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- [00:01]
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- [00:29]
Austin Hankwitz
month hey everyone, and welcome back to the Rich Habits podcast, a top 10 business podcast on Spotify brought to you by public.com by the end of this episode, you'll understand exactly where your first investment dollars should go, why waiting for the perfect moment is costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars, and why learning by doing beats analysis paralysis every single time. My name is Austin Hankwitz. I'm joined by my co host, Robert Kroke. Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur, lifetime revenues of over 300 million, and I'm a multimillionaire in my late 20s with a background in finance and economics. As the show name might suggest, every episode we talk about rich habits as they relate to business, finance and mindset. So Robert, what are we talking about in today's episode?
- [01:18]
Robert Kroke
In today's episode of the Rich Habits podcast, we're breaking down exactly where your first investment dollars should go, why you need to stop waiting for perfection, and why the best investment education is just getting in the game. I've been getting a ton of messages from who have their first 500, their first thousand, maybe $2,000 saved up and they don't know where to start and they're scared of making the wrong choice. Meanwhile, the money is sitting in a checking account, earning them nothing. People will spend six months researching the perfect investment, reading every book, watching every YouTube video, while during those six months their money earns zero returns as the markets go up mid single digits. And it's not that people aren't interested in, because our own research is showing that over 40% of folks who aren't invested in 2026 say it's because they don't know where to get started.
- [02:11]
Austin Hankwitz
So someone's listening to this episode right now and they're saying, listen, I've got a thousand dollars. I'm ready to get invested for the very first time. If this is you, the first question you need to be asking yourself is, do you have an emergency fund? Because if you don't have any cash at all set aside for emergencies. That first thousand dollars shouldn't go into investments at all. Going into a high yield Savings account on public.com as a start for your sort of beginner emergency fund. Now, the reason why I say beginner is because I tell people they need to aim to have three to six months of their expenses saved in an emergency fund. But realistically, if you're just starting out, even $500 or $1,000 is a huge buffer when life happens. And you need to tap into that rainy day fund. It means you are not swiping a credit card the next time your car breaks down. You have that unexpected medical bill. But let's now say, Robert, someone has that $500 or $1,000 set aside into this beginner emergency fund. They're working on it and they've got some extra money beyond that. So now where does that first investment dollar go?
- [03:22]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, they have to start by asking yourself, do I have an employer match for my 401k? If your employer matches your 401k contributions, even if it's just 3 or 4% of your annual salary, that this is literally free money. You can contribute this thousand dollars, they contribute their own thousand dollars, resulting in an instant 100% return before any market growth. So if you have access to a 401k match at work and you're not taking advantage of it, you're leaving money on the table and you should only be contributing up to the match. If they match up to 4% of your salary, contribute the 4%. You don't have to max it out right away, but get the match first. Get that free money.
- [04:04]
Austin Hankwitz
But let's now say someone has that Be Inner emergency fund covered. They're getting that 401k match. Or maybe they don't even have a 401k match strategy because their employer doesn't offer a 401k at all. And they still need to get invested. They've got a thousand dollars sitting ready to go. What do they do? Robert?
- [04:24]
Robert Kroke
Well, we talk about this till we're blue in the face, but everyone needs to have that Roth IRA opened up and put it in a broad market index fund like the S&P 500 via VO or VTI, these ETFs that we talk about all the time, we encourage people to do this on public.com because they're offering a 1% match right now on all of your Roth IRA contributions. So literally, this is more of that free money that we're talking about for you. But I'm going to explain why because I think people over complicate the Roth IRA and what should it be invested into? So many people get it wrong. A Roth IRA is a retirement account where you contribute after tax dollars and then all the compound growth is tax free. You can withdraw your contributions anytime without penalty and when you retire, you don't pay taxes on any of the gains. One other thing I want to add, make sure you understand this is an investment vehicle. When you put the money into the Roth, you still have to invest it into these funds we're talking about here today.
