Super-Savers Can't Forgive Their Money Mistakes | Making a Millionaire

Summary

Podcast Summary: Money Guy Show - "Super-Savers Can't Forgive Their Money Mistakes | Making a Millionaire"

Episode Information:

• Title: Super-Savers Can't Forgive Their Money Mistakes | Making a Millionaire
• Hosts: Brian Preston and Bo Hanson
• Release Date: February 3, 2025

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Introduction to Guests: Megan and Patrick

[00:00–01:30]

Brian Preston and Bo Hanson introduce Megan and Patrick, a married couple navigating the complexities of wealth building and overcoming significant financial setbacks. Megan, a 45-year-old pharmacist, and Patrick, a civil engineer, share their journey of moving across various states, raising two teenagers, and building a significant net worth despite facing a devastating financial blow during the 2008 crisis.

Notable Quote:

Brian Preston [00:27]: "This $200,000 loss has just got this hangover effect. It's this cloud that's hanging over you."

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Early Life and Financial Foundations

[01:30–05:00]

Megan and Patrick delve into their upbringing, emphasizing the importance of budgeting and financial responsibility instilled by their families. Bo recounts his middle-class upbringing in Peachtree City, Georgia, where living within a budget was a cornerstone of family life. Megan shares her experiences moving frequently due to her father's job and her mother's passion for home remodeling, highlighting the family's thrifty habits and the eventual influence on her decision to pursue a stable career in pharmacy.

Notable Quote:

Megan [05:00]: "There was always a strong emphasis on value for what you paid."

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Marriage and Strategic Financial Moves

[05:00–09:00]

The couple discusses their early marriage years, marked by strategic real estate investments. Both Megan and Patrick were homeowners before marrying, which set the foundation for their mutual financial responsibility. They quickly paid off their townhome and invested proceeds into purchasing a second property in Florida, anticipating a booming real estate market driven by Florida's influx of new residents.

Notable Quote:

Patrick [08:11]: "That's one of the reasons we couldn't have told my parents I just walked away."

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The Impact of the 2008 Financial Crisis

[09:00–17:00]

In 2008, the couple faced a crippling financial crisis when their Florida property plummeted from $285,000 to $69,000 due to a sudden market downturn. Bo's career in real estate development suffered as projects stalled and the firm contemplated pay cuts. This unforeseen loss not only strained their finances but also cast a long shadow over their financial confidence and future planning.

Notable Quote:

Megan [16:55]: "I have been planning and telling them, hey, knock that savings up to this, you know..."

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Rebuilding and Current Financial Standing

[17:00–32:00]

Despite the setback, Megan and Patrick have successfully rebuilt their wealth to over $2.1 million, with $1.8 million in liquid invested assets. They emphasize their commitment to security, aiming to ensure financial stability irrespective of future economic uncertainties. Their goals include supporting their children’s education, providing for aging parents, and eventually easing their savings rate to enjoy life more freely.

Notable Quote:

Megan [20:24]: "We just want to be sure that no matter what the world throws at us, that we're still rocking and rolling and doing all right."

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Financial Strategy and Account Management

[32:00–45:00]

The discussion shifts to their intricate financial portfolio, which includes multiple retirement accounts (Roth IRAs, rollover IRAs, 401ks, 403bs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and 529 plans for their children's education. Megan handles the family finances, ensuring disciplined saving and strategic investment. The hosts commend their diversified approach and highlight the importance of consolidating accounts for better management and clarity.

Notable Quote:

Brian Preston [34:03]: "But this doesn't even tell the whole story because I wanted to wait until we got to this page."

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Overcoming Financial Anxiety and Mindset Shifts

[45:00–58:00]

Brian and Bo address the lingering financial anxiety stemming from the 2008 loss. They emphasize the importance of viewing setbacks as temporary and maintaining a long-term perspective. Through conservative financial planning and disciplined saving, Megan and Patrick have not only recovered but thrived, positioning themselves as exemplary figures of resilience and effective wealth management.

Notable Quote:

Brian Preston [46:49]: "But I want to try to reshape how your mindset works towards that $200,000 loss... you can free yourself from."

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Exploring Financial Independence and Future Goals

[58:00–73:00]

The episode concludes with a forward-looking discussion on financial independence. Megan and Patrick contemplate easing their savings to allocate more funds toward experiences and memories, aligning their financial strategies with their personal desires. The hosts reassure them of their strong financial foundation, illustrating through simulations that their current trajectory ensures a comfortable retirement, even if they choose to reduce their savings rate slightly.

Notable Quote:

Patrick [55:27]: "We have an army of dollars that's probably gonna work harder than you... you are already on track."

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Final Thoughts and Takeaways

[73:00–82:00]

Brian and Bo wrap up by encouraging Megan and Patrick to enjoy their financial success without guilt, emphasizing the balance between saving and spending. They highlight the importance of continuous financial education, asset allocation, and occasionally consulting with financial advisors to maintain and grow wealth effectively. The episode serves as an inspiring testament to overcoming financial adversity through strategic planning and disciplined execution.

Notable Quote:

Brian Preston [80:27]: "You don't have to be perfect. Nobody is perfect. And you can make lots of mistakes, but if you just get the basics."

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Conclusion

Megan and Patrick's story, as discussed in this episode of the Money Guy Show, underscores the significance of resilience, strategic saving, and diversified investment in building and maintaining wealth. Despite facing substantial financial losses, their disciplined approach and commitment to financial education have paved the way for a secure and prosperous future. This episode offers valuable insights for listeners striving to achieve financial independence while balancing life's unpredictable challenges.

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Listen to the full episode here.

Transcript

[Megan]

We got married. We thought about having a kid. We thought, we need a house. There was this new neighborhood under construction, so we bought in early, getting on the ground floor before the prices keep going up and up.

[Patrick]

Megan and Patrick thought they were living the American dream. But then disaster struck.

[Megan]

We had been homeowners at the time, and our property had lost about 85% of its value.

[Patrick]

Oh, wow.

[Megan]

We went from 285 and ended up selling for 69k.

[Patrick]

Oh, wow. Can we help them build a better relationship with money?

[Brian Preston]

This $200,000 loss has just got this hangover effect. It's this cloud that's hanging over you. Welcome to Making a Millionaire. This is where we help our guests build their great big, beautiful tomorrow. I'm Brian Preston, joined by Mr. Bo Hanson.

[Patrick]

That's right, Brian. I am so excited. This is a show for millionaires and millionaires in the making, and we are so excited that today we get to sit down with Patrick and Megan. Guys, how are y'all doing this morning?

[Megan]

Doing great. Awesome to be here.

[Patrick]

Well, thank you all so much for coming and letting us be a part of your financial journey. For the folks out there, though, that don't know who you guys are, give us a quick, quick rundown. Who are you? Where are you from? What's your backstory? And then how do we get here to where we are today?

[Megan]

Sure. I'm Megan. I'm 45 years old. My husband Patrick. We've been married for 20 years. We have lived all over the place. We started out in Florida. Prior to that was Georgia. We've been to New York. Now we're back in Georgia. So we bounced around a lot. We've gotten through, I think, the worst of the messy middle, and now we're hoping to kind of figure out the coasting plan to get us to the finish line.

[Patrick]

Messy middle, meaning you got some kids in there?

[Megan]

Yeah, we got a couple of kids. A daughter, 16, and a son, 14.

[Patrick]

Oh, nice.

[Megan]

Yeah, they're doing great.

[Patrick]

Teenage years are awesome, right? That's like a super easy thing as.

[Megan]

A parent, honestly, compared to the toddler years I'm liking.

[Patrick]

I like the sound of that. That sounds awesome. Awesome. All right, so two kids, 16, 14. What do you guys do professionally? What are your vocations?

[Bo Hanson]

I'm a civil engineer, work for municipality.

[Megan]

And I'm a pharmacist.

[Patrick]

Awesome. And have you done those jobs for your whole career?

[Bo Hanson]

No, I started. I graduated civil engineering, worked land development in Florida. And then 2008, that fell apart a little bit. So did A complete career change. And worked for a railroad as a locomotive engineer.

[Brian Preston]

Oh, wow.

[Bo Hanson]

In upstate New York and then came back down south. So now I'm back to being a civil engineer.

[Patrick]

Now you say it fell apart. Is that because of, like, the Great Recession?

[Bo Hanson]

Land development in South Florida fell apart.

[Patrick]

It was a hard, hard time to do that.

[Megan]

Yeah. That hit us hard in a lot of ways, actually. But we had been homeowners at the time, and our property had lost about 85% of its value.

[Patrick]

Oh, wow.

[Megan]

Yeah. We went from 285 and ended up selling for.

[Bo Hanson]

Right.

[Megan]

I was 69. Okay.

[Patrick]

Oh, wow. Okay, so let's rewind a little bit. But before we get to 2008, and because it sounds like that had a big impact on you guys. Right. Tell me about your financial backstories. Like, growing up. What was. What was money in your life? Growing up? Did you. What kind of upbringing did you have? What kind of familiarity? Education? How'd you guys learn about money for the first time?

[Bo Hanson]

So I grew up in Peachtree City, which is a suburb of Atlanta. Nice middle class. Well, at my time, it was a nice middle class neighborhood.

[Brian Preston]

I married a Fayette county girl, so I'm very familiar with that area.

[Bo Hanson]

It was a great area to grow up in. Single family. Mom worked for Delta, like half of the. Half the folks down there.

[Patrick]

That's right.

[Bo Hanson]

You know, we had a modest lifestyle, but we lived within a fairly narrow budget. But I never really felt in want of anything.

[Patrick]

Did you understand money and how it worked, and were you part of that process when you were in the household or when did you figure out money for yourself?

[Bo Hanson]

We learned to live within budgets. Like, here is your allowance. This is what you will have. This is all you will get. And you must make your decisions accordingly. You can ask please and thank you, but this is the budget that you were allotted. Do your best with it. And that's how I learned to budget and save for what I wanted. And it worked well. And that was how the whole family worked. We have a certain allocation and you stay within it. A lot of us, like I said, were Delta kids, and we had certain things in common. Like, hey, let's go to spring break in Honolulu, because we can.

[Patrick]

We can apply for free. Yeah, that's awesome.

[Bo Hanson]

And so that didn't cost us money, but it certainly felt good.

[Patrick]

You know, I never did spring break in Honolulu. What about your background with money? What about your upbringing? What was your relationship with money like?

[Megan]

Early on, I grew up moving all over the place. We started out in Sleep. Southern Illinois, went to Seattle, Georgia, all around New York.

[Patrick]

Military or what was moving you guys around?

