The Dark Side of Saving: 4 Signs You’ve Gone Too Far

Summary

Money Guy Show: Episode Summary Title: The Dark Side of Saving: 4 Signs You’ve Gone Too Far
Hosts: Brian Preston and Bo Hanson
Release Date: May 23, 2025

In this insightful episode of the Money Guy Show, hosts Brian Preston and Bo Hanson delve into the less-discussed consequences of aggressive saving strategies. While saving is universally acknowledged as a cornerstone of financial health, Preston and Hanson explore how excessive frugality can inadvertently lead to financial distress and personal dissatisfaction. Titled "The Dark Side of Saving: 4 Signs You’ve Gone Too Far," the episode serves as a vital guide for listeners striving to strike a healthy balance between saving for the future and enjoying the present.

Setting the Baseline: Healthy Saving vs. Excessive Saving

Brian Preston begins by establishing a foundational principle: aiming to save 20-25% of your gross income. This target is part of their broader financial order of operations, promoting disciplined saving without compromising current life quality.

[00:55] Brian Preston: "The goal of what we want you to be saving is 20 to 25% of your gross income."

However, Preston acknowledges that many individuals cross the line from being proactive savers—whom he terms "financial mutants"—into the realm of "financial misers," where saving starts to negatively impact various life aspects.

Bo Hanson emphasizes that while saving is beneficial, it can become detrimental when it leads to sacrificing essential life elements.

[01:25] Bo Hanson: "When you do it, and when there are things in your life that begin to fall apart and when it takes hold of you, that's where you are no longer a financial mutant. You might be coming, might be becoming a financial miser."

Recognizing the Signs of Over-Saving

The hosts outline four primary indicators that one's saving habits may have become counterproductive:

1. Living Only for the Future

Preston warns against the trap of focusing solely on future financial security at the expense of present enjoyment and experiences.

[04:16] Brian Preston: "I worry about people that they only are really living for the future. [...] That's the life well lived. It's not somebody who lives miserly from 20 to 65 and then now you think your life is suddenly going magically be awesome."

Bo Hanson adds that this mentality leads to missing out on meaningful moments today.

[04:55] Bo Hanson: "You're sacrificing life that you could be living right now today."

2. Strained Relationships

Financial obsession can strain personal relationships, particularly marriages and friendships. A significant statistic highlights this issue:

[11:59] Brian Preston: "Approximately 40% of divorces are partially due to money fights."

Bo Hanson elaborates on how financial miserliness can alienate friends and family.

[13:51] Bo Hanson: "These are all signs, these are all triggers, all warnings that perhaps you're moving from the financial mutant space into the financial miser."

3. Sacrificing Health for Savings

Excessive saving can lead to neglecting one's health, as depicted through personal anecdotes.

[20:03] Bo Hanson: "You're sacrificing your health simply for a financial benefit."

[20:12] Brian Preston: "Health is wealth, and I don't want people to get to seven figures and beyond. But you're the unhealthiest version of yourself."

4. Lifestyle Stagnation and Over-Saving Post-Financial Independence

Even after achieving financial independence, some continue to save excessively, fearing the future and missing out on present joys.

[25:50] Brian Preston: "We want you to take a hit the pause button and start running some calculations, stress testing your financial future to make sure that you are intersecting it with all your other life goals as well."

[27:13] Bo Hanson: "It's okay to enjoy your success."

Solutions and Strategies for Balanced Saving

Recognizing the pitfalls of over-saving is the first step; Preston and Hanson offer actionable solutions to achieve a balanced financial life.

1. Find the Balance Between Saving and Living

The hosts suggest experimenting to find a harmonious balance between securing the future and enjoying the present.

[06:21] Bo Hanson: "How do I balance not just thinking about the future and planning for the future, but also getting to live in the moment today and enjoy the opportunities I have today."

2. Embrace Generosity

Being generous with time and resources can help individuals stay grounded and maintain healthy relationships.

[07:14] Bo Hanson: "Being generous with your resources, being generous with your knowledge, being generous with your time, because it allows you to reframe those things that truly are important."

