Van Life Ventures, Global Gains, & Looking on the Bright Side 😉

Good morning, HTM family!

The secret to being happy?… —-> Focus on what you love about your life 🤗

The secret to being miserable?… —-> Focus on the stuff going wrong with your life 😤

Just a quick reminder for this week… Focus on the good stuff! (Then, go and create more of it 😉)

OK, now let’s chat about money… 👇👇👇

TO DO

Ask Us a Question 🙋‍♂️

Got a burning money question? Or are you financially “stuck” trying to solve a financial problem on your own? We’d love to help and answer it on the podcast!

As silly as it may feel, there are likely thousands of fellow HTM listeners in the same boat as you. Asking questions is how we all learn together!

Here’s how to send us a voice memo. Shoot it over to HowToMoneyPod@gmail.com (or just hit reply to this email!) Cheers! 🍻

TRAVEL

Realities of Van Life Travel 🚐

Ever think about selling all your worldly possessions to live in a van and travel? It sounds so freeing and affordable!

…but is it really as fun and cheap as it seems?

We recently chatted with Steven and Lauren from Trip Of A Lifestyle. They’re “vanlife” aficionados who stuck a mattress in the back of a Nissan NV200 cargo van and drove around the US for 7 months visiting every single National Park.

Here are a few notes they shared about the realities of #vanlife…

What’s Awesome:

1. It’s a great way to see the world affordably. If your goal is to be on the road and travel every second of every day on the cheap, hitting the road in a camper van can make it possible.

2. It really does slow you down and allow you to explore at your own pace.

3. It allows you to get away from society, especially when you’re able to dry camp off the beaten path.

4. It forces you to travel light, which in turn makes you appreciate the little things even more.

And What’s Not:

1. It’s tiny. You can feel a little cramped or cooped up if you don’t make time to get out of the van. Other than driving and sleeping, we almost never hung out in our van. We lived out in the world, either hiking the trails or experiencing nearby towns.

2. It can be just as costly as regular travel if you don’t do it right. Buying a fancy van and staying at paid campsites isn’t cheap. Even a basic campsite can cost $60/night, which works out to $1,800/month! That’s why we did a minimalist van conversion and almost always pay $0 for our campsites.

3. Not every campsite is beautiful. Sometimes, you’ll just end up sleeping in a Walmart parking lot or a travel center.

4. There are plenty of places you can’t take your van, and you’ll still need to pay for accommodations — like when your destination is overseas or on an island. We also experienced nights that were too cold or too hot to camp comfortably in our van. We got a hotel on those occasions.

Tips for the Van-Curious:

1. Have clear goals: Know what kind of travel you want to do. Vanlife is easier if you enjoy being in nature. Camping is more readily available in wide open spaces. If you like exploring museums in a city setting, plan day trips and find camping options on the outskirts of town.

2. Plan your van: Don’t buy a cheap van and do an expensive conversion. Buy a mechanically reliable van and do a lower-cost outfitting. The main purpose of your van is to get you from point A to point B safely. Comfortable shelter is important but secondary. Everything else is icing on the cake.

3. Make use of public amenities: Almost every storefront in every town has free WiFi these days — especially coffee shops and fast food restaurants. Go inside, grab a drink, and you’ve got yourself an office. Need a shower on the road? Get a nationwide gym membership to make sure you can stretch your legs and get clean every night.

More Resources:

• 🚐 Road Budget: Traveling for $36/Day

• 🏕️ Camping/Parking: Freecampsites.net, iOverlander

• 💻 Online Groups: Vanlife Subreddit, Vanlife FB Group

TOGETHER WITH BETTERMENT*

Turn out the lights on traditional savings accounts. With our high-yield cash account, your money is earning 11x the national average**. Get started today.

INVESTING

International Exposure within S&P 500 🌎

A common concern among index investors…

“Is it OK to only invest in the US stock market? Should I buy international stocks too?”

