
Making a Millionaire | Derek & McKenna
Loading summary
Brian Preston
Derek and McKenna have a fairytale romance.
McKenna
It's our first day of class, right? And I told my roommate, I was like, there was just one cute guy in my class. He was wearing a hat. Like, I don't know his name, but he was wearing a hat.
Derek
Walked in, figured, this is my opportunity to find a cute girl.
Brian Preston
Yeah.
Derek
Sat next to her, and that was it.
Brian Preston
They have a six figure household income and an investable net worth of over $380,000. But is their sense of security merely a myth? Have you guys had the conversation around who's gonna take care of our kids?
McKenna
Yeah, we have a little bit.
Derek
Have we?
McKenna
Yeah, I swear.
Brian Preston
We just recently, we uncover big blind spots that could turn their dream life into a nightmare. Would it be too presumptuous for me to say that, hey, if something happened to Derek that creates a financial problem, Right? Like you hop in a car, get hit by a car.
Bo Hanson
Oh, my gosh.
Brian Preston
That's the end of no, no, no.
Bo Hanson
Welcome to Making a Millionaire. This is where we help financial mutants build their great big beautiful tomorrow. I'm your host, Brian Preston, joined by Mr. Bo Hanson.
Brian Preston
Brian, I am so excited because here at Making a Millionaire, we get to do the exact thing that we love doing and that is helping people make better financial decisions. So today, I'm so excited, Brian. We are sitting down with some good friends of ours, Derek and McKenna. Hey, guys. How are y'all doing?
Derek
Doing good.
Brian Preston
Ah, thank y'all so much for hanging out with us and let us dive into your financial journey a little bit and learn a little bit about who you are, where you came from, and how we can be a resource to help you do money better.
Derek
Go ahead.
McKenna
Well, I'm from here, born and raised in Nashville.
Brian Preston
That's super unique, right?
McKenna
Native, yes. Went out to Utah for college.
Brian Preston
Okay.
McKenna
That's where Derek's from. Met Derek in college.
Brian Preston
Love it.
McKenna
Got married and said, I want to move back home. There was no, no option. We were going home. So back here. Yeah. We have two little kids. We have a little girl who's four and a little boy who's one.
Brian Preston
Oh, Love it.
Derek
I'm originally from Utah.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Derek
All my friends, family. Born there, raised there, stayed there. So I always wanted to get out. So when she said she wanted to move back home, I was. I was all right with that. Came out here, started a job, started working there after about two years, changed jobs to a completely different industry. Working healthcare now.
Brian Preston
Nice.
Derek
McKenna was working when we first moved out here for probably about 3ish years as a photographer.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Derek
And then had our first child. And she stopped working. And I've kept going ever since.
Brian Preston
Now, I gotta be honest, my wife, she tells me that that is not the truth. That's not the way it works. I did not have a child and stopped working. I had a child and my job got way harder. I started working way more.
McKenna
Yes.
Brian Preston
So I imagine the same was true for you. Right. It just is a different type of work that's grossly underpaid. Right. That's the way that that works. So we are going to dive into your finances. We're gon talk about what you guys have going on, and we're gonna look at that. But tell us a little about growing up. What was your relationship like? What kind of like, financial households did you grow up in? And what did you know about money as a child that you, like, brought into adulthood?
Derek
Yeah, my dad is a financial advisor himself.
Bo Hanson
Oh, wow.
Derek
I grew up.
Brian Preston
We gotta tighten up a little bit. Oh, boy.
Derek
So I grew up kind of, you know, hearing from him, him teaching me a lot of the principles and just the value of money, you know, hard work for money, things like that.
Brian Preston
So you never had like, some crazy story, oh, I went off to college and I got in all this debt and I just wrecked myself because I didn't know what money was. That's not your experience.
Derek
No, the complete opposite.
Bo Hanson
But I am curious, though, because now, I mean, because Bo and I resemble this. What age did you actually get interested? Or let's say, what age did you actually start investing?
Derek
I would say I first got into money, though, probably in college.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Derek
Started when Robin Hood came out.
Brian Preston
Right.
Derek
It was the whole. The whole game.
Brian Preston
Open up an account.
Derek
Exactly. So I started. I started trading. Actually was trading oil and gold.
Bo Hanson
Oh, wow.
Derek
Triple leverage funds.
Brian Preston
Why would you do anything else?
Derek
Obviously, that's the way I was dumb in college. I made a quick, you know, 10% over a couple of weeks and thought, man, I'm a genius.
Brian Preston
It's the worst thing you can do is to be successful at the very beginning.
Bo Hanson
Exactly.
Derek
So was doing that with some buddies, you know, having fun with it. But that's. That's what first got me going with it.
McKenna
So. My dad's a physician. Okay. I don't know much about the finance world. Sorry.
Bo Hanson
No. But that's.
Brian Preston
That's okay. Don't know much now or didn't know much then or both.
Bo Hanson
Both.
McKenna
Okay, confession. So in high school, we had to take a half a credit of personal finance. And I like school. Like, I tried Hard. I got good grades, I studied. And personal finance was just not my thing.
Bo Hanson
Right.
McKenna
I. My teacher, I would drive him nuts. And he's like, why aren't you trying? And I'm like, I just, it's not clicking for me. And I'll marry someone in finance someday. Like, I literally like, she called it.
Brian Preston
She went babe proof. Called her shot, you know? How do y'all commute? Do you talk about like financial goals to together and are on the same page or are you like, hey, no, Derek, it's your deal. You got it. I'll just follow your lead.
McKenna
Both probably.
Derek
Yeah. I think high level goals, aspirations of our future. We talk about it, but as far as the maintaining a day to day in the in the weeds, that's all me.
Brian Preston
I want you to know you're not uncommon. And a lot of spouses, there's one spouse who like does the majority of the financial stuff and the other spouse who just kind of follows and trusts. But if you can use that as a tool to have those conversations, it's amazing how robust those conversations can be without like putting you to sleep. Making it like a personal finance class action. Making it about, hey, what are our goals? What are we trying to achieve? What are the things that matter to us? Okay, great. Because we are aligned there. The decisions we make will then align with that. So it's a great tool to allow you guys to be able to do that.
McKenna
Should we explain how he did things?
Bo Hanson
Yeah. Believe me, we're going to lose.
Derek
I don't know what you're going to explain, so go for it.
McKenna
I do have my money that has always been like my money he doesn't like touch or really even know about.
Bo Hanson
And is that like an investment account? A checking account? What is your money?
McKenna
Checking? Right.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
McKenna
Just a checking account. I like, it's been my account since I was like 12.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Brian Preston
Okay.
McKenna
My little. I had a few thousand dollars going into college and when we got married, that was my like, if I wanted to go shopping, if I like wanted to spend like unnecessary money. Like I just used my own little money that I had and I was pretty dang frugal with it. Like, that lasted me a while. And then when I graduated college and I got a job, I did have like my job money go to that account.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
McKenna
As well. So he. I've just always had my own little money.
Brian Preston
So even now, still are y'all. So you kind of have separate.
McKenna
Yeah.
Brian Preston
Okay, so walk us. How do you, as a household, how do y'all do like Joint accounts, separate accounts.
McKenna
What does that look like? And I do wanna preface with, I think the, like, the main reason why I wanted to do things that way is I always knew I just wanted to be a mom. Like, number one goal was to be a mom.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
McKenna
And so I really wanted, like, when I got my job after college, I was like, I want him to be able to have a job and be able to financially take care of us and not be dependent on my job. Because someday I'm gonna stop working and I'm gonna be a mom.
Brian Preston
You still have your money now.
McKenna
Even now, today, it's still lasting me. Someday it's gonna run out and then we're gonna have to reevaluate. Then we'll have the fight.
Derek
I will say one, one conversation when you asked that question that I remembered is we were actually in a Walmart parking lot. That's how well I remember it. And I remember saying, I don't know why we were talking about it or how it got brought up, but I thought, you know, I could live an incredible life off of $100,000. And McKenna goes, no, we can't.
Bo Hanson
You need to set.
Derek
You need to set your sights higher. And I think you can. Right, right. But. But for us, for the lifestyle we want to live, for lifestyle we have, I always want to make more. Want to make more than I have now.
Brian Preston
Sure.
Derek
It's always been my, my.
McKenna
That is one thing that I, we do talk about quite a bit is I don't ever want there to be kind of a cap. I don't ever want there to be like a, oh, this is our end goal of the money that he makes. And then we're settled. Like, always set another goal. Always like, you know, just kind of keep reaching higher and higher. I don't know.
Brian Preston
So let's talk about those goals. Right? So you guys clearly have some financial goal. What are the goals that you are working towards? Like, when you talk as a couple, here's what we want money to do for us, whether it be today, 5, 10, or 30 years from now. What are your goals as a couple and what are those things that you want to be working towards together?
