enRICHed: volume 73
thirty, flirty, and thriving
Sunday March 24, 2024
Volume 73
Dirty 30 🍸🎂
HAPPY BELATED TO THE QUEEN BESTIE!!! Vivian turned 30 this week, and shared 5 things she wished she knew in her 20s’s. Here’s the gist:
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Friends should fill your cup, not drain you mentally.
Comparison is the Thief of Joy.
Stop buying shit you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t like !!!
Stop sitting at tables where you might be the topic of conversation when you go to the bathroom (no more h8rs)
We loved this comment from misslilylaurent: Happy birthday! Your 30s are your 20s with less drama and more money (for a lot of people, not all lol). Anything you would add?
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.
Break Up with your Broker: The NAR Lawsuit 🏡👨⚖️
As a result of a recent lawsuit, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) will pay $418M in damages, settling allegations that they conspired to boost agent commissions.
Right now, sellers typically pay 5-6% commission on the sale price of their home, which gets split between the buying/selling agent involved in the transaction.
That means for a $1M house, sellers pay $50,000-$60,000.
A number of couples realized that they could have negotiated the amount of commission they paid their brokers, but they were not given the option
The Daily compared it to when you go the coffee shop and you’re given the option to tip 18% 20% or 22% - without the option to go any lower / give nothing at all
Furthermore, sellers advertise buyer agent commissions on listing sites, which homebuyers do not see. The lawsuit claims that buyer agents were influenced by these listings resulting in steering, aka they’d steer their clients towards homes with higher commissions vs. homes that were actually right for them
Under the new rules, that commission won’t be listed at all, which means buying agents won’t know what they will get paid, if anything, if their clients buy that home. This means new forms of payment will emerge for buyer agents, whether it’s a flat fee from the buyer or a percentage of the eventual home price, which will need to be agreed upon and will likely come out of the buyer’s pockets.
HYCU; Many experts believe that commissions will fall, which means home prices may fall in parallel - though this is not certain. Sellers are the obvious winners here, as they will keep more money in their pockets from the sale of their home. However, it’s unclear what will happen for first-time buyers, who may now need to pay flat fees for agents who otherwise “worked for free” - as those commissions were baked into the price buyers were paying for their home.
Rent-A-Printer 🖨️📃
After years of declining printer sales due to the rise of digital documents, HP has announced that you can now rent their printers.
For as low as $6.99/month, you can now pay for a printer via a subscription model (just like everything else)! You will get 20 pages a month + ink and tech support. I imagine they tested this amount, finding the sweet spot for those who don’t own a printer but still need to use one every couple of weeks. If you need to print more pages than that, you likely already own your own!
Any unused pages roll over to the next month, and you can bank rollover pages for up to three times your monthly allotment
HP is hoping to solve all of the challenges Americans view as coming with printers. #1 being the cost of ink. HP has been sued multiple times for blocking the use of third party (read cheaper) ink with its printers. HP now believes that conversation will become moot as it introduces the subscription model.
FYI - HP makes 2x as much on ink as they do on printers
HYCU; No one really owns a printer anymore! When I lived in the city, I would go to a FedEx or my office to print. With shopping apps now offering QR codes to scan at shipping or post offices, the reasons to own a printer are decreasing even more. It will be interesting to see if this model sticks with the younger generation!
Tax Season Fraud brought to you by AI 🤖☠️
AI Identity Theft is coming for your tax returns.
Cybercriminals are expected to leverage AI technology to steal refunds from taxpayers. Scraping public data from the internet (pictures, addresses, employment status, etc.), scammers are using generative AI to create images and videos to impersonate taxpayers.
Email scams are also used to collect this type of information, so beware of sketchy emails asking you for any information (always check the email address of the sender, that’s usually a dead giveaway)
It’s easier to commit tax-related fraud right now because there is so much money changing hands. All those refunds being sent out, means it’s easier to hide bad behavior.
HYCU; The IRS tips for avoiding fraud and scams? File early, use direct deposit to receive your returns, and open an IRS account in your name. They remind Americans that they only contact you via postal mail, so do not trust anyone calling, texting or emailing you. As Axios wrote, “it pays to file your tax return sooner rather than later.”
Question from Pauline Grant: I am really in need of guidance - I am retiring in 10 years and need someone assistance with my company 401K - I have been handling it on my own and I have 300K (yikes) and I need to maximize my investments
The first thing you should do is max out your 401k contributions every single month. Additionally, if you are 50 or over, you can actually make catch-up contributions. This allows you to contribute an additional $7,500 over the contract limit. This allows you to contribute even more than those under 40 to help to get extra money for retirement.
Question from Taylor Bradford: How do you differentiate your savings? Do you have different accounts? My husband and I are building up our emergency savings and then want to save for a house. Should we open a second HYSA for our house savings?
You have two great options here! You can either open up additional HYSAs OR you can create "buckets" at your existing HYSA if they offer that as an option. For example: SoFi offers Vaults which allow you to segment your money for different purposes - an Emergency Fund, saving for a down payment on a home, saving for your next fun vacation, etc.
Want to be featured in our new Question Bank section ?
Rich Tip of the Week: Tax Season 2024
Research says screen time is to blame for the current mental health crisis among kids - do you agree?
Something I read this week: 7 rules for how to be a great dinner party host (not doing the dishes while your guests are still there is one that will stick with me!)
Something I listened to this week: Megan Fox was on Call Her Daddy and who knew she was so funny?! Alex Cooper is gifted at getting these celebrities to be honest and spill all the tea.
Something I watched this week: has anyone else seen Lindsay Lohan’s new Netflix romcom Irish Wish?! The reviews are a bit harsh but if you know what you’re getting into (cringe jokes, impossible magic, a predictable ending) then there is truly nothing to be mad about
SEE YOU IN THE COMMENTS BESTIES
Would definitely include some resources for free tax filing for your followers!
I bought a printer during the pandemic b/c I didn't have access to a printer at the office anymore and needed it for random things from time to time. And then I got suckered into the HP ink subscription service. It's all such a SCAM! Printers, ink, ALL OF IT. Clearly I have strong feelings on this, LOL!