FI: So You Are FI? But How Do You Give Back?

A topic I see sometimes in the FI (financial independence) / FIRE (financial independence retire early) groups is giving back.  Sometimes people may ask ... well how much do you donate per month?  Or what percentage of your spending goes towards donation per month?  Or ... how else do you serve others?  Or maybe when you retire / RE (retire early) do you now spend time volunteering?  After all, you probably are watching your money closely and / or now have the money (and / or time) to do so (give back through various means).

Regardless of whether you are FI (or retired / retired early), I think it is important to give back whether that is time, skills, financially or otherwise.

At one time I was a very active volunteer (but then full-time teaching and my own kids happened).  I had the time to give back ... I enjoyed volunteering, and I also was in the process of switching careers (advertising to art museum education and eventually in the art classroom).  When I lived in NYC, I volunteered with organizations such as The Museum of Modern Art (Family Programs), and when I returned to Houston I spent time at organizations such as The Menil Collection and Lawndale Art Center ... just to name a few.  These opportunities gave me the chance to do something I enjoyed, help others, and gain experience in a new career (and build up my resume).  Not to mention there were definitely other perks like meeting new friends / contacts.

So now that we reached FIRE ... (and the kids aren’t currently in the school system), we have the time (or more time rather) to dedicate some of our time to service / volunteering.  (Remember part of our appeal to FIRE is time!).  I thought this would also be a good opportunity to learn more about giving back to others, gain new experiences (just like I did in the arts!), and I also like how we can connect to hands-on learning experiences (City Schooling for us!).

We started volunteering at Hermann Park’s Japanese Garden through Hermann Park Conservancy.  Hermann Park is within walking distance from us so it’s a great way to give back to our immediate community (and feel even more a part of the community).  Also we are trying to keep as safe as possible with COVID-19 so I thought an outdoor experience would be best.  I don’t know that they normally take volunteers as young as our kids (right now age 9 and 7), but I am with them the entire time.  There are also specific areas of the park where families can volunteer - the Japanese Garden is one of them.

Our first time to volunteer in Hermann Park’s Japanese Garden.

Did I mention it is hot in Houston?  Cooling off after volunteering (on our walk home through Hermann Park).

So far we volunteered one time, and it was a great experience despite the oppressive Houston heat!  I did sign us up for once a month.  I think we may be able to push it to twice a month, but I didn’t want the kids to get “burnt out” (no pun intended) due to the heat.  I wanted them to enjoy the experience.  Maybe once October hits (sometimes still warm, but not as bad as July / August), I can sign up for 2x a month.

How did our first volunteer experience in the Japanese Garden go?  To sum it up: The kids have been asking to go back ... “when do we get to go help again in the Japanese Garden?”  I take that as a good sign, and it was very hot when we volunteered (in pants and closed-toe shoes per the garden’s request!).

Our volunteer contact at the gardens was kind and great with the kids.  We were able to easily socially distance from her / other volunteers (and wore masks).  The other volunteers seemed to be mostly teens (and the adults with them), and they worked in a separate area of the gardens.  Hermann Park provided gloves and other garden tools (I also bought gardening gloves for the kids that we will use next time).

The volunteer coordinator did a great job of talking to the kids about the importance of volunteer work - not only serving / giving back to your community but also for the experience.  It might have gone a little over their heads (getting experience before entering college / the working world), but I am glad she pointed this out / they were exposed to this idea.  She also talked a little bit about the Japanese Garden (how they are viewed / used differently in Japan versus the US) and related it to the work that we would be doing that day.

We helped with putting pebbles / stones / rocks back where they belonged, and we helped to do some weeding.  The kids really enjoyed it (minus the heat), and they were proud of their hard work.  It also has made them notice nature better / taking care of their community (park / gardens) even more so.  Also what a great way to explore science in a hands-on manner - City Schooling!  The kids were really learning without me having to even relate it to “direct instruction,” but also our volunteer leader did point out some things to the kids - such as the mushrooms they saw ... why not to pick those (the squirrels love them apparently), and how they grow.  Now on our walks, they are always pointing out the mushrooms.

