You know what’s fun? Reading a newspaper again.
I randomly picked up a Wall Street Journal yesterday and immediately locked eyes on an article about Warren Buffett and all his financial wizardry. Or rather, the wizardry of all those people who realized he was onto something back in the 60’s and scooped up his stock for a whopping $40!! Can you imagine?? It’s currently trading at $200,000 right now. EACH.
It also of course mentioned the fact that Warren still lives in his $31,500 home he picked up in 1958, and how much he thinks budgets are sexy. Or at least it stated one of those widely accepted facts :)
There was also a funny clip about poop:
It’s funny – whenever you start paying attention to something, all of a sudden you see it everywhere! This whole week has been about goals and being a better steward with our money, and Mr. Buffett and disciples soar at this exceptionally. If you weren’t aware, he and Billy Gates have pledged to give away over HALF their wealth, which Buffett’s alone hovers in the $62 BILLION range. And they’re urging the world’s other multi-billionaires to give at least half their fortunes to charity too.
This is why I’m voting for him for President :)
But guess what? There are other rock stars doing some pretty amazing things with their money too, and these guys are sitting here right now reading these words as I’m type them onto the screen!
That’s right – I’m talking about YOU!
All 100+ of you who participated in our inaugural Be Proud of Your Money Day and helped kick the holiday off right. Which no one had ever heard of just the day before (including myself ;)), and then BAM! It shoots across the world and officially goes from being a National holiday to an International one within hours. Yeah internet! (Sorry newspapers)
But that wasn’t all…
Not only did you share all your awesome wins with us from throughout the year, but you also helped raise over $100 towards our new financial literacy foundation! WOO! Something I recently joined up to advise on, and will soon be rocking some pretty good projects through as soon as we’ve got our ducks in order… But for now, we stash the monies and get ready for their deployment!
(If you’d like to donate, btw, you can easily do so here or by simply sharing your own financial wins with us in the comment section of Wednesday’s post. I’ve extended the donations over the weekend, so each new comment will activate another $1.00 towards our mission. It doesn’t get any easier than that!)
What our community has been accomplishing
So what have y’all been working on – and crushing – so diligently this year? Between your life, money, and all your businesses?
I’ll tell you… Because it’s been a pretty damn impressive thing to see! And once again shows how any of this stuff is possible if you care enough and make it a priority. So keep pushing forward, friends!!
A smattering of what you’ve been achieving:
- I bought a house with cash!
- I began tracking my net worth
- I went on a “no dining out” month
- I raised my credit score by 168 points!
- I got my husband to learn and care about investing
- I grew my pet sitting side hustle into a true job and income stream
- I hit $200k net worth just before my 30th birthday
- I renovated a four plex and filled it with tenants!
- I paid off all my student loans!
- I moved across the country
- I move across the world
- I fully funded my IRAs
- I saved 50% of my income
- I asked for more money at work — twice — and got it — twice.
- I started a side hustle driving Uber to pay off the last of my car loan
- I finally, finally started investing instead of leaving my retirement savings to the mercy of inflation in an ALL CASH account. ALL CASH, you guys!
- I quit my teaching job and started my own company
- I actually *looked at* all of our student loans and how much we owe
- I did NOT give into lifestyle inflation after getting a hefty raise over the summer
- I used half of my emergency fund to help out my kids and pay for my dog’s cancer surgery and chemotherapy, and still have enough currently for 3 months living.
- I launched my blog 10 months ago and it generates pretty decent income already
- I haven’t used a credit card once this year (cash or nothing baby!)
- I’m on track toward fulfilling my goal of TRIPLING MY INCOME
- I’ve started a side hustle teaching fitness classes
- I doubled my income and saved over $70K
- I maxed out 401k, HSA, and Roth IRA!
- I finished paying the last of a string of a $200,000.00 medical bill
- I paid off my mortgage, like it was NO BIG DEAL! (But it totally was) ;)
- I created a “family bank” that everybody bought into and can take loans on w/ member approval
- I’m making people more aware that I produce videos I like for a living and stuff
- This is the first year with my wife and I not working and being debt free
- I have more money in savings now than ever in my entire life!
- My net worth went from $0 to $5,000 in just 10 months
- And my personal favorite: I haven’t given up even when things have been really tough and stressful.
Amen to that… And remember, all this stuff has pretty much been accomplished within THIS year alone. Isn’t that just crazy? Warren Buffett would be proud indeed.
Services y’all have been taking advantage of
I also noticed quite a few companies being dropped that’s helped some of you achieve these monumental accomplishments too. Here were the ones I caught, along with links to those we’ve reviewed here on this site:
- Digit (saving)
- Acorns (investing)
- Vanguard (investing)
- Personal Capital (tracking investments / money / net worth)
- YNAB (budgeting – this came up MULTIPLE times as being a life saver, and I’m embarrassed to say that I still haven’t reviewed it after all these years :( That’ll change shortly though, so in the meantime if you want to see what the fuss is about, click on over using that link and it’ll give you $6.00 off the software if you end up going for it. It really is worth looking into.)