3. Intentional Relationship Building

For spouses and families, intentional communication about finances is crucial. This ensures both partners are aligned in their financial goals and lifestyles.

[15:27] Bo Hanson: "One of the very first things that you can do is just get on the same page as your spouse."

4. Stress Testing Financial Plans

Regularly stress-testing financial plans ensures they remain robust and adaptable to life's changes, providing peace of mind and financial flexibility.

[27:56] Bo Hanson: "Stress test your plans. [...] It can give you some freedom, some peace of mind to say, okay, I've done everything that I was supposed to do."

5. Reframe and Adapt

As financial situations evolve, so should lifestyles. The hosts encourage adapting spending habits to match current financial standings and personal growth.

[24:56] Bo Hanson: "Maybe it's buying healthier food, or maybe it's finally signing up for that gym membership, or maybe it's increasing the life insurance or opting for the better health insurance plan."

Personal Anecdotes and Relatable Insights

Both hosts share personal experiences to illustrate the dangers of excessive saving. Bo Hanson recounts his early days of extreme frugality, which although financially beneficial, compromised his health and quality of life.

[20:03] Bo Hanson: "I was maxing out my Roth IRA, I was putting money in my simple IRA at the town that it turned into a 400,000. I was able to save money. But was that the best decision? Likely not."

Similarly, Brian Preston reflects on his past mistakes to underline the importance of balancing financial goals with personal well-being.

[22:35] Brian Preston: "We only get... If you saw that documentary with Warren Buffett, it was on HBO years ago. [...] You better treat it with the respect and treat it accordingly so you actually live your best life."

Final Thoughts: Embracing a Holistic Approach to Wealth

Brian Preston and Bo Hanson conclude the episode by reinforcing the importance of integrating financial discipline with life enjoyment. They advocate for a holistic approach where financial success supports, rather than hinders, personal fulfillment and healthy relationships.

[30:20] Brian Preston: "We get to turn financial mutants who might be dabbling on that dark side of financial miser, and we get to bring them back to the healthy side of it."

[31:22] Bo Hanson: "We've created content so you can try to figure out am I on track to being where I want to be. [...] This is why we load you up, give you all the free advice we can."

Key Takeaways

1. Moderation is Crucial: While saving is essential, overindulgence can lead to financial and personal issues.
2. Balance Future and Present: Strive to secure your financial future without neglecting present joys and relationships.
3. Healthy Relationships Matter: Financial decisions should enhance, not strain, personal relationships.
4. Prioritize Health: Never compromise your physical and mental well-being for the sake of saving.
5. Adapt and Reassess: Regularly evaluate your financial strategies to align with your evolving life goals.

By addressing these elements, Brian Preston and Bo Hanson provide a comprehensive guide for listeners to navigate the fine line between prudent saving and living a fulfilling life. This episode serves as a valuable resource for anyone looking to optimize their financial habits without sacrificing personal happiness and well-being.

Transcript

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[Brian Preston]

Signs that you're on the dark side of money and saving too much.

[Bo Hanson]

Brian, I am so excited to talk about this because we love talking about saving and we love talking about building wealth and we love people that have aggressive savings rates. But I do think this is one of those times, one of those scenarios where perhaps potentially you can have too much of a good thing.

[Brian Preston]

Well, let's, let's set a baseline for everybody. Our, you know, a lot of our content is based on the financial order of operations and we tell people the goal of what we want you to be saving is 20 to 25% of your gross income.

[Bo Hanson]

Yep.

[Brian Preston]

However, we know a lot of you are out there and look, I want you to be a financial mutant. That's the healthy side of things. But there's a lot of you that are on that dark side, that financial miser.

[Bo Hanson]

Let's hear it again. Keep going. Do it again. Do it again.

[Brian Preston]

I don't know if I nailed the respirator perfectly for all those out there.

[Bo Hanson]

In podcast world, you just nailed that. Now look, don't, don't hear us wrong. Saving is not inherently bad. It's not a negative thing. And we espouse saving over 25 or saving 25% of your gross income. But when you do it, and when there are things in your life that begin to fall apart and when it takes hold of you, that's where you are no longer a financial mutant. You might be coming, might be becoming a financial miser. And that's what we don't want.

