Will Their Unique Financial Structure Hold Up? | Making a Millionaire

Summary

Money Guy Show: "Will Their Unique Financial Structure Hold Up?" | Making a Millionaire

Podcast Hosts: Brian Preston & Bo Hanson
Guests: Nathan & Chrissy
Release Date: March 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Money Guy Show spotlights Nathan and Chrissy, a married couple in their late 30s navigating significant financial transitions: inheriting a legacy, launching a new travel business, and raising twins. Their story is unique due to their distinctive approach of keeping finances mostly separate though highly cooperative. Brian, Bo, and the guests dive into how this arrangement has worked, its strengths and weaknesses, and how they can optimize their wealth-building journey—while honoring values of legacy, independence, and emerging family priorities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nathan & Chrissy’s Backgrounds and Current Situation

• Nathan (36): Incident management coordinator for state Dept. of Transportation, logistics/engineering background, methodical saver.
• Chrissy (38): Recently opened her own travel agency after 8 years as an agent; specializes in family & luxury cruising, aims to build a legacy for her twins and foster new agents.
  • “Having the twins made me realize that I want to be able to leave a legacy that they can step into eventually. And I will never be able to do that working for somebody else.” (Chrissy, 02:38)
• Both recently became parents to twins, which, along with a sizable inheritance and a business launch, led them to seek professional advice.

2. Unique Financial Structure: Separate-but-Shared Finances

• Kept most accounts and responsibilities separate—mirroring their upbringings.
  • “We don’t itemize each individual purchase... I pay the mortgage, Chrissy buys the groceries, I pay the electric, she pays the gas... That has almost prepared us for this situation.” (Nathan, 01:01 & 10:05)
• Single joint account with little routine use (just for the mortgage and occasional reimbursement).
• Both agree on supporting each other and viewing combined assets as ultimately mutual, especially regarding long-term goals like retirement and children’s futures.

3. Net Worth, Assets, and Income

• Net worth: $1M+ (age 36 & 38; “2 comma club”)
• Current household income: $210,000
• Major financial categories:
  • Cash: $64,000 (split: $50k Nathan, $15k Chrissy)
  • Investments: $713,000 (includes inheritance, retirement, brokerage)
  • Home: $327,000 (bought at $185k; $56k mortgage left)
  • Inheritance: $600,000 (split among Chrissy and siblings; mix of inherited IRA, brokerage, trust assets)

4. Inheritance & Tax Complexities

• Chrissy’s inheritance: Largely in inherited IRA (must withdraw within 10 years; taxed at withdrawal).
  • “We have to withdraw within 10 years, and it is taxed to me when I withdraw it... I’m trying to balance when do I take it out? Now that I own my own company, could I leave all my commissions in the company and not pay myself and use that to offset the tax implications?” (Chrissy, 07:00)
• Tax avoidance strategies discussed, with strong cautions to operate legally and consider timing vs. projected future income.

5. Day-to-Day Money Management

• Detailed walk-through of monthly expenses—each picks and handles certain categories in their own accounts (e.g., Nathan pays mortgage/utilities, Chrissy covers groceries/children/health).
  • “We have our own online shopping, so you buy whatever you want. That’s the part of having a separate account that’s really wonderful.” (Chrissy, 20:34)
• Since kids, some expense margins have tightened, especially for Chrissy.
• Savings rate and method differ:
  • Nathan: Consistent, automated, via 457 plan, Roth IRA, after-tax brokerage.
  • Chrissy: Used to save aggressively from commissions, now mostly paycheck-to-paycheck due to business reinvestment and family needs.

6. Goals and Legacy Planning

• Short- and Mid-Term:
  • New home in next 5–10 years.
  • Financial security and flexibility for twins (college fully-funded + $60k for each as house down payment at age 18).
  • “If I can...have my kids set up financially, I don’t know what number that means that they need to have in their name, but...if I can do that and work till I’m 60 or 65, fine. If I can do that and only work till 55, even better.” (Chrissy, 30:05)
• Long-Term:
  • Financial independence, possibly retire together (Nathan targets 57; Chrissy’s business timeline TBD).
  • World cruise in retirement; willingness to live frugally if that helps secure children’s futures.
• Prioritization: Home upgrade > Kids’ financial security > Personal financial independence (“House, kids, cruise...that’s how we’d lay it out.” Nathan, 42:03)

7. Growth Mindset and Career Trajectory

• Chrissy’s business aims:
  • 5-year goal: $100M in sales, $1.5-2M net income for agency.
  • Next year (2026) already on track for $200k in commission herself.
  • Plans to add several agents—income could scale rapidly.
  • Hosts recommend structuring business as S Corp, paying “reasonable salary” to minimize unnecessary self-employment taxes, but caution against IRS scrutiny from undervaluing personal salary.

8. Retirement & Savings Strategies

• Nathan: ~27% savings rate; maxing out retirement accounts, contributing to a brokerage after maxing Roth.
• Chrissy: Historically high savings; currently ramped down due to twins. Goal is to reach 25% savings via Solo 401k, Roth IRA, and profit sharing as business grows.
• Projected financial independence: If they maintain a $77K+ combined annual savings rate, they could surpass $6M by age 55 and $10M by 60, ensuring more than enough for spending goals and flexibility (“blow past” $7k/month target spend).

9. Behavioral & Structural Discussion

• Hosts probe for potential friction in the “separate but supportive” financial structure, finding little real conflict due to mutual trust and clear, flexible communication.
• Offer suggestion to consider shifting income/savings to a joint account or brokerage for optimized team planning—guests open but cautious about changing a system that’s “worked so far.”
• Strong emphasis on revisiting goals regularly, intentionally planning for children as a unified front, and making adjustments as new income flows or life events occur.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (Timestamps, MM:SS)

• On legacy:
  “[My dad] was homeless at 16... turned himself into the director of anesthesia for John Hopkins... his goal was to leave a legacy for his children, and he did that, and I’m very, very proud of him.” (Chrissy, 06:41)

• On separation of finances:
  “We don’t itemize each individual purchase like we’re splitting dinner... I pay the mortgage, Chrissy buys the groceries... It’s almost prepared us for this situation.” (Nathan, 01:01 & 10:05)

• On successful support and transitions:
  “It was actually a conversation where I felt like I had the biggest supporter. And he was like, actually, you know what? I don’t want you as a therapist anymore. I want you to pursue this. I know you’ll be great at it.” (Chrissy, 18:42)

• On parenting goals:
  “If I can do that [set my kids up] and only work till 55, even better.” (Chrissy, 30:17) “I want them to be able to feel like they have freedoms, you know?” (Chrissy, 35:41)

• Hosts on financial planning:
  “I get it. Every couple is unique—personal finance is personal. I see where there’s some raw spots that could break the barrier, but so far, they’re holding strong with you guys.” (Brian, 28:13)

• Hosts, post-interview summary:
  “On paper, they are millionaires, but there’s kind of an asterisk because a lot of the money came from legacy money or inheritances... And then the other thing that made them unique—not really a traditional financial structure. They want to keep things separate.” (Brian, 59:25)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• 01:38 — Nathan and Chrissy introduce themselves and careers
• 03:15 — Chrissy’s early business success and life transitions
• 04:25 — Net worth breakdown and backstory
• 07:00 — Inheritance details, tax complexities, emotional aspects
• 09:48 — The couple’s approach to separating finances
• 19:33 — Detailed household budgeting walkthrough
• 22:09 — Savings strategies and behavioral implications
• 30:22 — Defining family legacy and goals for the twins
• 39:54 — Retirement/financial independence dreams; cost-of-living discussion
• 43:38 — Personal savings rates and investment approach
• 49:53 — Chrissy’s business goals and earning projections
• 55:52 — Inherited IRA tax/move-out planning
• 60:38 — Hosts’ post-interview recap and modeling various plans

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Key Takeaways

• Couples can succeed with non-traditional financial structures if trust, communication, and mutual respect are strong.
• Clear, evolving goals (legacy, home, kids’ future, financial independence) should drive allocation of windfalls or inheritance.
• Tax planning, business structuring, and savings optimization become much more important and nuanced as net worth expands and entrepreneurial income becomes part of the mix.
• Regular check-ins and willingness to adapt (possibly shifting toward more joint planning as life gets more complex) are essential to keep “friction” minimal, especially with kids and rising costs.
• Legacy can amplify financial opportunity—but only with forethought and education for the next generation to avoid squandering it.
• The couple’s unique strengths—complementary skills, supportive partnership, and shared vision—are their most powerful financial tools.

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For more detailed guidance, or to appear on the Making a Millionaire series, visit moneyguy.com/apply or check out free financial tools at moneyguy.com/resources.

Transcript

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[A]

So my dad passed. His goal was to leave a legacy for his children. He left a total of about 600,000.

[C]

Chrissy and I have kept our finances separate. Not for any reason in particular. It's just how we were both brought up. We don't itemize each individual purchase like we're splitting dinner. We've just kind of arranged our life so that I pay the mortgage. Chrissy buys the groceries, I pay the electric, she pays the gas. That has almost prepared us for this situation.

