Hey, everyone.

I am in here, preempting myself this week, to tell you all about something very, very exciting happening at TFD starting next month. Starting on Tuesday, March 1st, we have the return of one of our most popular classes.

The Four-Week Financial Foundation, hosted by money coach and friend of TFD, Cindy Zuniga-Sanchez of zero-based budget. It is a four-week live course, but replays of all classes are available. So if you can't join live, or miss a class, you can always watch it later.

And we're bringing it back due to high demand, because this course covers the four most important financial topics for building overall financial health. That's budgeting, credit, debt payoff, and investing for retirement. This is the perfect course to set a solid financial foundation to help you reach your short- and longer-term money goals.

It's good for beginners, but it's also good for people who have a little bit of financial savviness and are starting to build their financial future, but really want to master it and understand all aspects of holistic financial health. And students will also have the chance to get their own personal money questions answered during the office hours with Cindy. And using the exclusive promo code YoutubeVIP at checkout, which is linked in our description, you will get $75 off of the class.

So use your promo code, get a great deal, sign up for Cindy's four-week class, and build the financial foundations to take you through an entire life of good money health. Hey guys, it's Chelsea from The Financial Diet, and this week's video is sponsored by Mint Mobile. And we got 15 points to go over today, so let's get to them.

We did a video recently about things to stop spending on after 30, but sometimes we think spending on things is good, just has to be the right things. So here are things to start spending on after 30. Number one is other people's children.

And listen, I'm not going to say you have to spend on this. But if this is something that you care about, spending on the other children in your lives besides your own, it is something that you should budget for and not let sneak up onto you. I'm a child-free-by-choice queen, but I have a niece I love.

I have a lot of close friends with kids, other family members in my life who are having kids, that costs money. And it's not just gifts, it's visiting them, it's baby showers. It's feeling like a hero by giving the parents the night off and taking them out somewhere, it's maybe even contributing toward their education.

And spending on shower gifts definitely ranges based on how well the parent, with the typical rule of thumb being 25 for coworkers or acquaintances, $50 for close friends, and 100 or more for family members. So if you have a particularly fertile friend group or extended family, you could easily spend hundreds a year on shower gifts alone. And of course, these things should be tailored to what your budget happens to be.

But it's important to remember that just because you don't have children, or don't plan on having children, doesn't mean you shouldn't be budgeting for what these things represent for others' children. Number two is an actually good phone plan. How many of us have the wireless provider that we're using simply because it's the same one that our parents had?

I'm imagining a lot of hands being raised right now. Switching providers does sound like a pain, but once you cross the threshold of 30, it's no longer OK to just redound to whatever you happened to have growing up. And start making sure you're actually making the right choice for your needs and for your budget by, for example only paying for the amount of data you actually need.

And with Mint Mobile, you can pay for the highest-rated wireless service without overpaying for data you don't need. They offer the lowest monthly prices in wireless, with bulk pricing bundles of three, six, or 12 months at a time. And the more you bundle, the better your savings are.

Mint Mobile's online-first business model means they keep their costs low, so the savings you get aren't just a one-time deal. And everything you need to manage your own wireless plan is available right in the Mint Mobile app, from dialing your data up or down each month based on your usage to renewing your plan. An unlocked phone, which isn't tethered to a carrier or contract, is all you need.

Choose from 4 gigabytes, 10, 15, and unlimited 5G and 4G LTE data plans. Each plan comes with unlimited nationwide talk and text, plus unlimited talk to Mexico and Canada. Click the link in our description to learn more about Mint Mobile, their owner Ryan Reynolds, and the most affordable wireless plan on the T-Mobile network.

They start at just $15 a month. Number three is sinking funds for various goals. Now, piggybacking off of our earlier point about other people's children and baby showers and things like that becoming an increasingly prevalent expense after 30 for many people.

If you haven't already by 30, one thing you must do is set up sinking accounts for your various shorter-term savings goals that don't fit neatly into your longer term plans, or have a tendency to sneak up on you. A sinking fund is simply a dedicated rotating savings account. You put money into it on an ongoing basis, and you pull from it when you need it.

And these are typically used for spending that will be ongoing in your life, such as vacations, car maintenance, holiday gifting, et cetera. So we'll link you to our explainer video on sinking funds and how to make them work for your life. Number four is dermatology.

