This is a story about my Sister-In-Law (SIL), and her Useless Boyfriend (UB).
SIL is my wife's sister, and is a terrific person. UB is decidedly not. In the /ChoosingBeggars section, he's the gift that keeps on giving. Like Chlamydia.
In April of 2020, having lost their jobs due to COVID, they moved in with us rent-free until they get back on their feet. We're happy to have SIL. She's been absolutely terrific, pitching in around the house, spending time with the family, and being my wife's best friend.
This is decidedly NOT true of of UB. He locks himself in their room playing videogames all day long. He complains about the food, only recently agreed to chip in for higher-speed internet which he kept demanding we pay for, and otherwise makes it clear how much of an imposition it is for him to live in our home rent-free.
SIL was finally able to get job a full-time job last month. Their finances are still a mess, but things are improving and she said they'd move out in the Spring. Honestly, we're all going to miss her. UB? the best I can say is I don't care if the door hits him on the way out or not, just as long as he's on the other side of it.
Our oldest son is 23 and moved about 30 minutes away back in fall of 2019 so he could be close to his work. Thankfully, he's remained employed full-time despite COVID. In the fall of 2020, he renewed his lease for one year in a nice (but small) studio apartment.
Recently a fantastic job opportunity arose for our son. He's moving much further away which is sad, but it's a great opportunity and we're happy for him. The largest problem for him is his lease which still has 10 months to go.
He spoke with his landlord, who is a good guy. The landlord said he'd be willing to let our son out of the lease ordinarily, but with COVID he has several tenants who haven't paid rent for a while and he can't afford another apartment generating no income.
He agreed that he would let our son out of the lease the moment he could rent the apartment to someone else, but the market has been really slow and he doesn't know how long that would take. I don't blame the landlord a bit, he's being fair.
Looking to get out of the lease sooner, our son suggested SIL and UB move in. He would move out February 1st , but pay for February and March. They would pick up the rent in April. This would give them two more months to get their finances in order, and he'd only be out 2 months' rent. And as an added bonus, it's closer to SIL's job and would cut 10 minutes off her daily commute. Everybody's happy, right?
Everybody except UB, that is. Looking at the apartment, he complained it was too small. He complained that they'd have to pay for food and utilities (you know, the things he enjoys for free because my wife and I are paying now). He complained he'd have to set up his computer in the living room instead of the bedroom. Then he dropped this little nugget.
"With utilities it's going to be higher. You should pay all our rent, WE'RE doing YOU a favor!"
My son assumed he misheard him and restated his offer. He'd pay for February and March, they'd assume payments in April. Nope. Not good enough. To UB's way of thinking, our son should pay their rent for the remainder of the lease - TEN MONTHS - and let them live there rent free.
SIL was mortified at UB for trying to take advantage of our son (her nephew) that way. After months and months of listening to him complain about his suffering while others paid for everything, she finally had enough.
"UB, I like this place, so I'm moving in... But you're not. When we get home, you're packing your stuff and I'm driving you to your mother's. No more free rides. We're done."
Our son called with the happy news (on multiple fronts) while they drove home. Instead of 30 minutes, they took an hour to get home and we were a little concerned. We called and she confirmed everything was OK. So we assembled the moving boxes for him so he could start packing right away - why postpone the party! He walked in the door to find everything he needed to pack up.
Apparently on their ride back, UB was whining and complaining about their breakup. They stopped to talk for a bit, at which point he said said something (SIL won't say what) that creeped her out, and she asked me to drive him to his mother's, which I was more than pleased to do. We drove about an hour to his mother's place without speaking.
I helped him carry his stuff the porch. Out of politeness, I extended him hand and wished him luck. He stared at me and didn't say a word. There was no, "Thanks for letting me live with you for free for almost a year", or, "Tell SIL I'm sorry." He just stared like the petulant child he is.
SIL is doing really well. We're going to miss her moving away, and especially our son moving quite a distance away. But Useless Boyfriend? We'll miss him about as we will last week's recycling. At least the recycling can be turned into something useful.
​
UPDATE: It was a busy weekend! On Saturday, we helped our son pack and move out to pursue his future. Not going to lie, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Huge, uncontrollable sobs from my wife as he pulled away. We gave him the two months' rent so he doesn't have to eat that expense.
We realized we had completely forgotten about the security deposit. Landlord did a quick walk-through and cut him a check in full on the spot. We gave him a check on SIL's behalf, so everything is now completely in her name.
On Sunday, we helped SIL move in. More sobbing from my wife who has really grown to love having her sister living with us. It was made better by them scheduling all the who-visits-who-when for the week.
SIL has put Useless Boyfriend in the rear view mirror. UB did call her to apologize and try to make things better. I didn't hear the conversation, but he apparently said all the wrong things, because she was only madder by the time she hung up on him. He hasn't called or texted her since.
One key difference - having had a front-row seat for her past break-ups, there was no second-guessing this time. She seems sure this is the right move for her. I think this will stick.
Thanks everyone for the kind words!

Hello everyone! I’ve been a long-time lurker here since I discovered FIRE back in 2014, but I’ve rarely posted. I hit $1 million earlier this year, and I wanted to share my story and hopefully exchange some valuable insights with you. It has taken me a while to work up the courage to share, but here goes. I’ll try to keep it fairly short and simple, although I apologize in advance for the long Background section, and I’ll follow up with more details as they come up in the discussion.
TL;DR: I’m 34, single, watch collector, no children (and don’t plan on having any if I can help it). My NW reached ~$1 million at the end of August 2020. I increased my liquid net worth from zero to $850,000 in 6.5 years, and I aim to reach my FI number of $2.5 million by age 41. I don’t hate my job, but I do hate that it keeps me from staying fit and active, so the sooner I become FI the better. Look at my charts. Ask me questions or for more charts. Thank you for reading!
Background
I grew up middle class in a developing country (Middle East) as an only child. I was privileged to have parents who were more than willing to forego most pleasures in life—including travel, nicer cars, etc.—and to instead spend every penny they had to make sure I received the best education possible. They put me in a private American school and paid for my college education, but they also were not the absolute savviest with money.
My health and education came first for my parents, but what came a very close second was every little whim and desire I had as a child—they spoiled me. They almost never invested, and instead spent all their extra money on whatever clothes, computers, videogames, music CDs, cameras or extra pocket money I wanted as a teenager. They found it very hard to say no to me. Because of this I grew up not knowing or appreciating the value of money, and by the time they (involuntarily) retired in their 50s they had virtually no savings.
What’s done is done, right? By the time I woke up to all this in 2013, I was 26 years old and armed with a pretty good education, but I hadn’t exactly been all that successful since graduating in 2008. I had gotten my CPA back in 2009 and was working at a public accounting firm making a measly $12,000/year (yes, that low, because developing country).
I hated my job, mainly because of the people I worked with, but I won’t get into that in any great detail. There was just a big gap between the way I had learned to work in a private/American education and the way I had to work ‘out in the real world’. I also had not been promoted in several years because I was seen by my peers and supervisors as a poor team player.
Anyway, in early 2014, everything changed! Thanks to the way my education and career start looked on paper—and thanks to LinkedIn Premium which I was (and still am) paying $30/month for—I was headhunted for a financial controller position in an east African country. This of course meant leaving my family, my city and my friends, and starting all over. To me this was all very new and scary, but it was almost a complete no-brainer. The move was to propel me from $12,000/year to $75,000/year + all the benefits that come with an expat position.
One thing that made it even easier for me to work abroad was my U.S. citizenship, which I got from my father’s side of my family. Anyway, I packed everything that mattered to me in a few suitcases and got on a one-way flight. My liquid net worth was negative at the time; I had $25,000 worth of credit card debt, plus more owed to my parents. I paid it all off within a few months of moving, but my parents later refused to let me pay them back what they’d contributed for an apartment back in my hometown. The apartment cost about $115,0000 and they’d paid for half of it. I still own it.
Since I made that move in 2014, I have made two more moves to other countries, and I’ve grown to quite enjoy my job and responsibilities. I’ve been promoted three times, and each promotion or move has come with a salary bump. I am now a CFO and my income has steadily climbed from the $75,000 in 2014 to $110,000 now in 2020. In addition to that, I get a ~30% performance-based bonus, and a 6% retirement benefit, plus company-paid housing, furniture, utilities, car, gas, internet, phone, house help, gardener, and two flight tickets home per year.
I’m fairly happy with how I’ve done over the past 6 years, but I look back and I still think to myself: What if I hadn’t been so spoiled? What if I’d learned the value of money earlier in life? What if I’d saved my money and started investing at the age of 21 instead of 27? Where would I be now?
Current financial position
I have an insane Excel spread sheet I’ve been developing and using for the last 6 years. I track every dollar I make or spend, every stock I buy, and hundreds of metrics. I do it religiously, and it’s made it very easy to pull numbers out to share with you guys.
In this chart, my total net worth over time is in orange, and my liquid net worth is in black. The green line is my stock portfolio.
This table breaks down my current net worth near the end of 2020 and each of the previous 6 years. I’ve kept things pretty simple and my stocks are split between two individual accounts with two brokerages—there’s no 401k or IRA of any kind. As a U.S. citizen with no home base in the U.S., I get to exclude much of my income under the FEIE rule, but it also means I can’t contribute anything to a tax-advantaged account.
EDIT: Several of you have pointed out an error I've made in the original chart and table. I erroneously included in my illiquid net worth (from 2014 to 2016) a separate property that my parents owned until 2016. I was tracking the value of that property in my spreadsheet before it was sold in 2016, but it was never a part of my own net worth and it shouldn't have made its way into the table and chart.
I've updated the table and chart. Thanks for pointing out this error!
These are currently my 6 largest stock positions:

Stock	% Gain	Value
TSLA	+411%	$ 100,400
NFLX	+43%	$ 79,800
AAPL	+51%	$ 77,000
FB	+281%	$ 61,200
AMZN	+104%	$ 48,100
MSFT	+62%	$ 39,300

This chart shows my income and how much of it I have spent/saved since 2014. I had a particularly low savings rate in 2016 and 2017 because in those years I pursued (and paid mostly out of pocket for) an expensive top 20 MBA degree. I find out more and more every day that this degree is (and will probably continue to be) completely useless to me, and that the ~$85,000 I spent on it would have been much better invested in the market. My CPA is what I need for my job, and my company never cared whether I got an MBA degree.
You can also see evidence of a fair amount of lifestyle creep between 2018 and 2020 in the chart below. In some years I travelled more than others, but generally my living expenses now hover around the $25,000/year mark.
I’ve also been very fortunate to have invested during the recent insane bull run, and this chart shows just how much it has helped my net worth over the last couple of years.
You can see in the chart that as of now near the end of 2020, I have invested a total of $300,000 into the stock market, and my portfolio’s estimated value at 12/31/2020 is $680,600. This makes for a total return of 121%, and I’ve calculated an annualized return of over 50% based on the timings of each of my deposits into the brokerage account.
The way forward
I feel that I’ve had a great deal of success over the past years, and I attribute most of it to a great ability to save thanks to the way my compensation has been structured and the FEIE. I do, however, recognize that the current market conditions which have allowed my net worth to climb as rapidly as I show in the table below will not necessarily last.

