Securing Your Financial Future With TJ van Gerven

[00:00:01] Welcome to Business Finance and Soul. My name is Shaun Enders, and I'm a Curious Entrepreneur. I love exploring business, personal finance and consciousness. I'll jump around topics, offer my opinions, and occasionally interviewing interesting people. Looking forward to going on this journey. Let's be curious together!

[00:00:22] To Business Finance and Soul, I'm so happy that you're here. And I am happy to join my guest today, TJ van Gerven. He's a financial advisor and planner and the founder of Modern Well Builders. He's also the host of a podcast, Do More With Your Money.

[00:00:38] I think you've got over 120 episodes, maybe more by now, TJ. So really love that podcast and encourage everyone to go check out, check it out, do more with your money. So TJ graduated from Virginia Tech, has spent his entire career in financial services as a financial planner.

[00:00:56] And really focuses on millennials using money intentionally as a tool to build more flexibility and something that I love financial independence. So I'm very passionate about this space. I'm excited to have you on TJ. We can get into some of your hobbies that you love Moetai and audiobooks,

[00:01:20] and hang it out with friends and family as we go along, but I'm just appreciative that you're here. Welcome to the show. Sean, thank you so much for having me and I'm really looking forward to our conversation today. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:01:32] For anyone that has not listened or heard your background, I always like to start with the origin story, you know, more specifically, maybe your financial origin story. You've spent your entire career in financial services. And so there, there obviously was something that pushed you in this direction.

[00:01:52] Can you give us just a quick background of what brought you to this point in your career? Yeah, absolutely. I think it is always important to start with why and I think if we all analyze our, you know, upbringing is probably fine.

[00:02:06] Some things that have led us to this path in life. So, you know, for me, my parents kind of had a unique relationship. My dad really came from poverty, you know, as one of six Dutch immigrants.

[00:02:17] And he always talked about money to me growing up, whereas my mom came from a little bit different. Side of things coming from a little bit more wealth. Also came from Portuguese immigrants, but my great grandfather was really an entrepreneur and built significant wealth.

[00:02:30] And so really seeing both sides of that spectrum of both, you know, kind of poverty and wealth and seeing kind of some of the behavioral aspects that you develop from that.

[00:02:39] Basically, just led me down this path of, you know, how do I figure out how to use money as a tool? You know, have always been math oriented.

[00:02:47] And, you know, while there is some math involved in being a financial planner, it really ends up being a lot more about psychology. So that's kind of a path that I've gone down as well. But basically, you know, throughout college, I study economics and art-spoil science.

[00:02:58] And as I, you know, graduation approached, I figured out, you know, what kind of career path I could take down. And got set up with a resident program within a visor through a mayor prize and, you know, got my series 7, 66 and turn sliced

[00:03:11] and CFP all that within a few years after graduating. And then basically, once I had my experience for the CFP designation, I tried to go out on my own and start modern wealth builders in 2018, and basically built it from the ground up since working with millennials.

[00:03:26] Basically, wanted to design a wealth management and financial planning practice that I would want to work with. You know, I kind of saw what retirees were getting with their financial planning wealth management.

[00:03:36] I just thought there was a better way to do it given all the technology and the independent space. And so yeah, I would say that's kind of my why of how I got to become a financial planner.

[00:03:44] And I just really enjoy helping people maximize their resources and then ultimately figure out how they want to use those resources. What you said there was really interesting to me, because it's kind of like your own version of Rich Dad Poor Dad.

[00:03:58] So it's like that this point I don't have to talk about Kia Saki, right? Everybody knows who he is, whether you love him or not. But I do think that it's very interesting that you got a chance to experience, you know, really that working class mindset.

[00:04:17] Verse, maybe old money, you know, and what wealth can do, generationally, to people both good and bad. And I think I think one thing that most people really are interested in is seeing the effects of both, you know, maybe not having enough verse having an abundance.

[00:04:40] Is there any lessons that you picked up along the way of where it shaped your opinion on, you know, the the darker side of having a lot of money and not knowing, you know,

[00:04:52] how how profoundly unique that is or special or, you know, how do you, how do you reconcile both sides of that when you look at earning money and and the being a steward of the money that you that you are.

[00:05:08] Yeah, definitely makes you think about the different mindsets. I think the ones that people talk about a lot nowadays are kind of like a scarcity mindset versus an abundance mindset.

[00:05:17] I think there is another one as well, though, it's kind of like a spend thrift mindset where you just think money kind of grows on trees and you don't understand a lot of times with inherited wealth where somebody that didn't necessarily create it doesn't know what it takes to either maintain it.

[00:05:33] And obviously build it in the first place, but then on the other side if you come from nothing, you might have this scarcity mindset where even if you do accumulate some level of wealth.

[00:05:42] You try to hold on to it very tightly and you don't really necessarily use it to enhance your lifestyle or you're still feeling the same anxiety and fear because of your upbringing.

[00:05:53] So I think for myself, you know, as an entrepreneur, I've had to go through this own growth journey where, you know, I definitely have a scarcity mindset.

