Do This Today If You Want a Successful Retirement

24:29What is Boeing? Because they said there was no overhead, and then I get to my seat, and there was empty overhead everywhere. Not to mention every overhead had backpacks in it. Here's where we're at right now. Brian, very much. I'm still team six. When I get off the plane, I grab my bags, I go, and I go jump in the car, and I'm out of there. Fast extractions from airports. He does not like checking a bag, whether it be the official way or the gate-checked way. Some of the other members of the contact with him are like, hey, checking a bag is super convenient. I don't have to worry about lugging it around the airport.

25:04I don't have to put it in the overhead. I don't have to be stressed at where I'm at in the boarding group. I'm just curious. They don't charge fees also when you do carry-ons versus check-backs. They don't charge fees when you gate check. Well, but... Got it! Yeah, I know. That's a great benefit. No, that is not. They cost me time. So I'm just curious. I'm just curious to know if our audience is pro-checking bags or anti-checking bags. I'm not going to tell you who on the content team falls in each category, although you can probably guess where Ryan falls. In the flyer bill of rights, when is it okay to lie to your customer and say, hey, we filled up all the overhead space, so we're making you check your bag?

25:38And then you get on the plane and realize, no, half the overhead is not... I'm speaking totally out of pocket, but what if it has to do with the weight of the plane? You know how they'll distribute? It has nothing to do with the weight of the plane. As a former baggage handler for Delta Airlines, I can tell you it has nothing to do with that. I was like, what if it's safety, Brian? It's not a safety. I don't actually know that. I am no expert. By the way, last thing. When I got my checked bag yesterday, beat. I mean, the wheel was completely pushed up in it. I immediately go over to luggage services, even though I'm trying to make this whole deadline to get to the Performing Arts Center.

26:11And I go up and I say, y 'all damaged my bag. Not only did you gate check, you damaged my bag. And she goes, that's not damaged. All you got to do is yank that out. And she goes, just hit it right there and it'll pop out. Now it's got a huge crease across it because this one was hard shell. She goes, see, it's fixed. And I'm like, and I did it. I'm a little embarrassed. I said, this is not the, well, I'm not going to say the airline. Because I was about to say, not the airline that I grew up really thinking was a great airline. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, she didn't care, by the way. She goes, yeah, I hear you.

26:43If you are the lovely couple that met Travel Rage Brian, let us know. I would love to know. Travel Brian is already a mess. Y 'all know, because when we did the book tour, when we did the book tour, if you thought I was wound up tight normal, you ought to see me on a travel schedule. Travel Brian. We love Travel Brian. Hey, somebody just said in the chat that when you gate check, you don't have to go to baggage claim. Is that true? No, that's not true. They do that for strollers, for kids stuff, like strollers and things. they help you out and put it back up. Got it. But for no, when they took my bag, it was going to baggage claim.

27:15I have seen a rare occasion where they bring it back. If they put a tag on there, it's going to baggage claim. Yeah, mostly I've seen it go to baggage claim. And they're wasting 20, 30 minutes of your life. And traveling with kids, I'm traveling with a bunch of kids, so I think checking might be a little bit easier. I think it might be a little more advantageous when you have a bunch of kids and stuff. Just a hot take there. Let's do another finance question, and then we'll get back to this poll about checking versus not checking your luggage. Okay. I'm going to be right on this one. Can I tell you, I know my financial mutants.

27:47They're going to be overhead people. Okay. Look, I am also an overhead person. I just, you know, they've got the kids and stuff. Do you forward-checked bags? It's just a lot of bags. We can do what we're supposed to be doing. All right. Big Mo asks, Why do so many advisors claim that expenses will be lower in retirement? It seems to me this is when you will have more activities to pay for. We were kind of talking around this, so I'd love to hear your thoughts as financial advisors yourselves. Well, I mean, there's a difference between, because a lot of times when we're talking about expenses will be lower, it's then people take their income.

28:25And when you start thinking about what's coming out of the gross number that we base a lot of our savings rates off of, you've got taxes, which is pretty large. And then you also have your savings rates. I mean, you think about if you couple taxes and savings rate, I mean, right there is probably 40 to 50 percent depending upon where you are. And then also realize that when you hit retirement, depending upon what age, you know, Medicare is subsidized. And then you also have Social Security, the social safety net pops in. That's why. So a lot of people, that's why I think they're pleasantly surprised when they actually get to retirement is that that part is covered.