Since this is an FI blog, total cost?: $0 (sort of).  Of course it is volunteering, so you don’t pay for the experience, but we did buy a few things ... They requested pants and closed-toe shoes for gardening.  The kids needed new pants anyways for Fall so I did purchase those (Cat and Jack from Target).  They also needed new shoes since they’ve been in mostly sandals this summer so we got Xero shoes (minimalist barefoot shoes).  But these are two items we would have purchased eventually anyways.  They said they would provide gloves for kids (turned out to be winter gloves), but I did purchase gardening gloves that came later.  I was able to buy a pack of 3 pairs for less than $10 from VGO.  I bought directly from the company since I am trying to avoid supporting Amazon.

Our youngest “Bridged Over” to a Girl Scout Brownie in the Japanese Garden this summer.

Where else may we volunteer?  I still need to research opportunities more.  One idea I have that was suggested by a few people - Kids Meals Inc.  They have several different opportunities, but one age appropriate / COVID-19 safe opportunity is to decorate and donate lunch sacks for kids meals.  

Do you have any other organizations to suggest to us?  How do you give back?  Do you participate in volunteer work?

In the Houston area and want to be a part of our City Schooling?  We still have one spot left in our September 3 Art Adventure which will take place in The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Sculpture Garden.  Contact us for more info.

And don’t miss Erik’s latest financial post on 401k accounts!

Like what you read?  Comment below, and share our post!

-Tara

September 2020: City School Art Adventures

If you are in the Houston area, we would love to have you join us for our City School Art Adventures!  We just released the focus / themes for our two September dates (see the images below for more details).

September 3: Shapes in the Sculpture Garden

September 17: People and Painting (and Poetry!)

Both City School Art Adventures will take place in The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Sculpture Garden.  Bonus?  The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is always free on Thursdays courtesy of Shell Oil Company, and the Cullen Sculpture Garden is always free and open to the public.  You can visit the MFAH with your family (and cool off in the AC!) after our Art Adventure.  You can read more about their COVID-19 safety protocols and timed ticket information here.

We’ve also visited the MFAH since COVID-19, and you can read more about our personal experience here (What If You Could Have Recess In A Sculpture Garden?).

Their sculpture garden is very large and has shaded areas.  Tables are also available, and I will bring wipes to clean them.  Artists will also be able to use clipboards during the Art Adventure.

401k Basics: Strategy To Increase Contributions And Your Paycheck

One of the first things you do when you get a new job is set up your 401k (if you’re fortunate enough to work for a company that offers one).  For a lot of people this means putting 5% in to reach the company match (aka free money), and then they forget about it for the next 30+ years (not the best strategy in my opinion!).  

First .. is 5% enough?  Probably not.  Some people will be more aggressive and start with a 10% contribution.  Is 10% enough?  How do you determine what is enough?  When and how can you increase your 401k contribution amount?  

Is there a way to increase your contribution and increase your paycheck?  The answer is, YES.

Is your 401k leading you down the right path?

It’s important to keep in mind companies are moving more and more away from pension plans and towards 401k plans.  This is or might be your main source of income in retirement.  Don’t be a person who plans to live off of Social Security (SS) in retirement.  Rather think of SS as a bonus if it is there when you retire. 

For this post we are going to make the following assumptions:  

Person A: Starts their career in 2020 with a salary of $60,000.

Person A: Consistently receives annual salary adjustments that average 2.5% per year.

Person A: Works for a company that offers a 5% company match (free money).  

Person A: Has access to / invests in a S&P 500 index fund in their 401k plan.  (As they get closer to retirement, they may allocate 10 - 20% of this to a total bond market fund.  For this post, let’s keep it simple and assume they stay 100% invested in the S&P 500 Fund).

Rate of Return = ROR; Return on Investment = ROI

Example 1: 

Person A needs to decide the amount they want to contribute.  We know they are offered a 5% match from the company, so to do anything less than this is literally like throwing money away.  In Example 1, we will assume they are going to contribute 5%, and then they forget about it.  Over the years they consider logging in and adjusting their contribution amount, but they hate the idea of making their paychecks smaller ... and they just never really get around to it.  Let’s see how much they are left with in this 30 year estimate.  Note: Salary increased based 2.5% each year, and the example is based on salary starting at $60,000.