[00:06:01] But also recognizing that if you can provide value to the marketplace that there isn't abundance out there and that you can, there is enough for us to go around. And so if you can develop those skills to add value to the marketplace, you're going to have enough money.

[00:06:15] But obviously, you have to learn how to manage it and ultimately grow it. So I would say, you know, seeing both mindsets. Obviously working with couples as well, I think it's important to be on your partner with your partner on the same financial page.

[00:06:29] I think that what you don't realize is that even if you come from money over long time friends, your habits that you've developed or how you think about money might actually have a bigger impact on your long-term trajectory.

[00:06:44] So, you know, if you're thinking about like choosing a partner, you know, actually somebody that has, you know, financial literacy or good habits with money might end up working better for you than somebody that, you know, comes from a level of inherited wealth. And I think that's interesting.

[00:06:59] I think that that's a great point. I've actually, I want to talk to people, especially younger people about this more is the single biggest decision that you'll make in your life is not where you'll go to college or the grades that you get or even the first job that you take.

[00:07:20] You can actually be the partner that you decide at least, you know, legally to spend the rest of your life with to declare that.

[00:07:29] And, you know, how things turn out for you is largely going to be dependent upon whether or not you see life in a very similar way.

[00:07:37] And if you grow together with that belief system and I think sometimes people want to cut the line and go, well, you know, yeah, they come from money.

[00:07:44] So that must mean we're going to be good. But there's a lot of people out there that come from money that have horrible financial IQ and really end up doing a lot more harm than good.

[00:07:59] And so yeah, you hit hit the nail in the head that, you know, one doesn't necessarily mean the other just because you have it doesn't mean you actually, you know, understand the importance of it.

[00:08:10] And if you didn't earn it, there's there is a very real possibility that you may not respect, you know, where came from or what the power of it or how to use it in a way that it's beneficial beyond you.

[00:08:27] Yeah, absolutely. I think financial literacy, you know, for us at all as individuals is important, but obviously when you're entering this partnership and there's legal ramifications.

[00:08:37] It's just, and that's partly the benefit of working with maybe an a third party like a financial planner who can be a sounding board for couples. And so I think that's, you know, again, partly why I went down this track of, you know, really helping, you know, being there for both parties as an objective person to say, hey, you know, have you considered this or are you thinking about your resources as a shared unit, your taxes are joint unit, your at the end of the day how you're allocating your investments as a joint unit matters.

[00:09:04] So, you know, finances are complicated on their own, but once you add multiple parties, then they get more complicated.

[00:09:11] Yeah, and it seems like a weird thing to talk about because it's not really like, you know, the Pelotoc that most people envision, you know, understanding somebody's really view of, I mean, I think people have a hard enough time talking about whether or not they want to have kids or, you know, what religion,

[00:09:32] they would even want to raise these kids if any religion at all. And then furthermore, you know, debt, student loan debt, people are bringing in to relationships, you know, what their aspirations are.

[00:09:43] Some people, you know, traditionally might see a male is you're going to be the earner or you're going to always want to earn, you know, high level of income and this person might actually say, you know what?

[00:09:53] I just really want to live my life, have fun, travel, make enough money to experience the world and I'm not going to be a higher earner in life.

[00:10:03] So I love that you're working with millennials because these are very real conversations and why I do believe that people should engage with a third party, specifically to get vulnerable, talk about, you know, the things that they might not have even a question on

[00:10:22] how to approach it. And so is that something that you find yourself, and I have a whole host of questions I want to go down.

[00:10:30] But I'm curious, do you find yourself discussing these things for the first time with millennial couples or do you find most people are actually pretty good with having a baseline conversation and, you know, there already open it on us about this.

[00:10:45] Yeah, I think it depends. I think that, you know, if they're newly married couple a lot of times they're coming into the relationship with kind of his and her, you know finances so they have, you know, separate checking accounts, separate investment accounts.

[00:10:57] And so it can be a bit of a transition to go to more of a joint ownership mindset. But once they get comfortable with that concept and sometimes they've already decided they want that joint mindset, you know, I do find that they're pretty good at having their own conversations.

[00:11:13] I tell people, you know, it's really on you to figure out what you want. Like I want you to go and figure that out together on your own as a joint party. You come back to me. You tell me what you're looking to accomplish. And that's when I can start to, you know, quantify trade offs and show you a path to how to get there or again optimizing resources. It really depends.

[00:11:32] I definitely think millennials do have a little bit more of a, you know, his and her mindset. But I definitely encourage a joint mindset because at the end of the day your taxes to join unit and I mean it depends on states. I guess as far as, you know, common law versus community property.

[00:11:49] But a lot of times you're going to end up having marital assets anyways and so it does help. I think from a mindset perspective to just get comfortable with with a joint mindset.

[00:11:59] Yeah, I like that. I was going to ask you about that as we move forward, you know, just really what you're seeing in terms of percentages of people keeping things split because there are certainly two emotions that are brought into this conversation.

[00:12:16] I think that's the reason why I'm trying to decide of the coin is that, you know, hey, we're merging right where we're becoming one in terms of a marriage and potentially building a family together.

[00:12:29] So people will have a child together and then be like, Oh, no, no, but I can't merge my checking account with you that would be, you know, very taboo for me.