Derek
So I would say probably, I don't know, probably more shorter. Well, I don't know, 10, 15 years down the road. Definitely want to pay for our kids college. Okay, That's a goal of ours. Or help them out. I would say, okay, I think help them out with paying for a car when they turn 16.
Bo Hanson
Do y'all think that will be a conflict point? Down the road or do you think it will be okay to do the used car where the child even has to put some money up on. On it? Or is that gonna be a fight?
Derek
It'll be a fight, but I'll win.
McKenna
Let's take it. Let's make it.
Brian Preston
So you said, you said your oldest child is. She's four, a little girl.
Bo Hanson
She's four.
McKenna
All right, so yeah, we have some time.
Brian Preston
But she turns 16 and it's time for her to have her very first car. McKenna, what kind of car are we getting her? What are we gonna get her?
McKenna
I'm totally fine with getting her a used car a few years old, but I want it to be safe and reliable. Doesn't need to be fancy at all.
Brian Preston
True.
McKenna
But I just am like a little 16 year old, like being told like, nope, you gotta buy your own car. 12 years from now, that's going to be expensive. Like, there's no way that's like.
Brian Preston
So you probably get a used car, couple years old, reasonable, but you're going to pay for it and you're going to say, hey, here's your car.
McKenna
Yeah, yeah. And I don't know how, like my parents, we bought, they bought a car and it was passed down from sibling to sibling. So I don't know if we'll do it that way and have the, all of the kids use it or if we just buy it for one kid and then buy another car and then be like, this is your car. Like now we're not going to help you. Like, next time, you know, you need a car, it's on you.
Derek
You know, we've got an account that's already tagged as the car.
Bo Hanson
Oh, I've seen it.
Derek
I saw it.
Bo Hanson
I mean, it's in there. I was. We're going to talk more about that. Yeah, we'll hit the pause button on that. Because I did have some questions on that account.
Derek
My dad really educated me again, like I said, on the value of money. Right. I had to work for it. So I truly recognize the value of a dollar.
Bo Hanson
Sure.
Derek
Right. What is it going to take to get there? And then it made it harder to just go and spend it on anything. That's my biggest goal, is educating my kids, helping them understand. And hey, here's, here's what you can do with this money. Here's how it can really set you up for your future. So that's my biggest goal. But at the same time, I want to help them out as much as I can help give them a leg up. So that they can start five steps ahead of where I even was today or when I was in college with.
Bo Hanson
The knowledge to know how to do that well, too? Yes.
Brian Preston
I want to go back to these goals. You said okay, 10 to 15 years I'm pay for the kids college. It sounds like in 12 years or so. I want to pay for the kids cars. I have a third one. I want to educate my kids about money. Sounds like a lot of your financial goals are centered around the kids.
McKenna
Yeah, for sure.
Brian Preston
So you guys want to work forever till you're like 100, never stop working because they're top priority. It seems like the kids stuff. Is that true? When you think about the financial decisions you're making, is the top priority you're working towards to make sure the kids are taken care of and then you'll kind of figure out your stuff later? Or is it different?
Derek
I may not be all the way at 25% and may have skipped ahead to saving for college and, and future expenses and things like that.
Bo Hanson
I think you can tell we're going.
Derek
To pick on them a little bit.
Bo Hanson
You know, where, you know, where the war coming for it at some point.
Derek
I knew what I was getting into when I walked in this morning, so. But no, I, I, you know, definitely want to save for, for our retirement. Want to retire one day. Want to be able to travel, you know, go to wherever the kids are, spend time with them, you know, just, just be free. Not have something that's holding me down.
Brian Preston
I like that.
Derek
I do love to work.
Bo Hanson
Yeah.
Derek
So even, you know, and this may change when I'm, you know, 60, 65, my mentality may shift. But even when I retire, I would still love to do something.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Derek
Keep me busy. Right. The exact day of retirement, whatever, you know, haven't got there yet. But I know that I want to.
Brian Preston
But what I'm, what I'm not hearing is, oh, I'm just ready to exit the workforce as quickly as possible. By the time I'm 40, I want to be done working and be able to travel the world. That's not what I'm hearing. Like, I like working. I like the job that I do. Like the vocation that I'm in.
Derek
Yeah.
Brian Preston
And I want to do it for a reasonable amount of time. And then one day, if I'm hearing you correctly.
Derek
Yeah.
Brian Preston
I want to be able to do work because I want to, not because I have to.
Derek
Yeah.
Brian Preston
I want to reach that. I'm not there yet, but that's the point. I want to get exactly that's awesome.
Derek
I feel super accomplished. I, again, always want more and want to get to that next step. Not that, you know, I want to prove to everybody else, but just for me, myself. Right. Want to keep doing better, being better and making more money because that's just, I'm a competitive person, so I want to compete with myself and continue, you know, climbing the ladder and, and reaching those goals that I have. But yeah, I'm, I'm super happy with where we're at. Super, you know, blessed with where we're at.
Bo Hanson
Yeah.
Derek
You know, but want to continue climbing.
McKenna
Yeah, we're really comfortable where we are right now. I would say just for me, like, we have two little kids and we want more. And so I. We're comfortable with our lifestyle right now. And I just want to make sure that as we have more kids, we still have this comfortable lifestyle because kids are expensive.
Brian Preston
So obviously content, happy life is feeling good. When you think about your, like, finances, what are some of the question you have, like, what are some of the things like, man, this is the thing. When I think about the thing maybe I don't have perfectly figured out, or the stuff that gives us apprehension or nervousness or anxiety around finance. What are those topics for you? What are the things that you would say are maybe not financial concerns, but like, oh, things that stay top of your financial mind?
Derek
My financial situation, I would say, is really just starting to probably get more complex. You know, then just a basic knowledge and understanding can, can manage and maintain. Questioning how tax strategy. Am I doing the right things? Am I, am I, you know, making the right steps? You know, are there, are there things that I can tweak and take advantage of, you know, to improve my tax situation? Are there, you know, with my investments, I've, I've, as I'm sure we'll talk about and we'll get there, you know, just, just stayed very, very aggressive. Right. And I think that that's the stage of life that I'm in. But, you know, over the next 10, 15 years, that may change. And so that's something that I need to think through.
Brian Preston
Sure.
Derek
I'll say. One area that I know you guys are going to pound me on is my insurance planning and my estate planning.
Brian Preston
We're going to talk about insurance.
Bo Hanson
Kids and all these other things.
Derek
Those two, they're in there. I know I need to get it done, and for some reason I just keep procrastinating and don't do it.
Bo Hanson
But it kind of comes back to that question of how it feels to live Because I'm trying to figure out the margin you guys feel in everyday life. Like, because I. Your income, by the way, you have a good base salary, but you also have some bonuses. You have some, you know, restricted stock option. I mean, restricted stock units and other things that pay out from your company. So that stuff comes in in lump sums. Whereas you're. You're on a base salary. I'm trying to figure out when I pick on you about savings rates and other things, how much margin do you guys feel like you have every month? Or is it because, based upon your answers, you just get things are good. Like at the end of the month, money's left over and things are building up in the background?
Derek
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
Okay, I like that. That's a great answer. Because that means buckle up. Well, you know, I'm all about the automation of making your wealth journey inevitable.
Derek
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
And you have all the tools, all the resources. Now it's just a matter of can we optimize it to set this stuff up to have a forced scarcity, a cash management plan so it doesn't necessarily squeeze your lifestyle. I still want you all to be just as happy as you are now. But it's one of those things, every year when you'll have that conversation of doing the net worth statement, you're like, holy cow, I can't believe these small little incremental decisions resulted in these big life changes over the long term. And that's going to be the part that makes your father smile too, as he watches this as the financial advisor, too.
Brian Preston
What is it right now that allows you to feel so comfortable about your current financial situation?
McKenna
I know that we're putting money away every month. Like, I know that it's not. We're not living paycheck to paycheck. And so that makes me really comfortable.
Brian Preston
It sounds like from, from a marital standpoint, you have a lot of confidence because Derek's here. Right. Like, Derek's here and he's able to kind of like shepherd and shield that financial burden from you. Would it be too presumptuous for me to say that, hey, if something happened to Derek that creates a financial problem. Right. Like there's something that exists there.
McKenna
Yes.
Brian Preston
That now all of a sudden, okay, you had all this comfort and all the security. What happens in that event? Right. And maybe that's one of the things that we ought to talk about.
McKenna
Yeah.
Brian Preston
Because it seems as an object of third party, that seems like maybe one of the risks that exists for you guys.
McKenna
Yeah.
Brian Preston
So as you see a rocking and Rolling Things are great. Family unit is nice and it's working, but if there was something that happened there, then it probably does become a little more problematic. Is that a fair to say?
