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00:00:01
Millennial Money Truths: Budgeting, Retirement & Real Talk with 35 Year-Old Client
17 Plays1 month ago
- In this powerful and relatable episode of The Future of Finance, Marissa Wood sits down with client and fellow millennial Jeremy Hicks to unpack the unique financial challenges—and opportunities—facing today’s 30-somethings.
They dive into real-world budgeting strategies, navigating rising expenses, building wealth while raising a family, and how small consistent investing can create generational impact. If you're a millennial wondering, “Am I going to be able to retire?”—this episode is for you.
💬 Featuring candid conversation, emotional honesty, and actionable advice on how to thrive financially—even when the odds feel stacked against you.
⏱ Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro: Why Millennials Need a Different Financial Strategy
1:30 – Real Talk: Why “Just Do What Your Parents Did” Doesn’t Work Anymore
3:15 – The Millennial Home Ownership Gap & Jeremy’s Early Win
5:00 – Visualizing Retirement with a Future Cash Flow Analyzer
6:30 – What Are You Really Spending? Tools & Truths About Budgeting
8:00 – Inflation Reality: Why Your $8K Monthly Budget Will Cost $20K Later
9:35 – Job Hopping, Salary Stagnation & Forgotten 401(k)s
11:15 – What’s the Difference Between a 401(k) & an IRA?
14:00 – The Forgotten 401(k) Fix: Step-by-Step Rollover Help
16:00 – How Small Adjustments Can Add 5+ Years to Your Retirement
18:15 – The YOLO Trap vs. Leaving a Legacy for Your Kids
21:00 – The $500 Plan: Dividing Monthly Savings by Time Horizons
23:00 – Why Financial Advisors Aren’t Just for the Wealthy
25:00 – Clarity from Planning: Turning “I Hope” Into “We Have a Plan”
26:45 – Jeremy’s Best & Worst Financial Decisions (Spoiler: Solar Panels)
31:15 – Refinance Tips: For Both Real Estate & Investments
33:00 – Final Advice for Millennials: Budget, Emergency Fund, and Start Now
36:30 – Life Insurance as Legacy Planning for Future Generations
39:00 – Closing: The Mindset Shift from Me to We
🔗 Ready to take the first step?
Visit https://www.union-financial.com/ to schedule a free consultation.
💬 If this episode moved you or gave you a new perspective, please like, comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear this.
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Transcript
Strategies for Millennials to Thrive in Retirement
00:00:09
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Future of Finance podcast. I'm your host, Marissa Wood, one of the owners of Union Financial Services. And today we have a great episode ahead where I'm going to sit down with a client of mine, Jeremy Hicks.
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome, Jeremy. Thank you, Marissa. And I think for all of our millennial listeners, you're really going to like this episode because Jeremy and I both are millennials. And we're going to go through some strategies that we're using to help millennials actually see that they can retire one day and they can not just survive in retirement, but really thrive.
00:00:42
Speaker
And all the steps that lead us to that point, whether it be paying off debt, vacationing more, enjoying time with family more throughout the stages of life and how we're helping you and your family do that, right?
00:00:55
Speaker
Absolutely. One of the things that um attracted me to become a client of yours was how you were like, it's my goal like to help millennials understand how they can retire. um Because I felt like most financial advisors just talk about retirement as if it's like same old, same old, here's the strategy.
00:01:11
Speaker
But um when you came forward, we're like, no, i there's a different strategy for millennials because of how things are going. And I want to, that's kind of where I want to um have a lot of my expertise almost be my niche. And I was like, I can get around that. Yeah. so It's an underserved market. It really is because especially a lot of advisors will look at the millennial demographic as, well, you don't have a large enough amount of assets yet or you're too far out from retirement or you still have too much debt to pay down first.
Challenges and Financial Realities Millennials Face
00:01:43
Speaker
But that's not true. We need to start somewhere and build upon it eventually.
00:01:48
Speaker
I think by like up until probably a year ago, um, it was always millennials do not have money. And now it's like we're in our 30s and we have, it's like, okay, so millennials should have money. Where is it? i think It's almost like that's where it is. Yeah, all of a sudden you're in your 30s and you're like, hmm, okay, it's time to really get down to this and start building up some wealth yeah or else I'm going to be in big trouble. And I don't mean to come from like ah I'm a victim of anything. you know ah By all means, I do believe that we have –
00:02:21
Speaker
Plenty of opportunity to make money, grow investments and stuff like that. I don't want to make sound like we're in this terrible um zone, but there is a reality that um where I have always felt as when i talk about me being a millennial, I kind of it kind of comes down to this.
00:02:41
Speaker
the strategy we were told to follow, it seems that every time we start, begin to follow it, it changes. That's to me what it has felt like, you know, like get your career, get go to college and get your career and start that pension, start that retirement plan.