I'm not going to beat you guys over the head with this, because I mention it all the time. Because since turning 30, I have been on my #cosmeticdermatologyjourney for my #foreverskin, and I'm #investing in my #face. But something I feel more convicted about than nearly anything else when it comes to spending is that when it comes to skin issues, rather than depending on the various YouTube influencers who are probably 22 and born with perfect skin anyway telling you what product of the day to be investing in, go to an actual dermatologist.

Sometimes it's covered by insurance in whole or part, and get them to tell you what you need. Number five is another one I beat you guys over the head about all the time, but I need to because it's important, and that's retirement. If you have not started investing for retirement yet at 30, I'm not here to tell you that all is lost, because it's not.

But I am here to tell you that you should do it as soon as you possibly can, like literally pause this video and go start investing for retirement. The number one thing that determines how easy or how difficult it will be for you to save for retirement is how early you start. So literally even a day earlier is better than not.

We'll link you guys to our top videos on investing for retirement, but remember that even though it seems overwhelming, through the dual miracles of compound interest and automatic savings transfers, investing for retirement is actually incredibly easy. You just need to take a few minutes to set it up, so go do that. Number six is blood tests.

Something I see a lot on social media, now that I'm in 30-plus Twitter, is people being like, man, no one told me that being 30 means that everything hurts all the time and you're always tired and sad and nothing is fun anymore. They're always making these tweets like they're falling apart, and I'm like, OK. sometimes people have chronic illnesses or things like that that lead to this. But if you're in good health, you shouldn't be feeling like this. 30 is young.

You should be feeling healthy and energetic, and you should not just be feeling like that all the time. And sometimes when you go to the doctor and they do blood tests, they'll be like, whoa girl. You are way deficient in this or you got this going on, here's how to fix it.

The number of women, including myself, I know who were like, oh I'm deficient in B12 and then started taking B12 supplements and then totally felt better right away -- again, including myself -- is way too high. And in fact, about 42% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, which is something that can easily be solved with more sunlight or supplements. But that's something you'd actually need to know about first.

And let me be clear. As I've said before, there is no point in just blindly taking supplements without actually understanding what you need to supplement or whether or not you can just be doing that with diet and lifestyle adjustments. But when they're targeted to things you may actually be deficient in and can't otherwise get, supplements can be game changing.

And also just more generally, don't resign yourself to your body falling apart after the age of 30. You're probably going to live for another 40 to 60 years after that, like that's no way to live, Hon. Number seven is "Time is Money" spending.

Now don't get me wrong, in many cases, spending for frivolous conveniences like taxis when you could walk or take public transport, or lunch out when you could have packed it, are wastes of money and they're not things that you should default to just because they're easy. However, one switch that people often find it difficult to make even as they enter into a higher earning bracket, is really weighing the things in their life where the time may be more valuable than money. Because especially as we get older, time is our most valuable resource and the one that we can't replace.

So it makes sense to find a few areas of convenience that make real difference in your quality of life, and possibly even enable you to earn more. For you, this could mean budgeting for more taxi rides -- shout out to yellow cabs, #westandinunion. If it helps you get places more quickly than public transport, and its value is represented on the back end with more time and focus at work which allows you to increase income, or allows you to redirect your time toward other more important things.

Or it could be things like buying pre-cut produce to cut down on your time in the kitchen and encourage you to cook more. And yes, maybe even to meal prep to then not have to buy lunches at work. Or it could be doing things like investing in a trainer, because they will actually help you work out and understand what your body needs so that maybe you can do it more on your own time.

Or it could be a cleaning service, because between all of the things you have going on, and maybe your children and your work and your other activities and commitments, cleaning becomes an enormous source of stress for you. As long as you're paying the person fairly, tipping them well and taking care of them, that shouldn't be a source of shame. "Time is Money" spending is always important and it shouldn't be confused with frivolity, but especially after 30, it's something that should be integrated into strategic places in your budget. Number eight is anything that helps with your messed-up-ass posture, the other reason that people are constantly talking about feeling like crap post-30.

I mean yes, capitalism, yes. But it's also A, are you deficient in something, because you dang well might be? And B, are you sitting like this at your computer all day and never getting up until you go home, and then you go sit on your couch like this and watch Netflix?