McKenna
Yeah, for sure.
Bo Hanson
I did notice in our notes when we were prepping for today's recording, y'all don't have a will yet. Yeah. What. What's the. What's the apprehension? Why. Why hasn't that happened? Because it's not like this is the first child. It is. But what's it. What makes it scary? What makes it scary for you guys.
McKenna
Want to think about dying and leaving them? Yeah, that's scary.
Bo Hanson
But it's so much easier to have it in your 20s, though, for that discussion. Yeah. And 30s, I mean, versus. You get my age, and you're like, holy cow, might be already over the halfway point.
Brian Preston
Do you guys. Less you hop in a car, get hit by a car, that's the end of it.
Bo Hanson
No, no, no.
Brian Preston
Let me ask you a question. Do you. Have you guys had the conversation around who's going to take care of our kids?
McKenna
Yeah, we have a little bit.
Derek
Have we?
McKenna
Yeah, we. I swear, we just recently did. Well, my parents would definitely be right. And it gets tricky, too, with, like, age and stuff. My. I'm the oldest, so my parents are younger. His parents are a little bit older. Plus, they live out of state. It makes definitely the most sense for my parents to take the kids. They live 30 minutes down the street from us. They're younger. But then obviously that'll change as they get older, you know.
Derek
Yeah. I think having the conversation, once we get past the fear and the anxiety of, you know, I don't want to think about that.
Bo Hanson
Right.
Derek
I think we'd be on the same page, and it would be a very easy conversation.
Brian Preston
But I think what's interesting is you guys just even right there in that interaction that you had, you said, oh, yeah, yeah, it's clear. And he goes, who? Yeah. Just wanted to make sure, as difficult as it is for even you guys to have that conversation and for you guys to even make sure that you're on the same page, you have to imagine for a moment how much more difficult would that be if something happened to you guys. And then not only do your parents become part of the conversation, but then so too do your parents and the siblings, and then the state has something to say about it. As hard as that decision is to have while you guys are still on this earth, it becomes exponentially more difficult to have if you're not here to speak on behalf of what your wishes are. Because then you leave the family guessing, well, I think my parents are going to be. My parents are older. And then your sibling says, well, no, no, it should be us because the cousin. And from a risk management standpoint, I got to believe above the finances and financial independence and above everything else in your life going on, your kids are probably your top priority.
Bo Hanson
So when you think about it, obviously we heard it on the list. It really was.
Brian Preston
When you think about the thing that you want to protect and the thing you want to make sure is covered, it's probably that. And while you guys are here, you feel confident we can provide and take care of our kids. But part of the responsibility we have as parents is if we're not here, who's going to be that person and who's is the same person who's going to take care of the kids also going to be the person who's going to take care of the money to make sure that the kids are taken care of and provide. Those are really, really hard conversations to have. But dare I say, for young parents who are square in the messy middle, which is exactly where you guys are, they're probably the most important question conversations to have. Even more so than like savings rate and investment structure. And like those are the ones that matter because those are the most unknown unknowns. You hope that it never happens and it's never something you have to deal with and it's a non issue, but if ever were an issue, you'd want to make sure you solve that. And realistically there are. It's a difficult conversation, but an easy problem to solve. You sit down and you meet with an estate attorney or you guys work together to figure out, okay, this is who we want to take care of the kids and this is how we want the money and this is what we want. This is our vision for their life. I think in terms of like prioritizing stuff that you ought to walk away from here with. That's a big one. Do we have wills and estate documents in place to explain what our wishes are?
Bo Hanson
And look, the reality is you guys are so far away from this actually being the real concern. It's more of just a risk mitigation.
Brian Preston
That's right.
Bo Hanson
It's more of a thought exercise at this age. But I will tell you, doing it early and kind of the peace of mind that comes from that. And then also you're going to get. One day you'll wake up and you'll be my age and you are at that point where you'll still know this exercise was valuable because there's a plan that's already got the intention. It lets your emotions let your desires be recorded versus your loved ones. Because I think y'all would struggle with the abundance of too many loved ones, too many cooks in the kitchen trying to figure out how they love on this situation, and it creates chaos. But we're going to talk about life insurance and here's the good news.
Brian Preston
Let's talk about it right now. This is a great time.
Bo Hanson
We don't sell life insurance. You know, we're fee only fiduciary advisors. But it is one of those things because I imagine, because you've already said it, Derek, you said, I know you guys are going to pick on me. Tell everybody how much life insurance you have currently, and then tell us what's the apprehension on where it's at because you've heard. I loved hearing McKenna share how comfortable and confident she is in you. But then to hear kind of the life insurance part, there's a little bit of a disconnect.
Derek
Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. Right now I have, I think through my work, I get for free like two times my salary.
Brian Preston
Okay.
Derek
I will say before I did increase that, I think to maybe a million dollars, but probably two years ago or so, our company got bought out, you know, change the whole plan and everything. And ever since then, I didn't carry it over, didn't renew it, didn't do any of that. So honestly, I would say probably the apprehension or the reason I haven't done it is just, you know, lack of doing it.
Bo Hanson
Is there fear of expense? Is there fear of health or any of that stuff? No, it's just.
Derek
Yeah, it's just procrastinating, not doing it.
Brian Preston
It's an important financial thing that fell on the back burner and it was easy for it to fall on the back burner. So, again, I want to make this real, and I hate to make it so real, but make it real, something happens to you, you walk out, you get hit by a bus, and all of a sudden you have whatever you guys have saved up right now plus two times his annual salary. How long will that allow you and the kids to continue to live the lifestyle that you would like to live?
McKenna
Not very long, probably.
Brian Preston
I mean, probably not about. About two years right before you. So when, when we assess your situation, we say, man, there's a. There's a big need there and there's a current solution and the solution, the need. There's a big chasm between the two that is probably worth filling. Now the great news for young people is that is a very easy problem to solve.
Bo Hanson
It's pretty cheap at a very low cost.
Brian Preston
But that would also be another like big risk that you guys have if something were to happen. Is it gonna be enough to provide for your family if you're gone? And then do you have life insurance currently? Is she covered in these? So again, stepping now. Maybe the bus doesn't hit you, it swerves, misses you and hits you. Tomorrow, you know, she says that she stays home, takes care of the kids. Tomorrow you got to go to work. Who's watching the kids?
Bo Hanson
It's not just for the kids, it's for if you can't go to work. Because I mean, without a doubt a loss of that type would derail your ability to probably economically be able to provide for yourself. The way we're going to talk about with you guys saving and building assets, you'll be able to self insure this risk when you get to be my age. But while you're young and in this messy middle where you have young kids, growing family, you're trying to find traction and continue to build traction in the career. Let's buy that risk out away by buying cheap term life insurance that covers us for the length of time that we have this risk. And when you see how cheap this is, I mean, where do you want to roll that out?
Brian Preston
I was gonna say one of the things that's unique about getting to sit here with you guys is rather than just explaining to you academically, here's an idea. We actually did the work for you guys. So if you're okay, we want to share with you an insurance analysis that we did for you guys. Walking through what your insurable need is and then what we think a reasonable solution would be and we went ahead and price it out for you again. Our job here, it's like Burger King. We want you to have it your way. We're trying to make it as easy as possible. So we know that right now you have two times your current salary and you do not have current, any currently any life insurance coverage. Well, we know if something were to happen to you, the insurance needs to replace income, right? It needs to replace income that you were bringing in for the household. There's obviously a mortgage out there and there's some desire that I imagine one of the goals you guys have collect was I'm pay for some portion of college. If something were to happen to you, then even funding college now becomes a void that for two children would need to be solved. So what we did is we did an analysis showing Derek your estimated insurance need. Now, the way this is laid out is we have your current portfolio down here where you are currently. Because obviously if something were to happen to you, you have the resources you've built so far and then you have your current insurance. So we have your current portfolio and your current insurance we mathematically calculated. I'm using a bunch of big words here and I'll explain what it means. We calculate the present value of your future earning potential and then we took the present value of how much college would cost when the kids get there. And then we took the value of your mortgage today and said if we put all that together, how much would need to be in place if you were to die tomorrow for you to be able to still do all those things, still be able to live financially independent, still be able to send the kids to college, pay off the mortgage if you so chose. And what we determined is that your insurable need, Derek, is probably somewhere close to $5 million or so.
Bo Hanson
Doesn't that number sound huge though?