Year	Net Worth
2014	248,300
2015	309,400	+25%
2016	252,600	-18%*
2017	379,700	+50%
2018	457,100	+20%
2019	676,000	+48%
2020	1,071,000	+58%

*Large decrease in NW due to severe drop in Dollar value of property valued in a foreign currency which suffered severe valuation in that year.
I’ve calculated my FI number at $2,500,000, which I believe would allow me to live comfortably and be able to spend up to $80,000/year in today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation. Based on my current and expected future salary, as well as my expected future savings rate. I’ve also calculated that I can likely achieve my FI number at age 41. Some of my assumptions include a 49-year retirement, average inflation of 2.6%, an annual contribution to my investments of $110,000 (adjusted for inflation), pre-retirement market return of 7%, post-retirement market return of 6%, fixed income return of 5.5%, percent in equities is 110-age (so it changes every year), and annual expenses of $80,000, which decline by 2%/year after age 65.
I guess one other thing I'm grateful for is that I'm not stuck in a loop trying (and failing) to get rich quick like I see some of my friends doing. I'm glad I'm taking the slow and steady path, and that I have the patience and discipline for it.
I’m very happy to get into discussions and answer questions. There are many more charts, calculations and concepts I’d love to discuss and share. The only things I do not want to be asked are 1) what countries I’ve lived/worked in, and 2) what companies I’ve worked for. Thanks for understanding.
Thank you all very much for taking the time to read my story, and I’d love to hear your comments!
EDIT 2: Thank you to everyone who has read my post and engaged in a meaningful exchange with me. Whether we agreed or not, I appreciated the discussion. And thank you, strangers, for the wholesome awards!

I sell cars, I also work for a very corporate-run dealership that has a lot of rules, and depending on the level of management depends on their ability to discount blah blah right. I've also been with this dealer for a really long time so I know how to play the game. It can be a PITA at times but if you learn how to play your cards right you can take advantage of their rules.
Now we have a rule
Once a new car hits 90 days we start doing two things

• We offer bonus to the sales person who sells it
• We discount the car to move it

The idea if we want to move our old inventory first
So I'm chilling and I get a call, a guy is on a business trip and says he sees we got a truck he likes. I look it up and I notice its been on our lot for over 140 days. It doesn't have a clearance discount on it. I give him the price I"m able too and he asks me if I have any wiggle room since its a 2020 and not a 2021.
I go "Would $500 do it?"
He counters me roughly another $200 to bring it below a certain price point
I ask "If I agree will you give me a depost right now?"
He goes "Yea"
I go "You know yea I'll do it lets do a deal"
Now the reason why I said $500 is because I know its the maximum amount my sales manager can discount a vehicle without approval. When he countered me above that I knew it was going be a fight to get the deal accepted but I figured giving a customer a $700~ discount is better then giving him a $2,000 clearance discount.
We do the deal, he signs it, I send the deal up for approval. My manager yells at me, tells me I can't do the discount. I explain that its an aged unit, its supposed to have a clearance discount and it doesn't so we should just do it. He says customer has to agree to a higher price.
I go fine I'll talk to him
So I walk outside, play on my phone, answer some emails come back and go "customer says honor the deal or refund him his money"
Manager goes "Can't do it, refund the money" I go "okie dokie"
So I don't refund the money, but I drop the unit back in stock. I call up a higher level manager and point out that he screwed up and didn't do anything about this aged inventory.
He thanks me for pointing it out and says we'll do $1,500 off and see how quick it sells. I ask "What about a bonus?" he goes "If you sell it I'll give you a $150 bonus" I go "Fanstastic" now I work for a dealer that doesn't pay me a % but a set amount per car so this discount isn't cutting into my commission.
I call the customer up and I say "hey Mr. customer, I didn't notice it but this morning the truck you did a deposit on was included in a clearance list, I'm going give you the clearance discount and your price is now approx $800 lower" customer is super happy, thinks I'm the best guy ever. I'm smiling cause I just made an extra $150
Later that afternoon my manager comes in and goes "Sting did you drop that truck back in stock" I said "No customer is going buy it" he goes "O he agreed to a higher price?" I smile and go "nope, I got a clearance discount on it" my manager smirks at me and goes "You got a bonus too didn't you?" I smiled and said "Sure did"
Malicious compliance is my dealership refused to do the common sense thing, and give a customer a $700 manager discount, so instead they gave me a $1,500 clearance discount and $150 bonus.

Note: I’m not a citizen, but I’ve been living in the US long enough to be considered a resident alien for tax purposes. On my visa, I cannot work any job that’s not directly related to my major in grad school (IT/computer science), but I can invest in the stock market.

Section One: Assets and Debt

Net Worth: from -$13,603.63 (Jan 2020) to $9,605.97 (Jan 2021)
Retirement Balance: $16,000 in my 401(K).
I only started working 2 years ago and my company messed up my registration so they basically didn’t put any money into it my first year there (I found out in horror and they gave me around $1,000 to say sorry…). I contribute 9% and my company matches 3%.
Savings account balance: $2,500
I have $2,500 set aside as my “emergency fund”, and I’m building back my vacation & study abroad budgets after having to tap into them for a move. My job is very stable and I won't be let go any time soon (unless I quit myself) so I’m not setting aside a big emergency fund for now.
Checking account balance: $3,111.01
Investment account: $1,500 in some stocks.
I initially dumped half of my 2019 bonus and some monthly contributions (totaling around $4,000) to this account to test strategies. This was my “study fund” and I didn’t care if I’d lose it all. I grew the account to around $10,000 and withdrew almost everything (that went to all the fees I had to pay to break my lease, my brother’s lease, deposit, moving expenses, and new furniture) and left $1,500 worth of stocks in there right now.
Credit card debt: $2,243.76 on my BestBuy card and PayPal Credit.
I had the money to pay for the items in full but they offered X months interest-free and I wanted to throw money into my debts instead. I always pay off all balances well before the deadline. I also pay all my credit cards in full and have never paid any interest.
Student loan debt: $11,046.09 left on my $20,000 loans at 8% for my BA in Biology and Statistics. Day 1 of arriving in the US, they sat us down, handed each of us a pen, and said hey kids here are the terms of your 8% loans, sign the documents now! I just turned 17, didn't even know I had to pay this money back, and remembered thinking "Is 8% a lot?" That's how clueless I was.
As a non-citizen, I will never have them canceled, so my plan was to tackle this as soon as possible and I started paying more aggressively until they made it 0% interest since Q4 last year.
Car loan: $4,900 left on my $10,000 loan at 8.9%. I didn’t have a long credit history when I bought the car (September 2019) since I only got my first credit card after graduation, so the rate was terrible. I’m planning to pay this all off after my bonus comes in March.

Section Two: Income

Income Progression:
2012 - 2016: I had multiple student on-campus jobs all throughout my undergrad, making from $7.25 to $10/hour. After graduation, I couldn't find any job directly related to my majors within 3 months (I had only been searching for Bio lab work), ran out of money, and had to go back home. Honestly, I didn't want to keep doing science either and was very lost back then.
2017: My first full-time job was being a tutor for a private college prep institution when I went back to my home country to “figure out what I wanted to do with my life.” They paid pretty well for the standards of living there ($1,000/mo). I worked that job while self-studying how to code and data science courses on the side and preparing my grad school applications.
2019: I got a job at my current company a semester before I graduated from my MS in Data Science program. This was my first “big girl job.” I started out at $64,000 and couldn’t work for 2 months due to complications in my visa processes so that ate up all my savings that year. By the end of the year, they bumped my salary up to $76,000 and we also had an annual 3% raise, so in total $78,280 + 5% bonus.
2020: One of my teammates left and one thing led to another, I got a title change from Data Analyst to Data Scientist towards the end of the year. I asked for a raise and they bumped it to $96,000 + 5% bonus.
2021: After our annual 3% raise my salary is now $98,880 (+ at least 5% bonus). I think I’m slightly underpaid, but this job is very low-stress and flexible (especially after we WFH).
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $5,082.58
Taken from my last paychecks (before the annual raise)
Gross salary: $8,000
Tax: $2,081.68
401(k) deduction: $720
Health insurance: $115.74

Section Three: Expenses

Rent & renter’s insurance: $935 for my share for a 2bed/3bath condo. My parents pay a flat $700/mo for my brother’s share. He recently moved here since his school went virtual until at least the end of this semester and our family wanted us to be nearby to take care of each other.
Savings contribution: $900
Investment contribution: $420, but will increase once my car loan is paid off.
Debt payments:

• $1,000 on car loan until paid off.
• $200.13 minimum on student loans for now at 0% interest, will increase to $1,100 when car loan is paid off.
• $300 for Best Buy & PayPal Credit promotional deals

Car insurance: $127.01 ($762.05 paid in full every 6 months)
Car registration: $25 ($300 annual)
Donations: $20 monthly (ASPCA), plus several hundreds throughout the year (last year I donated to BLM orgs and local animal shelters)
Gas: $0. I drive an electric car. Charging probably drives up my electric bill by a bit, but still cheaper than gas. Also, this means no car maintenance at all until my car battery dies, which probably won’t happen in the next 5 years.
Utilities (electric, natural gas): ~$150
Wifi: $40
Cellphone: $10.61 ($108.66 for 6 months and I got a $45 credit from my bank)
Groceries: $500 (for 2 people)
Subscriptions: $20 (HP Ink, shared Netflix account, YNAB, Disney+)
Pet expenses: ~$20 for wet cat food
Personal care/hobby: I collect perfumes. Between makeup, skincare, clothes (which I had planned to stop buying this year) and perfume bottles and samples (the majority of my "personal care" expenses...), I averaged $400/mo last year. Without the makeup, skincare and clothes, I budget $150/mo this year for my fragrance hobby.
Household supplies: $30
Education: $30 (language/technical textbooks, Udemy/Coursera)
Gifts: $30
Credit card fee: $21 ($250 annual)

Section Four: Background

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Education is one of the top priorities in our household and this has been instilled in my mind since I was a kid. Perhaps because my grandparents were both professors and my parents both attended grad school, it was expected of us to have at least a bachelor's degree. With that said, my family tried to support our higher education financially as best they could and I'm very thankful for it. During undergrad, I had need-based financial aid and on-campus jobs, and my parents helped with the rest of my tuition. I still had to take (required by the school) a $20,000 loan. My grandmother helped pay for my 2-year master's program.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
During high school, I had a measly weekly allowance and my dad had me write out all the transactions in a notebook. I thought it was very silly back then but now thinking back, it was probably some good practice. Other than that, they didn't talk about money at all, and I was absolutely clueless and wasn't interested in personal finance until a couple of years ago. I don't remember how but I think I woke up one day and decided to read every book about personal finance I could find and now I do talk with my dad about finances.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was washing dishes as a student worker! We all had to do it our freshman year before we were allowed to find other jobs. I managed to find 3 other jobs (stage crew, sports event worker, and math tutor) and stayed with all of them for 3 years.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Even though our parents never let on to us about their finances, they made sure that we'd grow up comfortable financially, so I didn't worry because I didn't know anything.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes. As I grew up, I came to learn more about my parents' financial situation and realized that they've sacrificed a lot for us. I had the majority of my college tuition supported by the school, but my brother doesn't, and tuition in the US isn't cheap, especially when you convert it to our local currency. I also never know for how long I can stay in the US and keep making the same kind of money I'm making now so I'm trying my best to pay down the student loans ASAP.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became fully financially responsible for myself when I started working at my current company. Before that my student worker jobs paid for my personal expenses in college but my parents still chipped in for tuition. I guess my family back home is my safety net but personally, I wouldn't ask them for help even if bad things happen to me in the future.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Nope.