[00:12:38] And you're putting a kid together. This shows you how, you know, big and how important finances are to people where they'll have a child faster than they will merge their bank account and give up, you know, that that sense of independence.

[00:13:00] Do you feel like there's resistance for a specific reason on why people really want to keep things separate. Maybe they've seen divorce percentages being really high and they get a little bit nervous that, you know, hey, I lose myself here.

[00:13:14] Is this something that's just cultural? Where is this coming from because it seems to be definitely a newer phenomenon from what I've heard over the last five to six years.

[00:13:26] Yeah, if I had to guess it seems a bit of a culture thing in the fact that you know as a society we're thinking of each other more as individuals which I don't necessarily know if that's a great thing for society as a whole.

[00:13:37] And so I think millennials were just kind of used in a lot of ways, you know, having to defend for themselves as far as, you know, they're coming in with student loans, they're coming in with, you know, having to manage their, you know, cash flow things like that.

[00:13:53] So I think it's just that's how they are used to doing things a certain way and it may be that, you know, obviously a lot of we know about marriage and divorce rates and a lot of people have seen their parents get divorced in some of the financial ramifications there.

[00:14:07] You know, I work with mostly people and Massachusetts in New York so it is kind of a different, you know, mindset there as far as politics and things like that.

[00:14:15] And a lot of people are choosing not to even have children because whether they just for all different types of reasons. So and I think that's going to become even more of our prominent thing is that.

[00:14:27] Millennials, Gen Z are not choosing to have kids at the same rate at which previous generations did. And I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for that as well and we'll see, you'll see their ramifications there.

[00:14:39] I was actually, you know, really surprised statistically to find out, you know, that this was a trend.

[00:14:47] A few months ago I had Jay Ziggmont on from child free wealth and you know, that's that's his niche is actually financial advisory within the child free space and and there, this is a trend obviously life has become much more expensive in a mirrorative of areas.

[00:15:07] I 100% think the American dream is alive and well, and if you focus on the right things, you know, great things will happen for you, but no doubt about it.

[00:15:16] Some of the big assets have have become expensive and I think that ways on people's decisions on whether or not they want to add another expense, you know, which children are I have to alone.

[00:15:29] I know they're super expensive. This is summer, so they're at camps right now like sport camps my daughters doing beach volleyball my sons over actually this week he's got pickleball camp and like I'm like how much was it?

[00:15:42] Yeah, like I'd ask my wife you know, I was like what it's just it's an expensive endeavor and you can't describe the reward you get obviously it's it's it's massive but when you pencil things out on a spreadsheet.

[00:15:56] Kids kids do not win in that equation as far as an investment and I think it's important to recognize that not everything has to be a financial ROI right.

[00:16:07] I think it's probably a long term very fulfilling thing to have children and I hope that people don't make decisions based on solely the financial implications obviously it's great to be you don't want to be irresponsible or if you're not a position to have children but.

[00:16:24] see people like whether friends or clients that I they are perfectly in a position to do it, but they think that they can't afford it or they think that right you know so I just I would be careful about obviously there people that make it work who are in probably a much worse off financial position than you.

[00:16:40] And sometimes that's how life is you had to roll with the punches and that's why I talk about financial flexibility even more than independence just because independence is a very.

[00:16:48] That could take a lot of resources to achieve and so I like the idea of flexibility because it gives you permission to use your wealth use your resources, you know even if it's not you know this linear path to retirement where you've accumulated.

[00:17:02] 25 times 30 times you're living expenses in a lump sum portfolio so I just encourage people that you don't like obviously if you want to plan for the future but the future also isn't guaranteed so you know don't be afraid to use your your money.

[00:17:15] I love that and that's a very unique perspective coming from the financial industry specifically is a planner because I think that. And for so many articles you see this you know clip bait that it's out there and I can see why it's you know really in.

[00:17:35] So you know of scarcity mindset is there scarcity is is huge because everyone's pushing you're not going to have enough you're not going to have enough to live your life you're going to be you know behind constantly so there's that.

[00:17:50] Really strong agenda that I see out there and I don't subscribe to yellow either I think that you know life is 100% you know a series of events that your sometimes prepared for and oftentimes not and so I think.

[00:18:08] The big promotion having children moving to a new city those are all things that you're probably somewhat knowledge of above how to get along but for the most part you're going to be learning on the fly and so.

[00:18:21] This is the same thing when you have kids when you do something big like that travel the world take us about a goal. Life has a way especially if you're smart and engaged of working its way out.

[00:18:34] And it with really positive outcomes as long as you're intentional and you kind of know what you're doing and you say I'm in it for the journey I'm in it for the experiences I'm in to kind of soak up all that life has to offer rather than just.

[00:18:48] I'll try to pencil out a number on us spreadsheet because there is nothing fulfilling about it. I mean I've hit so many milestones and it's cool. But there's no depth to it you know there's no.

[00:19:01] Celebration that you can share with your neighbors and friends and you know take a picture of it and post it on Instagram it's like it doesn't there's nothing beyond that moment of just feeling like okay cool I hit it and then it becomes another number.

