America's Saving at an All-Time High. Are You Keeping Up?

[00:07] keeping up, >> Bren? I am so excited about this because this is a piece of good news and we love when we get to share good financial news with you guys out there in money world. Uh, and there was some exciting stuff

[00:22] that came out of a recent study by Vanguard. Yeah, this is Vanguard recent recently released their 2025 how America Saves study. And look, we pick on the to pick on the typical American because they are not there's a far cry. By the

[00:37] way, more content to come on this, the difference between the typical American versus you financial mutants. But still, we should take a moment to celebrate we should take a moment to celebrate when something has obviously

[00:50] jilted or changed the the way people are building things. And by the way, we stick until the end, we're actually going to show what has actually changed systemically that's allowing more people to start saving and investing.

[01:03] >> And specifically when we're talking about savings, I want to hone in on 401k retirement plan savings because when we think about how this study laid out the segments that we ought to look at. We

[01:16] want to look at some wins from the employee side, but also some wins from the employer side. Let's start with wins from the employee side. I thought this was incredible, Brian. Again, according to this Vanguard study, 82%

[01:30] of eligible employees were enrolled in their employer sponsored retirement plans. That means that eight out of 10 folks are actually in there and participating, which is huge. People aren't just letting life happen,

[01:45] their job. Pretty exciting. a lot of folks are taking advantage of. are starting to get more excited because 45% of participants actually increased year. So almost half that's an all-time high that many people increase their

[02:01] >> And what I think is wild is you may be thinking, okay, well even man, life is tight, expenses are high, I can't do a ton, but it's amazing what even just 1% someone out there and you want to know how powerful 1% can be, we would

[02:17] moneyguide.com/resources. And we have a deliverable for you that shows if I can just save 1% more starting right now, it can have a huge impact later in life. It does not take a lot if you give yourself a lot of time

[02:32] >> Well, that's what look, we have found out that a lot of you guys are way ahead of schedule on when you started showing an interest in personal finance. If you're in your 20s, if you're in your 30s, I don't care if it's just $50 a

[02:45] month, $100 a month. A little goes a long way because you guys, you can turn the power of your time into your superpower to building long-term wealth. thing that came out of this study is that 18% of participants, again, this is

[03:01] from Vanguard's How America Saves in 2025 study, 18% of participants actually listen to our show for any amount of time at all, you know that we absolutely love Roth dollars. We love them so much

[03:16] Brian, can you hold up the thing? In operations, they actually they could even exist in step two. If you're it makes sense, you can actually do Roth contributions and still get your

[03:30] employer matching. And 18% of participants desire to have tax-free growth inside of their portfolio. That's the the key thing is tax-free growth. And for young people, that's a superpower upon itself. Now, [snorts]

[03:42] different. We give you the nuance that that's why you have to kind of lean into our content. Once again, we encourage you go to moneyguy.com/resources. We have all kind of tools, worksheets,

[03:57] try to figure out what's the best best way you should be saving in your 401k. think about this. the average account balance again this is from 24 to 25 average account balance increased by 10%. So if we look at again this is

[04:12] according to the survey and study that Vanguard did the average account balance in 401ks is about 148,000 but if you look at the median it's about 38,000 and those numbers are up 10% over last year so some of that likely has to do with

[04:28] performing well over this last year but there are some other things that might this is what we're going to talk about employer wins. And I think this is where we're actually going to see what has been the line in the sand that has

[04:43] changed the behavior of the typical American worker. And the first thing is 76% of plans allowed employees to join immediately. That's an all-time high. You jumped right in. I thought it was also 86% now offer Roth tax-free saving

[05:02] opportunities. That's an incredible thing. That's up from 74% in 2020. So >> Yeah. So think about that. Three out of four plans allowed for Roth contributions in 2020. And here we are just five years later and now eight out

[05:16] of eight out of 10 out of 10 make it available to you. I like to think that Brian. I like to think that the Money Guy Show is the reason why employers are to jump on that train, we'll we'll have to say that we're part of this as well,

[05:29] this is the stat that I think is really driving a lot of this government has look, we're going to give you through these quacka type arrangements and other

[05:41] things. If you increase automatic enrollment in your 401k plans, >> we we will give you some additional benefits on testing and so forth." And wouldn't you know it, now 61% of employer plans offered

[05:55] autoenrollment. So you have to physically opt out of these things to to not be part of it. And I think that the America American workers are actually better for it because people are instead of opting out, they're actually just

[06:08] kind of going for the ride. And you're starting to see some fruit from people just rolling into these plans and start saving for the future. 401ks and employer sponsored plans can be a huge benefit inside of your financial tool

[06:21] belt. So, if you're someone who hasn't recently increase your savings or maybe as we go into the new year, as we think about closing out this year and starting next year, you ought to be asking yourself the question, man, can I

[06:33] increase my contribution? Can I save 1% more? Can I save an extra $100 per pay period? because we know most millionaires actually hit mill employer sponsored retirement account. So it is a huge opportunity that you

[06:49] should be taking advantage of. And it seems like a lot of your peers, a lot of co-workers are beginning to do that. And I think Brian, one of the reasons, I've is because we talk about it so much here at the Money Guy Show.

