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Brian Preston
I save, they spend. What do we do?
Bo Hanson
Brian, I am so excited to talk about this because not all financial mutants are created the same. Matter of fact, some people aren't even actually financial mutants. And I love that we get to speak into the space about how to bring those people together. I also love that we get to speak into the questions and the things that you guys are curious about. That's why every Tuesday morning at 10am we like to load you up. So if you have a question you want us to weigh in on, you want to get our take on it, you can get it in the chat right now we have the team out in the wings collecting those questions because we believe that there's a better way to do money and we believe you can do it better. So with that creative director Ribi, I'm going to throw it over to you.
Ribi
We're going to kick it off with that question about being a saver versus a spender from Zachary K. He says I'm the saver and my wife is the spender. Do the money guys have a framework for money conversations with your spouse, especially when you are wired differently? What do you think?
Brian Preston
Well, I will because I want Bo to share because I wrote on his coattails a little bit this year. But I want to give Zachary some just close to 30 year relationship advice. If you highlight this too on the nose, it's not going to go the way you want it to go. So I would try to create what I call win win situations or scenarios where it's positive conversations where you can take the power out of the money conversation altogether because that's really what's going on here is that when you come in, if you just say no to spending without giving context, you're probably going to lose this battle. Now, Bo, I want to give you credit is because I was so impressed with what you did with, with your wife this year that I, I kind of copied it just a week later. So share what you did.
Bo Hanson
Well, I think, Zach, first I want to put your mind at ease that you are not alone. We hear this all the time. Oftentimes when it comes to a couple, there will be one person who maybe is more financially minded and one person who's less financially minded. One person that gets more utility out of saving and one person that gets less utility out of saving. And that's okay. I think when it comes to a successful relationship, the way that you try to get on the same page is you have to make sure that you have goal alignment. Okay, what is the reason that we're making the decisions that we make in my relationship. And, sweetheart, if you're out there listening, I love you. In our relationship, I tend to get more utility out of saving. And she likes really nice and pretty things. And so I recognize, though, just because I don't place value on those things in the same way, it doesn't mean that she's wrong. It just means that she has a different value system than I have. And we have to align on what are we going to agree to be our goals we work towards. So one of our goals is, you know, financial independence and providing for the kids and leaving a legacy and those kinds of things. But another goal is having a home that she loves and that has a bunch of throw pillows and that has stuff inside that makes her happy and makes it feel like a home. And so we have to compromise there. So every time we go about making a financial decision, we try to back into, okay, what's the why? Why are we doing this? What are the goals we're working towards? And do these things matter? Hey, we would rather go on a nice trip and create memories than go buy some fancy, expensive car. That's the way that we lay out our value system. So I think one of the best things spouses can do is have a regular cadence around this conversation. For my wife and I, what Brian's alluding to is, every year on December 31, it's like Christmas morning for us. I do my net worth statement, and it's awesome. And then sometime in January, I book a day, a date day, where my wife and I sit down and we go through the net worth statement. We go through, hey, here's everything that we own. Here's everything that we owe. Here's what's changed over the last year. So that way she knows if I die, she knows, like, where everything's at and what it's all for. And then we talk about, okay, what are we planning towards? Hey, what are the trips we want to go on this year? What do we want our savings to look like this year? What do we want our giving to look like this year? And by having that conversation, it gives both of us the space to openly communicate the things that we care about and that we value. And she said, hey, this year I want to do a trip with our family that looks like this, and I want the kids to have this experience, and I want you and I to be able to do this. And I said, awesome, we can accomplish all those things. And I said, I want us to save this amount of money and do this and prioritize this financial goal. And since we're both able to speak into that, we're able to align on those goals and it allows both of us to feel heard and feel like we're working towards a common outcome.
Brian Preston
Well, and Zachary, let me give you a little color to this is that I liked because point blank, I tried to improve upon what Beau did because when I found out he played a hooky day to go have this meeting with his wife, I was like, man, that's a great idea. So I actually, I did it on a Friday morning. We went and had breakfast at this. This place, it's called the Factory here in Franklin. We went and had breakfast at a facility there, at a location. Facility. Facility, yeah, it was like a cafeteria. No, it was at a real restaurant. But we had breakfast and then there we went to the coffee shop, it's also in the same place. And sat down, went over the net worth statement. I had a printed out copy so she could keep the copy also. And then we went through and I actually created an agenda this year with, I knew that she had brought up last year some, some concerns, insecurities she had about like knowing where everything was, password management and all this stuff. So that was. Those were on the agenda. And then we of course got to the fun stuff with planning for trips, other goals for the year. It was just great having the dialogue and then, and then we even date night that night because it was just a lot of good goodwill that came from this. And so we've always, I mean, for years I've done the net worth statement with my wife and we've always just kind of sat down and gone over it. But this year we turned it into essentially a planning day, kind of called a planning retreat. And it was phenomenal. And so if you're not doing those type of things and being very deliberate with how you put value and I think the biggest thing, and I don't think my wife watches the show, so it's okay. But I think the fact that she feels that I was very deliberate with my time and actually put it on the agenda, it made her feel very special. And I think that that even went further than some of the financial stuff. So it really set the stage in a good way. So that's why I tell you, just because I think sometimes as financial mutants, we think that you can go take home the wealth multiplier or pull the wealth multiplier up and you go shake it at them every time you buy that shampoo. You're costing our retirement this much money. That's not going to get you where you need to go. You need to go sell the vision so that you all are on the same page. You actually write notes about what goals and it's a collaborative experience. And then next year, and what I did was, is we did write down two or three things that I'm hoping that we will accomplish this year so that when we have January's meeting next year, we get to go review it. That's what I do. When we do business retreats, I always try to come up with some measurable goals and things we want to accomplish. So it's a good, you know, it's kind of like old business that you're going back and looking on the agenda to see did we accomplish what we said we wanted to do, but treat it as a positive, treated as a win. And I think you'll actually get a lot of benefits out of having this type of open dialogue.
Bo Hanson
Love it.
Ribi
Fantastic. Well, Zachary K. That really was a good question. Thanks for opening up the conversation about relationships and money and good thoughts, guys. It is a Tumblr day, so I can't move forward without saying, Zachary K. If you do not have a money guy Tumblr yet, we would love to send you one just as a thank you for asking your question. You can email winner moneyguy.com to cash in on that. Okay.
Brian Preston
Cash in on that. I like that. Is that. I don't know that we've said it that way before. I like that.
Ribi
I mean, sometimes I do. Maybe I'll say it more if you like it.
Brian Preston
Like it?
Ribi
Winner. Dan G. Has a question for you. He says, I'm planning on buying a used car and want to follow the 238 rule, which is great. However, I also want to get an electric vehicle. Can I bake the cost savings saving effects from an electric vehicle into the 238 rule? What do you think?
