
Making a Millionaire | Nathyn & Indie
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India
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India
I am stuck in a conflict because I agree with him. Everything he tells me, I completely agree. We need to be saving for a future and we have been and we've been doing well and he just wants more and that's completely understandable. But I'm stuck in that internal conflict of knowing what life is gonna be like for us after our kids are grown and gone, but also me living for my children and wanting to give our family as much as we can. Today.
Bo Hanson
The 29 military 7 year old, 5 year old.
Nathan
Yes.
Bo Hanson
What brings you guys in today?
Nathan
I have a strong focus and a lot of stress about whether or not we're putting enough investing into our future. And I think IND is on the other side where she's trying to make sure that we're investing enough in our now and the experiences in our children and our upbringing and our growth coming from today. Hopefully we get this idea on how we might be able to better balance those two ideas.
Bo Hanson
So you're obviously focused on the future and saving for the future and that sort of thing, but you feel like you're missing out on stuff today. Give us some flavor and context for why you feel that way.
India
So I live for my children. I do. And I've been a stay at home mom for five years. I want to give them all the opportunities that I possibly can. Going on trips and having experiences that way or them doing extracurricular activities, anything like that. I want to be able to give that to them. He's very into like, what is gonna, what is our life gonna be like when we're 50? And I'm like, I don't know what next week's gonna be like. I don't know what you're talking about. That's where that stress kind of falls because I' Are we investing enough in our time together now? Like, are we doing the right thing with groceries? Are we spending the money for bills on the right things and stuff like that. And he's like, let's invest as much into this TSP and things like that. And I'm like, is that gonna really take away from what our month to month is going to look like? The conflict lies there.
Brian Preston
You use the word conflict, but it actually can become a feature that y' all yin and yang in a positive way. Yes. Sometimes there is a balance between mutant and miser. So it's good to have Indy here who's trying to make sure. But it's also our job to kind of give a plan. So then Indy gets the realization, hey, that we can live for today, but also have some that's automatically set up for the future. And then both of you, it's kind of like that puzzle piece coming together, and then now all pieces are working together. And it doesn't have to be this mystery that turns into conflict.
India
I am stuck in a conflict because I agree with him. Everything he tells me, I completely agree. We need to be saving for a future, and we have been, and we've been doing well, and he just wants more. And that's completely understandable. But I'm stuck in that internal conflict of knowing what life is gonna be like for us after our kids are grown and gone, but also me living for my children and wanting to give our family as much as we can today.
Brian Preston
You said he's asking for more when he's thinking about for the future. Is there anything in the current? What are y' all missing out currently?
India
Well, we can't go on any trips without stress. I should say we can, but it would be stressful and not fun. Extracurriculars.
Brian Preston
Our kids, activities fees and stuff.
India
Yes.
Brian Preston
Okay. What do they want to do?
India
Our oldest loves gymnastics. That is his.
Nathan
He's a big ninja warrior.
Brian Preston
Gymnastics. Oh, I got one of those. Let's go.
Nathan
Hanging on the. Hanging upside down on flips all the time.
India
And our youngest wants to do wrestling.
Nathan
Wrestling, football, anything.
India
And we want to be able to do those things without being like, what can we move to make this work?
Nathan
Something that I do want to mention and kind of just throw in there to give a bigger context is I also have all of those feelings where I want to invest into the now. I want to give the children in a time period that they have. I mean, their youth is now, and it is fleeting and it is going away from them. And I recognize it's super important to do those things now, but also the reason why the future is so important to me is because when I was younger, my nana, she lived in an RV with her boyfriend at the time. And she was older. She was an old woman to the point where physical labor wasn't a real option for her. She was very old. She lived in an RV in the Walmart parking lot where she worked as the Walmart door greeter, where her partner also worked at the Walmart. And so in my eyes, I see kind of something that I really don't want to be in a position of where I might not have the ability to make income with my physical labor. And if I don't specialize and get some sort of skill with mental labor or even get to a point where I'm just so old, like I just don't have that income anymore to be able to supply for the now. And I feel like it really requires you to make strategic investment choices now while you have it, while I have a lot of opportunity right now to float that time period where I might not be able to do that. So I think that's where the struggle comes from is like it's going to be difficult in the future also.
Bo Hanson
Well, I'm curious to know. You guys are so kind. You showed sort of a net worth statement. Let's sort of level set, look at where you guys are right now from a net worth standpoint. Now I want each of you to answer individually. Are you ahead of the curve, behind the curve? Like where do you say? Because you've already said you guys are 29 years old, right? You've got a total net worth of about $115,000. When looking how that's broken out, you have about 16,000 in cash, about 92,000 across investment assets. You have two automobiles, and it looks like you have two automobile loans, right? So as 29 year olds with $100,000 almost income, $115,000 net worth. Andy, I'll ask you first. Are you ahead of the curve? Are you behind the curve? Are you right on the curve? Are you where you should be? Should you be Further, what's your general feeling when you look at this financial snapshot?
India
When I look at it, I feel there's a part of me that feels like we're behind or right on it, but I'm not. I have no idea.
Brian Preston
Can I give you one piece of feedback right now for both of you? Because I mean, it's amazing when I look at this and I'm like, holy cow, that's already a win. We say by the time you're 30 years of age, the wealth multiplier we're always talking about in our content. For a 30 year old, it's 23 times over. Y' all are 29. I mean, I have to go pull one of. Actually, I've got it right here. So we'll cheat a 29 year old 26 times. 26.1 times.
Bo Hanson
So every dollar you save can turn into $26 by the time you're done. That's how powerful your dollars still are.
