3 Easy Ways to Boost Your Retirement Savings Without Extra Income 

I find a winning combination in gardening. It is great exercise and growing and sharing vegetables with others rewarding.

I love to tune in to Mr. Schmidt, he makes me feel so good about my current path.

I have two cars. 1) 1994 Toyota 4x4 Pickup, 183,000 miles. (Manual Transmission) 2) 2008 Honda Element, 33,000 miles

Great info! Keep it up. Regarding electric cars, we're in this trend now that they will save the planet, because they are green and clean. That is true, but only in one respect. They do produce few emissions, so they have a low carbon footprint...IN YOUR AREA. But they rely on Lithium Ion batteries, which are incredibly "dirty" to manufacture. It takes a lot of "carbon" to mine the natural resources, manufacture the batteries, and also to dispose of the batteries at their end of life. But those are processes that happen elsewhere, so since it's not polluting OUR air, we feel good about it. We also forget about the carbon footprint necessary to expand/install the electrical grid capabilities to charge all of these vehicles. The same holds true of solar panels. Both of these "clean" energy trends are addressed in National Science Foundation articles, written several years ago. What this means is that China and other countries that produce batteries and solar panels are who bear the brunt of the pollution. It still pollutes the planet, just not here. Regarding the batteries, the NSF article on this compares the total cost and carbon footprint to that of a high-mpg diesel car. The car wins out, hands down. We need to look beneath the surface at trendy energy opinions and get the full picture before making policy changes.

Any park is my gym, option is if you pay a season pass for State Parks your contributing to help maintain the parks.

I love this channel. No nonsense personal finance expert explanation on your money. Thanks for the great guidance 👍🏾💯👏🏾🙏🏾👊🏾

I started watching Schmidt's videos after this one came out and just found this. It's his best and most helpful to date as far as I can tell.

To me, no SUV is good on gas, far, far cry from a Tesla with so many choices in between. Perhaps an accident in such a small car was un-nerving, too. You make many good points, as always.

Great info, and easy to follow. Holy Schmidt, Jeff, you do a great service with these videos! Thank you.

Great information. Thank you, subscribed.

Thank you for opening my eyes with all these comparisons.

The financial ignorance of the American consumer has no bounds. All they focus is spending all available and future income NOW versus education and saving for retirement. Their daily decisions have short and long term consequences!

Fantastic information. Thank you for helping me :)

Ok I have two Tesla’s….in AZ it cost me $125 for five years of registration on the Tesla versus $4600 for my regular car for five years of registration……..it cost me $7.00 to travel 250 miles in the Tesla versus $80, and no maintenance cost for oil changes and engine repairs down the road. Tesla is definitely less expensive.

I love the way you dig deep to identify the changes we need to consider! Thank you for all the wisdom you share!

Good information. Common folks have known this for years. Some people get educated (and/or let their ego get larger than their pocket books) beyond common sense.

Common sense good stuff. Thanks for the motivation to cancel some things I've been thinking need to go recently. It's July 4th 2021, so it's time to follow through on some of those "resolutions" (including cleaning out a bunch of clutter before retirement - got that from another one of your videos!).

Thanks for your great advice! Your videos always give me insight on where I can improve/tweak our finances to give us a better retirement and financial future. Keep making them!

Thank you so much !!! Very good !!

This is very good, It should be repeated to Medical personnel Retired MD

Great advice! Thanks!

I did that very thing with a health club membership many years ago - I went one time and that was it. NEVER AGAIN - that isn't anything you can't do at home if you set your mind to it. As far as the designer clothes go, you would be surprised what you can find at the second hand stores if you are patient and consistently shop them (it doesn't matter where your clothes come from). I've got about a half dozen authentic Coach bags (and yes I know the difference from a knock off) that all came from Goodwill or Salvation Army stores. All they needed was a little cleaning up. I can't imagine anybody paying that kind of money for a purse and then taking it to Goodwill, but I guess I'm not everybody. I would have given to a family member or friend first.

Lol I'm on my 4th Kindle and have several thousand free books on it! Amazon lists top 100 free books daily. I read at least 3 a week :)

Love your channel, BUT ... the Tesla example is off the mark. Turn it around and instead of buying a Model S, say you buy a standard range Model 3 (which I did in May of 2020, around the time you made this vid). It cost $39.9k and has already saved me over $7,000 in gas and routine maintenance costs. It's a perfect example of how a soon-to-be retiree can purchase something that continues to save money every year for many years to come. We also installed solar panels and no longer have an electric bill. Paying off the house later this year. These all make the "income" requirement in retirement far lower than it would otherwise be. Thanks, Jeff! I watch all your videos! VERY helpful!

