Dumb gas prices, i-Bond info, and cheap flights!! ✈️

April 26, 2022

Yo yo! Happy Tuesday, HTM family!

Last week we announced our newsletter launch – and today is issue numero uno! Every Tuesday morning we’ll be sharing fun stories, money news, and thoughts to chew on as you progress towards financial freedom.

First up, something dumb I did recently…


Idiot of The Week = ME 🤦‍♂️

Driving home the other day I noticed my gas tank was nearing empty. There was a station up ahead, but the tight-a$$ inside me told me to keep driving to try and make it to my regular “cheap” spot near my house…

Well, it turned out there was a train broken down blocking the road on the way to the other station… I got stuck for 45 minutes in traffic before everything cleared out, and when I finally made it to the other gas station, it was 2 cents per gallon MORE expensive than the place I first passed! 🤬

So instead of saving money, it ended up costing more – (and I also wasted an hour of time in the process). Boooo.

Curious – do you pull over right away or drive a bit further for cheaper gas?


Let’s talk about inflation for a sec…

You’ve heard us yapping about I-Bonds a lot on the show… And for good reason! As inflation hits record high rates, so does the interest rate we earn on these government backed I-Bonds. Woohoo! 🥳

Here’s the scoop (and how to buy them):

  • Starting in May, I-Bonds will return a whopping 9.62% interest for the next 6 months!
  • If you purchase I-Bonds *before* the end of April, you’ll get a blend of the current rate (7.12%) and the new rate (9.62%) which equals about 8.54% for the next 12 months. Booyah!
  • If you purchase I-Bonds *after* April, you’ll still get (9.62%) for the next 6 months, then whatever new rate is determined in November for the following 6 months. (could be higher, could be lower 🤷‍♂️)

(confused? That’s OK. Here’s a cool article that explains the nerdy rates and stuff.)

The main takeaway is that I-Bonds are a great savings vehicle when when inflation is high — which is right now.

How to buy I-Bonds:

👉 Head on over to TreasuryDirect and open an account. Fill in your info, verify your email address, and log in with your new credentials.

👉 Once logged in, select the “BuyDirect” option in the account banner and click “Series I”.

👉 You can purchase up to $10,000 in electronic I bonds per Social Security number, per calendar year.

BTW… You can cash in I-Bonds after only one year. But if you cash them before five years, you lose the previous three months of interest.


In other news…

Career:
Did you see that LinkedIn just introduced a new career breaks feature within the work experience options of your profile!?!?… 😍😍😍

We love this because one of the scariest things about taking a career break is wondering how it will be perceived by future employers… From what we’re noticing, more and more employers are actually encouraging extended breaks from work. And LinkedIn “normalizing” career breaks is very cool to see.

Travel:
Scott Keyes from Scott’s Cheap Flights was on the podcast yesterday giving tips on how to get discount flights! If you’re thinking about traveling this year, definitely sign up for cheap deal notifications. (Hawaii, here I come! ✈️🌴)

Scott’s also giving HTM listeners 20% off a year subscription with promo code: HTM20 (for first-time users only and for first year only)

WFH:
Based on a recent survey from GoodHire, apparently 60% of all managers agree that a full-time return to the office mandate will happen in 2022. (also most managers stated that “severe consequences” would occur — firings, pay cuts, loss of benefits — for those who refuse to return to the office).

Regardless, like we were saying on the show last week, perhaps returning to back the office isn’t such a bad thing. This brings up and interesting question… For all you die hard WFH fans, would you take a pay cut to continue working remotely if your employer mandated full time office work?


Welp, that’s all for now. Wishing you a happy day and great rest of the week!

Best Friends Out!

PS. Got a question for us? Or a dumb story or exciting money win you want to share? Contact us here (or just hit reply to this email!) – we love hearing from you guys and respond to every single email 🙂

PPS. We’re giving away bundles of finance books to 5 of you lucky readers this week. Winners to be announced shortly! 🤗

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