434 | The Transtheoretical Model of Change | Roundup with Ginger

24:37You don't need that anymore. There's Charles Schwab has this investor checking account that is like the best unknown hack like in travel. Well, it's not that unknown, but most people don't know it at this point. And you basically you get an ATM card. So it's just a savings account, basically. Well, I guess it's a checking account, but I just throw a couple hundred dollars in there. and basically you can use your ATM card at any ATM in the world. And Charles Schwab actually reimburses you all the ATM fees, any fees. It's crazy as it sounds like I use it in Greece at the Chautauqua a couple of years back and the fee was whatever in the local currency and Schwab just rebated it to my account.

25:18So it makes ATM fees worldwide$0. So it's just like a super peace of mind type thing. And before you go on a trip, maybe you've funded with a couple of hundred bucks and then you have that money if need be. So that was just a really cool one. You can just Google or we'll put in the show notes, but it's just the Charles Schwab investor checking account is the one that I have. And yeah, for everybody who's interested in travel rewards, obviously we have a ton of resources at choose a by website. So choose a by.com slash travel, and that'll send you over to all of our info, all of the prior podcast episodes we've done on travel rewards.

25:55And as always, if you're looking to open up a credit card, choose a buy.com slash cards, and that'll take you to our curated page of the top bonuses that we've found, including on some of my favorite cards, like Sapphire preferred and that venture X now. So yeah, that's a great way to support us. And obviously to really most importantly benefit in this win-win way from travel awards where you can save thousands of dollars a year. So we've talked about your play. Let's talk about your work. And by work, I mean your bold move. I want to talk about how your bold move is going if you're ready. Yeah, let's do it.

26:31And I think this is what ties into your trans-theoretical model of change, right? Yeah, I thought this might be interesting for people because people in this community are interested in models of change and how is it that we actually make change. So the trans-theoretical model of change is a model that was developed in the 70s from looking at people who quit smoking and who did it successfully and who didn't, and really looking at that there were these actually different stages and that people jump in. If you think of this sort of as a circle, people jump into the circle at different places. Okay, so what I find interesting about this model is that there are stages before we actually ever do anything.

27:09So the very first stage is pre-contemplation. And in pre-contemplation, We know there's a thing. We know there's potentially something is not ideal, but we're not ready to say like there's a problem or there's a problem that's big enough that I need to address. So, for instance, last time when we were talking, I was saying, oh, you're obsessed with Todoist and I kind of want to be obsessed with Todoist. But, you know, I use iCalendar and it's basically fine. And so that's that pre-contemplation. It's also where you, when you're doing your pro-cons, you really overestimate the cons and underestimate the pros, like how much it could potentially change your life.

27:48So sometimes people just stop. That's the end. I'm never going to do to-do list, the end, right? But some people will then move into contemplation. And contemplation is where you start to take the pro-con more seriously. And you start to bring more intention to the problem. even though you're not quite ready to do anything about it, right? There's an intention that you might start. So for me, this was in your newsletter a couple of weeks ago, there was a comment from Anna who said, okay, I heard the episode and I got on Todoist. And I thought, okay, you know what? I'm just going to do it, right?

28:28So I hadn't done it yet, but I made an intention. I thought the pros probably outweigh the cons of setting it up. I also, as I was doing that research, I saw that there was a free feature, which I didn't know about. So I thought, okay, you know, the pros are going to be worth it to me. So then third one, and then we'll stop there and talk about you. So third one is preparation. And so that's where you're making a plan. That's where I was looking up like, oh, there's a free plan I can do. And it's maybe taking a small step, like putting your shoes out by the door before you go for a run. So those are all steps that are happened before you do the thing, before you actually start putting your stuff into the schedule or before you start running or whatever it is.

29:12So I was thinking, let's talk about your big move, which to be the healthiest version of you, is that? Is that? Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. I've said healthiest year ever, but yeah, it's in healthiest year ever. Can you talk to us like knowing that framework now, like, can you remember being in pre-contemplation or contemplation? How did you get to that action stage? Yeah, it's a good question. I think the starting point was actually speaking with Dominic Cortuccio about bold moves. And that got me thinking like, what would make this year great or special in some way. And I think that pre-contemplation was actually more stressful than I thought it would be in the sense that I wanted to find something that was like good enough, like as silly as that sounds, like that would be important enough.

