Money on My Mind

Money on My Mind: Financial Literacy Month
April is known as National Financial Literacy Month.

That’s cool. It’s never a bad idea to pay a little extra attention to your finances.

Of course, Think and Talk Money readers don’t wait until April to be reminded of all the things we should be doing with our money.

With more than 50 posts already at our disposal, Think and Talk Money readers pay attention to our money year round.

We know how important money is to reaching our ultimate goals in life. That’s why we like to think and talk money just a little bit every week.

Think and Talk Money readers know that personal finance starts with getting our money mindset in the right place. That’s why we create our personal version of Tiara Goals for Financial Freedom.

With the right mindset, we can stay on budget and consistently generate fuel for our investments.

When other people get worked up over the stock market, we talk to our people and stay calm.

We know that time is on our side.

Plus, investing is actually the easy part.

We control what we a control. That’s why we invest early and often to get the maximum benefit of compound interest.

So, Think and Talk Money readers don’t need a national personal finance month.

And, we’re happy that personal finance gets a little extra attention each year in April.

Photo by Joel Holland on Unsplash

These credit card fees are getting out of hand.

Is it just me, or are you also noticing more and more businesses charging fees to use credit cards?

I wrote about my disdain for credit card fees recently.

In just the past couple of weeks, I’ve chosen to pay with cash instead of credit card on multiple occasions:
- At the butcher shop, which charges a 3% fee, and is kind of smug about it.
- At the local ice cream shop, which charges a 4% fee and misleadingly labels it a 4% discount for customers paying in cash.
- For the garage door repair guy, who creatively indicates the fee in terms of cash instead of a percentage. In this instance, $11 instead of 3% of the total bill.
- At the tree nursery, which also charges a 3% fee for credit cards. This one hurt the most. Trees are expensive! I really would have liked those points.
By paying cash, I avoided hundreds of dollars in fees. Don’t get me wrong, I love credit cards points as much as anyone. But, I just can’t stomach paying these fees to earn the points.

I even ran the numbers recently and determined that the points don’t make up for the added penalty of using a card.

I know many business owners disagree, but in my opinion, these fees are bad for business.

Fees act as a deterrent for me to spend money. I imagine they are a deterrent for others, as well. If I do shop at one of these establishments, I end up being more selective and spending less money than I otherwise would have.
- At the butcher shop, I didn’t buy the side items to go with my skirt steaks.
- At the ice cream shop, I bought ice cream for my kids but not for myself. Luckily (or unluckily?), my son gave me his leftover, melty Superman ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.
- I had no choice with the garage door guy- the garage was broken and needed fixing. You win, garage door guy!
- At the tree nursery, I bought half as many trees and plants as I intended.
The way I see it, both the customer and the business lose out because of these fees.

For example, at the nursery, I didn’t get all the plants I wanted. That made me kind of sad.

At the same time, the nursery lost out on more than $1,000 in plant sales. I don’t know how that made the business feel. Obviously, it’s not that sad since it continues to charge the fee.

Taking a broader viewpoint, maybe these credit card fees are actually good for us consumers.

In our consumer-driven society, we all spend too much money when we go out to eat or go shopping. Studies have consistently proven that we spend less money when forced to use cash.

In that sense, a deterrent to spending, which is exactly what these fees are, is probably a good thing for us consumers.

I can’t imagine it’s good for business, though.

What do you think?

It’s OK that tracking your net worth is less fun during a market dip.

I track my net worth once per month using a simple spreadsheet. Today was the first day I updated the spreadsheet since “Liberation Day” and markets dipped.

Like so many others, my net worth took a hit this past month.

That’s not fun.

But, I’m not losing my mind over it.

I’m not saying it feels good. I would much rather see my net worth steadily improving.

Photo by Mark Olsen on Unsplash

I’m just saying I’m not freaking out about it. Time is on my side.

I expect dips like this will occur multiple times throughout my investing timeline.

One thing I’ve found is that it helps to talk about money when things aren’t going well. You realize that you’re not alone. Your friends and family are probably having the same feelings that you’re having.

You don’t have to share how much money you have or how much you lost. You can still benefit emotionally by acknowledging to your loved ones that you’re thinking about the markets a little bit more these days.

People are going bananas for The Bananas.

A reader sent in a great story about a couple who went $1.8 million into debt to start The Savannah Bananas.

If you haven’t heard of The Bananas, they might just be the best story in sports right now.

The Savannah Bananas are the best story in sports.

Owner Jesse Cole and his wife Emily went $1.8 million in debt to start the team, but they now have a broadcast deal with ESPN and will sell two million tickets this year.

That includes sold-out games in 18 MLB ballparks and… pic.twitter.com/m3PsmZHxHU
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) April 30, 2025

Despite countless opportunities to cash in by taking on investors, the owners still own 100% of the team. They continue to do things their way, even if that means foregoing massive profits.

I love stories like this. These owners bet on themselves and found success. Instead of cashing in at the first chance, they’re staying true to themselves.

At the end of the day, they’re making money and seem to enjoy what they’re doing.

Is there anything better than that?
April 30, 2025
Money on My Mind: Global Happiness
This week, we discuss recent reports on global happiness and starting families.

We also discuss lessons from successful businesses that we can apply to our personal lives.

The World Happiness Report 2025

Since 2012, an organization known as The World Happiness Report (WHR) has studied global wellbeing and how to improve it.

Each year, they analyze data from 140 countries and publish their findings in an effort to give everyone the knowledge to create more happiness for themselves and others.

That sounds like a great mission to me.

They also publish a global happiness ranking of all the countries studied. The rankings are based on answers to a single question:

Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

WHR explains that this “life evaluation” question empowers people to make their own judgments about what matters most.

As part of its analysis, WHR uses economic modeling to explain countries’ average life evaluation scores. They look at six variables, and one of them jump out at me:

“Freedom to make life choices.”

What countries would you guess scored the highest on the 2025 rankings?

The top five countries in the happiness rankings are:
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
Each of these nations has ranked near the top for a long time.

Where is the United States on the happiness chart?

The United States fell to number 24, its lowest happiness ranking ever.

The United States’ highest ranking was 11th place way back in 2011.

I’m not totally surprised that the United States’ ranking is as low as it’s ever been.

We’ve discussed some theories that may help explain this drop:
- Americans’ debt balances are increasing year over year. Of course, Debt can cause some serious negative emotions, like shame and embarrassment.
- 8 out of 10 of us are worried we may lose our jobs this year.
- Nearly half of us don’t use our hard-earned paid time off (PTO) and choose to work more days than we are asked to.
I wasn’t surprised to see the United States rank 24th in the global happiness rankings, but I was shocked by the sub-ranking for this specific question:

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?

