In short
Part 2 of “Path to Confidence” for new investors—why you need a financial foundation before investing, and the first step (budgeting) plus how to sustain it with automation, emergency funds, and long-term mindset.
Guests
Evan Ray from At Any Rate (invests “the way you’re supposed to,” per host). Background: mentored by an investor who emphasized having savings/foundation first; Evan says he’s seen better progress than peers who focused on fear/negative retirement narratives.
Key claims
Investing has risks beyond price drops—money can be locked up and become hard/expensive to access when you need it. A foundation (budget + needs/wants/savings) prevents selling investments during setbacks. Confidence comes from long-term S&P 500 history and having emergency/sinking funds outside the market.
Notable examples
Budgeting with “lifting shoes” as a wants category; emergency fund should be accessible and non-fluctuating. Evan invests in VOO (S&P 500) via automation; he cites car tire and $1,000 health expenses as the type of setbacks a foundation helps absorb.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Importance of Financial Foundations
0:00 to 0:20
Learn why establishing a financial foundation is crucial for investors.
“A lot of new investors just want to skip to the fun part and just start talking about stocks and asset classes and investment returns.”
Introducing the Hosts and Guests
1:35 to 2:29
Meet the hosts and the special guest, Evan Ray, and their mission.
“about pro football that doesn't put you to sleep with an avalanche of analytics or insult your fandom with brainless hot takes?”
Understanding Financial Risks
3:15 to 4:56
Explore the risks involved in investing without a financial foundation.
“This is part two of a series where we're talking about your path to confidence as a new investor.”
Finding a Mentor in Investing
5:06 to 6:44
Hear about the significance of having a mentor for financial advice.
“When did you have that moment where you realized I need to build a financial foundation for myself if I want to get good investment returns?”
The Transformation from Mentee to Mentor
6:48 to 8:37
Learn how one becomes a mentor after gaining financial knowledge.
“Cause you know, people will throw out their advice and it's like, okay, whatever dude.”
Setting Up a Budget as the First Step
9:32 to 11:08
Understand how to create a budget as a foundational step in finance.
“Like you alluded to, it's not like the easiest thing, but it's worth it.”
Breaking Down Recurring Financial Decisions
11:10 to 14:03
Discover how to analyze your spending and categorize expenses.
“Are we talking like pull up your bank account and just a piece of paper and a pen or what you're talking about here?”
Understanding Needs vs. Wants in Budgeting
14:03 to 18:21
Learn the importance of distinguishing between needs and wants in your budget.
“I think that to do it the right way, and by right way, I don't mean, I never mean that everything needs to be broken down to the dollar.”
Sponsor: Found
18:21 to 19:25
Discover a bookkeeping solution for business owners with Found.
“you know got all these expenses to track and everything and it's hard to have visibility on these things.”
Overcoming Initial Financial Obstacles
19:25 to 23:49
Explore the common challenges faced when starting to budget and invest.
“Found does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice.”
Show all 21 chapters
Maintaining Balance in Financial Goals
23:49 to 28:00
Find out how to create a sustainable budget while enjoying life.
“But it kind of said that like laziness or procrastination is like your mind focusing on all the negative parts.”
Establishing a Sustainable Budget
28:00 to 30:20
Learn how to create a balanced budget that allows for saving and spending.
“How can I continue doing this and kind of enjoy that path?”
The Power of Automated Investments
30:20 to 33:00
Discover the benefits of automating your investments for consistent growth.
“I'm sure maybe you could invent it, but your Tesla will start just blaring the horn until you sit in it and then it will drive you to your gym.”
Building Confidence in Investing
33:00 to 35:20
Understand how historical performance and personal security boost investment confidence.
“And then you can go do what you need or want with it after that.”
Preparing for Financial Setbacks
35:20 to 38:20
Learn strategies for managing setbacks through emergency funds and mindset.
“To deal with setbacks in more of a mental capacity, the biggest thing for me is kind of what I mentioned before, which is just focusing on the future in the long run.”
Strategies for Catching Up Financially
38:20 to 42:00
Explore effective methods to recover from financial setbacks and rebuild savings.
“It's like, we're all going to get setbacks, but if you keep on keeping on, you're going to do great.”
Building Confidence as an Investor
42:01 to 44:11
Learn how a strong financial foundation can improve investment outcomes.
“The whole having to change your lifestyle for the long term, that could be a whole other episode.”
The Excitement of Long-Term Success
44:11 to 46:48
Explore the balance between short-term enjoyment and long-term financial success.
“I like how you put it in air quotes because that's literally the definition of a better investor.”
Overcoming Emotional Barriers in Investing
46:48 to 50:36
Discover how to navigate the fear and pressure of investment decisions.
“And so I can still leave enough for myself now to have a successful or enjoyable short term and kind of having both sides of that really excites me.”
Taking Steps Toward Financial Progress
50:36 to 51:40
Understand the importance of making progress in personal finance now.
“future, but some life that you can be happy living.”
Taking Steps Toward Financial Progress
52:40 to 53:25
Understand the importance of making progress in personal finance now.
“People say building long-term wealth is complicated, but Betterment is the trusted automated investing and savings app that makes it simple.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Evan Raidt:A lot of new investors just want to skip to the fun part and just start talking about stocks and asset classes and investment returns. But we have to step back and really think about your finances and building a foundation. Because if you don't do that, it's going to be very hard for you to behave in a way where you get optimal returns in the future. Without further ado, let's get going. There's a huge misconception that to start a business, you need to invent some revolutionary product. But the truth is, you really don't. Some of the best businesses start as a simple side hustle, like selling a craft you make on the weekends or turning a hobby into extra cash.
0:35Evan Raidt:For a lot of people, the real hurdle isn't the idea. It's the technology. Figuring out how to actually sell online is where a lot of folks just give up. That's exactly why you need Shopify. Shopify is the e-commerce platform responsible for millions of sales worldwide. that handles all facets of your business, your online storefront, your inventory management, and your point of sale. So you don't have to juggle 10 different systems. One platform is all you need. You also don't need to be a tech expert. Shopify templates and AI tools get you a stunning site up and running fast, no coding needed.
1:11Evan Raidt:And because Shopify handles the setup and checkout, you have more time to focus on actually growing your business. If you're ready to hear the of your first sale today, head over to shopify.com slash beginners to start your free trial. That's right. Start your free trial at shopify.com slash beginners. That's shopify.com slash beginners.
