• Assume $20K cash for lowest cost option
• Assume $3K allowance to cut some trees
• Assume ConEd Net Metering provided at 1:1 for 10 years; ConEd annual increase at 3% - per kWh and interconnect fee (super-duper conservative)
• Assume I sell house in year 10 and receive a $24 bump in home value due to solar panel
• Discount Rate of 5%

• Assume $20K for lowest cost option is financed at 6.99% for 15 years $0 down for the loan and payments commence after PTO
• Assume $3K is paid in cash at beginning of term
• Assume ConEd Net Metering provided at 1:1 for 10 years; ConEd annual increase at 3% - per kWh and interconnect fee (super-duper conservative)
• Assume I sell house in year 10 and receive a $24 bump in home value due to solar panel
• Assume I owe $9K balance on the loan and it is paid out of the settlement
• Discount Rate of 5%

Standings

Bracket

1. Address your relationship with your money. Your relationship with money is one of the single-most important relationships you will have during your lifetime (spouses/children/family aside). If you are indifferent towards your money, your results are likely to be disastrous. You are the architect of your financial success, own it and don't be indifferent. Also, they're right, stop buying Starbucks. It's not the Starbucks that is killing you, it's what the Starbucks represents. Impulsiveness. Impulsive nature is a financial wrecking ball. Truth be told, my own struggles and the struggles of many I've observed/helped have heavily been tied to impulsivity.
   
2. Do some research on your financial behavior. Go back the last 6 months and add up ALL your expenditures by category; do this periodically even if you are financially stable, it's great homework. Put a dollar amount on how much you have spent on: groceries, eating out, car payments, car insurance, gas, cellphone, subscriptions, etc. I think you get the point. Do this so you can see exactly what you have been doing; this may be painful as you gain a new perspective on what you do. You'll already start to see some of the fat you can trim and, importantly, you will be able to get a baseline for the next tip. The budget.
   
3. Build a budget and be disciplined. Earlier I mentioned how I personally had periods of being broke and financially stable periods, all at the same income level. The budget was the single-most critical factor in determining whether I would be broke or financially stable. I CANNOT possibly overstate the importance of developing your budget and following it in a disciplined manner. To develop your budget, use the data you acquired in the previous tip; with that data, you already know what areas you can or can't reduce spending in. Finally, your mentality towards your budget is probably harmful and needs to be addressed. People often view their budget as a financial prison, an automatic "No" to the things they'd like to do. But it's actually the absolute opposite. Your budget is the thing that provides you the ability to say "yes" responsibly to the things you want. I'll expand on how it's a "yes" later.
   
4. Save for retirement first. After you have developed your budget, you'll have an idea of what you can spare for your retirement. Don't talk yourself out of it. Just set it and forget, you'll rarely find yourself in need of the money or realize it's even gone. The "save for retirement first" mentality and the budget are the two things that have turned my personal financial outlook around. For you BRS folks, shoot for 5% minimum to max the match. Never in your life will you get a 100% return on your investment, except for when you get that match. Even if you're in the old system, figure out a percentage you can do without and just contribute. I know right around now, some of you are probably in your own heads already screaming "I can't contribute if I don't have money," and I hear you. I do. Just realize, at this point, these things all have to work in tandem for you to be successful. Understanding how you spend feeds into reducing your expenditures and developing your budget, which in turn controls your impulsiveness and frees up money for contributions to retirement.
   
5. Project your money. Projecting your money into your budget is what gives your budget the ability to tell you "yes" to things you want to do. Once your budget is developed, start funding the categories with the money in your bank account. There are some software options that make this incredibly easy. Personally, I started using YNAB a while ago and I love it. I've also used a calendar, a notebook, and the envelope system. Just find a method that works for you. Once you project your money and you know you have $100 sitting in your clothes category, you won't feel the same anxiety when you're considering purchasing something, because your budget is already telling you to go for it.
   
6. Kill your debt. Place an emphasis on eliminating all of the debt in your life, aside from a mortgage. Life's far better when you don't have the stress of paying someone else on your mind. Free up the money you are spending on debt to do other things. No car payment means you have $500 extra a month to invest or enjoy.
   

1. Credit cards. Stay the fuck away from them unless you are disciplined financially. Personally, I have an impulsive personality which is difficult for me to control, I don't have credit cards for this reason alone. If you are a disciplined person, I totally understand why you may choose to have a credit card.
   