- [05:28]
Austin Hankwitz
That's right. It's like an account. You contribute money to it and then once the money is in there, it has to go get invested. That's a great call out, Robert. Ida Friend that had been maxing out her Roth IRA for three years and it was just sitting in cash because she had no idea you had to go invest the money. But let's, you know, talking about money here in numbers, let's start to put some numbers around some of this, right? So if you put that $1,000 into a Roth IRA and it is invested into the S&P 500 for 30 years, it grows into $15,000 and you do not owe a dime in taxes on that $14,000 profit. And what's cool is the limit for 2025 contributions, which you can still contribute to last year's Roth IRA up until you file for your taxes this year in 2026. Fun fact. So that limit is $7,000. So that is much higher than the 1,000 we're talking about right now, allowing you plenty of room to keep investing, keep contributing and building that momentum. And exciting Update. The Roth IRA contribution limit for 2026 is now actually $7,500. So if you're really getting aggressive here in 26, max it out. Rock and roll. But you're also saying here, Robert, you should be putting this money into broad market index funds like the s and P500. Tell me this. Tell me why our listeners should not take their first thousand dollars and use it to pick individual stocks. Why should they put their money into the 500 largest, most profitable companies all at once in the United States here via the s and P500 instead of those single stocks?
- [07:02]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, this is one of my favorite questions because so many people get it backwards when they first start invest to go pick a stock because they heard about a stock tip somewhere and that is exactly the wrong thing to do because at this stage in their wealth building journeys the goal isn't to beat the market on a hot tip. The goal is to learn how investing works, to build the habit of investing regularly, and to get comfortable watching your money fluctuate without panicking. In a broad market index fund like Voo or VTI gives you instant diversification. You're buying a piece of 500 companies in one purchase and you're not having to try to pick a stock and time a stock or figure out how to buy individual stocks all on your own 100%.
- [07:47]
Austin Hankwitz
You're not betting on whether Apple or Amazon or one of the, you know, Google. Right. One of these names is going to outperform the stock market on any given month or even any given year. You are betting that the American economy will continue to grow over the coming year. Decades. And historically speaking, that has been a very good bet to make. But now, Robert, what about the fees? Because I hear people get scared sometimes about oh, if I invest in this or invest in that, they've got management fees. And you know, it can get kind of confusing. And I know a lot of people obsess over expense ratio. Walk us through what the fees actually mean when it comes to a VO or a VTI or one of these broad market index funds.
- [08:29]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, this is another one where so many people getting started worry about these details of what the fees are. And at this stage it really doesn't matter that much, especially if they're starting out with that first 500 or $1,000. Yes, you want these low cost funds. You want to aim for an expense ratio under 0.1% if you can. And for instance, Voo is 0.03%, which is why we recommend it. So to recap, emergency fund first, 401k match second, if it's available, then the Roth IRA with a broad market index fund. If someone follows just that framework, they're ahead of 90% of the people out there. And the caveat of all of this, with the golden rule, you can't out invest high interest debt. You should not even be thinking of investing that thousand dollars in your checking account. If you have credit card debt or high interest debt, you gotta pay those off first.
- [09:23]
Austin Hankwitz
Gotta pay it off. Go Google debt, snowball, avalanche, method all. There's tons of free resources out there about paying off high interest debt, getting out of that. But yeah, here's the thing, Robert. If you've got high interest debt on a credit card at 20% and you're investing in the markets earning 8%, 10%, right, you're still losing. You're still paying more in interest than you're earning in the market. So just go use that money to go pay off those credit cards. Now, Robert, I want to talk about something that's super important when it comes to people that are starting out with this first thousand dollars. And it is the phrase time in the market beats timing the market. For beginners, this is the most important concept. So timing the market means trying to buy when prices are low and then selling when prices are high. Sounds easy and fun and like a great method. Right? Let's buy low, sell high. That's all, that's all that goes into it, Robert. But even the professional investors cannot do this consistently. It's really hard to do, especially over a long period of time and without fault. You end up sitting in cash waiting for a dip in the markets. Then the markets go up more, you end up losing out. It's, it's just a disaster. Do not time the market.
- [10:41]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, we see it every day where people think they're better than the algorithms and better than the biggest brains and the biggest funds out there and being able to time the market and it just doesn't work. Or you wait for the dip and when it finally comes, you're too scared to buy because everyone else is panicking. Time in the market just means you're getting your money invested and leaving it there. And the data is crystal clear. The longer your money's invested, the better your odds of positive returns are. So Austin, break down what the actual numbers are here because I think this is going to be very eye opening for people.