[D]

I want to make sure that we're meeting you guys where you are. We design a plan that works for the way that you guys operate. But I am seeing in terms of just a plan building where we're going to have a little bit of friction. Who are you? How old are you? What do you do? Run us through a quick bio.

[C]

So I'm 36. I work as a incident management coordinator for the state Department of Transportation.

[D]

What's that mean?

[C]

So when there's really bad days in the interstate, we have a whole program that goes out and tries to clear it up as quickly as possible.

[D]

Nice.

[C]

You all can probably appreciate it because one of the things most important parts of that is the economy. You know, getting, you know, any hour delay. Yeah. It's like it costs money.

[B]

Is that a branch of the tree of being an engineer though? You kind of have a niche in your background.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Really orderly logistics.

[C]

Exactly. Returning to normal operation. It feels good. Awesome.

[A]

I'm Chrissy. I'm 38 years old and I just recently opened my own travel agency. So I now own the agency, but I've been a travel agent for eight years as an independent contractor for somebody else. And so I'm now stepping into agency ownership just this last month.

[B]

And what do you specialize in? Is that like cruises? Is that like international travel? Europe?

[A]

Thank you for asking.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I personally specialize in family and luxury cruising. However, the agency books everything that. That you would like to go will make it a luxurious experience for you

[D]

and when else to step it on your own. What was the thought process?

[A]

Having the twins made me realize that I want to be able to leave a legacy that they can step into eventually. And I will never be able to do that working for somebody else. And I've grown in the field kind of to the point that my own personal knowledge is now of a lot of value to anybody new in the industry. And I want to be able to train new agents and give them the expertise that I wish I had when I was starting out.

[D]

So, like, you'll be the one who has, like, agents underneath you that will.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. I have many agents that are joining my team to learn from an expert.

[D]

And how long ago did this take place?

[A]

LLC was formed in December, So it's

[D]

been like brain rash off the press.

[B]

Wow.

[D]

Welcome to entrepreneurship. That's awesome.

[C]

Toot Chrissy's horn a little bit that her agency already has over a hundred thousand dollars in sales.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

For just about over. Over now. Yeah. Maybe made some bookings last night.

[B]

I don't know.

[D]

Well, they say that when it comes to, like, big life changes, like, you know, going out on your own, starting your own business, having kids start, you should get as many of those things crammed into a short a period of time as possible.

[C]

So that's kind of like, I guess, probably why we're here.

[A]

Why we're here.

[C]

Exactly. I feel like it's three things. It's, you know, starting the messy middle with the twins. We've got the inheritance, you know, kind of hitting, which has tax implications, and then also Chrissy's business.

[A]

So we're kind of at the same time.

[C]

Yeah. All the same year, you know, And I know that depending on how we do things now could really affect how it plays out later, you know, financially. So we want to try to take advantage of all those components, you know, arrange them in the right way that we'll get a good outcome.

[D]

You guys were kind enough to share network statement. It's kind of level set with where you guys are right now. So you've already said 36, 38 years old. And as we sit here, you're officially in the 2 comma club, which is wild. To be million dollar net worth before you get to 40 is huge. So you have to just stop for a moment.

[B]

Way out of schedule.

[D]

Y' all have done something right in that aspect. Total household income right now, $210,000. So you guys have a big shovel, able to fund a lot of stuff. And it's actually a really good looking net worth. We've got $64,000 in cash, about $713,000 in liquid investments. You have your primary home, which is right at 327, and your mortgage you only owe $56,000 on. Is that something that you guys have been like working towards knocking out? Why is that number so low for folks in their late 30s?

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. So I guess the story there is we bought it back before the house. You know, prices were crazy, at least from my perspective. So it was $185,000 at the time. That's when you bought it. And at that point, you know, I was really. I didn't really understand money that well. I was at 24 years old, maybe 25, and I was kind of like, ah, I gotta get rid of this number, you know. Cause I didn't like having debt. It was our only debt, fortunately. So I was putting in like, I think $150 into my, you know, 457. And just everything I could was putting on mortgage, just going on the mortgage.

[D]

Was this the Original interest rate? 4.125 that you had in 2014?

[C]

I definitely miss again, kind of like, because learning. But I definitely missed some refinance opportunities where.

[B]

Well, you. A point where it's too small. They don't really like to refinance once it's below 100 grand too much. So I get that completely.

[C]

It was a goal of mine to pay off the house and, you know, help us sleep better at night. And probably what kept us, you know, from having kids earlier is being financially comfortable. I should say.

[D]

You wanted to wait till you were financially comfortable to do the family thing.

[C]

And eventually kind of age caught up and we were like, well, we gotta make a decision. And no, I have realized now you're never really ready.

[B]

Exactly.

[D]

Amen, brother.

[B]

Trying to get that message out there. You know, if you're gonna do kids, don't wait until you can afford everything because you'll still feel overwhelmed.

[D]

That's right.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

So you mentioned, you said there's also an inheritance, right? Something. An inheritance has come in. You guys are trying to figure out what to do. Walk us through when that happened and how you guys have thought through that.

[A]

So my dad passed. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the start of January20, and he passed in July of 2025. 2024.

[B]

Okay. Wow, that was quick.

[A]

It was pretty quick growing up. He is. I'm so proud of him. He was homeless at 16, you know, alone at that point, and turned himself into the director of anesthesia for John Hopkins. I mean, he's got an incredible story, but his goal was to leave a legacy for his children, and he did that, and I'm very, very proud of him. So he left a total of about 600,000. Not all of it has been distributed to me yet for me. And then also, I have two siblings, so we have each the same. I think the tax implications of it that we are trying to balance is that there is part of it in an inherited IRA that, from my understanding, we have to withdraw within 10 years, and it is taxed to me when I withdraw it. And we're already two years into that clock. And the complicated part is that of my three siblings, I'm the only one with actual income. They can kind of. They have more options for me. I'm trying to kind of balance. When do I take it out? When, you know, how can I. Now that I own my own company, could I leave all my commissions in the company and not pay myself and use that to offset the tax implications for that part of the inheritance? Because it is really important to me. One of my dad's big things was to minimize tax as much as possible. I mean, he had that uncovering his estate. There's some lessons learned there, some things. Maybe, maybe. Maybe he was too passionate about that. But we want to make sure that.

[C]

Tax filings. Yeah, we had to take care of those first.

[A]

Yeah. But I want to make sure that I do right by him. And also, I don't want to give it all to the government, but I also want to make sure I do it legally, and I want to make sure that we're getting the most benefit out of what he left us, because it was something he worked for his entire life.

[D]

Well, we talk about all the time. Tax evasion is illegal. It's something that will get you arrested. But tax avoidance, highly encouraged. And we have an entire tax structure that is a system by which, if you understand how it works, there are ways that you can minimize that with the inheritance. You said it's kind of still settling out Is this what's already reflected on your net worth statement? Is it already. Okay, so this inherited IRA is that 195,000. And I'm assuming the brokerage account that's in your name is the other piece of that from the inheritance.

[A]

And then there's still, like, about 80,000 that's still in the trust for me. So there's more. It's like three times that, but my portion is 80 to be distributed later.

[B]

What conversation?

[D]

After tax to be distributed. That 80,000 that's in the trust?

[B]

Yeah. What conversations have y' all had? Because, you know, the thing is, is that inherited assets are unique in the fact that they have some special protections from the government. But then they also create this weird dynamic with couples is because. And look, I'll just throw it out there because I've had to deal with some uncomfortable conversations in the past. Sometimes you'll see in marriages, even though they have these special protections, the other spouse, not the one that lost the parent, will say, well, just throw it in the joint account. And we're always like, well, let's kind of make sure that structure this for what is in the best intent of the person who left the money. What's the legacy? But also in paying respect to the legal protections. But then also, we do want to honor y' all as a couple because two become one. So what conversations have y' all had about the inheritance?

[C]

So let me. If you don't mind, I'll jump in here. So what's kind of funny is Chrissy and I have kept our finances separate.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Not for any reason in particular. It's just how we were both brought up.

[D]

What do you mean, kept them separate? Because that means a lot different stuff to different people. What's that mean, you guys? We've kept them separate.

[C]

There is one joint account. It's got, like, $4,000 in it, and we never use it. It's. It's basically because we have a mortgage that came with. Yeah, you got to have something. So it's our spot where we can kind of exchange. I got to pay you back for this. So it's. We don't, you know, itemize each individual purchase like we're splitting dinner. You know, we've just kind of arranged our life so that I pay the mortgage, Chrissy buys the groceries. I pay the electric, she pays the gas. You know, so it's. It's kind of funny because the. That has almost prepared us for this situation.

[B]

Yeah, but what's the. What's the incomes? What's Your income? What's your income? They're almost equal even with a brand new startup.