29:01And then you also have the go-go years, the slow go, and the no-go. But I do hope that during those go-go, yeah, I hope that you're doing tons of activities and other things. But I still bet even in that case, it's less than what you were making pre-retirement. Yeah, I don't actually know that I agree that most advisors say expenses will be lower in retirement. I try not to plan for that. Because what I really want to see from my clients is I want, at worst, you maintain your standard of living when you retire. meaning your expenses stay the same. And at best, I actually love to see my clients have an increase in standard of living.

29:38Hey, I used to spend all this time going to work and da, da, da, da, da. And now I don't have all that time that I was devoted to my job. I'm now able to fill that time with other things that cost money, like travel and experiences and that sort of thing. So I would actually take a little bit of argument. I think that most retirees, at least in the world in which we live, they maintain the standard of living, same expenses that they had while they were working or they actually have an increase in standard of living. But what that means is the money necessary to do that might be lower for exactly what Brian said.

30:09You're no longer having to account for taxes coming out or you're able to be a lot more tax efficient and you're no longer having to save. So if you think about saving as an expense, then for sure, that's likely going to be lower. But I don't want my standard. The last thing I want to tell the retiree is, hey man, it's been a fun ride. Now it's spam and cat food for you for the rest of this thing. That's not a win. That's not what we want our folks to experience. We want you to be able to live the life that you want to live on your terms, the way you want to live it, when you want to live it. Well, and also I think when we do, I think about some of the resources we have on moneyguy.com slash resources.

30:48For somebody who's like 25 years old, 30 years old, trying to start saving for retirement, we do make some assumptions, whether it's 60%, 80%, because we're trying to give you some educational tools to start spot checking or doing napkin math planning. But the reality is, as you get close to retirement, personal finance is personal. I don't want anybody giving you a rule of thumb and you thinking that's what retirement. I can do that for content creation, but that's not good financial planning. Good financial planning is actually going to be using your numbers, what your goals are, what your specific situations are, stress testing it, checking in on it every year, seeing how it cross-pollinates and integrates with your tax code and all the things you've got going on from a cash flow.

31:29And that's what's really supposed to happen. So we're trying to balance the education side, but also the implementation. They're kind of two different things. Yep. Well, Big Mo, thank you for the question. And we now are going to check in on our checked baggage poll before getting to another personal finance question. I bet I'm right. What's your guess? How many people said anti-check? They're anti-checked baggage. What's the percentage, Brian? How many people are in your camp? Are in my camp? I think that 75 % of people are in my camp. Okay. The actual answer is that 58 % said they are anti-checked bag, while 42 % said they're pro-checked.

32:11That's pretty close. I should have brought it down. That's pretty close. I should have brought it down because when Bo flies like every – you fly at least once a year. Oh, I'm flying more often now. Yeah, but you used to. Yeah, but I play pretty regularly. I did not actually start. Like, I never flew as a kid. Like, I didn't start flying until I was a grown adult. That's me too. And so, honestly, I still feel like I'm kind of still learning stuff, right? Like, you know, what's the best way to pack? Like, I was asking you going to this thing. I was like, hey, what do I need to pack, dude? How do I need to travel?

32:38How do I need to think through this? I hooked him up with some theme park shorts. You now are the proud owner of those theme park shorts. I went and bought me some theme park shorts. Zippers are king in a theme park. You don't want to have a backpack, especially at Universal. There's an inside tip. And I'll tell you what, if they sponsored this show, I'd be happy to tell you what brand that wore. No, we're not going to give them a free plug. Even though I've sold a lot of their shorts. I mean, brand, if you're watching, email me. Okay. Let's do another question, and then we're going to get to our rapid fire segment.

33:08So hang in for that. This question is from McLone704. Hello. Oh, I'm struggling in step four and have had to start the step over due to emergencies twice now. I know this is built into the foo, but how do I not feel down when I'm missing months of investing? Fantastic question, right? What do you think? So for those of you who don't know, step four, Brian, will you hold that thing up for me? Step four is emergency reserves. This is the step of the financial order of operations. We want you to have somewhere between three to six months of your living expenses and liquid cash. But McGlone, what I want you to do is I want you to reframe your mindset.

