What’s Poppin’,

This is the Master Money Newsletter. We are the money newsletter that gives you that "first morning sip of coffee" feeling with your money. Warm and energized.

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Here’s what we have on deck today:

📰 Read: How to Spend Money On Your Values

📺 Watch: The Roth IRA Breakdown

🎧 Listen: The 2-Fund Portfolio Breakdown

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Numbers to Know

💰 The consumer price index rose 0.4% in February and 6% from a year ago, in line with market expectations.

💻 Have an old phone or laptop laying around? Turn it into cash with this website. ​

📈 31% of New Cars sold above the sticker price last month.​

🤔 How to avoid another bank run ​

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📈 CHART OF THE DAY (Powered by YCHARTS)

The bank run heard around the world. Here is a chart of SVB stock over the last year.

YCharts is where I get my investment data. If you want to check them out with a free trial you can HERE.

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Most personal finance advice is all about what you can’t spend money on.

• You can’t buy coffee
• You can’t eat out
• You can’t go on vacay all day

With this logic, why don't you just go live in a cave and hoard cash while you are at it?

Here is the issue. Most people focus on $10 problems instead of $100,000 problems.

Instead of sweating the small stuff, look at the things the move the needle:

• Negotiating your salary
• Finding the right spouse
• Saving for retirement
• Asset Allocation
• Investment Fees
• Mortgage Interest
• Buying the right house
• Understanding the impacts of the big 3

These big ticket items allow you to increase income.

These make our money do what we want it to do.

Because I believe you should cut out all the crap you don’t care about that does not bring you value, and spend lavishly on what does bring you value.

What do you love spending money on? Not just like, BUT LOVE.

What if you could spend double, triple, or quadruple what you spend now on that thing?

What lights you up?

These are YOUR values.

If you did not already know, spending is a SKILL. I am going to show you how to build up that skill. Here is how you can spend money on your values.

Questions to Ask Yourself

The first thing we want to do ask questions that will help us target what I call "buy buttons". These are things we value that we do not want to hesitate spending money on.

Here are a few of mine to get your juices flowing. Don’t worry, I will give more examples later.

• Travel
• Health / fitness
• Freedom
• Relationships
• Self-improvement

Here are the questions I asked myself to arrive here:

1. What do I want from my money?
2. What do you love spending money on?
3. How can I do this and hit my Money/Saving Retirement Goal?

Here are questions I asked to find what I valued:

1. What do I spend money on regularly, and why?
2. Am I happy with how I'm spending my money?
3. What are the things that bring me the most joy and happiness, and how much money do I spend on them?
4. What are my long-term financial goals, and how does my spending align with them?
5. Are there any areas where I could cut back on spending without significantly impacting my quality of life?
6. Am I spending money on things because I truly value them, or because I feel pressured to keep up with others?
7. If I had more money to spend, would I change how I spend it?
8. Are there any areas where I'm overspending or underspending, and how can I adjust my budget accordingly?
9. How does my spending align with my personal values and beliefs?
10. Are there any ways I can spend money that align with my values and have a positive impact on the world?

Really think about these questions. They will re-frame the way you think about your spending.

9 things I want you to understand about spending on your values

1/ Let go and give yourself permission to spend.

Letting go and giving yourself permission to spend can be liberating for people who are way to frugal (I call them frugal weirdos - sorry not sorry).

Sometimes we get so caught up in saving for the future that we forget to enjoy the present. It's important to find a balance between saving and spending on things that make us happy.

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​2/ Decide What is Important and not important

Deciding what is important and what is not important can be a difficult task, but it's necessary. It's essential to prioritize and allocate our resources towards the things that truly matter to us.

For example, if travel is a priority, how can we spend more on travel? Learning how to travel hack with rewards points will allow you 1-2 additional international trips per year.

3/ Spending money on your passions and joy is what money is meant to do.

Money is a tool that we can use to enhance our lives and experiences. Whether it's attending a concert, buying a new camera, or taking a cooking class, spending on things that bring us joy and fulfillment is a worthwhile investment.

4/ Your Priorities Must Be Planned for

Planning for our priorities is essential. It's important to set goals and create a plan to achieve them. If buying a house is a priority, then we may need to save up for a down payment and make sure our finances are in order before we start house hunting.

5/ Must be Guilt Free Spending

Guilt-free spending is crucial. Sometimes we may feel guilty for spending money on ourselves, but it's important to remember that self-care and treating ourselves are essential for our mental and emotional well-being.

6/ You Must allocate dollars to it as much as possible (weekly or monthly)

I want you to be OK with spending on yourself. For some, this takes practice. For others you’ve been doing it since you were born.