30:00Like I know how I am. And like, sometimes I have, it's like best laid plans or like I get excited about something and then I don't follow through. And I didn't want that to be the case. I think that was like a big concern of mine. So I was, okay, let's find something that would actually really light me up enough to follow through. I don't know if that fits in exactly, Ginger. Would that be pre-contemplation? Yeah. That's that in-between where you're saying, I'm starting to be more thoughtful about the pro cons. I'm starting to think it might be worth it. This might be the thing that would be worth putting energy into.

30:37Yeah. And I think just kind of all wrapped up in, I mean, just like all of us, I'm certainly not getting any younger and getting to the point, and we've kind of beaten into the ground at this point, but the book Die With Zero, which I know has been important to a lot of people in our community, it made me realize, okay, my lifespan and health span are both things that I need to be thinking about here in terms of how many decades can I stay healthy and fit and active, and you really need to work on that. When you get into your 40s, I mean, just the sad reality is if you're not working on it, then you're falling behind because there's this sarcopenia where you lose muscle mass every year.

31:19And we know, I mean, just from looking around and seeing aging parents and other people, that generation, like when you don't move, when you're not active, it goes away very quickly and you really, really, really need to work at it. So I think all of these things have been kind of in my head. I mean, my parents have had some health issues recently. So maybe that's the contemplation stage, the taking it more seriously of, I really need to work on this. And it's not, this is not an oh cry for me scenario where I was in bad shape, but I mean, I was in perfectly fine shape, but what could I do? And I think the jury is still out, frankly, of like that if it truly is the healthiest year ever, does that need to be more holistic than I'm currently making?

32:00We're about a quarter of the way through the year, you know, as we're recording this, am I doing enough? And I think that that might get into later steps. So I don't want to want to jump the gun here, Ginger. No, no. What I'm gathering is that you spend a lot of time in contemplation. And then that's a place for a lot of people that they can get stuck. So because your goal is so big and it's so ambitious, it can be tricky to think, what am I going to do in my preparation step to prepare for a healthy, long life. It sounds to me like you're more in preparation right now. It's like, what are those specific things that I'm going to do?

32:39Not just to be healthy, but to be healthier, to make this year different than the year before. Right. I think that's the point you hit on it. Exactly. I think by any objective measure, I'm healthy, but what can I do to make this year special? I think I'll always be stuck just the way my brain works, some part of my brain will be stuck in that contemplation stage. I clearly have jumped into it. So I think I'm probably even past the preparation stage in a lot of senses in a couple of ways. So I actually wound up and I don't know if I mentioned this six weeks ago when we had our last roundup episode, but I wound up hiring an online fitness coach.

33:19So I have a personal trainer who I'm working with. Now, obviously he's not in person. He's a couple hundred miles from me, but it really operates in this wonderful way where he's drawing up, I guess, my programming every week for the gym. And there's accountability for basically the nutrition that I'm taking in, the number of steps I'm taking every day and the fitness program, my actual gym results. So three pretty important, like if I wanted to be honest and not hard on myself, like I always am. And just say like, just from those three things, could that be a healthiest year ever? If I'm better with my nutrition, better with my walking and better with my workouts.

34:00Okay. Then that's probably pretty good. Yeah. I mean, you did use better for each of those. So I think semantically, yeah, you have accomplished it. So you are in the action stage right now. You're moving forward towards your goal. You're taking steps every day. So then the next two steps are maintenance and relapse. Okay. So maintenance is just keeping that up. And the main goal really in maintenance is how do I avoid relapse? And recognizing that people relapse, right? And that you just jump back into the circle. But have you thought at all about, okay, if this doesn't go well, if I can look ahead to November and say, oh, this is actually not been my healthiest year.

