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Written by: Campfire Wealth | Life, Money, Health If you’ve read or received financial advice there is no doubt you have heard, “Save 20% of your income to achieve financial freedom!” Sounds logical. Save and invest to grow your wealth. But there is a dark underbelly of developing a savings habit that nobody talks about. It’s a downside to being frugal that can also compound over time just like your savings. Let me share a story of a 92 year old client, named “Maggie”. Seeking Simplicity Maggie came to us looking for help. While she was still in decent health, she wanted to simplify and consolidate her financial life. Maggie was still quite sharp mentally, and kept written journals of her accounts and their values. She was an actuary during her career and still enjoys keeping the numbers. But she realized that when she passed away, she would leave behind a tangled web of scattered assets. The executor of her will would have a real headache on their hands sorting everything out. To complicate things even further, Maggie was not married and had no children. She planned to leave her inheritance to nieces and nephews. How many? More than you could count on two hands. And the most amazing part? She had a net worth of over $5 million dollars. Smart, Lucky, or Patient? You’ve probably heard that there are three types of people who make money investing: People who are smarter than everyone else People who are just lucky Or people who are patient Of course for any of those to work you need some money to actually start with! So how did Maggie gather all that wealth? 1.) She saved, and saved, and saved. We’ll come back to this later…. 2.) A little bit of luck… Maggie bought stock in the company she worked for back in the late 60’s and through the 70’s. Her employer offered stock purchase plans to employees, so she bought small chunks when she had the chance. And this is where luck comes into play. You wouldn’t recognize the name of the company she worked for back then. But they were purchased by another company in the 80’s. She was compensated for her shares with the new company's stock. This happened again a few years later with a new buyer. Today she holds about $3+ million in stock. (And half of that is actually in paper certificates!) The luck for Maggie? The company stock she bought continued to build value over 50+ years! A majority of companies over that time frame FAIL. No company bankruptcies and no cash buyouts. 3.) Patience paid off. She saved, invested and held. Compounding worked for her! The Dark Side of A Savings Habit Sounds like a great happy ending type story! A very nice, hard working woman accrues a fortune! The downside to this story is that Maggie never spent money. She was so focused on saving she never took the time to enjoy life! And now she plans to leave all that hard work, time and patience to her nieces and nephews after she’s gone. We talked to her about spending money on experiences or things to enhance her life. Maggie had no interest. She said she was too old, and has no interest in spending money on herself. To me, that’s an not a happy ending. Maggie had no interest in giving while she was alive. No desire to give to her nieces and nephews now so she could enjoy their gratitude. She built a fortune for someone else to enjoy. If only we could have met with Maggie 50 years ago. She could have learned to balance her skill of saving with the skill of spending. Saving Skills AND Spending Skills Unfortunately we see this all too often with retirees. Their identity is that they are savers. Not lavish spenders. Frugal. We encourage them to spend more money on experiences. Give money to family while they are alive. Spend on things that help buy back time and energy. We had a retired couple with millions saved and they were reluctant to buy a new washer and dryer. Another retired woman that just wanted a car wash pass, but thought she was splurging. Saving is an amazing skill and an important part of any financial plan. But it must be balanced with the skill of spending. We only get one life and therefore a finite amount of time on this Earth. Finding the balance of enjoying today and preparing for tomorrow helps us make the most of the time and money we have left. How to find balance: Set a reasonable savings goal. Most rules of thumb point to 15% - 20% of your income. If you don’t currently have a savings goal, start with 15% and see how it feels. Set short term goals. Delayed gratification is hard. We need short term pay back for our efforts. Set a few goals that you would like to accomplish in the next 6 months. Focus on experiences or life enhancements (things that buy back time or bring great joy). Set medium term goals. These would be goals that you want to check off in the next 1-5 years. These could be bigger goals like trips or something you’ve never done before. Typically these require more planning, time and preparation. Add long term goals. Most financial plans on have long term goals. That sucks and it makes you feel like all you do is save. But that doesn't mean they aren't necessary. Typically these would be a target retirement age, building a business, or planning a larger celebration for a notable birthday or anniversary. By having goals scattered into different time buckets, we avoid feeling like all we’re doing is saving. You can enjoy shorter term gratification for your work efforts. And lastly, you have a clearer picture of how to use your time and money resources to bring fulfillment and happiness. Don’t forget to sign-up for our Life.Money.Health. newsletter below to receive FREE weekly insights into those areas to help in your quest to find balance.

