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<h2 id="heading-a-perpetual-money-making-machine" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:24px; font-weight:600; margin:0 0 16px; color:#000; text-align:center">A Perpetual Money Making Machine</h2>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">One of the most interesting ways to think about the net worth you\u2019re accumulating in your pursuit of FI is this:</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">You\u2019re building a <strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">perpetual money making machine</strong>.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">It\u2019s fun to really envision that, right?</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">A machine that consistently, year after year, spits out enough money for you to live on without needing to work.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">It seems like magic, but it\u2019s just math.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">You\u2019re taking your excess savings during your working career and investing it (most likely in low-cost broad based index funds). Then, time and investment returns are compounding that savings into a pot of money that will let you withdraw about 4% of it every year.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">And thus your perpetual money making machine is built.</p>\n<hr style="border:0; border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6; margin:24px 0"></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<h2 id="heading-increase-your-luck-surface-area" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:24px; font-weight:600; margin:0 0 16px; color:#000; text-align:center">Increase Your Luck Surface Area</h2>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I heard Tim Ferriss talk about \u2018luck surface area\u2019 on a podcast this week and it reminded me of something I wrote in the newsletter a few years back that is as pertinent today as ever:</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">"I\u2019m both intimately aware of how much luck factors into success and simultaneously always looking for ways to increase my luck \u201csurface area\u201d \u2013 to make it more likely through preparation, connections and knowledge that luck will strike positively for me.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">A Twitter thread from George Mack entitled \u201cHow to Get Lucky (without being rich)\u201d was a really good example of increasing that luck surface area.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">Quotes that jumped out to me:</p>\n<ul class="list-disc pl-3" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin:0 0 16px; padding-left:20px">\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">Be interesting. And seek interesting friends. People will remember you when they have an interesting opportunity.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">Assume everything is a game of skill and there\u2019s always something you can control.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">Don\u2019t wait for others to do nice things for you before you do nice things for them. Just relentlessly give to good people with no scoreboard in your head keeping track.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">Introduce people. If friend A and friend B can get value from each other \u2013 intro them. It\u2019s a 30-second email for you and may change their lives forever."</li>\n</ul>\n<hr style="border:0; border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6; margin:24px 0"></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<h2 id="heading-20-decluttering-tips" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:24px; font-weight:600; margin:0 0 16px; color:#000; text-align:center">20 Decluttering Tips</h2>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I found this article called \u201c<a href="https://nosidebar.com/the-20-greatest-decluttering-tips-of-all-time/" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-weight:500; color:#1c7ff2; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:2px solid #1c7ff2; padding-bottom:2px">The 20 Greatest Decluttering Tips of All Time</a>\u201d in one of my favorite newsletters (<a href="https://nickgray.net/signup-for-email-updates/" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-weight:500; color:#1c7ff2; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:2px solid #1c7ff2; padding-bottom:2px">Nick Gray\u2019s \u2018Friends Newsletter\u2019</a>).</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I\u2019m on a big minimalism kick, so this was especially pertinent to me, but I think it should be pertinent to us all.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I can\u2019t describe how freeing it is to let go of the never-ending piles of stuff we surround ourselves with and simply be content with having enough.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">Each of the 20 decluttering tips in the article links to a longer explanation, so I suggest diving deep, but in the meantime, I\u2019ll list my favorite tips:</p>\n<ul class="list-disc pl-3" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin:0 0 16px; padding-left:20px">\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">One In, One Out \u2013 A simple rule to maintain decluttered spaces, ensuring that for every new item brought into your home, one is removed.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">The Closet Hanger Experiment \u2013 Popularized by Peter Walsh in Oprah Magazine, it\u2019s a test to determine which clothes you actually wear by turning all your hangers backward and only turning them back after an item is worn.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">Digitize Your Memories \u2013 Proven by science, a suggestion to take photos of your sentimental items makes them easier to remove.