Good morning, HTM family!

BIG news… Today is our 1 year newsletteraversary! 🥳 Woohoo!!

Our mission in sending these emails is to help more folks strengthen their money situation (and live the happiest life they can, no matter where they are financially). And just by being on the list, YOU are helping with this mission. So, THANK YOU!!!

To celebrate, we’re giving away 5 pairs of the world’s most comfortable socks! 👇

Want to win a pair? Here’s how… You just need to refer 1 new friend to this newsletter, and you’ll be entered into the drawing. (for any of you with past referrals — you’re automatically entered 😉)

Click this fancy referral hub link, then copy and share your unique code with your buddies or on social media. We’ll announce the 5 winners in next week’s email!

It’s been a fun year. Cheers, and here’s to another awesome one ahead! 🍻

TO DO

Schedule a “Noise Free” Day

Ever heard of an “information diet”? It’s when you limit news and social media consumption to reach a healthier and more balanced mindset. It’s no secret that some (or a LOT) of the news we consume is spun negatively or sensationalized.

This week: Pick just one day to be completely noise free. Don’t check the news, don’t open social media, just go into hermit mode. Other people’s stuff can wait, it’s time to focus on your mission.

FAMILY

Gifting Money to Babies…

OK, so you want to give your newborn baby a financial head start? Here is the second best way to make your baby a millionaire in life…

Just set aside $7,000 the day they are born, invest it in the S&P 500, and wait 65 years. They’ll have a cool $1 million at retirement.

What about the first best way to give your kid a financial head start in life? —> Teach them to earn, save, and invest their own money. Encourage them to work and allow them to solve their own money challenges.

Monetary gifts are nice (if you can afford that), but financial literacy trumps an inheritance any day of the week.

Related stuff:

• 💻 HTM Blogs: Teaching kids about money. And about investing.

• 📚 Book Rec: Beyond Piggy Banks and Lemonade Stands, by Liz Frazier. (kids are never too young to learn about personal finance)

TOGETHER WITH CIT**

Got Over $5k in Savings?

CIT Bank now offers a Platinum Savings account with a whopping 4.75% APY* on balances of $5,000 or more!!! Booyah!

Not only that… There are no opening or monthly account fees, savings accounts are FDIC insured (up to $250k), and you can manage everything through an easy to use mobile app!

If you’ve got over $5k in your emergency fund, check out the CIT Platinum Savings account and put those dollars to work. 💪

Platinum Savings is a tiered interest rate account. Interest is paid on the entire account balance based on the interest rate and APY in effect that day for the balance tier associated with the end-of-day account balance. APYs — Annual Percentage Yields are accurate as of March 31, 2023: 0.25% APY on balances of $0.01 to $4,999.99; 4.75% APY on balances of $5,000.00 or more. Interest Rates for the Platinum Savings account are variable and may change at any time without notice. The minimum to open a Platinum Savings account is $100. See site for details.

SAVING

Early Retirement GRID

This week’s chart is an oldie but goodie, from our buddy Zach over at FourPillarFreedom.

It shows roughly how many years it’ll take for you to reach financial independence, based on your annual income vs. annual spending👇👇👇

What we love about this chart is it visualizes how detrimental lifestyle inflation actually is regarding your ability to retire.

If you’re earning $100k per year and spending $90k of it (a 10% savings rate), you’re actually on a longer wealth building journey than someone earning $50k and spending $40k of it (20% savings rate).

Main takeaway: No matter how big or small your salary is, the most important factor in determining your timeline to retire is your savings rate.

More resources:

• 🔢 Calculator: Here’s an interactive version of the retirement grid, for higher income earners. It lets you plug in your own numbers and growth assumptions.

• 🎧 Listen: But do you even need to be a millionaire to retire? Maybe not!

ICYMI

News and Updates

$1,000 Bonus 💳
Chase just upped the welcome bonus for one of our all round favorite credit cards… The Chase Sapphire Preferred. You can now snag 80k Chase points after spending $4k in the first 3 months, which equates to $1,000 in value for travel and other stuff in the Chase portal. Note: This card has a $95 annual fee, so def factor that in, but still the welcome bonus more than covers that for years. More info & all the perks listed here.

Loan Level Pricing 🏡
You may have heard, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are implementing changes to fees known as loan-level price adjustments. Kind of good news for borrowers with low credit scores and bad news for those with higher scores. *Note: overall, having a good credit score still gets you a cheaper overall interest rate. Don’t go trashing your score just to get a small discount on a higher rate.

Old Tech 📼
Walmart has launched a Gadget to Gift Cards Program - they want to buy your old tech and give you store credit in exchange. Clean out your old technology drawers, people!

Job Satisfaction 🤷‍♂️
Pretty interesting study via Pew Research about How American’s View Their Jobs. Most people seem happy with their co-workers & bosses. But they’re not so stoked about their current pay or promotion opportunities.

Facebook Class Action 🪙
Anyone who used Facebook in the last 16 years can submit a claim and be part of their latest class action suit. Submit the claim form here before August 25th and you’ll get a tiny portion of the $540 million that FB will be paying out. Yay.

Mothers Day 🎁
Just a reminder y’all that Mothers Day is coming up — Sunday May 14th — so pick out your gifts early to avoid the last minute “convenience fees” for late planning!

FRIENDS OF HTM

Nick Maggiulli, Of Dollars and Data

Nick is the COO of Ritholtz Wealth Management. And when he’s not kicking butt making his clients richer, he’s writing killer blog posts on his site, Of Dollars And Data so that all people can learn to be better with money.

Nick also wrote one of our fave personal finance books Just Keep Buying. We also had a great chat with him on Ep 499 of the podcast, which you’ll really enjoy.

That’s it for now. Don’t forget to enter the sock giveaway!! 🧦

Best friends out 🍻