00:02:57
Speaker
Well, When i graduated high school was during 08, you know, was during that time of ah there's no jobs. College was um like a – like we're told to go to college, but then what was afterwards? No one was getting there.
00:03:14
Speaker
i think a stat I heard from my wife just randomly said the other day was like 10% of people are doing the job that they actually went to college for. I believe that. So it's like – you know Just that strategy alone hurt. And now it's the housing strategy. Now, I'm very lucky to have gotten a house when I was only 25. Actually, was 24 at the time. Me too. Yeah. But that's rare now. It is extremely rare. i'm I'm extremely lucky. I'm still in that house. yeah I can't seem to get out of the house. But that's a story for another time.
00:03:47
Speaker
um But the reality is i have one. Mm-hmm. And I'm one of the very few. So with all that being said, i just want to say like, um I'm excited for a lot of things you're showing us, teaching us so far as a family.
00:04:01
Speaker
but um and But with the reality of, you know, it's not exactly how my parents are have retired. Not at all. And I think you know a lot of us feel this hopeless. And I know you expressed that a lot of your peers have said, you know i feel like it's a waste. Why even bother? I'm never going to be able to retire or I'm never going to be able to buy that next house because there are so many other expenses and there's you know high inflation right now. The pricing of real estate is outrageous and everything else.
00:04:32
Speaker
And so it feels like, well, why even bother? But that's not true. There is hope. There is strategies. It's just a matter of starting small. And really, these small changes can make a huge impact in the long run. And that's one of the things I wanted to discuss today is an exercise that we did recently for your family, which we call the retirement analyzer or um future cash flow projection. And It's really good for people that are visual learners, which I am ah visual as well.
00:05:03
Speaker
It's nice to see it. You know, we can all talk about numbers all day long and most people's eyes will glaze over. But when you actually see the impact of if I save this amount per month for the next X amount of years, what will that look like in the future?
00:05:19
Speaker
Is it going to be substantial? How can these little changes now make a huge difference? Will I run out of money? And so on and so on.
Effective Financial Planning and Analysis
00:05:28
Speaker
um And so tell me a little bit more about what that process was like. What kind of information did I ask you to provide for me in order to input that into the software?
00:05:39
Speaker
Really just our income and expenses, you know, first of all. That's really all you asked. And then, like, anything that we do have, right? um that Expenses, get more into that because most people have no idea what their expenses are. Yeah, so – um I don't know if i made it things harder or easier for you. I try to keep track of our expenses. I personally use um Rocket Money app.
00:06:02
Speaker
So when it comes to expenses, you know, our mortgage, our... um ah um So our our hard expenses, so any of our bills, like they're like... Utilities. This has to be paid.
00:06:12
Speaker
And then there was the budget of like, okay, here's here's what we normally spend on groceries. Here's what we would normally spend on dining out, you know, things like that. So it was like expenses plus the expected expenses of budgeting and stuff like that too.
00:06:25
Speaker
Which most people have no idea what they truly are spending. And that's, you were pretty close because you have a good sense of it and you were already using rocket money. But normally when we do this exercise with people, I'll give them the spreadsheet to input what they're spending on utilities, what they're spending on gas, dining out, groceries, shopping.
00:06:46
Speaker
And it ends up being way more than they had anticipated it And that's okay some months, but then if it's consistently that you're spending $2,000 a month dining out, that's glaring. Let's start bringing that back a little at time. That's a heck of a budget. No kidding. No, and I've seen it. I'm telling you. Wow. Yeah.
00:07:06
Speaker
Are they going to burns every week? I know. And so it helps those certain expense items stand out if they're out of the ordinary. And I'll bring that to your attention. Hey, this is something we want to focus on moving forward.
00:07:21
Speaker
um But then ultimately, we can't do any kind of planning if we don't know what you need to cover on a monthly basis. We have to work backwards. We have to know what that number is so that if there's a deficit in your income versus expenses now, or we think there's going to be in retirement, we can prepare for that.
00:07:40
Speaker
I was, i was curious to know also like, um how are you figured out what our expenses would be in 30 years from now. Yes.
00:07:51
Speaker
Cause that was, that was jarring to see that. I'm like, I'll let you know the number. we use some inflation, which we use an average of 3%. And we've taken that from the past 20 years. There's obviously going to be some years where we saw crazy inflation during COVID times.
00:08:11
Speaker
And then the average is about 2% to 3%. And so that's what we use to forecast out. Okay, if your bills are... $8,000 a month now, believe it or not, by the time 30 years comes around, that same $8,000 is going to cost you about $20,000.
