Good morning friends!!

Happy December 16th! Exactly 10 days away from my birthday, and 9 from someone else’s ;)

Fun Fact: I was actually *supposed* to be born on the 25th, but being the nice guy I was I let the Big Guy have it all to himself and forced my poor mother to continue laboring for an additional 7 hours on top of the already 20 just to be in the clear. So now we have one world-renown day on the 25th (Happy early bday, JC!) and another one back to back on the 26th (Happy early bday, J$!)

So yeah, it’s always one very festive season around here! And I do hope you have a merry one with you and your loved ones this year! 🎄

Whenever you need some good down time, pull up one of these hand-picked articles below and get refreshed all over again… Just doing ONE of any of the tips listed here has the power to change your 2024!! Life is still so full of opportunities for us! We just gotta keep on being *open* to them!

Will see ya around here again shortly… Until then, be safe, be merry, be sexy!

PS: That Santa painting up top was my very first piece of “art” I ever bought, back in the Love Drop days if any of you are still around from back then? Spent $300 on it and get to bring it out every year to enjoy!! Much to the dismay of my wife who thinks it looks awfully depressing, haha… I think he’s just pondering a well lived life! ;)

*******

New on Budgets Are Sexy:

The Bingo Sheet 💰 — A savings game that nets you an extra $1,000 in the new year! Plus: a fun basketball challenge I dare you to play with me ;)

*******

Favorite Reads From Around The Community:

12 Financial Challenges You Could Try in 2024 @ Becoming Minimalist — “#2. The Single Dollar Saver Game. Every time you receive a $1 bill in 2024, no matter where it comes from, set it aside… you might be surprised how quickly those random singles add up over the course of a year.”

How a Simple Idea Turned Into a $50k a Month Side Hustle @ Side Hustle Nation — “Lou Rice was breastfeeding her son Archie one night when disaster struck—she dropped her Kindle on his head!… It sparked an idea for Lou and her husband Ben to create a solution. Ben fashioned a silicone strap with staples to attach Lou’s Kindle to her hand and prevent any future dropping incidents… With that, strapsicle.com was born—a side hustle now generating over $50k a month selling innovative Kindle straps.”

How Much Income is Enough? $20,000 A Year More Than You Have Now @ My Money Blog — “Don’t just wish for more money, examine the money that you already have from the perspective of someone who is wishing to be you.”

If More People Did Money Like They Play Monopoly, They’d Be a Lot Better Off @ The Escape Artist — “Imagine playing Monopoly and never buying any assets or investments that generate income. Imagine you just went around collecting $200, giving your money to the rich, and trying to stay out of jail. That is how most people live their life.”

Five Timeless Life Lessons from Seneca @ DariusForoux.com — “Value your time more than your possessions. Unlike material possessions, time is something we can’t get back once it’s gone. It’s essential to use it wisely, prioritizing meaningful activities and relationships over trivial matters.”

The Secret to Being Rich Is to Not Buy Anything @ The White Coat Investor – “Morgan Housel is famous for pointing out that everyone says they want to be a millionaire, but what they really mean is that they want to spend $1 million, which is precisely the opposite thing. You become a millionaire by NOT spending the $1 million that you could have spent.”

*******

Thanks for another great year! 💙

// For previous newsletters: Archives
// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn

Good morning friends!

Hope your money, life, and overall vibes are on the up and up! You made it to Friday – woo!

Here’s another piece of good news for you: I’m giving away (2) copies of JL Collins’ new book over on Budgets Are Sexy 💪

Pathfinders:
Extraordinary Stories of People Like You on the Quest for Financial Independence―And How to Join Them

Here’s a clip about it from The Man himself:

Pathfinders has been two years in the making and it is a book I have wanted to bring to you since 2016 after The Simple Path to Wealth was published.

Within months of that book’s release I began to receive incredible stories from people all over the world telling me how they had taken the approach laid out and applied it to their own unique lives, location and circumstances.

Since contracting with Harriman House to publish Pathfinders, we’ve collected more of these stories and in these pages present ~100 of the very best.

