Do This Today If You Want a Successful Retirement

Summary

Podcast Summary: Money Guy Show

Episode: Do This Today If You Want a Successful Retirement
Hosts: Brian Preston & Bo Hanson
Air Date: March 25, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the real secrets behind a successful and fulfilling retirement. While “crunching the numbers” and building a solid nest egg are important, hosts Brian and Bo explore insights from recent retiree surveys and happiness studies to deliver practical advice you can act on today. Their message urges listeners to plan holistically—not just financially—for retirement, emphasizing happiness, health, and well-being.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Retirement Happiness: It’s More Than Money

• Many Expect to Be Happier in Retirement, But Social Ties Matter
  • 67% of retirees report being happier than when working (02:31).
  • Loneliness is a significant risk: 47% of unhappy retirees cite loneliness—the social structures found at work can vanish after retirement.
  • Quote (Bo):

    "Oftentimes you spend more time with the people at your 9 to 5 than you do with the people that sleep under the same roof. And when that's gone...it's really easy to feel isolated, alone." (02:50)

• Actionable Tip:
  Plan for community post-retirement. Start nurturing social connections and find activities "to retire to," not just "from."

2. Health as Wealth

• Prioritize Health Early and Often
  • Nearly half (49%) of happy retirees planned ahead—prioritizing health in advance (04:35).
  • 34% of retirees cite failing health as a top concern. Early investment in health increases enjoyment in retirement.
  • Quote (Brian):

    "Health is wealth. Having a front row seat to not only success, but to seeing how people retire—one of the biggest things that breaks my heart is when...they get sick." (04:35)

• Actionable Tip:
  Start healthy habits now, not after you’ve quit working.

3. Don’t Wait to Live Your Life

• Balance Deferred Gratification and Present Enjoyment
  • Many expect to travel (79%), exercise more, spend time with others (71%) in retirement—but most current retirees report actually spending more time watching TV (83%), with loved ones (67%), or relaxing (63%). (07:20)
  • Quote (Bo):

    "You get to be the director, the main character of your story...you can actually begin to do some of those things today." (07:20)

• Actionable Tip:
  Test-drive your retirement dreams (travel, hobbies, social time) before you retire.

4. You May Worry Less About Money in Retirement Than You Think

• Anxiety Reduces With Preparation and Support
  • Sequence of return risk causes anxiety, especially in the first two years post-retirement (09:18).
  • 34% of pre-retirees worry about outliving money, but only 22% of retirees share that fear.
  • 46% of retirees report fewer financial problems than expected. Planning and stress-testing make a big difference.
  • Quote (Brian):

    "I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised than shocked by it." (11:13)

• Actionable Tip:
  Plan and stress-test your retirement. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

5. Stress-Test Your Financial Plan

• Inflation & Spending Risks Are Real
  • Retirement timing matters: In times of high inflation (like post-2021), the number of retirees spending more than anticipated jumped from 17% to 31% (12:36).
  • Stress-test your plan against different market/inflation scenarios.
  • Quote (Bo):

    "If you can model those things out...there’s a much higher likelihood that you’re going to be a happy retiree.” (13:37)

• Actionable Tip:
  Use conservative numbers for inflation and expenses. Run simulations for bear markets and “what if” tests.

---

Five Essential Actions for a Happy Retirement

(Recap at 14:27)

1. Prioritize community (build social circles and activities).
2. Take care of your health (don’t delay healthy habits).
3. Live some life today (don’t defer all enjoyment).
4. Make a plan (stress-test and refine for contingencies).
5. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best (over-plan and be happily surprised).

“If you can do that, there’s a chance that you’re going to be one of the respondents in that survey...that says, man, I am a happy retiree, living the life I want on my terms.” — Bo (14:27)

---

Notable Q&A Segments

[16:08] Mortgage Discount Points – Should You Buy Down Your Rate?

• Weigh math and market direction: Calculate break-even point, consider tax deductibility, and remember rates may fall further soon.
• Shop rates, compare deals, and use real-time online rate sources.
• Don’t rush if rates might drop enough to warrant a refinance.

[28:29] Why Do Some Advisors Say Retirement Expenses Are Lower?

• Expenses can decrease due to dropping taxes and no more savings; “go go” years may cost more, but overall spending is often similar or slightly lower.
• Quote (Bo):

  "I want, at worst, you maintain your standard of living when you retire...at best, I actually love to see my clients have an increase.” (29:54)

[33:31] Step Four Setbacks: Getting Discouraged Rebuilding Emergency Savings

• Use of an emergency fund for real emergencies is a win—it prevents debt or hardship.
• Don’t be discouraged by setbacks: "Thank goodness you had it there.” (34:41)
• Stay positive, focus on progress, and keep rebuilding.

[53:48] How to Help Friends Who Make Bad Financial Choices Without Being Judgy

• Understand your relationship: Some friends can handle blunt advice; others may need gentle, curious questioning.
• Inspire curiosity, offer resources, and don’t be condescending.
• Quote (Brian):

  “Nobody likes to hear things from a negative perspective. So when I talk to my friends, I hit them with a shock and awe stat...then provide the tool or resource that’s going to fix it...a lot of times we are often safe. You can get somebody just to get curious.” (55:29-57:14)

[58:03] New Baby On The Way: Updating Your Will/Estate Plan

• Update your will when family circumstances change (add guardianship instructions, trusts, insurance reviews, beneficiary designations).
• Don’t over-complicate—use payable/transfer on death designations where possible. Tailor the plan to your needs, not to generic templates.

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Brian:

  "Health is wealth... Invest in your health now." (04:35)

• Bo:

  “Don’t wait for tomorrow. Go ahead and live some life today.” (14:27)

• Brian, on stress-testing:

  “Plan accordingly because I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised than to be shocked by it.” (11:13)

• On using an emergency fund:

  "It's okay if you use your emergency fund for an emergency. That's what it's there for." (34:41)

• On inspiring others financially:

  "Inspire curiosity, set a hook, and then provide the solution." (57:14, Bo & Brian)

---

Fun & Personality

• Lively debate on checked baggage vs. carry-on (25:03–33:12).
• Rapid-fire “It Does Not Depend” financial lightning round (39:06–47:01).
• Banter about theme park shorts, mustaches, and trendy fashion—a window into their lighthearted chemistry.
• Community shout-outs and encouragement to join their Discord/Money Verse for ongoing financial discussion.

---

Key Timestamps for Reference

• [01:06] – Main theme introduction: Secrets of a successful retirement
• [02:31] – Survey insights: Retirement happiness and community
• [04:35] – Health as a top retirement priority
• [07:20] – Hopes vs. reality in retirement activities
• [12:36] – How inflation and retirement timing affect spending
• [14:27] – The five essential steps recap
• [16:08, 28:29, 33:31, 53:48, 58:03] – Notable Q&A sessions

---

Final Takeaways

To set yourself up for a joyful, worry-free retirement:

• Nurture relationships and community
• Invest in health now
• Balance saving with enjoying your current life
• Prepare, stress-test, and over-plan financially
• Take action on the soft (emotional, physical) side of retirement, not just the numbers

For tools and further guidance, visit moneyguy.com/resources
Consider joining their Discord “Money Verse” for interactive community support.

---

Original hosts’ tone: Warm, practical, slightly irreverent, and community-oriented—with a focus on actionable advice and banter that keeps complex topics fun.

Transcript

[Brian Preston]

Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney. Let's go get ready for a new case. We're the greatest partners of all time. New friends Gary the Snake and your last name the Snake Dream Team. Get new habitats.

[Beau Ribey]

Zootopia has a secret reptile population.

[Brian Preston]

You can watch the record breaking phenomenon at home. Zootopia 2 now available on Disney. Rated PG. And right now you can get Disney and hulu for just $4.99 a month for three months with a special limited time offer. Ends March 24. After three months, Plan Auto renews at $12.99 a month. Terms apply.

[Bo Hanson]

The world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use. Helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and, and clear a path to your best work. Learn [e-mail] M365 copilot.

[Brian Preston]

You want a successful, you want a successful retirement? Lean in and we're going to hook you up today.

[Bo Hanson]

Lean in is right, isn't it? Brian I am so excited about this because we know like when it comes to retiring we obviously want to like crunch the numbers and we want to figure out the mathematics of and want to think through those pieces of it. But what we have found is that there are more things at play and more things that you should be aware of in order to have a successful retirement. We want to dive into those things today.

[Brian Preston]

Wait a minute. You mean there's more than just the nest egg amount and the safe withdrawal rate. What else could there be?

[Bo Hanson]

What else could there possibly. Today we're going to look at some, some tips and some insights from actual retirees, folks who have actually done this and said hey this is what's allowing us to enjoy our retirement. We're talking about some things to avoid to, to not make your retirement something less ideal than you want it to be. And I think the first one, this one seems kind of interesting when it comes to like there was a study done by Massmutual on like the happiness level of retirees and, and they asked him a number of questions and one of the, one of the responses they got from the retires they surveys was that retirement is better than working. Yeah, that's, that's Brian, I'm curious to know how do you feel about this one because I, I, I struggle with this one a ton.

