Words to Live By: Jerzy Gregorek Edition
I’ve often mentioned Jerzy Gregorek’s masterful “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life” quote, as I think it is a framework for long-term success in FI and in life.
Possibly even more profound is this from Jerzy: “Try to be around people who don’t do three things. They are not sarcastic. They don’t complain and they don’t blame.”
If you sit back and listen, you’ll find these ‘three killers of happiness’ make up 80%+ of everyday conversation. I challenge you to personally stop this madness and also cut out the people in your life perpetuating this negativity.
Instead, look for people who are interesting themselves and interested in others, those who ask questions, those looking for solutions, those who understand there’s nuance and subtlety in the world, and that there’s so much to be positive about, even in tough times.
Free Weekly Credit Reports
I spoke about my love of ToDoIst recently on a podcast and our CEO Ed told me that one of my tasks was hopelessly outdated. It used to be that you could get a free credit report from the 3 bureaus annually, so I spread them out over the year, but he sent me an FTC article that said “everyone is eligible to get free weekly credit reports from the three national credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.” This is through April 2021.
ChooseFI Community Taking Action this Week
Last week I asked you to hit reply to this email and let me know what your wins were for the week. Here are a few that jumped out to me:
- Eric had a series of wins he sent along including, “my wife and I are both maximizing our 401k and Roth IRA contributions this year for the first time. Plus we’re carving out an extra $100/month for another investment AND I’m continuing to maximize my HSA. We’ve boosted our savings rate from ~30% to closer to 60% for this year!”
- Joanna said, “I reviewed my cell phone bill and found that I was paying $15 per month for insurance on my android smartphone. I would then have to pay $175 – $275 to use the insurance to repair or replace the phone. A quick Google search revealed that I can buy a new replacement phone (same phone) for $125! So I’ve cancelled my cell phone insurance saving me $180 per year!!”
- Jenn said “this past month I reached out to my daughter’s college and asked if they would waive the on-campus requirement for freshman and sophomore year, due to COVID. They said YES, evaluated semester by semester, if all classes were taken online. This is a HUGE $5k savings every semester ($20k total) – simply because I asked.”
- Allison, “started calling the billing office for every medical bill that comes in the mail and asking, “Is there any way we can make this lower?” So far, I’m 4/4 for getting the bill reduced by at least 10% (sometimes 20%) for paying in full right then.”
- Grant said “my wife Jill and I paid off our house! It took us just shy of 8 years to pay off $315,000 and now we are entirely debt free!”
- Ike said, “I’m a 2020 college graduate and my emergency fund is already at about 4-5 months of expenses and I started my Roth IRA!”