34:44This has been worse than it's been in the last five years. What will have gone wrong if that's the thing we're talking about in November? And that's part of avoiding relapse, right? Oh, I like that. Yeah. Okay. So for me, it would be that I somehow hurt myself, that I did something stupid and hurt myself. That is almost like any time that I have an issue with my fitness, it's because I overdid something and I wound up hurting myself for a couple of weeks and then falling out of a routine. So for me, I'm definitely very into routines. So like, for instance, yeah, I'm definitely in the action phase right now.

35:22No question about it. Like I'm now, I think in week 13 of this. So it's basically since the beginning of the year, I've been going to the gym four times a week, absolutely rocking it, like seeing just unbelievable results, both in terms of physical appearance and more importantly, like the amount of strength and muscle that I've built. So it's been amazing. And like I said, this is not about aesthetics. This is about just living a better life because I think pretty much every research that's come out now is just saying as you get older, strength training becomes more important. Like we have to do this.

35:54You cannot, like you are just so susceptible to injury and issues and broken hips, which have just horrible morbidity rates. Like when people get in their sixties and seventies, like just from falling, you have an almost absurd percentage of literally dying in the next 12 months when you break your hip. I mean, it's like 30 plus percent, which is crazy. So how do you get to the point when you're a couple of decades prior to that to hopefully not have to worry about that? You build up your strength, you build up your mobility, you get up and down off the floor, you go out in nature and run and do all these things.

36:29You have to put the work in before, like way before. I think you gave a really important answer to, okay, the thing that will have gone wrong is is not just that I'm injured, but that I injured myself by working too hard or by not being careful about my technique. And so that's the part where doing that back look and say, okay, well, what can I do to make that less likely to happen? Yes. So Brad, you know, what's the answer to that? What will make it less likely that you will get injured? Yeah. I think for me, and so far, so good on this, right? So this program is like built around significant rest.

37:07It's built around like intensity, but controlled intensity on like the actual repetitions. And I think I genuinely love CrossFit. So I'm contrasting it with CrossFit now, but so I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with CrossFit. I think a lot of people do get hurt at CrossFit and I have in the past, but I don't blame CrossFit for that. I blame myself because it's just when you are not paying attention, when you are trying to rush through something, when you're trying to get a better time or like beat your old personal best and you don't pay attention, your body can get in compromised positions.

37:41And when you're lifting weights or certainly heavy weights, you can really, really screw yourself up. And I've done that before where I'm just like, my back just hurts for two weeks because of one stupid repetition at the end of a 18 minute workout, it was just like so dumb and I just did something stupid. And like, I know I'm being a little hard on myself, but like, so I think not doing that and doing this new programming, I think there's a greatly reduced risk of injuring myself, which like I'm super excited about. And like I said, I've been doing this for almost for three plus months now and I've never felt better.

38:14So I think there's a high probability come November, December that I will still be sticking with this, but I guess, The other question in this trends theoretical model of change is also forecasting. What are other things? I just came up with another one, which is, all right, the summer. I'm a very routine type person. When the girls are in school, I've been doing this for the last three months now, and my routine is fantastic. But what happens come whatever it is, June 1st, and the girls are out of school, and they have their swimming practice, and somebody has to drive them to practice for eight and they have to come home at nine, but I'm usually, I'm actually meeting Jonathan at the gym four times a week at 8am.

38:57Well, that whole schedule is going to change. Am I really going to stick with it? So I think that that's maybe even the right answer or the better answer, Ginger. I think that has the potential to screw me up and get me off track. Yeah. We'll have to talk about it again later because you've identified your strength there, which is once I have a system, I'm able to follow the system. And so the challenge is going to be my system is going to have to change, but that you know your strength is having a schedule. And so yeah, thinking about how to do that in a slightly more flexible way. I think this model is interesting too for health stuff, which is why I wanted to talk about it with your bold move, but it can be applied to any change that we're making.