Diary

Day 1 (Thursday) - $3.35

• Alexa wakes me up and turns the light on. I change into my work clothes and head downstairs to my “office.” My boss starts our daily standup call, talking about what we did yesterday and what we plan for the day.
• I have my annual review meeting. Everything goes well and my bosses are very pleased with what I’ve done, especially after I transitioned into my new title as a Data Scientist, which honestly brought me more fulfillment in my job as well. We talk about our annual bonus and raise, which I already expected. It’s not a lot of money but hey any money is money and I’m not saying no.
• Some people bought my photocards so I gather all the orders and purchase a shipping label since 1 order is with tracked shipping. (Don’t ask me how this works but I’m a K-pop fan and we collect expensive cardboards. Depending on the popularity of the member of the group, profit margins can go up to 400%.) I head to the post office and drop off all the packages ($3.35)
• I’ve been waiting for the mailman all day and he finally comes! I’ve been working from home for almost a year now and my back pain is starting to kill me so I decided to “invest” in a $400 chair with lumbar and neck support. My cat happily takes the other chair and starts claiming her territory on it.

Day 2 (Friday) - $206.24

• I wake up on cue at Alexa’s daily briefing. Half an hour passes while I ponder on a perfume sample set I saw in someone’s fragrance collection on Reddit.
• I eventually give in and purchase the Zoologist sample set ($120.24). It’s within my budget this month, I’ve been eyeing this one for some time now and I can resell it for 80% value once I’m done testing them, so it’s not a huge loss anyway.
• Late lunch today. I make a quick lunch with sausages and keto toasts and quickly finish it while watching some YouTube videos on personal finance and updates on $GME (no I did not buy any shares).
• When in doubt, throw every leftover food in your fridge in a pan and make fried rice. Side dish is sweet and sour tomato and egg “cloud soup.” Then we have our weekly family video call with my parents back in my home country.
• I go down the YouTube rabbit hole again and buy 2 more perfume sample sets ($86.00). All the purchases today (~50 samples) would probably take me months to try out so I promise myself no more until next quarter as I click the pay button.

Day 3 (Saturday) - $71.27

• I wake up at 8:45 am and laze around for half an hour, scrolling down Twitter and answering my friend’s questions on how to enter the stock market. Today is my cheat day (I have one every 2-3 weeks), so I contemplate if I should order delivery for lunch. I check YNAB and decide that it’s too expensive, so I go downstairs to make myself a hearty breakfast with a latte, half a croissant, grilled chicken breasts, and snack on some shrimp crackers and tangerines.
• I purchase a shipping label ($3.22) and head out to the post office. For some reason I want to smell like a lemon cake today, so I spritz on Xerjoff Lira, put on sunscreen, and head out. This perfume always makes me feel so warm and delicious.
• I spend the whole afternoon catching up with my Chinese and Korean lessons for the week.
• Suddenly craving some instant noodles, so I immediately get up and head to a local Asian grocery store to shop for instant and pho noodles (I’m planning to make pho for Lunar New Year) and some snacks for my brother ($38.71). We drop by a bubble tea shop nearby and get bubble tea and 2 dessert cakes ($19.71). I usually don’t drink sugary drinks, but since it’s my cheat day, I put in an order and pay for the both of us.
• Some more PC orders came in and they’re all with tracked shipping. The post office is closed tomorrow but I’ll just pay now for the shipping labels so that I won’t forget ($9.63).

Day 4 (Sunday) - $0.00

• I literally do nothing today until 4 pm.
• I make dinner, then finish my Chinese lesson and review the flashcards I made yesterday. That’s enough activity for the day.
• One of my friends calls to show me her album haul of the day and I'm tempted, but (fortunately?) there's no kpop store in my city so I make myself forget about buying any more albums.

Day 5 (Monday) - $40.10

• I wake up with a headache, not feeling too well, so I request a day off and message my boss. I can’t go back to sleep, so I just lie there in bed for a couple of hours. I suddenly remember that WandaVision is on air, and there are a couple of movies on there I haven’t watched yet, so I subscribe to Disney+ ($7.52) and start binge-watching.
• We ran out of soft drinks for my brother, so I have to drive to Costco again after lunch ($32.58). I also need to drop off all the orders that came in over the weekend.
• I go to my old apartment for my move-out inspection (I haven't been living there since December but still had to honor the 2-month notice and pay for all the rent). There are a couple of spots that might cost me some deductions in my deposit. Sigh. At least I get to tell them to remove the charges on my lease for February, and they assure me that they will.
• I finish binge-watching some movies on Disney+. I see Colourpop is advertising some Valentine’s Day palettes on my feed. I do not need those, I do not need those, I do not need those. I should’ve just unfollowed makeup brands on social media. Some more late-night scrolling, and then I finally go to sleep.

Day 6 (Tuesday) - $8.02

• I wake up groggily, still feeling a bit sick. We have a late standup today, so I take my time making my coffee and start working, as my cat also settles in on my lap and starts napping. My head is still aching and I'm not sure if it's the cold or just keto flu so I load up on electrolytes, fish oil, and acetaminophen just in case.
• Somebody lowballed me on one of my postings. Ugh I hate it when they do this, but this one is not selling too well, so I meet them halfway. I purchase another shipping label ($3.03).
• Today is our bi-monthly deployment date, which means all the engineers (and anyone who has committed changes in our codebase) meet up and sit around until all the merges are deployed into production. I had some changes last week so I just sit there and do my own work until it's my turn. My boss told me this morning he had some test API from one of our new clients so I go to check out some of the data there. Oh how I love me some messy, messy data that nobody knows what to do with.
• The repair guy who came to fix our washing machine doesn't leave until 5:15 pm so I drop by the post office late, but just in time as they're collecting the mail! Then I drop by a nearby (rather upscale) grocery store as I'm running out of heavy cream, but everything is so expensive. I compare price per oz and pick up the coffee creamer instead ($4.99).
• I heat up the cauliflower rice and leftover curry and eat dinner as I watch Coco (I can't believe I've never actually watched it!) Then I review my Chinese flashcards for a bit, do half an hour of Just Dance until I sweat, play with my cat, and call it a day.

Day 7 (Wednesday) - $3.49

• I stayed up quite late yesterday playing a mobile game and finally wake up after snoozing the alarm for the 84th time. My boss starts our standup at our usual time; there's nothing urgent or pressing today so I just take my time. I take a quick nap in the afternoon and go back to work.
• I use the last drops of avocado oil to fry up some bulgogi for dinner. Need to go back to Costco for more avocado oil tomorrow, I guess.
• After dinner, a friend asks me about perfume samples that she wants to try. I go online to search for them but no dice since they belong to a new collection that only got launched in Europe. I take this time to try out some similar smelling samples in my collection as well.
• I review my Chinese flashcards and do some workbook exercises. After an hour, my brain is fried on Chinese but I don't want to go to bed yet, so I pick up a book on my bookcase that I was reading a while ago (A Random Walk Down Wall Street) and read one more chapter.
• An order came in so I purchase another shipping label ($3.49), update my budgeting app for a bit, and then head to bed.

Summary

​

Category	Amount	Note
Food & Drink	$95.99	Groceries
Fun / Entertainment	$7.52	Disney+ subscription
Home & Health	$0.00
Clothes & Beauty	$206.24	Perfume samples
Other*	$22.72	Shipping labels
Total	$309.75	shipping labels not included

*I don’t count the shipping labels as expenses because they’re already factored into the profits I made from my sales, but I included them anyway because they're still charges on my accounts. Any profit goes back to funding my album purchases so... I guess it's a vicious cycle.
Overall, a pretty normal week for me in terms of food. I don’t eat out often (I allow myself only one meal and one dessert every month) and have used up my 1 dessert allowance this week so I probably won't have any more this month. I might’ve gone overboard with the perfume purchases this week, but tbh perfumes bring me joy. My mood is lifted and I'm transported to old and new places every time I put on a perfume that I enjoy, so for me, it’s worth it. I try to be frugal whenever I can, but I'll never skimp on education and hobbies that make me happy. Writing this week-long diary, I realize I need to get back to working out, though. I'll probably have to stop procrastinating and pull out my RingFit gears still inside the moving boxes. Playing Just Dance also makes me miss dancing so bad as I used to be active in several dance crews since college (but stopped after I started working full time). I'll try to stick to Just Dance for now to get my cardio until Covid is over and I can get back to in-person dance classes.