[Brian Preston]

Well, look, I mean we see this, there's all kind of shades of what happens in personal finance. How often do we see people who start paying off debt, they pay off their high interest credit card debt, and then they all of a sudden become debt crusaders and they, and they do it to the detriment of themselves. We see it also with, with savers and investors is that all of a sudden they start saving and investing, they get to 20, 25% and they go, yeah, but this feels so good. Let's keep going and then the thing. Always worry about what happens when you're leaving life behind.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah. So tell us if this sounds like you quick little self assessment. Have you recently turned on an opportunity or said no to something because you were worried specifically about the cost of the thing? Not, not whether you could afford it, just the cost.

[Brian Preston]

How about having huge retirement accounts but yet you can't even pay cash for car repairs or even the next down payment or paying cash for your next vehicle. But you have these huge seven figure retirement portfolios. That is, that's less than, that's less than that.

[Bo Hanson]

What about this one? Your friends and family would describe you as someone who is always stressed about money. Maybe even perhaps if they would assess you shouldn't be. Yet you carry that anxiety into all the other facets of your life.

[Brian Preston]

I mean think about this. In social settings there's usually a couple. Oh gosh, if we invite them, they're going to be so strict about where we can eat, what we can do. You don't want to be that person. You want to be good with money, but you don't want to be on that miser side of the ledger. How about if you neglected your health just so you could save a little bit more?

[Bo Hanson]

We see this all the time. People making again life decisions because of the financial impact, not recognizing that there are negative repercussions on the other end. Or maybe you're just someone that if we said hey, if you had $500 extra right now and you have to spend it, you cannot save it, that in and of itself would create an internal struggle. You would have a hard time doing that. These are all signs, these are all triggers, all warnings that perhaps you're moving from the the financial mutant space into the financial minds.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I worry about people that they only are really living for the future. And that's sad because I want you to bedazzle. Even if you don't have a lot of money in the bank, I want you to bedazzle your basic life so that as you get into be my age, in your 50s and beyond is that you still look back and you go, you know what? I still maximize my 20s, I maximize my 30s. I have zero regrets, but I still was able to build all this in the background. That's the life well lived. It's not somebody who lives miserly from 20 to 65 and then now you think your life is suddenly going magically be awesome. That's not living for the moment as well as saving for the future.

[Bo Hanson]

That's Right. We're going to walk you through common signs of how to know if you're falling into that financial miser. Brian, you just said the very first one is that you're only living for the future. And so why is that a problem? Why is that a negative? Why is that something you need to be concerned about? You just nailed it. You're putting off the important memories. You're not focusing on today, you're only focusing on tomorrow. And you're thinking about this life that you want to live one day in the future. And you are sacrificing life that you could be living right now today.

[Brian Preston]

I deal with this next one. We have prospects that come through the door and they are retirement rich. I mean, you look at their net worth statement, you're like, holy cow, you've got a seven figure 401k or some other thing. But then you find out they need to go buy a new car, can't do it, they don't have the cash. And at that level, once you're, if you're, if you're a millionaire, you should be paying cash for your cars, you shouldn't be financing. But imagine our, you know, when we figure out, oh my gosh, what flexibility your retirement rich, we got to make sure that we have enough money working on the other side so that you can live life too.

[Bo Hanson]

Or there are people out there who, they get so excited about the tax savings, they want to max out the Ross and want to match out the HSAs and want to do the deferred comp and they want to do the 401. They do all these tax incentivized savings because they're trying to save all the tax a day. Not thinking through the full picture of okay, what does tomorrow look like? How do I actually plan on using and accessing these dollars in the future? So if these are the problems that exist, what's the solution? Where do you go from here? And we think that one of the things you can do and you can begin doing this today is begin to experiment to find the balance. How do I balance? Not just thinking about the future and planning for the future, but also getting to live in the moment today and enjoy the opportunities I have today.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I'll add another one that I think is part of the solution is if you got to get outside the money. And one of the ways you can easily do that is being generous with both your time and your resources. Because if anything, money is just an amplifier of who you are. And if you get so just laser Focused on building up as much as you possibly can, having this huge savings rate, but you're not being generous in the background. I think it can be an indicator that there might be more going on that you need to focus on.