[Brian Preston]

Well I think we have a bias I mean, because we, we, we have, we like our jobs. I mean, but I think that for the majority of people, when you see all the happiness studies, a lot of people are in jobs they don't love. So it's not surprising to find out that 67% of retirees are actually happier on a typical day than they were when they were out there in the workforce.

[Bo Hanson]

So it's pretty, you know, it's a majority of folks, but it does leave a swath of people that it sounds like are probably unhappy. And the questions on the survey went on and what they found were 47% of retirees that said they're not happier in retirement identified that they were lonely. They said that, hey, one of the reasons why I'm not happy in retirement is because I'm not surrounded by people the way that I was when I was working. And we talk about this all the time. Brian, for our folks that show up here every day, to money guy shower, to abound wealth, it's kind of like your work family, right? Like it's the people. Oftentimes you spend more time with the people at your 9 to 5 than you do with the people that sleep under the same roof. And when that's gone and when you lose that social structure, it's really easy to feel isolated, alone.

[Brian Preston]

Every, every bit of happiness research I've ever done, when I was writing Millionaire Mission or and even some show, content relationships is a big part of what drives that. So I would right now, if you find out that your work structure is all of your social structure as well, go ahead and start making steps or strides to figure out what's next. You know, kind of build to what you're going to. So that way you don't fall into that, that category of being retired, lonely and unhappy. Because I think a little preparation can help offset that.

[Bo Hanson]

I love what you said right there. Know what you're retiring to, not just what you're retiring from. Another takeaway that came from the survey. Again, the survey was what makes a happy retiree. And one of the things that kind of kept coming up in the survey was this idea of health. And the takeaway was you should, right now, whether you retired or not, you should begin to prioritize your health starting today.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I mean, this is one, I say it all the time. Health is wealth. Because having a front row seat to not only success, but to seeing how people retire. One of the biggest things that breaks my heart is when everybody puts all of what they perceive as their happiness or what will be their happiness or fulfillment into the future. And then they get sick. I mean, that happens. So that's why you have to invest in your health now. And that's why, if you look at the stats here, nearly half, 49% of retirees who are happier in retirement are those who planned ahead. And they definitely prioritize making sure they were healthy.

[Bo Hanson]

So they are happy because even before they got there, they put in the time, put in that effort. And then with this study, they asked the retirees, hey, what are the things that concern you? What are the things that you're worried about? And 34% of all current retirees that were surveyed said that one of their biggest issues is their health. It's one of the biggest concerns that they have. So the earlier you can begin prioritizing that, the earlier you can begin riding that ship. If you're not where you need to be likely, the more enjoyable, the easier those later years in retirement are going to be.

[Brian Preston]

So the big takeaway, hand in hand, you need to think about not only deferred gratification and saving for the future, but also let's go ahead and focus on the, the health is wealth. And you know, because what's the worst thing that happens is that you, you've learned, you've learned a little.

[Bo Hanson]

I'm too healthy.

[Brian Preston]

I actually, well, you actually love exercising. I didn't. If you would have told me 20 years ago that I would have enjoyed exercising. Now, there's always nuts like Bo who've from jump street thought that they loved working out, but some of us, it takes a little bit of adoption to figure out that, hey, this, this healthier lifestyle actually sticks.

[Bo Hanson]

I love it. Another, the, the next point that they kind of pulled out of the survey, I think was, was one that's a little bit of a money guy echo, even though it flies contrary to what a lot of people think. And the idea was, is that you don't want to wait to live your life. We love deferred gratification. We love thinking about sacrificing a little bit of today for tomorrow, but we don't want to sacrifice all of today for tomorrow for exactly what you said. We don't know what tomorrow holds.

[Brian Preston]

Well, we just, we just had recorded making a millionaire yesterday and I was thinking, and I don't know that I highlighted enough that there's a fine line between financial mutant and financial miser. And I think sometimes us mutants, we think that, hey, we're going to live our best life in the future, so we're Going to just lock ourselves down. No, that's more miserly than that is Mutant. Because I want you to bedazzle your basic life, go out there and travel. You don't have to spend a ton of money to still create incredible memories. Because what I think is interesting is if you compare and contrast what people think they'll do in retirement versus what actually happens, it will make you take action today.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah, it's really interesting. The survey asked, okay, what are the top activities that you imagine you're going to do when you retire? And 79% said travel. 71% of the respondents said they were going to exercise more. And then 71% said that they were going to spend time with others. So that's what people that are not retired thought that they would be doing in retirement. And then they asked the question for the current retirees, hey, what do you actually spend your time doing? Where are your efforts going? 83% said it's watching movies and TV. 67% said time with loved ones. And about 63% said relaxing. So there is a little bit of, like, a disparity between what people thought they were going to be doing and what they end up doing. You get to be the director, the main character of your story. If you think that you're going to travel a lot when you retire, you may want to start traveling now a little bit just to make sure that you enjoy that, just to make sure it's something you want to do. Same thing with exercise, same thing with hobbies, same thing with spending time with other people. Don't just wait till tomorrow. You can actually begin to do some of those things today.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I think the big takeaway for me is, is we hear about the. The go go years, the slow go, and then the no go. I want you to expand that go go period as long as possible. And having a plan can go a long. That you actually do the things that you anticipate that you'll be, you know, living your best retirement life doing.

[Bo Hanson]

And then this next one I thought was a little surprising because again, I think this is contrary to what a lot of people think. The fourth insight was you might actually worry less about money in retirement than you did pre retirement. Don't mishear us, Brian, because I. You say this all the time. Whenever we're sitting down with someone who's about to retire, you say, hey, I don't care how prepared you are, I don't care how much time you've put in them, how much. We've looked at the numbers There will be a psychological shift in those early days of retirement. Talk a little bit about that.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I mean, you think about it when you let's just. Because right now there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world, a lot of geopolitical stuff, a lot of economic stuff. And for a lot of you, when, when the stock market gets beat up, you'll just like, it's okay, I'll just always be buying. I'll just work through it. Good thing I have this job. Think about now. Put yourself in the position of you go through all this emotional as well as all these things that are going on in the world. And now you, when the stock market goes down 10, 15, 20%, you just have to ride it. And that's going to hit you completely differently in retirement than it is when you're actually working and still throwing money into the markets through the always be buying. You just need to plan accordingly. And that's why I think a lot of people start, especially those first two years, that sequence of return risk is legitimate. But I think a lot of people who have been financial mutants and saved, well, they find out though, once they get there, hey, this is going to be okay. Especially if they have great, a great team that they surround themselves in so they think less about money and more about doing. We see that in a lot of our clients as well.

[Bo Hanson]

Brent. I'm taking my kids, my wife and I were taking our kids down to Universal this week and my kids are super stoked about roller coasters. But it's always one of those things that like leading up to getting on the roller coaster, there's a little bit of apprehension, there's a little bit of nervous, a little bit of scaredness. But once we get them on the roller coaster, once they actually get to experience it, they recognize it's not quite as frightening as they thought that it might be. And I think a lot of retirees came to that same conclusion. 34% of pre retirees said that they're worried about outliving their money. I'm worried that we when I retire, I'm going to live longer than my resources are going to allow. And yet when they actually asked retirees that are in retirement that are living off of their resources, only 22% said that they were worried about outliving their money. So something changed between the pre retirement piece and the after retirement.

[Brian Preston]

Now, some of that could be and just playing it through, depending upon when they survey these, some survivorship bias.

[Bo Hanson]

Sure.

[Brian Preston]

And the fact that, I mean, if you make it through your first two years and you didn't have one, and we've had some pretty good markets in the last few years, it could actually work its way out. But still plan accordingly because I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised than to be shocked by it. And then this, this goes into just being another positive, being pleasantly surprised. 46% of retirees say they've had fewer financial problems than they anticipated. Isn't that always nice to kind of plan for the worst and then hope for the best?

[Bo Hanson]

But I do think it's one of those things you do need to anticipate it. It's why we tell people all the time that before you retire, let's measure 2, 3, 4, 5 times. Let's look at the dream plan, let's look at the down to earth plan, let's look at the doo doo plan. Let's think about all the different contingencies that could happen so that we at least have some familiarity and we at least have a recognition that these things could happen. And we've tested it, we've made sure the plan is sound. If you can do that and if you can weigh out all of those things, then it's not surprising. The folks who have done that, half of them say, you know what, I tested it, I looked at it, I thought about it, and man, things turned out even a little bit better than I expected. But you have to do the work on the front end. You have to make sure again that you measure 2, 3, 4 times before you just take that leap to move into the next phase of life.

