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THE WATER COOLER
The Big Three
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#1: Americans Raiding Savings Just to Buy Gas
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Gas prices have climbed so high that a growing number of Americans are dipping into their emergency funds just to cover fuel costs — money that was supposed to be a safety net for job loss or a medical crisis.
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The Raw Truth: When your emergency fund is getting eaten by the gas pump, you are one flat tire or one sick kid away from a financial disaster with zero cushion left. This is survival mode in real time, and it is happening to millions of families right now. If this is you, the most urgent move you can make is cutting any non-essential spending today and treating that savings account like it is on life support — because it is. |
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#2: More Families Going Hungry Than During the Pandemic
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A new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that food insecurity — meaning families struggling to afford enough food — is now worse than it was at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Raw Truth: If you are stretching a box of pasta to feed your family three nights in a row, you are not alone and you are not failing — the pressure on household budgets right now is genuinely brutal. This number is a gut punch because it tells us that inflation, high prices, and stagnant wages have done more damage to kitchen tables across America than a global shutdown did. Knowing that helps you stop blaming yourself and start making a plan, even if that plan starts with just a single small step this week. |
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#3: Oil Prices Jump as US and Iran Exchange Strikes
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The United States launched a new round of military strikes on an Iranian military site, and oil prices immediately shot up in response, with both major global oil benchmarks climbing sharply.
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The Raw Truth: Every time tension flares in the Middle East, the price of a barrel of oil goes up, and within days that cost shows up at your local gas station and in the price of groceries, because nearly everything you buy gets trucked somewhere first. This is not abstract market news — this is the reason your fill-up costs more this week than it did last month. You cannot control what happens overseas, but you can control your budget right now by tracking your gas spending, combining errands, and making sure a price spike does not blow up your monthly plan. |
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"The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket."
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| — Kin Hubbard |
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TRACKING YOUR S&P 500 INDEX FUND
The Ownership 10
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Your 401k S&P 500 index fund — whether you know it as VOO, FXAIX, or the Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust — owns all 500 of these companies. When they win, you win.
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The Heavy Hitters — Working Hard for You Today:
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General Motors Company (GM) 🟢 Up 5.43% — People got excited about their latest numbers and the stock jumped hard today. They make Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac — the trucks and cars you see in every driveway on your block. |
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Meta Platforms (META) 🟢 Up 3.74% — Investors piled in after the company showed it is making a lot more money from the ads you scroll past on Facebook and Instagram. They run Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — the apps probably already open on your phone right now. |
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Ford Motor Company (F) 🟢 Up 3.66% — Ford rode the same wave as the rest of the auto industry today and climbed along with it. They make the F-150 in your neighbor's driveway, plus Mustangs, Broncos, and a whole lot of the work trucks you see on job sites. |
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Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG) 🟢 Up 3.17% — Investors moved money into steady, reliable companies today and Procter and Gamble was one of them. They make the stuff already under your bathroom sink — Tide, Gillette, Pampers, Charmin, and Dawn dish soap. |
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Amazon.com (AMZN) 🟢 Up 2.47% — The company showed it is pulling in serious money from both its shopping site and the behind-the-scenes computer power it rents to businesses, and investors liked what they saw. They run the Amazon website where you order everything, plus they power a huge chunk of the internet you use every single day. |
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The Benchwarmers — Having a Tough Day (But Still on Your Team):
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Halliburton Company (HAL) 🔴 Down 3.60% — Oil prices slipped today and that dragged this company down right along with them. They are one of the biggest companies in the world that helps oil drillers pull oil and gas out of the ground. |
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JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) 🔴 Down 2.43% — Bank stocks took a hit today as people got nervous about the economy slowing down and what that means for lending. They are one of the biggest banks in the country — the Chase branch on the corner, the credit card in your wallet, probably your mortgage too. |
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Bank of America Corporation (BAC) 🔴 Down 2.11% — It drifted down with the rest of the banking world today as investors got cautious about banks in general. They are Bank of America — the ATM down the street, the checking account, the car loan, all of it. |
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Intel Corporation (INTC) 🔴 Down 1.42% — The company is going through a rough stretch trying to catch up to its competitors and investors are losing patience. They make the chips — the tiny brain — inside a huge number of laptops and desktop computers you have used your whole life. |
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Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) 🔴 Down 1.27% — Oil prices softened today and Exxon slid right along with them. They are one of the biggest oil and gas companies on the planet — they drill it, refine it, and sell it at the Exxon station you fill up at. |
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Takeaway: Five companies are winning today. Five are hurting. Your index fund holds all 500. You never have to pick the right one. You just have to stay in. That is the whole game.
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YOUR MONEY
The Household Dashboard
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| Item |
Today |
Status |
| National Gas Avg (AAA) |
$4.43/gal |
🟢 3¢ down today |
| DC Gas Avg (AAA) |
$4.65/gal |
🔴 1¢ up today |
| 30-Year Fixed Mortgage |
6.51% |
🟢 Trending |
| S&P 500 YTD Return |
see Scoreboard |
🟢 Still growing |
| Credit Card APR Avg |
22.30% |
🔴 Record highs |
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National gas is 3¢ down today at $4.43 a gallon — prices are dipping right now, so fill up the tank today and lock in that small break before the trend reverses. |
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Credit card APR is sitting at a record-high 22.30% — every dollar you carry on that card is bleeding you dry, so take whatever is left in your wallet after the gas stop and throw it straight at that balance today. |
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YOUR RETIREMENT
The Scoreboard: Daily vs. The Long Game
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| Investment |
Today |
5-Yr Return |
10-Yr Return |
| S&P 500 — VOO / FXAIX / Vanguard 500 |
🔴 -0.01% |
🟢 +88.3% |
🟢 +324.4% |
| Nasdaq — QQQ |
🔴 -0.11% |
🟢 +112.1% |
🟢 +628.0% |
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The TV wants you to panic about the red dot on the left. The green numbers on the right are your real story. Stay in.