Written by: Campfire Wealth | Time, Money, Health People struggle with goals. Ask someone, “What are your financial goals?”, and you may get a blank stare or even a look of fear. You’re busy and just getting through the day may seem overwhelming. Let alone taking time to think about the future. And not only that you need to deal with the element of money which makes just about everyone uncomfortable. Setting financial goals is a skill. It requires time, focus, and practice. If you struggle to set goals and achieve them don’t worry. Read on and we’ll get you on the right track. Why are goals so important for your Financial Life Plan There is no way around it. Your goals are going to require some combination of time and money. The two most important inputs into any Financial Plan. In order to enjoy today and prepare for tomorrow you need to evaluate and strike the right balance between the two. Time and money are the fuel needed to build the life you want. It’s important that you spend some time planning how to use them! Let’s say your goal is to lose 10 pounds (we are big fans of having health goals as part of your plan!). Losing weight requires a smaller amount of money but time every day over weeks or months. Where does that time come from? What trade-offs are you making? Maybe it's a trip to Paris. Well, you’ll need a decent amount of money. Plus the vacation time or flexibility to be overseas for a week or two. Where does the money come from and do you have the time? These goals are both achievable. They just require clarity of the time versus money balance. Once you have clarity you can evaluate the trade-off you’re making to see if the benefit is worth the cost. If you are in your 20s you can afford to make some mistakes. “Overspending” time and money to capitalize on experiences that may be tougher to enjoy later in life is fine. Social media is filled with “save 20% and you’re on the path to riches!” Save some, but spend some too. You have time to make it up. If you’re in your 40s or 50s the right balance can become more important. Add in a spouse or partner, a dog, kids, etc. The balance equation for time and money changes. Regardless of your age and resources, setting goals will always give you a financial advantage over just drifting along. What makes setting goals so hard? If you had to write down three goals right now, could you? For many people, this is actually an uncomfortable request! As advisors, we are even encouraged not to ask that question. At least not in that exact way. Why? There are a few reasons: Many people are too busy just trying to get through today to even worry about tomorrow. Life is stressful! People don’t dedicate time to pick their heads up and plan ahead. Setting actionable goals is a skill. General goals like “get fit” are easy to write down, but don’t lead you anywhere. Many goals involve money. And most people aren’t sure how to balance spending versus long-term saving. Setting a goal and not reaching it can be painful None of the above reasons are good enough to avoid setting goals. Goals in your financial life plan are absolutely critical. They are probably the most important piece of any type of financial plan. It just takes some practice and a good amount of self-understanding. The Art of Setting Financial Goals - YOUR WHY As an advisor, we talk to clients about goals constantly. I used to just ask directly - “What are your goals?” Unfortunately, for the reasons listed above this tends to be a terrible approach. If the client is scared into silence we tend to get responses like: Flexibility, Freedom, Security Have $X million in the bank Retire at X date Take care of my family’s financial future The problem with the answers above is they are too vague. They lead to ZERO action. Let’s say we meet with Alison and we’re focused on goal setting. She shares that she wants to “retire early”. Our first question isn’t, “When would you like to retire.” We want her to dig deeper. Why do you want to retire early? More freedom to do what you want? More time with family? More naps? The ability to pursue more hobbies? So we find out Alison wants to spend more time with family. Why? So they can share more experiences together? Have more meals together? How much time? Do they have time to spend with you? Alison responds she would like to travel more with her kids before they head off to college. Great! How many trips a year, where would you like to go, and when? Now we can start to narrow down the cost and time required. Money/Time balance! Now we have actionable goals! We have a trip or trips to specific destinations and a timeframe. Alison can evaluate, based on time and money, whether she needs to retire early or not. Maybe there are changes in her work life she can implement to allow her to meet these goals AND still earn income. Or maybe not. She may have money but doesn’t have the time. Either way, she now has a