Brian Preston
Oh, man. I mean, what's interesting is that Tesla already does this on their website and I'm always like, oh, that's not really what it costs. I mean, because they put in there all these fuel, anticipated fuel savings and so forth. And I guess, I mean, there's some truth to that. There's definitely efficiencies from it. I mean, I'll tell you another thing Tesla is doing and we don't get is I saw. Now, I have not looked into the details. I just saw the headline that came through my email inbox, but they were talking about doing a Model 3 for $250 a month. I was like, can you really get a. I don't know if that's like you get to drive five miles a year. But it was from a headline. It was a clickable title. It was at least 250. But I think it's another thing I'll tell you is driving. I've been driving electric cars since 2018, is I love my electric car. But there is something about whenever we do road trips and stuff, if it's beyond a two to three hour road trip, I like my wife's car, you know, so that's what just. I would put it. But on day to day driving, I think that especially if you have a charger at your house or facility, it is from a convenience standpoint, electric is better because you don't have to go to gas stations. It's really cool. But on road trips, that benefit actually turns into a negative because you need more gas stations.
Bo Hanson
All right, you ready for this hot take? Dan, you said your question was, can I bake the saving effects from an EV into the 23.8rule? This may surprise you. I'm going to say absolutely, yes.
Brian Preston
Oh, wow.
Bo Hanson
Absolutely, yes.
Brian Preston
Look at you.
Bo Hanson
You ready for this? All right, so when it comes time to buy that ev, when it comes time to do that, this is what I want you to do. When you go find that car, I want you to put 20% down on the car. That's the 20 part. I don't want you to finance the EV for any longer than three years, 36 months. Right? That's going to be the three part. And then when you look at the total cost that the EV is going to cost, you cannot exceed 8% of your monthly gross income. So when you go to buy that EV, if you put 20% down, you do not finance it for any more than 36 months, and it does not exceed 8% of your monthly gross income. I say that you can go out and buy the ev. What say you, Brian?
Brian Preston
I mean, it was interesting. I had a rental car this last weekend. If, like your fuel cost was $100 a month, you would let that be an offset.
Bo Hanson
No, no, no, no. I'm saying the total cost. Just like if you want to go out, buy any sort of ice.
Brian Preston
He just did.
Ribi
Because if he's a Jedi mind trick.
Bo Hanson
Hey, I want to be very clear. Fuel costs don't factor heads. I win tells you lose fuel costs in on normal. 23. 8. Right.
Ribi
Let me summarize what Bo is saying. Follow 23.
Bo Hanson
Follow 23 8. Right. Like if you want to buy an EV and you want to calculate the cost of ownership for sure, but like fuel costs and ancillary stuff like that, it should factor into the equation. But that's not a 238 effect. The 23. 8 is 20% down three years. Financing does not need to exceed more than 8% of your monthly gross income.
Ribi
So you're saying you could factor it into like, oh, this may be a good cost savings to my other lifestyle.
Bo Hanson
Absolutely.
Ribi
But not for buying the actual vehicle.
Bo Hanson
Absolutely.
Ribi
That's fair.
Bo Hanson
It does not allow you. The being an EV versus not EV does not allow you to buy a more expensive car or get into something else without running afoul of 23. 8. 238 exists no matter what kind of car you're buying. Electric, internal combustion, new or used.
Brian Preston
Just to make this thing a little spicier. Because forever we even did a show. We always called Tesla a premium type brand. But do you consider the three and why now to be.
Bo Hanson
Yes, I do.
Brian Preston
Reasonable.
Bo Hanson
I do. I consider them to still be premium. But again, I would say do the numbers because it's very much going to be dependent on where you are in your financial journey. There are some folks who might.
Brian Preston
So you still think even if you're buying like a Model 3 or Y that you should pay for it in cash in 12 months.
Ribi
Luxury vehicles should be cash.
Bo Hanson
I still consider.
Brian Preston
I've changed on that. I mean, I think the reason whys now are. Can be very productive. Just like a minivan or something else. I mean, that's. That's my take on threes are wise.
Bo Hanson
Just like minivans. You heard it here first.
Ribi
They're just at the same utility.
Bo Hanson
Just like minivans. I'm not.
Brian Preston
My car. My car is essentially a fast minivan. I've made that joke for. For years. My car is a minivan. If you look at what.
Ribi
Have you ever seen a minivan?
Bo Hanson
Hey, I'm gonna have my wife come to the office down just let you take. Take the old Odyssey around for a spin.
Ribi
Have you ever driven three kids in one vehicle before?
Bo Hanson
This feels like the only thing my.
Brian Preston
Car doesn't have is the sliding door.
Bo Hanson
It is true. It does not have a sliding door.
Ribi
That's true.
Bo Hanson
Hey, I have a question for you, Ruby. This is unrelated. Well, no, you know what? This is a tangent. I'm not gonna ask it.
Brian Preston
I like tangents. Okay.
Ribi
I'm gonna just tell Dan G. If you're out there and you wanted a Tumblr. Since we answered your Question. You can email winneroneyguy.com if you don't.
Bo Hanson
Want to do that.
Brian Preston
Anybody put in the comment sect was on the $250 lease. There has to be a catch. I'm assuming there's a catch.
Bo Hanson
Why do you think in your opinion and like so like big SUVs, right? Like Suburbans, Tahoe, like fill in the blank, whatever. How come minivans are the only ones that do the sliding doors? Because you know the sliding door thing is like incredibly convenient for. Why haven't other car brands or manufacturers factored in? Oh, I'm just going to have the rear door open and slide backwards so kids can run in and out.
Brian Preston
Well, I'm sure it's in the design of it is, you know, like it makes it have that boxy shape because you have to have a enough Runway.
Ribi
In the minivan behind the door to.
Brian Preston
Slide the door across it. And when they're design. No, no. But I don't think that because you know, is it Kia who kind of came off with a hybrid which was an SUV that looked like it but it still had that boxy look to it. I think if you started looking at where the wheel well is on most SUVs and stuff, it doesn't lend itself to being perfect for the sliding doors.
Bo Hanson
In the comments. If you work in auto manufacturing, I'd love to hear your take on why. Because I've told my wife I was like I think that'd be make a ton of sense. You get a big.
Ribi
Somebody else did mention the wheel well so maybe there's something to that. But I am not an expert on cars.
Brian Preston
I mean most SUVs the big ones you mentioned are built on truck frames too.
Bo Hanson
Right?
Brian Preston
So I mean I'm sure there's something with that with the suspension plus the wheel wells for clearance levels because I mean SUVs the big ones you mentioned like those are built off of truck frames.
Ribi
I still think well Brian knows because he practically drives a minivan.
Bo Hanson
He does.
Brian Preston
So he knows all about Bo drives a Tonka truck.
Bo Hanson
I actually drive a truck. That's hilarious.
