July 9, 2024: Annual FI Checkup, The Importance of Muscle and How to Build It plus Community Wins
Annual FI Checkup
I’m getting set to create a podcast I’m calling the “Annual FI Checkup” and, as always, I want your input brainstorming some must-dos each year on your FI journey.
Here’s what I’m starting with:
Go through your credit card bills and look for recurring subscriptions or surprise payments
Get new quotes on your insurance policies and see if you can get “bundle” savings at a new firm
Get your free Annual Credit Report from each of the bureaus and see if there’s anything unusual
See if you’re paying any type of fees in life, and find ways to avoid them (ATM, bank fees, “convenience” fees, investing commissions/fees/AUM, etc.)
Determine your net worth and savings rate
Calculate your annual expenses and FI Number (usually ~25x annual expenses)
Look for idle cash in your investment portfolio and invest it. (Not “Reinvesting Dividends” might be a culprit)
Make sure all beneficiaries on your accounts are up-to-date
Are you getting too large of a tax refund each year? If so, decrease your withholding with your HR department
Automate more of your financial life. Autopay bills, credit cards, investments, etc.
This is just the tip of the iceberg (but a great place for you to start today!) and I’d love your input as well.
The Importance of Muscle
I recently listened to a 3-hour masterclass podcast with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon the guest on The Huberman Lab podcast.
I know it’s a big ask to listen to something that long, but if you care about your health at all, I think it’s essentially required listening.
They spent a significant portion of the episode talking about the essential nature of building and maintaining muscle throughout your lifetime.
When asked by Andrew Huberman, “what are the top-level benefits of having healthy muscle?” this is what Dr. Lyon responded with:
“Everything.
Muscle is the organ of longevity…The benefits of healthy muscle cannot be denied. This is better metabolic health, better blood pressure, better survivability, better strength, better mobility, better body armor should someone fall, should someone get sick, your survivability will be related to the health of skeletal muscle.”
My Experience Building Muscle
I just turned 45 this past week, and even though that’s getting up there, I physically feel like I’m in my 20s.
As I discussed in Episode 480 with my trainer Dean Turner, I’ve built a significant amount of muscle the past 18 months with what I think is the most devastatingly simple and effective programming possible.
I’m not an exercise professional, but over the years you’ve come to trust my ability to curate and synthesize information in a number of fields, and this is the one I’m focused on now.
Here’s the most succinct summary of what I believe will help you get amazing results at the gym:
When you do an exercise, do it with perfect form. Slow and controlled both when you raise and lower the weight (think 1-2 seconds). Never sacrifice form to do an extra rep or to “lift” heavier weights by swinging other parts of your body to assist. You’re not trying to impress anyone, you’re trying to improve!
Using machines at the gym allows you to target particular muscles and stabilize the rest of the body so you’re not cheating by bringing in momentum or other body parts.
Aim for 6-12 reps each set. The last 1-2 reps of each set should involuntarily slow down against your will. This is where you get results! Keep perfect form and it’s expected and okay if that last rep takes 3-10 seconds to complete.
If you’re under 6 reps for a set, the weight you started with is too heavy. If you reach 12 reps, the weight is now too light, so start your next set with the next heavier weight on the machine.
Turn your phone stopwatch on after you complete a set and start the next set after it reaches 3 minutes. If you’re working at the proper intensity (rep involuntarily slowing down the last 1-2 reps of the prior set), you simply need at least 3 minutes of rest between sets. Use that time to walk around the gym and get some steps in.
Keep a log book and write down the weight and reps from each set (I also log the seat/positioning settings on each machine so I can quickly get the machine into a comfortable position next time). The only way to get stronger is to track and try to add reps or weight in future workouts. Again, super simple formula: raise the weight when you reach 12 reps in a set.
I do 2 upper body days and 1-2 lower body days in a week. Here’s an example of a
Typical Upper Body workout:
Chest Press Machine. 3 sets. Similar to a bench press, but you can work so much harder and get closer to failure since you don’t have to worry about the weight falling on you.
Assisted pullup machine. 2 sets. Even if you can do normal pullups, if you go super slowly on this and focus on your lats and back to do the work, you’ll love this machine!
Seated Overhead Press Machine. 2 sets. Great shoulder exercise.
Row Machine with Chest Support. 2 sets. Really concentrate on your back doing the majority of the work here.