[07:02] don't sleep on it. the government, despite what social media tells you, your 401k can be a superpower with that free money from your employer, plus the just consistent savings, always be buying, being reinforced so your

[07:17] behavior and other things don't happen. This is why we love the message here. Um, I I did we this is probably a great time to to to to open up the show to some some of the Q&A, but Reby, you've done a bad job here because you've

[07:31] today. Oh, >> but then you have a laptop. You have a nobody is going to be in on the joke but me and Bo. >> If you were here last week, you may remember that Brian uh

[07:45] >> lovingly accused me of making a Kramer like entrance to one of our meetings. >> Here, can we see this video? >> Look at that. That's glorious. Show. >> Found I am officially the Kramer of the

[07:59] Money Guy Show and just decided to keep >> So, is that Etsy or is that an eBay? Is What type of the economy did we stimulate? >> Amazon humor. >> Very low price. Uh

[08:12] >> Cosmo Reby, >> there's a lot of Kramer merch out there. >> A lot of Kramer memorabilia. So, I'm choosing to take it as a compliment. If you missed uh for our listeners, I'm wearing a Kramer entrance

[08:24] t-shirt that you can find on Amazon. not sponsored, [laughter] but um I got a lot of personal texts about your >> I didn't realize comparing myself unhinged on that show last week. I mean

[08:38] one. It's fun. >> Oh, you were unhinged. It was it was wonderful. >> Well, but and all and I did love because you're commenting on the shows and the live streams and everything else. Is

[08:53] that I did love that somebody cuz I think cuz your reaction was was awesome, the audience >> like you took me by surprise. Kramer's beloved. So, I think Brian meant it from the most best warmest

[09:09] possible place. But it really was if you guys just taking you back in time when we all sh when Bo and I showed up wearing the exact same outfit and then we're having a conversation in the content meeting and then Reebie walks in

[09:21] the room. I mean it really wasn't >> wearing the exact same outfit that they >> could drop with the followed and that's why I immediately was like, "Holy cow, >> Inspired me to go back and watch a couple Seinfeld episodes.

[09:34] >> And they were fantastic, weren't they? >> They were great. And Kramer was the most always fun when he made his entrance. So, I I mean it. I'm just owning it. >> Those episodes were spectacular.

[09:46] [laughter] >> Okay. All that to say, um we do have going to kick it off with Aaron G's question. It says, "If I'm dollar cost averaging into the index on a weekly

[09:59] averaging into the index on a weekly basis, but have the cash to max my Roth sitting outside my emergency fund right now, how much of a downturn should happen for me to abandon dollar cost averaging and just max it out today?"

[10:14] interesting question because a lot of financial mutants like to get um super cute and I would say like major in the minors right so you're on this plan you're on this strategy where you are dollar cost averaging into your Roth IRA

[10:31] cost averaging and we love putting money in Roth but one of the things that I asked the question is okay is the juice of this strategy worth the squeeze and this is what I mean by that If you're somebody and you have a net worth to

[10:47] $7,000 is fairly immaterial to the rest of your net worth. Let's say that it's like less than 10% of your total net worth. So you have a $70,000 portfolio, but every year you're putting $7,000 in your Roth. I

[11:03] would argue I don't know that I would even worry about doing the weekly DCA thing. I would do something where I could just set it and forget it either. annually. Drop in that $7,000 once a year or set it up on a monthly basis or

[11:18] or even leave it on the weekly basis because odds are if you're trying to like accelerate or change the strategy for $7,000 divided by 52 weeks of the year, even if you waited for a downturn and even if you accelerated it, you're

[11:34] likely just opening yourself up for an emotional roller coaster, thinking, "Oh weeks early or a month early." I would remove that from the equation and just let your strategy stay in place and continue to invest without trying to get

[11:49] >> I don't know because I know we recorded it I think it was last week but there's a showdpping with all of our rules and and guidelines that are downloadable if you go to moneyguy.comresources but one of the the the the things we've

[12:03] put numbers this is how nerdy we are is we did the Goldilocks rule because the personal finance world where everybody's always debating lumpsum versus dollar cost averaging. And look, it's inherently already a flawed

[12:18] argument and because statistically lumpsuming wins because eight out of 10 years markets make money. Well, that's a huge statistical, you know, head start for for for lumpsum investing. But what you always have to be mindful of is what

[12:34] happens on the one-off years, the the two years out of 10 where the market gets its teeth kicked in. if you put in a million dollars, you'd be pretty upset that you fell into that statistical outside the the norm process. So that's

[12:47] why we were like, hey, this this is an easy enough thing to figure out is that why don't we say as a percentage of your total investable assets, if this is small, who cares? You know, just put it in all at once or or you know, dollar

[13:03] perfectly fine. But if this is life-changing money, meaning that it's greater than 20% of your investable net worth, you probably ought to spread that out because you if you got caught holding the bag because the market got

[13:16] beat up, you'd be pretty upset if your million-doll investment all of a sudden turned into $600,000 in a matter of weeks because it can happen that fast. So that that's go out there and look at that. We've done content on it. But

[13:30] here's here's something better. >> Well, or ads to know thyself. If you're brand new into this invest investing game, I love the thought of dollar cost averaging in a systematic way into your your Roth because maybe like we've had

[13:44] guests on making a millionaire that are in their 20s and this is beyond just doing the employer match. The Roth IRA contribution is the best way that go ahead and set up a behavior that's automatic for the people that that just

[13:57] going on. You're just automatically investing every month, every paycheck. But you've said something, Aaron, that makes me think that you're beyond this. mutant like myself is that I loved the process of investing monthly that I was

[14:12] Twice a month. >> If this is good, I should do this even. investing, I was like, you know what feels better as a financial mutant instead of investing every two weeks? It'd be cool if I was investing every

[14:24] week. that way the the the weird financial mutant type things when the like yes I'm buying into this this downturn or this this volatility but in markets go up you're like yes so it's a win-win all the way around so I

[14:38] >> so now he's decided he's actually dollar cost average daily in >> no I don't do daily I've not got but I do weekly I do I do invest every week um and it's set up automatic um and I love that but if if you're one of those

[14:51] people then I I think it's you're probably beyond and you this is this is saying weekly but is that you probably can now put in the Roth >> once a year that's what I do you know so I set up my monthly joint account goes

[15:05] I set up my monthly joint account goes in every week but then my HSA my Roth >> first week of January those are typically conver done all at once just and working but go out there don't sleep on this Goldilocks rule but it's more

[15:19] that are going to be successful because what I don't want you to do is to go fund it one year and then you wake up four years in the future and go crud, I contributions because that's a huge risk as well.