- [11:16]
Austin Hankwitz
That's right. If you leave your money in the s and P500 for one year, any year since its inception back in the early 1900s, you have a 73% chance of a positive return. But over a 10 year period of time. Right. Robert's whole point was leaving your money in the markets. Right. Over that 10 year period. So we go from one year to 10 year, the odds of a positive experience jump to 94%. And once you leave your money in the markets for at least 20 years, it is basically 100% chance of positive long term returns in the markets. Every 20 year period in the history of the stock market has been positive. So the risk is not being in the market. The risk is not being in the market long enough. And when you're just starting out with your first $1,000, your timeline should be decades. You are not trying to turn a thousand into ten thousand in a six month period of time. You're trying to build a Foundation that will compound over several years and decades.
- [12:21]
Robert Kroke
And that's why perfection doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you buy at a market high or a market low. It doesn't matter if you pick the absolute best fund or just a good enough fund. What matters is you start and you keep going and you stay consistent.
- [12:37]
Austin Hankwitz
And the stakes are actually just super low when you're starting right. This is the time to learn, the time to be consistent, and the time to not get fancy. Because the worst case scenario here is you lose a couple hundred bucks and you learn something really valuable.
- [12:51]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, it always bugs me when I see on the Internet with the fake gurus when they're telling people, if you don't have $50,000 or $10,000, don't even bother start investing. Because they tell people it doesn' or it's not enough money. And that couldn't be further from the truth because we want you to learn early on these smaller amounts and get in the game. Whereas if you wait until you have 50 or $100,000 saved up and you've never invested before, now the stakes are high and you're still figuring it out, and we don't want that. So start small, learn the basics, build confidence. Because that's the whole point is get you thinking like an investor and not a consumer and staying consistent.
- [13:29]
Austin Hankwitz
Yeah, the education you get from actually doing something with your money. Right. Actually having your money invested in the market is invaluable. There's a massive difference between reading a book about investing and actually doing it. You can read a book about how the stock market works, you can analyze companies, you can try and, you know, build a portfolio and, and come up with all these ideas. But unless you actually have your own money invested, it is all theoretical. You don't really understand what it feels like to see your Portfol portfolio dropped 10% in a week like it did during April of 2025. You don't understand the temptation to sell when everyone's panicking or the discipline it takes to stay invested when the market is at all time highs. You have to learn by doing.
- [14:17]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, that's something you talk about all the time that I really enjoy is building that muscle, that investing muscle, so you don't have those reactions to the headlines and all the crazy things happening in the market. But also, you can't learn all of these things from a book. The only way to learn them is by experiencing them. And the best time to experience them is when you have that first thousand dollars invested, not when you have a hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars, which we all know you're trending towards because you're here watching the Rich Habits podcast. So if you've invested a thousand dollars in the market drops 20%, you lose $200. And that sucks. But it's not life changing. But you learn what it feels like, and you learn whether you panic, sell, or whether you stay the course. And the lesson is worth way more than the $200 difference in your portfolio over the long term.
- [15:09]
Austin Hankwitz
That's right, Robert. Your first investment is as much about the education as it is about the returns. You are paying tuition to learn about how to behave as an educated investor. And the cheaper you can learn that lesson, the better. Because if you wait until you have $50,000 invested and you experience that 20% pullback and you panic, sell, right, you are out thousands of dollars in tuition to the markets instead of just $200. So, Robert, let's round off the episode here. What are the actual lessons people learn from getting started?
- [15:41]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, number one for me is you learn the market fluctuations are normal when you're watching from the sidelines. A 5% drop sounds scary, but when you're actually invested, you realize it happens all the time and it's not a reason for panic. Number two is you learn the power of consistency when you're contributing 100 or 200amonth every month, you start to see it adds up over time. It's one thing to understand what compound interest is intellectually, but it's another thing to watch your balance grow month after month. And number three, you learn your own risk tolerance. Some people think they're aggressive investors until they see their portfolio drop 25% and then they realize they're sick to their stomach and they can't sleep at night, while other people think they're conservative until they see their bonds only returning 3% while stocks are up 20 or 25% that year, and they realize they want more growth. You can't know that about yourself until you're actually in the game. And that information is going to inform every investment decision you make for the rest of your life.