Brian Preston
At 29, we go even further and we say we want you. The aspirational goal is by the time you reach age 30, we want you to. We'd love for you to have one times your income working. And what do we see here? Your income is right around $99,000 currently. And what do we see on just your investment assets? We see close to $92,000. I mean, you guys, for somebody who feels like you're really behind, I'm seeing a lot of evidence that you are doing incredible things. And this doesn't even take into account you work for the. You're with the military. What is the thing, I think everybody knows about the military. What happens after you give them 20 years of your service? The pension, when you're in your 40s with 20 years of service, what do you think that's worth? No, you don't even have to give me a full number. But do you think it's worth six figures or seven figures?
Nathan
Seven figures for sure. I mean, it depends on how long I live. I'm a very Excel spreadsheet kind of guy. I look at the numbers, the numbers actually like they put us where it's at.
Brian Preston
It's not even on how long you'll live because I mean, the way you structure it, it's your family.
Bo Hanson
What's the pension benefit gonna be? Do you already have an estimate of what that'll be?
Nathan
It's a rough estimate. I'm in a weird spot right now. Like I said, I'm in the military, but I'm also, I'm a full time college student right now. So being I've been active duty for the past eight years and I applied for the MESA program and I was accepted for that. And so my job right now is, is to be a college student.
Brian Preston
You get paid to go to college?
Nathan
Yes, yes. I'm using my GI bill right now to pay for the college. So I'm kind of using the benefits that the military has offered me for this. But I'm. They call it a golden ticket.
Brian Preston
Do you, do you have to Hit pause on, like, pension years and stuff, or does this count towards the pension years?
Nathan
This counts towards it. I am attached. My unit is the nrotc, so I participate in all of the. The things that the NROTC does to prepare the midshipmen for their military career in the future. So we're doing, like. We're doing a field exercise here in a little while. Like, we have an obligation, and we're pretty productive in the military world, but it is not. It's not the same for sure.
Bo Hanson
So give me an estimate of what. What do you think? Your pension. I know you said you're in a weird spot, but just throwing. Just kind of what you. Cause your spreadsheet. I know you've thought of this. I know you got a number.
Nathan
50 grand a year for pension in today's dollars. I think it does shift throughout time. What age for you it'll be? I joined at 21, so 41. Maybe 42. The age of 42. I know. I see you guys scratching your head, like it's an amazing, amazing opportunity. And so you asked the question, how do we feel about this? I am extremely proud of where we've gotten. I mean, if I were to go back in time and ask my younger self where I thought I'd be in the future, it would not be here by any means. I mean, there would not be a comma, I don't think, in my. In my savings account. I think there's a generally accepted idea where if you are given an opportunity that nobody else gets, then you're gonna make something pretty useful out of it and do something that nobody else does. I think largely we do. We have. We have two young, healthy, amazing children that get experiences that I never thought that I would have. But I almost feel like we should be farther with how much opportunity we are afforded.
Bo Hanson
I want to reconcile what you just said. You said our kids have experiences that I would have never had. But one of your concerns is your kids are not having experiences. So it seems like y' all are coming from two different places on that. Help us understand that. Help us reconcile. Because you said they are getting the experiences, and it's unique because of what you guys have going on, but we're still missing out on stuff. Help us understand where the chasm is.
India
That's a great question.
Nathan
That's kind of why we're here. Yeah.
India
I mean, because we have. Don't get me wrong, like, money is a big struggle in marriage, and we have a lot of hard conversations. Things have better. Like, we're both like finally starting to fuse with each other a little bit better and things are starting to get a little bit more easy flowing. But when we first got married, we were having tough conversations because he was very worried that we were behind that. We're struggling and I'm over here, like, I don't know where we're struggling. I'm not understanding your mindset. And like I said, he's a spreadsheet guy. He'd show me the numbers. And he's like, look at this. And like he said too, we're given all these opportunities. Why are we not further along? And I feel terrible because I feel like I'm the reason why we're not further along. Cause I'm like, slowed down, let's do this. And then he'll give in to me and be like, okay, we'll take our kids to Disney. And then in the middle of our Disney trip, he's like, this is so expensive. And we're freaking out about money. And it makes the trip, it makes.
Bo Hanson
Some of the enjoyment, it makes the.
India
Experience not where we want to be. So finding a way where he can look at where we're at, he sees it with you guys and he's like, wow, okay, this is good. I'm proud of where we are. And I'm like, but we just had a couple of conversations a few months ago and we were like, oh gosh, we're behind. We're not where we need to be.
Brian Preston
So it's like, I love relationships, but they're always a work in process.
India
Sure, absolutely.
Brian Preston
Nathan, you are dealing with the shadows of your childhood. I mean, if you saw your Nana with this rv, this is something that's ingrained in you and it's, it makes you who you are. What I see is I see a lot of successful things here going on. So you can use the energy of the motivation of seeing your Nana struggle to power, but it can't take away from the happiness of today and in the future. Because if it does, you have turned that motivation, that shadow from the past into something that's stealing from the moment. Because we're going to give you the variables, we're also going to draw attention to what probably is motivating you. What's the engine of all this? So that you can then be more self aware of it, so that when it pops up, you have a counterweight that says, no, that's just that voice of insecurity. Because of what I come from, I can now counterbalance it with the numbers that those guys gave me and the motivation so that for Indy and my son and daughter, I can be here, give them the best version. So we come out of this in the after action report and go, that was worth it. We spent the money. Yeah, I had to grin and bear it because I paid, you know, $6 for an ice cream bar at Disney World. But man, oh man, it was a cool thing in that moment. And, you know, and we probably won't do this for years on end, so this ought to be worth it. We're going to get you through that.
Bo Hanson
Money can be emotional. I mean, obviously you guys are both kind of emotional having this conversation. And so whenever emotions enter the equation, if we can add some like, logic and pragmatism, it helps. So when I look at your total investable assets at $92,000, hey, man, I just feel like it should be more. If it was a hundred thousand, would you feel better? Would it be full? The same?
