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FI Weekly – November 3, 2020

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.

It felt odd to not acknowledge that it’s Election Day here in the US. While I found a bunch of inspiring quotes about voting, I’ll leave it to this simple one from Jenna Bush that, if nothing else, “We can all agree on the importance of voting.”

New ChooseFI Website

I’m incredibly excited to announce the new ChooseFI.com website is live!!

The whole team is extraordinarily proud of how it turned out. The entire concept was to make it a true resource and easier for you to find and share information as you move forward on your path to FI.

A huge thank you to Liz, Giada, William, Annie, MK, Stephen, Melissa, Kelly and the entire team for the thousands of hours they put in to making this possible!

Please check it out and let us know what you think (and to go with the launch I created, a new ‘5 Day FI Challenge’ for you to share with friends, family, and colleagues getting started with FI). [edit: the 5 Day FI Challenge course has now closed].

The Simple StartUp Winter Challenge

The signup just opened for The Simple Startup Winter Challenge! If you have a 10 to 18-year-old interested in entrepreneurship, this 10-week course is a can’t-miss.

They’ll get a copy of The Simple Startup workbook, the online course, weekly live webinars, email access to Rob plus a supportive community of fellow entrepreneurs.
[edit: Simple Startup Winter Challenge 2020 registration is now closed, but there are more upcoming challenges.]

ChooseFI Community Taking Action this Week:

  • Eva said, “I started meal prepping again and have less desire to eat out. I also have started laying out my clothes the night before to prevent decision making fatigue hitting so early in my day.”
  • Chris said, “After listening to the ChooseFI 403b podcast (Ep 220) I checked into my husband’s plan and found that they offered Vanguard funds with low fees vs what he was auto enrolled in. I changed all his selections and reduced the fees considerably! After 4 years of blind contributions and high fees my eyes were opened by your podcast and it motivated me take action that will save us considerable amounts of money over the next 10-15 years!”
  • Jane said, “I signed up for a Personal Capital account. I am amazed how organized I feel to see the whole picture. Thank you for all your advice and tips, I am listening and changing our financial house for the better with every episode!”
  • Luke said, “We are in the process of refinancing our VA loan to 2.375%. As we are halfway into the process, out of the blue, the original loan officer we got the loan from (his bank sold it) emails me and offers a refi of 2.25%. But we would have to go through the application process and pull my credit, etc. We decided to take that offer to the existing company we were already using for the refi to see if they would match it. After literally one email just to ask…BOOM 2.25%. closing next week. It always makes sense to ask!”
  • Larry said, “I just checked out a book from my local library and received the following email from the library: “You just saved $15.74 by using your library. You have saved $1,593.02 this past year and $9,516.04 since you began using the library!” Pretty incredible!! I have saved almost $1600 this past year by using the library and over $9500 since I have been a member of the library!! The library is a GREAT resource!!”
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.
More To Explore
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Charitable Giving
Effective Giving for the FI Community | Rebecca Herbst & Jack Lewars | Ep 483

Is it better to give to charity in a lump sum versus incrementally? What are the tax implications of donating? What are the benefits of using donor advised funds? This week we answer these questions and more with the help of Rebecca Herbst and Jack Lewars as we discuss charitable donations and effective giving while on the FI journey. A large part of FI is taking actionable steps to improve your life, but this journey also opens up opportunities to improve the life of others. While navigating donations while on the path to FI can seem tricky because we are so focused on attaining our FI numbers, there are still many ways you can give back and make a difference. Creating the habit of effective giving can help you leave an impact on yourself and the world at large! There are many resources available that can help calculate what you can give while remaining on the FI track, as well as help you see how your donations are making a difference! 

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