I was just coaching my daughter this past saturday on impulse buying and how to build wealth. You find something you want and you wait and/or you put it in the "cart" and you think about whether you really need it. How many times will I use this? Is there really a value or payback on the purchase? Most people who impulse buy are filling a void in their life and they feel good at the moment of purchase, use it for a while and far too often it does end up in a closet or used so little their was no future value or need for the item. I've been buying like this for 50 years. You can save a lot of $$ with this approach.

Wow, this video is *extremely* informative - especially about subscriptions and purchasing name brand merchandise. I realized this a looooong time ago, so I don't indulge in such.

I've gone a different way...rather than removing spending items, I began by building a lifestyle from the ground up based upon needs and figuring out ways to get everything we need/want either for free or greatly reduced by examining exactly what we were after and providing that. It's important that the choices not only be less expensive, they also have to be better than the norm. For instance, we save thousands of dollars every year simply by cooking almost every meal at home from scratch for the very best food at the lowest price. Cooking is a really fun hobby with something new to always make or try. I can crank out the best pizza (bar none) all day long for $3.50/pie and we don't go to a steak house as for $5/serving I can make an excellent NY strip steak from our local butcher with a sauteed mushroom and onion pan sauce, popovers, green beans or asparagus (in season), spinach salad with home made vinaigrette and a fresh baked brownie desert with vanilla ice cream...it's a feast! We had begun to dine out a little (pre-covid) and were able to do so very affordably by choosing local restaurants that had good food at reasonable prices, ordering smart off the menu and going out only for lunch. We had several to choose from including the great burger place that I took my wife to when we were dating a million years ago, a really good Chinese restaurant, a gyros spot, an old school supper club, a fish place and a couple of good small town diners. When we started in 2016 I could take my wife out 7 times/month for a mere $100 but we rarely went more than 4 time/month as we enjoy our home cooking so much. We were down to 5 times/month for that same $100 pre-covid because of inflation and a few of the restaurants had closed due to the owners retiring. I'm sure we'll resume dining out when this is all over but for now we're enjoying cooking every meal at home once again. We also rock grocery store sales, stocking up on basic ingredients like the 28oz cans of Red Gold crushed tomatoes I just scored for 89 cents/can. I don't like to clear out store shelves (not cool) so I call the store and have them order the item for me and it's a win/win because they keep stock for other shoppers, they don't have to waste labor stocking it and I get them in cases which makes them easier to transport and store. Other items like mattresses are easy to also do the same. Forget the thousand dollar (and higher) models...I get a high quality bamboo fabric, zippered mattress case and order a slab of the highest quality and firmest foam they make along with a 2" memory foam topper and zip it all together in the case for just a few hundred dollars and it's the best mattress available at any price. No mattress company uses this quality of foam as they're more focused on maximum profits rather than quality. Metal coil mattresses now use thinner gauge wire and have fewer coils than ever before (guess why) and are completely worthless in my opinion and foam is "where it's at". Lots of hobbies to enjoy and all the gear is available on the cheap at garage sales and on sites like Craigslist. Since it's older, it's also made better than what's available new. I also save by keeping gear to the bare minimum as well. I recently had an outdoor project and needed a tamper. Rather than buying a new one for $33 with a metal handle I scored a really nice used one for $10 off of Craigslist with a wood handle which is better as it absorbs the shock better than the metal handled model which again, isn't as good because the company is focused more on maximum profits. I also needed to upgrade to an 18V cordless drill and hex driver so I chose the lowest priced set from the best manufacturer with the smallest batteries. I saved by matching my needs/usage to the best model for me while getting the best quality that will likely last me the rest of my life. I'll never outlast the batteries in a single day, they're lighter than the larger batteries and because they have fewer amp hours, they charge in just 30 minutes. My 26 year old Makita 9.6V/12V cordless drill that these replace now resides in the tool box under the rear seat of my truck which is handy to have along where ever I go. I can go on and on with everything from fishing/boating to the vehicles I've carefully chosen which we buy new (base models) and drive for over a decade like my 14 year old pickup and 6 year old Subaru. Since we're now driving far fewer miles (even before covid), we may decide to buy used again when the time comes depending on the numbers but I'll look when the time comes. We've been thinking of getting an RV for the past few years but the financial/quality realities of them have turned me off so now we're thinking about getting a Ford Transit high roof van and converting it into a camper van. It wouldn't even be an "extra" vehicle as it would easily replace my pickup with the addition of a 5'x8' or 6'x10' utility trailer. The bonus is that unlike an RV it drives easily, parks anywhere and where ever I go (as it's our second vehicle) I'll have a kitchen, a wet bath, a place to lie down/nap and fishing gear with me at all times. Rather than just a few trips per year as is typical for most owners, we'll have many days/afternoons of fun at our state's many county and state parks as well. By making everything modular, I can easily unbolt it all and move it to a "new" van when the time comes if we wish. This is the mindset that gives you financial freedom early and removes retirement worries as it brings your expenses well below what social security will provide at FRA. Cheers!