33:47Because right now you're thinking, oh, no. I'm missing out on investing, missing out on investing, missing out on investing. And sure, that's true. But I want you to think I've had some events now happen in my life that I've had to go to this well. And holy cow, thank you, Lord, that I had my emergency fund. Thank you that it was there. Because if I did not have it, if I did not have those dollars there. You'd fall into three. I would have been in three. I'm swiping. I'm taking out home equity line. And 20 % to the banks. So it's okay, and I want all my financial mutants to hear this, it's okay if you use your emergency fund for an emergency.

34:24That's what it's there for. So every time you have to do it, even though it might feel painful, even though you might not like it, thank goodness that you have it there. Now, once you've recognized, okay, good, that thing was there, the parachute was there, it saved me, now you get to change your mindset to how do I get back on track. Yeah, I mean, first, let's give you a few things to kind of take the edge off. Hopefully, you've got an employer plan where you're getting the free match. And for a lot of people, that's going to get you 5 % to 10 % just off of that if you count the employer match.

34:56So you're not missing out on everything, assuming you have an employer plan. But then I do think that it's a self-proving system. And the fact that if you had two emergencies that popped up, man, oh, man, are you fortunate that you're not now stuck making desperate decisions. you had the money to cover it, you're going to have a patch of life that is going to be more smooth sailing or blue water opportunity. And that's when you go across into step five, hit the Roth IRA. And I know, look, I'm okay with you feeling a little bit of pressure of this because it's going to get you out of step four.

35:29That discipline is going to be just whispering in your ears, hey, let's save, maybe we make a little bit more sacrifice to get to that job and that goal of getting to step five that much sooner. Love that. That's great. Somebody made this great comment. Oh, my goodness, I wish I would have highlighted it. But it was, man, it's so much better to say, oh, man, that's annoying than saying, oh, man, how am I going to pay for this thing? Oh, man, how am I going to make it through it? That's so true. That's a great perspective to have. Whoever said that, thank you for putting that in the chat. Yeah.

36:02I mean, that's what I think human nature is, is we ruminate on negative stuff. And if you can change that inner voice to be a little more of an optimist, you're going to find success just kind of happens. And I think there is something about if you can point yourself to the positive with that inner voice, a lot of good things can happen for you. That's not a mantra. That's just a standard default setting that you're setting up within yourself. That's right. All right. Well, that's great. It is now time for our It Does Not Depend Rapid Fire segment. Here we go. I have some rapid fire questions queued up.

36:37Thank you for submitting them to the chat. Remember, the rules are you only have 30 seconds combined to answer these questions, and you cannot say the words, it depends. Now, if you trip up and say it depends, that means you don't get to answer. And also, I will throw you a bone at the end and say we will have our maybe it does depend segment where you get to say all the things that maybe you didn't get to say during rapid fire. So with that, let's dive right in. Are you ready? You want to go first first? We ought to start flipping a coin or something. Yeah, I'll go first just so we can see how bad I am at this.

37:11Okay. Timer starts after I ask the question. Question number one is what personal finance decision, or it doesn't have to be financial, do you feel most shaped your success and fulfillment over time? Go.

37:28I mean, for me, it was when I read Wealthy Barber and Millionaire Next Door. It kind of changed my mindset. And well, Mr. Morrow, the Morrow moment. You use the word fulfillment. And so when I hear that word, when I found a job, doing a job that I absolutely love with people that I absolutely love, most impactful in my life. Well done. Next question is how far ahead of your retirement date should you let your employer know your plans? How far ahead for retirement date? Depends on the... Oh, he's out. He said depends. You didn't even give yourself a chance. The clock is still ticking too. Ryan, do you have anything to say?

38:14He's got it. If your employer is not going to be surprised and you're not going to be fired on the spot, then I would be collaborative with sharing your thoughts on things. Most employers, I think, would like to know because it's not like you're cheating on them to go to a new employer. And time is up. All right. Don't you worry. I'm writing down my notes on this one. That sucked. Next question. That was too intense. Is it ever okay to do step four before step three in the FU if you are the sole income earner for your family? Yes, because you're doing step one, which is cover the deductible for the emergencies of desperate decisions of like, you know, bad, catastrophic things.

39:01but you're still going after you get through step one you get your free employer match you're going to want to pay down the high interest up no the question was do step four before three no if you do step four before step three step three is going to get worse and worse and worse one and four are related four is one and time okay next question somebody tried to put a new system best Star Wars supporting character the Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks there are no other nominees Goodness gracious. That one. Ugh. Ewoks. I mean, I would say. I was Googling what Ewoks are. Ewoks probably sold more merchandise, so we'll say Ewoks.