[A]

Yeah. So the way travel works is I do get paid when the travel happens. So right now I'm getting paid for travel. I booked like a year and a half ago because it's traveling now. So with my new startup it should really, shouldn't be a big change except that I'll actually be controlling of when I, you know, get that income. And so I pay myself rather than getting paid by my previous agency. But no, it, it's about the same. So you know, where I. Mine is purely commission based. So I, you know, bring in 100,000 before taxes. Nathan brings in like about 100. Yeah, yeah. So it's about the same.

[D]

About the same.

[C]

Maybe 130, kind of.

[A]

It wasn't always.

[C]

Not sure. It doesn't totally line up here. So that's the only thing took the

[A]

brunt of our family's finances while I was getting started in the travel agency. I was previously a behavioral therapist and we were making the same at that point, but that was 10 years ago at like $60,000 each. And Nathan helped us kind of keep all the bills paid while I established myself and my career. And now we're both really strong in our careers. So we kind of both grew up with parents that managed finances separately. And it's just something that made his parents relationship really strong. My parents relationship maybe not as strong, but it made their divorce less messy. And so I think it's just something that we both learned.

[C]

There's pros and cons to this strategy,

[A]

but we both learned a lot of lessons from it. And I think something unique, hopefully not that unique about our relationship, but something really powerful about relationship is that we both really prioritize each other over ourselves. So like as soon as, you know, we get any windfall, if I make a large booking, I'm always like, I can take Nathan on a trip or I can do this for Nathan and he does the same thing for me. So it's always been something that. It's like having our finances separate has allowed us to kind of spoil the other person and also protect the other person too. So with the inheritance, it is all in my own name at the moment. And Nathan has his own retirement accounts, but we do kind of view it even though they're in separate bank accounts. We plan on retiring together and living together our whole lives throughout retirement eventually and supporting the children together forever. So it's, it's in my name, but it's a mutual decision Every. Everything. That's how it's managed.

[D]

How's the home is the. Said you pay the mortgage, but is the house in your name or is the house owned joint?

[C]

Well, back then, when I bought the house, we weren't married yet, so it's in my name.

[D]

But mortgage in your name, house is in your name.

[C]

Yes, but given the fact that we've been married for 10 years, I think there's some law that says, you know, gets its own.

[B]

There would be some protections for your original investment into the house is typically the way that. That plays out any power struggles. Because even while you're doing the buildup of the business, you gave Nathan a. Of credit there, but were there ever months that you had to go to him and ask for money and it was just a weird dynamic?

[A]

No, I guess I've always been pretty fiscally responsible, and I really actually. No, that's false. I take that back. I was previously fiscally very irresponsible when I had a lot of money. And then I learned that I could live on very little when I didn't have a lot of money. So there were months that we maybe didn't get to eat at Chipotle as much, and we had sandwiches at home because food is from my budget. Right. And, you know, we had a couple months where, you know, travel isn't always, you know, like, I have some months to pay a lot more than others. And he's always told me I can always ask him, hey, you know, if you don't have enough for, you know, food this month, just tell me. But I've never had to do that.

[C]

Never had to do that.

[A]

And I know that if I did

[D]

in 10 years, there's never. That's all.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like almost we're digging into something that's like, never been a real issue. And it's funny because I had been saving for retirement all this and kind of like got into money a little bit earlier than Chrissy and had been really working on all the. On the net worth statement and stuff. And then she gets an inheritance, like, totally bypasses me in terms of net worth. And I can't feel anything but joy for that. I mean, I'm happy for her. And, you know, we're just here to figure out how we can both contribute and arrange things in a way that makes it work out, you know, minimize taxes and sets us up from a

[D]

curiosity standpoint only because this is fascinating to me because it's so different than

[A]

the way that money we don't Know anybody else like us?

[D]

So like you said that okay, you do mortgage, you do food. But there are some times where you do have to like pay each other back. Give me some examples of things where you'd have to like exchange funds.

[C]

I got one. So we recently, with kids, you know, the house can become a mess. Right. So we have just needed some help. Right. So we had. Actually our dog sitter is very helpful. So we, we were like, hey, would you mind coming and helping us tidy up the house? Right.

[A]

And so play with the dog while you're here. Sure.

[D]

But also just have some pick up a little bit. That'd be great.

[C]

That's not a bucket. Like we just never have done that. So Chrissy, because she had paid for ducks before, right? She paid our dog sitter. And then I was like, listen, I really wanted to do that for you. So I'm going to write you a check for that.

[D]

I love it.

[C]

So there's an example.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

But I mean, that is so rare. Probably once every year or two where we do something like that. And it's mostly because it's easier for one of the others to pay for it than just pay each other back.

[D]

Do you reconcile? Like, all right, well, I spent this much on the household this month and I spent this. So you don't even, you don't even have an accounting for like really, you just, hey, I take care of the food and I take care of the mortgage and it's just kind of.

[B]

What about big purchases, cars? They all just have separate cars. And you just, whatever you make, buy your own car.

[C]

And you buy your own. The more you dig into it, it's kind of funny. So I pay all the insurance, right. And I bought my car. Chrissy got a car for her birthday.

[D]

It's from like. That was a gift you gave her for her birthday.

[C]

It's from my mom.

[A]

From his mom?

[C]

Yeah, it's from my mom.

[A]

I know.

[C]

We're extremely blessed.

[D]

Most mother in laws don't do that.

[C]

Extremely blessed.

[A]

Right.

[D]

Like motherless.

[B]

When did this shift happen?

[A]

We should establish that Chrissy was this

[B]

like a push present?

[A]

No, Chrissy drove a paid off car that was not quite safe for like six years because we didn't want to spend the money on a car. So then Nathan's grandma was like, but

[B]

now we're getting somewhere because this is what I'm trying to figure out. Are there any warts under the surface? Like you driving this car for six years even when it was unsafe? Was none of that.

[A]

It was safe for six years towards the end.

[C]

Unreliable.

[A]

It was unreliable. Yeah, it was unreliable towards the end.

[D]

Having children is the impetus to change that. Like, okay, we need something different here.

[A]

No, but just.

[C]

It's time mom decided to.

[A]

His mom decided it was time.

[C]

Yeah. What can I get Chrissy?

[A]

What can I get Chrissy for her birthday? And he's like.

[C]

I was like, listen, if you really want to get her something that will last forever, a car.

[A]

And it's not anything, you know, it's just. It's a Chevy bolt. At the time, it was before the. The potential for it to catch on fire was known. But, you know, it turns out we've got an unsafe car, but it's been remediated, so there really isn't any, like, big grievances or things. I think probably the only time that was the potential for that was when I was a therapist. We both were making around 65,000 a year, and he was working a state job, mostly 9 to 5. I was working 9 to 3 in a clinic, 4:30 to 7:30 in somebody's house. And then coming home and doing paperwork and emailing. That is like, you can't actually bill insurance for that time. But it all has to get done. And if it doesn't get done, then you can't be available the next day to work with the kiddo that you're supposed to be doing therapy for. So I was working a ridiculous amount. I never saw him, and I was really drained. And so when I decided to make the shift into travel, they overlapped for a little bit. And then eventually we decided that I would pursue travel wholeheartedly. But that meant giving up my salary as a therapist. And that was probably the only time that there was the potential, because I probably told him that I wanted to do it about two months after I really wanted to do it, but I wanted to make sure that I was prepared, that I knew what the financial burden on our family would be. And I guess I was just afraid of disappointing him that, like, you know, hey, I'm gonna take this money away from us. And it was actually a conversation that he was like, I'm so proud of you, and I know that you can do it. And it took me probably about six months to regain my income in my new field. And during that time, I took a job teaching preschool so that there would at least be some regular money coming in. It wasn't anywhere close to what I was making as a therapist, but it was like something. All of our bill, we will be able to eat and we will be able to have gas in the house. And even if I have nobody going to Disney World, we will be okay. It was actually a conversation where I felt like I had the biggest supporter. And he was like, actually, you know what? I don't want you as a therapist anymore. I want you to pursue this. I know you'll be great at it. And if we hadn't had that conversation, and if there hadn't have been maybe the push of, like, you do need to replace your income. You can be a travel agent all you want, but you have to replace your income because, you know, it's something that I want to be able to continue living the lifestyle that we had previously. And I've not only replaced it, but now surpassed it considerably. It was a potential for grievance, but turned into a motivation checking account.

[B]

Is that joint or is that in somebody's name?

[C]

They're separate.

[B]

So do you have. So there's actually two. Two cash accounts.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

How are those broken out currently? Of that $64,000, I believe 15 is yours.

[C]

Yeah, 15k is yours, and so about 50 is mine.

[B]

Okay. The other question. If we could flip over to your monthly expenses, I just think it'd be an interesting exercise just to walk through each of these main categories, and you'll just kind of. I don't want to spend a ton of time.

[C]

Sure.

[B]

But I do just kind of want to understand. Mortgage. You've already. Nathan, you've already let us know. That's you. Utilities, Is that also you? Just because the house is in your name, so it's probably structured that way.

[C]

Nope. You got water and electric. Is me. So that's called 350, we'll say. And, you know, the gas kind of goes up and down depending on the season. So.