00:08:28
Speaker
And most people don't assume that, but we have to plan for it because we know, i mean, we've seen even the last couple years, the cost of living just keeps going up.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah. And that's also the importance of having your money invested and earning for you so that you can keep up with that inflation. It's what something I've noticed, um you know, over the last 15 years of truly being in the workforce, I guess you could say. I'm being 35 now. um Like
00:09:03
Speaker
investments typically, know, on average grow, but your salaries don't. Yeah. And that's another trend that we're seeing actually among millennials.
00:09:14
Speaker
It seems like people don't stay at their jobs unless they're self-employed. They don't stay at their jobs as long as they used to because they're not having a pension that they need to stay vested in.
Managing Retirement Accounts: 401(k)s and IRAs
00:09:26
Speaker
and raises are not really keeping up with inflation in most industries, which is a shame, especially in Florida. you know there They're not really adjusting those salaries as they should be. And so what's happening is people are going to a different job in order to get that raise. Their starting pay is then higher.
00:09:46
Speaker
And that's good and bad. That brings us to another topic of when you do leave that job, you don't want to leave your 401k behind.
00:09:56
Speaker
You know, we call that the forgotten 401ks. And we see it all the time that we'll be sitting down with a client and they'll say, well, you know, I think I have a thousand dollars here or two thousand dollars here at that employer.
00:10:10
Speaker
and i forgot all about it. I don't even know who's managing it. I don't even know the balance. It's so common, and it's a big problem for a couple reasons.
00:10:21
Speaker
First of all, is you know is it being actively managed? Is it performing optimally? Second of all, is all of your information updated? Are you keeping your address up to date, your beneficiaries up to date?
00:10:35
Speaker
If you forgot about it, the answer is probably not. And then third is is organization and the ability for you to have more control. You can choose where it's invested.
00:10:47
Speaker
You can choose how many fees you're paying because in 401ks, there's a lot of hidden fees that people have no idea exist. And by moving it into an individual retirement account, an IRA, and consolidating it with all of your other old 401ks, we can take control of where it's invested, how it's performing, what the fees you're truly paying are.
00:11:11
Speaker
it's It's probably one of the most common things I see when doing this exercise with people is forgetting those 401ks. You know, I actually don't truly know the difference of a 401k versus like...
00:11:25
Speaker
and i right I mean, I know the difference between a traditional and a Roth, but I don't know the difference between a 401k and an... So there's not a huge difference. Really, the only difference is that a 401k is employer-sponsored.
00:11:37
Speaker
And so they're putting it together. They're usually giving you some kind of match, which is the whole reason to even contribute, is if you're getting a match. um And they're having a third party usually manage it and pull it out of your paycheck every two weeks. Yeah.
00:11:53
Speaker
But an IRA, it's the same in terms of taxing, that everything you contribute is tax deferred. It saves you on taxes, tax deductible. It saves you on taxes now, but then in the future, you go to withdraw it in your tax. So a 401k is basically almost always traditional.
00:12:10
Speaker
Yes. yeah We hardly ever...
Retirement Planning Strategies
00:12:12
Speaker
I mean, they are becoming more popular now, but the Roth 401k, it's usually not offered as much. And the reason why is because... I hate to say it, but most employers, they're only giving you that 401k to save the company on taxes. Yeah.
00:12:26
Speaker
Yeah. Which something is better than nothing. Yeah. Yeah. But if they're giving you a Roth, that's not saving the company on taxes now. And so they usually won't match any kind of Roth. Right. Sometimes they will. I mean, if they do, then that's great. Right.
00:12:41
Speaker
But usually not. So, yeah, 401k, IRA, 403b, they're really all the same thing. But the importance is moving it to that IRA once you don't work there anymore.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. um I know that my wife has one. and like she was So she was laid off in 2020 when a lot of stuff was going on. and um And she has maybe a couple grand somewhere. And she's and when we had another financial advisor before we met you, was like, yeah, just give them a call and transfer it to me. And my wife's like, I don't even know what to call. I don't know what to do.
00:13:14
Speaker
And then the other during our retirement analysis, you're like, I can do that. And I think we almost like want or expect that from a financial advisor. Like we know what to do. And like, isn't that the whole reason for a financial advisor? So i appreciate that about you. Well, I mean, it's a cumbersome process for the average person to do on their own, which is why people just leave them and forget about it.
00:13:36
Speaker
um Whereas we do it every day and the process is easy. Step one would be open up a new IRA that's only in your name, has no company attached. And then we talk about where it should be invested, which funds it should hold, how aggressive it should be for your age.
00:13:52
Speaker
And then step two is initiating that rollover. And that's what we help with. We'll call you. With a three-way call, we'll call the old employer 401k plan. It's not actually your employer. People get worried, too, that, oh, my gosh, if I left on a bad note, I don't want to have to call my old boss.
00:14:10
Speaker
It's not like that. We're calling the actual holding company, whether it be Fidelity. um Vanguard, Empowered. That's who we're calling. We're not calling your old employer.