The United States ranked 115th out of 147 countries in response to the freedom question!

That ranking truly shocked me.

It also helps explain one of the primary goals of Think and Talk Money: to help each of us reach financial freedom.

When we are financially free, we can choose to live life on our own terms. To me, that sounds a lot like what the WHR freedom question is trying to answer.

When you have financial freedom, you can make important decisions based on what truly matters. When you don’t have financial freedom, you risk making unsatisfactory decisions for money reasons.

We can choose to spend more time with the people who are meaningful to us.

We can choose to use our skills for work that is meaningful to us.

Most of us grow up thinking that life only revolves around getting an education and then getting a job. We don’t allow ourselves to believe that financial freedom is possible for us.

This was exactly how I felt before I wrote down my Tiara Goals one day on the beach in 2017.

My goal with Think and Talk Money is to help us all realize that financial independence is within our reach. If we can think and talk about our money choices even a little bit every week, we can make sure our money life remains in balance with the rest of our life.

By practicing strong personal finance habits, each of us can feel more satisfied with our freedom to choose what to do with our lives.

How would you rank yourself on the freedom question?

Are you satisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?

What are your core values?

Have you ever written down your core values?

Do you know what you’re striving for?

Successful businesses look at these questions regularly. I find it helpful to learn how successful businesses operate so I can apply similar principles to my own life.

For example, there’s a great business book called Traction by Gino Wickman. In the book, Wickman encourages businesses to focus on vision, mission, and values.

It seems like a pretty good idea for all of us to think about vision, mission, and values as they apply to our own lives.

For example, if you’re one of the nearly half of Americans not taking your PTO, are you making that choice based on your core values?

It’s possible that you are. Perhaps you’re being strategic and have formulated a plan to benefit from all those extra hours at the office.

Or, it’s possible that you’ve never really stopped to think about why you’re working so much. You’ve never paused to articulate to yourself what you want out of life.

In Traction, Wickman makes a compelling argument why businesses should not skip this crucial step.

We all should take the same step in our personal lives. In 2017, I wrote down my core values, what I call my Tiara Goals.

Looking at the big picture, my Tiara Goals have helped me visualize what I truly want out of life.

In the short term, my Tiara Goals help guide me through difficult decisions. As long as I’m clear with myself about what I want in the long run, I can make daily decisions to get my closer to those goals.

Millennials want more kids but can’t afford them.

According to a recent report from Business Insider, Millennials want more kids but can’t afford them.

This makes me sad.

The study points to rising costs, as well as the reality that Millennials are saddled with large amounts of student loan debt.

Combined, it makes sense that Millennials are worried about money.

If you want to start a family, or grow your family, what better motivation could there be to spend a little bit of time each week thinking and talking about money.

If this is your reality, or you know someone in this position, establishing strong personal finance habits is crucial.

Each week at Think and Talk Money, we focus on developing these strong personal finance habits.

Please share Think and Talk Money with your friends and loved ones.

I hope that in spreading the word about Think and Talk Money, we can all help each other make big life decisions without worrying about money.

This is important whether you are hoping to start a family or have other life goals in mind.

We can all benefit from making intentional and informed decisions with our money.
March 21, 2025
Money on My Mind: Always Working?

Simple question. Don’t lie to yourself.

Do you work too much?

I’m not asking if you work too hard.

I mean too much, as in too many hours of your life dedicated to a job.

I started thinking about this question after recently coming across a few surveys.

Let’s talk it out. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I am shocked by these survey results.

I’m not often surprised by survey results. This is one of the rare exceptions.

According to a recent report from MyPerfectResume, 81% of workers worry they may lose their jobs in 2025.

8 out of 10 people! Is it just me, or is that mind-boggling?

On the flip side, only 4% of workers report no concerns about losing their jobs.

These numbers are shocking to me, but maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised. As Yahoo Finance explains,

Many large corporations have already announced or kicked off a round of layoffs, including Chevron, CNN, Estee Lauder, Meta, and Southwest Airlines. And that, of course, doesn’t count the thousands of workers terminated under Elon Musk’s campaign to reduce the federal workforce.

My mind immediately jumps to a follow-up question:

How many of those people worried about losing their jobs have an emergency savings account?

Sadly, the answer is probably very few people have meaningful savings.

Surveys like this one motivate me to continue bringing attention to core personal finance issues, like having adequate emergency savings. This is why I so strongly believe that talking about money is not taboo.

Life is too short and too precious to be in a constant state of worry. Is there any sense worrying about something, like getting laid off, when you have practically no control over whether it happens or not?

Instead of worrying about what we can’t control, I think it’s better to use our energy on what we can control, like saving up for emergencies.

Hopefully, you’re not one of these people worried about losing your job. If you are, there’s no better time than right now to prioritize your savings.

If the first survey shocked me, this one just makes me angry.

According to this Pew Research Center study, 46% of US workers take less paid time-off than they’re offered.

I need to say that again.

Nearly half of US workers choose to work more days than they are required to!

And, it gets worse if you’re a high earner or highly educated.

According to the same study, the more money you earn, the less likely you are to take your full paid time-off.

The more educated you are, the less likely you are to take your full paid time-off.

The more senior you are, like being a manager vs. non-manager, the less likely you are to take your full paid time-off.

If the first survey mentioned above surprised me, this one just makes me angry.

Do you recognize a difference between working hard and always working?

Don’t misunderstand why these results make me angry. It’s not about working hard vs. slacking off. It’s not about being a good employee vs. a bad employee. I am 100% in favor of people working hard and working with integrity to get the job done.

My frustration is that somewhere along the way, “working hard” turned into “always working.”

By the way, before you accuse me of being a slacker, I am no stranger to working hard.

I work full-time as a lawyer, manage 11 rental properties, teach law school courses on Wednesdays and Sundays, and publish three blog posts per week. Still, none of these things are more important to me than spending quality time with my family.

Years ago, I first read Tim Ferris’ game-changing book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Ferris described how his small business took off as soon as he started doing less, not more. He empowered his staff and stopped himself from getting in the way. Not only did his company thrive, he had more time available to pursue what really mattered in his life.

Since writing The 4-Hour Workweek, Ferris has become one of the most influential thought leaders around. To learn more from Ferris, visit his website here.

Why do you work so much?

If you’re one of these people choosing to work more hours instead of taking your earned vacation time, have you ever asked yourself why?

Keep in mind, these are days off that your company has already agreed to give you. You earned them. Why are you not taking them?

Are you worried about getting fired? Passed up for a promotion? Is your self-worth tied to how many hours per week you work?