39:41For sure the Ewoks, Brian. Come on. That's why they were designed to be the way they were, but not Jar Jar. Not Jar Jar Binks. Who played Jar Jar? Wasn't it somebody famous? I forget, honestly. Ahmad Best. And Phil Lamar. All right. Next question. I didn't get to answer. I didn't think you were going to answer. I don't think you were capable of answering that one. You saw Star Wars with the kids recently. The first one. When you say first one, the fourth one or the first one? The original one. Okay. The 70s. All right. Yes. Next question says, my wife works for a school district and has a pension that takes 15%.

40:17How does this factor into investing? I mean, assuming you're not making over$200 ,000, I think you're counting that as 15%. I don't think I would allow it to change my portfolio ton. Some people would say that you can consider that to be like a fixed income portion of your portfolio early on. I don't know that I think about it that way. I would start shifting my mindset to think about that as I get closer and closer to retirement. But I do agree, you can consider that part of your savings rate. And make sure it's got pension benefit guarantee corporation coverage. Boom. PBGC. Well done. What step of the foo is paying down mortgage principal to eliminate PMI?

40:59Step nine. Nine. You guys, that was easy. I'm going to move on. Can you explain backdoor Roth like I'm five? Is it only for wealthy people? Well, it's for high income people. It's only for people that cannot contribute to Roth directly. I take money. I put money in traditional. I have no other IRA balances. I convert from traditional to Roth tax-free. I don't think a five-year-old would understand that. It's a conversion strategy that is in a friendly term known as backdoor Roth contributions because it doesn't have income limits. I put money into this bucket, and then I take it and I pour it into that bucket.

41:39And so as long as I don't have any other buckets, it's completely tax-free. So the team from the Wings is calling out Bo for getting creative and saying, I don't know if I would think of it that way, which is a great point. Isn't that the same as it depends? No. No. God bless the content team. Absolutely not. I really think, I know the shock collar was probably too over the top, but we do need to have some consequences. Just wait. We need some consequences. That is not. Amazon delivers next day. I mean, we could have something here by 4 a.m. I will not eliminate your points. I didn't know we got points in this, but you are currently.

42:14On probation? Exactly. This is your formal warning. Okay, let's do a few more. The next one says, should I put my financial numbers in financial calculators using both my wife and I's total 401ks together or run them separately? For what per? Together. Yeah, I mean, household is the default for most financial planning calculators. Two becomes one, so you can figure out what your retirement is going to look like. Structure might be separate, but you're going to use the household. Even if you're doing stuff like savings rates, like, okay, well, my savings rate is this and her savings rate is this or his savings rate is this.

42:52If you're both doing 25%, that also equals 25 % for the household. So it auto-align. Well, it doesn't make sense if you make 50. And time is up. I actually feel really bad interrupting Brian. But it's part of the game. You just feel bad interrupting Brian? You don't feel guilty? It's messed up. I like giving you your formal warning. That was fun. Okay, next question. We live in a high cost of living area and don't want to buy a home here. Do we need to increase our step seven hyper accumulation percentage to stay on track if we may need to pay rent in retirement? Rent will certainly be a part of your number.

43:31It will be one of the expenses that you bear in retirement. So relative to a retiree whose mortgage might fall off, your rent will stay there for the remainder of your financial planning. No, but you're spot on in the fact that step seven is definitely where you start thinking about how you're going to use this money. And if you're having to pay rent or need access to a larger portion of this, then you're going to need after tax of the three bucket strategies, then you'd plan accordingly. Very nicely done on the time. All right, last one. Is there any advantage to using a 529 as a pass-through for college bills when it doesn't cover all of the tuition?

44:08Yes. I mean, most states have a state income tax. A lot of states. I shouldn't say most. I should say a lot of states have a state income tax benefit. Oh, he's talking about just straight, Pat. The benefit of 529s is tax-free growth, but I think if you're saying in same year, put it in and pull it out same year, that generally is only advantageous if there's a state tax benefit. Exactly. If I understood the question correctly. That's the way I read it or heard it. All right, that concludes our It Does Not Depend Rapid Fire segment. Not bad, not bad, but we had a few fouls there. So I'd love to hear now during our Maybe It Does Depend segment.