First, I want to thank this community for being so helpful to me during my divorce. The advice I'm getting here is helping me advocate for myself when even the people I'm paying aren't doing what's in my best interest.
My husband filed for divorce October 2019. He lived in our home, that we rent in San Francisco, until May 2020.
He did our taxes as 'Married Filing Jointly' for 2019.
On 3/20/20 There was a CA STATE TAX Refund deposited into our joint account of $4,220.
On 3/25/20 There was a Federal Tax Refund deposited into our joint account of $10,264.
This year, his lawyer said that he plans on filing separately and doesn't expect to receive a refund and will pay any taxes owed.
I'm not sure how this makes any sense. He received a significant raise at the end of 2020 with his promotion, but prior to that, his income and bonuses were mostly the same, so were his expenses.
To complicate the situation, we are Canadian and I am in California on his work visa and have not been legally able to work for the last 7 years. I don't have an SSN but I do have an ITIN and got a credit card with it last year.
So, I'm not allowed to earn an income, yet for our Mandatory Settlement Conference last week, the Settlement masters said it was his prerogative if he didn't want to file jointly in order to stop commingling finances etc... even if it may be to his financial benefit.
My lawyer initially told me that she would advocate to file jointly but then just didn't say anything.
After my husband moved out, (the divorce was his idea, he met someone during shelter in place and moved in with her a month later... just including that so you know I'm not the bad guy here)
he sent me a bill for 1/2 the rent and bills for January 2020 - May 2020 which we never discussed and he lived here that entire time. I never paid for 1/2 the rent and bills before because... again, I am here on a H1B visa and furthermore, he wasn't even paying spousal support then, so if I did have his arbitrary expenses of 1/2 the rent and billls, I had no income to pay them.
So, question time: I don't know how to file my taxes as a Canadian in the US, is there anything I should know specifically about this? Probably makes sense for me to get an accountant? Is there a specific kind that I should look for? Is there anything you can tell me about him forcing me to pay rent and bills retroactively? (His lawyer is proposing that it gets deducted from community assets at the end)
I do have a divorce lawyer, but she let all of this happen. She also agreed to valuing the community property at replacement value, valuing the car at current blue book even though I haven't had access to it for over. a year , yet valuing all of our financial accounts as of his arbitrary early date of separation. I really feel like I got taken advantage of after a long and emotional negotiation.
I was able to stand up for myself on a few things and got them but my lawyer did nothihng to advocate with me for the rest, and even sided with them on one thing which my husband ultimately agreed to. I'm just so confused. Anyway, this part has nothing to do with texes, just paints the picture.
Thanks if you read this far, and thanks in advance for your insight.
TLDR - Don't think I can do one for this because of the nuance.... feel like most of these details are important. Any advice is appreciated if you have time to read. Thanks so much

0️⃣Section Zero: Background
Hello, MD! I hope you're all doing well, and are safe and healthy. I've gone back and forth for a while about whether I should share my money diary. I signed up to do one last year to chronicle our home buying process but chickened out (I'm so sorry mods!). I was worried I'd be judged for what I spent money on, not having a college education, or what might be perceived as frivolous habits. I don't know. Internet strangers terrify me. But I'm finally sharing this money diary because I want this to be a data point: you can have a career (or two!) without a college degree.
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I moved to the US right before entering elementary school. I spent half my childhood in a simple four room shack with no running water or electricity (mom's side of the family) and the other half in a large house with a nanny and domestic help (dad's side of the family). From a young age I was told that college was chance at a better life and I believed it -- not going to college wasn't an option. My mom completed a healthcare related degree in our home country but she couldn't practice in the US. My dad dropped out of college in our home country due to his work as a student protester. Both of them worked blue-collar jobs to support our family and were always working. As with just about every parent, they wanted more for me.
I was accepted to a top ranked private university but didn't get a sizable scholarship so my parents and I took out loans, separately, to fund my tuition. I dropped out halfway through my sophomore year due to poor mental health stemming from an assault. No one knows (except for my fiancé and now, internet strangers) the real reason why I left school.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes. My parents never talked about their money struggles with me, but I knew money was always tight. After my youngest brother was born, I remember how excited I was to find a jar of peanut butter in our cupboard. We hadn't had any for a while. It had a "WIC" sticker on it and I didn't know what it meant at the time. My parents never talked about receiving government support but I'm thankful that we had a safety net available to us when we needed it most.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I started paying my parents rent to stay in my childhood bedroom when I moved back home. I didn't pay for groceries or to use one of their cars, which was nice. I was about 21 when I was completely on my own. My parents and I had a falling out over me dating a much older man who I'd come to learn was very abusive. There were a few months where I slept on a friend's couch because I barely had money to feed myself. My early 20's were rough. But if I were to go completely broke now, my parents would be there to help me. They're doing much better financially.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
No. I've never received an inheritance or any other passive income.
Finally, a note on Erik: he also doesn't come from money or finish his college degree. He immigrated to the US less than a decade ago and does not receive or provide monetary support to his mom or dad.
1️⃣Section One: Assets and Debt

Combined net worth:	$3.7M
Combined brokerage balance:	$2.14M	$317,587 (mine) + $1.82M (Erik)
Combined retirement balance:	$195k	$116,300 (mine) + $78,700Erik). We're behind on funding our 401ks. I finally convinced Erik to take advantage of his employer match program two years ago. He was concerned about the ease of withdrawing funds since we plan on living outside of the US when we retire.
Joint checking account balance:	$111k	We have a lot of cash on hand right now because we need to prepay income taxes, and will be furnishing our place.
Equity:	$1.42M	We put 40% down on a 2 bedroom/2.5 bath condo (<1,200 ft2) in a new construction last summer. Our down payment came from the sale of some of Erik's RSUs.
Mortgage:	$1.61M	For our financial situation, an interest-only mortgage made sense. We have a 2.35% APR 7/1 ARM since we don't intend to stay in NYC longterm. Our plan is to pay off the remaining mortgage in full after five years and either sell the condo or hold onto it as rental property.
Combined credit card debt:	$0	We pay off our credit cards in full every month. We put between $6k - 20k on our cards every month in a typical year. He's also the authorized user on my credit cards; I added him to my accounts about six years ago to help him build his credit file since we knew we'd eventually buy a place together.
Combined student loan debt:	$0	I finished paying my student loans two years ago. Erik received free tuition as an EU resident but had some cost-of-living loans which he's paid off.

2️⃣Section Two: Income My fiancé and I ended 2020 with a total cash compensation (base + bonus) of $493,750 but with last year's vested RSUs, our overall compensation is:

	Mine	Erik
Base	$131,250	$268,750
Bonus	~$13,125	~$80,625
Vested RSUs	$121,500	$835,500
Total Compensation	$265,875	$1.18M

Income Progression I don't recall my salary increases so I'm listing my starting base salary for each role. I'm also not including additional compensation such as bonus or RSUs.

• HS and into my early 20's: minimum wage. I started working when I was 16 as a hostess for a restaurant and worked there throughout high school. In the summer before and after freshman year of university, I worked at a department store on commission. After I left university, I worked there full time and also picked up two part-time jobs (restaurant hostess, receptionist) to make ends meet.
• Job 1: $30,000 as a business development manager for a staffing agency in a HCOL (rent was $600 for a room in a 2bd/1ba). I worked there for three months.
• Job 2: $50,000 as a recruiting assistant then promoted to recruiter for a large non-profit in a HCOL (rent was $1200 for a room in a 3 bd/2ba). I was there for three years.
• Job 3: $75,000 as a recruiter for a large research institution in a VHCOL (rent was $1600 for a 1bd/1ba shared with ex-bf). I was there for three years. Looking back now, I didn't realize how burned out I was at the end. I fully believed in our mission to save lives and was so grateful to have that job. I was working directly with these world class physicians and scientists, and I had no college degree. I felt like I had to prove I belonged there. To me that meant staying in my office until 2-3am some nights (mornings?). When an opportunity to change industries, I took it.
• Job 4: $90,000 as a recruiter for a tech company in a VHCOL (rent was $1400 for a room in a 3bd/2ba). I was in that role for 2.5 years. When I joined the company, there were less than 5,000 employees. It was an amazing experience to have a hand in building teams of incredibly bright and kind people, many of whom now are now leading global teams of their own. But, I was traveling non-stop. It was exhausting and I experienced burnout (again). I had turned in my notice to HR and started letting people know. It was in one of those "goodbye" conversations that a director I closely worked with asked me if I'd be interested in joining her group as a PM. That opportunity changed the trajectory of my career. I stayed and switched roles.
• Job 5: $110,000 as a program manager for the same tech company in a VHCOL (rent was $4400 for a 2bd/2ba with Erik). I was in that role for 2.5 years. I worked on public-facing initiatives, built some awesome programs, and partnered with senior leadership daily. By this time, the company had grown 10x and had no signs of slowing down. But I needed to slow down. I didn't really take time to decompress after my two previous roles. Erik saw how unhappy I'd become. He supported me leaving the workforce for a year and I'm grateful I had his support, the opportunity, and the ability to do it.
• Took a year off. –$20,000 withdrawn from my brokerage accounts in a VHCOL (rent was $4000 for a 1bd/1ba with Erik). I didn't do anything remotely awesome during this time. I was coming out of a pretty bad depression so I took it easy on myself. I watched a lot of Investigation Discovery, cooked, napped, went down many Wikipedia rabbit holes, and joined Erik on all his business trips.
• Current Job: $125,000 as a program manager at a tech company in a VHCOL (mortgage + common charges is ~$4400 for a 2bd/2.5ba with Erik). I've been in this role for almost two years.

Main Job Monthly Take Home

Deductions	Mine	Erik
Retirement	15% of paycheck to Roth 401k	7% of paycheck to 401k
M/D/V	under Erik's employer; my employer also provides free M/D/V but we would have different providers	covered by his employer + $~250 for mine
Life insurance and AD&D	covered by my employer	covered by his employer
Short & long term disability	covered by my employer	covered by his employer
Net monthly take home	$7,000	$10,00

3️⃣Section Three: Expenses This is what our YNAB budget roughly looks like (for annual expenses, I set aside an amount per month towards the expense):
Housing

• Mortgage: $3,155
• Common charges: $1,260
• Property tax: $27,509 annual
• Homeowner's insurance: $837 annual
• Utilities: $300
• Staff bonus: $1,200 annual (1 super, 5 FT front desk, 2 porters)

Transportation These would be significantly higher in normal times. We rarely leave our place and if we do, we walk.

• Public transportation: $20
• Rideshare/taxi: $30

Entertainment

• Books & Magazines: $50 (Audible, Readly, news+, NYT)
• Music & Podcasts: $25 (Pandora, Spotify, Patreon, Blinkist)
• TV & Streaming: $120 (Hulu, Netflix, Masterclass)

Donations: $10,000 annual We donate to Children International on a monthly basis. The remaining amount is donated throughout the year to different causes. Last year, we supported AIDS research, mental health and addiction support, food banks, and international food programs.
Hobbies:

• Fitness: $176 (Aaptiv, Future, Whoop)
• Flowers: $125
• Photography: $10 (Photoshop)

Fields

• Pet insurance: $1,500 annual
• Veterinary care: $1,500 annual
• Pet food & medication: $500

Savings & Finance

• Backdoor IRA: $6,000 annual
• Acorns: $250
• Betterment: $500
• Credit card annual fees: $1,890 annual

Food & Drink Pre-COVID, we'd budget $3,000 to a "Restaurant", increase "Cafes & Bars" to $1,500, and decrease "Delivery & Takeout" to $1,000.

