Morning!

So right as I went to hit “publish” on this post, I got hit with a 2nd great credit card tip so you’re gonna get a two-for-one special today ;) Neither of which, btw, I’d ever heard of before in my 15 years doing this so of course I had to share!

The first comes from my friend, and fellow blog reader, Win (real name!), in response to my $500 subscription mistake I shared recently, and as he stated this would have most definitely prevented it!

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“I ask my credit card company for a new card with a new number every year. That cancels any services that I pay for automatically. The service contacts me and I decide if I want to give them the new credit card number.”

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HAH! Brilliant!

I asked him to explain more as I was intrigued as hell by this (was it really just to cut down on subscriptions?? Or was it more of a security hack?) and here’s what he wrote back:

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“Did I tell you the story about my daughter losing my credit card? I let her use it for shopping. She called and said “I lost your card! I’m so sorry!!” She didn’t understand that I’m not liable if someone finds my credit card and uses it. (<– True Fact!)

The next day, I called the credit card company and canceled it. They sent me a new card in the mail. It took 7 to 10 days. I think the pony express was faster than that. :)

Disadvantages? If you have any online payments like cellphone, Verizon will send you an email saying your credit card didn’t work. You have to contact them to give them your new number. I’ve been doing it for a few years. No problems, but I don’t make many online payments from my credit card. I pay electric, natural gas, etc from my bank account.

I do think it’s a good security idea. There’s a big biz in stolen credit card numbers, so changing your number every year should help.”

(UPDATE: So it looks like some card companies already do this automatically! Per a reader: “I just had something decline for my apple subscription and it turns out that my wife’s apple card automatically changes their number every 6 months!”)

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Ok so yeah – definitely good for security, but what a great way to force yourself TO REVIEW all your subscriptions each year too. And it’s not like it’s just a calendar item that pops up and you can brush it off  – with this route you literally have to take action *right then and there* or the service you’re signed up for will be canceled!

Such a great idea, and for a few solid minutes I actually considered it… Until I realized I have over 25 places my card is connected to (10’ish bills + 15’ish charitable donations) and there’s no way I’d want to deal with that every year Def. works best if you only have a few accounts linked up and/or the patience of Mother Teresa.

Now onto the second hack…

This one comes from my personal proofreader, and blog fan, Lenny Bron, whose trick is a little more invasive but doesn’t require any major changes like that first idea:

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I have a new trick I’ve started ever since my C/C was electronically stolen a few months back (Chase is great at catching that stuff, btw).

I set my phone to get alerts every time the credit card is used at all. So now I know if something weird gets charged (even if it’s a subscription I no longer need) and I can cancel whatever it is right away or at least call the bank to stop the transaction.

So far, the system has been working well! And plus I can monitor if any of those pesky hackers are using my credit cards again!

*******

Another great tip at least in theory! It forces you to review all your charges EVERY DAY which is even better in the “paying attention” department! Of course, that can get annoying fast if you’re a big swiper, so it would be interesting to see if Lenny’s still doing this a year or two from now ;) Perfect for those who rarely use their cards though, or even better: those who only keep cards for *emergencies*! You’d know there’s something concerning going on fast in this case!

(UPDATE: A follow up from Lenny: “You can definitely set limits on the amounts you get notifications about. So if you’re not worried about anything spent under $100, then you can have the system ignore those. Also, you can choose what kind of notifications you get. If it’s something I want to see right away I let it notify me on my phone, but you can also just set it to notify you by email so you can pick and choose how you get notified (definitely will be less intrusive if you don’t want your phone going off all the time). ” Good to know!)

And btw, on the topic of Lenny, I gotta promote his side hustle here as a proofreader as he’s super fun to work with and great at catching all those pesky misstypings of mine (or even made up words, like misstypings!! Don’t you edit this one, Lenny!!). He reviews all my posts for me, and as you can imagine has a lot of patience ;) If you run a blog or small business and can use an extra set of eyes on things, be sure to reach out to him: TheBlogProofreader.com

So there you have it! Two great tips to consider!

Let me know if any of these ideas resonate with you and/or if you’re already doing them… And feel free to pass over any other creative hacks you have incorporated into your financial life as well! They’re all super helpful and you never know how much of an impact they’ll have on others!

Big thanks to Win and Lenny for letting me share their ideas here, and huge thanks to all of YOU for always reading. Will see ya back here again soon

FYI: Lenny proofreads my posts *after* I publish them, so if you come across any errors today that would be why! I’m too lazy to send them to him first to proofread ;)

[This post, A Good Credit Card Hack 💪, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Y’all – after years of purposely ignoring this for reasons not even worth mentioning (they’re all lame) I finally froze my credit AND IT WAS SO EASY!!

It literally took me under 5 minutes to do it and I actually caught myself muttering out loud: “Gosh I’m an idiot… shoulda just done it sooner.” But, with all things boring and unimportant until they become important (!), freezing credit was just never a priority because nothing bad ever happened so far without doing it.

And then all those major data breaches happened, and well, as Jonathan from My Money Blog recently put it:

“The balance between the guaranteed hassle of maintaining a credit freeze and the potential hassle of dealing with an identity theft attempt has finally shifted enough towards just having them frozen as a default position.”

I star’d this a month ago for Future Jay to deal with, and then I started getting dinged left and right with alerts last week telling me my data is now public to the world (which I already assumed it was, because man – we do EVERYTHING online!) and something about seeing it *in writing* finally prompted me to take action.

And just like that my virginity was unfrozen (see what I did there?!)

And it really was that easy to do!! Under 5 mins at each bureau – no joke. If you’ve been putting it off and know you need to do it, just stop reading this right now and get it done.

Here are the 3 places you need to go to:

1. Experian.com/freeze/center.html
2. Transunion.com/credit-freeze
3. Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze

Create an account, fill in some personal data, and then click that magical “freeze my credit” button and BOOM – you’ll feel amazing.