44:43things that you didn't get to say, things that I interrupted you on, Brian. Well, the biggest, number one. I feel like I need you to reread the question. Reread the first question. Let's just go through every question. No, no, no, no, no. This was not fair. So just read the first question because you had something to say about the first one. I remember what it was, though, is what's the big thing that influenced you? It was a cross-pollination of that. I really didn't take action until after I got my first real-world adult job in public accounting. And I remember getting the Wealthy Barber and Millionaire Mission, but I had recalled Mr.

45:15Marr. It was a cross-pollination moment where all those things kind of came together and it was like, you know, big bang. Big bang. That was great. What was number two? How far ahead should your retirement date, should you let your employer know your retirement plan? It depends on your role in the company, and I'm going to stick by that. If you're someone who's like pivotal to the operations of your company, you're a higher level, you oversee a team, there's a lot of stuff, then I think it'd be wonderful. if you give them a large heads up. Sometimes maybe six, eight, ten months. If you're more of like, I don't want to say less impactful, but if your departure will likely not have significant ripples throughout the organization, then I think a standard couple weeks is okay.

45:57But not all roles inside of our organization are created equal. So if you just drop it on them, hey, two weeks and I'm out, and you got 20 people that report to you and big projects that are underway, that's not cool. But I do think contact, because we had a person that retired last year, and we worked with her for two years. Yeah, I told her. To know, so we could spot check it and know where she was with the whole family planning and all the other things that they were doing. I told her I need a 180-day notice. That's what I told her. Now, but I have another one that if you looked on the organization chart, she's an admin.

46:31But we have strictly told her, I know her husband wants to hire her. She's also on a 180-day notice. Never, never, ever. You just can't leave to go. I want to make sure you stay here with us. You already get plenty of time with your husband. She's listening right now. She knows who we're talking about. Every year we have to tell her to tell her husband. You guys are just like torching everything today. You're just like, let's just spice things up. And so that was inappropriate. It depends. And I'm not going to be sad about that. The answer does depend on that one, 100%. I want my points back. Next question.

47:05Points lost. There were two more. Did you write anything down? I didn't write anything down. That's not that useful. I'm not a natural. There were two more you interrupted. Did I interrupt you on paying rent and retirement? Yeah. I believe. I should mark which ones I interrupt you on next time. Noted. He just shrugged. He was like, I'm over it. I've abandoned this cause. All right. Well, that was fun for me. hopefully for everybody watching and listening as well. One traveling flight baggage claim. Or what rides are you looking forward to riding at Universal? I thought more people would have questions on some of that stuff too.

47:45We did have a few people in the chat say that Universal is better than Disney. We did have a lot of people saying Universal greater than Disney. They were like doubling down. They said I said what I said. Context matters, guys. So you're saying it depends. Yeah, it definitely depends. Is it time or season? and I've considered myself fluent in both parks so I can give you kind of tell you what's going on with both parks yeah I've never been to Universal before so I'm super excited about it and I'm taking the big kids so it's going to be like a lot of fun to pal around I checked the height requirements, they're tall enough for everything so we're going to ride everyone so I think it's going to be awesome so the big thing that I did tell Bo just so you guys can benefit I love for my Financial Mutants is that Universal, Disney kind of lets you use those lounge fly bags and take them on all the rides, no big deal.

48:35Universal's kind of a stickler. They're going to make you use lockers on about every one of the big E attractions, and that's just a pain to go deal with the lockers. So I told Bo, no, don't show up with a backpack. Don't show up with a water bottle. Show up with zipper pants and then stack it in there. I mean, I look ridiculous in the theme parks because I have so much stuff. I have sunglasses, sunscreen, battery backups. I got a gazillion things, but you know what? We don't have to use lockers. So I went and bought me some more britches yesterday that I'm ready to roll. Some short britches. Love to see it.

49:09Seven-inch ensign. Seven-inch ensign. By the way, from spring training, I sent Bo one because one of my buddies got a foul ball, and I was very proud. Nobody prompted him. He gave it to the young kid in front of us. It was really cool. Very sweet. Sweet, sweet interaction there. but I send one picture to Bo and he's like, man, look at you with those legs on display. Put the gams on display at the game. And I was like, oh my gosh. Out of one picture I send, this is what Bo's going to pick on me about. True story. And by the way, I found out that a lot of, I wear 7-inch inseams. A lot of these nuts like Carter and Bo, they're like 5-inch inseams.

