The Canada Learning Bond Explained

If you’re a parent in Canada, you should be contributing to your child’s RESP in an effort to provide post-secondary education should they need it. Take it from someone currently drowning in student loan debt: your kids will thank you! Lower-income Canadian families using an RESP also have the option of maximizing their return through [...]

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Undebt.it Review: The Best Free App to Help You Get Out of Debt

Undebt.it is a free online tool that will help you repay your debt. This web-based app lets you compare repayment strategies, track progress and more! It is hands down the best free financial tool available online, and the one you absolutely must be using it if you’re trying to get out of debt.  A complete [...]

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A brief guide to the Equifax settlement — and how to get what you’re owed

Two years ago, credit reporting agency Equifax suffered an enormous security breach. Hackers gained access to the personal data of 147 million Americans: Social Security numbers, credit card details, and other sensitive information. Almost half the U.S. population was affected.

Recently, Equifax reached a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to provide compensation for those impacted by the data breach. The FTC has posted summary details at its website. And if you're a real masochist, you can read the entire text of the settlement via PDF.

Over the past week, there have been a lot of stories going around that everyone is entitled to $125 due to the Equifax settlement. Here, for instance, is one of my real-life Facebook friends excited at the possibility of free money.

On Friday, one U.S. Representative tweeted: “Everyone: go get your check from Equifax! $125 is a nice chunk of change. Get that money and pay off a bill, sock it away, take a day off, treat yourself, whatever you'd like.” And at Slate, one author wrote that you have a moral obligation to claim money in the settlement.

I'll admit: Even I believed I was going to get $125. I told Kim about it so that she could get her $125 too.

But being a skeptic by nature, I've been digging a little deeper. Turns out things with the Equifax settlement are a little more complicated than “everyone gets $125”. In fact, most people won't (or shouldn't) get any money.

What the Equifax Settlement Provides

The Equifax settlement contains a number of provisions based on how badly an individual was affected by the data breach.

If your identity was actually stolen, for instance, and you suffered real financial losses because of it, then you're entitled to a cash payment of up to $20,000. If you had to spend time dealing with the data breach, you're entitled to $25 per hour (up to 20 hours). The catch? You can't just say you suffered losses. You have to provide proof. (If you spent less than 10 hours dealing with the issue, no real proof is required.)

If your identity was not stolen as a result of the Equifax data breach, then there are one of two possible outcomes.

• If you do not currently have a credit monitoring service, then you're entitled to receive ten years of free credit monitoring: four years at all three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) followed by six years of Equifax-only monitoring. (If you were a minor in May 2017, you get 18 years of free credit monitoring.)
• If you do currently pay for credit monitoring, you can either switch to the free credit monitoring or opt for “alternative reimbursement” of up to $125.

It's this latter provision that everybody is writing about. “Get your free $125!” the headlines shout. But it's not as simple as that.

For one, this money is only meant for folks who already pay for credit monitoring services. Yes, I know. Plenty of people — probably millions — will lie about this in order to get a claim at that cash. But that doesn't make it right.

But there's another, more important point.

This $125 compensation isn't guaranteed. It's up to $125 compensation. What the fine print actually says is that there's a $31,000,000 pool set aside for the “alternative compensation” portion of the program. That's enough to pay 248,000 people $125 each. If more than 248,000 file claims for alternative compensation, then everyone gets less.

Don't believe me? You can find this info on page 36 of the court order or item 10 of the official settlement FAQ (“What if I already have credit monitoring or identity protection services?”). My guess is that in the end, folks who opt for payment in the Equifax settlement will get very little money. And that's largely because people who weren't actually affected will have filed in the hopes of getting free money.

Here's another thing you should know. For most people, opting to take the $125 is a dumb choice — even if they're actually eligible for the cash and not lying about it.

Ten years of free credit monitoring is worth far more than $125!

These services typically cost about $25 per month. Taking the ten years of free credit monitoring is worth about $3000. Last I checked, $3000 is far more than $125.

How to Get What You're Owed

After all that, how can you get what you're owed? U.S. government websites are always awesome and useful, and this time is no different. The official FTC Equifax data breach settlement page has all the info you need.

That page will route you to the Equifax data breach settlement website where you can check your eligibility (i.e., whether or not your data was compromised) and file a claim. It took me all of two minutes to complete the forms and request my ten years of credit monitoring. Once the case settles (probably sometime in late January), I'll get info on how to access the service!

Kim, on the other hand, may actually be entitled to a real, cash settlement. She had issues with identity theft right around the time of the data breach. I don't know how we prove that these problems were due to the data breach, but if she's kept her records, she could indeed receive cash as part of the Equifax settlement.

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3 Ways I Plan my Timetable to Save Money

Balancing school and work is a treacherous task. I want to do my best in school, but also need to save money for rent, bills, and school supplies, among many other things. Nearly 73% of Canadian students are working and attending school. Typically, they are working because of their schooling. It can be hard to [...]

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The best cash back credit cards of 2019

You know what’s awesome?

Free money.

With a cash back card, you get free money. That’s a hard deal to beat.

Take your current spending and pretend someone cut you a check for 1-5% of that spending. You don’t have to lift a finger or do anything, the check magically shows up in your account automatically. That’s what it’s like having a cash back card.

There’s really no catch either.

As long as you already pay your credit cards off every month, there’s no downside. To be honest, you shouldn’t be using credit cards if you don’t pay off your balance each month anyway. Every credit card is a terrible deal if you don’t.

For those of you that do pay off your cards every month, a cash back credit card is one of the best deals in personal finance.

Before breaking down the best cash back cards, let’s make sure a cash back card is the right type of credit card for you.

There are two types of rewards credit cards: travel cards and cash back cards.

We go into a lot of detail on how they differ from each other in our best rewards credit cards guide. The quick summary:

• Get a travel credit card if you want to maximize the value of your rewards and perks
• Get a cash back card if you want to maximize simplicity or your don’t travel

So what are the best cash back cards?

The best cash back cards

After scouring all the cash back offers out there, we’ve found these cards to be the best options:

• Citi Double Cash
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Blue Cash Preferred Amex
• Capital One Quicksilver Rewards
• Discover it Cash Back
• Capital One SavorOne

How we evaluate cash back cards

For a card to make it on our list of best cards, we evaluated it using this criteria.

Bonus value

We don’t put much weight on the signup bonus. In fact, we ignore them for the most part.

Yes, the bonuses are great. Always take advantage of them.

But I never pick my credit cards based on the bonus itself. Since I never chase credit card promos or point hack by rotating credit cards quickly, I stick with the same set of cards for years. The rewards program, perks, and fees will all outlast the bonus. In the end, the bonus is a minor benefit.

Pick the card you want without worrying about the signup bonus.

Cash back system

This is the most important part of your cash back card. Sweat the details here.

Lots of cash back cards advertise amazing cash back rewards (get 5% cash back!) and then severely limit it with spend limits, rotating categories, or other nonsense.

As a general rule, the simpler the cash back program, the better. I’d much rather get 80% of the potential cash back if it means I never have to think about anything.