(And yes – it is stupid you have to go to three (!) different bureaus and create three (!) different accounts, but you can’t do anything about it so don’t even waste your energy. Methodically move through each one of them and then check it off your list once and for all! Believe me when I tell you it’s oddly satisfying clicking that freeze button!! )

You’ll feel good for not having to think about it anymore, but even more importantly – you won’t have to worry about dummies trying to open credit lines or loans under your name anymore too! Or whatever else those lame hackers like to do with their wasted skills, ugh…

Why don’t they put it to GOOD use???

And FYI: you can unfreeze them just as easily at any point too. Also free! Just log back in and click “unfreeze” –  and voila! So even if you think you may need access to your credit in the near future, freezing it now won’t hold you up later in the process. Just remember to come back later and log back in!

I could have sworn all this used to cost like $10 or $15 a shot back in the day, adding yet another reason to not be bothered by it, but at some point along the way I guess they nixed that and now you can do it without even lifting your wallet. Or this post wouldn’t have ever been written, as sad as that is, lol…

Once you’re done freezing all the credits, you can then nerd out even *more* by grabbing your credit SCORE and credit REPORT too! Also free at most bureaus!

I actually spent way more time on the sites doing this than placing my credit freezes, lol…

Here’s what I found:

(My Vantage 3.0 score)

(My FICO^® Score)

TransUnion offers the Vantage 3.0 score too, however they charge $0.99 for it so I just grabbed it from Equifax for free ;) (Although weirdly, when I first created my Equifax account it said you had to pay for your score, but when I logged off and then back on later to check something different, it turned free?! So if you see the same just log out and then back in and hopefully it resets the same for you too.

Also – when we created my wife’s TransUnion account it wouldn’t let us click the “freeze” button for some reason, so I had to call and wait on hold for a bit but then they toggled something and it worked just fine. So don’t let random snags hold you up in the process! Just keep going!)

You can also easily grab your credit REPORTS from all three bureaus each year too – for free. Which is smart to make sure no one has *previously* done anything with your identity before you could lock everything up.

Now this task takes wayyyyyy longer though, so don’t even get bogged down by it unless you’ve already frozen your accounts and have some free hours on your hand :)

There’s also the option to add “fraud alerts” to your accounts as well so you’ll get notified whenever someone tries to access your credit. And fortunately with this one you just have to do it at *one* bureau and they pass along the note to the other two making it even faster! We also did this as a double precaution.

The alerts only last a year though, so you’ll have to renew it later once the time comes again (there’s also different kinds of alerts too that are more in depth it seems, like if you already had your credit stolen and filed a police report, or if you’re on active duty, but I just stuck with the 1 year normal alert since nothing bad has happened yet – at least that I currently know about! I still gotta pore over those 3 credit reports!!)

Now on the down side you can’t add any freezes or fraud alerts to KIDS’ credits as easily as you can yourself (anyone under 18). But you CAN do it, you just have to go through a more lengthy process of showing social security cards and birth certificates to prove who they are, and who YOU are, and then wait a while for it all to be verified. I have yet to go through this process (and not looking forward to doing it 3x over!) but it is on the list as there should be NO credit being opened for years on behalf of any of these guys…

I should also note that once you create all these credit accounts, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax will equally bombard you with promotions and emails trying to upsell you on a bunch of products (and credit cards!! Which seem counterproductive!). But again – nothing you can do about it except to unsubscribe and avert your eyes, so don’t let it prevent you from getting the job done 

Here are some fun examples of what’s to come though:

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And on and on and on…

Again, just hit “unsubscribe” and you won’t have to deal with it again.

TL;DR:

Freezing your credit is free, easy to do, and can save you a butt ton of time and frustration in the future. Spend the 15 minutes (total) getting it frozen at each of the bureaus and then call it a day. You can always unfreeze it later with a click of a button (also free).

Here are the 3 links again – do it before you get sidetracked!

1. Experian.com/freeze/center.html
2. Transunion.com/credit-freeze
3. Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze

Your friend and fellow nerd,

UPDATE: I just learned you can also *temporarily* unfreeze your credit too (aka “thaw” it lol) for whenever you need access. You apparently set the # of days where it will re-freeze again later, that way you don’t have to remember to log back in again – genius! (Thx Bill and Nikki)

UPDATE II: Here’s another great idea from a fellow reader who just emailed me: “Hi J. Money- I have been freezing and checking credit reports on an annual basis for 20 years, and one thing I’ve learned that works for me and might for others too is spreading out when you check your free credit reports. If it’s your 1st time you check all three bureaus and get them squared up, but then after that just check one credit bureau at a time throughout the year. Check one in April, another in August, and then the last in December – or whatever schedule works for you. This has been super helpful for me.”

[This post, I froze my credit and it was SO EASY! (And Free), was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Caught these tips off Twitter and thought it would be fun to see how many of these we can check off ;)

I’ll go first…

From The Man himself, Mark Cuban:

#1. Live like a student

Nope! I used to live like a student, but that was more out of necessity than desire lol…  I will say though that this mentality IS a good one to try and mimic though, at least in spirit, as lifestyle inflation is real and if you keep spending all the new money you earn you might as well still be a broke college student!

So a hearty yes to channeling this, but no to giving myself a point here as I def. live more lavishly than my 19 y/o self could ever stomach ;) That guy would never spend $6.00 on a latte!

#2. Don’t use credit cards

FAIL. We use one main “house” card for all bills to rack up cashback and keep things streamlined, but we also pay it off at the end of every month because we don’t like lighting our cash on fire… If you struggle with that 2nd part though, then a hell yes to whipping out those scissors and chopping them up!! The c/c perks will never outperform the loss of fees and stress from debt! Better to just avoid it altogether than play the devil’s game if you don’t trust yourself enough.

(And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m 99% sure we overspend using plastic vs cash too… It’s a “convenience” fee I’m willing to pay though after decades of hustling ;))

#3. Save 6 months income

Next Level Activated! 3-6 months banked does wonders to your peace, and honestly even if you can just pull off ONE MONTH of savings it’s game changing..  And the beauty is that once you hit whatever level you’re going for, you don’t have to add any more to it and can divert all future $$$ elsewhere to more exciting things!! Like Pokémon and NFTs! ;)

And remember too, not every dollar needs to be maximized. Even though it looks like the money is just sitting there “doing nothing” and not earning anything, it’s still serving the magnificent purpose of giving you INNER PEACE. And I know a lot of people who would pay good money for that, so soak in as much of it as you can!