1:34Andrew Sather:Are you looking for a podcast about pro football that doesn't put you to sleep with an avalanche of analytics or insult your fandom with brainless hot takes? Well, hi. I'm Dan Hanzes. And I'm Mark Sessler. Oh, hi, Mark. And we're the hosts of Heed the Call, the NFL podcast you've been waiting your whole life for. Heed the Call covers every game, every storyline, everything that matters. And we do it all with a touch of mirth. Football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same?
1:59Evan Raidt:Follow and listen to Heed the Call NFL Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
2:04Andrew Sather:You're tuned in to the Investing for Beginners podcast. Investing for Beginners podcast.
2:10Evan Raidt:The show for the long-term investor. We cut through the noise to focus on what works. compounding, discipline, and the conviction to buy wonderful businesses and stick with them. Your path to financial freedom. Start now. Welcome to the Investing for Beginners podcast. I am your host, Andrew Safer, and I have a special guest, somebody you guys might not be familiar with, a little stranger danger action, but I have got Evan Ray from At Any Rate. He is probably the only one on our team who's doing investing the way you're supposed to. So that's a big plus for us. And he's a very civilized guy. And so he definitely raises the level of our team in that way.
2:58Evan Raidt:So it's great to have you, Evan. Thanks for joining us.
3:01Andrew Sather:Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Today, there will be, I don't know, maybe a lot less cussing, a lot less sailor talk, very civilized, well-behaved, and we'll make good decisions.
3:10Evan Raidt:Okay, let's really try to do that last part. The financial foundation. This is part two of a series where we're talking about your path to confidence as a new investor. And even if you're an investor who's just kind of skinned their knee and needs to go back to the basics. Why is having a financial foundation so important before you start investing a lot of money?
3:37Andrew Sather:The biggest reason is that any level of investing is it's going to have a risk. And we're not just talking about risk of, okay, well, I invested in this given stock and that stock has gone down. That's the kind of risk that we all inherently initially think of. But there's also risk in the fact that your money is somewhere else that you just don't have immediate access to it. That's what pretty much all investing. It's an inherent part of pretty much all investing. Your money is locked up somewhere because somebody wants access to your money to help them. And through that process, they need basically exclusive access to it for the time being.
4:11Andrew Sather:That's just the kind of trade-off you're taking to earn a return on your money. So to go through that process, it's never going to be always accessible to you. And if you don't have a financial foundation behind you, then you can start investing. Your money can be growing. You seem all happy. And then the second you need it, well, your money is locked up somewhere and you're either going to have to wait for it. You're going to have to pay fees for it. You're going to have to pay sudden taxes for taking it out, whatever it is. And that money is not, it's not going to be a simple one-to-one easy transition to go handle some other financial situation that's going on and pulling it out of your current investments.
4:42Andrew Sather:Having a foundation behind you allows you to handle whatever the heck is going on elsewhere while still having that money and continuing to grow and not be touched and not be messed with. And so you can kind of handle both ends of the scenario, both the short term and the long term. Whereas if you don't have a foundation and you just dive straight into investing, you're only going to really benefit in the long run and you're going to be holding risk the whole time in the short run.
5:05Evan Raidt:Yeah, I mean, it totally makes sense. When did you have that moment where you realized I need to build a financial foundation for myself if I want to get good investment returns?
5:17Andrew Sather:For me, it was, thankfully, it wasn't something that I personally had to realize too much. And that was because I had, uh, I've spoken about it before on the show a bit, but I had a mentor, um, starting maybe a year or so, uh, into my first job after college graduation who was into investing himself, but he wasn't into investing the right way. He, he had savings behind him and he made sure that he wasn't, he wasn't throwing all of his money or all of his savings into investments or anything. He was doing it the right way. And so through talking to him, I learned a bit about setting a foundation behind you.
5:49Andrew Sather:He didn't give me any specific figures of like, well, you know, it's good to save X percent or I save X percent behind it. Or, you know, I have this size of an emergency fund for this amount of time or whatever. He never really broke it down that precisely. But he gave me the mentality of if you want to invest, you better have a foundation behind you elsewhere because that's what I do. And that's the right way to do it. if I had been mentored by somebody who was like, dude, stocks are going to get you rich as heck and crypto is the next big thing and go put your money in everything else because that'll make you rich in five years, then I might not be in the same.
6:23Andrew Sather:I certainly would not be in the same place right now. But by having somebody who taught me that content, then I could start learning from there in that direction and figuring out what works for me and building my own foundation. but it was all from, from building that mentality up front and learning about that mentality. And if I hadn't had that, I would have, I would have been set back a lot.
6:48Evan Raidt:Do you remember what about the way he invested or thought about finances was attractive to you? Cause you know, people will throw out their advice and it's like, okay, whatever dude. But do you remember what made you pay attention to this particular advice and be like, you know what, this is maybe something I want to look into.
7:08Andrew Sather:Yeah, what made me pay attention to it was that he was somebody who was making good financial progress. He wasn't extremely wealthy by any means, but I could clearly see that he was, if I'm being kind of frank, doing a lot better than a lot of other people around me in that same job in the same or similar positions. he very clearly he wasn't flaunting his money again by any means but he was comfortably making a ton of progress while i was simultaneously hearing other people say oh you know i'm gonna have to work for x more years past retirement or i don't know how i'm ever going to retire or i'll never be able to afford to move or you know my kids are spending all my money those are the kinds of again different mentalities and frameworks for financial frameworks that people build and when you hear, again, not to put anybody down too much, but when you hear the wrong framework and mentality, then it feels very limiting.
8:03Andrew Sather:And it also feels like focusing on the negatives. And it feels like, I guarantee you, there are things you could have done in your position, you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago that would have put you in a different position than you are now versus hearing somebody who has made good progress and done the right things. And you're like, well, crap, I want to be that person or some version of that person. and that really motivated me to try and learn what he was doing and not replicate it by any means but head in that same direction it's just very motivating to hear somebody heading in the right direction and feeling positive about the decisions they've made and i wanted to feel positive about my decisions as well and not feel like i'm still limited you know 15 20 years in
8:46Evan Raidt:the future so you know that the ironic thing about that is now you are that mentor like we probably don't talk about your life enough but like your travels and you know the cool things you've been doing is inspiring for a lot of people as well um so it's funny how the mentee
9:05Andrew Sather:has become the mentor yeah that's i mean that that by itself feels like an incredible blessing because i mean you know i don't i know that i'm not a perfect person nobody is um but it's you It takes time and effort to build something good or at least build something in the right direction in positive progress. So it's very, I don't know, I feel very happy and privileged to be able to head in that direction and help other people take that direction as well.
