Category: Anine Sus

Setting High-Yield Savings Goals

Last time I updated you on my high-yield savings accounts, interest rates were going up and so were my savings. Since then, my LendingClub account has increased the interest rate on my savings three more times!

Back in June, LendingClub raised my rate to a 1.05% annual percentage yield (APY). By the end of June, it was 1.26%, and at the start of August it went up to 2.07%. A few days ago on September 21, it went up to 2.25%. According to LendingClub, this is 13 times the national average savings account yield. When the interest rate was 2.07% at the beginning of August, I decided to transfer more money into the account. Through the end of August (September’s interest doesn’t hit until the end of the month), I had made almost $30 on my savings since I opened the account in March 2022!

My LendingClub account is designated for a future down payment on a house, so it’s a longer-term goal that I have more funds allocated to. My other high-yield savings account with SmartyPig is for saving money before it is invested.

Though I haven’t been contacted about the interest rate going up on my SmartyPig account, it has increased from 0.75% in June to 2.05% in September. Not too shabby! When I signed up for SmartyPig, one of its offerings was the ability to set savings goals. What I didn’t realize is that the interest rate is higher when I designate funds for a specific goal—2.25% (same as my LendingClub account)!

So, I set up my first official savings goal with SmartyPig, which is to have $2,000 ready to invest by the start of 2023. When I began investing in March 2022, that was my Schwab account’s starting balance. At that point, it was all I was willing to part with; I knew I should only be investing money I was comfortable losing. Since then, my threshold for losing money has increased (since the market has been down for most of this year). However, I also know that I’m in my investments for the long term, so the short-term ups and downs aren’t crucial to my end goal. Maybe 2023 will be a better year if people stop saying the world “recession”—don’t let the market hear you!

I’ll keep you updated on how this savings goal goes and when I solidify a better plan for transferring my savings to all of their different homes on a more regular basis. Half the battle is just figuring out what works for me and my money, the rest should be relatively easy (fingers crossed!).

A (Very) Brief History of Women in Finance

This article is dedicated to my grandma who started her own tax business in the 1950s.

When I set out to create this blog, I knew that I would be taking up space as a woman in an industry that not only is dominated by men but that women were intentionally kept from participating in for most of history.

During World War II, over six million women started working outside the home in the U.S., making up 37% of the workforce by 1945. However, a woman couldn’t have her own bank account until the 1960s, and even then, women didn’t have the ability to fully control their own finances until 1974 with the passing of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Before that, women’s access to money was almost entirely through men—their husband or, if they weren’t married, their father.

In 1967, businesswoman Muriel Siebert was the first woman trader to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and she went on to also be the first woman in charge of an NYSE member company. Often called “the first woman of finance,” Siebert criticized white men for relying on the way things had always been done. She said, “men at the top of industry and government should be more willing to risk sharing leadership with women and minority members who are not merely clones of their white male buddies. In these fast-changing times, we need the different viewpoints and experiences, we need the enlarged talent bank. The real risk lies in continuing to do things the way they’ve always been done.”

Geraldine Weiss, otherwise known as “the grande dame of dividends,” started an investment newsletter in the 1960s called “Investment Quality Trends.” Like many women writers before her, she concealed her gender by publishing the newsletter under the name G. Weiss so she could ensure that it would be taken seriously by men. It wasn’t until 1977 when she appeared on the talk show “Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser” that her identity as a woman was revealed (what a badass!). AAII created the Weiss Blue Chip Dividend Yield screen from the strategies outlined in her 1988 book “Dividends Don’t Lie.” You can read more about Weiss’ investing strategy and how the screen works here.

Fast forward to today, 51% of women are now in charge of their household’s finances, but 63% still wish that they could know more about investing and financial planning. The wealth and income gaps between men and women still exist (and are even worse for minority women, with Black women holding a college degree making 38% less than white women without one), and along with them comes the historical burden of the financial literacy gap. Women made up only 24% of finance leadership roles as of 2021.

Source: “2021 Women and Investing Study,” Fidelity Investments.

Though women of any age or career stage can be judged based on their gender, young women likely get the most resistance when trying to enter the world of finance. I stumbled across an article about Lauren Simmons, who just out of college at age 22 became the youngest woman trader on the NYSE. She was also only the second Black woman to have such a position. She went on to start a streaming series called “Going Public” that chronicles the journeys of several company founders as they raise money for an initial public offering (IPO).

