enRICHed: volume 112

year of the BAG

Jan 05, 2025

Volume 112

Hey besties!

Happy new year! 2025 is officially here and I, like many of you, have lots of goals and resolutions to go along with it. Everything from professional to personal, I’m ready for 2025 to be MY YEAR! One of my goals this year is to develop a consistent and realistic fitness routine. No more extreme dieting or super crazy workout plans that I’ll drop after 3 weeks (or immediately after my wedding LMFAO…too honest?). So who better to have on my first podcast episode of 2025 than the co-founder of a billion dollar health foods brand, Lisa Bilyeu? We chatted about all things Question Nutrition, fitness, business and how she found the confidence to achieve her own goals. If you are in need of a pep talk to start off 2025 right, LISTEN or WATCH the latest episode of Networth and Chill!

As a reminder:

HYCU, pronounced haiku: how the news impacts you and your wallet, aka How You Can Use
The Prosperitea: think discount codes, non-boring finance articles, sales, and personal links from the week. The fun stuff 😉
We love your comments, but please remember to keep it positive! And don’t take investing advice from anyone who isn’t your registered financial advisor!

Now that you’re up to speed, let’s get you enRICHed.

New Minimum Wage Rules 💸🎉

New year, new rules! Namely, the minimum wage in 21 states is getting bumped up in 2025 as states adjust for inflation—which means about 9.2 million workers are going to get a slightly bigger paycheck now.
Some of these bumps are due to legislation changes or voter-backed ballot measures, but most are mandatory annual adjustments. An additional 48 cities and counties will also raise their minimum wages above their state wage floors starting Tuesday.
Right now, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, which is way too low to afford the cost of living nowadays. Drexel University's Center for Hunger-Free Communities found in 2021 that a real living wage (which could pay for one person’s basic food and housing needs) would be between $20 and $26 or more per hour depending on state.
These raises aren’t totally even across the board—Alaska is raising its minimum wage by a meager $0.18, while Delaware is raising it by $1.75—and definitely not enough to pay for these increasing price tags, but it’s still a win for the millions of people working hard on insufficient wages.
HYCU; This rule goes into effect immediately, so if your employer gives you your pay based on the 2024 wage rate, tell them to run you a new check! Make sure you’re getting paid what they owe you. I’m manifesting that we all will get rich in 2025. If you want to see more new state laws on taxes, concert ticket fees, and paid leave, check out the rundown here.

New Tax & Retirement Rules 💰🥳

Speaking of Dua Lipa’s New Rules: new tax brackets and standard deductions are now in effect, which will slightly boost paychecks and lower income tax for many Americans.
Our faves at the IRS made a few changes to account for inflation, including raising contribution limits for tax-deferred retirement plans in 2025 and a 3-cent increase to the mileage rate.
The 2025 tax year standard deduction for married couples filing jointly rises to $30,000, while single taxpayers have a standard deduction of $15,000.
There’s also new retirement account contribution limits: up to $23,500 into 401(k), 403(b) and most 457 plans; unfortunately, the limit on annual contributions to an IRA or Roth IRA remains at $7,000 for 2025.
HYCU; If you want to see what your marginal tax bracket for 2025 is, you can check it out in this handy Axios chart here. It’s useful information when planning your finances—when you’re prepping your budget or looking ahead towards big purchases this year, it’s important to figure out how much of your total income you should put away first for taxes and savings. Also, a friendly reminder that tax rates are MARGINAL—so don’t listen to the guy who was in remedial math from your high school spout lies about not taking the bonus or raise so you can earn more. That’s not how that works. If you need a quick explainer on tax rates, watch this!