Nathan
It would feel the same.
Bo Hanson
What about 120,000?
Nathan
That'd be a little. Yeah.
Bo Hanson
What about 150?
Nathan
That would be a lot better.
Bo Hanson
What about 200? Like, and why? What's different for you if that's 200,000 versus 92,000?
Nathan
Yeah. So first off, I'll say the reason why I love your guys show is because you guys have been broadcasting that idea of like, hey, there's a lot of value in enjoying the world that you're living in and the experiences that you've had. And I've been leaning into that a lot recently. And I think where the worry starts to come out of the shadows, just like Indy's mentioned, where one day I'll be great and then, I don't know, maybe a little bit while later, worry creeps where I'm like, I don't know if this is enough is because I don't know, I mean, I guess what the future holds and what that money will be worth in the future and what it equates to. I don't care about the dollar sign. I really don't. Because I fully recognize that money is just a tool. It is for life experiences. It is the thing that allows you to facilitate the things that you have in your life. So I don't care what that dollar amount is. But I wonder, how many Disney trips are we gonna go to? How many zoos are we gonna go to? How many extracurriculars are we gonna put the kids in? And I want to facilitate that. And the more of that we have, I feel like the more we also need invested to perpetuate that in the future. And I think if I were able to hone in on what is acceptable, what is an acceptable rate of savings that will allow a sustainable thing in the future. Anything in excess of that, I can, for lack of a better way to put it, burn it. I don't care where it goes. It can go to Disney, it can go to ice cream.
Brian Preston
This thing is this. I feel like we're at therapy where they always say therapists never really give you answer. They let you come to the answer. I'm kind of. This is exactly what I want to build, is you knowing what you need to be doing and then whatever. Above and beyond buys as much life as you and the kids wanted, as India and the kids want to do.
Bo Hanson
You guys are super kind. You shared sort of a loose budget with us. Can you just kind of walk us through this? Walk us through how you guys have approached these spending decisions and how you guys think about how you allocate your dollars.
Brian Preston
I'm trying to figure out what's going on with that cars. I mean, that car is 1850. That was on the.
Nathan
Do you want to explain.
Brian Preston
Yeah. What's going on with the cars?
India
Sure. So on our travel from North Carolina, when we moved to Texas, his truck gave out. So that was something that was automatically. He needed a vehicle to drive back and forth to college. I had a van that had 250,000 miles on it and it was going out as well. We unfortunately had to get. Yeah, we had to get new cars.
Nathan
We got a new and then a new to me car. Yeah, mine's a 2021 Mazda CX5, little compact SUV. We got Indy, a Buick Enclave 2025.
India
The reason we came to that decision was because my car is the family car. It is the car that we go everywhere in and we bought it new, hopefully for it to last us for 10 plus years.
Bo Hanson
And when did you guys make these car decisions?
India
Like August, July, August.
Bo Hanson
Both of them at the same time.
Brian Preston
Both of them were bought in August.
Nathan
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
So these are both brand new. This car thing is sort of a brand new.
India
Brand new thing going through. Yeah.
Bo Hanson
That you got. So you went from like, I'm assuming was your truck.
Nathan
Mine was paid for. Yeah, truck was paid for.
Bo Hanson
Van was paid for.
India
Yeah, it just got paid. It just got paid for.
Bo Hanson
I just want to make sure psyche there's already this like tension around how we're spending money and are we doing the right thing. And then all of a sudden this life thing happens and we don't just have to place one car, we have to replace two cars. And now $1850 that was not flying out the door for automobiles is now flying out the door for automobiles across the registration, maintenance, gas, all that kind of stuff. I can understand why if this just happened in August, which was a few months ago, this is still a pretty fresh wound. This is still something that feels kind of, ah, not great, right?
Brian Preston
Yeah, I did $1,850 times 12 months. That's $22,200. 22,200. Your income was roughly right around $100,000. So that I can do public math on that. That's around 22%. That's. That's almost like a house payment. So. And I know that that's probably not all car payment because Bo even said it was maintenance and insurance and other things, but, yeah, when y' all were making the decision, because it's already a tough life thing, that life happens. You now have to figure out how you're gonna get quality transportation for both of you. What went into that decision making? Because 22% is a big deal.
Nathan
I think what it was is probably something that a lot of people experience. Something had to change. We needed a. We needed different vehicles. Maybe that's not even entirely correct, but something did need to change whether my truck had been in and out of the shop. And at that point it was hemorrhaging oil right when we got to our house. So, I mean, we made it. It's been paid off for quite a while. I definitely needed something different. And being in Austin, a smaller car was nice, and it's the nicest car that I've had. And it's a 20, 21 Mazda. So I think for both of us, we had a new opportunity.
Brian Preston
What did that car cost? What did the Mazda cost when you bought Mazda?
Nathan
I think was 21 total. I got five grand for my truck.
Bo Hanson
20% check. We got 20% down on it. Awesome.
Nathan
And then I put 10 grand down, so a total of 15 down into the car.
Brian Preston
So we owed six. You only owe $6,000 on this car.
Bo Hanson
Let's look at the net worth statement again. Net worth right now it says on Mazda we owe about 12,000, right?
Nathan
Yeah, that 12,000 seems a lot better.
Bo Hanson
Did you perhaps put 10,000 down on the car? 5,000 for trade in, plus another 5,000, put 10,000 on a 21,000 car. So we put $10,000 down on the Mazda. So we owe about $12,000 there. So we have some really good equity. I mean, we have a 6% interest rate. How long is that long for?
Nathan
It's a while. I think it's five or six years.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Nathan
Yeah. It's longer, I think.
Brian Preston
So how'd you choose five or six.
Nathan
Years to put the monthly payments to? Right around 250.