That said, if you’re trying to push your cash back rewards to the limit and are willing to take on the extra complexity, playing these games is the key to maximizing your rewards. It’s not how I personally want to spend my time, but if you do, all the power to you.

Fees

Keep a close eye on foreign transaction fees with cash back cards.

The best travel credit cards usually don’t have foreign transaction fees. That makes since they target travelers.

But cash back cards aren’t as generous. Many of them do have foreign transaction fees. This is a 1-3% fee on top of every transaction from a foreign bank. If you travel once per year, you could easily negate all your cash back rewards by paying hefty foreign transaction fees on your whole trip.

Otherwise, cash back cards don’t have many fees, and almost all of them don’t have an annual fee.

As long as you’re paying your card off every month (which you absolutely should be doing), you’ll be able to get your cash back rewards without ever having to pay a single fee.

Simplicity

As you pick your cards, keep an eye on how many banks you’re using.

Managing 2-3 logins across different banks isn’t a big deal but having a dozen or more logins starts to be a real headache. With a spouse and family, it’s surprisingly easy for bank accounts to get out of hand.

Whenever you’re trying to decide between two cards with similar offers, picking the option with a bank that you already use will help keep things simple. Not everything is about optimizing for every last dollar, simplicity and fewer headaches go a long way.

Bank reputation

At I Will Teach You To Be Rich, we have zero tolerance for banks that gouge customers on fees or treat customers poorly. Having a reliable bank is too important to put up with horrible treatment.

Unfortunately, Wells Fargo and Bank of America both have long histories of doing terrible things to their customers. We recommend avoiding them entirely. In fact, we didn’t even consider any cash back cards from either bank.

The best cash back credit cards

Here are all the cash back cards that you should consider.

Citi Double Cash

Highest cash back rewards that are super simple

• Earn 2% cash back on purchases: 1% when you buy and 1% as you make payments for those purchases
• To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time
• 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months. After that, the variable APR will be 15.74%-25.74% based on your creditworthiness
• Balance transfers do not earn cash back
• Click ‘Apply Now’ to see the applicable balance transfer fee and how making a balance transfer impacts interest on purchases
• No categories to track, no caps on cash back, no annual fee

This is our favorite overall cash back card.

You get 2% cash back on everything, which is a very good rewards rate. There aren’t any rotating categories or spend limits either. It’s truly as simple as it gets.

The only downside is the 3% foreign transaction fee. So definitely avoid using this card when traveling internationally.

Chase Freedom

The best card for those willing to use rotating categories 

• Earn a $150 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
• Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
• Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases — it’s automatic
• 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 17.24-25.99%
• 3% intro balance transfer fee when you transfer a balance during the first 60 days your account is open, with a minimum of $5
• No annual fee
• Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open. And there is no minimum to redeem for cash back
• Free credit score, updated weekly with Credit Journey℠

The 5% cash back is impressive. Each quarter, you’ll have a new spending category that gets the 5% cash back up to a certain limit. One quarter might be groceries, the next might be Amazon.com and Walmart.com. Everything else gets 1% cash back.

I prefer to avoid rotating categories, I don’t want to spend the mental energy keeping track of this stuff.

But if you were trying to maximize the rewards from your cash back cards, having one rotating category card could be worth it. You’d only have one set of rotating rewards to worry about. That would give you a few simple rules for spending:

• Check the new category once per quarter to see what gets the 5% bonus
• Use the Chase Freedom card for that category
• Use your default cash back card for all other spending

As long as you remember to check the rewards category each quarter, this is still a simple system to follow. I’m not going to do it, but I totally understand if you want to.

The 5% cash back does have a quarterly spending limit, usually about $1,500. So the cash back will be limited to about $75 per quarter.

This is very similar to the Discover it card, which we’ve included below. It’s basically the same offer. We recommend the Chase Freedom instead because it’s a Visa, which means it’s accepted at a lot more businesses than a Discover card.

Only consider this card if you’re willing to deal with the rotating categories.

Chase Freedom Unlimited

A great card for the first year, then an average card after that

• New Offer! Double Cash Back: Earn 3% cash back on all purchases in your first year up to $20,000 spent. After that earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases
• 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 17.24-25.99%. Balance transfer fee is 3% of the amount transferred, $5 minimum
• No minimum to redeem for cash back
• Cash back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open
• Free credit score, updated weekly with Credit Journey℠
• No annual fee

3% cash back up to $20,000 in card spending for the first year, then 1.5% after that.

No annual fee and no other complexities to worry about either.

This would be an amazing card if the 3% cash back on the first $20,000 in spending happened every year. But it doesn’t, you only get 3% during the first year.

It’s best to treat the 3% like a signup bonus and consider this card like a normal 1.5% cash back card. 1.5% is nice, but other cards have higher rates.

I’d look at other cards.

Blue Cash Preferred Amex

An excellent secondary card to maximize specific spending categories

• Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new card within the first 3 months
• NEW 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions
• NEW 3% cash back on transit including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more
• 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%) 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations. 1% cash back on other purchases
• You spoke, we listened. Over 1.6 million more places in the U.S. started accepting American Express® Cards in 2018
• Low intro APR: 0% for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable rate, currently 15.24% to 26.24%
• $95 annual fee
• Terms apply

If I had two cash back cards, this would be one of them.

I’d use my Blue Cash Preferred Amex on all my transit, supermarket, gas station, and streaming subscriptions. That would allow me to get 3-6% cash back on all that spending. For everything else, I’d use a card like the Citi Double Cash which would then give me 2% cash back on everything else.

That’s a good way to maximize cash back rewards and still have a very simple set of credit cards.

The annual fee makes this card a bit more complicated though. Not only do we need to earn enough cash back to cover the fee, we also need to earn enough cash back to outweigh the standard 1-2% cash back rewards from any other card.

We could build a super fancy spreadsheet with rewards projections based on your annual budgets. Let’s skip all that. There’s a simple way to find out if Blue Cash Preferred Amex is worth it for you.

I’m going to assume that you spend about:

• $50/month in streaming subscriptions. That’s $36/year cash back.
• $100/month in taxis and other transit. That’s $36/year cash back.
• $100/month in gas. That’s $36/year cash back.

Combined, you’ll get $108/year cash back which covers the annual fee.

Now, if you max out the 6% supermarket category with $6,000 in annual spending, you’ll get another $360 in cash back. That easily covers the opportunity cost of sticking with a straight 2% cash back card.

In other words, if you spend over $100/week at the grocery store, it’s worth getting this card as your second cash back card. You’ll max out the grocery benefit if you average $115/week in spending.

And if you spend more than $100/month in taxis or gas, this card gets even more valuable. 

Capital One Quicksilver Rewards

The best cash back card for travelers

• One-time $150 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
• Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day
• No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus, cash back won’t expire for the life of the account and there’s no limit to how much you can earn
• 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months; 16.24%-26.24% variable APR after that
• 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months; 16.24%-26.24% variable APR after that; 3% fee on the amounts transferred within the first 15 months
• Pay no annual fee or foreign transaction fees
• See if you qualify for a better offer with Capital One

One thing to watch for on cash back cards is the foreign transaction fees. A lot of them have it, which adds 1-3% to any foreign transaction. If you travel internationally at all, you’ll want a card that doesn’t have it.

