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FI Weekly – March 28, 2023: AI Revolution, Millionaire Next Door

Choose FI has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Choose FI and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a ChooseFI advertiser. Disclosures.

AI Revolution Happening Now

Part of what makes the FI Community special is we realize the world is constantly changing and in order to make the best decisions going forward, we need to understand those changes and the ‘rules of the game’ of life.

We see this in our finances with traditionally unheard of concepts like:

I think we’re in the middle of the most remarkable technological change the world has ever seen with the pace of development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially with the recent release of GPT-4.

It’s all happening so quickly that what I write today could be old news by next week, and I won’t pretend to be an authoritative expert by any means, but the critical part is that every single person reading this newsletter understands that the world is changing around them and you must start learning about this today.

I’ve tried to curate a list of resources and examples that will help you get up to speed quickly. 

Even if you don’t read everything below, please at least click on this thread and get acquainted with the amazing possibilities:

Resources:

Use Cases:

Millionaire Next Door Advice

Rachael Camp is someone I really enjoy following on Twitter, and her recent Tweet reminded me of the FI Community and the millionaire next door mentality:

“A guaranteed way to not build wealth:

Wear your money.
Drive your money.
Live in your money.”

ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week

  • Savannah said, “My 1% better is finally signing up for the a travel rewards card back in December since I knew we would have to get a new HVAC and wanted to put it on the card to hit that 4K mark. I referred my husband and received an extra 15K bonus points. We just booked our Southwest air tickets for a ski trip this month using a fraction of the points accumulated in the past two months and plan to use the points to help pay for our ski trips every year.”

  • Dan said, “My 1% better this week was getting a great deal on tires. I knew I was needing new tires on my Toyota tundra. I went to the local tire store and they quoted me $1700.00 for a set of 4 out the door. I could not believe the increase in tire prices. On a whim, I asked the sales guy if they had any used tires as I don’t drive my truck all that much. He said, “I’m not sure, let me check.” He came back and said he has a used set of the exact tire he quoted me for that had 50 miles on. I got the set of 4 for $600.00, saving $1100.00 for the same tire, but slightly used.”

  • Dakota said, “My 1% better was to Tax Loss Harvest to save $660 on 2022 taxes! This is in the ballpark of my 1% of my after tax annual income, all for a few minutes of work. Those dollars are going right back into a broad market index fund for long term appreciation. I am grateful to ChooseFI for the motivation to understand and utilize Tax Loss Harvesting to optimize my income.”

  • Tanner said, “My 1% for this week was helping to get myself and everyone I work with a $2,300 raise this year.  Our legislature passed a bill giving all state employees a raise. However, due to some budgetary quirks our office was not included. I lobbied my representative who is on the finance committee about getting us included with the other state employees, and thanks to the concerted efforts of myself, my boss, and others across the state we were able to get a raise for all public defender staff across our state.”

  • Anna said, “My 1% better this week was to get the ToDoist app. I have heard you talk about it for over a year but it wasn’t until I heard you speak to Ginger about it that it clicked with me. I no longer clog up my calendar or am at risk of forgetting it because I now have to check it off. I love it!”

  • Whitney said, “My 1% better this week was opening a 15 month, 5% APY CD and funding it with a portion of the money we had set aside in our HYSA. This money has been earmarked for an upcoming move in July of 2024, and, eventually for a new (to us) car. For our needs and risk tolerance, this is the perfect match–the money will grow faster than we’re currently seeing in our HYSA and faces zero risk of loss. The relative lack of liquidity is offset by the remaining cash reserves in our emergency fund. The whole process took me less than 5 minutes!”

  • James said, “My 1% (actually 3%) this week is discovering that a leisure club I belong to here in the UK (equivalent to Good Sam in the USA) has a supermarket savings scheme as a member benefit – I can buy vouchers to spend on my weekly shopping at a 3% discount. Even better, I get cashback rewards when I buy them with my credit card too. For a £50 annual membership, I only need to spend £150 a month to be in pocket – and my groceries are a lot more than that!”

Choose FI has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Choose FI and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a ChooseFI advertiser. Disclosures.
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