MI Rewind: Young Investors Getting Started w/ Kelly Lannan

22:56Well, I don't understand it. It's got to be complicated. When in fact, if you take a step back, if you do your research, it is not. And in fact, a lot of financial services companies, Fidelity included, have made it very easy to get started, eliminating a lot of the traditional barriers. For example, we often hear, well, only rich people get started with investing. That's not true. You can get started today for free. We don't have any minimums. We don't have any expense fees in our account. So these are all definitely benefits that in the past, why a lot of people told us they didn't want to get started with investing.

23:26And we, as a company, have done a good job eliminating those so people can get started. Despite any of the delays that there might be, there's been a huge increase in the number of retail investors. You mentioned that you guys have seen a couple million people over the last couple of years of young investors. Yeah. We have brought in over 2.3 million young investors, those 35 and under, just this year alone. We actually saw about a 200 % increase in bringing young investors in Q1. And since the start of the pandemic in 2020, we've brought in over 5 million young investors on a retail platform, and 36 % of those were young investors.

24:03So we've seen tremendous growth in this segment over the past two years. Yeah, that's massive growth. Why do you think that is? Is it just technology enabling more people to have access to financial markets than ever before, or do you think it's something else? So I definitely think that it is a trend, a trend that will never go away. I think that technology, making sure that everything is seamless and digital, making it very easy to get started has definitely been a factor of bringing in, you know, more customers for sure. I do think that two other important things as well, you know, one, there's no kind of avoiding this, is the pandemic.

24:38The pandemic, you know, one of the quote unquote, I guess, positive things of it is that now more than ever, you know, younger people started to focus on their money. It was either due to things like job loss. Oh my goodness, I don't have a job anymore. I have to figure out how to budget my money and my emergency fund might only cover a few months of my expenses. People couldn't travel as much. You couldn't bet on sports. You couldn't go to Las Vegas and gamble. And so many people, as a result, were actually turning to the stock market. As we saw at the beginning of this year, what happened with Reddit and the meme stocks, That was getting a lot of attention, you know, on all sorts of social media platforms.

25:16I don't know about you, Robert, but I like never watched the news more than over the past two years. And that's what all I was seeing. And I had friends who've never been interested in really what I do. But for the first time, because they were seeing it on the news, they were seeing it on social media, they were reading about it. They're like, what is going on? And should I start investing? And that brings me to kind of the third point is the FOMO is real. It is a real thing. That fear of missing out is often the number one thing that drives us to overspend. It's the number one thing that causes us to be jealous when we're like, why is this person traveling to Greece in the middle of the pandemic that I see on Instagram?

25:49Because you're not just keeping up with your friends anymore. You're keeping up with everyone. And we definitely saw the FOMO being real in terms of getting invested in the stock market. People saw their friends. People heard that people were getting invested. And they're like, well, I want to do that too. And as a result, they were entering the market. they were asking questions and they were coming to firms like Fidelity more than they ever had before. Other than just maybe FOMO, what are some of the other drawbacks that you've seen or can think of for the easier access to financial markets?

26:18I think one of the biggest principles in investing is investing for the long-term is typically the right way to go. And when you didn't have such easy access to technology, it was easier in theory to invest for the long-term because you didn't have as easy access. It took a lot more effort to actually make trades and things like that. Now it's so easy. Is there a drawback that people are investing too frequently? They're trading too much. They're not using real strategies. What are some of the other drawbacks you're seeing of this technology enableization? So I don't necessarily know drawback per se.

26:52I think what that means to me is that often people might be opening themselves up to risk when they don't confidently know what they're doing. I think for younger people, we often do see that inflated sense of confidence at times, like, oh, I know exactly what I'm doing, or, oh, wow, this individual told me they were trading on margin, or they started trading options, I should be able to do it too. And in the reality, I really practice trade, invest in what you understand. If you don't understand some of these strategies, if you don't understand some of these terms, turns out you probably should not be doing that.

27:23I also think, Robert, that sometimes people perceive the lack of doing nothing as a bad thing. It's almost like that mentally, well, if I'm not doing anything, does that mean I'm missing out? Does that mean that my account isn't doing anything? When in reality, to your point, the better strategy a lot of times when you're investing is for the long term to stay steady, to not touch your account, to not touch your investments, even when the market goes up and down. So I think it's less due to technology, in my opinion, and more around coming some of these human nature elements. I really do believe that the ease of technology has made it easier for a lot of people to get started when they might not have been able to do so before.