[00:19:14] That's great that you're pushing that no I think that's really important to understand is that your life may not change the way you think it changes once you had a certain number and you know I have work with clients who you know how to win fall.

[00:19:28] You know from like you know going from a private company to a public company and now they have a multi million dollar portfolio that they're able to support you know their lifestyle with and they're young and they're in their 30s and they're taking break.

[00:19:42] But you know they still have to figure out how they want to use their time right they don't magically stop having obviously money can solve a lot of problems for you know some necessity type stuff but there's still you still have to figure out.

[00:19:56] You know kind of like the self actualization of like what do you really want to do with your life and I think money can't necessarily money can't solve that you still have to figure that out on your own and so again that's why I just think using money as a tool to build the lifestyle you want or help you.

[00:20:11] You're going to publish whatever you're looking to accomplish which is the hard thing to figure out.

[00:20:15] That's really cool because absolutely yeah you want to have a purpose and a reason that you get up in the morning and really say you know this is the path that I want to go down regardless of what's in your account.

[00:20:26] It's much nicer and that's why I think working with you know a financial planner who can work through this psychology of things beyond just you know penciling out and forecasting or you know running a monocarlose simulation of you know where will I be.

[00:20:44] It has to be more than that it has to be you know really purpose driven activities and I think that's where then the saving.

[00:20:53] The financial IQ becomes very relevant because when you do hit numbers milestones you can reward yourself not with a new thing but actually with a different type of freedom you know whether or not that means volunteering more.

[00:21:09] Giving more showing up in ways that you know because you don't have to go earn in the same fashion. You actually can show up and do things that are much more passion driven and things that fulfill you and if you're feeling fulfilled.

[00:21:27] You're going to show up in a different way you're going to treat people different you you are a benefit to society when you're happy and.

[00:21:35] And you must see some of that because you get a chance to work with individuals that and I want to talk about some of the mistakes that that young people can make because I think that this is important.

[00:21:47] And people can stay away from the pitfalls but you get a chance to work with individuals that have made money from you know stock sales things where maybe they were given RSU's or you know they part of their compensation package and did a pain off.

[00:22:03] And now that they've come into a little bit of money and they're young you know they don't know what to do with it.

[00:22:08] What are some things that both those types of individuals and the average person that gets a normal paycheck and a saving on a regular basis as you pull back the covers.

[00:22:18] What are mistakes that you see people young people specifically you know making that you'd like to see them avoid. From like a financial planning like technical perspective.

[00:22:29] Yeah, yeah from a financial perspective what pitfalls are out there that you think you know people are getting can get themselves into but are not necessarily the best on their on their road to financial freedom.

[00:22:45] Yeah, I would say there's a strong urge to increase complexity as your network increases.

[00:22:52] And so basically just fighting that urge where you think you know once you hit a certain milestone like a million dollars or whatever extra amount of million dollars that you then need to search out. You know alternative investment strategies or permanent insurance that you can defer taxes.

[00:23:07] A lot of times the principles you know that you can use to build wealth if you're just starting out can still be applied you know once you when you go from 50 thousand dollar network to a five million dollar network.

[00:23:17] It's just you know basically having a rules based system because it's going to get more complex anyways from a tax planning perspective,

[00:23:26] even if you have a very simple investment portfolio, you're still going to have to think about you know tax planning if you are making withdrawals from your accounts and then if you do have outside income sources.

[00:23:36] So it's going to get more complex anyways you don't need to go out and search for complexity and in my opinion a lot of times complexity is used by the financial services industry as a way to sell products that have higher fees higher commissions.

[00:23:51] And they can embed that because it's not transparent and how the compensation works. So I think that's the biggest thing I see with millennials is that they think that they have to search out new types of investment strategies as well.

[00:24:03] I think the other thing is a lot of people that are just starting out also think you know, I'm never going to make enough money to have you know a meaningful return with maybe just like an index fund strategy.

[00:24:13] And therefore I need to trade options or yes, I speculative cryptocurrency or do these kind of super risky things that have a potential for the permanent loss of capital versus just hey how can I benefit from compounding interest that sustainable over a long time learning how to live below my means.

[00:24:32] And really just focusing on increasing my skills in my income. I mean, I'm just a huge fan of you know you're in comes out of the equation is unlimited your expense side equation is finite and a lot of times people, you know they want to talk about cutting out the lattes and I understand the idea of like habits that you have right how they add up to big sums over time.

[00:24:52] But at the end of day, if you have more of an abundance mindset like we talked about earlier, if you can learn how to increase your skills increase your marketability.

[00:24:59] Learn how to negotiate your compensation don't be afraid to change employers look to get skin in the game via stock compensation. You know these are ways that are going to had at meaningful value over your career earnings that are going to pay for thousands of lattes.

[00:25:16] So I would focus on the big things first instead of getting caught up in the small things. Yeah, I think that that is great advice because it seems like and especially because of you know our access to people that do win.

[00:25:31] You know via social platforms we see someone getting a win fall, you know we see somebody that somehow you know on a meme stock or you know shorted you know some position because you know they had the infinite wisdom

[00:25:50] that we now think that we might need in order to get that big piece of the pie quickly. I think that whether or not that's even real and if it is it's such an outlier that it's not a strategy.

