DO MORE WITH YOUR MONEY

There's no shame in having some unavoidable debt in your 20s and 30s.

However, it's CRUCIAL to build a financial foundation of strong personal finance habits in order to advance to the next step of your financial life -- wealth accumulation.

Until you have an understanding of the resources you're working with, it's hard to make decisions on how to maximize the free cash flow you have to pay down debt and ultimately, grow your net worth.

In this podcast episode, I discuss the pros and cons of investing versus paying down debt.

This includes different debt repayment approaches such as "Snowball" versus "Avalanche".

Although one may be more "mathematically" advantageous, the other provides the behavioral momentum to keep you on track towards progress.

I also discuss investing in the stock market and how that isn't necessarily the right thing to do when you're building your financial foundation.

The market will still be around when you're ready to start aggressively investing on an ongoing basis.

Best to develop valuable personal finance micro habits in the beginning!

That way, you'll be better equipped to avoid lifestyle inflation when your income inevitably increases!

P.S. don't forget to connect with me on twitter @TJvanGerven

It's standard for beneficiaries of a trust to not have access to the funds until a certain age (age 35 is common).

Because assets held within an irrevocable trust are taxed at higher rates, there can be a lot of planning opportunities to maximize that money (if you're being responsible).

The first step is to review the trust documents and see what the stipulations are for the intended use of the money.

From there, you can work with the trustees depending on if they can make discretionary distributions.

In this podcast episode, I discuss some different ideas for making the most of that money, including filling up more tax-efficient accounts, paying down high-interest rate debt, and even funding a business endeavor.

I also discuss how you (ideally) want to make sure the trust is invested appropriately for your long term goals and needs.

Day trading is nothing new. Whenever financial markets start to get extraordinarily volatile you tend to see an increase in the number of new day traders enter the market.

Add in the element of sports gambling being diminished (due to the pandemic), and you get a recipe for increased speculation from those looking to make quick gains.

In this podcast episode, I talk about the difference between entertainers and those providing real practical financial advice AND why it's important to keep the proper perspective when making investment decisions.

Keeping the proper perspective is crucial to avoiding the BIG mistake, and ultimately, continuing to build on good financial habits.

Connect with T.J. on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TJvanGerven

To learn more about working with T.J. head to https://www.modernwealthbuilders.com/

No pain, no premium.

The unfortunate reality is that to benefit from the returns of financial markets (especially the stock market) we have to be willing to accept the inevitable risk of short term declines.

Declines and periods of volatility happen regularly and are a normal part of investing.

The ups and downs can go on for weeks and months, which can be psychologically taxing, even when it’s a normal part of the market cycle.

The best thing you can do is to develop a plan AHEAD of time and then remain disciplined.

Why?

Because panic-driven reactions don’t lead to smart investing decisions.

The biggest mistake investors can make is not having a plan ahead of time and/or not remaining disciplined.

Tune into this week's episode for my complete thoughts on dealing with market corrections.

In this podcast episode, I discuss the framework for deciding how aggressive to be with employer equity compensation.

Equity compensation discussed includes Options (at-the-money vs out-of-the-money) vs Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).

In situations where there is a vesting schedule (over a 3,4,5 year period), it almost always makes sense to take the equity compensation (vs cash).

However, I also discuss situations where taking cash would make sense based on personal financial circumstances.

Equity compensation is an amazing opportunity to concentrate and grow your wealth. You just want to make sure you have a plan in place to minimize the tax ramifications and diversify in the long term once you've built your foundation for financial independence.