Good Morning!

It’s been a hot minute, eh? Y’all good? Anything juicy going down lately? :)

I built that DIY sunglasses rack up there that I was pretty proud of, haha… 3 years of figuring out how to keep all these things organized and then BAM – the idea hit me out of the blue! So funny how our brains work…

Other news around the Money household lately:

I’m still skateboarding almost daily! I can now ollie (jump) over things, and getting super comfortable going up and down skate ramps with much less fear too. Similar to other things in life, confidence is key! Only it hurts a LOT more when you fail at skating, lol.

I’m still dabbling in cryptos… and definitely losing more money than the opposite – hah! But shockingly it’s been a pleasurable experience. Mainly just cuz it’s so nice to be doing something different than indexing all the time, though of course 99.9% of our money is still invested there. Right now I have some Bitcoin, Ethereum, COIN, and of course Doge.

I’m still tracking our net worth every single month. Going on 14 years straight now! And while we don’t share them publicly anymore, you can see our last one here if you’re new to my stuff –> Net Worth Report #139: $1,131,601.03 (it was a juicy one!)

I’m still curating the best articles around the PF community at All-Star Money. Probably one of the best job I’ve ever had as all I do is read articles about money every morning and then share my favorites with the world! Similar to the Rockstar Finance days, only I actually get paid for it :) Been about 4 months now and looks to be growing nicely…

Speaking of All-Star, if you created anything COOL and FUN last year during the pandemic (2020), send it over to us as we’re putting together a page highlighting some of the best stuff and would love to include yours! It can be a video you made, an article, meme, gif, arts & crafts, whatever! As long as it’s *money* related we’ll consider it. Shoot anything you’ve got here –> allstarmoney.com/2020

We’re gonna be (finally!) sharing all the videos *I made* from last year too, which is great as I spent like 60 hours on them and they came out kinda fun!

Here’s a short one I put together for the “2020 fun” ASK if you wanna get a sense of the look and feel of them, or if you just wanna see my face because you forget what I look like :)

[Click to watch]

And lastly, I thought I’d share something I’ve been doing lately that’s REALLY helped me with spending money on stuff I want – especially as a minimalist.

And that’s the idea of always having a *back up plan* for whatever item I bring into the home. I’ve tried the “one in, one out” rule before, but that’s never stuck and so far this new one has really put me at *ease* whenever I’m considering something.

Basically, any time I really want something (a new book, antique, pair of shoes), I force myself to first come up with a Plan B for it so that way a) if I come down with a serious case of Buyer’s Regret once home I know *exactly* what to do next, and b) if it doesn’t fit, or it sucks (i.e. bad book), etc, I also know what to do with it next SO IT DOESN’T ADD CLUTTER TO MY LIFE – both physically and mentally! The worst is buying something only to then have that something bring you pain vs joy and now you’re really feeling awful about it.

Some of these Plan B’s have been donating it to a thrift store (bad book), re-selling it to a local shop (antique w/ buyer’s remorse), and then my favorite: donating it to a museum! Something I plan on doing with all my rare books/coins from my hometown unless my kids end up wanting them one day (not likely). Some of them are so specialized you can’t really just sell them anywhere, and while I could hawk them at my local antique shops similar to the antiques idea, the notion that I’m helping build out a “collection” that could one day be displayed for others to enjoy brings an IMMENSE sense of joy to this minimalist at heart :)

Though of course you still have to be careful with these Plan B’s as it does help you spend more freely, but at least it’s with double purpose!! First purpose: for myself to enjoy, second purpose: for others to enjoy, haha…

And really, isn’t that what happens with ALL THE THINGS we have? We may own it now, but it’s only temporary. Your house, car, TV, couch, it will all one day belong to someone else or something else  (dump) whether you plan for it to happen or not. So why not plan for it?

Your friend in finance,

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Some of my favorite finds from around the community last month:

This lesson from nomad life –> “You cannot rely on outside factors to make you healthy or whole. You have to provide that for yourself.” – APurpleLife.com

This mindset behind charity –> “When we see someone in need, we want our first thought to be, “how can I help?” not “what did you do wrong?” – ALawyerandHerMoney.com

This idea of taking “massive imperfect action” –> “It’s okay to trip, it’s ok to fall, it’s ok to make mistakes, as long as you are moving forward… It doesn’t have to be perfect. Making something happen is way better than perfect.”