We see that by contributing 5% with a 5% company match this scenario provides around $855,000 in 30 years.  That amount doesn’t look too bad in the year 2020, but in the year 2050 this would only provide about $350k worth of spending power after accounting for 30 years of inflation (based on this calculator using 3% inflation).

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to have more than that waiting for me after putting in 30 long years of work.  

Example 2: 

In this example, Person A decides to be more aggressive with their initial contribution (good for them!), and they start with 10%.  But just like in the first example, the years go by, life gets in the way... They get married, have kids, buy a house, etc.  Even if they wanted to increase their contribution at this point, they simple can’t imagine decreasing their pay check to do it.  They make the decision to hold steady at 10% for the 30 year period.  Let’s see how they do after 30 years.  Note: Salary increased based 2.5% each year, and the example is based on salary starting at $60,000.

That extra 5% per year contribution really paid off.  As you can see above, instead of having $855,000 after 30 years, they are left with around $1,283,000.  This certainly is a better situation to be in financially, but let’s consult our chart to see how much spending power this will give us 30 years down the road. 

This time Person A has a spending power of around $529,000 during retirement.  This is certainly better than in the first scenario, but this is still not nearly as good as one would think.   

This brings us to the personal strategy that I used during my career.  With this strategy, a person can increase their 401k contribution while still increasing their pay check.  Here’s how to apply it:

Example 3: 

Typically every year your employer is going to provide you with salary adjustments.  Let’s assume they fall between 2 - 3% per year.  For this example, we are using the middle ground and assuming an average of 2.5% salary adjustment per year.  Let’s also assume this adjustment takes place in March each year.  This means by late February, your supervisor has already gone over your salary adjustment, and you know the exact amount.  Assuming a 2.5% salary adjustment, you would allocate 50% of this to your 401k contribution (or 1.25%).  

Timing Is Everything

The trick is to do this BEFORE the salary adjustment happens.  In this example, it changes in March, so in late February (preferably after finding out your exact adjustment for the year) you would need to log into your 401k and increase your contribution by 1.25% (or whatever 50% of your salary adjustment equals).  The timing is important because it usually takes a pay cycle for the change in your 401k to go into effect.  In this example you are still left with a salary increase of 1.25% on your next paycheck.  Congratulations!  You have just managed to increase your 401k contribution while also experiencing a bigger paycheck from your salary adjustment.

Let’s look at the 30 year numbers when using this strategy. For this chart, Person A is going to start off similar to the last example with a 10% contribution, and then they are going to increase it by 1.25% per year (50% of their 2.5% salary adjustment).  Using this strategy, Person A is able to start maxing out their 401k at the current allowable max of $19,500 by year 2032, and Person A continues to max it out through 2050.  Note: Salary increased based 2.5% each year, and the example is based on salary starting at $60,000.

Add caption

Person A is left with around $1,967,000 after 30 years, and the spending value in today’s dollars of $810,000.  Now things are looking much better!

The Takeaway

If you have a 401k and you are contributing 5% or less, it almost certainly isn’t going to be enough in retirement.  

If you are contributing 10% for 30 years this definitely helps; if you also have a Roth IRA and Social Security, this could provide a decent retirement.  But who wants to settle for decent?? 

Using the strategy presented in the last example, you are able to slowly increase your 401k contribution amount every year while also experiencing a bigger pay check from your annual salary adjustment.  You timed the changes in your 401k contribution amount a couple of weeks before the salary adjustment goes into effect.  In other words, your 401k gets a raise AND your bank account gets a raise!

So what do you think?  Do you contribute to a 401k?  Do you increase your contribution (and paycheck) yearly until you max it out?  Like what you read?  Comment below, and share our post!

Contact us (Erik) to see how we can help you with your 401k or other numbers: Financial Consulting.