39:38And same thing when you're talking about money and people who are saying, FI sounds interesting, and I'm listening to these podcasts, and we always talk about, or you always mention, you have to take action in order to move forward. It can also be helpful maybe for people to think about contemplation is part of the change process. And so it's okay in whatever stage you're in, but to also really pay attention to, am I getting stuck in one of these stages? And what's stopping me from moving forward to the next stage. Interesting. Right. Cause that would then be applicable for anytime you apply this model to anything.

40:16Yeah. Where did you learn about this originally? Well, I don't think I've shared on the podcast that I'm a therapist. And so learning about change and how people change is part of my training and part of what I do in my day job. Oh, that's very cool. Ginger. Yeah. Well, certainly thank you for the professional expertise. That's very cool. Obviously learn something new, right. And see how it's applicable really to, as you're talking about, the theory of change, right? And a lot of us are changing in many ways. I think just phi is a change for so many people, right? Hey, what are those things that maybe you're getting caught up on?

40:53So yeah, that was really very cool. And as you promised, it was quite interesting. All right. So we got a bunch of emails. I'm going to try to bomb through some of these and I suspect we'll have a bunch to talk about. Well, first, this is a quick heads up. If anybody's going to be in Omaha, Nebraska for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, the Choose a By Nebraska group is actually having a meetup. So yeah, it's May 6, 4 to 6 p.m. at Black Beer and Table on 610 North 12th Street. So Eric, who's set that up, wanted me to mention on the podcast. So you obviously can also just join their local group and find out more information.

41:30So I always like to talk about these big events. That's actually something really cool. I'm hoping to go to the Berkshire event next year, 2024, if all goes well. Okay. Sean right in. Sean said, my wife and I have been listening to podcasts for the last six months or so. Thank you for giving us language to have conversations with each other and our community around five. It has been challenging and a rewarding process. One thing we are still struggling to understand is what number we need in order to quote, retire and focus on other things. We're in our late twenties and plan to start having kids soon.

42:01We want to work part-time while raising our kids, then be financially free enough to work for fun the rest of our lives? Is there a calculation or a scenario generator that can help with thinking through our investments over time? Thank you. So, wow, that's a big one, Ginger, but I think we can tackle it, right? I think so. There's so many unknowns in any question like this, but what I think is so cool about this question is that they've really spent some time thinking about what they want their lives to look like. And not just now, but in 10 years and 20 years and 30 years. So that's something that I think most people don't do.

42:39So kudos. Good job. And then also recognize that the reason this question is so difficult is that that might change. What are your first thoughts for their question on how do you go forward? Yeah. Like you said, there is a lot of unknown, but there's a lot of unknown and uncertainty in life. So I think we do the best we can. And we understand that no plan. What's the Mike Tyson, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face or no plan survives first contact with the enemy, right? Like there are all these sayings. And I think what they really mean is, okay, you can have a plan, but life is going to throw you curveballs every now and again, and things are going to change.

43:21You're going to have kids. They may be more expensive than you expect, they may be less expensive than you expect. You have no idea. Who knows where life is going to take you if you're going to find a new career that starts making a boatload more money or you find a new passion career that makes less money, right? So it's impossible in your late 20s. And by the way, congrats for getting started so soon. So you're way ahead of the game, Sean. And certainly, obviously, your wife, who I'm not sure her name, but I mean, just starting on the path to FI in your 20s, I have a strong suspicion you're going to be fine.

43:54But I think that all said, one of the beautiful parts about FI, and again, going back to my elevator pitch, is that we have some sense of what that number is. And I think what it really simply, the back of the envelope calculation is, you just take your annual expenses and you multiply by about 25, and maybe 25 to 30 if you want it to be certainly on the more conservative side, but that at least gives you some North Star to shoot for. So if your annual expenses are$40 ,000, then your FI number is a million dollars. If your annual expenses are 80 ,000, then it's 2 million. Okay, well, what do I have to do over the next 5, 10, 20, 25 years, whatever it may be, whatever your path is, and there's no right answer.

44:45There's no, hey, you have to reach FI in 12 and a half years or you're a failure. I mean, none of that nonsense, right? Like it's whatever works for you and your family. And as those curveballs hit and as life hits and as things change and what you want out of life changes, okay, well, that can change also. And that's a really nice thing. But you at least have that North Star of, okay, my rough financial independence number is somewhere between 25 and 30 times my annual expenses. So I think Ginger, at like a super high level, like that's almost like the answer to the question. But I know there's obviously additional nuance.