Ribi
All right, are you guys ready for the next question?
Bo Hanson
Yes, ma'am.
Ribi
Fantastic. G dash says how should one approach the foo if they are new to it? Apply only new money to the food steps and then or redeploy assets from somewhere else. For example, I didn't have emergency savings and I bought a new car on a 60 month term. But I have a taxable brokerage. What do you think?
Bo Hanson
Yeah, I think so the foo is great in terms of. And by the way, Brian, will you hold the whole thing up? For those of you that aren't familiar, the foo is the financial order of operations. Nine step tried and true process. And what we say is it's what to do with your next dollar. Like it lets you know, okay, what should I be doing? But for someone like gdash, if you are coming into this right now and you are brand new to it, the financial order of operations can be an amazing initial assessment. Like I look at this, I say, okay, where I understand academically that I'm supposed to work through the food. This way I go from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5. When I look at my situation, I say, okay, well I've got a taxable brokerage that's kind of like a seven, but I don't have any emergency reserves. I got a 4, but I don't have any high interest debt. A 3. What you can do is you can now triage and assess where you have holes inside of the financial order of operations. And my encouragement to you would be I would begin to double back and say, okay, are there places where my life is at risk? For example, I have a lot of high interest debt or I don't have an emergency fund fully funded. I would get thinking about how can I restructure, redesign, reallocate my resources to cover those risks so that I can continue moving along the food. Ron, we recently had a making a millionaire episode with Eric where we did this exact thing like he was following the food and he reckon or we recognized during the assessment, man, you've kind of got it out of order. You've still got this stuff going on over here. We got to go back in time to go fix and triage those things. Gdash, I would say it sounds like you are in a very similar situation.
Brian Preston
I'll bring, I think because you're using, you're talking money guy terms, but you need to understand how they all intersect and interconnect with each other. The financial order of operations are very big money decisions to kind of know what to do with your next dollar, but also to know where you are kind of in the process. You mentioned that you have a car that's finance over 60 months cars and house buying for that matter. You don't see any one of these things talk about cars or house buying, but it's a good if you read, I mean this is really going deep on fool or millionaire Mission kind of gives you the why on how all these things were designed and implemented, and you'll know that emergency reserves. Step four is when you start getting into the intersection of other rules on best practices with your money. Buy cars at 23, 8. That's steps three and four. When you get into house buying, that's typically after you do a fully funded emergency fund. That's so. And we have checklists. And that's where whenever you have these life events that intersect, that's why you got to go to moneyguy.com resources. We have created all these free tools, calculators, as well as downloads that you can go and grab and see. Because this is supposed to just scratch the surface of, hey, you got a problem. If you triage your financial life, you can tell you probably are out of order or out of sync. So then go and layer in our tools to kind of fix this. And that's why I always tell people, when you come into your financial situation, I even saw you, you brought up Eric in that Making a Millionaire episode. Somebody was like, man, why aren't they picking on him about this decision more? And I'm like, that's mean. Why would we sit there and just. You can't go back in time and fix your past mistakes, but you can get educated on what to do with your next dollar so that you don't repeat those mistakes again. And that's what I've tried to create by coming up with all these tools, these models, is because I would encourage you, if you do have a car that's now financed for 60 months and that's the only way you could afford it was because you financed for 60 months, you probably need to quickly do that financial triage exercise, overlay it with 23 8. What would you have to do to get this thing to actually now be within the threshold that it does fit? Does that mean you need to pay down the loan quicker? You need to go pull some of that brokerage account or other things down to pay the car down. Do you need to pay more on a monthly basis? Maybe you've got enough Pay raises where 8% of your pay now could go to a higher. So you could extinguish the debt in three years versus that original five years. There are ways that you can look at with the financial order, order of operations where it intersects with key rules of life like the what, how you know how to buy a house and the checklist, the 238 rule. All these things work in tandem with each other. And that's why we've tried to create a better Mousetrap a better system so you know what to do with your next dollar and not get caught up in the past now where you have all regrets but you do learn from our mistakes, from the mistakes of our audience that has been shared and all the data we've shared to help you make better decisions and live your best life.
Bo Hanson
Gdash One other thing since you are branded to the food that would probably be a great idea is make sure you subscribe to the channel. If you subscribe, you will be updated. Whenever we have brand new content coming out, we have tons of new content coming your way that can hopefully continue to educate you on the food and let you learn more about how to do money better. And for the rest of you that aren't G Dash, you should also subscribe.
Ribi
Fantastic. Well G Dash, if you would like a money guy tumblr, just email winneroneyguy.com and we will send one out to you if you don't have one already. All right, this next username I might butcher it, but we're gonna go for it because he has a fun question. It says Bacon Severus or something like that. But the question is I had a fence broken from a tree, a leak in the roof, water in the basement, and a mailbox destroyed in one day.
Brian Preston
Oh wow, so he's going tornado?
Ribi
I don't know, he didn't specify. Feel free to let us know.
Bo Hanson
The question is a tree would do all that, wouldn't it?
Ribi
How should I budget for the unexpected? Because clearly this is a great example of the unexpected.
Bo Hanson
Well, okay, so it's really interesting since again, we don't know what caused this. But before I answer, how should I budget for the unexpected? I'm going to take it like a step back. One of the things that we all know when it comes to our financial life is that there are certain unknown unknowns that we don't know when that tree is going to fall, we don't know when that accident is going to happen, we don't know when the fill in the blank thing is going to happen. So one of the ways that we are able in this life to offload some of that risk is through appropriate insurance. In this case, again, not knowing the cause of the reason. One of the reasons that you carry homeowners insurance on your home is to protect you from large losses that happen at your place. So a great way to make sure that your quote unquote budgeting and preparing is to make sure you have adequate insurance coverages. Do I have appropriate health insurance? In place, do I have appropriate homeowners insurance? In place, do I have appropriate automobile insurance? In place, do I have life insurance, Do I have disability insurance, Do I have umbrella insurance? And what those things do is it allows me to then prepare for the unknown unknowns and the catastrophics. And so then when we move away from the big catastrophics, we get to like the kind of strophics, right, like the ones that are bad but not like so, so, so bad. That's where we think you can begin to budget for and really prepare for. And that's actually why we have it as step four of the financial order of operations, emergency reserves. Because that's the exact thing that emergency reserves are supposed to be there for.