9:30Evan Raidt:Yeah, that's fantastic. So let's maybe get to that first step. Like you alluded to, it's not like the easiest thing, but it's worth it. What is this first step to building a solid financial foundation?
9:43Andrew Sather:I think the first step, and it's definitely going to sound very obvious to anybody who listens to AR on a regular basis at all, is setting up a budget. You need to know what the heck money you're making, where the heck it's going, what you're saving, what you're spending, what you don't need to be spending, but you decide to spend. You just need to know what the heck is happening. And it's not about sitting down and immediately hitting some perfect golden ratio of everything or immediately you're only spending 5 % of your income. That is not the expectation whatsoever. It does not matter how bad or good the budget is once it's laid out.
10:18Andrew Sather:It just needs to be as accurate as you can reasonably make it, and it needs to be honest with yourself. Once you sit down and you look at it, you will, first off, I feel like you'll probably get an intuitive sense of what is sort of outsized in there, what is larger than it needs to be, or what is relatively small and could probably be larger and kind of fit within everything. and then past that of course you can kind of maybe follow some frameworks like a 50 30 20 or something and try and aim towards some goal of ratios for yourself but the very first step is just write it down set up a budget set up your your needs your wants and your savings and just be honest with yourself and put everything into those buckets as as they fit from there again you can tweak it but just first step put it down into those buckets and and that'll be the the jump start for everything past that.
11:09Yeah.
11:10Evan Raidt:Are we talking like pull up your bank account and just a piece of paper and a pen or what you're talking about here?
11:17Andrew Sather:There's infinite ways you could do it. I would say that the easiest way personally would be choose first choose either a piece of paper or something like a Google sheet, nothing fancy, just one of those two options. Then go through your different accounts, you know, your checking account, savings account, retirement accounts. If you have an investment account or other savings accounts, like a high yield savings account or something like that, anywhere where your money is regularly going, I'm not talking about money that you earned an inheritance and it's been sitting in an account somewhere. We don't need to worry about that at the moment.
11:49Andrew Sather:We're just worried about recurring financial decisions, so where your money is regularly going, and go through those and try and break it down a bit. So, for example, if you have a couple of retirement accounts, you have a 401k and a Roth IRA, okay, we'll write down in the savings column or savings slash investments column how much on a regular basis is going into those on a monthly basis, for example. And then go through your checking account, which will be definitely probably the most complex one because you're just paying for a lot of random crap through there. Go through it and maybe go back two or three months or so.
12:19Andrew Sather:It'll maybe take you, you know, 30 minutes to an hour to do it, which will suck, but it'll, that relatively small time investment will easily be worth it. Go through there two or three months of history and just kind of break down approximately how much you're usually spending on food, how much you're spending on travel, how much you're spending on random, you know, knickknacks. That's just discretionary random spending. That's definitely okay to have just approximate how much that's been, um, how much you have to spend on your utilities and just everything you're able to break down. put it into the necessary buckets of whether you need it so you couldn't really live without having this or you'd have to go through a lot of trouble to scale this down your wants which is like the knickknacks and travel things that you could definitely live without and cancel it right now and be okay and then your savings investment somewhere you're putting the money for it to live for a a significant period of time i'd say at least like two or three years minimum and hopefully all that money is growing elsewhere um but yeah go through that process of of each account and breaking down where it goes.
13:21Evan Raidt:Where do you buy paper? Is that still sold?
13:24Andrew Sather:I believe Amazon. I don't think there's probably a single brick and mortar store where you could buy something like that. I think that's just Amazon Prime.
13:36Andrew Sather:At least as far as I know.
13:39Evan Raidt:That's funny. Are there things that you think, when you say needs, I start thinking like, like my iPhone lifting shoes. Like, do you think it's important to kind of be honest about some of those? Or if we're just getting started, is it okay to just be approximate?
14:03Andrew Sather:I think that to do it the right way, and by right way, I don't mean, I never mean that everything needs to be broken down to the dollar. I would say a good kind of accuracy to aim for with everything is maybe plus or minus$100 if you're within$100 of what the actual thing is, then that's probably a reasonable thing to aim for. I would say for what bucket stuff like that would go in, be completely honest with yourself up front because I think when people think budget, they immediately think, oh, if my lifting shoes are on there, they're going to have to be gone because I need to be saving money.
14:34Andrew Sather:That is not what the budget has to be. What the budget should be, I think, is those lifting shoes are a want. You didn't need those lifting shoes. You could have continued lifting without them and you could be okay without them. Put them in the wants column, but you will have money to spend on wants and you can still have money to spend on those lifting shoes. And that is completely okay. We just need to be honest with ourselves that they are a want so that we know, okay, if, you know, if I lose my job, if I get laid off right now, how much money do I actually need to live per month? That's when the needs number becomes very useful.
15:07Andrew Sather:Because if you got laid off right now, I really doubt you'd be going out and buying lifting shoes. I mean, if you were, then, you know, kudos to you, but you wouldn't need them. And so you could live without them if you got laid off and lost all your income for the time being. So we just want the needs to be as representative of the word needs necessities as possible. Everything else goes in wants. And again, it's okay to allocate some money to your wants and spend money on wants. That just needs to be a separate part of the budget. So you can be honest with yourself and then start trying to, you know, aim for some ratio of where you want your needs, wants and savings to be.
15:43Evan Raidt:all right last last thing about this first step because i don't want to make the first step feel insurmountable but serious question um let's say you're married or you have a partner right um things like child care like some of some of these wants needs could be debatable maybe like how how important it is to have your significant other in this process is it just going to be different for everybody? I know it's like a not an easy question and maybe it is different for everybody but like what is your take on this?