[15:33] like, man, I've listened to these guys so much. I know that every year the average intrayear decline is about 14% somewhere between January and December even in good years. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to wait. I'm not

[15:45] even going to fund I'm not do any DC. I'm going to wait for that 14% drawback do my Roth. Well, you start playing those silly games and you win silly prizes and you get to December, you're like, "Oh, no. I didn't fund my RAW."

[15:59] So, I just think put a strategy in place that removes the emotion and focus on the bigger things that have a bigger impact in your financial life. >> Well said, Aaron G., thank you for your question. We're glad you're here.

[16:13] All right, we've got a question queued up from Kai. It says, "I'm 29 and I up from Kai. It says, "I'm 29 and I bought a condo worth $300,000 with 50k >> I'm still building up my emergency fund and enough to fully contribute to my

[16:27] and enough to fully contribute to my Roth IRA. I am going to miss my one one Roth IRA. I am going to miss my one one times my income by 30 in my TSP. So, one times income is talking about our money guy markers. I believe the question is,

[16:40] am I behind? >> What do you think? What do you have to say to Kai? He's feeling behind. He's got a lot going on. >> Well, so I'm assuming uh when you're referencing the emergency fund, Brian,

[16:52] me? >> You know, we have this this uh this great little uh program that you can work through this system called the of tells you exactly what you should do

[17:06] hear that uh Kai is in step four, I'm no like investment assets yet, right? Right? If we're still building up a merchant fund, we probably haven't started doing a 401k more than the

[17:18] a Roth IRA. We haven't started doing any of that kind of stuff. So, what Kai has done is kind of jumped right into the home ownership side of the equation. Put home ownership side of the equation. Put $50,000 down on a $300,000 condo, which

[17:32] is a really healthy down payment. Uh, and it sounds like that was the first step that Kai took uh in uh his financial journey. So the question is am I behind is a little bit difficult to answer because am I behind is a

[17:48] derivative of okay what are my goals and what goals am I trying to work towards. If one of your goals and one of your top priorities is, hey, I really want to own my property because I want to start a family, set up roots, whatever, then I'd

[18:00] argue no, you're not behind based on that. You've already done that. But you do need to recognize that if you also have the goal of financial independence, prioritizing the goal to jump on the condo ownership train with no investable

[18:13] assets behind you has put you behind on the financial independence train because we like for you to have one times your annual salary saved up by the time you're 30. Well, you're 29. It sounds like you're kind of starting at zero,

[18:28] starting at the beginning. Likely going to be hard to get to one times your annual salary by 30. But the good news about being young is it's kind of hard you're young. >> Well, that's what there's a difference

[18:41] Yep. >> And and I think that's what kind of what you're what you're you are behind on that milestone. But you're way ahead of financial independence because the typical American doesn't even discover

[18:56] personal finance until their 30s. Yep. So, the fact that you've already and the fact that you built up $50,000 for a down payment probably means that you've because remember what are the three components of of building wealth is the

[19:10] three ingredients is discipline is the first ingredient. If you do discipline, live on less than you make. You create the margin that generates the money. that money to work and you give it enough time. the third component, the

[19:23] most valuable of those three, and and voila, you know, all of a sudden you you you just start putting these things together and 20 years, 30 years in the it get to be this sum?" So, you picking this up at 29 and already having the key

[19:37] make to where you can actually build margin and create money. You've got two of the three ingredients is and you're even picking this up at 29 years of age, you even got the third ingredient of time. So, yes, you failed the milestone,

[19:52] battle or war of building financial independence if you just now turn your your your laser focus onto funding the exactly what you're doing, the financial order of operations, fill up the

[20:05] emergency fund, and then take that white hot focus right into your Roth IRA. And be like, "Yeah, this this is okay." I mean, because I have written an entire book of all the mistakes and problems you don't have. That's the thing. I want

[20:19] everybody to know, don't get discouraged because you do things a little differently. Realize that perfection is not going to happen for any of us. But it does allow you to kind of know, hey, I can still screw up a lot of stuff and

[20:32] still come out the other side in a perfectly really good place to where I version is go look at my 20 and 30-year-old self and be like, "Job well done." Even with some of those things that that maybe at the time seemed a

[20:46] little unorthodox. That's what I love about wealth, about building wealth. Uh, you can get a lot of things pretty wrong, but if you just get a few things for success. >> That's why the three ingredients are so

[21:00] valuable is because, yes, the timing is maybe we can compare and contrast or debate, you know, putting $50,000 on a first house, which is well over 5% down payment. Maybe that's the right decision, maybe not. But who cares?

