3 things every adult should know by now

Welcome back Responsible Adult!!

There are approximately 900 billion things we're apparently supposed to know as adults 😭 How taxes work. How to buy a house. How insurance works. How the hell you're supposed to put a fitted bedsheet on.

It’s way too much.

But there ARE a few numbers I genuinely think every adult should know. These things are quietly affecting your life whether you pay attention to them or not.

So today we're keeping it simple. Here are 3 things every adult should know by now.

1. Know the Inflation Rate

You've probably heard the word “inflation” 700,000 times over the last few years 😂 But do you actually know what it means and do you know where to find it?

Inflation basically measures how quickly prices are rising over time. In the U.S., one of the main ways we track it is through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is released every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Sorry for all the big words)

You can literally Google “current CPI inflation rate” and find the newest report.

Why should you care? Inflation is basically how fast things are going up in price. The faster things go up, the faster OUR money loses value.

If you had $1 in cash in 1952, what could you buy?

A gallon of gas, a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, a slice of pie, and probably a whole house…

Now, what if you held onto that $1 til today, what could you buy? 

Nothing. THAT'S INFLATION. 😭

Obviously, this isn’t meant to freak you out, but there just needs to be balance. Enjoy your money, but understand money slowly loses buying power if it’s not in the right place.

The Responsible Adult move: Know the current inflation rate and use it as a benchmark. If inflation is 3%, ask yourself:

“Is my money growing faster than 3%?”

Your day-to-day money can earn interest in a High-Yield Account. Your long-term money can be invested ❤️

2. Know How Much Your Life Costs

If I asked you right now “How much does your life cost each month?” could you answer me?

Now don’t bullshit and say “oh my life costs way too much” and try to brush this off. Let’s be dead serious.

HOW MUCH DOES YOUR LIFE COST EVERY MONTH?????

oh you don’t know??!!!?!??!!!!

WRITE IT DOWN!!!

Your Notes app is fine. A spreadsheet is fine. A piece of toilet paper is fine.

You need to figure out all of your expenses EVERY month. Every bill, every subscription, every dollar that you KNOW is leaving.

If it’s something rough like groceries or gas, go ahead and estimate it. If it’s a subscription that charges you annually, go ahead and divide that by 12 so we can find the true monthly cost.

Once you know that number, things start to open up for you. Now you start realizing you may not need certain things.

3. Understand your Interest Seesaw

Okay this one sounds funky but listen… Think about interest like a seesaw. 

See how uneven that is?? You’re paying too much interest, and not making any.

The goal is to try and balance that AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

How do you do that? PAY LESS in interest, and GET PAID MORE in interest.

Then ur seesaw will look more like this…

The Responsible Adult move: For money you're keeping in cash to pay bills and live life, find a good High-Yield Bank that pays a good rate. Remember, try to find one that has a rate higher than inflation!!

Responsible Adult has a list we’ll link for you HERE. Get that rate as high as you reasonably can.

Now attack the OTHER side. Can we get a personal loan to lower some interest? Can we get a balance transfer and pay down debt at 0% interest? Can we ask our credit card companies for a hardship to temporarily lower our interest? There are so many options. Start exploring and balance out the damn seesaw.

What Would Stack Do?

I’ll tell you one thing Stack will do, he knows his numbers and he wears Responsible Adult across his chest with our NEW RESPONSIBLE ADULT APPAREL!!!! 😜

After talking about Responsible Adult for what feels like FOREVER... Responsible Adult Apparel is officially LIVE.

Hoodies. Tees. Hats. Stack Stickers.

And this isn't random merch we slapped a logo on. We spent a stupid amount of time obsessing over the blanks, fit, embroidery, colors, and all the little details because we wanted to make stuff you’d actually wear.

It's our first-ever drop, quantities are limited, and we’re SO excited for you guys to finally have it.

[SHOP RESPONSIBLE ADULT APPAREL ❤️]

Thanks for being here from the beginning. Seriously.

Mikey & Stack 🦥