Brian Preston
Yeah, but this is, this is one of those life events when I talked about cash is so important. And that's the crux of your question that actually gets two steps. Because a lot of people will say, well, how do I mean? Because that sounds when you talk about roof, you talk about water damage, you talking about mailbox, you talk about the driveway. I mean, we're talking thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage that can overwhelm or shock the system for anybody. But that's also why you highest deductible covered is because that is going to be a covered big ticket event that probably your homeowner's insurance got a ,thousand dollar deductible, $500 deductible, $2,500 deductible. If you're kind of doing a financial meeting style and you're going to have that saved up in cash. And then yes, emergency reserves is going to help you because you're probably going to. Now eventually your homeowner's policy might even pay for you to have a hotel room for a few nights, but you're going to cover it out of pocket first and then get reimbursed. So that's where step four is going to come in and kind of just build the bridge of COVID this until you can get the reimbursement in the future. But Bacon, that's why this is. You just, you basically gave the example in the case study of why the first step is not just have $1,000 in the bank like we see a lot of other systems out there, it's actually have some purpose behind or why behind it. And for us it's the highest deductible coverage so that the catastrophic stuff can be covered versus you just thinking, okay, it'll be all right. And it also makes you do the exercise of having the insurance, because that's the other thing. I'm always very troubled by how many people will get into this excitement about building and saving for the future. But they don't do the base things that can make you make desperate decisions that put your financial life in the ditch, like not even having homeowners insurance, renters insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, and all these other things that you really should consider. We at least have created a system that makes you say I got to get these things covered so that I don't get distracted or get derailed before I even leave the starting blocks. That's great.
Ribi
Well, awesome bacon Cerberus. I'm sorry that this all happened at once, but we'd love to send you a Money guy Tumblr since we got to talk to you and answer your question on the show today. Just email winneroneyguy.com David T. Has a question for you. This is a different kind of question. It says, My 7 year old niece just inherited 350k from her grandfather's estate.
Brian Preston
Wow.
Ribi
How should she invest it for her future?
Bo Hanson
So, okay, David, I'm going to one. We can't give you specific investment advice, but we can give you some general things to think about. One thing worth noting is that in most states, I'm not going to claim to be an expert on all states, but in most states minors can't inherit assets directly. So the fact that this niece is seven years old, depending on how the assets came to her, will depend on what kind of accounts or what kind of requirements are established are required to be established that there may have to be some sort of guardianship put in place or may have to go into some sort of specific type of trust. And even in some situation we've seen it may have to go into some sort of guaranteed insurance type policy until she reaches the age of majority. So you first need to figure out, okay, in the state in which she lives, what are the requirements or what are the, what are the stipulations around minors inheriting assets? Well then once you kind of get past that part, then you have to ask the question, okay, well what are these dollars ultimately for? Is this money that she inherited? This could be financial independence money. It could also be first time home money, it could be first time car purchase money, it could be education money, it could be for first car money. You will need to define and have a thought with whoever you know. I'm assuming it's the niece's parents. Hey, what are the goals that we want these dollars to be able to accomplish for her. And then once you have the goals, then you'll be able to back into the appropriate vehicles to use as well as the appropriate investment strategy to implement to accomplish those goals.
Brian Preston
Yeah, this is exactly. As a financial advisor and financial planner, the first things I try to do is I look at a client situation and say, okay, what are the short term goals, what are the midterm goals, what are the long term goals? And you'll probably create a financial timeline of what are your best thoughts. And you'll create essentially baskets or different allocations within the structure to account for so that money is there to provide when those goals reach maturity. So you could look at this from. And you nailed most of them. BO is that for a seven year old, the first thing I'm thinking about is quality of life. Is any of this going to help mom and dad if there's private school or dance classes? Because that's the other thing. There's a legacy. I always like to think when I deal with inheritances, what were the wishes, what were the desires of the person that funded this money and how do you structure the account to also honor those requests? And that's why I've even had. Because you think about the 7 year old, she'll grow up and one day potentially get married and you'll still need to keep the structure. Right. So you don't commingle assets. But I kind of wrote down a few big life events with. If I was trying to do a financial triage of this seven year old's life, I'd be thinking about the current needs and financial obligations between now and when they graduate high school. And then I'd want to know post education opportunities because maybe you want to put some of this into 529assets or other things so they can be working in the background. Then I thought about weddings, I thought about house down payments. And then you have of course unencumbered or long term financial independence. All those things can be accounted for because I mean that's, that's an incredible legacy building thing. I would also hope that this trust is designed in a way that it doesn't provide too much access too early. I always, when I tell people, when we go look at estate planning and hopefully when this trust was structured, I try to create some scarcity of resources still to provide people access to money, to provide good things of life, but not to give too much. Because I've often said that if I inherited like this sum of money under the age of 22, I would have probably Bought, I don't know, my educated red self would have bought a Corvette as fast as I possibly could have. Probably not been able to afford the insurance, you know. So yeah, it's just you have to be careful because you know, your brain is still developing. You need to have some governance to ensure that you don't squander the legacy and the planning opportunity. Scarcity can be your friend on creating how to use money because that's the other thing I always tell don't just give your kids money. You got to teach them how to be good with money so that that money actually has value and purpose and doesn't just get lost and create a lot of waste. That's great.
Ribi
Love it. David T. Thank you for being here. Thank you for the question. And if you would like a moneyguy tumblr, just email winneroneyguy.com and we will work on getting that sent to you.
Brian Preston
And then you could do, you know, you think about Princess Bride, you know how that, how that structured where grandpa reading the story you go by, you know, if a seven year old and you're reading Millionaire Mission every night in bed to go through this probably it's just like the Princess Bride.
Bo Hanson
That's probably perfect. Yeah, it's wild. I had someone ask me the other day, hey, what do you think about this car? And it was back in the day when you were like teaching your kids about money. We take them to the bank and we'd go open a checking account. We put some money in the bank and we get the checkbook register and we'd show them how to like balance a checkbook. It's wild how much technology has changed now. You know, there are like cards, like little prepaid debit cards that you can get a kid that where mom and dad both have an app on their phone where you can like communicate back and forth around how they're using the card, what the purchases are. You can set budgets, you can set categories. It is way more advanced than it used to be, which I think is awesome. Am I doing it for my kid yet? Nah, she's a little young. But I am thinking about, I am like trying to figure out.
Ribi
You're looking at what the options are, right?
Bo Hanson
Yeah. Is this something now here's the. You probably need a cell phone because it's app based. My kid does not have a cell phone. So that's, that's probably not doing that yet.
Brian Preston
They don't have cell phones yet, but they do have these George Jetson wristbands that allow them to basically leave messages. We've had a lot of content meetings that have been fully entertained by listening to the voicemails that his kids leave.
Bo Hanson
My kids can send me little voice.
Brian Preston
Memos, and it's pretty awesome. Usually it's on. They haven't learned the snitches get stitches rules because there's a lot of snitching going on in the bow house, actually.
Ribi
Fantastic.
Bo Hanson
Fantastic.
Ribi
All right, well, on that note, we have another question.
Bo Hanson
And if you guys are watching, I love you, because, you know, I saw you. I showed you last week. They were watching. They had it on the tv and we're doing it, so. Raising financial mutants.
Ribi
Yeah. They were so excited. Believe it or not, I heard a.