[21:14] on less than you make. This is all going to come out in the wash. Love it. >> Awesome. Kai, thanks for the question. Hope hope that helps you think through your next financial move. >> All right, Alex C is up next. [snorts]

[21:30] It says, "What are your views on the lost decade? >> My wife and I, both 31, are on step seven. I am concerned that we may see another lost decade in the future. and as a

[21:43] lost decade in the future. and as a result lose out on key growth years. >> 31. >> 31. Here's what's wonderful about your >> 31. Here's what's wonderful about your question. Uh, Alex, I know two guys that

[21:56] question. Uh, Alex, I know two guys that were investing and we're helping folks invest and we're helping folks navigate their financial life during that lost decade. Here here's what I think is and I'm I'm Bo you can you're always so good

[22:09] because the two numbers I'm getting confused is there's two periods of time that people always bring up and one of them is a lot closer than the other but the great depression >> we there was actually like a 20 30-year

[22:22] period where the market was actually down >> if you look at it so instead of it lost one decade it was like over 25 years it >> and then there's the the you know what happened after the, you know, the

[22:36] the.com bubble and then you, you know, and then you've got the great recession. If you look at that 10-year period and most people go and grab it, what was it >> I think it was 9909 is the lost decade that everybody talks

[22:49] be like, "Holy cow, you know, if you everybody's counting on this 8 to 11% if we hit another lost decade, you are a ho." Here's what they never tell you. What do I always and why do I why do I

[23:02] have such a high inflection point when I talk about this always be buying baby because because this is the thing if you're dollar cost averaging which somebody who's 31 years of age this is the reality of the situation if you're a

[23:15] 60 year old yes this is scary as I'll get out but hopefully even for scared if you've done this the financial mutant way we got you covered through diversification and other things but for a 31y old you ought to actually hope for

[23:29] I know that's so weird and contrarian, but you it you build so much wealth when markets get their teeth kicked in. So, a 31year-old that the market goes down in two bad downturns like we had with the dot bubble as well as the great

[23:42] recession, every month when we hit those volatile periods, you were buying in. You were buying in every month. And then what happens is is when you look back like the great depression that 25 years we figured out that if you were just

[23:55] dollar cost averaging through that period you still average close to an 11 to 11 to 12. It was like 11.7 or it was some it was it was between 11 and 12% annualized rate of return during a 25 year period where supposedly it was

[24:09] lost. Same exact thing happens if you were dollar cost averaging through the last decade of the dot and and the great recession. You're gonna be somebody like "What was everybody freaking out about?"

[24:22] because there was so many contrarian opportunities by just always be buying. >> Yeah. I I think if you look when people think about the last decade, as I say, I had this person that started investing in 1998 or 1999 and when I look at where

[24:36] in 1998 or 1999 and when I look at where the market was from 98 or 99 to 0809, it was at the same place. When I just look at what the S&P 500 or whatever index you want to look at was was trading at, what we noticed for our

[24:48] through is that if you were someone that portfolio, meaning you have all your assets in a singular asset class, it was actually not a lost decade for you because there were asset classes that

[25:01] did do really well. And there were asset classes that helped mitigate volatility and there were asset classes that helped during the draw down. And so if you were way, when you looked at your annualized return from 98 to08 or from 2000 to 2010

[25:18] return from 98 to08 or from 2000 to 2010 or from 2003 to 2013, it wasn't zeros. It was not goose eggs across the board. Yeah, there were periods of volatility. Yeah, there were periods of volatility. Do bubble portfolios went down. 2008

[25:30] portfolios went down. But those folks who had a well- diversified portfolio, kept a level head about them. They were back to break even within a couple of years. That's what all the numbers would suggest. When you look coming out of

[25:43] bare markets, the average time that it takes to get back to where you were, depending on the type of portfolio you're in, is usually somewhere between 18 to 36 months. So, if you can get back to where you were in that 18 to 36

[25:56] months, you're going to recognize, man, I can do exactly what Brian said. I can keep buying, keep dollar cost averaging, keep putting my dollars to work, and there's a high likelihood that I'm not going to have a loss decade. So, Alex,

[26:09] for you 31, if you're worried about the next decade being the next loss decade, you're worried about that happening right at the time that you are 55 going into age 65, you need to make sure that your portfolio appropriately matches

[26:25] what your risk tolerance and risk capacity is so that even if the market and the economy freaks out around you, your portfolio is not freaking out in >> Um, this is I don't know if it'll stay in if we turn this into a highlight, but

[26:38] experience. share is when I came out. remember I started I graduated college in the mid 90s and you want to know what what really ticked me off being a brand new freshly minted financial mutant in the 90s was is I come out and you know

[26:52] the 90s was is I come out and you know in 95 96 and um and then you watch you look at the rates of returns of the financial markets in 96 97 98 and I have I mean I'm putting in what a,000 bucks 1,500 2,000 because I mean I don't I'm

[27:06] out of college making $28,000 is just healthy savings rate. I've only got a few thousand dollars to go in. And I man, this is just so unfair because I'm watching clients. I remember we we had

[27:21] too many details, but he two he had $2 million. Fast forward because it was one of those crazy years in the late 90s. Came in the next year for his annual is with the firm I was at at the time. And he had $3 million. He's like, "Boys, I

[27:37] mean, I started a business. If I have known it was this easy to make an extra you know, 2 million with you guys. I mean, that's how crazy times were back then. And I remember thinking, man, yeah, but my my $2,000 only turned into

[27:51] $3,000, you know, cuz all the technology funds were crushing it back then. >> Um, that's why I tell so no matter where you are and you get we all get this chip on our shoulder is that man, it was only good for the people behind me or the

[28:05] people ahead of me, I should say. um you know they got all these opportun No, there's going to be the law of accelerating returns this everexpanding economy we live in. There's going to be opportunities that come your way to take

[28:18] advantage of as well. So just make sure that you're you're checking your head, checking your motivation, and then do the behaviors that actually set you up for success. And I think you'll be just like me in 20 30 years in the future.