[Brian Preston]

Well, you know, and I've kind of given a little prelude to this is that just like I talked about, sequence of return risk is when you retire actually matters. But we actually did a different example or wanted to highlight a different data point is that we looked at people back in 2020 and this is before all that, the big inflation hit. You know, 17% said they were spending was just a little bit higher than they, they kind of could afford for retirement. So if you do the other side of that Math, that means 83% of people were like, hey, this is a, okay, I'm going to be all right, but fast forward. And now we've come through this hyperinflation period. I think people have found that man, all of a sudden now that number that was 17 has jumped up to 31%. Was that spending was higher and much more than they anticipated. It does matter. When you retire, you need to plan accordingly. That's why we love stress testing. That's why we do love creating financial plans, is it's nobody has shock or surprises when they actually cross that threshold.

[Bo Hanson]

And go ahead and assume, like when you're doing your planning. Okay, what happens? Yeah, in our base case, we're going to model out what if it's, what if expenses increase at 3% inflation, but then go ahead, okay, well, what if it's actually higher? What if it's five? Or what if when I retire, all of a sudden 2022 happens or 2008 happens, or the year 2000 happens? If you can model those things out and have a probability of success assigned to even making it through those markets, there's a much higher likelihood that you're going to be a happy retiree. That when those unknown unknowns come to come to fruition, you're like, it's okay, I've planned for this. I thought about this. I'm in a good spot.

[Brian Preston]

So, Bo, why don't you go ahead and let's recap those five things one more time and then let's get into what everybody's been waiting for. A little Q and A.

[Bo Hanson]

So in order to be a happy retiree, here are some things that we think you ought to begin doing now. Number one, prioritize community. Number two, go ahead and start taking care of your health. Number three, don't wait for tomorrow. Go ahead and live some life today. Don't push everything into the future. Make sure that you have a plan in place. And as you have that plan in place, make sure that you are preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. And if you can do that, there's a chance that you're going to be one of the respondents in the survey, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 years from now that says, man, I am a happy retiree. I'm living the life that I want to be living on my terms.

[Brian Preston]

If you're a financial mutant and you're quickly approaching retirement, five years, even 10 years, and you just want to go ahead and start doing, taking the steps now to make sure that you're going to be okay, don't sleep on the fact. Go to moneyguy.com resources. We actually have the money guy's ultimate guide to retirement that you can. Basically, it's a landing pad where you can get all the details, all the information you want to kind of know to make sure you live your best financial life.

[Bo Hanson]

Brian I love that we get to do this. I love that we get to show up every Single Tuesday at 10am Central and share something with you guys about how to save for retirement, how to have a happy retirement, how to take your finances to the next level. But I also love that we get to sit here and answer questions. We get to speak to the things that you guys are curious about. So if you have a question that you want us to weigh in on, we have the team out in the wings right now collecting your questions. So make sure you get them into the chat because we do believe that there is a better way to do money. So with that creative director Ribey, I'm going to throw it over to you.

[Beau Ribey]

Yes, I'm going to kick it off with Garrison's question. It says the wife and I are looking to buy our first home and trying to decide if buying mortgage discount points is is smart in this market. What are the determining factors that make buying points worth it? Well, what is that? I feel like there's going to be people out there that do not let

[Bo Hanson]

me talk what that is.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah.

[Bo Hanson]

So let me talk a little bit about, about what points are Brian, then you can talk because I think this question is a great question. Even if you take out the in this market, that little prepositional phrase, I think you should answer question. Does it make sense to ever buy mortgage discount points? And what that means is let's say that right now the prevailing interest rate on a 30 year mortgage is six and an eighth, right. 6.125 if you want. When you go through closing a lot of times the lender will give you the opportunity where you can buy your rate down. Meaning I'm going to pay X number of dollars and instead of having a 6 1/8 interest rate, I'm going to buy my rate down to 6% or to 5 and 7, 8 or to 5 and 3 quarters. I'm going to spend some money upfront today at closing and in exchange for that money I'm spending in closing, I'm going to get a lower interest rate. And so Garrison's question is, well, does that make sense if rates are high? Is that something I should take advantage of? How do you decide?

[Brian Preston]

Well, first a few more data points you need to be aware of. If this is a your purchase, not a refinance, you actually can deduct those points on your tax return, which can help give a little bit of a oomph to the decision making process because there's some deductibility there. But it does ultimately come down to a math decision is that you have to now compare, you know, what is my payment going to be with this lower bought down rate versus what it would be if I just took what the off the rack rate was. And then you figure out, you know, take what the cost is, you figure out where the break even point is. Now, in the past, you would just say, okay, well, if the break Even point is 30 months in the future, well, I'm going to live in this house for at least the next five years. This might make sense, especially with the deductibility to push it over the line and say, this is a good deal. I will tell you, you might want to hit the pause button right now. And the fact that there's one other consideration to take into account. I'm not so sure we're completely done with interest rates going down. There are some pressures that maybe we're going to get another quarter, maybe we're going to get another half. Now look, when the Fed adjusts rates, they're adjusting the short term rates, but there is an influence on even longer term rates. If you don't believe it, just look at what's happened in the last year as we have watched mortgage rates go down from the sevens all the way down to the low sixes, even below six, briefly for a period of time. And that's because the overall interest rate environment has been dropping. And I think that we might still have a little more room for that. So you'd have to ask yourself, not only do the math equation that we just laid out, which is what is the cost depending upon when the break even, but then ask yourself, hey, where is the market going? Because. And is it going to move the needle to where I need to refinance? Those are the kind of things I would take into account to figure out if it's worthwhile. I will tell you, in the past, it all depends on how good the deal is. There have been deals where when I've done the math, I'm like, holy cow, you mean I can do this in less than two years and I don't have to go through the process of refinancing and all the costs associated with refinancing and I get this tax deduction? Yeah, let's, let's do that. And I have actually bought points in the past.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah, I think it's really interesting. A lot of people don't realize this. I don't want to be so bold as to say that mortgages are negotiable because that's, that's the wrong language to use.

[Brian Preston]

You should definitely shop it.

[Bo Hanson]

But mortgages are customizable. Some mortgages might be 30 years. Some mortgages might be 15 years, some mortgages might be 10 years. Your rate might be the prevailing interest rate or you might be able to buy down points or even if you're someone who doesn't put down 20% and you're supposed to have PMI, you might be able to exchange PMI for a lender paid PMI and take a surcharge on the rate. So understand if you are a first time homebuyer, there are a plethora of options at your disposal to figure out how you get the right product for your circumstance. So just make sure you do your research, you do your due diligence. Because for most people buying a home is the largest purchase that you will ever make. And so you want to make sure that you make it.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I would be curious now because I did. I'm doing this off the cuff so I haven't, you know, none of the players are changing constantly. But I think it was better.com was actually publishing their mortgage rates online so you could almost check it in real time on a day to day basis. If you all want to go see if better.com is still publishing mortgage rates with refinance rates.

[Bo Hanson]

I did that one time. You know what they did?

[Brian Preston]

What?

[Bo Hanson]

I accidentally put my phone, my phone number in there.

[Brian Preston]

Oh, they harassed you body.

[Bo Hanson]

They.

[Brian Preston]

No, that's what, that's why real time without you having to give an email or, or phone number. That's because I don't want to. I don't like getting. But there was a period. I know Ally in the past has done it better. But then I found out Ally was just using better.com as the backbone of their system. But if you can get the that way you can because it then adds to the process. You can know how good your broker or the institution's offering. How good is that to the market? Because you got to cut through the, the noise of are they padding the, the, the rates that they're offering you? This is a good way to keep them honest is trying to find an online resource that will publish rates on a daily basis so you can know how close you're naturally, you know, being with what your mortgage provider is, is offering you.

[Bo Hanson]

Love it.

[Brian Preston]

Is it still active? Does anybody. Did anybody check it?

[Bo Hanson]

I'm on it. Rabie, you go ahead.

[Beau Ribey]

Well, I was just gonna tell Garrison at the end of the day, it depends. In case you're wondering, it depends. But thank you for your question. That's great to everybody watching live right now, go ahead and get Your rapid fire questions in the chat, we will have our it does not depend Rapid fire coming up later in the show. What's that?

[Brian Preston]

Any kookiness, you know, any crazy rules, you know, like, I'll let you know

[Beau Ribey]

as the rules evolve. Brian.

[Brian Preston]

Well, you know, Bo talked about riding roller coasters can create anxiety and stress.

[Bo Hanson]

Rapid fire does that for you.

[Brian Preston]

I feel like it's very equivalent to velocicoaster riding over here.

[Beau Ribey]

Oh, great. That's what I like to do.

[Bo Hanson]

I've heard the velocicoaster is a lot,

[Beau Ribey]

but yes, if you would like to submit a question for our rapid fire segment, just put RF at the beginning of your question so that we know what it's for. And so, yeah, get those in. We're going to do a few more classic questions, if you will, and then get to rapid fire later in the show.

[Bo Hanson]

Will you tell Garrison one thing, by the way, I'm on better.com? i feel like I'm taking the act right now in terms of all the questions I've been asked. So I have not seen anything on the front page.