Despite everything working against women when it comes to money, women are often touted as better investors than men. An article by Lara Coviello and Daniel Crosby states, “In a nutshell, women tend to exhibit more self-control in their spending and have a more disciplined approach to investing, while men are more likely to invest based on gut instinct, and therefore make less rational decisions when it comes to managing their assets.”

Of course, not all women and men will fit this bill, but the numbers don’t lie! In the same article, the authors note that “Women trade 23 percent less frequently than men, but, on average, women outperform men by 1.3 percent more during bear markets.” An article from Merrill cites other advantages women have when it comes to investing including being patient, choosing a “balanced investing approach” and not being afraid to ask questions.

To any women who haven’t started investing yet, the odds are stacked in your favor. Just occupying space in the world of finance as a woman is an act of protest against systemic oppression, the rest is up to you!

More financial resources for women:

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Should I Invest in Cryptocurrency?

You read that title right! I never thought I would write about cryptocurrency (again, in this economy?). I polled my Instagram followers a while back and they were split on whether I should even consider discussing cryptocurrency. It didn’t help my own ambivalence on the topic, but I decided to be the tie breaker.


Let’s start with the logistics and go over the naysayers’ position and the positives of cryptocurrency (there’s like two, OK?). Then, I’ll share my own opinions and whether I foresee investing in cryptocurrency.

An AAII article about cryptocurrency defines it as “a digital asset that is constructed as a medium of exchange.” The first cryptocurrency that comes to mind is bitcoin. Another more recent AAII article goes into more depth and discusses bitcoin as “a decentralized cryptocurrency. It is decentralized because there is no single individual or company that owns or issues new coins, as compared to airline miles or rewards points from your favorite restaurant or retail store.”

I’ll spare you any more detail about how cryptocurrency runs, mostly because I don’t have much interest in that part (if you do, check out one of the articles linked above!). I’m more curious about how cryptocurrency is used, and how it impacts individuals and the world.

I think the biggest draw to cryptocurrency is also its biggest drawback: the idea that you can make a lot of money in a short span of time. In practice it seems to be the exact opposite.

If cryptocurrency (or bitcoin specifically) sounds like a Ponzi scheme to you, you’re not alone. Many people think the same, as this article from Jacobin confirms. In it, author Sohale Andrus Mortazavi states:

“Just as torrents allow users to share files directly, cryptocurrency blockchains allow users to maintain a shared ledger of financial transactions without the need of a central server or managing authority. Users are thus able to make direct online transactions with one another as if they were trading cash.

“This, we are told, is revolutionary. But making unmediated online transactions securely in a trustless environment in this way is not without costs.” This also means that none of these cryptocurrency transactions are insured by, say, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) that insures most banks, making it a risky way to spend or invest your money. Since investing is already risky, why make it riskier?


Another concern about cryptocurrency is its lack of sustainability. In a blog post about why I care about sustainable investing, I noted that “according to Digiconomist on Twitter: ‘During 2021 Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh [terawatt-hours] in total, which is comparable to the electrical energy consumed by a country like Argentina. Related CO2 emissions were ~64 Mt [metric tons]; enough to negate the entire global net savings from deploying EVs [electric vehicles].’”

We know the world isn’t black and white (or green and brown for that matter), so I dug up some positive notes on cryptocurrency.

People backing cryptocurrency will say that one of its advantages is that it’s not being run by the government. They see it as a form of anarchy, or crypto-anarchy, to have this advantage of existing outside of government control. I’m all for a little anarchy, and not being “identified” by the police state, but it seems that as cryptocurrency has gotten more popular, it has lost its anarchist beginnings. If the goal now is to get everyone into using cryptocurrency, then who are we supposed to be hiding from?

Another advantage of cryptocurrency is that there is less possibility for charge-backs, like with a credit card, or bounced checks. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) states that “Cryptocurrency payments typically are not reversible. Once you pay with cryptocurrency, you can usually only get your money back if the person you paid sends it back. Before you buy something with cryptocurrency, know the seller’s reputation, by doing some research before you pay.” Though this may be concerning for the person paying with cryptocurrency, it benefits those receiving the payment who might be independent workers like housekeepers, landscapers and freelancers.

If you’ve made it this far, what do you think? Would you invest in cryptocurrency knowing the risks?

For my personal investing strategy, my research confirmed that cryptocurrency doesn’t have a place in my portfolio. However, this could change in the future if the way cryptocurrency is mined becomes more sustainable. I also don’t want to invest in something I don’t understand, which is the case when people lose gobs of money investing in cryptocurrency that is volatile and unpredictable.


