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How To Conduct a Weekly Review to Keep Yourself on Track

Written by Adam on March 7, 2021. Updated January 8, 2023.
7 min read. Personal, Minafi, Blog, Goals. 10 Comments

How much time do you spend reflecting on the past? What about planning the future? If you’re like most people you favor one or the other. It takes both to lay out a plan that turns your goals into reality. Despite this, almost no one does it! This action has a lot of names: meditation, journaling, therapy, goal setting – just to name a few. They all have the same thing in common: personal growth through understanding.

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11 Things to Consider Before Investing in Cryptocurrency in 2021

Written by Adam on March 3, 2021. Updated March 14, 2021.
7 min read. Spotlight, Investing. Leave a Comment

This post was written by Tim Thomas. Tim Thomas was born in Guildford and now lives near Southampton, the UK with his family. Tim started his career in the financial markets and has traded and invested in stocks, options, forex, futures, crypto, and real estate for over 20 years. His website, https://timthomas.co/, is dedicated to teaching swing trading strategies for profits, helping traders reach their wealth and financial freedom goals.

11 Things to Consider Before Investing in Cryptocurrency in 2021

Adam Says: While I don’t personally have any of my own money in cryptocurrency, it’s a subject I’m often asked to write about. This article by Tim goes over some of my biggest concerns – namely the volatility and the risk of losing everything if you lose your account keys. My recommendation is to think of cryptocurrency as a bet rather than an investment. Don’t speculate with any money that you’d miss. I personally wouldn’t go above 5% for all of my speculative investments.

This news might strike excitement into the hearts of diehard crypto fans, but it also means there’s a rise in people who want to get in on the “hype” and invest in cryptocurrency without truly understanding how they work.

Make sure you’re not one of them. I’ll outline 11 things that everyone should know before investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, all updated for the crypto landscape of 2021.

1.They’re Based on Blockchain Technology

You don’t have to be an investor to have heard of blockchain technology. But would you be able to explain how it works? For most people, the answer to that question is no.

In a nutshell, blockchain is the infrastructure that supports cryptocurrencies. It’s also decentralized, therefore offering an alternative to the traditional, centralized financial institutions.

Instead of middlemen like banks ensuring our current and savings accounts remain secure, the blockchain forms an anonymous but public digital ledger of buys and sells — made up of blocks in a chain.

Using sophisticated cryptographic protocols and incentive systems, the users themselves keep the infrastructure running without sacrificing security, anonymity, or efficiency. At least, that’s the theory.

If you’re thinking this sounds somewhat vague, that’s because the blockchain works differently for each cryptocurrency.

For instance, on Bitcoin, users “mine” new blocks: they search for the right cryptographic combination to verify a transaction, which helps to form the blockchain and results in a reward of Bitcoin for the “miners.”

In contrast, many other cryptocurrency systemsuse staking, which involves users placing their assets down to verify a transaction, with the possibility of receiving a portion of transaction fees.

2.You can Break Them up into Smaller Pieces

As you might have heard, in U.S dollar terms, many cryptocurrencies are worth a lot — even when the value of Bitcoin dropped significantly in 2019, it didn’t go below $3,000.

That’s not exactly very practical for buying a coffee or even a new phone. It’s also not useful for investors who’d prefer investing in cryptocurrency similarly to a fractional stock rather than a whole Bitcoin.

Fortunately, just like U.S dollars can be split into cents and British pounds can be divided into pennies, Bitcoin breaks down into units.

The smallest of these is a Satoshi (named after Bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto), worth 0.00000001 of one Bitcoin. A few other units, including the millibitcoins (0.001 of one Bitcoin) and microbitcoins (0.000001 of one Bitcoin).

Similar systems exist for other cryptocurrency options, too. So, despite the recent price gains in Bitcoin and others, ordinary folks are not ‘locked out’ and can still invest smaller amounts in the crypto market.

3.There’s a Limited Supply

For an asset to be valuable, it must be scarce — or at least difficult to obtain. That’s why oil is worth more than dirt. It’s also (one of the reasons) why the government can’t just print as much money as it wants and hand it out to citizens.

So, the makers of cryptocurrency had to recreate this feature in the digital world. If unlimited amounts of Bitcoin were available and ready for the taking, it would be hard to justify one single Bitcoin being worth thousands of U.S dollars.