[Brian Preston]

I'm 19, by the way, because I love doing live shows and the fact that if somebody knows a real and then that way our team can go check out it. Let us know in the comments what you're using because I knew this stuff changed. Remember how when I've done car buying and other things, I love it when I find hacks. But I did that off the cuff because that's something I've used in the past.

[Beau Ribey]

Sure.

[Brian Preston]

Before you ask the next question, I did have a psa.

[Beau Ribey]

Okay.

[Brian Preston]

I always just got back from spring training where I met up with some high school buddies and I had some great experience. Financial mutants, you know, I got to meet a few of you. There's one couple, though, that's haunting me because they said hello to me as I was getting on the plane. What they don't know, the context matters. I just had a rage moment with the airline that I was dealing with to where they made me gate check my bag. And then I got, you know, and it was one of these weird, weird things. And I was on a tight trying to make it to a play with the family at TPAC to watch Back to the Future. So this thing was all tight, but the sweetest couple said hello and I think I recovered and said thank you, thank you, thank you. Because I always want to make sure my financial meetings know. I love meeting you in public, but I didn't know if it came off that way. Or if the airline rage was, was, was overtaking that. We've all been. By the way, I thought I was the only one. And then, you know, several of you on the content team told me no, this is getting to be a problem with a lot of these airlines is that they, they kind of hurt us through like cattle.

[Beau Ribey]

I think there was one other person.

[Brian Preston]

What? No, but look, he's an expert. Expert. Hey, I give you expert status.

[Bo Hanson]

Can we one, will you tell Garrison if he's thinking about buying a home? But before we move on from that, where. What's a good resource he could go use out of moneyguy.com for like getting ready to buy a home?

[Beau Ribey]

Oh, we have several. A very popular one is our home buying [e-mail] resources but to go a little bit deeper, we also have an ultimate guide and a download that's a checklist for everything you need to consider before you buy the house and make the decision. So Definitely head to moneyguy.comresources to find all of that good stuff.

[Bo Hanson]

Here's my next question. I'd love a poll and I'm trying to think about how to word this. I just want to know, is our audience are you pro check to bag or anti checked bag?

[Brian Preston]

Well, this was gate checked, meaning they forced me to gate check my bag.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah.

[Brian Preston]

Because they said there was no overhead. And then I get to my seat and there is empty overhead everywhere. Not to mention every overhead had backpacks in it.

[Bo Hanson]

Here's what, here's where we're at right now. Brian very much still team six.

[Brian Preston]

He's carrying off the plane. I grab my bags, I go and I go jump in the car and I'm out of there. Fast extractions from airports.

[Bo Hanson]

He does not like checking a bag. Whether it be the official way or the gate checked way. Some of the other members of Contact Time is Money are like, hey, checking a bag is super convenient. I don't have to worry about lugging it around the airport. I don't have to put it in the overhead. I don't have to be stressed at where I'm at in the boarding group. I'm just curious.

[Brian Preston]

It'll charge fees also when you do, when you do carry ons versus they

[Bo Hanson]

don't charge fees when you gate check.

[Brian Preston]

Well, but.

[Bo Hanson]

Got it.

[Beau Ribey]

Yeah, I know.

[Brian Preston]

That's a. That is not. They cost me time.

[Bo Hanson]

So I'm just curious. I'm just curious to know if our audience is pro checking bags or anti checking bags. I'm not going to tell you who on the content team falls in each category, or although you can probably guess in the.

[Brian Preston]

In the flyer bill of rights, or when is it okay to lie to your. To your customer and say, hey, we filled up all the overhead space, so we're making you check your bag. And then you get on the plane and realize half the overhead is not.

[Beau Ribey]

I'm speaking totally out of pocket. But what if it has to do with, like, the weight of the plane? You know, how they'll, like, distribute.

[Brian Preston]

Has nothing to do with the weight of the plane. As a former baggage handler on Delta Airlines, I can tell you has nothing

[Beau Ribey]

to do with that safety, Brian. I honestly know that I am no expert.

[Brian Preston]

By the way, last thing, when I got my checked bag yesterday beat. I mean, the wheel was completely pushed up in it. And I immediately go over to luggage services, even though I'm trying to make this whole deadline to get to the performing arts center. And I go up and I say, y' all damaged my bag. Not only did you gate check, you damaged my bag. And she goes, oh. She goes, that's not damage. All you gotta do is yank that out. And so she goes, just hit it right there and it'll pop out. And now it's got a huge crease across it because it's one of those hardshell. She goes, see, it's fixed. And I'm like. And I did it. I'm a little embarrassed. I said, this is not the. Well, I'm not going to say the airline, because I was not the airline that I grew up, you know, really thinking was a great airline.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, that's hilarious.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah. She didn't care, by the way. She goes, yeah, I hear you.

[Beau Ribey]

You are the lovely couple that met Travel rage. Brian let us know.

[Brian Preston]

Travel Brian is already a mess. Y' all know, because when we did the book tour. Travel br. When we did the book tour, if you thought I was wound up tight normal, you ought to see me on a travel schedule.

[Beau Ribey]

Travel, Brian. We love travel.

[Bo Hanson]

Hey, somebody just said in the chat that when you gate check, you don't have to go to baggage claim. Is that true?

[Brian Preston]

No, that's not true. They do that for strollers, for kids, stuff like strollers and things. They. They help you out and put it back up.

[Bo Hanson]

Got it.

[Brian Preston]

But for no. When they took my bag, it was going to baggage claim.

[Beau Ribey]

I have seen a rare occasion where

[Brian Preston]

if they put a tag on there, it's going. It's going to a baggage claim.

[Beau Ribey]

Yeah, mostly I've seen it go to Baggage claim.

[Brian Preston]

And they're wasting 20, 30 minutes of your life

[Bo Hanson]

and traveling with kids. I'm traveling with a bunch of kids. So, like, I think, I think checking might be a little bit easier. I think it might be a little more advantageous when you have a bunch of kids and stuff. Just hot take there.

[Beau Ribey]

Let's do another finance question and then we'll get back to this poll about checking versus not checking your luggage.

[Brian Preston]

Okay, I'm going to be right on this one, Ken. Can I tell you, I know my financial mutants, they're going to be overhead people.

[Bo Hanson]

Okay, look, I am also an overhead person. I just, you know, they got the kids and stuff. It's Ford checked back. It's just a lot of it.

[Brian Preston]

We can do what we're supposed to be doing.

[Beau Ribey]

All right. Big Mo asks, why do so many advisors claim that expenses will be lower in retirement? It seems to me this is when you will have more activities to pay for. We were kind of talking around this, so I'd love to hear your thoughts as financial advisors yourselves.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I mean, there's a difference between. Because a lot of times when we're talking about expenses will be lower. It's then people take their income and when you start thinking about what's coming out of the gross number that we base a lot of our savings rates off of, you've got taxes, which is pretty large, and then you also have your savings rate. You think about it, if you couple taxes and savings rate, I mean, right there, it's probably 40 to 50% depending upon where you are. And then also realize that when you hit retirement, depending upon what age, you know, Medicare is subsidized. And then you also have Social Security, the social safety net pops in. That's why. So a lot of people, that's why I think they're pleasantly surprised when they actually get to retirement, is that that part is covered. And then you also have the go go years, the slow go and the no go. But I do hope that during those go go, yeah, I hope that you're doing tons of activities and other things, but I still bet even in that case, it's less than what you were making pre retirement.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah, I don't, I don't actually know that I agree that most advisors say expenses will be lower in retirement.

[Brian Preston]

I try not to plan for it

[Bo Hanson]

because what I really want to see from my clients is I want, at worst, you maintain your standard of living when you retire, meaning your expenses stay the same. And at best, I actually love to see my clients have an increase in standard of living. Hey, I used to spend all this time going to work and da, da, da, da, da. And now I don't have all that time that I was devoting to my job. I'm now able to fill that time with other things that cost money like travel and experiences and that sort of thing. So I would actually take a little bit of argument. I think that most retirees, at least, at least in the world in which we live, they maintain the standard of living, same expenses that they had while they were working, or they actually have an increase in standard of living. But what that means is the money necessary to do that might be lower for exactly what Brian said, you're no longer having to account for taxes coming out or you're able to be a lot more tax efficient and you're no longer having to save. So if you think about saving as an expense, then for sure that's likely going, going to be lower. But I don't want my standard. Like the last thing I want to tell a retiree is, hey, man, it's been a fun ride. Now it's, you know, spam and cat food for you for the rest of this thing. That's not, that's not a win. That's not what we want our folks to experience. We want you to be able to live the life that you want to live on your terms, the way you want to live it, when you want

[Brian Preston]

to live it well. And also I think like when we do, I think about some of the resources we have on moneyguy.com resources for somebody who's like 25 years old, 30 years old, trying to start saving for retirement. We do make some assumptions whether it's 60%, 80%, because we're trying to give you some educational tools to start spot checking or doing napkin math planning. But the reality is, as you get close to retirement, personal finance is personal. I don't want anybody giving you a rule of thumb and you thinking that's what retirement. I could do that for content creation, but that's not good financial planning. Good financial planning is actually going to be using your numbers, what your goals are, what your specific situations are, stress testing it, checking in on it every year, seeing how it cross pollinates and integrates with your tax code and all the things you've got going on from a cash flow. And that's what's really supposed to happen. So we're trying to balance the education side, but also the implementation. They're kind of two different things. Yep.