[Megan]

My dad's job was some of it. My mom's love of home remodeling was a lot of it. She was a flipper before that was a thing.

[Brian Preston]

That's awesome.

[Megan]

And so that was a lot of it. But my earliest memories, like they've always been thrifty. My mom was. I mean you don't shop on that first three racks in the store. You're going to the back of the store, you're finding the clearance racks, you're looking for the deals. So there was always a strong emphasis on value for what you paid. And then we landed for high school and middle school years in Marietta, Georgia, North Atlanta suburb. And when my dad was in his 40s, he got laid off. A similar story to your father, I believe. And that definitely shaped us. I was going into college at the time and the big emphasis with my parents was like, you have to get something that's going to be a dependable job that you can count on that there's a high demand. None of these rainbow unicorn dreams for you. Like get serious now. Luckily I was a pretty practical kid. It really wasn't a huge hardship, but it definitely steered me into pharmacy.

[Patrick]

But that's a pharmacy you like is always gonna need a pharmacist.

[Megan]

Yes, exactly. And it's been a great everywhere. Yeah. And it's been a great career for that. And the other thing I really wanted is I knew when I had kids I wanted to work part time and not full on pharmacy would allow me that so that instill a decent income.

[Patrick]

I just love that beginning with the end in mind. But think about the life you want to have and then pursue a vocation that does that. I wish more young people.

[Megan]

And we were fortunate enough to do it in Georgia. Both of us got degrees on Hope scholarship, which was a beautiful thing. So we graduated without any college debt.

[Patrick]

Amazing.

[Megan]

So that was a big help.

[Brian Preston]

Any regrets? Because we'll have younger people watch this too. It sounds like you were told, be practical with your college degree. Get something in your own words, not the unicorns and rainbows. Was there something you left behind to pursue the more conventional path of pharmacy?

[Megan]

Yeah, there was. When I was at uta, I took an honors astronomy class and that lit a fire. And then they offered to take me down to the SETI lab over the summer to be an intern. And I was a pharmacy intern instead.

[Brian Preston]

Now can I pick on you a little bit? I took astronomy at Georgia, did you. Because I thought it was going to teach me where the stars were and how to go outside at night. And I was like, this was going to impress the ladies. But here's the reality. This is why I'm picking on you. Astronomy at Georgia is actually a very math based course. Now, fortunately, I was very math minded, so I did good at it. But it was not the rainbows and unicorns that I thought I was signing up for. So it was. So even your rainbows and unicorn choice is very math minded. So you just have a very analytical brain.

[Megan]

It sounds like. And I will say it was somewhat a rainbow unicorn class because the woman who introduced the two of us, I met her in that class.

[Patrick]

Oh, well, look. That's awesome.

[Megan]

So it was in the stars, if you will.

[Brian Preston]

That's awesome.

[Patrick]

All right, so we're. Okay, so fast forward now. You guys make it through childhood, you make it through University of Georgia. It sounds like greatest university, Georgia Tech.

[Megan]

But I.

[Patrick]

We're going to need a mother. That's wonderful. We love Georgia Tech too. So you guys make it through college and you get married. Tell us a little about how did you navigate finances early on in your marriage? You said you've been married for 20 years, I think. What was money like early on? And then tell us the story of how we got from where you were then until where you are now.

[Bo Hanson]

Well, after graduation, I moved to Florida, and after about a year living down there, working as a civil engineer, I bought my townhome. And then we went to our mutual friend's wedding in Jamaica and hit it off. Megan was working in North Georgia at the time and she had her own home.

[Patrick]

And so both of you homeowners, super early ages as single individuals. Right.

[Bo Hanson]

And so that was a big tip off to each of us that the other was responsible. And.

[Megan]

I remember, well, I remember one of the financial gurus back in the 90s, one of the things that she had said was that out of all the decisions you're gonna make in your life, one of the most important financial decisions other than your career path is who you're gonna marry.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Megan]

And so, yeah, I will say that. Steen. We met freshman year of college and I wasn't interested because I didn't know where this boy was going. He was a TEC. A lot of people fail out of tech anyway. 6 years later. I did not fail out of tech 6 years later. When we met and got became reacquainted at that point. Yes. He had a career, he had a home. I'm like it put a slightly different light on things. So there was some tequila. Anyway, it was lovely.

[Patrick]

That's the way the weddings go.

[Bo Hanson]

And I was quick to move into a house because it was one of the subdivisions our firm had designed, so I was kind of entry level into that. And so that was my big push. And the prices of everything were just going through the roof, so I wanted to get my foot in the door. And that's why I was pushed to get a townhome early on.

[Megan]

Yeah. And so then we started dating, and I ended up moving down to Florida to join him. Found a job down there. He proposed in November, and we eloped two weeks later to get in on the tax year.

[Bo Hanson]

Financial means a little bit.

[Megan]

A little bit. So, yeah, we had our actual wedding later, but, you know, we God the paperwork.

[Bo Hanson]

Did the family know that y'all did this eventually?

[Megan]

Mine knew in advance, but, yeah, Others found out a little later.

[Brian Preston]

But I don't know. I don't know because, you know, now that I've gotten older and I have a daughter who's in her 20s, I don't know how I'd feel about that even being a financial mutant. But I think you have to respect the game. I mean, that's pretty impressive.

[Megan]

Well, and you have to market it to your audience. My grandmother didn't like that we were living together and weren't married.

[Brian Preston]

So getting married. And I get that there's other things with relatives, but I really do believe, Elise, I'm going to take you at your word that you probably were thinking, hey, we could go ahead and get a tax deduction. That was on the pro column.

[Megan]

We were both pretty high income earners for our age, and getting married did help. So. Yeah.

[Patrick]

So you get married and you guys immediately start saving money, building for the future. Obviously, you're in real estate. Did you start investing in real estate? Like, how did you go about building towards the future?

[Megan]

Well, we were both already saving into our retirement plans at work. We both started doing that. Not maxing out. I don't remember the exact percentages, but we both graduated knowing that time was money and to get in early. And so then we got married. We did quickly decide that it was an all in one pot family lifestyle and that I would be stirring that pot. We didn't really start investing in real estate on purpose, but what happened is we were in the townhome, and as I actually sold my house in Georgia, we threw that money into the townhome to pay it down. Because again, the common belief then Was.

[Patrick]

To pay off, get out of debt.

[Megan]

Get out of debt. And I knew that we wanted to have kids and I was gonna go part time then. And so I thought, well, if we pay off the mortgage, then that gives the room in the budget for me to go to part time.

[Bo Hanson]

And the mortgage rate wasn't all that great.

[Megan]

Sure. Yeah. And so then what year was this? We got married in 04. So. Yeah. And we bought again. So we. We were in the townhome, but it wasn't an ideal place to start a family. And that two bedrooms were upstairs, the master was downstairs and just wasn't ideal. So we started looking for homes, thinking family. And he was developing things. And so we found a house in 2006.

[Brian Preston]

Six, right. That was the 285.

[Megan]

285, yeah. It was a couple blocks from his work. Like, oh, this will be perfect.

[Bo Hanson]

This is like the seventh home built in the subdivision.

[Brian Preston]

Sure. That sounds like a great way to make money because you get in early and then they keep raising prices and you get some built in equity.

[Megan]

That's what was going on then, too. People who didn't live through it don't realized how everybody is. Like, this will never. They're not making more land.

[Patrick]

Not making more land.

[Bo Hanson]

Everybody's retiring to Florida and everybody's coming to Florida.

[Megan]

Yeah, there's going to be people. So we thought, well, we'll buy this and we'll put our. Our town home on the market. And we did that. And then we got a contract. And about then the bubble started to not burst, but things were slowing down. And then people backed out of their deal on the townhome. And then we had to. Yeah. So then we were sitting with two houses and again, luckily we were.

[Patrick]

The townhome was paid off. It was paid for.

[Megan]

It wasn't completely paid off.

[Patrick]

We had a small mortgage on it. Yeah.

[Megan]

And so we were paying the two. Again, it was not hurting us terribly because we had a decent income and we didn't have kids yet. But we finally did sell it, but not quite as much as we thought we were gonna get. And then we had our daughter in 2008. And then things just really went south with the house.

[Brian Preston]

Well, and that's where we kind of. We paused there and then we moved on to catch the rest of your life. But I do want to hear. Cause when I was reading through the notes in preparation for today, I kept noticing a little bit of a cloud over your brilliant story. We're going to get into your accounts and your numbers here in A minute. And you've done very well. But sometimes when I was looking at your questions and concerns, like I said, it was more of the Eeyore side of things that had a little downer on it. And that's why I wanted to lean into this house purchase. Or maybe I should talk about the house disposal. Cause give us the rest of the story. What happened? You bought it for 285. You had trouble with the townhome, but it sounds like you eventually did get that sold.

[Megan]

We sold it.

[Brian Preston]

What happened to this house in Florida?

[Megan]

We paid it off because, again, we were still thinking that we were going to be there long term.

[Brian Preston]

Okay, you paid it off by 2008?

[Megan]

Yeah, I believe so.

[Brian Preston]

Okay, so that was quick. Wow. Y'all really. Y'all threw the kitchen sink at it.

[Bo Hanson]

We were both working full time, and.

[Megan]

Yeah, and, yeah, we threw everything. I took the proceeds from my sailing Georgia, put that to the townhome and the town hall. So we rolled that into this house, and then we just hit it hard. We were still contributing to retirement, but not maybe maxing out, but it was our number one goal, was to retire.

[Brian Preston]

So let's repeat that. You paid off a $285,000 house within two years of ownership. That's pretty amazing from a cash flow perspective alone. I mean, that's a lot of money.

[Megan]

You graduated pharmacy in.03, so that was about 5,000.

[Brian Preston]

I know you were rolling in other assets from proceeds from previous houses, but still, still, that's substantial multiple six figures.

[Megan]

And we were celebrating when we got out of it. We thought that was great and amazing, and we paid it off a little bit before the market burst.

[Bo Hanson]

And at the time, when you look at the returns on real estate in Florida at the time, the returns were just amazing. And so that felt like the best investment you could make at the time. So we were in on it and excited.

[Brian Preston]

So how did this go? Negative, though. What actually led to this creating this eor cloud that you'll have over your financial life?

[Bo Hanson]

Well, like I said, I was pretty much in the thick of it as a civil engineer doing real estate development. Instead of everybody calling me five times a day, the phone went quiet. And then I had to start calling and asking about, you know, where do you want to go with this project, this town of homes you want to build, what's going on with it? And that fewer returns. Then we had to call about collections a little more, and nobody came in the door. And projects just started either, dying, closing up.