Brian Preston
That's massive, right? It sounds really big. But again, you've laid out the goals that you guys have and so that's realistic. And right now you're covered at two times salary and you have your current portfol, which the sum of those two is not quite at $5 million yet. So there's a void, right? There's a chasm, there's a fill. Well, one of the things we said is okay, well what are some things they could do? And we love low cost term life insurance. And what we recognize too is that some of the stuff will decrease over time. Like your mortgage will decrease over time. Once the kids are out of school, you don't have to pay for school anymore. And as your portfolio grows, it replaces more of that. So your insurable need decreases through time. So what we determined is there's really two options that you could satisfy this void for where Derek is. Option number one, we could look at a $2 million 20 year term policy. We went and priced that out at the second highest health rating. Assuming that everything's normal, which it seems, you guys are young, that's going to happen for you to get a $2 million policy for 20 years is only going to be somewhere around $900 a year, not a month, a year, you sleeping better at night, knowing that if something were to happen to Derek, having that money in place to be able to provide for you and the kids is that worth $900? Obviously. Right. So we can look at a $2 million policy for 20 years and we can look at another $2 million for 25 years because we think that the void is probably somewhere close to $4 million that you, that you're, that you're underinsured. For a 25 year 2 million dollar term policy, you're looking at about 1350. So you could have $4 million of insurance for right around $2,000 a year. That's just not crazy. Yeah, that's not wild. Or if you wanted to, you could go get a 25 year term policy for all 4 million. It's going to be a little bit more expensive, somewhere between 26 and 2800. But then you know that you're covered all the way out for 25 more years. And we're going to talk about what's retirement look like, what savings look like. Odds are that 25 years from now you're going to be self insured, you won't need it anymore. But right now, while you're at this stage in life and super young, it's going to be there to cover for you.
Bo Hanson
Yeah, I like the idea of laddering the coverages because then it lets you have multiple policies. They drop off at different times. The need goes down. Now it does create additional complexity because you have to make sure you pay the premium on the multiple policies. But it is a nice way to cut cost but also to just give you some diversification as well as match you with the timing of your assets growing in the background. And that's what a lot of people will treat insurance as an investment. We treat it as a risk mitigator because I want you and that's what I love about the cost being so low. This isn't going to derail you from all the investment and other goals that we're going to be talking about. This is just protecting you all as a family. So we can move on to some of these bigger goals because this is the most necessary thing, but the least loved thing. Nobody gets excited as McKenna, as you shared. Nobody gets excited about it. But this is one of the biggest things I feel like we can help clients with and we'll even hook you up with a checklist so when you get your wills made, you can go with this completed. So you can have a lot of these discussions because they'll save you money too because attorneys are not cheap.
Derek
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
So if we can give you the homework to actually have this conversation, healthy conversation, you won't be caught off guard when you're meeting with the attorney. And you'll save money since they bill you by the hour. So we'll hook you up with those tools as well.
Brian Preston
But it's not just you that has an insurable need. We also said, McKenna, you have an insurable needs. So we did a capital needs analysis for you as well. And essentially what we have is we have the portfolio that we have in place. But odds are, if something were to happen to McKenna, you don't want to start burning through your portfolio assets. So there probably is some insurable need. The good news is mortality wise ladies are expected to live longer. So the premiums for you are actually even cheaper than they are for male counterparts. And so what you can see is for a 20 year term policy for a million dollars, you can get that place for somewhere between 500 and $550 a year. It is just incredibly inexpensive. So what we just laid out is that putting some term policies in place for both of you can likely be done for around $2,500 a year. You can literally check that box and not have to worry about that one anymore. So if I'm giving you more homework items, one of the things I would think about is, hey, should we. This is not specific recommendation. This is just general advice for you to think about. Should we go look at getting some term policies in place, maybe 4 million for Derek, maybe 1 million for McKenna. And then we can say, hey, we have checked our life insurance need, our kids are gonna be provided for. Now we can focus on the fun stuff. Now we can get to talking about what kind of car are we going to buy. This 16 year old little girl when she gets there, that's not where I want you to go with it.
Bo Hanson
That might be where they want to go with it. That's not where I wanted to go with it.
Brian Preston
Awesome. All right, Brian, So we've talked about some of the risk management, we've talked about some of that. Let's talk now about the fun stuff, because we don't. Insurance is something people spend money on, they never want to use. Hopefully you never actually get to utilize your life insurance. That means you wasted that money for 25 years. Good. It means you didn't die. That's a win, in our opinion. Now let's talk about the fun stuff. Saving. When you guys think about saving, when you think about building, when you think about growing your assets, walk us through what y'all do. Where do you save? Where do you put your money? Where does it go? How do you Decide how much. What's that look like?
Derek
So the automated portion of it, the easy stuff. Right. Is 401k.
Brian Preston
Okay.
Derek
6% goes to 401k. Get the maximum match from the company.
Bo Hanson
Is that what's required to get that match? 6%?
Derek
Yep, it's 6%. And then a four and a half percent match.
Brian Preston
Oh, that's great.
Derek
And then I put, I think today about $6,000 away into an HSA.
Brian Preston
Okay.
Derek
Which I'm getting better at using it the mutant way versus just a transactional account. I put $200 away for each of the kids 529s.
Brian Preston
Okay.
Derek
So 400 bucks total. And then I think the only other one that may be automated is my ACORNS account, which is the kids car fund.
Brian Preston
Oh, there we go. Okay.
Derek
Which I put, I think 100 bucks a month into that, and then $25 a week.
Bo Hanson
Mutants.
Derek
25 bucks a week.
Bo Hanson
Can I tell you what I think is going on subliminally? Because I did the exact same thing when my daughters were born. I set up a few hundred dollars. It started off as $100 a month. It turned into $200 a month into custodial accounts. All because I had this big fear that my wife was going to want big weddings. And I'm such a tightwad on things. At the time I've gotten, I had to trade in my tight watt card. But at the time, I was so stressed out about it, I was like, I'm go ahead and front end load the funding on this. So this is not an argument down the road. I couldn't help but when I saw this ACORN account, and then I know it's supposed to be rounding up, but then I see that you're putting in $25 a week. So it's a little more intentional than just the rounding up. Is this because you were trying to cut a future discussion point corner off of it?
Brian Preston
You said cars. It's for the cars.
Bo Hanson
Crack me up because I'm.
Derek
If it grows big enough, we can use it for other things, but nothing. That's the car fund.
Bo Hanson
Okay. So it's kind of romantic in some ways that he's going ahead and trying to make sure that he cuts the corner off so y'all don't have a fight in 14 to 15 years.
Brian Preston
Whenever I hear this stuff, I'm thinking through, okay, financial order of operations. I'm hearing parts and pieces of where you are in the nine step, tried and true process. And so based on the way you're saving, I'm gonna assume that means you got a fully funded emergency fund. Like when you guys talk about your. How much money do you have sitting in cash right now? True blue emergency funds sitting there.
Derek
That I would say is truly tagged as an emergency fund. We have about 25 grand.
Brian Preston
Okay, 25 grand. So as a single income household earner with young kids who's a high income earner, I know that the rule of thumb for you guys is going to be about six months of expenses inside of emergency fund. So when I take $25,000 sitting in emergency fund and I divide it by six, that means that you guys only spend about $4,100 a month.
Bo Hanson
That didn't even cover.
Brian Preston
Right?
Derek
No, that's not.
Brian Preston
Wait, that's not, that's not right.
McKenna
Oh.
Brian Preston
Okay, so walk us through 25,000. But you know, that's probably not enough to cover the emergency fund. Where's the thought process there?
Derek
So, so 25,000 is in a high yield savings account.
Brian Preston
Okay.
Derek
And again, that's why I say that that's tagged 100% as emergency fund. But I've got a brokerage account. I've got additional cash sitting in that brokerage account as well.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Derek
You know, money invested. That, that.
Brian Preston
I know you said additional cash sitting there. Money invested. Which one is.
Derek
I've got both. Okay, I've got both. I've probably got another 25 sitting in cash in that account.
Brian Preston
Oh, okay.
Bo Hanson
So what's it for?
Derek
It's if the market goes down and there's a good opportunity, I can, I can invest. If I need to catch, you know, take it out for an emergency, it's there as well.
Brian Preston
Okay, so, Derek, that this poses a problem. Let me, let me take you through a real life scenario. I want to rewind. It's 2008 and the great Recession hit. You know what happened to stocks? They just started cratering. So a financial mutant like yourself says, holy cow, I got to take advantage of this. I got to jump in. There's low stocks. I'm going to go in here and buy. Well, 2008 fell a long way. So you just figured this out about halfway through the year? You bought, market kept going down. Well, then all of a sudden, the economy gets really painful. It hits the skids. And now there's a shift in the health care sector. And all of a sudden there's a huge reduction in force.
Bo Hanson
Rains and pours where they say, hey.
Brian Preston
Market'S going bad, stock price is getting hammered. We're going to have to lay some people off. And unfortunately, Your number is one of the ones they call, and now you're out of work. So now that money that was sitting there, that was going to be opportunistic. When stocks fell, you used it for that purpose. And then the worst case scenario happens, an emergency happens. You don't have any income coming in. Yeah, you got a problem. Well, you got a problem.