How to Create Your Investing Strategy

Now that I’ve come this far in my investing journey, it’s time to compile everything I’ve learned into my very own investing strategy!

When I started this blog, I knew it was always my intention to write down what my financial goals are and how I want to achieve them. My two touchstone resources for this process are AAII’s “A Lifetime Investment Strategy” guide and an interview that AAII Journal editor Charles Rotblut did with professor Harold Pollack.

In AAII’s “A Lifetime Investment Strategy,” I learned that any investment strategy should have “a clearly defined objective” and “a specified time horizon.” Seems simple enough, right?

In my introduction to this blog, my objective was to “invest in better natural energy sources and learn how to invest for an early retirement so that I can follow my parents’ example and pursue other passions.” I’m not sure about that early retirement anymore, but I definitely want to continue investing in the index ETFs I found that aren’t killing the earth (the market seems to be going up again, and I’m seeing some green arrows on my Schwab account!).

My time horizon is a bit fuzzy, given the state of the world, but I know I want to invest for the long term. Doing so means that I don’t have to constantly worry about how much my investments are making; I can just ride out the market no matter what state it’s in and know that eventually my money will make money. AAII defines the long term as “a time horizon of at least five years. No one should embark on a long-term investment strategy if they are going to need their investable assets in less than five years.” Works for me!

Other lessons from “A Lifetime Investment Strategy” include diversification to reduce risk, categories of investment strategies and the different stages of wealth accumulation.

I remember that when Pollack’s AAII Journal interview “Beyond the Index Card: Implementing the Advice of the Financial Experts” was published, some AAII members thought it was too simple. But thankfully, simple is what this blog is all about! Pollack’s strategy for getting his own finances together in his 40s could be written on an index card. To some this was much too reductive, but to me this was revolutionary!

Inspired by Pollack, here’s my investing strategy on an index card:


Now that I’m contributing to my retirement account, I want to increase that contribution along with my income. I don’t want to be too specific here, as the percentage increase in contribution will be dependent on the percentage increase in my income. Investing in sustainable companies is also a high priority for me, including whether the company itself is using and creating sustainable products and can offer sustainable investment returns.

When it comes to saving, my current budget calls for saving 20% of my income and I’d like to continue doing so. Since I have a few savings accounts now, I need rules to go along with them. My regular bank savings account is just for emergency savings, so when the balance on that account is over $10,000, the rest should be in one of my high-yield savings accounts or invested.

My credit card has been such an important addition to my personal finance arsenal, and I’ve come up with a system to pay it off twice a month whenever my paycheck comes in so that I don’t have to think too much about my balance for the rest of the month.

When I first moved out on my own, I made a deal with myself to never have a monthly rent payment that was equal to or greater than a single paycheck. I knew I wouldn’t be able to live the life I wanted if half of my income was going to just rent. So far, I’ve managed to make this work by setting hard limits on how much my rent can be when looking for future living situations.

Last but not least, my latest blog post discussed donations as an investment and why I’m passionate about them—so passionate that they made it on the index card! You’ll notice that there are some empty lines on the index card. I want to leave some room for me and my strategy to grow and change together. So whenever I feel the need to alter my strategy, if I’m ever comfortable investing in stocks, or if I ever work with a financial adviser, I can work these changes into my index card.

I hope you find this a helpful starting point for thinking about your own investing strategy and how you want to manage your finances over the rest of your lifetime! (No pressure!)

Donations Are an Investment, Only You Know the Price Appreciation

If you’re feeling like everything is on shaky ground recently, let this be a stable patch of earth for you today. In the Jewish tradition, on Passover we put an extra place setting or simply an extra wine glass on the table for the prophet Elijah. Not only does this symbolize hope and redemption, it’s also a metaphor for extending our home and livelihood to those in need of it. To me, this seder practice acts as a kind of donation to my community. We can all benefit from more love and care as many people struggle to make ends meet right now.

When I think about why I make donations to and participate in crowdfunding for friends, acquaintances and strangers on the internet who are suffering a medical issue, experiencing homelessness or just need money for something to eat, I also see it as a socially responsible investment in my community. What can we expect to get from this world if we don’t have anything to give?