[00:26:03] I think really the fact is that things are you know boring is exciting you know like financial. And so, excitement really is is something where I don't think it's necessary.

[00:26:22] I've watched even older people in their 60s you know talk about how they built wealth most of it was brick by brick rather than all the speculative things that they did either you know buy in some land developing it you know and trying to.

[00:26:38] I think that's a lot of the way that we have a lot of people who have had a few people sell off few parcels of some homes one one got stuck with a couple homes and had to actually move into it so he didn't take a total loss and then sold one to his brother and it was like it just became kind of a colossal.

[00:26:56] I think that you know it's a lot of work and energy trying to hit the big home runs you know life return.

[00:27:03] Yeah, absolutely when you can just brick by brick put the put the plan in motion work with someone like yourself so you can actually forecast it out and say okay wow that's real you know.

[00:27:15] And then live life have fun you know yeah plan out all the other things in life.

[00:27:20] 100% and I like what you're talking about there I do like to focus on return on hassle not just return on investment you know I think another thing I see with millennials in particular.

[00:27:31] Is that and it's in the same vein of adding complexity as network increases they love the idea of passive rental income. You know this is something huge the last time I mean it's because it's everywhere right you know from.

[00:27:45] Cardone you know hitting your inbox every day if you've ever clicked on anything to to you know even shows bigger pockets all this stuff and so it's like real but talk a little bit about that yeah because.

[00:27:59] It's not that it's not real it's just how it's been packaged and sold for everyone 100% I think there's a few things to keep in mind number one to do it well I do think you have to have a bit of scale and I think the people that do it well.

[00:28:12] You know you don't know when they got into the real estate game obviously if we look at the affordability of real estate in obviously given the interest the recent interest rate environment it's become even more un affordable.

[00:28:24] So you have to keep in mind that people that have already been in the real estate game. They have such built an equity that they can then borrow from previous properties they have more margin of safety where not all of their eggs are in one basket.

[00:28:36] If you're just entering the real estate market and you're looking to get into rental properties the amount of upfront capital that it costs to get in especially in a lot of these major cities I'm sure there's places in the country that the numbers still makes sense.

[00:28:48] But a lot of the places the amount of rent that you can command doesn't really match up for the cost of ownership in my opinion and that's why I actually even the rent for a spa conversation is very interesting as well even we're just talking about your primary residents.

[00:29:01] But I just think that yeah like you said a lot of influencers, romanticized how easy it is to create a real estate portfolio and they don't talk about you know the capital that's needed upfront when you're just starting out.

[00:29:14] And it's really one of those things that you kind of got to be dedicated to it because if you're going to do things like a 1031 exchange just like well now you're tied into continuously buying.

[00:29:24] You know additional properties and it's also when it comes to return on hassle you know do you really want to be a landlord it is a business I don't really believe it's passive yes you can hire a property manager.

[00:29:35] But that can cost you know 20% of your revenue or whatever so then it doesn't become as good of an investment in the last thing I'll say about real estate in general that I think. Millennials have a tough time understanding is that.

[00:29:50] Previous generations are parents you know a lot of times they're best investment was their primary residents and that's because they're just looking at how much they paid for it how much it's worth today.

[00:29:59] They're not factoring in all of the recurring costs property taxes maintenance etc and they're also not understanding. That the game is different today right if you're buying based on where wages are at currently and based on how much it costs today it's much more unaffordable.

[00:30:13] The other thing to is primary residents is the one asset that most people will hold on to for a long time and not touch it.

[00:30:20] Stock portfolio you're going to see it trade on the exchange every day so when there's a bear mark environment you see your stock portfolio go down 30% you're seeing the real loss on paper whereas your primary residents you're not seeing that even though it's.

[00:30:33] Yeah it's the psychological aspect of it absolutely is that when you when you watch a loss.

[00:30:39] You really feel like you're losing and you know I love what Warren Buffett said you know when he was interviewed and they said you know how do you feel you you lost five billion dollars today said I didn't lose anything.

[00:30:52] You know she's like well how so he's like I didn't sell it so I mean you know when you when people see that in the market they're like oh my gosh.

[00:31:00] I lost all this money and you're like unless you sold you didn't and so there is that psychological aspect of where people feel like well there's risk associated with this in a different way.

[00:31:09] But yet you're like are you you don't plan on selling for 35 years in in this market plan you know so so you know let's not let's not immediately look at that as any risk year.

[00:31:22] Then getting into something real estate where you're not getting that you're not having a new assessed value every you know 24 hours.

[00:31:34] Yeah you know and I think that that's a great conversation to have because yes that push of passive is the one word that I have a problem with not real estate as an investment or anything else I think.

[00:31:46] People have gotten to this point and where they're trying to do the old set it and forget it and. I run a company for 19 years there's no way that any business that generates any real income.

[00:32:00] Is going to ever be passive right and if you're going to put a property manager into a place you're going to manage that person and then you might have turnover and then you might have fee increases.

[00:32:12] You're going to go through you know these cyclical processes that mean that you've got to be fully engaged so if you want to get into real estate.

