Here we are—46 newsletters later—full of chocolate and cheese, about to enter one of the strangest weeks of the year. If you’re anything like me, you’re eating leftovers, freezing things you can’t possibly get to, doing the refrigerator shuffle as not to let produce spoil, and taking stock of the past year.
As I grow in my financial awareness, I set goals that feel commensurate with my income, age, and opportunity. This year it meant approaching a near perfect credit score; maxing out all of my contributions; and learning to play the points game with my credit cards. If you’ve been following along closely, you know I really didn’t know much about handling my finances in my 20s and 30s and my credit score definitely took a hit for many years. Now I know what it takes to have a high credit score and I just stick to the rules. As for my contributions, I want to be clear I will be able to max them all out by the 2021 tax deadlines but I’m close. Now to address this credit cards points world. In a word: WOW.
Here’s one adage that has proven to be true: Membership has its privileges. To even get to the point (hah) where you can get some of the elite credit cards, you have to prove you can handle them. But, this doesn’t mean to you have to have a lot of money. You just have to have good credit and be able to pay your cards off each month. If you can do this then an entire world opens up to you with deep discounts on transportation, food, and travel.
This year, I took 27 flights and traveled to five international destinations. Part of it was for work but most of it was for fun and I was able to pay next to nothing for my flights because I used points. Now that I have the American Express Platinum Card, I will be able to enjoy free food and drink at DIA and also receive Global Entry for free. Based on this year’s travel, that’s an average savings of $780 which when invested over 20 years is an impressive $3347.66. Not bad for simply playing the points game.
As I review my tips and tricks that got you to save $100 per family member per month, I have a handful that stand out and these are my top five:
Meat does not belong at every meal or in abundance at all. The best thing about social media is the proliferation of free vegetable recipes for every ingredient under the sun. Adding a grain or doubling up in vegetable makes meat take a back seat.
You can really make a pesto out of nearly anything. Carrot tops, lemon peels, kale…it’s all right there waiting to be blended with garlic, nuts, and cheese. Do not spend money on fancy pestos.
Learn to love beans. They can get you and your family through a week of meals without feeling like you are just eating beans. Go to my favorite spot, the Rancho Gordo site, and stock up.
Speaking of stock, make all the stock you can. Chicken, beef, parmesan and vegetable stock are all so easy. Take the time to do this so you have plenty on hand to deepen the flavor of simple dishes.
Grow some herbs. Right now I have basil and chives in my windowsill. (As you can see, I also have a martini.) And though winter has just begin, I know tending to these plants will save me a bundle and really round out my simpler meals.
This year, I also offered a ton of financial advice via my partner Ellevest. If you haven’t please take the time to sign up as they have great incentives right now. My money has done well this year and it’s all thanks to this inexpensive, innovative, female-centric, robo platform. For those you needing a bit more hand holding, they have various workshops and levels of customer service that enable you to work with someone directly.
I’ll leave you with some compelling math. If you and your family of four were to save $400/month for the next 25 years you would have $265,066.41. That, my friends, is a lot of cabbage.
Happy New Year and see you in 2022.