49:45No, I'm a 7-inch I'm a 7-inch inseam guy. No, 5-inch. You guys are crazy with a 5-inch That would look like Larry Bird back in the 80s. You remember Burt Reynolds when he used to wear those, but he would tuck in the button-up shirt into it? You know what I'm talking about? Well, it was more Magnum P.I. Yeah. Magnum P.I. is what I think of when I think of those short inseam shorts. And by the way, mustaches are out, so it makes complete sense. Out or in? Mustaches are out? They're in. No, I was about to say mustaches are in. I don't understand the perms in the hair, and I don't understand the mustaches, and I don't understand the shorty short shorts.

50:20okay on that note let's dive back into personal my nephew came to stay with us a couple a couple weekends ago he's visiting nashville for something and i was like bro do you have a mullet he's like yeah i was like well what'd you tell your barber she was like i told her to do a mullet and it was legit like for the sides and it's like a thing it's like everything old is new again it's a thing So a lot of people in the conversation, they want to see Brian in a mullet. So maybe one day. It's what the people want. He just panicked. He was like, absolutely not. No business on top and party in the back.

50:57His eyes were like, what? All right, we do have a question from CosmicPenguin01. It says, we all have friends that fall into every consumer trap they see. How do you approach this topic with someone you care about without making them feel defensive about such a personal topic. I recognize this. Is this the Penguin from the Discord? I believe so. I didn't want to, because his username is slightly different, he said, on the chat, so I think that this is him. Well, Penguin, if you're the same Penguin, thank you for being so bad for the Discord. I recognize and see your name in there. This is a hard one, because a lot of times we have friends, loved ones, relatives, and we just see them making awful financial decisions.

51:41And what we want to do is we want to be able to influence them and be a positive example to them because we want better for them. But it's real hard to do that without coming off as judgy, mean, insensitive, know-it-all, you know, fill in the blank. And so I think the first thing you have to do is you have to understand where you are in the relationship, right? I've got some buddies that when I see them making boneheaded decisions, I can just tell them straight up, dude, you're an idiot. That's not right. And then I have other people that I see them making those decisions, but I know I can't speak to them that way.

52:18So I start asking them questions. Hey, okay, I see that you do. Walk me through. Hey, I do finances for a living. Walk me through. What were you thinking? Like, oh, that's an interesting product you bought. Tell me why that made sense for you. And what I try to do is see if I can, through the Socratic method, have them arrive at the conclusion like, oh, maybe the nine-year car loan wasn't the best thing. Or, oh, maybe signing up for the credit card to get the 50 ,000 points wasn't the most, or whatever the thing may be. And if you can get them to discover that themselves, it's probably going to come across a lot better than if you're just kind of like, you know, beating them over the head with, hey, this is how you make decisions.

52:56This is how you make decisions. Okay, look, this is like fishing for trying to convince your friends to start making good decisions. I can tell you what I did was I tried to, nobody likes to hear things from a negative perspective. So when I talk to my friends, I first hit them with a shock and awe stat. I can remember after I'd read Wealthy Barber and Millionaire Next Door and had the Morrow moment that I was like, man, do you realize how powerful compounding interest is? And then I tried to hit them with some sentimental stuff. It's like, man, I plan on trying to change my life metrics to where I'm not making the mistakes my parents did.

53:32And it would sure be nice when I retire early. Because remember back in the 20s, back when I was in my 20s, I thought I was going to retire at 50, past 50 now. And I could retire, but I choose to keep going because I love what I do for a living. But I was like, I'd be great if you guys could retire with me. So we're not going to be able to do this alone if we don't start making action. So I hit them with shock and awe stat. That's to set the hook. And then you've got to pique the interest, set the vision of, hey, this is what I would love for you to start making decisions so we can do these things.

54:02Or if you see them making bad decisions, be careful so it doesn't come off as judgy. I would try to focus on the optimistic stuff and then provide the tool or resource that's going to fix it. And in my case, I bought those books for all my friends. I actually gave them copies. So a book that I've gotten near and dear to me is Millionaire Mission, of course, that I've tried to incorporate a lot of what inspired me for the next generation. And then also you can go to moneyguy.com slash resources or point out a show or send out our newsletter. I really do think a lot of times we are often say if you can get somebody just to get curious, you can help them start solving the problem that they have.