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The Mailbag
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""Hey Rock. I have $25,000 in credit card debt across three cards, all charging around 24% interest. It is bleeding my monthly budget dry. I have $85,000 sitting in my workplace 401k. Should I take out a 401k loan to wipe out the credit cards so I can start fresh? I figure paying myself back the interest is better than paying Visa." — Sara, Sacramento, CA
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Stealing from your future to pay for your past is a massive mistake. You do not borrow from your 401k. Ever.
People love to justify this move by saying, "But I am paying myself the interest." That is a trap. When you pull that $25,000 out of your retirement account, it completely stops working for you. You are yanking it out of the greatest wealth-building machine on earth—the S&P 500—just to cover a spending problem. You miss out on all that compound growth while the money is out of the market, and you can never get that lost time back.
Plus, if you leave your company or get laid off, that entire loan usually becomes due immediately. If you cannot pay it back in cash, it counts as an early withdrawal. You will get hammered with ordinary income taxes and a massive 10% penalty.
But here is the absolute biggest problem. A loan just moves the math around without actually fixing the behavior. You treat the symptom but ignore the disease. If you do not change your spending habits, I guarantee you will be sitting here in two years with a $25,000 401k loan and $25,000 in brand new credit card debt.
Leave the 401k alone. Cut the credit cards up today so you stop the bleeding. Get on a tight, written budget. List those three cards from smallest balance to largest and attack them using the debt snowball. Work overtime. Pick up a side hustle. Sell the junk in your garage.
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Get angry at the debt, not the math. You clean this up with income and discipline, not by raiding your retirement.
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Send questions to [email protected]
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THE MILLIONAIRE MANUAL
HSA: The Greatest Secret Retirement Account in America
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You are probably paying taxes on money you use to go to the doctor, and nobody in HR pulled you aside to tell you there is a legal way to stop doing that. This one stings because the fix is sitting right there waiting for you.
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Most people look at a Health Savings Account (HSA) and think it is just a glorified checking account to pay for their kids' braces and $20 co-pays. That is exactly how the system expects you to use it. They want you putting money in and immediately swiping the debit card at the pharmacy.
But the wealthy do not use an HSA to buy Tylenol. They use it as a secret, high-powered retirement account.
The HSA is the only account in America that is triple-tax-advantaged. It beats the traditional 401k. It beats the Roth IRA. The money goes in tax-free. It grows completely tax-free. And when you pull it out for medical expenses, it comes out tax-free. The IRS never touches a single dime of it.
When you swipe that HSA debit card for a $100 doctor bill today, you are killing decades of compound interest. You are literally stealing from your future self just to cover a minor bill right now.
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The Move: Here is the actual flight plan to turn your HSA into a wealth-building machine.
1. Max it out: Fully fund your HSA every single year. Get every tax deduction you can right up front.
2. Do not touch the money: Cut up the HSA debit card. Pay for your current medical bills out of pocket with your regular monthly budget.
3. Invest the cash: Log into your HSA portal and move the money out of the cash holding account. Put it straight into a low-cost S&P 500 index fund like VOO or FXAIX.
4. Save the receipts: Here is the ultimate hack. There is no time limit on when you can reimburse yourself for medical expenses. Save your medical receipts in a digital folder on your computer. In twenty years, when that invested HSA has compounded into hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can turn in those decades-old receipts and pull the cash out completely tax-free to use for whatever you want.
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Stop treating your HSA like a piggy bank for bandaids and prescriptions. Treat it like the most powerful wealth-building vehicle legally allowed by the IRS. Get the money in, invest it in the 500 largest companies in America, and let the math do the heavy lifting.
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BACKPAGE
The Wacky Corner
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Let's talk about a brutal lesson in wealth. Back in 1978, Leon Spinks shocked the entire world. He beat Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight title in only his eighth professional fight.
The payday that followed was massive. We are talking staggering money for a kid who grew up eating out of garbage cans in a St. Louis housing project. He went from nothing to having it all overnight. But here is the raw truth. You cannot out-earn a lack of discipline. Within just a few years, every single dollar was gone. He burned through the cash thanks to a rotating door of hangers-on, horrible financial decisions, and absolutely zero structure. He had no plan and no budget. By the end of his life, the former heavyweight champion of the world was working a part-time job at a McDonald's in Nebraska just to stay busy and keep a few dollars in his pocket. When he passed away in 2021, the man who beat the Greatest of All Time left behind almost nothing in the bank.
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Lesson: Making money is only half the equation. Keeping it requires discipline.
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🇺🇸 To every foster parent clocking another sleepless night calming a kid who has never felt safe — your unpaid overtime is the reason that child believes tomorrow might be okay.
Love y'all. Attack that debt. Keep those contributions running. The plan does not change.
See you on the road. — Rock (Craig)
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