If you want to use a cash back card while traveling, the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards is a great option. You get all the benefits of having a super simple cash back rewards program, an easy 1.5% cash back on everything, and no foreign transaction fees to worry about.

This also makes an excellent second card when paired with the Citi Double Cash card. Use the Citi Double Cash when in the U.S. to get 2% cash back on everything. Then use the Capital One Quicksilver when traveling to get 1.5% cash back and avoid foreign transaction fees.

Discover it Cash Back

Only a good option if you want rotating categories and a Discover card

• INTRO OFFER: Discover will match ALL the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year, automatically. There’s no signing up. And no limit to how much is matched
• Earn 5% cash back at different places each quarter like gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, Amazon.com and more, up to the quarterly maximum, each time you activate
• Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases — automatically
• Redeem cash back in any amount, any time. Rewards never expire
• Use your rewards at Amazon.com checkout
• Get an alert if we find your Social Security number on any of thousands of Dark Web sites. Activate for free
• No annual fee

Full disclosure: I’m not a huge fan of Discover cards.

They get rejected at stores and restaurants all the time. I hate dealing with that hassle.

Not only is it a Discover card, it also has rotating categories. Like other rotating cash back cards, certain spending categories get 5% cash back while everything else gets 1%. And the categories rotate each quarter.

If you’re a big fan of Discover and want a card with rotating categories, this could be a good option.

But I wouldn’t choose this card myself. Dealing with Discover and the extra headaches or rotating categories is too much hassle for me. I’d choose any of the other cards on this list.

Capital One SavorOne

The best cash back card for dining and entertainment purchases

• Earn a one-time $150 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
• Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, 2% at grocery stores and 1% on all other purchases
• No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus cash back won’t expire for the life of the account and there’s no limit to how much you can earn
• 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months; 16.24%-26.24% variable APR after that
• 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months; 16.24%-26.24% variable APR after that; 3% fee on the amounts transferred within the first 15 months
• No foreign transaction fee
• No annual fee

With the 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, this card makes a great option as a secondary card to maximize your returns in that category.

If you eat out a lot or attend a lot of events, it’s definitely worth considering this card.

It also makes a great backup card for when you’re traveling, since it doesn’t have any foreign transaction fees.

How to use multiple cash back cards to maximize your rewards

Honestly, you can get 80% of the potential cash back value from getting a single cash back card and using that card for everything.

To maximize simplicity, sticking to a single card really is a great move.

But what if you really want to get a couple of cards to maximize your cash back benefits? What does that system look like?

I’m going to walk you through a three-step system on how to build your cash back machine using multiple cards.

You will have to pay attention to a few spending categories and the rules will be a bit more complicated. But if you’re looking to maximize your cash back rewards, this is the simplest way to do it.

Step 1: Pick your default cash back card

Even if you plan on having multiple cards from the get-go, you want to start with your “default” card. This is the cash back card you’ll use for all purchases that don’t fall into any of the spending categories that we’re using other cards for.

For most folks, we highly recommend the Citi Double Cash card as your default cash back card.

The only downside is that the Citi Double Cash does have a 3% foreign transaction fee, which is pretty high.

If you travel regularly and don’t want a travel rewards card, consider using the Capital One Quicksilver as your default card. There’s no foreign transaction fee, and you’ll get 1.5% cash back on everything. It’s not quite as high as the 2% from the Citi Double Cash, but avoiding foreign transaction fees will easily cover the gap.

Step 2: Pick one maximization card

Now we get to have some fun.

It’s time to pick your maximization card. You’ll use this card only when you make purchases that take advantage of the increased cash back rewards in the categories for that card. For everything else, you’ll use your default card that you already picked during step one.

Depending on your personal spending, you have a few options.

Option 1: Blue Cash Preferred Amex for groceries and gas

If you spend $100/week on groceries, you’ll easily max out the benefits of this card. Start using it for your groceries, streaming, transit, and gas. Even with the annual fee, it’s a fantastic card for anyone that spends regularly in these categories.

Option 2: Capital One SavorOne for dining and entertainment

You’ll get 3% cash back on all dining and entertainment. I tend to eat out a lot, so this is a great fit for me. It also has a 2% cash back on groceries, but that doesn’t really matter if you get the Citi Double Cash as your default. You’ll already be getting 2% on every purchase.

Option 3: Chase Freedom for maxing returns with rotating categories

If you really want to maximize your cash back, you’ll need to get a card with rotating categories. This gets you a 5% cash back, but you have to deal with the headaches of remembering which categories are active. I would never do this myself, it’s too much trouble. But if you don’t mind remembering which categories have the 5% bonus, you’ll be able to maximize your cash back. 

Also remember to watch the foreign transaction fees on cash back cards

When getting a second cash back card, try to get one card without foreign transaction fees. Then you’ll be covered whenever you travel internationally. The Capital SavorOne is a great option for this. You can use it for the 3% cash back on dining and entertainment when stateside, then use it for everything to get 1% cash back and avoid foreign transaction fees when traveling.

Step 3: Optional second maximization card

If you’re looking at the list of maximization cards above and having trouble picking between two of them because they both fit your spending really well, consider grabbing them both.

This would give you a total of three cash back cards. One is your default, the other two are maximization cards.

For example, let’s say that I spend hundreds of dollars every month on groceries, gas, dining, and entertainment. There would be a strong case for me getting three cash back cards:

1. Citi Double Cash as my default card
2. Blue Cash Amex for my groceries and gas
3. Capital One SavorOne for dining and entertainment

This setup would allow me to maximize my cash back across several spending categories. I’d have 2% cash back as my default and 3-6% across a few categories. That’s a really nice return with a cash back machine that’s still simple enough to remember.

Should you ever consider more than three cash back cards?

I strongly advise against it.

You could get more than three and it won’t hurt you. 

But I consider it completely unnecessary.

After three cards, any additional cards will have diminishing returns. They become more trouble than they’re worth.

Definitely get a default cash back card, get a second if you want to bump your returns, consider a third if your personal spending fits multiple cards, and don’t go past that.

The best cash back credit cards of 2019 is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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The power of focus: Why you should tackle one goal at a time

I used to be the sort of guy who loved to have a list of goals. At least once a year — usually around New Year — I'd sit down and make a list of all the things that were wrong with me, all of the things I wanted to change.

In 2007, for instance, I made a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in 1001 days. (It took me longer than three years to finish that list, by the way. In fact, I still haven't done everything on it because my priorities have changed. But now, ten years later, I see that I have completed nearly all of the ones that still matter.)

Eventually I realized that making a long lists of resolutions is a sure path to disappointment — at least for me. There's a reason you see newspaper and TV stories every spring about how most people aren't able to maintain the resolutions they set at the first of the year. It's because most of us try to do too much. (And, I think, because we try to set goals that aren't truly aligned with our primary purpose in life.)

Nowadays, I do something different, something that's actually proven to be successful. Instead of trying to change many things at once, I've learned to change only one thing at a time.