[Bo Hanson]

It's so important. It's why we. Brian, can you hold the thing? It's why we consider it. It's not a step of the financial order of operations. It's a ground rule. It's kind of like a step zero type item is being generous with your resources, being generous with your knowledge, being generous with your time, because it allows you to reframe those things that truly are important. And that's the other way that you can solve this problem. Clearly define what is important to you. I tell you this all the time, Brian. You know, one of my favorite things in the world, I don't, I don't know why I love this so much, but I do is I just love going to a coffee shop and getting like a latte or a flat white or like a delicious handcrafted cup of coffee in like, their mug. Not a to go mug in a their mug. And I think back about all the times when my wife and I were young, before we, we had kids, we had nothing but an abundance of time, and how many times we did not go to the coffee shop and get that big, you know, central perk cup of coffee. And I wish I would have done that more, but I couldn't get past all I need to save and I can't spend the money. And there's a balance there. And I think the more clearly and the better you can articulate what are those things that truly are important and truly do matter to me, I think the better you're going to be able to strike and find that balance.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I think, look, in the beginning part of your journey, you are getting rewarded for all those small decisions. The latte effect is legit at the beginning. But the important thing that I want to empower people with today is when do you know to kind of change and get out of that? Because there will be graduation points that you're going to see your life change. And that's why I think a good filter is we can talk about these kinder questions. These are questions that will give you additional perspective on how you think about your finances, how you think about your life as a whole, to kind of hopefully get you back grounded and have a better perspective on things.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah. So if you can ask yourself these questions, it will allow you to hone in and focus on those Things that truly matter. Here's the first one. If you were financially secure and you were able to take care of all of your needs and you didn't have to worry about money anymore, how would you live your life? What would be different than the way that you're behaving today? Well, once you answer that question, you want to then answer, you want to then begin to say, well, can I begin? Do I have to be financially secure to do that, or could I begin to move in that direction?

[Brian Preston]

Well, I also think, you know, we do the stat that, you know, first generation millionaires are around. 80% of millionaires are first generation. The only way that stat works is if 70 and the first generation goes away. After that first generation passes away, then 90% goes with the grandkids. That, so I always remind people is that it's okay to, you know, to be saving all this money, but also make sure you're living in the now because your kids will have no trouble spending your money. So maybe if you reframe it, reframe it with that question of you're financially secure today, what would you change in your life so that your, your family actually wants to go on vacation with you because you're not piling six people in one hotel room and you even got the closets occupied with sleeping bags. There's a better way to do things and grow and let your money graduate as you have more and more success.

[Bo Hanson]

How about this second question. If you were to find out today that you only had five to 10 years left to live, what would you do with that remaining time? How would you change it? What would you change and why would you change those things? Well, if you again, can begin to have the mindset of man, if I only had five to 10 years, only had five to 10 years to live, I would do this. Perhaps that gives you some insight into maybe the things you ought to start doing today, you ought to begin thinking about today instead of just waiting for and kicking those items into the future.

[Brian Preston]

And then, of course, this one, if you just want to fine tune that last question, found out you're leaving today the world, what do you wish you'd have done more of? What do you feel like you're missing out on? I love these exercises because they just let you kind of get outside the noise of what society tells you and all these other things. Unless you really kind of hone in on what's important to you so that you can start focusing on that. And hopefully some of this will sober you up into all this craziness we deal with on a day to day basis and realize, no, this is my why. This is what's important so I can have the intersection point of my money, but also my why so I don't lose myself in all this.

[Bo Hanson]

So living for the future was one sign that you may be saving too much, that you may be moving into financial miser territory. The second sign that you may want to be aware of is that are your relationships beginning to struggle? And Brian, unfortunately, this is one that we've seen a ton.

