I'm hella jealous of everyone's grocery choices!
@ohjoy wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:Sam's Club credit card is 5% cashback at all gas stations but you have to have a membership with SC to get the card and the cashback are yearly redemptions in one lump sum.
Ok so a couple more questions, please. I am a club member already but under my business account. Will the card have to be for the business or can I get it as an individual and still qualify because I have a business membership. And is the lump sum cashback a credit on the card or a check?
I appreciate your responses. Thanks.
Years ago I had a Sam's Club business membership with a personal credit account attached; I suspect it's still possible. 
Can I be honest? You know the bible story about the rich ruler who asked Jesus what he had to do to have eternal life? And after the rich ruler assured Jesus that he had been keeping the commandments and all that, Jesus told him to sell all his stuff, give it to the poor and follow him. He was sad when he heard this and walked away. He couldn't do it. That's kind of how I felt reading your post. LOL. I want to get in to heaven, so to speak, but I can't live like I'm poor. I don't pretend to be rich and don't want to pretend to be poor either. Being poor is my greatest fear . #truestory I'm not sure where that came from but, I think that's what shocked me when my daughter said it.
Btw, I'm not eating peanut butter-covered Ramen noodles for even one day. 
@Anonymous wrote:
@ohjoy wrote:I used to participate in frugal living groups but, when I do things, I try to be the best at it. I was making my own ketchup and baby wipes, for instance. Or driving to 3 different grocery stores and using coupons to save a few bucks. Until, one day my young daughter asked if we were "going poor". That shocked me and I decided that I was modeling a poverty mentality, even though it was just my habit of wanting to be the best at everything.
I help a lot of poor-living rich parents turn their mindset into turning their kids into little versions of me, lol. Probably 100 new parents Facebook added me in the past month because a prior parent I mentored to turned her little girl into a landlord at age 13 (not joking) and the kid is earning close to $1100 a month running the apartment rental 100% herself.
The best question a young child can ask mom and dad is "Are we poor?" and the answer is "Of course we're not, but when we are at home, it is better to live like you're poor so we can spend our money on vacation where no one can see but us. We eat like poor people at home so that mom and dad can save up enough money that you'll be able to have your own apartment rentals by 16 so you can be richer than we are some day, and not waste 6 years of your life in a useless college."
I know it sounds crass, but many of the members of my local FIRE groups were teenagers when they joined, and they're in their mid-20s now and 100% retired and never have to work again. They came from middle class families who pretended to live rich but had nothing for the future, and they burned those bad habits their parents were ingraining in them by making the decision young to not pretend to be rich while actually always being fearful of their financial futures.
I don't have kids, yet, but if and when I do, you better believe I'll teach them to be wealthy in the bank and their futures by living frugally at home. I'd prefer that my "friends" and "neighbors" think I was poor so they never bother me for a loan or assume I'll cover a restaurant tab, but when I go on vacation, I have no problem blowing $10,000 for a weekend charter that only me and whoever my date is gets to experience. I live in a 900 square foot 2 bedroom home right now, no TV, no cable, no internet, no fancy computer or iDevice -- let the locals think you're poor, and spend your wealth on bonding with family and people you actually care about.
@Now is a FANTASTIC time to get your kid into budgeting the family's expenses. Sit them down, give them the numbers, give them the budget, and then let them keep 50% of savings in an investment fund you control but they have access to seeing the growth on. Show them what $50 a week in savings means in 10 years at 7% returns ($200/month x 120 months @ 7% = $35,000) and then teach them to not make the same stupid mistakes both you and I made in our teens and early 20s. Your kid is old enough to learn to run the budget themselves, even if they're only 7. So let them! They may force you to eat peanut butter covered ramen for 10 years, but imagine where they'll be as young adults...
@UncleB wrote:
@ohjoy wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:Sam's Club credit card is 5% cashback at all gas stations but you have to have a membership with SC to get the card and the cashback are yearly redemptions in one lump sum.
Ok so a couple more questions, please. I am a club member already but under my business account. Will the card have to be for the business or can I get it as an individual and still qualify because I have a business membership. And is the lump sum cashback a credit on the card or a check?
I appreciate your responses. Thanks.
Years ago I had a Sam's Club business membership with a personal credit account attached; I suspect it's still possible.