#4. Put savings into SPX mutual fund

YUP!!! Well, technically we’re invested in Vanguard’s VTSAX which tracks the TOTAL MARKET and not just the S&P 500 stocks which is what SPX does (or VFIAX – another popular fund from Vanguard), but it’s all a similar concept. You’re betting on a giant portfolio of hundreds/thousands of stocks instead of trying your hand at picking out individual ones which is very (very) hard to do well, especially long-term. And a bonus perk – you can just set it and forget it! A lazy man’s dream!

#5. Invest a % of money into high risk

Score here too! Always smart to have a “long shot” going on the side, though I can’t say it helps too well with that whole “inner peace” stuff as it’s amazing how much MENTAL bandwidth it can take up for being such a small sliver of your net worth, lol… You give me .0001 bitcoins and it’s all I can think about for the next year even though it’s so insignificant! So hopefully your brains work much better at keeping the overall perspective than mine, or at least betting on things that aren’t in the news 24/7 :)

I would also put starting your own business, or buying up other small businesses, in this department too btw… Stuff that has a higher rate of failure, but also a higher rate of rewards when they succeed! And notice Mark didn’t put a specific % amount there either, which I like since our risk tolerances are all different… Though typically you’ll see recommendations anywhere from 5%-10% of your overall net worth to play with which I tend to agree as a good starting point.

#6. Buy consumables in bulk

FAIL. This is kind of embarrassing as it’s such a core tenant of frugality – especially for a money blogger (!) – but for whatever reason we just don’t do much of it… Or I should say, my wife doesn’t do much of it, and ain’t no way I’m going to pipe up and ask her why to then have the task transferred over to me, haha… I let her run the show there, and I run the show here with our finances!

But yes. More bulk = more sex…y. So good on all you Costco and Sam’s Club shoppers banking those savings around the world… At least I think Costco is around the world?! (I googled: “Costco has 833 warehouses worldwide: 574 in the United States, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one in Iceland.”)

#7. Negotiate with cash

Do yard sales count? ‘Cuz if so I’m an undefeated champ there – BOOM! But can’t say I do much negotiating outside of that… Except for house buying times, but even then we always end up choosing the mortgage route than cash money for ultimate flexibility… Not that we usually *have* the cash to pony up most times anyways, haha… do you know how expensive homes are these days??! It’s insane!

But overall, yeah – anything that tips your hands in negotiations is great, and if you have the cash to back up that fast-talking mouth of yours then you go with your bad self. Not many things feel better than pulling off a good deal!

*****

And those are his 7 tips!

So let’s see here… Out of the 7 recommended it looks like I can confidently check off at least 3 of them, and then maybe partially 1 or 2 others.

So I’m going to give myself a solid 4 out of 7 here which means I’m definitely no Mark Cuban, but something tells me Mark Cuban isn’t Mark Cuban either ;)

No way he doesn’t use a credit card these days or leverage his millions of billions of dollars to strike deals… I’m sure he buys in bulk and lives like a college student at least in his mind, but obviously these tips are geared more for the general public than an entrepreneurial rock star like himself.

Still, a fun checklist to go down and always good to at least *consciously* be choosing to take one path or the other than living financially oblivious! So see how many you can check off too, and then share below so we can compare!

Your financially conscious friend,

PS: For more insight from Mr. Cuban, here are his thoughts on How To Get Rich

*****

Photo by TechCrunch / Doodles by J$

[This post, 7 Money Tips From Mark Cuban, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

This is going to sound weird or stupid, but isn’t *going into* debt so much fun???! Like, don’t we enjoy spending money on stuff we love – even if it’s only in the moment?

As finance nerds we tend to focus on how terrible debt is and how much we hate it etc etc, but I think we forget just exciting it can be to buy stuff too :)

I mean, why else would people willingly go into debt if they weren’t getting something awesome in return? Do you know anyone who goes out of their way to buy stuff they HATE?

Of course not. That would be ridiculous.

But that’s how we’ve been groomed to think now! That all debt is stupid and we didn’t get anything good out of it!

I was reminded of this when I was chatting with The Debt Free Guys recently and they asked what the most credit card debt people ever had was… Theirs was $51,000 (!!) and I responded that my max was probably around the $2,000 range. They said how they wish they had been “more like me” growing up, and I remarked that they probably had a $hit ton more fun than I did! Lol…

And I guarantee that is at least 95% true. Especially at the $50,000 mark!!

Do you know how much fun trouble you can get into with $50k???! All the while I was watching my pennies and scraping by as a poor college student every day?! 

That’s not to say I didn’t have any fun in those days, or that I wish I could have switched places with them – I wouldn’t – but just that, again, we tend to only think of the *bad* stuff relating to debt and none of the perks we once got from it.

Even my smaller $2,000 debt included tons of great stuff like beers on the town, meals out, road trips and even part of a brand new iBook I got straight out of college! Had I had to pay with cash at the time I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy such sweet luxuries. And that wouldn’t have made life enjoyable, especially at that time in life when you’re just starting out in the working world without a penny to your name…

So while debt is “bad” and most of us hate getting into it, the fact still remains that at one point we did very much enjoy indulging in it or else we wouldn’t have done it in the first place. Emergencies and special circumstances aside, of course. We’re dumb as humans, but not that dumb!

I’m not sure why I chose to argue this point today, haha, but maybe it’ll help any of you feeling down on yourself as if Past You was a big idiot and you wish you could have done things differently :)

Maybe you would have knowing what you know now, but be glad you woke up when you did and try not to be so harsh with yourself. You had a good reason back then to take on the debt, even if you don’t agree with it now!