One Thing at a Time

In 2010, for instance, I focused on fitness. In fact, I dubbed 2010 “The Year of Fitness”. My aim was to lose fifty pounds. Every decision I made, I made with that goal in mind. You know what? It worked. Though I didn't lose fifty pounds that year, I did lose forty. (And I lost the final ten by the middle of 2011.)

I was able to do this because for the entire year, my only goal was to get in shape. I was focused. Nothing else mattered. I didn't have any other big goals clouding my view or competing for my attention. I set one goal, and I worked hard to meet it.

In 2011, my one goal was to learn Spanish. And I did it. Three times a week, I paid a Spanish tutor for ninety minutes of personal instruction. In my spare time, I watched Spanish movies and listend to Spanish music. I read Spanish books. I consumed Spanish podcasts. Within a year, I'd achieved reasonable fluency in the language. I could carry on converstations in South America, and I could read Spanish-language novels. (Though not all Spanish-language novels.)

In 2012, I tried something a little different. Instead of one big goal for the year, I chose to work on one goal each month. Some examples:

• In March, I had lunch or dinner with a different friend every day. This let me reconnect with people I'd been missing.
• In April, I embarked upon my Extreme Dating Project. I'd just been divorced, and my goal was to meet as many women as possible. (April was a fun month! And it led to my current relationship with Kim.)
• Next, my goal became to make it to the gym every day in May. I didn't quite succeed — I only worked out 28 out of 31 days — but I came close.
• My next goal was “no junk in June”. I focused on my diet, which helped me lose five pounds and two percent body fat.

Sometimes I spend a year on any given goal. Sometimes, I spend a month. And sometimes I spend even longer! After Kim and I decided we wanted to take an RV trip across the United States, for instance, I spent the next eighteen months devoted to that project.

During the first part of 2015, we shopped for and purchased a motorhome, then prepped it for life on the road. We left Portland on 25 March 2015 and spent the next six months exploring the U.S. We paused for six months in Savannah, Georgia, before beginning our homeward journey this time last year. On 29 June 2016, we made it back to Portland. We had a blast — because for those eighteen months, we were committed to one thing and one thing only.

You get the idea. At any given time, I'm concerned with only one major goal.

One Problem, One Correction

My friend (and personal trainer) Cody espouses the “one thing at a time” philosophy when he works with clients at his gym. Here's how he describes his approach:

One of the teaching skills that is developed in good coaches is the concept of “one fault, one correction”. The idea is to take the most important correction needed and just focus on that one thing. Attack it from different angles if needed, but be tenacious on correcting the biggest fault only. Once that has been achieved, the Coach and Athlete can move on to the next biggest fault, then the next and so on, in a never-ending journey toward excellence.

Cody says that by focusing on one thing at a time, you can:

• Obtain greater focus. When you try to correct more than one thing at once, it's easy to become distracted. You can't do any one thing well because you're trying to do many things poorly. But if you concentrate on a single goal, you're able to obtain a laser-like focus that better helps you achieve that objective.
• Reduce stress. If tackle too much at once, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. It seems like you'll never get it all done. When you focus on one thing at a time, you know that's the only thing you have to worry about. This relieves a lot of pressure.
• Build confidence. “Honing in on one challenge and overcoming it can give you a tremendous feeling of success,” Cody says. This boosts your belief that you can overcome other obstacles. When you kick ass on your first goal, you know you can kick ass on the next one.

Cody puts this philosophy into practice every day in the gym. He uses it when coaching me on squats, for example. When I started at his gym, my form was awful. I couldn't do an actual squat — not even without weight. By correcting one thing at a time, I made great progress. (At my peak, I could backsquat 245 pounds, which was 150% of my body weight!)

The myth of multitasking and the magic of single-tasking are well known. Study after study after study has demonstrated that when we try to do more than one thing at once, quality and quantity both suffer. It's much better to finish one thing before tackling a second. (Did you know that those who claim they're best at multi-tasking are actually worst? It's true!)

Exercise: Here's one of my favorite demonstrations of how multitasking hinders rather than helps. Grab a pen, a piece of paper, and a stopwatch. First, time yourself as you write the alphabet from A to Z followed by the numbers 1 to 26. Next, time yourself as you alternate between writing the letters and numbers, putting them each in their respective columns (or rows): “A 1 B 2 C 3”. When I tried this just now, it took me 30.49 seconds to complete the first pass (with no errors). It took me 43.57 seconds to complete the second pass (with one error — I wrote F instead of 5.)

In his book The ONE Thing, entrepreneur Gary Keller advocates relentless focus on a single goal at a time. Specifically, he recommends asking yourself this question: “What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

Keller writes, “Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus…You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects.”

The Bottom Line

I've been using the “one thing at a time” approach for more than seven years now. It's made me happier and more productive. And it's because of this success that I've become such a huge advocate for creating a personal mission statement. When you have a single over-arching purpose, it's so much easier to prioritize the other things in your life.

But I want to point out that I'm not advocating slavish devotion to your one goal. Not at all. While you're pursuing fitness or learning Spanish or traveling the country in an RV, there's still time to work on other areas of your life. And you should constantly strive toward holistic personal growth.

What I'm advocating is choosing one thing that takes priority over all other things, and then sticking to that until you meet your objective. If your aim is to achieve a certain weight or — better yet — to develop a fitness routine, then make sure that is the one thing that never gets pushed aside for other priorities.

Also note that the one thing that's most important to you this year or this month or this week might be different from your personal mission. Or it might be some small subset of that larger goal. My personal mission is all about personal growth and exploration. But this month, my primary aim is to reduce my alcohol consumption. My aim for next month is to — finally! — complete the Get Rich Slowly redesign.

Lastly, I should note that although I've found this strategy effective and I'm writing an entire article advocating it to you, the reader, I still sometimes forget to use it.

One reason I suffered from anxiety this spring is that I had forgotten my own advice to tackle one major goal at a time. I was trying to do too much. My therapist helped me to see that I had unrealistic expectations for myself and that I needed to dial back my ambition.

“Oh yeah,” I thought. “One thing at a time. I need to focus on one thing at a time.” So I am.

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How to Deal with a Bad Landlord

I’ve moved house several times in my incredibly short 21 years, including eight separate times since I left home four years ago. Of those eight rentals, I had only one decent landlord. The other seven covered a vast range of difficult people that I had to fight tooth and nail just for basic repairs. Or [...]

The post How to Deal with a Bad Landlord appeared first on Money After Graduation.

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#money #finance #investments

A self-made man

My father died twenty-four years ago today.

As I drove to the airport this morning — I'm on a short trip to San Diego — my mind drifted back to him and what he was like.

I don't think of Dad often anymore, and when I do it's mostly superficial stuff: Dad was fat. His hair was wild and wavy. He could be gruff. He was funny and had a contagious laugh. Sometimes he wasn't a very nice guy. Sometimes he was. But it's tough to remember what Dad was like as a presence, you know?

What I remember most about him was how Dad could do anything he set his mind to. This isn't nostalgic hero worship. It's how he actually was. My father could teach himself to do anything he wanted. And he wanted to do a lot.

A Self-Made Man

I'm not sure where my father's love of learning and experimenting came from. His parents were a simple, devout Mennonite couple.