45:23Yeah. That's the answer to all five questions. 25 times your expenses. I think there is something to like we have to think about when he said we want to be part time while we have kids. Is the idea that part time salary is going to pay for our current expenses? or that part-time salary is going to be supplemented by savings that we're accruing now? Or is that part-time salary going to be enough that we're also going to be able to save towards a more traditional retirement? Yeah, that is a brilliant observation. And yeah, obviously, as you said, there's so much more that, of course, if we had Sean and his wife on the show, we could ask.

46:09But yeah, at a really high level, I think that kind of touches on, as you so astutely commented, about the Coast Fi concept. And I think that's what we would maybe work around with those different possibilities of, okay, Coast Fi is when you get to the point where more or less you've saved enough, your net worth is significant enough that it's growing in the background and compounding in the background, just in the stock market or, or with rental real estate or whatever it may be that let's just say stock market to make it easier, that all you have to do on an annual basis is earn enough money to cover your expenses.

46:52So therefore you don't have to have a savings rate. You don't have to keep adding to it. So, and then eventually you will coast on into fi right in And that money that's working and compounding in the background is getting you there while you're concurrently just basically living paycheck to paycheck. And I say that in a kind of dripping with sarcasm way because most people living paycheck to paycheck are struggling. Whereas you, in this case, working part-time, you're doing that on your own volition and very intentionally of, hey, I'm trying to build a lifestyle where in this case, in their case, they can work part-time and be there to raise their kids.

47:33And it's not all about that race to fi. I mean, Ginger, I think that's where a lot of people get bogged down is it feels like it has to be this race. It almost becomes like a keeping up with the Joneses for our own community in a negative way, right? It's like, instead of normal keeping up with the Joneses of getting the Mercedes and the McMansions, our fi, the negative caricature of the fi people are, oh, I need a 67 % savings rate, not a 65 % because that person in the FI community is only doing 65, right? Or I need to get to FI in nine years instead of 12. That's so silly. It's not a race. You have to figure out what works for your life.

48:15Yeah. And I think the reason they're struggling a little bit with this question is because they're not trying to do that path. So it's okay that we don't know all of this information. Because even if the money that you're making right now, your intention is it to go to your lifestyle once you have kids and you're working part-time, or your intention is we're putting it into a traditional IRA so that it will be available to us when we're 65. Either of those scenarios, your goal right now, what you need to be doing right now is stockpiling a bunch of savings, getting your savings rate as high as you can.

48:53Do you agree, Brad? I do. I mean, I think, yeah, to your point, at the beginning and without obsessing about it, right? So, and I think we both would say that, like, you're not trying to obsess. You're not trying to get to that point of deprivation. But yeah, if that is your goal, because I think that's probably the starting point for everybody is, what is your why of five? And what are you trying to do here? It sounds like in their case, yeah, being at home to stay and raise their future kids, that's an important thing. So therefore, okay, there have to be actions taken, significant actions taken, and maybe even things you quote unquote give up, but it's in service of something larger.

49:38And I think that's the greater point here is, okay, what is my why? What am I doing? And what are the changes and potential sacrifices that I have to make? to see that come to fruition. So right, like in their case, you can't go wrong having that significant net worth to let that compound in the background because it will just give you more options. I think that's probably what we would, the most succinct way is it's giving you more options and okay, maybe that part-time can be even less than you thought it might have to be. And you might find, of course, just like always something that you're passionate about and you want to spend more time working on it.

50:22You can do that, of course. But like to me, it's optionality. How can you build as much optionality into your life as possible and give yourself the most freedom and flexibility? I think like I know it sounds almost trite, Ginger, but like that that is what having a significant net worth does. It gives you options. And I think especially in their case where they think there's a high probability that they're going to cut back on paid work. Yeah. I mean, having more net worth in your 20s and early 30s, it's going to help you. I think, too, it's a complicated question for them because they're not planning on stopping working as far as I heard, like ever.