Years from now, when your grandkids are huddled up for story time, do you plan on telling them how much you worked and how many life experiences you skipped out on?

These are hard questions to truthfully answer. If you’re being honest with yourself, you may start thinking about another set of questions:

Is this job the right job for me? Do I want to spend my life stressed from working too much? What would be a better use of my working hours so I can spend more time doing the things that I love with the people that I love?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these questions. I’ve realized that I’ll never understand what the point is of working so much at the cost of spending time with the things and people you love.

Maybe I’m the weird one. But, I don’t think I am. Unfortunately, the data backs me up and confirms that working too much can have series consequences.

Fortunately, we can learn from strategies geared towards retirees. Let me explain.

Apply lessons for retirees to your life today.

Writing for BBC Science Focus Magazine, Hayley Bennett shares 5 expert tips for a healthy post-work life.

The tips include finding a purpose, strengthening your body, and rebuilding your brain.

When I came across this story, I immediately thought that we shouldn’t wait for retirement to do these things. This is solid advice for all of us, at any stage in our lives.

Do you know what sounds pretty great to me?

A life filled with purpose sounds pretty great. The same goes for being fit and smart.

The challenge is that work often gets in the way.

When we let this happen, the consequences can be catastrophic.

As just one example, lawyers as a profession have long struggled with mental health issues. I first learned about these challenges during law school orientation. Today, I see it in practice. Being a lawyer is a hard way to make a living. When you work as a lawyer, the hours are intense and stress levels are consistently high.

In 2023, the Washington Post analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor to determine what the most stressful jobs are. The study confirmed that lawyers are the most stressed.

Of course, lawyers are not alone in struggling in this regard due to long, stressful hours. The same study showed that people working in the finance and insurance industries were right up there with lawyers as being highly stressed.

Anecdotally, I’ve personally talked to people recently in a wide variety of other fields, like consultants and small business owners, who are frustrated for the same reasons.

The point is, regardless of industry, many of us struggle with work stress.

What can we do about it?

That’s a complicated question with many possible answers. For starters, I firmly believe that by building strong personal finance habits, we can create more opportunities to find purpose and practice good health.

I recommend you think back to our conversations about Parachute Money and why you should want to be good with money. When you’ve made thoughtful money choices, you can choose to live a life right now on your terms rather than waiting until retirement.

I agree with what you’re probably thinking. These are not easy or fun topics to think about. However, in my opinion, it’s much worse to let life go by while failing to take responsibility.

Am I wrong about people working too much?

Maybe I’m wrong about people working too much?

I don’t think I am.

The data paints a very sad picture for lawyers, and I have to believe anyone else working long and hard hours. If you have similar data about your profession, please share it with us. I hope I’m wrong about what that data will show, but I fear I’m right.

As always, let us know what you think in the comments below.

And, thank you for continuing to share stories you’ve come across that would be good to discuss here.

February 26, 2025
Better to Ignore Mortgage Rates
In today’s Q&A, we’ll address two great questions from readers about shopping for a home in today’s environment. We’ll also talk through how to know if you have enough Parachute Money.

As always, please continue to reach out with your questions on our socials or by replying directly to our weekly newsletter emails. I personally read and reply to every email.

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Should I wait for mortgage rates to drop before buying a home?

This question has been on people’s minds for a few years now. Ever since rates started climbing from the all-time lows during the pandemic, people have been hoping they might significantly drop again.

In my humble opinion, that ain’t happening. At least not anytime soon.

Google “Are interest rates going to drop” and you’ll find that nearly every major news outlet and mortgage lender has a prediction. Most predictions right now are about the same. US News summed it up just about perfectly:

Analysts expect the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to stay elevated between 6% and 7% for the next two years. Just two months ago, economists thought it would fall into the 5% range by the second half of 2025. With such wild fluctuations in the forecast, you’d be just as likely to get a satisfactory mortgage rate outlook from a Magic 8 Ball: Cannot predict now. Ask again later.

Nobody knows what’s going to happen with rates. Just two months ago, US News thought rates would drop. Now, they’re expected to stay elevated. What are you supposed to do with that information?

I recommend you ignore it.

My advice is to buy a home when you’ve decided it’s the right moment in your life to do so. Make that decision regardless of what current interest rates are.

Why do I recommend you ignore mortgage rates?

There are really only three things that can happen to mortgage rates over time:
1. Mortgage rates stay the same.
2. Mortgage rates go up.
3. Mortgage rates go down.
In any of those three scenarios, there’s no point in basing your decision to buy a home only on the current rates. Let me explain.

Let’s say you have a crystal ball and can look three years into the future. Looking into your crystal ball, let’s play out each of the three scenarios mentioned above.

1. Your crystal ball shows you that mortgage rates stayed relatively consistent.

Since rates stayed the same, there would be no point in waiting to buy a home because of rates. The rates three years from now are the same as they are today.

By waiting, you’re likely going to experience that homes have gotten more expensive. The longer you wait, the more expensive they are going to be.

The data shows that homes have become more expensive historically and in the recent past. In 2024, U.S. homebuyers paid nearly double what they paid for homes in 1965, accounting for inflation. More recently, in Chicago for one example, home prices are up more than 9% since just last year.

So, even if rates stay the same, prices are likely to go up and you shouldn’t sit around waiting for them to drop.

2. Your crystal ball shows you that mortgage rates went up.

If rates go up, it’s easy to conclude that it’s a mistake to delay your home buying decision. Higher rates, combined with higher prices, is… not good.

3. Your crystal ball shows you that mortgage rates went down.

This is the scenario that many people are waiting for. When rates go down, you can afford a more expensive home. That’s a good thing, right?

Not so fast.

Do you think you’re the only person sitting around waiting for rates to drop? For the same reasons that you’re waiting, many other people are also waiting.

So, what happens when lots of people are waiting to buy the same thing? Demand goes up. When demand goes up, you have more competition to buy that same house. That means prices go up. You’ll end up paying more money for the house, even with a lower interest rate.

Take it from me, bidding wars are not fun. I would much prefer to get the house I want without the added competition.

If mortgage rates end up dropping later on, I’ll refinance my loan into the lower rate. I may pay more on a monthly basis in the short term, but long term, I have the house I want at the best available current rate.

So, there you have it. No matter what happens to rates, in my opinion, you’re best off shopping for a home when the time is right in your life.

Forget about the rates. If rates do end up going down in the future, you can still benefit by refinancing.

My wife and I are considering buying a home that would be the most expensive home ever sold in the neighborhood. Is that a bad idea?