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">The 12-12-12 Challenge \u2013 The 12-12-12 challenge comes from Joshua Becker and entails locating 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 items to be returned to their proper place.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">The One-Minute Rule \u2013 The term is something Gretchen Rubin came up with, and the idea is super simple: If a task will take you a minute or less to complete, do it as soon as you realize it needs to be done.</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">Ask \u201cWould I Buy It Now?\u201d \u2013 Declutter lots of items from your home with this simple question, \u201cIf I was in a store, would I buy this item right now?\u201d</li>\n</ul>\n<hr style="border:0; border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6; margin:24px 0"></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<h2 id="heading-choosefi-updates" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:24px; font-weight:600; margin:0 0 16px; color:#000; text-align:center">ChooseFI Updates:</h2>\n<ul class="list-disc pl-3" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin:0 0 16px; padding-left:20px">\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5"><strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">ChooseFI Local Group Events: Email Notification</strong>: Take <strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">30 seconds</strong> and <a href="https://local.choosefi.com/groups" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-weight:500; color:#1c7ff2; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:2px solid #1c7ff2; padding-bottom:2px">sign up for your local group here</a>. Select your local group and then sit back and get email notifications of the local events in your area. This is a complete <strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">game changer</strong> for local events.</p>\n</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5"><strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">Episode Discussion</strong>: You can now join the discussion and give us your thoughts on each podcast episode. Here's <a href="https://local.choosefi.com/member/episode/589" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-weight:500; color:#1c7ff2; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:2px solid #1c7ff2; padding-bottom:2px">the link to Episode 589</a>.</p>\n</li>\n<li style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; margin-bottom:8px">\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5"><strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">Travel Rewards Credit Cards</strong>: I keep my <a href="https://choosefi.com/top-recommended-travel-cards" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-weight:500; color:#1c7ff2; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:2px solid #1c7ff2; padding-bottom:2px">Top Ten Recommended Cards page</a> constantly updated, so it should always be your first source for travel rewards cards.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">(<strong style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#000; font-weight:bold">Note</strong>: We earn a commission if you sign up for credit cards through our site. ChooseFI does not advertise on the podcast or in this newsletter. Your support using these card links continues to make that possible. Thank you!)</p>\n<hr style="border:0; border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6; margin:24px 0">\n<h2 id="heading-choosefi-community-taking-action-this-week" style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:24px; font-weight:600; margin:0 0 16px; color:#000; text-align:center">ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week</h2></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<blockquote style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; border-left:4px solid #1c7ff2; padding:0 15px; color:#666; line-height:1.5;">\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I've been a follower of ChooseFI for a number of years now. This is my taking action. I paid off my house in October. We bought 8 years ago and deliberately bought below our means. While this might not be maximizing return, I realized that the big fund I had in case of losing my job wasn't helping, because when I lost my job, I just worked extremely hard and I wasn't willing to risk a downturn in the market. It's brought tremendous piece of mind and it was the last bit of debt we had.</p>\n\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5;">\u2014 Daniel</p>\n </blockquote></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<blockquote style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; border-left:4px solid #1c7ff2; padding:0 15px; color:#666; line-height:1.5;">\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I was reviewing our auto insurance renewal policy with AAA and on the last page after all the legal and privacy policy details has a section that mentions discounts based on professions/what your degree was in college. Engineers, scientists, teachers, lawyers, etc. are included.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">My husband is a licensed civil engineer, so I called AAA. It took 30 mins on the phone and submitting a photo of his degree and state license. It was approved on the spot and now we are now saving $250/year on our policy!</p>\n\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5;">\u2014 Nicole</p>\n </blockquote></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<blockquote style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; border-left:4px solid #1c7ff2; padding:0 15px; color:#666; line-height:1.5;">\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">Technically, this is a 0.1% better in regards to yield, but I think it qualifies for a "1% better" win. I've recently been having some discussions with a Fidelity financial planner (completely free through my work savings plan) just to get some additional input about my current trajectory on trying to "retire" next year.