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Hey Reader,

Welcome to reThinkable, a weekly newsletter where I provide actionable ideas to help you make smarter money moves.

Here are today's highlights:

• The Positive Identity Loop
• Quick check to see if you have unclaimed money out there
• Cool things from this week

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The Positive Identity Loop

Every year around this time, people start saying the same thing: “Next year will be different.”

Maybe you want to finally pay off your credit card debt, start budgeting, or investing but you freeze because there are so many ways to do it.

You don't know where to start, so you end up doing nothing.

Back in 2011 in high school, I worked part time in a supermarket stocking shelves.

After blowing through a couple of paychecks on Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I figured I should start saving some money (cause that’s what normal high school kids do… right?)

Unfortunately, I had no idea how to budget since my parents never gave me an allowance.

I stressed myself out trying to figure out the "perfect" saving strategy until I finally got tired of overthinking it and just set up a $20 automatic transfer to my savings account.

I didn’t know it at the time, but those first $20 created a Positive Identity Loop which changed my life. Here’s how it works:

• A small action rewires your brain by building confidence.
• The more confident you feel, the more likely you are to take another action.
• The more actions you take, the more you start to see yourself differently and develop a new identity.

I know personal finance can feel overwhelming because goals seem so far away. It's easy to assume change requires big wins but that's not always true.

For me, realizing that saving wasn’t the huge dramatic thing flipped a switch for me. I wasn’t “bad” with money, I just needed to make money easier for me.

Seeing my savings grow gave me the confidence to increase my automatic transfers to $25, then $30 and so on.

Soon, I started dabbling in budgeting on napkins, notebooks then a simple spreadsheet. All of these small actions kept building my confidence in myself which made me want to do more.

Before I knew it, I’d built an identity around being good with money and over time it led to today: helping others be good with money, too.

The key to starting your Positive Identity Loop is to find a micro-win and finding one is easy...

Just ask yourself: what's the easiest possible step I can take right now that moves me forward?

To help you find those micro-wins, I’m excited to introduce a new section to the newsletter called Smart Money Move of the Week (check it out below).

Each week, I’ll share one practical step you can take right now.

Think of it as your weekly nudge forward, from someone who's been where you are.

Your brain is just waiting for proof that you're the kind of person who follows through. Give it that proof today.

Smart Money Move of The Week

Find out if you have lost money waiting to be claimed

Can we all agree that one of the best feelings in the world is finding spare cash in unexpected places? Like when you find $10 in your winter jacket you haven’t worn since last year.

Unclaimed assets are exactly like that. It’s money that belongs to you but got lost somewhere along the way:

• Old bank accounts you forgot existed
• Utility deposits (electric, water, internet) no one ever refunded
• Unclaimed tax refunds or leftover stimulus money

According to the AARP, 1 in 7 Americans have unclaimed assets that are worth, on average, around $2,080.

I did this a couple of years back and actually got $72 from a refund check that got lost in the mail.

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Here’s how to check if you have unclaimed assets:

1. Check the official website for unclaimed property: MissingMoney.com​
2. Search under every name you’ve ever used
   • Full name, maiden name, nicknames, or common misspellings.
3. If you see an unclaimed asset that’s yours, click on “Claim” and just follow the instructions to get what is rightfully yours

Cool Things From This Week

• Smart money tip of the week: Here’s how I bought my house using other people’s money… and why you should do the same.
• If money is keeping you up at night, you’re not alone. A new survey reveals why nearly 80% of Americans are so stressed about money.
• For the past year, my go-to coffee order has been an iced latte with oat milk (yes, even in winter). I've tried recreating it at home with different oat milk brands, but only Oatly's Barista Edition comes close to the real thing. The problem? For the longest time, they only sold it in those smaller 32 oz containers. This week, I found out they started selling them in 64 oz containers AND they were on sale at H-Mart! Guess who got super excited and immediately stocked up on 3 containers.