This is another great question. Opinions will certainly vary, so I encourage you to talk to your inner circle to get a variety of perspectives.

Personally, I have no problem buying the most expensive property in a neighborhood, under one condition: I plan on holding that property for at least 10 years.

Like the data above shows, home prices tend to go up historically. Since 1990, home prices nationally have appreciated on average at a rate of 4.4%.

If you’ve done your homework and are shopping for real estate in good neighborhoods, it’s only a matter of time before another home sells for a higher price.

The longer you hold the real estate, the more home appreciation works in your favor.

Appreciation is one of the best reasons to invest in real estate, after all.

When we bought our first rental property in Chicago in 2018, we paid the highest price for any 4-flat in our neighborhood. At the time, we were a bit concerned that we were overpaying. Those worries were short lived. With seven years of appreciation working in our favor, numerous properties have sold since then for significantly more money.

Yes, there are always going to be dips in the market. Do not expect your home to steadily appreciate every year. This is why my one condition is to hold the property for at least 10 years. When you hold property (or any investment) for the long run, time is on your side. You can wait out any dips in the market.

As long as you’ve done your homework and are willing to hold a property for the long run, I would have no hesitations in buying the most expensive property in a neighborhood.

I’m fascinated by the concept of Parachute Money. My question is: how will I know if I have enough Parachute Money?

The idea of Parachute Money is one of my favorite concepts in personal finance. Check out our post here to learn more about how empowering Parachute Money can be.

To know how much Parachute Money you need, look back at your Budget After Thinking. All you need to do is add up your monthly Now Money and Life Money to figure out how much Parachute Money you’ll need to maintain your current life.

For example, let’s say your budgeting process taught you that you need $6,000 of Now Money and $4,000 of Life Money each month. Your Parachute Money target is $10,000.

If your goal is to walk away from your primary job, you’ll need to create $10,000 of income streams not counting that primary job. That could be from any combination of investments and side hustles. Once you hit $10,000 in parachute strings, you should be able to safely walk away from that job.

Note that for calculating your Parachute Money, you can ignore your Later Money goals. The reason why relates back to the purpose of Parachute Money.

The purpose of Parachute Money is to be able to choose to walk away on your own terms while continuing to support yourself.

Presumably, choosing to walk away from a bad situation accomplishes one of your primary goals for saving and investing money in the first place.

At this phase of your life, it’s OK to temporarily set aside your Later Money goals. If and when you choose to seek new sources of income, you can start fueling your Later Money goals again.

The exception to this rule is if you have debt obligations that are not accounted for in your Now Money. If that’s the case, be sure to include your debt obligations in your Parachute Money target.

One last thing about Parachute Money: achieving true Parachute Money is hard. Just remember, the payoff could be extremely valuable to you: not having to work your primary job if you choose not to. That’s the definition of financial independence.

Thanks again for all the great questions!

If we didn’t get to your question this week, we’ll do our best to get to it in an upcoming post.
February 21, 2025
Q&A: Look for a Valuable Side Hustle
In this week’s Q&A, we talk about how the timing was right to launch Think and Talk Money, why you should consider a side hustle, and what comes next for the website.

As always, please email your questions or leave a comment below or on socials.
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You have a lot on your plate. Lawyer, teacher, landlord, young kids… why launch Think and Talk Money now?

I had been thinking about writing a book or starting a website for a couple years. Over the holidays, my dad gave me the final push I needed.

We were casually chatting while the kids played in the other room. Out of nowhere, he said, “Matt, you should do it.”

Do what?

“You should write a book.”

Oh, no biggie.

I didn’t expect him to say that. He went on to explain how you get to a certain age and you look back on life and wonder where it all went. You think about all the things that you wanted to do but never got around to doing.

No regrets, blogging then book.

He knew I had been thinking about writing a book for a while and didn’t want me to regret not doing it.

I thought about it and realized he was right. I would never forgive myself if I didn’t take this chance.

Now that I’ve thrown this out there, I have to do it, right?

There’s never a perfect time in life. If I didn’t start Think and Talk Money now, I might never have gotten around to it. Something always comes up. It’s too easy to make excuses.

It’s true we have a lot going on. Fortunately, I had a system already in place that gives me time to write thanks to Hal Elrod’s The Morning Miracle.

I hesitate to say a certain book “changed my life.” This might be one of them.

For almost 10 years now, I’ve been waking up at 5:30 a.m. to read, journal, and relax. It’s so beneficial to have that time for myself, especially now with kids, before the day gets away from me.

To learn more about the benefits of a daily morning ritual, check out Elrod’s miracle morning website.

Since launching Think and Talk Money, I use my mornings to blog instead of reading. I like teaching and writing about personal finance, so my mornings are still enjoyable.

That being said, I may need to adjust the schedule to read the latest book in the Empryean series, Onyx Storm.

How do you feel about side hustles?

Short answer: I love side hustles.

We’ll spend some time in a future post talking about all the advantages of having a side hustle.

The obvious advantage is you can make more money. The important thing is what you do with that money to make the side hustle worth it. A side hustle is another time commitment, after all. If you’re going to take on the responsibility, make sure it counts.

Before you consider a side hustle, have a plan in place for why you want additional money. Are you looking to pay down debt faster? Save for a wedding? Invest in your first rental property?

One of my favorite experiences teaching personal finance to law students involved a side hustle. A couple of years ago, a student approached me during a break and told me about his credit card debt. It had been weighing heavily on him.

After our discussion about side hustles, he committed himself to driving for DoorDash and using the income to pay off his credit card balance.

Six months later he sought me out to share that the plan worked. His side hustle allowed him to pay off his credit card in less than six months. All while working a full-time job and attending law school par-time. I couldn’t have been happier.

To help you think through why you might want a side hustle, check out these three posts:

You Should Want to be Good with Money

Part 1: How to Budget to Fix the Disappearing Dollar

Why You Need to Fuel Your Savings

BTW, you’re not too busy or important for a side hustle.

Some people reading this will automatically think, “I’m way too busy to even think about another job.”

In my personal finance class for law students, we spend a lot of time challenging that notion. Very few people- and I mean very few- are too important or too busy to take on a side hustle.

You may think you’re one of those “too important” people. I would challenge you to assess whether you’re confusing “too important” with “too stressed.”

Setting that conundrum aside, the ideal side hustle is something you enjoy doing that can earn you extra money at the same time. Some examples my students have come up with in class include:
- Bartending. Entice your friends to come to your bar by offering cheap drinks. You get to hang out with them and get paid at the same time.
- Fitness instructor. Instead of paying $48 for the spin class you love, become the instructor and get paid to lead the class.
- Dog Walker. If you love dogs and don’t currently have one of your own, what better way to fill that void in your life while making money. The same applies to babysitting.
- Home Baker. Make homemade treats with your kids and sell them to parents who don’t have the time.
There is always a way to make more money.

