Cool Stuffz - Updated 10/09/18

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  • AustinBR

    Make your own luck
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    As many of you know, in addition to my interests in the obvious (shooting sports & outdoorsy things), I am also somewhat obsessed with technology, traveling, and finance stuff. Occasionally I find cool things and share them on here or on various FB pages to kind of pay it forward. I realized earlier this week with how busy I am, that I have neglected to do that recently. So, since I am "sneauxed in," I figured I would write a quick blog-styled post and share a couple of things that I think might make some of your lives better.

    First and foremost is Grammerly, which EVERYONE should have. It is a browser add-on that scans what you type, as you type it, and recommends grammar and spelling fixes. It won't turn a terrible writer into a novelist, but it will definitely help the average joe clean up basic spelling and grammar mistakes. Oh, and before you tell me that Chrome has a spell-check feature enabled by default, yes, I know...Grammarly is just better, and it checks grammar in addition to spelling. Seriously, give it a shot.

    Next up is The Hustle, which I have made a post about before. It is a (week)daily newsletter that sums up important happenings in the world that you may have missed in your everyday lives. I like The Hustle because they have a no-******** approach to telling everything like it is. I find that most news outlets try to swing stories a certain way, and 98% of the time, this company doesn't do that. Lastly, their stories are written in a way that makes it enjoyable to learn about things that normal news outlets make sound oh so dry. If you want even more news sent to you daily, I also subscribe to Need to Know, which covers the major daily news topics in a three minute read, which is better than 45 minutes of watching the news.

    So what about buying things online? Do you do that? Do you even Amazon, bro? If you are buying things online, I recommend Honey, a browser add-on that saves you money. I was skeptical at first, but it works and it works quite well. Whenever you have Honey enabled and you are browsing an item, say on Amazon, it will pop up a little honey-colored box if it finds a better deal on Amazon. If it does, you can add it to your cart right from the little popup box. How does Honey make money? Well, many people sell the same thing on Amazon at different markups. Honey simply refers you to a company on there who has a lower markup and then gets a small commission from the seller for referring you to them. It's a win-win for you and Honey. If you buy enough items (on non-Amazon websites), Honey even gives you a percentage of the profits. I'm not too sure how that works, but when looking at my statistics, Honey has saved me over $700 dollars in the past year and I have $2 dollars and some change in my Honey account (which I'll likely never touch).

    Traveling and finance stuff: After just returning from a 1.5ish week group-trip to Africa, I was re-reminded of the importance of having a travel card. Seriously, traveling without a credit card made to be used while traveling SUCKS. I worked in banking for a good while and that was one of the biggest challenges I faced - telling people to use a travel-specific card instead of a debit card or a generic Visa. With that in mind, everyone here who travels (long road trips or 2 or more flights per year) should highly consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Why? Well to begin, do you have a cool metal card with the "Visa Infinite" logo on the bottom? I didn't think so. It's badass. But seriously, the benefits greatly outweigh the costs. You get 3% back on all purchases related to travel and dining, and 1% back on everything else. But whenever you redeem the points for travel, you get 50% more for every dollar ($1 = $1.50). The card also covers the cost of TSA Precheck or Global Entry (skip the lines at airports, don't take off clothes, skip the enhanced-screening, etc) which is $100. You also get $300 worth of travel credits every year. Oh, and the best part: lounge access across the world. After 31 hours of traveling last week, having access to free lounges where one can enjoy a nice bourbon, bed, and book is incredible. With the reserve, you are given access to around $400 worth of lounges in airports across the world, all included. If you sign up soon, there is a promo where you get $750 back for spending a certain amount in 3 months. Plus there are around a bazillion other perks of having the card too, which you can view by clicking the link above (or here).

    Speaking of getting cash back on a card, as I mentioned above you get $750 for signing up for the reserve and spending a certain amount in three months. Chase also has a special on their more basic Freedom card where you get $150 back after spending just $500 in three months (30% discount on a purchase if you think about it that way). Currently, the Freedom is giving 5% back on gas purchases as well, which is pretty awesome if you drive a bunch. On top of that, you can take the 5% back on gas points and transfer it to the reserve, if you have it, and use it for travel and earn 50% more (5% = 7.5% essentially).