[A]

Yeah, gas, 400amonth by itself in the winter, but other months, down to $20.

[B]

Oh, yep. Groceries.

[A]

That's me.

[B]

Food. Okay.

[D]

Dining out's also mostly me.

[A]

Yeah, mostly Nathan. I do special treats, but usually dining out is him.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Insurance, Me. Okay. Internet.

[B]

Phone.

[A]

Me. No, we split it. I pay my own phone now.

[C]

Oh, well, it's $25 a month.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

That's right. That's true. I was thinking Internet.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Travel, Me. Okay. Subscriptions.

[C]

It's both.

[A]

That's both.

[D]

Okay. Online shopping.

[A]

That's both. But I think Nathan didn't ask me what my online shopping was. Maybe that was on purpose, but I definitely.

[C]

We have our own online shopping, so you buy whatever you want.

[A]

That's the part of having a separate account that's really wonderful is he doesn't necessarily know how much I spend on clothes, and I don't necessarily know what he spends on technology. And.

[B]

Well, keep a pin in that because I'm gonna come back with a. I said two. I'm actually going to have three questions because I want to go over one other thing that we don't actually know the answer to yet that will tie into that. So keep going though. Children.

[A]

That's me.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. And then health.

[A]

That's me. That's like their. Our insurance pays for most everything, but they have a few things like their chiropractor and stuff that I pay for separately.

[B]

Have y' all balanced to see, because since y' all make them out the same amount of money, have y' all actually laid these side by side to see how close you guys are?

[C]

Nope.

[A]

No.

[B]

Okay. Just curious. Just out of curiosity. And then the other thing and Bo, I'll let you jump back in after this is, I don't know, y' all savings behavior because of something you just shared is that in a minute we're going to talk about that. The goal is for y' all have done a great job. You have a million dollars, but I know half of that or close to half of that is this legacy that's been paid forward. At some point, we might want to have a conversation is, hey, y' all need to load up the Roth IRAs for both of you. You know, we need to make sure we're maximizing. Somebody might have a great retirement plan, whereas. Or you have a solo. If you start making enough money, we're going to tell you, hey, there's some great planning opportunities with solo 401ks. I'll be curious to see if the savings behaviors also impact this desire, because I'll ask a question, but then also just give you this clarification. We wanted you to have your personal finances, very personal. So we want you to do what works for your household. I will tell you I have my own bias. Talk to us about savings behaviors and investment behaviors. What are you all currently doing?

[A]

So I will also say that I have always, and my dad has been very verbal, that this was his plan and that this was. He passed earlier than he would have liked. And he had this dream of leaving each of his children a million dollars. And he's always been very vocal about that. And anytime we would be like, talking about saving for, he'd be like, why? Why I'm doing so? You know, and that's not, you know, it's not good to be reliant on that. But so, you know, my inheritance was not a mystery or a secret or a surprise, I should say. So it was part of my retirement planning. With the caveat that, like, you know, his health could go at any time or things could change. So I can't rely on it, but I do know that. Or he could just change his mind. I'm thankful that he didn't, but he could have. Right. So it was part of my saving strategy and my previous, you know, before the twins came along, before I got pregnant and expenses changed, I was saving over half my paycheck almost every month. Just whatever was left over from that, my commission that month would go into my Robinhood. Just personal investments. And that's most of it is in Royal Caribbean stock because that's just my choice. But that's what I was doing. And it was simple and easy for me. And it's turned out to be very profitable. Because this was during COVID Put a

[B]

note on there for that. We'll have to talk about that a

[A]

little bit later, I'm sure.

[B]

Let's work in the travel industry and then let's invest in the travel industry. Keep going.

[C]

Believe in what you're doing. Right.

[A]

So some months I have a lot in commission, some months I don't. But I was always very diligent to never tap into a previous month if this was a low month. And that was my strategy that worked for me. His strategy is kind of the opposite. He has accounts that are linked to his job that are pre funded before he even gets paid. I didn't have that option as an independent contractor. Now I'm able to look at what options I can create for myself moving forward. But previously as a 1099, whatever I had left I would put into savings. And then I also had that sitting there come tax time so that I wasn't ever a burden on our family. And I always had the money to pay taxes on it when I needed to.

[D]

Do you guys file jointly or file separate?

[C]

Jointly, yeah, jointly. We always run the calculation.

[D]

So you calculate each of your Chrissy's chagrin.

[C]

It's like, okay, we've completed it separately, or I guess we usually start with jointly. It's like, okay, we've done our taxes jointly, now let's raise everything.

[D]

Now let's break it down and do it individually.

[C]

It's better for both of us to do. And like a tax return, we would just split that.

[A]

There were like two. There was one year where we did file separately and I filed A self employed. And that made a big difference. But I think it was the first year that I started when we kind of took a loss on my travel agency for the first year. But then after that, once it was profitable, it made more sense for us to file jointly.

[D]

But when you do your tax return, you determine who has the larger tax burden. You said if there's a refund, we just split the refund. But if there's being self employed, you're likely going to equally self employed. Likely going to have a higher tax bill than you as an employee. You guys, you kind of calculate that and then equalize that out.

[C]

Yeah. You know, it just kind of works itself out.

[D]

It just kind of works.

[C]

I can't really explain it too much

[D]

because here's one of the things I'm trying to.

[A]

But usually we do. If I did owe money, a lot of times, you know, we would start to put in Nathan's. What happens is we put in Nathan's first. We're getting this massive refund.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

Because I'm withholding because he withholds. Right. And then. Cause the state withholds for him.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

Right. Okay. And then I do withhold, but in my own personal bank account right after I get paid commission. So then we put in my numbers and all of a sudden our refund goes like way down. And so then we get a still and Nathan will just keep it to offset my taxes, basically.

[D]

Do you make estimated tax payments based on your income?

[A]

Not. Not previously. You just get to keep the money until it's taxed.

[B]

So you just get to keep the money if there's any refund.

[C]

Yeah, but things are changing.

[B]

I mean, you see the inefficiency. Maybe you're just like, it's fine because you're not actually sending her an invoice for that.

[C]

It's not a big deal. I mean, you know, on the percentage of our yearly, you know, situation, it's like whatever, you know, we settle that, that one thing at the end of the year, every year. And now our situation is changing because you're no longer gonna be 1099 now. It's, you know, that's why this is kind of like a whole new chapter

[D]

for us with your new agency. You said you have a lot of agents underneath you. Are they W2 employees or are they independent contracts? So you don't have any employees. It's just going to be you. So one of the questions you asked us is, hey, we have this inheritance coming in. We want to figure out where we are in the financial order of operations. And this is going to be a fun little exercise for us to figure out.

[B]

Just in case you don't remember, we have it right there.

[D]

But also it's going to be a fun exercise for us because, you know, if I were to ask you, what does it cost to run the household for six months, Is it going to be a pretty accurate estimate for me to look at that $7,000 budget and just say 7,000 times, you know, six months be 42,000.

[C]

Right. So I guess what I would say is it's probably not exactly like that. At least when I play that situation in my head, we're not paying for Netflix. But if it was like, okay, we need to double down and just do what takes to run the house, you know, there'd be a lot of cancellations going on. Sure, right. But I think if you were to just say, you know, look at the last six months, 7, 8 probably is

[D]

per month, if one or the other of you is carrying a larger load of the expenses, I want to calculate, okay, what's the appropriate emergency fund like? Because we desperately want y' all to work through the financial order of operations together. But what I'm hearing you say is, yeah, we're gonna kind of do it different, which is totally okay. And so what I want to do is figure out where each one of you is in the financial order of operations and kind of go that way, because I even imagine when it comes down to saving, that's probably the way we're gonna have to tackle it. Right? All right, well, you're at this point, and now you can fund a Roth ira or you can fund. Okay, well, you're at this point and you're gonna max out your 457, or we're gonna move in this. And while it's likely going to be a cohesive financial order of operations, once we put it together, it's probably going to be two separate fus.

[C]

Probably. Right.

[D]

Am I discerning that correctly?

[B]

Well, and it's even more complicated because I'm sitting here like, chrissy, if we find out, like, we heard she only had 15 grand of cash, but she also has this inherited brokerage account. If a portion of that, we could always backfill that by looking at the asset allocation in the investment portfolio and backfill the emergency reserves and then even go to step five Roth IRAs. If she ain't got enough money to fund her Roth ira.

[C]

Right.

[B]

We can backfill it with the. It's so unique, you guys. And I'm trying. I'm trying to poke holes from a behavioral standpoint, but, I mean, I get it. Like I said, every couple's unique personal finance. I see where there's some probably raw spots that could break the barrier, but so far, they're holding strong with you guys. So, I mean, there's no reason. That's probably one of those things where if I was your advisor, I'd be like, okay, we're going to circle this in the client file, but let y' all keep doing it. And then if ever down the road there was a breakdown and y' all needed a facilitator of communication, I would probably come back to my notes and be like, yeah, that's where I thought the weakness was going to break down in this. But at least we can. We have a path out. But, yeah, because we want y' all to have the best plan that works for y'. All.