• Delivery & Takeout: $3,000
• Cafes & Bars: $700
• Groceries: $300

Wedding: TBD Our original budget was $75,000 (international, <50 people). We've had to reschedule it twice now and have already spent $10k in lost deposits and rescheduling fees. We'll re-evaluate our budget later this year when we start planning again.
4️⃣Section 4: The Diary

Day 1: Monday | Total: $111.84 

8:00am - First day back from holiday break for both Erik and me. He's still snoozing so I turn on the bedroom TV to see if our dog is still sleeping too. We adopted a senior dog, Fields, over the summer and quickly became one of those dog owners that installed cameras everywhere so we can watch him anytime, anywhere. Fields is still asleep so I check my work accounts and respond to anything urgent.
8:30am - Normally, this is when I'd take Fields for his morning walk while Erik makes our coffee. But our espresso machine is broken so we can't use it until the replacement parts arrive next week. Erik and I both start getting dressed to take Fields for a walk together. Before that happens, I take the dog outside to relieve himself and we quickly head back to the apartment for his breakfast.
9:30am - We walk to our favorite coffee spot in our neighborhood and get our usual: cortado with whole milk for Erik, cold brew with a splash of oat milk for me, and a breakfast BLT to share. We walk back to our apartment and get to work. $23.69
12:30pm - I take Fields with me to pick up our lunch at Sweetgreen: a kale caesar salad (hold the tomato and swap for the blackened chicken) for me, and a hot honey chicken plate for Erik. $27.71
4:30pm - Erik and I are dire need of coffee. We take the dog for another walk, this time to our other favorite coffee shop. The decor is very IG-friendly and their coffee is fantastic. I get their matcha latte with oat milk, Erik gets a cortado with whole milk, we split an avocado toast with smoked salmon, and Fields get a whole lot of snacks for being a good boy while he waits for our order to be ready. $29.95
4:45pm - We walk past a cute mochi ice cream shop that I've been meaning to try. I pick up eight mochi ice creams: ube, chocolate hazelnut, passion fruit, mango, and some seasonal flavors. $30.48
5:00pm - We get home just in time to feed the dog. His food is laughably expensive but we think it's worth it and most importantly, Fields is worth it! He's the best dog and we want to spoil him during his final years. Especially since the poor pup was returned to the shelter twice within a year. I can't imagine giving up this sweet old guy.
9:00pm - I log off work and head down to our building's gym to workout. I've been working with a trainer through the app, Future, and like it so far. Pre-pandemic, I was in really good shape as I was training for a half marathon and our now-postponed wedding. Since the lockdowns started, my healthy eating habits and will to workout has gone down a very messy spiral. I do a mile run on the treadmill followed by a set that includes split squats and deadlifts. Ouch.
10:15pm - I walk into the apartment to find Erik's made dinner from yesterday's leftovers: tacos! I quickly eat two tacos, then tidy up the kitchen while Erik takes Fields out for his last potty break before bed.
10:45pm - I rinse off in the shower and start my nighttime routine. Erik won't see me for another 45 minutes, at least. Tonight, I use a dermaroller on my arms and legs before rubbing in vitamin C lotion. While the lotion dries, I start on my face: facewash, essence, serum, niacinamide and azaleic acid, eye serum, and all topped off with a nighttime cream cream. This is a typical nighttime routine for me.
11:30pm - Finally in bed. We put on a Netflix comedy special while I finish my routine in bed: foot cream, hand cream, and cuticle oil. Erik is browsing on the iPad looking for pots and planters. We call it a night just after midnight.

Day 2: Tuesday | Total: $199.41 

8:30am - We're both really tired. I want to lay in bed a little longer but Erik has a call at 10am and we need coffee. Since his pants are on first, I convince him to take the dog outside so I can get ready. He agrees. I put on sweats and prepare Fields' breakfast.
9:15am - We walk to a cute Australian coffee shop and order: a cortado with whole milk for Erik (it's the only thing he drinks), a cold brew with oat milk for me, and share one of my favorite breakfast sandwiches. It's got prosciutto on it and a perfectly runny egg! $23.58
12:45pm - I lost track of time and forgot to order lunch. I place an order at Chop't: avoketo chicken club salad sans tomatoes for me and a kebab cobb wrap for Erik. Once it's ready, I take Fields with me to pick it up. $25.67
1:15pm - While eating lunch, I order Ess-A-Bagels to be sent to two girlfriends across the country as very belated Christmas gifts. I meant to send them their gifts earlier but they've had family visiting them and I wanted to make sure they got to enjoy their gift. I know they both really love Ess-A-Bagels and wouldn't be too keen to share. $213.90 - $100.00 AMEX offers credit = $113.90
3:00pm - That salad was not enough. I pull a Daily Harvest mint + cacao smoothie from our freezer to make a smoothie with oat milk and split it with Erik.
4:30pm - Ok, we really need coffee. We head back to cute IG-friendly coffee shop we went to yesterday and order the same drinks but skip the sandwich. $12.74
4:45pm - On the way home, I tell Erik that I need to eat something more substantial. I was feeling hangry. We stop by our favorite mediterranean cafe. I order a kebab bowl and Erik gets the kebab sandwich. $23.52
5:15pm - We get home just in time for me to get ready for my last meeting of the day and feed Fields his dinner. Today, he gets lamb and red quinoa.
8:45pm - My trainer has a run scheduled for me today but I'm so tired; I don't think I slept well. I message my trainer to tell her I'm taking the day off but will make up the run tomorrow!
9:30pm - I catch up with some girlfriends on the west coast over text while watching an old Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode. I remember we have mochi ice cream and eat two of them. This is a great night.
10:30pm - I need to sleep earlier tonight since I need to get a run in tomorrow morning. I have a Morpheus8 appointment at 11am and I can't workout after that.

Day 3: Wednesday | Total: $290.44 

8:00am - The alarm goes off and I yell at Siri to stop. I roll back over and snuggle Erik. The run isn't happening.
9:00am - I receive a call from the clinic where I get my Morpheus8 done. My esthetician has a family emergency and can't make the appointment. I'm secretly excited to reschedule for a later date since I have a face lipo, neck lipo and buccal fat removal procedure in exactly a week. I know, I know. Scheduling procedures so close to each other isn't the smartest idea, but I wanted to finish my Morpheus8 series before more invasive procedures. To get the kind of results I wanted, I needed three Morpheus8 sessions booked about a month apart. Today was supposed to be my last one.
9:20am - Walk Fields with Erik to get our usual coffee order and split a bagel with smoked salmon, alfalfa sprouts, picked red onions, chili and dill. $27.85
3:00pm - During our team meeting, my director asks me if I've seen the news. I grab my phone to look at the news and feel my anxiety spike as I learn that the Capital is actively being breached. I know my mental health is going to take another hit after this. Instead of working, I doom scroll the rest of the day. I also realize that salad isn't going to cut it for lunch. Not today. I need something more comforting and warm. We decide on Chinese food: ma po tofu and black pepper beef with a lot of fluffy white rice. $64.52
4:45pm - It's time for my sort-of monthly nail appointment. I go every three weeks to this amazing salon that specializes in nail art but they're also superb at taking care of your nails. I pick a sunny yellow color to offset the shit that happened this afternoon. They're pricey ($75 + $20 tip) but my nails and cuticle beds have never looked healthier. I also buy a ceramic cuticle pusher tool ($15). $114.40
7:15pm - I convince Erik to meet me at our neighborhood pizza spot to pick up dinner. We order: a pepperoni Sicilian slice, Hawaiian slice, ham and cheese calzone, and four slices of cheese, root beer and diet soda. $46.65
8:30pm - While scrolling through IG, I see a dermatologist use snail extract for her NuFace. I've been meaning to buy more NuFace gel and this seems like a good cost-effective replacement. I find the same bottle on Ulta and add an eyeshadow brush to get free shipping. I'm project panning my eyeshadow palettes so this will be a fun new tool to play with. $37.02
12:00am - Bedtime.

Day 4: Thursday | Total: $112.13 

8:00am - Same routine as the days before: get dressed, take Fields out, give him breakfast, and head out for our family walk.
9:00am - Another day, a new cafe. We order our usual coffees, and split a breakfast sandwiche: herb omelette on a toasted baguette slathered with spicy aioli and topped with bacon. $27.22
9:15am - I realize that I dropped Erik's credit card somewhere between the cafe and our apartment (I didn't bring my wallet so I asked Erik for his card at the cafe). I call the cafe and ask if they'd seen it; they hadn't. And just as I'm about to call the bank to cancel the card, the cafe calls back -- someone found it on the sidewalk and turned it in! We thank them for following up and tell them we'll pick it up tomorrow.
1:00pm - I wake Fields up from his nap so we can walk to get our usual Sweetgreens order. $27.71
7:00pm - Erik and I take Fields on a walk to pick up Thai food for dinner. We order beef pad kee mao, shrimp tom kha soup, chicken pad thai, and mango with sticky rice. $51.75
9:00pm - While reconciling this week's expenses, I see that my Sephora credit card payment was returned and I was charged not only a late fee, but a finance charge! I signed up for the Sephora card over the holidays to take advantage of their cash back program and this was my first payment to them. I go on the website to investigate what happened and find that I missed entering a "0" to my linked bank account. I call their customer service rep to explain everything. I ask her if she could waive the late payment fee ($35) and the finance charge ($5.45) if I paid the balance in full. She said she's able to waive the late payment fee but not the finance charge. I thank her for her help and hope this doesn't affect my credit score too much. $5.45
12:00am - Zzzzzzz.

Day 5: Friday | Total: $245.56 

8:00am - Same morning routine as yesterday.
9:00am - Same breakfast routine as yesterday but add additional tip since they held onto Erik's card. $28.67
12:00pm - Wake Fields up from his nap for a quick walk to Just Salad. I get a chicken caesar salad while Erik gets a chicken poblano salad. $23.70
7:10pm dinner - Friday's are our date nights. Before the pandemic, we'd get dressed up and go out for a nice meal and spend quality one-on-one time. These days, we usually order in fancy sushi and watch a movie. Between us, we order 19 pieces of sashimi and nigiri like uni (my favorite), zuke, wagyu, and tamago. $193.19
10:30pm - As soon as Erik gets back from taking Fields out, we pile onto the couch to watch Jurassic Park.
1:00am - Sleep.

Day 6: Saturday | Total: $375.24 

9:00am - It's a late start to the morning. After feeding Fields, we walk to pick up breakfast. We get our usual coffee order, a bagel with smoked salmon and a chocolate croissant. $34.12
1:20pm - I saw someone post in a cooking subreddit about seasoning that a local restaurant uses on their wings. Of course I google the restaurant and get hungry from looking at their photos. I end up ordering lunch from them: wings (of course), coconut crab curry, shrimp chips and chili jam, thai iced tea, and khua kling. It was all delicious but holy cow everything was so spicy. Definitely will order from them again though! $93.40
3:45pm - I see a notification pop up for a charge on our card. I assume it's something for Erik's current house project (building our custom closets). I ask him about it and it's actually a router extender. $125.85
8:00pm - We've been missing Mission-style burritos lately and haven't found a good replacement in New York yet. But we did find a restaurant that makes delicious Mexican food. I get two spicy pork tacos and one al pastor taco, Erik gets a spicy pork burrito and a mandarin Jarritos, and we split a large chips and guacamole. $49.87
10:00pm - While browsing Reddit), I see someone post decants for sale of fragrances I've been meaning to try. Fragrances were a serious hobby of mine for a while, to the point that I hired a fragrance "fixer" on a Paris trip to take me around the local shops. I've since scaled back my collecting and have been focusing on learning to differentiate scents better. $72.00
11:00pm - Goodnight!

