Beyond Finances

36: There's a lot of fear and uncertainty in the air right now — which means, if you're following Warren Buffett's advice, it's a good time to get greedy in the stock market.

In this episode of the show, we discuss the opportunity you might want to capitalize on and at the very least, why you should NOT stop making your regular contributions to the market.

Most importantly, we also lay out our argument for why feeling optimistic about the future makes sense for long-term investors. Join us to get some perspective to remember that "right now" does not mean "forever" hear plenty of reasons to feel good about the future.

32: What if the pursuit of financial freedom actually leaves you with fewer options and feeling more stuck than ever before?

The idea of financial independence sounds nice, but it comes with a lot of potential pitfalls that big fans of the "FIRE" movement don't like to talk about.

Today, we're explaining the downsides of financial freedom — and proposing a different strategy that will help you enjoy and experience more in life today AND tomorrow.

It's all about financial POWER. We explore what that means, how it's more effective, and what you can do to build more power into your financial life.

48: Lots of people think they're good DIY investors. But they miss a lot of nuance, and make a lot of mistakes. Here's what it really takes to manage investments well.

If you invested in the market over the last 10 years... it was easy to win. The markets climbed up and up, with the longest bull market in history running from 2009 to 2020.

Even a global pandemic wasn’t enough to keep the markets down in the spring of 2020. Stocks cratered and lost 30% of value in March — but had you not paid attention in the spring and only looked at market performance around August of that year, you might not know anything happened at all as the big indices hit record highs once more by late summer.

The real question, especially for DIY investors who have had success and see themselves as good at portfolio management, is this:

Will you keep seeing these same results going forward?

Knowing the mistakes DIY investors make, there’s no guarantee you’ll keep winning unless you know what pitfalls to look out for and avoid.

In this episode, we’re looking at the common areas in which average investors consistently misstep. We’re also sharing our perspective as professional investment managers on what makes or breaks a DIY investor.

The bottom line? Hiring a professional to manage your assets for you or going the DIY route are both good options. The right choice for you depends on precisely who you are and whether or not you have the skills, time, and expertise to avoid the mistakes we cover today.

Today, we’re looking at:

• Why “investment management” is not just about asset allocation. (Yes, that’s an important component – but that’s barely the tip of the iceberg!)
• What good asset management looks like, either when done by a pro or by a DIY investor (hint: investment management should be a complete process and a system – not a handful of to-dos to cross off a list. Good management is ongoing, proactive, and comprehensive.)
• The killer mistakes we see investors make when they invest without guidance, including failing to eliminate cash drag, taking the “set it and forget it” philosophy a little too far, and failing to properly execute complex strategies like backdoor Roth conversions or making strategic tax moves within brokerage accounts.
• How market timing will kill your returns, and why average investors tend to miss the best-performing days in the market.

And more. This is a big one, and a must-listen for anyone considering how they can better manage their own portfolio... or for anyone who doesn’t understand why you’d ever hire an investment manager.

If you think investment management is just asset allocation and picking an index fund or two, there’s a lot you might be missing. Get in the loop by queuing up this episode of the show.

12: Getting married and planning your wedding is a big deal. But that doesn't justify spending more than you can afford... or sabotaging all your other savings goals for the sake of throwing one giant party for hundreds of people.

People were really interested to know how much Eric, as a financial planner, would spend on his own wedding -- so we decided to start talking about it to give people a new perspective on how much to spend and the WHY behind that rational.

In this episode, Kali and Eric both shared some of their thoughts on how they planned their wedding, how much they spent on it, and why they determined the budget they set was the right one for them.

Pair this podcast with the blog post that gets into these details too: www.beyondyourhammock.com/spending-on-a-wedding/

Or check out full show notes at www.beyondyourhammock.com/12

47: Today on the show, we discuss a key strategy in making your money goals easier to achieve, faster. It's all about the FPA framework: focus, prioritize, and act.

In this episode, we cover:

• How to determine if you're making progress... or just looking busy but not actually getting anywhere
• Where most people go wrong with financial goal-setting (and how to avoid their mistakes)
• Why creating wiggle room and a buffer in your finances - with everything from your goals to your overall plan - is a critical component to success that most people skip
• How to make decision-making around spending and saving much easier
• Where our brains fail us when it comes to understanding probability (and how to plan around that shortcoming)
• The kinds of goals you may want to avoid, because they're more likely to hold you back or distract you from making real progress when it comes to building wealth
• The strategies and tips you can use to set goals that better align with your values, and are actually easier to achieve

We also share our number-one personal financial goal and priority that we set each year, and how you can accomplish it yourself if you want to work toward it with us.