16:19Andrew Sather:I think that first off these buckets need to be for the couple as a whole. You know each person could be doing their own separate budgeting buckets and that's completely okay but it needs to be fit. Each person needs to be fitting within their own buckets or as the buckets as a whole. It's also very important to communicate along the way and make decisions together on where things go. As for trying to fit the buckets into things, I think that having, you know, the necessities doesn't mean that if you didn't pay it, you would suddenly die. For example, like needs, you know, rent definitely would go under a need.
17:00Andrew Sather:If you couldn't pay your rent this month, that doesn't mean you just suddenly pass away. You know, you have to figure out some other kind of housing, but for without your life to significantly change, it would be a need and things like childcare would go under that same kind of umbrella where sure if you didn't pay childcare that doesn't mean your child is suddenly not okay it just means something else drastic would need to be figured out for them to you know have somewhere to be while you're at work or get an education or whatever um so even though it's not an insurmountable thing to correct for it would take such drastic change in in how you take care of your child that I would think that putting it under needs is perfectly reasonable.
Read the full transcript
17:40Andrew Sather:Because again, we want to avoid some drastic change in your life. We don't want you to get laid off and then suddenly not have saved enough accounting for taking care of your child. They need to be included in there. But maybe going on a vacation with the child or getting the child more than the necessary amount of clothes. If they're growing, there's probably a necessary amount of clothes, but you're not going to be getting them 10 different outfits every time you go shopping if you get laid off. so we want to kind of find a reasonable middle ground of they will need some things but also some things will be over the top um and trying to find that middle ground for you and your
18:14Evan Raidt:partners that is kind of difficult part yeah that's super insightful love it i'm not gonna lie running a small business has been stressful lately swamped in paperwork different state agencies and you know got all these expenses to track and everything and it's hard to have visibility on these things. But I've stumbled on a better solution, kind of like a one-stop shop for my bookkeeping, my expenses, my P &L, my banking, my contractor payments, all of the messy pieces. It's called Found. It's for business owners like you and I. There's over 750 ,000 business owners who've chosen Found, I've chosen Found.
18:54Evan Raidt:It's cool because the interface is clean and all my transactions are auto-categorized. I can pay all my contractors keeping all the 1099s organized on the app. So less headaches and more time to do the things I love. Take back, control your business today. Don't wait. Open a found account at found.com. That's F-O-U-N-D.com. Found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by lead bank member FDIC. Found does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. Optional subscriptions to Found Plus for$35 a month or$315 per year, or Found Pro for$80 a month or$720 a year.
19:38Evan Raidt:There are no monthly account maintenance fees, but other fees such as transactional fees for wires, instant transfers, and ATM apply. Read Found Fee Schedule.
19:48Andrew Sather:September is World Alzheimer's Month, But most people never check their brain health until something's feeling off or wrong way down the road. I wanted to stop waiting and look at my own data ahead of time. I highly prioritize long-term cognitive health. I mean, you can feel everything going right in your body. But if you've already set yourself down a road mentally that you don't even realize you're on, it can be difficult or impossible to recover later on. And I wanted to know whether it's just a bad mental foggy day or if it's a sign of something for the future. Your focus and mental health leave a data trail in your body and function tracks it.
20:20Andrew Sather:Did you know that these core biomarkers are tied to brain health? Omega-3 index fuels brain cell membranes and is tied to focus and cognitive performance. Function actually helped me find out I was deficient in this. Homocysteine, when high, it can be linked to brain fog and cognitive decline risk. Plus, function members can add on brain-related add-on tests like Alzheimer's detection test, blood markers that can flag Alzheimer's risks years before symptoms. We're talking about life-altering signs that, if discovered early, can put your life on a completely different course than you would have otherwise been on.
20:50Andrew Sather:Check your brain and health the way I do. Function provides 160 plus lab tests for$1 a day and member pricing on advanced imaging. Join at functionhealth.com slash beginners and use code beginners25 for a$25 credit.
21:03Evan Raidt:What's the best way to get started in the market? Download my ebook for free at stockmarketpdf.com. Awesome. So we got this first step to building the foundation. Some of it was maybe hinted at, but what do you think, if you go back to your journey, what was your first obstacle in this whole process of building a financial foundation? Did you have an obstacle or was it pretty straightforward?
21:28Andrew Sather:I would say, I mean, kind of a, I'll give a sort of half answer first. The half answer being that I think the obstacle was getting started in the first place. And I'm not trying to be too cliche with that or whatever. It's just genuinely the hardest step of the process is kind of 50, 50 of even knowing that you need to get started. And then the fear of getting started and, you know, well, what am I going to find? Or how much is this going to limit me? Or how much am I going to have to hold back for the rest of my life just to be able to, you know, people, especially people of my age have the mindset of, well, if I start budgeting and preparing for retirement, then that means my life is going to suck now and I'm not going to be able to spend anything now because it's all going to have to be preparing for retirement.
22:08Andrew Sather:I think getting over those mentalities and those speed bumps that happen before you even start the first budget, that is by far the hardest part in my mind. Once you do actually get started, I think that the the biggest obstacle is trying to get yourself to continue doing it. If you, um, again, if you, if you start it and you don't like what you initially saw, um, then it's going to be very difficult for you to stay motivated and want to keep going. Or if you, maybe you start and then you have a few emergencies happen and your emergency phone wasn't fully set up. And then you kind of feel like you're struggling because you're putting money elsewhere and yada, yada.
22:50Andrew Sather:if you just hit those few speed bumps initially then to keep that momentum going is very very difficult um and for me a lot of a lot of getting over those first obstacles was trying to picture my future future life future that that could happen because of it and like i mentioned or alluded to a bit before a lot of that initially immediately was looking at the life of this mentor that I was speaking with. And again, he wasn't some billionaire or whatever that was ultra wealthy, but just looking of like, oh, he can live a good life and he has a great house. He is able to afford his family and his children's care and he still has hobbies.
23:29Andrew Sather:And it all just seems like a good, reasonable, successful life. And trying to picture working towards that motivated me a lot. And that exact kind of thinking is what still motivates me now.
23:42Evan Raidt:I saw a video pop up on my feed on YouTube the other night And obviously YouTube being the primary source for all intelligence and information and knowledge.
23:53Andrew Sather:That's where I learned.
