Benefit from Start, Start, Continue! This technique applies to many areas of life - including personal finance.

Rich is flashy. However, few things can destroy someone’s wealth faster than trying to look rich.

Who have your best managers been?

What made them great?

I’ll start! Some of mine were:

• Tony Russo

• Gary Austin

• Thushan Wijesinghe

• Orna Samuelly

I had the great fortune to attend the XYPN Live last week.

Michael Kitces asked me about my big takeaways.

They were all about mindset:

• Stephanie Bogan’s challenge to think bigger

• Michael Kitces’ closing keynote on scaling

• Adam Cmejla’s perspectives on growth and automation

Do you have the 3 T’s to manage finances well?

Those are:

• Time

• Training

• Temperament

Some people feel discouraged with their finances.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom!

Here’s where the “rule” of 72 comes in handy.

A 40 year old with $200,000 saved for retirement who expects to earn an 8% return might have:

• $400,000 by age 49,

• $800,000 by age 58, and

• $1.6 million by age 67.

Many people put off financial planning.

However, optimizing finances early can be impactful!

With an 8% annual return, $500 a month turns into about:

• $37,000 in five years,

• $91,000 in 20 years,

• $745,000 in 30 years,

• and $1.75 million in 40 years.

I took it as a sign when a few people recently asked me my taken on car buying.

Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Always know your best alternative.

2. Negotiate financing as well.

3. Come prepared.

4. Take care of yourself physically.

5. Get a newspaper.

One of the best pieces of advice I received came on a boat in Northern Idaho.

Joe and Amber were trying to get Kyle to take out a loan and buy a boat together.

Kyle declined using four words I’ll never forget:

“Never finance a toy.”

There are essentially four types of spending:

• Needs - high on physical and low and psychological benefit

• Entertainment - high on psychological and low on physical benefit

• Societal - high on both psychological and physical benefit

• Addiction - low on both physical and psychological benefit

Of course, these are not mutually exclusive!

Combining finances can be hard!

Many people believe it’s either all or nothing.

However, that’s not the case!

Integrating finances is more like a dimmer switch than a binary light switch.

What worked in the past may not work in the future.

Change is like a current. Standing still takes effort. Making progress takes more.

Fortunately, most of life’s major changes happen every day!

Seek the counsel of those who have gone from where you are to where you want to go.

What percent of covered workers earn more than the Social Security maximum?

Only 6%!

It shocked me it was that low.

How about you?

We tend to focus on what we know.

It’s specialization at its finest!

Unfortunately, this laser focus can create painful blind spots.