And how cool that we even have the *option* to go after things we want without needing the money for it?! Sure it gets us into trouble more often than not, but that’s on *US* for misusing it, not the tool itself. Similar to money it’s the user that determines whether good or bad is done with it, which also means WE HAVE ALL THE POWER in the relationship! And that’s pretty bad ass, right?!

So get empowered again and acknowledge the debt for what it is, but also remember that at one time you were a great match for each other and thank it for serving its purpose

You’re smarter now and will eventually say goodbye forever, but for now you’re still in a committed relationship so do your best to co-exist until it’s finally wiped away… Like your exes, you sure had some great times together!

Yours in debt-freedom-but-not-fun-freedom,

PS: I know that all debt isn’t “fun” debt and sometimes you have to pay the bills and there are emergencies and yada yada yada – that’s not the debt I’m talking about here. I’m talking about all the kinds that gave you “stuff” or experiences in return for slapping ’em on the card… It’s not like we got nothing in return for it!

[This post, What about all the FUN debt gave you?, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Happy Friday, y’all!!! Exciting news…

Last week I rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange!!!!  Woot woot! I mean, ding ding ding!

It happened last Friday, Dec 3rd. Here’s a picture below… I’m the guy in the back right under the cool owl logo. (BTW — I’m 6 foot 2, and standing on a platform! Usually I’m the tallest guy everywhere I go, but compared to these giants I look tiny!)

Before I tell you all the details and stuff, first I gotta give a massive THANK YOU to the legends who invited me… Taylor and Brett Sohns from LifeGoal Investments! (These are the dudes I met at FinCon a few months back and made a small angel investment with). Also, thanks to my awesome wife for letting me fly off to the other side of the country to party on Wall St. She is the best!

OK, here’s how it all went down…

Getting Invited to Ring the NYSE Bell

Bell ringing ceremonies happen twice each trading day, when the market opens and closes. The NYSE only invites listed companies to ring the bell (and sometimes non profits), so it’s a pretty big deal to be invited.

It’s also kind of a last minute thing… I’m sure some of the larger ceremonies (like when a company goes IPO) are planned well in advance. But for us they only gave ~48 hours notice! It was last Wednesday when we got the invite call, so I packed my bags that night and flew to New York the next morning.

As I mentioned before, LifeGoal Investments was the company that invited me. They launched some ETF’s in September on the NYSE, and their flagship product is very unique, called the Home Down Payment Investment ETF [Ticker: HOM]. Since this ETF is the first of its kind (you can learn what’s inside it here), the exchange wanted to host a celebration for LifeGoal and have a bell ringing ceremony.

It’s a bit random how I got invited… When I picture events like this, I imagine invites going out to select bigwigs, important clients, and other fancy suits. Truth be told, I was really nervous because I don’t really fit in with those crowds. I barely own formal clothes! (Don’t tell anyone but I had to dust closet mold off of an old suit I stole from my brother 10 years ago — it’s the only respectable thing in my closet that I could wear there! Gross, I know.)

Anyway, the celebration with LifeGoal turned out to be very different than what I expected… The founders mostly invited their close friends and family, because that’s who they wanted to celebrate with. Here’s another pic below, you’ll see founders/brothers Taylor and Brett are standing in the very front and their proud Mum is right in the middle! Most of the others were old childhood friends from the small town they grew up in. A very fun and wholesome group! I’m proud to call them friends .

And, Brett brought his wife and baby… who has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen!

I think NYSE allows you to invite as many people as you want to the ceremony, but only ~15 or so can fit up on the balcony when the bell rings. The rest hang down on the trading floor.

Checking in, the lobby, the ceremony…

The NYSE is located on Wall Street in the lower part of Manhattan. Outside the building there’s a large roped off area with a red carpet leading to the main entrance. The party starts about 1 hour before the bell rings, so we got there about 3pm EST.

You might recognize a couple faces of our friends in the PF community…

On the far left is Joel from the How to Money podcast. Next is Brennan aka Budgetdog. I’m the nerd in the checkered shirt, and on the far right is Jesse from The Best Interest.

Once you enter the lobby, there’s a fancy check in station with custom made badges for everyone. These badges are modeled after those worn by traders to display their NYSE member numbers. They’re made out of metal which makes it a cool little souvenir we all get to keep :)

Everyone had funny nicknames assigned. Mine was just “The Blogger”, which was nice because people then understood why I was asking all the dumb questions

I wish I took photos of the lobby area! Just imagine a sleek and modern museum, with long hallways displaying historic archives and art. The NYSE opened in 1792 (and moved into its current building in 1903) so there’s a ton of artifacts and fun history to learn about.

After the lobby, everyone was ushered into a large convention room to have some snacks and drinks. There were massive video displays on all the walls, each displaying the LifeGoal Investments logo with welcome and congratulations messages. A few representatives from NYSE were there to give speeches, present awards to Brett and Taylor Sohns, and tell us more history about the bell ceremonies.

At about 3.50pm, everyone was then taken up to the trading floor…

Trading Floor, Bell Ringing and Fun Facts

The trading floor looks exactly like what you’d think it does – just like in the movies. Flashing lights, computer monitors everywhere, and people bustling about. Except there was no yelling like I hoped to see. Maybe because it was a Friday afternoon and everyone was winding down after a long day – sadly, the market went down about -1% that day . Here’s a pano pic of the trading floor.

Did you know… Prior to a bell, the NYSE actually used a Chinese gong to sound the opening and closing of the markets!? It was in 1903 when they switched to bells. There are actually 4 loud bells, covering each area of the trading floor. They all ring synchronously, controlled by a master switch/bell on the balcony podium.

Here’s more cool history on the NYSE Bell.

About 2-3 minutes before 4pm, a NYSE representative took us upstairs to the bell balcony. He gave us some last-minute instructions of which buttons to press, when to hammer the gavel, and the bell timing. My job was to just clap continuously for 60 seconds, and then cheer loudly when the market closed. Here’s a 1 min YouTube video!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvT1VaRlh38)

After ringing the bell, people can hang and take photos on the balcony for a bit. But before leaving, right behind the balcony there’s a hallway of stairs with white walls. Everyone stops here and has a chance to sign their name on the wall with a sharpie.