[00:32:22] I'm a huge fan just know that you're going to do a lot of work and you should be prepared to launch that as as a as a business as something that's tangibly.

[00:32:36] And industry that you want to you want to go after not just decide hustle so that's that's great thanks for bringing that up.

[00:32:43] One of the things that I'm curious about because the accumulation years is is the millennial years right now that 28 to 43 are accumulation years and so it can get real discouraging when you're putting on plan into place.

[00:32:59] And it feels like oh my gosh, you know, I'm buying a car or if I am having kids I now get daycare costs and if we buy a primary residence, you know, like wow this is way more expensive than I expected.

[00:33:13] And then others who actually come into some money, you know, by some of your clients that actually are netting. Maybe a bigger windfall of money. How do you have the conversation about lifestyle creep?

[00:33:26] You know, and what happens when standard start to get set of like okay now this is the new standard I drive this kind of car this is who I am this is my identity now or you know my kids go to this school or.

[00:33:38] It all starts to compound do you have that conversation or people aware that lifestyle creep, you know is real and and you know how to mitigate that.

[00:33:47] Yeah, it's interesting questions one of the demographics that I have worked with as well as like physicians where they go from like residency so they're going for making like 75,000 to 500,000 plus and so yes it's a huge income increase and so your first.

[00:34:02] You know, reaction is to increase your lifestyle and I really you know lifestyle creep is you can definitely be a problem but at the same time I don't think there's anything wrong with increasing your lifestyle as your income increases otherwise you know again we just talked about money's at the tool I want you to use it.

[00:34:16] But I think again it's just having a conscious awareness of are you intentional with your spending or are you getting value out of your purchases and then yeah the other thing is the big thing again is the residence purchase a lot of times and are you comfortable.

[00:34:28] Increasing your fixed expenses where you're tying yourself to a current to a certain level of earning because if you value freedom and autonomy in peace of mind.

[00:34:38] You may want to buy less than you can afford so that you have a margin of safety where again you're not tied to that lifestyle and so it's really just about having an intentional conversation with them about.

[00:34:49] You know I don't care necessarily about the little stuff at the end of the day are you living below your means and away that is still going to set you up for flexibility and then hopefully independent so.

[00:35:00] Very simple things as far as just understanding your basic personal savings rate meaning how much of your income are you saving. I think 20% is a really strong number if you can hit that's hard to do for some people obviously if you're a higher earner it can be easier.

[00:35:13] And I think about personal savings it's not just investments rates anything that's contributing to growing your network so this could be paying down debt as well.

[00:35:21] And then or saving but ultimately hopefully investing because then investing that's the one area where we can hopefully not just preserve our wealth but increase it above inflation.

[00:35:31] So as long as you're being conscious and you're automating your savings where you're hitting a personal savings rate that you're comfortable with.

[00:35:38] As you're income increases as long as you're maintaining that personal savings rate because if it's a percentage then yes your spending goes up but you're also increasing how much you're investing so as long as you're sticking to that I think you can combat lifestyle inflation.

[00:35:52] And as long as you're being intentional I think it's it's okay yeah it goes back to you know focusing on on the earning like you said you know that's a huge that's a big powerful tool and so if you yeah if you're still putting away.

[00:36:05] a great amount that is putting you on that path towards you know your own financial freedom and independence and.

[00:36:14] You are focused really on you know getting a bigger shovel where you can bring more money into the household then you get to have fun with your lifestyle and you know you can design your lifestyle and enjoy these things I was

[00:36:30] looking at the fixed cost aspect for for people which is you know before you're making a decision. You really look at what's the length of time that you're committing to this because.

[00:36:41] You know really once you have that fixed cost that's that that's the the strangle hold on you. Yeah whether or not your income goes up or down that's where the pressure is when everything's great.

[00:36:53] It doesn't really matter right everything is is rolling along your fine your job hasn't been affected there's no layoffs there's no changes but you know we know we live in a world that's changing shaping. And and you know maybe a little bit more volatile.

[00:37:09] And and you want to be prepared for for those ups and downs and how to ride waves definitely anything I encourage people is that you know from millennials in particular is obviously we're not going to have.

[00:37:20] You know a lot of like pensions and things like that for guaranteed income sources so it's really incumbent upon the individual to learn how to save and create investment portfolio because when you get to.

[00:37:30] You know traditional retirement which I would say is probably you know after age 59 and a half for sure when you can access your retirement funds.

[00:37:38] You're going to have to figure out how do I create an income stream with this because you only other you might have social security which you know is really only designed to cover 40% of your pre retirement earnings.

[00:37:48] And so you just get again the habit of everything is going to be on you so you have to learn these things are at least start building towards them.

[00:37:55] And then the other thing I'll say in line with as well is if you are in a dual income household which I think a lot of millennials we're trending in that direction.

[00:38:04] You can learn to kind of take turns and there's going to be seasons of life where you know maybe you're not going to be able to earn as much or you're going to have to spend more because of things like daycare but.

[00:38:15] If you have that dual income household you can take time you know I'm sure maybe jazic mont talked about this but just you can use each other to.