[Brian Preston]

And so you're working Capital, meaning your. Your employment was now in jeopardy.

[Megan]

Oh, absolutely.

[Brian Preston]

And because of this. And now. But this also had an impact on your personal finances, because what happened to the house?

[Bo Hanson]

Well, like I said, I think we were the eighth home to be constructed in a subdivision around 50. And when the market.

[Megan]

When the market blew up, the. The builder. Bankrupt. Went bankrupt, and the neighborhood never got completed. There's still lots there today.

[Brian Preston]

Wow.

[Patrick]

Wow.

[Megan]

Yeah, there's. They're finally starting to get. But I. You know, there's still places there that haven't been developed. The other thing was, like, he was getting nice bonuses every year from this firm. And then all of a sudden, he came home one day, and I still remember he's like, they're starting to talk about maybe asking everybody to take a 20% pay cut so we can keep everyone on payroll. But, you know, and so that might be coming. And that's when we were like, ooh, you know, again, this is all right. As we're thinking about starting our family.

[Bo Hanson]

And this is a situation we didn't think would ever happen.

[Megan]

Completely blindsided.

[Bo Hanson]

Maybe little markets here and there have a fall in real estate value a little bit here and there, but an utter collapse was just unthinkable.

[Megan]

And I think the fact that we did understand this at the time, value of money, it made it. We knew we were young, we knew we're in our years that we were supposed to be building, not having tons of our equity just vanish all but overnight. And so it still stinks. I mean, it shapes everything that we still do.

[Brian Preston]

Because you sold the house for what.

[Megan]

We sold it for. Well, we had a deal to sell it for 85, and the appraisal came back, I believe, at 70 or something, it was right in there.

[Patrick]

And while we. The house was paid off, so it wasn't an expense thing. While were we selling the house?

[Megan]

It was more because of his career prospects than anything.

[Patrick]

Had to get somewhere else because a.

[Bo Hanson]

Lot of other firms were actually closing up their shops.

[Megan]

And he hadn't been laid off or anything yet. But we were worried. And again, at that point, we had our daughter, we had family, was all in Georgia. So we had an opportunity to go back to Georgia, and we thought, you know what? That just seems like a safer bet for us.

[Brian Preston]

So the house, now you bought it for 285. What was the most it was ever worth? Do you. I mean, if you.

[Megan]

285.

[Brian Preston]

So you pretty much got it at the top. I think we all did.

[Bo Hanson]

285.

[Brian Preston]

But then you sold it for 75.

[Megan]

Yes. Right in there.

[Brian Preston]

So I can see how that. So that $210,000 kind of haunts you. Plus your. The career decisions you had to make.

[Megan]

It's what ended up ultimately leading him to go to the railroad, too. I mean, yeah, it was just. It. It shaped us. The Great Recession was kicking the teeth.

[Brian Preston]

And we're going. And I want to. I'm going to come back to the emotional impacts of that, because I'm hoping by the end of the time y'all leave today, I can give you some guidance of somebody who. Not only. We lived it, by the way, we had that conversation because we. I hired Bo and I came on. He came on the scene in 2008, and I'll never forget that that year was horrible in itself. And, you know, because markets were down, you know, 40, 50%.

[Megan]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Preston]

Our investments had his salary, you know, so everything was off. And I remember I came in, I had the exact same conversation with Bo. I was like, hey, you're not going to lose your job. I'll just go ahead and put your mind at ease. You're awesome. I love you, but I can't take any more of this myself. So we might get to a point that I have to cut your pay. You remember that conversation? And I used to go home and look out my back window and go, you know, I'm sure I could plant corn right there and I could probably feed my. So I don't know if any of you are younger and you weren't around during that time. It was unique. And everybody back then, pre the 2008-2011, really the collapse of real estate, everybody used to say, go buy as big a house as you can afford because they don't make more real estate. So this is going to be the best thing. And then we quickly see trees don't grow to heaven. And it was an accounting and reckoning that came in.

[Patrick]

So that's the backstory you kind of walked us through. Like, let's talk about where you guys are today. Right?

[Megan]

Because much better story.

[Patrick]

Obviously, that was a fairly traumatic thing for you guys to go through early on in your marriage, early on in your family. But when we fast forward to today, things look a little bit different. You guys were kind enough to share with us some of your account statements want to kind of just go through your net worth statement sort of state of where you are right now. And you can see that right now when we look at your total net worth, you have a net worth a little over $2.1 million, of which about 1.8 million of that is liquid invested assets. So you went from, uh, oh, 2008, what is going to happen to us to now Multi. Multimillionaires.

[Brian Preston]

That's incredible.

[Patrick]

So we ought to pause there for a moment and say, that is amazing. So here you guys are in your mid-40s with a 2,2 million plus net worth. What are your financial goals? Like, what are the things that you want to work to from this point? Because you've obviously had that experience. Here's where you are now. Now where are you guys going to?

[Megan]

Well, because of that experience, I think our number one goal has always been security.

[Patrick]

Okay.

[Megan]

We, we just want to be sure that no matter what the world throws at us, that we're still rocking and rolling and doing all right and that we're never a burden to our children and that if our parents need help, we're there. Like, we just want to be able to support people who have supported us.

[Bo Hanson]

With a focus on stability.

[Megan]

Stability. But also we've gotten to a point where we've worked really hard. And I'm also, I went through thinking all of the savings that we did to get those numbers, that there'd be a time we could maybe ease up the gas just a little bit. And so I'm, I'm also at a point where I'd like to see that happen. And so I'm trying to decide, can we ease up the gas without jeopardizing that security?

[Patrick]

And how do you guys define security? Like, what does security from a financial standpoint, what does that mean to you guys? Is it a. Is it a number? Is it all CDs? Like, what does security mean to you?

[Bo Hanson]

The ability to basically take a hit financially. Okay. You know, that real estate issue that we had always haunts us every now and then, but it doesn't end in retirement. I mean, we looked still at Florida and see the news and that homeowners associations dues are going through the roof. Hurricane insurance going through the roof.

[Megan]

Yeah, we're in South Georgia now and we had a hurricane. Who expected that in South Georgia? We did not.

[Bo Hanson]

We thought we left that North Carolina are getting, know, something like that or, you know, out in Los Angeles, huge fires. Though you have a steady stream plan for retirement, which is great. But then in retirement, bad things can still happen.

[Patrick]

That's right.

[Bo Hanson]

And I don't want something bad to happen to the point where we have to go back to work after we're retired. So just enough of a buffer while we're Retired to, like I said, take a hit.

[Megan]

We've always been able to weather the storms because we've had income still coming in. And so when I start thinking about, man, I'd love to, you know, kick back and go travel and enjoy what we've saved. When I think about a big hit coming and us not having that regular income to fall back on or like, hey, I'll go pick up an extra job. I mean, I guess I could do that in retirement, but I don't.

[Patrick]

But the desire is not to. The desire is not to step away.

[Megan]

To be able to stay.

[Patrick]

Stepped away.

[Megan]

Yeah. Focus on the kids. Hopefully some grandkids. And I'd love to. He traveled a lot due to his Delta upbringing. I have not. I would love to see more of the world. And so that.

[Bo Hanson]

And when we're in our early 20s, we could always lean on our parents if we had to. That was the last resort. We can lean on our parents. But now that we're a certain age, it's more like the parents need to lean on.

[Patrick]

It's on you guys.

[Bo Hanson]

The tables have turned.

[Megan]

They're not wealthy, but they've always been supportive. And, you know, there was always an open door if we really had to have it. And so, yeah, and we'd like to be able to give them that security that they provided us when we were younger.

[Bo Hanson]

We're more the safety net now instead of the parents.

[Brian Preston]

So security potentially easing up. Were there any other goals? The big ones?

[Megan]

Those are probably the biggest. I mean, obviously we want to get the kids through college and make sure that we haven't. That we're setting them up for the strong start that we had. We were really beneficial that we graduated without any college debt. The money that we had saved through working through college, we were able to use for those down payments on our first homes that we got early. And that helped us again weather that storm that we hit. So I want to make sure that the kids are set up for that, too, without enabling them to just kick back and think, well, mom and dad were doing great.

[Patrick]

Not do nothing.

[Megan]

Right.

[Patrick]

Warren Buffett is.

[Megan]

Yeah, we're not that kind of wealthy. We just, you know, I love it.

[Brian Preston]

And when do you think you all want to leave the workforce? What's the goals here? Establishing your mid-40s?

[Megan]

Yeah, I originally thought when I was 50. That was based on the job that I used to have. But again, a couple years ago, we moved, and I have a job now that is a lot less stressful that I really enjoy. Feel like I'M serving the community well and I, I could see doing it for a long time. I mean, easily into my 60s. Oh, wow. But I would probably like to retire around 60 just so that we could start traveling more while we're still young and love it.

[Bo Hanson]

And I enjoy my job too. Very fortunate after a lot of tough jobs to finally get to one that I like and I don't know, mid-60s. It depends on where insurance and Medicaid.

[Megan]

And all that was early 60s.

[Patrick]

So tell us, do you have an idea when you get to retirement, like when you want to live that lifestyle, like, how much is that going to cost? Like if today you were in your mid-60s, how much would it cost you to live the life you want to live on your terms?

[Megan]

I was guesstimating around 8,000amonth, I think. 8,000 because that gives a travel budget that. So we're thrifty. So I could probably make it on a lot less, but I'm hoping that.

[Patrick]

Well, financial independence isn't always about making it on a lot less. It's about living the life you want.

[Megan]

To live and that's the difference.

[Patrick]

So that's. So let's talk about your accounts and what you guys have been doing to build towards this goal. And let's kind of see is it realistic, is what you've laid out possible.

[Brian Preston]

And also the ease up. Can we ease up? Yeah.

[Patrick]

Is that something you can do? So obviously when we look at your accounts, Megan, you have rollover IRA pre tax money. You have a large Roth ira.

[Brian Preston]

I was excited about that.

[Megan]

How did you get that?

[Brian Preston]

Is that a one time you bought Nvidia or Tesla or.

[Megan]

It was just discipline. It was mostly discipline. It was because when again we had been saving for that house and we paid the house off after that, I started just saving the money in a cash savings account, basically knowing that I was going to want to cut back and have kids. We'd have a little bit of a cash buffer. Well, then he ended up, we left the job and then he decided he wanted to change careers and went back to school for a year. During that year we had no income. So we took that year to do a big rollover and we rolled a lot into a Roth and I used.

[Brian Preston]

All the conversion, did a conversion, use.

[Megan]

The cash that we had saved when I was, we were living off of it, but we also used that to pay the taxes. So we were able to roll the whole thing over and pay the taxes out of something that was saved on the side.