[Brian Preston]

Wow. And gosh, I mean, if you think about the stats on this, it breaks my heart to know approximately 40% of divorces are partially due to money fights.

[Bo Hanson]

That's right. Two in five divorces, 40% are because of financial problems. This is a problem that exists right now in the country that I would argue does not have to exist.

[Brian Preston]

Well, and I think a lot of us naturally will just go to this is because there's not enough money. I want to caution you that are on the financial miser side of things. A lot of times I see and I've dealt with these relationships where it's actually in a very abundant household. If you are the spouse, that's the money focused spouse. And you're still nickel and diming your spouse to give you every receipt that they have because you haven't graduated from the budget to a cash management plan. What is that doing in the long term? That's what I'm saying. There is nothing wrong these good behaviors that start building wealth, they're actually good in the beginning. Discipline is rewarded. But it's just that as time progresses and you reach more success, your milestones, your goals and your lifestyle should change as well.

[Bo Hanson]

So how about this? That's talking about how the relationship is between spouses. What about this one? What if you recognize that because you're so conscious of the money and striving so hard for some future financial well being that you're not actually spending quality time with your kids today. You find yourself going to the office a little bit earlier and coming home from the office a little bit later. Even when you are home, you're not really home because your mind is somewhere else or you're so worried about how much things go cost that you won't do the things with your kids that they really want to do to build those memories. That is a problem. That's a sign that maybe you've let money move you into the wrong direction.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah. And then this is one that I think we've both resembled Bo, at some point in our life is your friends call you a tightwatch.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah.

[Brian Preston]

And look, there's nothing wrong with it. If it, if it's coming from a fun place is because I still, my wife picks on me and she's like, you are so cheap about unique things. I don't understand how your brain works, but I think that that's okay to be quirky and designated, you know, categories or so forth. Like you don't like to, to. You don't do soft drinks or tea because you think it's a rip off in a restaurant. That's a quirky thing, that's fine. But if you're the person that your friends don't want to go out to eat with you anymore because they just like, no, you're going to raise a stink because you're just dying to tell the waiter, no. All separate checks. All separate checks right now.

[Bo Hanson]

Or you want to figure out how many chips you ate of the appetizer so you can split it proportionately.

[Brian Preston]

So I know I don't have with being called a tight wad. It's just. But knowing the when, where and when to graduate is very important in this.

[Bo Hanson]

So how do you solve these things? Well, number one, when it comes to your intimate relationships, when it comes to having issues in your marriage, one of the very first things that you can do is just get on the same page as your spouse. Are you guys setting aside intentional time to talk about the finances, to talk about the work why behind the decisions you're making? Hey, we're not going to go on this trip or we're not going to upgrade this car. We're not going to buy this thing, and here's why. And if you don't have a clear why, maybe it's understanding what both of you need. You may have a spouse that really likes to spend a lot of money on hair care products and expensive shampoo. And you might need to be okay with that being a reality that exists in your life.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I also like, if you can have an honest conversation and you're both on the same page, you're probably now a united front on why we're super disciplined in this season of life. But do you see where actually the light at the end of the tunnel is so that you can pull your foot off of that accelerator or gas pedal for the additional savings is because you know the why behind it. And if you're united on that, it doesn't make you seem like you're just the person that controls the purse strings and is controlling the power. You've got to do everything to take the power out of it, as well as make sure you are on the same page and on the same sheet music and playing the same song together.

[Bo Hanson]

I love it. And when it comes to your kids, one of the things that you can do is you can set aside time to make very intentional memories. And by the way, these don't have to be expensive. This is not that big blow it out trip to Disney World. Maybe this is saying, hey, guys, let's go on a hike today. Hey guys, let's go out to the ball fields today. Hey guys, let's do something where we can spend meaningful time together where all we're really focused on is the memories that we're making and the conversations we're having and the interactions that we are crafting and actually be present in that. Don't be off somewhere else thinking about something else on your phone, responding to emails. Actually be intentional. Because, Brian, you tell me this all the time. We only get so many years with our kids in the house, and that time rapidly runs away from you. Before you know it, you wake up and you have a kid that's out of the house. You think, holy cow, where did that time go? Make sure you recognize that and take advantage of it while you still can.