The point is there are always ways to make more money by doing things you like to do anyways. Even if you’re busy. You just have to exert some mental energy to figure out how.

I’m reminded of another conversation my dad and I had when I was in high school.

Growing up, my siblings and I were busy kids. Sports, clubs, performances, classes, you name it. I made a remark to my dad about it at one point.

He responded that being busy wasn’t a bad thing because you don’t have time to fool around. When you have no choice other than to stay focused, you actually perform better in all facets of life.

You’re not thrown off by distractions because you’re locked in on accomplishing your goals.

After launching Think and Talk Money, I feel a heightened sense of focus. It’s benefitting me in all of my pursuits. I take care of business as best I can, while prioritizing my family and my health.

I can see your eye rolls through your screen.

This guys is nuts. He’s a workaholic. He has no life.

The people who know me best would beg to differ.

They might just tell you that I’m striving to build a life where I spend my working hours doing what is meaningful to me.

I spend my personal time with the people that are meaningful to me.

Have you ever used a HELOC to invest in real estate?

Yes, I’ve used HELOCs, which stands for Home Equity Lines of Credit, to scale my real estate portfolio.

This question leads to so many concepts we need to discuss, from debt and credit to investing. We’ll come back to HELOCs more fully in a separate post.

The bottom line is using HELOCs to scale your investment portfolio is a more advanced strategy that I would not recommend for everyone. I probably wouldn’t recommend it for most people, even experienced real estate investors.

I say that for good reason. When you hear HELOC, think debt. For many of us, debt is problematic and leads to negative emotions.

I experienced these negative emotions associated with debt. I only got comfortable with taking on debt as I learned to trust myself again with the responsibility.

HELOCs are like credit cards, just in another form of debt.

My advice: if you have proven to yourself that you can responsibly handle debt, using a HELOC may be a worthwhile strategy for you.

By responsible with debt, I mean:
- You pay your credit card, and all other bills, in full every month.
- You’ve never missed a payment.
- You’ve created a Budget After Thinking and can stick to it.
- You can control your spending.
- You’re sure you have a steady income.
- You understand the risk of taking on additional debt.
- You’ve thought and talked about it with your inner circle.
- You’ve decided that using debt will help you fuel your Later Money goals.
If you satisfy all of the above, a HELOC may be useful to scale your real estate portfolio. If you’re thinking about using a HELOC in the near future and want to talk it out, please feel free to reach out.

What’s it like being a blogger?

It’s only been five weeks, but I’m happy I took the chance to launch Think and Talk Money.

It’s been fun.

And, it’s been hard.

First, the fun stuff. I’ve enjoyed writing and talking about personal finance concepts that are important to me. I’ve especially enjoyed all the interactions with our readers.

One unexpected element I’ve appreciated is the sense of accomplishment that comes with publishing every post. This is very different from my experience as a lawyer where we typically work on a case for years before its conclusion.

I’ve also had fun writing in a new style. I haven’t ever blogged before. I haven’t done any writing other than legal writing since college. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading a legal brief or court opinion, first off, I’m sorry. Second, you understand how different legal writing is from blog writing.

Even though the writing styles are different, there is certainly some overlap in the fundamentals. My aim in both styles of writing is to be clear, concise, and informative. I hope to be somewhat interesting, as well.

As a blogger, I’m still finding my voice, as they say.

It can be challenging to make core personal finance concepts- like budgeting and saving money- educational, simple, and entertaining. If I’m doing my job, then my personal finance content should also be relatable and understandable.

Please let me know you have any feedback on what’s working (or not working for you)!

So, what’s hard about blogging?

Now, for the hard stuff.

My wife and I launched Think and Talk Money with zero knowledge, skills, or experience in starting a website.

Can you tell? Be nice.

We have no tech background whatsoever. Two months ago, I had no idea what SEO, caching, or plugins were.

We also have no design or marketing background. I didn’t even have social media (other than LinkedIn) until we launched. The fact that we have 129 Instagram followers (don’t laugh) seems like a small miracle to me.

My first post on LinkedIn had more than 12,000 impressions in the first few days. I still have no idea what that means, but it’s exciting!

If you’ve ever started a website, you know exactly what I mean. Creating the content is only the first step. So much more goes into it behind the scenes. We’re still only scratching the surface.

To sum it up, the tech stuff has been challenging and time consuming. We’ve learned so much already but have so much more to learn.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out with tips and suggestions!

What’s the end game for Think and Talk Money?

I completely understand why this is an important question to think about. The truth is we’re just getting started and haven’t thought about Think and Talk Money in terms of an end game.

I’ve always liked to teach and write, and this lets me do more of both. For now, our mission is to introduce the most important concepts of personal finance through the blog.

We post three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Some of the posts cover core personal finance topics in depth. Other posts are more targeted and address specific strategies or lessons.

There’s an intentional order to the way we’ve been introducing concepts. The order is important and mirrors the curriculum in my personal finance class for new lawyers.

We started with money mindset, then moved to budgeting, then moved to savings.

These are core personal finance concepts that we will always revisit in the blog. If your mind is not in the right place, it doesn’t matter if you know the particulars of how to budget or save.

We’ll soon move on to topics like debt and credit, investing, and real estate.

So, what comes next for Think and Talk Money?

My wife and I are thinking about all the options: podcast, online courses, personal coaching, speaking events, and a book.

Of all these options, the book might be the surest thing. I’ve wanted to write a book for a long time.

Whatever happens, we’ll do our best to continue creating valuable content and listen to what our audience wants.

Let us know if you have any thoughts or ideas on what should come next!
February 5, 2025
Money on My Mind: Capital One Edition
From time to time, I’ll post about current events and news I come across that adds to our recent discussions.

In today’s post, we’ll talk about Capital One’s alleged deceptive practices, rising credit card balances, and how much we should save for retirement.

Like with our Q&A posts, please leave a comment below, email me, or reach out on the socials if there are any stories you’d like to discuss here.
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Let’s start with recent news that impacted me personally.

A reminder to consistently evaluate your banking relationships.

For a long time, I used Capital One for all my savings accounts. When I started law school in 2006, there was a Capital One cafe right next to my school. You could get a cup of coffee for $.75 and talk to a banker at the same time. It was a cool concept and convinced me to bank with Capital One.

I told everyone about how great Capital One was. I had Capital One savings accounts and a Capital One credit card. You could say I was a huge Capital One fan.

