#59 Credit Card Advice, Conversation Starters, and Content for your Commute

Welcome back!

Inspiration is a beautiful thing. It can be found in the unlikeliest places as long as you’re paying attention. As long as you’re open to seeing it and making the requisite connections.

Today, we’re finding our inspiration in the kitchen (perhaps because a friend of OTF is opening his first restaurant this month):

Being successful in business is a lot like being a successful chef. You have to take risks. You have to be willing to try new things, see a classic idea from a fresh angle, use unexpected ingredients to create something wholly unique and worthwhile.

Whether you’re working with a tried-and-true formula or cooking up something brand new, don’t be afraid to deviate from the recipe and blend new ideas together.

That’s the only way to do something that’s never been done before.

Here’s What We’ve Cooked Up This Week:

💰️ What To Do With Unused Credit Cards

👍️ The Ultimate Guide to Passive Income

💡 New Content for your Commute

➕ Much. More.

Expert Advice 🤝 

Who is Andrew Lokenauth?

• He runs The Finance Newsletter, which is exactly what it sounds like and has over 50K subscribers.
  

• He frequently posts high-quality content for his 349K followers on X. If you’re not among them, we recommend clicking above and giving a follow.

Who is Michael Girdley?

• He has a newsletter designed to help you “build beautiful businesses” with over 33K subs.
  

• He has over 208K followers on Twitter.

Making Cents 💰️ 

Should You Cancel An Unused Credit Card?

Short and Sweet: No, you should not. While it might seem logical to cancel something you’re not using, cancellation will cause a direct hit to your credit score. Your best bet is just to leave it open.

Why It Matters: Because the seemingly-logical choice could cost you! Finances are tricky, but the more tricks, tips, and secrets you know, the more you can use them to your advantage.

💡 Let’s Get Specific: Breaking Down Your Credit Score

• Payment History: (35%) - The most important one of them all - timeliness of your payments. Paying on time has the biggest impact on your credit score.

• Credit Utilization: (30%) This represents the balance of your accounts compared to your TOTAL available credit limit. Basically, how much of your available credit have you used?

• Length of Credit History: (15%) Remember taking out that first credit card in college? Keep it. The length of your credit history is the 3rd-largest factor contributing to your score.

• Types of Credit: (10%) In other words, your Credit Mix. This includes a mix of accounts from CC’s, retail accounts, installment loans, and finance company and mortgage loans.

• New Credit (10%) When you apply for a credit card, it will appear on your credit score.

🎥 Let’s Take Action: 4 Things to Do with Unused Credit Cards:

1. Stash Not Trash: Just put them away. Call your card issuer’s customer service and see if inactivity will close your account down. If it will, follow Steps 2 and 3 so it stays open.

2. Use Them For Small Purchases: Keep them active by using them for small items - gum, anyone? - and paying them off right away. Super easy, and good for your credit score.

3. Assign for Autopay Subscription Duty: If you dedicate your seldom-used cards to subscriptions, regular activity will be ensured, and the accounts will remain active.

4. Optimize Credit Utilization: An unused card increases your overall available credit. Using a small portion of your available credit positively affects your credit utilization ratio, a key factor in credit scoring.

PSA: Canceling a credit card may make sense cents if there is an associated annual fee - it’s up to you to decide whether or not it’s worth keeping.

Hustle Hub 📈 

• YOUR SUCCESS: Let’s get weird - here are the strangest side-hustles that can make you real $$$.

• THEIR SUCCESS: Gotta risk it for the biscuit - this man risked his parents house for a loan; now his business brings in $100 million a year.

• YOUR SUCCESS: The title says it all: “The ultimate guide to earning passive income.”

Content for Your Commute👍️ 

ON FOOT: If you need something to listen to while walking to work, we recommend The $100 MBA Show, which promises to help you “simply get better at business.” Most episodes of this award-winning podcast are less than 20 minutes long.

TRAIN TIME: Next time you board your train, pull up one (or both) of the newsletters featured in our Expert Advice section.

FIRST CLASS: We’ve featured “How To Talk To Anyone” by Leil Lowndes before, in both Expert Advice and Cool Communicator. Why not go straight to the source while awaiting final descent?

Convo Starters 👍️ 

• Self-Interest: Talk about whether or not this approach for beating procrastination is right for you.

• Human Interest: Talk about how the first cells on earth were formed (maybe).

• Artificial Interest: Talk about the business world’s hesitance to fully embrace AI.

Food For Thought 💭 

Before You Go

We hope you enjoyed this shorter and sweeter edition of OTF.

Next week, we’ll be back with more Expert Advice, an updated Always Informed, and a Cool Communicator focused on listening rather than speaking.

See you then!

You are now On The Fly and In The Know.