Day 7: Sunday | Total: $134.57 

9:00am - Another late start to the morning. We do our morning routine with Fields and walk to get breakfast. This time, we head back to the cafe that found Erik's credit card. We get our coffees along with the herb omelette baguette with bacon. $27.56
12:00pm - There's some leftovers from yesterday's very spicy lunch so we eat that for lunch. I think the food might actually be spicier today.
6:00pm - I FaceTime with a girlfriend on the west coast who shares some amazing life news. Her and her husband are moving from the west coast! While I'm sad they're not moving to New York, I'm thrilled that they'll be closer to us and that she has an amazing new role. This is a huge win for her career and I'm really proud of her.
9:40pm - We realize we haven't had dinner. We both want something much less spicy so we order in Italian: caesar salad, pasta alla gricia, and a spicy vodka pasta. $107.07
11:00pm - We owe a response to our wedding planners about our wedding date. Do we move forward with a summer 2021 (originally summer 2020) wedding or do we postpone another year? I have strong feelings about trying to hold a destination wedding in the middle of a pandemic. I don't want to put our friends and family at risk since we won't know when vaccines will be widely available. But Erik is worried that his dad won't make it to 2022 since his dad already isn't in the greatest health. We agree on a new game plan: we hold off on our wedding celebration until 2022. In the meantime, we'll travel to his dad as soon as it's safe and get married with him in attendance. I email the wedding planners our decision to postpone (again) and go to bed.
5️⃣Section 5: This Week's Total & A Brief Reflection

Food & Drink	$1,000.57
Fun & Entertainment	$0.00
Home & Health	$125.85
Clothes & Beauty	$223.42
Transport	$0.00
Other	$119.35
GRAND TOTAL	$1,469.19

This was a pretty normal spending week (during the pandemic) for us, minus all the coffee trips due to our broken espresso machine. I know we spend a lot on food and we're okay with our level of spend, for now. It gets us out of the house, gives us a reason to take Fields out for a walk and explore the neighborhood, and allows us to support our favorite spots. My goals for this year are to increase the amount we put into investments and learn more about tax-efficient strategies.
Apologies for any and all typos!
EDIT: typos and a few words

Long Post Ahead
TL;DR: budget even if you're poor. you'll be ready when things turn around. life will change. be ready when it does whether its good or bad. its ok to spend wisely on things that are important to you. learning about personal finance before you're cashed up will help you so much. . . .
Hello poverty finance from Australia. Its taken years to go from unstable poor to stablish - low income household. I have lived under the poverty line and just above it for a very long time. I probably just learn too slowly when it comes to finances. But as of 2021, I can say that if the new job holds, I'll finally be heading out of it. Please be nice. I know I've made mistakes. Just trying to own them and do the best I can.
I wanted to share my timeline with you all. For me, the journey hasn't been linear. But every damn month I would look at my spreadsheet and work out what I could do. As a type this on my dying budget smartphone with a cracked screen on my 3G prepaid phone plan, I hope someone out there finds it useful.
I know it can feel pointless budgeting peanuts. But in my experience it allowed me to allocate the money to the things that were important to me. Which for me, is providing for my kids. I scrimped and save and make sure they get quality shoes, go to a good school, get to do some fun things and we eat well. When extra money came in, I knew how to handle it.
My friends bought houses, had phone plans and new high end phones, took out car loans, travelled, had expensive weddings and decent home internet. One of my friends earned more than double what I did, but lived pay to pay and always had less.
I kept out of debt and did everything to get bills under control. I try to get secondhand clothes from friends for my kids and I where possible. I always left myself some fun money where possible for my kids even if it was just for a hot chocolate. I discovered if I save too aggressively and deprive myself too much I cancel my automatic transfers and then spend the cash. I bought everything outright. Or I didnt get it. Never use afterpay. Sometimes I use layby. Automating small transfers to my untouchable savings account changed my life.
I was blessed to not have a rent increase between 2012-2020. Mostly cos the place was a dump and the owner didnt want the hassle of finding another tenant. dealing with rat infestations while your in your 3rd trimester of pregnancy in your mouldy house isnt fun. but having a roof over our heads wasn't something I would compromise. Commuting for 4 hours a day partially by ferry with a 1 week old during a measels outbreak to get your older child to school isnt fun. After my first pay from work this year, I realised i had a month worth of expenses banked. I hope to keep moving onwards and upwards.
Australia has socialised health care and deferred study loan payments as well as partial family welfare for working parents and child care subsidies. . .
2012 . .

• No car (Car repossessed 2010)
• House with ex repossessed
• Credit card debt
• 1 baby no financial support from other parent
• Burnt through savings
• Regularly having account in negative
• Renting Run down 1bdrm semi.furnished house in a regional area
• Addicted to smoking
• Depressed
• prepaid phone . .

2013

• Still no car
  
• Signed up for diploma 22K deferred student loan
  
• shaved my head #2 cut, bought clippers and stopped spending money on hair.
  
• 12 hour days, 90min commute each way 5 days a week
  
• Electricity shut off for 2 weeks
  
• Toddler getting sick regularly from daycare
  
• Quit smoking
  
• Recieved a windfall and spent it all on 12month ymca gym membership paid upfront and got an extra month free
  
• Started yoga and pilates at the gym
  
• Still cant control money, account in negative regularly
  
• Got free food from neighbours sometimes
  
• planted tomatoes and basil
  
• started a meetup group (didnt make any money) to meet people. used groupon discounts to organise events or did free stuff
  
• prepaid phone . .
  

2014

• still no car
  
• started university
  
• 12 hour days, 90min commute each way 5 days a week
  
• toddler needs operation from getting ear infecfions at daycare
  
• total burnout, failed some subjects at uni
  
• closed the meetup group
  
• still growing food
  
• money still not covering expenses
  
• prepaid phone
  
• volunteered and scored free tix to a festival and met cool people
  
• accessed retirement fund due to financial hardship to pay urgent expenses
  
• doing yoga whenever i have any spare money
  

. .
2015

• started a budget
  
• started learning about FIRE
  
• did some more volunteering, made new connections which lead to more volunteering.
  
• still no car
  
• still attempting to study not doing great
  
• still depressed
  
• prepaid phone
  
• eating healthier
  
• doing yoga whenever i have spare money
  
• account isnt in negative as often
  
• saved my first 1K emergency fund
  
• used emergency fund
  
• bills are getting paid on time
  
• account stays in the black
  

. .
2016

• flunked out of uni
  
• still budgeting
  
• opened an untouchable savings account
  
• still learning about FIRE. taught me flashy toys don't equal wealth
  
• learning about minimalism
  
• making lifestyle changes
  
• still no car
  
• prepaid phone
  
• asked to be on a committe for a festival. got paid a small sum. direct result of prevous volunteering
  
• bills get paid on time
  
• any windfalls go straight into untouchable savings . .
  

2017 * made last payment on credit card debt

• child started school. could buy school supplies with meagre savings
  
• still budgeting
  
• bought a cheap car with cash from the money in untouchable account
  
• saved money, had savings wiped by unexpected bills
  
• prepaid phone
  
• car accident. car gets written off. insurance pays me more than i paid originally. i buy another older but sportier car in cash new car is a lemon. drain untouchable savings repairing it
  

. .
2018

• still budgeting
  
• still prepaid phone
  
• make regular small deposits to untouchable savings
  
• start putting away bill money in untouchable account
  
• earn small bonuses at work. put some extra money in my kids account
  
• get a tax penalty for my bonus forced to pay 70% to tax office in instalments
  
• car playing up. its still drivable and i cant afford to replace it so ... meh
  
• lodge some outstanding tax returns and get bonus money.
  
• i take up hiking and buy hiking boots with cash
  
• buy uniforms for my kid and pay school fees and other bills in advance
  
• get pregnant boyfriend relapses after a long period of sobriety and im left alone
  
• tell my doctor im struggling and get a referall to see a psych. i get a rebate but its expensive. best money ive ever spent.
  
• i super frugally prepare for baby. find out im having a boy and hit up friends with kids for hand me downs. score bigtime.
  

. .
2019

• still budgeting
  
• still prepaid phone
  
• im eligible for maternity pay from my last job because of my years spent budgeting im able to stretch and live within our means
  
• i get a free newborn baby photo shoot by signing my baby up to be a model in a photographers workshop
  
• we have no nursery at home. i let my older girl sleep upstairs in the bedroom and slept on an airmattress downstairs next to the babys cot for 5 months.
  
• thank god i can breastfeed and dont buy formula
  
• i take out more retirement $$ due to hardship
  
• spend 4hours a day commuting with baby to take daughter to school and realise i need to move
  
• look for a new rental but cant afford to move back to the city, or anywhere close at all.
  
• pause all savings and just scrape by
  

. .
2020

• still budgeting
  
• still prepaid phone
  
• decide to attempt to study at uni again to improve job prospects
  
• daughter has to be homeschooled due to pandemic
  
• defer studying until 2021
  
• not commuting for school saves us so much time and money
  
• i get back on track with small deposits to untouchable account
  
• australian goverment starts stimulus money. i save ALL of it
  
• buy a cheap reliable older car from a family member with cash
  
• flight prices bottom out and i get cheap flights to visit an aunt and have a holiday.
  
• realise cost of living and lifestyle in this city is good while holidaying
  
• find a pet friendly rental, apply and am accepted before i flew home. empty retirement $, get rid of most of my belongings and drive 1700km (1056 miles) to move to new city within 2 weeks.
  
• car played up on the way, and for reasons unknown the mechanic only charged me an hours labour to check it out.
  
• no furniture, no tv. no dining table. picnic set to eat off of. camp chairs. travel.cot, mattresses on the floor. still better than before. we have ceiling fans! and air con. and no mould.
  
• we live walking distance from a school. school fees are less. no commuting.
  
• i find free exercise classes
  
• december 2020 i get a new part time job, and negotiate the salary . .
  

2021

• still budgeting
  
• still prepaid phone
  
• have a dining table, storage ottoman /seat and kids beds now
  
• started new job
  
• set up automatic savings transfers until june 2021. going to try my best to build an emergency fund and maybe even invest. rebuilding retirement fund asap.
  
• study is commencing soon
  
• still shave my head. cos ladies can rock this look too 😁
  

Table of contents:

• General Information about Nexo
• Buybacks
• Licenses and regulations
• Interest / Earning with your Crypto assets
• Dividend
• Competitors
• Frequently asked questions
• Important information

General Information about Nexo

What is Nexo?

Nexo delivers the The World’s First Instant Crypto-backed Loans, thus resolving a crucial inefficiency for the crypto world. Up to this very moment, no alternatives existed for digital asset owners to enjoy their crypto wealth except selling them. The innovative model of Nexo brings to the crypto community the best of both worlds - retaining 100% ownership of their digital assets while having immediate access to cash.

What are Instant Crypto-backed Loans?

The Instant Crypto-backed Loans are an automatic, flexible and cost-efficient way of obtaining liquidity that is secured by the value of the client’s digital assets. The whole process is completed in just a few simple clicks. No hidden fees, no capital gains taxes, no credit checks. Transparency is guaranteed through the use of blockchain technology, smart contracts and algorithmic processes executed by the Nexo Oracle.

