Tentmaking Tips

My Dad used to say it tastes better when it’s free! 😂

I’ve recently entered the world of online meal kits.

Not so much because we didn’t like cooking, but just because it seems like they’re trying to give you great meals for almost nothing.

It saves on groceries & eating out.

Now you may be thinking, “Whoa! I thought those online meal kits were really expensive?”

They can be.

If you just subscribe to a single kit & get a delivery week after week, it really adds up.

But I don’t do that.

I’ve gotten two meal kits now.

The first kit was 3 meals for 2 people for free (retail at nearly $70). I only had to pay $11 in shipping. This was from Marley Spoon.

The second was 3 meals for 4 people for free (retail at nearly $120). I only had to pay $5 in shipping. This was from HelloFresh.

Lest you think they were just sending us cheap food, the first one had multiple steak dinners and the second box had high quality dishes as well.

Ok, so what’s the

One concern people often have with a card like this is, “How do I meet the high minimum spend?”

The minimum spend to earn the welcome bonus on this card is $8,000 in 3 months.

That’s a lot.

You may not be sure how you could spend enough to hit it.

Not to worry.

There are other ways to generate this spend.

I’ll share one of my favorites today.

Funding bank accounts.

Some banks allow you to fund accounts using a credit card.

That’s what I did this past week.

We needed some extra spend to hit the $8,000 for our 2nd Chase Ink Business Preferred card.

US Bank is known to allow credit card funding of new business accounts up to $3,000.

I opened up a new account for one of our businesses & used the credit card to fund $3,000 into the accoun

And, who wouldn’t?

They are offering $325 if you open a new Everyday Checking account (at this link) by August 20, 2024. You can also open the account in-branch and give them the code that you get at the same link.

To earn the bonus, you need at least $1,000 in qualifying electronic deposits (think direct deposit of your paycheck) within 90 days of the account opening.

That should be pretty easy for most people.

And the good news is, you can do it twice. Once for you and once for your spouse (if you’re married).

That’s $650 in just a few months by direct depositing at least $1,000 into the two accounts you open.

Wells Fargo is also offering a $2,500 bonus (at this link) if you’re willing to do something a bit more complicated with significantly more money.

They’re giving a $2,500 bonus (in branch) if you’ll open a Premier Checking Account and deposit $250,000 i

I calculated the other day that between all of the cash in our business accounts & personal accounts, I was losing about $300/mo in interest I could be earning if that cash was invested with my other short-term monies.

But if I transferred it all out, I’d need it right back again for the various activities that happen inside my personal/business checking accounts.

Ugh.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a checking account equivalent that returned ~5% on your sitting cash like the money market accounts are doing right now?

Welcome to Fidelity Cash Management Accounts.

I was listening to a podcast recently where the host was transferring most of his “bank account cash” over to

I sent my Dad a video the other day of a Toyota Tundra that made it to 999,999 miles on the odometer before the owner finally decided to get a new one. I told him that was my goal too! 😂

These Toyotas can go forever!

My previous car was a Toyota Camry. And before that, I had a Toyota 4Runner.

All bought used, with cash, with quite a few miles already on them.

Only reason I didn’t drive them forever is because someone hit me in the 4Runner and totaled it & we sold the Camry so my daughter would have a larger car to drive for her first car.

I learned early on in our financial journey that cars are a terrible investment & can crush all of your financial dreams if you buy them the wrong way. LOL! 😂

Dave Ramsey has joked that driving cars, especially new cars, is like driving around with your window rolled down & throwing hundred dollars bills out of it.

And, while most people probably know cars aren’t g

And their index funds are world-renowned.

In fact, it’s commonly said that the first index funds available to individual investors were created by the founder & former chairman of Vanguard, John Bogle.

His followers, who are avid index fund investors, are often called Bogleheads.

Warren Buffett has famously said that upon his passing, his wife would do well to be invested primarily in an S&P index fund at Vanguard.

Since I was a teenager, I remember my Dad recommending to me that I invest in index funds at Vanguard.

Me and my wife both have personal IRAs at Vanguard along with our taxable brokerage account.

We’ve invested there for years.

Vanguard is unique in that it is owned by the mutual funds it manages, and therefore owned by its customers.

That’s likely why Vanguard has some of the lowest fees in the industry. And fees can eat up your returns in a hurry.

One of their most famous index funds, VTSAX, has a

And most of them would like to be financially independent before retirement age.

They just wonder if that’s even possible.

Financial Independence (FI) is simply where your investments will cover your living expenses in perpetuity.

JL Collins is one of the bloggers who first started writing about FI.

His Stock Series became so popular that he eventually turned it into a book, along with other financial principles that have contributed to his financial independence.

This is a book I often recommend to people as a good place to start in learning about FI.

It’s called The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins).

This book helps to simplify the process of becoming financially independent.

Late last year he released another book with 100 stories of people who have gone on a similar FI journey.

I just finished it, and thought it was great, so I wanted to recommend it to you as well.

It’s called Pathfinders (JL Collins).

Here’s a quick guide:

1. Employer’s Match - if your employer matches your retirement contributions up to a certain amount, invest at least enough to meet the match. This is free money. Make sure you take it.

2. Health Savings Account (HSA) - if you’re on a high deductible insurance plan, you may have an HSA plan option. Max this out next. You can contribute tax free, it grows tax free, and you can pull it out tax free for medical expenses (a triple dip). You can invest up to $8,300 in 2024 for families.

3. Roth IRAs - both you and your spouse can contribute $7,000 in 2024 for a total of $14,000. You can use a Traditional IRA if you are above the income limit for a Roth.

4. Max Out Employer’s Plan Above the Match - for 2024 this could be up to $23,000 per person.

5. Taxable Brokerage Account - once all of your r
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Perhaps the best way to build this list is to create a lead magnet that you give out for free in exchange for an e-mail address.

A lead magnet could be:

• A PDF Guide

• An eBook

• A short course

Or anything you can give away for free that helps your audience accomplish some goal.

For me, I offer 3 free PDF guides on the following topics:

1. Make $1,200 Quickly Guide

2. Free Hawaii Trip Guide

3. Earn Extra $10k Guide

These cater to my audience of pastors, missionaries and Christian leaders wanting to earn extra income in their spare time.

Another way to capture e-mail addresses is by starting a newsletter to offer weekly valuable content to your subscribers.

Once you have your lead magnet and/or a newsletter, you can start encouraging people to grab one of your guides or subscribe to your weekly newsletter.

This will begin to build your

Today I wanted to share a resource that I’ve found especially helpful on the journey.

It’s a website called Early Retirement Now: https://earlyretirementnow.com

This is a technical blog written by Karsten Jeske, a PhD in Economics with a CFA (chartered financial analyst) certification.

He writes about his own story of achieving financial independence and gives a ton of helpful wisdom for those of us on a similar journey.

He talks about topics such as:

• How much you need to invest to become FI (financially independent)

• What the safe withdrawal rate is for your portfolio once you hit FI

• Ways to invest your emergency fund

• Preferred allocations of your investments to achieve your FI goals

He also has a really helpful calculator to determine how close you are to reaching FI.

You can find it here: https://earlyretirementnow.com/safe-withdrawal-rate-series/

I’ve been