- AMEX Blue c/c (for 6% cash back – and coincidentally the card I use for my business too)
- Betterment (investing – review also coming soon!)
- Mint.com (budgeting)
So technology has been playing its part too!
One more thing before we wrap it up and get back to the real world…
After reading this you’ll either get super motivated to get out there and kick some ass, or you’ll be sitting back feeling a bit deflated. And I’m not gonna lie – I got a bit jealous myself reading some of these as my two big accomplishments for the year were “not buying any lottery tickets” and “starting to save again” – hah! For those of you collectively sighing right now though, remember this:
For all the wins listed, there were probably 5x the failures.
No one got to where they are today without starting from the same place you did – ground zero. They hustled, they failed, they got lucky, they got *older*, and the truth is they’re all in different phases with their money and goals right now. Some of them might be the same as ours, but ultimately we all have to find our own way to the finish line.
So do your best to soak in the inspiration, and then try even harder not to compare!
It’s not easy, but it’s important… If we had a National “Tell Us How Much You Suck With Money!” Day, I guarantee the comments would crash the site ;) And that would just be depressing…
XOXO,
[Killer mustache pic by Aaron Friedman]
Get blog posts automatically emailed to you!
Hey J, thanks for the “making videos” shoutout!
“For all the wins listed, there were probably 5x the failures.”
I think this is something we tend to forget as we go through our financial lives. Especially those in the PF community. It’s hard not to compare to others and see people younger than you who have done way more with their money. It’s easy to give up. But the point isn’t to compare, like you said. The point is to motivate. I hope everyone gets this message and doesn’t quit. If you have debt it’s okay – work on getting rid of it. Don’t give up because you’re 50 years old and you think there will be no end in sight. Nice Friday inspiration, J!
Great comment, Chris (and great post, J.) — I agree 100%. It’s easy to say, oh, it’s too late, I’ve made too many mistakes and I’m too old. I myself thought that for quite a while — I’m in my early 30s, and I felt like I had just lost so much ground and would never be able to “catch up” to where my financially responsible peers were. And yeah, I am really “behind”, but that’s not the point. It’s a competition only against myself, and I am way ahead of where I would be I hadn’t started being financial conscious. Comparing against other people is not helpful.
Your money’s gonna be looking sexy as hell come your 40’s :)
Thank you Sarah, you’re positivity made me smile. I tell my wife this all the time, “Keep paddling baby, land is that way.” When we first started she felt lost and now that we’ve read a lot and put a budget in place and are chipping away at our debt she says she isn’t lost anymore and can see land off in the distance and it gets prettier every day.
Love the metaphor, Lee! :) That’s a nice image.
Great motivation friend. The biggest factor to financial success is mindset and sometimes it can get downright hard to keep plugging away. Those are the times that posts like this are so helpful to refill your mental fortitude and remember what it is you’re fighting for.
I loved reading about everyone’s money successes! Great inspiration!!
I saw mine on there… Unfortunately, as of yesterday, Uber cut the rates here by 21%. Great for the passenger, terrible for the driver… so I’m gonna need a new side hustle! :)
I’m thankful for the position that Uber helped me get into financially, but it will also be nice not driving an extra 500-700 miles every weekend .
Glad to see you will be doing a review of Betterment, too. I really love it, and I think you will too, especially since you’re on board with low cost index investing already.
Oh dang, well that sucks about Uber! Yet another reminder that biz and life is *constantly* changing so gotta store those nuts as you get them and keep going till it doesn’t make sense anymore!
Failure can be life’s greatest teacher. How inspiring to see all the different ways in which people are making money work for them.
Nothing against Warren’s $31k purchase price on his house, but it’s definitely worth 400k-500k. That said, you could say he made an excellent real estate investment.
Good point, damn inflation ;) I think the bigger takeaway though is that he has stayed in the SAME one for over 60 years and didn’t upgrade. Even if it was a horrible investment back then it certainly wouldn’t be one anymore!
What an encouraging and inspiring post. I love the list of the money successes people shared–so much variety, so much awesomeness.
I love reading all of the financial wins. It’s really motivational to get out there and strive for real change in my own finances.
These accomplishments are incredible & I wish you were around when I was in my 20’s…I’d be a gazzillionaire! I recently read that the most lottery tickets are so in the poorest zip codes so I think you are on to something….have an awesome weekend J!
Yeah, sooo much $$$ goes to waste on lottery and gambling and all kinds of nonsense. It’s just so much fun! Haha… but only if you can afford to lost it :( I had lottery in my “entertainment” budget for years and just got old after a while.
Yeah Bro those are some serious wins and now has me thinking I need to step it up. I will go back and leave a comment on Wednesdays post for sure and get 1 extra dollar in the bank. Good post J, and keep rocking.
