TL;DR

• TrumpIRA - What Are Those??

• Do You Save More Than The Avg American

• How To Max Out Your Roth IRA

• How Much Is A Day At Disney… Really?

Top Money News

TrumpIRA What Are Those??

Donald Trump recently announced a new retirement savings initiative centered around a federal platform called “TrumpIRA.gov,” designed to help millions of Americans who do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans (a 401k).

It’s designed for independent contractors, gig workers, small business employees, part-time workers, and self-employed Americans who currently lack a 401(k) or employer match.

One of the biggest selling points is the federal “Saver’s Match” program.

This provides Americans making less than $35k/yr with up to $1,000 per year in matching retirement contributions from the federal government.

Basically, free money from the government. Although it does require you to invest $2,000 of your own money.

Personally, I don’t think it’s evil or wrong, but it probably will not move the needle for 95% of Americans.

Not Sure How To Start Saving For Retirement?

Money In Real Life

Do You Save More Than The Average American

Americans are saving far less than they used to — and the numbers help explain why so many households feel financially stretched despite a strong economy on paper.

The U.S. personal savings rate has fallen to around 4–5% of disposable income.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Americans regularly saved closer to 10–12% of their income.

Obviously, it’s easy to point to rising prices and wages that don’t keep up.

But this isn’t a victim newsletter.

Instead, I wanted to give you three things that I think can help you if you feel behind with saving.

1 - Consider Moving

15 million people moved last year, and the most popular reason was affordability.

Moving can immediately lower your grocery costs, your taxes, your housing costs, etc.

The top 3 states people are moving out of?

• Mass

• New York

• Maryland

The top 3 states people are moving to?

• South Carolina

• Idaho

• Delaware

For most people, this could free up hundreds or even thousands each month.

2 - Negotiate Bills

I say this all the time, but you need to negotiate your insurance annually. And many of you may disagree, but I think it’s worth it to have a high deductible, especially while you’re getting out of debt.

Switch between streaming services. If you’re watching a show on Netflix, cancel Hulu, Disney, etc.

Set things to auto-pay so you can get $5-$10/mo off.

Most importantly, make sure you’re not paying for things you don’t want.

I spend an hour on a Saturday every 3 months and make sure I’m not overspending. Almost every time I find $90-$150/mo I was wasting.

3 - The Penny Plan

Start by investing 1 penny for every dollar you make (1%). This gives you a chance to at least get started.

Every 6 months, increase that by 1 penny. You won’t notice the difference.

Whether that money is in a Roth IRA, 401 (k), or a HYSA, it doesn’t matter. The goal is to build the habit of saving.

Because if you do that for 10 years, you’ll be saving 20% of your income.

That puts you in the top 5% of savers.

41% of parents aren’t covered!

With Ethos, you can get covered in less than 10 minutes with a plan that starts at $19/mo.

Don’t be the Dad who leaves behind a financial nightmare for your family.

Money For Parents

The Real Cost of One Day At Disney

Everyone knows Disney is expensive.

But how expensive? I’ve actually never been to Disney and my wife thinks it could be therapeutic for me to bring our family one day.

So I ran the numbers on what a single day at Disney World actually costs if you're flying in from Austin for one day, one night, three meals, a park ticket, and the basics.

Here’s what it looks like:

Flights: This can really vary. I found that most non-stop flights were about $198 - $297 per person. Let’s stay optimistic and say I get $198/person. And we fly with 4 people total. That’s $792 out of the gate.

Stay: Based on my search I found that some of the more affordable hotels (that weren’t gross) were anywhere from $174 - $238 per day. So we’ll tack on another $174.

Admission: So there are 4 parks you have to choose from if you’re going for one day. I picked Magic Kingdom. And if your kid is 3+, they need a ticket. Let’s say our kids are 2 and 4. The three tickets would come out to $502.

Lightning Lane: If we’re going one day, we’re getting the lightning pass to skip the line. But what’s crazy to me is that the pass limits you to skipping only a certain number of rides. You can get a single skip for about $11-$30 (barf), a 3-ride skip for $15-$40, or technically, you can get a pass to skip all the big rides, but that one is like $129 - $449 during peak season. I feel like the 3-ride skip would be our move, so let’s budget another $120 because it’s 4 people.

Food - Let’s say you get breakfast before going. For 2 adults and 2 kids, we could keep that to like $45. Then we’d do one Quick Service Meal which is $9 per kid, and about $15 per adult (plus tax). Plus $15 in drinks. That’s about $72. A lot of the dinner places are a flat rate, the ones I found were like $72 per adult and $43 per kid over 3. Plus if you get 4 drinks they’re about $20 each (even kids drinks). So that means dinner would about $267 plus tax and tip you’re talking easily $340. Which means one day of food would be about $457. That’s assuming no snacks and no drinks through out the day.

Transportation to the Airport - An Uber from our house to the Airport is about $30 each way. And I’ll assume an Uber to the airport from your hotel is about $50. So altogether that’s $160.

Stuff! Those Mickey Ears? $40/each. The MagicBand to enhance your kids experience? $45. It’s easy to tack on another $150 on miscellaneous spending. You are there with kids and Disney knows how to market to kids to a point where you’ll be dealing with tantrums all day if you buy nothing.

Grand Total - Altogether, one day at Disney will run you $2,355.

That's not an argument for never going.

Disney is genuinely magical, and the memories are real. It's just worth knowing the actual number before you go, because most people don't.

The best financial decisions aren't about cutting out everything fun. They're about knowing what things actually cost, deciding they're worth it, and choosing accordingly.

Disney might be worth $2,500 to you. That's a completely valid call.

I’m not sold on whether or not it is for us.