When I knew Grandma and Grandpa, they managed a small farm. They had milk cows. They raised blueberries. They grew and canned vegetables. Grandpa cut his own wood. He'd been a janitor at the local high school, but by the time I was around, he was retired. Every night, he and Grandma sipped Sanka and played Scrabble. Their existence was simple, ordered, and serene.

My father wasn't simple. His life wasn't ordered. He was not a serene man. He was complex. He was messy. He was boisterous. He was a force of nature. (I come by my ADD honestly.) He had many interests, and he liked to indulge them all.

• Dad wanted to be a pilot, so he took flying lessons. In his twenties, he became a flight instructor at a small local airpot. When my brothers and I were young, he'd sometimes take one of us on a joy ride to Salem or Eugene. He stopped flying, though, after crashing his Cessna while practicing touch-and-go landings in the field behind our trailer house.
• Dad wanted to sail solo to Hawaii. Throughout the 26 years that I knew him, he nearly always owned a sailboat. (The only times he didn't were when our family was mired deepest in poverty.) When I was very young, he built his own sailboat following instructions in borrowed library books. My family didn't travel for family vacations; my parents took us sailing down (and up) the Columbia River.
• Dad loved electronics. He built a lot of his own gadgets, designing and soldering circuit boards. When I was old enough, he helped me build a radio so that I could listen to Portland Timbers games and old-time radio dramas on local stations.

Dad built other stuff too. He built so much stuff that projects were often abandoned half-finished.

He ground mirrors to build his own telescope — then left them lying around in a bedroom drawer for years. He constructed a windmill, but something about his math was off and the thing collapsed from the weight of the canvas sails when he tried to mount them. He constructed outbuildings on our two acres, and then built an addition to the back of the trailer house — an addition that was never really completed.

In high school, I took over Dad's car — a 1982 Datsun 310GX. (Looking back, I'm not sure how this happened but it did.) The car “blew a head gasket” one day. Rather than pay a mechanic to repair it, Dad tore the engine apart himself, found and fixed the problem, then re-assembled everything. He taught me how to change the oil and the brake pads and the headlights…but there's now way I could ever pull apart an engine!

When personal computers became “affordable” in 1977 — looking back, they were the equivalent of $11,000 in today's dollars! — Dad bought one and taught himself to program it. (And I taught myself to program it too.)

My father could play guitar, fly an airplane, sail a boat, build a boat, build a computer, program a computer, build a radio, build a greenhouse, build a house, repair an engine, write fiction and poetry, build complex machinery, build a telescope, start a business (or six), and more. And he taught himself how to do almost all of these things.

A Serial Entrepreneur

As I've mentioned before, my father was a serial entrepreneur. He was always starting businesses.

He programmed accounting software but could never find anyone to buy it. (It was 1980, I think. He was a few years too early.) He built a greenhouse complete with automated watering system, then tried to start a nursery. Nobody wanted to buy his azalea and arborvitae. He mowed lawns. He sold chocolate bars.

Most of his business ventures failed, but twice he hit paydirt.

First, he built a business called Harvest Mills, which first manufactured wheat grinders, then added food dryers to the line-up.

In 1985, eight years after he sold Harvest Mills, Dad founded Custom Box Service, a company that produces small runs of corrugated packaging. Dad designed and built all of the machinery himself. Those machines have been in constant use for thirty-three years. They haven't been completely trouble-free, but come on! These are machines created by a random guy from rural Oregon. That's pretty amazing.

A Modern Homesteader

When I was in second grade, my parents decided they wanted to move to Canada. For once, they were flush with money. My father had sold Harvest Mills to a bankruptcy attorney in Utah and was to be paid $5000 every three months for the next fifteen years.

When Dad had money, he liked to spend it. If he had money, he'd buy a sailboat. Or an airplane. Or a hi-fi stereo. Or a personal computer.

This time was no different. This time, though, he wanted to use the money to buy twenty (or forty) acres in rural British Columbia. I don't know why. (He was always afraid of nuclear war, though, so this could very well have been a way to escape the “blast zone”.)

Mom and Dad piled us three kids into one of our two beat-up Plymouth Valiants — we called one “dirty white” and the other “dirty red” — and drove us fourteen hours north to Vanderhoof, a small town that's pretty much what you'd expect to find in central B.C. so close to Alaska. There, we spent a long weekend in real-estate offices and visiting properties.

I remember driving down dirt roads and strolling along swollen streams. I remember wandering around farmyards. I remember watching a war movie in our hotel room. But I don't remember any of the houses we visited, and I don't remember why we never moved. My guess is that Dad didn't have as much money as he thought he did. Or perhaps Mom had objections to moving to the middle of nowhere?

Instead, he bought twenty or forty acres near the trailer house and tried his hand at being a wheat farmer. It was hot and dirty work, but it was another thing that he could teach himself to master. Unfortunately, he had no way to master the national economy, which didn't have a high demand for wheat when it came time to sell. He abandoned that venture too.

An Inspiration

One of my favorite exercises is trying to trace a financial family tree. What did my parents teach me about money? What attitudes did I get from them? What habits? And what did their parents pass onto them? Did I get anything from that generation?

Dad was self-reliant…and he wasn't. He could do almost anything…but he seldom did. He was a dreamer…but he rarely pursued his dreams.

For many years, I thought of myself as “not like Dad”. I don't know if this was a conscious decision or if I simply believed that I was different. In any event, I didn't think of myself as a DIY guy. I couldn't build a windmill or a sailboat or a telescope. I couldn't repair an automobile engine.

In recent years, however, I've been very aware of just how much I picked up from my father, how much he influenced my money blueprint. I can see where I got many of my ideas and habits and values.

I'm intellectually curious. I'm entrepreneurial. I love travel and adventure. I'm drawn to the idea of living somewhere remote — just me and Kim and our zoo. And lately I'm learning to love DIY.

The older I get, the more I see my father in me.

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Don’t buy a new car without this cheat sheet!

Congratulations — you’re about to snag a new ride! We’re assuming that you’ve already done some research: You know how much you can afford to spend, which car you want to buy, and the true market value (what other people are paying) for that car in your area.

And now you’re ready to buy. Follow these steps to get a good deal and make the car-buying process at the dealership as painless as possible. To help make it easier, download our cheat sheet and take it with you.

At the dealership, evaluate the car and the salesperson. (Photo from Getty Images)

Before you go to the dealership

Arrange financing ahead of time to make the negotiation easier and help you get the best deal.

• Check your credit score. If you need to build your credit, consider waiting until your score will let you get acceptable financing terms.
• If it looks good, apply to get preapproved or pre-qualified for an auto loan.
• Select the best interest rate and the shortest loan term you can handle.
• Consider calling the dealership to confirm the car is still for sale.
• If you call, prescreen the salesperson: Does he or she listen and seem knowledgeable?
• Decide if you’ll want extras like an extended warranty, paint protection, or additional anti-theft devices. Remember, these are high-profit items for the dealer and you can always buy them later.

Bring these items

Think ahead and be prepared with the right documents and information. Take with you:

• True market pricing from Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book, or NADA, the National Automobile Dealers Association.
• Information about incentives, rebates or special financing deals.
• Proof of insurance and a check for your down payment (aim for 20% for a new car, 10% for a used car).
• If you’re trading in: the car’s title or loan documents and extra keys.
• A snack and water in case the deal takes a long time.