00:14:24
Speaker
And then that initiates the rollover process. We'll call them and say, you know, Jane Smith now has an ira held at this company, account number 12345, and she would like to roll over her money that's in this 401k into that IRA.
00:14:42
Speaker
Here's where you mail the check. Here's the account number to put on the check. And that's it. And then we help them deposit it in, and then it's done. So it pretty much is simple once you know the process and once we're there on the phone to guide you. yeah But the average person, yeah it's like, where do we even begin?
00:15:00
Speaker
And so that's the importance of rolling over the 401k and kind of the process on how we help that to be completed from step one to completion. And so the other thing that we address during our retirement analyzer is When do we think we're going to run out of money in the future?
00:15:19
Speaker
And that's such a big question mark, especially for people in their 30s. You know, there's there's so many things that can change from now until then. But let's say if, you know, we plug in all the data with a client and it takes them to age 75. That's when they think the software thinks that your assets will last you.
00:15:39
Speaker
Can you tell me about ah couple of the small changes that we were able to make in seeing, okay, if we make this change, it'll now take us to age 80.
00:15:50
Speaker
Talk me through how that process went for your family without using real numbers. Yeah. So um
00:15:57
Speaker
what I... It was nice to know that we had enough ah money to last us ah at least a little while um at the rate of, you know, the ah much but like basically twice the amount of expenses with the inflation, everything like that.
00:16:12
Speaker
So it's like, OK, it's nice to know we're somewhat on a route because we have not been like really actively saving. We've only the last few years have we actually been to that point. um So i knowing the numbers now of like, oh, if you do this, it should last you another five years or something like that. It's like, okay.
00:16:31
Speaker
We can do that. I think I can focus on that right now to last us another five years and hopefully in the next five years I can do another amount for and maybe another five years or something like that. So, um you know, I am curious. what What do you normally say is where you want it? Like, do you want 20 years from 65? Do you want 15 years from 65? Because there's other strategies, right? You cut down your expenses too, like paying off the house. of course. If you don't have mortgage, that helps you last longer, right? But...
00:17:01
Speaker
So you're saying, what age do I want to see people yeah get to? Well, you know it's tough because now the average lifespan for a woman is about 86, 87. average lifespan for a man is 82-ish.
00:17:17
Speaker
um But that's now. People are going to probably live longer 30 years from now, maybe. I mean, I'm guessing. yeah But, you know, we might want to project out into the 90s, in my opinion, because, yes, some expenses will come down in retirement, such as Maybe housing.
00:17:41
Speaker
um Eventually you're going to be traveling less once you're in your 80s. But when those expenses come down, guess what goes up? Health care. Yeah. You know, and prescriptions and maybe paying someone to help you around the house.
00:17:57
Speaker
Like almost but if you're getting up to 90, you're probably wanting to go to a retirement center, which is pretty expensive. You know, it doesn't it doesn't matter if your house is paid off. Yeah, so I don't ever want to assume expenses going down.
00:18:09
Speaker
If they do, then great. Then we're going to extra money. But I don't ever want to assume that in our calculations. And you know it's it's just cool to see, I think, back to that hopeless mentality of of millennials, that even if we just start contributing $100 or $200 extra to our investments, whether we open up a Roth or whether we start taking advantage of a four one k at work,
00:18:34
Speaker
what those impacts can be in 30 years. $100 or $200 now consistently could literally buy you five or 10 more years in retirement. And that's crazy to see, but isn't it kind of uplifting? Yeah. it's it's It's hard to think about in certain ways too, because it's like,
00:18:54
Speaker
um not that I live in sort of a like YOLO situation. like I don't like thinking that way. um I want to leave something for my kids. I've got three kids and um I want to give them a little leg up when um when I go and they're going to be heading into their retirement ages and stuff like that. So um even if I'm buying myself another five years that I don't live for, that goes to them. yep So that's that's also the way I look at it is not just investing in your retirement, you're investing in your kids in that situation.
00:19:29
Speaker
And something in my wife actually brought up after our meeting, she said, oh, you know, this this gave me some hope and and everything for retirement. But man, it it makes me feel like I'm not really leaving much for my kids, you know.
00:19:41
Speaker
And I'm like, us retiring or paying for retirement is helping our kids. Yeah. Yeah, believe me, they don't want to be taken care of. Yeah. Yeah. So that's sort of doing stuff for your kids because you have insurance in place. You have life insurance. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, but that's how I'm kind of looking at it. Yeah. It's like is how investing in retirement is investing in my kids, actually.
00:20:04
Speaker
It is. So that's that's that's helped give me a little bit of peace of mind of, you know, i could really, i like to kind of keep this, you know, 500 bucks or something like that um towards something really cool or something like that. Or, you know, I'm afraid of investing it because I, you know putting in a Roth, it kind of locks it up for a little while.
