What I'm Reading, Watching, Playing
Reading: 'Fatal Conveniences: The Toxic Products and Harmful Habits That Are Making You Sick―and the Simple Changes That Will Save Your Health.'
I heard author Darin Olien on the Rich Roll podcast recently and immediately grabbed this book from the library.
In conjunction with the Yuka app that allows me to scan the barcodes of ever product I use to see their health rating, this book Fatal Conveniences is arming me with the knowledge I need to keep harmful products out of my life.
I’m not obsessive about this by any means, but if there are ‘low-hanging fruit’ ways to make small healthy changes to things like soap, deodorant, sunscreen, etc., then I want to make those decisions.
Watching: I’m rewatching the musical ‘Hamilton’ on Disney+. This is my all-time favorite Broadway musical, and since I’m heading on a trip to New York City, it reminded me of the trip I took with my daughter, Molly, two years ago where we saw it performed live on Broadway.
That was a wonderful experience for the two of us, and it’s incredible that you can call this up anytime for your viewing enjoyment on Disney+.
Playing: My daughters introduced me to a new game and it’s one of my absolute favorite new games of the past few years: Skull King.
This was made by the ‘Grandpa Beck’s Games’ company which made one of our other favorite games: Cover Your Assets, and the girls were raving about it after playing it with family friends.
It’s a novel version of a standard ‘trick-taking game’ like Hearts or Spades, so if you’re already familiar with the framework of trick-taking, then this will come easy.
This game hits all the right notes – fairly quick to play the entire game (sub 45 minutes), you can play with up to 8 players, betting on your number of expected tricks, some powerful extra cards thrown in and it’s just a ton of fun to play.
Highly recommend this one!
Reasons NOT to Worry about Sequence of Returns Risk
Sean Mullaney published a really thoughtful article on why he doesn’t ‘worry much about sequence of returns risk’ and while I implore you to read this short article in its entirety, I’ll whet your appetite by listing the five reasons he doesn’t (much) worry about sequence of returns risk when applied to ‘well diversified retirees’:
· Diversification
· Social Security
· You Won’t March Off the Cliff (Spending adjustments)
· Market Bounces Back
· Cash is Not a Free Lunch
Rebel Finance School Live Event
Katie & Alan Donegan run the ‘Rebel Finance School’ annually, and this entirely free course has over 20,000 members this year. This is the free financial education course that won them the ‘British Empire Medal’ from the King of England, and it is making a hugely positive difference in the world.
Even though the course is already in progress, you can still sign up here and get access to all the prior weeks and I think you’ll get a lot of value out of it.
The reason why I’m writing about RFS today is they are running a live event on July 17th (3pm ET) and they are calling it:
Volatility Training – a 7-Year Investing Simulation.
As Alan told me:
This isn’t a lecture. It’s a hands-on, high-energy simulation where you’ll live through 7 years of wild market swings, media noise, and emotional decision-making. You’ll start with a virtual $500,000 and decide each year how to invest it—stocks, bonds, or cash—based on what the “news” is saying. It’s designed to give you a real experience of what it feels like to invest through volatility—so you can build the mindset to stay calm, stay invested, and actually reach financial independence. Whether you’re new to investing or already on your FI journey, this session is a game-changer. Join us and see if you can keep your cool when the market gets messy.
You can access the live event on YouTube through this link, or if you miss it, this same link will be available for the replay.
ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week
I have A LOT of wins that I could share because of Choose FI. In 2022, I doubled by income by landing a life-changing job (IT in education) with a pension. The pension is deducted from my paycheck at 10%. Because I work in education, I was able to open a 457 account and have been increasing my contributions when I can. I bought a second house last year and am doing the house-hacking thing; living in one unit and renting the others as well as renting my previous duplex out. My goal is to eventually max my 457 AND open a 403(b) and max that out. Since getting this job, I have been maxing my Roth IRA and HSA. Once I'm able to max all of those buckets, my savings rate will be at least 70%. Then I suppose the next goal would be to pay off my rentals.
- Alyssa
My 1% better this week was to switch my electric bill from manual to auto payment via credit card. I've missed a few of the emailed bills over the years, causing me small late fees and marginal dings to my credit rating. Simply wasn't worth the mental bandwidth to stress over whether I remembered to pay each month. Another huge win I had recently, albeit not within the past week, was to use the market drop as an opportunity to execute my first tax loss harvest. Last year I decided to de-risk my exposure to my company's stock by executing a 15k sale of my ESPP shares and reinvesting into VTSAX. That 15k + 9k in additional VTSAX investment over the coming months gave me a relatively high basis which post market drop I was able to use to execute 2 mutual fund exchanges (VTSAX>VLCAX), (VLCAX>VFIAX) netting me $4200 in realized losses. I used those losses to offset the sale of the high fee AIVSX (0.56 ER) (left from cashed-in whole life insurance policy gifted from my grandfather) while its capital gains were relatively low ($3100) and reinvest that money in the low fee ITOT (0.03 ER). A staggering 18.67x reduction in fees! All that and I still have $1100 in losses to apply to my ordinary income at the end of the year! I tell this to people in my life and they simply stare back blankly. That's why it's good to have a community like this to share your wins with.
- Jeff
My 1% better is I am able to find ways to exercise and try new workout avenues which will prevent me from feeling my pain again. I do yoga, Pilates, cycle classes, and mostly hike and run! I feel so good and I hope one day I have the guts to lift weights again.
- Heather
A couple things for my 1% better:
- A few weeks ago, ahead of a dentist appointment, I read about DentalPlans.com here. My upcoming appointment was estimated at $874. I found a plan, enrolled, and ended up paying only $300! More than covered the cost of the plan plus some.
- I use some expensive prescription eye drops daily and realized each vial has enough for me to use it 2 times, rather than 1, halving my cost.
- I quit having that daily drink at home in the evening. Now, I may have a drink socially but losing the "home habit" has simplified my life and expenses.
- Ann
Our 1% was using the credit card rewards for a dream trip to drive the Oregon coast and the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). We stayed in a different town/hotel each night and booked these through the credit card's portal. Our flight to Portland was also paid for using points. Our Portland stay used hotel points, and the credit card helped with that, too, with a 50% point bonus on transfers. The points used represented a $2,356 savings. It was a lot of points, but we also jumped on the recent point bonus by opening a new account under my wife's name. We have been 100% debt-free since 2014 and have not carried over any credit card debt in over 25 years. We do have strategic cards and pay them off in full each month. The reward for the discipline is a free major trip every few years.
- David
My 1% better was simply going to my branch bank and inquired for better mortgage rates. Canada had several rate cuts since last quarter of 2024 and right there, me and my husband walked out with CAD $650/mo for the next 3 years SAVINGS even after penalties.
- Victoria