What up, what up!

Happy New Year! Lol…

It’s me J$ – remember that guy?? Mohawk rockin’, FIRE wielding, personal finance nerd who went rogue and and forgot all about his blog?!

Sorry about that. The rumors are false though as I am still very much alive, just living more in the “real” world than the online one :) I also don’t nearly think about money as much as I used to so I don’t have as much to say about it!

But lately a few things have reminded me of the joy of finance so I’m going to furiously try to type it all out before life pulls me back in again…

The best gift money gives you is not having to think about money.

Whenever I think about money this is the part I think about the most. How when you’re IN IT you’re solely focused and grinding and just spending all your hours being scrappy and hoarding as much as you can going for “your number”, but ironically once you hit it money drops wayyyy down on the priority list. At least if you’re doing it right, in my opinion. There are certainly millionaires and billionaires and trillionaires who most definitely want MORE no matter what goals they hit, but I am not one of these people. The only thing I want more of is tacos! Mmmm…

But once you activate “not needing any more ” status, life gets exponentially easier. Yes because you can afford stuff and don’t have to work as hard, but also just in mental energy alone. Whenever something breaks down, or you’re shopping for gifts for someone, or you simply just want to order WHATEVER YOU WANT off the menu without having to worry about being able to afford it (like tacos!!) you can do it! And don’t have to ask permission! This alone is one of the best reasons to save and invest early.

The other – much bigger benefit, of course – is because you then get to choose 100% for yourself what you spend your time on. AKA Freedom. And this is the part I’m reminded of at least three times a week when someone asks me what I do “for a living” as I’m standing there giving away free clothes left and right!

I used to say I was “retired” and just doing this on the side (I tried once saying I was FIRE’D but then they felt bad for me and asked if they could help me find a job! Lol), but now that the “side” project is no longer on the side and it’s become a 40-hour week “job” just without pay,  I now say I run my Free Closet as a job. Just without pay. It doesn’t save me from still having to answer a million questions on how I can afford to do so, but it’s great for reminding me of all the hard work Past J. Money put in in order to get Present J. Money to this stage here! What a guy! So I always welcome the interrogating :)

Speaking of this “new” project, it actually turned 1 years old last month!! And we’ve since hit over 50k items of clothing and essentials given out!! Crazy!

And remember how I was looking for a van or truck of some sort to have a “mobile closet” vs running it out of my minivan (which I still have! And you were right it grew on me!) ??? Well, none other than fellow blogger Gwen from Fiery Millennials stepped in and generously donated her huge Cargo Van to me so I can continue to do more good in the world!! How awesome and beautiful is that??!

[This is Gwen – who I love to embarrass :)]

And I can tell you that just from this action alone you know she is on her path to Freedom as well, forfeiting $5,000 she could have easily made selling it. Sure she got a tax deduction from it (of course – we’re still money nerds!) but I’m sure 2006 Gwen would not have been as gracious as 2026 Gwen :) Money opens up a world of opportunities like being able to give away money when you want to!!! lol…

Which brings me to the 2nd thing I’ve been working on lately…

The Arsenal of Good

Do you remember that goal I had where I wanted to donate $20/mo to 100 local organizations? Well I made it up to around 16 or 17 organizations I want to say, but recently decided to change my giving strategy back to *direct giving* for even more impact. No doubt spurred by my latest Free Closet project.

I cancelled 12 of the automatic donations (always automatic so you never have to reconvince yourself to give every month!) and redirected these future funds ($240) right into a new “community fund”, aka savings account, where I now distribute it to *individuals* I think could best benefit from it. It’s been great because it doesn’t “cost” me any more money than I’ve already allocated to it, but now I have an Arsenal of Good I can deploy at any given point in time! Some towards people who shop my closet each week (mostly unhoused friends), but also to young entrepreneurs trying to get projects off the ground where money is the only thing holding them back.

In the few months I’ve started this I’ve given out three no-interest micro-loans totaling about $2,000 (one to a baker, one to a photographer, and another to someone to fix their car for more employment opportunities). It’s been so fun exploring and keeping my eyes and ears open!

And the cool thing with these micro-loans is that the repayments will keep funding The Arsenal so I can continue to loan out more and more over time… And if they default? Well, that’s how it goes sometimes. I have no intention of ever fighting to get it back, it’s more about the responsibility and holding yourself accountable aspect. You tend to want to succeed more when you have skin in the game!

*****

And lastly in the world of J. Money’s errr… money, I may or may not have invested in some pretty risky investments lately!

“You need some Sexy on the side”

Someone once told me this years ago and I’ve never forgotten it. Having some “sexy” on the side basically means that you should do the smart boring stuff at least 90% of the time, but then make sure to save a little bit for fun too to stay sane! Whether in life, or career, or finances, or whatever. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and all that…

In that line of thought (and also because it’s fun to try something new!!) I invested $10,000 into three private companies over the past year+ that I have an “edge” in. I.E. I personally know the founders who all have insane track records. Two are in the VC (venture capital) world so I’m just begging to lose money, haha, and the third is with my old friend Ethan from Digit days who retired when he sold it, and then came out of retirement exploding with energy and wanting to BUILD again! He just launched the first product a few months back – HIRO Finance – and is having fun doing all the things he once dreamed up but which technology couldn’t do yet. Now with AI a lot of it is possible!

I don’t expect all of them to take off, but if just one does it’ll definitely pay off. And it’s just fun getting off the bench for a bit and being sexy again!

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately…

Thanks for being here whoever’s still left here, and hello to all new readers giving the blog a chance!! Sorry you found me during the end of my blogging career, lol, but hey – we got an archives of 1,800 posts if you want to start from the beginning and pretend it’s 2008 all over again! I’m sure most of the stuff there is still accurate today as money is essentially the same now as it was thousands of years ago:

Spend less than you earn, bank the rest, enjoy your freedom.

The trick is just staying motivated!! So keep reading and watching financial content out there, and then start experimenting and seeing what sticks! All you need is one or two things to go right and then you can pour fuel on the FIRE (sorry – I had to…)

And I’ll be here rooting you on, virtually and in spirit 🙏

Update on that AI company I started with Nate last year… It’s been added to the Resume of Fails!

Update on our general finances… it continues to climb, due to the 90% unsexy! AKA Index funds! I barely remember to keep our net worth updated, but I’m always glad when I do so it forces me to pause and reflect and change something if something needs changing… But I’ve long stopped budgeting😱

Update on my three boys – they are now 7, 11, and 13!! CRAZY!! It’ll really be a logistical challenge next year when we have one in elementary school, one in middle school, and one in high school (!!!)