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Finding your people: Why you should do it
Finding your people is the best thing for your spiritual well-being, your personal growth … and your bank account!
A friend of mine has collected beer cans for four and a half decades. He started in his teens (yeah, times were different then!)
A little over a week ago he went to his first CANvention since the 1980s — or as the younger people say, the “late 1900s” haha!
These breweriana collectors are his people. They're people he can geek out with and not have to explain a thing to anyone because he's not a weirdo when he hangs out with these people.
Essentialism and chasing pennies
Sometimes the things I spend my time on leave me shaking my head.
This post from Accidentally Retired on how you don't need multiple streams of income to become wealthy hit me between the eyes a bit.
He also tweeted:
You don't need multiple income streams to become wealthy. You ONLY need to spend less than you earn and invest. That. Is. It.
Staking cryptocurrency: Crypto staking a year in
Crypto staking can be lucrative. See how much I earned staking Energi over the past year …
Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash
Cryptocurrency has grown to disrupt the banking and finance industry in less than a generation. Following on the runaway success of Bitcoin are thousands upon thousands of competing coins. The early investors of many of these coins were richly rewarded in the spring of 2021 with the quick rise of the markets.
Tax Year 2021 fun and excitement
Taxes are upon us. Again.
I guess we all have reason to be thankful when we have the income to be taxed, but I doubt many of us would put filing tax returns high on our lists of great ways to spend time.
I'm not an early filer, but at least I'm an on-time filer now. I used to kick the can so far down the road that I'd run up against the extended filing deadline. Progress is progress!
(At least we get an extra weekend to file this year! )
As we get into tax season 2022, most of our taxes are similar to last year's. Here are a few things of interest about this year's for us.
Here we go ….
Six frugal things my dad did
My dad passed away at the beginning of 2022 at 85. I owe a lot of who I am to him. In particular, I owe what frugal habits I have to him and my mom. Those habits have kept our family out of a lot of trouble for a long time.
He was born at the tail end of the Great Depression in a rural village in Illinois. Several times he described his upbringing to me as “poor” but didn't ever say that his family was ever in need. His parents saw the full brunt of the Depression though, and no doubt that's what shaped his frugality.
Here are a few examples of frugal things that my dad did:
Four priceless things you can do for free
Some of the most important things you can do don't cost a cent.
Here we are at the end of 2021.
I won't share anything in particular about 2021 because it's not important enough for you to read.
To be fair, I'm writing this for myself. I need to remind myself of these things going forward. It's part of me becoming a better human being. If there's something in here that helps you to become a better human being, great.
Here are a few priceless things that don't cost anything but a bit of time.
1. Telling your loved ones that you love them
Sometimes it seems like you have all the time in the world to call or visit a relative.
The last 20 months or so really put a damper on those kinds of things.
Lots of people waiting to go see people. Lots of people waiting “until things get better.”
Whatever.
Replace an expensive habit with one that can pay you
Photo credit Emiliano Vittoriosi via Unsplash
Sometimes you get a message that nearly brings you to tears.
State governments make a mint on lotteries. For all but a very lucky few, playing the lottery is a money-loser. And the more you play, the more likely you are to lose.
There is some entertainment value in them like just about anything. It gives a dopamine burst to play that can get addictive. (But then again, so do notifications on your phone.)
Back to Basics: Little money-saving things add up!
(This was originally posted on November 2, 2008, and has been updated.)
Don't wait until times get tough to practice frugal living! Check out these little money-saving things that you can do, right now …
I'll admit that when I get a little bit of breathing room in our budget, I get lazy. I'll go out with friends to lunch, or head to the vending machine for a snack. I don't plan finances as much as I should. And it costs me more than if I did plan and went the cheaper route.
Referral income: A milestone to work towards
One of my miniature income streams hit a milestone. Aim for this for passive referral income …
One advantage of having a lot of little income streams is that it reduces dependence on a single income stream, like a job. Have many little bosses instead of just one big one.
Any income outside of “normal working hours” brings you closer toward financial independence, and immediately improves your financial posture.
Direct income — money you earn for doing something — pays you once but building up indirect, automated income streams pay you over and over again. (Work towards these as you can, because we all are given only 24 hours each day.)
Making money online can be both direct and indirect
A lot of get-paid-to (GPT) sites will pay you for your direct effort. Things like watching videos, doing surveys, doing other tasks, signing up for trials, searching the web, and so forth.
How we chose our travel rewards credit card
We recently got a travel rewards credit card. Here's the thought process we went through …
If you pay off your credit card balance every month in full, it makes perfect sense to get some kind of rewards credit card. Using a rewards credit card, for the most part, results in an interest-free loan for a few weeks, plus a little bit back for the privilege.
The kind of rewards credit card that makes the most sense depends on a number of things, particularly what activities you enjoy, and where you shop.
We recently signed up for a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa card, which we'll use for most of our purchases for a bit instead of our beloved Chase Sapphire (also a rewards card).
I'll explain our thought process.
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