28:03But I do believe that it is more around human nature and some of these things that I just shared that is causing people to maybe make rash decisions when it comes to their money. But I will say this, that still is a smaller percentage of individuals who did get invested. I think often the perception is that all these people who enter the stock market are these stock pitchers, day trading, they're constantly moving. Well, yes, some of them are. In reality, I think a lot of them really just want to put a little money in and see what happens. In fact, the survey that we recently saw out of the individuals in Gen Z that we surveyed, only I think 55 % had actually made their first trade at the beginning of the year.

28:42The rest were actually holding out because they wanted to educate themselves more. They wanted to start small and they didn't want to just dive right in. So I think often there's perception, oh, there's all these day traders out there. Oh, wow, they're being risky. When in reality, it is a smaller percent of individuals than I think we actually think. Other than just the pandemic increasing the amount of people that are interested in managing their money or investing, how has the pandemic impacted the way that young adults need to think about their money? And what hasn't changed? What remains the same, whether there's a pandemic or not?

29:13I'll start with the latter point of view. I think that regardless if there's a pandemic or not, people should always, as we already talked about, make sure you have that emergency fund, make sure you're participating in a workplace retirement account if you can, make sure you're taking the time to take a look at your finances, make sure you are paying down your debt, meeting your monthly bills, etc. Those are things that shouldn't change regardless of pandemic is happening or not. But I think in terms of thinking about your money, we already hit upon a few of these things already, is that it really caused people to take a step back and think about their money in ways they hadn't before, whether that was for the good or the bad.

29:50I think it also had a very positive impact, kind of alluded to this, on people seeing the power of making their money work harder for them by investing it versus just necessarily putting it in a bank account and letting it sit there with a very small interest rate. So I think these are some major things that happened due to the pandemic. But I think at the heart of it, what should never change is making sure people are paying attention to their money, making sure people are asking questions, as well as like bringing up conversations with the people in their life and educating themselves better.

30:17That should always be a constant. And just one more quick note on the pandemic, just when and if it ends, whenever that is, people aren't going to demand less the ease of doing things digitally. Just because we can be more in person, I think people aren't going to be like, oh, you know, make it harder, make me go into person for this. I feel like the digital ways that we're now used to doing things as a result of the pandemic are never going to go away. because in many ways, yes, they solved for the problem that we couldn't be in person, but in other ways too, they also made things easier for people.

30:48And I don't think that's just going to go away just because we can now be in person again. What are some of the unique challenges that young adults today face that previous generations may not have? What do millennials, me, you, people listening to the podcast have to deal with today that maybe our parents didn't have to deal with? I think the first going to a theme we've already I talked about is education, right? The cost of college has doubled since our parents have been in school. Many people have to take on student debt in order to pay for their education. As a result, you know, the amount of debt that younger people are taking on has also increased in the previous generations.

31:25We often hear from young adults that the number one reason they can't get started with investing or they can't meet their goals is they have such tremendous debt and they can't see how they can do both. So I think that's number one. Number two, we are a generation that is making less than previous generations. We literally are not making as much as our parents did and our grandparents did. So as a result, that impacts a lot of the other decisions when it comes to their finances. We are also doing things at different stages of our life. Yes, millennials and Gen Z, they still want to own a home.

31:59They still want to have a child, but they're also doing it later in life. They're not on the same timeline as previous generations. And so you can't always make decisions solely based on one's age. And then going back to my previous point, because we're making less, there's often... We might not be able to afford the house at 25. We might not be able to afford the house at 30. So those things really do go hand in hand. I think also what we've seen and going back to the whole meme stock and Reddit madness that happened at the beginning of the year is that this is a generation that has like the new American dream.

32:31This is a generation that is more politically involved. I mean, if you talk to people on the why it happened, they literally wanted to take down Wall Street. You know what I mean? So I think that there's a lot here that we just didn't necessarily see in previous generations. But honestly, there's also the positive, right, Robert? Like we're generations that we're often, we often choose to work with companies, invest in companies that share our values. We want to do good. We still want money. I often hear that a lot. Oh, younger people don't want money. You guys are like, no, no, no. People still want money.

