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Secure 2.0 Act, Bold Move, Best Investment Writing of 2022

Brad
Posted by Brad Barrett

Secure 2.0 and the FI Community

Sean Mullaney, the FI Tax Guy, just put out an article on the ‘Secure 2.0 and the FI Community’ that I think is ultra-valuable.

I’m going to publish an episode with Sean on the podcast later this month to dive into the nuance of Secure Act 2.0, but I always want to get this info out as quickly as possible via the FI Weekly newsletter.

The two most intriguing items to me are:

  • Those born in 1960 or later aren’t required to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) until the age of 75.  The later we can take these RMDs, the more flexibility we have, so this is a positive for FI Community members.
  • Rollover of up to $35,000 from a 529 to a Roth IRA of the beneficiary.  Sean promises more analysis on this in a later blog post, but this is a nice potential positive for those of us who have already contributed to a 529 plan or are considering it but are wary.

Bold Move and Doing Hard Things

I had planned to recommend the National Geographic series on Disney Plus called ‘Limitless with Chris Hemsworth’ here all on its own. If you have any interest in longevity and increasing your healthspan (and who doesn’t?), you’ll get a ton of value out of it.

But I’m able to double up that recommendation with a few other interesting related items:

Episode 419 of ChooseFI came out yesterday with Dominick Quartuccio on ‘Your Bold Move for 2023’ and I’ve come to a conclusion for my ‘bold move’ for 2023:

I want to get in my best shape ever and really focus on my health and fitness.

I don’t know yet precisely what that will look like, but I’m letting the theme pervade my life this calendar year.

Members of our mastermind group watched episode 3 of the Limitless series on doing extended fasting to promote longevity and a group of six of us formed an accountability group and set off on an extended fast on January 1st.

(A member of our group is a physician and if you’re contemplating an extended fast, please consider doing it under medical supervision.)

Part of my frequent internal negative self-talk is that I "never give something my all" and I "don’t see difficult things through" so I was extremely proud of myself for completing the entire four-day fast.

I felt great throughout, and learned that a lot of my "hunger" cues throughout the day really just stem from boredom.

That intentionality combined with the accountability of having other people going through this with me helped spur me on to finish when I most likely would have given up on day 3 if left to my own devices.

Best Investment Writing of 2022

Nick Maggiulli, who we had on the podcast on Episode 404 talking about his book 'Just Keep Buying', recently published his 6th annual post highlighting his favorite investment writing of the year.

Click here to check out Nick’s favorite investment writing of 2022, which includes Katie Gatti who was a ChooseFI guest on episode 399 and is a longtime ChooseFI community member.

ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week

  • Kalyn said, "This week, my 1% better is that I finally opened a Roth IRA at Vanguard and I invested my first $200 in VTI. I know it is a baby step, but it feels huge at the same time."
  • Eric said, "My 1% better is that I booked a trip for 4 (my wife and two girls) to Costa Rica with my Chase Sapphire points that your podcast taught me about. As much as I want my girls to get the opportunity to travel abroad, I'm always hesitant because of the cost of 4 flights. This made it a NO BRAINER. We only get so much time with the girls until they become adults and I'm following your lead on cherishing all the moments we can. Now I get the opportunity to introduce them to my favorite place in the world without breaking the bank. Thank you!"
  • Michael said, "My 1% better this week is calculating my net worth after seeing your recent newsletter and realizing I just crossed $100K of net worth at the age of only 25! I plan to keep calculating my net worth every quarter to keep track of my continued progress towards FI."
  • Whitney said, "My 1% better comes from a gratitude practice that my friend recommended. She suggested writing down a list of 50 good things that happened in 2022. Though 2022 wasn't all unicorns and rainbows, it was really great to reflect on the many positive things and new memories we created."
  • Travis said, "My 1% improvement this week is a shift in mindset. I listened to episode 413 about mental health and wealth. You and Rich talked about how it is easy to vilify work, but we should look at work as a tool to get what we want out of life. I think it will take some time, but I am trying to change my adversarial thinking about work. The first small step is a change in my daily planner. On workdays I used to write "Rat Race" or "Work for The Man", and cross it off at the end of the day. Now I write "Work for $$$" or "Work toward FI". It sounds small and silly, but it is actually helping. I think writing it every day in my planner makes it like a mantra, and I am shifting to a more positive mantra. Thank you for the insight."
  • Avi said, "I finally consolidated and moved my HSA into Fidelity. Most personal HSA providers I've encountered will charge a monthly fee and have investment restrictions (ie must have $2k not invested). Fidelity has no monthly fees, no investment restrictions, and access to some great low-fee index funds!"
  • Steve said, "My 1% better is fully funding my 403(b) for the first time in 2022. In addition, I traded my brokerage account holdings from a regular investment account to a Roth IRA. Finally, I was able to put $4000 into my HSA. I'm looking forward to the challenge of besting all of these numbers in 2023 and know I've got the support of a large community behind me all the way."

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