Arriving at the dealership

A salesperson will greet you and urge you to take a test drive. Afterward, be ready for increased pressure to begin negotiations.

• Evaluate the car, but also the salesperson.
• Is the salesperson: Listening to your needs? Knowledgeable? Relaxed, yet efficient?
• If asked, don’t consent to a credit check before the test drive. Say you’re already preapproved for a loan.
• Avoid naming the monthly payment you want. Just say, “I’m a cash buyer.”

On the test drive

The test drive will provide the sensory information you need to decide if this is the right car for you. Don’t rush this step, and don’t let the salesperson distract you with a chatty sales pitch.

• Tell the salesperson you need to test drive for at least 15 minutes.
• Drive a route that includes tight corners, hills, rough pavement and highway.
• Turn off the radio and pay attention to acceleration, braking, visibility and seat comfort.
• Check the cargo area and backseat legroom.
• If you don’t like your salesperson, ask to see a sales manager or just leave.
• If you’re still undecided about the car, don’t be pressured into buying it.

Negotiating the price

If you like the car and are comfortable with your salesperson, it’s time to make a deal in the sales office. Try to remain unemotional and be ready to leave if you feel pressured or the pricing doesn’t line up with your research.

• Ask the salesperson to name a price instead of responding to the common: “Make me an offer!”
• Compare the dealership’s price to your numbers from Edmunds, Kelley Blue Book, or NADA.
• Make a counteroffer of $1000 below the true market price.
• You can say: “My research shows the market price is…” Or, “I’ve gotten offers from other dealerships that are lower.”
• If necessary, increase your offer by $250 increments until you reach the true market price.
• If the salesperson says, “I’ll take this to my boss,” tell them your time is limited.
• If there’s too much back-and-forth, ask to speak directly to the sales manager.

Closing the deal

Before you say “yes,” there are a few questions you should ask to make sure you know what you’re agreeing to.

• Ask for an “out the door” price and a breakdown of fees.
• Question the fees (except for the sales tax, documentation fee, and registration costs).
• Ask the dealer to remove any unwanted dealer-installed options such as alarms.
• Use your cell phone to take a picture of the deal sheet to use in the next step.

In the finance office

You’re not done yet! You’ll now be handed off to the finance and insurance manager, who will pitch warranties and extras. Verify that the terms you reached with the salesperson are in your contract.

• Say no to extras you probably don’t want such as fabric and paint protection.
• Deflect the extended warranty pitch by saying, “I’ll probably trade in my car before it’s out of the included factory warranty.”
• If the finance manager offers to beat your preapproved loan rate, fill out a credit application.
• To easily compare loan offers, keep the down payment and loan length the same.
• Make sure the numbers in the sales contract match the agreed-upon price.
• Review the prices in all the boxes and question anything unexpected.
• If anything is missing from the car or it needs repairs, get it in writing.
• If everything looks good, sign and get your keys!

Woohoo — you did it!

• Why to get preapproved for a car loan
• How to negotiate to buy a car
• How to trade in a car when you owe money on it

The article Don't Buy a Car Without This Cheat Sheet originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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My plan for purchasing a new car

It's funny. Fifteen years ago, daily personal finance was a chore for me. I didn't understand how to go day to day making smart choices that were aligned with my values. I wasn't even sure what my values were!

Today, things are much easier. Sure, there are challenges. Sometimes I make poor choices. But mostly, what I spend aligns with what I want out of life. (With the caveat, of course, that who I am and what I want shifts over time.)

I'm glad I've developed good habits. Right now, it's keeping me from making a rash decision. For most of 2019, Kim and I have both been fighting the new-car itch. The old J.D. would have succumbed by now. This year's model still does dumb things like spending hours building custom cars on the Mini website, but so far I'm not scratching that new-car itch.

Instead, I've come up with a plan, a path to a car purchase. And Kim has come up with a plan of her own too.

My Plan for Purchasing a New Car

“Look at this,” I told Kim a couple of weeks ago. I carried my laptop over to show her my latest Mini design: a super-powered orange convertible that makes no sense for our lives.

Kim shook her head. “You've got to stop going to the Mini website,” she said. “And you especially have to stop using that build-your-own-car tool. That's dangerous.” She's right.

Earlier this week, as Tally and I strolled through the hills and picked blackberries, I did some serious thinking about if/when I should get a new car. I think I've gained some clarity.

Sure, if I cashed out some of my investments, I could justify making this purchase today. But, as I learned last year, this sort of action carries a huge tax consequence. If I sold investments to buy the car, I'd effectively be paying a 15% premium to make the purchase. I'm not willing to do this.

Plus, it's hard for me to rationalize paying so much for a new car. It's crazy how expensive vehicles are these days. (Do I sound like an old man yet?)

Speaking of being an old man: The one thing that even allows me to consider a new new car is that I'm getting older. I'm fifty. It's highly probable that if I purchased a new vehicle, it'd be the last new-vehicle purchase of my life. (I tend to keep my cars a long time. I can see that at 67 or 70, I'd buy another used car because a new Mini would last me until then.)

While the dog sniffed the roadside for rabbits, I formulated an actual plan for buying a new car. I decided that there are three conditions that would lead me to make this purchase. From least likely to most likely, those conditions are:

• Interest rates on auto loans drop low enough for me to justify making payments. As I said, I don't want to cash out my investments to buy a car. My monthly income has reached a level where I could conceivably use part of it to pay for a car, but I don't want to pay a lot of interest if I do. Right now, the U.S. national average for a 60-month loan is 4.21%. That's too high. 0.0% would be low enough, obviously. But at what level would I be willing to take out a loan? I'm not sure. I think 2% may be too high, but 1% is okay.
• My current Mini Cooper dies. My car has had a couple of major repairs since 2016, but mostly it runs fine. There's no rush to replace it. But if it were totaled in an accident (heaven forbid!) or if something else major were to go wrong, well then I'd consider moving on to a new car.
• I save enough to pay cash for all (or most) of a new vehicle. GRS is starting to make more money. Not a lot — not like in the olden days — but some. I plan to set this aside in a car fund. Meanwhile, whenever I get lump sums, I'll stick that money in the car fund too. (I'm negotiating a project that might give me roughly $15,000 — if it ever happens.)

If any one of these three comes to fruition, I'll do pull the trigger. I'll buy a new car. (Unless, of course, I manage to shake this new-car itch for good. But that's unlikely.) In the meantime, I'll make do with the two vehicles I already own: my 2004 Mini Cooper and my 1993 Toyota truck. I like them both and they run well. They're good enough, you know?

If I could could MINI to sponsor Get Rich Slowly, I could make a fortune, couldn't I? I give them enough free advertising as it is…

Kim's Plan for Purchasing a New Car

Meanwhile, Kim is fighting a similar battle. As much as she cautions me to quit making mock-ups of my dream car, I often walk into the living room to find that she's browsing Craigslist or the Toyota site, looking wistfully at RAV4s.

