#124 Expenses and Experts

Plus: Would you let ChatGPT manage your money?

Welcoming you back with June’s Money Edition, but first, a belated Happy Father’s Day to all the OTF dads 🤝 

When I first conceived the concept for OTF, I envisioned it as a cheat sheet or trusted advisor for young professionals trying to make their way in the “real world.” And while I of course still see the value there, I also realize that this stuff is just as important (if not more so) for parents. Think about it:

  • Having a family is expensive, so personal finance, investing, saving hacks, etc. become super important for parents.

  • Juggling a job, parenthood, and potentially a side-hustle means less free time, so being more efficient and productive is paramount. 

  • With all that energy spent on work and family, what’s left for self-growth? Hopefully, the quick tips and reminders from that edition help there. 

(ICYMI, our first Behind the Grind interview covered these challenges that face working parents, along with plenty of great tips from a financial professional)

What I’ve learned is: it’s great to go into a business venture or project with a specific audience in mind, but then it becomes: who else might this reach, and how can we bring value to them? How can we help more people?

Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re three kids and a career change in, or somewhere in between, I sincerely hope we’ve brought that value.

Now, time for take off…

In the interest of efficiency, I wanna reorganize our table of contents here. We maintain our promise that each issue will help you elevate your brand, boost your productivity, and fatten your wallet, so be on the lookout for emojis indicating which content does which:

Fattening Your Wallet = 💰️

Elevating Your Brand = 📈 

Boosting Your Productivity = 🚀 

Here we go…

Flying High This Week

  • BIG Expense(s) Talk in Making Cents 💰️

  • More Money Knowledge in OTF Trivia 📈

  • Expert Advice About the Importance of Expert Advice 💰️ 🚀

  • Checking All 3 Boxes in Hustle Hub 💰️ 📈 🚀 

  • A Trivia-Esque Did You Know About Revenue, Profit, and Market Cap 📈

MAKING CENTS 💰️ 

Big Expenses…I mean BIG EXPENSES.

While I don’t yet know what those parenthood expenses are like, I feel like I’ve had big expenses for a while now:

  • Student Loans - still paying those back 😭 

  • NYC Rent Prices (5 years) - Higher than a mortgage payment in most places…for a 564 sq ft. apartment that I shared with a friend 😅

  • Cross-Country Flights - Living in California, having to fly back 4-6 times per year for holidays and family occasions was like Ozempic for my wallet 😆

But none of that compares to the BIGGEST expense of my life…The Wedding (only a few short months away…)

A lot of people might reflect on all this and think, “Oh sh!t, I could’ve had sooooooo much more money if I didn’t have all of these BIG expenses in my life.” But what good does that do?

  • Why waste time comparing how much money I could’ve saved with how I felt in the moment when I was spending it?

  • Why focus on what could have been when I need to focus on what is now?

  • Why view that spending as a mistake when it led to memorable experiences?

Here’s where I’m at, no matter how ridiculous this may sound: paying for big expenses in my life has felt f$%@ing amazing!

Not just because of the experiences I’ve had and the lessons that these expenses have taught me, but because: I take pride in them. I’m proud that I’ve been able to make enough to afford these things. Proud that everything’s been earned and nothing’s been given. Proud that I’ve been able to handle the roller-coaster.

I’m sure, to some, this sounds absurd. For example, no one’s gonna look back on dropping 15K after their boiler fails with positivity. Or maybe they could! Because you’ve accomplished so much in your life to become a homeowner, you’re now prepared when something goes wrong. That’s something to be proud of.

I wouldn’t change my past expenses because they’ve prepared me for my present and future. I feel mentally ready for everything this wedding’s thrown at me, and that readiness has helped me avoid stress and take it in stride. And down the line, when those homeowner and parenthood expenses come along, my hope is that I’ll be able to look back on all this again and handle them with the same sense of pride.

💰️ OTF-MONEY-TRIVIA 💰️ 

I love tipping in cash - there’s something about putting that cotton and linen (as we learned from our last Money trivia) in someone’s hand that does it for me…

Speaking of cash ⬇️

What country was the first to use paper money?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Click your choice, and the correct answer will be revealed in a new tab!

EXPERT ADVICE 💭

Go Find a Money Expert

I care so much about this because my future is important to me. The present is a big ginormous phase of my life, and after the wedding, my wife and I need to get realigned with new financial goals, so it’s crucial that we continue conversations with the finance professionals we’re connected to.

I’ve seen hard times hit family and even some friends, and I feel like being connected to a professional can go a long way with handling (or fully avoiding) them, especially since, eventually, I plan on taking a BIG risk. I know when the time comes, my finances will take a hit, so I need to stay ready, and having an advisor (or advisors) helps.

Ours have helped us set savings goals that we’ve actually been hitting every month, which has been KEY with the wedding coming up. Moving forward, we’ve discussed diversifying our investments, continuing with our high-yield savings (ours is through AMEX), and making smart decisions financially after we’re married.

Obviously, in the end, it comes down to you, what your goals are, and what you’re willing to do to achieve them, but there’s nothing wrong with getting a little Expert Advice.

For more on what you need to know before employing a “money expert,” check out the video below:

HUSTLE HUB 📈

YOUR SUCCESS:

Be Advised - If for whatever reason a human financial advisor isn’t right for you, check out what ChatGPT can do for your finances.

THEIR SUCCESS:

Be Inspired - This guy’s living the dream: he turned his hustle into a $300 million business!

YOUR SUCCESS:

Be Organized - Did you know that formatting could make or break your resume? Click here for more.

Let’s keep the Did You Know? theme going…

DID YOU KNOW… 💸 

  • The company with the most REVENUES globally for 2024? Walmart… $681,000,000,000 (BILLION). Amazon, Apple, Nvidia who?

  • The richest company by PROFITS in 2024? Saudi Aramco. They raked in over $100 billion in profit. That oil money is no joke.

  • The largest market cap company in 2024? Microsoft. Worth ~$3.2 trillion! Microsoft leads the away based upon multiplying the share price with how many shares outstanding (= market cap).

Sources — Wikipedia, Forbes, and Statista.

Before You Go!

Thank you again for joining us for another edition of OTF!

Next week, we’ll be back with our second Behind the Grind Interview Edition, featuring a new restaurateur who’s got a great POV when it comes to branding, productivity, and of course, fattening that wallet. I’m so excited for this transition from last month’s finance professional to someone currently thriving in the hospitality industry. Stay tuned!

As always, see you next Tuesday 🤝 

Find Dan on LinkedIn

You are now On The Fly & In The Know.