Happy Tuesday, HTM family!

A common misunderstanding many humans possess is thinking they need to choose between their well-being or success. Like it’s either one or the other…

Science tells us the opposite. Self-care and success actually go hand in hand.

When you prioritize your well-being —> performance goes up across the board.

Just something to keep in mind this week… Take care of #1 ☝️. You can’t charge up others if your own battery is dead.

OK, now let’s get on to the money stuff! 👇👇👇

TO DO

Money Wins + Book Giveaway 🥳

Towards the end of every year, we release an HTM episode that's all about what YOU all have been able to accomplish. It's a chance to celebrate together and learn from a brilliant group of folks - your fellow HTM listeners & readers!

To do this week: Share your biggest money win with us and tell us all the cool goals you've been able to smash this year. Just record a quick voice memo (90 seconds or less, please), then shoot it to our email address — [email protected]. State your name and where you live, please!

We'll feature as many peeps as possible on the show next month. And if your money win gets aired, we'll send you a book from a former guest! 📚

Thanks in advance, y'all. 🙏

LIFESTYLE

Quirky “Rich Habits” 🙋‍♂️

Did you know… People who make their bed every morning are 206.8% more likely to be millionaires!? It’s true. 🛏️

A socio-economist named Randall Bell found this out when he studied 5,000+ people and linked all the core characteristics and habits that high achievers have in common….

Here are some other “rich habits” that millionaires have in common:

• Millionaires make their bed each morning 🛏️: Doing a small intentional chore each and every day gets you in the right mindset and starts a snowball of productivity for the day ahead.

• Millionaires wave to their neighbors 🙋‍♂️: Being social and friendly is important and attracts new connections and opportunities in life - and in business too!

• Millionaires don’t have road rage 😡: Successful people keep their emotions in check. Instead of wasting energy on situations that don’t truly matter, they channel their energy into productive ventures instead.

• Millionaires don’t smoke 🚭: Smoking and wealth-building don’t correlate statistically. If you don’t smoke, you’re 258% more likely to become a millionaire.

• Millionaires pick up trash 🗑️: Successful people roll their sleeves up and do whatever it takes to make things better — no job is beneath them.

• Millionaires read 7+ books a year 📚: “Reading dramatically correlates with higher education and income, as well as overall happiness.”

• Millionaires eat dinner together with their family 🍽️: “Those who have regular dinner together as a family are 41% more likely to be happy and 43% more likely to earn over $100,000 a year.”

So there you have it! Tomorrow… just make your bed, say hi to your neighbor, pick up some trash before family dinner, and watch the riches flow your way!!!

Just kidding, it’s not that easy. Habits take a while to form. But they are worth striving for and adopting over time. Change your habits = change your life.

Related stuff:

• 🎤 Ted Talk: Rich Habits by Randall Bell (he talks more about his 25+ year research findings)

• 👨‍💻 HTM Post: 14 Good Financial Habits to Live By

• 📚 Book Rec: Atomic Habits by James Clear

TOGETHER WITH DAFFY*

Donating Stocks = Paying Less Tax 🤑

When you give to charity via a donor-advised fund, you can gift stocks, bonds, gold, or even index funds!

And why would you want to do that vs. giving plain old cash?!!?

What most people don’t realize is that gifting appreciated assets means more tax savings, because you don’t have to pay the unrealized capital gains on your gift. You basically transfer your original cost basis to the charity (and then they cash in on the gains without paying taxes, because they’re a non-profit).

Here’s a neat calculator made by our buddies at Daffy showing the additional tax savings of donating stocks vs. cash.

This is one of the reasons we recommend folks set up giving accounts with Daffy… More giving options and more tax savings!

BUDGETING

Mint.com is shutting down 😭

Sad news, people… One of the oldest and best (in our opinion) free apps for tracking expenses and budgeting is getting axed. Mint’s parent company Intuit announced last week the service will no longer be available come Jan 1st.

Boooooo. It’s hard to not get upset — we’ve been using Mint for over a decade and it’s well-loved by the community (seriously, just check Reddit)! Oh well, all good things must come to an end I guess…

As a consolation, Intuit is offering an alternative (albeit with fewer features) for current Mint users to migrate their account and data over to a different app they own — CreditKarma.

Credit Karma is great on the credit score monitoring front. But will it be a solid place for budgeting? That remains to be seen. Our plan is to migrate over, check it out for a bit, and see if it still works for us.

At first glance, Credit Karma doesn’t have Budgeting or Goals features. So for users who currently rely on Mint in the capacity, you might want to look into some alternatives. Which ones in particular? I’m glad you asked.

Here are a few that might work:

Empower (formally Personal Capital): It’s the most similar to Mint in how it works and its features. Great for tracking investments/net worth but a little light on the budgeting capabilities. The good news, Empower is FREE 🥳

Tiller: This isn’t really an “app” so to speak — it actually downloads your bank and credit card data to either Google Sheets or Excel. It’s great for spreadsheet nerds who want to own their own data vs. having it stored in an app. Tiller is $79/year after a 30-day free trial.