[Beau Ribey]

Well, Big Mo, thank you for the question. And we now are going to check in on our checked baggage poll before getting to another personal finance.

[Brian Preston]

I bet I'm right.

[Beau Ribey]

What's your guess? How many people said anti check. They're anti checked baggage. What's the percentage? Brian, what's your.

[Bo Hanson]

How many people are in your camp?

[Brian Preston]

Are in my camp? I think that 75% of people are in my camp.

[Bo Hanson]

Okay.

[Beau Ribey]

The actual answer is that 58 said they are anti checked bag while 42% there said they are pro checked.

[Bo Hanson]

That's pretty close.

[Brian Preston]

I should have brought it down because when Bo but Beau flies like every. You fly at least once a year.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, I'm flying more often now. But you used to like pretty regularly. I did not actually start like I'd never flew as a kid. Like I didn't start flying until I was a grown adult.

[Brian Preston]

That's me too.

[Bo Hanson]

And so I'm still, honestly, I'm still feel like I'm kind of still learning stuff. Right? Like, you know, what's the best way to like I was asking you going to this thing, this. I was like, hey, what I need to pack, dude. How do I need to travel? How do I need to think through this?

[Brian Preston]

So I hooked him up with some theme park shorts. Now are the proud owner of those theme parks.

[Bo Hanson]

I went, I went and bought me some theme park shorts.

[Brian Preston]

Zippers are king in a theme park. You don't want to have a backpack. Especially at Universal. Let me go. There's an inside tip.

[Bo Hanson]

And I'll tell you what, if they sponsored this show, I'd be happy to tell you what brand.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, we're not going to give them a free plug even though I've sold a lot of their shops.

[Beau Ribey]

If you're watching, email me. Okay, let's do another question and then we're going to get to our rapid fire segment. So hang in for that. This question's from McGlone 704. Hello, I'm struggling in step four and have had to start the step over due to emergencies twice now. I know this is built into the fu, but how do I not feel down when I'm missing months of investing? Fantastic question, right? What do you think?

[Bo Hanson]

So for those of you don't know step four, Brian, will you hold that thing up for me? Step four is emergency reserves. This is the step of the financial order of operations. We want you to have somewhere between three to six months of your living expenses in liquid cash. McGlone, what I want you to do is I want you to reframe Your mindset. Because right now you're thinking, oh no, I'm missing out on investing, missing out on investing, missing out on investing. And sure, that's true. But I want you to think I've had some events now happen in my life that I've had to go to this well and holy cow, thank you Lord that I had my emergency fund. Thank you that it was there. Because if I did not have it, if I did not have those dollars

[Brian Preston]

there, you'd fall into three.

[Bo Hanson]

I would have been in three. I'm swiping, I'm taking out home equity

[Brian Preston]

line, 20% to the banks.

[Bo Hanson]

So it's okay. And I want all my financial mutants to hear this. It's okay if you use your emergency fund for an emergency. That's what it's there for. So every time you have to do it, even though it might feel painful, even though you might not like it, thank goodness that you have it there now once you've recognized. Okay, good, that thing was there. The parachute was there. It saved me. Now you get to change your mindset to how do I get back on track?

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I mean first let's, let's give you a few things to kind of take the edge off. Hopefully you've got an employer plan where you're getting the free match and that's good for a lot of people. That's going to get you 5 to 10% just off of that if you count the employer match. So you're not missing out on everything assuming you have an employer plan. But then I want you, I do think that it's a self proving system. And the fact that if you had two emergencies that popped up, man, oh man, are you fortunate that you're not now stuck making desperate decisions. You had the money to cover it. You're going to have a patch of life that is going to be more smooth selling or blue water opportunity. And that's when you go across into step five. Hit the Roth ira. And I know, look, I'm okay with you feeling a little bit of pressure, sure of this because it's going to get you out of step four. That discipline is going to be just whispering in your ears, hey, let's, let's, let's save, maybe we make a little bit more sacrifice to get to that job and that goal of getting to step five that much sooner.

[Bo Hanson]

Love that.

[Beau Ribey]

That's great.

[Bo Hanson]

Somebody made this great comment, oh my goodness, I wish I would have highlighted it. But it was, man, it's so much better to say, oh man, that's annoying than saying, oh man, how am I going to pay for this thing? Oh man, how am I going to make it through?

[Beau Ribey]

That's so true.

[Bo Hanson]

That's a great perspective to have. Whoever said that. Thank you for putting that in the chat.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah. I mean, that's why I think human nature is, is we ruminate on negative stuff. And if you can change that inner voice to be a little more of an optimist, you're going to find success. Just kind of happens. And I think there is something about if you can point yourself to the positive with that inner voice, a lot of good things can happen for you. That's not a mantra, that's just a.

[Bo Hanson]

It's controlling that voice.

[Brian Preston]

Standard default setting that you're setting up within yourself.

[Bo Hanson]

That's right. Brian. Do you remember when we decided to go all in on our YouTube channel, but we just didn't know if all the hard work was actually going to pay off?

[Brian Preston]

Oh yeah, it was a little scary at first because you have all the what ifs. What if nobody watches our videos? What if this doesn't work? What if we're just talking to ourselves?

[Bo Hanson]

But thankfully we took the leap and honestly, it's been one of the best decisions we've ever made.

[Brian Preston]

And if you're thinking about starting a business or launching a side hustle, let me tell you, having the right tools makes all the difference. And that's where Shopify comes in.

[Bo Hanson]

Shopify powers 10% of all e commerce in the US from startups to even popular brands like Allbirds and Untuck It.

[Brian Preston]

And they make it simple. You can build a professional online store with ready to use templates, plus AI tools that help write product descriptions and even improve your photos.

[Bo Hanson]

It's basically like having a marketing team in your pocket. Email campaigns, social posts, all designed to help you find your customers.

[Brian Preston]

And with Shopify, you can handle everything from inventory to payments to analytics. So you don't need to manage a bunch of tools on different platforms. Everything is all in one place, making your life easier and your business runs smoother.

[Bo Hanson]

Look, you don't want to miss out on what's next because you're so worried about a bunch of what ifs.

[Brian Preston]

It's time to turn those what ifs gifts into with Shopify. Today, sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com moneyguy go to

[Bo Hanson]

shopify.com moneyguy that's shopify.com moneyguy

[Beau Ribey]

this episode is brought to you by. Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead Use Indeed sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate. C. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs

[Bo Hanson]

have four times more applicants than non sponsored jobs.

[Beau Ribey]

So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. All right, well, that's great. It is now time for our It Does Not Depend Rapid Fire segment.

[Bo Hanson]

Here we go.

[Beau Ribey]

I have some Rapid Fire questions queued up. Thank you for submitting them to the chat. Remember, the rules are you only have 30 seconds combined to answer these questions, and you cannot say the words it depends. Now, if you trip up and say it depends, that means you don't get to answer. And also, I will throw you a bone at the end and say, we will have our maybe It Does Depend segment where you get to say all the things that maybe you didn't get to say during Rapid Fire. So with that, let's dive right in. Are you ready?

[Bo Hanson]

You want to go first?

[Brian Preston]

First we got to start flipping a coin or something. Yeah, I'll go first just so we can see how Brian is up first.

[Beau Ribey]

Okay. Timer starts after I ask the question. Question number one is, what personal finance decision or it doesn't have to be financial. Do you feel most shaped your success and fulfillment over time? Go.

[Brian Preston]

I mean, for me, it was when I read wealthy barber and millionaire. And millionaire next door. It kind of changed my mindset. And, well, God, Mr. Morrow, the morrow

[Bo Hanson]

moment you use the word fulfillment. And when I. So when I hear that word, when I found a job, doing a job that I absolutely love with people that I absolutely love most impactful in my life.

[Beau Ribey]

Well done. Next question is, how far ahead of your retirement date should you let your employer know your plans?

[Bo Hanson]

How far ahead for retirement date? Depends on the.

[Beau Ribey]

Oh, he's out.

[Brian Preston]

He's out. Said depends.

[Bo Hanson]

I mean, not even.

[Beau Ribey]

You didn't even give yourself a chance. Brian, do you have anything to say for me?

[Bo Hanson]

He's got.

[Brian Preston]

If you're. If your employer is not going to be surprised and. And you're not going to be fired on the spot, then I would. I would be collaborative with sharing your thoughts on things. And most employers, I think, would like to know. So because it's not like you're cheating on them to go to a new employer, you're actually cheating.