54:42I think that's great. Curiosity. If you can inspire curiosity, that's huge. And then what you are is you're not necessarily the answer. You're the, hey, let me show you how to find the answer. Let me show you where that's at. And I think that can be super, super valuable. Versus being like you're the know-it-all or looking down your nose at somebody. Nobody likes condescending or that part of it or they all know it all. So you have to inspire curiosity, set a hook, and then provide the solution. And hopefully you'll set them on their path and they'll look back and go, hey, that conversation we had that night that got me really curious about that, it's changed my life.

55:22Love that. So good. All right, let's do one more. We've got one from Mark. It says, my wife and I are expecting our first baby in May. Oh, congratulations. We currently have a will. Do we update our will so that all of our assets go to our child? Do we need to set up a trust for this to work? What should they think about? Well, we can't give you specific advice here, right? Because we don't know the state you live in. We don't know the unique circumstances of your financial life. But there's a big life change happening. If you already have a will in place, I would imagine the will in place was just for you and your spouse.

56:00Now you have a baby coming online. Well, now the things you have to think about are way, way, way different. If you have you and your spouse, it's basically like, all right, if I die, it goes to my spouse. If my spouse dies, it goes to me. Now that you have a kid, you got to think about some other stuff. Hey, if something happens to both of us, who do we want to take care of this child? And then we have money and life insurance and investments, and who's going to make sure that that money is stewarded well for the benefit of that child? Is it the same person caring for them? Is it someone else?

56:32What type of structure would be necessary inside of that? So do you need to revisit your estate planning? Do you likely need to update that? For sure. What strategies or tools will make the most sense for you? Well, that's where it depends a little bit on, again, your unique situation, what you're hoping to accomplish, as well as the state in which you live. It depends on – I didn't mean to say depends, but it really does. We're allowed to the rest of the show. I've seen estate documents written where they talked about unnamed children or they were kind of going to where the ball was looking like it was going to be when that estate document was set up.

57:11But if your estate document doesn't have guardianship of who's going to take over the kids, even if they're unnamed in the estate document. And if it doesn't name a trust on what happens to the life insurance proceeds of both you and your spouse die for the said unnamed children, then yeah, you're going to have to redo your estate documents because those are two big things that immediately need to be kind of tied down as well as now with this change, you probably ought to revisit your term life insurance. Remember the difference between term versus permanent is that it's time certain that you You pay the annual premiums, and it's a lot cheaper to buy term insurance than it is permanent insurance.

57:50And I'm a big advocate or a fan of term insurance because in a lot of ways, if you're building wealth in the right way, hopefully down the road, you're going to be able to self-insure the need because your kids leave the house, you've built your own retirement assets. But while the kids are in the house and while your spouse is counting on your income, you can vary in a cost-effective way by term insurance to protect the family and loved ones. I want to just give a little brief PSA. A lot of people— Not on baggage? This has nothing to do with airline travel. A lot of people have been asking me recently, talking about estate planning and going through probate and all that kind of stuff.

58:30And trusts are wonderful tools. Brian, both you and I utilize trusts inside of our state. We have what's called testamentary trusts built into our state. We have testamentary trusts. We also have revocable living trusts that are currently established, currently funded. What I want to make clear of you is oftentimes that serves a purpose, especially if you have young kids or there's assets that have a certain thing that they need to do. But for a lot of people, that may not be necessary. If you are updating the beneficiaries on your accounts, if you have joint titling on your accounts, a lot of people don't recognize that even on after-tax accounts, like a joint brokerage account or individual brokerage account, you can add a payable on death or transfer on death designation on there to where it has a beneficiary the same way that IRAs do.

59:14There are a lot of ways that you can structure your estate to pass and flow very, very efficiently, according to your wishes, without having to get overly complicated. I think a lot of times, even people who have built up some wealth, a million, two, three, four million dollars, they think there has to be all this complexity in order to transition. And in reality, that's just not the case. And so you want to make sure that you have an estate plan that's appropriate and fitting, but not that is overcomplicated and unnecessary for what your ultimate wishes are. I mean, yeah, that's one of the things I think as a financial planner I've helped.