[D]

And so I'm thinking we probably have to construct these two independent financial order operations. And then what I want to have a good idea of is what's the goal that we're ultimately working towards? Are you guys going to retire at the same time? Is that the plan? How are we gonna navigate college for the kids and that kind of stuff? Is there gonna. If there is a stagger and when one of you leaves the workforce and the other one leaves the workforce, walk us. Cause again, whenever we design a plan, we have to begin with the end in mind. We think about what the finish line we're working towards is. As you guys have had that conversation, what's that finish line look like? Or is it two different finish lines in two different races?

[C]

So this is probably one area where we have the same goal of what we want do in retirement, but we don't know how old we will be when we're there. Right. So I know for myself, based on my age and years of service, I'll probably be able to retire at, like, 57. So that would be kind of minimum if I want to just do my typical career. But, you know, Chrissy, with her new business, it's kind of like, well, depends on how things go. Yeah. And we've talked. We have talked about, like, what's our why? Because, you know, I'm the money guy, person in the family. You know, I'm kind of bringing Chrissy here, and she's like, who are these guys? I was like, they're gonna ask us what our why is. And I was like, I'm not sure. We know the answer to that. And so, yeah, that's. I think that's. I don't know if you have a different perspective on it than me, but,

[A]

no, I think I'm pretty much in agreement. We both want to be able to set our kids up for success the way that both of our parents have. That is like, kind of continue that legacy we talked about in the car, the two of us. It was like, the first time we've had six hours to talk to each other since the kids have been born. So we had a lot of discovery in the car on the way here, but we talked about how we want a lot of inheritances kind of fall apart in one generation, and we want to not be that way. We want to be able to have our kids be essentially set up for financial success by the time they're 18 and obviously continue to choose their own path and to grow as individuals. But to always have financial security from day one would be a game changer for them in today's world. That's kind of our. Why is to, you know, if it takes me longer to retire, but I'm able to have my kids set up financially, I don't know what number that means that they need to have in their name, but, you know, if I can do that and work till I'm 60 or 65, fine. If I can do that and only work till 55, even better.

[D]

Now, when you say have money in their name, you're talking about, like, oh, we want to, like, save for college. So at 18, that money's there. You're like, no, no. When they're 18, I want them to have a chunk of money that they can. They can operate with moving forward.

[A]

We want to start creating accounts for them now and contributing to them now so they can start building wealth now as opposed to when they're 38.

[D]

Is that a higher priority for you than even, like, your own financial independence?

[A]

I wouldn't say they're higher, but I think that it's something that's. That's pretty. Pretty high up for me in. In my emotional priorities. I would say it's like. It's like one and two for sure before, like, having us to be able to travel and to live luxuriously, if we can live frugally and be retired and then our kids have financial security, that would be more important to me.

[D]

Is that true for you, too? You feel the same way?

[C]

I think maybe similar, maybe a little different in terms of I don't necessarily need my kid to have a million dollars when they're 18. But I want to make sure Chrissy and I are able to provide whatever they want, whatever they need at any time in their life. So if we think it'd be beneficial for their development to go to summer camp, I don't want us to be like, well, I'm not sure if we can do that. But we don't need them to pay for it themselves.

[B]

There's one thing to make sure college is paid for, because there's a tool that facilitates that 529s. But then there's another to say, hey, I want to make sure the kids have this amount of money that's working in the background. And in a minute, I'm going to give you the good news is your kids, the twins, fall into these new Trump accounts. So the government's going to go ahead and prime the pump with 1000 bucks for each of them. I'll talk about the tax implications on that. But there might be. Definitely get the free money. But these things, they're not. There's potentially a better option for what y' all could be with your money. Take the government's free money. Right. But then let's. Let's talk about what you should do. But I want to make sure that I'm on the same page with what the let. Because I'm hearing. Because your dad said, hey, I'm going to give you a million dollars. And that was kind of something that rang throughout Yalls household. That's unusual because most. Because from a behavioral standpoint, that's a scary thing to tell kids because it's essentially saying now, it seems like it didn't manifest this way for you, Chrissy, because you seem like you've been very responsible. But you tell the right kid, hey, don't worry. I'm gonna give you a million bucks. What do I need to do? I mean, I can go live my best life right now. And we all know the secret to success that I've told a lot of people. When I go talk to high schools, the first thing I say, deferred gratification. Learn what it is. Because if you talk about the formula for wealth, when we talk about discipline, that discipline of living on less than you make so you can generate money, that margin between living on less than you make, you give that enough time to invest and grow, that's the secret sauce. So if you tell your kid, don't worry. It's on me. I'm worried we lose the behavioral side of getting kids motivated to save. So I want to make sure we're on the same page. Because one thing to do, education, another thing to make sure they're millionaires at a certain age, we need to kind of know the difference. So when we create the plan, it reflects both of you.

[D]

If we're going to design a plan, it's going to be well thought out. We kind of have to know what the end goal we're working towards is. So in your mind, Christy, when you say, hey, at 18, I want them to be. I know you said, hey, I want to be able to. We want them to be able to do anything they want to do. That's not what we call a smart goal. It's not specific, measurable. You know what I mean? There's not time. So let's talk about. We get to 18 and the kids are ready to rock and roll out of the house. How much would you like to be available for the kids at age 18?

[A]

Well, I would like to have their college paid for. That's something that both of us benefited from in different ways or a trade or whatever they decide to do after high school. But I'd like to have their continuing education paid for. And then I'd like to have. And I know this is a weird number, but I'd like to have enough for them to be able to, if they so choose, buy their own first house, which is like, you know what our house is going to be?

[B]

A down payment. Or is that pay for the house?

[A]

No, like a down payment. A down payment, yeah.

[D]

So give me a number in today's dollars. Like, if they were 18 today, what would you hope they had available?

[C]

60k would be 60k, I think that would be.

[A]

They don't need to be millionaires at 18, but I would like to have

[B]

them 60k outside of college.

[A]

Outside of.

[D]

Outside of college.

[A]

I'd like them to be able to. To feel like they have, like, resources and have choices and not feel forced or stuck, you know, like we did at 22. There was, like, no option except either living at home or eating ramen. And I want them to be able to feel like they have freedoms, you know?

[D]

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

[B]

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

[D]

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

[B]

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

[D]

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[B]

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[D]

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[B]

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

[D]

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[B]

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[D]

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[A]

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[C]

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[D]

And by the way, do you agree with those? Are you cool with those?

[C]

Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I don't know that we need to.

[B]

I guess so, I guess.

[C]

Are you saying like we write about a check?

[A]

I don't. I don't know. I haven't. We haven't really thought this out and I'm feeling a little pressured.

[B]

We're not trying to stress you out, but we do. This is important stuff.

[C]

It's only 17 years and six months away, so we got plenty of time. But you know, and goals can change for how I guess my upbringing went is my parents paid for my college, which is a huge benefit. Otherwise there's no way I'd be in this financial situation we are now. And that allowed me to. It was some force scarcity where I got a job. You Know, I had a job when I was 16, and. And so I wasn't paying for the college, but I was paying for all my own. Anything I wanted, I had to make up my own. So, of course, you know, we got allowances here and there just so that we had some money when we needed it.

[D]

But you want your kids to have that experience or not have that experience? I think I want.

[A]

That was what we would like them

[C]

to have that experience.

[A]

And that's where we are similar where my schooling was paid for in my housing at school. But anything else, we both bonded on how we had our first job at 15. And we've always. Anything that we wanted, we paid for. But all of our needs were met by our parents, and we want to be able to continue to provide that for our twins. Whatever they need, it's always been taken care of. And then they can learn financial responsibility for their wants.

[D]

So we have this goal. Have college fully funded, and then $60,000 for each child available at age 18. Now, talk about financial independence. The next part. So when you guys think about. I know the timeline's gonna be a little hard. We got 57 for you, theoretically. But when you get to financial independence and the kids are out of the house, what's that look like for you guys? Like, if you were retiring today with no kids, how much would it cost you guys to do the things that you want to do and live the life that you want to live?

[C]

I don't know. More.

[B]

More.

[C]

Well, so I think something we've talked about when retiring is we'd like to do a world cruise.

[D]

Okay. Do you know any good travel agents?

[C]

I only use a travel agent when I travel. So that's a potentially pretty big expense right at the end of retirement. In today's dollars, It'd probably be 150,000.

[B]

I don't know, per person or family, couple.

[C]

That'd be total.

[A]

Total.

[C]

It's all year. It's all year. All food, entertainment, everything's paid for it, potentially, who knows? At that point, you sell the house, and after the cruise, you kind of get to start over.

[D]

But even once we get past year one, so let's say we do that right now, y' all live on $7,000 roughly. Is the standard of living you have now what you would like to have in retirement and financial independence, or you want a higher standard of living?

[A]

Well, that includes our mortgage and, you know, too, right now. So we could. We could definitely make that work. I think if we didn't have a mortgage at 7,000amonth would be.