[Beau Ribey]

Time is up.

[Bo Hanson]

All right, don't you worry. I'm writing down my notes on this one. That sucked.

[Brian Preston]

That was too intense.

[Beau Ribey]

Is it Ever. Okay, to do step four before step three in the foo if you are the sole income earner for your family.

[Brian Preston]

Yes, because you're doing step one, which is cover the deductible for the emergencies of desperate decisions of like, you know, bad catastrophic things. But you're, you're still going. After you get through step one, you get your free employer match. You're going to want to pay down the high interest debt.

[Bo Hanson]

No, the question was do step four before three. No, you do step four before step three is going to get worse and worse and worse.

[Brian Preston]

One and four are related. One and four.

[Bo Hanson]

Four is 1, 1, 8, 4 and time.

[Beau Ribey]

Okay, next question.

[Brian Preston]

Somebody tried to put a new system best.

[Beau Ribey]

Star wars supporting character, the Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks. There are no other nominees.

[Brian Preston]

Oh, goodness gracious, that one. Ugh.

[Bo Hanson]

Ewoks.

[Brian Preston]

I mean, I would say Ewoks probably sold more merchandise. So we'll say Ewoks for sure.

[Beau Ribey]

The Ewoks. Brian, come on.

[Brian Preston]

That's why they were even designed to be the way they were. But not Jar Jar.

[Beau Ribey]

Not Jar Jar Binks.

[Brian Preston]

Who played Jar Jar? Wasn't it somebody famous?

[Beau Ribey]

I forget. Honestly.

[Bo Hanson]

Ahmad Best and Phil Lamar.

[Beau Ribey]

All right, next question.

[Bo Hanson]

I didn't get to answer.

[Beau Ribey]

I didn't think you were gonna answer. I don't think you were catering.

[Brian Preston]

You saw Star wars with the kids recently.

[Bo Hanson]

We the first one. I'm not.

[Brian Preston]

No, when you say first one, the fourth one or the first one, the original one. Okay, the seventies.

[Beau Ribey]

All right.

[Bo Hanson]

Yes.

[Beau Ribey]

Next question. Says my wife works for a school district and has a pension that takes 15%. How does this factor into investing?

[Brian Preston]

I mean, assuming you're not making over $200,000, I think you're counting that as 15%.

[Bo Hanson]

I don't think I would allow it to change my portfolio. Ton, some people would say that you can consider that to be like a fixed income portion of your portfolio early on. I don't know that I think about it that way. I would start shifting my mindset to think about that as I get closer and closer to retirement. But I do agree you can consider that part of your savings rate and

[Brian Preston]

make sure it's got pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation coverage. Boom.

[Bo Hanson]

Pbgc.

[Beau Ribey]

Well done. What step of the foo is paying down mortgage principal to eliminate pmi?

[Brian Preston]

Step nine.

[Bo Hanson]

Nine.

[Beau Ribey]

Look at you guys. That was easy. I'm gonna move on. Can you explain Backdoor Roth like I'm five. Is it only for wealthy people?

[Brian Preston]

Well, it's for high income people.

[Bo Hanson]

It's only for people that Cannot contribute to Roth directly. I take money, I put money in traditional. I have no other IRA balances. I convert from traditional to Roth tax free.

[Brian Preston]

I don't think it's a Roth. It's a conversion strategy that is in a friendly term known as backdoor Roth contributions because it doesn't have income limits.

[Bo Hanson]

I put money into this bucket and then I take it and I pour it into that bucket. And so as I don't have any other buckets, it's completely tax free.

[Beau Ribey]

So the team from the wings is calling out Beau for getting creative and saying, I don't know if I would think of it that way. Which is a great point. Isn't that the same as it depends?

[Bo Hanson]

No, no.

[Beau Ribey]

God bless the content team.

[Brian Preston]

Absolutely. I really think. I know the shock collar was probably too over the top, but we do need to have some consequences.

[Beau Ribey]

Just wait.

[Brian Preston]

We need some consequences is not Amazon delivers next day. I mean, we could have something here before.

[Beau Ribey]

I will not eliminate your points. I didn't know we got points in this. But you are currently on probation.

[Bo Hanson]

Exactly.

[Beau Ribey]

This is your formal warning. Okay, let's do a few more. The next one says, should I put my financial numbers in financial calculators using both my wife and I's total 401ks together or run them separately?

[Brian Preston]

For what per Together? Yeah, I mean, household is the default for most financial planning calculators. You know, two becomes one. So you can figure out what your retirement is going to look like. Structure might be separate, but you're going to use the household.

[Bo Hanson]

Even if you're doing stuff like savings rates, like, okay, well my savings rate is this and her savings rate is this or his savings rate is this. If you're both doing 25%, that also equals 25% for the household. So. So it ought to align.

[Brian Preston]

Well, it doesn't make sense if you make 50 and she

[Beau Ribey]

actually feel really bad interrupting Brian.

[Bo Hanson]

But it's part of you just feel bad interrupting Brian. You don't feel guilty. It's messed up.

[Beau Ribey]

I like giving you your formal warning. That was fun. Okay, next question. We live in a high cost of living area and don't want to buy a home here. Do we need to increase our step 7 hyper accumulation percentage to stay on track if we may need to pay rent in retirement?

[Bo Hanson]

Rent will certainly be a part of your number. It will be one of the expenses that you bear in retirement. So relative to a retiree whose mortgage might fall off, your rent will stay there for the remainder of your financial plan.

[Brian Preston]

You're spot on in the fact that step seven is definitely where you start thinking about how you're going to use this money. And if you're having to pay rent or need access to a larger portion of this than you're going to need after tax and of the three bucket strategies, then you'd plan accordingly.

[Beau Ribey]

Very nicely done on the time. All right, last one. Is there any advantage to using a 529 as a pass through for college bills when it doesn't cover all of the tuition?

[Bo Hanson]

Yes.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I mean most states have a state income tax. A lot of states. I shouldn't say most. I should say a lot of states have a state income tax.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, he's talking about just straight pat. The benefit of 529 is tax free growth. But I think if you're saying in same year, put it in and pull it out same year, that generally is only advantageous if there's a state tax benefit.

[Brian Preston]

Exactly.

[Bo Hanson]

If I understood the question correctly, that's

[Brian Preston]

the way I read it or heard it.

[Beau Ribey]

All right, that concludes our it does not depend rapid fire segment. Not bad, not bad. But we had a few fouls there, so I'd love to hear now during our maybe it does depend segment things that you didn't get to say, things that I interrupted you on, Brian.

[Brian Preston]

Well, the biggest, number one, I feel

[Bo Hanson]

like I need you to reread the question. Reread the first. Let's just go through every question. No, no, no, no, no, no. This was not fair. So just read the first question because that you had something to say about the first.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I remember what it was though is what's the big thing that influenced you? It was a cross pollination of that. I really didn't take action until after I got my first real world adult job in public accounting. And I remember getting the wealthy barber and millionaire mission. But I had recalled Mr. Morrow, it was a cross pollination moment where all those things kind of came together and it was like, you know, big bang.

[Bo Hanson]

Big bang.

[Beau Ribey]

That was great.

[Bo Hanson]

What was number two?

[Beau Ribey]

How far ahead should your retirement date, should you let your employer know your retirement plan?

[Bo Hanson]

It depends on your role in the company and I'm going to stick by that. If you're someone who's like pivotal to the operations of your company, you're a higher level, you oversee a team, there's a lot of stuff then I think it'd be wonderful if you give them a large heads up sometimes maybe six, eight, ten months. If you're more of like I don't want to Say less impactful. But if your departure will likely not have significant ripples throughout the organization, then I think a standard couple weeks is okay. But not all roles inside of our organization are created equal. So if you just drop it on them, hey, two weeks and I'm out. And you got, you know, 20 people that report to you and big projects that are underway. That's not cool.

[Brian Preston]

But I do think contact like because we had a. We had a person retired last year and we worked with her for two years.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah.

[Brian Preston]

I told her she to know so we could spot check it and know where she was with the whole family planning and all the other things that they were doing.

[Bo Hanson]

I told her I need 180 day notice. That's what I'll tell her now.

[Brian Preston]

But I have another one that if you looked on the organization chart, she's an admin. But we have strictly told her I know her husband wants to hire her.

[Bo Hanson]

She's also on 180 day.

[Brian Preston]

Never, never ever. You just can't leave to go, you know, I want to make sure, you know, you stay here with us. You already get plenty of time with your husband.

[Bo Hanson]

She's listening right now. She knows who we're talking about.

[Brian Preston]

We every year we have to tell her to tell her everything today.

[Beau Ribey]

Let's just, you know, spice things up and so.

[Bo Hanson]

That was inappropriate. It depends and I'm not going to be sad about that. My answer does depend on that. 100. I want my points back. Next question. There was two more. There were two more that. Did you write anything?