59:49Because sometimes people get caught in these seminar attorneys where they sell on these big packets of estate docs that is just insanely complicated. complicated. And I think it's because we have an experience of actually helping people who are on the other side of when a loved one passes away. We know the complexity and what's effective versus what was just sold during a seminar to scare somebody. Be aware that not everybody who sells you something has got your best interest. And so personal finance is definitely personal. So you want to make sure your estate document, keep it as simple as possible, but make sure it's going to be effective and represent your wishes when you're no longer here.

1:00:28I think that's the biggest thing that people just stick their head in the sand, especially when it comes to kids, just because it's an awkward conversation when you think about her sister or brother, and you're thinking about your brother and sister, and you'll have disagreements on who's going to raise what kids. If you guys can't get along about the decision while you're alive, what do you think the state's going to do if you don't leave behind a document that expresses your wishes. It's going to be a mess and create a lot of turmoil and pain. It might even impact how people look at you post your passing.

1:01:03That's fantastic. God, we got to do... Oh, that's fantastic. I was about to say, we need to do something a little more fun because I felt like we just... Doing it on an estate plan is not a good way to close things out. And you guys put a yawning hairdo on me. I'll be honest. A photo of Brian with a mullet. In my mind, now Brian went full-on, like full-length. I was just thinking, you know, like neck length. You're thinking Billy Ray Cyrus. I was, but this is something. I'll tell you what makes me look better, but it just doesn't exist because of my genetics, is have you seen me with a beard? It's a good look.

1:01:41I think I'd probably look. I'd be more attractive if I had a beard. Oh, don't tempt our team with AI. But I can't grow facial hair. You know what? With that hairdo, he could do a mean man bun. That'd be awesome. I've always wanted to have long hair The only thing that would make that picture better is if I had an axe and a shield It's more Braveheart-esque and then I could give a big speech to get motivated Doesn't that kind of have a Braveheart feel to it? With the long hair it could I often think that Brian Preston is the William Wallace of the personal finance space That's often what I think Well done team You guys are a mess That's amazing They're so good Well, hey, if you want more memes and behind-the-scenes chatter and you don't want to stop chatting, make sure you check out the Moneyverse.

1:02:26Go to moneyguy.com slash moneyverse. It's wild. It's crazy. If you've not been in there. Y 'all are always talking in there. It's insane. It's so cool. I love to see it. It's awesome. You're in there now. I have set everything up. You're a lurker. I'm more of a lurker at this point. I need to get more active. I need to follow your lead. I've had some folks. But I have been lurking. they've been hypothesizing which account might be your lurker. So I don't know. Whenever you do decide to show yourself I feel like people are going to be like... And that's the other thing. I feel like I set something up and I was like, oh, maybe I can change it later but I don't know if I love what I've set up.

1:03:08I get it. Screen name is a big deal. Everyone's so stressed about their screen name around here. Everyone of us remembers our 13-year-old selves setting up that AIM screen name for the first time. Well, I mean, think about it. It's funny. My wife has a Hotmail account. I have a Yahoo still from the past. We all get stuck with these things, and then forever you're trapped in this. I think that's what hangs over me is whatever I choose, because I imagine as healthy as this Discord is, this thing's going to be around for a while, so I'm feeling a little apprehension about getting it measured twice, cut once.

1:03:40It's literally like a full-time live stream. That's what it feels like to me. That's truly what it is. At any point in time, there are people in there interacting, answering questions, celebrating milestones. It's awesome. I'm a big fan. Yeah, and we're looking forward to seeing how it evolves and how we can make it even more fun and constructive for everybody. So thanks for everyone who's given feedback and joined in and made it fun. You know what I think is cool? We have so many heavy Discord users. They keep mentioning, hey, content, hey, Rebe, you ought to do this. And you keep doing it. Like you keep adjusting and modifying the Discord based on feedback.

1:04:18I think it's awesome. That's the goal. All right, guys. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for hanging out with us. There is a better way to do money. And I'm your host, Brian, joined by Bo Reby and the rest of the content team, Money Guy. Out.

1:04:34The Money Guy Show is hosted by Brian Presson and Bo Hanson. Brian and Bo are partners with Abound Wealth Management. Abound Wealth Management is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with the securities laws and regulations. Abound Wealth Management does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through The Money Guy Show. The information provided is for informational purposes only, may not be suitable for all investors, and does not constitute financial, tax, investment, or legal advice.

1:05:03All investments involve a degree of risk, including the risk of loss.