much clearer picture of what she is really hoping to achieve and a list of action items to get there. Hard Life Now, Easy Life Later Nothing with money is easy. It’s so intertwined with emotion and life experience. It isn’t easy to be honest with ourselves regarding our thoughts and feelings about money. We equate money and wealth levels to personal worth. If someone makes more or has more money than me, they are somehow better. This is a huge mistake and leads to bad decisions and overall unhappiness. As an advisor to clients with more money than me, I struggle with this quite often. Don’t make comparisons! The behind-the-scenes of people’s financial lives aren’t as pretty as it seems on the surface. We are all chasing different things and even those change as we go through life. Financial success is an individual sport where you make up the rules on what winning looks like. Do the hard work now and set YOUR goals. Understand what really makes you happy and plan around that. Understand the WHY of your goals and create clear actions. Share these goals with others to help with accountability. If you can do these things, you’ll get increasingly better at balancing time and money. And that’s the whole game. Decide what’s important (goals) and use your time and money to make it happen (action). Here is a quick exercise to help set a goal: What is an experience you’d like to have within driving distance (under two hours so you can do it in a day)? How much time will it require? (Time) What is the total cost to make it happen? (Money) Now what is the first available day on your calendar? Add it. (Action) Tell someone what you’re going to do! (Accountability) Look forward to your experience and then enjoy it! (Fulfillment)

Written by: Campfire Wealth | Time, Money, Health Secrets to a wealthy life Welcome to the 20s, the decade where you're finally old enough to do whatever you want, but you're still young enough to not know what you're doing. It's a time of great financial opportunity, but it's also a time when it's easy to make mistakes. That's why I'm here to share with you the 7 secrets to a wealthy life that no one tells you in your 20s. These secrets are not magic, but they will help you make the most of your opportunities and set yourself up for fulfillment in the future. So buckle up, 20-somethings, and let's build a wealthy life! 1.) Time is your most precious resource I imagine you’ve heard this before. Most books about wealth or any interview you see with the uber-rich will touch on this theme. The thing is that when you are young you are wired to feel like you will live forever. It’s biological programming. I had my fair share of motorcycle near-death experiences in my 20s and even a close call with a lightning strike. You would think that might have shifted my mindset to maximize the value of time, but it didn’t. So what do I wish I had done to not take time for granted? Daily gratitude. There are plenty of resources on how to practice gratitude. It’s worth it! Be present. All you can control is the present moment, enjoy it. Don’t dwell on the past or worry about the far future. Live with intention. Set short and long-term goals and take action. Lead to a life that is meaningful to you. 2.) Understand the rules of the game Life is precious. It’s against amazing odds that we each even have an opportunity to take part. So let’s breakdown the game of life: Setting - You’re a speck of dust, on a tiny rock, floating in an infinite space. Objective - Maximize the life value of your time left. It’s up to you to decide what maximum life value looks like. Players - It’s just you. There is no competition except what you create. All of the input and experiences are taken in and processed by your brain. You to decide what to do with that information. No one else. Length - It’s unknown. But rest assured it will most likely be over before you are ready. Winning - Gain knowledge, level up life experience, build relationships, and at the end look back with as few regrets as possible. 3.) Understand money We tend to look at money in terms of what it can do for us. Which means a medium of exchange. You should look at money in terms of what it represents. Money is stored time. When you work, you exchange your time for money. If you die with excess money, that is time you sacrificed and are now passing on to a lucky recipient. If you work for someone else, they leverage your time to make more money than what they pay you. That’s why it pays to own the business. A question to always be asking is, “Am I getting maximum money in exchange for my time?” If you work for someone else, it is likely that you aren’t. There is a famous quote by Henry David Thoreau, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it." You can give away time, but you can’t ever get it back. So when you spend your hard earned cash, make sure it’s worth it. 4.) Invest in yourself for