Brian Preston
Lot of changes in the family. I didn't hear a lot from Mr. Brian. We gotta work on that.
Ribi
Okay. We have a question from foolishmortal. He says, how do you help family think about money? My in laws are nearing retirement and have asked me to take a look, but I don't want to overstep any thoughts on how these conversations could or should go.
Bo Hanson
Well, let me tell you, foolish, I love the first part of it is that they asked you. Oftentimes, we, as financial mutants, we almost feel like this, oh, I've got this necessity that I have to speak financial wisdom onto all the people around me. And sometimes that unsolicited advice is just not warranted and not wanted. In this case, they've asked you, hey, could you come help me? I'm nearing retirement, so I do not think that you're overstepping your bounds if you're really responding to a request. Now, what you have to be careful of, I would think, in this situation is how you communicate the findings that you have. Like, I don't know that I'd look through there, be like, oh, why are you spending money on this? Oh, my gosh, why do you have that debt? Oh, no, what's this going on there? You have to figure out, how can I truly triage their financial situation, but not just say, hey, do this, do this, do that, do this, do this. Help them arrive at an understanding of why you're making the recommendations that you are making and ultimately why those recommendations are in their best interest.
Brian Preston
This is like if you found out in your backyard there's a wolf that's coming up, and you're like, I wonder if that wolf can be tamed enough to where I could start to feed it. You'd probably want to do this very gingerly in the beginning to kind of figure out how Tame this wolf is before you're jumping full in because you could get yourself. And that's why dealing with in laws and money and situation. There's a lot of dangerous things that could happen from this sticky situation. And I love you kind of set the stage very well and both kind of covered that is that they actually asked you. So I would first go with the Socratic method of asking a lot of questions. You know, what are their concerns, what are their fears? Why are they in this. In this place to where they felt like that they could come to you and ask you about it. And then if anything you want to give an advice in the initial stages while you're still feeling this out because like I said, you're just barely putting the food out there and keeping enough distance so that you don't get bitten by this thing and end up with a bad situation that messes up every Thanksgiving for the next 10 years. Is I would instead of giving advice, I would follow what's called gestalt in the fact that I would do a lot of experience shares or other things versus giving direct advice. And then after you feel like enough comforts there so that you're almost inviting Wolfie to, you know, come inside the house, hang out with your domestic pets and other things, then you can full on give advice. It's open now. We've, you know, really opened this thing up. But I would definitely create some, some safeguards in the beginning because family is hard. I mean it's one of those things I'm always. I get asked. You can imagine what we do for a living. We get asked financial stuff all the time and I have to. I balance it because the easy thing is just to give somebody, tell them what the. Because I can triage something really quick and throw that out. But that's not always going to be the most helpful thing for the situation because not only are we analytical beings, but we're also very emotional beings. So you have to kind of package things, put a spoonful of sugar with it so that it actually works and gets implement it and you actually see progress.
Bo Hanson
Tell, tell me you've watched tons of Taylor Sheridan without telling me.
Brian Preston
You know, it's funny you say that you and I share the brain. That is like Yellowstone. I mean but is. Is. Yeah.
Ribi
Is that what that came from? I didn't know where I was like a wolf. Here we are.
Bo Hanson
It came from Paramount. Plus like half the show's on there. There's a wolf that shows up at the very end.
Brian Preston
Oh man. You know what's funny.
Bo Hanson
As soon as I saw coming out.
Brian Preston
I was like, this is Taylor. That's probably a Casey. It's. Yeah, what's funny is like YouTube TV, like last week sent me a notice, you know, YouTube TV, which used to be like 20 bucks and now like cost me like half of an arm every month. They sent me an email saying. And I was like, oh, my God, this is just like the cable company used to do. This is. They sent me an email saying, hey, Paramount is gone. We can't come to a price. Probably because they can't afford to pay Taylor the royalties or whatever. And then I got an email like a few days ago saying, oh, no, we've reached negotiations. I'm like, I guess enough people did a letter writing campaign that they've all figured it out. But I've watched all those shows so, you know, the joke's on them.
Bo Hanson
That's hilarious.
Brian Preston
I could cancel. You could cancel Paramount right now until Taylor gets something else.
Ribi
Great.
Brian Preston
By the way, I'm not paying anything for Paramount.
Bo Hanson
There's a hat.
Ribi
A true fan.
Brian Preston
It's included on YouTube TV. And then also if you have Walmart's delivery service, which by the way, you get for free if you have amex or reimbursed if you have Amex, if you have the right AMX card, they'll give you Paramount for free.
Ribi
There were so many hacks.
Bo Hanson
I'm just writing down all the brands that. We're not sponsored by Walmart.
Brian Preston
Yeah, we're not sponsored by those people.
Ribi
We're horrible at business, great at giving.
Brian Preston
Advice, not good at getting sponsors.
Ribi
All right, well, Foolish Mortal, if you don't already have one, we would love to send you a money guy tumblr. Just email winneroneyguy.com did that work though, the wolf analogy?
Bo Hanson
Yes, it was love. People said they're taking notes and writing it down.
Ribi
I know someone was like writing this wolf analogy.
Brian Preston
Truthfully, I was halfway through and I was like, oh, God, why did I do this? No. I was like, does this even work? Because that was not. That was not like it was put in the oven. And we were just like, please, I hope this is a hot oven that is cooking this pizza really quick.
Bo Hanson
Oh, my gosh. You know, I don't know if he said it, but Foolish Mortal just said, brian is Wolfman. Now, I don't know if he is talking about is he from Atlanta and Donna.
Brian Preston
But man, if you're from Atlanta, for.
Bo Hanson
The six of you out there that remember Wolfman and Donna, you do not.
Brian Preston
Know superstition channel 17.
Bo Hanson
How happy you just made me and Brian.
Brian Preston
Bo only knows that because that was what raised him. We are not old enough, close enough in age that he should know that. But I think Bo, you know, this is back before we had everybody you take your kid in the restaurant and put on YouTube for kids. Bo was just putting the superstation.
Ribi
Did you see Foolish mortal said I was nervous about calling the in laws wolves, but fair. I was like, whoa. All right. Want to do another question?
Bo Hanson
Yes, ma'am.
Ribi
Okay. Zachary B. Has a question. It says, my wife and I are about to close on an assumable mortgage APR 3.57%. Right. Great rate. But we'll clear out our cash to buy out the equity. Should we take a 401k loan to keep an emergency fund?
