profile

Hi, I'm Jim Wang and I share my strategies and tactics for managing your money and enjoying more out of life.

🥶 it's getting cold

Published about 1 hour ago • 3 min read

Good morning Reader!

We had our first cold week in Maryland where temperatures were in the high 30s at night. We live in a home built in the 1980s with an oil furnace that burns #2 heating oil - which is now 124% higher than a year ago.

We have a heat pump too, for the shoulder seasons, but the price per kilowatt-hour has jumped too... it's something we'll all have to contend with this winter.

Regardless of how you heat your home, if you need help check to see if your state offers any programs for folks struggling to pay heating bills.

Nationwide, there are a few options to turn to:

If you know you might need assistance, preparing now before it gets cold beats trying to figure out how when you're under duress.

If you aren't concerned about this, take the time to review and refresh your financial emergency plan. We all have things that can happen to us. Plan before it does, and you can do it from a position of strength.

💲 Best Bank Rates (as of 10/21):

SoFi recently increased the bonus rate you can earn on their savings account with a direct deposit. E*Trade lowered their 12-month CD rate from 4.75% to 4.55% though.​
​

💰 High Yield Savings - 4.40% APY + $400 Bonus from SoFi​

🏛️ Short Term Treasury - VBIL 3.77%, SGOV 3.74%

(Treasury interest is not subject to state/local taxes)

💵 Bank Bonuses - $500 Bank of America, $800 from E*Trade, $450 US Bank, $200 Barclays, $400 SoFi & more​

​(View this email as a webpage)​
​

🥵 If you're behind on bills...

According to the Fed's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, 19.6% of American families with debt fell behind on at least one payment. And the number of families who were 60 days late jumped from 4.9% to 8.2%.

And this was last year... chances are the stats for this year are worse given rising prices on practically everything.

If you're in good shape, make sure you update your financial plan.

If you're not, here's a guide on what you can do to get back on track:

​👉 Behind on Bills? Here's what to do next​

😎 5 Safe Investments for Your Cash

🥳 I made another YouTube video!

​🖱️ Click here if you want me to separately email you every time I post a YouTube video. 🥰

This one covers five safe places to put your cash while earning the highest yield you can.

Here's the video... please let me know what you think:

​👉 Watch: 5 Safe Investments for Cash That Pay up to 4.75%​

🗞️ Money Stuff I Found Interesting

Here are some interesting articles you may have missed:

💵 Good Deals If You Need Them

What did you think of today's email?​
✅ I Loved It! 🟨 It Was Okay ❌ Not My Favorite​

Talk to you soon!

Jim

PS. Just a quick reminder to check MissingMoney.com and other sources for your money that may have been sent to state unclaimed funds. Please reply if you found any!

​(see archive of previous emails)​

You signed up for this newsletter via wallethacks.com​

We respect you and your attention. If you no longer wish to get emails from us, you can unsubscribe and we will still be friends.​

If you like sending gifts, we like getting them here - P.O Box 323, Fulton, MD 20759

Hi, I'm Jim Wang and I share my strategies and tactics for managing your money and enjoying more out of life.

💵 Founder of WalletHacks.com

I have been writing about money for nearly 20 years and believe that personal finance is one of those subjects that is made complicated because it benefits a select few. Our aim is to help make it easier to understand so that regular folks can use what we teach to take control of their money and build wealth.

Read more from Hi, I'm Jim Wang and I share my strategies and tactics for managing your money and enjoying more out of life.

Good morning Reader! When it comes to your money and investing, there are three distinct phases - the setup, the accumulation, and then the drawdown. Early in the process, there's a lot of work to set it up. You create a budget, you dial in your spending, and you save and invest your money. Then there's the accumulation phase, the "boring middle," where you simply wait. You make automatic contributions, you go about your life, and you wait until your portfolio hits "the number." Then, of...

7 days ago • 3 min read

Good morning Reader! I was chatting with a friend who works at a consumer products company and she's seeing consumer behavior change. More and more people are using a barbell budgeting strategy when it comes to their spending. This is where you spend spend more on high-end luxury while cutting aggressively on the basics. People are choosing to spend on the things that bring them joy. An example of this is when you choose to go out to a fancy meal on the weekend but during the week you're...

14 days ago • 3 min read

Good morning Reader! If you're concerned about gas prices, I have a simple tip - slow down. The faster you drive, the less efficient your car will be. And that means you are spending more money at the pump. Instead of going 70 MPH, go 60. It's also safer that way, up to a point. I wouldn't creep along at 45 on a highway but slower speeds means you have more time to react to surprises. Slow down and arrive safe! 💲 Best Bank Rates (as of 9/29): 💰 High Yield Savings - 4.20% APY + $400 Bonus from...

21 days ago • 2 min read