[Patrick]

Even a financial mutant at hard Times, I mean, your income is down, jobs have changed.

[Brian Preston]

There's an opportunity.

[Megan]

There had to be. There had to be some silver lining to that class.

[Patrick]

Well, you know, in the Millionaire Next Door, one of the things that Dr. Stanley says is one of the traits is they recognize market opportunities. And even though you were in this spot, you found the silver lining. In Millionaire Mission, you talk about silver linings, and you found that. That's huge. And because of you recognizing that, even that downtime, here you sit now with half a million dollars, and as a.

[Brian Preston]

Couple, you'll have close to three quarters of a million dollars of Roth money. That's going to help out with the retirement.

[Megan]

That's what we're hoping. Yeah. We've been big fans of Roth for a long time.

[Bo Hanson]

It has a silver lining.

[Megan]

Very thin.

[Brian Preston]

It is. We don't like to choose favorite children on our different account structures, but definitely the Roth would be at the top of the list.

[Patrick]

And so when we see your retirement account, you have a 401, your current 401, that looks like it maybe just started out, and then you have an old 403 with about $270,000. Any reason why you've left that in the 403 structure as opposed to rolling it into your new 401k or IRA.

[Megan]

Rollover, the paperwork headache. I called them, I looked into it. They sent me this form. They said that he would have to notarize it because as my spouse, they had to make sure that he was aware I was moving the money. And then they sent me like 18 pages of teeny, tiny print. And I'm like, it's fine. I just left it. That's the main reason. So. And the investments in there have been doing, I think, okay. And I don't know, I need to take care of that.

[Patrick]

So that's one thing. It's not something a must do, but you could, obviously, obviously, the more consolidated, you can have your picture, especially if it's inside the same tax buckets, a little bit easier just to manage and navigate through time. And then we have now, Patrick, moving on to your accounts, you have two HSAs, HSA number one, HSA number two. Walk us through why we have two separate HSAs.

[Megan]

Do you know that? Do you want.

[Bo Hanson]

I think you're gonna have to help me out on that.

[Brian Preston]

All right.

[Megan]

Again, I stir that money pot. That's because the way his. He had one job that allowed for an HSA and they separated it. There's $1,000 or so that they won't Invest. They said they have to keep that.

[Patrick]

Have to keep that in cash.

[Megan]

In cash. And then the other part is the invested part. So there are two parts of that. And then we were only eligible for that HSA for about three months before there was another career change. And so it was very sad because I was looking forward to that HSA the whole time for years. And we finally got a job that had one and then now we're back.

[Brian Preston]

Was that 2023?

[Megan]

Yes, I believe so.

[Brian Preston]

Because I did have a chance to review Yalls tax return and I was excited when I saw the page in there for the Health Savings account and I saw there was an employer contribution of $333, but it didn't give you guys credit for any contribution.

[Megan]

The reason we didn't, and I didn't think we could is because we had had an FSA that year, a Flex Spending account. And so I was. Everything I was reading said it was with the prior job. So the first job we had that year had the Flex Spending account, which we had contributed to. So we went and started the hsa. The company contributed without us even so.

[Brian Preston]

There was no contributions into the Health Savings Account because of the company.

[Megan]

And so I didn't think because, I mean, that's right.

[Brian Preston]

I'm so excited because as a financial mutant, I was like. And I knew it was already going to be prorated because I knew that there was y'all weren't going to be able to take the full HSA deduction. But I was trying to get you something.

[Megan]

I was too, Brian. I really was. I wanted it so badly. And then what's really sad is that his job now it looks like we would have be able to contribute to an HSA because it's a high deductible plan, but our actual family max is over the limit.

[Patrick]

Like, so it doesn't qualify.

[Megan]

So it doesn't qualify. And so we were so close. Again, I'm calling hr. I'm like, hey, this looks like a high deductible plan. Can we have an hsa? And she's like, we don't do an hsa. I'm like, that's fine, I'll do one on my own. She's like, no, it doesn't qualify. And I was like, yeah, that is.

[Brian Preston]

By the way, when you structure health insurance, it is something we always make sure is that are these HSA eligible? Because there's so many plans that get so close, but they're one or two ticks off on one of the coverages or the deductibles. So if you work for a company, I would advocate, because there's nothing. There's companies I would advocate and ask them, hey, why are we doing this? Why not choose the option that makes us HSA eligible?

[Patrick]

So then, Patrick, obviously you have your retirement assets. You have a rollover IRA pre tax that has about 315,000. You have a Roth with almost a quarter of a million dollars in it. And then you have a 457, which is great, you know, super unique retirement account that you're able to access earlier than traditional 401ks. And then you guys have some brokerage assets held inside a revocable trust of about $260,000. Where'd that money come from? Are you guys in step seven of the foo and saving after tax?

[Megan]

Pretty much, yeah. We're step seven because we skipped ahead and did that paying off the low interest. But we're back. We're back where we're supposed to be. And yeah, so we've been saving into that because again, for a while when we were in our prior jobs, we both thought retirement would be sooner because we were going to burn out earlier. And so we thought we needed to save into the brokerage account to have that as a bridge.

[Patrick]

And then it sounds like you also there's some pensions there in the background.

[Bo Hanson]

That just started with me.

[Patrick]

Okay, tell us a little bit about what that looks like.

[Bo Hanson]

Oh, yeah. As part of the railroad, I paid into railroad retirement and was investing there, which is railroad retirement is an alternative Social Security. And part of the reason for me going to the railroad in the first place was railroad retirement.

[Megan]

Security. Security. Security. We were looking for security and we thought, well, we don't know Social Security is going to be there, but maybe railroad retirement will still be around. And so that.

[Bo Hanson]

So it's either railroad retirement or Social Security. And railroad retirement paid more and it's solvent. So that was a big bonus for me. Yeah, so it did that and I'm invested in it. But now that I'm back, I'm with a municipal employer, I'm back to Social Security, but I now have a pension. And after 10 years, I'll be vested in that. And so, man, it feels like we've hit every retirement option.

[Patrick]

Yeah, we've done every possible account, every.

[Bo Hanson]

Letter, every number account.

[Megan]

Yeah, we'd love to see that simplified a little bit. So the idea of rolling things over definitely is.

[Patrick]

And so those pensions are going to be about $2,100 a month in benefit. So if we're thinking again, we're just kind of doing some like, mental accounting here. You're going to have $8,000 burn rate. We're going to have some Social Security coming in for both of you guys can have $2,000 in pensions coming in monthly. You're already start in terms of security. We're starting to kind of stack it up. Right. Like, it's pretty good. Primary home worth $330,000. You've done great saving for the kids. You have two 529, one with about 100,000, one with about 124,000.

[Megan]

Yeah, those grew a little faster than I expected to. We started again the day that the children were born. They each got their first lump sum put in and yeah, they've really performed. And then we moved back to Georgia where again, we went through school on the HOPE scholarship. And we're hoping that the children will as well. And so now I'm actually a little concerned I might have over.

[Patrick]

Might have overfunded.

[Brian Preston]

Well, if you've overfunded, this is the best time to be alive to overfund the 529 because they keep giving more and more opportunities on what you can do with those assets, even after college. So we'll talk about that as well. So that's good.

[Patrick]

So obviously here's where we are sort of state of the union net worth right now, presently, today. Well, let's talk about how we're growing that through time because clearly you could not get to this place unless you guys were fantastic savers. And we asked you, hey, tell us a little about what you're doing from a savings standpoint. You kind of walked us through your savings plan. Right. And it sounds like you're both maxing out Roth IRAs. $7,000 each. 14,457 for you, Patrick. We're maxing that out at about $23,500, which is 30% contribution rate, which is amazing. And then, Megan, your 401k, we're doing about 5%. Walk us through that. What's the thought?

[Megan]

Yeah, my company doesn't guarantee matching because I'm part time. It depends on the number of hours I get in for the year. They will match up to 5%, but only if I get over a certain number. So I'm trying to do that. 5%.

[Brian Preston]

Just got a hedge in there just in case.

[Megan]

So I hope I get. Because I don't match isn't guaranteed. I'd rather we've been putting more into his retirement where there is a guaranteed match.

[Patrick]

Love It.

[Brian Preston]

Now I'm going to go ahead and say the obvious. It shows right here that you all are saving approximately 29% of your gross income.

[Megan]

Yes.

[Brian Preston]

Is that true?

[Megan]

Yeah, that probably is true.

[Brian Preston]

But this doesn't even tell the whole story because I wanted to wait until we got to this page. That after tax account that's close to a quarter of a million dollars. You're like, yeah, we're throwing. We're in step seven. We're putting. So is there additional savings every month that's going into that account too?

[Megan]

Not regularly.

[Brian Preston]

Okay.

[Megan]

When we sold our house in New York a couple years ago, we took some of the proceeds of that and put that in there because the house we bought in Georgia was less expensive. So when we have little windfalls, I tuck that in there. But again, now that we're not planning on necessarily retiring that early, it didn't seem quite as good.

[Brian Preston]

You don't see a lot of money going into that account then?

[Megan]

Not a lot.

[Brian Preston]

That's great.

[Megan]

And by the way, unless we need to, that's why we're here.

[Brian Preston]

Sure. Because, you know, we talk about 25% is really the number. And since you already have multiple, you're close to multiple seven figures, you're already.

[Megan]

Kind of doing that. The whole time he was at the railroad, he had no 401k or any other retirement. It was just the railroad. And so I constantly felt like maybe we were under saving those years because we were getting about 19%. I was maxing my retirement account for lost time. Right.

[Patrick]

Okay.

[Megan]

But then I'm like, maybe I don't need to catch up for lost time.

[Brian Preston]

That is a good question.

[Patrick]

I love it. Do I need to catch up? I love that.

[Bo Hanson]

529S. We were living in upstate New York at the time, so it really had good tax advantages, New York being a high tax state. And also at the time, if they wanted to stay close to home in New York, those schools are much more expensive. So we had a very rigid savings plan in that 529.

[Megan]

And then our plans changed.

[Bo Hanson]

Now here we still have a lot of savings. It's just instead of 529s where it's not as needed anymore, we put it more into our retirement.

[Patrick]

Into your bucket. I love it. So obviously. Well, tell me this. Would it be accurate for us to say this is probably a conservative estimation, like there's probably not going to be a year you save less than this. This would probably be the lower end of what your true savings would be in any given Year.

[Megan]

This is our.

[Bo Hanson]

I don't see any changes.

[Megan]

Yeah, this would be our plan going forward.

[Patrick]

This is the plan.