[28:31] right. I had what was I worried about in the ' 90s when I was jealous of all the the older people that were getting those huge returns. It it's going to be okay. discipline. You'll be rewarded when you turn that that margin or money and put

[28:46] it to work investments with enough time. You'll come out the other end a-ok. >> Love that. >> That's great. Alex C, thank you for the question. All right. Mech E31 is up next. It says,

[29:00] "I am 40 and crossed $2 million net worth." So, congratulations on that, first of all. That's amazing. >> Um, the next part says, "I've lost my motivation at work and I'm thinking about a career change. What are your

[29:14] about a career change. What are your thoughts on making a bad financial move, thoughts on making a bad financial move, but for good for long-term happiness?" >> Well, yeah. I'm going to let you talk about the glasses because what I'm going

[29:27] to start with, Mech, is that we have to keep in mind m money is nothing more than a tool that allows us to achieve the goals that we have. And so often we get trapped in this idea of it's future goals, future goals, future goals,

[29:41] future goals. But our money does do a very real thing for us today. It provides for goals that we have today. In my world, it provides for being able to feed my family, being able to create memories, be able to do experiences. And

[29:55] we don't do those things at the cost of those future goals, but my wife and I figure out how do we prioritize those goals at the same time. And so, uh, yeah, you could stay in a miserable, horrible, awful job that makes you bite

[30:10] your fingernails on Sunday and just is not giving you a quality of life. But is the cost of that worth it to build build for some future goal that your mental health may not be able to get you to? So I would begin to reassess and think

[30:26] through, okay, if I know that I do not like this job, I do not have motivation, this is not where I need to be, and this is not what I want to be doing right now. I think that's when you begin to say, "Okay, based on all the work that

[30:39] fact that I'm 40 and I've got a $2 million net worth, what options are available to me because of the hard decisions I made earlier on?" And when your 3D glasses. >> Well, I want to before I get into the 3D

[30:54] glasses, I want to there's something I want to make sure because it said was a difference between being bored at a job that's a perfectly good job that you're good at and can can create a lot of resources and other things versus

[31:10] unhappy and chewing on your fingernails on Sunday. So, I'd also compare and contrast that too to figure out where you are because some people you might be in a really good situation but you you and the grass always seems greener. So,

[31:25] I I would do some self-reflection on that. But then th this is way I look at money cuz Bo is exactly right. Money is no more than a tool. In the beginning, it pays for your basic stuff, you know, your shelter, your food. These are the

[31:37] happiness and stuff. It's not really happiness or fulfillment. It's more of know, how you're going to pay for your shelter for your family and your loved ones is going to come from. That's a key component of what money as a tool can do

[31:52] for you. Beyond that, you're going to start realizing, hey, I need to start being in control of knowing how do I use my time? Because a, you know, in the beginning part of the journey, you're trading your your time, your labor for

[32:05] want you to be thinking about your money, your army of dollar bills to where you own your time and do what you want when you want. But it does scare me because when you get to be 40 with $2 million, that's way ahead of the curve.

[32:19] opportunities to look at money as a tool to figure out how do you own your time. But that does now lead to the next exercise of you got to put on your 3D glasses before you make because what I don't want you to do is to cross the

[32:32] good paying job to be able to create $2 million at 40 years of age. There's some big shovel somewhere in the background. I don't want you to walk through the threshold of saying, uh, I'm kind of bored or I'm not getting what I want.

[32:47] I'm going to walk through this. that might be the right decision, but it also sudden you come out and you six months later you're like, "What was I thinking?" You know, I just was I'm having a a you know a a midlife type

[33:00] crisis and maybe I didn't do this right. So, here's the 3D glasses. I want you before you go cross through that threshold and make a big life change, I want you to actually put pen to paper or Excel spreadsheet or however you know

[33:14] sheets, whatever you want to use to where you're going to run three different fiveyear scenarios. >> I want you to say, "Okay, let's do the dream plan. This is where I get to land my next job. Um, it's I have I wake up

[33:29] every morning feeling like, you know, rainbow sunshine and it's awesome." and you you model out everything working out exactly like you want. Then you do the downto- earthth plan. You say, "Okay, I'm going to change jobs, but I'm also

[33:42] going to have some bad things that might happen. This is the way I think it will work." And then don't skip out on this third one because this is nobody nobody likes to do the third one. And that's the doodoo plan. There's the 3Ds. Dream

[33:54] down to earth. And then don't skip the dudoo of you changed this job and then 6 made a huge horrendous mistake and now you have to figure out how do I recover from this mistake of of letting my emotions or or or something make me do

[34:10] this decision. If you do this on paper or through your your your your it's going to be much better to experience it there versus in real time and in real life. And if you go through that exercise, I think you'll then now

[34:23] have the variables to determine, hey, a dashboard view of is this the right think career changes, we have a whole >> whole swing of them back there in our financial financial planners that come from engineers, doctors,

[34:38] >> musicians, >> songwriters, producers. I mean, it it's kind of amazing how people can have some success and then yes, they've we've seen success and then yes, they've we've seen some successful um transitions, but just

[34:50] don't skip out because I think sometimes we don't realize how unique we are um just don't want you to walk away from something without making sure you do the other side of the equation work as well. >> Love that.

[35:04] >> Love that. >> That's great. U Mech E31, thanks for you think through What you're going to do next? >> Oh, >> I know. Surprise. We've had several

[35:18] people ask a tangent. We're going to brief tangent to happen right now. >> I thought that was like we're going to put a fine on it. No, you're going to allow this. Not put a fine on it. We're going to allow it. Okay. Well,

[35:30] >> How much money could we raise if put fines on tangent? jar. >> Card for every tang. No. Um, we have a new set piece that people are noticing and

[35:42] >> Did they notice it? A lot of people notic uh what what it says. And I can't head's right there. So, I want was wondering if you could tell people what >> Why are you getting up? >> So, I can look at the prop. So, we can

[35:55] >> He loves a prop. >> Cuz by the way, Caleb [laughter] >> I noticed it the other day when I came in because I gave this to Caleb. It came in and and Caleb goes, "I'll show you where." I said, "Should we put it?" I

[36:07] I'll tell we'll see if we can fit it in. So, here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Does anybody know where that's