maximum returns Always bet on yourself. The more you learn, the more life experience you gain - the more value you can generate. And you get paid based on the value you provide. Life is success and failures. Failure can actually help you level up quicker. So keep putting yourself out there. Want to get more money in exchange for your time? Increase your knowledge. Take a course, hang out with smart people, work for someone you respect, and continually seek new opportunities. Figure out who you want to be in 10 years. Now go find that person today and spend time around them. You may have to do a decent amount of this self-investment during your off-work hours. But as they say, “Hard life now, easy life later. Easy life now, hard life later”. 5.) This is the time to take risks You’re young! Now is the time to take some risks. Not dumb physical risk - the financial kind. At this stage of your life, you have the opportunity to quickly bounce back from money mistakes. You don’t have a lot to lose but there is tons to gain. This is called asymmetric upside. Always be on the lookout for asymmetric opportunities - big upside, small downside. Avoid crippling debt. But this isn’t the time to pinch every penny you can to save for retirement at the cost of everything else. Spend money on life experiences and activities that are difficult to enjoy later in life due to financial responsibilities (partner, spouse, debt, kids, etc.) and health. Travel, explore, pick up new hobbies, and experience different cultures. Your 20s are not going to make or break your retirement success. Over save only if you don’t have a better opportunity for personal investment. 6.) Make the most of your health and flexibility This is a unique window where health and life flexibility overlap. Until they figure out how to stop or reverse aging, you’re gonna get old. You may not have huge financial means now but amazing experiences can be had on the cheap. Staying in a hostel in your 20s is completely different than trying to do it in your 50s! Hiking the Appalachian Trail is easier when you aren’t coming up on a knee replacement. Create shorter-term goals for those things that you may not be able to physically do later in life. Or may not have the risk appetite for as you get older. The time value of years in your 20s are some of the highest in your life when it comes to adventures requiring higher physical capability. Make the most of it. 7.) Create meaningful relationships Studies have been clear that one of the keys to happiness is strong social connections. I’m an introvert so spending a lot of time around people isn’t my thing. But time with my family, loved ones, and my close circle of friends brings me a lot of joy. The highs and lows in life are best experienced with others. Even a small group of people that are important to you can provide a great emotional return. Always try to find time for the people that matter. The people that we love and care about are never around for as long as we’d like. Make the most of your time and theirs. If you’re working excessive hours or spending time on less meaningful activities is your time being spent well? Will you wish for that time back for another moment with someone important to you? Keeping in touch or carving out time can be a struggle. It’s the same for everyone. Sometimes it’s up to you to keep those relationships strong. Just do your best to set a schedule and hold yourself accountable. One could argue this is the most value you can get for the time spent. That’s it, that’s the list. I wish I knew this stuff much sooner. In your 20s you are time wealthy. Don’t take this for granted. There are plenty of 8 figure plus net worth 60+ year olds who would give up all their money to change places. It’s not more money that rich people want, it’s more time. You have probably seen the longevity trends with the uber wealthy.They want what you have - youth! Make the most of it. Some easy actions to take right now: Make gratitude a priority. Start now. Write down (in your phone or on actual paper) three things you’re grateful for. Don’t overthink it. Work to make this a daily habit. Pick a consistent time, like each night when you brush your teeth. Pick a month (in the next 6 months) that you’re going to take a trip. Write it on a sticky note and paste it on your bathroom mirror. Tomorrow write down 5 places you’d like to go (here’s a freebie - Portugal). Continue to take small steps for the next week until you have a plan. Then buy tickets. Having something to look forward to makes life better. Pick a day and set a weekly reminder to reach out to your immediate family and close friends. Just a quick text saying “Hi! Hope you’re good!” is perfectly fine. If there are any things you would add to this post, add them in the comments. If you know a 20 something that would benefit, please share this with them. Life is short, enjoy the hell out of it!