- [16:45]
Austin Hankwitz
What an awesome breakdown, Robert. I could not agree more. It is so, so important to actually get started. And I hope everyone listening right now has a little bit of a blueprint as to how they should invest their first thousand dollars. Maybe as a fun game. Robert, before we wrap things up, let's, let's kind of rapid fire our thoughts on where they should not put a thousand dollars, because I think that's just as important, right? In my opinion, Individual stocks. It is so tempting to want to put your money in a Tesla or an Nvidia or whatever the hot stock is that your barber told you about, because they said, hey, you can turn that thousand into ten thousand. But the reality is picking individual stocks is so, so hard. Even the professionals get it wrong more often than to get it right. Because if you put that thousand dollars into an individual single stock and it drops 50%, which definitely happens all the time, we're seeing it across the board right now. You just lost $500, where if thousand dollars into an index fund and the market drops 50%, like, yeah, you still lost 500 in account value. But one, you're holding 500 companies that have a much more predictable recovery. And two, the S&P has not dropped by 50% in almost two decades. So there's that.
- [17:59]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, I love that call out. And number two for me would be, avoid parking your first thousand dollars in cryptocurrency. We all know I love crypto, but it's extremely volatile. And when you're learning how to invest, you don't need to be exposed to that level of volatility. It's going to mess with your head and make you think that 20% swings in a day is normal. And if it's your first experience with investing and you're watching your crypto portfolio drop 60%, you're going to think investing is all gambling, which it's not, and you'll probably never invest again, which we don't want to see that happen. So, Austin, we've got one, we've got two individual stocks. Crypto. What did we miss here? What's the number three?
- [18:41]
Austin Hankwitz
Number three. I guess we could just like, brainstorm options. No need to trade options. That's. That's crazy. Day trading penny stocks, right? All this stuff that's get rich quick. If you see an ad that's like, yo, you can turn a thousand dollars into a hundred thousand in just six months by trading Forex. It's like, okay, run the other way. That's not real. Yeah, maybe there are people that can do that. But like, you don't see the 99 people out of a hundred that go and try it and they lose all their money. So you don't want to get rich quick. If you invest $1,000 today and that broad market index fund, VTI, VOO, anything of that nature averages 9% annual returns over 30 years, that 1,000 is now 14,000, adjusted for inflation. And you don't do anything for that can, even if you want, add 200 bucks a month to it for that 30 year period of time and that 14,000 magically becomes 400,000 adjusted for inflation. So there's a lot to get excited about when it comes to investing your first thousand dollars.
- [19:36]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, this really reminds me of the Warren Buffett interview quote where the inter viewer said, warren, why don't more people copy your investment strategy? And he said, because no one wants to get rich slowly. I've always loved that because it's so important that everyone thinks there's this get rich quick scheme out there. That's why they buy all these crazy courses. And you mentioned forex, which I'm glad that's starting to fade in the past. A couple years ago it was iuls all these other things. Keep it basic, stay consistent and you will win every single time. And a quick reminder, don't wait for the perfect moment. Don't wait until you have more money. Don't wait until you understand it better. We've given you the blueprint today. Start with what you have, learn by doing and build from there. Because time in the markets beats timing the market every single time. And the cost of waiting is way higher than the cost of starting imperfectly lots of times.
- [20:31]
Austin Hankwitz
There, I like it. All right, Robert, now before we jump to our Q and A section of this episode, which by the way, if you have a question to ask us, we answer questions from you all every single episode. You can email us@richhabitspodcastmail.com or you can DM us on Instagram at Rich Habits Podcast. This episode is brought to you by public.com the investing platform for those who take it seriously. Because on Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, crypto options and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index using artificial intelligence.
- [21:10]
Robert Kroke
And it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index, and even lets you back test it against the S&P 500, all with just a few clicks.
- [21:32]
Austin Hankwitz
Generated assets are like ETFs, but with infinite possibilities. They're completely customizable and based on your thesis, not somebody else's. So go to public.com rich habits and earn an uncapped 1% bonus. You transfer your portfolio. That's public.com rich habits paid for by
- [21:49]
Robert Kroke
Public Investing full Disclosure in the podcast description.