Key word: was.

In November 2023, I had been a loyal Capital one customer for 17 years. This was during the time period when interest rates on savings accounts were rising dramatically. Many banks were advertising rates as high as 4% or 5%, which were higher than most of us had ever seen.

One day that November, for whatever reason, I logged into my Capital One account to see what rate I was earning. I was sure it would be in the 4% range, and probably closer to 5%, since Capital One was a leader in online banking.

When my statement loaded, I was shocked.

0.30%!

Shocked probably isn’t the right word. I was disgusted.

0.30% in 2023 might as well have been 0.0%… from a bank that had been a leader in online savings accounts that I had banked with for 17 years.

What the heck happened?

Capital One, unbeknownst to me, switched my savings from its high interest platform into an account with the much lower interest rate. At the same time, Capital One was still advertising and offering top rates to new customers.

It wasn’t just me. I am one of the many people that Capital One switched out of high interest rate savings accounts into inferior products. These deceptive practices are now the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau.

When I discovered the sneaky switch, I immediately closed all of my accounts and transferred my money to a new bank. I no longer have a Capital One credit card, either.

Capital One, of course, denies the allegations. Maybe they did nothing legally wrong. For me, I saw the deceit in my own statement and the damage was already done.

Why do stories like Capital One’s alleged deceptive practices matter?

It wasn’t the amount of interest I lost out on that bothered me.

This all happened during that time we talked about when my wife and I were aggressively acquiring properties, so we never had a lot of money sitting in savings for an extended period.

For me, it was about the principle. I don’t want to have any relationship with a bank that would do that to its customers, especially long-term customers like me.

That said, I have to admit that writing this post is reopening old wounds.

I did a quick search in my inbox and found a Capital One statement from December 2022 showing a 0.30% interest rate. That means Capital One had deceived me for at least a year before I caught on.

Now I’m getting hot all over again.

“Take a deep breath,” as my son says to his sister when she’s crying.

On the bright side, this experience was a good reminder of how important it is to look at our accounts regularly.

You could also say it’s a good reminder to regularly think and talk about money so something like this doesn’t happen to you.

No matter how much you trust your bank, keep an eye on your accounts.

Americans are spending more on credit cards and carrying bigger balances.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Americans are spending more on credit cards and carrying higher balances month to month.

As The WSJ notes, “Bigger credit-card balances mean people are paying more in interest charges, with rates hovering around their highest levels on records. The average credit-card rate was around 21% late last year, according to data from the Federal Reserve.”

These findings are consistent with a recently published study by The Federal Reserve reporting that consumers are using credit cards more often when compared to cash transactions.

Higher credit card balances combined with more frequent credit card use is a problematic combination.

I am no stranger to carrying a credit-card balance. These reports don’t come as a shock to me. Especially in an era where the cost of living is rising so sharply everywhere.

It’s because I’ve personally felt the negative emotions tied to credit card debt that I never like seeing stories like these.

I understand that some people don’t have options besides using credit cards because of life circumstances. I’m hopeful that through money wellness education, more and more people will realize that they do have options.

I’m not saying it’s easy. But, there is a path forward. You can create a money plan that is consistent with your life goals and does not include high-interest debt.

How much money should you have saved for retirement by age 50?

Investopedia recently summarized reports from three major 401(k) providers on the average balances people have in their 401(k) plans. These articles can be helpful to measure your progress. Just be careful on what you take away from them.

We all have different goals in retirement. That could mean when we hope to retire. Or, how we plan to spend our money in retirement.

Plus, some of us have different investments, such as real estate holdings, that would not be reflected in studies like this.

For many of the same reasons that I’m not a fan of a rigid 50-30-20 budget framework, I don’t find these types of comparisons too helpful. I prefer we strive for personal improvement, like fitness instructors have been teaching us for years.

Let’s look at one of the potential issues with articles like these. Empower reports that the average balance for someone in their 50’s is $592,285, and the median balance is $252,850.

That’s a big difference. Let’s refer back to high school math (ok fine, Google) for a refresher on what “average” and “median” are.

The average balance is calculated by adding up everyone’s account balance and dividing by the total number of people. The median reflects the middle account balance if we list everyone’s balance from smallest to largest.

Using Empower’s data, the average balance seems skewed on the high side. This is likely because of a subset of high net worth individuals driving the average up. The median value is probably a more informative number for the average American.

Let’s put this all another way. Whether my colleague has $50,000 saved or $500,000 saved should not impact my retirement planning. The amount he has saved doesn’t matter to me.

Instead of talking about his numbers, I can still benefit from talking to him about his goals. I should be talking to him about his money mindset, like what motivates him to save in the first place.

Am I saving too little or too much for retirement?

Since 2011, I’ve represented individuals with mesothelioma, a terminal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Most of my clients are in their 70’s and don’t get the chance to enjoy their retirements because of their mesothelioma.

My perspective on work, family, and life has undoubtedly been shaped by visiting with my clients in their homes and talking about their life experiences. I am forever grateful for what I have learned in these moments.

When I see stories like this one from The WSJ about the financial regrets of people over age 80, I pay attention. I read these stories about people who are living longer than they expected and can’t help but think of my clients with mesothelioma who won’t have that same experience.

I also think about Bill Perkins and his excellent book, Die with Zero. You can read more about Perkins and his philosophy that many of us are saving too much for retirement on the Die with Zero website.

For my own money decisions, I’m still sorting out these three competing realities:
1. Some people, like my mesothelioma clients, don’t get to enjoy a full retirement;
2. Others outlive their money in retirement; and
3. Still other people saved more than they’ll ever spend in retirement.
My main takeaway is that I want to make choices today that allow me to spend more time with the people I love and more time doing the work that I love. However those three realities play out in my own life, I’m confident I won’t regret living this way.

This mindset is what led me to start Think and Talk Money. I enjoy helping people think through these types of choices.

Please help me spread the word about Think and Talk Money so more of us can consider these important concepts.
January 31, 2025
Help a Professor Out: Ask Your Money Questions Here

Think and Talk Money’s motto is “Money Wellness Together.” The more we all talk, the more we all benefit. The best way to keep the conversation going? Ask questions!

I’ve learned through teaching in law schools for the past 15 years that most of us prefer seminars with questions and answers to long lectures. Thanks for all the great questions so far! I’m hoping we can do a Q&A post like this just about every week.

Please keep the questions coming in the comments on any post, by responding to our newsletter, or on Instagram.

In our first Q&A post, we’ll cover my favorite personal finance books, whether you should keep your condo as a rental unit, and the most important question of all: what is Italian beef?