[36:19] >> Yeah. >> I mean, so I mean, this is this is when anybody walks into Disneyland, you go under this plaque. Well, when you join um Disney 23, they um this is one of the membership perks that they offer you is

[36:34] >> You'll be happy to We actually had someone in the comments say, "Oh, bet >> Yeah, we had a few people coughing it and mentioning Disney. >> I want to put [snorts] it back so people can see it. [laughter]

[36:48] enough tangent? >> That was fantastic. Thank you for I mean a spirit shirt and I was like I'll never wear that shirt. But I definitely when I >> you're like I got a place for that. Y'all will have to tell me cuz you y'all

[37:03] know part of my my fascination is is that if I've read some some book, you that if I've read some some book, you know, Walt Disney, Roy Disney, the duo cuz I love them both. I mean, I really do because Walt was the visionary, the

[37:17] dreamer, and the creative, but then his brother Roy was like the the accountant mindset. And and I think a lot of people don't give Roy enough credit for >> he's the one that took his brother's dreams and tried to figure out how do we

[37:29] actually make this work because Walt was kind of a wild man on he didn't care about debt. He didn't care about, you know, he would just do it because he he kind of the builder in the background of fulfilling that. And that's what I think

[37:42] fulfilling that. And that's what I think is just so cool thinking of, you know, he didn't have something to do on the weekend with his girls and then he this with amusement parks. And I mean, because I go to Universal, it's just

[37:57] world changing in a in a lot of cool ways. And and I just I you know, sentimentally, it it it brings a lot of really nostalgic ideas and and and >> Love that. >> Love it. Well, thank you for answering

[38:11] the question about the plaque. Now everyone knows what it says. from >> every time before we start the show, we go rub it, you know, like we like like when you go to the top wouldn't do it,

[38:24] but it's not real metal magic on it. That one is more of a >> Should you get up again and just see what kind of material? what kind of material? >> No, it's made out of a resin. [laughter]

[38:36] >> All right, let's move on to the next personal finance question. And it says uh it's from MBFM. It says, "If I'm investing 25% plus just with my pre-tax employer match, should I

[38:50] be concerned that I am not funding the other two buckets that we talked about other two buckets that we talked about in the three bucket strategy?" He's 32 >> and he says, "I don't have the extra margin to invest more right now." And

[39:04] admittedly, 25% plus is a good number, but what do you think? This is a unique situation. >> Yeah. To be 32 years old, investing 25 plus when you factor in the employer match is awesome. Uh and so what I'm

[39:18] going to going to assume uh did you didn't mention if you're married or single. One of the things I'd love to know uh MBFM is what is your annual income? I'm going to assume that because you are including your employer match,

[39:33] household income is below 200,000 or if you're a single individual, your household income is below 100,000. That means that you can include the employer match when you're counting towards your 25%. Well, if that's the case, the next

[39:48] question I'm going to ask you is, okay, well, what state do you live in? Because one of the things that might be worth investigating is if I'm putting money into my employer sponsored account and I'm maxing that out. Is there a chance

[40:03] that I happen to be in a lower tax rate environment? Maybe I live in a state that has no state income tax or low state income tax. Should I potentially be doing Roth contributions into my 401k? Because even if you do Roth

[40:16] get your employer match and your employer match uh still goes into the pre-tax bucket of your 401k. So if that were the case and if it did

[40:29] contributions in just doing that, just doing the 25% in your 401k, you'd actually be building up two of the three buckets. You'd be building your tax-free pre-tax bucket with the employer contribution. And at 32, I think that

[40:45] that's okay because you're far enough away from needing these dollars that I suffice. >> This is this is why I get so proud um and I know pride you have to be careful with it, but I am very proud proud

[40:59] >> of the financial order of operations is because [music] we built this into the system. Um look, we we recognize for some people, especially if you if you're >> Yeah. That's what because that income is about right because I know anybody

[41:12] who's, you know, in the low six figures or right under six figures, you're going to be able to to graduate from step step six, which is max out retirement assets to step seven just because you're you're hugely disciplined. Um, but you're

[41:29] them up all the way because we've actually had people raise their hand who made $80,000 and they didn't even get to hit the full salary deferral limit and we still said no, you graduated to step seven because you're doing 25% of your

[41:42] seven because you're doing 25% of your gross income and and and the reason why ties into what Bo just gave the advice on when you're early once we get you engine that's driving the financial order of operations. It's also no state

[41:57] >> There's steps one and four is to keep your life out of the ditch. You know, obviously emergency reserves. Step two is just you're crazy if you're missing out on 50 to 100% guaranteed rates of return with free employer money.

[42:09] things. You're never going to get ahead if you're paying 20% to a bank while you're expecting to only make 8 to 12% from the investments that you have. So, but when you get to steps five and six, these are all about tax efficient saving

[42:24] government's going to restrict who can save what, how much you can put in advantage of these things. But there is a problem with this that we've built into the system is that I want you saving 25% because we've done the math.