The supply of Bitcoin is 21 million, with the number still available to mine decreasing each day. Some see this as a significant flaw in how the system works, so there’s speculation that more coins may have to be released.

Naturally, not every cryptocurrency works quite like Bitcoin. However, almost all of them have some kind of financial or technological mechanism to limit how many are available or make coins difficult to obtain.

4.Use Them Anonymously

When we deposit money into an account with a financial institution, the bank knows exactly who we are. The same isn’t true when you’re investing in cryptocurrency.

Let’s say you buy some ether from an exchange like Coinbase. You’ll then need to transfer that digital currency to a virtual wallet to store your investments (more on your options for this later).

The company that hosts the wallet has no idea who you are. Instead, you use two 16-digit passwords (a public key and a private key). The public key is for sending money to the right person, while the private key is for confirming the trade.

As our personal data is becoming more readily available to governments and a small number of corporations, this is becoming an increasingly important and popular perk.

5.Mass Adoption is Still Far Off

With investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies discussed so frequently, it can sometimes feel like we’re on the cusp of mass adoption, especially as major companies like Tesla are now accepting Bitcoin.

While interest is growing, in reality, we’re still a long way off. Mass adoption means many, many more people are buying cryptocurrency and using it in their everyday life.

When your grandparents give you your birthday present in the form of Bitcoin, that’s when we’ve reached mass adoption.

6.Digital Assets are Volatile

The volatility of the cryptocurrency market is a significant reason why we’re so far off mass adoption.

On average, the price of Bitcoin fluctuates by around 2.67% each day. For many personal investors, this is way too much risk. Imagine eating at a restaurant and finding out your meal’s price had increased by the time you were billed!

Just look at the graph of Bitcoin’s price over the last five years.

To avoid waking up in a cold sweat at night worrying about the price of your crypto investment, it’s prudent investing only (a small percentage of) what you can afford to lose.

Many exchanges will accept stop-loss orders allowing investors to predefine how much you’re willing to lose and allowing you to sleep easy at night.

7.Portfolio Diversification is a Must

Just because investing in cryptocurrencies means using the Blockchain rather than fiat money, it doesn’t mean that personal finance’s usual principles just go out the window.

As with conventional investing, if you want to build future wealth, you have to diversify.

That means investing only a small percentage of your total wealth into cryptocurrency. Additionally, it also means spreading your investment across multiple investments. Why not invest the rest in property or other new technologies such as 5G via the stock market?

8.Costs Can be High

Since cryptocurrencies are thought of as alternatives to traditional financial institutions, you’d be forgiven for thinking costs are lower.

But while this is the hope for the future, it’s most often not the case right now.

Currently, it’s more expensive to buy and sell on a crypto exchange than to buy an asset on, say, the New York stock exchange. Why? Fees are charged and distributed to users for helping to maintain the exchanges.

9.They all Have Different Use Cases

Although “currency” is the most popular term, “digital assets” is more accurate. Bitcoin rose to fame as an alternative to physical money, and the image of people trying to use it to buy pizza has remained ingrained in many of our minds.

In reality, many of the “coins” aren’t primarily made to be a currency (or rather, a medium of exchange). The crypto world is about tech as well, not just finance!

For instance, Ethereum aims to establish a platform for applications using smart contracts, and its native coin ether (ETH) fuels this. ETH can be traded, held in a wallet, and used for purchases and sales, but it wasn’t developed solely to be a currency and nothing else.

Similarly, EOS is a smart contract platform trying to help decentralized apps match non-blockchains apps.

Other cryptocurrencies have use cases like gambling and entertainment.

However, since developing a trading strategy for cryptocurrencies has become so popular, you could argue that their primary use case is as a speculative asset.

10.There are Various Types

Although “digital assets” is a more accurate category for all cryptocurrencies, we can be more precise than that. There are four main types of cryptocurrencies: cryptocurrencies, altcoins, forks, and tokens.

By now, you should know that cryptocurrencies are digital currencies made using cryptographic protocols (digital codes).

Bitcoin is an obvious example. Although it technically wasn’t the very first cryptocurrency, it was the first to be decentralized.

Litecoin is another cryptocurrency — it’s based on the source code of Bitcoin and aims to make transactions cheaper and more efficient.

But what about the other types I’ve outlined?