23:55Evan Raidt:But it kind of said that like laziness or procrastination is like your mind focusing on all the negative parts. Like, oh, I have to budget. I have to cut back. I have to have a miserable life. Versus like people who can get past it are focused on exactly what you said. The benefits. What is the payoff? off like how is doing the work gonna result in what i'm looking for so i think that's kind of cool that um you kind of organically had that happen for you yeah i actually absolutely love
24:29Andrew Sather:that framing of it because i think i don't know i love to um to compare situations to others and give metaphors just because i feel like it helps you kind of understand the the breadth of the first conversation so another example for me that comes up a lot with finances because i think it's a similar sort of mentality is exercise and health. And if all you do is focus on the short term or if all you do is focus on the negatives of, well, this isn't going to taste as good or be as satisfying to eat or going to the gym is going to be taking time and, you know, I'd rather just be home doing other things.
25:00Andrew Sather:And we all feel that a million times over and those feelings never, never go away. But what does help is focusing on the effects that it will have. And, you know, Not saying, oh, if you go to the gym, you're going to be absolutely jacked in six months. That's not reasonable and that's not what you should be expecting or picturing or else you're just going to be demotivated six months from now. Instead, focusing on the long-term health benefits of it, the realistic kind of attainable changes and goals that will happen to your body. And again, for me, a lot of it is the effects in the long run. The number of people, if we talk about fitness, that I know who are, you know, 40, 50, 60 years old and struggle to do basic things because they never took care of themselves in their diet or exercise is very motivating for me to not be one of those people.
25:49Andrew Sather:This is kind of specific, but we, my wife and I actually work out at the hospital gym that she works at. that she works at. And because we go there, a lot of the people there are much older because they're probably either current or past patients who kind of got, you know, maybe a discount to go there. We're like, Oh, you know, this gym looks good. And I live nearby, whatever it is. They kind of tend to go there older people. And so I see a lot of people who are, you know, 50, 60 years old, not even incredibly old that are struggling to even, you know, walk at a decent speed on the treadmill. They're clearly like laboring to even do that.
26:25Andrew Sather:But then I also see people who are clearly 70, 80 years old that are still doing free weights, no problem. I mean, they're not doing incredibly high weights, but they're moving, they're doing different positions, they're able to handle everything themselves without a second thought, really. and for me that really really is a visible indicator of hey if i keep up what i'm doing right now again it doesn't mean i'm going to be jacked or jacked out of my mind or whatever but it means that you know 50 years down the line i will be able to move like them and live like life like them and enjoy life like them and so to kind of take it back to finances if you view your future life and realize well if i make the wrong decisions now then when it comes retirement age I still won't be able to afford anything.
27:10Andrew Sather:I will be struggling to be able to travel. I won't be able to retire. If I do, I'm going to have to cut back like crazy for the rest of my life. And who knows how that'll all add up or be sustainable for 20 years. Or if you make some right moves now, you won't be a billionaire, but by the time you reach retirement, maybe you could even retire early, or maybe you can just retire comfortably and have the exact same lifestyle that you had previously, but have even more time to enjoy it. And I don't know that, That potential enjoyable future for much longer is very meaningful to me. Again, while still being able to enjoy it now and not saying, hey, you can't do anything for 40 years to be able to retire.
27:48Andrew Sather:Finding that beautiful middle ground of enjoyment on both sides is perfect.
27:52Evan Raidt:Yeah, let's talk about that beautiful middle ground. So how do we go from like, all right, I'm motivated and I'm ready to do the work to like, okay, how can I make this sustainable? How can I continue doing this and kind of enjoy that path?
28:06Andrew Sather:So I think that trying to set up your budget so that you're not stretching yourself too far in either direction is the first thing. So you're not expecting yourself to save 60 % of your income and hardly spend anything. And you're also not wanting yourself to be able to spend 80 % of your income and hardly save anything. um finding a middle ground that works for you and your income and your kind of expenses and lifestyle is is kind of the first step once you found that middle ground um being able to keep it going forever i think a big part of that is taking the willpower out of it another thing that they our listeners will be very familiar with is automation so if you set up this budget and say you know what i could afford to to spend you know x x amount of uh of my income and that'll Leave me to comfortably save X amount.
28:58Andrew Sather:Go into whatever accounts that applies to and immediately set up an automatic recurring investment or savings to those accounts. Don't give yourself time to second guess it or use willpower to be like, well, I decided to save 200 bucks this month. Oh, today is the day I need to go move$200. Don't do that. Just immediately go to a high-end savings account, for example, log in and say, hey, every month take$200 for my checking and put it in this account. that way you never have to think about it you never even really see that money is available because that's it's gone as soon as it appears especially if it's directly out of a direct deposit or something like that make it so that it just happens on its own that way you know trying to sustain progress or whatever isn't even something you're doing per se it's something the past you did the past you decided what you could sustain made sure everything was as accurate as it reasonably could be and then set it up for your future self um that makes sustaining progress just dead easy pretty much and frankly to compare to exercise a lot easier because i wish you could just automate you know you would you teleport to the gym one day probably you just teleport to the gym at 6 p.m and you better work out because you're going to get teleported back in 45 minutes or something uh i wish it were that easy but with with finances it can be that easy the upfront is just as difficult, but the ongoing can be a lot easier.
30:20I'm sure maybe you could invent it,
30:24Evan Raidt:but your Tesla will start just blaring the horn until you sit in it and then it will drive you to your gym. I'm sure we can program that.
30:33Andrew Sather:Yeah. Until you set a navigation point to the gym. That'd be so good. It'd make it so easier because I still struggle with it every day.
30:41Evan Raidt:so so what about like automating investments you mentioned like automating savings can you speak on like the investment piece yeah for me i mean i think that this can apply to
30:53Andrew Sather:sort of two different kinds of people if you're somebody like me who wants your finances to be easy and straightforward and just make long-term sustainable progress with basically as little effort as possible then automating investments can be super super easy it just basically lands in your brokerage account and your brokerage account knows, hey, every month or every week or whatever it is, take that X amount of money and put it into this given stock. Like for me, I just invest in VOO, just basically in the overall stock market in the S &P 500. And that will happen rain or shine, up or down on the stock market, whatever the heck is happening.
31:29Andrew Sather:It'll get straight invested. I think that's the easiest way to go. And in the long run, it will still earn you a fantastic return. You're not really missing out on a ton. But the second option is if you're somebody like you, for example, that is into stock picking and wants to make decisions with what happens to that money based on the current moment, then it's not going to be quite as straightforward. But I will say that it can still be a big step up to automate that money landing in the brokerage account. It may not get invested into a stock yet, but having it land in the brokerage account guarantees that you will see it eventually and invest it into something eventually.