2. Transportation. Absolutely stay away from car related debt. From what I have observed, a car payment is a close second to impulsive nature when it comes to financial stress. Now, I'm not saying you can't have a decent reliable car, or a fun car if that's your hobby. Just stay away from debt and make your purchases in cash. Another relevant point here is to be reasonable in what car you need, or if you need a car at all. If you're an airman in the dorms, you can probably get away with no car in a lot of locations. While in the dorms, save for a car and make that purchase when you need one. If you are a family with only one person working, a single car will likely suffice. For a lot of folks, motorcycles are far cheaper to operate and an absolute blast. Public transportation is available in a lot of areas as well. As a MSgt, I drove a $1,200 Corolla with 200K+ miles on it as my commuter, drove it cross country a few times as well. I did this for a few years, and excluding gas, the cost of owning/operating that car was like $90 a month or something when I did the math. Super cheap!
   
3. Vacations. They can be had for cheap. But like cars, be reasonable with what you can afford. Hawaii sounds fucking awesome, but it's not affordable for every person, especially at low-income levels. Look for things you can do more local and affordable, that are still enjoyable. The whole "a base is what you make of it" line of thinking somewhat feeds into this. I'm not saying Minot sucks cause you let it suck, Minot does suck. But, look for the things that you can do that don't drive up travel and lodging costs, that are still enjoyable for a vacation.
   
4. For families with children, learn to shop for clothing cheap. I have 4 kids and our clothes, for the most part, come from places like Goodwill, Savers, Ross, etc. or they are purchased when clothes are on sale at places. When kids outgrow clothes, I donate them to the Airman's Attic.
   
5. Groceries, get your shit under control. I don't know what else to say. I live in a HCOL area. I feed a family of 5 on less than $200 a week. And we eat pretty well. We don't have steak every night, but we do have steak. Learning to cook for yourself is a great thing. You'll always have high-quality food on tap. My wife and I's approach is that we cook dinner every night and have the leftovers for lunch. We tend to do 90% of our shopping on the outer ring of the grocery store, so think produce, dairy, meats, etc. We minimize our purchases of refined boxed foods.
   
6. Hobbies. The hobbies you indulge should be determined by your financial state. If your broke as shit, don't go buy a GT-R because you're a car guy. Find a way to enjoy your hobbies in a way that is affordable or explore a lower cost hobby. Myself as an example, I'm a huge car guy. I do have a fun car at this point in life and one I am restoring, but they absolutely take a backseat when compared to other priorities like saving for retirement and putting food on the table. But to indulge in my car hobby, I volunteer at a local racetrack in my free time so I can be around what I love. It's been an awesome experience and costs no more than the gas to get to the track. Hiking and camping are incredible hobbies that are low cost and improve your mental and physical health. Anytime we can double up benefits, it's a good move.
   
7. If you are low income, absolutely search out the benefits that are available you. WIC was available when I was an E-3 with a wife and kid. Don't be too proud to accept some of these resources. They're here for you, use them!
   
8. Second job. Get one if necessary and if you can handle it. They suck, and you'll get burned out. But even if you can get one long enough to pull yourself out of debt, do it.
   

1. Receive bitcoin back on various gift card purchases (2.5%+ on amazon 😍 7%+ on doordash🥳 3%+ on uber🚘, Instacart and many more) - gift cards are digital and available to redeem instantly!
   
2. Receive bitcoin back on everything with the fold prepaid debit card - guaranteed 1% back with the 10/month spin+ tier. (No credit check, easy/instant loading options, no overdrafts, no annual fees on the spin tier) Use Apple cash for free quick cash transfers
   
3. Purchase Bitcoin directly in the fold app! 0 additional fees for the spin+ tier (even the mining fee is covered) and earn spins on the prize wheel for even more bitcoin back!
   
4. Pay credit card bills/mortgages and more using paypal bill pay and receive spins (bitcoin back) + 1% back with the spin+ tier!
   

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

1. Finish work
   
2. Review my budget/finances
   
3. Exercise
   
4. Finish this episode of big brother
   
5. Either watch that Jewish Matchmaking show my mom got hooked on that's on Netflix (she now wants to hire a matchmaker for me, ugh lmao. I think she's kidding), or watch a movie. I feel like watching Hair. It's fun, and I guess with it being Memorial Day it feels a bit fitting at least to me.
   
6. Foot spa
   
7. Work on my mushroom puzzle. The pieces are so well made, I'm having fun putting this one together.
   

• Tax rate for capital gains is 30 % for small amounts
• There is no capital gains tax at all if the price of all sold investments during that year is less than ~70 % of values of vested shares. So I could sell in two portions during both years
• However there are fees associate with selling both through the ESSP administrator, or transferring them to another broker with lower fees. In practice, a transfer and two selling events are priced equally to outright selling everything through ESSP administrator, anymore than that and the costs would be too high for my taste.
• Shares are sold First In, First Out, so I'm technically selling shares still waiting to be matched; you only need to own the same number of bought shares to receive the match. This also means that the last portion of "vested" shares were bought at post-covid boom levels and trading at same level currently.