Next Generation Financial Independence

Next Generation Financial Independence

Doug Nordman and Carol Pittner’s book “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence" is available today! This is a MUST-read book to help teach financial literacy and financial independence. I love the format, as they wrote it from both the perspective of parent and child. I picked up a lot of tips we're using with our own kids! You can find all buying options at Choosefi.com/nextgen or:o orBuy it on Amazon

What I’m Struggling With

I have fallen out of my exercise routine and I’m struggling to get back in the groove. My wife Laura challenged me, as I talk on the podcast how I exercise ~5 times a week, but I haven’t been living up to that ideal the last few months.

We decided to do a 30 burpee per day challenge this month and so far, it’s going well. It takes about 3 minutes a day, is great exercise, and the accountability to each other is everything. Starting small and getting back in the habit is proving ultra-effective.

What are you struggling with? What small change can you make this week to move in a positive direction?

Check Your Receipts

Matt sent this in and since I had a similar situation at a restaurant last week, I wanted to pass it along:

“This past week I caught two mistakes on two separate receipts. At the grocery store I was charged for 66 bananas instead of 6. At $0.25/banana (I buy organic), it almost wasn't enough of a cost for me to notice at first. At the hardware store I purchased an item that was sold as a pack of 4. I was charged for the item 4 times instead of just once for the single pack of 4. I was able to get both errors fixed and $50 back in my accounts. Check your receipts, people - every dollar counts!”

Simple unintentional mistakes like this happen, so it always pays to glance at your receipt to make sure everything looks right. I saved $12 and Matt saved $50 this week alone, just by taking the extra 10 seconds to look at our receipts.

ChooseFI Community Taking Action This Week

Each week I ask you to hit reply to this email and let me know your wins from the prior week. Here are a few that jumped out recently:

• Dan said, “This week, my doctor prescribed two medications that totaled $335.51, which was a shock to my system. I visited the site GoodRx.com and was able to print coupons for another pharmacy that was only 5.6 miles away. I had my doctor redirect the prescriptions and the grand total came out to $69.80...a total savings of $265.71 - just for printing some coupons and going to a different pharmacy!”
• Serena said, “This week, I focused on making sure I had meals prepared for the whole week - I normally plan my menu for dinners, but our family recently adopted your idea of making fewer meals and then adopting the leftovers for dinners on other nights. We're throwing away less food, spending less, and making new habits! I also decided that I needed to not spend extra money on coffee or lunch out, especially when I was running late in the morning - my theory is that if I have enough time to wait in line at a drive through or go out of my way to pick up my favorite lunch, I have time to make it at home.”
• Jen said, “This week my husband and I reached our emergency fund goal of 7 months of expenses!!! It took us longer than we anticipated, but it's such a relief to have it especially during the pandemic.”
• Leslie said, “I bought the book "Essentialism" by Greg McKeown and I'm implementing the principals in my role as a stay at home mom. Trying to get our monthly expenses down and our family culture up.”