3 days left for the 14 day financial literacy challenge. Anyway lets start off today with some knowledge. Everyone needs assistance, especially nowadays. So what can we do to get assistance? I touched upon grants in a different post. But what else is there? A whole hell of a lot. Most people are probably well aware of food stamps or first time home buying. But those are just the tip of the iceberg and even better options are available. Let's say you want to buy a house, but this is your 3rd house and you need more money to move. What do you do? Options such as home stead grants, revitalization grants, moving business grant, remote worker grant, or such can really help. Some places(like small town, depopulating cities or states) can offer monetary or tax assistance when you buy or build a house there. States like Kansas have grants up to 20k to build a house in small towns. However stipulations exist, such as you need to live at the house for certain amount of years, you need to provide certain amount of jobs of jobs if you move a business there. But getting years of lowered taxes, money to renovate or build your own house, and a house that costed less than one in a major city. What about medicine? Needymeds is a website that can help you find grants or programs to help find discounted or free medical operations. From dental to some surgical you can find help to pay the debt or get a cheaper option. How about Education? Besides scholarships, your government does have grants and programs to help working adults get certification or diplomas. That's right the government can help you get certified o get an Associates degree while still working or unemployed. There is always going to be grants and programs to help you out, you will need to find them or get qualified for them and may receive less than expected(3-5k). But help exists and you should always get assistance.

So last day for invest knowledge, and i will be a short one as this type of investment was explained by other investment types. But it is a varied investment type and will be explained as best I can off of 3 hours of sleep. Private investments are just as it is spelled: Private. Meaning that this investment type is one where you are investing "Privately". Examples are Angel investors for a startup, REI(Rental equity Investments) or better explained as private investment with a rental home company to get money back, private company stocks(stocks that can only be bought when working for a company), debt investment(aka buying a company's debt for them to pay you back for it with interest),investing in a film, and art collection. Risk levels vary massively. Investing into a startup privately and it could fail. Invest in a film and it might flop in the box office. The risk and rewards are much more wild because these are private agreements rather than engaging with a company or investment opportunity through a 3rd part like the stock market or websites. While you get right to the investment you still have risks and if it fails you could lose money. It is the wildest option and one you for sure need to do the most research on. But if the investment works you can reap some good money.

We finished the more physical and hard science -esque investments and money information, now we are onto the softer side on what to do. For all my introverts out there(like me), I am sorry but we need to do better and socialize more. Why? For the people who climbed or are in the corporate world then you know that promotion, sales, and changing companies is all about networking. It opens more doors to you then if you just kept your head down and didn't talk. From better positions, Private investments on a coworker's startup, getting a job at a better company. So how do we do it? By doing what us introverts hate doing. Going out. Now not just going out but to events and parties. Specifically business events. Places like Facebook, Eventbrite, chamber of commerce, and even your local credit union can have events for you to socialize with business owners and find groups of professionals in your industry or an industry you wish to break into. Of course this doesn't automatically mean you have valuable contacts to use. Networking is a process with lots of talking, even outside of events and parties. One meeting doesn't mean you can use them for their connections or skills. You must always talk and build a good relationship with these people before you can ask favors. So is that it? No, even your friends or hobby mates can help you in bettering your situation, some may know people in stores and help you get discounts, some can get you into private parties(Avoid drug parties). But if you can't find groups in your area or online? Making your own groups and events can seriously boost your resume for the corporate world or even impressing clients as a freelancer. Something as easy as a book group about writing poems or Ultimate frisbee can help you learn to manage and administer a group of people. Volunteer work, hobbies, sports, or community are avenues you can explore to build groups and find people that can help you further your goals. Bonus for my introverts: Play a character if you are terrifies of talking and socialization as yourself. Give yourself a healthy imposter syndrome by dressing different, looking different, and acting different. Create a character you can use to socialize.

When improving you will always have people tell you that you need to build up the habit or consistently do the action to see improvement and growth. This is correct but just like everything it can cause us pain. When a habit is missed we may make that failure drag down our whole day. When you repeat consistency you may just push it around or even reason with yourself to do it another day and ad infinitum(meaning over and over again). Our habits can become addiction to feel productive even growth is plateaued or regressed. Constituency can be pushed around and reasoned with yourself that "you are consistent". Or for my ADHD people: Habits can be impossible to build and almost always fail when you take a day off from it. Consistency is impossible when you feel no joy even when you know it will help you. So two side of the coin need help, what can we do? Meet addiction and obsession. When habit plateaus and you need to better it you chase after it like an addict does their next high. With each new hit you chase higher so apply that to your habits. Cook quicker, clean while cooking, cook better, work out harder, read more, read harder material, stretch deeper, stretch for longer, whatever habit you have that you feel has plateaued then apply the concept of addiction to. You may find it to help When consistency is bargained aside or not working well enough then apply obsession to it. An obsessed person will never push their obsession off, they will chase it down like a rabid animal. Apply obsession to your life like harder workouts, more work done(job, business, project, freelance), more knowledge from reading. Chase your tasks you tell yourself to do consistently with the zeal of obsession and you will find results from the extra effort you put into an obsession. What about ADHD people: Same thing if possible but when it's not possible to derive dopamine from tasks and work you use tricks and simulation to build that obsession. Body double with another and watch your mind still when you know you have to work when someone is next to you. Use stress of deadlines to fill you with energy.

Cutting costs is always important for keeping your money and living without worry of homelessness or ruin. But you always need more money if you want to be free. Your job may be the thing paying the highest from all the other investments but like I said before, the more streams of income the more freedom you have. Why is that? Imagine you wake up tomorrow and you find you are paralyzed or even learn you have cancer. Terrible stuff, now when your job stops being your main source of income what else can you rely on? For many people who have lost their jobs for medical reasons or other reasons they struggle to make ends meet. Even full time workers with a healthy body and a good job may be living paycheck to paycheck, just one accident away from going under. So what do you do? You invest. From CDs, High yield accounts, Stocks, rental homes, funds, bonds, and more. Investing is what lightens your financial burden of your job and even improves your finances. So what is there? Loads of stuff but the main ones I want to talk about are 1:Accounts(CDs, HYSA, etc.), 2: volatile options(stocks, crypto, startups, etc.), 3:Low risk options(bonds, funds, land/homes, etc), and 4?: Private investments. For #1 I already talked on the options like CDs and HYSA. But there are other accounts out there that can make you money like the aforementioned accounts. Those being trust and life insurance. How? Gross oversimplification on trusts: Irrevocable trusts are for kith and kin(friends and family) that will around forever. Revocable trusts are for when the Grantor(person who made the trust and puts assets into it.) still loves but will move their assets to another without probate taxes. (AKA parents want to pass down the house while they still live without having to pay massive taxes.) So how can a trust earn money? Generally a Revocable trust that is set up correct to take loans out can have their Re:Trust act as a loose definition of a bank. Meaning the Benefactor(Person who the trust befits from.) who should be you can take a loan out from the Re:Trust and purchase more assets, land, houses, or businesses. So how do you set it up? Grantor(Trust maker and one who adds to the trust) needs to be you. Benefactor(Who the trust goes to when Grantor dies or is sick) needs to be you to ask for the loan. The Trustee(Trust manager/accountant) cannot be you for the loan to work, you need to either get in a company or special person who will authorize and be the one to give you the loan. you do need to have the paperwork for the RE:Trust to actually have the ability to loan out, but you can also set your own rates as the Grantor.