[C]

So when I. When I bought the house, I say I. But it was really, we. We looked at the house together, right? So when we bought the house, this was on. I was making $50,000. Right. And I intentionally didn't take out more than I could afford. I was like, I'm cut off. Right. And we're still in that house. But remember, that was two 25 year olds, right. And we got two kids now the house feels small.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

We're about to make a. We want to do an upgrade.

[C]

So not necessarily, but we have made that work. We have made that work and we've accommodated the situation. And there's a potential that when we pay the house off, you know, maybe that can be sold in our down payment or half of, you know, something. A new house.

[D]

Because I think that is a big

[C]

dream of Chrissy and I to either build a house or find the perfect one.

[D]

A dream for like the near term, like while the kids are in.

[C]

Or like a dream for next 10 years.

[A]

Within the next five to 10 years. Yeah.

[D]

By the way, I love this.

[C]

This is great.

[D]

So we have these goals for the kids to be financially set up. We have these goals to be able to be financially independent and do the world cruise and be able to live that kind of life. We have this goal for like be in a new home. If I asked you to prioritize those goals, hey, this is the number one, most important. Number two, most important. Number three most important. How would you guys lay that out?

[C]

You want to do it on three? We'll see if we do the same one.

[A]

You just do it.

[C]

So house.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Right. What was the other one? House kids. Cruise.

[D]

House kids. And I'm going to say financial independence. Cruise was a, was a mechanism.

[B]

Do we understand? You might. Because you're a better listener than me. Do we know there's what they have automatically saving, like, I don't know what your savings rate is.

[C]

I can tell you that. Sure. For me, anyway. So for my 457. I know you're laughing.

[B]

I just like, ooh, it's a shot in the gut. I try not to make a. I'm like dad gummet, my. I'm the worst poker player in the world, but keep going.

[C]

So for the 457, I'm putting in about $1,300 a month. And that's up as of like December because I paid a car off and I told myself I would put my car payment into my retirement. So when I paid it off pre tax Roth pre tax. Roth, yeah. 457B. I don't know. Keep me honest.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[D]

You're making. You're putting pre tax contributions.

[C]

Pre tax contributions. Great. And then there's also a cash match plan. So you put it $40, they'll give you $20, but that's the max match. So I do that too post tax. I do $1,000 a month into a Roth until July, which is when I'd hit the max. And then I also try to put in a thousand dollars into regular investment

[D]

starting in January or at July. After the Roth is filled up.

[C]

After the Roth is filled up. Okay, so we've saved 12 contributing all year. Perfect.

[D]

So we're doing 1300amonth. 457 plus another 12,000 on top of that. What's 1,300 times 12? You did that math already?

[B]

Yeah, I already did that. It was like 15,600 and then. So it's 27,600 for the year. Pretty much.

[D]

That's like a 27.6% savings rate. I'm just doing rough math here, but that's awesome.

[B]

You passed the test. All right, now, Chrissy, what about you? Now we have to flip over to Chrissy.

[C]

I wouldn't have always passed the test.

[A]

I'll just say past three years. So previously, Chris. Well, I continued to do. I fully fund my Roth in January every year, and then I.

[B]

Are you doing that out of savings or is that coming out now, the inherited assets?

[A]

Well, no, it's. I didn't get the inherited assets. So he passed in 24, but it wasn't distributed to me until recently. So no, I've always been just out of my commission in January. It's usually pretty high commission. So just out of my checking, I fund my Roth and then it's not the same every month, but just kind of whatever is left over. And it averages not as high as Nathan, usually around like seven to $800 a month in savings that I contribute towards. I just, I've had like a high interest savings account.

[D]

So not like the brokerage, just in cash savings.

[A]

No, just in cash savings, yeah.

[B]

So is that getting cleaned out, though? Cause we heard like, like it was all deposited to.

[A]

It was all put into the brokerage once we opened the brokerage. So it's now there. But now with the twins, I'm not really saving much anymore now that they're here. I'm pretty much paycheck to paycheck with the twins. And Nathan's kind of doing our savings for us. Each month.

[D]

So something I just heard right there, we kind of gave a huge kudos, right? Like 20, if we're going to think about it separately.

[C]

That's right.

[D]

27.6% savings rate based on his income. But. But if we think about a household and we look at total household savings, that number gets cut in half. So that's something we want to. And one of the things that we're uncovering. And again, this is me just kind of getting a feel for how we're going to go back and, you know, go back in the lab and start, you know, twiddling the knobs. You're going to have a lot of really exciting opportunities for saving in terms of, like, solo 401k and profits. Like, there's going to be some cool stuff that we're going to be able to do with you. But what I just heard is there's not a lot of. Of margin left over for that, right?

[A]

Not right now. Hopefully once the twins are off of formula, things will change. But right now that. That is. That is where the money is going. We should have bought stock in Enfamil instead of.

[D]

And one. One of the questions that I have is if. If we continue on this path, right, and we design this plan and let's say that we don't even adjust the savings at all, but we have all of the retirement savings accumulating in Nathan's bucket. Is that and acceptable outcome to you guys? Because what that means is when we do get out here to, like, financial independence and that sort of thing, it's gonna be a lot in his name and not necessarily a lot in your name right now, even in terms of how we're thinking about if we're gonna save for the kids for these big goals. You just said right now, again, based solely on your. It's so tight. There's not a ton left over, but we're gonna have to figure out how to allocate both towards college savings, this $60,000 for each kid goal, and then also, like this new home thing. So here's what I don't want to do. I don't want us to go back and put together a plan. We're like, hey, let's throw all this in the pot and figure out the best way to chunk it out. If you guys say, hey, that's not the way it's going to work with us. I want to make sure that we're meeting you guys where you are. We design a plan that works for the way that you guys operate from A personal finance standpoint. But I am seeing in terms of just a plan building where we're going to have a little bit of friction. Does that make. Give me some feedback when you hear me say that?

[C]

Well, I guess for me, it's probably realizing that we need to reallocate some or recognizing that our savings rate is going to change over time. Right. Because Chrissy is starting a new business. So essentially we're hoping that income comes up.

[D]

Sure.

[C]

And, you know, she can get back to normal savings. On the other hand, maybe I should start, you know, giving Chrissy some. Some money every month for. That's just not how it's.

[B]

I have some ideas. Let me ask you this question. This is just more of a fact finding for me. I've done a great job of building up all these assets, but now life is starting to get messy. I mean, you got kids, you got big goals. This is. This is the rubber meets the road. You can do a lot of stuff when. When your life is simple, but just success and life creates complexity. But what is wrong with y' all keeping a lot of the stuff that you already have separated, separate. But then y' all go open up a joint checking account, and then your commission checks go into that joint checking account, your payroll goes into that checking account, and then you also set up a joint brokerage account, and you'll start thinking about, from this point forward, you know, how we plan life together out of these accounts. And that way you still get the. The dividends of the life you've lived in the past and how well it worked. But now we've kind of restructured for this new path forward. You guys are in a much better situation than the typical couple because you've got 10 years of experience. Would that be catastrophic? Or does that seem like maybe there is a new way here?

[C]

I think we could definitely do that. I guess it's to me, feels risky to upend how we've been doing things because there is no friction currently. Right. Whereas if then we change what we're doing like that.

[B]

But does that still stand after you? I mean, is there no friction? Because we're just telling you some planning things. And then I immediately saw, oh, man, we just gave a gold star to Nathan. Chrissy's over here feeling like we're picking on her because she's not saving her. Right. Meanwhile, she's got a new business, she's got babies at the house. She's talking about baby formula. And I'm like, man, this doesn't seem like there's not friction anymore. It feels like, hey, there's something here.

[C]

Yeah, well, maybe that's what we need to do. I don't know.

[B]

But I don't want to put words in Yalls mouth. I'm not, I don't have to go home and do this six hour ride with you guys.

[C]

No, no, no, no. It's. I, I don't, I'm not worried about that. I mean I, it's clear to me that Chrissy and I's bond is, you know, not solely reliant on our financials.

[D]

Sure.

[C]

You know what I mean. Thankfully that's not the case. I'm sure we could make some adjustments in this next phase, which is basically why we're here to figure out what we need to do next. Because until now it's worked fine. Right? You know, we've each kind of created our own success and reaped what we sow essentially. But you know, now that we have something together, like kids, I guess we've always had our marriage but now that we have this, I mean it's a crazy different kind of expense. Right? We just, maybe we do need to just align our goals.

[B]

1.

[D]

Another one more question for you, Christy. Ken, this business is so new when it starts really taking off, right? Because it sounds like you've done it for so long. You're obviously very, very good at it. Do you have like some income expectations of where you think it'll before it's like a fledgling business? Like what's the goal you're working towards? Because I think maybe that might help even in terms of how we're planning

[A]

some of this currently, you know, so I mean we've already hit 100,000 in sales in one week of being officially registered with different suppliers.

[B]

So that's revenue. What will.