[Brian Preston]

I didn't write anything down.

[Bo Hanson]

That's not useful.

[Brian Preston]

I'm not a natural.

[Bo Hanson]

There were two more. You interrupted.

[Beau Ribey]

Did I interrupt you on paying rent in retirement? Yeah, I believe I should mark which ones I interrupt you on next time. Noted. He just shrugged. He was like, I'm over it.

[Brian Preston]

I've abandoned.

[Bo Hanson]

I'm over this.

[Brian Preston]

God.

[Beau Ribey]

All right. Well, that was fun for me. Hopefully for everybody watching and listening as well.

[Bo Hanson]

One traveling flight, baggage claim or what

[Brian Preston]

rides are you looking forward to riding at Universal? I thought more people would have questions on some of that stuff too.

[Beau Ribey]

We did have a few people in the chat. Universal is better than Disney.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, we did have a lot of people saying Universal greater than Disney.

[Beau Ribey]

And they were like doubling down. They said.

[Brian Preston]

I said, well, I mean I think context matters, guys.

[Bo Hanson]

So you're saying it depends.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, it definitely depends. This is time or season. I. I've considered myself a fluent in both parks. So I can give you kind of.

[Beau Ribey]

He is though. That's true.

[Brian Preston]

Tell you what's going on with both parks.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah, I've never been to Universal before, so I'm super excited about it. And I'm taking the big kids so it's gonna be like a lot of fun to pal around. They're. I checked the height requirements are tall enough for everything. So we're going to give them, we're going to ride every one. So I think it's going to be awesome.

[Brian Preston]

So the big thing that I did tell Bo just so you guys can benefit I love for my financial meetings is that Universal, Disney, unlike Disney, kind of lets you use those lounge fly bags and take them on all the rides. No big deal. Universal's a kind of a stickler. They're going to make you use lockers on about every one of the big E attractions and that's just a pain to go deal with the lockers. So I told Beau, no, don't. Don't show up with a backpack. Don't show up with a water bottle. Show up with zipper pants and then stack it in there. I mean I look ridiculous in the theme parks because I have so much stuff. I have sunglasses, sunscreen, you know, battery backups. I got a gazillion things. But you know what? We don't check. We don't have to use lockers.

[Bo Hanson]

So I went and bought me some more britches yesterday that I'm ready to roll some short britches.

[Beau Ribey]

Love to see it.

[Brian Preston]

7 inch inseam.

[Bo Hanson]

7 inch inseam.

[Brian Preston]

By the way, from spring training, I send bo1 because one of my buddies got a foul ball and I was very proud. Nobody prompted. He gave it to the, the young kid in front of us. It was really cool. Very sweet, sweet, sweet interaction there. But I send one picture to Beau and he's like, man, look at you with those legs on display. I was like, oh my gosh. Out of one picture I send, this is what Bo's go pick on me about.

[Beau Ribey]

True story.

[Brian Preston]

And by the way, I found out that a lot of I wear 7 inch inseams. A lot of these nuts.

[Bo Hanson]

Like a lot of these young guys,

[Brian Preston]

they're like 5 inches 7 inch.

[Bo Hanson]

I'm a 7 inch insane guy.

[Brian Preston]

No, 5 inch crazy with a shaking his head. That would look like Larry Bird back in the 80s.

[Bo Hanson]

You remember, remember Burt Reynolds when he used to like wear those. But he would tuck in the button up shirt into it, you know, talking about.

[Brian Preston]

Well, it's more Magnum PI Yeah, Magnum PI Is what I think of when I think of those short inseam shorts. And by the way, mustaches are out, so it makes. It makes complete sense.

[Bo Hanson]

Out or in mustache? They're in. No, I don't understand.

[Brian Preston]

I don't understand the perms in the hair, and I don't understand the mustaches, and I don't understand the shorty. Short shorts.

[Beau Ribey]

Okay, on that note, let's dive back into personal.

[Bo Hanson]

My nephew came to stay with us a couple a couple weekends ago. He's visiting Nashville for something. And I was like, bro, do you have a mullet? He's like, yeah. I was like, well, what'd you tell your barber? She was like, I told her to do a mullet. And it was legit, like, short of the sides. And it's like a thing.

[Beau Ribey]

It's like everything old is new again.

[Bo Hanson]

It's a thing. So a lot of people in the comments, they want to see. They want to see Brian in a mullet. So maybe. Maybe one day.

[Brian Preston]

I'll never want just. He was like, absolutely not. No business on top.

[Beau Ribey]

What? All right, we do have a question from Cosmic Penguin 01. It says we all have friends that fall into every consumer trap they see. How do you approach this topic with someone you care about without making them feel defensive about such a personal topic?

[Bo Hanson]

Is. I recognize this. Is this the Penguin from. From the Discord?

[Beau Ribey]

I believe so. I didn't want to because his username is slightly different. He said on the chat. So I think that this is him.

[Bo Hanson]

Well, Penguin, if you're the same Penguin, thank you for being so bad for the Discord. I recognize and see your name in there. This is a hard one, because a lot of times we have friends, loved ones, relatives, and we just see them making awful financial decisions. And what we want to do is we want to be able to influence them and be a positive example to them because we want better for them. But it's a real hard. It's real hard to do that without becoming. Without coming off as judgy, mean, insensitive, know it all, you know, fill in the blank. And so I think the first thing you have to do is you have to understand where you are in the relationship.

[Brian Preston]

Right?

[Bo Hanson]

I've got some buddies that when I see them making boneheaded decisions, I can just tell them straight up, dude, you're an idiot. That's not right. And then I have other people that. I see them making those decisions, but I know I can't speak to them that way, so I start asking them questions. Hey, okay, I see that you do. Walk me through. Hey, I Do you know I do finances for a living? Walk me through, what were you thinking? Like why, oh, that's an interesting product you bought. Tell me why that made sense for you. And what I try to do is see if I can, through the Socratic method, have them arrive at the conclusion like, oh, maybe the nine year car loan wasn't the best thing, or oh, maybe signing up for the credit card to get the 50,000 points wasn't the most, or whatever the thing may be. And if you can get them to discover that themselves, it's probably going to come across a lot better than if you're just kind of like you know, beating them over the head with, hey, this is how you make decisions. This is how you make decisions.

[Brian Preston]

Okay, look, this is like fishing for trying to convince your friends to start making good decisions. I can tell you what I did was I tried to. Nobody likes to hear things from a negative perspective. So when I talk to my friends, I first hit them with a shock and awe stat. Like I can remember after I'd read Wealthy Barber and Millionaire Next Door and had the morrow moment that I was like, man, you realize how powerful compounding interest is. And then I tried to hit him with some sentimental stuff is like, man, I plan on trying to change my life metrics to where I'm not making the mistakes my parents did. And it would sure be nice when I retire early because remember back in the 20s, back when I was in my 20s, I thought I was going to retire at 50 and past 50 now and I could retire, but I choose to keep going because I love what I do for a living. But I was like, I'd be great if you guys could retire with me. So we're not gonna be able to do this alone if we don't start making action. So I hit them with shock and awe stat. That's to set the hook. Then you got to peak the interest, set the vision of, hey, this is what I would love for you to start making decisions so we can do these things. Or if you see them making bad decisions, be careful so it doesn't come off as judgy. I would try to focus on the optimistic stuff and then provide the tool or resource that's going to fix it. And in my case, I bought those books for all my friends. I actually gave them copies. So, you know, a book that I've gotten very near and dear to me is Millionaire Mission, of course, course that I've tried to incorporate a lot of what inspired me for the next generation. And then Also, you can go to moneyguy.com resources or point out a show or send out our newsletter. I really do think a lot of times we are often safe. You can get somebody just to get curious. You can help them start solving the problem that they have.

[Bo Hanson]

I think that's great. Curiosity. If you can inspire curiosity, that's huge. And then what you are is you're not the necessarily the answer. You're the, hey, let me show you how to find the answer. Hey, let me show you where that's at. And I think that can be super

[Brian Preston]

versus being like you're the know it all or, you know, looking down your nose at somebody. Nobody, nobody likes condescending or that part of it, or they all know it, know it all. So you have to that, you know, inspire curiosity, set a hook, and then provide the solution. And hopefully you'll. You'll set them on their path and they'll look back and go, hey, that conversation we had that night, that, you know, got me really curious about that. It's changed my life.

[Bo Hanson]

Love that.

[Beau Ribey]

So good. All right, let's do one more. We've got one from Mark. It says, my wife and I are expecting our first baby in May.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, congratulations.

[Beau Ribey]

We currently have a will. Do we update our will so that all of our assets go to our child? Do we need to set up a trust for this to work? What should they think about?