33:02It's just how they're spending their money isn't necessarily the same as previous generations. We tend to spend things more on the experiences versus the things. So money is really the conduit to help us get there. Have you noticed any key differences between Gen Z and millennials and how they approach their money and investing? Yeah, it's interesting. So for a lot of millennials, myself included, when I graduated school, graduated in the middle of the recession, I remember the downturn after September 11th. I was very afraid of the stock market. And as a result, I'm naturally very risk averse.

33:37And this is a common trait with a lot of millennials. They've been hesitant at times to get invested in the stock market because they are risk averse. But at the same time, again, with millennials, like dreamers, right? We often dream big and that's good. Not saying Gen Z doesn't, but what we have seen is a lot of Gen Z is more pragmatic when it comes to their money. We've also seen, and again, granted they are younger, right? Gen Z also wants to know everything about managing their money. They want to be fully educated before they simply make a decision on that. Yes, while they are risk averse to some extent, again, seeing where they've grown up and obviously in the pandemic.

34:15What we've also seen is that they are more willing to possibly get in and start small and start investing their money, which is always good to see. And then something else that we've talked about a bunch in terms of trends, they really are pure digital natives. Millennials, yes, me and you, we are, of course, used to doing things differently. We've had smartphones. A lot of Gen Z, they haven't even been alive when the iPhone didn't exist. I had a flip phone for a while. I don't know about you. I had a BlackBerry for a while. You know what I mean? So they don't even know what those things are. And so I think as a result, when it comes to managing your money and the ease of doing things digitally, they expect even more than previous generations.

34:53If it is not easy, if it's not seamless, they won't have it. They'll go to the next place. A piece of personal finance or a person's overall financial picture that I don't hear a lot of people talking about is how to evaluate job offers. How do you teach people to evaluate job offers, especially young adults? What are you looking at? Other than just salary, what is important to consider? Yeah, this is a great question. And you kind of hit on it already. A lot of times when people are evaluating job opportunities, they're looking at that number. They're looking at the salary that they're taking in.

35:27And what they are failing to consider is the other benefits that might come with that job opportunity. I remember when I first got an opportunity to work at Fidelity, something that was touted was the great benefits that Fidelity offered. And I was like, great. It wasn't until I dove in and quite candidly and honestly, I actually had a Fidelity colleague dive into these benefits for me that I was like, oh, wow, this is a company that really kind of stands out from others. But just speaking more generally, I think when individuals out there are evaluating different job opportunities, there's a few things that you want to look at.

35:58I think the first, and I've hit on this a little bit already, is does the company offer a workplace retirement plan? And I think that things like 401k, 403b, and keep in mind, people listening, I didn't actually know what that was when I graduated school. No one actually educated me on that. But how I phrase it, it's literally a company saying like, hey, Kelly, we like you. We care about your future. We're going to help you invest in it so you don't have to work forever. So you want to make sure, number one, do they have a workplace retirement plan? Number two, same subject, do they offer a match?

36:29Do they actually give you money towards your retirement? Often companies will tell you, hey, if you put in this amount, we'll match that dollar for dollar. It's like free money. You'd never, ever leave free money on the table. So that's kind of one important piece. Student debt, I've kind of touched on this already. There's a lot of companies out there, as one is their benefits. They actually help their employees help pay off their student debt. So that's something to definitely look into. Do they have other perks? Like, for example, do they give you, if you want to continue your education, Fidelity actually helps individuals pay for their education if they want to go to grad school or take specific courses.

37:05As we've already talked about, student debt is such an issue out there. So if you have a company that can actually help you pay for that, I think that's tremendously important. I think the other thing too is where is the job located? If you're looking at two jobs that are paying the same amount, but one's in Manhattan and one's in Iowa, your money is going to go a lot further in Iowa than it is in Manhattan. That's really important. And then something else to consider, especially for those older listeners who may not be going to their first job, but then maybe changing jobs, is just make sure you take a step back and understand what you might be leaving on the table.