32:05Andrew Sather:and then basically whenever you you know decide oh you know i this stock looks like a good option let me go into this let me invest into this stock then you already have money available to uh to use for that opportunity or the other option is maybe a portion of it gets automatically invested into a stock that you just want to continue dollar cost averaging into uh ongoing um if it's not a one-time investment so you might have a couple different things going on but the important thing for me is that money is no longer in my checking account. If it's in my brokerage account, then I will do something with it.
32:37Andrew Sather:It'll get, it'll get invested into something, whether it's a new or recurring investment. But if that money stays in my checking account, I am, it's going to, it's going to be near impossible for me to decide one that one morning to be like, you know what? I should pull money out and invest in target. It's just not going to happen. Um, not to mention that you have to wait for it and it's, it's just way too much of a headache. Um, so instead when you set up your budget, just immediately set up the recurring, maybe not investment, but deposit into your brokerage account. And then you can go do what you need or want with it after that.
33:08Evan Raidt:Yeah. Super good point. We kind of touched on this in the first part of the series, but I'm curious your perspective, what makes you confident in investing in like BOO, for example um what gives you that confidence personally for me it's it's sort of twofold one
33:27Andrew Sather:is looking at the past one is looking at the future if we look at the past the s &p has been going for 250 years plus it's been going for a long time and it has seen a lot a lot of turmoil in the u.s and in the world as a whole it has still through all of that returned you know it's its same average investment or return. I mean, it's same average return over a five or 10 year span. So in a given year, I'm not confident in it whatsoever and nobody should be or convince you to be confident in it. But in the long run, you absolutely can be. Then the second half of it is looking forward into the future.
34:05Andrew Sather:I know that if the S &P or VOO in this case were to struggle heavily and, you know, let's say hypothetically not recover after five or 10 years, whatever the heck is happening around me in the U S is already in turmoil or in shambles to some degree. And the money that I have invested in stocks is, is going to be the least of my worries. It doesn't necessarily have to be world war three or something, although it could be. Um, but the, so many other things are happening that that money that I have in investments is just the, like I said, the least of my concerns. I, again, going back to the financial foundation that you have set up, you want to have confidence that even if the stocks are struggling or struggling a lot more than they should be, or usually have been or ever have been in the history of stocks, you have money elsewhere that is there to protect you in this case.
34:56Andrew Sather:Things like emergency funds, just sinking funds, sitting around, you know, whatever money, money sitting elsewhere that isn't going through the turmoil that the stock market is going through. that also gives me much more confidence that whatever happens with stocks that that is not the that is basically the least important part of my money for the time being it's not the least important in the long run but for the time being with whatever the heck is happening in the world or the u.s that is the least important part of my money and so if it's struggling then that is okay
35:26Evan Raidt:yeah makes sense all right cool so we've got a good we've got a good plan we've got a good path um inevitably something's gonna come up something's gonna rise we're gonna hit a setback do you have ideas for getting ahead of setbacks or preparing for them and what are your thoughts around doing that yeah definitely the the first step to setbacks is
35:51Andrew Sather:sort of the obvious one and it's the biggest thing you can do which is having an emergency fund of some kind have money set aside that is completely accessible to you with basically a minimal delay and isn't going to be the biggest thing to me is isn't going to be fluctuating at all basically it can be growing and that's that's what it should be doing um but if that money is fluctuating because it's in stocks or it's in crypto or you know real estate or something like that then in my mind it's not an emergency fund because if an emergency happens and the you know the market happens to be down right then as well then now you're just getting hit twice basically we want to make sure that that money is somewhere accessible and again not fluctuating only going up.
36:32Andrew Sather:That's the first biggest thing. So if a setback happens, if a financial setback happens, you have money set aside to either pay for that emergency or if it's something like a loss or decrease of income or something, something that can sustain you for a while until you get back to normal and back to your expected income, just something to sustain you for the time being. To deal with setbacks in more of a mental capacity, the biggest thing for me is kind of what I mentioned before, which is just focusing on the future in the long run. So even if, let's say, let's just use the example of a decrease in income, the budget's going to have to shift and you're probably not going to be able to save what you saved before.
37:11Andrew Sather:As long as you adjust for that properly and don't overextend yourself anywhere and scale things back as needed, but you'll probably have to scale back your savings and that's okay. That can all be okay in the long run. That's just a short-term setback for you, and you will make it up in the long run. The important thing is that you adjust for it and don't overextend yourself in any way, because there's far too many people that end up in bad situations from setbacks, not just because of the setback, obviously that's the root cause of it, but because they don't handle it properly. They overextend themselves.
37:44Andrew Sather:They maybe continue to keep their expenses exactly where they were before and continue to spend willy-nilly on whatever wants they want for the time being as they did before the setback and suddenly that setback becomes like a negative drain for them. If instead that setback is only slowing down your positive progress, then that is a very different situation and is much more acceptable for you. The important thing is that you continue heading in the right direction, even if it changes the pace of heading in that direction. So yeah, always focus on long run and focus on doing the right things that you're able to now.
38:20Evan Raidt:Yeah, I love that. And I love having the right mentality. It's like, we're all going to get setbacks, but if you keep on keeping on, you're going to do great. What if you feel like you're really behind and you need to catch up? Are there ways you can do that? And what are your mindset thoughts around doing that specifically?
38:40Andrew Sather:Yeah, I think catching up, there's a good chance it's going to have to happen eventually. And to kind of frame catching up, and from my point of view, we might be talking about a big drain on your emergency fund out of nowhere, a bunch of car issues, and you have to spend thousands on the car out of nowhere, and it drains a lot of your emergency fund. It's important to build that back up, but that money isn't just going to come for free out of nowhere. You're probably going to have to cut back somewhere else to feed back into that emergency fund. and in a lot of cases that might require you to cut back on your wants for a while that's kind of the easiest place to cut I think the best place to cut even before your savings or investments cut back your wants as far as you're reasonably able to and then any excess that you still need to cut then you could start maybe slowing down your Roth IRA for a while to recoup your emergency fund whatever it might be kind of play with those with those numbers in that order to do that I'm somebody that doesn't expect to be able to catch up for a long time.
