Tax Holidays, Roth Homebuying & Financial Serenity 💆‍♀️

Good morning, HTM family!

Here is your Tuesday to do checklist:

• Eat a healthy meal 🥗
• Do a short workout 🏋️‍♀️
• Look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself what you see (pride, power, badass motha!) 💪
• Kick butt at work 👨‍💻
• Help someone in need 🤲
• Be weird and make people laugh 🤭
• Knock off work at a reasonable hour and spend time with the people you love 💏

Today is going to be a great day. Because you are doing all the right things to make it so.

Alrighty, now let’s chat about money stuff!… 👇👇👇

TO DO

Bulk Up with a Friend 🛒

Want to buy toilet paper at Costco but don’t have a membership? No worries! All big warehouse clubs (Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club) let their members bring up to 2 friends to shop with them. So if your buddy has a membership, ask if you can tag along on their next shopping trip.

And for those of you with a membership —> why not reach out to your single friends and ask if they need anything the next time you shop at your favorite warehouse club? Sharing memberships = stretching the value 🙌

SAVING

No Sales Tax?… Yes please!

It’s almost tax holiday season for many states! 🥳 A great time to grab clothes, shoes, laptops, or back to school supplies without paying state sales tax.

🤷‍♂️ What is a “Sales Tax Holiday”?
It’s a specified time sales window where select US states allow sales tax to be waved (or reduced) for specific items or purchase categories. Many tax holidays are one-time events, but some are reoccurring each year!

🙋‍♂️ Which states have holidays and when!?!?
Here’s a list of all the states with reoccurring holidays, and what items are covered in 2024! (All you lucky ducks in Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire, Alaska and Delaware never have any state tax anyway.)

💁‍♂️ Example of potential savings?
Missouri has a 3-day tax-free weekend from Aug 2nd —> 4th. It covers buying computers up to $1,500. So let’s say someone purchases a new $900 laptop in that timeframe and avoids state/county/city sales tax of 8%, they’ll save $72!!

👨‍💻 Does online shopping count?
Yep, most big retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target participate in tax holidays online (actually, they promote them as “back to school” sales with limited or no tax on some items)

Pretty cool, hey? If you live in one of these states, plan ahead and purchase your stuff within the sales windows if you can. Good luck and happy shopping!!

Related stuff:

• 📲 HTM Blog: How to Ask for a Discount (and actually get it!)
• 🤑 More Savings: 27+ Other Ways to Save Money in Life

TOGETHER WITH BETTERMENT*

Choose where and when you want to retire, and a Betterment IRA can help make your money hustle all the way there. Learn more

MINDSET

Finding Financial Peace 🧘‍♂️

A recent survey from Empower revealed some of the top money stressors in people’s lives.

Here is what financial peace looks like to most folks…👇👇👇

Here’s the good news… Pretty much ALL of these things are more achievable than you think! It just requires making a solid roadmap.

A few thoughts on the top 5:

1. Becoming debt-free: Make a payoff plan and start hacking away asap (check out the free version of undebt.it). Every dollar paid towards debt brings you closer to financial peace. Consider drawing a progress chart and manually coloring in your progress with each payment. That will keep you motivated and shine light at the end of the tunnel.
2. Affording bills: Creating a realistic budget that prioritizes essentials is key. The 50/30/20 is a great place to start, or dropping to a bare bones budget might be necessary if you’re in a short term financial crisis. Cut unnecessary expenses and build an emergency fund so you can afford to pay unexpected bills in full without stress.
3. Making big purchases: Save for big-ticket items in advance. Open a separate savings account or sinking fund, and contribute regularly (setting up auto-payments is a great way to “forget” that you’re even saving). Then when it’s time to make the purchase, you can do so without hesitation or financial strain.
4. Retiring on your own terms: It’s never too late to bump up your savings rate and put more away for retirement. The earlier you save, the faster your pile grows. If you’re older and don’t have much saved, you might need to re-think what retirement will realistically look like. Many retirees happily work part time jobs to stay busy and make some money. You’re not ditching work completely but it can be more on your terms.
5. Enjoying small luxuries: It’s all about balancing fun and responsibility. There’s no harm in small, regular splurges or treats as long as you’re still saving for retirement and are on track financially. To afford more, start budgeting! It’ll help you cut out the expenses that don’t provide you value in life, giving you more to spend on the things that you love.

Achieving financial peace of mind doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an ongoing journey. But with a solid plan (and a positive outlook), you can start enjoying the freedom that financial stability brings sooner rather than later.

Don’t run away from the things that stress you out —> run towards them and attack. You’ll find yourself in a much more secure and satisfying financial place.

Related stuff:

• 🏡 HTM Blog: Using financial stress to your advantage
• 😥 Debt Help: For free counseling, check out these non profits: MMI and NFCC!

ICYMI

In other news…

“Silver Squatters” 👵
A recent survey of 55y/o’s reveals that 1 in 4 are expecting to need financial assistance from their family when they retire. Most of them say they will likely need housing assistance. 😳

Hustlers 💻
Cool report from Bankrate: 1 in 3 American’s have a money making side hustle, and the average side hustler makes $891 per month in extra income outside of their day job. Not bad!

E Funds 🆘
A new white paper over at Alpha Architect finds that overconfidence can lead to poor emergency planning. Don’t get too cocky, peeps! Having an emergency fund is like wearing a seat belt.

Rent v Buy 🏡
More younger folks are rejecting the dream of homeownership, looking at the black and white math that shows it’s financially advantageous to continue renting/investing than it is to buy a home.

Stock Splits 📈
Here’s a fun article: Stock Splits and Stupidity, via Owenomics. “Thus, we have hard evidence that, at least in the lab, the stock price reaction to splits is driven by cognitively challenged buyers. If you do a stock split, you’ll attract some low IQ buyers.”

ASK HTM

“Should I use my Roth IRA funds to buy a home?” 🤷‍♀️

Technically you can use Roth IRA funds to help buy a home, because original contributions can be withdrawn tax and penalty free at any time. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it! Early withdrawals from your Roth IRA might give you temporary cash relief, but it will likely stunt your investment growth in the long term.

Our advice: If you can delay your home purchase and save up a down payment organically, this will always be your best financial option. Start by slashing whatever monthly expenses you can, stuffing all those savings into a high yield savings account, and wait until you have a decent down payment built up. Yes, it’s the slow and boring way, but it’s the safest way to get what you want now, and have enough savings for retirement down the line too.

That’s the short answer. Here’s the longer one.

Ps. Got a money question for us? Hit reply to this email and ask away!

Welp, that’s it for now. Hope you’re having a lovely summer and having fun! 😎

Best friends out! 🍻