Read Tara’s latest post here ... City School: Raising Kids To Be FI (Financially Independent).

-Erik

 

 

City School: Raising Kids To Be FI (Financially Independent)

I’m currently “finalizing” (our flexible) City School plans for the Fall / “new school year”.  And given that this is a FIRE (financial independence retire early) blog, let’s take a closer look at some of our plans / goals for Math (for a 9 year old and 7 year old ... in public school they would be entering 4th and 2nd in the US).

How can City Schooling help this year to better prepare the kids to be financially independent?

Math activities at the Children’s Museum Houston.

I’ve mentioned before how I want to attempt to take a somewhat non-traditional approach to City Schooling this Fall / “school year” ... try some learning that isn’t like what they were use to at school.  As in ... try less “book work” / “curriculum” / worksheets (... and even on-line learning) and more hands-on experiences.

 

With that said, it is definitely hard for me to take the leap to entirely Unschool so there will be SOME things they may be use to ... which brings me to Beast Academy.

Beast Academy:

I talked about Beast Academy in this post (City Schooling: What Will School Look Like This Fall?), and I decided to purchase the first guide book / practice book for each child (3A for our oldest, 2A for our youngest).  So far this is the only “curriculum / workbook” I’ve bought (and plan to buy at this point).  So why did I chose Beast?  It’s of course important to have an understanding of the basics / foundations of math.  Those prepare them for a better understanding of everyday math and also prepare them for upper level math / learning.  I think Beast will allow them to learn and practice the foundations of math in a rigorous and non-traditional way (through comic book characters).

Beast Academy: Example of a guide book page.

Beast Academy: Example of a practice book page.

For the “school year” we will plan to get through all 4 units for each child (oldest = 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, and youngest = 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D).  I am opting for the books at this point, but there is an on-line option should / when we start traveling.

I plan to have this as our core focus for the year, but our supplemental learning will be just as important.

Cost: This really depends on what you decide to go with - books or on-line (or both).  Individual guide / practice books or a package (you do save money with a full set).  Each unit (guide and practice book) is $27 (for each child - 2A and 3A).  I decided to try this first to see how it works out (versus going with the package).  The cost will increase of course once we decide to buy more books or the on-line option.

Math “Schedule”:

Tuesday will be our focus Math Day along with Spanish, but they will do their Beast Academy guides / practice books almost daily.  Another great thing about Beast is their website is set up very well.  They even have planning tools.  I was able to follow along with their planning tools and fill in our calendar plan (I got a Bloom Planner ... how about you?) for September - December.

Monday:

-Beast Academy Guide / Practice

-Optional: Other Math Activities (These will be explained more below).

Tuesday: 

-Beast Academy Guide / Practice

-Required: Pick one or more other Math Activities (STEAM Bins, FIRE Lessons, Coding, Chess / Games / Legos).

Wednesday:

-Beast Academy Guide / Practice

-Optional: Other Math Activities

Thursday:

-Sometimes Beast Academy Guide / Practice (some weeks I only wrote down Beast for Mon - Wed).

-Optional: Other Math Activities

Friday: Fun Friday!

-No Beast Academy Required (Or finish unfinished work).

-Optional: Other Math Activities

I am going to try to have Friday (mostly) open for chilling out, choice activities, (more) Field Trips, and finishing unfinished learning.

Other Math Activities:

So what are those other math activities?  I did talk about them in a previous post about all of our City School plans this Fall, but let’s look more closely.

STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) Bin: This will allow the kids to explore math through hands-on learning (and connect math to other subject areas!).  They will have free choice exploring and making, and I will also have task cards to guide them ... if they are interested / needed.  When I was a teacher, I worked with our librarian on a Makerspace in the library, and I also had STEAM stations in my art classroom.  Kids love it, and it is a great way to explore math (and be creative!).

STEAM Task Cards: STEM Task Cards For The Year (Science Demo Guy) ($25)

STEAM Task Sheets: STEAM / STEM Writing Task Sheets For Classroom Makerspaces Or Libraries (Creative STEAM Studio By Mrs. C) ($3)

STEAM Materials: This is unknown at this point.  It will depend on what I need for the task cards plus other materials.  I will provide an update once I put this together!