Great video! Excellent information. After watching a couple of your videos I subscribed to your channel!

Thanks! Great news!

I bet Mr. Schmidt was glad his Tesla got totaled. For about a year, I have been debating if I should get an EV or not; this video proofs that it might be a good idea to wait for a little longer.

Just chatted with The NY Times to cancel my $15/ 4 weeks on-line subscription. Immediately I’m offered 52 weeks@ $8. I got p.o.’d realizing they’d been holding that back. I tell them no, cancel. Suddenly it’s $4!!! Holy Schmidt! give me a break... I now have $255 back in my pocket. Thanks Mr. Schmidt. WSJ, you’re next.

Good suggestions.

I enjoy your tone and basic good sense and advice. I subscribed to your channel after watching one of your videos. I am late but with your help I may still be able to survive in retirement.

I am learning so much from your channel and feel confident that I can retire at 62. No debt, still debating to sell the house, planning to give to my daughter all what she needs/wants as it makes it easier to dispose stuffs. Got to revisit and review the trust.

My way is to live in a budget and avoid debts and have constant control on income/outcome, registered in an excel spreadsheets saved in the cloud, usable from both pc and mobile. Save as soon as the salary comes in, is another good abit. I was always broke, I had to start say NO to people and get rid of spoiled acquaintances/friends and their fomo lazy lifestyle too, other than subscriptions for services that I don't use much/don't make a huge impact. Got rid of FB, ig and Twitter too. I never bought a condo/house and I will probably never do it, prices are insane here and I would prefere to stay debt free. Rent is expensive too but it is what it is. My parents house in my homecountry is fully payed and I will move back there in 25 something years, if I ever get to retire. About the car, I drive a 14 y old SAAB Turbo meanwhile most collegs at work are drawned in big cars leasings or bought 2nd hand some expensive high mantainance german car, and I mean blue collar "slaves" collegs in the factory.

First week of January always crowded at the gym

Can you please do a show on the Windfall Elimination Provision? Ty Good advice!

I get books electronically from the library, free. I shop thrift, except shoes and underwear. Cut and colour my own hair. No cable.

When he talked about big expenses that go away at retirement, he left out those that increase, I think, and that is health care.

Great advice; self check.

Economic utilization of cost is very wise and fun too...Advisor Schmidt is right on, and is funny, very helpful about the realization of EV's at this stage...it is WAY too early for massive adoption of EV's no matter what the dems say.

Great strategy - thank you!!

what about this ? museum memberships, historical society memberships, botanical garden memberships

All great, common sense advice but typically with internet/cable providers, in many areas of the country, there is no competition because only 2-3 providers are allowed in the same area by federal regulations. This is due to heavy lobbying by the cable providers because they all share the same infrastructure over which they deliver their services.

ELEC VEHICLES 👎🏻…GREAT INSIGHT THANKS

I dont buy things that I dont fully understand how it works or no idea how to fix it myself.

The gym membership story - OMG, it is so very true !!!

chevy volt was the best hybrid ever, primary drive is electric, gas engine kicks in only to recharge batteries. need to refuel? just gas up and go. Too bad they discontinued in 2019

how many are paying patreon each month and don't even know what its for anymore...

Cities designed in such a way that one must own an automobile is the problem, not so much the economical vehicle you are compelled to drive due to poor urban planning.

I’m following your advice and going through our credit card statements and canceling all of those recurring charges for web hosting for names we will never use! And that kindle tip was painful ... I have a brand new candle in a brand new cover it’s never been touched in three years. I bought my mom one at the same time that’s never been used. I was downsizing and getting rid of books and thought the Kindle would be a good alternative. A better alternative for me is Audible. It’s pricey but I use it and that’s the difference. I may not be your ideal healer at 65. I’m not collecting Social Security yet and I’m way behind and retirement savings. A divorce at 50 crushed my finances. I am remarried and my husband owns his own business which I work for. I would be interested in hearing about Gaining financial health late in life. Thanks!

Gyms suck. Take long walks in nature. Do light weights at home. FREE!!!