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I have a fairly large cash position that I haven't decided what to do with yet and the planner pointed out that I have a cash balance that allows me to buy into premium class money market funds within Fidelity. The standard core position is SPAXX, which at the time of this writing has a yield of 3.61%. However, FZCXX is the premium version of the exact save fund and, at the time of this writing, has a yield of 3.71%.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">FZCXX has a minimum investment of $100k, but once you buy into the fund, your balance can drop below the $100k. The way I understand it, once you've bought it, you're good to go. The money within FZCXX is treated the same way as money held in the standard core account (ie, it shows up as "cash available to trade" if you want to make a trade). You don't know what you don't know, right?</p>\n\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5;">\u2014 Brad</p>\n </blockquote></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<blockquote style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; border-left:4px solid #1c7ff2; padding:0 15px; color:#666; line-height:1.5;">\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I'm 75. My husband is 76. He is working full time. I retired 2 years ago at 73. We began taking social security at 70.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">For those yet to take Social Security, a deduction is taken based on your income for Medicare. It's not well explained til you get into Social Security guidelines as to how this is calculated.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">We had been merrily going along each getting social security payments of roughly $4,000 each. In January, each of us got $500 less with no explanation I didn't understand but I accepted it.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">2024: $174.70 pp</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">2025: $691.10 pp</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">Come summer, it was really niggling at me. Our insurance broker didn't know why, but he sent me to the property social security guidelines that cover the relationship between income and deduction for medicare.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">The deduction is based on income two tax years earlier. So this year, our deduction is based on income in 2023. In 2023, I was working and our business had a star customer. That pushed our income into a high bracket for medicare deductions. But in 2024, our income dropped substantially. I retired and have no pension. My husband lost a very significant customer. I found the forms I needed to submit but they were confusing. I called and got an appointment at our local social security office. The appointment was last Monday. The person we met with was an admin. She entered our life changing events (their term) - my retirement and my husband's loss of a major customer. We walked out having no idea of the next step. On Saturday, we each received $5,500 in our checking account. That represented the overage that was taken from Jan-Nov. Our Dec payment is to be based on 2024 income. Our win is roughly $13K/ Ka ching!</p>\n\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5;">\u2014 Carol</p>\n </blockquote></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<blockquote style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; border-left:4px solid #1c7ff2; padding:0 15px; color:#666; line-height:1.5;">\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">My 1% Better last week was feeling the power of FU money.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">My son's birthday is Dec 23rd. This year he's turning 5. I've always taken off work on his birthday so his birthday feels special being so close to Christmas. I broke his heart when I told him I had to work on his birthday this year since I'm out of PTO.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">But having some money saved up gave me the courage to <em style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-style:italic">inform</em> my boss that I would not be working on the 23rd even though we have a\nstrict absence/non-PTO policy. My boss's response? "What if you just do [this 1-hour task] from home and we call it a half-day?" Deal!</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">Financial Freedom really does start before you hit your FI number!</p>\n\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5;">\u2014 Andrew</p>\n </blockquote></div> \n \n\n \n \n
<blockquote style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; border-left:4px solid #1c7ff2; padding:0 15px; color:#666; line-height:1.5;">\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">After giving birth to my daughter earlier this year I was swept up in postpartum and newborn craziness. I read one of your weekly emails and was reminded of a Hospital Indemnity policy that I had signed up for knowing that I would likely be admitted this year.</p>\n<p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5">I had completely forgotten about it until I read of another persons 1% win. That resulted in me submitting my claim and getting $2200 back in my pocket which paid for a good portion of my and my daughters hospital stay!</p>\n\n <p style="font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:#3d3d3d; font-weight:400; line-height:1.5;">\u2014 Emily</p>\n </blockquote></div> \n \n</div>\n</div></td></tr></tbody></table>"