1. Do you have a favorite personal finance book that you would recommend?

What a great question. I always recommend starting with books that focus on money mindset. Like we always talk about, the first step is getting our money mindset in the right place. I would start with:

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. There’s a reason this is the best selling personal finance book of all time. If you read Rich Dad Poor Dad, your entire money mindset will be changed. Kiyosaki brilliantly shares the stories he learned growing up from his Rich Dad (really his best friend’s dad, very successful real estate investor/business owner) and his Poor Dad (his actual dad, highly educated/traditional career path). Using these two role models in his life, he makes a very compelling and easy to follow case that most of us go about life and money all wrong.

Read Rich Dad Poor Dad. It will light a fire under you like no other book I’ve read.

2. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Another longtime classic that will shift your money mindset. I first read this book in college when I learned my friend’s dad offered him $50 if he read this book. $50 to read a book? I’m in.

Originally published in 1937 and recently updated, Think and Grow Rich, will convince you that we can all be successful. Hill studied innovators like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. In the updated version, you’ll learn about modern figures like Bill Gates and Mary Kay Ash. To translate the title into my own words: Wake up! Use your brain! You can be successful in any walk of life if you just stop sleepwalking through life like everyone else and do something!

Read Think and Grow Rich. You will be motivated to do that thing you’ve been saying you would do, but haven’t yet.

3. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. A third classic originally published nearly 100 years ago. Clason wrote a simple collection of fables set in the ancient city of Babylon to illustrate the power of fundamental money habits: earn, save, invest, protect. Through his stories, you’ll see how you can get ahead in life by practicing strong financial wellness habits.

Read The Richest Man in Babylon. You’ll understand the building blocks of a healthy financial life.

4. Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez are often credited for laying the groundwork for the Financially Independent Retire Early (FIRE) movement. They have a lot to say about the relationship between money, work, and time.

Most of us are doing it all wrong. We chase money at the cost of our precious time. By making good choices about how to earn money- and as importantly what to do with that money- you can get the most out of your money and your life.

Read Your Money or Your Life. You will start to value your time for what it’s really worth.

5. Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. Perkins makes a strong case that many of us are saving too much for retirement. We work too many hours and save more money than we’ll ever need. Instead, we could be using that money during the best years of our lives to create lifelong memories.

Perkins also questions the conventional wisdom of waiting until we die to pass money onto our kids. He suggests helping our kids earlier in life when the money will be more meaningful.

Read Die With Zero. You won’t wait any longer to book that vacation you’ve been putting off for no good reason.

If you have read these books already, but it was some time ago, read them again. I didn’t fully appreciate all the lessons until I was years into my career and knew what it felt like to work for money.

2. $500 Challenge? I could never do that!

In Part 3 of our series on budgeting, I gave you 10 of my favorite tips to help stay on budget. One of the tips involved a game my wife and I play called the “$500 Challenge.”

Part 3: How to Win the Budget Game

If $500 is a nonstarter for you, increase the amount of the game. Whether you play with $750 or $1,000 or more, the point of the game remains the same. If $500 is too much for you, pick a smaller number that works. The amount doesn’t matter. The point is to set a number for yourself that will get you back on track after overspending in the previous month. January is a great time to play the game.

3. When I’m creating my budget categories, does my health club membership count as Now Money or Life Money?

When I said I‘m not a fan of a rigid budgeting framework like 50-30-20, this question illustrates exactly why. Elizabeth Warren popularized 50-30-20 in her book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, first published in 2005.

In a 50-30-20 framework, you must choose what category to put your health club membership in. Same with every other borderline expenditure. What if you think working out should be Now Money, but it pushes you over 50%? OK, just move it to Life Money. Wait, now I’m over 30% in my Life Money. Why is this so hard?

Take it from me and my students who have attempted 50-30-20 budgeting, making these choices gets to be very frustrating. What is the point in agonizing over decisions like this?

So, what should you do with your health club membership?

It doesn’t matter! You saw in our really lost boy’s budget that I counted it as Now Money. Today, I’d actually probably count it as Life Money. How’s that for an answer!?

Instead of agonizing, pick a category and leave it there. The whole purpose of our budget is to generate fuel for our Later Money. Whether that fuel comes from adjustments to Now Money or Life Money is irrelevant.

In our Budget After Thinking, we’re not limiting ourselves by rigid frameworks and agonizing over spending categories. We’ve got better things to focus on, like creating more fuel for our dreams.

4. Do I need to actively budget forever?

Nope! I’m going to do a post soon on what I recommend for people that have done the budgeting thing for a while and have a pretty good idea what their spending is. If you’re at that point, and are relatively responsible, you won’t need to track your spending anymore.

Let’s look at a quick example. Say you learned that your Budget After Thinking includes $1,000 of Later Money. That means each month, your top priority is to put that $1,000 of fuel towards your financial goals.

In this plan, you’ll need a “cushion” in your checking account to make it work. In this example, let’s use $5,000 as our cushion. At the end of the month, after you’ve made your Later Money transfers out of your checking account, and you’ve paid all your bills and credit cards, you should have $5,000 left.

If you have less than $5,000 left, compensate the next month by spending less so you get back to $5,000 at the end of month 2. If you’ve way overspent, that’s an indication you are not ready to stop budgeting.

No matter what, don’t short your Later Money. Do the $500 challenge if you need to. If you have more than $5,000 left, transfer the surplus to your savings account so you can use the excess to cover budget busters or top off your checking account if you overspent a little the previous month.

This budgeting process is similar to zero-based budgeting, a concept that’s been around for a long time. I find this method takes almost all of the anxiety out of budgeting. The key is you just have to be disciplined enough that if you have less than $5,000 left at the end of month 1, you course correct in month 2 so you’re back on track.

5. I am thinking about either selling my condo or keeping it as a rental unit. What should I do?

I’m a real estate investor, so my mind always goes first to keeping the condo as a longterm rental unit. Based on the question, it seems this reader is interested in real estate investing, too. If that’s true and your financial situation permits, I would consider keeping the condo as a rental unit.

It could be a great way to see if you like being a landlord without putting time and resources into acquiring a different property. Best case scenario, you hold the condo for many years and it turns out to be a great investment. Worst case scenario, you sell it in a year or two if being a landlord isn’t your thing.

Of course, there are so many factors that go into real estate investing. You need to do your homework first on whether your condo is a plausible rental unit. Leave a comment below or reach out on Instagram if you need some help deciding if your condo might be a good rental unit.

6. What is Italian Beef?

This person, I cannot help.

Fortunately, there’s a current Emmy winning show out there about Chicago and Italian beef!