Places like Costco are very expensive

I'm sure other folks have responded to this already. Most of your advice seems sound. The e-book issue somewhat depends. Library e-books are free (but not available for all titles) and you're really paying for convenience on current titles. On electric vehicles I think you bought too soon. Electric vehicles keep getting better (Especially Teslas). Gas vehicles don't. Electric vehicles are cheaper to run and maintain. Insurance prices are dropping as they become more common place and charging stations will increase. I understand why you said what you say, but Teslas have WAY less accidents per mile driven (even including your own accident) and that is rule 1. Thanks

Try a hybrid next time. 😀

I love the information that you share. Thank you. But ~ PLEASE stop the jerking the video in and out strategy!

I have always thought hybrid vehicles were the best...get the benefits of both worlds. I am always going to want a car that I can go across the country in 3 days!! Electric won't do it, so need that ability to go gas when needed.

FYI there are other EV's out there besides Teslas.....

I love your common sense and so very practical retirement advice. I'm 62+ and looking to retire at FRA in 4 years. Do you offer consultations to people based on their specific circumstances?

From the look of things, It can't be overemphasized that, Cash is thrash! 3 BEST and surprisingly easy ways to double/hold your funds in 2021; Crypt, Real Estates, who can guess the 3rd?

My health club a Peloton…one cost and that’s it. It’s a short walk from the coffee lot to the bicycle

tesla was a great inventor the man, but the car is not worth the price electric cars are not quite there yet.

im ahead of the game as none of this applies to me...im targeting 2031 for retirement

Toyota Prius is among best elect. Car that's why uber driver use them. As time goes on tech. Will get better just like going from horse n buggy to internal combustion engines. Or cell phones. But Tesla high end but technology. Hasn't cought up yet

I love my Tesla ❤

like hats..

Everything takes time @ Patients!!!!! A quitter never wins & a winner never quits!

I own a Tesla - never experienced the issues you related. With driver assistance issues I’ve experienced no fender benders which usually have one per year with the equivalent ICE (internal combustion vehicle) also less to no maintenance and I utilize nearby free charging so no fuel costs. As the car tends to appreciate in value and provide insurance discounts as software update increase capabilities, I have a much lower cost of ownership than with the equivalent gas powered vehicle.

Really?? People actually gave you the finger for driving an electric vehicle? What in the redneck hell crap is that? It's just a different method of propulsion. BTW, Great video as always.

I never got the bird or any negative comments on my Tesla. If I had an accident, insurance covers it

I bought a model S because I think life is priceless.

Hi Geoffrey, great vids and superb info. But constant jump in and out with the camera is extremely annoying, makes me nauseated so I can’t keep watching, and it’s unprofessional. As a film producer I see far too much amateurish video making like this, which is a misguided belief that jerking the frame will keep people interested. It’s doesn’t. It’s the equivalent of nonsense queasy cam.

carles clinic ..ear doctor..

electric cars will go away unless they find another source mineral for the batteries

TESLA...LOL!!! I never saw the value in those electronic shoeboxes. To each his own...LOL...TESLA...LOL!

You give advice to people but bought a Tesla?

So all that glitters is not gold.....; )

You lost me when you started dissing Tesla. I checked the date of this video and it’s 2020? You need to update your facts. While I don’t know how long ago it was that you owned a Tesla, the cost of ownership for a Model 3 or even Model Y is way down relative to an ICE (internal combustion engine) car, or even relative to a Model S of 10 years ago.

You bought a super high end electric car, of coarse it was super expensive

Community centers for working out are $175 a year! Never start a business that you do not love! You will be married to it for years! Review all your subscriptions to see if you really need them! Tesla is over priced by a lot!

Cancel Netflix. Done!

You cannot get a puppy on Amazon.

How dare you talk about me like that? The truth hurts.

The weird chop-editing is VERY jarring and (for me) finally unwatchable.

Learn to ignore the plan. Go to Yoga. Breath in. Breath out.

I don't think this episode was meant for me, I still use coupons when I eat out! Lol!!

Better video title for youtube: "TESLA SCAMMED ME????? 😵😱" 😂 Watch them views pop off lol

I wish he would just get to the point

I bet you got punched in the face for wearing Google glasses too.

The government cometh for your retirement.

The foolish theory naturalistically record because zone phytochemically land failing a green grey grieving pipe. mountainous, classy cicada

GET TO THE POINT

Total waste of time watching. Simply explain to economize wisely and invest all non-wasted assets into sound financial planning.

Another "New Years Resolution" cost that is never followed up on: Online courses.

Well mister, you can have my Kindle when you pry it from my cold, dead hands! 😋