Notes for US (United States) Customers

• You will not be able to exchange NEXO within the upcoming exchange. This is NOT due to Nexo, but because of the SEC.
• You can receive dividends, but paid in BTC not Nexo (Unless you're an accredited investor, then you can be paid in Nexo).
• It's pretty complicated to purchase Nexo (right now) for US customers.
• You can not receive the additional 2% bonus if choosing to get paid interest in Nexo.

How can I buy NEXO?

Currently, until the Exchange comes out, you will have to use a third-party platform to purchase NEXO. You can use the following:

• Changelly (Via the Nexo app, click on the banner on the homepage, at the top) [Note, very high fees/interest rate, but easy to use]
• Huobi.com (Not available for US customers) Send USDT, BTC, ETH to your Huobi wallet, trade it for Nexo. If you complete KYC you get a $10 fee deduction on trades.
• Uniswap. You have to buy ETH first somewhere and then swap it to Nexo. Good solution for 4 figure exchanges and under, above that, there is too little liquidity.
• Buy BNB from Binance, use Binance DEX to convert BNB to Nexo.
• Bitmart.com exchange.
• Hotbit.io exchange (very low liquidity)
• ChangeNow.io - Swap to NEXO

How is Nexo connected to Credissimo?

Nexo is powered by Credissimo, a leading FinTech Group serving millions of people across Europe for over 10 years. Credissimo has always operated under the highest regulatory requirements and strictest supervision by multiple European Banking and Financial Services Regulators. Now the same Team and its Board of Advisors, empowered by the ever-growing community of Nexo supporters and the enormous demand for the Instant Crypto-backed Loans, are unlocking the value of the digital assets in a rapidly expanding token economy that will alter the very fabric of a $5 trillion dollar market.

Who are the Nexo Founders?

Nexo was founded by the Credissimo team who have been in business for over 10+ years and awarded as one of the top 100 Financial Tech companies in Europe.

What happens when NEXO doesn't have enough cash to loan out?

They can't loan out without raising money, of course. So either they have to loan themselves with better terms, raise money through other means, or steadily process the loans facing a supply drought and customer loss. I could imagine that it would be technically legal for a certain % of the collateral to be sold, just like banks are not required to keep 100% of their customers cash in liquid form, but I have quite frankly no clue how this applies to nexo and crypto assets.

What happens to the deposited BTC/ETH if NEXO fails? Who holds the private keys to them coins?

Since nexo is properly registered in the EU, and given the EU's tendency to protect customers rather than company's, Id honestly assume we would have a novelty court case over this issue, with the expected result that the collateral has to be given back out, if it is still available. But as it often happens in crypto, if the coins are sold illegally its hard to reverse that kind of damage, and its even more tough to access them if they were sent to another wallet. I do not really think that there is a reasonable possibility of this happening without nexo deliberately destroying their business/turning criminal, because of the nature of this business and the contracts, and I would assume that not turning criminal is a much, much more profitable strategy in the long run, because nexo is well positioned to assume dominance in this market for what we know so far.

What happens if people fail to pay back the money, but at the same time the deposited BTC/ETH loose value and are not able to cover the loan amount any more? (With people then realising their collateral is valued at less then the money they have to pay back, thus being incentivised towards defaulting rather than paying back to get their crypto.)

If the collateral does not cover the loan due to falling prices, the loan agreement as far as I know will be automatically terminated, with the collateral held in the nexo account. The customer must either default through the prices not covering the loan amount, or with failure of payback itself, its not really possible that both the customer fails to pay back the money AND the collateral declines in value below the worth of the loan unless the market crashes so spectacularly that the collateral cannot be automatically sold. However the outcome is technically the same, nexo itself does not lose money if the client defaults (unless prices crash faster than nexo is able to sell, or the volume is gone, et cetera., which I think at this point is relatively unreasonable to assume.), and I think the "take a loan -> buy more crypto -> take more loans" scenario is incredibly unreasonable given that you can easily margin-trade with much higher leverage and less trouble than what nexo could loan out to you, so I dont assume loans are being taken for actual crypto investments, I rather think people believe in the collateral assuming value and see it as a locked up investment with extra short term utility

How is NEXO profitable?

Lending is the most profitable crypto market segment. Businesses are now parking their idle cash with crypto lenders. This trickle will soon become a flood. Nexo is arguably the most profitable lender. NEXO made ~$20 mill profit last year, paying a $6mill dividend.

Is Nexo trustworthy?

Considering that the founders of Nexo are some of the same people behind Credissimo an established successful award winning FinTech Group founded in 2007 which is still around gives gives me reassurance that my coins are somewhat safe. At the end of the day we're all taking a risk here. I'd be very surprised if Nexo just runs off with all our money in the process tainting all the work they've put in from Credissimo to here. It is poor that they haven't done much to reassure us that our crypto/money is as secure as they say but they have a track record that seems to speak for itself. Not many other defi platforms can do the same and we are seeing that almost every second day with the hacks occurring in the ecosystem.
There are actual people behind this thing that we can hold accountable. People who have Forbes articles written about them. People who have been on the news. I'm not saying it's still not possible for a security breach but again their track record seems to speak for itself.

What happens to my assets if NEXO goes under?

In the unlikely event that Nexo goes under, yes, your money is gone. There is no insurance in the world that covers something like that I'm afraid. It's the same for Cel, CDC, or any wallet provider.. remember, not your keys not your crypto. There is always a risk.

How can NEXO afford such high interest rates?

Simple, they borrow your money for ~8% and they lend it out for ~11.9% (no loyalty, this used to be 24.9% but I guess they changed it because it made them look like loan-sharks).
The concept behind Nexo is to make Crypto as liquid as possible for clients. Instead of selling crypto you can temporarily supplement it for a small loan.
Their average loan is well above the 5.9% minimum and more people are using the service to borrow rather than lend.
They are profitable, but don't expect the stablecoin interest to remain at 8%-12% long term, it's to attract new customers! Just like Crypto.com did.
One thing to note, the business model is SOLID, but only in a stable or bullish market. If for some reason Crypto market tanks, then it'll be an issue.

What happens if the market crashes?

The Loan-to-Value (i.e. ~50% for BTC and ETH) is dynamically determined by the Nexo Oracle algorithms, depending on the current and historical volatility and market liquidity of the asset. If the assets decrease significantly in value and you do not contribute additional assets to your Nexo Wallet after receiving a warning from the Nexo Oracle, Nexo may initiate small liquidations to cover any insufficiency.

Buybacks

Nexo announced a Buyback, has it been done, how can I track it?

The buyback has started, it seems like they are doing the buyback bit by bit instead of the full amount all at once. They purchase these tokens from the open market, where there is liquidity (Huobi for instance). You can check how many tokens have been bought back so far here: https://etherscan.io/address/0x1C433CBF4777e1f0dCe0374d79aaa8ecDC76B497#tokentxns

License and Regulations

Is NEXO compliant with the SEC?

Yes: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1732097/000173209718000004/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

Could SEC investigate NEXO the same way they did with Ripple (XRP)?

Nexo is registered and compliant with the SEC when they did their ICO (Initial Coin Offering), there is nothing to worry about.

What is NEXO's insurance?

Nexo use BitGo (https://www.bitgo.com/) as their cold storage provider. This includes a $100m policy that covers third-party hacks, theft, loss of keys, etc.
The safety of clients funds is the main priority for Nexo. Cold storage Wallets are provided by BitGo, the leader in digital asset financial services. BitGo Custody carries $100,000,000.00 in insurance protections through a syndicate of underwriters through the Lloyd's, the world’s specialist insurance and reinsurance market. And this premium service comes in at no additional cost (details can be found here and here).
The $100 million policy covers digital assets where the private keys are held 100% by BitGo in the event of:

• Third-party hacks, copying, or theft of private keys
• Insider theft or dishonest acts by BitGo employees or executives
• Loss of keys

Nexo has chosen BitGo as its custodian because BitGo provides 100% cold storage technology in bank-grade Class III vaults and the BitGo platform is SOC 2 Type 2 certified. Advanced authentication mechanisms are employed to ensure the authenticity of data, and assets are distributed geographically and organisationally.
It is the account holders’ responsibility to safeguard their accounts by means including but not limited to using a strong password, enabling two-factor authentication and controlling all login credentials to Nexo. Clients remain owners of the crypto assets placed into Nexo accounts.

Why is their insurance only for $100m if they have $4B+ in assets under management (AUM)?

They don't keep the all of their assets in the one wallet.
Their custodian, BitGo, keeps funds in many smaller wallets - the likelihood of all those wallets being hacked at the same time is something approaching zero.

Is there details on Nexo's bank license?

Not yet, Nexo is not a bank yet, but it's possibly coming soon, as they just switched banks to IBS Lithuania UAB. (Not announced but since Lithuania gave Revolut a bank license it's very possible!)

What does an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate mean?

Nexo’s information security management system (ISMS) has been successfully audited by CISQ, a member of IQNet and the world’s largest provider of management system certification, and by RINA, who have decades of experience in certifications, ensuing in an ISO/IEC 27001 compliance certificate. This guarantees that Nexo's security infrastructure is of the highest standard and carries minimal risk to clients and investors thanks to rigorous security policies, impeccable risk assessment, data protection, and state-of-the-art cybersecurity.
Nexo’s ISO/IEC 27001 certificate was issued to it's Estonian entity, the subject of this certification is Nexo’s information security management system, rather than a specific registered entity. As such, it is irrelevant which Nexo entity the certificate was granted to.
Please also note that information provided on www.nexo.io is valid for all Nexo services and operations, as the aggregate of companies within the Nexo group. These include entities registered across the globe, all of which are fully compliant with local regulations.

Licenses and links

License: https://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/EntityDetails.aspx/COMPANY/1898755
License: https://mtr.mkm.ee/juriidiline_isik/236278/valjavoteEdit?tulemus=Tegevusluba
SEC: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1732097/000173209718000004/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml
Estonia's Business Register: https://www.teatmik.ee/en/personlegal/14520507-Nexo-Services-O%C3%9C
Estonia Approval (Allows operations to all non-estonians): https://www.fi.ee/sites/default/files/2019-03/20190304%20Hoiatusteade%20Nexo.pdf

Interest / Earning with your Crypto assets

I transferred my assets yesterday and have not gotten any interest yet???

You get your first interest payout the day AFTER you deposit. This is normal, to avoid people cheating the system.

I am not getting my 10% interest!