Bo Hanson
By the way, this is a financial mutant risk that I see all the. I fell into this, I've detailed it a lot. When we've done content is that financial mutants can't stand cash. Is because you feel like everything should be working for you. But the reality is, and I got humbled on this, and anybody who's heard my story, I got so humbled on it that I was literally praying, get me through this and I'll never do it again. And I've tried to pay it forward by telling everybody, don't fall into. The access to cash trap that I fell into is that Bo is exactly right. When it rains, it pours. I know in the Great Recession, he was probably thinking of me as he was sharing that is because I had a home equity line with over $100,000 of access, literally a debit card, a checkbook, and everything that they gave me. I did not keep my cash as high as it was. And for me, it was my. My revenue of the firm went down 40%. When I say revenue of the firm, that means my pay went down too, because I'm the one. It's all feeding down to my family. But I don't get to give pay cuts to employees or anybody else. My real estate, the bank Wells Fargo, I'll never forget, it was on May 4th. You know, if you're a Star wars nerd, you know that's always an important date. I got a letter from Wells Fargo saying that home equity line that you're counting on for access to cash is completely gone. And then it was just. It was like everything and anything had gotten crushed because the stock market was also getting beaten up. And by the way, this is not something that everybody thinks the Great recession was just 2008. It was bad on the real estate side for 2009, 2010, 2011. It really, really didn't start seeing things go back up until 2012 on real estate and some of those other things that I was counting on. I would encourage you to put a moat around your emergency reserves. It's almost something that is so valuable. There's a reason that when we talk about the financial order of operations, it gets two steps in the non steps is because it is cash that will protect you from the desperate decisions. And I think that you have built. Yalls relationship is so beautiful in the fact that there's a lot of comfort, a lot of trust and that builds something that's really special. This is going to be the stuff that I see as being the pothole that really can derail that is if it's built on a house of cards versus being truly having the foundation and you're so successful with opportunity that you don't have to fake it. You don't have to kind of build this thing on a house of cards. You can actually do it the right way. Get the fully funded six months and you'll be much better. Because even if Beau does the exercise of 50,000 divided by six, it's still. I know enough about where your mortgage is and other things that's not even where you likely should be. We should beef that up even more.
Derek
It's just so hard to put 50, 60 grand into cash.
Brian Preston
Well, tell me this. Inside of your brokerage account, that 25,000 you have sitting there right now, what's it earning?
Derek
Nothing.
Brian Preston
Oh, so you know it's worse than that.
Derek
You're a financial mutant that doesn't even.
Bo Hanson
Earn money on the cash.
Brian Preston
That's. So let's do that. Let's do the exercise. If we take 25,000 plus another 25,000, that's gonna be $50,000. We divide that by six now we're at $8,300 a month. Did you guys live off of 83? Like does that kind of match more closely to what your living expenses are? So if that were the case, then the argument that we would make is that all of that should probably be in a high yield savings account. Well, the great news is that right now high yield savings accounts are paying like 4.75%. So while it's not super fun and while it doesn't get you super excited, if you just take $50,000 and you can make 4.7% on that right now, that's another $2,350. So one of the things I would think through again if I'm thinking through homework items, is we probably ought to, if we're really going to follow the food, really going to do risk management. We're so successful that we don't have to get cute with it. I would think about chiseling that money off actually as your true blue emergency fund. Somewhere around $50,000 in a high yield account. And then you know what Once you've done that, you don't have to think about cash anymore. You have to enter your lexicon.
Bo Hanson
I like 50 as the minimum, but because I already see you wired as this financial mutant, I think it's 50 to 60 because that's going to let you not only have the moat of lifestyle and expenses covered, but it's also going to let you scratch that itch of having some, some capital down the road. And by the way, 50 needs to be your first number to reach. But then after we, we true up some of these other steps of the financial order of operations, that's going to be where you come back as part of step eight is probably to get that up to 60. Okay, that's my thoughts.
Brian Preston
I love it. All right, so we have, so we're going to, you know, fix that problem, right? So we're going to do that. And now we're thinking about our savings. So we got 6% going into our 401k. Then we have another 6,000 going into our HSA and then we have 529. I'm going to argue that's not part of a 25%. That's part of a prepaid future expense. We have acorns. I'm going to argue that'S not part of the 25. It's part of prepaid future. So if I take 6% for a 1k and then 6,000 HSA, I'm not quite at 25%. Yeah. So walk me through, walk me through the mind.
Derek
I put probably an additional on top of that. It's again not automated. I would say somewhere conservatively, I would say maybe 1000 bucks a month in a brokerage.
Bo Hanson
And give me clarification because you, and as I shared this earlier, you have a base salary but then you do have bonuses and RSU's that hit at different points. Walk us through kind of how your cash flow works because I don't want to put pressure. This is something I always tell my clients who are highly compensated employees, but they have bonuses, don't build your monthly savings off of the total comp because you'll drive yourself crazy. Because those bonuses are probably gonna be a big catch up for you. Walk us through how you're saving because really I'm seeing 10 and a half percent but it's, it's not even 10 and a half because you guys are dangerously close to being high enough income that I don't even want you counting the employer max. You know what I mean? You're successful and that means More of this weight falls on your shoulders. Long term, you're at 6%. Is that how much? Because you said you're catching it up some with the bonuses.
Brian Preston
About a thousand a month. He's going to the brokerage account.
Bo Hanson
So 12 grand of the bonuses and stuff is coming in.
Derek
He goes into brokerage. Put about 7,000 into my own Roth IRA.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Derek
And that's another step I need to do.
Brian Preston
Now, McKenna, why was he so specific in saying his own Roth ira?
McKenna
Yeah, where's mine?
Brian Preston
Where's your Roth ira? Right. Because one of the beautiful things is even for spouses that stay at home, even though have earned income, so long as the working spouse earns enough that not only can he do an IRA contribution, we can also do spousal Roth or IRA contributions. Oftentimes Roth, we're not doing that.
Derek
Last year was actually the first year that I even funded my own Roth ira.
Brian Preston
Okay.
Derek
And this goes back to the very early days when you asked about my, you know, my investment experience, my, my base, my background. To me, it's always been the stock market. Right. That, that's where it's fun. My brokerage account, I can get to it if I need it. Right. So that's where I know you always tell the story on your show that you missed so many years of investing.
Bo Hanson
Right.
Derek
Early on, I did as well into my Roth, but I did put it in my brokerage account. So I've got a good build up there. But it's probably not in the best places or best funds that it can be by doing the Roth first.
Brian Preston
So you have a large brokerage. You have a large brokerage asset after tax, asset buckets sitting there.
Derek
Yep.
Brian Preston
Okay, give me a, give me an idea of what large is like. What does that mean?
Derek
I think it's 170.
Brian Preston
100. That's big. 170. Okay, so here's, here's what's.
Bo Hanson
Can I pick on him a little bit about the government? They restrict how much you can put in your Roth. They can restrict who gets to put the money in the Roth. The only reason they do that is because it's so good that they don't want to give you. Because y'all know y'all are also young enough. You know, I share it all the time. For a 20 year old, that $1 can become 88. For the 30 year old, that $1 can Become $23. You guys, I mean, that is, you start thinking about $7,000 growing completely tax free. It's good that you have this large brokerage account. But you're also going to feel the headwind of taxes on that. I mean, especially because here's the thing, more money, more problems in a lot of ways is that your tax rates will continue to go up. And as your taxable account generates income for you, you're going to fill it more and more, whereas your one ray of sunshine is going to be those Roth accounts. And that's what you're exactly right. In Millionaire Mission, I talked about the fact that if you added it up, I missed some roth contributions between 1998, when these things became available and now. And I look at that with such regret because. And I think you even have the opportunity to load up McKenna's account too. And that's not only going to serve building up these tax free assets, but I can tell you as a person that's getting been married close to 30 years, I think there's some ancillary benefits long term because my experience share is, is that as you get older, unfortunately in this world you're going to see friends, relatives, where their marriages don't stay as stable as yours. But that, that still creates a risk where insecurities and I think it's going to feel good both financially and emotionally that there are assets building up in the background. You already saw it with McKenna. She talked about it's kind of like Linus in his blanket on Charlie Brown. You said because you came into the marriage with this account and you have a sense of security with that, I would love to lean into that and nurture that a little bit more. So you continue to build this confidence and feel like it's a feature that how good Derek is doing. But also as a team, you guys are building something pretty special.
Derek
Yeah.
Brian Preston
So, all right, we're gonna give you some grace. You haven't done this before. That's where the grace ends. Because here's what I just Learned. You got 170,000 in a brokerage. We're gonna immediately just take 25 out of that to put in that emergency fund. You already said that. So I'm assuming we got to go 170 -25. I don't do public math. What's that equal like 145, unfortunately.