This money date idea! –> “Once a month or so my wife and I have a money meeting. We jokingly call this meeting our monthly “Coffee Chat”. These clandestine meetings take place in the morning and under the noses of our sleeping daughters. On any given Saturday morning, we’ll make our way downstairs, cat burglar-like, to the kitchen to plot our escape from the workforce.”

These bad (?) arguments against Bitcoin –> The Top 9 (Bad) Arguments Against Bitcoin (I still can’t tell which facts are true and which aren’t, but it does help reading about both sides of the coin to better formulate your own thoughts)

This idea of being more effective in your giving –> Don’t Let Randomness Rule Your Giving Strategy

This realization from Steve after a visit to the casino –> “The day we arrived our net worth was at an all time high, the next day it dropped by $15,000. During that time I had lost a total of $5 at the casino and felt worse about losing the five dollars than I did about my portfolio losing fifteen thousand! What was that all about?” (I’m like this too! But also with money I *get*, like dollars I find on the ground or someone gives me, etc… Always feels better to receive *that* money than thousands more in my paycheck, haha…)

This recent podcast I was on –> From Sexy to Rockstar to All-Star: The Evolution of J Money (Earn & Invest Podcast)

And lastly, this quote from Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame:

“Whatever you pay attention to, grows.”

Have a blessed weekend 🙏🙏

Happy Friday!

Hope your investments and bitcoins are going well! 😂

Stumbled across this old post on Budgets Are Sexy when bitcoin was hovering around $130 if you can believe it! And even then most of us thought it was too expensive – if we even understood any of it (hint: we did not, lol…)

Crazy world we live in… But how fun to be in it :)

Here are my favorite finds from around the community this week – hope something inspires you!

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This method of writing and saving better –> “What can your crappy little elf do for you?”

This idea of celebrating “the middles” –> “We celebrate beginnings and ends but the middle is the hard part… Don’t wait until you’ve reached a milestone to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching your goal, whatever it may be.”

This idea of applying minimalism to more than just cleaning out closets.

This benefit of not making as much money –> “It made my transition to self-employment a lot easier because the income I had to replace was much less.”

These thoughts about Warren Buffet and his (lack of) opinion on crypto –> “I once thought the idea of Warren Buffett sitting behind his desk doing deals all day without a computer was charming. I don’t feel that way anymore… [He] doesn’t seem to want to learn or understand more about Web3, the decentralization wave, digital assets, distributive computing, autonomous and electric vehicles, AI, machine learning, virtual reality, app-based gaming, quantum computing or any of the other things that are shaping our lives today and gradually taking over from the 20th Century technologies that came before.”

This idea of a mullet portfolio 😂 –> “The unruly mess your portfolio has become if you haven’t re-balanced since before the 2020 stock market run up.”

These 8 reasons that renting isn’t “throwing your money away.”

This lesson from a life as a professional writer –> “Just because someone you admire tells you “You can’t do that” or “Nobody will take you seriously” doesn’t mean that it’s true.”

This reminder from Ben Carlson that –> “the more successful you become when it comes to your career or your finances, the more overconfident you become in your own abilities as an investor.”

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And that last one is exactly why I only “dabble” in crypto, lol… My indexing and blog game has nothing to do with bitcoin regardless of how well it’s treated me over the years. Just cuz you’re good at one thing doesn’t mean you’ll be good at everything! :)

But it’s still fun to try sometimes, haha…

A beautiful crazy world we’re in!

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Good morning!

And a happy early Mother’s Day to all you amazing women out there!!! Thanks for all you do, especially for creating us! ;)

Lots of great stuff out there this week so let’s just dive in!

Favorite finds from around the community:

These long distance friendship lamps –> Friendship Lamps

This way to see if you’re a good person or not, lol –> The “Shopping Cart” Theory

This stuff you can learn from minimalism, even if you’re nowhere close to adopting it –> Let’s Clean This Mess Up

These pros and cons to Real Estate Syndication (been hearing a lot about it lately and Joel does a great job breaking it down in this post) –> What’s a Real Estate Syndication?