[Megan]

If anything, I guess it would go up because when we get to 50 we have those catch up contributions.

[Bo Hanson]

Right?

[Patrick]

So the answer is yes. This is conservative. This is, this is probably the baseline, right?

[Megan]

Probably.

[Patrick]

Probably the baseline. Well, when we look at your account structure, we think about the three buckets. You know, we talk about how we build moving towards financial independence. You guys have done a great job building up your three buckets. You can see that of all of your assets you've got about 44% in tax deferred because of those decisions you made when you had the opportunity. You have about 41% in your tax free bucket and you have 15% your after tax. The beautiful thing is that if you can build those three buckets when you get to retirement, you decide that you're ready to start living off these assets. You get to pick and choose what you pay in taxes. Maybe I pull some out of my 457 or maybe I pull some out of my IRA rollover and then I pull out of my Roth or I pull out of the after tax account. You get to be in control of your financial situation. One of the things you guys have said is my goal is security and certainty and stability. Well, one of the things that's uncertain is what does the tax future for Americans look like. You guys are in a great position that with this account structure, even if taxes go up or down, you're able to optimize based on whatever the tax policy is in the years you retired. So again, like you're, you're moving towards stability, you're moving towards security, which I think is incredible.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I mean y'all are on the way to being tax free millionaires. I mean, think about that. You'll have, you will hit Roth at a million dollars.

[Megan]

But I don't know how I'm ever going to spend any of those tax free dollars because they are my favorites.

[Brian Preston]

But you know what, they're actually great from an estate and legacy building way as well. That's why it's the dirty little secret is that is your favorite account and then it's the least account you want to get rid of because it does have such legacy benefits as well.

[Patrick]

All right, so obviously we know where you are today and we know what your savings strategy looks like. And so you said that our goal, we like our jobs, we're not trying to get out of the workforce super soon. Our goal is to retire around mid-60s, early 60s. We want to retire around the early 60s. Okay, so what does that mean? What's your number? Have you done the exercise, working through what our number is?

[Megan]

I have. I use this great course that I found online. I have a couple of nerdy spreadsheets, actually. But the thing is, is that I can play with the numbers and make it say anything I want it to say if I tweak what returns we're going to get or what kind of inflation we're going to see. Or again, can we live on 3000 or 5000 or do we need 10? I spent a lot of time on that spreadsheet, but it didn't necessarily give me quite the certainty and clarity I was hoping for, because you just said.

[Brian Preston]

Something, and it hit me. And I'm trying to figure out the dynamic between the two of you because I feel a little. It's not a conflict, but it's just. It does. It's incongruent. You said it was actually you, Megan, that said that you want to potentially know if you could ease up because you want to travel more, do more. But I can't help but notice, I feel like you're also the gas pedal to increasing savings. Or are you kind of in conflict with yourself? Or is this something. But do you see, I'm just trying to figure out what your real goal is, because it sounds like you're trying to get more. But even the spreadsheet that tells you, hey, I'm doing great, you're trying to find excuses. Yeah, but I can get it to say anything.

[Megan]

I think part of that is that.

[Bo Hanson]

The cloud, at least for me, the cloud of 2008 is always going to be there. We were doing the right thing. We were doing what we were told we were doing really well. And then you lose 75% the value of your home. So even when you're doing the right thing, there's still that cloud of something we're gonna change in the future that throws all of your assumptions out the door.

[Megan]

And the other thing for me is that, as said, I do kind of head our family finances. That's the role that I take. And so I take a lot of responsibility in that. You know, he makes the money, he puts it in the account, and we have a great life that we built with it. But if that goes south, I'm going to take a lot of responsibility for that, because I have been planning and telling them, hey, knock that savings up to this, you know, and that's kind of. I've been Leading that charge.

[Brian Preston]

So I want to. I think this is it, because we're about to give you some results. But I think before we do that, we need to clear the air on some of the mindset issues.

[Patrick]

Sure.

[Brian Preston]

Because us humans, we have this tendency where we like to anchor towards especially negative situations, you know, and y'all had. I mean, it makes complete sense. Not only was your financial capital crushed, but you also had a lot of career stress. And I know. I mean, I dealt with that some and I've told you about my conversation is that that can just echo throughout your head and create all kind of weird dynamics for the future, your outlook. So let's kind of. Let's peel back the layers and talk about that period of time a little bit, because I want to see if I can shift your mindset. You guys lost around $200,000 on that house transaction. Now, I can't fix the career stuff. It sounds like you've done that, Patrick. You've moved, you know, you've changed the. But I want to try to reshape how your mindset works towards that $200,000 loss is because you're remembering that loss as this catastrophic thing. But if I challenge you, and I said, hey, let's first talk about your behavior, even if. Because you feel like. I felt like there was regret that you paid it off. Now, look, I wouldn't have had you pay it off as fast as you did. But I do want to ask you the question of. Because this is a philosophical thing. I had a lot of neighbors in my neighborhood that even took out home equity lines and then walked away from the house. You guys personally, as a couple, even if you had not paid off this house, were you going to walk from this house or you would have paid it off, Would you?

[Megan]

We would have, because the idea of walking away would have been a bigger failure.

[Bo Hanson]

And so I couldn't have told my parents I just walked away.

[Brian Preston]

There would have been. I would. I completely. And I resemble you. And that's why I knew the first bridge I want to get you past is that you were never morally going to walk away from that debt anyway. So all you did was you prepaid the negative equity anyway. You would have done. We would have ended up in the exact same place. So I think you can free yourself from. If you have any regrets about prepaying. Yes, there were some opportunity costs potentially, but I think you would have still paid it off. You would never have walked away from the debt.

[Megan]

There was one other thing that happens. When we sold the House. We actually sold it to a co worker of mine. And that helped a little bit with the sting. Like, I knew she was getting a good home and a good deal. And she was not in a finance. She was a single mother, not in a position otherwise. If the market hadn't crashed, she would not have been buying a house at the time. And so at least, even though we had to sell, we were able to sell it to somebody who I knew needed it. And so that. That helped a little too.

[Brian Preston]

So go ahead.

[Bo Hanson]

And when we were living in New York, we'd look at Zillow and realtor.com, every once in a while to see is it back to what we paid for it.

[Megan]

It took over a decade for it to recover. And so that was the other thing. I said, well, should we have held onto it and tried to rent it? And at the time, we weren't in that mindset either, but we considered all of those things. And then again, no, it would have taken over a decade for it to regain its value.

[Bo Hanson]

A long time.

[Megan]

And that would have been an anchor, an even heavier anchor, I think, around us had we ke.

[Brian Preston]

So here's the other thing that I want to help hopefully change Yalls perspective on is that I do this with clients that we. I've been fortunate that I've been managing money Since. Since the 90s. And I have clients that. That we've had here at the firm since 2002. And I try to remind them that that 2008 crisis where, you know, portfolios lost 25% and, you know, and you struggled with it, is. I want you to look. I always say look at the chart now of where 2008 how it in relative form to your total portfolio. It's a blip. And I would challenge you guys, because I was. Megan and I were talking about and then I brought Bo in on the fold is that last year we estimated it was hard because you'll have so many accounts in different places. Last year, in 2024, it was a pretty good year for the investment marketplace y'all made. From our estimation, probably $250,000.

[Patrick]

She's like, oh, let me.

[Bo Hanson]

You're gonna feel better than us.

[Brian Preston]

But I was trying to estimate it.

[Megan]

Yeah, I might know what we made.

[Bo Hanson]

So going back to analytical mindsets from.

[Brian Preston]

I love it, by the way. You hit the jackpot, by the way, because she financial mutant. And y'all are. Y'all are balancing and communicating two years.

[Megan]

Both around 200,000 each year.

[Brian Preston]

Think about this. This $200,000 loss has just got this hangover effect. It's this cloud that's hanging over you. But yet now you guys are running soon to be multiple seven figure portfolio. And it is so successful that for the last two years, it basically overwhelms the loss of that one year. You guys are doing incredible things. And that's why, you know, a lot of people think when you hire a financial planner that we are. And I heard you, I couldn't help but chuckle because you said that you used to listen to a female commentator back in the 90s.

[Megan]

You probably can't get it.

[Bo Hanson]

I know who it is.

[Brian Preston]

I can kind of guess who it is. And her big thing was she said no to everything.

[Megan]

Yes.

[Brian Preston]

And I think that that gave, you know, a lot of people think when you hire a financial planner, we are the break to all life choices. We're gonna say no, no, no, save more.

[Megan]

She's still in the back of my head saying it all the time.

[Brian Preston]

I will tell you as a financial planner and BO can e, our biggest thing, especially with a couple like you, is I'm going to try to unleash you in retirement to where you don't feel this, this doubt or concern because you're way too far from it now because you guys are 15 years from where your actual retirement is. But if you, once you're a real retiree or even within five years of landing this airplane, I'm going to start doing Monte Carlo simulations. So you see this in thousands of simulations run on your annual portfolio and to give you the peace of mind. And you're going to see, Holy cow, like 86% of the time, I'm going to be okay. You guys might be, 95% of the time you're going to be okay. Just to give you that peace of mind, then I'm going to say, okay. Now what are we doing? Are we making more memories? Are we spending more money? Because you guys are way too hard on yourself. I love what you're doing and I love that Beau's about to unleash on you what is, you know, what we think your future potentially could look like and even better even if you pulled back a little bit on the savings. You have so many opportunities here. But you got to forgive yourself because you've done some incredible things. And I don't want that one period of time to define that one loss, to define all your wins.

[Megan]

Yes. It's so hard because we were young, it was a very formative experience. And again, we thought we had graduated from college we had these great jobs. We knew what we were doing, and then life just slapped us down.

[Bo Hanson]

And it was not a gradual transition there either.

[Megan]

And so, yeah, we've been fighting, and that's, you know, to get over that. So, yeah, we're hoping that we've done enough. But it's. There's always that little voice, the thing you're concerned about.

[Patrick]

I mean, obviously you had the traumatic experience that happened, but you're like, what about the unknown unknowns? I mean, you just mentioned all the crazy things going on in the country right now, today, over the past year. What if one of those things happens to us? How can we have confidence?

[Brian Preston]

They didn't say, what if one of those things happened. Their question was, what if all these things happened to us all at once? Because that's the part I found myself. I was trying to look in my notes. I don't have what you actually wrote us because I can't pull it up on this pad. But y'all threw out. I mean, it was hurricanes, HOA fees are going up, Insurance is going. I mean, it was. It was like everything and anything all at once. And I was like, wowzer. I mean, this is really throwing the kitchen sink in a different way, way.

