Happy Wednesday,

Angelo here! Welcome to New Money, where we go over weekly tips to help you build your wealth, one dollar at a time.

Today’s edition:

• The real reason evenings never feel restorative

• A better way to transition out of work

• Government shutdown ends, AI fears, and more…

Read time: 3 min 10 seconds

🍎Wealth Tip of the Week

If your days are full, your evenings usually pay the price.

From morning to evening, the calendar decides everything.

Meetings. Messages. Deadlines.

I’d sit down and tell myself, “I deserve to do nothing tonight.”

But let’s be honest. That “nothing” isn’t rest. It’s just passive recovery.

I used to fall into this every night. Nothing was broken but nothing was being restored either.

Once I changed how I ended my days, it reshaped my evenings.

I’ll share the core shifts to reclaim your evenings and make them fuel your next day.

1. The Trap We Fell Into

By the time the workday ends, most evenings are already on autopilot. Because the transition out of work never happens.

One minute you're in work mode. The next minute you're on the couch. But your brain is still stuck in whatever state work left it in.

Work drains you in a specific way:

• Some days mentally

• Other days physically

• And some days, both

Yet most of us recover the same way every time.

Scrolling. Watching. Lying down.

It just locks you into the same state you ended the day with. Drained brain stays drained. Tired body stays tired.

And over time, it’s costing you energy, momentum, and clarity. I used to call this The Evening Spiral.

Once you hit the couch, the evening usually decides itself. And not in a good way.

2. You Need a Real Reset

What changed things for me was adding a deliberate reset between work and the rest of my evening. 

Not work → couch.

But work → reset → choice.

Here's the pattern I use:

• If the day drained your mind, move your body. Go for a walk. Cook something new. Do literally anything that gets you out of your head for 20 minutes.

• If the day drained your body, use your mind. Write. Plan tomorrow. Read something that makes you think. Just shift the energy.

It's to give your brain a clear signal: work mode is over, now you get to choose what comes next.

People with structured evening rituals feel happier and less stressed than those who default to passive entertainment.

The couch will still be there. But you'll actually enjoy it instead of just surviving it.

3. Progress on Autopilot

Instead of treating evenings like a black hole of decision fatigue, on lower-energy evenings, I don't try to be productive.

I just check that I'm still pointed in the right direction.

For my investments, that means two things:

• First, I keep my long-term strategy documented in my Blossom portfolio. Basically my financial GPS when my brain's running foggy. I made my portfolio public so you can see exactly how I allocate $600k+ across different assets. Might give you ideas for starting yours.👉 See my full Blossom portfolio breakdown here

• Second, I automated the actual investing part using Webull. If you want to automate your investing and stop falling behind, Webull makes this super simple. Set it up once, let it run forever. 👉 Start automating with Webull here

Decision fatigue can't stop progress that's already on autopilot. Even on slow days, wealth is still compounding in the background.

4. Your Time Has Three Jobs

Everything you do with your time falls into three buckets:

• Fundamental — life maintenance. Laundry. Emails. Groceries. Bills. Cooking. Cleaning.The things that keep your life from falling apart.

• Fun — real rest. Friends. Hobbies. Time that actually refills you.

• Future — building something. Learning skills. Side projects. Investing. Career growth.

Here’s the problem. For most people, fundamentals eat everything. Suddenly it’s 10 PM and there’s nothing left for fun or for the future.

Here’s the fix:

Pick one day. Handle everything at once. Three focused hours on that day will save you five to six hours during the week. That’s five to six hours you could actually use for things that mattered.

Every minute you save from fundamentals is a minute you can invest in your fun or your future.

The question isn't whether you have time. It's whether you'll use it differently than you do now.

If you're going to try one thing from this, what is it?

Reply and commit. Make it real.

💬Quote of the Week

📉 Market Recap

Check out some of the biggest stories shaking up money, markets, and momentum this week.

• Trump signs bill to reopen the government and end shutdown

• SpaceX and xAI merge, raising questions about Tesla’s next move

• U.S. plans minerals alliance that could raise costs for EVs, tech, and defense

• AI advances raise fears that software jobs and profits are at risk

👀 In Case You Missed It

If you’re Gen Z, or care about someone who is, this is something you should understand.

See y’all next week 🫡

- Angelo Castillo

Disclaimer: This is not financial advice or investment recommendations. The content is for informational purposes only, and it should not be considered as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Some of the links are my affiliate links. If you click on these links and sign up/purchase something, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps support me and allows me to continue creating content for you. I only promote products and services I genuinely believe in. Thank you for your support!