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Bo Hanson
Walk us through the thought process there.
Nathan
We didn't have a huge, like, solid future plan in this. We kind of went to the extent of what we could afford with it or what we thought we could afford.
Brian Preston
Walk us through because you did a good job on the Mazda. I want to hear kind of, because it helps me with the thought process. $50,000 enclave. What did you put down?
Bo Hanson
Did you get a trade in for the van?
Nathan
I think it was about two grand for the van, two grand for the van. I think we put 17 or 15 down.
Brian Preston
These are legit down payments.
Nathan
So we sold our house.
India
We sold our house.
Nathan
So six months ago when we were living in New Bern, North Carolina, we had about 30 grand in debt, which was credit cards and our van. I had my truck paid off, but we also had the house. And luckily, we've made some good choices. The market's gone up, and we got quite a bit back into our pocket from our house. So we had roughly 70 grand in our pocket, and we put 30 grand onto our credit cards and the van. So we paid that off. And then we had a chunk of money that pretty much went into three things. Her vehicle, my vehicle, and savings.
Bo Hanson
Do you know how long the loan on the Enclave is?
Nathan
About five or six years as well. Probably more like six years.
Bo Hanson
You did an awesome thing. You know, these significant down payments are great. You know, you hear us talk about all the time, we love being able to, you know, pay cash for cars if you can, but if you can't, then we think there's a better way to buy cars. And one of the ways is, is we follow 23, 8 you put 20% down. You guys smoked doing 20% down on the cars. But what we would have preferred to see is, okay, when we structure how long we finance it, rather than going to like five or six years. What's it look like if we only finance for 36 months, three years. Because what that's going to allow you to do is get you back into that place where that car paid off a whole lot sooner, Right?
India
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
And then we don't want your total car payments to exceed 8%. So it sounds like what you guys did is you kind of reverse engineered. Here's what we want to be able to afford a month. Let's go find that payment. Not here's what we can afford in the cars. Let's go figure out how to structure that. Does that make, does that make sense? I want to give you some grace here. These do. These are not. I would not say these are egregious automobile decisions like we've seen back into.
Brian Preston
Because on the previous page on the budget, there's a disconnect here because we had $1,800. A. You just told me your car payment's 250. If you'd have done $23,800, it had probably been 375. So I mean, there's a little slight delta difference there. But what's the payment on the Buick?
Nathan
550.
Bo Hanson
So it looks like we have $800 in payments, $260 a month in insurance and then another about $800 for maintenance and gas is how the automobile's breaking, how long those are breaking down.
Brian Preston
The maintenance and gas seems rather large.
Bo Hanson
But again, it sounds like some of this is going into like a sinking fund. And you guys are estimating costs or perhaps the costs are not quite this.
Nathan
Hopefully they're overinflated.
India
Yes.
Nathan
And then we just get a chunk of change at the end of the year.
Bo Hanson
If we look at the total burn rate right now, you guys have about $6,000 a month. It costs you to live the life that you guys want to live. Are you zero based budgeting, like what comes in every month from Pay? Is it 6,000 coming in or you got more than that coming in?
Nathan
It's about 3,400 twice a month, first and the 15th, and then a 550 per month for child support.
Brian Preston
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
So we have 7,350 coming in. We have about 6,000 going out. Right. Based on our budget, that should leave about 1300 bucks somewhere.
Nathan
It sounds about right. Yeah.
Bo Hanson
Where's the 3000 bucks going, I don't.
Nathan
Know, but maybe some insight onto how we're operating. We kind of use our credit card throughout the month for whatever it is. I mean, like, we went out to a nice dinner last night. Arguably should or shouldn't have. Whatever. It was a great experience.
Brian Preston
Well, let me ask this because I want to. I want to ask Indy the question. Are y' all actually coming up short on activity fees or stuff, or is it just because he's complaining about things that it feels like you're short?
India
I want to. I'm.
Brian Preston
No. And that's not a cut on him. I'm not. I'm just trying to make sure.
Bo Hanson
Like, are you trying to show up with money that's not there, Nathan?
Brian Preston
I'm not trying to get on you. I'm just trying to make sure. But I just want to know where. How Indy feels.
Bo Hanson
Are you trying to show to things and there's not money to pay for it, or are you just meeting opposition when you say, hey, I want to do this? He's like, no, no, we can't do that. We need to be.
India
I don't sit down with him often enough and do finances like I should do.
Brian Preston
Y' all do an annual net worth statement? I mean, I know we just showed you one. Do y' all do one?
Nathan
I do. I actually do it, like, pretty much every month.
Brian Preston
Do you sit down once a year at least and go over the state of. Of how you guys are doing financially?
Nathan
We're changing throughout time.
Brian Preston
Right.
Nathan
We're getting a lot better at it.
Brian Preston
Do you all have a sit down at once a year?
Nathan
Generally, I pull her in and I trap her into financial conversations.
Brian Preston
Oh, no, this doesn't sound good. This is supposed to be romantic. This is supposed to be a fun thing. Not a Let me an accountability meeting intervention.
India
It is getting better. Our conversations are much more fun.
Brian Preston
Are they fun or is it more like an intervention?
India
They were more like an intervention for sure.
Brian Preston
I felt sit over here. Let me tell you what we did last month.
Nathan
Yeah, yeah.
India
It's one of those, like, you're in a good mood, and I'm like, oh, God. They were definitely more like an intervention for sure. And that's where that conflict got. I felt trapped. I immediately got defensive, and that's where we started going at it. Now I have a better understanding and I can sit down with him because I'm not good at math anyway, so I'm like, you can do it and tell me. So I know now that I can't do that. I need to sit down with him and we need to work on it. So now they're a little bit better. But we do have financial conversations often more than once a year, probably a couple times a week. We're very communicative. Like we talk a lot about it, but the question still stands, like where, where do we come at it with? You know, whenever I bring up I want to do this, I want to. It does come with worry on his part.