[A]

And so that brings in about. Right now we're at 12 and a half thousand in commission in one week. And then most of that currently is mine. My new agents are just starting out, but that's in just one week, which is just wild.

[C]

It's awesome.

[A]

So I'm really and with just myself and currently two agents selling and I have five more in the pipeline. But I plan to grow very quickly. So my goals, I want to be selling $100 million a year which is what only some of the top agencies are doing right now. Within five years and that'll be bringing in about 10 million in commission and leaving me with 1.5 to 2 million a year leftover in the company. That's the goal within five years. And I know I can 5, 2

[D]

million net for you or after you

[A]

have to pay your agents, no net for the company.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

That is the plan. And I will grow over the next five years to get to that point by hiring agents that are dedicated professionals.

[D]

So we have the. I'm going to call the doo doo. Plan is where you are, like right now. Nothing changes, right? It doesn't improve. I love the idea of the dream plan being, hey, I'm making a million and a half, 2 million bucks a year. Is there a middle ground plan? Is there something in there like, hey, maybe it's not quite that, but something that lives in that middle space?

[A]

So kind of, I think my plan is to get there eventually. My targeted growth is to get there in five years. It could take 10 or it could take 15. So with building a business that's all based on relationships, you have one client that continues to travel year after year, then they refer you. So generally, most travel agents, if they are professional and they are applying themselves, their sales double each year. So if I were to hire more agents, I could grow faster. Or if I were to hire maybe a couple agents that are really, really strong, I could grow even faster. So my plan on growth is five years, and that's average based on the number of agents that I want to hire. But maybe not all of them are as successful as I am. Maybe not all of them are applying. So it could take 10, it could take longer. So the same numbers generally would be as far as the middle of the road plan, but it would just take longer. So in five years, I would be looking at 500,000 instead of a million.

[D]

So right now, based on the intake, you have your income at like about $100,000 a year. But realistically, you think that next year there'll probably be $200,000.

[A]

I mean, I'm already on track to be just by myself at 200,000 for 20, 26.

[D]

Okay, got it.

[B]

How are you structured? Because you said something gave me a clue. You said I could hold off not paying myself. So how are you?

[A]

It's an llc. And then I've been told to file as an S Corp, but we haven't filed taxes.

[B]

So you haven't done an S Corp election yet?

[A]

Not yet, no.

[B]

Okay. There is nothing. Are you just a single member of llc?

[A]

Single member.

[B]

Okay. The irs. Cause they probably watch our show too. I'm just assuming because we have a lot of really smart people, and they're smart people with the IRS too, is that they probably cringe a little bit. When they hear I'm just not going to pay myself and I'll let that. Now the thing is with an llc, all the incomes go flow through to you automatically. And it's going to be subject to not only income taxes, but it's going to be subject to what's called self employment tax. And self employment tax is for Medicare and Social Security. It's about 15.3% plus your income tax. A lot of people, this is the part where it's a planning opportunity, but this is where the IRS leans in and go, oh, here we go. Let's see what he says. Because if you pay yourself a reasonable salary, what you'd have to pay, because as a business owner, you're in this weird situation. You have two things going on. You work in the business, but then you own the business. And they have two different pay structures. Any business you do, working in the business is something you'd have to go hire an employee to do. There should be wages for that. Now if you own a company, there can be essentially your investment in the capital investment into this business and the flow through that comes out just because you now made the opened up this endeavor, that can be separate. And that doesn't necessarily, that's not a wage because you didn't work in the business. That's more of an investment. So it doesn't need the Social Security and Medicare on it. And the way you do that is you pay yourself a salary for what the work in the business is and then you collect the money, still pay income tax on all of this, but you just avoid paying the Social Security and Medicare or the self employment tax on that. But you have to be honest with yourself as what you're worth to the company. Now it's in the first two or three years that you start a company, I think the IRS even gives you some grace because they realize, holy cow, you're doing this, you're bootstrapping it. You probably only you couldn't afford to pay anybody to do this job. See, but I always tell people, as you start getting traction, be honest. Because I've sat in audits and I always tell people you want to be on really solid ground with the government when you sit in those audits because they do pay attention to this stuff. And that's why it makes me cringe a little bit when somebody says, well, just it doesn't matter if you make 300,000, 400,000, just pay yourself 25, $30,000 a year, the IRS will love you. And I'm like, no, not quite. Be careful because I've seen the IRS go after we've had some professional clients that were even paying themselves over 100 grand and the IRS came and go. It's not enough for the specialization that you're actually making this money off of. So I always tell people be careful because everything's deductible until you get caught. And I'm here to tell you I worked on taxes, doing taxes for 16 years, representing clients before the IRS. You want to be on good ground with. That's why we say do. Everything is legal. You want to be legal. Tax evasion's illegal. We want to do. But we want to help you do tax planning to make sure you're maximizing the moment. But also sitting across from the IRS with a smile on your face because you have your ducks in a row and you're not scared that they have anything that you don't know that bites you in the butt on.

[D]

All right, before we go to work, what questions do you guys have? What things have we not spoken to that you're curious about?

[C]

Bring up the inherited IRA one more time. In terms of what's the. That's kind of looming over me of like how are we going to avoid not just getting wrecked by that one year? You know, maybe that comes in the plan, but is there anything that either I can do or the business can do or Chrissy can do that we can help offset that?

[D]

There's not necessarily any things that you can do to get rid of the income, but what you can do is think through, okay, if we're in this situation right now, we know we make $200,000 a year, but there's a likelihood that in the future we're going to make substantially more than this and be in a much higher tax bracket. It's arguable that man, right now we're in a lower tax bracket. Rather than letting this money continue to grow, tax deferred all the way until the end of this 10 year period. And then we get this big tax thing happen. Unless we know that we're just not going to work in that year, perhaps we start taking some out strategically. Now we look at our tax return this year and we estimate where our taxable income is and hey, we're in the 22% marginal tax bracket and that's acceptable to us. Maybe we're going to take out a fifth of this this year and we'll take out a fifth next year and a fifth of and you can kind of game based on where you think Your income is going to go and take advantage of being. Because what you don't want to do is let's say that you do hit the hundred million dollar commission, right? And you're making a couple million bucks a year and you guys are in the highest marginal tax brackets and that's in the year that this RMD is required to pay out. Well, then you're paying. You'd have been better served taking it out sooner, not spending the money, but just redeploying those dollars elsewhere to get away from that structure. So that's likely what you guys should be thinking through. Realistically, what's our tax situation look like this year? How much wiggle room do we have if we do take a distribution? Are there things that we're going to miss out on? Will we lose child tax credit? Would we lose other types of deductions? That income may push us over. And you play a little bit of that tax game to figure out. Maybe it does make sense to take more out sooner rather than later. Outside of that, there's not really a whole lot you can do with inherited IRAs because the government kind of makes you take that money, right? There's no like, clever way to like hide it. QCD type. That's just not an option for you guys based on your age right now. So you're gonna have to take that income. It's just a matter of when you want to take that income. All right, I got a few homework items for you guys in the ride home. You ready? Yeah. I think it'd be helpful. You guys would have a conversation just defining the end goals, right? You're not gonna have to necessarily have it all figured out yet. But hey, what do we want financial independence to look like for us? Hey, when we think about buying this next home, when do we want that to happen? Is this something in the next year? What size home are we going to pay off this house, sell it and use that as a 50% down payment on the next home or use that as a 20% down payment on the next home and figure out what that looks like and then put timelines of these. Hey, we want to be the next home. Buy this. We know that our kids are going to be 18. We want this goal. Buy this. When do we want to actually be financially independent together as a couple of. And then I do think it would be helpful for you guys to talk through the RMD strategy. Hey, we know that we got this 10 year window. We can wait 10 years, but maybe we want to accelerate that and Some of that will be the planning we do. If we do accelerate it, here's what that could look like. Here's the tax implications of doing that, and this is where those dollars could go to fund some other goals. Does that make sense? Awesome. I'm excited. This is a new one for us. This is going to be a fun one to kind of crank through. You guys have been awesome. Thanks so much for coming. Hang out with us today.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Thank you, Brian.

[D]

What a great conversation we had with Nathan and Chrissy. Very unique in the way that they were set up.

[B]

Yeah, I thought it was interesting. I mean, on paper, they are millionaires, but there's kind of an asterisk to it, because a lot of this money came from legacy money or inheritances that Chrissy received from her father. And that's gonna play into some of these financial planning issues. But it still kind of created something that we've got to kind of address from a behavioral standpoint. And is this then the other thing that made them unique? Not really a traditional financial structure. They want to kind of keep things separate.

[D]

Yeah, it was really interesting. I think we kept waiting for there to be some shoe to drop that meant, oh, wow, here's this. But they're actually kind of doing it separately. So in. In terms of honoring making personal finance personal, as we did our designing, we kind of designed. Okay, here's what it looks like separately, individually, and then this is what it looks like as we bring these together. And so they were kind of sharing with us. They have some big goals, Right. Some of those goals, shorter term in nature, some intermediate and some long. And obviously, they said that one of their goals is they want to be in a new house. Like, that's a thing that they want to do. They have huge goals for their kids in terms, obviously, Christy's father cared about leaving a legacy and providing opportunity for her, and they want to pass that on to their kids. But then they also have this goal of financial independence. And so it's kind of figuring out how do you squeeze the balloon to be able to do all of it.

