Good morning Reader, Quick heads up: This afternoon, the Fed will announce what it'll do with interest rates and traders expect it'll get lowered by 25 basis points to 3.75-4.00%. (nationally available CD Rates are mostly under 4% these days) When rates go down, borrowers get rewarded and savers get punished. It's cheaper to borrow and you get paid less to save. The economy will like it, as companies like to borrow money, but remember that if you want to get higher yield on your savings, lock...
10 days ago • 1 min read
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? (View this email as a webpage) 🗑️ You're allowed to outgrow things When I started working, I kept a budget in an Excel spreadsheet. I tracked everything down to the...
17 days ago • 1 min read
Good morning Reader, Did you know Amazon has an Alexa skill where you can ask it to send you samples? It's made by and after you set up the skill, you can ask Alexa to send you samples if they have them. I explain it on Instagram, which has decided to cut off my hair whenever I use a green screen. 🤣 You can also sign up to SendMeASample.com directly and request samples. Right now they're giving a sample of Chomps. (View this email as a webpage) ⏲️ It’s never too late When I was younger, I was...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Good morning Reader, If you're interested in a tiny side hustle, there's a group called PFS Buyer Club that helps source in-demand items for their members - usually these are limited release coins from the Mint. You buy a limited release coin for ~$110, they buy it from you for $140, and you make $30 as the intermediary. PFS Buyer Club is free to join. You won't get rich but I've done a few of these in the past and haven't run into any issues. Here's my review of the process. (View this email...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Good morning Reader, The government shut down today, the first time since 2018 through 2019 when it was closed for 35 days, and there's no sense of how long it will be this time. This time is a little different though for two big reasons: There's no fear of the government hitting the debt limit, so payments will still get sent out President Trump has threatened mass firings rather than furloughs I assume someone is already working on a remake of "Takedown" from KPop Demon Hunters. 🎶 (View...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Good morning Reader, The Federal Reserve has what's called a dual mandate - promote maximum employment and keep inflation in check. If you keep rates high, you risk higher unemployment. If you lower rates too much, you risk higher inflation. In their most recent meeting, they cut rates by 25 basis points. Borrows benefit from lower interest rates while savers are, surprise surprise, hurt by lower rates. It remains to be seen if the Fed that walk that tightrope. (View this email as a webpage)...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Good morning Reader, I'm sending this Wednesday morning but depending on when you read it, the Federal Reserve's FOMC may have announced what it'll do with interest rates (it does it at 2pm) - and that's most likely a rate cut of 25 basis points, maaaaybe a bigger 50 basis points. Savers will cringe, borrowers will rejoice. You may have also heard that the U.S. economy isn't doing well but that may not match up with what you see - but that's because your personal economy isn't the nation's....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Good morning Reader, Is the economy slowing? Maybe. The soft jobs report and the uncertainty around tariffs is having a dampening effect on the economy, to say the least. That's why interest rate traders are expecting a rate cut in the mid-September meeting - 88.2% chance of a 25 basis point cut and now a 11.8% chance of a 50 basis point cut. Good for borrowers, bad for savers. Time to lock in those CDs! (also a good time to do it in conjunction with Raisin's deposit bonus) From time to time,...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Good morning Reader, I make automatic regular contributions to our retirement at the start of each month and, sometimes, you get days where you invest and the market drops 0.70%. (which the S&P did yesterday) If you've ever felt the twinge of annoyance (or more) at the market dropping the day you make a contribution, remember this - investing is a long game. In fact, it's a Loser's Game. Avoiding mistakes is the whole game: Making regular contributions is more important than when you make...
2 months ago • 2 min read