Cost: $25 + $3 (So Far) = $28

FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): Ahhh, this is the big piece.  Although all the other components are important for raising independent thinkers / mathematicians ...

How can we specifically raise our kids to be financially independent one day?  Also ... how can they just better understand how math fits in our everyday life (financial literacy) (and to better understand financial independence they need to have a better understanding of financial literacy)?

Let’s actually start with the second point - math in everyday life.  One thing we can work to do better is making the kids aware of money in our own family.  My kids also have somewhat of a background on financial literacy since various aspects have been covered in public school.

What are the different forms of money?  (Cash, Debit Cards, Credit Cards, Checking, etc.)

How do we make money?  How much money do we make each month?

Why is a budget important?  How much money do we spend each month (fixed spending and flexible spending)?  What do we need?  What are wants?

What is debt?

How much do we save?

How much do we invest?  What are investments?

How much do we donate / gift?  Why is that important?

And lead up to ... what is FI (financial independence) and FIRE (financial independence retire early)?  I think (for us at least) I need to focus on the core background first before we move to the ins and outs of getting to FI.  One resource I may look to is the ChooseFI Foundation.  They have curriculum already for 2nd Grade and 3rd - 5th Grade (check out ChooseFI Foundation ... they have curriculum for lower levels and upper levels too!).

I think a lot of school curriculum and even parents cover the basics (and those are important too!), but I think the key to financial independence is often left out - investments.

So what else can we do to reinforce financial literacy / FIRE?  Well, a quick Google search will bring up a wide variety of ideas.  But I have three key ideas that I may work with for now:

-ChooseFI Foundation: As mentioned above, we will explore financial literacy ... and lead that into financial independence with my own lessons and support from ChooseFI Foundation.

-City School Art Adventures: As mentioned in a previous post, you can join our City School adventures (in the Houston area) - City School Art Adventures will be my first side hustle (safety margins!).  Not only do I want my kids to actively help and participate, but I’m leaning towards paying them for their hard work (and in turn they can learn the value of $ and running our own “business.”).  Which leads me into ...

-BusyKid: Have you heard of this free app called BusyKid?  It teaches (using real money) the value of earning, saving, donating, investing, and spending.  I already set up an account for both kids.

Cost: So far “free”, but we will put money into our City School Art Adventures and money towards the kids earning money (BusyKid).

Coding:

Coding is such a great skills for kids to learn!  And the good news is there are lots of great ways to explore coding, including for free!  As of right now, I plan to use these as our main sources to explore coding:

Scratch Jr. (Free)

Scratch (Free)

Hour of Code (Free Options)

Code.org (Free Options)

And the Children’s Museum Houston (CMH) has some great areas in their lower level to explore coding (and they may also have virtual options for us to explore).

Cost: Free (We do have a Membership at the CMH).

Chess / Games / Legos: I think one of the best ways for young kids to explore math and critical thinking skills is through hands-on play such as through board games and Legos.  Max and I started playing chess during COVID-19, and we have an abundance of Legos (we could open a Lego store!).  I donated quite a few board games to our school since we were planning to leave for Spain in August, but I also kept quite a few so we are good to go here!

Cost: Free (I already have all of the above).

Connections to Spanish?  That is still TBD at this point (if I am able to directly incorporate Spanish into math learning).

What are your schooling plans this Fall?  In school?  Remote?  Homeschool?  Unschool?  Supplement at home?  If you are an educator ... or if you have kids / kids in your life, how might you help them become more financially savvy?  FI in the future?

Like what you read?  Please comment below, or share our post!

You can also read Erik’s latest financial post here: How To Adopt Positive FI Habits During A Global Pandemic.  And now is a great time to get your finances in order.  Contact Erik for more information on how he can help: Financial Consulting.

-Tara

FI With Kids: Visit The Children’s Museum During A Global Pandemic?