[Brian Preston]

Well, now, that is exactly right. Especially with the kids, man, don't. Let's not go down that. That rabbit hole with having my oldest, now a senior in college. Oh, that's really. That will rip your heart out. But I will say that another thing that I wanted to kind of focus on is if you can't afford something, this is getting into your family, but also your friends try to. Because I was just picking on. If you're that friend that's immediately trying to split the bill, you never like to go out to eat. You never like to do any, you know, group vacations because you're just the tight one out of your friend group. There's nothing wrong with you reframing. Instead of always being the no. Or the break in your friend group or your family group, how about coming up with alternatives that work for everybody? If you know that you're the person that hates going out to eat with a group of friends because you don't like how you split the bill. Look, I've been guilty of this and the fact that I've talked about my friends who are wine drinkers. That's where if you want to get me, it rips my heart out when people are ordering these crazy glasses of Wine. If you think cocktails are expensive, wait until you find out about expensive wine. And then when you're splitting those, you know there's nothing wrong with you. If you know this is going to be a problem, but you still love these people, like hanging out, invite them over and smoke some meat.

[Bo Hanson]

Yeah, you can.

[Brian Preston]

You can. There's alternatives. There's ways that you can put yourself in different situations that still give fuel to the relationships and the memory building.

[Bo Hanson]

I love it. And again, these don't have to be expensive things. If you really are worried about them, invite them over for a potluck. Hey everybody, come to my house. Bring something. We're all going to hang out. You can do those sorts of things and you can still pour in those relationships without sacrificing your financial goals.

[Brian Preston]

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[Bo Hanson]

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[Brian Preston]

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[Bo Hanson]

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[Bo Hanson]

All right, so we're talking about signs that you may be saving too much, that you may be moving into financial miser territory. I think that this next one, Brian, is one that I know I particularly have been guilty of in the past. And it's that you're sacrificing your health to save money now. This is where this happened for me early on in my financial journey.

[Brian Preston]

This is back when it was bo big spoons, when I hanson because all he ate for lunch, dinner and breakfast was General Mills cereal.

[Bo Hanson]

Look, Publix had a two for one deal and you couldn't beat it. So I could go to Publix and I could literally buy 14 boxes of cereal and I could just Plow through those things. And buddy, I was maxing out my Roth IRA, I was putting money in my simple IRA at the town that it turned into a 400,000. I was able to save money. But was that the best decision? Likely not. That's probably not where you want to be. So you want to make sure you're not sacrificing your health simply for a financial benefit.

[Brian Preston]

Health is wealth, and I don't want people to get to seven figures and beyond. But you're the unhealthiest version of yourself. So that's why when we talk about the problem here is, yes, you're a great saver, but if you're not buying life insurance to protect your family members, if you're not buying health insurance just because you don't want to pay those premiums, what if you don't even want to go the doctor because you just, you know, it costs money? You don't want to make healthy food decisions at the grocery store because it costs you additional money. You know, you have your family driving around on bald tires in a car that you don't even know if it's going to crank up. These things should hit you to your core. Is it? There's one thing to be good with money, there's another thing. Just be so tight and miserly that you're actually impacting your health and living your best life.

[Bo Hanson]

Another problem that you could see is that if your lifestyle is the exact same as it was decades ago. Now, on the surface, that might sound great, but in reality, if you're doing things the way you're supposed to be doing them, and you're moving in the direction that you should be doing, your lifestyle likely should be inflating. And that's okay. Yeah, maybe in your 20s you made the decisions that you ate this certain type of food, but as you move through time, maybe your dietary decisions become a little bit wiser, maybe you exercise a little bit more, maybe you drink a little bit more water throughout the course of the day. These are all signs that you are growing and evolving just as your financial situation is evolving. But if you're living the same way today that you did when you were 19 years old, that may be an indication that you've not adjusted according.

[Brian Preston]

Well, and I'll bring it. Look, being the person who's 50s and beyond now is you have to kind of, when we think about this, you have to choose your hard on. And that's. I don't cut corners when it comes to building.