[B]

So we'll let them kind of drive the ship on this. Their biggest goal was the new house.

[D]

That's right.

[B]

So let's kind of. Let's. Let's jump into that and look at the numbers. Is this a goal they're going to be able to accomplish?

[D]

Yeah, I think so. One of the things that we saw is because Nathan was so aggressive in, like, paying down the mortgage, he has a ton of equity inside of their current home. So if they were to sell the current home, they would walk away with about $271,000 of equity. We also know that we wanted their mortgage payment to stay about the same, so we recalculated. Based on today's interest rates, if we know we want their mortgage payment to be about $2,000 a month, how much could they borrow? What would the mortgage amount be to generate a $2,000 a month monthly payment? And that'd be about $249,000. If you take 270 worth of equity versus a mortgage of 249, they could realistically look to go afford a home somewhere around $520,000.

[B]

And that's a pretty nice upgrade because I think they're in the low three hundreds currently to go up to five. That's going to obviously get them more square footage, nicer house, and I love that their mortgage payments go stay the exact same.

[D]

Yeah, there's no additional cash outflow here. So in terms of, like, achieving goals, that one seemed like a check. Well, then we have the second level of goals, and that was the kids. And this is one that was. I don't want to say aggressive. That's too bold of a word, but, man, they have some. Some big things they want to be able to do for the tourist.

[B]

Well, let's see if we can look. Because what I recalled was want to pay for college, but then also want to even go beyond. Just like Christy's father had done more for them because he. Remember, he had this goal of he wanted to give a million dollars to each kid.

[D]

That's right.

[B]

Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to fulfill that, but he still left quite a nice legacy. But they wanted to go beyond college funding. They wanted to. And I think we kind of. We had to figure out, how do we honor this? And we couldn't come up with a million dollars. But we said, hey, how about a house down payment? Isn't that where we settled?

[D]

That's. That's right. That's exactly right. And so I think what we said is, okay, if the idea of if they want to build legacy for their kids, maybe one of the things that we could do is we could use the legacy coming from her father to be the thing that kind of sees that. And we know that in the next year and a half, two years, she's going to have another part of the inheritance come in, and it's going to be about $80,000. We said, okay, if we just thought about isolating the 80,000. And if that money were to sort of just. We took that, said, okay, this is gonna be for the kids. We're gonna put this aside an account, and if over the next 18 years or 16 years, that $80,000 could grow at about 7% per year, it would have the ability to turn into almost a quarter of a million dollars, 244,000. So we said, okay, well, if that's what that chunk of money grows into, will it be enough to satisfy these two goals? Will it be enough to satisfy college for both kids, but also have some seed money left over for them? So we had to make some assumptions. We said, okay, what if for college, not knowing scholarships and where they're going to go and cost of college, but if we say, hey, we want to pay $20,000 for each kid each year of college, what does that look like in terms of a drawdown? So we did that over four years from age 18 to 22, you can see that that $244,000 pot of money turns into $132,000 pot of money.

[B]

I mean, I got to tell you, it's pretty. From a legacy standpoint, kudos to the deceased grandfathers, because this $80,000 gift is going to come in, has the opportunity to grow to close to right under a quarter of a million dollars. Looks like it's going to potentially be enough to pay for a lot of college, if not all of it, and then leave $132,000. If you divide that by two. I mean, that's a pretty good house down payment. A little bit.

[D]

I didn't have that much for my first house down payment.

[B]

You think about that. You're doing a little over 60, 65,000 per child. That's one heck of a legacy. Now, look, we did this in the order that they wanted. You know, they. They were kind of focusing on the house down payment. They're focusing on the kids, you know, as part of the financial order of operations. We typically don't take care of kids before we take care of our own retirement. But this was a unique scenario because of the whole legacy thing with the. The deceased grandfather. What is this going to look like now when we put on our oxygen mask first? What does their financial independence or retirement look like?

[D]

Yeah, we don't want to. We want to make sure that funding these other two goals does not prevent them from funding their goals. And so, because they keep finances separately, said, okay, what if we built a financial order of operations for each of them because they kind of think about saving and Building separately. And so for Nathan, what he was already doing is already putting $1,300 a month into his 457. He was maxing out his Roth IRA to $1,000 a month. And then once he hit that max, then it begins spilling over into a brokerage account. So when you look at the total savings there between those three different account types, he's saving about $27,600 a year. And based on his income, that's a 26% savings rate. So for him, we get a big check. He's doing the very thing that he should be doing. It was on her side because of some job changes and life changes and that sort of thing where we had to make a few adjustments.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, good on Nathan in the fact that he's basically the biggest change I think here was after he finishes funding the Roth, is doing that after tax account. But Chrissy, there's a little more work here. So we had to kind of make some assumptions for what she's going to do now to add a layer of complexity to this. Bo, she started a brand new venture.

[D]

That's right.

[B]

But it does sound like it's going really well. I mean, we had to actually put some governors on where Chrissy's taking this thing because she gave us projections that she thinks in the next few years she could be making a million dollars a year. And we, we hope she knocks it out of the park and does it. But for our planning purposes, we pulled it back to around $200,000. So how did we then take that 200 and turn that into savings goals?

[D]

Yeah, we said if she could get her income to $200,000, perhaps she's going to pay herself a salary of like 150. And so we'll kind of use 150 as our planning number to plan off of. So when it comes to her financial order of operations, we obviously want to see her max out a Roth IRA that's $7,500 a year. Then she can open up a Solo 401K, likely do the Roth there as well at 25. And then in order to get to the 25% savings rate, we're going to need a little bit more savings. Well, one of the benefits of being a small business owner that can control your own retirement plan is we can also do profit sharing contributions in addition to salary deferral. So if she were to do an extra $18,000 profit sharing contribution, or about 9% of her pay, that would have her saving about $50,000 a year, which would be a 25% savings rate on her gross $200,000 income.

[B]

Okay, now this is cool because we've created a financial order of operations for each of them independently because they like keeping their finances separate. But if you consolidate this, because remember, Nathan was a little greater than 25%, we got her pretty close to it. But as a consolidated plan, it actually works out to be as a household, they're saving over 25%.

[D]

Yeah, that's right. It's a foo for you, a foo for me, and a foo for us. And when you look at the total savings they have building towards the future, it's just a touch under $78,000 a year or just a little bit greater than 25%. So if they can save that way and if they can build that way, the future looks pretty bright because where they sit right now, they have about $713,000 built up. So if they have that 713 and they're able to save $77,000 a year, by the time that they get to age 55, they will have a, a portfolio of almost $6.3 million. By the time they get to 60, that portfolio could be almost $10 million.

[B]

Well, and the crazy thing, now look, we had to make a lot of assumptions here, and they're probably, they're undershooting a little bit what they told us, because a lot of life is still going to come in the years. But what they had told us on the cuff was assuming we take out all the kids goals and everything else, $7,000 a month. Well, at this level, they're going to blow past that. But I think that this leaves the margin for additional life to happen.

[D]

That's exactly right. We always say that when it comes to planning, we want to build our do do plan, our down to earth plan, and our dream plan. And I think in Christy's mind, her dream plan was like a million dollar a year income. I think that this may even be what I would call the dream plan, even though perhaps it's more down to earth. I hope that's the case. But if I were them, I would think about, okay, if we can just get to this level, we're set up for our financial goals, but what if we don't quite get to this level? What does a more down to earth plan if I only make $100,000, or what's my a doo doo plan look like if I don't make a whole lot more than I'm making right now? I do think that's some additional work that they should work through to figure out where reality actually lies.

[B]

Look, they've got a lot going for them. I mean, an impressive net worth for their age, but I think that still the big question mark is, is a lot of this is the legacy that their deceased that Chrissy's father left for them. I'm hoping that our conversation as well as what we're laying out today will catch traction and we see that this financial order of operations that has this huge legacy element turns into their own story, both separate as well as joint story. It's really exciting.

[D]

Yeah. I think that they have a lot of opportunity and get that lined up to build financial independence on their own, but also honor legacy that was given to them and create legacy opportunities for their kids.

[B]

So, Nathan, Chrissy, thank you for coming on the show. Beau, for anybody else who, who wants to come on Making a Millionaire, what do they need to do?

[D]

Yeah, if you'd like to be a guest on Making a Millionaire, you can go to moneyguy.com apply or if you want to check out any of our free tools or calculators, you can go to moneyguy.com resources.

[B]

Nathan, Chrissy, y' all are crushing it. Well on your way to building your great big beautiful tomorrow. I'm your host, Brian, joined by Beau. Money Guy.

[E]

The Money Guy show is hosted by Brian Preston and Bo Hansen. Brian and Bo are partners with Abound Wealth Management 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.