If you have a sams club business membership then you should carefully apply for the sams club business mastercard. You can even get one without a personal guarantee. It's not always easy but if you do have business credit already it should be no problem: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Business-Credit/Sams-Club-Mastercard-No-Pg-FYI/td-p/4218626
@Anonymous wrote:
ABCD2199 wrote:@Now is a FANTASTIC time to get your kid into budgeting the family's expenses. Sit them down, give them the numbers, give them the budget, and then let them keep 50% of savings in an investment fund you control but they have access to seeing the growth on. Show them what $50 a week in savings means in 10 years at 7% returns ($200/month x 120 months @ 7% = $35,000) and then teach them to not make the same stupid mistakes both you and I made in our teens and early 20s. Your kid is old enough to learn to run the budget themselves, even if they're only 7. So let them! They may force you to eat peanut butter covered ramen for 10 years, but imagine where they'll be as young adults...
I'd love to get your suggestions on a solid 7% return product. ATM we've got $110k split across a promo 3% and 1.69% 36mo term CD with navyFed and another 70k in amex HYSA but have been hesitant to invest in volitile products due to how...unpredictable lets say, the current administration is.
A 7% solid return is good IMO but not great. Have you considered looking into lendingrobot? https://www.sidehustlenation.com/peer-to-peer-lending-5-year-performance-update/ I mean just speaking from personal experience as well as some family and colleagues 7% is basically the minimum you would expect, but 12-15 is not unheard of. I say peer to peer lending is still worth a shot. But I am not a financial advisor, nor do I know the full picture of your finances.
If you graduate high school, start earning a fairly decent income with your own business, or finish college, then save 40% of your income, you could retire by 40 or 50. Sprinkle in some credit/checking bonuses, being frugal, lots of extreme couponing, etc.
Heck I just installed a meter that connects wirelessly to our new electric meter. It shows literally the cost I am paying per hour in cents. I changed my electric supplier last year and saved a small amount from the local aggregate. But switching to hourly pricing even makes sense if you use more than 350kwh/mo. The funny thing is, even with taxes and fees, winter or summer, their price per hour is always LESS. You are getting the electricity at cost, no markups. Granted theres still roughly 5-6c/kwh in cost for the delivery, but going from 12-14c/kwh down to 7-9 is great. Get an energy audit. They are usually free or heavily discounted. Take advantage of rebates, also tax credits! Get a blower door test. Air seal and insulate! Always look at the return of investment for anything you replace/repair/upgrade/update! Get a smaller refridgerator when it comes time to replace it. Grow a garden or an urbanized patio style one.
Just a minor amount of "couch time" on the computer researching, or going to meetups each weekend is all it takes. I have taken countless friends, family members/loved ones, enlightened them, some with budget bills for gas/electric over $600/mo, and majority are cut in half! My primary goal is to eventually build a net zero home which produces more energy than it consumes! In a world that revolves around consumption it is refreshing to exchange information in places like these. Sorry if my reply is a bit off topic.
I will say the nice thing about the blue cash preferred is, if you pair that with double coupons, then with samsung pay, and finally at my local grocery store, you basically get $2 off for every $30 spent one day a week, it is quite nice. Then you can take it a step further and use other apps like ibotta or shopkick, or some that are directly tied to your credit card like plenti.
And yes, for some of the really high earners, time IS money for them. They are at a entirely different level, and it would make absolutely no sense for them to commit to cutting every single corner possible, extreme couponing, paired with portals, on top of cash back credit cards or bonuses. But that still doesn't mean they can't take away some of the information, use it, and have it benefit more than one person!
@Anonymous to the poster below @Anonymous , we definitely need to chat sometime! Wonder if you are talking about Willow Tufano?
@Anonymous wrote:
I help a lot of poor-living rich parents turn their mindset into turning their kids into little versions of me, lol. Probably 100 new parents Facebook added me in the past month because a prior parent I mentored to turned her little girl into a landlord at age 13 (not joking) and the kid is earning close to $1100 a month running the apartment rental 100% herself.
I don't have kids, yet, but if and when I do, you better believe I'll teach them to be wealthy in the bank and their futures by living frugally at home. I'd prefer that my "friends" and "neighbors" think I was poor so they never bother me for a loan or assume I'll cover a restaurant tab, but when I go on vacation, I have no problem blowing $10,000 for a weekend charter that only me and whoever my date is gets to experience. I live in a 900 square foot 2 bedroom home right now, no TV, no cable, no internet, no fancy computer or iDevice -- let the locals think you're poor, and spend your wealth on bonding with family and people you actually care about.