[Bo Hanson]

That's right.

[Brian Preston]

I mean, Because I know that we only get. It's kind of. If you saw that documentary with Warren Buffett, it was on HBO years ago. He opens up the entire thing, talking about what if. What if you were given one car? It could be any car of your choosing, but it had to last your entire lifetime. He's talking about your body.

[Bo Hanson]

That's right.

[Brian Preston]

Is that you. No matter what gifts, talents you have, you only get this one body. So you better treat it with the respect and treat it accordingly so you actually live your best life. You don't want to be wealthy but immobile, wealthy but unhealthy. I mean, that's not where health and wealth intersect.

[Bo Hanson]

So what is the solution here? Don't cut corners when it comes to your health and. And when it comes to your safety. If you're someone out there who has all the money in the world, but you don't have life insurance, and. Or maybe you have the greatest income in the world, but you don't have life insurance, and you kick it, what have you really accomplished? If you're out there with no health insurance and you're not actually protecting yourself against the unknown unknowns, there's a really good chance you're putting yourself in a precarious financial situation where all you are is one slip, one, oh, one unknown. Unknown away from absolutely causing your entire financial life to collapse. So don't cut the corner. Do the hard thing now so that you don't have to do the hard thing later.

[Brian Preston]

Yeah, I mean, you've heard me tell the story. I had that crossroads at age 40, and now I like to think that I'm a better version of myself even in my 50s, than I was, maybe even in my mid-30s, because I took a lot of help for granted. And I think that's probably a good segue into. I want you to understand, it's okay to enjoy your success.

[Bo Hanson]

That's right.

[Brian Preston]

Bo and I both have traded in on what we call our tight wide cards. And I think the reason is. And I've talked about this in Millionaire Mission and others, is that your lifestyle will inflate. It's just. But do it just like you've done everything else in your life. You can do it in a disciplined manner, whereas you get a pay raise. Why not? 60% of that goes towards increasing savings. But then, yeah, you can let 40% go to expanding your lifestyle, living a better life. And if you can keep those ratios in check, you'll probably end up in a really good place where your army of dollar bills is still going to be able to replace whatever lifestyle expansion you've occurred because you kept that ratio in a really healthy way.

[Bo Hanson]

And maybe that 40%, what it's going to is maybe it's buying healthier food, or maybe it's finally signing up for that gym membership, or maybe it's increasing the life insurance or opting for the better health insurance plan. It's okay as life moves on to make those kinds of decisions. That's the way that the financial journey is supposed to look. All right, so we're talking about these signs that you might be saving too much for retirement and not living the way that you ought to live in this. Brian. Unfortunately, I think that this is the one that is the most common and the one that we see most among financial mutants and even financial mutants that end up taking it to the next level and becoming clients is that they reach this place where they have surpassed all of their financial goals. They are indeed financially independent, and yet they're still saving, they're still moving forward, they're still trying to build.

[Brian Preston]

And don't miss here. We're not going to tell you you have to just shut it all down. You've won the game. But we at least want you to take a hit the pause button and start running some calculations, stress testing your financial future to make sure that you are intersecting it with all your other life goals as well. That's the big thing. Make sure you're doing the work. How does this look? If you do the napkin financial plan, the 4% safe withdrawal rate, if you look at your assets, you look at the 4% safe withdrawal rate and then you compare and contrast. And if you don't, like, you're like, holy cow, what am I doing? I mean, I think it might draw clarity that you can do things a little differently and still have success.

[Bo Hanson]

And what it tells you is that if you figure out that I have done that and the plan is solid and I am going to be okay, then it frees you up. It allows you to say, okay, maybe I don't have to make the same decisions that I used to make because I'm in a different position now. And so how do you combat this? How do you think through this? Well, it's pretty plain and simple. Do you know where you are today? Do you have a current state of where you are and do you have a clear vision of where you're going? Well, if you know where you are today and you have an idea of where you want to head to, you can very quickly put together the pieces to figure out, am I on the track, am I on the path, am I going to make it to my final destination?