I have to admit (despite being a huge fan of museums), I was not eager to get back to the Children’s Museum Houston (CMH) during a global pandemic.  It definitely doesn’t sound like the smartest idea to me ... it’s an interactive museum that encourages kids to touch nearly everything!

But a trusted friend that works in the museum world had positive feedback about their family visit in early June so that helped calm some of my fears.  We also literally moved next door, and I have observed (from what I could see) that it looks like a ghost town (good for us during COVID-19 ... not very good for the CMH).  And finally, I plan to utilize the museums in Houston’s Museum District for City Schooling so I wanted to check it out.

We recently had a post (What If You Could Have Recess In A Sculpture Garden?) during COVID-19 that covered the Houston Zoo and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.  Today I would like to cover our recent visit to the Children’s Museum Houston and it’s implications for 1) Budget, 2) Visiting during COVID-19, and 3) How might the CMH be helpful for our City Schooling in the Fall?

Children’s Museum Houston: Budget

As we’ve mentioned before, many times it makes the most sense to purchase a Family Membership versus one day tickets.  So technically our visit earlier this week was $0 because we have a Family Membership.  (Read more about Admission cost here).

In Kidtropolis’s Art Studio (Using the Adventure Bag)

Family Membership Achiever Level = $135

Adult Regular Admission Cost: $12 x 2 = $24

Child Regular Admission Cost: $12 x 2 = $24

Total Regular Admission = $48 (Membership paid for in less than 3 visits).

Do you think your family would visit at least 3 or more times in the next 12 months (Summer?  Fall?  Spring?)?  Then a Membership is probably the best bet for you (check out their Membership page for details on various Membership levels that may be best for your family).  If not, check out their regular Admission prices and other discount opportunities.

Any other costs?  We didn’t spend any additional money this visit.  But of course there are other ways you may end up spending money ... a few that come to mind: parking, add ons, food, gift shop.  Let’s look at those a little more closely.  

Parking: Normally in the summer (or weekends) free parking could be challenging depending on the time of day.  But because of COVID-19 ... parking is no problem (including finding free parking).  There is a free (3 hour limit) lot a block away at Hermann Park’s McGovern Garden’s.  The CMH also has a parking lot / “garage”, and there is meter parking available on the surrounding streets.  

Add Ons?: This will depend on what they have available.  For example, right now they have a Secret Spy Game opportunity (ages 6+) which is $7 per mission.  We haven’t tried it yet, but it may be something we do eventually (there are probably some great connections there for City Schooling!).  

Food: It’s easier now for us to avoid spending extra on food since we live in the neighborhood.  But in the past I would make sure to always have a snack bag, and sometimes plan ahead if we would grab some grub (and there is a lot of great grub to grab nearby!).  Also with COVID-19, we are definitely not eating IN restaurants, but we have grabbed take out.  Still want to budget in for food?  The CMH does offer food (I am guessing hours vary), and there are some great bites nearby such as Barnaby’s Museum District (and limited outdoor seating).

Gift Shop: In most situations I would say definitely avoid the overpriced gift shop ... unless your child brought their own money to spend.  BUT .... 1) sometimes museum gift shops offer more unique gifts (or educational materials), 2) Due to COVID-19, the CMH (and other museums) probably could use any extra funds (and some of which come from gift shops).  So maybe if you need a gift, check your local museum gift shop before buying from a big box store (and I noticed CMH now has an on-line store)!  I know when I needed gifts a few months ago, I purchased them from museum gift shops versus big box stores.

Total Cost Today: $0

COVID-19 Safety Protocols

HEB Market in Kidtropolis

To say I was pretty impressed with their COVID-19 safety protocols is an understatement.

Now of course the safest thing to do would be to stay home.  But we are trying to get out a little bit (mostly outside), and the CMH is basically an extension of our “yard.”  Plus we want to utilize the CMH for City Schooling.

At the time of this blog, they are operating at 20% capacity and timed entry tickets.  We decided to visit on a Wednesday morning when they opened (maybe less people!?).  It was definitely less than 20% capacity. I don’t think I saw more than 10 families / groups there.  Great for us due to COVID-19, but I am guessing not so great for them to have funds to operate.  

