Happy Tuesday,

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:

• How to invest with an unpredictable income.

• The simple system that finally made investing feel sustainable.

• Microsoft layoffs, the Fed's latest signal, and more…

Read time: 2 min 40 seconds

🍎Wealth Tip of the Week

How much should you invest if your income changes every month?

$100?

$500?

Nothing?

When I first started making money, my income looked different almost every month.

One month I'd feel comfortable. Next I'd wonder if I should hold onto every dollar just in case. Investing felt risky because I never knew what next month would look like. 

So I kept asking myself: "Should I wait until my income becomes more stable before I start investing?"

I think thousands of people are stuck because of that exact question.

More than 55% of Americans experience month-to-month income swings of 30% or more. Between freelancing, commission work, seasonal jobs, and the gig economy, a predictable paycheck is becoming less common than people think. 

But if I had waited, I probably wouldn't have built the portfolio I have today.

I stopped waiting for certainty.

Instead, I built a system that worked whether I made a little or a lot.

I’ll share the exact system I still use today.

1. Stop Investing What's Left

This is the first mistake I made.

I'd pay my bills. Buy what I need. Then I'd tell myself I'd invest whatever was left. The problem is that there's almost never anything left.

So instead, I flip the order.

I treated it like another bill.

Every time money came in, my future got paid first. Not because I always had extra money. Because I stopped expecting there to be any.

If you're wondering what "pay yourself first" actually looks like, check out my entire Payday Routine so you can copy the exact system I use.

👉Watch my Payday Routine

2. Set Your Investing Percentage

When my income changes every month, I stop trying to invest the same dollar amount.

I picked a percentage instead. 

Let's say your rule is 15%. This month you make $2,000. You invest $300. Next month you make $5,000. You invest $750.

Slow month, you invest less. Great month, you invest more. Your investing adjusts automatically because your income does.

Your income changes. Your system doesn't.

That's when investing finally started feeling sustainable.

3. Create A Minimum

Here's another trick that made investing feel much less stressful.

Instead of chasing the perfect month, create a minimum.

Maybe that's $50. Maybe it's $100. Something you know you can afford even during a slow month.

Then, whenever income is higher than usual, invest more.

That way you never feel like you've failed just because one month wasn't as good as the last.

The goal is to never stop investing because consistency compounds.

4. Good Months Should Build Wealth

This was another lesson I learned. When income goes up, lifestyle usually follows.

Luxury cars. Designer brands. Fancy dinners every night. The extra income disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. 

I started looking at good months differently.

Good months weren't permission to spend more. They were opportunities to invest more.

One great month invested can compound for decades. One great month spent is usually forgotten by next year.

The investments I made during my best months are still working for me today.

5. Remove Yourself From The Process

One of the biggest reasons my portfolio kept growing wasn't discipline. It was automation.

Once I set up automatic investments, I stopped making the same decision every payday.

"Should I invest?"

"Should I wait?"

"Maybe next month will be better."

The decision had already been made. Money moved automatically.

And that one system probably grew my portfolio more than trying to find the next winning stock ever could. 

If you're opening a brokerage account, choose one that supports recurring investments.

Automating your investments removes the decision every month, which is one of the biggest reasons I've been able to stay consistent.

👉Click here to see the brokerage accounts I personally use

Building wealth starts with building a predictable system.

Your paycheck might change every month.

Your investing strategy doesn't have to.

Now I'm curious.

If your income changes every month, what's the biggest thing stopping you from investing today?

💬Quote of the Week

📉 Market Recap

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

👉 Anthropic's most advanced AI models cleared by the White House

The US government lifted the export ban on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after Anthropic fixed security vulnerabilities. Fable restores access tomorrow. Mythos stays limited to government-approved partners only. 

Wallet Impact: The US government is treating advanced AI models like national security assets. That tells you everything about where AI sits in the global power race right now. Whoever controls the most capable AI controls a lot more than just technology.

👉 Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs and overhauls Xbox as it shifts toward AI

Microsoft is eliminating 2% of its global workforce with two thirds of cuts hitting Xbox. The company is simultaneously launching a $2.5 billion initiative to embed 6,000 engineers inside customer businesses to deploy AI.

Wallet Impact: Microsoft is not just cutting costs. It is actively replacing human roles with AI-driven services. If you work in tech sales or gaming this is a signal worth taking seriously. 

👉 The S&P 500's top three stocks at the halfway mark of 2026 were all memory and chip companies 

Sandisk led with an 858% gain, Micron was up over 300%, and all three fell last week on valuation concerns. The S&P 500 itself is up 9% year to date.

Wallet Impact: If you hold a broad index fund you already rode part of this wave. But it flags a real risk, Sandisk trades at 60 times earnings and its revenue surge of 251% may not be repeatable once the current memory shortage eases 

👉 Fed Chair Says Fighting Inflation Still Comes First

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said the Fed will stay focused on fighting inflation and isn't rushing to cut interest rates. While inflation is easing, another rate hike remains possible. 

Wallet Impact: Higher savings rates may stick around, but borrowing for homes, cars, and credit cards could stay expensive. For investors, short-term volatility is normal so stay focused on the long term. 

👀 In Case You Missed It

Seven figures didn't come from one lucky investment. In this video, I walk through the strategies, habits, and portfolio decisions that actually got me there.

 🌱More ways I can help build your wealth

See y’all next week 🫡

Angelo Castillo

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