We've all been there, I've been there. The pandemic didn't help with that, let me tell you. But that's partially -- probably why you feel like total crap all the time and your back hurts.

And I would also extend this to other parts of your body, like I started developing carpal tunnel syndrome because I was holding my phone in my right hand with my pinky under it in bed. I was treating my wrist like the beer pong table at a frat party, that thing was getting used and abused. And then I was like, why does my wrist hurt all the time?

So now I wear a wrist brace, I don't hold my phone in certain ways, I'm very conscientious about what I do in bed. I'm treating it with respect, because you only get one wrist. And once it's messed up, it's messed up.

Same goes with your back, same goes with your posture. So investing in things that help you treat your body well, especially when it comes to things like your back positioning, is incredibly important, especially after 30. You get two wrists, famously.

How dare you? [LAUGHING] And this could mean things like investing in ergonomic furniture, seeing a physiotherapist or osteopath, or just regular exercise and stretching. And we'll link you to a resource that has tons of suggestions for improving these things at all different budget levels. Number nine is legitimate time off of work.

If you don't use all of your PTO, or paid time off, you are literally giving your employer more of your time than they're paying for, a.k.a. free money. And don't do that, don't give me that time as an employer, I get enough. In 2019, American workers left a record 768 million days of vacation on the table, up nearly 10% from the year before, according to research from the US Travel Association.

Of the unused days, 236 million were forfeited completely, the equivalent to 65.5 billion in lost benefits. Now sometimes you have abusive employers who don't let you take the time off that you have earned, and you should start looking for how to make a move to another employer if that's the case. And I know that may take a lot of time, but you should know that that is not normal nor something that you should just accept as a reality of working.

But many people could take that time off and just aren't doing it, even here at TFD we have had to basically force people out the door to take their PTO. And we moved to a six weeks a year "use it or lose it" policy, because we found that unlimited days people were not taking. And especially now that we're on a permanent four-day work week, even with that six weeks on the calendar, people sometimes can find it hard to actually take that time.

But it is crucial that you do, because it's not just about getting what you're actually earning, it's about recharging your mental and physical health so that your work is more sustainable over the long term. And this is something to do early, because if you set the precedent early on in your career that you're just not the person who takes their PTO and is just always working to the point of burnout, that's what people are going to come to expect from you. Number 10, if you have children or a child in your life you want to be saving for, is a 529 or other savings account for your child.

A 529, for example, is an investment account that offers tax benefits when it's used to pay for qualified education expenses for a designated beneficiary. You can use a 529 plan to pay for college, K-12 tuition, apprenticeship programs and student loan repayments. At the end of the day, children are extremely expensive.

And the best thing you can do before having one, or in the early years of having one as you might be likely to be in your early 30s, is to really assess not only what it costs but intelligent ways -- like with tax-preferred investment accounts -- that you can make these eventual expenses much easier on yourself. Number 11 is a lot less serious than an account to pay for your child's eventual college, and that's a humidifier or a dehumidifier. But listen, dry skin is no joke.

I have dry skin and rosacea, this is life or death for me. In the summer months, a dehumidifier can be crucial for keeping your home feeling comfortable, and particularly helpful for anyone who is regularly triggered by airborne allergens. And a humidifier is a godsend if you experience any of the following, dry skin, irritated eyes, dryness in the throat or airways, allergies, frequent coughs, bloody noses, sinus headaches, or cracked lips.

Or if you live in New York City and have these Victorian-era radiators, which were literally designed to make you have to keep your windows open during the winter months because it was better for airborne illnesses. These tools are generally not that expensive. For really highly rated models, it's going to range you anywhere from about $70 to $300, but the impact that can have on your overall health and comfort in your space is incredibly important.

And like the posture thing and the blood test thing, it is just incredibly important as you get older to really not only take care of your body and make sure it's feeling as good as it can, but also make sure that your home is a space in which you want to be spending time. You want to be going out to spend less, of course, but you also want to make sure your home is a place that you can successfully recharge, that you can work from thoughtfully if needed. And that you generally are waking up feeling your best in.

You're not 25 anymore. You can't go out till 3:00 in the morning, eat street meat, walk home with your heels carried in your hands barefoot on New York City sidewalks, and then get up at 7:30 the next day to go work. Times have changed.