I had a quick look through the names but didn’t recognize any famous ones. Nevertheless, it’s fun to sign my name next to others who were celebrating IPOs or big company milestones.

Trip Costs and Travel

 I am the luckiest guy in the world. Believe it or not, this entire trip cost me about $108.

Flights were booked with AMEX reward points from travel hacking with credit cards. I ate for free at the airport Centurion lounges in DFW and LGA on both travel days. (I have access to the lounges as part of my Amex Platinum card.)

My first hotel night was an annual IHG rewards night which was going to expire at the end of the year anyway. The other hotel night was comped by the LifeGoal team, and so was the dinner and lunch on Friday.

The $108 I did spend was for Uber trips, catching the subway, and a few random beers and pizza slices while we were out. Gotta have pizza while in NY!

All in all, it was a crazy 72 hours I’ll never forget.

Thank you again and CONGRATULATIONS to the LifeGoal Investments team. Never in a million years would I imagine I’d be a part of such a rare event.

If any of y’all get an opportunity to ring the bell one day, take it! Even if it costs money and it’s last minute, it’s worth it!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
– Joel

[This post, Ringing the New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell!, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

My original idea for this post was to find a few people with perfect 850 credit scores and interview them. I’m really curious to see what a “perfect” credit profile looks like!

But, while I was out searching for these folks, I stumbled across a whole range of people with really interesting backstories.

Here’s a note I received from a guy called Keith…

“I don’t have 850…but I do have 820-830 and 10 years ago it was 570. I made it my obsession to improve my credit…which I did.”

Whoa  

Credit Score Ranges

Just for context, here are the ranges of credit scores all people fall into:

300-579: Poor (16% of people)

580-669: Fair (17% of people)

670-739: Good (21% of people)

740-799: Very good (25% of people)

800-850: Excellent (21% of people)

So Keith basically went from a “poor” —> “excellent” score. Talk about turning your financial life around!

I think a lot can be learned from people who have drastically improved their credit like this. It’s much harder to *fix* bad credit than it is to *maintain* already good credit. So today we’re going to dig deeper into Keith’s journey, and we’ll save the perfect profile interviews for another time!

This Guy Raised His Credit Score to Excellent From Poor

Here are some questions and conversations with Keith!

Joel: Dude, what an amazing transformation. I gotta hear more about your story! How did this all happen?

Keith: 12 years ago, as the great recession was getting underway, I had terrible financial habits. Bad habits in my 20s led to too much debt and no savings. I ended up with a credit score of 570 (that’s bad). I ended up losing my job and was forced to address my issues. I worked very hard to turn around my financial position. I started self-education on finances and credit scores and how they work. I am now a self proclaimed credit expert and I have maintained a 800+ credit score for several years (817 last time I checked). It took a lot of work, but it was worth it.

Joel: Sorry to bring up a sore subject, but how did your credit get so low in the first place? What got you in trouble?

Keith: I had excessive debt through my 20s – credit cards, car loans, boat loans, snowmobile loans. Even when I had the money, I wasn’t always the best at paying my payments on time, but most of it was fine when my income outpaced my debt. However, that ended in 2009 as the financial crisis took hold and I lost my job in the mortgage industry. By the end of 2009, my monthly spending was much higher than my monthly income…and that just isn’t sustainable. So, I started missing payments, mainly credit card payments – which just compounds the issue as you get hit with the $35 late payment fees. This is when my score was ~570.

It’s a terrible feeling when creditors call you. I now joke and say I have creditor PTSD because to this day if a random number shows up on my phone it can still take me right back to a time when it would bring me anxiety to see that.

Joel: Daaang, sorry to hear this. I can see how it doesn’t feel like a problem when you’ve got enough income to make payments… But when the income stops, that’s when the house of cards collapses! How’d you turn it around from there?

Keith: Debt is a massive weight and I was actually considering bankruptcy at the time. Around the end of 2009, I was talking with a customer at the bank I worked at. He was 22 years old and had himself in a great financial position. He recommended that I read Dave Ramsey’s book and the next time I saw him he gave me a copy of “Total Money Makeover.” That is basically how it all started. 

Once I read Dave Ramsey’s book, I had to read more. It eventually led me into the world financial blogs and of course FIRE blogs. Instead of bankruptcy, I made the decision to get myself out of the hole that I had put myself in.

Joel: I love that you decided to take ownership of the problem. I think many people try to hide from debt, and feel alone when they hit rock bottom. But, the truth is there are a ton of people around to help (like your customer) and free resources available to help make positive changes. So, what were your next moves?

Keith: I understood credit reports because of my job as a loan officer in a bank.  I knew how they calculate the score…payment history (35%), balance vs credit line (30%), credit history (15%), etc… It was frustrating that I knew exactly what caused bad credit, and I even consulted customers on how to improve their credit, while the entire time having my own bad credit and debt issues!

Once I made the decision to fix it, the first thing I did was cut up all my credit cards and set a goal to never miss another payment. That’s the most important piece of advice I can give — once you decide to fix your credit you have to make certain that you are always paying your bills on time.

What Determines Your FICO Credit Score?

Quick side note: Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how your FICO credit score gets calculated:

• Payment history (35%): Making payments on time is the single most important factor when repairing credit. Lenders want to make sure you’re making payments on time, every time.
• Balance owed vs. credit line (30%): Lenders look at your total available credit, and compare it to the amount you owe. For example: someone who owes $5,000 out of an available $10,000 credit line, this would show a 50% credit utilization. If another person owed $5,000 out of an available $20,000 credit line, this would be a 25% utilization. The lower the percentage you utilize of your available credit, the more positive your credit score will be.
• Length of credit history (15%): Lenders want to know how long your good habits have lasted. Keeping old credit lines open can increase your credit score.
• Credit mix (10%): You will appear more credible to a money lender if you can prove you can handle multiple types of credit. Home loans, car loans, credit cards, etc. **This does NOT mean you should go out and get a car loan just to show a good mix of credit.**
• New credit lines/queries (10%): Building credit requires patience and a long-term outlook. Applying for too many loans all at once can harm your credit score.