How much these famous memes have been selling for –> Meme NFTs!

This story at the center of this article! –> Leaving a Legacy That Matters

These thoughts on investing by Darius Foroux –> “Investing is not a goal, activity, or task; it’s a habit. It’s something you do regularly, just like you work out, meditate, read, or anything else that takes time to yield results.”

This strategy for when you want to create something but you don’t know where to begin –> The Soulja Boy Strategy

This post on efficiency –> Efficiency is the Enemy

This video that I teared up on bad!! –> I Was Almost A School Shooter [7:28]

This question to think about over the weekend –> Do You Like the Person You Are Becoming?

Be well 🙏🙏

// That’s me and my mom up top, circa 1980 :)
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Good morning!

And bye-bye Covid Beard!! Lol… Kids always get a kick out of me doing that, though the dog was much less impressed (took her about 10 minutes to trust me again!).

Always a good way to get a fresh start though :) And PS: You don’t need to wait until New Year’s to take action!! If you’ve been wishing for something for awhile now, let TODAY be the day you do something about it. I don’t care if you only spend *5 minutes* on it. DO IT!!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT!

And then take a pic of it and send it to me :) Hopefully it’ll be less creepy than a naked guy with their beard half shaved off…

Below are my favorite articles from the week. Be good 🙏🙏

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Favorite reads this week:

Mom Quietly Quits Household Chores to See If Her Family Notices via Upworthy — “Channeling the fed-upness of mothers everywhere, she just up and stopped doing household chores to see what would happen. Two days later, she began sharing the saga in a Twitter thread that’s as entertaining as it is satisfying.”

Kakeibo: Save Money Using Mindful Japanese-Style Budgeting via FinMasters — “A simple yet powerful personal finance philosophy that teaches you to save money and spend mindfully. All you need is a pen and a notebook.”

Die With Zero: 9 Minute Book Summary via Debt-Free Doctor — “As most books about investing discuss how to grow wealth and accumulate more, this one was the total opposite. It detailed an interested concept of how we could plan out our finances to ensure that we enjoyed life and died with, you guessed it, ZERO. I have to say it’s one of the few books I’ve read that have made me pause and rethink my view about money and life.”

Do You Have an Investing Edge? via Monevator — “In my professional capacity I’ve witnessed actual edge, firsthand. And pretty much none of these edges are available to the private investor. Let’s run through a few examples.”

What If One Dollar Was Worth One Use? via Mixed Up Money — “If you buy a product or an item of clothing, the value should always even out to $1.00 per usage. After all, why would we spend $150 on a pair of jeans if we weren’t planning on wearing them at least 150 times?”

A Piece of Early Retirement Advice via I Retired Young — “FIRE blogs often focus on the money side of the FIRE equation. Some also focus on what can be done in the new time freed up from retiring early. But not many seem to talk about how your early retirement dreams might affect your partner, or how your partner’s plans can impact your early retirement.”

We All Have a Time Machine, It’s Disguised as NOW via Financial Success MD — “Every time we say I wish I could go back in time and change something, we should go ahead and make the change NOW, so our 20 year older selves will not be kicking ourselves for not making the change when we first thought about it.”

There Are Very Few Decisions That Will Ruin Your Life via Financial Panther — “What you’ll find is that most of your worst-case scenarios are really more like a 3 or 4 out of 10 on the badness scale. It sucks, but you can bounce back. Very few are going to be – as Tim Ferris has eloquently stated – on the “holy shit, my life is over” level.”

Video of the week:

Real Estate Right Now via TikTok — one of the funniest things I’ve seen relating to this crazy market we’re in right now :) If you’ve been trying to buy a new place lately you’ll relate!!