- [21:52]
Austin Hankwitz
So our first question is coming from Josh on Instagram. Got this DM from Josh here. Josh says, hey guys, I just started listening to the podcast. I absolutely love it. It is super helpful. You talk about tracking your net worth. What do you find the best way to do? So is there an app or a specific program you use? So, Robert, maybe start this off by explaining to everyone listening what your net worth is and why it's important to track it on a monthly or quarterly basis.
- [22:21]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, great question. So your net worth is all of your assets minus your liabilities. So whatever that net number is of everything you own, what the value is, including cash, stocks and everything, minus your liability, those mortgages, the car loan, your credit cards, debts and everything, you want to get to that net amount so you know what your net worth is. So that's how you figure it out. Now, how do you track it? Lots of different ways, but we do have a free net worth tracker that'll be linked in the show notes below. We love it. We built it internally and we think it's a great way to start because so many people feel tracking their net worth doesn't make sense until they believe they have wealth or they're starting to get rich. I think that's a mistake because I think tracking it earlier on really goes hand in hand with budgeting. So you know where you're at every single month and you know if you're improving or if you're going backwards. Because a lot of people believe because they own a lot of things that they have a high net worth or that they're creating value and broadening their net worth. But many times they have a lot of liabilities that outweigh their actual assets. So that's why we believe it is important to understand your net worth and know how to track it.
- [23:33]
Austin Hankwitz
Yeah, Robert, this is a great reminder for everyone to go back and listen to episode 151 titled Our 2026 Money Calendar. This essentially gives you a task to do every month of 2026 that will allow you to take the right steps and implement the right rich habits to build wealth over time. So, for example, January's task was to calculate your net worth and set your budget. February's task was to do a credit check, make sure nothing's in default, you understand where all your loans are at, and then build a debt strategy if you are in high interest debt. And I guess just a quick reminder for March here for everyone trying to keep up month and now that we're in the Month of March. March's task is to audit your insurances and review your health savings account. So little homework for you guys listening right now. But no, I think it's really important, Robert, because whenever you're told about building wealth and investing and things like that, there's a lot of stuff that's kind of out of your control, right? I can't control what the stock market does. No one can. And I just have to trust that if I put money, more and more money into it every single month, like it's going to go up and to the right. What's cool about tracking your net worth is it helps you one, understand where you're starting from. But two, helps you visualize the progress you have made. It helps you understand even the things you can control. Right? I can control paying off this high interest debt. I can control setting money aside into the savings account. Two things that positively impact my net worth. So personally, yes, we've got that awesome net worth tracker in the show notes below. Definitely go check that one out. Or if you want to just go to Microsoft Excel or a Google sheet, type in assets and say car, checking account, savings account, home, insert other asset here, jet ski, I don't know what you guys do. And then your liabilities, right? Auto loan, mortgage, student loans, right? Things that are debts, assets minus liabilities. That's your net worth and you want to see it trending higher month over month is tough, but definitely quarter over quarter and especially year over year. You always want to make sure your net worth is trending up, up year over year. That shows that you are doing the right things. Those micro habits that you're implementing on a daily and weekly basis are actually starting to stack up and positively impact your wealth. So our next question comes from Kat on Instagram. Kat says, hey guys, I'm loving the podcast and I send it to all of my business friends. Thanks Kat. That's awesome to hear. Kat says, here is my question. What should I do with $500,000 in cash from the sale of my business? Can you offer some advice for the huge tax hit I'm about to experience from long term capital gains being coupled with living in California? So just to put that in perspective, Robert and I did a little bit of research as to what she's talking about. She's going to be looking at a 30 to 37% tax rate on this half a million dollars because she lives in California between the 3.8% net investment income tax and the 13 and a half percent state taxes. So just so Everyone knows she's talking about 30 to 37% here. So Kat says, Listen, I'm 43, I'm single, I've got no kids. My net worth is currently 660,000, not including the money from selling my business. I own two homes. One is paid for in full in Tulum and the other one in California is paid down with only 140,000 left. I contribute to my traditional IRA every year, and I've been buying individual stocks for the last 12 years. And I've gained some confidence in this strategy. I want to be very smart with this lump of cash. I deeply appreciate hearing your advice. If possible. Thank you so much for your time and attention, Robert. I think, I think what has to happen here is Kat needs to throw us an invite to the Tulum house.