If you’re interested in it, pop on over to Budgets Are Sexy and enter! I might also be throwing in another of his classics as well ;)

******

In other news – I’ve now made it to TWO MONTHS of doing yoga consistently! Over 50 classes (!!!). And have even upgraded to “intermediate” yoga now to really have my ass kicked, lol… I’ve also somehow managed to go 4 weeks without a single (alcoholic) drink too, but that’s more to keep my wife motivated who’s on month #3 (!!) so I don’t tempt her ;) Sooner or later though I’m gonna have to sneak in a whisky while she’s not looking, haha…

Still – for the first time in my life I feel like I’m actually *in charge* of my health for once and God willing I’ll keep going… Not sure why it’s taken me 43 years, but hey – you gotta start somewhere! And hopefully you’ve jump started whatever goals are important to you too :) If not, be sure to read the first article featured below and hopefully that will do the trick 🖤

Yours always,

PS: I got a new tattoo:

[A gentle reminder to always love no matter what. Or whom.
(And especially myself)]

*******

Favorite Reads Around The Web Lately:

Personal Goals Have to Happen Now @ Raptitude — “The reason it’s hard to get going on personal goals is that you’re already using all of your time. No matter who you are, you’re already using all 24 hours, every day, for something. Because this will always be true, goals that happen at all must happen now, while you still don’t yet have time. Belief in the mythical state of “when I have time” is a common pitfall.”

How to Change Your Life One Week at a Time @ A Lawyer and Her Money — “Over a decade ago, I vowed to do at least one new experience every week (“one new thing a week” or ONTAW). I had some ideas for what kinds of “new” things I would do but for the majority of the times, anything new counted, whether planned or not. It could be visiting a new restaurant, trying a new recipe, visiting a new city, trying a new hobby.”

Living More Intentionally by Thinking Less @ No Sidebar — “You may think that being distracted means you’ll think less, but when you engage in things like social media you’re actually making choices every second: Do I watch this video, do I comment on this post, what do I say, what do I think about this message, and a thousand other decisions throughout the day. By the end of the day, you don’t have the mental energy to plan for tomorrow.”

What If Money Expired? @ Noema — “A long-forgotten German economist argued that society and the economy would be better off if money was a perishable good. Was he an anarchist crank or the prophet of a better world?” (Hat tip: Apex Money)

Optimism @ 1500 Days — “Mindy and I are in NYC and woke up early one morning with one goal in mind: take a great photo of the Charging Bull. I’ve been fascinated with this sculpture since I learned that the creator plopped it down illegally in the middle of the night with help from 50 (!) of his friends. I wonder what his co-conspirators thought?”

Frugal vs. Independent @ Collab Fund — “Most people are wired to seek status and success, not necessarily happiness. It’s remarkable to watch someone fight back against that trend. From the outside they appear frugal. But in fact they’ve rejected what the world tells them they should want and looked deeper, finding their happiness elsewhere.”

Do You Live in an Ingredient Household? @ The Frugal Girl — “It’s a home that stocks mostly, well, ingredients, instead of ready-to-eat foods. Like, instead of oatmeal packets, you might have jars of oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and there’s milk in your fridge. You can eat oatmeal for breakfast, but you do have to make it… Basically, if you open the fridge and pantry, there’s not much that you can just grab and eat.”

Investing Is A Double-Edged Sword @ A Teachable Moment — “We have bigger houses but smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicines but less healthiness.”

The Lifestyle Change That Simulates “Falling in Love” @ Inside Hook — “A person with a one-hour commute to work has to earn 40% more money to be as satisfied as someone who walks. At the same time, shifting from a long commute to a short walk would make a single person as happy as if he or she had found a new love.” [Hat tip: Apex Money // This is a dream of mine!! To live in a walkable community/mini-town like Mr. Money Mustache is experimenting with!]

********

Other news around the community:

RIP Charlie Munger @ My Money Blog — “Many investors around the world were saddened to hear that Charles T. Munger passed away on November 28th, 2023, only about a month before he would have turned 100 years old. Most people discovered him through his long friendship and business partnership with Warren Buffett, and many of us enjoyed the fact that he was more bluntly honest, more revealing at times, and overall a great compliment to Buffett.”

This is The End @ The Reformed Broker — “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final post I will be publishing at The Reformed Broker. After today the site will be inactive, forever. I began this blog in November 2008 without any idea where it would take me. I had a negative net worth, was working at a dead-end brokerage firm job and absolutely no career prospects whatsoever – a washed up stock broker at 31 years old in the middle of a global financial crisis. So I began to write. Honestly, humorously, fearlessly. And you began to read…”

*******

Video of The Week:

André 3000 Talks His New Album and Life After Outkast @ GQ (via YouTube) — “It’s been years since rap legend André 3000 released new music. Now, on his own creative terms, he’s unveiling his first solo project—and talking candidly about where he’s been, how he’s changed, and why he made a record (New Blue Sun) that nobody could have expected.”