Commit To The Bit(coin) 🤝

As we’ve talked about, president-elect Donald Trump has openly spoken about his support for federally investing more heavily in cryptocurrency, but the question now is if it will benefit American people.
There are two big cryptocurrency proposals floating around right now—one from Trump, the second from Republican senator Cynthia Lummis—that more or less are suggesting the same thing: holding Bitcoin would give the US some control of an increasingly important global asset.
Basically, the US government has its hands on this pile of Bitcoin (currently valued at around $19 billion) that was seized from people doing illegal stuff via crypto by the US Marshals after they got arrested for doing said illegal crypto things. Normally, the state sells it, using the proceeds to compensate crime victims and fund law enforcement, but Trump is proposing that the government just kind of…not sell it. Lummis is even arguing that we start selling some of our gold reserves to buy up Bitcoin and hold it for 20 years.
HYCU; This is all a question about how to best protect the value of the dollar in uncertain financial times and sometimes pay down debt. Historically, the government has held a ton of gold to do this, since they have an inverse relationship—when the dollar dips in value, gold usually rises, allowing central banks to protect their reserves in moments of market volatility. So according to these proposals, the government would just do this with Bitcoin. Controversial, right? Critics say that the whole proposal is basically an indirect handout to current Bitcoin investors, since buying up so much Bitcoin with federal gold would probably drive prices way up and deplete supply. Not to mention, Bitcoin hasn’t proven itself to hold as much stable value as gold yet, just because it’s been around for such a short time. Some also argue that it won’t actually help our debt, since the government hasn’t actually sold the gold reserve to pay debt, even though they could. If these measures do go through, it’s likely to benefit existing Bitcoin investors, but probably will hurt the victims of crimes who are seeking compensation.

Siri Gets Caught Spying 🕵️‍♀️📲

Apple agreed to a $95 million settlement with users whose conversations were inadvertently captured by its Siri voice assistant and potentially overheard by human employees.
Basically, there was an investigation done by The Guardian in 2019 that revealed third-party Apple contractors were indeed using Siri to listen in on private conversations, which included regularly overhearing “confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex” while working on Siri quality control.
Apple apologized and said it would delete the recordings, but the investigation led to a lawsuit by people who got spied on, and now they’re paying for it. They’re not the only tech company in trouble for this, either; Google is going through a very similar lawsuit right now, and Amazon was exposed for doing the same thing.
HYCU; While $95 million is a massive number, the payment per affected user is up to $20 per device for up to five Siri-enabled devices. Individual payouts will depend on how many people claim the money, too, so you could end up receiving less than the $20 maximum cap. The settlement would apply to US-based users who either owned or bought a Siri-enabled iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024. This proposal still needs to be approved by a judge, so after it’s approved, you can apply for your cash! I guess I shouldn’t have made fun of my friend who said our phones were listening. Eek!

Lara asks, “Hi! I have a 401(k) with my previous employer. I'd like to transfer it to my Robinhood IRA. Is there anything that I should consider before doing that?”

Transferring your 401(k) to an IRA, like the one you have with Robinhood, can be a smart move. Here are a few things to consider before making the transfer:

Fees and Costs: Check if there are any fees associated with rolling over your 401(k) to an IRA. Some providers might charge for the transfer process. This isn’t usual, but can happen.
Investment Options: An IRA typically offers a wider range of investment options compared to a 401(k). Make sure you understand the investment choices available with Robinhood and how they align with your retirement goals.
Tax Implications: A rollover is not the same as a contribution, so it shouldn't have immediate tax implications. However, it's always good to double-check with a tax professional to ensure you're not missing any important details. (Note: If you’re planning on using a Backdoor Roth IRA, something to consider would be the pro-rata rule!)
Service Providers: Using a service like Capitalize can make the rollover process easier. They offer a free 401(k) rollover service that helps you transfer your funds to an IRA and keeps you updated throughout the process. You can find more information about this service here: Capitalize.
Access to Funds: Rolling over your 401(k) to an IRA gives you direct access to your money and the flexibility to invest in whatever you want, rather than being limited to the funds your previous employer offered.

All in all, I’m a huge proponent of rolling your old 401(k) into an IRA, so kudos to you for not forgetting about your hard earned money!

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Rich Tip of the Week: How to be the first millionaire in your family!
A bunch of songs, movies and characters are in the public domain now, like Singin’ in the Rain and Mickey Mouse. Get ready for all the bootleg merch.
Ronny Chieng’s new comedy special is out on Netflix and I could not stop laughing—especially during the egg freezing segment.
Caitlin Clark called out the transfer portal in college sports, and it’s starting a really interesting conversation about college athletes spending like, seven years in college.

SEE YOU IN THE COMMENTS BESTIES