just wanted to personally give him a shout and let him know he was loved…

You had a fantastic run, brother!! Kept it raw and real without letting the “game” of blogging change you! Don’t disconnect forever now please!!

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In other news, I wrote two new blog posts lately and then did a fun interview with a site called StriveHouse that does AMA’s with different founders across the globe (and then offers “cameos” with them, similar to Cameo.com – only with us boring biz owners instead of celebrities ;))

Here’s my one-on-one with them:

How J. Money went from a net worth of $50k to $1M in 10 years and built, sold, and re-acquired BudgetsAreSexy.com

And then my two new posts to gander:

I Like Your Sexy income — A reminder that budgeting doesn’t have to be bland or boring! I include my own budgeting spreadsheet that got myself going all those moons ago that you can download for free in it…

The “Z” Collection — A highlight of the most recent coin collection I evaluated… Nothing too rare or juicy in it, but still fun to see 100+ year old pretty coins!

‘Til next time!!

UPDATE: Looks like Freddy now has a substack with all his old articles on it!! Ahhh!! Thanks for appeasing us, buddy! :) –> freddysmidlap.substack.com

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A few articles I enjoyed around the web:

Running Out of Life @ Lazy Man and Money — “At some point, you may find that you have more money than life.”

How to Inherit a Fortune @ Raptitude – “Imagine you’re having a hard day, and you get home to find that someone has left dinner for you… What good fortune. Some thoughtful person predicted that you might want a meal right right about now, and made sure you had one. Of course, this thoughtful benefactor could be you, just earlier. Last night, your past self recognized the value a ready-made meal would have for tomorrow’s after-work self, so he left one for you in the fridge. Now imagine that your past self didn’t only prepare a meal for you last night, but wrote a book a few years ago”

5 Big Lessons Popular Personal Finance Advice Gets Wrong @ Gen Y Planning — “Homeownership is often looked at with rose-colored glasses. We’re told time and time again that success means a white picket fence and a (large) mortgage. But we urge you to challenge the notion of homeownership and recognize that it is, in fact, not always the superior choice.”

Transforming Stuff into a Countable Number @ No Sidebar — “Many languages–including English–divide the stuff in the world into countable and uncountable nouns. Two cups of water are countable, but when we speak of the water in the ocean, that’s uncountable–an amount, not a number. Since the average American household is said to contain a rough estimate of over 300,000 items, it’s no wonder that, grammatically, we treat our stuff like it’s an ocean.”

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Hi friends!!

So remember that job I just got around board games?? That was super exciting and fun and gave my brain something new and productive to work on?!

Well, I just got laid off from it after only a handful of weeks, womp… 😭😭

But it’s not all bad – I had a blast the entire 53 days there! :) You can read about what happened here:

Did I just get LAID OFF from my new job?!

The funny part is that it wasn’t even the shortest job I’ve ever held either! It only ranks as #4 out of my 40+ gigs over my life 😂But if anyone’s looking for some extra consulting help, you now know someone who’s wide open! Haha…

In other juicy news, check out that shirt up top featured on Good Morning America recently!! Do you recognize it?? It’s from our very own Budgets line! Rocked by our very own Mindy Jensen of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast.

I love that she ordered it from us, and love even more that she wears it around anytime cameras are rolling :) Thanks friend!! You’re a true Mother Budgeter indeed!

Hope y’all are having a fantastic week over there! More favorite gems below to get the weekend started off right…

Cheers,

*Link to Amazon is an affiliate link

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Favorite Reads Around The Community

The Ugliest/Prettiest Coin Holder You’ll Ever See? @ Coin Thrill — Had to revive my old coin blog here ;) If you’re into collecting or need help with a collection, check it out or hire me to help here!

Categories of 1 @ Young Money — “Everyone is obsessed with being the best, but you can only have one “best,” regardless of the number of competitors…The key to winning your game, whatever it is, is to either be the first or be the only, and it’s far easier to be the only… Figure out what your category of one is, that thing that makes you unique, and leverage it.”

Atomic Accountability @ Raptitude — “People who know they’re serious procrastinators should always have a “nuclear option” at their disposal. By that I mean a button, a switch, a no-turning-back phone call that will put into motion an unstoppable force capable of smashing through your usual hesitations when nothing else works.”

Committing The Personal Finance Sin Of Auto-Renewing Subscriptions @ Impersonal Finances — “Forgive me Bogle, for I have sinned. Last month, I committed one of the seven deadly sins of personal finance: auto-renewing a little-used subscription without a thought or consideration as to whether I still use that service.”

