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!”

20 Minutes a Day Can Radically Change Your Life via PropertyUpdate — “The 20 Minute Habit Shortcut involves a simple three-step process: 1. Define a daily activity that will help you accomplish a specific goal. 2. Devote 20 minutes a day to that new activity. 3. Repeat that activity every day for 30 days.”

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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Hey guys!

Happy Friday!

Nothing too juicy to report on this side – unless you’re a fan of ticks which I’ve found crawling over me multiple times this week! (the cons of having large gardens 🤢🤢🤢), so today’s newsletter will mainly just contain my favorite reads and video from the week…

Though I did start a new book that I’m really enjoying! And if you’re a fan of TOMS shoes you might too. I’ll drop a link to it down below. I was also interviewed on a podcast this week: The FI Show. Where we covered designing a work/life balance, the love and transparency within the personal finance community, how I incorporate philanthropy into my daily life, and how I was never really naturally that great with money (or even had a background in it), but still managed okay due to a number of habits and hustle over the years.

You can check it out here: Finding Your Work-Life Balance w/ J.Money

Onto this week’s faves!

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Favorite posts this week:

Winnie the Pooh Translates Financial Jargon via A Wealth of Common Sense — “This meme is perfect for finance because it’s an industry that relies on jargon as a way to sell, confuse and signal higher than average intelligence. Words are meant to impress in the world of finance and convey expertise.”

What Growing Up “Poor” Taught Me About Minimalism via Becoming Minimalist — “Not long after Mom passed away, my little family and I felt an impassioned call toward a simple, minimal life. We sold what we had to pay what we owed, and with reckless abandon, gratefully released the “American dream” and all it demanded of us. We are now three years into this amazing adventure, 100% debt-free and have never been happier or more at peace.”

WTF Is an NFT? by Budgets Are Sexy — “Non-fungible means unique, one-of-a-kind, not replaceable. Example: U.S. dollars are fungible. One dollar can easily replace another dollar. You and I could trade an old $10 bill for a new $10 and we’d both feel fine about it. That’s fungibility. So, a non-fungible item has unique properties such that it can’t be duplicated, replicated, etc.”

Your Life is Always Just Beginning via Raptitude — “With a movie, you always have to put together the story from a standing start, because you’re already in the middle of the characters’ lives. You can’t actually see what happened before the first image appears, but you can piece it together through exposition… Stories begin in the middle, and the middle is always now. Real life is like this too.”

The Little Mermaid: From Hoarder to Heroine via Yellow Brick Freedom — “Ariel reminds us that stuff isn’t the stuff of life. She reminds us that life is about living, not accumulating. It’s about swimming to the surface and using those things, what do you call them? oh—feet!”

A Few Short Stories by Collaborative Fund — “Notorious BIG once casually mentioned that he began selling crack in fourth grade… Incentives drive everything, and most of us underestimate what we’d be willing to do if the incentives were right.”

The Young Buffalo 🐃 by 5AM Joel — “A young buffalo once asked his Dad… “Hey Dad, what’s the scariest thing in the world?” The father buffalo told him it was a lion! Because lions eat buffalo. The young buffalo thought to himself for a moment and then said, “OK Dad, if I ever see a lion I’ll run away in the other direction as fast as I can!” But the Dad said that’s actually the opposite of what he should do. He then gave his son this wise advice…”

If You Want To Eat the Rich, Stop Feeding Amazon via Bitches Get Riches — “Next time a warehouse worker passes out in the choking heat of an unventilated warehouse, I don’t want my three-pack of cotton sport thongs to be what paramedics find clutched in his unconscious hands. So, I quit. I stopped feeding Amazon my money. And I realized a lot when I did.”

Video of the week:

Rodney Mullen: Pop an ollie and innovate! via Ted.com — “Rodney Mullen is the godfather of street skating, and in this exuberant talk he shares his love of the open skateboarding community. He shows how the unique environments skaters play in drive the creation of new tricks — fostering prolific ingenuity purely for passion’s sake.”