Written by: Campfire Wealth | Time, Money, Health Are you in search of a financial advisor? Congratulations on taking the first step toward maximizing your financial life! We understand that finding the right advisor can be challenging, but it's essential to achieving your financial dreams and goals. Assuming that you've already determined that hiring an advisor is the right choice, let's ensure you partner with someone who can guide you to where you want to go. Nowadays, most advisors offer "holistic planning," which includes: Investment advice Retirement planning Insurance needs Estate Planning (managed by an Estate Attorney) Tax Planning (managed by a CPA) These are table stakes these days. Of course, reasonable fees and either a CFP designation or ample experience are non-negotiable. If an advisor doesn't meet these criteria, it's best to avoid eye contact, keep your bag in the middle seat, and hope they don't ask if anyone is sitting there... So let's talk about how to move beyond finding just an "adequate" financial advisor. What you should really be looking for in an Advisor The number one, most important, must-have element in your financial plan is your goals. Not the advisor's goals for you. Unfortunately, this is where many advisors fall short. They don't take the time to learn about you and your unique financial situation. They don't ask the right questions to understand your goals and dreams. Instead, they focus on selling you products or services that may not be in your best interest. A truly impactful advisor will let you do most of the talking. They'll listen to your goals and dreams, and then work with you to create a financial plan that will help you achieve them. They'll be there to guide you along the way, and they'll be there to celebrate your successes. So how do you avoid a cookie-cutter advisor? Here are a few tips: Ask the right questions. When you are interviewing advisors, be sure to ask them about their process. How do they get to know their clients? How do they help their clients achieve their goals? Look for an advisor who has been on the other side of the table. This means that they have been a client of a financial advisor themselves. This experience will give them a deeper understanding of what it's like to be a client. It will also help them understand your needs. Find an advisor who understands your goals. This means that they are willing to take the time to learn about your unique financial situation and your dreams for the future. They should be able to create a financial plan that is tailored to your specific needs. Don't settle for just any advisor. Find an advisor who will take the time to get to know you and your goals. Find an advisor who will work with you to create a financial plan that will help you achieve your dreams. Your financial future is too important to trust just anyone. Don't Hire a Financial Advisor Until You Ask This Question I came to financial advising as a career later in life. I'm an electrical engineer by degree (which coincidentally advisors tend to avoid because we ask too many questions!). But it gave my wife and I the benefit of being clients to a few financial advisors. I have since worked alongside numerous advisors and the best ones have sat across the table from another advisor as a client. So - Don't Hire a Financial Advisor Until You Ask This Question - "Have you ever used a financial advisor for personal planning or do you use one now?" Having experience as a client is invaluable when it comes to: Helping you set relevant short AND long-term goals Understanding that making decisions detrimental to your financial success isn't intelligence based, it's rooted in humor behavior. Creating actionable plans and frameworks. Empathizing when you are struggling to take action or move forward. Can you find an effective advisor that has never been in the client's shoes before? Of course, but you probably won't have a good feel for that until you've committed and worked with them on your initial plan. A few last items to help in your Financial Advisor search Here at Campfire Wealth, we do offer Financial Advisor Services and we DO NOT charge Assets Under Management (AUM) fees. We also make sure our advisors partner up to provide each other with personal financial advice. But if you're looking elsewhere here are a few more outside-the-box questions you could ask: Can they provide a sample financial plan similar to what they provide clients? How often should you expect to hear from them after onboarding is complete? What are a few of the advisor's goals? What are the reasons that clients typically leave their firm? Don't feel uncomfortable asking hard questions! You're considering putting your financial future in their hands - make sure you evaluate them thoroughly. Do you have questions that you'd recommend people ask a perspective advisor? Leave them in the comments below. And of course don't forget to sign up for our newsletter below if you'd like Life, Money, Health delivered to your inbox.