Bo Hanson
Man, couldn't we just. Couldn't we just stop at the beginning of the question? We were so excited. All right, Brian, I'll, I'll do the Webster's part and then you can answer the hard part. So for those of you that don't know, some mortgages are assumable. What does that mean? It means that when you sell your house, someone else can assume the mortgage that you were paying. Why is this valuable? Well, if you happen to have a mortgage from 5, 6, 7 years ago and it's at 3.57% when you go to sell your house, imagine how much more attractive it is if the new buyer says, okay, if I just take over your mortgage, my rate will be 3.57% instead of current prevailing rates of 6 and a half or 7%. It makes it incredibly attractive for purchasers. But there is a catch. The way that consumable mortgages often work is that you're taking on that mortgage, you're taking on that monthly payment, but the borrower, the current owner, needs to be made whole. And the way that you make them whole is you have to buy them out of their equity. So if someone has $200,000 of equity in the house of the mortgage that you're assuming, then you have to figure out a way to come up with that money to pay them for the equity. So pause for a moment. If you are someone who is in the market looking for homes, now's a great time to see if you can find someone who's trying to sell a home with an assumable mortgage. Now. Now, as you can imagine, most folks aren't trying to sell low interest mortgages and go get a high interest mortgage. So it's hard, but it's at least worth asking the question or asking your realtor the question, hey, can we figure out if this is an opportunity? So then the question becomes, for Zachary B, I've got this amazing opportunity to do this pretty unique thing. How do I come up with the capital for this equity? What's the best source of resources to be able to do that?
Brian Preston
So Zachary is asking this in terms of an assumable mortgage, but I'm going to, I'm going to turn this into a question that it impacts even more people because right now, Beau, you and I are considering a real estate opportunity. And I'm doing this exact out mind exercise, exercise as we speak. And I wrote down a few quick things because I think when you have a big opportunity or a big purchase that you're making, you got to figure out how long will you be time in risk. Meaning because you're making like right now I have plenty of liquid capital, life is good. But then this opportunity has come our way and I'm like, oh gosh, should I do this? So I'm now trying to do an assessment to figure out how long will this put me in some form of risk Because I'm making a change in my financial life, making a decision how long to get back to this base level of comfort, to the status quo? That's the first thing. So I go into it trying to figure out how long. So you have how far or how underfunded are you on this house down payment? Because if this is a catastrophic thing where your years, I'm talking about years, a decade and everything has to work out like roses for this to work, you're probably going way out above your skis. But if this is something like, man, I just need something to bridge me for a very small period of time because I just don't think my time and risk is that far off because of how my financial life is wired. So then you write down all of your options ranked by risk and access. And let me give you an example. Like you could say an option is always, you can go to the local mobster and borrow this money instead of going to your 401k. But you quickly realize, wait a minute, if I. Yes, that's an option to give me access to this money. But when I put the risk on this is I'm probably gonna lose kneecap if I go this. So it quickly goes at the bottom of the list. Now you would probably. So on this list you could also put 401k loans. That's definitely an option. And it's gonna go above gangster down the street, but it's not going to be as high as if you already had like cash reserves. Cash reserves. Or even, you know, you could put home equity lines if you had an existing home, you know, or there's, you know, maybe the equity in your house. There's all kind of things. You just need to write down all of your options and rank them by risk of ways you can get to this money. And then the third thing is this is when you bring it all together, put on the 3D glasses is because you have to not only when I say put on your 3D glasses, I'm talking about, you go create three scenarios. I'm talking about actually opening up a spreadsheet, putting numbers to this. You do the dream plan. This is man, things work out beautifully. Yes. I got the promotions I was supposed to. Money kept flowing in. This worked out and I was able to pay off the 401k loan or whatever way you decide. You go triage and fix this. The other one is down to earth. This is what you think is going to happen, but you know that there's going to be some warts and some, some log jams in life. So it lets you build kind of the balanced approach of what you really think will happen. And then don't skip the doo doo plan. And that's where, oh my gosh, this has gone so horribly bad. Because like maybe you take the 401k loan, but then you get laid off, you know, right after you take it. And now you either have to come up with that money or you now have a taxable transaction with an early retirement penalty. And you know, that's just more money upon more money that's causing more desperate decisions. You'd at least want to know what happens in that scenario on paper before you actually live it. So that's why, you know, I can't give you specific advice, but I just laid out the way I'm doing this for my own. You know, how I look at capital is that because I look at it as placeholders of value, I look at the risk I'm taking, and I try to make sure I'm not blowing up the full mothership of my financial life just because there was an opportunity that looked like a good opportunity, but it needs to be just not so out on the risk spectrum that it blows me up altogether. That's great.
Ribi
Well, great question, Zachary B. Thank you for asking. I hope that that that help shed some light on kind of your next moves, some things to consider if you would like a money guy tumblr, just email winneroneyguy.com and if you don't have one already, we would love to send you one. Okay, next question is from Chance. It says my new job has no retirement plans to contribute to. Is there any good recommendations as to avenues for investments, Anything I can do to get a percentage match? And I think this is valid because we, you know, Love talking about 401ks and the matches and the free money. It's a step in the financial order of operations. What if you don't have that step? What do you do next?
Bo Hanson
Yeah, Chance, we love free money and free money is amazing. Unfortunately, we don't have a mechanism to manifest free money if it's not there. So if you work for an employer that does not have a retirement plan, that does not have a match present, there's nothing you can do to go get that match. However, there are some things you can do to continue building wealth. One of the reasons why we have brought you on hold of the financial order of operations. So you get to step two and it says employer match, and you say, okay, well, I don't have employer match. All right, I go to step three. Do I have any high interest debt? Nope. Good. Step four, merchant reserves. Okay, good.
Brian Preston
Well, boom.
Bo Hanson
Now I get to step five and I can put money in a Roth IRA or I can put money into a health savings account if I participate in a high deductible plan. Well, here's what's great about Health Savings accounts specifically. Even though they operate like Roth IRAs, in terms of you can put money in there and you can invest it and it can be tax free. Free if used for qualified medical expenses. There is one additional plus. You actually do get a tax deduction on the front end when you put money in hsa. So you can kind of sort of a little bit think about like that tax deduction as some free money that you're getting. So you can do that, then you can go on to step six, employer sponsored retirement plan. You don't have one there. Well then if you've exhausted all of your retirement options and you've done the Roth IRA and you've done the hsa, there's nothing wrong with just building up a regular old taxable after tax brokerage account. And that's okay. That just might be what you're able to do at this station and season in life.
Brian Preston
I mean, we love free money, but it's. But you don't have to have the free money to be successful we just wanted to make sure because I think the contrarian thing that's built into the financial order of operations is you see step two, employer match before you see high interest debt. And a lot of people intuitively will be like why would I, why would I do that? I've got a credit card that's charging me 20%. Yeah, you do. But if somebody's offering to give you 50 cents on the dollar or 100%, dollar for dollar, guaranteed rate of return better than 20%, you can't sleep on that. So don't worry. Just because your employer, you don't have an employer that's offering that, there's still plenty of opportunity for you to build wealth, maximize the financial order of operations. It just means after you get your highest deductible covered, you go skip two because there's nothing there for you. You're going to make sure you don't have any credit cards or anything else. It compounding interest upside down and working against you. And then get on to steps five, six, seven is in. There's nothing wrong with that. After tax, after you do the Roth, I mean I get by the way, yes, you don't get matching. But as BO shared that triple tax advantage of the health savings account or the tax free growth where you could potentially be a seven figure millionaire, it's going to feel pretty sweet too. It's going to have its own benefit and opportunity. It's just not free money like matching. But that's okay, you don't need it.
