Hello and happy Tuesday!

“Show me your friends —> and I’ll show you your future”

Just a quick reminder… Surround yourself with positive influences today, and every day.

The folks you spend the most time with shape your beliefs! They can improve or destroy your self confidence, open or close opportunities, and change who you are becoming over time.

Choose wisely, because you deserve the best future possible. 💪

OK, now let’s talk about money stuff… 👇👇👇

TO DO

(Re)connect with 2-3 old contacts 📲

Jordan Harbinger calls this "digging the well before you're thirsty"... The goal is to reach out, connect, and network with people *before* you need something. If you’re approach to networking is to holler when you’re in dire straits, it’s far less effective and you’re already too late.

Today: Shoot a quick email or text checking in with others you look up to and admire (without asking for something). This proactivity builds trust, and can really pay off later with new opportunities, fun projects, or just interesting life connections.

There's gold in your network -- dig a little! 💪 🙏

SPENDING

Early 401k Withdrawals — Ouch! 🙅‍♂️

More and more people are “yanking money from their 401ks” to help pay for stuff today vs. letting that money grow for retirement.

Maybe they don’t realize how harmful this actually is!?

To help illustrate, here’s a hypothetical scenario:

Let’s say you’re 35 years old and have a 401k balance of $200,000. Not bad!

Now let’s say you’ve really been wanting to buy a second car, because all the families in your neighborhood have multiple cars in their driveway, and you feel pressure to get one too. Since you don’t have much wiggle room in your monthly budget and a meager cash savings pile, you look to withdraw $50,000 out of your 401k to purchase a fancy minivan.

Here is how it will stunt your retirement growth…

First, after the 10% penalty and withheld taxes, a $50,000 withdrawal from your 401k only works out to be ~$33,000 cash in hand. The new car you’re buying just got a whole lot smaller than you originally thought!

Next, due to the missed compound growth (we assumed an 8% return), when it comes time to retire 30 years later you have over half a million dollars LESS.

Is that second car really worth $500k in retirement funds!?!?

Noooooooooooooo. 🙅‍♂️🙅‍♂️🙅‍♂️

Just a reminder for any of y’all tempted to dip into those retirement accounts. Try to think of other ways to solve short-term money problems, and tease out the long-term consequences. They can be severe!

Related stuff:

• 🔢 Calculator: Impact Calculator for 401k Early Withdrawals

• 💻 HTM Blog: How to Stop Dipping into Savings Account

• 👩‍💻 FIRE Peeps Only: How to Access Retirement Funds Early

TOGETHER WITH DAFFY*

Joel vs. Matt — “The BET”

In partnership with our friends at Daffy — we are helping raise money for charity by hosting a little competition… JOEL vs. MATT!!! Here are all the deets:

The Bet: Both Matt and Joel have created donation campaigns via Daffy to raise money for causes they care about. The competition is to see who can raise the most money by April 30th!

Matching: To stoke the fire, both Joel and Matt are personally putting up $3,000 EACH of their own money to match donations. So your $10 donation becomes $20, double the impact!

The Loser: Whoever loses the competition has to drink a 6-pack of crappy beer 🍺👎 for the next 6 podcast episodes! The awful tasting beer will be chosen by the winner lol.

Soooooo…. Who are YOU going to support? Matt or Joel? 👇👇👇 (no matter who you give to, all donations go to a good cause 🤗)

RETIREMENT

Updated “Magic Number” — $1.46 Mil

Northwestern Mutual just released their 2024 Planning and Progress Study, and Americans now believe they’ll need $1.46 million to retire comfortably.

And to achieve that, here’s the amount one needs to save each month based on their current age… 👇👇👇

Sadly, most people have a LOOONG way to go, because the average current retirement savings balance for American’s is just $88,400! 😬

But let’s forget about averages for a sec, and focus on YOUR specific situation…

• Calculate your personal nest egg goal: Rather than use everyone else’s retirement numbers calculate and set your own goal. For older folks with a paid off home and social security kicking in soon, you might not need as much. For younger folks or people in HCOL areas, you might need or want to aim for more.

• Net Worth & Savings Rates: Tracking your Net Worth year after year helps you see how effective your saving and investing is going. And calculating your savings rate reveals how much you’re socking away as a percentage of your income.

• Utilize tax-advantaged accounts: Deferring and paying less taxes means faster compounding! Roth, 401k, HSA, etc. Learn about these accounts and invest in any or all of the ones you have available to you.

• Cut some expenses: Drastic, sudden changes might not be sustainable. Instead, slowly building frugal habits into your routine will help reduce any wasted spending so you can save more over time.

• Increase income: Consider side hustles, consulting, renting out unused items, or even part-time work. Every bit counts! When you’re retired, making even just $10k/year with a side gig reduces how much you need to take from your nest egg, making it last significantly longer. Younger people: start planning and building these extra income streams now! Retirees: Can you keep working, but in a reduced capacity that's more enjoyable and requires less commitment? Remember, it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing decision.

Don't be discouraged by massive 7-figure retirement goals. They are far more achievable than you think! Just focus on the progress you’re trying to make each day, and the results will follow.

Related stuff:

• 🎙 Podcast Ep #425: Ownership is THE Key to Wealth Building (46 mins)

• 👩‍💻 HTM Blog: How much do you actually need to retire?

• 📲 Empower: Free App for Expenses + Net Worth tracking

ICYMI

In other news…

$1B Unclaimed 😳
The IRS says they have over $1 billion in unclaimed tax refunds from the 2020 tax year. Folks have until May 17th to file 2020 returns and collect any money they’re owed!

Careers 👩‍💻
Monster’s latest Work Watch Report shows that 95% of workers are planning to look for a new job in 2024. 😳 That’s a lot of job-changers! Higher salary expectations and feeling burnt out are top reasons for making a change.

Food Waste ♻️
American’s throw away over 5 million tons of food each year because of confusing “Sell By” and “Best Before” dates printed on the labels. Now big retailers like Kroger, Walmart and Amazon are backing a bill to help change the labels and clear up confusion.

Target Deals 🎯
It’s Circle Week at Target with big discounts until April 13th! Target is also holding its annual Car Seat Trade In Event from April 14th to 27th. Shoppers can bring in any old car seat, booster, baby harness or whatever and get a 20% off coupon towards new baby gear. Perfect for expecting parents and baby shower gifts!

Lottery Fever 😭
The last few years we’ve seen several lottery jackpots over $1 Billion. The higher the jackpot, the more people buy tickets, which balloons jackpots even higher. It’s madness. Don’t fall into the trap! The odds of winning are about one in 300 million.

Bye bye 99c 🛒
Sad news — All 99c Cents Only Stores will be closing down permanently. They currently have ~400 locations across California, Texas, Arizona & Nevada and began liquidation last Friday. 😭

FRIENDS OF HTM

Marko @ WhiteBoard Finance

You might recognize this guy 👆 from his famous YouTube videos standing in front of a whiteboard, breaking down complex finance topics into simple terms.

Marko began WhiteBoard Finance on YouTube about 6 years ago, and has since attracted nearly 1 million subscribers!

Check out his site here, and we also had him on episode #809 of the podcast last week talking about Bitcoin for beginners!

Wishing you a great day ahead, hanging with friends, family, and coworkers that bring out the best in you. 💪 😎 

Best friends out! 🍻