Last weekend, we spent Sunday evening in downtown Portland for dinner and a Timbers game. As we walked around, she pointed out various compact SUVs. “That one's cute,” she said, pointing at a Subaru of some sort. “I like that color. What model is that? Do you think that's a 2017?”

Between the two of us, we agree that we should have one practical vehicle and one fun vehicle. Our definitions of “practical” and “fun” aren't exactly the same — I'd never buy an SUV, and she wouldn't buy another Mini — but they're close enough. Kim has decided that she's the one who'll pursue practical. For her, that means a compact SUV.

After I told her about my plan for a new purchase, I asked if she had a plan.

“Well, I'm further along in the process than you are,” she said. “You don't have anything saved for a car. I do. I have $15,000. And if I can sell that stupid motorcycle, I should have another $3500. Once I have $20,000 in my Ally account, I'll buy a car.” (Kim loves her Ally savings account. I'm not kidding. She's like a walking, talking ad for Ally — just like I'm an ad for Mini. It's hilarious.)

“You're close,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “That's why I've been looking at cars. I want to find out what's available and how much things cost. Yesterday, I called three local dealerships to ask when the 2019 models will go on close-out. They said they'd call me back in a few months. I hope I have enough saved by then.”

So, Kim's plan is simple: Once she has $20,000 saved, she'll buy a compact SUV. If she can afford a new one and can find one she likes, she'll buy it. Else, she'll buy a recent used model.

In addition, she prefers:

• A hybrid or electric vehicle.
• The ability to tow a trailer (although we don't own one).
• The ability to carry two kayaks (which we do own but don't use because we have no way to get them to the river).
• Low road noise.
• The ability to listen to podcasts.
• Good visibility all the way around.

I think she's going to be surprised when it comes time to buy. I think any modern SUV is going to satisfy her list of requirements. And based on her progress, I'm guessing that sometime this autum or winter, we'll be visting car dealerships to test-drive cars.

Second Thoughts

I know this is the second (third?) time I've written about this same subject in six months. That's because our car situation is taking up a lot of our brainwidth lately. It'll continue to do so until we have some sort of resolution.

I have no doubt that by this time next year, either Kim or I — or both of us — will own a new car. But I'm pleased that we've both resisted the urge to rush out and make a purchase before we're ready. We're taking the time to research what we want (well, Kim is, I guess — I'm just building custom Minis), and we've both formulated plans to save for the purchase.

In the meantime, I should thank all of the GRS readers who have left comments (or sent me email) with tips for getting better deals. (My favorite? Find a part of the U.S. where my chosen car sells poorly. Buy the car there for less, then drive it back to Portland.)

There's a little voice inside my head that says, “J.D., you shouldn't even buy a new car. You don't value cars enough to justify a new one. Just keep buying used vehicles. Look how much you love your 1993 pickup. It only cost $1900!”

That little voice has a valid point. Plus, I don't drive much. I drive maybe three times per week for a total of sixty miles. I make several longer trips each year, though. I'd guess my average annual driving is around 3000 miles.

Wait! I can figure this out! We've been back from our RV trip for just over three years. I know what my end-of-trip mileage was on the Mini. Let me go see what the current mileage is…

In the 1114 days since getting home, I've driven my Mini 14,601 miles. That's an average of 13.1 miles per day (or 92 miles per week), which works out to 393 miles per month (or 4718 miles per year).

Does it even make sense to buy a new car if I'm only going to drive it 5000 miles per year? I don't know. I suspect not. That's why the rational J.D. says, “Buy used.” Or maybe I could do what my buddy Rob Farrington does: Give up car ownership altogether and just use ridesharing.

p.s. Just after publishing this, I read a great article at A Wealth of Common Sense: The Thing That's Probably Blowing a Hole in Your Budget. Ben Carlson notes that the three largest debts in most people's lives are a mortgage, college loans, and car loans. The first two can be rationalized, even for folks who are struggling financially. A new car loan, on the other hand, is tougher to argue. If you're in good financial shape, fine. But if you're not, you shouldn't be borrowing $50,000 to buy a new truck.

The post My plan for purchasing a new car appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

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How to Beat Debt Fatigue

Tackling debt is an exhausting and painful process that more and more of us have to face.  The debt problem in Canada is steadily on the rise, and our numbers are just becoming more shocking. Take this for example: the average household debt is at 163% of disposable income. That’s compared to 66% in 1980! [...]

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#money #finance #investments

State of the blog (and: Introducing Apex Money!)

Okay, enough with the navel gazing! I've been very introspective around here lately. While that was necessary (and cathartic), it's time to get back to work, to turn our attention to money once more.

Before we begin, though, let's talk about some changes to my workflow. Mainly, these will affect me, but they'll indirectly affect GRS readers too.

Refining Get Rich Slowly

As most of you have gathered by now, I'm going to shift how I approach my writing schedule. As in: I'm not going to stick to a schedule. I'm not going to feel pressured to publish. Instead, I'm going to write what I want, when I want. I think we'll all like the results.

As part of this change, I'm going to be less frenetic, less scattered about my writing. For instance:

• Normally, I have several articles going at once. I “parallel” process. But we all know that multi-tasking doesn't work, right? I'm going to shift to “serial” processing my articles. I'm going to focus on one piece at a time. I'll still read and collect info about other subjects, but when I start writing something, I'll keep writing that piece until it's done.
• This change will also allow me to do deeper dives into subjects. For instance, I've been interested lately in mortgages for retirees (especially for early retirees). I'm doing preliminary research on an article right now. When it comes time to actually write the piece, I hope to interview brokers and other experts. When I do deep dives, there may be longer lulls between publish dates.
• To compensate, Tom (who handles the business side of GRS) and I are exploring other ways to provide material as my publishing pace decreases. That means featuring more guest authors. It may mean bringing on staff writers. And it may mean partnerships with other, established sites. (For instance, we've been talking to NerdWallet about republishing one of their articles each week.)

I've thought a lot about these changes. I've talked them over with people in Real Life. This new approach feels much healthier than my old one. (And, in fact, it's pretty much how I was doing things at Money Boss before I re-purchased GRS.)

I'm also going to make sure I set aside time every week for fitness and friends. Since moving two years ago, I've let both of these parts of my life atrophy. That's no good. By making them priorities once more, I think I'll be happier and more productive.

And here's one final change to my work life: Although it might seem to go against everything I've written lately, I'm partnering on a new site: Apex Money, which curates top money stories every day.

Introducing Apex Money

As some of you know, I've long longed to create an “aggregation site” that collects the best articles about money. When I re-purchased Get Rich Slowly eighteen months ago, I kind of thought that's what I'd do here. But I didn't.

Instead, I implemented the “spare change” section on the home page, which is continuously updated with links to interesting money stories I find from all over. Then, in my weekly email, I pick a handful of these links (usually three to five) as my favorites from the past seven days. Newsletter subscribers love it.

Well, when Rockstar Finance — a popular curation site — went dormant recently, my buddy Jim from Wallet Hacks asked if I'd like to collaborate with him on something similar.

   

This seemed like a no-brainer.

Jim and I have partnered together many times in the past (most notably on the Personal Finance Hour, a proto-podcast we hosted for most of 2009). With him handling the tech side of things and me focused on content, we're playing to our strengths. Besides, I'm already doing most of this work already!

