#137 WTF is a WTF Fund

Welcoming you back with September’s Money Edition 💰️ 

Take a look at this image:

I don’t know what your takeaway is from this, but here’s mine:

There’s A LOT of money out there. Let’s go get some of it!

The Cost of These OTF Highlights? $0

• Making Cents of a “WTF Fund”💰️🚀

• OTF Trivia re: Savings Accounts💰️📈

• Expert Advice on Preparing for Emergencies 💰️

• Hustle Hub: Online Business Ideas, Interview Red Flags, and the Downside of Mentors💰️📈🚀 

• A High-Yield Did You Know 💰️📈

MAKING CENTS💰️ 

WTF is a WTF Fund…Brought To You By a Nail In Our Tire

My fiancée and I have made it a priority to see family and friends leading into the big day, which has been great. The result? Driving around like crazy.

What’s not so great is driving over a big-a$$ nail. I mean, check this sucker out…

This has happened before - 3 times actually - but each time, the hole was plugged for less than 60 bucks.

This time, we weren’t so lucky. The bill: $465 big ones.

That’s no meme above; that’s a photo of my actual face after getting the bad news.

What. The. F#$%.

Obviously, this was completely unexpected, especially since we just bought the car in February. But that got me thinking about the unexpected, and how much worse something like this could be, so I said to my fiancée, “We need to make an account and call it a WTF Fund for future occurrences that make us say…”

This won’t be a typical savings account where we put X percent of our paycheck in every week; instead, each time we get our paychecks, we put a 20 in.

Here’s some quick math:

If we put in $40 every two weeks, that’s $80 a month. So in 6 months, we’ll have enough to pay for the next nail in the tire (**knocks on wood**) with minimal sacrifice or inconvenience.

And if we make it a year with no WTF moments? That’s almost 1K, not accounting the 3.5% earned interest.

Of course, plenty of WTF moments cost much more than the cost of a tire, so as time goes on and the wedding / honeymoon are behind us, we’ll increase our bi-weekly contributions. But for now, this serves its purpose: begin putting together a little security blanket to soften the next WTF occurrence.

💰️O(W)TF MONEY TRIVIA 💰️ 

Unexpected expenses tend to show up at the most inopportune times…broken air conditioners, veterinary bills, nails in tires…nothing you can do except stay ready.

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

EXPERT ADVICE 💭

Emergency Funds 101

George Kamel is a “personal finance expert, #1 National Best-selling author, and co-host of The Ramsey Show. His YouTube channel has 493K subs, and this particular video has over 140K views.

HUSTLE HUB 📈

YOUR SUCCESS:

Be Inspired - 25 online business ideas, just for you!

THEIR SUCCESS:

Be Aware - These are the 3 subtle habits that “scream red flag” in a job interview, courtesy of a CEO who’s interviewed over 500 people.

YOUR SUCCESS:

Be Independent? - Mark Cuban doesn’t believe in mentors. Does he have a point?

DID YOU KNOW… 💸 

• Compared to traditional savings accounts, High-Yield Saving Accounts (HYSAs) help you keep up with inflation better. Regular savings often pay so little that inflation erodes purchasing power. HYSAs won’t always beat inflation, but they give you a much better chance. 

• The top HYSA rates right now are around 5.00% APY, from banks like Varo Bank and AdelFi. That’s over 13x the national average savings account rate of ~0.39%. (P.S My Amex HYSA pays 3.5%)

• $10,000 in an HYSA at ~5% APY earns $500 in a year (or ~$42 a month) vs. the same amount in a standard savings account at ~0.4% APY would earn only about $40 annually. You read that right: one month in an HYSA earns more than a full year in standard savings.

Sources — Investopedia, OpenBank, KipLinger

Before You Go!

Thank you again for joining us for another edition of OTF! Next week, we’ll be back with another Behind the Grind Interview. Can’t wait!

See you then.

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