Book of the week:

Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie — Got this book from my brother the other day and haven’t been able to put it down! It’s old (2012) but REALLY good. Whether you’re into business or not (but especially if you’re into business!). Here’s a snippet on Blake for those who don’t recognize the name:

In 2006, Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes with a simple business model: “With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One.” In 2011, TOMS launched its second One for One product, TOMS Eyewear, which with every pair purchased helps give sight to a person in need by providing medical treatment, prescription glasses, or sight-saving surgery. When Blake isn’t working at TOMS, he spends his time reading, writing, fly-fishing, and participating in just about every board sport.

Quote of the week:

One last nugget to ponder as we head into the weekend :) And I can tell you from personal experience this is very much true!! Both with “stuff,” as well as other things in life.

“You don’t have to own something to love and enjoy it.”

– Cheryl Smith

A line that can serve us pretty well over time….

Happy weekend 🙏🙏

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Good morning!

Two quick announcements before we get to this week’s best articles…

#1. I’m sexy!

Errr… let’s try that again. You already knew that ;)

#1. There’s a new FIRE documentary currently being cast for! It’s for a MAJOR streaming platform, and they’re specifically looking for couples in the Denver/Boulder area (ages 23-45) who are ready to embark on a financial transformation… If you’re selected we’ll all get to watch you, and you’ll be personally coached by the one and only Mr. Money Mustache, lol…

#2. Just came across this search engine and it looks promising: Ecosia.org. They use the profit from everyone’s searches to plant trees where they are needed the most, and they’ve already planted over 123 MILLION! Haven’t tested it enough personally to compare it to the big G yet, but maybe you have and can share more? Killer idea and LOVE that it’s a non-profit 👍

Okay, to my favorite articles from the week! Hope you all are well!

I’m still alive and kicking (quite literally!) as I skateboard now for at least an hour a day! Dropped $200+ on a new board and shoes too this week – somebody stopped me!!!

Your friend in finance,

PS: I still find it SO fascinating that there’s an ENTIRE culture like skateboarding out there that you’d never know about unless you accidentally stumbled upon it or purposefully went searching for it… Makes you wonder about all the OTHER communities out there too we’d find and learn about if we weren’t so stuck in our own bubbles!  Maybe a good challenge for the weekend is going out of your way to find a new one yourself and just practice *observing*? Perhaps you’ll accidentally find yourself changed unexpectedly as I have!

PPS: Another skateboarding observance I’ve had at skate parks – going in the mornings you’re surrounded by kids and moms, but going in the evenings it’s teens and tattoos (and weed), lol… So the time of the day can greatly affect your perception of these niche communities too :)

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Favorite posts this week:

The Joy of Decluttering via No Sidebar — “My powder blue vest and purse, and the curious series of coincidences with these items, have permanently changed the way I see all of the things that live unloved and unused in my home.”

A False Sense of Purchasing Power via Becoming Minimalist — “Remind yourself that net worth is not the same as income. Net worth is only what is left at the end of the month. Inflating your expenses or credit line, just because society allows and your bank or credit card say you can, is rarely the best step forward.”

Are You Waiting For an Elevator? via 5AM Joel — “Most people wait their entire lives for elevators to pick them up. They want an express pass to success. But elevators to success are extremely rare, and sometimes nonexistent.”

Show & Tell: Chase’s Silver Collection via Coin Thrill — Cheating and putting my own post here :) But for any of you silver hoarders you’ll probably enjoy this one! A nice easy way to diversify a little!

The Best Items to Resell for Profit via Flea Market Flipper — “With freight shipping oversized items, I am able to find some really great items on local apps to flip… I have been able to go from part-time flipping income of $42K to $133K in our first year of flipping full-time! Freight shipping changed the game for me and has been consistently providing great income for my family ever since.”

