Together With

Happy Monday Future Funders Family!

Not that you need an excuse to pour yourself a glass of red wine tonight, but we’ve got one for you.

Okay, let’s get to it!

💬 Quote Of The Week

🍽️ The Main Course

Headlines That Matter

Economy

Some Consumer Cracks

🚀 The quick version: Consumer spending represents about 70% of the overall U.S. economy, so as the saying goes, “when the consumer sneezes, the economy catches a cold.” Some recent data points along these lines caught our attention:

Pandemic savings are dwindling. The San Fransisco Federal Reserve recently released a study tracking household savings. What they found was that through the pandemic, American households had accumulated excess savings (defined as savings above historical normal times) of $2.1 Trillion (mainly through spending less coupled with getting various government supplements). As of June 2023 excess savings was down to $190 billion and they forecast it will run out completely in the third quarter of this year (so now basically). Having no excess savings left will unquestionably hurt spending, a big safety net the economy has been using to grow.

More pandemic programs are ending soon. Over the next few months we will also see several more pandemic era programs come to an end. The first is the student loan forbearance which will end officially in October (interest will start accruing again in September - see below on how to sign up for the new income based repayment plan) which experts predict will lesson consumer spending by almost $10 billion per month. The second is the ending of childcare stabilization relief (also going away in October) which ends $24 billion in federal grants and is going to raise costs for many families.

Prices still remain elevated. While we have made progress on inflation, big ticket items like homes continue to be unaffordable for most consumers with mortgage rates hitting levels this past week not seen since the early 2000s and some saying we could hit 8% soon. Car prices also continue to remain elevated (there is now only one new car model selling for under $20k) and gas prices are approaching one year highs.

Macy’s and Nordstrom ring alarm bells. Lastly, retailers Macy’s and Nordstrom reported earnings this past week and both said they were cautious on the outlook for the consumer. Perhaps more importantly, both companies also said they were seeing deteriorating credit quality with more delinquencies on their branded credit cards (translation: more people are now not paying their bills). To our knowledge, these are the first such companies to sound this alarm.  

👪 How it affects your family: We don’t want the above to make it sound like the we think the U.S. economy is about to tip into recession (we don’t), but we do think that some of theses headwinds present risks later this year and into 2024.

On the positive side, our view is that mortgage rates are more likely to go lower from here vs. much higher (tip: watch the 10 year U.S. Treasury yield as a good indication of where mortgage rates are going. Mortgage rates tend to move in the same direction on a lagged basis).

We are also not convinced that the Macy’s and Nordstrom cautious view of the consumer should be extrapolated to the whole economy just yet (let’s wait until we see more companies talk in a similar fashion).

However, as all this relates to our families, now is the time to really think about how to maximize your earning potential (more on that below), plan for what might be coming in 2024, and take the easy wins when you can get them. Here are some new guides to help:

• Make money with your money (safely). We like to focus on helping families earn more (vs. spend less), and one advantage to high interest rates right now is it allows for some safe places to park your short term cash just sitting in a checking account. We came up with 5 suggestions where you can park short term cash and earn around 5% (or more) to help boost your income stream today.

• Plan ahead. With some signs above pointing to a possibly different 2024 economically, there is no better time than now to create an accurate family budget. That’s why we created a free monthly template that can help!

• Easy wins. Planning on a night out with the kids? It’s a small win but look for places that offer free kids meals. To help, we dug around and found a short list of restaurant chains that offer free kid’s meals every day of the week.

Together with Homesick Candles

Candles That Smell Like Home

How do you capture the spirit of a memory in a way that feels personal and recognizable to everyone?

At Homesick Candles we speak to anywhere from 30 to 100 people for every candle we develop to try and answer that question. We then try hundreds of different scent combinations, checking back in with the community along the way until we’ve found the perfect balance; an authentic fragrance that will also smell great in your home.

Give us a try and we will put the same care an effort into making your memories just a bit more special today.

Personal Finance

Earn How You Want To Earn

🚀 The quick version: Whether people call it gig work / side hustle / freelancing, these terms all generally mean finding ways to earn alternative sources of income. In the U.S. economy today, there are more opportunities than ever to do this and the trend is rapidly gaining popularity.

We see signs everywhere:

Labor force participation is “stuck”. According to the latest government jobs data, the labor force participation rate (term: percentage of the population over 16 that is working or actively looking for work) has been stuck at 62.6% for the five consecutive months (vs. pre-COVID number of close to 64.0%). People question why this is the case with unemployment so low and our theory (which has some backing) is that more and more people are earning money in ways not being captured by the official data.

Younger generation thinking differently. Nearly half of Gen Z and the Millennial generation admit to doing freelance work, with the top reason being increased flexibility. Even now in college athletics, student-athletes are effectively being taught how to earn creatively through use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) setting them up naturally to think outside the box when it comes to earning money later in life.