37:38For example, I mentioned something called a 401k. Often there's vesting guidelines that are attached to that 401k. And what this means is that they want you to stay employed at a company long enough to get the full benefits of the match, for example. So some companies might say, okay, you need to be with us for a year, and then we'll start giving you the match. And then other companies might say, okay, you have to stay with us five years. And if you leave us after that, you can only take 20 % of the match that we gave you. So this is important because you never want to leave money behind when you're actually changing jobs, unless that job opportunity can actually make up for any benefits that you might leave behind.

38:15So just a few important topics for those like maybe considering their first job offer, as well as those who might be going to a new job. Let's take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors. Hey, it's Sean O'Malley, just popping in with a quick message. If you like this podcast, well, I've got great news for you. We've got a handful of other shows for you to explore, from learning about Bitcoin to embracing a richer, wiser, happier lifestyle. Just go into your podcast app and type in We Study Billionaires to find our collection of shows. We Study Billionaires is our flagship podcast, and we've made a name for ourselves over the years by interviewing the best investors in the world, including Ray Dalio, Howard Marks, Joel Greenblatt, and many, many more.

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41:40That's theinvestorspodcast.com slash tip-finance. All right, back to the show. Often when I talk with financial experts about personal finance, I like to get their opinion on a hotly debated question, and that is, should someone start investing or paying off debt first? And I've asked this of quite a few guests. And the reason I do that is because I like to hear different viewpoints. I think it's great for the audience to hear your opinion on it and other guests' opinions, but also more so than just whether it's invest or pay off debt, also your explanation. I think sometimes somebody explains it in a certain way that really clicks with people.

42:22So do you think that someone should start investing or paying off debt first? And does it matter what type of debt we're talking about? Does that change your answer? Yeah. So I think you can do both. And I'll go back to some of the things that I've already pointed out that the first thing that one must always do, and this is Fidelity's point of view, is that if you have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, make sure you take advantage of that and make sure that you contribute enough to get your match. That is free money left on the table. And we've seen even over the past 20 years and beyond the rate of return in the stock market, you know, is often much higher than the interest rate attached to any debt you have.

43:07And we always want to make sure that people start soon, they take advantage of compounding and don't work until they're 125 years old. So the first tip always when it comes to investing is make sure you take advantage of that. And on that same note, if you have a 401k, if you have a 403b, if you have a retirement plan through your employer, you are an investor. Often we find like a huge like gap in what people consider themselves to be an investor or not. But if they do have that, you are an investor. So congratulations, because sometimes people don't actually realize that by doing that, you know, you're investing in your retirement and you're not just saving for your retirement.

43:40So I think that's really important to pay out, to point out. The second thing we go to in terms of kind of hierarchy and goes in your question, which debt you should pay off first, we always recommend really try to tackle those higher interest debts that you have and really start with something like your credit card debt. Credit card debt is directly tied to your credit score. Your credit score is something that can help you do different things in your life, whether that is renting an apartment one day. I didn't have a credit score coming out of school. I had to have my father co-sign on my first apartment.

44:12getting a mortgage one day, a better loan. So it's very important to maintain a high credit score because that can help you later in life. Often too, with your credit card debt, remember nothing makes your debt grow quicker than interest. You know, you can't get tax breaks on that. And it can grow very high because often that is at a higher interest rate than some other loans. And then after that, we actually urge everyone to take a look at their student debt payments. And again, focusing on the interest rate, tackle the student loan debt with the higher interest payments first. Typically, those tend to be your private student loans, typically not always.

44:46So, make sure you take a look at that. And then before you tackle some of those lower interest loans, whether that is a federal loan against your student debt or possibly a mortgage with a very low rate, I know any homeowner out there, we recently refinanced, rates are just very, very low right now. We've actually seen that you can actually get more out of your money by investing than just plowing your way through debt. Now, the reason, and Robert, you probably heard this with other guests is that debt has a very negative, like you feel emotions, right? You know, you get very upset about it. It has very heavy emotions to it.

45:17And that's why often people are like, oh, I'm just going to plow my way through debt, just get it over with because like, it's stressful. It doesn't feel good to carry debt. But in reality, if you have very low interest rate on your debt, and you have the opportunity to put a little bit more towards your 401k or put a little bit more in your stock market over time, we've mapped out this data, you can actually get more for your money doing that. But when it comes to that, it really does have to be a personal decision. But I just hope people see that there is a way for you to do both. And we really hope that people do.