51:00And so that makes it a really different calculation. And I think embrace the complexity here. You're not going to have a simple back of the envelope. But to say, OK, early on, we need to have a higher savings rate. And then we can kind of readjust when we start to go to that part-time work. Yep. Agreed. Okay. I guess kind of moving on here, Sean, that thank you for sending that in. That was great. I actually, in that five weekly, a couple of weeks ago, I had a section on actually inexpensive college credits. And, and I wonder, Ginger, you might have some, some, some knowledge on this, especially as we live in different states and such.

51:42And my older daughter is in high school and we actually met with her counselor recently to just kind of talk about course options. And I still struggle with this because as I mentioned before, I got caught up in the elite admissions, college admissions game back in the day when I was getting set to go to college. And, and, you know, fortunately for me, I did rather well. And I got into some of these, you know, Ivy league and such type universities, but also on the optionality, like, I don't want my own, my own thoughts on the world to kind of like cloud my daughters in like a negative way, potentially.

52:25And like, I, I don't feel that that type of elite university is, is necessarily the path, especially for people in the, in the fight community, but I want to preserve options for her and I want to give, or for them, but my older daughter specifically now, and just, and not preclude anything because I was short-sighted. I think that was, that was the, what precipitated us like having this meeting with the counselor. And you know, my daughter is a phenomenal student, like at the absolute top of her class, and she's going to have some, some options, but we wanted to have a sense of, okay, are there ways that maybe other people aren't thinking about?

53:03Like everybody's taking these AP courses in, in high school, in, in her school. And we actually, amongst this, this 30 minute conversation with the counselor who was fantastic, like we actually teased out that there was some dual enrollment options at our local community college that my daughter could potentially take and would give her the same extra waiting, I guess, on her GPA as these AP courses that you would take just in the high school, but it would also give her a very high likelihood of getting college credit for these courses because they literally are college courses. They're at a community college.

53:39So the counselor said only a handful of students at this entire high school, which is like a top tier high school, are taking advantage of this dual enrollment. And really, I think it comes down to like people not knowing about it and people not asking about it. So it just kind of reminded me that we've had some amazing episodes. I know with the millionaire educator, we had episode 238, which was how to test out of college while you're still in high school and episode 386, which we kind of jokingly called the a hundred thousand dollar glorified sleepaway camp for, for college, which is obviously a little bit, a little bit exaggerated, but those two episodes are just chock full of tips on really how to save on college.

54:23And actually, so we had a couple of these emails. So Ahmed wrote in saying, just to reemphasize the point below on dual enrollment, I did some courses when I was in high school and it was a decision that paid dividends for a while. First, while I was in high school, I substituted AP classes I plan on taking with dual enrollment. And while I paid tuition, quote unquote, which is only about$300. It was cheaper than paying for the AP exam and all the study materials. That was my junior year. My senior year, dual enrollment became free in Ohio when they began paying for it. And he said, in addition to this, I found dual enrollment to be far less stressful as the work is spread evenly throughout the course, not just at the end with a massive, difficult AP exam.

55:07And I entered college as a sophomore by credit and had the opportunity to graduate early. But since I had great scholarships, I stayed four years and double majored. And this also worked out great as I studied accounting and graduated with more than enough credits to sit for the CPA exam immediately after my undergraduate program, which saved me the time and money from having to get a master's degree. So I mean, goodness, it's crazy. He went on to finally say, all that to say, I highly recommend dual enrollment for a multitude of reasons for any high school student, especially over the other options of AP or IB classes.

55:43So yeah, that was some pretty cool flavor there. And then Whitney wrote in also in response to my newsletter saying, I just wanted to say I took advantage of this perk 20 years ago and went to a community college at age of 16. Back then I didn't know anyone else doing it and it was a bit intimidating, but it was well worth it. My professor even offered me a tutoring job for pre-calculus. So I was making money in between classes and I transferred to the university as a sophomore, same as Ahmed and overall savings were nice. I still got to graduate with my high school class and I got the same high school and college diplomas as everyone else.