Brian Preston
Is it actually not happening? Like, is there any activity fees that haven't happened for the kids yet for a long time?
India
Yeah, we did have some extra money here recently and I was able to like right before we came here, actually we were able to put them, sign them up for a gymnastics class and an art class. So they are able to do those now. But the question is like, are we gonna be able to do it continuously?
Brian Preston
With my own spouse, I have on purpose structured it. Not because of a mean or trying to keep things away from, from my wife. I mean, I'll do anything in the world. Bo knows, believe me. I'm not the boss in the house, but I just being the budgeter and the planner.
India
Yes.
Brian Preston
Is that if there's extra money, I will tend to auto allocate money so that essentially there's less money left over. So it creates, like I said for scarcity.
Nathan
I'm trying to keep what we're doing with the cars.
Brian Preston
I think that that's exactly. I essentially saw. I was like, oh, we are game recognized game. We're putting in our number, our budget, bigger numbers so that it creates a smaller end. And then you're using that as a tool for communication that sometimes. And it's fine as long as that tool for communication is a positive thing. But if it's creating it where it creates this scarcity that now creates some emotional reaction. With an indie, you can see how this turns negative. And that's why I asked the question, are we actually doing without or is it just because there's a tone or a negativity to the communications that it's working against what you're trying to build.
Bo Hanson
When you guys sit down and have your financial conversation. And this comes from my experience with my wife when we first started out, I was a spreadsheet guy and I'd walk through the spreadsheet and I walk her through all the money that was spent last month and I'd say, hey, did you do that? It was always these questions, hey, did you spend this here? Hey, did you spend this here? Hey, did you spend this. And, like, I knew the answer to the question because obviously I saw the credit card statement, right? And it kind of went that way. Hey, why did you. Why did you. Why did you. Why did you.
Nathan
You.
Bo Hanson
Our entire relationship shifted where we started having conversations around. Before we look at what we spent last month, I said, hey, this next month, what are the things that are important to you? This next six months, what are the things that are important to you? This next year, what are the things that are important to you? Because when you as a couple can come together and list out your goals, and you may say, hey, my goal is, we want to go on one big trip a year. Want to go on one big trip a year. Or maybe it was, hey, we want to travel every two months, and we want to go to a different place. If you guys can arrive at what the actual plan is. Because what I'm hearing is a little bit of nebulous. Well, I just want to do. I want to travel. I want to do more. I want to do more. What I'm not hearing is, like, a goal isn't actually a goal unless you apply some metrics to it that would be somewhat measurable.
Brian Preston
Right.
Bo Hanson
If I were to ask you, all right. Right now, if you could just choose, you know, how much income you guys have, how much would you want to spend traveling a year?
Brian Preston
Ooh.
Bo Hanson
Not how much would he want, because I'm going to ask him in a second, too. How much would you want to spend? I just want to see how far off the numbers are.
India
I would say roughly around, like, $5,000.
Bo Hanson
$5,000?
India
Traveling is expensive. I think $5,000 is roughly about a good spot.
Nathan
My answer is 2,500.
Bo Hanson
2,500. So you like to camp?
Nathan
I love camping.
India
Yes.
Brian Preston
Does any like to camp?
India
I haven't been camping before.
Brian Preston
Yeah.
Bo Hanson
Do you know which one of you is right?
Nathan
Yes. And it's both of us.
Bo Hanson
Yeah. Neither of you are right. That's what you have to kind of arrive at the conclusion of is, okay, there is a world in which we could spend $5,000 a year traveling. Is that what we both want to do collectively? There's also an answer. We spend 2,500. Is that what we both want? And you have to list out all the other goals, but we also want to, like, not be paying on these cars for the next five to six years. Hey, we also want to be financially independent. You have to arrange those goals. But what it sounds like is you kind of guys have sort of these, like, abstract. Oh, I want to. Hey, one of our goals, we want our kids to do gymnastics.
India
Okay, great.
Bo Hanson
We know exactly what gymnastics season is and when that starts. Like we can. That's a thing. And so my wife and I, we used to live in this like, nebulous travel thing. And so last year we started this great exercise, very beginning of the year in January, right after we do our net worth meeting. I say, hey, what travel do you want to do this year? What do we want to do with the kids? Want to do just me and you? What do we do with friends? And we go ahead and list all that out. And the decisions we make from a financial standpoint for the rest of the year are working towards those goals. And I think you guys can do the exact same thing. But what you've not done is listed all the goals in the order of priority. Because all I've heard from you right now is, I want future and I want present.
India
Right?
Bo Hanson
But if I were to ask you, hey, do you not want future? You'd be like, no, no, I do. I do want. And I say, hey, do you want present? Oh, yeah, yeah, no. So you guys want the same things, but you're not on the same page about how much to allocate and what timeline to allocate those dollars on. And that's what's missing from the financial conversation.
Brian Preston
There is something outside of Yalls two goals that needs to be kind of respected. And that's. We talk about the financial order of operations. We know your burn rate is about $5,900 a month, right. At 6,000, your emergency, you currently have about right under $16,000. I was trying to figure out now your job, you told you got the golden ticket. What's the likelihood you could lose your.
Nathan
Job completely lose it and severed? It's pretty low.
Brian Preston
Yeah. Because you're in the work for the military and you even got this golden ticket. So now look, I will tell you something that works against you is that there's only one income in your household. So typically that leans itself more to the six months, but the security leads it more towards the three months. So it's very personalized when you're trying to figure out what is my emergency reserves. But if we were just trying to figure out lean for the conversation tool of how do we move forward? Three months could be in the conversation. Three months of 6,000 is $18,000. We're only $2,000 off from a fully funded emergency fund.