Here’s a cool chart from a recent FactSet earnings insight report, which breaks out the revenue exposure for S&P 500 stocks (all US-based companies) 👇👇👇

Long story short: The largest US companies have huge international exposure, accounting for over 40% of their revenue. So when you buy an S&P 500 index fund, you’re getting some of that all-important global diversification.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t invest in international stocks… Having ~20% of your portfolio in an international index fund (like VTIAX, FZILX or SWISX) will offer you even more diversification. But given the chart above, we also don’t see that as a necessity.

Good folks can come down on different sides of this debate. But this is crucial information and can help people feel more comfortable sticking to the simple route, socking their money into a Total Stock Market or S&P 500 index fund while avoiding some of the fancier (and often more expensive) international allocation possibilities. 😉

Related stuff:

• 💸 Beginners: How to Buy Index Funds

• 📈 Cheat Sheet: Common index funds for different brokers

ICYMI

In other news…

Meme Stocks 📈
Great news for folks who want to go bankrupt and lose all their life savings… Roaring Kitty is back, stirring up a meme stock trading frenzy with GameStop and AMC. 😭

Social Security 🙈
A new government report predicts that SS funds will run out of money in November 2033 (only 9 years away!). At that point, benefits would automatically be cut by 21%. Ouch! Sure, we still have time to fix things. But it’s a good reminder that you need to be focused on building wealth, not solely relying on social security for your retirement future.

Data is Beautiful 🌎
Check out this Cost of Living by County MAP someone made on Reddit based on average 2023 spending data. Interesting insights!

Clean Energy ♻️
Here are four charts that will make you feel better about the future of our planet. Yay for clean energy!

Free Cell Service? 📲 
TextNow, a free MVNO running on T-Mobile’s network, just expanded its free service to include a small amount of data capabilities. This plan comes with free voice and text too. This might be a great fit if you rarely use your phone and are mostly connected to WiFi!

Lounge Access 🪭
For frequent travelers: Here are the top credit cards that get you lounge access at airports. Important note: Luxury credit cards only make sense if you can keep your spending in check and actually use the spectacular benefits!

HOW *YOU* MONEY

Dr. Dani, 43, Portland OR 🌳

Occupation: Locums Physician
Salary: Typically $300-350K

Paycheck deductions: Oof…usually $17-20K taxes quarterly, $275/mo health + $75/mo dental. The rest of the deductions are variable based on travel, charity work (clinics in Africa/SE Asia), SEP IRA, etc.
Housing: Mortgage $2K, property taxes typically $7K/yr
Other Debts: Student loans $1K/m
Living expenses: Ranges from $500-$3K

Leftover savings each month: ~$5k

How are you investing your excess savings each month?
Max my SEP IRA, max my Roth each year, $30K/yr in the market, saving $1-2K/mo to buy a rental property

Biggest “craft beer equivalent” splurge:
Live music

Best savings hack/advice:
As a travel doc, most of my travel related to work is reimbursed and what isn’t is a write-off. I never have the locums company book my hotels and airfare bc I want the CC points. I have flown first class for the past several years on points and have been able to stay at amazing hotels with upgrades bc of my CC status. Obviously, pay my CC bills off monthly. As a 1099, I’m able to put more in a SEP annually than what I could do as a permanent employee of a hospital system. I also do approved travel CME (continuing medical education) while on vacation in order to write it off which has involved trips to Hawaii and Europe.

I am currently also a hospice medical director so the monthly salary I get from this ($4-7K/mo depending on census) is applied to my student loans now and when student loans are paid off, it will be applied to my mortgage so that I’ll be debt free by 52.

Recent money win and how did you celebrate?
Consistent increase in hospice census so that I’m making $1K/mo more – celebrated by putting towards student loans 🤣

Anything else you want to share?
Travel medicine not only allows for happier wealth building but more autonomy in medicine and more time spent with patients.

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Cheers to a great week ahead, focusing on all the good things in life 🌻

Best friends out! 🍻