Put Your Ladder on Your OWN Wall via Property Update — “Most put their ladder on their parents’ wall and spend much of their life climbing that ladder. At some point, they come to the realisation that they are unhappy doing what they are doing. This leads to a feeling of despondency about the work they do and the life they are living.”

Video of the week:

“This is why we can’t have nice things” via YouTube – A wild video on how stuff we buy has purposefully been designed to be obsolete… (Did you know there’s a light bulb that’s been continuously running for over 100 years????!)

Quote of the week:

Caught this a handful of days ago and haven’t been able to get it off my mind!

“Design a life you are inspired to live.”

– Annette White

Something to ponder as we head into the weekend… :)

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Good morning!

Hope y’all are well over there!

Got my 2nd vaxx shot yesterday and about to close on some pretty important real estate (my cemetery plot – hah!), so feeling pretty good over here ;) We did miss out on what we thought was our dream home this week (beat out the other bidders but had to bail after a pretty scary home inspection!), but outside of that its been a great week to be alive…

If you can believe it, this 41 year old even hit up a skate park for 3 hours the other day!! And didn’t break any bones! My boys forced me to take them after we stumbled across it a bit ago, and little did I know how much I’d enjoy it… they had to drag ME away instead of the opposite! 😂

When did us adults get so grown up and forget about stuff like this?! My skills were severely lacking compared to those circling me, but it was nice having confidence in myself as an “old” and not caring what others thought every time I fell… A far cry from how I was 20 years earlier, so getting up in the years does have its advantage! :) We’re going back this afternoon and I can’t wait.

In other news, Coin Thrill is back!! My old coin collecting blog that’s been ignored the past few years! Got two posts out the door this week so technically I’m out of blog retirement ;)

Here they are if you’re interested in any way:

A Coin Collection Story — A fun story from a reader on the days of finding silver coins in circulation. Something not too common anymore!

What’s This Coin Worth? – A new series I’m starting as I help people sort through their collections and/or random coins they have laying around ;). This is by far the #1 thing I’m asked, and while most times we don’t find anything *too*special, every now and then something surprises the pants off us. A couple years back I found a quarter in a friend’s collection that ended up selling for over $10,000 (!!!)

So if anyone ever needs help sorting through old coins or currency, be sure to give me a shout! I’ve helped inventory and liquidate over a dozen collections over the past 7 years, and it’s just as enjoyable to me as it’s NOT for others ;)

Here’s more about my services if you want to pass along to anyone:

J’s Inventorying and Liquidation Services

(I ask to get paid in “coins” instead of cash, lol..)

So yeah, busy trying to LIVE over here, but also fully aware (and planning) for it all to come to an end one day too! I told my wife that if I died at that skate park I would have been pretty okay with it…

I could def. think of worse ways to go :)

******

Favorite posts from the week:

Sell Your Hot Dogs at a Loss via Incognito Money Scribe — “Participants in the study were also asked to rate their feelings of life satisfaction. What the study found was that participants who made purchases that most closely matched their personalities were more satisfied with life. What’s more, that personality spending-life satisfaction relationship materialized regardless of income, age and gender.”

Reflecting on Privilege and Perseverance via Saving Sherpa — “Today I earn a solid six figures, I have no children, I live in Boston, and am 80% of the way towards FI. I’m white, heterosexual, and Christian. A quick look at me today and things might seem so easy for me that you find me to be unrelatable. But you might be surprised…”

4 Famous Wills in History (And What They Can Teach Canadians About Estate Planning) via Boomer and Echo  — “Dogs who inherited millions, a will that inspired women in Toronto to have as many babies as they could, and why one Canadian wrote their will while eating a Big Mac.”

10 Great Money Choices for Every Stage of Life via Bitches Get Riches — “I wish someone had sat me down and compassionately explained that I didn’t have to do everything all at once. If you want to stay motivated and make meaningful progress on a goal, it’s so much better to focus on just one at a time.”

Evidence-Based Doomsday Prepping via My Money Blog — “Plenty of excited newcomers begin by shopping for ballistic vests and night vision goggles; they would be better served by grabbing a fire extinguisher, some bottled water, and then putting the rest of their money in a rainy-day fund.”