India
Close.
Brian Preston
Now we get to balance out future goal, present goal, and how those two Come together. And it's fun because we get to put numbers to these things too. And that's what I like is that you are on the cusp of these things could work together. They really could. I mean, I don't know. Y' all are so close to doing the hard work. It's just more of communication tools and getting on the same page and using the tool of the power. If you're the planner and you're the one that's running the household, those are two, both important things. They just need to kind of learn to respect and mutually coexist with each other. This golden ticket. While you're in college, this is only a short term thing. What happens to your career after you graduate college?
Nathan
I will become a commission officer. And the pay increases in the your.
Brian Preston
Pay bumps, pay is going up. So we need to kind of now we even. And I hate to add complexity, but this is. Y' all need to kind of. When you're doing your planning as a couple, you look at these next few years while you're in college as one intermittent goals. And then you need to look beyond that and have a plan for what happens after that. And then y' all figure out, okay, while we're in this season because three, four years will go so quick, maybe our travel goals are a little bit less. But we also use this as a carrot that hey, when we get over here, because me and my wife, I told my wife if we could save like I wanted to when we hit 40, it was going to be a different world. And that kind of was the motivation. Now, I didn't make us live miser lifestyles. There was a bound. But it was understanding that things would change when we reached this goal certain. And that was motivation that was used as a communication tool.
Bo Hanson
And now you travel differently at this age than you did when you're new.
Brian Preston
To y' all could do the same thing. So maybe you don't do. Maybe you go celebrate with a Disney trip or the 5, $6,000 trip upon graduation. But maybe while we're in this lower income but awesome life because it sounds like y' all get to spend a lot of time together, you get a premium on the time. We treat that premium of time as something where we don't have to spend as much on the vacations because we're making so many memories.
Nathan
So I think the question that I have is, is it enough? Because there is an amount that I'm saving.
Brian Preston
Sure.
Nathan
And so I don't know how.
Bo Hanson
What's that number? Do you Know the number off the.
Nathan
Top of your head.
Bo Hanson
How much are you saving?
Nathan
Yeah, so it's 660 per month. Going into TSP, there was some funds into a Roth IRA that wasn't scheduled. It wasn't repetitive. We had a little bit of extra money and it's something that I kind of stowed away just in the moment while we had some extra change. So that's not necessarily consistent. So that's what I'm putting away right now.
Bo Hanson
Right now we got $92,000 that you guys currently have saved and invested. Right. So that's gonna be a present value. We're gonna save $660 every month. This assumes no pay raises, no increases, no bumps in pay, no changes in income, no new employment, no additional savings, just doing what you're doing. Rate of return. You want to do 8%?
Brian Preston
We can do 8%. 8%. I mean, we could get really crazy and we could have done like 9.1% if we were doing our age based type stuff. But we'll do it. We can do 8%.
Bo Hanson
And when did your pension start? 41, 42, you said at the age of. So we're just going to say for our number of peers, let's do 41 minus 29. That's 12 years times 12, that's 144 months. So if we just look at what you're on track to have in terms of an investment portfolio when the pension starts. $400,000. All right, so here's my question for you. $400,000. What you're on track for when you get to pension age.
Nathan
Right.
Bo Hanson
Your pension is going to be like $50,000 a year.
Nathan
Correct.
Bo Hanson
If I just take $50,000 a year of a pension and I'm just gonna use a 4% withdrawal rate because it's a real easy, simple way to do math. And I take 50,000 divided by 04. That's $1.25 million.
Nathan
Okay.
Bo Hanson
Okay.
Brian Preston
Boy. Do you realize typically, like when we do a 4%, that's like a 30 year withdrawal period, your pension's worth more than that because you're getting more than that. You're getting this in your 40s. The likelihood of how much this pension's worth, this is the most conservative assumption we can use is it's 1.2. It's probably worth a lot more than that because we're beyond 30 years on your life expectancy.
Nathan
But in the context of what life is going to be like, and I'm assuming that's in today's dollars, right?
Bo Hanson
Sure, yeah. Assuming today's dollars.
Nathan
I think my question is what sort of lifestyle adjustments are there going to be?
Brian Preston
You're not a comitat. Do you really think you're going to retire? You're either going to stay in the military or you go do something else.
Bo Hanson
And you're taking, you're actually even taking a step even further than I even want you to go just yet. Thinking about lifestyle, what I just want to draw your attention to is at 41 years old, you're going to have a pension that's the equivalent conservatively of $1.2 million. Then across your TSP and your other investment assets, assuming no additional savings outside of what you're doing right now, you have another 400. That's $1.65 million theoretically of assets at 41.
Brian Preston
And what's our guardrails? Isn't it three times?
Bo Hanson
Three times.
Brian Preston
So if you took 1.6 divided by.
Bo Hanson
3, 533,000, are you going to be.
Brian Preston
Making $533,000 a year? No, you're going to be making.
Bo Hanson
So the just shows how far out ahead of the curve.
Brian Preston
You know, when we ask the curve, are you behind the curve? Ahead of the curve, right where you need to be, you're going to be way out ahead of the curve. This hopefully is taking pressure off of. Let's not feel so much pressure against the present.
Nathan
Does that mean that I could lower the amount that I'm putting into this?
Brian Preston
Look, I don't want you because here's, you know, our aspirational goal is to get you to 25% savings rate. You don't need to do 25% because your government, I guarantee you the government is putting probably over 10% of your pay into this pension. Do you agree? Disagree.
Nathan
It's 5%, I think. Oh, pension. Okay, sure.