So, we tested the concept privately to see if it'd work for us. After ten days worth of curation, I feel confident that I can do this without getting overwhelmed. It takes me an extra 15-20 minutes per day to write each Apex Money post. More importantly, it's fun. I'm having a great time whipping these up. There's no pressure.

Note: Jim and I aren't the only ones with this idea. Zach from the excellent Four Pillar Freedom just started his own curation site: Collecting Wisdom. I've subscribed already.

Anyhow: If you'd like to get a daily dose of top-quality financial advice, you should bookmark Apex Money. (Or, if you prefer, subscribe to our email newsletter.)

Don't feel obligated, though. All of the money links I bookmark show up in the “spare change” section here at Get Rich Slowly. The best each day make it to Apex Money. Then the best each week make it to the GRS Insider that I send each Friday.

In the meantime, stick around Get Rich Slowly as we continue to master our money (and our lives) together. It's great to have you along for the ride.

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New York Times Book Review

Well, The New York Times just reviewed my book.

 

New York Times book review: I Will Teach You To Be Rich

 

10 years ago, when my first edition was coming out, I asked my friend at the Times how to get my book reviewed. He came back and said,

“It’s not gonna happen.”

I laughed. The unspoken message was clear:

“You’re not important enough.”

Truthfully, they were right. I was a nobody. Even though I had an audience and some media hits, for the personal finance media-industrial complex, I was a newbie. A rookie. Not battle-tested against the many self-development “gurus” who come and go every other year.

10 years later, it’s hard to deny that the impact that the I Will Teach You To Be Rich philosophy has had.

Millions of people have now read about spending extravagantly on the things you love. You routinely hear people talking about Big Wins, Conscious Spending, and Invisible Scripts. You see people proudly posting the amazing experiences they paid for — vacations, amazing dinners, paying off debt years ahead of schedule — using the techniques in my book. Many have started their own businesses using our courses.

I’m grateful for this book review. I take it as one more sign this Rich Life movement is touching lives and growing every day.

My life has changed a lot over the past 10 years, too. I got married. I grew my business with the help of an amazing team. I learned what really matters to me.

What I’m most proud of is that I did it MY WAY. I stayed true to IWT principles. I still read every email and DM you send me (and I respond to as many as I can).

I still believe money can be FUN. I know you can use it to say YES instead of worrying about all the things you should say NO to.

I still prohibit anyone with credit card debt from joining our flagship program, a decision that has personally cost me millions of dollars.

And because of that trust, I get hear about the stories and things people really care about: earning more, how to handle our parents getting older, love & money.

Paul B. Brown, the Times reviewer, did a fine job. He likes my concept of Big Wins and Conscious Spending. He also likes how I push people to be specific about what their Rich Life really is. He doesn’t love some of the the tone of the book.

Times Square, NYC

I think that’s a fair critique. My tone isn’t for everyone.

The more I’ve been writing about money and business and psychology, the more I’ve realized one thing:

People crave the truth.

They don’t want random tips on how to choose a bank or credit card. They want to know the exact credit cards that I use and how I squeeze every perk out of them (page 36).

They don’t want some random expert to tell them to “cut back on their spending.” They want to know the exact percentages of what they should be spending (page 140).

They don’t want someone telling you to “have the conversation” with your partner about money. They want to know exactly what to say — down to the exact words to use — to get financially aligned when you’re dating or married (page 292).

The world wants you to be vanilla. They want to polish off your edges, making you sound like everyone else…and the minute you do it, they abandon you.

I refuse to become vanilla.

Ironically, the more I told the truth — the more I ignored the usual “top 5 tips” — the more people wanted to read my philosophies.

For example, I was advised to delete my references to the similarities between food and finances (page 6). Apparently, it’s now taboo in America to suggest people might want to lose weight. I refused. After going on my fitness journey, I now believe even more strongly that you can take control of your food and your money.

(Funny enough, when I posted an Instagram story about my fitness/food, I showed exactly what I eat — down to the gram. It was my most popular story ever.)

I’ve been advised to make my writing more vanilla. To fit into the mainstream. To give “5 tips on saving money by turning your oven light off.” No thanks. This means lots of media orgs won’t cover my material. So be it.

Sometimes, I put that pressure on myself. I remember when I sat down to write new edition of my book, I was working on the new section on crypto. It’d been a long time since I wrote a book. After I wrote for 6 hours, I sat back, re-read it, and tore it up. It was shit. I was equivocating, vacillating…not taking a stand. I sounded like everybody else and I hated my own writing.

When I was young, I could write whatever I wanted. I was fearless. (I was also abrasive, which unnecessarily antagonized some people. That was a mistake. Nobody should ever put down a potentially life-changing book because one line offends them. That was my fault. And I fixed it in the new edition of the book.)

Now, I found myself scared to be that honest. It’s easy when you’re in your mid-20s. Now, I have employees, a wife, readers who scour every single thing I say for errors. I have a lot more to lose.

But I realized, the reason the first book did so well was that I took a stand. Agree or not, you knew exactly where I stood. In life, having a point of view is the most rare thing of all.

(And, of course, you need to be right. For the people who bought my book in March 2009 and followed it, they’re financially set for life.)

So I tore up my first pass at crypto and wrote it again. I fought back against my own urge to be vanilla. This time, I called it like I saw it (page 256). When you read it, you’ll know exactly where I stand.

Through that process, it solidified my belief that facts matter.

Psychology matters.

Specifics matter.

When you write these things, you don’t please anyone. Some people don’t like it. That’s fine.

But even as doors close, new ones open. For example, I’ve become more open about my own finances and my relationship.

On the Tim Ferriss podcast, I talked about the process of signing a prenup and the challenging conversations I had with my wife — including seeing a therapist. We struggled to find answers. Money is taboo. Love and money is even more shadowy. Once we figured it out, I went on Tim’s show to share exactly what happened (with Cass’s blessing)…because nobody else talks about this publicly.

An entire new generation of people in relationships leaned in and started listening.

On my latest Instagram story, I showed you exactly how I travel, down to the specific details. An entirely new group of people who’ve never dreamed of traveling like that leaned in and started watching.

Facts matter.

Psychology matters.

Specifics matter.

This is why I’m grateful for my book to get reviewed in the New York Times.

But truthfully, I’m most proud of growing IWT my way.

No gatekeepers. No intermediaries. Just you and me.

Long ago, I made the decision to go directly to you instead of praying the media would cover me. Through my email newsletter, my blog, my Instagram and Twitter. On book tour and events I throw.

And my podcast interviews, where I can go into detail for hours. (You can hear me going into more detail about the truth of money and psychology on podcasts like The Tim Ferriss Podcast, The Minimalists, Matt D’Avella, Farnoosh Torabi, Noah Kagan, Jordan Harbinger, and James Altucher.)

Ironically, the more I focus on you, the more the media wants to cover me. Today, I’m grateful for the recognition in the New York Times.

But all I’ve ever wanted is to focus on my readers.

Thanks for reading and for being a part of the IWT community.

 

New York Times Book Review is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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