And lastly, the most surprising thing about humanity according to the Dalai Lama, via The Physician Philosopher:

Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

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Blessed weekend 🙏🙏

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Good morning, everyone!

Is it going to be a blessed day today?? (ANSWER: YES!!!)

I don’t know how or why, but they say you gotta put good juju into the world so that’s what we’re going to do :)

Lots of fun posts for you today so you’ll have plenty of good reading material over the weekend! Including a HELL of a story of a once-popular blogger who left the scene after hitting FIRE 6 years ago (Living a FI), only to come back and just POUR IT ALL OUT on the wreck his life has been since… It’s gut wrenching… And a solid reminder that there’s more to FIRE than just the numbers!

If there’s only one post you click on today, make sure it’s that one. Then come back and check out the others below :)

In other news, we’re hiring again for another position over at All-Star Money! If you know any Tech Leads/Coders shoot them our way! And then lastly, if you enjoy me in your ears more so than type, here’s another (short) podcast I was recently on:

J. Money Brings Sexy Back to Your Greenbacks

On it we covered:

• The value of tracking net worth
• What (doesn’t) happen when you become a millionaire
• The state of the $$$ blog community
• And my beloved Frankencaddy!! Who was an ACCIDENTal side hustler back in the day, almost paying herself off entirely due to so many insurance checks, lol… That’s her down below before she went out to the pasture, R.I.P…

(That’s a tail light there from a trailer to make her street legal 😂)

Now to my favorite articles from the week:

The 2021 Early-Retirement Update via Living a FI — The once popular blogger comes back to tell a tale of FIRE after 6 years away, and it’s not the *good* kind! “I retired on a sort of “lean-FIRE” budget, confidently told the world I’d be just fine, and five years or so later, I’m a wreck, I’d lost my partner, and I had to make sizable changes. I kept feeling that I’d failed somehow. Like I’d done something wrong — I felt guilty.”

Reverse Wealth Transfer on Steroids via The Reformed Broker — “If you had invented Facebook, you would have invented Facebook. But you didn’t. So the hoodie isn’t going to work. Watch how people deal with you when your shirt is tucked in and your shoes are shined.”

Everyone is Using The 4% Rule Wrong via Financial Success MD — “Ever since this 4% rule was proposed, people have argued whether the “right” number is a little lower or higher than 4%. But nearly every time I see this rule used to reverse engineer the amount one needs to save for retirement, the calculation is done incorrectly.”

Stop Listening to Grandma… and Everyone Else via Blogging Away Debt – “Life isn’t perfect and that’s OK. For those who are in the same boat, I feel ya. We’ll get through this. Power through. Stop trying to impress grandma (or whoever is the ‘grandma’ in your life). Stay the course.”

My Problems with #StopAsianHate via A Lawyer and Her Money — “To me the movements are counterproductive and rife with stereotypes that Asian Americans have been fighting for decades, if not centuries.”

Bitcoin’s Dirty Secret via Wealthy Retirement — “There are 195 countries in the world. Mining Bitcoin already consumes more energy than 160 of them do separately. The Cambridge study shows that currently, Bitcoin mining consumes more energy in a year than entire countries like Switzerland and Argentina.”

A Lot of the Woo-Woo Probably Works via Raptitude – “You’ve probably heard people say, “If alternative medicine worked, it wouldn’t be called alternative medicine, it would be called medicine.” This is poor logic — everything known to work was once not known to work… That’s a point the skeptical types sometimes miss: if it works, it works regardless of the state of the science on it. What the science does is help us waste less time on stuff that doesn’t work.”

And lastly, one VERY important PSA ;)

Krispy Kreme is giving away a free Original Glazed doughnut if you show them your COVID-19 vaccination card any day this year!!  No purchase required! (Thanks, for the heads up MyMoneyBlog!)

Happy vaxxing 🍩

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