In this issue: 10 days on the road to Durango, why "invest in yourself" is the most ignored money advice there is, and the 3-step way to actually free up the cash to do it.

We leave Friday.

Ten days. Durango, Colorado. The whole family loaded up and pointed west.

We're stopping in Denver first to see our best friends and their two girls... same ages as Lincoln and Croix, which means the kids get their people and Michelle and I get ours. That's the kind of trip that fills you up on both ends.

Here's the thing about us and vacations.

We get one, maybe two a year. That's it.

So when we go, we GO. And getting out of Iowa, getting on the road, watching the country roll by out the window... it does something for me that nothing else does.

It resets me.

I coach football. I train my two boys plus about 19 of their buddies. I run a business. I'm a husband. I'm a dad. The calendar doesn't have a lot of white space in it, and if I'm being real with you, that grind adds up whether I admit it or not.

The road trip is where I put it all down for a minute.

Not the phone. Not the inbox. Just my family, a full tank, and a few hundred miles of country I haven't seen yet.

That's not an escape from my life. That's an investment in it.

And that's exactly what this week's Receipts are about.

I get asked the same handful of questions on repeat.

What's the next great thing to invest in?
What's the market going to do?
How do I retire at 62 with millions?

And almost nobody asks the one that actually matters most.

How do I invest in ME?

Because that... your skills, your health, your mind, your experiences... is the single highest-returning investment you will ever make. And it's not close.

Let me give you the receipts.

Your own earning power out-returns the stock market.

Economists at Arizona State put the real annual return on a four-year college degree at 12 to 14 percent. Compare that to the stock market, which has returned about 7 percent a year in real terms over the last century.

The Richmond Fed puts it a little more conservatively... about a 10 to 12 percent bump in future earnings for every additional year of education.

Either way, betting on yourself beats the index. And the earlier you do it, the longer it compounds.

That "investment in you" doesn't only mean a degree. It's a certification. A course. A coach. A skill that raises your income. Betting on your own earning power is the closest thing to a guaranteed winner that exists in this whole game.

Experiences pay you back longer than stuff does.

Decades of research out of Cornell says the same thing over and over. We adapt to possessions fast... the new car, the new gadget, the thrill fades. But experiences? They keep paying.

And here's the part I love. A lot of that payoff comes from the anticipation. The planning. The looking-forward-to-it.

Which means I've already been getting a return on this Durango trip for weeks. Before we've driven a single mile.

Therapy returns four dollars for every one you put in.

That's not my opinion. That's the World Health Organization.

Every $1 invested in treating depression and anxiety returns about $4 in better health and ability to work. Same $4-to-$1 number shows up in U.S. employer research too.

Your mind is an asset. Maintaining it is not a luxury expense.

And moving your body is a discount on your whole life.

A 30-year study of over 100,000 people found that just hitting the basic activity guideline... about 150 minutes a week... was linked to a 21 percent lower risk of dying from any cause. Regular exercise is also tied to roughly $2,500 a year in lower healthcare costs.

Travel. Therapy. Fitness. Food. Education.

None of that is spending money. That's buying a better, longer, higher-earning life.

Now, the counterpoints worth knowing... because I'm not going to sell you a clean story that isn't clean.

That "experiences beat stuff" research isn't universal. Studies show the effect mostly holds for people who are already financially comfortable. When money's genuinely tight, a durable thing you'll use for years can be the smarter, happier buy. And "invest in yourself" is one of the easiest phrases on earth to twist into an excuse to overspend. Lifestyle creep loves to wear the costume of self-care.

So the move isn't spend MORE.

The move is spend on purpose.

📌 Receipts:

Everybody nods along at "invest in yourself." Then comes the real question.

How? With what money?

Fair. Nothing about money is simple. This is a long-term focus with your eyes on the short term, it's uncomfortable, and it takes discipline... which humans are famously bad at. But here's the 3-step path.

1. Audit your spending against what actually brings you joy.

Pull your last two months. Go line by line. Which expenses light you up, which are just fine, and which are pure leak... money going out on stuff you don't even remember or care about?

Most people find hundreds of dollars a month sitting in that last bucket. That's your fuel. (Credit to Larry Sprung for the "joy" framing... it works.)

2. Give yourself a "fun money" line. On purpose.

Take a piece of that freed-up cash and assign it as fun money. Yours. To spend anytime in the month on WHATEVER you want, zero guilt, no justifying it to anyone.

This isn't the opposite of a budget. It IS the budget doing its job. A plan that leaves no room for joy is a plan you'll quit.

3. Invest the rest... in the real sense.

Whatever's left after the joy line goes to work. If you're just getting your feet wet, depending on your age and goals, a broad index fund like $VOO ( ▲ 0.73% ) or $VTI ( ▲ 0.85% ) paired with a high-yield savings account is a great, boring, effective place to start learning.

Feet wet first. Fancy later.

Here's what I won't do in a newsletter... tell you the exact split for YOUR life. Your age, your goals, your debt, your family, your business all change the answer. The two most important words in this whole business are still "it depends."

If you want to know exactly what your split should be... what to free up, what to fund, and where to put the rest... that's the entire point of a Power Hour.

See Where You Actually Stand
60-minute 1:1 session. Your questions answered. Walk away with a plan.

Taking time for yourself is not selfish.

I know how it feels. I coach, I train my boys and 19 of their buddies, I run a business, I'm a husband and a dad. Doing something just for me can feel like stealing from everybody who needs me.

It's not.

You cannot pour from an empty tank. I don't care how tough you are.

And it doesn't have to be ten days in Colorado. It doesn't have to cost much of anything. A walk. An hour with a book. A drive with no destination. Time on a field doing something with your hands.

But you have to find it. And you have to actually use it.

That's not the thing you do after you've grown. That's the thing that lets you grow.

I'll be doing mine somewhere between here and Durango.

See you next week.

Inside the Modern Family Office — Black-led. Built to Stay In the Black.

Not financial advice. Do your own research. Talk to a professional.