I love this so much because he’s just DOING HIS THING!! Releasing a record with *wind instruments* only and no lyrics whatsoever despite being one of the best rappers of all time… So much wisdom and PEACE in his vibes too – he knows what he’s about!

*******

Have a blessed week 🙏

// Book links above are affiliate links
// For previous newsletters: Archives
// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn

Good morning, friends!

Hope y’all have some fun Thanksgiving plans coming up! We’re doing our usual double Turkey celebration (first half of the day going to my family’s gathering, the second half my wife’s), which is great on one hand (double dinners!) but bad on the other (double dinners!! lol…).

And then of course there is Black Friday… which I will decidedly NOT be attending as I’d rather make love to a one-eyed porcupine! (They’re much sweeter, those one-eyed varieties ;))

At any rate, lots of great reads and ideas collected for you down below, and while you’re out feasting with your loved ones this week, marinate on this question we just posed at Budgets Are Sexy!

Would you rather…

Have unlimited money to buy things online but you can never buy anything in person (can’t go to restaurants, shops, movies, games)

– OR –

Have unlimited money to buy things in person but you can never buy anything online (can’t get anything delivered, but could walk onto a car lot and buy a car with cash)

My thoughts, and the right answer to this ;), here –> Would You Rather… Buy Everything Online or Everything Offline Only?

Gobble gobble,

*******

Favorite Reads This Week:

Biker Liz @ The Frugal Girl –“Today, we’re meeting a reader who has managed to live for 2.5 years with no car (and two small kids!). I am so impressed by the amount of biking and walking she and her family do, especially since it’s the functional sort, to get yourself from point A to point B.”

The Arizona Experiment! @ Mr. Money Mustache — “A big part of the fun is that this will force me to invent a whole new life for myself, away from the easy comforts of the big community and plentiful construction sites that keep me so busy here. It will be both a big change and a significant challenge, which is exactly what all of us need on a regular basis to keep life full of meaning and joy.”

Chapters @ Happily Disengaged — “Going to jail really woke me up. It was both the worst and best thing that ever happened to me. If can split up my life into two parts, there’s before jail and after jail.”

Get Rich Slowly, Get Started Quickly @ The Escape Artist — “Spending is like anything, the more you do of it, the less special it become… maybe you would be happier if you had more freedom and more control over your life?”

The 20 Greatest Decluttering Tips of All Time @ No Sidebar — “Decluttering is less about the quantity of items you remove and more about the quality of life you’re creating. Each discarded item is not just making room in your home, but also making space in your mind for clarity, peace, and joy.”

How Crazy is Dave Ramsey’s 8% Withdrawal Rate Recommendation? @ Early Retirement Now — “Most of us in the FIRE community have graduated from Dave Ramsey. Or even better, many of us, myself included, never even required his services. We should all safely ignore his 8% withdrawal rate advice now. But I feel sorry for the Ramsey listeners. I hope they are smart enough to get a second opinion elsewhere before implementing his crazy, unhinged advice. But, for the love of God, please stay away from Suze Orman!”

*******

Passage of The Week:

“The only thing that matters is how much you love.

Your purpose on this earth is to love.

We are all connected.

See the light in each person.”

Surprisingly (unsurprisingly?) this comes from “Yoga Girl“, a book I’m reading by Rachel Brathen that’s turning out to be about a lot more than just yoga! It’s a fantastic read so far (especially if you’ve had a lot of pain in life – mentally or physically) and it’s shaping up to be one of my favorite reads this year.

You can find it on Amazon for only a few bucks right now… A great mantra to keep in mind this holiday season!

(Yoga Girl got famous from starting an Instagram account years ago amassing more than a million followers!! But it’s her “story” that’s really interesting here, and then of course all the pretty yoga poses ;))

Have a blessed weekend 🙏

*******

// Amazon links are affiliate links
// For previous newsletters: Archives
// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn

Good morning!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my health journey lately and all the events that have led up to it, and I’ve found it’s all come together rather interestingly.