39:38Andrew Sather:I mean, as you can see, a big focus of mine is the mentality of everything and being long-term and sustainable about things. And I know that for myself and for frankly, most people out there, it is not reasonable to tell yourself, okay, I need to catch up on my emergency fund. I will just change my lifestyle for 12 months. That is not realistic. You are going to get tired of that changed lifestyle after a while, and you're going to either bounce back exactly where you were before, or you might even say, oh, you know, I put off buying all these things while I was trying to catch up. Now I need to bounce back like crazy and I need to buy all those things I've been waiting on.
40:14Andrew Sather:And suddenly you bounce back even harder than you were before just to make up for the time that you feel like you missed. So for me, I need to set a reasonable catch up period. So for me, that could be maybe three to four months or so, something around that time frame where I know I could hold myself back for three to four months on spending elsewhere, even pretty significantly to catch up on whatever I need to catch up on. But if it's any longer than that, again, I'm going to feel like I'm just, I'm holding back myself too much and it's going to be very hard mentally to do. And it can easily cause me to slip up and make even worse mistakes.
40:48Andrew Sather:So I need to set a timeframe that's reasonable for myself. If it needs to be longer than that, a longer catch up because you need to save even more money, then it's going to require a change in lifestyle of some kind. I would see it that way, not just as a short-term catch-up, but as a sort of a temporary change in lifestyle. And that's going to require you to completely redo the budget. I would say for a short-term catch-up, you might not even need to redo the budget. Just know, okay, 200 bucks a month, let's go figure that out from somewhere. If it's a change in lifestyle, go redo the budget, restructure the budget as you need.
41:21Andrew Sather:And the important thing is to now go redo all of those automations elsewhere. in addition to adding whatever catch-up this needs to be as an automation. I think that's very, very important. So if it needs to be a catch-up in an emergency fund, then don't expect yourself to remember to put money in there because otherwise it's going to reach you in the bunch and you're going to say, well, I plan to do$250, but it'd be a lot easier if I only did$150. Let me just go ahead and do$150, and then now you're going to put it off, and who knows if you'll ever build it up to where it was before. Set up an automation for yourself so that it's automatically moving back into that bucket where the catch-up needs to happen.
41:55Andrew Sather:And don't depend on your willpower to make everything happen for you. Yeah.
42:01Evan Raidt:Love that answer. The whole having to change your lifestyle for the long term, that could be a whole other episode. That makes it really tough. But I like the idea of that framework of there are different types of setbacks and there are different ways to approach them. So definitely appreciate that. Let's look back at your journey so far. How has having your own financial foundation helped you become a better investor?
42:27Andrew Sather:I would say that I'd hate to frame myself as a better investor because how I invest is so straightforward and no questions asked. but what I would say is that I am you could frame me as a much better investor than somebody in my exact same financial situation who doesn't have a good foundation because I have been able to invest so much more than somebody else with a poor foundation reason being that there are obviously times when I've had setbacks when I've had you know replace all four tires on my car or there's a health expense that's suddenly over a thousand bucks or whatever. These kinds of financial setbacks for somebody who doesn't have a foundation behind them could easily cause them to have to even pull from investments or go into debt to pay for them and use a credit card to pay for it.
43:18Andrew Sather:They can't pay off and now they're paying interest on it, yada, yada. All those medium-sized emergencies that have happened over time to me, if I didn't have a foundation to back me up, would have either affected the investments directly or affected the investments indirectly because they're affecting the rest of my finances even more than they should have. You know, that$1 ,000 expense wasn't$1 ,000, but it was actually$1 ,300 because I had to pay a bunch of interest on it. And if that happens, you know, a handful of times, then suddenly everything's stacking up like crazy. And with compound interest, that also works in the reverse.
43:51Andrew Sather:So now you're compounding the amount of money that you missed out on. And so I am a quote unquote, much better investor because I was able to continue piling as much, money as possible into those places while giving myself a cushion and a fallback and a safe place to handle everything else that happens underneath it without having to mess with the investments too much, if at all.
44:13Evan Raidt:I like how you put it in air quotes because that's literally the definition of a better investor. A much bigger pile.
44:19Andrew Sather:I get it. When I think of better investor, I think of, oh, well, you know, I made a better, you know, stock pick decision and now I'm earning more than you. That's my inherent. But if we talk about just portfolio size and success over the long run, then yeah, I think that's fair.
44:35Evan Raidt:That's really what it's all about. I'm sure I've used this example in the past, but if you were investing a dollar, even if you were Warren Buffett, you were able to make like 25 % a year, the 25 cents a year that is compounding is not going to change your life. So you do have to have that money that's in there. And oftentimes for most people, it's more about how much they put in than actually what they do with it. As long as they're doing something reasonable, like a diversified index fund and things like that. So yeah, you are hitting it out of the park in all of those ways. What kind of excites you about building an investment portfolio, being like this confident investor who you know you're able to deal with setbacks you're able to keep focus on the long term and it's not feeling like a crisis when things happen so what most excites you about all of that
45:34Andrew Sather:i think i would go back to the uh the long-term success and financial safety and financial freedom that that i kind of mentioned before so the idea of of reaching 30 40 50 years old 50 60 years old and still being able to live a good life and not have to hold back much or even hold back a lot less than I do now, potentially, depending on how compounding goes or whatever. That is a very, very exciting thing for me. And sometimes when I hear myself say that, it sounds like I'm somebody who, you know, wants to, you know, grind away right now. So just for a good retirement or just to retire at 32 years old or whatever.
46:16Andrew Sather:But that's that's really not me. I guess it's a combination of that long-term success and safety while still having a good enough balance to live pretty much the life that I want to live now within reason. And that's all about, again, building that budget, balancing everything, setting things up for myself so that I know that because of compounding and because of long-term growth, I don't have to pile all my money away into investments to have that successful long-term. And so I can still leave enough for myself now to have a successful or enjoyable short term and kind of having both sides of that really excites me.