They checked our temps before we entered, and they gave the kids adventure bags to do different activities throughout their visit which I thought was a great idea.  For example at the Art Studio in Kidtropolis, they had much of their art supplies in their adventure bag instead of in the art studio to minimize extra touching of materials.  But mostly my kids were too excited to be back in the CMH so we didn’t utilize the bags as much during this visit (next time!).

The Children’s Museum was set up similar to the Houston Zoo - one way traffic and arrows to help with social distancing.  All of the signage was very clear (and in English / Spanish).  There were plenty of employees (distancing) throughout all spaces if we had any questions.  With the exception of the first stop (since it was the first stop - families stopped there), we were easily the only family in a section (or maybe one other family).  There were employees helping with numbers and distancing!  They have a great outdoor space (and luckily it wasn’t too hot since a storm was rolling in) that we had all to ourselves for a good 20 minutes or more.

They had hand sanitizer and huge barrels of wipes (and trash cans) available in each section.  Since a Children’s Museum is very interactive and requires touching, we definitely sanitized before and after each section.  Masks are required for age 2 and up, and for the most part people were wearing them properly.  There were cleaning staff everywhere ... in each section of the museum - actively cleaning.  They also had some “self cleaning” materials on high touch areas like doors.

Some of the touch and feel materials in the museum are “loose”, and they had bins labeled clearly (again in English and Spanish) - for clean and dirty.  I made sure once my kids used something they put them in the dirty bin.  Someone was nearby to scoop it up and clean them.  Now ... will everyone always follow directions?  No, probably not - but it may have helped that we got there when it first opened / not busy.  And the employees seemed on top of things.

My kids love Kidtropolis - basically a small “city” with play sections - HEB Grocery Store, Bank, Vet, and so on.  We had it ALL to ourselves for a while.  This is definitely NOT the norm.  Each area of the “city” had clear signage - one family per play area for social distancing.

We got to learn more about water through three different live science experiments.

Overall how did I feel about safety?  Honestly I think it was safer than schools may be when they open, and the Children’s Museum of Houston will definitely be an extension of our City Schooling.  I think it would be a great idea for school administrators and teachers to visit CMH and take a look at some of their ideas for handling COVID-19 (I know, I know... a school is totally different, but there were some helpful ideas).

Read more about their safety protocols here.

Don’t feel comfortable visiting yet?  I’ve noticed they’ve put a lot of time and work into virtual programming.  After Crisis Schooling I was feeling a little burnt out on on-line opportunities, but I will look into their virtual programming eventually - these may be great to incorporate into our City Schooling.

City Schooling

So what do they have to offer us as City Schoolers?  It looks like their School / Homeschool programming is cancelled through 2020 due to COVID-19.  But like I mentioned they are offering Virtual Programming.

They have a pretty extensive and helpful website.  Two things I want to explore more: understanding their Exhibit spaces and exploring their Educator materials.  That can help me make connections to our City Schooling.

And probably most importantly ... we will just visit and let the kids explore on their own with no agenda or learning experience in mind.  They probably will learn the best that way!

So what do you think?  Have you been to your Children’s Museum or another museum / cultural institution with your family / or on your own?

Check out Erik’s latest financial post: How To Adopt Positive FI Habits During A Global Pandemic, and contact him for Financial Consulting here.  We would love to help you on your own journey to FI!

Enjoyed our blog and this post?  Share our post, and comment below!

-Tara

How To Adopt Positive FI Habits During The Global Pandemic

Walking in Hermann Park’s McGovern Gardens

It’s hard to believe this (global pandemic) has been going on for close to 6 months now.  It’s even harder to believe that some areas / states are still getting worse (well some of it is not surprising ...but disappointing nonetheless).  One of the things that I like to do when things get tough is figure out ways to find positives in negative situations, and the pandemic is no different.  (We are definitely in no way trying to minimize the death and illness related to COVID-19, but we are sharing some ways to find positives).  