[Patrick]

But I want to put your mind at ease. You're not unique in that mindset. A lot of financial means, especially financial means who have come through some sort of traumatic experience, bring that baggage along with them, and no matter. We can tell you all the time, oh, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. But it doesn't make that feeling go away. So what we try to do is we try to remove emotion from the equation. And how can we be pragmatic and practical and logical, arriving at a really good level of confidence with the plan that we have? And the way that we do that is through, like, these really conservative assumptions. And we say, hey, if we build out a plan that works and everything that we do in this plan is so, so conservative that it's going to be hard for it not to turn out better than it is, then we can begin to have some, like, some breathing room. Because if I would have asked you in 2009, right after this took place, hey, guys, would you believe in the year 2025, we'll be sitting here together and you guys are going to be multimillionaires? Like, would you have been able to, like, say, so things turned out better even than you thought they would have? And I think what will likely happen, and this is the Case for most financial mutants, if you are conservative in your assumptions, that's what happens. And so we decided, we decided we want to put together a plan to show, okay, what is your portfolio path? That's what we call it. What does it look like if we just continue saving the way that you are. So right now, today, you guys have $1.8 million. We just uncovered that you're saving about 30% of your income. We said, hey, what if we assume no pay raises, no increases, no bonuses and we just save at that level for the remainder of your working career? And then we said, hey, what if your portfolio only returns 6% annualized now, do you know what you have been annualizing over the past?

[Megan]

I believe around eight.

[Patrick]

Around eight. That's.

[Brian Preston]

We actually do know all your numbers. I love it.

[Patrick]

I don't know if you know, we actually synthesized your current portfolio now.

[Megan]

Started this in 2006, by the way. It's been going the entire marriage.

[Patrick]

I love it. Your portfolio has obviously changed through time, but your portfolio snapshot today, if we just back tested over the last 15 years, you've annualized a little over 9% per year with the current portfolio. But obviously as you know, as you age, your risk tolerance changes and that sort of thing. But we said, let's go really, really conservative and say, what if we just had a 6% rate of return? And we think 6% is incredibly conservative. Well, just with that behavior right now, today you start at 1.8. We estimate that just doing what you're currently doing, by the time that you get to age 60, your portfolio will be worth almost $5 million.

[Megan]

That's a nice number.

[Patrick]

I already know you're going to say it because I know you're a financial media, but bo, inflation, $5 million in the future is not going to be the same today. And you would be accurate in that. So if we just assume a 3% inflation rate, which aligns with historical rates of inflation, and we say, okay, what could a $5 million portfolio really generate for us in today's dollars? You can see that we could count on an annual cash flow from that portfolio of about $130,000 a year, meaning.

[Brian Preston]

We brought it back to today's dollars.

[Megan]

Is that pre tax or is that.

[Patrick]

That would be total income. So you have to factor in taxes. Right? So that would be before you take taxes out. But remember, you're building your 3 tax bucket. So it's not like that's $130,000.

[Brian Preston]

Your money is close to tax free.

[Patrick]

You can pull It a Roth and pay zero tax. That's kind of the thing that you get to do. So $130,000 per year. And by the way, this assumes a 4% withdrawal rate. So the idea behind that would be you start retirement with $5 million and you pull out the equivalent of $130,000 in today's dollars every year. And when you guys leave this earth at the end of your plan, you leave behind $5 million. Like this doesn't assume getting into the principal, getting into the interest. You guys said, hey, we need about $8,000. And I'm not great at public math, but I think it's like 96,000. We need to spend 96. And we just showed you the portfolio will generate about $130,000, not including pensions, not including Social Security.

[Megan]

Feeling a little more secure.

[Brian Preston]

That's why when I was looking at y'all's situation, I was like, and by the way, that's 60. Even if we back this up to 55, we're still exceeding, not taking into account Social Security and pensions and the other things. I mean, you guys might be closer. Now, I'm not saying what I like about financial freedom is you don't have to actually retire if you love what you're doing and you get purpose out of your, you know, your work and how you spend your time. But I do think 50 might be closer to the actual flexibility point.

[Megan]

And that's actually what security really does mean, is the security to know that if my time was here, I would still be okay.

[Brian Preston]

You own your time. You're choosing to work not because you have to work. That is definitely financial independence.

[Patrick]

And so if you had a portfolio that could generate 130,000 plus in addition to pensions, in addition to Social Security, you would argue that that would be at financial independence, like that level of income.

[Bo Hanson]

You guys, great.

[Patrick]

So then the question becomes, okay, well, can we ease up? What if we were to backpack?

[Megan]

That is the question.

[Patrick]

So we said, hey, what if they just got really excited? And they said, you know what, all we're going to do is we're just going to max out our Roth IRAs. We're not going to do anymore. We're just going to do 7,000. And we're going to assume that the government doesn't even increase the limits. It's just going to be 7,000 for the remainder of our working career. And we're not even worried about catch ups. We're just going to do 7,000 a year until we stop working.

[Brian Preston]

Now, I will tell you, the financial mutant mutual, say, please get the free money. Though there's a reason it's step number two in our financial order of operations theory to have the conversation.

[Patrick]

Because you have built out the portfolio so well and because it's able to compound upon itself. If all you guys did was have a 10% savings rate, which is just essentially maxing out your Roth IRAs, you would still be on track by age 60 to have almost $4.4 million. And again, if we're thinking about like the income that that would create, that's about $115,000 a year, plus the $2,000 a month pension, plus Social Security. So if you desire to back down your savings to just Roths, the picture looks, wow, pretty good, right? But then we said, what if they get real crazy?

[Brian Preston]

What if they just decide here, like.

[Patrick]

These guys are awesome, we're not going to save any more money. What if we just cut off the saving and all we did was just consume what we have right now and let our money work for us? What does that picture look like? And you can see that even without saving another dollar, you guys have done the hard work that if your portfolio could only earn 6% annualized over the next part of your working career, by the time you get to 60, you could still have a $4 million portfolio without saving another dollar. And that 4 million dollar portfolio would generate for you about $107,000 in annual income. Now, you got to factor in taxes and that sort of thing, but that's without. Now if I were going to ask you to give me a probability, like I'm thinking of a percentage, I'm going to give you a probability. What is the probability you do not save another dollar for the remainder of your career?

[Brian Preston]

Zero.

[Megan]

That's an easy right.

[Patrick]

It's a zero. So I want to pause there for a moment because what we did is we started with what we think is a realistic expectation. We just kind of back down to what we would call unrealistic conservatism. When we put that out there, the.

[Megan]

3D glass display, if you will, that's.

[Patrick]

Exactly what it is. And we always start with the doo doo. That's where we like to start. Because if you start there, when you get to down to earth, or if you even get to dream, it gets really exciting because we're going to show you that in a moment. But give us some feedback just seeing these numbers and based on your savings, an income somewhere between 107 to $130,000 a year in today's dollars. How's that make you feel?

[Bo Hanson]

I feel pretty good about that.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Megan]

Yeah, I feel great about that because that says to me, maybe we can pull back and start making more of those memories now with the kids while we still have them in the house. Which is one of my. It's one of my goals. I just didn't want that goal to bite me in the butt later. So.

[Bo Hanson]

And for me it's. We have so many different little accounts. 457, 401k, 403b, 529s, two of those pinching your pension there together. It's hard to grasp. Are we doing enough when it's in 10 different. 12 different accounts? Well, that's one nice to see it consolidated.

[Patrick]

One of the things that we love most people fall into that situation. They're like, I've got all these different instruments and different pieces working together. Well, what we love in our day job, when we work with clients, we get to actually sit down with them is we get to show information like this. Hey, don't think about your account and your account and this one and this one. If you think about the whole picture, is it all working together cohesively towards one common goal? And the common goal, you've told us, is security and stability. Not security in your 457 or in your 403, but for the enterprise, for the Patrick and Megan enterprise. Are we moving towards the ultimate goal that we have? And what this shows me is that you are now, I just told you we were. This was the very conservative right. Like this is okay, what if we were to back down to saves and what if we were to only annualize 6%? We thought we would not be doing you a service though, if we didn't show a realistic expectation of what it realistically probably could look like based on the way that you guys actually saved. So we said, we know that over the last 15 years your portfolio is annualized like 9 +% if you look at the way it's currently structured. Well, maybe you decide that you're going to change your risk profile and you're going to back down the aggressiveness of your portfolio as you age. Or maybe you decide you want to hire a financial advisor and there's going to be some fee associated with that. We said, what if you just made 8% annualized, not 6, but 8. How does that change that? With the same savings, look at what happens. Yeah, you start today with almost $1.8 million. By the time you get to 60, just saving the way that you're saving today, no pay raises, no increases, no bonuses. And if the market were to be kind and generate an 8% rate of return, which is more in line with what you've actually seen in your portfolio. Now your portfolio by 60 is worth almost $6.4 million. And a 6.4 million dollar portfolio at that time could generate almost $170,000.

[Brian Preston]

Remember that more than you all make. And that doesn't take into account Social Security pensions.

[Megan]

We wouldn't have to to fly coach.

[Brian Preston]

Right.

[Patrick]

Like that's. This provides the opportunity where you get to do what you want to do the way that you want to do it. So a lot of very bad things have to happen for your plan at this point to not work. You have to stop saving and the market has to not perform at minimal levels of viability. You guys are well on your way to financial independence without having to make any crazy wild adjustments. It's more about continuing to do the things that got you from where you were in 2008 till today. And from today into your great big beautiful tomorrow.

[Bo Hanson]

It is helpful to see everything condensed into one number because we have, like I said, so many little accounts. It's doing well, that's doing well, that's doing well. But if you put them together, is it doing enough? And I think that's the hard part for me is how do you condense it into a number you can see?

[Megan]

Yeah.

[Bo Hanson]

And yeah, that helps a lot.

[Brian Preston]

Now I will tell you because we always talk about there's three components to wealth. There's the make wealth phase, there's the maintain wealth, and then there's the multiply wealth. You guys crushed the make wealth phase. You didn't even give yourself enough credit as you're doing. I think on the maintain. I would say part of this is just making sure because with Yalls risk profile, you do want to make sure you take into account what you all perceive as concerns with the portfolio and get a good asset allocation that reflects your desires. That's all going to go into the risk mitigation of that because that's why we do have diversification. I see so many people on social media saying just do VU for life or just do any type of index fund, which you guys have tons of index funds, which we love index funds. But index funds don't have to only be equities. I notice you all do have some bonds and other things, but it would be just making sure you're keeping an eye on that asset allocation.