- [27:23]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, that would be.
- [27:24]
Austin Hankwitz
I think that'd be fun, huh?
- [27:26]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, that's where my head goes. But let's go into a few options here, Cat, because you have a lot of choices. My first, where my brain goes right away is look at opportunity zones. I've done it many times in the past. And what you can do there is if you invest, invest in a building or an investment that's considered in an opportunity zone, a qualified opportunity zone, you can defer sometimes all of it, but a portion of your taxes as long as you invest in that opportunity zone for a few years. Now, one of the catches here, you'd have to make that investment in the next 180 days after receiving the money and closing on the sale of your business. But this is a great tool if you're looking to defer capital gains taxes on a large lump sum of money that you'd receive. I've done it in Toledo, Ohio. It works really well. And on top of that, when you're investing in these opportunity zones, a lot of times you can get additional funds from the local government because they're offering all of these tax rebates and other incentives to get people to invest there. So I would start with looking at opportunity zones.
- [28:32]
Austin Hankwitz
So I've got two quick ones here for you, Robert. You just, just laid out a great option. You already mentioned you're maxing out the traditional ira. Maybe you could also do an HSA or any other tax advantaged anything. Right. I don't think you have access to a SEP IRA or a Solo 401k anymore because you don't have this business. But maybe you still do have an LLC that makes money. Like, I don't know. But look into that. Make sure you're maximizing those pre tax contributions and something else you should do. And this is an and not an or because you just should be doing this in general. But if you have any philanthropic goals, you can set up a donor advised fund, make a contribution to that donor advised fund in the same tax year as you're receiving this half a million dollars to offset some of the gain. Now you don't have to actually give this money to a specific 501C3 in the same tax year that you receive this. You can divvy it out over however many years you want, but that one contribution to the donor advised fund is written off off your taxes like in that same year. So if you do that correctly that could definitely help. And this is, you know, assuming you are doing some philanthropic stuff already, but I think the biggest just valuable advice we can give you go talk to a cpa, go talk to a fiduciary, go talk to someone who is going to sit down with you beyond an Instagram DM and look at your entire financial picture and can tell you exactly what you need to be doing. Because you pay them two $3,000 to do this, but they will hopefully be able to save you tens of thousands of dollars in taxes by pointing you in direction. Now before we jump to our final question, gotta give a shout out to NEOS investments. NEOs offers ETFs that seek high levels of monthly income with a keen focus on tax efficiency while also providing portfolio exposure across equities, fixed income, real estate, cryptocurrency and cash alternatives like t bills. Their ETFs may be especially interesting for investors looking to generate tax efficient monthly income inside of their investment portfolios. Their funds may serve as a compelling income focused alternative or complement to many of the investments already in many investor portfolios.
- [30:43]
Robert Kroke
So if you're looking to add passive income focused ETFs to your portfolio, consider learning more about NEOs ETFs@neosfunds.com and as with all investments, investors should carefully consider their investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of NEOS exchange traded funds before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please visit neosfunds.com Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. An Investment in NEOs ETFs involves risk, including possible loss of principal. There is no guarantee that NEOs ETFs will make monthly distributions and the amounts may fluctuate from month to month. Cryptocurrency is relatively new to the markets and has its own specific risks. NEOs ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services LLC.
- [31:31]
Austin Hankwitz
Don't you love a good disclosure? So our final question comes from Shane H. On Instagram. Shane says hi. I love your podcast. It has really helped me look at personal finance through a whole new lens and I've definitely leveled up since listening. I'm reaching out to submit a question. I have a full time job. My salary is $130,000 and I receive commission. I'm in my early 30s, living in New York City. I'm a partner at an agency that was just started by a mentor of mine and I have a massive commission payment coming from a partnership deal that we closed to the tune of 60,000 doll. Likely be additional smaller size deals that close this year too. I'd like to know the best way to make the most of this money and minimize taxes, but also not lock it up in a Roth ira. I don't have any debt or business expenses. I need to allocate this to. I do have an LLC if that makes a difference. And eventually I would love to buy property. Thank you so much. Good question. Good question. Robert, what advice do you have for Shane here who? Shout out to Shane $60,000 in a commission check for. For kind of coming together with a big deal. That's awesome. Congratulations, Shane.
