Three Bears Financial

When I talk personal finance with folks I start with three assumptions, and I'm right way more than I'm wrong:

1) You didn't get diddly squat for personal finance coursework in school (except DGF students!).

2) Your parents weren't awesome financial role models. Maybe they fought about money? Maybe they weren't financially responsible? Maybe they 'taxed' your income as a kid?

3) Someone in your circle, who you know and trust, is relatively well to do. Perhaps a rich uncle? Perhaps an aunt with Lego money? Perhaps an older cousin who has it going on? I'm willing to bet this person would be happy to share their wisdom with you IF you are willing to ask.

Heads Up!

A guy named Ian (from Bismarck?) reached out with a three pronged business scam. I don’t think Ian is a bad guy, I think he’s been given some pretty crappy business advice.

His approach was 3 pronged:
1) Forex trading
2) Multi-level-marketing
3) Hedge fund investing

Forex trading is for professionals. If you can tell me if the Euro will be stronger or weaker vs the Yen next week you might be OK at Forex trading. If not, it’s not for you.

You’ve never heard me recommend MLMs. Sure, a small handful of people do VERY well with them…and that’s the guy who starts it and his close friends. MLMs are Ponzi schemes that have found loopholes in the law, they aren’t legitimate businesses.

Legitimate Hedge fund investing is available to what the SEC calls ‘accredited investors’. Accredited investors have $1M of investable assets (not counting their primary residence), and a incomes of $200k per year. A few of my FB peeps fall into this category, but most of us don’t.

This scam involves a company called NovatechFX through Super Nova Earning On Automation. It’s a scam promising 3% return in investment PER WEEK!

If I thought Ian was a crook I’d light him up. I’m fairly certain he’s an honest guy that got taken advantage of. Please find a competent financial professional if you hear from him.

Reminder: never take financial or investing advise from some guy you meet on the internet.

Credit cards: I don’t care if you use them, I care that you use them well. I care that your credit card usage is a reflection of what you tell me is important to you.

Uncle Dave says credit cards are evil, they certainly can be problematic for some folks. Other Personal Finance voices receive content sponsorship for shilling certain credit card brands. How does a person know what’s best for them?

Let's start with the easy part: Are your credit card balances paid to zero at least once a month? If so: awesome! Keep doing what you are doing. No point in cutting cards that are working for you.

On the other hand, if you have an ongoing balance you are paying interest on, let's take a look at a few things. It’s probably a sign that at one point you were spending more than you were earning, and that’s not sustainable. I’d much rather see you spending the amount you are paying on interest and using those same dollars on something that brings you joy and helps you reach your goals.

If you have a maxed out card you would do well to see that as a red flag that something needs to change. If you have several maxed out cards the universe is telling you something.

What works for me:

- I have a debit card I use for my daily spend, 95% of my spend hits this card. My JunkYard and Caribou habits as well as Amazon, fuel, groceries, restaurants all hit this. I track my spending every Sunday morning, assigning each purchase to a budget category.

- I got a big bank credit card ahead of my international travels so if something went wrong I wouldn’t blow up the checking account my wife and I share. Once a year or so I charge a thing to it so the account has some activity and the card remains active on my credit report.

- After seeing Menards happens 3 Saturdays a month I got a Menards store card. It provides a bit of store credit back and I pay the balance down to zero every Sunday. My spending habits make clear this ‘cash’ back reward will be used on the first Saturday it becomes available.

- By and large I have learned I am not responsible enough to keep cash on my person. Any cash I have is used for tipping and I quite frankly suck at keeping cash accounted for in the budget. Catch me on the street and it’s almost certain I’ll have less than $10 on me.

What works for you?

What rewards does your card claim it offers?

What tangible reward have you actually used with that card?

Feel free to reach out if you want to sit down for a no-judgment conversation about what is and what isn’t working with your credit card situation.

Disclaimer: Never take investment or airline rewards advice from some guy you meet on the internet.

How would you grade yourself on your Personal Finance knowledge?

Try these True \ False questions and see how you do:
T \ F All of my bills get paid on time each month.
T \ F I use an effective budget.
T \ F I stick to a written list at the grocery store and Target.
T \ F I have a dedicated Emergency Fund in place.
T \ F I have 15% of my gross income going into retirement investments.

How did you do? 5 for 5? 0 for 5? Somewhere in the middle?

Feel free to reach out for pointers to raise both your score and your confidence with Personal Finance.

My $40 crypto investment experiment from a few months ago is now worth $20.64, essentially cut in half.

The Personal Finance voices I listen to suggest investing no more than 3% of your financial net worth in speculative asset classes.

To those who invested big in Crypto: I am sorry.

To those who wanted to invest but couldn't afford to: This is a great time to look around and learn how these kinds of asset classes behave in good times and in bad.

To those who invested a little bit in Crypto: Wise choice!

*Disclaimer: never take pickle flavor recommendations, or investment advice, from some guy you met on Facebook.