Brian Preston
They're putting. No, that's just what they're putting in the TSP they're funding because I worked in government for a little bit. For most governments with pensions, pensions with people retiring in their 60s, we usually had funding formulas where you put in 6% and your employer puts in 8 to 11%. So for the government to fund this for you getting in your 40s, they're putting in more than 10% of your pay. Okay, so there's 10% right off the 25% already. You just said something to the fact that of they're also giving you a tsp matching right of 5%. Truthfully, calculation wise, you're already funding 25% even with 10%. I do like if there's any extra money because your favorite savings account is going to be your Roth account. I would love for both of you all to have Roth accounts, but they don't have to be fully maxed out every year.
Bo Hanson
But the key thing that he said there is if there's extra money.
Brian Preston
If there's extra.
Bo Hanson
And what you have to do is you have to have the goal conversation first to then discern if there's extra money. Because what we just showed you is based on what you're doing right now, without changing anything, you're on a fantastic path. At age 40, if you have a $400,000 portfolio, we know that a wealth multiplier for a four year old is seven. So just that $400,000 you've built up is well on its way to be worth almost 3 million by the time you retire. Assuming that you don't add anything to it, don't take anything away from it, Just let that sit there and grow.
Brian Preston
So there's no van by the river.
Bo Hanson
There'S no RV that we're worried about.
Brian Preston
Like Nana we were worried about. I mean, because, I mean, seriously, that's not you. That's the shadow that's hanging with you. But you're not doing any of those.
Bo Hanson
Things, having anxiety around, oh, my goodness, we're spending too much and oh, my goodness, we don't have any money. To do the things we actually care about is not fun.
India
No.
Bo Hanson
And what you can do, you can overcome that by actually having a plan of action, knowing what goals you're going to find and what you're going to save, and knowing that, hey, when saving is enough, that's okay, and when spending is enough, that's okay. You guys have to arrive at what makes the most sense for the family. And then once you do that, you put the plan in place and then you can breathe easy because you have the resources and the ability to do all the things that you guys are laying out. What you have to do is make sure that you both are equally believing that, hey, we're doing the things we're supposed to be doing, both from a future standpoint as well as from a present standpoint.
Nathan
Okay.
Bo Hanson
You guys are wonderful. Thanks so much for hanging out with us.
India
Thank you guys so much. Yes, we appreciate it.
Nathan
Awesome opportunity.
Brian Preston
Bo, how awesome was that, man?
Bo Hanson
It was wonderful. Nathan and India, what a lovely couple. And I love how one of the things that they did is even though they weren't completely aligned when they started the conversation, you could Tell that they loved each other and they wanted to be aligned, and they were very open and reassuring to each other. And I think that's a great step in the right direction, even just to start.
Brian Preston
Well, you. You can see. I mean, we've been around a lot of healthy relationships, and it's. You can see what was being represented by each of them. When you think about Indy, she was really trying to maximize the moment. Are we doing the right activities for the kids? Are we building memories? And then you got Nathan over here, who's feeling the pressure, and he even carried some baggage with him, worried about his nana, who essentially was living in a van in a Walmart parking lot. I mean, I can see how this baggage makes him feel like he has to produce, create, and save. I love that we kind of got to build a bridge to kind of bring them together, to see how these things that seem disconnected could actually be a united plan for the future.
Bo Hanson
And I think one of the things that maybe he was a little misguided in where he felt like they were. And so I love that we had the opportunity, we could actually look at the numbers. Because if you think about the way that they're saving right now, we know he's putting money into his tsp. He's putting a little over $400 a month into his tsp. He's getting a little over $200 of a match. And they're putting a little bit into the Roth IRA. So they have about $700 a month going into their investment portfolio. Right now, if you look at their investments, they have $92,000. Well, if you just take $92,000 today, saving about $700 a month, by the time he gets to his first retirement, by the time he gets to military pension eligible, he's gonna have a portfolio of like $414,000. So for a couple right there at 40 years old, that's pretty incredible to them.
Brian Preston
They're gonna be like, yeah, but it could be better. But they're not taking into account the value of that pension.
Bo Hanson
That's right.
Brian Preston
I mean, because that's the thing. If you take into account at age 41, they're not only gonna have $400,000 plus, they're going to have a pension that's going to generate a large portion of the income. And more than likely, that's the beginning of Act 2.0 for Nathan as well.
Bo Hanson
You think about it, he's going to have pension income of around $50,000. Even that portfolio at a 4% withdrawal rate could generate about $12,000 a year. So you're talking about $62,000 of income. If they needed to live on that income. But I don't think they're going to live off of it. That's just going to give them the head start as they do. Start this second chapter.
Brian Preston
So even though they're going to be a. Okay, what's the homework? What's the thing? Things they need to be working on, because I'm already excited they're going to get to see us have this after action report. But what do they need to be working on?
Bo Hanson
Well, the first thing is a little bit of blocking and tackling. They do not yet have a fully funded emergency fund. So they need to figure out, is it three months of living expenses, Is it six months, where is that? And they need to work towards funding that so they can make sure nothing throws them off kilter on this great plan that they're on.
Brian Preston
I agree with that.
Bo Hanson
The other thing that I thought was interesting is they were talking about how that income of about $7,300 a month coming in, the burn rate was about $6,000. So in my mind, there's like this $1,300 gap that was unaccounted for. I'd love for them to figure out, how do we account for that?
Brian Preston
Yeah, tighten it up a little bit so we don't have money just slipping out the back.
Bo Hanson
And maybe that's a budgeting app. Maybe it's some sort of tracker, something like that, to help them figure out where that money's going. And then once they know where their money's going, I want them to set a specific and distinct time to have a money date.
Brian Preston
Here's the thing. It doesn't need to feel like an intervention. Like it's felt like that's what I've.
Nathan
Been in the past.
Brian Preston
Nathan has really made this intense. This needs to feel like a celebration or something they're doing together. So it is fun. Not something where you're holding somebody to account.