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies designed as alternatives to Bitcoin. Whereas Litecoin and ETH work with Bitcoin and don’t intend to replace it entirely, altcoins do.

Stellar is an example of an altcoin, and its function is to enable a network of financial systems for sending and trading all kinds of currencies.

You can’t have altcoins without forks, which change an existing crypto protocol to make room for an altcoin. For example, Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin because it enables more trades per block, speeding up the slow transaction speeds of Bitcoin.

Then there are tokens: a general term for assets created on crypto platforms, which perform a specific function that isn’t necessarily being a currency.

Many crypto platforms have both currencies and tokens. For instance, on Ethereum, there’s both the currency ETH (used for transactions) and ERC-20 tokens (used for smart contracts).

11.There are Different Ways to Store Them

I’ve already said that you can store your cryptocurrency in a virtual wallet, but it gets more complicated than that. You can either hold your investment in a cold or hot wallet (or both).

Hot wallets are located on the internet so that you can access them from anywhere. For instance, the exchange Coinbase has its own cloud wallet.

In contrast, cold wallets hold cryptocurrency offline in hardware like USB. If you lose that USB, you have no way of accessing your account or investment.

There’s a tradeoff between security and convenience here.

Should I Invest in Cryptocurrency?

Well, it’s over to you now! These considerations are just a starting point for your crypto investment in 2021. Whether you’ve concluded this a future investment avenue for you or the risk is too high, that’s your call.

But remember, I’ve only really scratched the surface of the considerations behind crypto investing here. Before you go ahead and invest in cryptocurrency, I recommend doing your research on the specific digital asset(s) you’re interested in, know the volatility and the amount of risk you’re taking.

This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek.

Lessons Learned From A Year of Monthly Themes

Written by Adam on February 28, 2021. Updated January 8, 2023.
13 min read. Blog, Mindfulness, Personal. 8 Comments

In 2020 I tried an experiment. In the time before COVID I made a plan to set a theme for each month. These themes would be simple – just one word. The idea was to let that theme influence what I did and how I thought for that month.

The hope was to set themes related to areas of my life that were out of balance. Working too hard? Set a theme that reminds you to relax. Having trouble getting things done? Set a theme that would encourage focus. Not sure what to work on? Set a theme that encourages you to dream big.

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Financial Independence Groups: Meetups, Forums, Events and How To Find Likeminded People

Written by Adam on February 24, 2021. Updated January 8, 2023.
7 min read. Financial Independence, Canonical, Minafi, Blog. 4 Comments

After learning about financial independence, most people have a lot of questions. Questions about investing, questions about spending, and general questions like “could I really retire early?”.

With COVID still on the horizon for much of 2021, most groups have an online presence that you can join right now.

Posting on an anonymous forum where anyone can answer (and anyone can see) can be scary! Finding the right group of people should make you feel comfortable sharing your real questions and while receiving accurate, targeted feedback on your most important questions.

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Why You Should Plant a (Symbolic) Garden For Early Retirement

Written by Adam on February 21, 2021. Updated January 8, 2023.
3 min read. Canonical, Minafi, Blog, Financial Independence, Personal. 6 Comments

When I was a kid, I remember visiting my grandparents. They were in their 60s at the time and recently retired. I didn’t have any concept of “retirement”, but I knew they didn’t work all day.

In the summer of 8th grade and spent a few weeks away from my parents hanging out with my grandparents in a small town in West Virginia. Being a very self-sufficient only child, I spent a lot of that time exploring the creek behind their house, catching crawfish and obsessively checking myself for ticks.

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How to Get Out of a Timeshare: 5 Proven Ways

Written by Adam on January 11, 2021. Updated March 11, 2021.
7 min read. Spotlight. Leave a Comment

This post was written by MonicaFish. Monica writes about timeshare vacation tips & tricks, NYC Metro Area trips & activities, and frugal, yet rich, living at PlannerAtHeart.com. With over $10 billion spent on U.S. timeshare purchases every year and 20 million worldwide owners of timeshares, she’s on a mission to help people save money and make the most of their timeshare ownership. She thinks of herself as your Timeshare Fairy Godmother!

Adam says: Early on in my career, I worked as a programmer at a timeshare company. What I saw there was one of the sleaziest, most vile industries you can imagine. They prey on people’s desire for an ideal vacation with aggressive sales tactics and obfuscated fees. The best way to get out of a timeshare is to never get into one. After you’ve signed on the dotted line these are some of your best bets.