How to Improve Your Credit Score

OK, back to Keith’s story…

Joel: What other major steps did you first take? How did they help?

Keith: For the first time in my adult life I created a budget and worked to understand exactly where my money was going – it was a total game changer. This goes hand-in-hand with my advice to make sure you pay your bills on time, using a monthly budget makes paying the bills much more manageable. Looking back, it seems insane that I was 29 years old before I created a budget! 

Cut up all the credit cards. My wife and I cut up nine credit cards in January of 2010 which at the time carried a balance of almost $17,000 with minimum payments of $565. If you have bad credit, you most likely have credit card debt… cut them up!

Using a monthly budget as our guide, we reduced our spending, and reduced debt. After I understood how I was spending my money, I worked to stop all excess spending. Then I started to focus on reducing my debt. I did this by selling everything that had a loan on it. By the end of 2010 (it took some time) I sold my truck, my two snowmobiles, and my boat. At the time, this accounted for about $18,000 in debt with a monthly bill of $610.

**Keith’s basic budget and expense tracking template is available to download here (Excel version) if you want to check it out!

Joel: This is great advice for others in heavy debt with bad credit. What other tips can you share to help someone who might be in the same spot as you were 10 years ago?

Keith: It can feel extremely depressing, frustrating, and humiliating to deal with financial issues. But you can fix this. Three steps you have to take right now:

1. Again, if you have bad credit, there is a good chance that you are missing your required payments. The most important thing to do is create a monthly budget and understand exactly where your money is going. Most of the time, the main problem is debt — so make a solid plan to eliminate it. Pay your bills and kill the debt.
2. Get a copy of your credit report and study it. How many debts do you have? Which ones are current? Are any in collections? Pay off your highest interest loans first (prioritize making ALL payments on time).
3. Join a financial group, get help, and educate yourself. You are not alone and things will improve if you commit to making better choices.

Joel: What does your credit profile look like today? How many lines open, $ credit limits, is it a mix of types of credit?

Keith: We now have a very small credit profile. My wife and I have three accounts…we closed everything else. 

We have a mortgage.

We have one credit card that we are both on – a Southwest card that has a $22,000 limit. We went a long time (probably seven years) without using a credit card. We now use this one card on a monthly basis with the goal of collecting frequent flyer miles and it gets paid in full every billing period and never has a balance. 

My student loans from going back to school in 2010.

At the time of the financial crisis I was a loan officer in a bank – like I said…I didn’t make a lot of good decisions in my 20s. In 2010 I returned to school and finished my engineering degree. I graduated and have worked as a mechanical engineer since 2011. This would be the other big piece of advic:  work to increase your income, easier said than done…but it is worth it in the end.

I didn’t really mention FIRE…and now that we are 10 years into this financial journey FIRE is on the list, but it really took til year 4 or 5 to really start thinking about that. We continue to live by our monthly budget (still to this day) and 2020 was the first year we maxed out both my 401(k) and my wife’s IRA. She is currently a stay at home mom to our three small children…so we are doing this all on one income. If we stay on track, FIRE will be within reach in 8-10 yrs.

(Tourist selfie of wife and I at a WI state park (we live in WI and we camp a lot) but I thought it was fitting because our main source of family entertainment is camping – which is very budget-friendly. Unlike the old days of bars, restaurants and vacations we couldn’t afford. )

*****

Wow. From debt and bad credit to financially stable in 10 years… And then reaching financial independence in another 10 years.

I hope Keith’s story has inspired any of you out there with bad credit, heavy debt, or if you’ve recently lost your income. The covid pandemic has crushed many people’s financial situation, but Keith and his wife are living proof that rebuilding an excellent credit profile is absolutely possible!

Keith also has been slowly working on a side hustle the past 6 years… He recently launched a patented product designed to help ice fisherman store gear! Pretty cool, check it out here –> www.tipuptower.com. Could be a good Christmas present for your ice-fishing friends?

[This post, Repairing a Damaged 570 Credit Score All the Way up to 820!, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

Were you one of these people?!

Like, when you used to go to work every day back in the Good Days? ;)

I’m wayyyy too Goody Two-Shoes* to even dare try pulling these off (I’d get caught in a heartbeat!), but according to this survey by Procurify.com it’s something apparently a good chunk of people are doing:

“30% of employees have expensed a personal purchase, pretending it was for business”

Naughty!

“30% of employees have exaggerated tip amounts on an expense report”

Sneaky!

“29% of employees have expensed the same item more than once”

Tricky!

“14% of employees have secretly accepted a refund for an already expensed purchase”

Okay now that is both devious AND brilliant, haha…

“8% of employees have made up purchases on an expense report”

WOW!! Big balls to try and pull that one off! Don’t you need receipts as proof, though?

*If you’re wondering where “Goody Two-Shoes” comes from, btw, it’s from a fable similar to the Cinderella story:

“The fable tells of Goody Two-Shoes, the nickname of a poor orphan girl named Margery Meanwell, who goes through life with only one shoe. When a rich gentleman gives her a complete pair, she is so happy that she tells everyone that she has “two shoes”. Later, Margery becomes a teacher and marries a rich widower. This earning of wealth serves as proof that her virtue has been rewarded, a popular theme in children’s literature of the era.” – Wikipedia

In other random news, here are some other things people are willing to do…

“48 million Americans would skip a credit card payment over a vacation” – WalletHub.com

Crazy!! At least pay the bare minimum while traveling in debt!!

“Nearly 9 in 10 people who have tried to get a credit card late fee waived were successful” – WalletHub.com

GOOD NEWS FOR ONCE!! :) And honestly one of the easiest things to pull off. You literally just pick up the phone and ask for the fees to be waived! And if not lucky on the first go, hang up and try again with another person or manager. 1,000% better odds than not even trying at all!