Allocating dollars to our values regularly can help us stay on track and make progress towards our goals. Whether it's setting aside a certain amount each week or month, consistent efforts can add up over time and help us achieve our desired outcomes.

7/ Nobody else should impact your money values

These are your values. It's important to make decisions based on our own values and beliefs, not what others think we should do. It's easy to get caught up in what society or our friends and family think we should be doing, but ultimately, we should make decisions that align with our own values and priorities.

8/ Must bring you joy or ignite your passion (fire in your gut) or make your life easier.

Spending on things that bring us joy, ignite our passion, or make our lives easier can lead to a happier and more fulfilling life. Whether it's a new hobby, a comfortable piece of furniture, or a convenient gadget, investing in things that improve our quality of life can be a wise decision.

9/ Increase the amount you allocate towards your values with every raise.

As we earn more money, we may be able to increase our spending on things that are important to us. This can help us achieve our desired outcomes sooner and enjoy the benefits of our hard work.

Buy Buttons. What are things that you want to buy no matter what?

Here are some ideas to consider when doing your brainstorming sesh. When brainstorming think about the ways you think and feel about these areas. For example here is what mine for travel:

Travel

• On January 1st, I already know where they’re traveling this year
• I love to master points/travel hacking
• I have an overflowing list of travel destinations saved and my conversations revolve around where I have been and where I am going.
• They have strong opinions about the “right” suitcase, the right way to pack, and the best seats on the plane.
• I have a large Bucket list

Here are some other areas to explore to find your values:

Convenience

• Ubers
• Extra iPhone charger
• Pre-cooked meals
• Everything delivered
• Automated bank accounts
• Home Gym
• Lawn Service
• Cleaning Service
• Nanny for kids
• Dog Walker

Health / Fitness

• Trainers / coaches
• Home Gym
• Whole Foods
• Supplements
• Membership at a gym based on quality, not necessarily distance to your house / apartment
• Selective about your workout gear (Lululemon + Nike are my faves)
• Nutritionist

Experiences

• Fishing charters
• Skydiving
• Concerts
• Unique vacation activities
• Dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants

Freedom

• Usually people who are obsessed with FIRE or want to live life on their terms
• Buying assets
• Buying freedom
• Looking at retiring early or hybrid approaches to working
• Spending on your business to replace 9-5

Relationships

• Frequent date nights
• Weekly Dinners with friends
• Fun activities with friends
• Couples massage
• Big family dinners (extended)

Generosity

• Tithing at your home church
• Giving to causes you believe in.
• Giving to homeless
• Giving time to causes

Luxury- Nothing wrong with liking this stuff

• Purses
• Designer
• Nice Cars
• Big House
• Watches
• Cars
• Hotels
• Restaurants
• Does Not have to be expensive. What are things that are the best of the best that you can try for less than $20 (cheese etc)
• Shoes
• Weekly spa treatments
• Getting nails done

Social

• Bars
• Going out
• Weekly Brunch
• Fun activities with friends
• Vacations with friends
• Golf

Self-improvement

• Books
• Courses
• Seminars
• Coaching

Figuring out what your buy buttons are can take you from a boring life to your dream life. That is what money is there to do.

Action item: Reply to this email with your buy buttons!

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📈 Quick Tip Of The Week

Here is how you should protect yourself against a bank run:

In order to best protect yourself, you should never keep more cash than what’s covered through FDIC insurance.

This is typically $250,000, with an individual bank, or up to $1.5 million in what’s called a “Sweep account.”

You stick with one of the larger banks like Chase, BOA, or CITI that are not as likely to have the same issues.

If you have large enough sums to worry about, you shouldn’t be keeping a massive amount in cash in the first place and should be diversifying your investments, and storing your cash across several accounts in different banks. More money more problems.

This is not so easy for businesses to do, but as an individual, it’s something you can easily do to minimize your chances of a catastrophic event (which is very unlikely BTW).

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High-Performance Book Club 📚

I get a ton of questions from listeners and readers as to what I am reading. So we decided to let you know via the newsletter. The High-Performance Book Club will be a way to share this. If you want to be Elite in your career, business, or with your wealth, then welcome to the club. If you would like to see our previous picks, you can find them here.

​https://kit.co/MasterMoney/high-performance-book-club/financial-freedom-wi​

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​

The Personal Finance Podcast 🎙️ ​ ​

​The Complete Breakdown of The 2-Fund Portfolio (The Warren Buffett Portfolio)​

​How to Generate a Second Income Source with a Youtube Channel with Graham Cochrane​

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Youtube

How to Become a Millionaire While Paying $0 in Taxes (The ROTH IRA EXPLAINED)

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