While 7 out of 8 U.S. timeshares owners are satisfied, one-in-four Americans have trouble paying their bills. In a world of tough choices, a timeshare invoice is probably placed at the bottom of a stack of bills.

As a fellow timeshare owner, I know how complicated it can be to find reliable information on how to get out of a timeshare legally with your credit score in tack. I’m guessing that your social media feed is also filled with advertisements from various timeshare termination teams and timeshare attorneys. During the last recession, we researched how to sell our timeshare contract. We ultimately decided to keep our vacation ownership and are glad we did.

Do you have an unwanted timeshare? Is the maintenance fee a financial burden? Similar to other commitments, you can’t just walk away from a timeshare company. Here are five ways you can “divorce” your timeshare legally that doesn’t include paying thousands of dollars of upfront fees to timeshare exit companies or to a timeshare lawyer. Did you know that ending your timeshare contract is something that you can do on your own?

This is The Way.

How Much Can I Sell My Timeshare For?

Before we dig into how to get out of a timeshare contract, it’s important to address the elephant in the room. How much are timeshares worth? Well, things are only worth what people are willing to pay for them. Unfortunately, the high-pressure sales tactics of some resorts misrepresent the resale market value of your timeshare contract. Warning: the answer may be unsettling and hard to hear.

Unlike vacation homes, timeshares are a depreciating asset and are sold on the secondary market for 75 to 99% less than the resort sales price. Very few have resale value, and a large majority of timeshare contracts will sell for pennies on the dollar to a new owner via a resale company. Unless you own with one of the premium timeshare companies, a deeded timeshare week over the holidays, or in the highest demand locations (e.g., Key West, Hawaii, Yellowstone), you will discover that the competitive resale price for most timeshares will be around $1,000.

How to Get Out of a Timeshare Contract: The Financial Reality

If timeshare resale brokers, real estate agents, or a timeshare exit company are telling you that you’ll make money on your timeshare contract, it’s a huge red flag. Today’s supply and demand dynamics mean it’s currently a buyer’s market in the timeshare world. Any licensed timeshare resale real estate agent worth their salt will tell you the same.

You might lose thousands of dollars, but if you want to be released from your annual financial commitment, taking a loss might be your best option to stop paying timeshare maintenance fees every year. If you’ve been thinking about how to get out of a timeshare contract legally, here are five proven ways to do it yourself.

Option #1: Hurry! Use Your Recession Period

If you just bought and want to know how to get out of a timeshare contract, hopefully, you’re reading this while you’re still on vacation. There is a rescission period cooling off timeframe to cancel timeshare purchases AND get your money back like a mortgage agreement for your house. The length of your rescission period depends on the timeshare law in the state your timeshare is located. You have 3-15 days to contact the resort and file a rescission letter for a timeshare cancellation.

How to Get Out of a Timeshare with a Rescission Letter

To start a timeshare cancellation, you need to notify them in writing within your rescission period. The contents of a recession letter vary by resort, and the details can be found in your timeshare contract. Make sure you read this carefully and include every single item required to cancel your timeshare purchase if you leave something out of the letter that’s technically a timeshare contract loophole that they can use to deny your request.

Timeshare Users Group (TUG), the oldest and largest timeshare owners group and advocacy organization, developed a starter letter for people to cancel an unwanted timeshare. TUG reports that the average person saves $18,000 by completing a timeshare termination this way.

Lastly, double and triple-check that you have delivery confirmation paperwork that proves you’ve sent the purchase cancellation letter by the required date. If you contact the timeshare company, make sure you’re speaking to a member of their financial services or legal team and not a timeshare salesperson. The latter will try and convince you not to cancel your timeshare contract as it affects their bottom line.

Option #2: How to Get Out of a Timeshare via a Deedback Program

If you are outside of the 1-2 week rescission period, and you want to cancel your timeshare contract, your first call should be to your timeshare company. Most large resorts and chains have timeshare exit programs for owners who do not have an outstanding loan on their timeshare. If you are done with mortgage payments, the fastest timeshare exit strategy is through your home resort. It can be as simple as one phone call, and you can give your unwanted timeshare back. That’s right, end your maintenance fee bills with one call! No termination team or exit company is needed!

