Start100K: Daily Summaries Delivered

36 - Crosspost from the Financial Feels Podcast

This was an episode I recorded on the Financial Feels podcast. I had a great conversation with Melissa Mazard! We talked about my childhood, joining the military, my relationship with money and my wife, and many other deep and interesting topics around money. I hope you like it!

35 - What is Enough?

How do you define enough I know for me this is kind of a difficult question and it's something that I wanna get into a little bit deeper this month with some of my other writing and I just think about this in terms of so many things um you know I mean is this money is it time is it lifestyle is it freedom and you know for me I think there's a little components of all of that I think that whenever it comes down to you know enough or we'll call it enoughness then you know we're we're looking at or at least I'm looking at you know there is a money component to that because there's a certain amount of money that I'm going to need to have in order to set myself up in a way that I think I need to be happy but yet there's also so many other examples of people that have so much less than me and they seem to be happy there's an incredible amount of variance in you know what human beings think is enough and what it takes for us to each individually be happy and so I think I just wrestle with this idea quite a bit because I I guess maybe I don't feel like I've achieved enough or I've experienced enough so it's hard to really define exactly what that's gonna be for me I mean I think I have an idea of what that looks like you know for me I think it really boils down to am I able to live in a way that is aligned with what I feel is important in my life so for me and this is you know I'm just speaking for me not for anybody else but for me that really boils down to living a life in a way that I'm able to openly express myself in terms of my faith my creativity my love for others and also be able to just feel safe to express my opinion I think that is one thing that I've really had a hard time with most of the time I've been in the military it's just I've been so throttled you know as far as like opinions and stuff like that like good ideas like actual good ideas not you know the the good idea fairies that we joke about but you know actual creative ideas that actually move the needle toward you know making things better you know those a lot of times get shot down and that's one of those things that yeah I just I don't know I I just get so excited about being outside of that system and and being able to just express myself I mean of course you know I'm able to do stuff like this and things like that but even that with it is within limits you know there's a lot of things that I can't say there's a lot of things that I can't divulge about myself publicly because it could be misconstrued in in a certain way and so I think that's one of the biggest things that I think is going to be good for me and because we have made some good choices I'm gonna be in a pretty good spot to not need you know this not need this JB for a long time but you know I just kind of wonder like what does that look like for you like um you know jail Collins uh I think famously you know created the you know FU money you know which is just you know that concept actually you know it did a episode on it a while back on FSU money and really you know it's just you know the how much do you need to be able to just say no I don't want to do that and able to live in a way that that you want you know so I think you know that's kind of a a first step but then you know beyond that like what is it you know what does it take to to craft the the life that you want to live and so you know that's really just something that you know I've really thought about here lately real quick I guess I'll give you kind of what I currently think is going to give me umm you know all those things you know like what what what do I think enough is going to be for me and honestly I think that enough for me is actually pretty small compared to maybe some other people that I see in the the news and you know other influencers and stuff like that but really I just I wanna have our house paid off I want to have access to woods so I can go and take a walk or run in the woods every day and I want to have the freedom to do creative projects and stuff like this without any limitations and most importantly I want to have the ability and the But umm you know it it does wear on you overtime whenever you know especially whenever we lived much closer you know like hey you know the expectation is we're we're always supposed to go and do stuff with them and you know even my last reenlistment you know I had a lot of family that could have come but did it and so you know that kind of stings a little bit you know and so I don't want you know that's that's one thing that I I wanna make sure that I provide for my son I I think if anything I'll be the annoying dad that you know at least whenever he's younger you know teens and you know maybe early 20s or whatever is gonna go ohh my goodness dad is so annoying he's always here all the time but later on in life I I hope he'll look back and go man dad is there all the time anyway all right well that's kind of what I'm what I'm thinking about and

34 - Money Day 2024 Was a Success!

Read my article on Enlisted Money If you're a money nerd like me, you'll love creating your own little "holiday" for it – Money Day! I originally got this concept from J.D. Roth's blog, Get Rich Slowly. Our annual Money Day has evolved over the years, but it's a great forcing function to keep us on track financially. This also serves as an excuse for me to nerd out and annoy my lovely wife with money talk for a day. To be clear, she plays a huge role in Money Day and our financial success – she just doesn't like talking about money like I do.