Bo Hanson
Now one of the things you can do, you have to do this delicately and you have to think about the employer for whom you work and what the organization looks like, creating a win win opportunity where hey, I was doing some research and did you know that if you have a safe harbor retirement plan, it allows the owners of the company to fully max out their salary deferrals and all you have to commit to IS, is a 3% non elective contribution for your workforce or maybe even a matching of if I put in five, you put in four. And you structure this win win and you present that to your HR department or to your employer, to your supervisor. You never know when, if you've done all the legwork, they might say, oh you know, it's a great idea. Man, I wish I had a. And you could be an advocate for yourself to get a retirement plan implemented at your company.
Brian Preston
Well I would, I would pay attention to context clues though. If you're, if your boss, maybe you work for a company and you see like man, did the boss man just show up in a Ferrari. Man, he must be making some money. Yeah, wide open. You should go in there, share with them what the 415 limits are and be like, did you realize that you can hide some money legally from the government, but if you're. If your boss is still driving around in a 1978 Pinto and don't, don't show up because they might barely being able to afford the payroll. So kind of take the context clues of where you're. If you, if you feel like your company is profitable and doing well, by all means, you go advocate and do this now. But if you feel like you guys are circling the drain, probably need to look for a job if that was the case anyway. But it's. But you see, what I'm saying here is there's a time and a place I would just read the clues in the room before and then advocate is a win. Win. Bo's always done a very good job, hence why he owns the company with me now versus just working for the company. So he's definitely a good person to take advice from.
Ribi
No, those are some really good thoughts. Really good clarification surrounding the fu. If you want more of that. I just, I have to mention we just completely updated refresh, revamped our financial order of operations course and some of these kind of more nuanced questions like, where do some of these things fit? What do I do if I don't have step two. We cover all of that and more. And just a really nicely packaged course for you that you can go buy moneyguy.com actually learn.moneyguy.com is where you should go to buy that. And it even pairs really well with Millionaire Mission Brian's book. We can tell you, you know, watch this video from the course and then read this part of the book to get a full understanding. So this question just reminded me of all the great work the team has done to put together this really nicely packaged resource for you. It's a really great, like, starter set for you if you're looking to go deeper or share this with somebody else who may just want a bit more of a prepackaged, easier to digest form of this than just like watching all of our content because we understand that, you know, there's a lot of it. So go check that out if you haven't already, because we made that for you.
Brian Preston
And don't forget this version. There was some key benefits. We designed it for groups. Oh yeah, there's actually, there's not only A discount. Hello, financial mutants. We love a discount, but if you organize enough people, we actually have additional kind of like a teacher's manual with more resources that makes it even better for teaching groups. And I'm pretty proud of that. I mean, so I don't know if it happens just at churches. I envision like a money guy supper club.
Bo Hanson
Money guy supper club.
Brian Preston
I mean, I don't know how cool that is to your friend group, but I mean, these are the things that I sit around and daydream about.
Bo Hanson
Value, menu and financial.
Ribi
Can you imagine if you change locations every month or their friend group or like their. Some co workers that talk money a lot like we. Those people are out there.
Brian Preston
Well, more than likely, if you're watching our content, you're already the financially minded person of your friend group. Just tell them because this is very effective. Marketing is a. Hey, when I retire, I want to be able to go to Target with my friends. Not while you're still working. Or I want to go on see spring training with my friends. Not while you're still working. You know, put the carrot out there, you know, and what they're actually building for. And then maybe it has a little more razzle dazzle to it. Do you see what I did? Put another spoonful of sugar. I do want to apologize. I noticed, I was looking, I was like, man, we are kind of coming to the close to this thing and we didn't reach an hour. And it's because. I don't know if it's because I was traveling. I didn't interrupt every question with a random tangent.
Bo Hanson
It was, it was very different than last time.
Brian Preston
I just, I put my random stuff built into the stories of the answers. I think is what I'll take question credit for today.
Bo Hanson
I was trying to think about some clever names. If you were gonna do a foo supper club, I was telling about some very clever names that you come up with. I came up with fast food.
Ribi
I was gonna say there's something.
Brian Preston
Oh, look at you.
Ribi
I couldn't get it.
Brian Preston
That's too on the nose.
Bo Hanson
Breaking bread, right? Yeah, right.
Ribi
What does it have to do with breaking bad rap?
Bo Hanson
Like. Like eating breaking bread, but like getting that dough. You know what I mean? Nick's with me. Nick's a comedian. Nick got it. Nick's with me. Thank you.
Brian Preston
He's not smiling though.
Ribi
Yeah. I don't know if he was totally with you.
Brian Preston
Will you pucker the bottom? That's not. That's not enough affirmation. That's more of a concern.
Bo Hanson
I'm still workshopping them. We'll come up with some better ones.
Ribi
We'll come up with some good ones.
Bo Hanson
I got my ace.
Brian Preston
What I like is I've inceptioned this whole idea of supper club because I think when I've said this in two or three content means like supper club.
Bo Hanson
What do you.
Brian Preston
Why do you keep bringing this up? This is welcome to the world of how I influence and make things. My poor wife, she deals with this all the time. I just keep bringing stuff up to where I kind of plant the idea. Eventually.
Bo Hanson
I love it.
Brian Preston
That's true. I'm supposed to close the show, aren't I?
Ribi
Well, I thought you weren't closing it, honestly. But no, I mean, I always like to just shout out, remember that even though the cameras turn off, moneyguy.com is full of all of not only our archive of our, our wonderful MoneyGuy shows, but also the free resources. Go to moneyguy.com resources. There's tons of calculators, free downloads that go more in depth on all of the things that we were talking about today and more. So be sure you go check that out because that is always there for you to continue these conversations and hopefully help you really take ownership of your personal finance journey so you can focus on what really matters and not be so stressed about it anymore. That's. That's one of our whole goals here. So go check that out. Thanks as always for joining us in the live stream. It's been a blast, guys.
Brian Preston
Remember, there is a better way to do money and we share it with you every week. Multiple show formats now, so make sure you're respecting the foo. I'm your host, Brian Preston, joined by Mr. Bo Hanson. Money Guy Team Out.
Bo Hanson
The Money Guy show is hosted by Brian 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.
