A Full Review of Your Finances
Cody Garrett, one of the most helpful and active members of our community and a CFP, recently posted the following in our FB group:
“When is the last time you completed a FULL review of your finances? If you don’t know where to start, here’s a data gathering checklist that includes the most common documents to review.”
Click here to see the entire list and be sure to bookmark this for an annual review.
The Simple StartUp Summer Challenge
Registration is closing on June 7th for this Summer’s The Simple StartUp’s group course and I wanted to pass along the info:
The Simple StartUp is hosting a 6-week Summer Challenge group to help aspiring 10-18 year old entrepreneurs figure out a business idea, and then turn it into a profitable venture. Rob Phelan is the host and he will guide your child through all the steps to getting started through video lessons, live webinars twice a week, and a thriving exclusive online community of current and past Simple StartUp participants (if you want to hear success stories, check out Episodes 271 and 308 of ChooseFI).
The time commitment each week is flexible and all the lessons can be completed at your own speed.
The Summer Challenge runs from June 24th – August 6th and you can sign up directly at choosefi.com/startup. If you have any questions you can email Rob directly at: [email protected]
50 (Very) Short Rules for a Good Life
I saw this article from Ryan Holiday entitled, “50 Very Short Rules for a Good Life From the Stoics: The best pieces of wisdom gathered from a body of work that spans 2,000 years” and so many of them jumped off the page. Here are some of my favorites:
- You control how you respond to things
- Never be overheard complaining—even to yourself
- Don’t compare yourself to others
- Put every impression, emotion, to the test before acting on it
- Make a little progress each day
- Associate only with people that make you better
ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week
- Jane Marie said, “My 1% better is that yesterday I called two medical providers that had overcharged me for visits to request refunds. With my insurance representative on the phone, I was able to get both reimbursement claims submitted. That will add up to over $200 in reimbursements. Always compare your insurance explanations of benefits with what you’re being charged at the doctor’s office!!!”
- Quinton said, “My wife and I are moving to Austin. We are moving into the city, so we sold one of our cars. After calculating the numbers from the past two years it will save us $8,000 a year by being a one car family. I’m doing a Mr. Money Mustache and commuting to work on a bike. It will be a big difference from my previous 1 hour plus commute I made in Illinois. I can’t wait to enjoy 2 hours of my life back every day, and the extra money to save for our goals!”
- Josh said, “My 1% this week was to turn in my 2 week notice at work. I’ve been pursuing FIRE for about 6-7 years now, and while I’m not Financially Independent yet, I’m in a comfortable place to take a gap year or mini-retirement. I plan to decompress and take some road trips across the country to see friends and National Parks. But perhaps most importantly, I plan to spend lots of time with my parents and 3 living grandparents in my hometown. I’ve missed a lot of holidays and family events in the past 16 years since I live 1,000+ miles away, and I know how precious that limited time I have left with them will be for all of us.”
- Annette said, “I just started listening to you guys this last week and love the podcast! You inspired me to up my contribution to my 457 by 2% with a plan to continue to up it another 2% in a couple months!!! Thank you for the inspiration!”
- Maddie said, “My 1% better was opening an LLC! I never thought I’d want to be an entrepreneur, but after listening to ChooseFI and other podcasts I realized that I DO want the option of working for myself and diversifying my income streams. It’s still in its baby phase, but hoping to be making money by the end of the year. I never would have made this leap without your and Jonathan’s encouragement. Thank you!”
- Meigan said, “I checked out your tshirt link (from last week’s FI Weekly) and was happy to see that you can do not just 1% better, but 1.5% better on those purchases in the form of a rebate check from Rakuten! I’ve got the extension installed on my browser, and if I need to order online, I try to shop at stores where I can get a rebate! Then, I apply the rebates I get to my only outstanding loan debt! It isn’t a ton of cash back, but I’ve been able to lower my balance by about $190 since I installed the extension in October! Doing my Xmas shopping really increased that overall rebate amount!”