[42:38] intersection point if you go to moneyguy.com/resources, thing is called. >> That's actually the name. First time you've said it exactly the right way. So, how much should you save? This is

[42:51] going to show you. But, but you get to step seven. There does come a point and books but man oh man this is why I wrote the book best chapter or most improved is the step seven chapter because it covers exactly this point is that you

[43:07] will get to a point where you say you know what money is only a tool I've done and I do agree with Bo you should go make sure the Roth is maybe you should be doing the Roth instead of the pre-tax >> 110 married state with no income tax

[43:21] >> it's about it's just on what's the value of what that tax-free could become that you need to this is what step seven is trying to do for you is how am I going to use this money? Uh because now we talk about the three buckets and we

[43:35] and you think you're going to leave the workforce at 50 55 years of age, you're going to need some even if you're giving up something from um pre-tax or tax need some after tax bridge account money so that you can actually leave the

[43:50] going to come a point where you're going to say, "Hey, uh, through step seven and step eight, I have kids. I want to start saving in a 529. It seems cruel if I'm just saving everything into my own retirement and I'm saving well beyond,

[44:03] you know, I'm at 25%. When do I get to do the kids?" All these things come into forward to when you're 42 years old. You don't want to be taking out a bunch of car. And I've had what what's so frustrating is I've had prospects that

[44:17] then became clients that they're trying to go buy a car and they have seven figures in retirement assets, but they they have to they don't have enough cash to go buy a car with cash. That's a failure of your of your structure. And

[44:31] this is why we we've created the financial order of operations with you're thinking about the three buckets, the pre-tax, the after tax, the tax-free you're actually going to use money as a tool to accomplish empower your life,

[44:48] loading up retirement assets and not actually knowing where you're going to go next. We got you covered. And that's why I I love that the system is is so It's almost like we manage money for a living and said, "Hey, there's a lot of

[45:03] systems out there, but they don't have the nuance to actually tell you, you know, as you because you're going to get beyond basics of just basic debt and know how to actually maximize and build your money in a in a really good way."

[45:17] think we did it. >> Love it. >> That's great. >> That was a high five right there. No big >> That was so sweet. Well, MBFM,

[45:29] you got them to high five. They loved answering that question so much. So, thank you for submitting it. >> You know, Bo and I have this list of hundred things that I can talk on my my my walking on.

[45:42] >> Oh, yeah. Tangent time. >> One time that I'm going to do and I just to keep them around two minutes, but this one probably might be three to four do their thing >> or maybe two change of times. is those

[45:54] the stories of the Foo because it is um you know how it came to be because I know I I kind of have and I also know the one the step that I think you had the genius idea on that it kind of it you know and it's a pretty cool story I

[46:08] >> I love it >> good teaser do I know I do >> you will when I tell you when I remind you because every now and then >> I just remember like how because it

[46:21] really does have a pimos type thing it as I don't want to give too much because scenes thing. >> Look at you cliffhanging. I love that. I story. >> If you are out there and you're like

[46:33] talking about time, it's a brand new thing that we've started doing on our Instagram, if you don't follow us on Tik Tok, if you don't follow us on X, make sure you are following us there because our social media team is getting this

[46:47] Tangent Time with Brian out there for you to enjoy. So you get to you get to just hang out and go on a walk with Brian and it's an awesome thing. So if those channels, make sure you do that now and

[47:00] >> If you're not subscribed to this channel, make sure you subscribe to this channel right now so that you know every time we put out brand new content. uploaded it yet because I haven't figured out is this even worthy. It's

[47:13] smoothies. >> Oh, buddy. [laughter] Please record that one. you know, your wife gets all of the credit in the >> diverting us out of that one. >> So, so look, I'm hoping these tangent

[47:27] times will be not only fun little Brian Bose stories, but there also there are some teachable moments in there. There's also why I love Disney. I mean, I I try to put there's there's no limits that besides just what the content team says.

[47:39] Yeah, I wouldn't say that. [laughter] >> There's the only that's the only boundary we have. If you ever wonder, >> "What if we like to hang out with that's what it is. It's just hanging out hanging out with a big guy. [snorts]

[47:53] >> All right, we've got another question queued up from C. Hughes. It says, "I'm queued up from C. Hughes. It says, "I'm 24. I make 80K and I have 87K invested," which honestly that's incredible. >> Um he says, "Our baby spent some time in

[48:07] the NICU. He's healthy now." Which so glad to hear that. Um but but we're glad to hear that. Um but but we're stuck with 21K in bills and 1,300 per month in insurance. How do we get back on track?

[48:22] like this is what the insurance and the emergency fund is for, but now what what family? >> What what C Hughes has fallen into is what he thinks the FO is versus what the reality of the FO is.

[48:36] >> Yeah. So, uh I've got 87 invested baby. Uh we racked up some medical bills. Now we've got $21,000 in bills and and 13. How do we get back on track? I just one I want to empathize with you because a lot of folks uh unknown unknown things

[48:51] happen and sometimes unknown unknown things happen with the people that we child and I'm glad to hear that everything is better now. But there was some reason, depend I don't know what your health insurance looked like or

[49:05] your health insurance looked like or whatever that was, but you have $21,000 to figure out how do I knock this out? Like, how do I do this? Well, the first this is one thing I don't think a lot of people realize is that when it comes to

[49:20] like medical bills and when it comes to having costs that you owe, uh, everything inside that world is negotiable. And what I mean by negotiable is you call and say, "Hey, I've got these medical bills and what up

[49:34] payment plan and I just, you know, and at, what you and your spouse are going at." Say, "Hey, I would love to be able to pay this off in the next six months,

[49:48] whatever." And they'll say, "Hey, I will we will work with you to be able to will, hey, if you can pay this much by this date." It is not uncommon for folks to call and be able to make a deal with the institution that has the medical

[50:03] bills out uh that has the medical bills outstanding. So that would be probably the first step I take. Hey, what resources, what options are available for me to be able to satisfy these bills and then once you figure out what the

[50:15] strategy of how you actually begin to knock them out. Hughes. I would I would even whether it's chat GPT or whether it's Grock or whatever your AI um tool that you're using is is I would run through asking

[50:32] using is is I would run through asking hey give me some some thoughts of how to structure this narrative >> with um with the the the insurance It'll probably be the medical provider themselves, but work with the AI because

[50:46] I've done this with >> look, I had a a car accident in the last two weeks. And um I've >> I mean I' I said, "Hey, I haven't been in a car accident in a long time. I don't even know what I'm what I'm