The best way to find your company is through the American Resort Development Association’s Safe Exit website that guides timeshare owners through the timeshare exit process. Many people reported giving their timeshare back, quickly, for absolutely free! If your resort isn’t listed on the American Resort Development Association’s Safe Exit website, contact the Owner Services representative at your resort to see how to get out of a timeshare with their company.

Remember, no third party can end your financial obligation to your mortgage company as part of a timeshare termination. If you haven’t spoken to your lender about your hardship or that you’d prefer timeshare freedom, now is the time to communicate directly about your situation.

Option #3: Give Your Timeshare Away to Family or Friends

Have you asked a loved one if they’d like to take over your timeshare contract? Has a family member or group of friends timeshare traveled with you and enjoyed it? Perhaps they’d like a gift of future vacations. Have handy all the relevant financial information such as your annual maintenance fees, legal closing costs, and resort transfer fees for the conversation.

If you’re thinking about how to get out of a timeshare by giving it away, a little bit of marketing goes a long way! Illustrate for them that your timeshare annual fees are cheaper than booking the same vacation directly from the resort or hotel discount sites. Take screenshots of your ownership week on the hotel’s reservation page and hotel booking sites. A picture’s worth a thousand words when explaining how this saves them money on future trips.

To sweeten your timeshare donation offer, pass along advice on how they can hack timeshare ownership to see the world at a fraction of the price!

Option #4: Transfer Your Timeshare Contract to Another Owner at Your Resort

People get rid of their timeshare legally by transferring their timeshare contract to an existing owner at their home resort. Some people are looking to buy timeshare weeks for additional vacations or bring family and friends along on their annual trip. There is no reason to hire a timeshare exit team when you can sell a timeshare you no longer want directly to another owner! How to get out of a timeshare this way if you don’t know any other owners?

Don’t worry. Finding them is easy! Locate your resort’s Facebook owner’s group using “Name of Your Resort Owners” as the search term. Once you’ve found and joined your vacation club group, create a Facebook post to advertise the timeshare ownership that you no longer want. Include your specific week, size of your unit/number of points, annual maintenance fees, and the total closing costs. I’ve seen first hand many of these postings and the quick response they’ve garnered from interest owners. If you no longer want your ownership, this is a quick and super cheap way to sell your timeshare without a real estate agent.

Option #5: List Your Timeshare Contract on the Resale Market Competitively

Did you know there is a flourishing resale market for timeshares? If you’re motivated to transfer your timeshare contract, make sure that you list yours for a competitive price. Research multiple timeshare resale sites to locate comparable units and their final sales price. You don’t need a high priced law firm. You need an interested buyer and a timeshare closing company, and you’ve got your timeshare freedom.

How To Get Out of a Timeshare Legally by Selling It

There are trusted websites brimming with people looking to buy a timeshare contract resale. Like flat fee listing services for real estate, these websites will get your timeshare in front of tons of people. Your options, and corresponding costs, vary from DIY forums up to full-service management. If you feel unsure about selling your timeshare online, you can always research the company with The Better Business Bureau.

When picking a resale website for your listing, focus on reputable ones with the most eyeballs. Neither of the below options to sell your unwanted timeshare legally comes with a high upfront fee. In fact, DIY options start at $15, and full-service options are around $500.

Timeshare Users Group (TUG) is the oldest and largest timeshare owners group and advocacy organization. They’ve been helping people make the most of their ownership for over 25 years. They are also one of the largest and most visited timeshares classified ad sites on the internet, with $30 million in completed timeshare sales. If you want to read more about getting out of a timeshare, their online forums are great resources.
RedWeek.com is the largest online marketplace for timeshare sales and rentals, with an audience of 2+ million. They offer three listing and sales management options, from DIY all the way to full service. Reach out to them via email for a free consultation on their services.

How to Get Out of a Timeshare Without Being Scammed

Lastly, be prepared once your listing is live for all sorts of timeshare cancellation proposals. There has been a reported uptick in timeshare resale scams during the pandemic taking advantage of people who don’t know how to get out of a timeshare. You’ll most likely get cold calls from timeshare cancellation attorneys with offers that are too good to be true or timeshare exits teams offering to help for a large upfront fee.

So, keep your wallet closed, trust your gut, and ask for everything in writing. This is The Way.

This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek and has been republished with permission.