Good morning Reader,

My parents visited last week, the first week of the government shutdown, but their friends were able to visit various D.C. museums because they still had funding. Now most are closed. NPR has a good updated recap of what's being impacted as the shutdown enters it's 4th week.

Has the shutdown impacted you?

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🗑️ You're allowed to outgrow things

When I started working, I kept a budget in an Excel spreadsheet.

I tracked everything down to the penny.

It was borderline insane.

But I was in my twenties, I had very little responsibility, few expenses, and plenty of free time. Tracking expenses in a spreadsheet for a super nerd like me was trivial. And my finances benefited from it (I had enough time to start my first blog!).

I can’t imagine doing that today.

It's ok to stop doing things that no longer serve you:

👉 Ditch financial practices that no longer serve you

📊 Try Perplexity's Comet Browser

Perplexity.ai has a browser, Comet, that doubles as a personal assistant in that it can do research for you, organize email, etc. I've been playing with it and it's surprisingly how powerful it is.

If you turn on the Assistant, it can do a LOT. You can ask it all kinds of questions much faster than anywhere else. Quick example - load up a webpage and ask it to summarize it. Then ask follow up questions.

The link below includes Pro for a month for free.

Try it out:

👉 Try Comet

📔 "Draw" Your Treasure Map

I have a document called a Treasure Map that outlines all of our finances in a way that's easy to understand. It's not just a list of accounts, it explains what it is, who the POC is, and how it fits in the broader picture.

If you don't have one of these yet, you should create one because it gets everything in your life into a document so that it's not in your head if something happens to you.

👉 How to Create a Treasure Map

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

Talk to you soon!

Jim

PS. OK so this is going to sound silly but you know how some clothes pills up (the little annoying dots)? My lovely wife got this Conair fabric shaver that removes them. It's pretty awesome.

(see archive of previous emails)