Bo Hanson
Prehistoric calculation.
Brian Preston
So if I've got 145,000 sitting in a broken brokerage and I just take $7,000 out of it and I put it in a Roth, or I take 14,000, I put it in two Roths. I still have a huge brokerage account. It still exists there. So I'm going to argue, even if you can't fund it out of cash flow, which we're going to talk about in a second, I think you can. Realistically, you should never have an excuse ever again for not funding your Roth now because you have the brokerage account, you got the bank sitting there and you can just move money over if you need to. If you can't save. And at 30, early 30s, late 20s. Right. At that age, every dollar that you can save is going to be insane in terms of what it comes into. You know, what's the only thing better than little dollars turning into insane big dollars, Little dollars turning to insane tax free big dollars? Because that's what the Roth can do for you.
Bo Hanson
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. And I'm going to tell you, you're falling in the camp. I think you fall in the lucky camp. And the fact that your income is getting dangerously close to where you might make too much money to do the Roth as a couple.
Derek
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
So that opens up because you just answered that question so well with both that you don't have rollover IRAs, you don't have SEP IRAs. You're going to qualify for when you do a backdoor Roth, which is basically conversions of traditional IRA contributions into Roth IRAs. So I think it's okay that you're building up in the brokerage account or we'll talk about how we're going to build that up and then funding those backdoor Roth accounts for both of you, it's going to, it's actually going to lend itself to work off the structure you've already created. So it's like I said, it's better to be lucky than good. And I think that that's going to work out very well for you guys. And we'll put that on the homework list too.
Brian Preston
I don't know if you've noticed that we've been kind of accidentally. It's not an accident. We're professionals here going through the financial order of operations. We talked about emergency fund, we talked about step four, now we're in step five, we're talking about Roth IRAs. I do want to just pause for a moment. You know, the only account that I think my opinion hot take is better than a Roth ira Health savings account. And the only reason is, is because it works like a Roth ira, except for you also get a tax benefit on the front end. You said that you're putting $6,000 a year into your HSA starting this year. That's not the Family max. Family max is something over 8300. Right.
Bo Hanson
But the employer is putting in two grand 1000.
Brian Preston
So that means you're at 6000. You could be doing 7300 because you got to include the employer match. That's another $1,300 that could be going in that. Not only could you get a tax deduction on the front end, so you guys are probably. What do we decide? They're in the 22% where we started.
Bo Hanson
I thought it was around the 24.
Brian Preston
24% tax bracket. So if you guys are in the 24% tax bracket, every dollar that you put in your HSA is going to save you 24 cents in taxes. And not only that, it can grow tax free, just like a Roth IRA if you let those dollars be invested and let them grow. So I'm going to argue, you know, you said, I like my taxable brokers and I'm putting money there. You got a lot of stops that you should be hitting before you get there. Max out your Roth, max out employee spousal Roth, and then max out the hsa and then we can start kind of like keep moving through. So now again, we're just kind of going through the financial order. We get to step six. We talk about the retirement plan, we talk about the 401k. You said you're doing 6% in there, you're doing Roth, you're doing pre tax. How'd you go about thinking through that?
Bo Hanson
Roth.
Brian Preston
Roth. Okay, awesome. All Roth. You know what? I don't hate that. What state do you guys live in?
Derek
Tennessee.
Brian Preston
Tennessee. What's the state income tax in the state that you guys live in? 00. So we don't have to think about marginal state tax rates. We just got to think about marginal federal rates. Well, when we look at your situation and we go look at your marginal tax bracket, it seems likely you guys are going to fall into the 24% marginal tax bracket. Our rule of thumb is, is that if you look at your marginal bracket and you're below 25% and you're young, Roth becomes incredibly compelling because odds are your portfolio is going to get big and later in life you'll be in a higher tax bracket. And so tax free dollars will be super, super valuable. If you're in a higher tax bracket, 30% and above, then pre tax becomes very, very valuable because of the current year tax benefit. So I love the idea that you're doing 6% into the 401k into Roth, because what's beautiful is now we have 6% going into Roth there. We have both of our Roth IRAs growing, we have our HSA growing. We have got tons of tax free dollars growing for the future.
Bo Hanson
But if you love 6%, I have to ask, because this is the question I have is because we know that for a 401k you can actually, I'm assuming this is my question. You are highly compensated. Are they restricting how much you can put in there or can you do the full 23,500?
Brian Preston
He can go full 23,000 this year.
Bo Hanson
Okay, 23,000. Why not?
Derek
I think just to again fund the other, the other accounts going to get to the kids and to keep money. Yeah, fund the other, the other investment.
Bo Hanson
And by the way, I love taking care of the kids. And you guys have enough. I think we're gonna be able to do it. But it's just there's a time and a place and I'm just trying to make sure. And you, like I said, you guys are doing great stuff. It's just a matter of fine tuning this. I would love if you would take your compensation, your contribution rate from 6% up to 10%. I know that's squeezing you a little bit, but it would get you really close to actually maxing out because I think with all your bonuses and everything else in beltway, if you want to, because it's a cash flow issue, a lot of employers will allow you to put your bonus compensation as a higher contribution rate than your base salary. So you could keep Your base salary 6%, 8%, maybe 10% if you want to stretch yourself. But then you can make your bonus compensation 12, 15%. So that way it's not squeezing yalls monthly cash flow. But I'd love to kind of challenge you to create that automated inevitable wealth building journey. Because you are, you're at the dangerous point of your. You shouldn't be able to count your employer's match. You're so successful. I want you to build some separation and start that, that process of letting the money pile on top of itself.
Brian Preston
When we are telling you, hey, you got to be ought to be saving more money. How does that make you feel like? Does that make you nervous, uncomfortable? Do you feel like, oh, how are we going to do this? How are we going to squeeze this balloon?
Derek
No. Well, let me ask you this. Is it saving more money or saving it better?
Brian Preston
The answer actually is both. And I just did the math for you.
Bo Hanson
I'm glad you did the math because that's the part I was trying to figure out. Because y'all have not. You're not giving us enough emotional feedback to know how much pain this is causing. Because most people, when I say, hey, I need you to increase your savings rate 10%, they will give me an emotional reaction to where I know I've hit the bone. You know, we've cut so deep, you guys, I'm still kind of figuring out where your pain point is or if y'all just have that much kind of rolling that we could fix this. And this is gonna be happy days with no stress.
Derek
No, I think stretching everything that we're talking about piling on is definitely painful. It's. Oh, crap.
Bo Hanson
You're supposed to be in the messy middle. This is supposed to not feel super easy.
Derek
How can I hit all of these things? And like you said, I know you're going there following the order of operations, is that, kids, there's some of these goals to us that have been such a big, you know, important goal that, you know, we have skipped over some of, you know, completely checking the box on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Right? Getting all the way up. So I would say it's definitely painful. I'll say as well. I came in here thinking, I'm doing really good. I'm really smart, a little bit different.
Brian Preston
And don't, don't.
Bo Hanson
Yeah, we don't.
Brian Preston
You are doing really good. You are really smart. Those are objectively true. Those are true statements. Could you be doing more, and could you be doing better? Yes. I went ahead to the math, because we're sitting here. Why not do the math? To give you some context, you're about $20,000 short in your savings, right? So if you're thinking about how painful does it need to be? The answer is about 20,000. I figured out what I estimate you're currently saving based on the numbers I know versus what we think you ought to be saving. So that, in your mind, should be okay. That's where our shortfall is. So then when I think about the financial order of operations, how should I be attacking this? What I want you guys to think through, maybe you even jot these numbers down. Okay? Going through step five, 7,000 to my Roth 7,000 to my spousal Roth. $7,300 into my HSA. My employer is also going to put 1,000 on top of that. Then I'm going to max out my 401k. I'm going to do another $23,000 into my 401k. What's great is even above and beyond that, at the income level, that you're at, you're still going to be able to save money into your taxable account. You're still going to be able to have. And you could stay around that thousand bucks a month going into the taxable account. And if you can do all of those things, you're going to be able to check that 25% mark. You're going to be able to hit that. Right now, you're not exactly doing that. You're doing about 12,000 into the taxable. You're doing, you know, somewhere around that number into your 401k, you're only doing a single Roth, and you're almost putting them on the HSA. So about a $20,000 shortfall to be able to be doing 25%. So I'm just thinking about, if I were sitting in their situation, why does it. Why am I doing, like, why. Why should. We're doing great. We feel comfortable. Life feels awesome again. We had the ability to do this. We wanted to take it a step further. And we think that when it comes to, like, really setting financial goals, but making financial goals feel real, we want to begin with the end in mind. What are we working towards? Like, why, you know, why are we doing this? You guys kind of told us what you thought retirement might look like in terms of your spending. If we could just maintain the standard of living that we have right now, what would that look like? How do we know we're doing the stuff that we should be doing? And you told us, hey, based on where we are now, this is what we would like to have to be able to live the life that we want to live on our terms. And so, again, using our, you know, fancy dancy financial math, we figured out what the need would be for you guys to be able to retire right now. And we did a retirement analysis for you. And what we know is that right now, if you were to retire today to live the life that you want to live and be able to fund all the things that you want to be able to do, you guys need about $5 million today. You're not there yet. No, but we know that that present value of that is 5 million. Okay, what does the equivalent of that look like at age 65? Like a normal retirement date? What is your number? Spoiler. We used our tool to do this. You've heard us talk about the Know youw Number. Course, this is exactly what it does. We know that the number you guys are working towards is about $8.1 million. So you think about where you are Today, the number that you need to get to your number that we've defined based on the information given us is about 8 million bucks. So we said, okay, great, we know where we are, we got plenty of time. Surely we're going to be on track to hit that. Here's what we uncovered. Even though you guys are comfortable, even though you guys are doing great things and doing the things that you're supposed to be doing, when we look at what we project out and we make a reasonable rate of return assumption and we make reasonable inflation assumptions here, you guys are on track by 65 to hit about six and a half million. We determined that you need 8.1 and you're on track for 6.4. Give me some. Give me some feedback.