[Megan]

Yeah. And that's definitely been something that I've been struggling with because I don't know as much about. I'm comfortable with the ETFs, the stocks, the VOO, but I don't know as much about bond funds. My parents were all, CDs are the way to go. That's how they. And so they are not any help in that guidance either. When I look at the different buckets and I find heard, oh, you should put different types of assets in each one. And I'm like, I don't quite understand. Is the CTF a dividend fund or not?

[Brian Preston]

That gets into portfolio theory, which is so interesting because you would think, let's just keep it simple with just stocks and maybe a few bonds, but actually, when you add even some additional diversifiers like Real Estate International, you'll have some of that as well. Some of the things that even though they might perceive as risky because they're diversifiers, they can actually help balance out the asset allocation and the portfolio for years to come. There's nothing but blue sky for you guys. That's why I get so excited, because. And by the way, y'all would be such fun people because I can already tell y'all have such heavy breaks. You need more gas in your life. You really do. Yes. And that's what you need. Somebody that's every year coaching you is, hey, let's look at, at the portfolio. Let's run it back through the Monte Carlo simulations to stress test this thing, tell you your probability. Because you need that to free yourself, to let go of all the numbers. I mean, you really are the meme with the numbers just scrolling around in space all around you at all times.

[Megan]

Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, again, our whole past has been save, save, save, save, save, save some more, you know, because you need it. You're gonna need it. And I am worried that we're gonna get to retirement and then someone's gonna be like, you should spend some of that. And we're gonna be like, how about some rice and beans? That'd be great.

[Patrick]

That's one of our favorite things that we get to do as financial advisors is coach our clients through that. Hey, it's okay if you take that trip. Hey, it's okay if you help your child with the down payment on their house. Hey, it's okay if you upgrade the car, whatever that thing is for you. We've stress tested the plan, we've modeled it, we've put it in there. It's okay. And by the Way we have the portfolio design that if the 2008 happens again, you're going to be prepared for that. You're going to be well weathered to be able to do that based on the plan and the strategy you have. You guys said something you said, early on in our life, we felt like we could depend on our parents, but now it's on us. We're doing this alone. And you're like, hey, I know equities, but I don't know bonds and I don't know asset allocation. You're saying all the, like, key words of that might be the time that it does make sense to have someone partner with you so that you don't feel like you're doing it alone. So as you navigate towards your retirement, you're not just doing it with two people have only ever retired one time. You know, someone who's walked through hundreds of retirements and seen hundreds of different success stories, I think you'd be a prime candidate for.

[Megan]

Yeah, no. Well, we've definitely considered that. We worked with an advisor about five years ago who did help us at least get our wills and powers of training, all that set up. But then we kept them and after a while, they weren't doing much for us because it was kind of set it and forget it. Like.

[Patrick]

Sure.

[Megan]

And so then we thought, well, we'll pull away from that. Maybe when we're like five years out from retirement, we'll go back in. But then again, as things have grown, then I have worried maybe sooner would be better because it is hard to.

[Bo Hanson]

It's just gotten so complex.

[Patrick]

Sure.

[Megan]

Yeah. So it's hard to know when. Jump back in.

[Patrick]

10% I owe on $100,000 is different than the 10% I owe on a $2 million portfolio. But what we want to do is we want to put you guys. Because it was great. You put some stuff in there. So again, our. The theme of this is how can we put your mind at ease? How can you have security? And we just. You gave us like the section. We just labeled this. Like, these are my keep us up at night questions. Like, these are the things that we struggle with. And we just want to say, if you were to give us a phone call and ask us these things, how would we respond to you? The first one was, what if the market doesn't perform as well? Well, one of the things, I don't even know if we need to talk about that at some because we just showed you in the iteration where the market where your portfolio only makes 6% annualized your port based on the dollars you have and the way that you're saving, it's still a success. So you've built a plan around the very viability of the plan being the market underperforming. So if the market just average performs or if it outperforms, you're on easy street. So I think one of the ways that you offset the mindset of that is plan for the worst. Start with the do do plan of.

[Megan]

The three, we're good at the doo doo plan, right?

[Patrick]

And then, and then what happens is iterate and check it through time. Like okay, well last year we said the margin only makes 6% and it made 23 and a half percent. Okay, that's, that gives us a few years. That gives us a few years. That gives us a few. So that's how we walk through. Okay, what if the market doesn't do as well? We do not in our opinion. We do not care if 2025 outperforms 2024. We care about is over the long term for our clients. For people that are investing, do they have a rate of return that will allow them to reach their goals? And we just showed you that even at something as low as 6%, you still reach your goals.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I think like those first two questions are somewhat related to each other. Market doesn't perform well, market loses 50%. You just went on different degrees of how it works. Well, and timing.

[Megan]

And timing though, because there is that concern that, that I would tell you.

[Brian Preston]

Like an advisor when I'm working with retirees or people close to, you know, landing the airplane at retirement. If I, if you, if the market loses 50%, you shouldn't lose 50%. That's why we do have asset allocation is we're not swinging for the fences anymore. You're hopefully going to only have, you're going to lose 20%. And then I'm also going to make sure I structure your portfolio with somebody who spends like you where this is why we always say the cash reserves, we like three to six months until you get close to retirement. Now all of a sudden we're going to boost that up to 18 months for some people, 36 depending upon their risk profiles. But I always look at clients portfolios and I say, look, we're going to have an extra bit of cash for you. We're also going to have bonds and other super conservative and even small alternative asset classes that are going to be much safer or not as volatile as equities. I bet I can get you close to 10 years worth of cash flow before we have to sell any of those stocks that are down 40, 50%. Because yeah, a portion of your portfolio might be down 40 or 50%, but we won't have to touch that for 10 years. And from our experience, diversified portfolios, typically we're back to making money within two to three years from those horrible events of 2008 and beyond. Because real estate does have U shaped recoveries, meaning you get crushed and then it might take years for the markets. Historically, stock market typically has V shaped recoveries because what happens is that value gets disconnected from the prices that people are charged. And so the markets are pretty dynamic and efficient in trying to fix that. So you see much faster corrections. Whereas real estate, because they're illiquid investments, you have to get capital markets, you know, funding for real estate. You can have land just sit there for years on end because banks don't want to take the losses. There's all kind of weird dynamics that happen with real estate that cause it to drag bottom for and have that U shaped recovery.

[Patrick]

Well, that's a perfect segue. In the next question, what if our home value drops again? And this will sound insensitive, I don't mean for it to, but I was.

[Brian Preston]

Thinking the same thing. I know what you're going to say.

[Patrick]

So what you're living in, right? Like if it's your home, does it matter? You know, Warren Buffett gives the example of someone standing on your street if you had a neighbor yelling out, hey, I'll pay you $10 million for your home. I'll pay you $10 if he threw out a number that was way too low. You just won't sell it. If there's a number's way too high, then you might consider selling it. But if you're living there and it's a use asset, does the value of your home really matter to your financial viability?

[Megan]

Yeah, I guess in the past our moves have been based on career changes. But if we were in retirement, then you're right, we probably don't have quite that need to.

[Brian Preston]

And y'all got enough that that's going to be. I mean, if you look at the value of your house in relationship to your net worth, what are we talking about here?

[Patrick]

It does.

[Brian Preston]

I mean, we're talking about rounding. It's more emotional for you guys.

[Megan]

Are you telling us to buy a big nice house?

[Brian Preston]

I'm just saying that in relative to your total assets and net worth, it's just, it doesn't move the needle that much. So even if it went down 20, 30% as a percentage of our overall net worth, it's just not changing.

[Patrick]

Your kitchen's still going to cook dinner. You know what I mean? No matter what the value of the home is, how do we disaster proof our time? We've already talked a bit about that. One of the ways we prepare for folks getting into retirement, we want you to have tons of liquidity so that no matter what the market does, you are covered there. Appropriate asset allocation is the other way, right? Like if the market goes down 50%, your entire portfolio, you should not be going down 50%. And the appropriate asset allocation will do that. The appropriate risk mitigation inside of the portfolio. And then one of the ways you disaster proof is. And look, I hate to say this, but it's just a reality. You kind of over save and over. We showed you.

[Megan]

I know about that.

[Patrick]

You know what I mean? We showed you that just based on what you're currently doing, you are on the trajectory where if the market performs relative to the way that your portfolio has been performing, it's like $170,000 of income on top of pensions, on top of Social Security. Well, one of the ways you disaster prove is you're not going to need all that. And so we have clients all the time that will retire and they'll get into retirement and they'll be like, guys, if I would have known it was this easy, I would have retired forever. I keep spending all this money. The portfolio keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Well, that's what happens when you have a portfolio of assets that more than sustain the lifestyle that you need. That's kind of what. You guys are already on track.

[Brian Preston]

Y'all have an army of dollars that's probably gonna work harder than you, as you saw, you know, even no matter what's going on out there. And then I thought I liked the next one that I know. We get to a segue here, buying a new car. If I had to guess, probably your advisor is going to be the one that's telling you, please go buy a new car more than you will. And this is. This is once again a challenge to you guys as you leave here. Beau and I forever, we called ourselves tight wads. And you guys, probably at some point in your life from right now, you might still resemble this. You call yourself a tight wad?

[Megan]

I think we're like thrifty, but okay. But you will get.

[Brian Preston]

You realize you reach a point once you start seeing your assets start growing. And your money does work harder than you can, you realize you can't take it with you. And I would challenge you to make sure you're honing in. And this is why when I wrote Millionaire Mission, those last two chapters were really about how I view money. And I want people to know what I now know. Once you get wealth, how do you maximize it for the memory building, for making sure that you don't have regrets at each decade that you're alive. And I'm not saying go hog wild, you know, for all my 20 year olds or 30 year olds, but I do want people after you've made the discipline sacrifices and have started building the money, I don't want you to feel like you have to keep living off of that way that made you wealthy.

[Megan]

How dangerous is lifestyle creep then? If we were to let up the gas because it looks like we probably could and start spending more, how at this point in our life, I'd.

[Brian Preston]

Is it a lifestyle creep at this point though? I mean, I don't know if you, if you.

[Megan]

Is it because like I don't want to get, like I'm saying that we could easily, you know, 8,000 be great in retirement. That's based on what we're spending now and us having a little extra for travel. But if we start living it up now, what if we want to live it up?