- [32:41]
Robert Kroke
Yeah, I mean, you know the rule we talk about all the time. Get that money out of your hands. I don't see a traditional brokerage here. You mentioned you don't want to lock it all up in a Roth. But I do think you should still max out the Roth at $7,500 for this year. But I would get that traditional brokerage account up and running, get some of the same funds we talk about to get that base built because we want to make sure that first $100,000 is invested in out of your hands so you're not buying any crazy stocks or cryptocurrencies or all that. But that's where I would start. I would get the Roth maxed out for this year, 2026. I would get the traditional brokerage set up, probably put the additional amount minus maybe 10% that you can go have fun with. And that's what I would do to start rocking and rolling. As far as having the llc, does that make a difference? It could make a difference depending if you're a W2 in this company and you're getting commission commission or you're a 1099 person and not an employee of the company. You could then migrate your earnings into an llc, which would give you some advantages of Write offs against your income if you're working out of your apartment or you have to drive to work or you have equipment that you have to purchase for work all of those things could come into play to save you some additional money but it all depends on how you're earning this money
- [33:57]
Austin Hankwitz
as it is Now I like that breakdown. The only additional thing I'll add is to our friend Shane here. You mentioned you're in your early thirties fees. If I, if someone just gave me sixty thousand dollars or I just earned the sixty thousand dollar commission of course make sure you set aside money for taxes because that's going to be a thing. So after the taxes so let's assume $45,000 is left. I would start prepaying by using a sinking fund for future expenses that I know are going to come right. You're, you're in your early 30s maybe you got a, a close group of guys and someone's going to get married this year and you know that a bachelor party is coming up. I would stuff away a thousand dollars or 1500 DOL banking fund via a high yield savings account and have that be set there so you don't have to get surprised by it or swipe a credit card or do anything like that. Maybe you've been just eyeing a brand new some sort of device or machine or clothing or something that's going to really positively impact your day to day like a really meaningful purchase. Maybe now that's the time to invest in yourself with that purchase. Maybe there is a vacation that you know you do every year and it kind of throws you off balance when it happens because you put on the credit card and you paid off a little bit. Now's that time to use a little bit of this money for those prepaid expenses you know are coming up. So that's the first place I would really want to go. Assuming you already are maxing out this Roth ira you've got your money invested in a taxable brokerage account. You know you're doing everything right. You got the bridge account want to get that first hundred thousand dollars invested. If you're still kind of looking up for different places to park it so you have access to to it prepay for some expenses you know that are going to come down the road.
- [35:35]
Robert Kroke
I love that addition. I didn't think about the sinking fund and I really like you adding that to it. So Shane, hope this helps and anyone else out there getting those lump sums, get it out of your hands, get the money working for you long term because it's hard to get a hold of $60,000 at a time and we want to make sure you just don't go blow it because all of a sudden you have all this new abundance. We want you to be abundant later on in life life so you can live a wonderful retirement.
- [36:00]
Austin Hankwitz
Everybody, thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits Podcast. If you learned something, please consider sharing it with a friend, voting in the poll below this episode and leaving us a comment. What you liked, what you didn't like, what you want us to talk about on future episodes, or how you decided to invest your first thousand dollars. That would be interesting. Let us know in the comments below here on Spotify. How you invested your first thousand dollars, what you did differently, and any advice you would share for other people listening right now. If you want more of us, please consider joining the Rich Habits Network where we host weekly live streams every Tuesday night. You got about 250 people over there that join us for these live streams, talking about market updates, portfolio changes, all the fun stuff. Link in the show notes for the Rich Habits Network and as always, be sure to check out the show notes for different tools and resources. Robert mentioned the Net Worth Tracker. There's also a budget tracker and a ton of other other different goodies. So go scroll down to the description and check out those show notes. Thanks everyone and we'll see you on Thursday.