Welcome to my weekly newsletter, where I share 3 ideas to help you become wealthier and wiser.
Idea 1
I used a company called Billshark to help me negotiate my internet bill.
They saved me $480 over a 2 year period, and charged $192 (40%) of the savings as their fee. The process:
- Discovered Billshark via Mint.com and and signed up.
- Filled out some forms and personal info, including the account information for Spectrum Internet (what I wanted to negotiate)
- 1 week later, Billshark successfully negotiated my internet bill down to $49.99/month for 2 years.
- I paid Billshark 40% of the savings
I had previously tried to negotiate my Spectrum bill on my own. It worked once, but after another promotional period they wouldn’t budget. Spectrum knows they have a monopoly on internet services in my zip code.
Here are 2 extra bonuses that I couldn’t get on my own:
- Billshark secured a new contract term for 2 years, helping me lock in a low price that otherwise might have only lasted 6-12 months if I had tried this on my own.
- As part of negotiating a new package, Spectrum bumped up my internet plan to 100 mbps faster, so I’m getting higher speeds for free.
I went with Billshark because of their simple pricing model. I haven’t tried competitors like Rocket Money (formerly Truebill). Either way, these bill negotiation services can just end up saving you hundreds.
Idea 2
“You are only as young as the last time you’ve changed your mind.”
I love this reframing on youth.
Habits and a lifetime of learning can calcify the mind.
The ability to change your mind shows flexibility.
A related idea: consider your surface area of knowledge. Is that surface area narrow or wide enough to catch new ideas? Is the surface brittle or porous?
Bonus idea: To end a debate with someone, you just need to ask them “Is there anything I could say to change your mind?” And if they reply “no,” you can stop debating and move on.
Idea 3
The 5 year plan is dead; Long live the 5 year plan!
On a recent chat with fellow writer Drew Stegmaier, I came away with one powerful one liner:
“People are more concerned about creating a 5 year plan more than they are in reviewing their progress every 5 weeks.”
If you’re like me, I like to make plans and not stick to them. Making the plan often helps me feel like I accomplished the job. Consistently reviewing the plan (and adjusting) is the real work I like to avoid.
Planning vs execution.
Personally, the most valuable part of doing a 5 year plan is to clarify my vision and set a general direction for how I want my life to go. Having a North Star – something to work towards – does help.
The 5 year plan hasn’t worked as well when I got too granular, like “make $1 million in one year.” That approach bears the risk of setting a stress-inducing expectation, and violates the what I learned about input vs output goals.
So…what’s in your 5 year plan?
Just for fun
In this 2 minute rom com, Carton meets Generica in a city where no one cares about business. By @imchriswilson on TikTok.