McKenna
Uh oh, right.
Brian Preston
But it's not really an uh oh. It should be like, aha. Like, uh oh. If you guys were 61 years old and we were having this conversation, it's much harder. It's much right now at your ages, it shouldn't be, oh, it should be.
Bo Hanson
Oh, right, Same letters, different expressions versus, oh my gosh, we have to do apple cart turnover. That's what I love. Because there's so much time here. It's so much time that even 6.4 million, it's hard to even put your mind around what that means from purchasing power because of inflation and everything else. But I can tell you the spread between 8.1 and 6.4 is really, is small incremental changes. That's a, that's an awesome thing. You know, that's why I know it seems like we're throwing a ton at you in this time that we get together, but this is. This is a success story waiting to happen. It really is. And that's what gets me excited, because these are small decisions that I think you guys, and that's the part I look forward to, and I love when we get to work with clients is that every year we get to have those update meetings. I get to see the after. It's like a home improvement show, you know, we get to see the chaos that you have and then we get to see 12 months later, what did we check the box on, what was fixed? What are the new projects we're going to do? I think everything I see here from my own experiences, this is a success story waiting to be refined and maximized. It just needs a few extra steps to make it there.
Brian Preston
And what I love is this was the. Oh, let me show you the. Ah, right. Because what we said is, what if. What if we begin saving 25%. How does that change right now? Remember, this is all based on you need $5 million today at 65, if you were to work that time, it would need to be about $8.1 million. Well, realistically, that number shifts with time. What we recognized is that if you can start saving 25% today, rather than having to work all the way until 65 to be able to hit your number at a 25% savings rate, by the time that you get to 60, you will have reached your financial independence point. So what? Saving 25%, not only does it close that 2 million dollar gap that existed for you, it actually accelerates the timeline. It moves you faster through time to be able to get to your financial goals. So then at 60 you can decide, do I want to keep working? Maybe I do, but do I want to travel the world? Do we want to go move closer to grandkids? If you can start that behavior now, it allows you later in life to be in the driver's seat and not you to say, oh man, we did everything almost great, and we did everything pretty good. But ah, we still can't quite live the life that we want to live. We're going to live the best we can with what we've been able to do. You guys are still at the point where you can change that and shift it. And it does not take a ton of hard work to be able to do that. Give us some thoughts and feedback on that.
Bo Hanson
So what I heard is sooner, bigger. I mean, this sounds like this is almost turning into a Kanye song. It sounds like stronger, faster. You know, I can't remember the rest of it because I'm horrible with lyrics.
Brian Preston
No, you nailed it.
Bo Hanson
But if it is, this is, give us some feedback on that.
Derek
I think. I mean, even the last page when you showed us that six and a half million, I think initially that's super exciting. That's a lot of money. And I think again, just congratulating where we're at, but understanding the big opportunity of making the shift and jumping ahead five years and millions more.
Brian Preston
We were pretty conservative in our assumptions here. Obviously the markets could do better. You could have bigger pay raises, you could have bigger bonuses, RSU's. We tried to be pretty conservative here. There's a really good chance that the picture could even look better than this. But we'd rather plan conservatively and things turn out better than we thought than plan really, really aggressively. And all of a sudden we get there, we're like, oh, it didn't quite Pan out.
Bo Hanson
Yeah. Under promise, over deliver. Because maybe your success point is 55 and then owning your time that much sooner, I gotta tell you, because I think you've probably heard me share the story, Derek, is that I started saving very, you know, heavily in my 20s because I thought I was going to retire at 50, but now here I am in my 50s and I couldn't imagine retiring. But I'm still so thankful of those sacrifices and that discipline back in those days, because now I own my time and get to do things on my term. And that's what we talk about, independence. I think most people aspire to do what they want, when they want and how they want, but they don't actually take the steps, the small decisions to actually create it. You guys, this is supposed to be the aha moment that it lets you see you get to do it all. And by the way, what I love is because just staying on the concept of the financial order of operations, the kids, I mean, we kept hearing the kids.
Brian Preston
That's it.
Bo Hanson
That's where we were, front and center. Whether it was college, whether it was car, we didn't even get into weddings and all the other stuff. What I love is everything we just shared with you. I think you have the opportunity. You don't even have to shut off your $200 a month for the kids because what you already have coming in just needs to be restructured. You kind of asked that question earlier. So you can keep the dream going for the kids. It's just that it won't be faking it until you make it. You'll actually be checking all the boxes.
Derek
Yeah, I don't think it's an easy answer. Right. I mean, we definitely have to stretch to get there. It's really going to take looking at everything, looking at all the buckets, looking at all the expenses and everything, and probably pull back on some things and just be smarter and tighter. And we are. Which is probably not what you want to hear, but I think again, at the same time, and the reason I'm probably not reacting and ooh, ah, you know, fear is I think a, again, I know we can do it and I know what's at the end of the tunnel there when we get there.
Brian Preston
Yep.
Derek
You know, knowing and having that financial mindset and, you know, understanding where this can take us, it's. It's super exciting. But at the same time, I will say, you know, and this is maybe where I'm, you know, skipping some of these steps is I want to make sure that we're enjoying the journey along the way. I want to make sure that, you know, we're not so tight. You know, again, looking at, you know, other people, my dad in particular is one. Right. So tight. Such a big saver, which has been incredible for me to set that foundation. But then I want to take it even one step further. I think he would say the same thing. Right. Use me as a base and stand on my shoulders.
Brian Preston
That's right.
Derek
Take it one step further and enjoy the journey along the way. And so that's where, again, I get into that. Oh, crap. You know, how do I. How do I do all of these things? Enjoy the journey. Not be so tight. Be, you know, open and willing. You know, turn in that. That tightwater card. I got to pull it back out.
Brian Preston
Yeah. But here's.
McKenna
Here's.
Brian Preston
Here's the great news. What we just showed you was, like, it was the goal, right? Realistically. And this is what we want to equip you guys with. When you leave here, when you go back home, when you have dinner tonight and have the conversation, you get to say, okay, what parts of this can we realistically implement? And I do not want to diminish the fact that you guys are in the messy middle. And you've already told us that you want to be a growing family. Like, you have kids now. You want more kids. There's a chance the middle may get even messier. Right? You add kids in that bunch, and it just gets harder, and that's okay. We showed you what 25% can do for you. It does not mean that you have to do 25%. It doesn't mean that it has to be now. I do think that the answer is probably somewhere between what you're doing now and what we just laid out. And you guys have to define what that looks like, because we do want you to be able to enjoy this season and this station of life and be able to use your money as a tool not just for the future, but also for the present. You just have to make sure that when you're using it for the present, you're not sacrificing the thing that you ultimately do want to be able to do in the future, like be near your kids or be near your grandkids or have independence. I think the word used when we first started talking was freedom. We want to position you with the highest likelihood to have freedom as early as possible for as long as possible. You guys have to figure out how inside of your family ecosystem that works right now. And it may be hey, right now we can't do 25%, but man, we can, we can do 20, we can do 21, we can do, you know, whatever the thing may be and you'll figure out where that balance is. The earlier you can hit the number, the earlier you're going to allow yourself to have options in the future. We've done tons of talking. We've just thrown a ton at you. What questions do you have that we've not answered? What things are you curious about that we can speak to to be super valuable for you guys?