56:18It's definitely worth considering. It was actually a good stepping stone for me before going to a bigger campus. So yeah, just some cool flavor on, okay, are there different ways to do this? Are there ways to potentially get ahead. I know I've mentioned before that the state of Virginia has a guaranteed admissions program. So you can go to community college after high school graduation. And as long as you get a certain GPA, which I think is only like a three, four, and you dot some I's, cross some T's, take exact courses, you get guaranteed admissions to the University of Virginia or William and Mary, which are two of the top 50 universities in the country.

56:56So I suspect a lot of states have things like that, if not exactly like that, then certainly things like that. So yeah, Ginger, I've talked for five minutes straight now, but has this ever crossed your plate in terms of thinking outside the box with college stuff? Well, my child is six, so it's not something I have thought a lot about, but I know in Washington state, we have something called running start, which is sort of similar to it. And I think other states have it as well. Sort of similar to what you're talking about, where students can get college credit while they're still in high school.

57:29And that's a way for you can actually get an entire AA for free, you know, if you meet this certain criteria. And so that's a that's a cool option that we have. That is very cool. Yeah. So I think the big takeaway here is these options exist. And your state, wherever you're listening to this, your state might have different programs, but I suspect they exist. So do some research, ask around at the school, ask a counselor, and just think about these things. And then also really consider going back and listening to episodes 238 and 386 with the millionaire educator. So I think there's a lot of really, really good stuff in there.

58:07All right, Ginger, just two super quick things before we close out here. So first, we've mentioned before that interest rates on savings accounts are actually going up for the first time. They're actually attractive for the first time in 20 years. I think since I graduated college and saw like old school, like ING direct having like a 5 % interest rates the first time I've seen. So, uh, CIT bank, which we've mentioned a bunch of times here, uh, choose the buy.com slash CIT. They have their regular savings connect account, which at the time I'm talking about this, it's four and a half percent interest.

58:42And then they have like a platinum account, which is 4.75. And I think you only need a$5 ,000 or more balance. So that should be pretty doable. So I mean, that's really, really nice. I know Wealthfront has something very comparable. It's like 4.3 % as I'm recording this. And not that hopefully most of us don't need the FDIC insurance beyond the$250 ,000 or$500 ,000. We probably don't have all that much money sitting in savings doing nothing, but they have this kind of neat thing where you're able to take advantage of FDIC insurance at, I think, up to eight banks at the same time. They do it in the background.

59:20So for the very, very, very tiny sliver of people that that might benefit, that's just a cool little thing. And I know seeing some of these bank failures, like that Silicon Valley Bank, where people were worried about losing a significant amount of money that was over and beyond that FDIC insurance, having something like Wealthfront, where they do it, I guess, just technologically, which is super cool. So you can get like two or$3 million worth of FDIC insurance. Again, I don't suspect that many people are in that position, but who knows, maybe you have a small business or something and can take advantage of that.

59:52So yeah, the long and short of it is there are some ways now at this point to actually earn some money on, you know, we always get those questions. Hey, I'm going to buy a house. Where should I put this down payment money for the time being for the next year or whatever. Like, I've never had a really good answer for them. And I think maybe even just these simple savings accounts are the answer right now. I know they're, they're definitely, we're getting pretty close to that 5%. I suspect maybe short term CDs might already be there at this point. So pretty cool. And finally, we got a cool win. So I'd love to close these out with a win from the community.

1:00:29So Tamara wrote in, I'm turning in my resignation tomorrow. I needed to say that to someone. This is a big deal. How awesome is that, right? So this is a big deal. And it's something I've been wrestling with for far too long. The Chooseify podcast has been a big part of helping me to ask and answer the questions that went into this decision. You see, it's a good cushy job and well-paying with excellent benefits by most anyone's definition, yet it's so unfulfilling. I'm not quitting because I've reach FI necessarily. In fact, in proper FI terms, perhaps I'm exactly where I should be with a job that pays well and doesn't require all that much effort.