[Bo Hanson]

Well, we can't give you specific advice here, right, because we don't know the state you live in. We don't know the unique circumstances of your financial life. But there's a big life change happening. If you already have a will in place. I would imagine the will in place was just for you and your spouse. Now you have a baby coming online. Well, now the things you have to think about are way, way, way different. If you have you and your spouse, it's basically like, all right, if I die, it goes to my spouse, and my spouse dies, it goes to me. Now that you have a kid, you got to think about some other stuff. Hey, if something happens to both of us, who do want to take care of this child, and then we have money and life insurance and investments, and who's going to make sure that that money is stewarded well for the benefit of that child? Is it the same person caring for them? Is it someone else? What type of structure would be necessary inside of that? So do you need to revisit your estate planning? Do you likely update that for sure? What strategies or tools will make the most sense for you, well, that's where it depends a little bit on again, your unique situation, what you're hoping to accomplish as well as the state in which you live.

[Brian Preston]

It depends on. I didn't mean to say depends, but it really does.

[Bo Hanson]

We're allowed to the rest of the show.

[Brian Preston]

I've seen estate documents written where they talked about unnamed children or you know, they were kind of going to where the ball was looking like it was going to be when that estate document was set up. So. But if your estate document doesn't have guardianship of, you know, who's going to take over the kids, even if they're unnamed in the estate document and if it doesn't name a trust on how what happens to the life insurance proceeds if both you and your spouse die for the said children, unnamed children, then yeah, you're going to have to redo your estate documents because those are two big things that immediately need to be kind of tied down as well as now with this change, you probably ought to revisit your term life insurance. Remember, the difference between term versus permanent is that it's time certain that you pay the annual premiums and it's a lot cheaper to buy term insurance than it is permanent insurance. And I always, I'm a big advocate or a fan of, of term insurance because in a lot of ways if you're building wealth in the right way, hopefully down the road you're gonna be able to self insure the need because your kids leave the house, you've built your own retirement assets. But while the kids are in the house and while your spouse is counting on your income, you can vary in a cost effective way. Buy term insurance to protect the family and loved ones.

[Bo Hanson]

I just, I want to just give a little brief psa. A lot of people because not on baggage, not this has nothing to do with airline travel. A lot of people have been asking me recently talking about like estate planning and going through probate and all that kind of stuff. And trusts are wonderful tools, Brian, both of you, both you and I utilize trust.

[Brian Preston]

What's testamentary trust? Built into our state, we have testamentary trusts.

[Bo Hanson]

We also have revocable living trusts that are currently established, currently funded. What I want to make clear of you is oftentimes that serves a purpose, especially if you have young kids or there's assets that have a certain thing that they need to do. But for a lot of people that may not be necessary. If you are updating the beneficiaries on your accounts, if you have joint titling on your Accounts. A lot of people don't recognize that even on after tax accounts like a joint brokerage account or individual brokerage account, you can add a payable on death or transfer on death designation on there to where it has a beneficiary, the same way that IRAs do. There are a lot of ways that you can structure your estate to pass and flow very, very efficiently according to your wishes without having to get overly complicated. I think a lot of times even people who have built up some wealth, million, 2, 3, $4 million, they think there has to be all this complexity in order to transition. And in reality that's just not the case. And so you want to make sure that you have an estate plan that's appropriate and fitting, but not that is over complicated and unnecessary for what your ultimate wishes are.

[Brian Preston]

I mean, yeah, that's, that's one of the things I think as a financial planner I've helped because sometimes people get caught in these seminar attorneys where they sell them these big packets of estate docs. That is just insanely complicated. And I think it's because we have an experience of actually helping people who are on the other side of when a loved one passes away. We know the complexity and what's effective versus what was just sold during a seminar to scare somebody. Be aware that not everybody who sells you something is got your best interest. And so personal finance is definitely personal. So you want to make sure your estate document, keep it as simple as possible, but make sure it's going to be effective and represent your wishes when you're no longer here. I think that's the biggest thing that people just stick their head in the sand, especially when it comes to kids, just because it's an awkward conversation. When you think about her sister or brother and you're thinking about your brother and sister and you'll have disagreements on who's going to raise what kids. If you guys can't get along about the decision while you're alive, what do you think the state's going to do if you don't leave behind a document that expresses your wishes? It's going to be a mess and create a lot of turmoil and pain. It might even impact how people look at you post your passing.

[Beau Ribey]

That's fantastic.

[Brian Preston]

God, we got to do.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, that's fantastic.

[Brian Preston]

I was about to say we need to do something a little more fun because I felt like we just doing it on an estate plan is not a good way to close things out. And you got to put a yard on me.

[Beau Ribey]

I'll be Honest of Brian with a

[Bo Hanson]

mullet in my mind now Brian went full on like full length. I was just thinking you know like neck necklace.

[Brian Preston]

You're thinking Billy Ray Cyrus.

[Bo Hanson]

I was but this is something dude

[Brian Preston]

you know I'll tell you what what it makes me look better but it just doesn't exist because of my genetics is have you seen me with a beard?

[Bo Hanson]

Is it good? It's a good look.

[Brian Preston]

I think I'd probably look I'd be more trying to start hitting with AI I can't. I can't grow facial hair.

[Bo Hanson]

You know I what way you if with that hairdo he could do a mean man bun. That'd be awesome. I've always, I've always wanted to have long hair. The only thing that make that picture

[Brian Preston]

better is if I had an axe and a shield that's more brave hard ass and then I can give a real you know a big speech to get motivated that doesn't that kind of

[Beau Ribey]

have a brave heart with the long hair it could.

[Bo Hanson]

I often think that Brian Preston is the William Wallace of the personal finance space. That's often what I think.

[Brian Preston]

Well done team. You guys are fantastic.

[Bo Hanson]

Amazing. They're so good.

[Beau Ribey]

Well hey if you want more memes and behind the scenes chatter and you don't want to stop chatting make sure you check out the money verse go to moneyguy.com moneyverse it's wild. Crazy.

[Bo Hanson]

If you've not been in there are

[Beau Ribey]

always talking in there.

[Bo Hanson]

It's insane. It's so cool like it.

[Beau Ribey]

I'd love to see it.

[Bo Hanson]

It's awesome. You're in there now.

[Brian Preston]

I I I have you're set everything up.

[Bo Hanson]

You're a lurker.

[Brian Preston]

I'm more of a lurker at this point. I need to get more active. I need to take your follow your lead.

[Beau Ribey]

I've had some but I have been lurking they've been hypothesizing which account might be your lurker. So they're you I don't know. You could whenever you do decide to show yourself I feel like people are going to be like and that's the other thing.

[Brian Preston]

I feel like I set something up but I was like oh maybe maybe I can change it later but it just I don't know if I love what I've set up.

[Bo Hanson]

I get it. Screen name is a big deal. Every one of us remember stressed about their screen name. Every one of us remembers our 13 year old selves setting up very funny to me. AIM screen name for the first time.

[Brian Preston]

Well I mean, think about like, you know, it's funny is like my wife has a Hotmail account, I have a Yahoo still from the past. We all get stuck with these things and then, you know, forever. You're trapped in this. I think that's what hangs over me is like, whatever I choose. Because I imagine as healthy as this discord is, this thing's gonna be around for a while. So I feel, I'm feeling a little apprehension about getting it measured twice, cut once.

[Bo Hanson]

It's literally landing. It's like, it's literally like a full time live stream. That's what it feels like to me. That's truly what it is. At any point in time, there are people in there interacting, answering questions, celebrating milestones. It's awesome. I'm a big fan.

[Beau Ribey]

Yeah. And we're looking forward to seeing how it evolves and how we can make it even more fun and constructive for everybody. So thanks for everyone who's given feedback and joined in and made it fun.

[Bo Hanson]

You know, I think it's cool we have so many, like, Heavy Discord users. They keep like mentioning, hey, content. Hey, Ruby, you ought to do this. You ought to. And you keep doing it like you keep adjusting and, and modifying the discord based on feedback. I think it's awesome, Chef.

[Brian Preston]

All right, guys, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for hanging out with us. There is a better way to do money and I'm your host, Brian, joined by Beau Reby and the rest of the content team. Moneyguy out.

[Bo Hanson]

The moneyguy show is hosted by Bryan Preston and Bo Hanson. Brian and Bo are partners with 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 the Money Guy Show. 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. Vital Farms farmers do a lot for their hens, like giving them open pastures

[Brian Preston]

with lots of fresh air and sunshine. Because who doesn't love a good sunbathe, a stretch and a breeze through their feathers while foraging on a natural buffet of grass grasses. One thing is for sure, all that

[Bo Hanson]

extra care means good eggs for you.

[Brian Preston]

So look for the black carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Farms Good eggs.

[Bo Hanson]

No shortcuts.

[Brian Preston]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with

[Bo Hanson]

a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.

[Brian Preston]

Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint.

[Bo Hanson]

You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month with of course, if you enjoy overpaying.

[Brian Preston]

No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile. Com.

[Beau Ribey]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3

[Brian Preston]

month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only,

[Beau Ribey]

then full price plan options available.

[Bo Hanson]

Taxes and fees extra CFL terms at mintmobile.

[Brian Preston]

Com.