@johnsonfilesAnybody else in this crazy fight for a home?? #realestate #housingmarket #comedy #funny #realestatetiktok #realestatehacks #houseshopping #fixerupper♬ original sound – The Johnson Files

Site of the week:

UndueMedicalDebt.org — A great option for anyone looking to give back! “With every donation, RIP uses its precise data analytics to pinpoint the medical debt of those most in need of relief… People across the country receive a letter that their debt is gone. No taxes. No penalties. Just like that, they’re free of medical debt.” [Hat tip to The Bitches for recommending this]

Quote of the week:

Saw this the other day and it hit me hard. Especially with Covid still wreaking havoc out there…

“A healthy man wants a thousand things, a sick man only wants one thing.” – Confucius

Damn. Brutal! But what a way to put things in perspective…

The next time you catch yourself wanting yet another bobble or upgrade in life, try to recall this line even if to just pause for a second and take in your blessings! Money can get you a lot of things, but not some of life’s most essential.

If you’re struggling with health problems yourself, please know you are in our thoughts and we wish more than anything that you get better.

You are loved.

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Good morning!

Hope your week’s been going well! Lots of GREAT reads in the community to share with you this week, but first a couple of announcements:

#1. We’re looking to add two new curators to the All-Star Money team! One to track down the best podcasts & Clubhouse/Discord discussions going on in the space, and another to help find the best YouTube videos & TikTok/Snapchat/Twitch streams, etc. So if you live and breathe this stuff, be sure to check out our jobs page and shoot us a note! –> allstarmoney.com/jobs

#2. I added up new merch on PFSwagger.com. Stumbled across the (hilarious) Mrs. Dow Jones and now obsessed with her Buy/Sell socks! Who needs the stock market when you got the SOCK market, right??! (hardy har…)

Here’s a look at some of her stuff:

To see it all, head over to PFSwagger.com.

Now onto my favorite reads of the week! Hope they start your weekend off right!

XOXO,

******

Favorite reads around the community:

Wearing One Dress for 100 Days: A Review via Christian Minimalism — “I actually wore one single dress for 100 consecutive days, for at least eight hours a day. Though this minimalism experiment sounds extreme, I found it to be life-changing. Here are some of my biggest takeaways…”

How to Become a 401(k) Millionaire via Route To Retire — “So here’s something unexpected… I just became a 401(k) millionaire last week. Let’s talk a little bit more about how this happened and why it’s possible for you to do the same!”

How I Make $10,000/mo Investing in Mobile Homes via Side Hustle Nation — “The cash flow strategy with mobile homes is similar to investing in single-family homes, duplex, etc. You’re looking to buy a mobile home, get a tenant in, and operate on a positive cash flow. The main difference from an investing standpoint is that mobile homes typically cost a lot less than traditional family homes.”

Overcoming Procrastination With The Habit Rule of Half via Break The Twitch — “Here’s how it works. If a task is left uncompleted at the end of the day, cut it in half and add it to the next day’s list. If it doesn’t get done by the end of that day, cut it in half again and add it to the next day’s list. Keep doing this until the task becomes small enough to tackle.”

Wooden Spoons via Humble Dollar — “A wooden spoon will serve most purposes just as well as a silver one, and yet it is the latter that’s more desired, despite costing far more. That’s irrational but very human. Why do people value and desire silver spoons so much more?”

The Predictive Power of Fees via Occam Investing — “Given that the amount paid in fees is a great predictor of performance in investing, focusing on reducing fees is the most reliable way investors have to increase their odds of investing successfully.”

Quote of the week:

As with past quotes, this one line has shaped a lot of my thinking this week…

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.” – John C. Maxwell.

Amazing the impact a few words strung together can make! And the more I reflect on this one in particular, the more I realize how true it is. Almost ALL of my recent success has been from stacking daily habits one on top of each other…

Waking up at 5am every day, getting my *one main thing* done first in the morning, always putting a glass of water in front of me so I’m reminded to drink more, shutting down the laptop at nights and weekends, the list goes on and on…

All things I had to stop and COMMIT to every day until they became habits and incrementally improved my life. Not always easy, but you do them one at a time until you stop even noticing. It’s all about being conscious – both of your current habits, as well as your current *goals*. Without knowing either you’re just stuck on a continual time loop! And not the fun kind!

So here’s to us changing our time loops, one habit – and one day – at a time :) We have a lot more power than we think!

*******

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