Let’s go over some ways to use this time to adopt some new habits which in turn can help a person reach their financial goals even faster!  Not to mention if you are a person / family that is / are currently out of work, these tips can be the difference between making ends meet or not.

Eat Out Less / Cook At Home More

We have always chosen to cook at home in order to save money and to eat healthier so this hasn’t been a huge change for us, but for those who are used to eating out more often, now is the time to change those habits.  Cook more at home, and your waist line along with your bank account will thank you.  Let’s look at an example. 

Let’s say Family A used to spend $300 per month going out to eat Pre-Pandemic. Fast forward to today, and Family A has used the quarantine to cook more at home.  They still choose to do take out a couple of times a month to help support local businesses, but they are now down to spending only $50 per month.  What positives have come out of this change? They have managed to save $250 per month.  They have more than likely become healthier, and they are doing their part to slow the pandemic by choosing to stay home rather than go out to eat.  

Get Outside and Exercise

Adopt a family activity that gets you outdoors and moving!  One of the things that I have really enjoyed during this time are daily walks / bike rides with my kids.  We’ve had access to some great walking trails and taken advantage of them.  In fact, my daughter learned to ride without training wheels during this time.  If you’re a person who has used this time to get out and walk / run / ride then you have developed a great habit that can also help you towards FI (financial independence).  

Let’s assume Family A has 2 parents and 2 kids.  Before the pandemic they were a 2 car family.  However, they adopted a daily family activity of riding bikes during the pandemic.  They now realized they can get rid of one of their cars because one of (or both of) the adults have gotten so much joy from their daily rides.  One parent has figured out a way to commute to work on their bike (I actually commuted for several years via a bike to the park and ride bus!).  Let’s assume this eliminates a $300 car payment, $50 insurance, and $100 in gas.  Now $450 per month total can now be saved.  And these are just the immediate financial savings.  Chances are very high that this person will gain great healthy habits from bike riding and will have to spend less on medications / medical issues in the future.  Way to go!

Cut The Cord: Consolidate Streaming Services

Cut the cord, and consolidate streaming services!  What is your current TV situation?  Are you paying for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, Sling, and Cable TV?  Do you even know??  Don’t get me wrong ... streaming services are great (we currently have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ only)!  They provide unlimited amounts of home entertainment (and offer some opportunities for City Schooling) but having multiple streaming services and cable is overkill.  Use this time to consolidate to 1 or 2 streaming services and for crying out loud cut the cable cord if you haven’t already!  I promise your local library can provide you with the shows / movies that you think you will be missing (we definitely find lots of great ones through our local library).

Back to Family A.  Before the pandemic, their lives were on autopilot.  They had cable TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, etc ... their monthly TV bill was $150 for all of these services.  When the pandemic hit, money got tighter, and they decided to cut the cable cord and dump Amazon Prime (we are considering cutting out Amazon Prime).  They also got a library card and started checking out TV shows and movies for free.  Now their TV bill is about $21 per month which covers Netflix and Disney+.  They have a savings of about $130 per month!

Now let’s add it all up.  $250 savings from cooking at home + $450 savings from going to one car + $130 savings from consolidating streaming services and cutting cable = $830 per month of savings.

$250 Savings (Cooking More At Home)

$450 Savings (One Car)

$130 Savings (Consolidating Streaming / Cutting Cable)

= $830 Savings / Month

= $830 Savings / Month x 12 Months ... = $9,960 Savings Per Year

Now lets assume that Family A decides to invest this money into VTSAX.  Here is what they could expect to have after 10 years ($147,244.65 Total).

 

Ok, that’s not too shabby.  Family A has gained new found health, flexibility, and wealth by making these three positive changes in their lives during a very difficult time.  There is literally no downside to make changes similar to this.  Take some time to think of changes that you can make in your family’s life, and go for it.

What positives have you found during this difficult time?  Any positive impacts to your finances or journey to financial independence?  Or maybe ... what hardships have you encountered?  How can you work to overcome those?

Read Tara’s latest post on City Schooling Art Adventures here.  And want to join us on your own journey to FI?  I offer Financial Consulting ... read more here.

-Erik