Bo Hanson
Well, and that way where they both have a voice, hey, here's what I want for the future, here's what I want for the present they can arrive at. Okay, well, how do we attack both these goals? And then what I want them to do is I want them to automate that fun stuff. Those goals they have for the right now, whether it be travel or kids activities or sports or whatever that thing is, they can do sinking funds, they can do automatic savings, and they can go and check the box knowing that money is going to those things so they can be satisfied. Okay, we're saving for the future, we're building for the future, but we're also accounting for today. And if they can get on the same page, I think it'll remove a lot of that anxiety.
Brian Preston
I absolutely can't wait for them to see this homework list and as well as just to see how this all comes together with including the projections. Because look, I know for both Nathan and Indy to be vulnerable and share this type of information is not the easiest thing and I'm just so happy they're united. If we wanted to bring on other guests and people come and they see what we do. But where do people go if they want to be on Making a Millionaire?
Bo Hanson
Yeah, if you'd like to be a guest on Making a millionaire, go to moneyguy.com apply or if you want to take advantage of any of our free tools and resources, you can go to moneyguy.com resources.
Brian Preston
Guys, there is absolutely a better way to do money. And we are here day in, day out trying to share that type of wealth and knowledge. I'm your host Brian, joined by Mr. Bo. Moneyguy team out.
Bo Hanson
Making a Millionaire is hosted by Brian 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 a bound wealth management. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's unlimited wireless for $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a try@mintmobile.com switch.
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Money Guy Show – “Making a Millionaire”
Hosts: Brian Preston & Bo Hanson
Date: December 22, 2025
Featured Couple: Nathan & India
This episode centers on the complex relationship couples have with money—specifically, balancing saving for the future with enjoying life in the present. Nathan (a military member and full-time college student) and India (a stay-at-home mom) share their experiences, financial anxieties, and recurrent tensions around spending versus saving. Brian and Bo guide them (and listeners) toward practical strategies for wealth-building, communication, and shared financial goal-setting.
Nathan’s Perspective:
Highly focused on saving and investing for long-term stability, motivated by his grandmother’s financial struggles in old age. Desires to avoid a future of scarcity and wants to ensure not just comfort but security.
“When I was younger, my nana... lived in an RV in the Walmart parking lot where she worked as the Walmart door greeter... I really don't want to be in a position of where I might not have the ability to make income with my physical labor.”
— Nathan (05:00)
India’s Perspective:
Values giving her children rich experiences and a fulfilling present. She feels an inner conflict between agreeing with Nathan’s long-term priorities and wanting to enjoy family life right now.
“I live for my children... Are we investing enough in our time together now?... The conflict lies there.”
— India (02:01)
Resulting Tension: They often feel stressed about money, particularly when it comes to family trips or extracurriculars for the children, sometimes to the point that the stress taints the experience itself.
Ages: Both 29
Income: ~$99,000/year
Net Worth: ~$115,000 (including ~$92,000 invested across accounts, $16,000 in cash, rest in car equity, etc.)
Recent Major Expenses: Car purchases leading to ~$1,850/month in automobile payments/expenses, amounting to about 22% of income—a sore spot.
Savings Rate: ~$660/month consistently to TSP (government thrift savings plan), plus some irregular Roth IRA contributions.
Military Pension: Expected ~$50,000/year starting at age 41 or 42—potentially worth $1.2 million in today’s dollars using conservative estimates.
“At 29... we'd love for you to have one times your income working... and what do we see here? Close to $92,000 [invested]. For somebody who feels really behind, I'm seeing a lot of evidence that you are doing incredible things.”
— Brian Preston (07:58)
Nathan's Fear: He’s driven, almost haunted, by the memory of his grandmother’s poverty; he admits this “shadow” sometimes overtakes his ability to enjoy the present.
India's Frustration: She sometimes feels blamed for not being further ahead financially because she advocates for spending on meaningful experiences.
Communication Breakdown:
“Nathan has really made this intense. This needs to feel like a celebration or something they're doing together.”
— Brian Preston (47:42)
Move from Abstract to Concrete: Instead of saying “more travel” or “more activities,” quantify and schedule.
Tie Dollars to Goals: Earmark specific amounts for known priorities—e.g., $5,000/year for travel, with a clear plan of what that funds.
“A goal isn't actually a goal unless you apply some metrics to it that would be somewhat measurable.”
— Bo Hanson (32:46)
Projections:
With current savings plus the pension, by age 41–42 they are expected to have ~$400,000 invested and a $50,000/year pension—well ahead of conventional benchmarks for their age/income.
The Big Takeaway:
Their anxiety is more psychological than factual—they are ahead of the recommended savings curve; the work now is about aligning their actions and mindset.
“This hopefully is taking pressure off of... the present.”
— Brian Preston (41:11)
On balancing future and present:
“You’re both right. There is a world in which we could spend $5,000 a year traveling. But you have to list all the goals and arrange them in order of priority.”
— Bo Hanson (33:22/34:35)
On emotional triggers:
“If it does, you have turned that motivation, that shadow from the past into something that’s stealing from the moment.”
— Brian Preston (13:15)
On automating joy:
“I want them to automate that fun stuff... They can do sinking funds, they can do automatic savings, and they can go and check the box knowing that money is going to those things so they can be satisfied.”
— Bo Hanson (47:51)
Nathan and India’s story is both universal and instructive. Every couple will recognize the tug-of-war between maximizing today and planning for tomorrow. This episode’s greatest lesson is that these priorities don’t have to be at odds; with transparency, empathy, and clear planning, couples can transform financial tension into a uniting strength. As Brian says:
“There is absolutely a better way to do money. And we are here, day in, day out, trying to share that type of wealth and knowledge.”
—Brian Preston (48:56)