Another donation-related Jewish tradition is tzedakah, meaning justice or righteousness. According to Jewish thought, giving to others isn’t considered anything extra, it’s simply the right thing to do. So, growing up I would bring two quarters to Sunday school every week as my tzedakah, and it would go to a number of organizations chosen by my synagogue. I never questioned it—it was the norm. (I’m sure some kids were stealing those quarters for themselves though!)

I have since been passionate about donating, and when the year 2020—which now seems like both a distant dream and still our same horrifying reality—reared its ugly head, I was donating to anyone I possibly could. The Black Lives Matter movement and Black activists all over the country were highlighting organizations to donate to that had previously not received as much attention. One Chicago-based, queer Black woman-led organization I’ve donated to is Assata’s Daughters. This year, my focus has been on abortion funds. I recently donated to the Yellowhammer Fund, located and helping people in the Deep South.

The financial implications of a donation are up to you and what you can afford. If you really want to get organized, you can fit donations into your budget. You can also choose if you want to only donate to local organizations, or if you’re willing to expand your reach. If you donate your old clothes, include that in your charitable donation deduction on your taxes. (A written acknowledgement such as a receipt is required by the IRS for any donation, cash or otherwise, of $250 or more.) I save any emails I get from the donations I make in a folder and when I do my taxes, I add them all up. The basic donation question on TurboTax is generally based on an approximation, but this gives me a good idea of how much I donate per year.

The Carrie Finances: A Budget to Battle Inflation

I’ll be honest, me and my budget have not been friends recently. We’ve been struggling to communicate, and when we do it always ends in confusion and despair! Some months I save the right amount according to my budget, and other months I fear I will never save a penny again.

Inflation is affecting everything I touch recently, including my apartment. My rent is going up in September, and over the summer I spend about double on electricity with the luxury of air conditioning, so it’s time to revisit my budget.

Last time we talked budgeting, I was using the percentage budget outlined in Erin Lowry’s “Broke Millennial.” I’m going to stick with it for now so that I can make sense of how much I really have to spend after these changes take effect. The percentage budget allocates 50% of monthly income to fixed expenses, 20% to savings or financial goals and 30% to wants and flexible spending. My rent went up from $1,085 to $1,200 (yes, I tried to negotiate with my landlord, but he said they were already eating part of the cost with that increase—oof!), and with double the electricity my utilities are $110.


I’m relieved that my total fixed expenses are still under 50%, though just barely! I decided to break down my leftover money (after savings are accounted for) on a weekly basis to see how much I can really spend per week. This encompasses groceries, going out to dinner with friends, etc. Though I probably won’t track everything down to the cent, I will keep in mind what I can actually spend instead of just guessing and hoping I’ll have enough along the way.

Now that I’m contributing to my retirement account, just a reminder that the monthly savings percentage doesn’t include retirement savings. This is because the percentage budget should be performed using your aftertax income and retirement contributions will come from pretax income—unless you’re fancy and have a Roth 401(k) or similar account.

We’ll see how this budget works out, and I’ll check in with you all when the leaves start falling and everything starts dying around us—my favorite time of year!.

Is Cannabis a Sustainable Investment?

In January 2020 when cannabis was legalized in Illinois, and even before then when states were rolling out their legislation, people were looking for a way to capitalize on the cannabis industry. I remember jokes flying around the AAII office about if we would ever have a featured speaker or writer on cannabis investments (giving buy low, sell high a whole new meaning!).

To put it bluntly, the main reason I’m not personally investing in cannabis is because there are still people in prison for it. I don’t believe I should profit from cannabis investments while people are wasting away in prison cells for something that is now legal for recreational consumption in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

But I still want to investigate if cannabis fits into a sustainable investing framework. I previously used As You Sow to find funds that are actually sustainable, not just labeled as such. So, let’s take a look at cannabis exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and see how they grade based on As You Sow’s criteria.

This article by AAII finance writer Matt Bajkowski briefly discusses the budding cannabis industry. Only one of the cannabis ETFs mentioned is available for As You Sow’s grades: Global X Cannabis ETF (POTX). Global X Cannabis gets grades of A for fossil fuels, deforestation, civilian firearms, prison industrial complex, military weapons and tobacco.


These grades made sense to me since cannabis investments represent a narrow slice of the overall stock market. Although I couldn’t get data on any other cannabis mutual funds or ETFs through As You Sow, I figured most of the results would be similar.

Even though the Global X Cannabis ETF got a grade of A for prison industrial complex, this just means that the ETF doesn’t directly invest in prisons. A broader view of the cannabis industry and who it affects directly and indirectly is important here. Along with a history of racism and the problematic words used to describe cannabis, including “marijuana,” there are still disproportionately more Black and Latino individuals in prison because of it.

