Happy 4th of July y’all!
Got a bunch of fine reading material for ya today when you’re bored of relaxing and/or hanging out with your family (or both) ;)
I’m out at the beach all week soaking up some good family quality time myself, but sadly there’s no sleeping in or lounging when you’ve got a TWO-MONTH OLD on your hands! Womp womp…
Still – I’m making the best of it and keeping sane with a little metal detecting action which only adds to my coolness ;) If anyone would like to sprinkle in a little treasure in the sands here though, I’d greatly appreciate it! A guy can only take so many bottle caps before he loses hope!
To my favorite finds around the web lately…
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Favorite Articles This Month:
The Ultimate Pantry Challenge Guide via Happy In The Hollow –“It’s happened again. Despite my best intentions, I’ve been finding myself playing pantry Tetris. The cupboards are almost full and yet we buy more and try to carefully navigate the latest cans into the tiny empty spaces. It’s time for another pantry challenge!”
Can You Retire In Thailand With $200,000? via Free at 33 — “After living in Chiang Mai, Thailand for about four months now, I’ve had an opportunity to get a good sense of costs in one of the best cities in the world for value-minded people who also appreciate a relatively high quality of life. It’s been a tremendous experience for me thus far, exceeding my expectations in just about every manner conceivable.”
DiamondsSuck.com — “I recently got engaged, and found myself in the market for a suitable engagement ring. Over the past few months, I’ve done quite a bit of research on diamonds and the diamond industry. What I learned, quite frankly, pissed me off.”
What I’m Teaching my Son about Money via Mr. Money Mustache — “Instead of a physical piggy bank, my boy prefers to keep his money in the Bank of Mr. Money Mustache, a spreadsheet that contains every transaction he makes with money. To make a deposit, he just hands me some cash. To withdraw, he asks me for cash or has me buy something for him online. But for every dollar that remains in the account, he accrues interest at a 10% annual rate with monthly compounding. I’m excited about the teaching value of this…”
Unlearning via Derek Sivers — “You learned things that were true back then, but now they’re false. You got successful doing things one way, but now that way is moot. You still consider yourself an expert, but that expertise has expired.”
Life Is More Than Compounding Money via Intelligent Fanatics.com — “On January 9, 1995, 101 year-old Anne Scheiber left a $22 million fortune to Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. The school had never heard of Anne Scheiber before. Virtually nobody had heard of Scheiber before… It continues to draw attention, for the wrong reason.”
Interesting Nuggets / Announcements:
The Crispy Cabbage blogger came out with a productivity app –> Half Hour Hank ($0.99) // Get points for completing tasks, and use its “randomizer” to help you decide which to tackle first :)
Harry Campbell, aka “the rideshare guy,” came out with a new book –> “The Rideshare Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Driving for Uber, Lyft, and Other Ridesharing Companies” ($10’ish)
I found a FANTASTIC tool that helps you find your largest emails taking up space so you can nix them and keep your bandwidth low –> FindBigMail.com (Free) // Got my inbox from 98% full to 44% within minutes!
I found another great bill-killing app that will analyze your expenses and help you cancel any unwanted/fraudulent billing right there from inside the app –> TrueBill.com (Free) // Also good for requesting overdraft/late bank fees, as well as negotiating cell phone and cable bills easier (Not free)
You guys remember our “Gay, Non-White, Man of Muslim Faith” friend from last year who was having trouble seeking financial stability? Well, he stopped by the blog again this month – a year later! – to update us on how things are now going… Which I’m happy to say much better :) You can find his update in the comments section below JJNL’s comment towards the top.
**Fun Bitcoin Facts**
(via NapkinFinance.com)
- The first Bitcoin ATM was installed in October 2013 in Vancouver, Canada
- You can use Bitcoin to pay for travel on Virgin Galactic to the moon, or for a Subway sandwich in Allentown, PA
- One unlucky man from London lost $7.5 million in Bitcoins when he threw away his computer hard drive. The device is now buried in a landfill near his home.
- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin Harvard graduates famous for their lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg are betting big on Bitcoin. They claim to own 1% of all Bitcoin in existence.
- Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer paid 10,000 Bitcoins (roughly $25) for two Papa John’s pizzas on May 22, 2010. He did not know that it would be worth around $150 million today. Since then, May 22 is celebrated as Bitcoin Pizza Day to celebrate the most expensive pizzas in history.
And Lastly, The Video of The Month!
Courtesy of Tonya Stumphauzer, who now gives us a way to subtly nudge our friends who can use this miracle product the most ;)
“Feeling down because you’re broke AF? Not sure where to turn? Introducing Budgeta, the first accountant-prescribed solution for your financial woes that is safe, effective, and we like to think addictive in a good way.”
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Some of the links in the “Interesting Nuggets/Announcements” section I get compensated for – and I thank you in advance if you buy/subscribe to anything :)
For more readings/watchings:
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J$,
Thanks so much for including me! :)
Enjoy the festivities for the 4th. Independence Day has taken on new meaning for me since moving away from the USA, but I think it’s a great day to appreciate all forms of independence – especially the financial kind.
Have a great time with the family!!
Best regards.
Haha, indeed my man, indeed.
Oooooh!!!!!! Heeeello diamondsucks.com. You just got a big fan
Great use of your time when you’re passionate about something, right? Cool to learn about Moissanite too – had never heard of before.
Neat stuff J. Enjoyed the Thailand idea – now if they only had Tim Hortons over there, I’d be in.
Glad to see Tonya get a shout out too!!
OMG…those Bitcoin facts were the perfect start to my 4th. :) Hope you enjoy your downtime at the beach and, hopefully, you’ll find something really cool buried in the sand!
So far we’ve found 3 whole pennies :)
Love the video . Happy fourth. I’m assuming enjoy Rehobeth again!
No beach this year just work all but today.
You’ll have to come out here and meet us one day :) Hit up Dogfish Head Brewery yesterday!
Sleeping in or not, you’re still at the beach! It’s definitely one thing I’m really gonna miss IF and WHEN I ever move! :) PS I love Derek Sivers! Thank you so much for featuring my video!!! XO!
J$, how are the bigger boys liking the baby? Your house is going to be so much fun over the next few years. I’ll bet they will all be best friends!
They adore him so much :) But really waiting for him to get bigger so they can teach him how to play all the (roughhousing) games they like, haha… Hope your summer is going well too!
The diamond article was really interesting and I can attest to the fact they make poor investments. Love the idea of living in Thailand maybe not permanently but for an extended time during retirement but wonder if language is a barrier.
It seems like so many ex-pats are there that you’d probably be okay language-wise ;)
These are great! Happy in the Hollow is a favorite of mine, I’m stoked to see her featured here! And yes – diamonds DO suck :) I love the idea of FIREing overseas, but right now the fam is a little hesitant ;) so we’ll settle for lots of travel (For now!).
Nice y’all are able to do so! I need to stop making so many babies so we can get back to traveling too ;)
Love the video – had a good chuckle. Thanks for sharing and enjoy your beach time with the family.
Good choice. Definitely on the swing down and meet up, though looks like it’ll be next year at this rate.