45:47So you mentioned that credit scores are very important. And I agree with that 100%. And I want to take that idea and kind of combine it with what we talked about earlier of how people are learning from various different alternative sources, whether it be social media, podcast, whatever it might be. And the way I want to do that is how do we know who we can trust online for financial education? If everybody is putting things out there, you mentioned that there might be a TikToker who just starts, who doesn't really know what they're talking about. How do we know who we can trust? And the reason I thought of this is because you said that credit scores are very important, which I agree with.

46:26But then there's somebody like say Dave Ramsey, who says that credit scores, no matter at all, he says you shouldn't even have one. He says it should be zero. When you pull your credit report, it shouldn't even exist. And I understand where he's coming from. I spent a lot of time studying Dave and I don't think he's necessarily somebody you have to be worried of following, but how do we know what is the right financial education, financial information out there, who we can trust? And then why do you think you're different in terms of your opinion on credit scores than maybe Dave is? I think at the end of the day, what works for some people in terms of financial guidance might not work for everyone.

47:03And so I think that's really important to note. And there's a lot of financial influencers and just individuals in general who say some things that might not be consistent with Fidelity's point of view, but say other things that make a lot of sense. Starting small, bucketing the way you're thinking about your money, for example, these are things. But in Fidelity's point of view, we do see the importance of building good credit and more importantly, just building strong habits so that you're never getting yourself into trouble when it comes to credit card debt. We feel like building those strong money habits that encompasses so much more than just paying off your credit card, for example.

47:43We really feel like building those good money habits that expand beyond that is one of the most important things. And when you say who you can trust, the first place I do look to is financial services companies. It is our job. as well as we have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure we are giving our customers the best advice possible. We don't necessarily make recommendations unless we know everything there is to know about a customer. So I do think that infidelity is one example. Financial services companies have the best interest of their customers in mind. And I think the other thing, too, is even though maybe your parents or your family members or individuals in your communities, maybe they don't know it all.

48:32I still do think they can be trusted to give you the best advice they can or they're able to do so. You know, at the end of the day, and I'll just say parents, for example, my parents always had my best interests in mind. And so although maybe they couldn't give me the best advice per se, because they too were someone who said, hey, I never get a credit card. I always put everything on your debit card and then came back. I was like, well, what do I do now, parents, when I can't even get an apartment? They always did have my best interest in mind. So I could trust that. So I think that's helpful.

49:03But if I were, you know, individuals who were kind of looking to discard starting out and maybe they, you know, didn't want to talk to family members or friends, I would honestly start with whoever my plan sponsor is. If you have access to a 401k through work, like go to them first, talk to them. That's a really good first step, especially in terms of your finances, if you don't just want to Google. And companies like Fidelity, you know, really do have individuals best interest at heart. And, you know, you asked the question, why us? I always, to this day, see one of our main competitive advantages.

49:32One of the things I'm most proud of as a company is that we can really support you throughout the course of your lifetime. I'm focused on someone who's young, who's just starting out. we can help you if you're having your first kid. We can help you if you want to buy a home. We can help you through retirement and through any health-related issues. So I think that because we can help you through the course of your lifetime, that is one of the best reasons I feel like it is to work with us and why I'm most proud to work at a company like this. You mentioned that you guys are fiduciaries. For those who have heard that term and just don't know what it is, they just always hear it and they just kind of go with it and never question it or or have never heard it before, what exactly is a fiduciary?

50:10When I say fiduciary, how I best describe it or how I best think of it is an individual or an organization that puts the interest of someone else, in our case, our clients, ahead of our own. That would be the easiest and best way that I describe it. And we literally have a legal obligation to do that. It's something that we would do regardless of that, but that is how I would describe what a fiduciary is. Yeah. I was going to say that legal piece is the really important part because people could say they'll do that, right? But if they don't have the fiduciary duty, if they don't have that legal piece, then they could say that, but it doesn't mean they actually do.

50:46Whereas somebody who is a fiduciary who claims to be a fiduciary, they have a legal responsibility and they could actually get, I'm not sure if sued is the right word, but they can get in a lot of trouble for not doing it. Yeah. And I think that sometimes being in a highly regulated industry, maybe we can't say certain things that we'd like or push. But at the same time, I think it's one of the best things because to your point, and I do think that we would do this regardless, but having that legal obligation is definitely something that individuals can trust in. From all your work at Fidelity, talking to all the people you do about money and even managing your own money, what have been some of the biggest things that you've learned?