Warren Buffet is pretty inspiring. My husband really admires him because he lives a really frugal life despite being a billionaire. Thanks for this post!
Although Warren Buffet’s house was purchased for $31,500 in 1958, adjusting for inflation, that house costs $259,351.82 in 2015. His $40 stock adjust for inflation (from 1960), would be $321.55 today. Not chump change by any means, and definitely strong principles are being implied. However it is misleading to state the numbers without context.
The house is worth far more than $259k. – probably closer to 400k or 500k. The county assessor has not reappraised the area in quite a few years.
Actually, I stand corrected. Assessed value is north of 600k and has not been reassessed in 5 or so years.
Yes, but the point is that he stayed in the same one for 60+ years AND didn’t upgrade AND lives frugally compared to billionaires (or just millionaires or even thousandaires – hah!) and is an overall genius with money. If that was his biggest personal purchase with billions in the bank, I’d say it’s a win (I have no idea if it was his biggest btw…)
We should not compare our financial situations and wins with others, but we still do. We should instead use other people’s success as an inspiration and as an opportunity that we can do it too. I have been working hard for my own finances lately and it does pay off. Combining frugality with increase of income streams works the best.
I feel inspired because these accomplishments are just normal everyday people on their journey of their financial freedom & goals. Happy Friday to all and keep working it :)
YES! Exactly! Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Wow those are some great achievements! Time to keep on keeping on!
I may be the only person who hasn’t jumped on the “I worship Buffett” bandwagon. I find him to be a huge hypocrite. Yes, he gives away a lot of him money, which is very noble. However, he (and Bill Gates) give their money to their own foundation, which is tax exempt, so they can take a deduction for the “contribution” on their tax return yet still control how the money is used. At the same time, he is reducing his taxable estate so that it is taxed minimally on his death. Now I’m a huge advocate of reducing one’s estate taxes, but Buffett does it while he advocates high estate taxes for other people who aren’t wealthy enough to start their own foundation. Many farmers’ families have to sell off their farms to pay estate taxes, yet Buffett’s son’s farm near where I live is owned by the foundation, so there is no chance it will ever be sold to pay taxes. I admire his investment acumen, I just don’t admire him as a man the same way everyone else does.
I can’t speak for the controlling of money/farm part, but I don’t personally think there’s anything wrong with getting a tax write off when you donate. I have to believe it’s helped raise a LOT more money (and done a lot more good!) w/ that perk in place than without. Regardless of the true intentions of doing so…
Not trying to convince you to like Buffett or anything, just wanted to jump in on the deduction part real quick :)
Oh, believe me, I am all for taking legitimate deductions, but the manner in which Buffet does it seems like he’s getting a charitable deduction for giving money to himself. And the avoidance of estate taxes for himself while preaching higher ones for everyone else.
Perhaps our communities extraordinary achievements will soon become the norm. I would love to see the influence of the LBYM lifestyle take a real hold in society. It would be hard to ignore if you started seeing your coworkers retiring at age 35-45.
Is it bad that I had to google what LBYM was?? :)
(for those reading who don’t know, it’s “living below your means”)
We eat out way too much. We have to take money from other budget categories as a result, but because we already saved the leftover for the month, we didn’t impact our savings.
Happy Fridayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right now my biggest financial thing I’m super proud of is buying a home!!! Paying extra every single month and the estimated worth of it (at the condition when we sold it) is already 40,000 more!!!! Which doesn’t take into account any of the renovations and improvement poured into it:P
Love it! You’re making up for all the stupid mistakes I had to pay for with my house, haha… together we’re Even Steven!
Cool to read all of the great wins this year. :)
While sooner than planned, I’m proud we are financially able to be FIRE’D this year.
Ha, “Tell Us How Much You Suck With Money!” Day. I could write some stuff. ;)
Rock on!! That’s a huge milestone!
I love to see all of these success stories! You’re right, I’m sure there are plenty of failures too. I can’t help but get jazzed though at so many people taking the first step and gaining momentum. I’m probably just a total optimist, but a part of me thinks that the money management culture in our country IS changing for the better.
I do keep hearing that millennials are better with savings and owning less “stuff”/ etc. No idea if it’s accurate but I’m going to believe it and remain happy :)
Awe if I’d know that line was your favorite I would have written it more eloquently. lol! I’m so happy you created a forum where people can openly be proud and declare their achievements! Because you’re right if we had national money suck day, we could easily find a reason why we suck because we are negative bias. We do need to celebrate each accomplishment, no matter how big or small. So thanks!
It was fun to see the accomplishments of your readers, well done!
There will be a moment to the people who read your blog as well as other blogs. At least they are interested in what you and other financial bloggers write about. That’s a great start. I was just like that. I read some articles from a financial blog then I started tracking my net worth, actively involved in investing and addicted to frugal living. About a year later, I am about to double my previously net worth. The time will come to the people.
Thanks for sharing as always!
BSR
Congrats on doubling your $$$ – that’s awesome!