[Brian Preston]

Well, in those go go years because those are the first few years you retire. It's not uncommon for my clients to actually do spend more money than they were even making because I want them to go maximize. Now we stress test it every year we're going and making sure and laying it next to in saying, hey, what's the probability that this thing keeps rocking and rolling and we have good years. Like last year, you know, market made 20 plus percent and most of our clients, you know, had, you know, double digits for sure. And we were like, yeah, let's, let's go. That's the year, let's go buy the car, let's go on the trip and then we'll come back next year and see what we need to adjust. Because human nature is when markets get their teeth kicked in, we all pucker up really quick and we all quit spending money. That's actually why markets go down and everything, because everybody does the exact same thing. We're such herd animals that we all shut it down together. So you're going to be okay because I don't. When we do all these analysis like with 4% withdrawal rates and even with the stress test, it cracks me up because I know that they're all ultra conservative just by anyway because they don't reflect. They assume everybody's just spending every year the same way. And I don't know a single client, including myself, who does that. Because we all shut it down when things get scary and we self regulate that way. So you're going to be okay. And so I get excited. You probably should buy new cars. How old are yalls current cars?

[Megan]

My last one I had for 13 years, but my current one is three years old.

[Patrick]

Okay, three years old, a new car.

[Megan]

That's how I got it used. But yeah.

[Brian Preston]

How about you, Patrick?

[Bo Hanson]

Nine years old.

[Patrick]

I love it.

[Brian Preston]

So don't feel guilty for buying a new car.

[Patrick]

Lifestyle creep is not bad. Lifestyle creep, when it goes unchecked, can be bad. But lifestyle creep is what we all ultimately want. None of us want to be living the same life at 60 that we were living at 20. I mean, we might want the same health and that kind of stuff, but we hopefully our lifestyle does increase. That's why most of us desire to have a better lifestyle in the future than we had today and a better one today than we had in the past. That's the idea of our money being a tool allowing us to really enjoy the things that we want to enjoy and do with the things we want to do. So it's not bad. Lifestyle creep is an okay thing. Just too often people let the cart get way ahead of the horse.

[Brian Preston]

Come on, bougie this thing up. Let's get y'all living it up.

[Megan]

No, we have been bedazzling for 20 years. So yeah, that's a big mind shift.

[Patrick]

I love.

[Brian Preston]

Could be fun. I will tell you because my wife and I, I remember we did this. This is probably three years ago. We need to do it again. We did a five year travel goal. We did it as a date night. And it's kind of fun. Cause this is. Money is not sexy by itself. But I think when you're doing money as a planning tool in a relationship to kind of figure day on what y'all want to do in life, that could be incredibly fun.

[Megan]

I remember those conversations when we were first married and we were even dating, like where we thought our life would be. And you know, well, in the beginning.

[Brian Preston]

It'S probably also you're restricting. You're like, how can we be more disciplined now let's flip the script. How can we live more abundantly and do the things that really give us value and bring happiness?

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah, it looks sounds like fun.

[Patrick]

Patrick says, I'm in I'm in.

[Megan]

It's hard to get him in sometimes. This is really good.

[Brian Preston]

Well, you probably because you're a good break. I can already tell you're very persuasive.

[Megan]

All he has to say is one little negative thing. I'm like, you're right. We should stop right now.

[Patrick]

So, yeah, another reason why having another voice help you guys could be an incredibly valuable thing to do. Another one of your sleep at night questions. This isn't really keep me up at night. This is just like, what. What if we overfunded the 529s? Do you? So, first of all, if the kids go to school in Georgia Hope Scholarship, it's a good chance you could have overfunded the 529. So I'm gonna say this back to, what if we have too much money? That's what I. I want to reframe that. What if we have too much goal that we have established?

[Megan]

What that highlighted to me was when I started feeling that I've got 529s, it made me start thinking about maybe our retirement's on the same track. And then I was. So I was worried maybe we are saving too much. Maybe we're not living enough for today. Because I don't want to get to that point and look back and be like, man, we should have gone on that riverboat cruise, or we should have, you know, done more traveling or taken the kids to Disney and stayed at the top resort instead of the value resort. And so when I saw there are 529s that were looking like maybe those have been overfunded, I'm like, what if that's a symptom of a bigger problem? And so that kind of got me thinking about all of this.

[Brian Preston]

You're probably nibbling on something from a mindset issue that I would lean into.

[Patrick]

And what I love about spending is you don't have to spend more all at once. You have to spend more forever. It's just like, that's a great. The Disney example, okay? Book a Disney trip and stay in the nice resort one time and see if you like it. You may decide, I didn't like that as much. I would rather go do a different trip or stay at a different resort.

[Brian Preston]

That's what I always tell people. I worry about people that go bougie too soon. You guys are not gonna do that. So if you do kick it up on vacations, like you go on a cruise and you stay in a suite versus, you know, just piling everybody in.

[Megan]

One room, we Went on a vacation last month with the kids and it was a cruise and all four of us were in an interior cabin.

[Brian Preston]

See, what are y'all doing? I mean that was. Y'all probably were. Interior cabins are so cheap. It probably your grocery savings were the cost of the cruise. So we. That is. That was just. You reallocated what you spend on daily life to staying on an interior room.

[Megan]

Of a cruise ship because 20 years ago we lost a lot of money. Right.

[Patrick]

Before I give you guys your homework, any other questions for us, anything else that we could speak to that would be helpful for you guys to hear?

[Megan]

Okay. Actually, yes, I do. With the steps of the foo that maxing out that retirement step, maybe that's a step of the past for us.

[Patrick]

Then or I think it's a step where you guys. It is not required anymore for you to reach your financial independence goals. So you are probably in step seven where you get to determine is 25% saving something that we must be doing or have we defined now that we can actually back it down below 25% and we're still going to be okay.

[Brian Preston]

All right.

[Patrick]

Here's your homework list.

[Brian Preston]

All right.

[Patrick]

Homework, homework. Only one logistical thing for you guys. Consider maybe consolidating your 403B paperwork. But it's. It's a lot of paperwork, but it's not incredibly complicated. Then once you get that in one place, it does become a little bit easier to wrap your heads around. Maybe roll it into your current 401k or your IRA rollover. You can decide which one makes the most sense. I put a homework on it review your asset allocation. Is the risk profile of your portfolio. Does it match where you guys are presently? Do you find yourself if the market were to go down 20% over the next year, would you freak out?

[Megan]

See, that's the thing. It doesn't bother me now because I know we have time. I know we're still working. Still working. Yeah. The day we stopped working. And everything is going to change for now.

[Bo Hanson]

And I. I'm sorry to interrupt, but as we get closer to retirement I do feel that we're going to look for more professional help on management.

[Patrick]

Sure.

[Bo Hanson]

Because it is very.

[Patrick]

How do you do the glide path?

[Bo Hanson]

High maintenance.

[Megan]

Yeah, the glide path, the maintaining we've figured out obviously. But yeah, the gliding into retirement is definitely a different.

[Bo Hanson]

That is on the horizon is getting help once we're closer.

[Patrick]

Wonderful. And then the big one, the big homework for you guys is you got to talk about what life do you want to be Living today. We've already defined the life you want to live in the future and the steps that the minimum level of steps that are required to get there. So are there things today that you want to be doing? Are there experiences you want to be having? How do you want to be saving? What are the ways you want to use your dollars today so that when you do get the future, you don't look back and have regrets? Now, we're not telling you to stop saving money. You can keep saving as much money as you want. If you want to save 40%, that's great.

[Megan]

My kids are probably watching, thinking, yeah, keep saving because we'll inherit that someday.

[Patrick]

No, they're thinking, no, let's go get us out of the interior cabin.

[Megan]

My son's thinking that. My daughter's thinking long term.

[Brian Preston]

Well, it's funny you say that is because I always remind people, you know, it doesn't matter if you're looking at millionaire next door. You look at our own research from our clients, even Ramsey Solutions and their research, Somehow it always comes up that those millionaires are usually first generation out of the, you know, they found. But you know, the sad part of that stat is, and we've seen this too, is that typically the wealth disappears by the second generation 70% of the time, and then by that third generation, meaning the grandkids, it's 90%. So hopefully this scarcity that y'all have given your children, you know, lifestyle with the interior cabins and stuff, is going to pay dividends and maybe they break that chain. But I will tell you, historically, your kids will have no trouble and your grandkids will have no trouble spending all this money. So you might as well take some time yourself, make some memories, get to see this stuff and enjoy it as best you possibly can. And that's why I added a Brian honorable mention homework of forgive yourself. I want y'all to look at. I want you to get rid of that Eeyore hangover cloud from that real estate collapse and let it go. I mean, because it is. I don't know how many more Disney things I could put in there with and everything else. But seriously, forgive yourself because y'all have done so well. And I don't want that one negative thing to define you on a career and a life of success. I mean, that is something to be celebrated. And I'm super happy for Yalls abundance.

[Megan]

It's one of the reasons we wanted to come on the show too, is to show people who do have problems when they're young that you can overcome them. I mean, it did take work, but. And it still stings. It will, but you can. You can overcome things. Job losses are, you know, changes.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

Moving all over the country.

[Megan]

And that's the thing we talked about how we daydreamed when we were first getting married. None of those things were on that list. Like, oh, we're gonna change. Yeah. Complete career paths and go move three states away and all the things that we've done, you know, and yet still.

[Patrick]

I bet the story's turned out even better than you thought it would.

[Megan]

It has. Yeah.

[Patrick]

Isn't that amazing?

[Brian Preston]

That's why I'll close it out with this is that I. And this is why I wrote an entire book for mistakes that I've made. And you guys have been very transparent. Thank you for being willing to come on, share all of your success, but also be open about the things that keep you up at night. And I would encourage everybody out there to know you don't have to be perfect. Nobody is perfect. And you can make lots of mistakes, but if you just get the basics. And that's one of the reasons I wrote Millionaire Mission. That's why we designed the financial order of operations a little bit today. That small decision today will have huge results in the long term. So don't sleep on it. Make it happen. You can build your abundance. Bo, if somebody wants to sit down and be a part of Making a millionaire, where can they go?

[Patrick]

If you would like to be a guest on Making Millionaire, you can go to moneyguy.com apply or you want to check out any of our free resources, go to moneyguy.com resources guys, thank you so much for coming.

[Megan]

Thanks. Appreciate it.

[Brian Preston]

We have a blast creating this type of content. I'm your host, Bryan Preston with Mr. Bo Hanson. Money Got Team Out.

[Patrick]

Making a Millionaire is hosted by Bryan Preston and Bo Hanson. Brian and Bo are partners at Abound Wealth Management. Abound Wealth Management is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the securities and Exchange Commission. In accordance and compliance with the securities laws and regulations, Abound Wealth Management does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through Making A Millionaire. The information provided is for informational purposes only, may not be suitable for all investors, and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice. All investments involve a degree of risk, including the risk of loss. The guests featured on Making a Millionaire are not clients of Abound Wealth Management at the time of recording. Their participation should not be considered a testimonial or endorsement of Abound Wealth Management.