46:58Andrew Sather:It feels like being able to live life to its fullest at any age, at any time period, instead of leaning so hard in one direction or the other that it's either YOLO and I just enjoy it now. and 30s, 40s, and 50s are going to be a struggle to pay everything off. And it's also not a balance of, well, I'm going to have a rinky-dink car now and find the cheapest place I can possibly rent in the area now just so I can finally start enjoying life at 35 or 40. Finding a middle ground to enjoy life the whole time through, I think, is kind of the option that everybody would want. And I think it's a lot more accessible to a lot of people than people assume because they kind of see, you know, on social media or whatever, the extremes of one way or another that either you need to be saving everything or you need to be spending everything and there's a lot more to enjoy in the middle ground than i think that people initially assume yeah love that so there might be a beginner out there who's likes everything they hear like sounds like it makes sense but they're like this doesn't apply
48:00Evan Raidt:to me you know i have a different situation or you know i just don't have that same confidence you have or I just don't have that same fill in the blank. What's one thing you hope a beginner who's struggling right now can take away from your journey and everything you've shared with us today?
48:17Andrew Sather:I think that the biggest thing for me is that, again, to go back to what I touched on with social media and just everything online that we see, again, they always show you extremes. They show you somebody who is flying first class when they're 24 years old and they show you somebody who was able to retire and, you know, live a nomad life when they're 36 years old. They only show you the extremes of everything. There's a lot more in between. And also there's a lot more, um, long-term success than you think by just making progress now. And again, I think people assume when we talk about investing, we talk about saving or having a budget.
48:58Andrew Sather:It's everything is going to be scraping by or pushing as hard as possible to save as much as humanly possible. And that just isn't what we're talking about whatsoever. The, the kind of lifestyle that you might want to avoid getting stuck into requires you to not start making progress. Now it requires you to just not head anywhere or not really make any sound decisions for quite a long time. And then you'll be stuck in a place or life that you're afraid of getting stuck into. The reality is if you just start taking steps now and just start making progress right now, I guarantee you're not going to get stuck into a life that you don't want to be stuck into.
49:37Andrew Sather:Just that, that is basically the facts of the situation. Unless you, you make a very, very little amount of money or have a crazy, crazy high amount of expenses elsewhere, the vast majority of people would be able to avoid the life that they don't want to get stuck into. Because I think that fear motivates all of us, not only the excitement of living a good life or traveling or whatever, but also the fear of not living a good life and not being able to travel or whatever. That fear motivates us. And again, if all you do is just start making progress today, start taking the right steps today, start setting up a basic budget for yourself, start automating things going in some places.
50:13Andrew Sather:I'm not going to tell you exactly where they need to go or whatever, but they're just going somewhere and growing somewhere other than in your checking account. I don't even really care too much what that amount of money is, as long as it's a reasonable amount of money for you and your financial situation, just by taking those steps that will take you maybe a couple hours in a single day, you will avoid all of that fear of your future life that you're scared of and turn it into, again, not necessarily some billionaire future, but some life that you can be happy living. Cause I guarantee you, you can be happy without being a billionaire.
50:47Evan Raidt:And that's so well said. Um, and, and you, you consistently, every week kind of lay out different ways to put that puzzle together for people. So if you haven't listened to AAR episodes because you feel like, oh, I'm just picking stocks, check out those AAR episodes because again, the benefits to having that personal finance foundation that continues to grow, that lever can, for a lot of people do way more than even picking the next Amazon or whatever, fill in your favorite stock. So Evan, thanks so much for joining us on this side of the podcast. With that, go out there, keep learning, keep growing, keep building your wealth and invest with a margin of safety, emphasis on the safety.
51:40Evan Raidt:Peace.
51:46Evan Raidt:you've been listening to the investing for beginners podcast all show notes can be found on our website at e investing for beginners.com to master the basics of stocks in seven days sign up for our free email series at e investing for beginners.com slash newsletter Until next time, have a wonderful day.
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From the publisher
Beginner investors want to skip straight to the exciting part—picking stocks, chasing crypto gains, and dreaming of 100% returns. But diving into the market without a rock-solid financial foundation underneath you is a guaranteed recipe for panic-selling at the worst possible moment. In Part 2 of the "Path to Confidence" series, Andrew Sather sits down with Evan Raidt (At Any Rate) to break down why liquidity risk destroys unhedged portfolios, how to automate your cash flow to eliminate willpower, and why finding the financial "middle ground" beats both extreme austerity and YOLO reckless spending.
What You Will Learn
The Hidden Risk of Liquidity Lockup: Why investing money you might need in the short term forces you to liquidate assets at a loss during emergency market dips.
The Honest Budget Reality Check: How categorizing expenses into strict Needs, Wants, and Savings (plus-or-minus $100) exposes silent cash drains before you buy a single share.
Removing Willpower via Automation: Why setting up recurring transfers into S&P 500 index funds ($VOO$) and high-yield savings accounts guarantees compounding progress without daily discipline.
The 3-to-4 Month Catch-Up Rule: How to handle unexpected financial setbacks without blowing up your long-term investment strategy or falling into a burnout-inducing lifestyle change.
Escaping the Social Media Extremes: Why sustainable wealth creation happens in the middle ground between rinky-dink frugality and reckless lifestyle inflation.
Timestamps
00:01:23 — Why Financial Foundations Come First: Understanding liquidity risk and investment lockup
00:04:12 — The Mentorship Effect: How watching realistic financial progress beats hype-driven advice
00:09:10 — Step 1: The Honest Budget: Setting up Needs, Wants, and Savings without perfectionism
00:13:48 — Needs vs. Wants in Practice: Drawing the line between necessities (rent, childcare) and discretionary spends
00:20:47 — Overcoming the Getting-Started Speedbump: Shifting focus from short-term friction to long-term freedom
00:27:38 — Automating Your Wealth: Eliminating willpower by auto-depositing into savings and index funds ($VOO$)
00:32:42 — Why S&P 500 Indexing Works: Long-term historical resilience vs. short-term market noise
00:35:50 — Navigating Setbacks: Emergency funds, managing cash flow drains, and the 3-4 month catch-up window
00:46:40 — The Financial Middle Ground: Why steady compounding beats extreme FIRE frugality and YOLO spending
Resources Mentioned
The Value Spotlight Newsletter: https://einvestingforbeginners.com/value-spotlight-newsletter/
Have questions or want your story featured? Email the show at newsletter@einvestingforbeginners.com or comment below. Your feedback shapes the podcast!
Remember, invest with a margin of safety—emphasis on the safety. Have a great week, and we’ll talk to you next time.
Timestamps are generated by artificial intelligence, and are not 100% accurate depending on the platform used for listening.
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