Do You Pick Up Spare Change off the Ground?

Plus answering reader questions: prioritizing retirement, credit card usage, and savings goals

Jun 25, 2024

Welcome to Ten Dollar Latte! I’m not a financial advisor, just a 27-year-old trying to afford life in NYC. I write about how I spend my money while enjoying a $10 latte.

The other day, I was walking in Carl Schurz Park and saw a $20 bill on the ground. I walked right by it, registered what I’d seen in my head, and then stopped and looked around. No one else had seemed to notice the bill; people were strolling by with their dogs and running past along the river. For a second, I thought about picking it up (free money!), but then I thought:

Was this some prank? Or scam? Not a lot of scams up at Carl Schurz Park (it’s relatively quiet), but still. It’s New York City, this is always on my mind.
Did someone drop the bill and would be coming right back for it? I didn’t want to take someone else’s money. $20 isn’t the same as a quarter.

I wasn’t sure, but I left the bill there and kept walking. Would you have picked it up? Did I throw $20 away by walking right on by? What’s the best policy for when you find change on the ground?

Today, I’ll answer the first batch of reader questions. Thank you to everyone in the Ten Dollar Latte community who submitted questions! If your questions weren’t answered this week, they’ll be answered in a future edition. Submit yours here.

#1: I’m 37 and have $140K saved for retirement. I have a little bit of house equity but currently, given how expensive daycare is, I’m not saving a penny (other than 6% of my salary for my 401K). Is it okay to not save at all and slowly drain savings until the daycare years are over?

Saving for retirement hasn’t been linear for me, either! There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, but I think your question is more about priorities. I’m assuming daycare isn’t an optional expense, so it’s a question of earning more income to save more for retirement now, reallocating money from another part of your budget for retirement, or reallocating the daycare fund to retirement in a few years. “Earning more income” is always easier said than done, but I see those as the options. You could choose a combination of those options, too—maybe you’re able to reallocate a small amount from another part of your budget towards retirement, even if it’s not as much as you had before daycare.

Also, saving 6% into a 401K is great! I always think keeping a habit going is great, even if you have to scale it back. 6% is way higher than 0%.

#2: I'm always interested in what people have to say about credit card usage. What's your take on it? Pros and cons? Travel hacking, rewards or cash back, etc.

My #1 take on credit card usage is that getting anything back for what you’re spending is great. I’m all for credit card hacking if that’s what works for you, but at the end of the day, most of the points I get I convert to cash back, because that’s what works for me. I also prefer credit cards with no annual fees, since I don’t want to stress about taking advantage of all the perks of that card. Even though, yes, some cards are totally worth the fees!

For me personally, I’m not traveling a lot where some credit card hacking or a high annual fee travel card might be useful. So cash back is the way for me.

I mainly use two cards:

Capital One Quicksilver. It offers 1.5% cash back on everything. If you’re interested, you can check it out here.
Bilt. It offers points for paying rents, and point bonuses on local dining. If you’re interested, you can check it out here.

*Those are referral affiliate links. If you’re interested in either card and are going to apply anyway, using those links is a great way to support the newsletter.*

Speaking of credit usage—I regularly ask for a credit increase on my credit cards. Not to use, but to decrease my credit utilization which helps my credit score! It’s a pretty easy process - you can call your credit card company, but I’ve also been asked for updated income information directly from the credit card companies and gotten a higher credit limit that way.

#3: How do you stay motivated with savings goals?

My favorite way to stay motivated with any goals - savings or otherwise - is a vision board. I’ve made them by hand (so I can keep it on my desk or somewhere I’ll see it every day) and digitally (so I can make it my phone lock screen background). It could be as simple as, if you’re saving up for a vacation to Hawaii, setting your phone screen background as Hawaii. Having this visual reminder has been so helpful for me to not lose sight of goals.

I also find it helpful to share my goals with friends, especially if someone has a similar goal we can strive towards together. It’s a great way to hold each other accountable.