Fine tune your finances. Fine tune your happiness

I for over a year off and on drove for both Uber and Lyft. During those times I had my fair share of interesting passengers. One in particular stands out that goes along with today's subject. 

Just north of Hill airforce base South of Ogden east of the I15 freeway and south of the I84 sits a community backed up to an embankment of hills which cast a shadow on this neighborhood  during sunset and probably during most of winter. I picked up a passenger headed to a payday loan place. On the way we started a conversation. She let me know that the reason she was on her way to get a payday loan was because her husband had his old truck he inherited from his dad in the shop for the 3rd time repairing the same problem. They didn't have the money to fix it so she was going to go get a loan to pay the mechanic. Me being a financial guy asked her If the truck was even worth fixing to which she responded that it was his dad's truck that he inherited after his dad died, they were never going to sell it, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get it running.

I get it. We all have our sentimental objects. Most of these objects such as a book, clothing, Grandma's old Jewelry or Grandpa's coin collection don't require upkeep cost at all. We simply keep them safe and show them to others. What this guy inherited was a money pit. Which I'm all for he fixing it. IF HE DOES IT WITH HIS OWN MONEY. Is he really finding happiness by mortgaging his future on a truck that has very little financial value? Is his financial decisions that day going to require him to look elsewhere for help when he can't pay the payday loan or other bills? Are generous people paying into social programs going to eventually subsidize his truck? This is again another reason I hesitate to blindly donate to any social program. 

This last week I pulled out my old laptop that unfortunately stopped working when my wife let my daughter do her school homework on it. I had the intention of fixing it and using it for my financial spreadsheets. After purchasing a power cord I accessed the damage and realized it may need a new hard drive and a new battery. The minimum cost would be around 50 dollars. 

I then asked myself is it worth it. For what I want for this laptop to perform, is it worth it.

First of all I don't need it. I have several phones that can handle my spreadsheets just fine. Secondly I can buy a used Chromebook for less than what it would cost to repair my computer. Sure it wouldn't be as great as my computer but it would perform the task I would need it to do. 

Sometimes we find ourselves so into a project we forget to ask ourselves is it worth it. Too many people get stuck in a money pit continually fixing upgrading and pouring money into their projects not realizing even the very part they buy is worth more than their entire Car, boat, or computer. I myself am guilty of this. I too have poured too much money into projects that did not produce a return on investment not even an investment of happiness.

So take a step back ask yourself is it worth it. Can you afford it with your own DISPOSABLE  income. Fine tune your finances. Make your money work for you. Stop working for your materialistic possessions. 

It's only 14 cents

It's only 14 cents.

The other night my wife and I didn't feel like cooking which lately with our diets is somewhat unusual. When you're dieting there's always plenty of food and plenty of leftovers so going out to eat would be a waste of food and a waste of money not to mention a waste of paying more in sales tax to the government. Anyway we decided on buying McDonald's. With their app I consider their deals quite reasonable. After ordering my family's and my usual (2 cheeseburgers hold the mustered add mayo lettuce and tomato((I call it the mc'imposter)) I proceeded to check out. As I was staring at my checkout screen I was stumped on a simple question. Should I use the credit card on file or should I go find my wallet and use a different credit card that would get me an additional 14 cents cash back.

I mean it's only 14 cents right?

Since 2014-2015 I have been interested in credit card cash back, loans, intro APR's, and credit card purchasing power. Before that I was a Dave Ramsey fan still am by the way. I just use credit cards ALL THE TIME. In fact I rarely use a debit card. My credit cards don't charge me an overdraft fee. They don't charge me interest. (Yes I'm that good) They pay me monthly to use their cards and as a secret I'm only going to say once. I get cashback on my cashback. I don't even need an ATM. My credit cards give me cash out option.

That being said. Throughout the years I have fine tuned my credit card strategy. Originally I had a citi dividend card and a chase Freedom card that provided one percent cash back from every purchase. The citi dividend card had a flaw where it would only give a maximum of 300 dollars per year. I'm not completely sure what my percentage is now but I currently getting between 1 and 20 percent off or cash back on my purchases if I were to estimate I would probably say around 8 percent. That means every 20 dollars I spend I get around 1.33 back in savings or actual cash back.

So back to my story. The two cards I was contemplating using were a 3% restaurant card and a 2% Citi double cash. If I were to use the restaurant card. It would take me an additional 5 minutes to order our food. The difference in cash back was seriously a mere 14 cents but to me that 14 cents represents a lot more than it's worthless value.

I mean seriously, hypothetical question. If you were at a hotel and while checking out the attendant says. Would you like to pay full price or I can take one percent off. You would want the one percent off right? What if your mortgage company or rental office said hey would you like to pay full price or we'll take 14 cents off?. I don't want to pay more than I have to toward a house. I'd take a penny off.

To me this savings of 14 cents is more than 14 cents back for purchasing my sandwich. It's 14 cents off my mortgage, off my credit cards, or 14 cents towards my next vacation. It's 14 cents added to my financial arsenal. This 14 cents is then worth 15.12 cents if you're calculating my 8% average cashback/savings calculation. 

Last thought. Oil companies know how well a fraction of a penny can turn into a goldmine of funds. If you didn't know you pay 9/10ths of a penny on your fuel. That equates to a half a billion dollars extra a year.

So is it worth it to save a few cents?

Absolutely.