[50:58] supposed to do do or not do with the insurance companies. I modeled it out and it was it's amazing how powerful I think those tools have been to to kind of going through and and giving you checklist or other things in the

[51:11] background." But here's here's what I think is also interesting is exactly Bo is right when you get it down to the number of what it really is for you. I put up there what everybody thinks Foo

[51:24] >> is that you know everybody thinks it's just this smooth little walk up the stairs and you're go from steps one all the way to step nine and then live your the world works. What will happen is exactly what happened to C. cues is that

[51:39] you'll be making great strides and then all of a sudden life happens. And the first two things popped to my mind is that I would look at your $87,000, see meaning that maybe >> after tax assets,

[51:52] >> after tax assets that don't have huge gains in them, because maybe after you get that bottom line number that that that that you Bo has you negotiating down, you could just come up with the assets, pay it off, and be done. But if

[52:06] money's in retirement assets and there's penalties and there's all kind of other crazy things that it's just not liquid. Now you got to figure out how long is it going to take you. You have to basically go back to step four, the financial

[52:19] emergency reserves type thing. You have to go back and and from a triage this much excess in my monthly cash flow. I think I can knock this out in the next five months." And then you you just need to work with the provider and

[52:35] work out that timeline, work with your financial order of operations plan, but then also keep pressuring yourself is to knock it out as fast as possible so you order of operations and and start building wealth.

[52:48] >> Yeah. And I want to um you know, 24 years old is still super young. You have a lot of time. you know, it's your issue were medical bills for your child, but a lot of 24 year olds uh might have student loan debt, might have auto debt,

[53:02] might have other things that they're coming through. The great thing about being young is you have time on your side, that even if this puts you what feels like behind or sets you back a touch, that's okay. So long as you can

[53:16] like work through it, get back to saving, get back to where you were from a saving standpoint, all indications are that you're going to be fine. Give yourself some grace as you work through this unique thing of life happening.

[53:32] Hughes, thank you for asking the question. We hope that that helps. Um like the guy said, like you've you've done an incredible job so far. So we just want to say that. So, I have no doubt that you'll be able to work

[53:45] through this and you and your family will be right back on track. All right. Well, this has been extremely fun. I do have just a little teaser to give you. I know that you all have really enjoyed along with us our Financial Mutant

[53:59] survey shows. So, the first one came out what, a couple weeks ago, I believe. So, go check that out if you haven't listened to it. We are recording and getting ready to release the second show that is going to look dive even deeper

[54:12] into more data from the survey. So, what you guys are doing with your money, what our clients are doing with their money, what the average American is doing with their money, and I'm very excited for you to see it. It is so interesting. So,

[54:26] subscribe to our email list over at moneyguy.com if you haven't so that you will be sure to be notified when that comes out because I just think you're fascinating and I'm excited. So, I just had to tell you about it.

[54:39] >> Well, you know, thing that makes me so happy is that y'all know what a big me in the mid 90s. I mean, because I I came out with an accounting degree, but didn't know how money worked yet. And it was that book um and then the wealthy

[54:53] barber that kind of changed my life. And then what what's really been exciting for me and I and I want to give mad respect to Sarah, you know, Dr. Stanley's daughter who came back out with the next millionaires next door. Um

[55:06] great book. We even did the collab with her. But I am very happy that in the the seat of somebody sharing annual data on what are the mindsets, what are the behaviors, what are real Americans that are outside of all the the the

[55:21] consumption society we live in, the the contrarian trends that we see with our financial mutants, you guys out there in the listening audience, guys, I think we're doing revolutionary work that nobody else in the marketplace is doing.

[55:36] and and and I love that it gets refreshed every year and you guys y'all shown up in force because I was worried. We did the first survey show of um of the audience last year and and the number of you who responded I was like

[55:51] said we you know I don't know if everybody will show back up. Y'all showed up and then some. I mean it was amazing to have 25,000 people kind of jump in. These are getting into sums of numbers that you can actually really

[56:04] start seeing some. So, you have a large enough population to see some trends. It for granted because this thing has already well beyond what I ever anticipated, but I love and I think y'all can see the heart of this is, you

[56:18] know, the whole thing started back in 2006 when I felt guilty that people who just came into their first 5 to$10,000 were going to probably go get, you know, because this is back in the decade of Bshares and all these other horrible

[56:34] gotten a lot better. Index funds were not the predominant thing back in when this thing first came on the scene. >> And I love that that heart of an educator mentality has just grown and grown and then it's turned into, look,

[56:47] I'm I'm unashamed to say now, I didn't know it. It wasn't set up on purpose. business idea in history. Now, that's why I'm Mr. Mcoo of being a marketing genius is because it just happened. I think because the purity of the message

[57:01] people who were using our systems and our processes all of a sudden started and they're like, "Hey, I'll never forget that first call in 2008. I'm not going to embarrass her because she's still a client of the firm, but she

[57:15] calls and goes, "Hey, I have a layover in Atlanta airport. Can we meet?" And I was like, "What? You want to meet?" You know, and I was like, "Oh my gosh." And by the way, I think majority of these people, all from the 2008, 9, 10,

[57:29] Absolutely. And and now I've seen a lot of them. They're all retiring. And it's kind of fun to see this. But y'all woke me up to the realization that this thing abound wealth clients. >> And I mean, that's why we talk about

[57:44] you. And that's why we call it the abundance cycle is because if you just have to buy any of any of our products or tools or anything, but if you just do what we say, you're going to reach a level of success that complexity is

[57:58] where we'll be waiting for you. And I just it you'll have no idea how excited I get that all this works in the way it does. And um I I'll close it out at that. I'm your host, Brian, joined by Bo Reby and the rest of the content team,

[58:13] Reby and the rest of the content team, Money Got Team out.