It may not be clearly explained within the app, but in order to get the full potential for rates, you need to max your loyalty level as well as get paid in Nexo. Depending on how much NEXO is part of your portfolio, your loyalty level changes, so to achieve Platinum, you must have at least 10% of your crypto portolfio in NEXO. The bonuses for each level are as follows:

• Base = 5%* on Crypto, 8% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  
• Silver (1-5%) = 5.25% on Crypto, 8.25% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  
• Gold (5-10%) = 5.5% on Crypto, 9% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  
• Platinum (>10%) = 6% on Crypto, 10% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  

Crypto = BTC, Etherium, etc.
Stablecoins = USDC, Tether, etc. Fiat = Euro, GBP.
They get converted to their equivalent stable coin after depositing!
All % are PER YEAR NOT DAILY OR MONTHLY.
Remember, you get paid extra if you decide to receive interest in NEXO and not in-kind (same asset, so BTC to BTC for instance). This bonus is not available for US customers.

Example of interest earned:

Assuming you have 1 BTC in your Savings Wallet on NEXO, you would accumulate 5% per year if you do not hold any Nexo as well. 6% if you hold 10% worth of a BTC as Nexo in your account.
And additionally 2% more if you choose to receive the interest in Nexo and not BTC, so then it would be 7 or 8%, but this is not available for US customers.

I am not getting my 7% every day?!!!

Just like pretty much everything in this world, interest is shown PER YEAR. This means, you get 7% per year, not per day. ANY company, regardless if it's crypto or not, that tells you you can even make 1% back per day, is a ponzi / scam (unsustainable business).

How do I calculate what I should get % per day?

Simplified, and not 100% accurate, but very close, you should take the spot price of the asset at the moment of daily payout, multiply it by your loyalty / bonus level, and divide it by 365.
A more advanced, accurate calculation would be as follows (thanks to masashi_t):
Example: BTC interest is 6% in-kind and 8% in NEXO.
If you choose to earn in-kind, take into account of compounding interest, it would give you [(1+0.06)1/365-1]*100 = 0.0159% per day, or 6% APY
If you want to earn in NEXO instead, you will get (0.08/365)*100 = 0.022% per day, or 8% APR.
BTC and NEXO are both appreciating assets, you are free to pick which one you think will give you a better return in the future.

Small note regarding compounding interest:

The daily interest rate you receive for the like-kind reward already takes into account the fact it compounds to end with the stated annual interest rate. The interest rate you see for like-kind reward only is achieved if you keep it for 365 days. If you keep it for a lesser time, you actually get a lower interest rate.
I am not sure why this isn't mentioned in the app, as far as I know.

I am not getting back interest on my NEXO assets?

You do not get interest on NEXO token assets you hold in NEXO. Instead, you get dividends. Nexo give out 30% of their profits back to their customers that hold nexo tokens. Read this article for more information.

Do my assets on Nexo get locked-up / stake period?

NO! Unlike, CDC Crypto.com, you do not need to lock in your assets with Nexo, you can withdraw them at any time.

Do I get interest on my collateral?

Any assets in your Credit wallet do not get any interest, so you can not borrow 0.5BTC with 1BTC as collateral and make interest on the 1BTC at the same time. The only asset that "technically" makes % while being in the Credit wallet is Nexo tokens, where you get dividends regardless of which wallet the tokens are in.

Dividend

What is a dividend?

To "reward" loyal customers who support the project and Nexo token itself, Nexo have decided to do (yearly*) dividends, this means they give 30% of the benefits (profits) the company earned since the last dividend back to the nexo holders. Based on how many tokens you have and knowing there is currently a fixed supply of 560 millions tokens you can calculate what % you should get. Furthermore, they have an extra "bonus" for those who have held onto the tokens for a long time. This bonus is small, but it helps differentiate those who are holders and those who purchase nexo tokens before a dividend to cash in. Read the question below about frequency.

How regular are dividends, when is the next one?

So far, dividends have been yearly, in August. There have been mentions from Nexo that they'd like to do it more regularly. As any business/stock that do dividends, the price of the token/stock decreases drastically after dividend payout. Do not be alarmed.

Do US customers get dividends?

Yes, but paid out in BTC. EDIT: Apparently, you can receive it in NEXO as well, but you must be an accredited investor. Read this

Do I need to verify/kyc to receive dividend for my NEXO tokens?

Yes, advanced verification is necessary.

Where do I need to hold NEXO Tokens, in order to receive dividends?

NEXO Tokens must be held/staked in your Nexo account (doesn't matter if it's in the Credit or Savings Wallet) at the ex-dividend date. The ex-dividend date will be communicated in advance.

Competitors

CELSIUS vs NEXO

Summarized: Celsius do a much better job at engaging with their customers, and their token CEL has performed better than NEXO, however, NEXO appears much more professional (imo of course), by taking things slowly but surely. Everything works perfectly, everything is tested, no downtimes, no trash-talking by the employees. CEL at this point seems like a cult, Nexo seems like a business.

Why is CEL so high compared to NEXO?

Visibility, marketing? Various reasons. IMO looking at their trading volume, its VERY low. If even a small-sized whale decided to sell their bags, it would crash. Basically, it's artificially inflated due to low liquidity.
Also keep in mind, Coinmarketcap and Coingecko show incorrect Market Cap data for Celsius. You can see the real value by visiting the Celsius website. It will crash soon, and hard. Again, my opinion.

Frequently asked questions:

Are there any airdrops/giveaways/freebies?

No. There are currently no giveaways. If you get contacted via Facebook, Twitter, Telegram or anywhere else, it's a scam. The only "giveaway" that is currently running is the fact that you can win 100k Nexo tokens for voting for which coin should be added next to the platform (You can do this via the app, on the home screen, scroll the top banners to the right until you find the one about voting.)

When will the Card (Crypto Credit Card) be released?

There are no official announcements yet, but all we know that is it currently in a private beta. A select few European (non UK) customers have been given cards to test the upcoming platform.

When will the Exchange be released (Buying and selling crypto within the Nexo app/webapp)?

Just like the card, there is no official news yet. All we know that there are a select few IOS users who have been given early access to test the functionality of this exchange. Currently, users are reporting a 1.5%~ spread on the exchange, which is quite high.

How long does Verification/KYC take?

Generally, it takes about 2 business days, although lately with the increase of users signing up it can take a big longer. If you don't hear back after a week I'd suggest contacting their support.

Support is not answering my emails?

One tip is to go on their website, open the live chat and type in "speak with human" "talk to agent" "human" to get transferred to a real person.

Are deposits and withdrawals free?

Yes, withdrawals are completely free, although deposits depend on which exchange you use to send your assets to Nexo with.

Difference between CREDIT and SAVINGS wallets

You must take into account that you have TWO wallets per asset within the Nexo platform. One for SAVINGS, which will give you interest on any assets you hold in it, and one for CREDIT which is basically your collateral, which you use for taking out crypto-backed loans.

Will Brexit affect UK customers?

There is no official information so far.

Does NEXO have a bonus/referral system?

No, you can not get $ or bonus for referring other users right now. The only thing you can do is share a link to the CARD page, to increase your position in the waiting list.

When are payouts made?

Usually around 12:00AM UTC, daily!

What coins are accepted as collateral?

BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, XLM, BCH, EOS, LINK, TRX, stablecoins, PAXG, NEXO and BNB. More information

What is Collateral?

Collateral is crypto assets you would put up for a loan (if you don't repay they will sell it to cover the default). You do not earn interest on crypto that you use as collateral. If you are not borrowing from Nexo then your funds are held in a "savings wallet" where it can earn interest until it is either moved off the platform or used as collateral on a loan.
Nexo tokens do not earn interest the same way as other tokens, but do provide dividends from the profits of the company.

What are the loan-to-value (LTV) rates?

A Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio is an indicator representing the size of a loan compared to the value of the assets securing the loan.
The Loan-to-Value percentages of each asset are dynamically determined by the Nexo blockchain oracle algorithms, depending on the current and historical volatility and market liquidity of the asset.
More info

How many confirmations does my transfer need?

• BTC deposit require a minimum of 6 confirmations
• All ERC20 deposits (ETH, PAXG, NEXO, USDT, TUSD, USDC, PAX, DAI) require 50 confirmations
• LINK deposits require 40 confirmations
• XRP (Ripple), XLM (Stellar), BNB, NEXO BEP2 and EOS - near-instant
• BCH deposit requires 16 confirmations
• LTC deposit requires 6 confirmations
• TRX (Tron) deposit requires 20 confirmations

How can I find a list of important announcements, information?

https://support.nexo.io/hc/en-us/sections/360002501674-News-and-Updates-2020
On the sidebar, you can go back to 2018.

When will NEXO be listed on Coinbase?

It's very unlikely, because they are considered competitors. Furthermore, Nexo token is very clearly a security, based of the dividend payments and now the buyback program, these big exchanges aren't licensed to deal in securities, hence they will not list Nexo.

Will the (possible) upcoming bill regarding regulating self-hosted assets affect US NEXO customers?

No, Nexo is not self hosted. BitGo is their custodian.

How often does NEXO add new coins?

Not regularly at all.

Can NEXO be mined?

There is a fixed circulating supply of Nexo, the remainder the Team have said are locked until TBA.
So there isn't a dilution, as there are no new Nexo created - the dividend paid in Nexo needs to be bought from existing circulating supply by the company in order to be paid to holders.

Important information

NEXO's Roadmap?

• Banking license: Nexo is trying to either acquire a company or get their own banking license (like Revolut and Monzo) so they have more flexibility in their operations. It would be a huge step for a crypto company to get this and shows their ambition
  
• Credit Card: This will be similar to CDC and they'll offer generous cash back incentives of 2% when you get your credit card.
  
• Referral Scheme: Currently Nexo has done this massive growth without incentivised referrals, and when they turn this tap the company can likely see a lot of users pouring in for their great savings rates and crypto credit lines. But take a moment to think.. who do you trust more, a company that acquirers users based on their services/product, or a company that gives out bonuses to those who promote/spam their product..
  
• Exchanges and more Coins: The ability to exchange crypto within the eco system will go a long way to keeping users within the system. The plan is to let users buy and stake virtually any legitimate crypto asset.
  

And with this massive roadmap, the core principle they started with by sharing back with the community, they keep everyone's incentives aligned.

Where can I view statistics and information about Nexo?

https://nexologist.com/
https://nexostatistics.com/
https://www.hodlfire.com/go/hf-sheet/

How can I compare the earn rate of Nexo vs BlockFi/Cel/CDC/...?

https://blockscompare.com/

Important reads:

Liquidations: https://medium.com/nexo/why-liquidations-are-needed-and-how-they-protect-us-all-9d426ac70dc2
AMA from the Co-founder Antoni Trenchev: https://youtu.be/LBTrd8C5n1c
Nexo Help Center: https://support.nexo.io/hc/en-us/categories/360000766354-Nexo-Help-Center
Whitepaper: https://nexo.io/assets/downloads/Nexo-Whitepaper.pdf

Telegram Communities

Official Telegram
NEXOnians
NEXOnews
NEXOstatistics

Small thanks?

Took me quite a while to gather and write all of these if something is missing please let me know! Feel free to get me a beer if you'd like :)
(NEXO): 0xa6a87d29c362d63df60cf7667cacdfe411ee30e0