Older generation wants more optionality. This trend isn’t just happening with younger folks. More people nearing retirement or already retired are looking for ways to earn some income just because they want to. This generation has a wealth of knowledge and experience and there are more and more options available today that allow them to do what they want, when they want. In our mind, as we all get older this trend will drastically change what it currently means in most peoples’ minds to be “retired.”

👪 How it affects your family: First off, to any of our current readers who already are earning in creative ways, we hope you will respond to this email or hit the button below and share with us (we will give a few shout outs next week!).

The opportunity to earn more or simply just earn on your terms is out there and just requires a bit of creativity, outside the box thinking, and planning.

On top of all this, your initiative down this path can help show and teach the kids about the three main ways to earn money (having them learn along with you!).

Here are some ways to help you get started:

• Where to start. Even if you want to try to earn some extra income, where do you start? Here is a short step by step guide to help you determine what you might like to do to earn some extra income.

• Ideas to help. Now that you have an idea of what you might like to do to earn some extra dough, here are some specific suggestions of 30 top ways to earn to give you some inspiration.

• Get the kids involved. We know that time is now sparse with the kids back in school, but if you want to challenge them on how to make some money on their own, here is a guide on 15 ways to inspire kids to earn some extra cash.

Dinner Discussion ❓

🥘 The Side Dishes

A few things to know…

👩‍🏫 The Airbnb of education. With all the education issues we are having in the U.S. at the moment, we thought this was an interesting read for parents on the trend of micro schools and how Prenda is one company seeking to make it easier.

🚸 An innovative solution for childcare. Child care continues to be a worry for many parents (us included). That’s why we loved reading about this start up company as a potential solution (mom’s really do think of everything).

📷 Over ‘Sharenting’? Digital security experts are weighing in on how over-sharing information of your kids online, aka ‘sharenting’, opens the door for some serious online security concerns.

💰 FEMA running out of money. With the heart of hurricane season still ahead of us, FEMA recently rang alarm bells that their disaster fund is drying up. Congress is on recess through Labor Day and will need to vote when they get back to replenish funds.

🤖 Get smarter about AI. The AI Tool Report is for any working parent who is interested in becoming more effective and productive by using AI; they aim to teach you how to save time and earn more in 5 minutes a day. Subscribe for free here!*

🏖️ Two more years to catch up on retirement funding. The IRS just postponed a rule that would force people nearing retirement to use after tax dollars (vs. pre-tax dollars) to catch up on their retirement savings. The law was supposed to go into effect next year but is now pushed out to 2026.

🐶 Maybe your dog can bring home the bacon. Natural pet wellness company Honest Paws is actually willing to pay your dog up to $100 per hour to represent their peanut butter product. Applications are open until September 1st.

📱 Beware of this shopping app. A fast growing shopping app that didn’t exist four months ago, Temu is raising data privacy concerns worth everyone knowing about.   

📖 Make story time special (and efficient). We love Starytime (we just subscribe to the quick free version), the world's first ever personalized historical fact based bedtime stories. Powered by A.I. They are committed to making your bedtime the best time… one historical story at a time. Subscribe here!*

*this is a sponsored post

🗓️ The Week Ahead

September 1st

After a little over 3 years, federal student loans will start accruing interest again (reminder: student loan payments restart in October).

Here is how to sign up for the new income based student loan repayment plan announced by the government this past week.

September 1st

Today is also the release of the official jobs report for August (jobs data is always released for the prior month on the first Friday of the new month).

Investors will be looking for some weakening in the economy as indication that the Fed can back off raising interest rates any further. While the jobs data is important next week, investors will really have their eye on the next Consumer Price Index report (CPI) due the following week (9/13) to look for signs of inflation continuing to trend in the right direction.

🍨 Dessert

This Week’s Deals For Families

Help your family save and spend smarter*

☕ Save money on caffeine. Keurig is offering a flash sale of 50% off on select coffees to our readers through September 1st. Just make sure to use the code OUTLET50 when you check out.  

👞 Need a new pair of shoes? Cole Haan is offering 50% off clearance through September 1st. 

👕 Calvin Klein is having an end of season sale offering 70% off site wide from August 29th through September 6th.

*our goal is to always keep this newsletter free. If you buy something through our listed deals we may earn a small commission, at no added charge to you, in order to help us keep the lights on

Dinner Discussion ❓

Answer: NVIDIA is a dominant supplier of artificial intelligence hardware and software selling to a variety of end market industries that are all trying to use AI. The company’s stock has more than tripled since the start of the year and is viewed by investors today as ground zero for the prospects of artificial intelligence.