Happy Tuesday, wealth builders!! 💪

Repeat after me...

• "I deserve a wealthy life"

• "Every dollar I save is building a stronger foundation for me and my family"

• "My time is extremely valuable"

• "There is no limit to what I can (and will) achieve"

• "My hard work and sacrifices will pay off"

• "I don't get up in the mornings for work… I get up each day for ME"

Nothing like a few good affirmations to start the day!!

OK, now let’s get going and turn these words into actions! 👇👇👇

TO DO

Tackle a DIY Project

This weeks mission (should you choose to accept it) is to tackle something yourself vs hiring help or buying new.

Here are some ideas…

• Make a Christmas gift for someone instead of buying it. (eg. My friend just found a free grill online and cleaned/restored it for his parents!)

• Try building/installing yourself. (eg. another friend of mine just bought a trampoline for his kid. Instead of paying $75 for installation, he assembled it at home with the help of a friend. Turned out fun, and saved $$!)

• Fix something at home yourself (or at least try!). With holiday time and possible slow periods at work, it's a great time to tackle home projects or little fixes around the house. Youtube is your best friend!!

When you DIY, you save money + gain knowledge. Just try it -- You're more resourceful than you think you are. 😉

SPENDING

Cash, Debit, or Credit?

Mark Cuban was on The Dave Ramsay show last month, and blurted out this controversial sentence:

"If you use credit cards, you don't want to be rich"

He's one of the richest people in the world... should we listen and take his advice literally? Should we all cut up our credit cards? ✂ 💳

(image via wikimedia commons)

Well, we kind of get where he's coming from... Cuban hates credit cards because the interest rates are like 15-25% for outstanding balances, and this can compound into extremely toxic debt for people.

But the flip side is, for those who pay off their balances *in full* each month, credit cards don't actually cost anything. We've personally used credit cards for decades, and have paid precisely $0 in fees and interest.

In fact, credit cards can offer a ton of other benefits that actually save us money. Stuff like:

• Cash back, points rewards, sign up bonuses

• Unauthorized purchase protections

• Travel benefits like insurance and avoiding foreign fees

• Builds a good credit score (which unlocks access to cheaper loan rates for other financial services in life)

Credit cards work well for us because of this golden rule:

If you don't have the cash in your bank account to pay *in full* for the thing you're about to buy ---> don't buy it.

It's less about the form of payment, and more about handling credit responsibly.

Also check out:

• 🎙️ Pod Episode 149:Cash, Debt or Credit?(we talk about all the diff payment methods out there -- apps, cash, deb & credit -- and discuss pros/cons of each)

• 💳 What's in Our Wallets: Here are the cards we have and how we use them

• 👨‍💻 New HTM Blog: When good debt becomes bad debt - watch out!

TOGETHER WITH POLICYGENIUS

We typically say folks should double-check or shop around for the best insurance rates- at least annually. Because circumstances change throughout the year (your car gets older, credit score increases, jobs change, etc) which could make your insurance rates cheaper!

And the reason we like Policygenius is because they're not an insurance company... they're a marketplace. Which means you only need to enter your info once, then their platform shops around for the best rates (and possible bundles) that suit your situation.

Joel and Emily just went through this process for both of their life insurance policies. But home + auto insurance is typically where people save the most. Check them out and see if you can save a few bucks!

SAVING

Sneaky Subscriptions 📺

Today's eye-opening chart comes from C+R Research who surveyed people about their monthly subscription services...

On average, consumers underestimate their monthly spend on subscriptions by $133 per month!!!

Turns out 54% of people are paying $100+ more PER MONTH than they *think* they are.

No wonder every business out there is trying out subscription models. They are so sticky!

Just a quick reminder y'all... Review them subscriptions! Switch to a lower tier, cancel what you don't use, and/or share a service with friends if allowed.

Or, try some of these...

• 📺 Free TV Options:Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel

• 🍿 Library Apps: Hoopla & Libby(also most local libraries have a DVD section if you want to kick it old school)!

• 📡 TV Antennas: CNET rates best ones around $20 - $30

ICYMI

Other Stuff Happening in the Finance World...

Dumpster Divers 🗑Or more eloquently referred to as "trash enthusiasts" -- are growing in popularity via TikTok videos! These peeps are sharing videos of all the cool stuff they find -- and honestly some of it looks pretty decent.

Holiday Jobs  👩‍💻Although seasonal hiring is down this year compared to last, there are a bunch of places ramping up hiring -- some with great sign up bonuses! For example, Amazon plans to hire 150k people with an average pay of $18 an hour and sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000. (It helps if you live near a distribution center!)

Aviation ✈️Frontier Airlines announced they are no longer accepting phone calls, ever. If you want customer service they have a 24/7 chatbot, and various social media channels to interact with. They are also offering a killer $799 unlimited annual travel pass -- but will it be worth it? 🤷‍♀️

Budget Billing 🧾Reminder -- energy and heating bills will likely be more expensive this winter due to higher demand on utilities and inflation. Budget billing, aka "level billing", is offered by a lot of utility companies but we actually don't love it. We'd rather feel the pain of our energy usage. It helps us amend our habits to lower our overall consumption which saves us more money over time. (And don't forget about the increased tax credits which start next year!)

Money + Happiness 😅If a surprise $10,000 check showed up in your bank account tomorrow, would you be happier in life? A new survey shows the answer is YES for people making under ~$123,000. But for those who earn over $123k per year, apparently life is about the same.

FRIENDS OF HTM

Lower Your Tax Bill w/ Shannon Weinstein 🙌

Shannon became a CPA because she lost a bet with her Dad!... Seriously! 🤣 She's a super fun and passionate personal finance nerd who teaches others about money & business in very relatable, easy ways.

Shannon's "niche" is taxes and accounting (that was our focus when we interviewed her back in March) -- but honestly her short daily podcast (~15 min) covers a much wider variety of topics you'll love.

Check out her blog and podcast here! It's a great time of year to brush up on basic tax knowledge. 😉

Welp, thanks for reading. And cheers to an awesome week ahead, continuing to build your fortune!

Best friends out 🍻

PS. Welcome to all you new readers! We'll be announcing the winners of our $600 giveaway on this Friday's podcast (and we'll email you directly, too).