(Though according to that same survey, while women are 18% more likely to have tried to get a fee waived than men, they also tend to be 2% less successful :( )

“62% of student loan borrowers would give up their 2020 vote if it meant their student loan debt was completely forgiven” – LendEdu.com

Oooh great Would You Rather! I would do this in a heartbeat if I was maxed out with debt! A tougher question would be if it meant giving up your right to vote FOREVER (eek!).

Here were some other things people were willing to do as well to clear their loans:

• 68% would give up social media for five years
• 60% would give up all streaming services for life (that would be hard to do in these days!!)
• 52% would give up all payment methods besides cash for life (oooh imagine no more credit cards or venmo or apps??! That would be hard!!)
• 49% would give up being vegan or have to become vegan for life (not happening)
• 30% would enlist to fight in a hypothetical World War 3
• 17% would give up hot showers for the next 25 years (!!!)

And then lastly, “100% of people would save 10x more money if they read Elite Edge Money every single day” – Elite Edge Money super scientific survey… of one.

;)

As professor Aaron Levenstein once put it,

Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.

Haha… So go ahead and ignore this entire post today!

Though still curious if you’d ever do any of those things to wipe away your own debts? Or if you’re one of the people in those expense report stats?!

Be sure to comment anonymously if you are! ;)

Some other fun “Would You’s” over the years:

• Would you… Go to jail for a year for a million dollars?
• Would you… Gain 25 lbs to wipe out ALL your debts?
• Would you… Break up with your significant other for a 10% raise?
• Would you… Politically sell out for $10,000?

[This post, Were you one of these people?!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Morning!

Lots of talk lately about stores going completely cashless, and wondering where you stand on this? Are you a big cash and coin lover like me, or do you say good riddance to it all?!

Here are some of the major pros and cons that are making businesses think twice:

Pros to abolishing cash:

• It’s more convenient for everyone
• It’s faster to process transactions (1-2 seconds vs 6-7 using cash (or 6-7 minutes using check – hah!)
• It’s safer, so long as it doesn’t get hacked
• It supposedly lowers crime and theft as there’s no tangible money to steal

But the CONS?

• You don’t have squat if technology breaks (you need electricity at all times, an open communication network at all times, and most importantly – security at all times)
• People can steal your info and money just the same electronically as they can physically (and much more of it in one swoop!)
• Not everyone uses or has access to credit cards/apps/bank accounts, particularly the underserved
• And then perhaps the biggest issue of all for us finance people – most people tend to SPEND MORE using plastic/apps than cold hard cash! Great for the economy, not so much the average person!

My friend Joe recently summed it up nicely on that last one:

We live in WA State.  I recently heard on the radio that our local stadium is going cashless!  This got me thinking about how our society is clandestinely separating us from our hard-earned money.  At what, like $10 or $12 for a beer, a lack of physical cash leaving your wallet can be a scary thing!  And not actually having empty pockets to indicate you’re cut off, no more beer??  Just whip out that card!  Scary.

Yup – it is scary.

Now obviously most people are ALREADY using their cards and apps and such this way so it won’t be much different for them if stores go through with this, but there’s still a slew of people who prefer (and budget) using a cash system – not to mention all the wee little kids who learn about money using coins and dollars and such! Sure they can still learn through modern technology, but there’s still something to be said about holding (and smelling!) cold hard cash.

Shouldn’t we at least have THE OPTION to continue using it if we want?

My curmudgeonly two cents on it, anyways…

How do you feel about this coming trend? Have you already stopped using cash? Have you shopped at any of these stores doing this already, like the physical Amazon ones?

I don’t think I’ll have any real say in what businesses choose to do or not do over time, but my hope is that whatever route they go they at least think hard about the inclusiveness of it all. Most of us will cope just fine as it’s mainly a personal preference, but there’s a whole slew of others out there who don’t have a choice in the matter.

Here’s just a few of the top articles that come up when you Google the side effects of this:

• A cashless society is dangerously disruptive for the poor, elderly, and homeless – Quartz
• How the Cashless Economy Shuts Out the Poor – NY Times
• Millions would be put at risk in a cashless society, research warns – CNBC

How fortunate are we that we don’t even have to worry about this!

*****
Cool pic up top by @thefreak1337

[This post, Are you cool with stores going cashless?!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

I know the month’s only got started, but I’m calling it now – this is The Product of The Month!

Debit/credit card sleeves that come with mini ledgers!

So you can track stuff on the go!!

Love this $hit, haha…

And if that’s not exciting on its own, check out the price:

$2.75

WITH FREE SHIPPING!!

Got turned on to these by Dan B. and it’s been the best thing I’ve seen all year so far ;)

Here’s his note he passed me:

Hey J$,

I wanted to share this awesome find. I was looking for something to stick to my debit card to keep track of swipes and expenses. I couldn’t find anything but in the midst of my search I stumbled upon this ledger that has a debit card holder. It’s geeky to say the least but it’s wicked cool at the same time. Now every time I swipe I’ll whip out a pencil and write in what I just bought and what my new total is.

Over the year of keeping a bullet journal I’ve realized using paper and pencil holds me more accountable as well as able to adjust the budget for the future. Now when I’m on the go I’ll just use this in real time and transfer when I get home to the bullet journal. They used to call these types of things hipster pda’s. Someone needs to bring them back so I can get away from technology every waking moment of the day!

Here’s the link and I have no affiliation with this at all. Just wanted to share this so maybe someone else could benefit from this or even come up with a business plan to mass produce these.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/720631732/debit-card-sleeve-with-ledger

Keep being boss,
Dan B.

I know not everyone likes manually tracking stuff, but if your current system isn’t working too hotly it may be worth giving it a shot again…

It really is amazing just how much more AWARE it makes you when you’re forced to write everything down. I remember back in the day even going out of my way to NOT purchase something simply so I didn’t have to record it afterwards! Haha… So it can save you money in all kinds of ways ;)

But even if these aren’t your thing, perhaps they’d make great gifts to others in your life? Or stocking stuffers for next Christmas? (Too soon?) You could always use the ledger to doodle down notes or pictures too – incredibly useful.