Thanks for all the questions! Please keep them coming in the comments on any post, by responding to our newsletter, or on Instagram.

January 17, 2025
You will Easily Know and Feel Money Well Spent

Coming up, we’re going to do our first Q&A post where I’ll answer questions from readers. So many good questions have already come in. Please keep them coming! Leave a comment below, subscribe to our newsletter, or find us on Instagram.

One question we already received was so good, I’ve answered it here in a dedicated post. The question came from someone that I love to talk money with. He read the Think and Talk Money Welcome Post where I mentioned that my credit card debt was partially due to having Chicago Cubs season tickets.

He knows that I’m a big Cubs fan and asked me if I would I really trade all those great experiences and memories just to save money.

It’s such a good question because it points to the intersection of money and life. It took me all of two seconds to know and feel the answer was, of course, “No, I would not have given up my Cubs tickets.”

He was absolutely right. If I gave up my tickets in 2010 when I was struggling with debt, I never would have been in the stadium in 2016 with my family for the Cubs’ World Series run. Those are some of the best memories I have.

In hindsight, I would have done some things differently so I could enjoy the experiences without the money worries. Let’s talk about that.

But first, story time.

Our nice friends, Phil and April.

Throughout that World Series run, we sat next to the nicest couple in the world, Phil and April. Phil was a diehard Cubs fan. April was more reserved. Both were smart and very friendly. They were enjoyable people to sit with. We chatted baseball, mostly. Pitching changes. Send the runner. Question the manager. That sort of thing. Completely normal, unremarkable stuff.

Until Game 5.

Game 5 was played on a crisp, October evening. Jackets and beanies weather in Chicago. Phil and April were sitting next to my brother and I, as usual. Mike Napoli was playing first base for Cleveland.

Around the 3rd inning, a jerk four rows in front of us taunted Napoli with a crude, juvenile insult. It was apparent the jerk was doing his part to keep Old Style in business for another year.

Phil was nice…and tough.

Anyway, the rest of our section was none too pleased with the jerk’s shameful display. Nobody was more displeased than Phil, who did what the rest of us were thinking but were too scared to do ourselves. Phil stood up. In so many words, Phil sternly recommended that the jerk knock it off and show some class.

The jerk turned around, aggressively scanning the crowd for the man who had publicly shamed him. The jerk had that unmistakable look in his eye that meant, “Let’s dance.” My brother and I were a bit worried for our nice… and all of a sudden tough…friend, Phil.

April did not look worried. She sat there like nothing strange was happening. Almost like she had seen this movie before.

When the jerk locked eyes with Phil, he immediately saw that Phil was happy to accept the invitation to tango. Well, the jerk was sloppy, but he had enough sense to recognize that he wanted no piece of Phil. He wisely turned back around and sat down quietly.

That was the last we heard from the jerk that night. Our nice, and now confirmed tough friend Phil had restored order.

Phil’s on TV!

On the day of the Cubs’ championship parade, my brother called me excitedly, “Phil’s on TV! Phil’s on TV!” It didn’t register right away who he was talking about. When I turned on the TV, sure enough, there was Phil, our World Series friend. I was so confused. Phil was giving an interview on set with the Cubs announcers. Our nice (and tough) friend, Phil? On TV?

I turned up the volume and listened to Phil talk about his experience watching the Cubs win the World Series. Maybe I was hoping he’d mention his nice friend, Matt. He didn’t.

I still couldn’t figure out why Phil was on TV. Why won’t they just put his name on the screen already!?

It wasn’t until the end of the interview that I learned who Phil was. All I could do was laugh.

Our nice, and confirmed tough, friend Phil is better known as World Wresting Entertainment (WWE) champion and icon, CM Punk.

His wife? WWE champion and bestselling author, AJ Mendez.

Life, huh?

A memory I wouldn’t trade for anything.

As much fun as the World Series was, my favorite Cubs memory actually took place during the 2015 season, the year before they won the World Series. It was during the 7th inning of Game 4 of the NLDS. This was the game where the Cubs knocked the rival St. Louis Cardinals out of the playoffs.

In the 7th inning, with the Cubs up 5-4, Kyle Schwarber hit one of the most epic home runs in Cubs history, landing his moonshot on top of the new right field video board. It was such a feat, the ball is now enshrined where it landed.

The entire stadium was rocking so loud, you could feel the ground shaking beneath your feet. Every fan was jumping up and down, hugging anyone close enough to touch. We were all dancing like nobody was watching. That moment was pure happiness.

I was there with my mom. A lifelong Chicagoan, she too was jumping up and down and high-fiving all the other diehard fans in our section. After the game, we met up with my wife at a restaurant and relived the victory over Champagne.

What does this have to do with money?

What does any of this have to do with money? When I said money was emotional, this is what I meant. I wouldn’t trade that memory with my mom for anything. My brother and I still joke about our nice friends, Phil and April.

These are the types of experiences that I want more of. These memories, and the desire for more like them, continue to motivate me today. I want to be good with money, not so I can stash it in the bank, but so I can use that money to create joy for me and my family.

So, to get back to my friend’s question. Would I really have given up my Cubs tickets? No, absolutely not.

What would I have done differently to keep the tickets but not the worries?

In hindsight, what could I have done differently so my Cubs tickets were not a major source of financial worry?

Even back then, I knew and felt that spending money on Cubs tickets was money well spent. I didn’t need to wait for hindsight to come to that conclusion.

That said, I would have put more thought into solutions to keep the tickets and the experiences without the debt and the shame. I would have looked at expenditures in my Now Money and Life Money buckets that were ripe for adjustment.

Maybe that would have meant giving up something else less meaningful, like my gym membership. Or, I could have looked into a side hustle as a way to earn more money, something we’ll explore at another time.

Whatever the solution was, I would have been more intentional with my decisions so my experiences were not overshadowed by my worries.

Talking money is really just talking life.

This was such a good question to illustrate a foundational concept of Think and Talk Money. Yes, we discuss money. But, we’re really talking about our lives and our experiences. Money is just a tool to help us.

And before you get cynical on me, of course money is not required for good experiences. That’s not the point. What I’m suggesting is that if you’re spending most of your time each week at your job, like most of us do, shouldn’t we think about the money we earn so we can maximize experiences like I had with my mom?

Think and Talk Money is all about awakening that thought process so we can use the tool of money to fuel meaningful lives. Would you use that tool to get you Cubs tickets? Or, do you prefer trips to Disney World? What if money is just the currency that you trade to get your time back, so you can do more of what you want with who you want?

Whatever it is that you’re after in life, thinking and talking about money will help get you there.

Keep the questions coming!

January 15, 2025