It started with a friend convincing me to start playing soccer again after a 10 year hiatus, so I joined his weekly casual league (which plays at 10pm btw!! TEN AT NIGHT!!), which then led to me paying more attention to my body and all things health just so I could keep up 😆

A number of days later I then get a recommendation from a reader to look into veggie juicing for all its nutritional benefits (thanks Madiha!), and one thing led to another and now I’m a daily drinker of the Good Stuff! Fast forward a couple more weeks and a random encounter at the coffee shop led me to finally trying out yoga and now I’m an addict to that as well, lol…

Then, most recently, I joined a gym for the first time, well, EVER!, and now I consistently show up at 5:30 in the morning for an early Boot Camp class. Which, as the recurring theme here continues, started out because a different friend of mine goes to the gym and it was motivation enough for me to give it a try too. Even though, ironically, we never hang out together because he likes to lift weights solo while I need group exercises to keep me straight.

It’s been a wild two months to say the least, and some days I don’t even recognize myself as I am *not* a health/gym/yoga/veggie guy whatsoever! But it’s been a process I’ve very much enjoyed so far and can only hope continues 💪

If you didn’t catch the themes throughout all this, here they are:

1) Taking one small action increases the odds that *more* (similar) actions will follow! Whether it has to do with health, career, or more pertinent to our group here – our finances. But you have to take that first action to get the habits cascading!

2) The world provides hints when your mind (and ears) are open. And especially from those you love. If you noticed, almost every single nudge up there came from someone I know who recommended something at *just* the right time when I was open enough to receive it. I don’t know why other times were so closed off, but I do know that the opportunities are all around us if we’re paying enough attention.

So, take from this what you will, but if I could suggest just one thing it would be to take that *first* action towards whatever’s been sitting on your mind lately and see where it takes you. Worst case you can finally stop thinking about it, but best case it starts your own chain reaction of events!

And then be sure to let me know what you tried out :)

*******

Favorite Reads Around The Web

Kristy’s Early Retirement Spreadsheet @ Budgets Are Sexy – Sharing this one first as it too illustrates our “first action” theme here! In this case it was a BIG first move as Kristy and family decided to relocate to the beach, but one thing led to another and now she’s well on her journey to a financially free life and shares her juicy spreadsheet in the process :)

5 Common Failures in Personal Finance @ The Best Interest — And this post talks about how the cascading can apply to *failures* as well! “People tend to think of tragedies and failures as single moments of failure. But that’s wrong. Instead, we must realize that every failure is a chain of events. There are multiple inputs into a failure. Thus, a “failure chain” can be interrupted or diverted at many different points.”

One Size Fits One Regarding Retirement Spending @ A Teachable Moment – “Going to Starbucks daily is much cheaper than owning a highly-priced, actively managed fund that is almost assured to underperform a cheap market index fund over long periods.”

Living on a Floating Island in Canada @ Insider – “Catherine King and Wayne Adams hand-built a floating home together in Canada 31 years ago. The home is known as Freedom Cove and is made up of several buildings floating on Styrofoam. As idyllic as it looks, the upkeep is tough work, which King is now doing solo after Adams’ death.”

PhysicianOnFIRE.com gets Acquired @ LinkedIn – “PhysicianonFire.com has relaunched with 2 new physicians at the helm — Jorge Sanchez, MD, and Nirav H. Shah — alongside serial entrepreneur Vinci Palad! We all have found financial freedom through different journeys. Financial stress is a huge mental health burden doctors face given how much work we defer. We plan to build products, services, and content for you to give you what you need.”

Random Acts @ Humble Dollar — “First and most important: budget for kindness. I’ve found that if you allocate the sum ahead of time, it’s much easier to part with the money.”

*******

Video/Thought of The Week:

I’m not sure I’m brave enough to give up alcohol yet, but in the spirit of “being open” and seeing where things lead I’ve found this recommendation by Jim @ Route to Retire to be pretty impactful.

It’s SUPER long and kinda boring, not gonna kid you, BUT I guarantee you’ll think differently about alcohol after, even if you only watch the first 30-40 mins. It led to Jim giving up alcohol for OVER A YEAR now!! Congrats buddy!

And if you have a subscription to the NY Times, there’s an article that covers it more briefly below too if you don’t want to stare at the screen for hours :) In a nut shell though, alcohol is poison and no amount of it is “good for you.”