In discussing the disparity in arrest rates, an article reported on the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) research, saying that “Despite roughly equal usage rates, Black people were 3.73 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana.” In Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Washington, D.C., this difference increases to between 7.5 and 8.5 times more likely.

On the environmental side of things, it appears on the surface that cannabis is a sustainable industry. But a quick search revealed that there are concerns about the use of energy and water to grow cannabis plants. An article from Bloomberg on the environmental impact of cannabis noted, “cannabis plants suck up around twice as much water as maize, soybeans, wheat and wine grapes, according to a 2021 study in the Journal of Cannabis Research.” This could be ironed out as the industry grows, and as more efficient energy is sourced.

Like with any industry, some aspects will be green and others will be brown—as Larry Swedroe said in our interview with him about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing earlier this year. Cannabis benefits people suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Legalizing cannabis also boosted the economy, created jobs and decreased crime in areas where people began drinking less alcohol in favor of cannabis.

The decision to invest in cannabis is entirely up to you. It doesn’t fit into my personal investing strategy, but hopefully as states continue to legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use, those who are wrongfully imprisoned will be released, and the industry can become even more regulated to ensure that cannabis can be grown and maintained sustainably.

How Much Should I Contribute to My Retirement Account?

I know, a millennial talking about retirement—in this economy? I must be a fool to think I could ever retire at some point in the future. Will there even be a world when I retire? If there is, will there be enough Social Security left for me and the other elder millennials when our bodies are falling apart? (Who am I kidding? My body is already falling apart!)

Let’s talk logistics here: If you work at a company with an employer-sponsored retirement plan in place, you probably have either a 401(k), a 403(b) or a 457(b). Apparently, whoever came up with the numbers for these things thought they would be easily distinguishable, but let’s be honest, they all look like the same thing. Thankfully, that’s because they are similar vessels for your retirement savings with different labels on them.

If we think of the 401(k) as the generic version of an employer-sponsored retirement plan, the 403(b) is the version for nonprofit employers, charities and other public education organizations, and the 457(b) is for local government employees.

At AAII, we have a Vanguard 403(b) plan account that is eligible for employer-matched contributions after two years. When my two-year anniversary at AAII came around, I was faced with the decision of which Vanguard mutual funds to invest my future in. I recall reading very helpful commentary from our editor Charles Rotblut about his own Vanguard retirement account, and I looked for similar funds that would give me the proper diversification. (Remember the lessons Daniel Crosby and Michele Cagan shared on diversification?)

My 403(b) is currently invested in five mutual funds: the Vanguard 500 Index Admiral fund (VFIAX), the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index Admiral fund (VFSAX), the Vanguard Growth and Income Admiral fund (VGIAX), the Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Admiral fund (VIMAX) and the Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral fund (VGSLX). But picking the funds was just the first piece of the puzzle.

Next, I had to determine the weight I wanted to give each of these funds. Following guidance from AAII, I chose to allocate 30% of my retirement plan to the large-capitalization asset class (this just means big stocks) via the Vanguard 500 Index Admiral fund, 20% to mid caps (medium-size stocks), 20% to small caps (the little guys), 20% to growth investments (they’re supposed to grow I guess!) and 10% to real estate (just for fun).

Here’s a breakdown of the funds and their weights:

Though there is money in my retirement account, I haven’t properly set up my pretax paycheck contributions. Up until now, I wasn’t able to afford the contributions. Everyone and their mother have told me I need to “max them out,” but this might not be possible for some young people just starting their retirement contributions.

So how much should I be contributing to my retirement account?

AAII matches up to 3% of my retirement contributions, so let’s start with 3% and see how that will affect my monthly income. Three percent of my biweekly paycheck comes out to $43.33, leaving me with about $1,400 per paycheck. This seems like a reasonable place to start. And when inflation takes a break, I can increase this percentage to make the most of my future money.

There’s so much more about retirement accounts that I have to learn, including how the taxes work, so stay tuned for more of my investing discoveries!

High-Yield Savings Accounts: Where Are They Now?

While I may not be making money in my investments right now, my high-yield savings accounts are making me more than I’ve made in years on my savings!

The market is down. Even if you’re not in the market, I’m sure you heard. But I’ve been trained well by AAII; I’m not scared by the red numbers on my Schwab account. In fact, I’ve made friends with them! We’re getting brunch on Sunday since the market is closed.