Derek
Again? I knew a lot of, well, some of where this was going to go when I, when, you know, when we started, I knew that there were very, you know, alarming holes in our financial plan and our, you know, our financial situation. Insurance, estate planning, you know, things like that. It's, it's been incredibly eye opening for me to just see, you know, you know, truly the steps and checking the box completely.
Bo Hanson
Yeah.
Derek
Within the financial order of operations as opposed to, you know, I think I'm doing a good job here. I've got a goal here. Let me take a step, you know, two steps ahead and go here again, that's a goal and I don't think that it will change. But I think just being smarter and more intentional I would say is probably the right word about those first few steps and really maximizing the opportunity.
Bo Hanson
How about your feeling? Do you feel optimistic? Do you feel overwhelmed? I mean, give us a feel, feel for, for how you feel on some of these things we shared with, with you guys.
Derek
Probably, I mean, for me, more optimistic, but a little bit of both. And again, I came in here thinking, you know, I've, I've got this down, I'm doing really good. But no, knowing that there was opportunity. I didn't think I was the smartest guy in the room. Right. I knew that coming in. But, but just seeing, you know, how much more opportunity there is. And like you've said, we've got the means or pretty close to the means to be able to do it. You know, sure, it's going to take some stretching and maybe some reprioritizing and everything, but extremely optimistic to know that, you know, a, we're doing really good, we're on a really good track today, but we could be better and truly so much better.
Bo Hanson
Yeah.
Derek
By just, by just again being more intentional with those first few steps. I still am 100%. We'll do it. I don't like the fact of having 50,000 in cap. I will do it.
Brian Preston
Come on.
Derek
I hate the idea of having that.
Bo Hanson
I wish I could take a portion of my dread and regret from living that and give you just an ounce of it because I think that and it also would challenge you. This is just the experience share. I think about the things that cause me stress as a financial mutant and I think about the hassle factor and the materiality of it. And I realized that my concern about what I was losing on that cash because maybe if you really boil it down to how much because you agree that you need 25 to 40,000 easily it's probably that extra 20 that's giving you the pause. If you look at the opportunity cost on that 20, it does not what it could grow to does not overcome the risk that is and that's the part I would love to share. But I think I get it. I've walked those shoes. I've experienced it. It's just the trust my wisdom of the failure I've made so you don't have to fall into that same trap.
Derek
Like I said, I 100% trust you. I understand it. It's the mindset shift.
Bo Hanson
I get it.
Derek
Versus just in a high yield savings but hopefully if you.
Brian Preston
Do all the things that you're supposed to do the way you're supposed to do it, that will become a rounding error in the future. That 50,000 that sat over there and you had the opportunity cost loss of it won't even matter. Certainly in the context of 8.1 or 7.6 million that 50,000 will not have changed your trajectory. Whereas if you had an emergency it very well could have. Yeah, any big aha's for you or takeaways. How are you feeling?
McKenna
I'm feeling good.
Bo Hanson
I would encourage I think this is going to be and this has been a great communication tool for my wife and I is as you are doing those annual net worth statements. And by the way it can turn into romantic stuff and I've shared this on other content is that I like down the road after you've checked all the boxes and things are starting to line up, you can start putting together a five year travel goal schedule or other things that y'all want to do as a family and as a couple that stuff does get romantic because that's kind of fulfilling to know that you're doing these things together. You're accomplishing goals. By the way, this was just the tip of the iceberg. You had asked us pre planning, you'd sent some emails and stuff. We didn't even get to talk to you about tax Location. We didn't get to talk to you about asset allocation. It is one of those things, Derek, where I think that it's not worth us covering that necessarily today. Because as long as you get those emergency reserves where even though you are very aggressive on the index funds and even some of the individual stocks, the counterbalance of those emergency reserves that you're dreading will allow you to be. Okay. That you might be a little more aggressive over time. That will get adjusted as you're building up these assets, too.
Derek
Got it.
Brian Preston
So, guys, you are financial mutants. Congratulations. But even financial mutants have areas to improve upon. What I've been doing this whole time is I've just been putting together some homework items. I'm going to list them out to you. We'll make sure you have a copy of this so that when you guys go home, you have some stuff you can talk about and work on here. They were one. Work on a net worth statement together and have a conversation so that way you're both on the same page. You have to get wills done, you have to get your estate documents done. You have to get that in place. You need to revisit your life insurance to determine do we have enough. Your cash reserves could use some work. Our recommendation is somewhere around 50 to 60 thousand dollars, truly chiseled off as a cash reserve. You should consider funding both of your Roth IRAs every single year, whether it comes from cash flow or you shift money from your taxable account hsa, you're leaving tax dollars on the table by not maxing that out. And at the full family max, we would love to see you max out your Roth 401k. Instead of just doing the 6%, consider going all the way up to the 23,000. You guys should have a realistic conversation around goal priority. Hey, when we came in here, it was kids, kids, kids, kids, kids. That's okay. Should it be us? Kids, kids, kids, kids, kids. How are we going to navigate that together? And then you can use that money that you get back to schedule this date night to go have all these wonderful marital conversations.
McKenna
Awesome.
Bo Hanson
Derek McKenna, thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your financial life so we can all be better. And I would thank you, the audience, thank you for tuning in to Making a Millionaire.
Brian Preston
Make sure you like this video and subscribe. And if you want to be a guest on Making a millionaire, go to moneyguy.com apply. And while you're there, check out moneyguy.com resources to start building your more beautiful tomorrow.
Bo Hanson
And what I love is that we get to share that there's a better way to do money. I'm your host, Brian Preston. Mr. Bo Hanson. Money got team out.
Brian Preston
Making a Millionaire is hosted by Bryan Preston and Bo Hanson. Brian and Bo are partners at Abound Wealth Management. Abound Wealth Management is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the securities and Exchange Commission. In accordance and compliance with the securities laws and regulations, Abound Wealth Management does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through Making A Millionaire. The information provided is for informational purposes only, may not be suitable for all investors, and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice. All investments involve a degree of risk, including the risk of loss. The guests featured on Making a Millionaire are not clients of Abound Wealth Management at the time of recording. Their participation should not be considered a testimonial or endorsement of Abound Wealth Management.
Podcast Summary: Money Guy Show – "Blind Spots Could Shatter This Financial Fairy Tale | Making a Millionaire"
Release Date: March 31, 2025
Hosts: Brian Preston and Bo Hanson
In this engaging episode of the Money Guy Show, hosts Brian Preston and Bo Hanson delve deep into the financial journey of their guests, Derek and McKenna. Titled "Blind Spots Could Shatter This Financial Fairy Tale | Making a Millionaire," the episode explores the hidden vulnerabilities that even financially successful couples might overlook. Through candid conversations and expert advice, the hosts aim to illuminate areas that could potentially disrupt a seemingly stable financial situation.
Background and Financial Standing
Derek and McKenna present a picture of affluence with a combined six-figure household income and an investable net worth exceeding $380,000. Their story begins with a fairytale romance formed in college, leading to marriage and the decision to return to Derek's hometown of Nashville. They are proud parents to two young children, aged four and one.
Notable Quote:
Despite their impressive financial standing, Derek and McKenna face potential risks that could undermine their stability. Brian Preston introduces the concept of financial blind spots—unexpected events that could jeopardize their financial fairy tale.
Key Topics Discussed:
Notable Quotes:
A significant portion of the discussion centers around life insurance—a critical yet often overlooked component of financial planning. Derek currently relies on employer-provided life insurance, which he recognizes is insufficient.
Recommendations:
Notable Quotes:
Derek and McKenna are actively saving through various accounts, including 401(k)s, HSAs, 529 plans, and brokerage accounts. However, there are gaps in their savings strategy that the hosts aim to address.
Current Savings Breakdown:
Areas for Improvement:
Notable Quotes:
Using their proprietary tools, the hosts present a comprehensive retirement analysis, revealing that Derek and McKenna are on track to amass approximately $6.5 million by age 65, while their goal stands at $8.1 million.
Strategies to Close the Gap:
Notable Quotes:
The episode highlights the emotional aspects of financial planning, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the journey while securing the future. Derek expresses a desire to balance financial discipline with present enjoyment, ensuring that money serves both current and future needs.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
To solidify their financial standing, Derek and McKenna receive a set of actionable recommendations:
Notable Quotes:
In conclusion, this episode serves as a crucial reminder that even financially successful individuals like Derek and McKenna can have overlooked areas that, if addressed, can significantly enhance their financial security and future. Brian Preston and Bo Hanson provide insightful guidance, empowering listeners to examine their own financial blind spots and take proactive steps towards a more secure and fulfilling financial future.
Final Thoughts:
Notable Quotes:
Resources Mentioned:
By following the structured financial order of operations presented in this episode, listeners are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to identify and address their own financial blind spots, ensuring a robust and resilient financial future.