What up, what up!

Been getting a lot of great questions in my inbox lately, so thought I’d showcase a handful of them here in case you were wondering similar things…

If you like these, check out our last round we did too on a variety of other topics: A Bunch of Questions on Debt, Investing, and Blogging.

Keep the curiosity flowing! “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” – Claude Levi-Strauss ;)

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The Age-Old Retirement Question

“Hi sir, Ive been working my ass out as a casino cage coordinator and I am fed up in 7 years of service. May I ask what are your metrics in resigning? I mean, I wanna resign, but don’t know how to test if I can or if my side hustles are enough.”

My response: Oh wow – that sounds like an interesting job, at least from the outside! I bet you deal with all kinds of crazy people, huh?

Metrics – it really comes down to how much you need to survive off of – AND – how comfortable you are in doing so. Most of us in the $$$ space use the general rule of thumb that says if you can amass 25x your yearly expenses, you can more or less retire okay and live off your investments (in theory, at least).

So if you don’t need much to survive the # will be much smaller you’ll need, but if you spend a lot you’ll need a lot in order to maintain that lifestyle!

So lots of priorities and comfort levels involved… but hopefully this gives you some sort of idea :)

(And no shame btw in just finding a different job or side hustle too if this one isn’t making you happy. Most of those who are “retired” still work – they just do it on more fun projects, and on their own accord!)

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Hustling & Taking Breaks

“I’m writing a post tonight for publication tomorrow where I discuss beating procrastination by taking a break. I’ll focus on some of the things I do in my personal and business life to recharge my batteries. I’ll even talk about Elon Musk and his challenges with a busy schedule. But I also thought about how you sign out on the weekends from your blog and take weekends as a refreshing break. You’ve accomplished a lot in this demographic and would love to hear how you take a break from the blog and other work to keep your life vibrant and meaningful.”

Response: Yeah man – going into our 12th month here of not working a single iota on the weekends anymore!  Something that once felt impossible, but now is super easy!

And all you have to do is not open your laptop! Haha… Well, that and actually DO YOUR WORK during the work week and cut out all the distractions ;) But amazingly time magically opens up when you commit to it.

Here are some articles I reference this if it helps:

• The Triad of Hustling
• When You Find Out You’re Having Another Baby (!!!)

And then here are a bunch of interesting side effects so far from no longer hustling on weekends:

• I read more! Physical books!
• I started taking naps – hah! (The best is falling asleep to reading a physical book :))
• I’m more alert and conscious around my kids
• I don’t have to rush anything to hurry up and “get back to work”
• I’m much more *excited* now for Monday so I can work!
• And overall I feel like I’m just *living* more

There are some cons to it too, like having a backlog to wake up to first thing Monday – or God forbid your projects explode while you’re gone – but overall it’s been one of my best new habits. Highly recommend!

(And btw – even if something does explode, it’s not the end of the world… People don’t revolve around us as much as we seem to think!)

Here’s the article that indeed got published the following day if you want to take a look: Beat Procrastination and Get Rich by Taking a Break via The Wealthy Accountant

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The Security of Online Apps & Services

“Is Personal Capital really safe? I mean, you are putting all your vital info in there and you link it to your accounts?? Right? I want to do this, but I am just concerned about all my info being in one easy to access place.”

(This is a question I get asked allllll the time, not only about Personal Capital, but any other popular fintech app or service out there… So here’s my two cents in case you wonder the same ;))

My response: It’s as safe as any other big sites you connect your money/accounts to online :) Meaning, they use the best technology and security offered these days, but nothing is ever 100% hack-proof. (Unless you want to stay offline completely?)

Here’s a link to Personal Capital’s security page if it helps: https://www.personalcapital.com/financial-software/security

But honestly, if you’re really worried about it I just wouldn’t sign up to them or any other apps/services for that matter that link up your accounts. People have been managing their money just fine using pencil and paper for thousands of years! Haha… As well as spreadsheets in modern times ;)

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Buying a House or Upping Investments?

“We are a military family, so we will be getting a pension. We have been trying to save for a house, as we haven’t been able to buy one yet. Would you advise us to keep saving for the house, or up our retirement contributions? These are quite pathetic at the moment…. only about $640 a month. I realize this question is super broad, but I wanted a quick opinion – I have had one other person say up the retirement contributions.”

My response: As someone who is not the biggest fan of home ownership – and also someone who comes from a military background and likes to move a lot! – I second that notion of upping the retirement contributions. Especially if you’re not getting the free matches already that your employer(s) may offer :)

That being said, if owning a home is #1 priority for you guys and you’re super pumped about it, then by all means go for it! You’ll push yourself much FARTHER when you really want something bad enough.  It’s all about aligning our goals/dreams with our actions. And with money stuff there really isn’t a “right” answer, outside of the one that’s right for your family.

Not sure how helpful any of this is, haha, but I do love that you’re asking these questions and thinking about this stuff! Not many people hang out on money blogs for fun – so welcome. You’ll fit in here! :)

(And btw, saving $640/mo is not pathetic!! That’s gold for lots of people – be proud!!)

Another idea: what about putting the extra money into *savings* until you decide one way or the other? That way you have the money if you wanna jump on the house, and if not you can always move it to investments or any other goals that may come up? Not every dollar needs to be maximized 24/7.

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Getting Started With Coin Collecting!

“Hey, if I’m interested in getting into coin collecting, and I know absolutely nothing about it… what are my best resources? Have an awesome weekend!”

My (VERY excited!) response: Heyyyy I like the sound of that!

Here are a handful of ways to get started in the hobby:

#1) Pick up a few coin boards and try plugging all the holes from pocket change! You learn a TON by doing that alone, and it’s super fun and easy too (until you get to the last remaining slots and go crazy trying to find them, haha…)

#2) Pick up a copy of the “Red Book“ – which will run you maybe $12 or so, but will give you ALLL you need to know about what coins are worth, and what to look for, and a bunch of back history on the hobby as well. Makes for excellent light reading :) (Another book that helped me a lot in the beginning was also Coin Collecting For Dummies)

#3) Join your local coin club! They usually meet once a month, and it’s fun to be around others (in real life!) who share similar interests and are full of *knowledge* you can tap. They only cost $15-$30/year to join, and typically host coin auctions for their members where you can pick up new coins for your collection relatively cheap too. Plus – every meeting there’s usually a presentation of some sort to learn from! It’s very fun, I promise! :)

#4) Follow some coin blogs! There aren’t too many in the space, but here are a couple I enjoy:

• Coin Collectors Blog
• Coin Update
• CoinThrill (okay, that’s my hardly-ever-updated blog, but gotta plug it any chance I get ;))

#5) Lastly, if you think you’ll enjoy it enough to stick around, join the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and you’ll get all kinds of resources for learning and enjoying the hobby. Including an excellent monthly magazine to your door every month which covers coin news, trends, and other in-depth research. Oh, and there are plenty of other magazines out there too on coins that are great, such as Coins and Coin World, but the ANA’s is my personal favorite.

Lots of easy ways to get started! I hope you go for it!

[Hipster collecting]

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And that wraps up this Q&A round! For more juicy questions and answers, click here: A Bunch of Questions on Debt, Investing, and Blogging.

And then here’s another I stumbled across circa 2008! –> Does the financial crisis have a silver lining? (Q&A). Pretty wild to re-read and compare to how different times are today! Also a great reminder that no good or bad times last forever, so always smart to be mentally prepared for any future swings – especially in the markets.

‘Till next time!

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Links to coin books et al. are Amazon affiliate links…