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah. But first of all, you gave us some other strategies, but also, again, it's, I'm investing it toward the future, you know? yeah So. Yeah, and I mean, using that $500, the average person, millennial, might have an extra $500 month to put towards investing. And so that's a conversation that we can have.
00:20:44
Speaker
Well, where should that go, splitting it up into different investments? If you have that $500, it's money. it doesn't all need to go towards a retirement account. You know, I actually don't think it should, especially for those in our 30s and 40s.
00:20:59
Speaker
We do need some money for now and for five years from now. And so maybe out of that 500, 100 can go into a really, really short term investment, maybe a money market or a high yield savings account or some kind of brokerage account that you can get to immediately and, you know, pay your next six months worth of vacation costs or, you know, maybe you buy a new couch or something, the absolute now money.
00:21:27
Speaker
And then maybe 200 of it goes towards an account that maybe is a joint account with your spouse that you're using for a down payment on a house for five years
Personalized Financial Advice and Reflections
00:21:38
Speaker
from now. You know, that's like the still short term money, but not immediate.
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah. And having it invested, you know, that's yeah that's a huge mistake, too, is is, okay, you know, I'm going to earmark this $200, but I'm going to leave it in the checking account. Yeah. Earning nothing when it could be earning 7%, 8%, 9% if it was invested. Yeah.
00:21:58
Speaker
And then with that last $200, maybe we put it towards the Roth IRA that we're not going to touch until we're 60 years old. Mm-hmm. and and we're going to really let it grow. um But regardless of what you have in excess every month, whether it be $100 or $2,000, it really should be split up between different time categories and types of investments. Right.
00:22:20
Speaker
Yeah. How do you help people diversify? Well, it's all about, you know, what are your goals? We'll have a conversation about You know, is your goal to buy a new house? Is your goal to spend X amount on vacations every year?
00:22:37
Speaker
Do you want to be very aggressive? Would you rather just see that slow and steady couple percent a year and not lose your money when the market has a downturn? um And so there's no one size fits all.
00:22:49
Speaker
But. you don't want to have all of your money designated for retirement because then you're in big trouble if you have a big expense come up. Then what? you know yeah and i think a lot of maybe I don't know if it's my generation or maybe just a circle of people I've been around sometimes.
00:23:07
Speaker
There seems to be two very different views of financial advising. and From my experience, when you come from a wealthy family that had a financial advisor, you think about getting a financial advisor regardless. But when you come from a family that maybe was like barely, like the only ah retirement they have is pensions and stuff like that. They never really had have a financial advisor per se.
00:23:27
Speaker
um You think of a financial advisor as for someone who has a lot of assets. But you you come to the picture. that First of all, that's not what a financial advisor is. everybody um But you come into the picture like, i will help you with whatever you can get or do, and then we'll figure out a plan. That's what I've really enjoyed about you because everyone else is just like, how much money can you put down?
00:23:47
Speaker
Because that's just put as much money as you can. It's like, okay. Yeah, because that's not real life. you know We're all going to go through phases where we have a lot of excess money, and and sometimes we don't. But and doesn't change the fact that you are going to need some guidance throughout each phase. And going back to that, well, what do we need to start putting aside if we have a little bit of surplus every month? And will that make an impact? Because I guarantee you, someone just saying, yeah, I can put aside $300 month,
00:24:20
Speaker
They might do it for a little bit, but if they know that that $300 a month them putting aside will give them $2 million in retirement, they're way more inclined to do it yeah because they see that those small changes can make a big impact.
00:24:35
Speaker
A big regret of mine is not is just, I should have just given $100 a month starting at $20. I probably could have afforded $100 the last 15 years. for the last you know fifteen years Like, but I felt like it wasn't enough to make a difference. Yep.
00:24:52
Speaker
Any little bit counts. So that's a huge message for anyone listening to this. Yeah. A very small amount and just starting is probably the best thing you can do for your future. Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:05
Speaker
And so overall, going through that exercise with you and Morgan, did it open your eyes to anything that you didn't know about? Or did it make you feel better about the future? Did it make you feel more scared? I mean, you can be honest.
00:25:20
Speaker
Did you guys have more conversations prior or after that meeting? Yeah, again, it it kind of came down to um like, I think if we didn't, ah I don't mind sharing a personal thing here. If if we did nothing,
00:25:34
Speaker
like, outside of what we're doing right now. Like, we didn't raise it anymore or or just only what we have right now. We could likely retire it. I think you said 75 or 80. One of the two.