[00:38:23] Be taxi fishing right because you're going to be taxes and join unit and take time off from work and just basically whether these storms of different seasons of life.

[00:38:34] I like the idea of game of fun life you know because it makes it less stressful and you kind of look at yourself as a participant in the game not to cheapen the experience of life you know into some video game but you got to have some fun and levity to this whole.

[00:38:49] You know ride and I think sometimes you've got to try to make things a little bit more fun and interesting things like life insurance conversations things like financial planning or.

[00:38:59] newities or so security like I think most people glaze over I geek out so I try to relate with people who are not.

[00:39:09] Super interested in this space I'm sure you find that all the time because you're like alright we're going to talk about this and you know you just get no you they just get the blank stare and but if you gamify it you actually have some fun with you think of yourself as a character rather than the participant.

[00:39:25] How would you set this character up right well like what would you do and then you start to get into all the nuances that actually make it fairly interesting like.

[00:39:34] Tax efficiency and strategy with your partner and how to leverage yes or you are one unit let's use the law to your advantage.

[00:39:44] And take advantage of the programs that are out there that are built for this exact scenario so yeah I think when I work with a couple to is I really focus on lifetime so like you know I started as a baseline of you lived age 100 just because it's a nice round number you're actually you may live much longer than that obviously might die before that.

[00:40:01] But obviously the things the way things are going who knows you know with medical advancements and things like that.

[00:40:07] The point is is you know life is you know short in some ways but it can also be long and others and so I really try to remind people of the big picture of like you know you're going to have this earning potential over your career.

[00:40:17] And this is another reason why I like working with millennials and not necessarily you know the traditional retiree is that if you've gotten to age 65 whatever and you haven't saved enough investment enough of your career it's kind of hard to catch up whereas if you're in your 30s 40s.

[00:40:32] You still have time to have habits and make changes that can set you up for later in life. And then really also thinking about lifetime tax planning is kind of a new thing I'm seeing in financial planning that advisors are focusing on more.

[00:40:45] We're really having you know there's different buckets of money and just really thinking about you know when you are putting like whether it's traditional versus raw like how you're going about creating what we call tax diversification for later in life.

[00:41:00] Because taxes are your single biggest lifetime expense you know if you're you know a significant earner and so it's important to think about not just any individual tax here but actually over the course of your lifetime.

[00:41:12] Yeah this is that's great and and you really you have to have a holistic mindset to see the whole picture because they all stitching.

[00:41:19] It is very much like your health your financial health and your physical health are very much similar and where you know you don't just work out your biceps and then.

[00:41:28] You know never pay attention to your chastor triceps this is like you really have to make sure your entire body is built for you know what you're trying to accomplish.

[00:41:37] And and the financial health is very important I have two final questions for you that are you know a little bit more personal related and I want to find out you know what is you know one thing in your life that you look at.

[00:41:53] That's that's really shaped you as a person as a human. And.

[00:41:59] And there's a lot of things I had a pretty tumultuous upbringing you know my mom's in alcoholic and just you know getting to a point in my life that I had like freedom over my life autonomy that's part of the reason that I became.

[00:42:13] I would say you know I call myself a solo printer just because I don't have like anybody else outside of myself but you know I just for me at the end of the day I value piece of mind over.

[00:42:26] Most things and I also value time freedom and autonomy over most things I think that you know so just as I just my experiences growing up to get to this point where I am today.

[00:42:37] I kind of wasn't a survival mode for a very long time and now I'm in this mode where I do I think it's ready to take that next step and like I said earlier in the podcast shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset and really.

[00:42:49] You know making the best of you know my thing is I want to live up to my potential so it's like how can I best make use of my time.

[00:42:57] I think that's very important is everyday wake up and say you know what is the best use of my time and and then ultimately when you have more than you need for yourself and I think I finally got to that point.

[00:43:07] It's like you know how can I now provide for others and so I think that's where my mind said is that today and. You know I guess we're all a culmination of our experiences so that would be mine.

[00:43:17] That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that and I think it's a it's a wonderful message because everyone each one of us has gone through our own you know personal experience some more traumatic than others and.

[00:43:33] And the the the tapestry of our life is what brings us to these moments in our life of where we get a chance to look at it and go. Man how does that benefit me you know how's this going to set me up and.

[00:43:46] And yeah now all of a sudden I'm looking at it and it is happening for me instead of to me and that's really hard when you're a kid.

[00:43:54] And everything is happening to you know really see that you're you're absorbing all these lessons that are actually going to be instrumental. And and pivotal in your life at some point you're going to draw from this and.

[00:44:08] You know the best people draw from it in a way that's healthy and help other people so.

[00:44:13] Yeah 100% you know mindset I don't want to sound like you know some kind of guru or anything but like mindset truly is everything I mean how you perceive the world has a huge impact on how.

[00:44:23] You your actions that you take in the world and how other people view you so I understand is very difficult out there for a lot of people and a lot of people are in survive or mode.

[00:44:33] But if you can learn to just slow down and really you know put a plan and place and then take action and then give yourself a long enough time horizon I think you can pretty much accomplish anything so. That's well said. As you build your life.

[00:44:49] I always I always think of how people. Both acquaintances and and also people very close to you might remember you. How do you want to be remembered as you go through life.