Number 12 is premium models of fewer things. A general good rule of thumb is, if you actually use something a lot, invest in the better version of it. For instance, I am on YouTube all the livelong day, so years and years ago I invested in YouTube Premium and I basically just never seen an ad again.

And any time I'm watching YouTube on someone else's account, and I see an ad pop up a bunch of times throughout the video, I'm like, you live like this? There's a better way. So, for those of you who watch our channel a lot -- and I hope you do -- and are annoyed by ads, get premium.

It's really worth it, and it helps YouTubers. And let's be clear that this goes not just for subscription services, it also goes for the tech tools you might use, sports and workout equipment, investment pieces in your wardrobe, or just anything in general that you get a lot of use out of and want the best possible version of. And similarly, you want to be investing in media that actually makes your life better.

Instagram and TikTok can be great places to share with others and get ideas and inspiration for your life, like recipes, home decor et cetera. But we also know that it is basically a comparison machine, where we're often comparing our actual lives with other people's highlight reels, and can be terrible for mental health. According to the American Addiction Center's online resource library, "envy can be a destructive emotion both mentally and physically.

Envious people tend to feel hostile, resentful, angry and irritable. Such individuals are also less likely to feel grateful about their positive traits and their circumstances. Envy is also link to depression, anxiety, and the development of prejudice, and personal unhappiness." Recently this past year, I decided to unfollow the influencers that I was following who I initially found inspirational, but over time just realized were creating an online brand where their full-time job was just being perfect and pretending it was effortless and not a job.

I have invested in a few publications that I not only regularly draw inspiration from, but have a really clear boundary that this is a magazine. This is something that is curating an image professionally done by professionals, to not pretend to be someone's day-to-day life. Similarly, cookbooks by cookbook authors I really enjoy are a great way to not only get the recipes I want, but know that I'm doing so in a way that I shouldn't be comparing with my own life.

Whatever happened to genuine aspiration? Why does everyone need to be just like me? Ina Garten is nothing like me, and that's what makes her so great.

Number 14 is various insurances. You are not going to be a spry young 30-year-old forever, much as you would like to. I will, however, but I'm just built different.

And life insurance is one of the things that the earlier you get it in life, the more affordable it's going to be. The average premium being just $27 a month, and it would mean that your loved ones receive a payout should the worst happen to you. And additionally, looking into other insurance options like disability insurance, which is required for employers to provide in certain states like my beloved New York, and long-term care insurance, which will cover things like nursing home stays and in-home care taking when you're elderly.

Along with doing things like writing a will, and leaving information available for if something should happen to you -- like maybe you're hospitalized, or stuck out of the country, or something should happen where you need help -- planning ahead after 30 is no longer just something that really put-together people do. It's something that you need to be doing, too, and key insurances for your needs are a big part of that. Lastly, number 15 is continuing education.

One of the reasons that getting older can often feel so stifling for people is that we stop learning things. We stop trying things we're not good at, we stop getting better at stuff, and we stop expanding our skill sets. And there's all kinds of really good data out there that shows that when we stop learning, when we stop getting better at things, our brain actually really suffers as a result.

Constantly learning new things, being curious, playing games that challenge you mentally are all great for things like, for example, staving off dementia. And they're also great mood elevators and general confidence boosters. I've taken up learning Spanish in my 30s, and it's been an incredible joy and a whole new world opening up to me even here in my own New York.

I've been learning to ski the past few years and trust me, nothing is more humbling than literally crying on a ski slope out of fear that a three-year-old -- an actual three-year-old -- is just flying down next to you without a care in the world. But in many ways, it is these experiences where I'm making mistakes, and looking a little foolish, and humbling myself, and thinking of all the things I don't know, that I feel most alive, most curious, and most able and most confident in my abilities to constantly be evolving. If there's something you've always wanted to learn, be it a hobby or a new skill for work or anything in between, committing yourself to trying at least one of them after 30 is incredibly important to remembering that continuing to learn is something accessible to you at any age.

And one thing everyone should learn right now is that you should never overpay for the right wireless service. So on that note, check out Mint Mobile at the link in our description. And as always, guys, thank you for watching and don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and to come back every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for new and awesome videos.

Goodbye.