Learn to Read Financial Statements, Student Loan Reset, Life Hacks

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Learn to Read Financial Statements

Our Most Important Episode Ever

PSA:  If you have student loans, it is essential that you listen to Episode 391 coming out this Monday August 22nd.

I think it’s the single most important episode we’ve ever recorded.

Travis Hornsby, from The Student Loan Planner, discusses how 10% of all student loans can be nearly immediately forgiven and upwards of 25% of student loans can qualify for a limited-time waiver that will lead to forgiveness.

This is one to tell your family & friends about – it’s that important and because these waivers are set to expire in a few months, it is extremely time-sensitive, which is why I’m giving you a heads up now and a reminder next week!

The Ultimate Crowdsourced Personal Finance Show

I’ve been accumulating a list of random “life hacks” (don’t love the term, but you know what I mean…) with the intention of curating a list of essential things we can all easily implement to make our lives better.

From the very beginning, ChooseFI was a “crowdsourced” project, because all of us together are much better than if it was just limited to the knowledge Jonathan and I have accumulated.

With that in mind, I’d love for you to hit reply and send me something you’ve used or implemented in your own life that has made a real difference.

For inspiration, here are just a few of mine:

• Clothing Shop Online for inexpensive, high quality t-shirts (Next Level 6210 is my favorite).
• Setting up autopay on my credit cards and utility bills so I never have to worry about missing a payment.
• Library Extension to see if your public library has a book available that you’re searching for on Amazon.

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ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week

• Taylor said, “My wife and I just booked our honeymoon to Italy totally off of points from our Chase Sapphire Preferred cards that we got because of your travel rewards episodes! We started accruing points on these cards just a few years ago and it feels amazing to see it come to fruition. We still have plenty of points left over for a flight to see some friends across the country later this year, book hotels, and plan another international trip for next year. Choosing FI has improved our lives in a hundred ways and this is just the latest improvement on that list!”

• Christine said, “My 1% better - My husband and I both have "Personal R&D" categories in our budget, where we can spend a certain amount on things that will help us grow as people - classes, experiences, books, etc. Well, I have really wanted to take Fiddle lessons, but the cost was higher than my Personal R&D budget. In the spirit of FI, instead of giving up on the idea, I thought outside the box. I took a chance, and auditioned for a merit scholarship... and won! I received 50% off tuition for a year of private lessons! Now I can take lessons AND stay within my budget. Thanks, Choose FI for instilling the mindset that with a little creativity, anything is possible!”

• Vincent said, “I just recently started listening to your podcast while I work each day. It has been so informative on what I have been looking for. I am 36 with student loans and have made many financial mistakes since I was in my 20s. I started taking the steps needed to start on the road to FI, I have a debt avalanche set up to have all my credit cards and personal loans paid off by next year. Then I can focus on getting my car loan and student loans paid off.”

• Brandy said, “I got a 5% raise. I automated 4% to go into my savings account before I even I saw the first paycheck. Currently I have 10% plus going into three accounts. One my company matches up to 5% so I contribute 5%. My second 5% is a Roth IRA. The third I put 5% into a brokerage account. With the increase I have 19% of my check going into savings.”

• Doug said, “My 1% this week was going a whole month without checking the balance of my investments. Earlier this year, I was logging on several times a day to just look at my money. Well, that became very stressful as the markets fell into bear territory. There's really no need for me to check my balance every day-I've been in "coast FI" mode since I left the workforce last December to be a full-time dad-so I deleted the app from my phone and went an entire month without logging back on. It was like a switch flipped off. I went from thinking about my money all day long to hardly thinking about it at all, and all that extra mental bandwidth went to being more engaged with my family. As an added bonus, July was a banner month for the S&P, so my money was working hard while I was playing with my son. So glad I made that change.”

• Karen said, “I'm listening to Episode 388, The 18-Year-Old Who Actually Listened, and I wanted to share our experience with kids earning college credits in high school. My daughter was able to earn dual-enrollment college credits when taking higher-level courses at her high school. These credits were all free to us because our state funds up to about $4,000 per student to cover the cost of dual credits, testing fees, summer school overload classes, etc. Between dual-enrollment credits and AP tests, she will be entering her first year of college with sophomore standing. I'm hoping she can graduate in three years because of the credits she earned in high school. Our son, a rising senior, is on a similar track. High schools are providing some great opportunities to get a jump on college credits and save some money!”

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