33 - Hunting for a New High-Yield Savings Account HYSA

It has been years, actually, over a decade since we changed banks for our high-yield savings account (HYSA). But this is the year, I had a bad experience. I'm actually kind of embarrassed about it, but more on that later. Long story short, we were not being valued as loyal customers and I refuse to stay with a bank that treats me unfairly. Housekeeping note: I have no affiliate or partnership relationships with any of the banks mentioned. This is just my own experience and opinion. There are no referral or affiliate links in this article. A Quick Backstory and What Happened Originally, we'd started our first high-yield savings account with a company called ING Direct. I'd spent quite a bit of time researching different banks and settled on ING Direct because they had great rates, I could easily open several accounts, nickname my accounts (this actually wasn't that common 10+ years ago), and their customer service was great. Fast forward, they were purchased by Capital One and rebranded as CapitalOne 360 Savings. Okay, no problem. Customer service was still great, rates were great (or so I thought), no worries. I was checking my accounts and renaming one for a goal we've established in conjunction with Money Day this year. I noticed my interest rate on my accounts was 0.3% - not the 4.35% that Capital One shows on the site. I called and they said I had a "legacy product" and would need to reopen my accounts in order to get the current rates. Needless to say, I was pissed! If I have to open brand new accounts, I'll be opening them with a different bank. The hunt begins. My Criteria for High-Yield Savings Accounts I am very particular about my high-yield savings accounts – up to a point. I'm very aware of my tendency to analysis paralysis. I'm a natural overthinker, but once I settle on a decision, I generally feel very confident about it. There's also a couple other reasons why I'm not too particular about some things but more particular about others. Chasing high fees or jumping on the "trendy" HYSAs can get you into trouble or end up not being quite as awesome as the marketing makes it seem. Because I tend to go overboard comparing, I have to set my criteria and not get too wrapped up in the tiny details. In reality, when I set clear criteria, there's likely only a few banks that will fit the bill. Here's the main things I look for in a high-yield savings account: 1. Competitive Rates 2. No Fees! 3. Ability to Open Multiple Accounts 4. Checking Account Available at Same Bank 5. Quality Customer Service <!-- [if !

32 - I'm Back! Kind of...

Episode 31 - The Value of Military Pay and Pensions

Episode 31 - The Value of Military Pay and Pensions As a service member getting closer and closer to retirement myself, I like to look at and think about how to value my military pension. I recently received my last promotion I plan to get before I retire, so I'm getting a lot more serious about how this fits into our overall plan for financial security and independence. Erik has posted a few different articles that I thought were interesting and he's also created some nifty spreadsheets (who doesn't love a good spreadsheet?) that I felt were handy to have. In this episode, I talk with Erik about why he created these tools, how to use them, and what things military members need to think about as they look toward transitioning to civilian life whether you're retiring or leaving service after your initial enlistment or commission. All the links to resources mentioned in the show are below. Erik's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikbaskin/ Erik's Calculators and Blog https://www.baskinfp.com/post/military-transition-income https://www.baskinfp.com/post/military-retirement Military Pay and Pension Calculators https://militarypay.defense.gov/Calculators/ Kate Horrell's Checklists https://www.katehorrell.com/military-retirement-checklist/ https://www.katehorrell.com/military-separation-checklist/ Doug Nordman – Don't Gut It Out To 20: Leave Active Duty For The Reserves Or National Guard https://themilitarywallet.com/leave-active-duty-for-reserves/ Doug Nordman – Military Guide to Financial Independence & Retirement https://militaryfinancialindependence.com/about/books/

Episode 30 - Let's Talk Crack Money with Zac Spainhour

Crack money??? Listen in as Zac Spainhour and Brandon talk about what "crack money" is and what to do about it. Hear about ideas to keep your crack money in check while still living life. Simplicity and ease of use are definitely keys to keeping your finances on track and under control. To learn more about Zac Spainhour, please follow him on LinkedIn and check out his YouTube channel! https://www.linkedin.com/in/zspainhour/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKkqIDPeq1asGzFvZq5iiA Links refenced: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/01/those-weekly-splurges-cost-7400-extra-yearly-study-shows.html

Episode 29 - Financial Wisdom of a Six-Year-Old

My son, Owen asked to record a podcast episode with me, so here you go. Enjoy!