00:25:47
Speaker
And at first I was like, wow. No, run out of money, not retire. That's what I meant. Sorry. This is retiring at 65. Run out of money. We'd run out of money by 75, 80. You know, if we, you know, again, with the current expense and like there's a lot of variables with that. But I was like,
00:26:03
Speaker
I think it was 75 at first. And I was like, okay, that's really neat. And all of a sudden I was like, oh wait, that's only 10 years. yeah um so it gave us hope that like, oh, we're we better than now than I actually thought we were. We we have 10 years of retirement at that amount of expenses that you showed us.
00:26:25
Speaker
Okay, that gives us and some hope and and some strategies to now work toward. And so now it feels like We know what we're doing when we're investing rather than just being like, hopefully it works.
00:26:37
Speaker
You know, I guess there's a little bit of that, too. Yeah. Yeah. OK, that's good. So it gave you a little bit of clarity and hope. Yeah. Now, another question that I've been asking a lot of our guests is what is the best financial decision you've ever made and what is the worst so far in your life? If you don't mind sharing. Yeah, so the best financial decision I ever made was actually buying a house at 24, which I was really reluctant to do at the time.
00:27:01
Speaker
um And I remember thinking to myself, like, this mortgage is is too darn high. We should have gone lower, blah, blah, blah. And now I'm like, I have the best mortgage ever compared to everybody else. So I'm like, all right, well, I lucked out. lucked out for sure.
00:27:16
Speaker
So that was the best financial decision of my life was trying to it was getting a house at the age of 24. It's like Well, I didn't do really good on retirement plans, but at least I got that in my, you know, my Rolodex, and which is good, it by all means. um So there's that.
00:27:31
Speaker
um And I'm a little shy to even say that because I feel super, if I was 24 now, I wouldn't be able to. And I feel like super like bad about it. about ah like i feel bad for others. I empathize. I empathize you know it's like i got lucky. um But if I would have waited just two more years, so for everyone listening, there's there's risk and all the time.
00:27:53
Speaker
um So that was my best financial decision. My worst um was actually buying solar. I knew that was coming.
00:28:05
Speaker
But let me give some context. um It was, first of all,
00:28:11
Speaker
I don't i don't i think that solar is bad for your home. I don't think it's a bad investment, but I do believe that there are lot of... ah bad companies you can invest in. um It came to my knowledge that I found out like later, like I could have saved $15,000 just by going to the government company.
00:28:29
Speaker
wow So that, while while you know whenever you hear a government plan of like, oh, you're gonna get this credit back, they're charging you for that, almost almost always.
00:28:39
Speaker
And so while it's a good thing, it's also a red flag. Which is why, the the reason why it was a bad decision was because I made it super quick. um And it was a friend of mine that sold it to me, which I don't it's not like he did anything bad He just was doing his job and that was the pricing he was given but ultimately I went with a company that charged me way too much you know, maybe talk it over with a financial advisor before making that kind of big decision for anyone thinking about solar to see if it makes sense.
00:29:10
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. Like, start giving it $50 a month, $100 a month toward, you know, some kind of IRA with a financial advisor just so you have them in your back pocket for your entire life, in a sense, you know, as long as possible. So, yeah, I wish I had someone that ultimately came down to Just because it's your friend doesn't mean a thing.
00:29:30
Speaker
um it's First of all, therere they're just working a job. and um And number two is don't make quick decisions like that. and they should never make that My biggest regret is how fast I made the decision of like, oh, yeah, this sounds great.
00:29:43
Speaker
And it did sound great, but a lot of other things involved. That's not a terrible mistake because it still is an asset that's on your house. And if you ever sell your house, I'm sure you can get more for it. I didn't include the fact that I had just had to spend another $5,000 on taking it off the roof to build a new roof um because they said verbally. no. um that they would actually cover that the first time, but then the company um sold. So anyway, all that being said. Proceed with caution. Yeah, everything is proceed with caution um before you
Financial Decision-Making and Timing
00:30:14
Speaker
sign a dollar.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. And you know I'm happy that you were were able to buy a house when you did because that's an incredible decision that is a little bit of luck with timing, but it's a little bit also of – You know, you don't want to sit on the sidelines too long in life. You know, obviously, we're saying proceed with caution with big decisions. But also, eventually, sometimes you have to get in the stock market or get in the real estate market.
00:30:42
Speaker
And it might not be the absolute best time, but the cost of waiting on the sidelines is is going to be worse than just entering in. and trying to make the best of it. So, you know, I'm happy you were able to get in and the real estate market when you did and enjoy that mortgage for as long as you can because i don't know that we'll see those low interest rates again anytime soon, those 2% to 3%. No, because, again, with the house, like going back, so on a positive note, so back to the house, I bought it and then I refied it um ah in the 2020. Instead of moving, I refied and um I have a 299 interest rate right now.