Money Guy Show: "I Save, They Spend - What Do We Do?" Release Date: April 7, 2025 | Hosts: Brian Preston and Bo Hanson
In this enlightening episode of the Money Guy Show, hosts Brian Preston and Bo Hanson delve into the complexities of managing differing saving and spending habits within relationships. Titled "I Save, They Spend - What Do We Do?", the episode addresses listener questions that explore the challenges and strategies for achieving financial harmony between partners with contrasting financial mindsets.
Listener: Zachary K.
Timestamp: [00:51]
Question: "I'm the saver and my wife is the spender. Do the money guys have a framework for money conversations with your spouse, especially when you are wired differently?"
Hosts' Response:
Brian Preston emphasizes the importance of fostering win-win situations to transform money conversations from confrontations into collaborative dialogues. He advises against blunt refusals to spending without context, as this approach often leads to conflicts.
Bo Hanson builds on this by highlighting the necessity of goal alignment. He shares personal experiences, explaining how he and his wife prioritize shared financial goals such as financial independence and creating memorable experiences over individual spending preferences. By conducting annual financial planning retreats, they review their net worth statements, assess past financial decisions, and set goals for the upcoming year, ensuring both partners feel heard and aligned.
Notable Quote:
"Every time we go about making a financial decision, we try to back into, okay, what's the why? Why are we doing this? What are the goals we're working towards?" — Bo Hanson [01:58]
Listener: Dan G.
Timestamp: [08:11]
Question: "I'm planning on buying a used car and want to follow the 238 rule, which is great. However, I also want to get an electric vehicle. Can I bake the cost savings from an electric vehicle into the 238 rule?"
Hosts' Response:
Bo Hanson enthusiastically confirms that the 238 rule can indeed be applied to electric vehicle (EV) purchases. He outlines a clear framework:
Brian Preston adds practicality by discussing the real-world considerations of EV ownership, such as the convenience of home charging versus the challenges of long road trips.
Notable Quote:
"When you go buy that EV, if you put 20% down, you do not finance it for any more than 36 months, and it does not exceed 8% of your monthly gross income." — Bo Hanson [10:08]
Listener: Gdash
Timestamp: [15:20]
Question: "How should one approach the FOO if they are new to it? Apply only new money to the FOO steps and then or redeploy assets from somewhere else. For example, I didn't have emergency savings and I bought a new car on a 60-month term. But I have a taxable brokerage. What do you think?"
Hosts' Response:
Bo Hanson introduces the Financial Order of Operations (FOO) as a strategic approach to manage finances effectively. He advises assessing one's current financial standing, identifying gaps such as lacking an emergency fund, and restructuring resources to address these vulnerabilities before advancing to other financial goals.
Brian Preston reinforces the importance of integrating FOO with practical tools available on moneyguy.com. He emphasizes the need for financial triage, evaluating the risk associated with significant financial decisions, and ensuring that new commitments do not destabilize one's overall financial health.
Notable Quote:
"The financial order of operations can be an amazing initial assessment... how can I restructure, redesign, reallocate my resources to cover those risks so that I can continue moving along the FOO." — Bo Hanson [15:47]
Listener: David T.
Timestamp: [25:50]
Question: "My 7-year-old niece just inherited $350k from her grandfather's estate. How should she invest it for her future?"
Hosts' Response:
Bo Hanson outlines the necessity of establishing a trust fund or similar legal structures to manage the inheritance for a minor. He suggests consulting state-specific regulations regarding minors inheriting assets and emphasizes defining the financial goals for the funds, such as education or future investments.
Brian Preston complements this by advocating for a long-term investment strategy that aligns with the child's future milestones. He highlights the importance of financial governance to prevent premature or imprudent use of the funds, ensuring they contribute to lasting financial stability and legacy.
Notable Quote:
"You need to have some governance to ensure that you don't squander the legacy and the planning opportunity." — Brian Preston [25:56]
Listener: Zachary B.
Timestamp: [39:10]
Question: "My wife and I are about to close on an assumable mortgage APR 3.57%. Right, great rate. But we'll clear out our cash to buy out the equity. Should we take a 401k loan to keep an emergency fund?"
Hosts' Response:
Bo Hanson explains the concept of assumable mortgages and their benefits, such as securing a lower interest rate compared to current market rates. He advises evaluating various funding options for purchasing the equity, emphasizing the importance of minimizing financial risk by adhering to the 238 rule principles.
Brian Preston elaborates on conducting a risk assessment before committing to such financial decisions. He recommends listing all available options, ranking them by risk and accessibility, and using scenario planning to anticipate potential financial strains.
Notable Quote:
"You have to write down all of your options and rank them by risk of ways you can get to this money." — Brian Preston [41:18]
Listener: Chance
Timestamp: [46:19]
Question: "My new job has no retirement plans to contribute to. Are there any good recommendations as to avenues for investments? Anything I can do to get a percentage match?"
Hosts' Response:
Bo Hanson acknowledges the challenge of lacking an employer-sponsored retirement plan and suggests alternative investment vehicles:
He also encourages listeners to advocate for the introduction of retirement plans within their organizations, presenting potential benefits to employers.
Brian Preston reinforces that while employer matches are advantageous, they are not the sole pathway to financial growth. He emphasizes the importance of consistent investing and utilizing available tools to build wealth independently.
Notable Quote:
"There are plenty of opportunities for you to build wealth, maximize the financial order of operations. It just means after you get your highest deductible covered, you go skip two because there's nothing there for you." — Brian Preston [47:48]
Effective Communication: Establishing open, positive dialogues about finances can bridge the gap between differing spending habits in relationships. Regular financial meetings foster transparency and mutual goal setting.
Financial Frameworks: Adhering to structured financial rules like the 238 rule ensures disciplined purchasing decisions, whether it’s for vehicles or mortgages, thereby maintaining financial health.
Adaptive Strategies: Utilizing the Financial Order of Operations (FOO) allows individuals to assess and adjust their financial priorities dynamically, addressing immediate risks before pursuing long-term goals.
Protecting Inheritance: For minors inheriting substantial assets, setting up legal structures and focusing on long-term, goal-oriented investment strategies secures their financial future.
Navigating Financial Gaps: In the absence of employer-sponsored retirement plans, leveraging personal investment vehicles such as Roth IRAs and HSAs can effectively substitute traditional retirement savings methods.
Proactive Financial Planning: Engaging in scenario planning and risk assessments prior to major financial commitments helps in mitigating potential setbacks and ensures sustained financial stability.
"I Save, They Spend - What Do We Do?" offers a comprehensive exploration of managing diverse financial behaviors within personal relationships. Through real-life listener questions and expert advice, Brian Preston and Bo Hanson provide actionable strategies to achieve financial alignment, discipline, and security. Whether navigating shared expenses, adopting financial frameworks, or planning for future inheritances, this episode equips listeners with the knowledge to make informed financial decisions and foster harmonious financial partnerships.
For more insights and resources, visit moneyguy.com or explore their Financial Order of Operations course at learn.moneyguy.com.