Seated Triceps Machine (Seated Dip Machine). 2 sets.
E-Z Bar Cable Curls. 2 sets. Here’s a short video to learn how to set this one up.
You’ll notice this is literally 13 sets which take only ~13 total minutes to complete.
13 minutes of work, but if you did this twice a week, I suspect you’d see your best results ever at the gym.
Since you’re resting 3+ minutes between sets (and between exercises), you’ll have 12 rest periods (walking!) of at least 3 minutes.
If time was a limiting factor, there’s a world where you could do this entire workout in 50 minutes. I take longer rest periods since I am lifting heavy weights and I just can’t recover in 3 minutes most of the time, but even then, I’m in and out of the gym in under 70 minutes.
ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week
I have a fantastic job that I absolutely love, but it's an hour commute each way (approximately 100 miles a day). One day, after 4 years on the job, it just occurred to me that I really don't have to be there in-person every day to complete my tasks. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I asked my manager if I could transition to a hybrid position.
She said yes!
Not only will I be driving 100-200 fewer miles every week and getting back 2-4 hours to spend with my 2 year old, they also paid for all the equipment required to make my work from home possible!
- Katlin
My 1% better this week was to finally eliminate my "High-Yield Saving Account" at my local bank that was earning me 0.05% interest, and swap it into an account actually yielding me ~5% interest!
Though, it will only yield me a few hundred a year at most, it is a reassuring feeling to know that my money is now in a better spot!
- Mitchel
I just wanted to say that episode 494 with Tori Dunlap could not have come at a better time for me. The episode came out a few days before I had scheduled a meeting with my boss to ask for a raise and discuss my roles/responsibilities, and that episode helped to hype me up and make me feel better prepared to ask for what I know I am worth.
I also relistened to Tori on episode 147 (about negotiating salary) and episode 211 with the Financial Mechanic, so I could feel better prepared to negotiate a raise. I took down notes during the episodes, did research on similar salaries for my title, updated my job description, and felt so prepared and confident going into my meeting today, that I knew for sure I'd get what I asked for. After meeting with my boss this morning, I actually ended up getting double that!
My boss told me how valuable I am to the organization, that they don't want to lose me, and that they wished they could pay me even more! The truth is, I love my job, and I don't do it for the money, but getting a raise definitely helps! So my 1% better ended up being more like 40% better thanks to this raise.
I live in LA, where it is definitely cheaper to rent than buy. My husband and I have lived in the same "cheap" (relatively speaking) one bedroom apartment for ten years while saving pretty aggressively. The apartment is old and has started to have a lot of issues that the landlord isn't addressing, so we decided earlier this year that it was time to move. The only way we could have afforded a 2 bedroom/nicer place before I got the raise would be if I cut my retirement contributions by $1,000 each month, which I did not want to do.
Now, thanks to this raise, we will be able to afford a bigger/nicer place while also contributing more to my 457 and Roth IRA and starting contributions to my 403b.
- Emily
My 1% better was successfully negotiating a hospital bill down from about $3,500 to $2,000. After my son was born I waited about 6 months. The hospital sent monthly reminder bills and eventually referred it to their internal collections department (note, not an external debt collector and no impact to my credit report).
I called and politely explained that money was tight after having a new baby. After being transferred multiple times I spoke with a supervisor who offered to lower the bill to $2,500. I thanked her enthusiastically and politely asked if she could go any lower. Much to my surprise she lowered it again to $2,000. It really does pay to ask for reductions to hospital bills.
- Jeff
My 1 % better is starting a part time remote job to see if it's a better fit than a full time one. It's also one that I can take a laptop to a cafe and work at. I also bought a $160 ticket to CampFI Midwest and will be getting that amount in a check as a bonus award for a new credit card. I am also planning out how I'm going to move $ from a HYSA to money market at Vanguard for higher interest rates.
- Sheila
My 1% is rather than taking my car to get new tires at a local tire shop, I searched on Amazon for tires for great prices. Some tires are from known foreign companies that have been around but are not very known in the US. I order the tires and are shipped directly to my home.
Then I call around several tire shops in my area to find out what they will charge me to have them installed and balanced. Turns out that I save almost half compared to just taking my car to a regular tire shop for new tires. That's a big win for me even after putting a little effort into finding the right tires and the right tire shop.
- Victor