The best gift money can give you.

What’s up, what’s up!

Happy New Year! Lol…

It’s me J$ – remember that guy?? Mohawk rockin’, FIRE wielding, corrupt personal finance expert who forgot all about his blog?!

Sorry about that. False rumors though I’m still very much alive, I just live in the “real” world rather than online 🙂 And I don’t think about money nearly as much as I used to so I don’t have much to say about it!

But lately a few things have reminded me of financial bliss so I’m going to frantically try to write them all down before life takes me back…

The best gift money can give you doesn’t require thinking about money.

Whenever I think about money this is the part I think about the most. How is it that in IT you only focus and grind and just spend all your hours on nothing and save as much as you can to get “your number”, but ironically once you get the money it goes wayyyy down the priority list. At least if you do it right, in my opinion. Of course there are millionaires and billionaires and billionaires who always want MORE no matter what their goals are, but I am not one of those people. The only thing I want more of is tacos! Hmmm…

But if you activate the “no longer needed” mode, life becomes much easier. Yes, because you can afford things and you don’t have to work hard, but also only with mental strength. Whenever something goes wrong, or you’re buying gifts for someone, or you just want to order EXACTLY what you WANT from the menu without worrying about being able to afford it (like tacos!!) you can! And you don’t have to ask for permission! This alone is one of the best reasons to save and invest early.

Another – the biggest benefit, of course – is that you get 100% choice about what you spend your time on. AKA Freedom. And this is the part I’m reminded of at least three times a week when someone asks me “what do I do for a living” as I stand there handing out free clothes left and right!

I used to say I was “retired” and doing this on the side (I tried and said I was DYING but they treated me badly and asked if they could help me get a job! Lol), but now that the “side” project is no longer on the side and has become a 40 hour a week “job” without pay, I now say I run My Free Clothes as a Job Hall. Without payment. Not only do I still have a million questions to answer about how I can do that, but it’s great for reminding me of the hard work that Past J. Money did to get Present J. Money to this stage here! What a young man! So I’m always open to being questioned 🙂

Speaking of this “new” project, it actually turned 1 last month!! And since then we have had over 50k items of clothing and essentials donated!! You are crazy!

And remember how I wanted a van or truck of some sort to have a “mobile closet” vs taking it out of my small car (which I still have! And you were right it has grown on me!) ??? Well, none other than the blogger Gwen from Fiery Millennials stepped in and generously donated his huge Cargo Van to me so I can continue to do more good in the world!! How cute and beautiful is that??!

[This is Gwen – who I love to embarrass :)]

And I can tell you that in this act alone you know you are on your way to Freedom again, losing $5,000 that you could have easily sold. You sure got a tax deduction on it (of course – we’re still money thieves!) but I’m sure 2006 Gwen wouldn’t be as kind as 2026 Gwen 🙂 Money opens up a world of possibilities like being able to give money away when you want it!!! lol…

Which brings me to the 2nd thing I’ve been working on lately…

Arsenal of Good

Remember that goal I had where I wanted to donate $20/mo to 100 local charities? I’ve reached out to about 16 or 17 organizations that I want to mention, but I recently decided to change my giving strategy back to *direct* giving to have more impact. No doubt I was inspired by my latest Free Closet project.

I canceled 12 of the automatic donations (which are always automatic so you never have to convince yourself to donate every month!) and redirected these future funds ($240) right into a new “community fund”, a savings account, which I now distribute to *individuals* who I think would benefit the most. It’s been great because it doesn’t “cost” me more money than what I already allocated, but now I have it Arsenal of Good I can use it at any given time! Some go to people who buy my closet every week (mostly friends who don’t have houses), but also to small businessmen trying to get projects off the ground where money is the only thing holding them back.

In the few months since I started this I have taken out three micro-loans with no interest of about $2,000 (one to a baker, one to a photographer, one to a person who is going to fix his car for more job opportunities). It’s been so much fun exploring and keeping my eyes and ears open!

And the nice thing about this small loan is that the payments will keep funding Arsenal so I can continue to borrow more over time… And if they make a mistake? However, it happens that way sometimes. I’m not willing to fight again to get you back, it’s about work and accountability. You tend to want to be more successful when you have skin in the game!

*****

Finally in the world of J’s mistake. Money… money, I may or may not have invested in risky investments recently!

“You Need a Sexy Side”

Someone told me this years ago and I have never forgotten it. Being “sexy” on the side basically means you have to do boring smart things at least 90% of the time, but then make sure you save a little for fun and to stay healthy! Whether it’s in life, or work, or finances, or whatever. All work and no play makes Jack a boring boy and all that…

In that line of thought (and also because it’s fun to try something new!!) I’ve invested $10,000 in three private companies over the past year+ that I have an “edge” on. IE I personally know founders with insane track records. Two are in the VC (venture capital) world so I’m just asking to lose money, haha, and the third is with my old friend Ethan from Digit days who retired when he sold it, then came out of retirement bursting with energy and wanting to BUILD again! He just launched the first product a few months ago – HIRO Finance – and he’s having fun doing all the things he’s always dreamed of but technology hasn’t been able to do yet. Now with AI so much is possible!

I don’t expect them all to go away, but if they do one will pay off. And it’s nice to get off the bench a bit and be sexy again!

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately…

Thanks for being here whoever is still here, and hello to all the new readers who are giving the blog a chance!! Sorry you found me at the end of my blogging career, lol, but hey – we’ve got an archive of 1,800 posts if you want to start over and pretend it’s 2008 again! I am sure that many things that are still there are still accurate today as money is the same now as it was thousands of years ago:

Spend less money than you earn, save the rest, enjoy your freedom.

The trick is to stay motivated!! So keep reading and watching the financial content out there, and start experimenting and see what sticks! All you need is one or two things to get it going and you can add fuel to the FIRE (sorry – I had to…)

And I will be here cheering you on, in truth and spirit 🙏

Update on that AI company I started with Nate last year… Added to Resume of Fails!

An update on our regular fees… continues to rise, due to the 90% unfavorable! AKA Index Funds! I never remember to keep our number updated, but I’m always happy when I do it forces me to stop and think and change something if something needs to be changed… But I stopped budgeting a long time ago😱

Update on my three boys – now they are 7, 11, and 13!! YOU ARE CRAZY!! It will be a real challenge next year when we have an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school (!!!)

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