Mornin’ mornin’!
Did you know…. 98% of atoms in the human body are replaced with new atoms each year? 98%!!! 🤯
Atoms make up molecules, which make up cells, which make up tissues, which make up organs…
So basically, you are growing a completely new body each year! Amazing, right? A huge amount of change happens slowly and subconsciously over a relatively short period of time.
So, next time you feel “stuck” or when progress in life seems too slow, remember this awesome little fact. You are changing and growing every second in the background. Impressive!
And same goes for your financial situation. It may have bleak growth currently or seem like things will never change… But the truth is: savings, investments, and good habits compound sneakily over time.
Hang in there. You are growing and building wealth faster than you think you are. 💪
TO DO
Map out a debt plan…
The good news, is that Undebt.it is a *completely free resource* that can help you to put together a debt payoff plan- as early at tonight! And there are also a handful of excellent non-profit resources to help you do this if you’re looking for someone to walk alongside you. Our favs are the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and Money Management International.
Lingering debt is not only bad for your finances — it’s bad for your body and your brain! Please please please ask for help if you need it. Your future self will be thanking you! 🙌
INVESTING
Meme stocks are happening again 🚀
Hey everybody! I have an awesome idea…
I know of a company that is failing miserably… It’s been losing money for years, has no profitability in sight, and everyone (including their own board of directors) believes this company has a fair chance of bankruptcy.
My idea is: Let’s all invest $10,000 each into this failing company!
If everybody on this email list does that, the market will see a massive demand and the stock price will rise suddenly. 🚀 Then more and more people will jump on the bandwagon, rising the price even further, and further.
Then, after we’ve all 100x our money, let’s quickly sell everything and retire next month!
Genius, right? Who’s with me!??
Ok, kidding of course… You guys are way too smart for that.
Day trading individual stocks that you hear about via social media (even if they sound like healthy companies) is a risky endeavor. Never something we’d recommend!
You prob already know these points below, but it never hurts repeating…
Reminders:
- “Hope” is not an investment strategy 🙅♀️
- If you follow what everyone else does, you will achieve everyone else’s results (retail traders since 2020 have collectively lost all their profits) 😭
- You can’t time the market. People have been trying for decades — it doesn’t work. 📈
- Day trading involves staring at your phone all day and hitting refresh on charts, news, forums, etc. Wouldn’t you rather just be out enjoying your life? Index and chill! 🌴
More resources:
- 📝 Origins: What is a meme stock?
- 🎙 Podcast Ep 497: The Perils of Investing in Individual Stocks 😵
- 📕 Book Reco: Little Book of Common Sense Investing, John Bogle
SAVING
Maxing out ALL your retirement accounts for 40 years…
Came across this cool post on Reddit last week: What happens when you max ALL your retirement accounts for 40+ years.
Starting at age 23, assuming you earn enough to contribute the full limit to every available retirement account, here’s what you’ll end up with:
**this assumes mega-backdoor Roth conversions. For all other assumptions, see original post.
Now… whilst this is pretty cool to see, is it a likely scenario for most people? Probably not.
BUT, here is what I loved about the breakdown within the post: Even if you just pick ONE retirement account, and only max that one out, you’ll still end up a millionaire.
- Only max out 401k (no match): $ 6,235,775
- Only max out 401k (with match): $ 10,249,390
- Only max out Roth or Trad IRA (no back door): $ 2,007,822
- Only max out HSA: $ 1,219,623
Not everyone can contribute to (or has access to) every type of retirement account. But that’s OK! Just focussing on one ☝️ that works best for your situation will eventually lead to success.
More resources:
- HTM Blog: HSA Triple Tax Advantage
- Differences: Traditional IRA vs. Roth
ICYMI
Noteworthy news and fun finds!
ALDI Wedding!? 💍
For any of you engaged folks… Our fav grocery store chain ALDI is hosting a competition where one lucky couple will win an all expenses paid wedding! Better act fast — entries close tomorrow night at midnight (8/17)!
Profitable Pets 🦜
Check this out… Some dude trained his myna bird to fly out into the streets, collect money and bring it back to his apartment!
Geo Arbitrage ✈️
Ever been to Santiago, Chile? Apparently you can rent a decent apartment AND cover all living costs for under $1000 per month! Here are 5 other cities around the world where you can live for under $1k/month per business insider.
Retirement 🏖
Retiring soon? Great article here about the gap between perceived risks & the most likely risks in retirement. Most of our biggest worries don’t actually affect us much (and ‘aint that true with most things in life!) 😉
COMMUNITY
Saving Hundreds via D.I.Y!
Awesome little win shared in the HTM Facebook Group 👇👇👇
Great reminder to check YouTube before calling for help with repairs! Even if the task seems too hard to tackle, just googling the problem is free and only takes a few minutes. 😎
That’s it for this week! Cheers for reading and we’ll catch y’all on the flip side.
Best friends out 🍻
Pic 👆: We just spotted this little money tree at the Lidl in our new hood — a perfect plant baby for our office!
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