How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong Filter @ Collab Fund — “My reading strategy is to start as many books as I can but finish few of them.”

12,795 possessions! Meet the woman who photographed every single thing she owns @ The Guardian — “Barbara Iweins spent four years taking pictures of every object in her home, from her own clothes to her kids’ toys. She realised she could live without 99% of them.”

My Dad’s Early Retirement Dream @ Hope To Prosper — “When you have an audacious dream, you need to protect it from the doubters, who do not share your vision and will try to dissuade you.  You must have the courage to pursue your dreams, despite your own fears and doubts.  You have an obligation to your future self to become the person you have always dreamt of being.”

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Short Film of The Week:

The Neighbors’ Window @ YouTube — “The story of a mother who has grown frustrated with her husband and her daily routine. But her life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street and she discovers that she can see into their apartment.” [An Oscar winner that lasts about 20 mins! Thanks for the find Apex Money – so good!]

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Morning!

Hope your summers are still treating you well! Can you believe all our kids will be back in school and summer will be over in a matter of weeks??

This will be the first time in 11 years that NONE of my boys will be at home as they’re all school aged now, and I’ll have way more free time than I’ll know what to do with… Exciting and sad at the same time! My squishy babies aren’t squishy babies anymore! :(

On the plus side – FALL IS COMING!! YUM! 🍂☕️🪵

And speaking of kids, I dropped my latest post on the blog this week and it’s all around trying to satisfy their “need” of having extra money to spend… Experiment #1 didn’t work too well, so we’ve now moved onto Experiment #2 ;)

You can read more about it here: No go for the poop!

I also recently went on a fun podcast w/ Captain Fi – an up and coming blogger/podcaster from Australia! – and you can catch our chat here –> Podcast | JMoney from Budgets are Sexy (I reveal a fun new side project on it!)

Stay cool out there!

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Articles I enjoyed the past couple of weeks:

The Past is Not True @ Sivers — “We think of the past like it’s a physical fact – like it’s real. But the past is what we call our memory and stories about it. Imperfect memories, and stories built on one interpretation of incomplete information. That’s “the past”.”

A Well Known Stranger @ Happily Disengaged — “I realize I’m saving money for someone else. I’m not saving money for me. I’m saving it for a person I will never know. A person I dream about and think about quite often, yet is just out of reach like a carrot dangling from a stick… This person I’m working so hard for is a sci-fi parallel world alter ego version of myself.”

Rich and Anonymous @ Collab Fund — “I once did some consulting for a family that was worth $8 billion. If you Googled their name, nothing came up. No Forbes list, no gala photos, no profiles, no Wikipedia pages … nothing… They figured out what so many other people – the rich, the middle class, the aspiring rich, and everyone in between – failed to recognize. They lived the most amazing life you could imagine, and they had virtually no social debt.”

The Return on Hassle Spectrum @ Of Dollars and Data — “Return on hassle is the idea that you need to consider the time and work associated with an investment in addition to its expected return. In the case of real estate investors, you have to factor in the mental and physical work associated with finding tenants, maintaining your properties, and taking on debt, among other things. These are all “hassles” that most traditional investments (i.e. stocks, bonds, etc.) don’t require.”

The Tightrope of Discipline @ More To That — “Ambition has its merits and pitfalls, but the key thing to consider is the texture of restlessness that accompanies it. If your mind is constantly occupied by what you have to do next, then you are always living for some imagined state.”

What to Know About Baby Carrots @ Food Network — A Twitter* friend shared this with me when I told the world I’m on a mission to eat an ENTIRE BAG OF BABY CARROTS before they expire – a feat never before been done 😂 This article goes into the history of them and it’s fascinating!! They certainly don’t grow that way!

*I mean X?

12 Things That Look Less Impressive the Older You Get @ No Sidebar — “I used to admire people with luxuries. Now I admire people with inner peace.”

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What I’m currently reading:

The Price of Liberty: The Public Debt of the American Revolution by William G. Anderson. I recently picked up a certificate from these revolutionary debt days, and found out this book not only lists a description of it in there (it’s from 1783!!), but also tells the backstory which is simply amazing… We were in SO. MUCH. DEBT. as a nation when we got started, but we climbed out of it to become a major force to reckon with! Even though we’re back to being indebted again, lol… Fun book for all you money/history nerds out there (though it’s rare and will cost you upwards of $100 for it)

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