You might also be hearing about interest rates lately, and the possibility of them being raised. One of my savings accounts just raised my interest rate! It was an email I actually wanted to see from an institution I keep my money with. My high-yield savings account with LendingClub is now yielding 1.05% per year, up from 0.65% when I opened my account. LendingClub also noted that there is no minimum balance for my account (before it was $2,500). This makes me excited to see what this account can do for me; it’s already made a whopping $6.44 since the end of March (compared to $0.13 a month on my regular savings account, we’re living like kings).

I recall Erin Lowry saying 1.05% is the best rate on the market in “Broke Millennial,” so I feel like I lucked out with LendingClub. But Lowry also says, “Online banks will routinely fiddle around with the APY on savings accounts. One month it’s 1.05 percent APY, and two months later it drops to 0.75 percent. It’s actually within the bank’s right to do this—but that doesn’t mean you should hang tight at your measly 0.01 percent rate with your current bank because another bank might change from 1.00 percent APY to something a little bit lower. Because 0.75 percent still crushes 0.01 percent.” It’s good to know that my interest rate might not stay at 1.05% forever, especially since interest rates are fluctuating in other areas of the economy.

So with this higher interest rate, I should probably add more money to my LendingClub savings account to take advantage of it! My other high-yield savings account with SmartyPig is also doing well, and I’ll be adding more money to it soon to make the most of the 0.75% yield.

If you want to know more about interest rates, AAII’s financial writers and guest writers all have much smarter things to say than I do—I’m still recovering from high school trigonometry.

Credit in the Straight World: A Credit Card Journey Update

Raise your hand if you’ve been spending too much money lately!

This inflation is really starting to weigh on my bank account, but I can’t even imagine how much worse it would be if I didn’t have my credit card. When I first opened my account with Discover back in January, I was nervous about having a credit card because of the possibility to spend without the money being instantly taken away from me. It’s too much power and responsibility! I have enough things to worry about! Like staying alive!

But after a few months, I realized how superior it was to use my credit card for practically everything. When I got my first cash-back bonus, I was thrilled to have some free money! So far I’ve just used my cash back to pay off my credit card, but soon I hope to save it up and use it for more exciting things (there may be a juicy Sephora gift card in my future).

I also shifted most of the pay-later options I use—like Klarna and PayPal Pay in 4—from my debit card to my credit card. This way, it’s like double credit (I know, my head exploded just thinking about it) and I don’t have to do any math in my head when I get an email alerting me about one of my four payments coming up. I know that my Discover card has it covered, and that my bank account will thank me for the break.

Since I’m roughly six months into my credit card journey, I wanted to revisit some of the personal finance books I’ve been reading to recenter my thinking. In Bola Sokunbi’s “Clever Girl Finance,” she discusses cash-back and rewards credit cards, and her advice comes with a warning: “The thing about cashback and rewards credit cards is that, while they are a perk for the cardholder, they are also a strategy that credit card companies use to get their cardholders to spend more money. If you are motivated by an incentive like cashback, you are more likely to shift your focus to wanting to obtain as much of the incentive as possible, which can lead to overspending, especially on low-cost items. This strategy is beneficial to credit card companies because it allows them to make money from interest accrued on credit card balances you can’t pay off.”

The good news is that I won’t be tricked by credit card companies into spending more money; the bad news is that inflation has already done that for me!

The discussion of rewards credit cards got me thinking: Since I’ll be traveling on an airplane tomorrow for the first time since 2020, should I get one of those credit cards that gives me miles?

Sokunbi’s “Take Action” section at the end of her credit card manifesto says the following: “1. Be sure to find the right type of card with a reward that suits your lifestyle. For example, if you travel a lot, a rewards card with miles or travel upgrades might be a great option for you. 2. Be aware of the timeline and expiration around which your rewards or cashback can be redeemed. Use the rewards within that timeframe so you don’t miss out. 3. Avoid carrying a balance on these cards and be mindful of your spending when you use them. Always defer to your budget to make sure you are staying on track.”

Thankfully, I’ve got these three things covered with my Discover card: The cash-back rewards are working for me, I know that I’ll be getting my cash back matched by Discover at the end of the year and I’m avoiding carrying a balance on it like the plague.

However, I think I’ll pass on getting a second credit card for now. I’ll see if it becomes worth it to get a card with miles as I hesitantly start traveling again.