[00:45:08] Yeah I would like to be remembered as somebody that was kind that somebody that added value was like a net positive to you know at least the people around me hopefully society in general and yeah I would say just somebody that you know really maximize their time.

[00:45:30] You know didn't take life too seriously but also and enjoy it but also added value.

[00:45:36] Yeah that's when you're doing that you know you're showing up and you're getting a chance to be part of intimate conversations I know any job can seem transactional and for everyone listening you know there's always a transactional side of a job or a career you know.

[00:45:53] Surgeons have schedules booked and if they looked at you know life saving surgery as just another person they could. And it could be a transaction or they could look at the contribution that they're making and the lives that they're saving and affecting and they could be deeply meaningful.

[00:46:11] And so in all of our lives there's something that we do there's a way we show up there's a way that we are part of someone else's life and when you're part of the financial journey and you give that financial education you know you become.

[00:46:26] That person that is trusted and part of intimate conversations it's pretty cool so you're already doing that and I I'm encouraged that you're on the right path and excited for what the future holds. I appreciate that.

[00:46:44] I just want to say you know obviously like the people that interest me with their finances I never took that lightly because you know I would say you got your health and then your money you know as far as what's most important so you know I definitely you know have always taken pride in that you know.

[00:46:58] If you work with me it's like you know I'm a big Tom Brady fan and Tom Brady only said the Robert Crawford's like this I'm the best decision this franchise ever made that's how I feel when somebody chooses to work with me it's like I want to be the best decision you've made and you're going to look back and you're going to look back and say that was a good decision.

[00:47:15] That's awesome and I also will point out I do like the way that your model is set up of where you really are you know a planner on on kind of a.

[00:47:26] You know more progressive model of where I understand it correctly it's more of a kind of a subscription model of where things are laid out people understand their fees and they understand what that return is going to look like in terms of where you're going to.

[00:47:46] I'm going to evaluate assess implement and plan with them and so there's a strong sense of transparency based on the research I did for you and and your firm.

[00:47:56] Prior to this conversation and I like that model I think it's cool and it's actually sits really well for someone like myself that loves to manage and be active in my financial portfolio but at the same time I do want another set of eyes I would be foolish to not have a professional say.

[00:48:14] You know hey what are your goals now what's happening now in your life things have evolved over the past four years you know. Let's take a look at things let's make sure that you know we just give it a check up so.

[00:48:28] You know sure I like that and I you know applaud you for going down that path.

[00:48:33] Yeah, I think I'm just trying to future proof a little bit you know so I do like a fixed feel like you said like I call it a retainer or subscription fee so it's not an asset management fee where it's a percentage of the portfolio and.

[00:48:42] I think that's nice because it kind of creates a nice incentive where I'm really just focused on someone's net worth where it's thinking about the whole balance sheet there's not an incentive to try to.

[00:48:51] You know aggregate someone's investment accounts I'm not an advice only advisor like I do manage assets so there are advice only solutions out there whether it's on an hourly or retainer basis.

[00:49:01] But it's really just like I would call it a fixed fear of flat fee and so it's nice also for somebody who maybe is a higher earner but doesn't necessarily have the level of investment assets that could command that service.

[00:49:12] So that's partly why I went down that route and then partly just a future proof where I think that that asset management fee is probably going to be under attack in the next you know 20 30 years for sure.

[00:49:22] Yeah, it's a cool hybrid model definitely I think it's it's the way of the future and love that you get your hands into so many different aspects and do it in a way that's super transparent so.

[00:49:33] I appreciate showing up to you being vulnerable talking about some of the real issues that I think a lot of people at every age or experience in specifically millennials that's a big.

[00:49:46] You know, gap in years 28 to 43 my wife likes to you know she's I'm millennials so she's like your gen X I'm a millennials. I try not to label things too much but we're on that you know we fall into two different sides and and I think that it's.

[00:50:04] It's cool to see you know where millennials are today because that moniker was there when you know is talked about so much because that's they're coming up millennials you guys are coming up at the same time that social media is coming up.

[00:50:18] Yeah, it just got amplified when I was growing up like no we talked about generations nobody was like the greatest generation versus Gen X and you know is like I never knew I was Gen X.

[00:50:28] And so we're not here for a little bit I was your Gen X is like that they don't get the you know recognition.

[00:50:35] Yeah, we were just kind of forgotten period of you know time but yeah these monickers make sometimes some people you know just kind of lump everybody together but it's a big age group and 28 is dealing with different things than 43.

[00:50:51] And so you know I highly recommend people get out talk to you do want to find out where can people find you where where would you like to to steer people to engage.

[00:51:03] Yeah basically you can learn everything about me at modern wealthbuilders.com all my socials are there podcasts etc so that would be this lot right on well.

[00:51:11] I'm excited for where you take things I like that you're a Brady fan although I grew up in Seattle my wife obviously being a hardcore new englander and all of her family.

[00:51:22] I don't think I'd be allowed back in the state of Massachusetts unless I also was a Brady fan so I love to hear him good company man. Thank you for taking the time and everyone else stay curious awesome thank you.