1:01:06Your shows though are about more than just the money. And that's the message that has drawn me into the community over the past few months. I've made multiple changes per episode from travel rewards to VTSAX to cooking more and hiring someone else to paint. Along those lines, I've heard you and your guests talking about the value of living and making choices to live my best life. I'm not actually looking to retire early. I'm a single female working in tech, and I've had various starts and stops throughout my career. I've traveled lots and I've lived well, so my savings are okay, but not great.

1:01:41And I'm okay with that. I'm reconciled to that. Somehow I've reached my late forties and I've been second guessing whether it's okay to reinvent myself yet again. Recent episodes have helped me to say, Yes, absolutely it is. And I heard about a woman starting up a business and another moving to a career in tech, and I felt inspired. I'm in a different place in life, but I'm by no means done learning and living. Phew, I'm nervous and so excited about making this move. I have ideas about what I'll do next, but I'm going to give myself a breather to be more sure, and I'll be listening to you along the way.

1:02:14Oh, incredible. How cool is that? I love that message. Do it, quit. Here's another counseling tip. which is that people who make the decision are happier than people who spend a lot of time going back and forth. Like once we, I guess, burn the bridge is the language that, you know, we hear a lot. But once we actually decide to marry that person, we decide to drop that job, people experience higher levels of satisfaction. And so how wonderful that you've made a plan and you're doing it. Yeah, I absolutely love that. That's just amazing to see all the things that have come through from this podcast and most importantly from the community.

1:02:55And I'm turning in my resignation tomorrow. Can't beat that. So just congrats for taking control of your life. And yeah. And she's opening up so much space, you know, for what could be. It's wonderful. So many options. What it can be indeed. And I think that's for all of us, right? Like what can life be? And I think it's a big wide world out there. And like we've talked about throughout this episode, making these changes and giving yourself options, it just pays benefits for years and decades. And you never know how that's going to manifest itself. But just having that optionality is just, it's a marvelous thing.

1:03:32So huge, huge congrats. All right, Ginger. Well, I think that that brings our little roundup here to a close. Thank you as always for joining me. I knew last time you mentioned that you have a website. So it's fiisfun.com, which is so great. I love that. Head on over, everyone. Yeah, it's just a little site just about stuff, fun stuff that's going on in the community and some little quizzes there to help increase your knowledge about some of that stuff. So hope to see you over there. Love it. Love it, love it, love it. All right. Well, thanks for joining me. We're obviously going to do this again sometime very soon.

1:04:03And to the community, thank you for being here. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being part of the Choose A Vibe community and taking action. That's what makes a difference. So just keep on taking those little 1 % actions every week, and you're going to have a radically transformed life. Thanks for being here. Thank you for listening to today's show and for being part of the Chooseify community. If you haven't already, the best ways to get involved are first subscribe to the podcast. So you're listening to this on a podcast player and just hit subscribe and then subscribe to my weekly newsletter.

1:04:34I actually sit down every Monday and write this by hand and I send it out Tuesday morning. So just head over to choosefi.com slash subscribe. And it's really, really easy to get on the newsletter list right there. And I would greatly appreciate it. It's the best way to get in touch with me. You can actually just hit reply to any of those emails and it comes directly to my inbox. So that's the way that I keep a pulse of the community and how we keep this the ultimate crowdsource personal finance show. And finally, if you're looking to join an in real life community, we have choosefi local groups in 300 plus cities all around the world.

1:05:10So head to chooseify.com slash local, and you'll find a list of all of those cities in 20 plus countries all across the world. And if you're just getting started with FI, or you have a family member or a friend who you think would be interested, two easy ways. Chooseify episode 100 is kind of our welcome to the FI community. And even though it's a couple of years old at this point, it still stands up. And it's a really great a starting point to get an understanding of what is financial independence? What are we doing here? Why are we looking to live a more intentional life where we save money and use it as a springboard to live a better life?

1:05:47And then Choose a Vi created a financial independence 101 course. That's entirely free. Just head to choosefi.com slash fi101. And again, thanks for listening.

1:06:04Thank you.