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The higher “Plus” tier of Sam’s Club membership (regularly $120 a year) now includes Walmart+ membership at no additional cost (regularly $98 a year but often discounted to $50 a year) once you link your two accounts (offical press release). They will refund any difference as well if you have both. I recently upgraded to Sam’s Club Plus membership because I value their free local delivery on $50+ orders. These days, I enjoy shopping for groceries on an app but the delivery costs are often high. Here’s my assessment of the situation right now:

• Costco still offers my favorite in-store experience, but the mark-up for delivery is 10% to 15% (depends on if you have Instacart+ membership) + tip for a total of 20%-30% markup. They just added other delivery options through Uber or Doordash, but it’s still too high of a total markup. On $200 of stuff, that’s $50 extra compared to doing it myself.
• Walmart is my favorite drive-up pickup experience. Their inventory management has improved, and they allow you to edit the cart right up until they pick it. They do a pretty good job on substitutions, and you can always just deny right at pickup and they will refund it for you.
• Sam’s Club is my go-to for bulk grocery delivery now. I used to prefer their pickup, but my Sam’s Club pickup tends to be a mess with very long wait times. Thankfully, Sam’s Club does not mark up their normal prices for delivery. With Plus, I can also get free delivery on $50+ orders (just have to pay tip). Sam’s Club prices are on average at least 10% cheaper on many of the bulk items that I buy, so I feel that paying for the tip is a fair price for the convenience. While I consider Uber Eats/DoorDash to be a private taxi for my burrito, here I can meal prep for entire week at a time with one delivery. The primary disadvantage here is that there are no substitutions if something is out of stock. Recently, Sams’s also added the ability to edit your cart again up until they pick it.

I didn’t pay for Walmart+ in the past, but now that I have both, let’s take a closer look at the combined perks of the two memberships:

Sam’s Club Plus

• 2% back on qualifying *in-club* purchases (up to $750/year). Note that you get the 2% back on in-club and pickup orders, but not delivery orders.
• Extra shopping hours (usually early 8am entry).
• Free local delivery on $50+ orders. You can add express delivery for $10 extra.
• Free shipping on $50+ online orders.
• Free Same-Day Pharmacy Delivery (must order by 2pm and live within 15 miles).
• Cheaper prices on select pharmacy prescriptions ($0 on the 10 below).

Here are the 10 generic medicines that are $0 with Plus. There is some overlap with Walmart $4 prescriptions but even at $4 a month, it can add up quickly to significant savings:

• Amlodipine – Brand Name: Norvasc
• Donepezil – Brand Name: Aricept
• Escitalopram – Brand Name: Lexapro
• Finasteride – Brand Names: Proscar, Propecia
• Lisinopril – Brand Names: Prinivil, Zestril
• Metformin – Brand Names: Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet
• Montelukast – Brand Name: Singulair
• Pioglitazone – Brand Name: Actos
• Sertraline – Brand Name: Zoloft
• Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol) 50,000 IU – Brand Names: Drisdol, Calciferol

Walmart+

• Free local delivery on $35+ orders. Honestly, I’ve had a hard time getting this when they subcontract out the delivery and the pay is too low.
• Free shipping on online orders with no order minimum.
• Free Pharmacy Delivery with No Order Minimum.
• Free Paramount+ Essential or Peacock Premium (ad-supported), switchable every 90 days.
• Extra Gas Savings (up to 10 cents per gallon) at participating Exxon, Mobil, Walmart, and Murphy stations.
• 5% cash back at Walmart when using their OnePay credit card.

We now have the appetites of five adults in our household, so buying in bulk is key. What is your strategy for saving time and money on your everday grocery needs?

When I was starting out financially, one of the hot books was The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Stanley and Danko, first published in 1996. The millionaires turned out to be small business owners driving Ford F-150s: the plumber with lots of vans, HVAC businesses, auto repair chains, commercial contractors, local real estate landlords.

The bestselling The Millionaire Next Door identifies seven common traits that show up again and again among those who have accumulated wealth. Most of the truly wealthy in this country don’t live in Beverly Hills or on Park Avenue-they live next door.

Well, it’s 30 years later, and the overall idea essentially remains the same. Though $1.5 million in 1996 is more like over $3 million today. The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There by Zidar and Zwick provides updated data and new millionaire profiles.

Most people think the path to great wealth runs through Wall Street or Silicon Valley. We’re told you must be a Zuckerberg, a Musk, or a Jamie Dimon to get rich. But this story is wrong.

Drawing on unprecedented data from a decade of research and vivid real-life stories of entrepreneurs – from a self-made hot-dog stand billionaire to the heirs of an auto dealer – Zidar and Zwick reveal a surprising truth: prosperity is more attainable, more widely distributed, and closer to home than we imagine. A multitude of Americans have built staggering fortunes by running often unglamorous businesses far from the spotlight.

If that sounds interesting to you, check out this WSJ article by the same authors which is basically a short taste of their book: The American Dream Is Alive. And It’s Minting Millionaires. (gift article). Definitely worth a read.

When you own the business, you get all of the upside potential. The new book goes into how improved scaling ability and streamlined passthrough tax structures like LLCs and S-Corps help make the upside even easier to achieve. But of course, you only see the winners. The failed restaurant owners and wannabe real estate moguls don’t have any yachts with funny names.

I do think a lot of it is a personality trait – the willingness to spend 120 hours a week on something that might or might not work out, the ability to fail and get back up again and again, and a strange passion for a particular (often boring!) industry. I wonder if any of my kids will go this route.