00:31:20
Speaker
Amazing. like it's going to be to ever move. Yeah. And it's so important to refinance when interest rates are low like that with debt that you have. And then on the flip side, and a lot of people don't know this, but for anyone that has annuities or CDs, it's important to refinance those when interest rates are high.
00:31:40
Speaker
So where we're at right now with Fed rates and mortgage rates being relatively high, you know, 6%-ish, depending. um You know, maybe we have someone with an annuity or a CD from years ago at a low interest rate. They're only earning maybe 3% or 4%. If we refinance those into something that can pay them 6% or 7%, that makes sense as well. So it's it works kind of in the inverse as you would do with Real estate refinancing, you can do that with your investments. And that's you can always benefit then. When interest rates are high, we can we can earn a little bit more. and So for anyone with an annuity or a CD that's a couple years old, I'd encourage you to contact us and we can see if it makes sense to refinance that.
00:32:28
Speaker
I mean, let's just say I didn't have to pay the like, 30 grand toward the solar. And I had 30 grand, and I'm technically paying $299 on that. But if I give that to you, and you're, like, averaging, what, 6% on the low end? Yeah.
00:32:41
Speaker
I'm making money with the loan. That's how the rich people do No, really, they love they leverage their money. They borrow at low interest rates and then they invest it and make that excess a couple percent. in That is that's how the rich people get richer.
Budgeting, Emergency Funds, and Securing the Future
00:32:56
Speaker
It's just the way it goes. yeah um And so overall, you know, a couple of tips for millennials and you could share a couple. But.
00:33:05
Speaker
You know, really, first thing is getting a handle on a household budget. And that's something that you and your wife had already done. get an app. Yeah. Automate it. You would recommend Rocket Money? Is it user-friendly? I think Rocket Money is a really good one. i mean It has that, um I forget what actually the the company it was before um a Rocket purchased it, but it was it was that one that actually helped you find subscriptions that you forgot about.
00:33:30
Speaker
um So I like that aspect about it. But honestly, I've used several. They're all kind of the same. They attach your bank accounts so you can see your expenses. You do have to go in and maintain it to know that um the actual numbers. But at the end of the day, they still give you like the, here's what you spent and here's what you earned.
00:33:47
Speaker
At end of the day, you can kind of just go off that. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's step one, you know just getting a handle on your budget. And if you don't know where to start or you don't want to buy an app, contact me and I'll send you a spreadsheet that'll at least give you spots to put in all of the expenses you might have forgot about, like your cell phone bill or your Netflix, any of those little and i would do that first, even before an app, because you're going to help them find the expenses that they're not thinking about. True.
00:34:11
Speaker
yeah Very true. um Another thing is obviously to fill up some kind of emergency fund, have a couple months of your rent or mortgage, those basic living expenses that you absolutely can't live without.
00:34:24
Speaker
Have that accessible because you never know. Someone could lose their job. Someone could get hurt on the job. There could be a family emergency where you have to step aside from work for a couple months.
00:34:35
Speaker
Having that emergency fund is so important. The emergency fund to me was $1,000, and then it was one month of expenses, and then you know and then you work toward three months of expenses. um That's what I was kind of told.
00:34:50
Speaker
But ultimately, you' were working toward that because ah just the other day, i found out my son my son has a dental appointment that will cost us two grand. Oh, yeah.
00:35:03
Speaker
You never expect those things. And my wife was like, oh, man, how are we going to budget for this? I'm like, we've already budgeted. We have the money. Now, obviously, you want to put that money back. And so that does suck. But you it's not a – now I'm not having to take out a loan and pay interest on it. yeah I'm giving myself my own loan. So you want to become your own bank in that way. So that's how I would suggest doing that.
00:35:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's huge. And, you know, another tip is to take advantage of those tax-free accounts, which I know you're doing with your cash value life insurance, which is permanent life insurance. We're covering a couple needs there. We're making sure you're going to have a legacy for your kids, which I know is important.
00:35:38
Speaker
And then once we get that thing funded in the next 10 years, then you will be your own bank. You can borrow tax-free money from yourself, whether it be to fund... one-time expenses to give yourself a retirement paycheck.
00:35:53
Speaker
That's going to be huge for your future. Yeah. at At the end of the day, it's a so Roth IRA. but and then you buy steroids yeah And then you buy an insurance plan ah within it within it. And that put me at at ease because if I put – If I only put $10,000 into it and then I die, my wife sees way more than $10,000. And that's the kind of idea behind it. And that that gave me a lot of peace of mind.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah. You want to leave behind life insurance to family members. You don't want to leave them your retirement plan. You want to use that to live on. You want to leave them tax-free assets that will pass seamlessly to them.
00:36:34
Speaker
And that's going to be your legacy for hopefully multiple generations one day. um And then my last piece of advice for millennials would just be to get started and do it consistently. You know, even if it's $100 a month, let's get it set up so that it's automatically happening, regardless of what's happening in the market. If it's up, if it's down, it's actually better if it's down.