    Do you like the idea of me sharing cool things like this that benefit y'all? If so, please let me know. Also, for some of the links above, I do receive referral credit, but I stand behind these products 100% and would not recommend them if I did not use them personally.

    I'm looking forward to hearing back from y'all! If you have any cool products, services, or tidbits of knowledge that would benefit the world, definitely let us know!

    Update 2/23/18
    If any of you purchase gas at SHELL gas stations, you can make an account for free - no strings attached - with the Shell reward thing and get $0.05 of of every gallon of gas that you purchase if you use this link. I was referred by a buddy, and it works. I usually bounce back and forth between Chevron and Shell as they are near each other and have decent deals. Let me know if you use it.

    Update 5/30/18
    I fly a lot and found a cool service...called Service...that automatically scans your emails and gets you money if you have a delayed or cancelled flight. They take 30% of the claim and you get 70%. "Let Service do the work for you. $20 off your first claim: Click Here to sign up"

    It's been a busy month as I just packed up my whole life and moved to a different state. On the bright side, I am likely going to the range for the first time tomorrow morning!

    Update 10/09/18
    New favorite business email subscription:

    Morning Brew
     

    Pas Tout La

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    I signed up to The Hustle when you originally posted about it. I look forward to my daily emails. I stream cable news all day long, yet feel far more informed after reading one of their daily newsletters. I’m all in on *cool stuff* updates!
     

    AustinBR

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    Pas Tout La said:
    I signed up to The Hustle when you originally posted about it. I look forward to my daily emails. I stream cable news all day long, yet feel far more informed after reading one of their daily newsletters. I’m all in on *cool stuff* updates!

    Good to hear! I've actually talked to some guys that work there in one of their FB groups and they seem to be a pretty good group of people as well.
     

    AustinBR

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    I also signed up for The Hustle and will check out some of these also.
    Wingate

    Awesome!

    I'm hoping a lot of you guys sign up for Grammarly...I don't get anything from it besides the pleasure of having better English on here :]

    And Robinhood has been awesome for me lately. This growing market is AWESOME. Next step is going to be to invest in cryptos...anyone do that?
     

    mperr7530

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    Can confirm on the travel card. I think when I got the Sapphire Res I got 50,000 miles or something to that effect. It's a must for sole proprietors and LLCs/S-Corps. Please keep the ideas coming. It makes for interesting reading.
     

    AustinBR

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    Can confirm on the travel card. I think when I got the Sapphire Res I got 50,000 miles or something to that effect. It's a must for sole proprietors and LLCs/S-Corps. Please keep the ideas coming. It makes for interesting reading.

    You get 50,000 points after spending $4,000, which comes out to $750 in points (18.75% return on whatever your costs are that total $4000).

    Oh, and someone asked me about Chase and my affiliation...I actually worked for a different bank for 5 years, but I like Chase / American Express for their cards and banking benefits.
     

    AustinBR

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    So 80 people have viewed this thread so far...have any of y'all tried Grammarly or Robinhood? I just got an email from Grammarly with 40% off their premium edition and I am actually somewhat considering doing it, though I haven't seen major benefits yet.
     

    wcweir3

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    I downloaded Grammarly but have not tried it yet but I think I will like it as can Use a little help with my Grammar
    Wingate
    I take that back it just did
    LOL
     
    Last edited:

    Old School

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    I downloaded the Robinhood app. I’ll check it out


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    AustinBR

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    Downloaded Robin hood, but I know f all about stock's so feel free to send me some tips lol

    I just put $500 into COP, which I expect to go up this year.

    I'd recommend buying stocks of companies that you know about and believe will go up. Example: I am obsessed with Amazon and believe it will go up. The only problem is that the share price is over $1k and I'm not ready to buy stocks that are that high yet.
     

    Blue Diamond

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    I just put $500 into COP, which I expect to go up this year.

    I'd recommend buying stocks of companies that you know about and believe will go up. Example: I am obsessed with Amazon and believe it will go up. The only problem is that the share price is over $1k and I'm not ready to buy stocks that are that high yet.

    You should have put your money in VLO 16 months ago. Its doubled. All energy stocks are good and most of the DOW index.
     

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