What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health | Huberman Lab Podcast @ YouTube — “In this episode, I discuss the physiological effects that drinking alcohol has on the brain and body at different levels of consumption and over time… Indeed, even low-to-moderate alcohol consumption negatively impacts the brain and body in direct ways.”

Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health @ NY Times — “Recent research makes it clear that any amount of drinking can be detrimental. Here’s why you may want to cut down on your consumption beyond Dry January.”

Thanks for reading ✨

*******

// For previous newsletters: Archives
// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn

Good morning!!

Lot’s of wonderful beautiful things to share with you today!

#1. I’m giving out a bunch of new $$$ books on the blog!! Covering everything from savings tips to hustling hacks to making yourself rich to my personal favorite – bettering yourself with each passing day. All you have to do is tell me which one you want in the comments of the post and you’re entered! More here

#2. The 401(k) Champions contest is now open for the year! Where you answer a brief question about your love of 401(k)s in essay form, for a chance to win one of three $1,000 cash rewards. Last year ALL THREE winners came from my audience here, so hopefully the trend continues and YOU are one of the lucky winners this year ;) Enter here –> 401kchampion.com

#3. I have a new obsession: yoga! Been meaning to try it for years, then one day last week I decided to just muster up the courage and start and I’ve now gone 8 times in one week, lol… I guess when I like something I really go ALL IN 😂 Look for a blog post on it soon, but if it’s something that’s been on your mind lately too – make it your mission to try it out this weekend once and for all! You never know what’ll go on to change your life #Namaste

#4. My 11 yr old has his first cell phone 😬😬 I wanted to wait a couple more years, but apparently in 6th grade they’re basically required, ugh… BUT! We found a place that lets you use all the main communication features of a smart phone without all the *internet access* (ie a phone that just calls and texts and does a few apps like games, but can’t get on social media/etc) so that made us a bit more comfortable… Even though of course this is also easily solved by picking up an old school clamshell phone!, but apparently that’s “not cool” so at least it now *looks* like my kid has a bad ass smart phone and no one has to know it doesn’t do any of the juicy stuff, lol..

The company is called Gabb btw if you’re in a similar position (I’m not affiliated with them at all): Gabb.com. Costs us more than it does our *own* phone plans! ($30/mo vs $20/mo w/ Mint Mobile!) but hey – it does the trick and has been working out pretty well over the weeks!

******

Okay that’s all the news for this week… When you’re done with the above, check out some of the articles below that I’ve hand-picked for you – especially that first one. It’s where the title of today’s newsletter comes from which cracked me up as much as it did inspire me 😆 👍

Your friend in adulting,

*******

Favorite articles this week:

Tomorrow Is Not Your Friend @ MiniHabits.com — “It’s natural to think of tomorrow in an opportunistic way. Tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start… but so was today! Remember when you thought so yesterday? Since we only live in today and it accurately predicts what we’ll do later, tomorrow is relatively worthless. And that’s not all. Tomorrow’s mere presence seems to lead us into poor decisions. Not only is it not your friend—tomorrow is your enemy!” (shout out to Apex Money for finding this gem)

Why Getting Fired and Dumped Were the Best Things to Happen to Me All Year @ A Lawyer and Her Money — “We don’t talk enough about the kind of person you become when you are pursuing your goals. We don’t talk enough about how the person you marry, the person you work for, and the people you associate yourself with – all these people affect who you will become, who you are currently becoming.”

Lifestyles of the Monks and Irish @ The Best Interest — “A group of monks rowed 12 miles out to sea (no motors, mind you) to a steep, barren, half-mile diameter rock completely exposed to the elements. Then, in the words of Eamon, our island guide, “They spent their lives hauling rocks and praying.” Fun!”

The 4 Types of Leverage to Supercharge Your Income @ Of Dollars and Data — “If you want to supercharge your income, you have to use leverage. Whether we employ labor, raise capital, craft content, or write code, each form of leverage offers its own unique benefits and challenges.”

The Magic Loop @ Lenny’s Newsletter – “The Magic Loop is a process through which any employee may systematically grow at a company. It is reliable in its results, with a simple core of five basic steps. In this post, we first present the Loop in its most straightforward model. We then follow up with variations, optimizations, and special circumstances that users will find over time.”

*******

Quote of the Week:

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi

*******

// For previous newsletters: Archives
// To connect further: @Twitter | @Facebook | @Instagram | @LinkedIn