[Brian Preston]

Well, and we've, we try to do so much content to give you just checkpoints so we have the money guy markers. If you think about what age group, you know, for a 30 year old, we'd love to have saved and invested at least one times your earnings. If you think about 40 year old three times by the time you get to 65, we want that to be 20 times. But this is, you'll see. And what's cool about this is that as you're building and saving, you start seeing the jumps in these numbers. Think about from 30 to 40, it goes from one times to three times. You're like, holy cow, in a decade it's supposed to grow that much. Yes, because guess what, your army of dollar bills is also catching traction and starting to grow upon itself. Well, and that's going to make this journey that much easier for you.

[Bo Hanson]

The other thing that you can do, and maybe this, this works against your natural state, you just say, hey guys, I am a saver, I'm not a spender, I'm not a consumer, I'm a builder. One of the things that you can do is you can actually stress test your plans. Okay, well what if this happens and what if this happens? What if this happens and what if this happens and if the plan still works, what it can do is it can give you some freedom, some peace of mind to say, okay, I've done everything that I was supposed to do. I've checked all of the contingencies and I'm going to be okay. I understand where the guardrails are and so long as I stay away from those guardrails, I'm going to be alright. So maybe I can back down the savings, maybe I can change the behavior, maybe I can be a little bit looser in how I make my financial decisions.

[Brian Preston]

Well, I mean, I think I always try to take out the risk or mitigate the risk as much as possible. And kind of the close. One of the last points we had on this was don't get out ahead of your skis shoes. Because a lot of you guys, when you're doing planning, I don't want you, especially if you have young kids in the house, there's going to be a lot of change in your life. So it makes sense to kind of start measuring, to know exactly where you are in this process. And once again we have created content so you can try to figure out am I on track to being where I want to be. And one of my favorite shows, we call it the milestone show, was are you on track to become a multimillionaire? This is going to be able to let you see, am I outside of my skis, Am I in my comfort zone, or am I right where I'm supposed to be? That's the right type of metrics to really let you know you're controlling as well as managing your financial life in the best possible way.

[Bo Hanson]

And then if you have done these things, maybe, maybe you can slow down. You don't have to stop. We still have folks that are retired, folks that are in financial independence, but they find that they've done such a good job of saving, they still have excess. The money that they have coming in from pensions or Social Security or required minimum distributions or whatever the thing may be, is more than they need. And so they keep saving and keep investing because they can, but not because they have to or not because they don't believe that their plan is going to be okay. If you find that you're missing out on life because you're constantly moving forward, moving forward, moving forward, this may be a great time to reassess and figure out, okay, why am I making the decisions I'm making? And does it make sense for me to continue making decisions this way?

[Brian Preston]

Well, and this is definitely a measure twice cut once. One of my favorite parts of our professional day job is we get to turn financial mutants who might be dabbling on that dark side of financial miser, and we get to bring them back to the healthy side of it. That's right. It's one of my favorite things. Everybody thinks that a financial planner is going to be like, no, you can't do that. No, you can't do that. We're actually the opposite. I'm constantly ribbing clients, being like, what are you doing? Go spend some money. Go live your best life. Go make some memories with the kids, with your adult children that you still love being in their presence. And you just want to make sure that you're maximizing every moment. And that's why, guys, we share it with you all the time. There is a better way to do money. That's why we load you up, give you all the free advice we can go to moneyguy.com resources, go get in there and get that free stuff. And then when your life gets complicated because of all the success you've created, we'll leave the light on for you. And that's where the abundance cycle is fulfilled and you can take the relationship to the next level. I'm your host, Brian Preston. Mr. Bo Hanson Moneyguy Team out the.

[Bo Hanson]

Money Guy show is hosted by Bryan Preston and Bo Hanson. Brian and Beau are partners with Abound Wealth Management. Abound Wealth Management is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the securities and Exchange Commission. In accordance and compliance with the securities laws and regulations, Abound Wealth Management does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the Money Guy Show. The information provided is for informational purposes only, may not be suitable for all investors, and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice. All investments involve a degree of.