51:25So I think number one, I know we're talking a lot about younger people and how important it is to get started. I think one of the best things is it's actually never too late to get started. So depending on the age you are listening in on this and you might be, oh man, I haven't started. Again, not too late. Just do something. Get started. As we've already discussed, one of the biggest things is people not taking those first steps or inertial sticking in and just not doing anything because it feels overwhelming. But it is never, ever too late to get started. I didn't invest in the first 401k offer to me coming out of school.

51:55It wasn't until four years later when I started working at Fidelity that I had the opportunity to do so, but I did it. I'm in the game. So I think that's number one. I think number two is that the importance of talking about money and starting to have these conversations. I think that for a while, for one reason or the other, I know we already talked money's taboo. I think that another layer of that is that no one ever wants to feel like dumb or stupid, right? And sometimes when you ask questions about money, you think you're the only person in the room that has that question, when in reality, that's not the case.

52:26So I think that's it. Talk about money, make sure you ask questions. And then I think number three is that it doesn't have to feel as intimidating. I think that you can start small. You don't have to put a lot into the stock market, for example, if you wanted to get started. And there's countless ways that firms like Fidelity and others can help you if you do have questions. Robert Leonard For anyone that's listening to this episode that is interested in hearing more about how you may be able to talk about money with friends, family, parents, spouses, et cetera. I did a really good episode back on episode 87 with Erin Lowry, all about how to talk about money with people.

53:03I used a lot of what was taught in that episode. So if you haven't heard it already, I would highly recommend you go back and check that out. Huge fan of Erin. She's also someone that you can trust. Yeah, she does a really great job. I think that was her third book that was really focused on that as well. I'd recommend reading all the books in her Broke Millennial series as well. Exactly. And Kelly and I actually didn't talk about Erin before the show or plan to talk about her. So these are two totally unbiased opinions. Erin, she's great. And her last book was really good too. If you're looking to find out ways of how to talk about money more easily with people in your lives, definitely check out that episode and check out Erin's book.

53:41Kelly, at the end of each episode, I've created a segment called the action plan where I talk through with guests, a habit or principle that people can apply in their lives, a book that they should go read, and just one action step to take when this podcast is over. Because like you mentioned, a lot of people don't take action on what they're doing. And I wanted this podcast to be different. I wanted this podcast to really push people to actually take action on what they're learning and not just learn it. So the first thing is, which principle or habit do you follow in your own life that has had a big impact on your success?

54:13Whatever you define that success to be, whether it's in your career or with managing your own money, that you don't think enough people do but should? So it's hard to say not enough people do, but I have to say exercising. I know that's not directly related to money. I am a big proponent of your health and wellness. They do go hand in hand. And for me, I do think ensuring that I am healthy and I'm getting exercise in and sound in mind, that translates to the rest of my life. So I don't know if that's what you were looking for, Robert, but I'm a big proponent in that. Get out for a walk, go for a run, do anything to get your heart rate out, clear your mind, because that can help in so many things beyond even your money.

54:53But that's a habit that for me really kind of keeps me sane. And to be honest, I would say contributes to a lot of my success. Yeah. I don't have anything specific that I'm looking for any of these. So I just love to hear, and that's exactly one of the types of things that I'm interested in hearing because I think not enough people necessarily connect the two. Maybe there are people who are focusing on fitness or health, but they're not connecting on how that impacts their career and their money. For me, that's typically how I answer that question too. Fitness is really important to me. So I actually really, really like that answer.

55:25Now for a book for somebody that's listening to consider and maybe go read, what has been the most influential book in your life? So it's funny. In terms of money, I was actually going to bring up Aaron's books before we even talked about it because I think for a lot of people just starting out, They are really great books that do a good job of breaking things down into simple terms so you understand, as well as tackling specific questions that we discussed today. It's very interesting. I'm a huge reader. And putting aside any book having to do with money, I specifically remember the Babysitter's Club as I was growing up as being that thing that really got me into reading from day one.