Monarch Money: The co-founder and CEO of Monarch used to work for Mint back in the day and helped launch it. Monarch has a unique calendar view that allows budgeters to visualize the month ahead with bill due dates, etc. A very thorough app with great reviews, Monarch is $99/year.

You Need a Budget: It’s one of the highest-rated budgeting apps with a very loyal customer base. The average user saves $6,000 within the first year using YNAB — it’s FREE for students, has a 34-day free trial, and $99/year after that. YNAB’s fan base is massively loyal and for good reason.

Copilot: (Only available on iOS and Mac currently) It’s a newly launched app that’s turning heads in the personal finance space. Copilot has a very sleek and intuitive interface and uses AI to “learn” about your trends to help offer better money management. Copilot is $95/year and has a free trial too.

There are a handful of others that our readers have recommended (RocketMoney, Quicken, EveryDollar to name a few) and every month it seems a new FinTech app is launched. They all have a learning curve so you gotta be patient when trying out a new software. Especially if you’ve been using the one you’re currently with for years and years.

All in all, what matters most is finding a system that works for you —> and sticking to it if it gets the job done. Tracking expenses and budgeting are cornerstones of personal finance, so even if you have to pay a small monthly or annual fee, it’s usually frugal (not cheap) to pony up.

Related Stuff:

• 👨‍💻 Reddit: The Mint community on Reddit is rapidly testing other money apps and sharing feedback about features, etc. Might be worth keeping an eye on this over the coming weeks to learn more.

ICYMI

In other news…

Crypto 💸
Sam Bankman-Fried was officially convicted last week of multi-billion dollar crypto fraud. His sentence hearing is early next year, facing decades in prison. (🎤We’ll be interviewing Zeke Faux whose book about crypto was introduced as evidence in the trial. A must-listen episode dropping tomorrow!)  

ADU Income 🏡
House-hackers rejoice!… The FHA will now allow income from ADUs to be considered when underwriting mortgages. So if you’re buying a house with an ADU (or planning to build a new one) you can use a percentage of the “expected income” to qualify for a bigger loan.

Wolf of Wall Street 👔 
Jordan Belfort — the real-life Wolf of Wall Street guy — is out with a new book about building long-term wealth. And his advice is actually something we mostly agree with… “Index and chill!”

Geoarbitrage 🌎
For those of you who can work anywhere in the world (or if you want to retire overseas), Yahoo Finance compiled a list of 40 awesome places you can live on less than $3,000 per month.

My Millennial Money 🇦🇺
The second coolest Australian we know — Glen James — invited us on his podcast last week where we discussed FIRE, workaholics, and weddings & Christmas gifts. Check it out here!

HOW *YOU* MONEY

Jessica, 24y/o, Orlando, FL 🌤️

Occupations: Director of Operations
Salary: ~$85,000

Paycheck deductions: Federal taxes: $1275, (no state tax in FL but moving to NC in a few months so that will change). 401k: $710
Rent: $1,200
Other Debts: None!
Living expenses: ~$2,000/m

Leftover savings each month: ~$1,900

How do you invest your excess savings each month?
Currently building an emergency fund with everything left over. Before this podcast, I skipped that step, going right to investing in tax advantage accounts and a general brokerage account. So now my investing is paused until I build my emergency fund to cover 3 months of expenses.

Biggest “craft beer equivalent” splurge:
Travel! Still like to do so on a budget, but we like to travel often.

Best savings hack/advice:
I have 2 budgets, one that I track all expenses as to what they are, and one that has 3 buckets: savings/investing, wants, and needs. I set a total limit for wants and needs so I can allocate my money without guilt, but I also have my "regular" budget so I can track what exactly I've been spending my money on very easily.

Biggest money challenge right now:
Planning for our move up to Charlotte, NC in three months.

Recent money win and how did you celebrate?
I used what I've learned on the podcast to offer suggestions to my boss about handling the company finances. I now am responsible for all the financials and with the job came a $22,000 pay raise! This is my biggest raise by far, at about a 35% increase.

Anything else you want to share?
We live across the street from a brewery! Tactical brewery in Orlando is awesome and our favorite place to hang out. If you're ever around you'll have to try it - lots of sours and fruit beers!

Editor’s note: Cheers for sharing, Jessica! We LOVE hearing that your boss was open to suggestions on improvements and CONGRATS on your promotion and pay raise! It’s proof that solving other people’s problems can have personal rewards too!

**Help us keep these profiles going by filling out the HYM form and sharing your story! (Don’t worry, we won't publish anything without you approving it first)**

That’s it for now! Have a great day ahead and remember to take care of yourself ☝️

Best friends out! 🍻