00:36:55
Speaker
um and just make it a habit that you won't even realize after a couple months. I know that you follow this advice um and the the best advice I was ever given financially when when I was younger was say ah don't don't count your savings after expenses.
00:37:12
Speaker
Put your savings of ah above expenses. and know you've said stuff like that. Yes, like spend what is left after saving. And that's that's exactly how you'd be consistent with it. And it's hard.
00:37:23
Speaker
It's tough. You might look at that and be like, oh, I had a negative month because of It it was like, you kind of didn't. But at the same time, it's like, all right, we'll make it up the next one. you know So ultimately, um having that in mind at that in mind will leave you consistent. If you do it the other way around, you will not be consistent.
00:37:39
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm not here to tell people they can't spend their money and enjoy their life. That is not the advice would give. Enjoy little less to enjoy a little more. That is true. We like really treat ourselves as a generation.
00:37:52
Speaker
I think you know we can scale it a little bit back, save a little bit more. You know, maybe buy one less coffee a week, make it at home that day. i do feel like we've been lately in the last hundred years, ah several generations not thinking about their kids.
00:38:07
Speaker
They're thinking about their generation, how they're going to handle things and stuff like that. Thinking that like I'm going handle stuff for me. And if they can't, it's because they're irresponsible. And I don't think I think what got us here to this point.
00:38:22
Speaker
was not that mentality, the mentality of I'm going to work for my kids. And so again, i'm i'm not you know i'm i'm i'm ah everything I save is going to ward my kids in one way or another, either to help me so that I can be there for them and not have be a burden on them but if I'm not able to work and so on and so forth,
00:38:42
Speaker
Or if I go, they have some money that I can help them. Either way, that's the investment. And I think ah every millennial should be like, I'm going to stop this trend of here and now, and I'm going to work toward that in the future.
Long-term Planning and Episode Conclusion
00:38:55
Speaker
And I think that's an amazing that's mentality there that you know I haven't even thought of. I don't have kids yet, but that's that's a really good mentality that I'm going to save in case I live too long or if I die too soon. yeah Either way, my kids are going to be okay. Which is again a big reason why i liked your life insurance plan.
00:39:13
Speaker
You know, with the Roth. it it It went into my mentality of what is my goal? My goal is for my kids to be safe. yeah um and And for me to always help them and not be a burden to them.
00:39:25
Speaker
yeah And that's amazing. And you're doing it, which I commend you and your wife. You know, you're really trying. You're getting on track. And we're and that's one of the reasons I love working with millennials. Obviously, I work with people of all ages. But when we start now, we're going to lay the foundation that you're going to be set in every stage of the future. And I'm going to be.
00:39:45
Speaker
Right there watching you enjoy it because we're at the same age. and And that's what's really exciting and rewarding about my job. And I love working with clients like you. um Is there anything else you wanted to add today, Jeremy, before we wrap it up?
00:39:58
Speaker
No, just I hope you understand that you have a really good way of communicating with people. And I love your track record, too, because it's not like it's not like you're like, I'm a young person, so I'm going to think like you. It's like, no, you have um a business partner that's been doing this for years.
00:40:14
Speaker
And so you have both aspects. you You see the strategies all around, which is why and think you have a really good thing going for you. And I'm yeah happy to be your client. Thank you. I appreciate that. So for everyone listening, thank you so much for tuning into another episode.
00:40:27
Speaker
We have a new episode of the Future of Finance podcast that comes out every other Thursday. and if you have a question that you would like to ask me or my business partner, or you'd like to schedule a complimentary phone call, Zoom call, in-person meeting, you can go to our website, union-financial.com.
00:40:45
Speaker
Click the schedule a meeting button, and it'll take you right to my personal calendar where you can book a time that works for you. For everyone else, we will see you on the next episode of the Future of Finance podcast. I'm your host, Marissa Wood.
00:40:57
Speaker
We look forward to helping you live a better financial future.
00:41:02
Speaker
investment advisory services offered through brookstone capital management lc a registered investment advisor bcm and union financial services are independent of each other insurance products and services are not offered through bcm but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents The opinions expressed by Marissa Wood and guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of this radio station.
00:41:24
Speaker
All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable, although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Investments involved risk and otherwise stated are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results. Any strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Information expressed does not take into account your specific situation or objectives and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for you. Before acting on any information mentioned, please consult with a qualified tax or investment advisor to determine if it's suitable for your specific situation. This program is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to subject covered. Indexed or fixed index annuities are not designed for short-term investments and may be subject to caps, restrictions, fees, and surrender charge as described in the annuity contract.
00:42:14
Speaker
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00:42:33
Speaker
Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered by Brookstone.