56:05And how it ties back from money is that the main character of this book series, she started a club where they were making money. They had a treasurer who was my favorite character in the book. Her name was Claudia. And this, I would say, is really an area that got me into reading the most. I'm someone who reads more for pleasure more than anything else. It is something that is a good release for me. So I just wanted to share that, again, a little bit of a personal note versus necessarily the number one book that I would recommend, Improve Your Life, per se. Okay. When this episode is over, before the listener quickly jumps to the next podcast that they want to listen to, what is one action they should take that can help improve their life, career, or business?

56:45Yeah. I think going back to the multiple themes that we discussed today, I challenge each and every one of you who's listening today, aim to have at least one money conversation by the end of the week. Have it with a partner. If you're going to go to dinner and date night, bring it up there. It always helps to have a glass of wine, right? So if you're someone who is maybe still living with your parents, have a conversation with them. And it doesn't have to be even in terms of your own finance. Ask your parents what their plan is for retirement. Maybe bring it up to some of your friends. Recommend this podcast to your friends, for example.

57:17But that would be my challenge to everyone on this call after today. Aim to have at least one money conversation with someone in order to get more comfortable in talking about it. That's a great action item. That's exactly why I do this action plan segment is I want people to have actionable takeaways that they can go and implement in their lives when they're done listening to this, not just consume, consume, consume the education. We talked about a habit or principle to apply in your life, some books to go read, and then that one action step to take when podcast is over. Read the Babysitter's Club series when we get off here, Robert.

57:51Well, I have a long list of probably a hundred plus books that are on my to read list. So I I don't know if those are going to move to the top, but they'll be on there. I always do. Before we give a handoff to where people can find you, I like to wrap up the show by turning the tables and letting the guest ask me a question. What question do you have for me? I like this. So what is your biggest money mistake and how have you learned from that? So I have to preface this by saying I really haven't made any mistakes that have been catastrophic. And that's not because I'm smart or do anything special or anything like that.

58:29I just happened to start learning about this really, really young before I could really make any big mistakes. So I started at a credit union about, actually, you'll be familiar with the credit union because you're local to me, but DCU, one of the largest credit union in the country. And so before I actually started as a teller, like the day after I graduated high school, and they require you to go through a personal finance training or course for like a week or so. And so I learned that pretty much as soon as I turned 18. So I really didn't have a lot of time to kind of screw things up for myself.

58:59But the one mistake that I did make is that I purchased a car that I probably shouldn't have at the point where I was. I was working like two or three internships and I was making what I thought was a lot of money at the time. And so I purchased a BMW. Thankfully, it was used. It was not a lot of money. It was like$10 ,000 total. So that mistake really wasn't massive, but it was my first car loan. It was probably more than I should have paid for a car. And it did, I don't want to say haunt me, but because of negative equity and how long I held onto the car did hurt my financial future, I guess you could say, for a few years, even after that decision had been made.

59:40Ultimately today it's over with and really wasn't that big of a deal, but that was probably my biggest money mistake so far is buying a car that I probably shouldn't have, especially given my financial position, how old I was, et cetera. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it's funny. We've seen millennials more so than any other generation. They always take it harder. So they always blame themselves for any money mistake versus taking it and making it a learning experience. Yeah. I just take your story and definitely learn from anything you have, but also celebrate your wins, right? Because Robert, I bet you had a lot more money wins than not.

1:00:14So it's very important. Yeah. I like to think so at least. I think you did. For those who have enjoyed this conversation, want to connect with you, learn more either from your own personal resources or the resources that Fidelity are giving out, where is the best place for the audience to go? And if you want to learn from me, definitely follow me on LinkedIn. We are constantly putting out content, telling stories in order to educate and hopefully inspire people in terms of their money. And you can always visit either fidelity.com or download the Fidelity Spire app, two excellent resources for you to check out if you're just looking to get started.

1:00:50I'll be sure to put a link to those different resources in the show notes for anybody that's interested in checking them out. Kelly, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you so much. All right, guys. That's all I had for this week's episode of Millennial Investing. I'll see you again next week.

1:01:16Bitcoin. And every Saturday, we study billionaires and the financial markets. To access our show notes, transcripts or courses, go to theinvestorspodcast.com. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any decision, consult a professional. This show is copyrighted by the Investors Podcast Network. Written permission must be granted before syndication or rebroadcasting.