Here’s more from the creator of these beauties (TwinApproved), as well as some more pics:

Credit/debit card holder with ledger to help keep track of your daily purchases. The ledger has 8 pages front and back and the sleeve has a clear protective cover to help with durability. If you have multiple cards then choose a different color for each card. Sleeve is slender and fits in most bifold wallets, or just put in your purse, or slide it in your pocket.

There are many apps available that will keep track of your account(s) and how you are spending your money. However, we have found that when we use these services for a little while, we slowly stop using them. By writing each transaction down it helps us to be more accountable and conscious of how we are spending our money.

This is a great opportunity to stop mindlessly swiping your card or help someone else keep track of their purchases.

*******

And then if you really want to be a baller:

That’s the one I just picked up, but had to dip into the savings as it cost me double @ $5.50 ;)

More info, or to scoop one up yourself, visit Etsy:

Debit Card Sleeve with Ledger 

And just like Dan above, I’m not getting compensated at all either for sharing this… I just think it’s a brilliant idea and had to share!! Hope it changes your finances! :)

For past Products of The Month:

• Debt Free Coloring Charts
• Budget Bear Budgeting Stickers
• The “In Case of Emergency” Binder

UPDATE: From Brian on the *mass production* part – “I did end up finding them on Amazon under “debit card mini registers“. Different format, but different styles to choose from. I guess according to reviews banks used to have these card size registers. Still, I like my purchase better haha…” (Amazon link there is an affiliate link)

[This post, Product of The Month –> Debit Card Sleeves with Ledger!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Morning!

WalletHub just came out with their 10 financial resolutions they recommend in the new year, and thought some of them were pretty good. Particularly for those just starting out in their journeys.

Any of these strike your fancy?

#1. Repay 20% of your credit card debt

If you have none, and/or are a baller, go for 20% of your mortgage!

#2. Add one month’s pay to your emergency fund

(Especially if you plan to use them for destination weddings ;))

#3. Pay bills right after getting your paycheck

I know that experts recommend “paying yourself first”, but I’ve always liked knocking out my bills as fast as I could too. At first this was on paydays, and then later in life moved to *the day the bills actually hit my inbox* so they’d never build up and/or have me forget about them. Plus – I don’t know about you – but I get this weird joy of paying off bills no matter how big or small as if it was some sort of game :) Maybe it’s the “checking thing off the list” type thing, or perhaps being appreciative that I even CAN pay off my bills at any time!, but either way I much prefer it than dreading them, haha… Are you the same?

#4. Make a realistic budget & stick to it

Key word there being “realistic”. If you’re done with budgeting right now, try tracking your net worth instead. A lot less time intensive, but still shows you pretty bluntly how well or not you’re doing each month. Plus gives you a much broader picture of how all your finances come together!

#5. Use different credit cards for everyday purchases & debt

I’m not too sure about this one, especially if you don’t handle cards too well, but here’s the reasoning from WalletHub:

The Island Approach involves using different accounts to serve different financial needs, as if they are a chain of islands. The most basic example is using a rewards credit card for everyday purchases and a 0% APR card for balances that you’ll carry from month to month. Doing so enables you to get the best possible terms on each card, rather than settling for average terms on a single card. It will also help you reduce the cost of your debt, considering everyday purchases won’t be inflating your average daily balance

#6. Look for a better job

That’s not a bad one to focus on for a year! Even if you’re perfectly content with where you are it never hurts to keep your eyes open in case something better/more fulfilling comes along your way… And if you’re already loving your job, perhaps shoot for *advancing* there instead by the end of the year! That’s do-able in 12 months at most places, yeah?

#7. Sign up for credit monitoring

Not sure this is the most challenging goal to shoot for in an entire year, haha…, but yeah – monitoring it is always a good idea if you’re not already doing so. And at the very least you could just pull your credit *report* each year (for free) that everyone has access to through federal law: AnnualCreditReport.com

#8. Improve your credit score by 20 points

Now that’s a fun one! Which you could work simultaneously w/ the credit *monitoring* since you’d be able to see the changes month in and month out. Some tricks for this (depending on how much you trust yourself with credit!) is calling to get your limits raised as high as possible to improve your debt-to-credit ratio, as well as opening up new cards and then putting something on them every few months and right away paying them off to show how “responsible” you are. And sometimes just picking up the phone and *asking* to have your credit RATES lowered can work too! I was amazed when I first saw this in Ramit’s book, and then tried it out for myself and it worked :)

#9. Focus on your physical health

Not exactly a *financial* resolution, but of course it all ties together with stuff. If you’re wishing you’d be more active, I advise fostering a puppy for a week and seeing what that does! We’re 5 days into doing this ourselves and my daily walk ratio has already tripled!! Haha… Plus you get all that extra love and endorphins flowing through you which HAS to have a good effect on your well-being ;) All the way up to at least *parting* with your pup, which I’m very not looking forward too and hoping just maybe we can end up keeping her in the end?? PRETTY PLEASE HONEY??

UPDATE: We adopted her this weekend!! OMG!!!

#10. Get an A in Wallet Literacy

WalletHub of course has a quiz for this, so you can easily gauge your knowledge *now* in 2019, and then try again at the end of 2020 to see how much you’ve improved –> WalletLiteracy

I took it last in April and scored an A-. Some of the answers I got wrong were:

• Which type of car insurance coverage will pay for damage to your car from an accident that you cause?
• When someone bounces a check, who is usually charged a fee?
• Rank the following sources of funding for higher education from best to worst…

Try it out and see if you can beat me :)

Anyone have other good $$$ goals they’ll be shooting for in 2020? Anyone still working on theirs from 2019?! ;)

I have yet to select mine, but thinking it’ll continue along the lines of “living more” as it’s been one of the best things I’ve focused on lately… I talk a little more about it on a recent podcast I was on if interested: BiggerPockets Money Podcast 103: Budgets Really ARE Sexy! with J. Money

Happy Friday!

[This post, 10 Resolution Ideas for 2020, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]