How to Spot a Fee That's Robbing You, Insure Your Kids' Future, and Retire Two Decades Early (Money Q&A)

Seven listener questions, one theme: the small stuff you never check is usually the expensive stuff. Fees, insurance add-ons, account order, and the plan you need before retiring decades early. 👉 Want personalized help from Andrew? Join Master Money Academy at https://www.skool.com/mastermoneyacademy/about 👉 Join Andrew’s FREE Investing for Beginner’s Masterclass: https://event.webinarjam.com/q05p7/register/0o8z9io?webinar_id=21 👉 Live Call Registration Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqIw5xncfn5tZbGG_U22iZ3BUmyHe9fPvBQaC1vW_x1D7bJA/viewform What You'll Learn in This Episode How to find the fees buried in your retirement accounts and what to swap them for Why a fund's one-year return tells you almost nothing worth knowing The situations that actually call for gap insurance, and the one place you should never buy it Andrew's rule for financing a car without ending up underwater How to leave money to a child with a disability without costing them their benefits The two numbers that decide your term life coverage: how much and for how long A full audit of a listener saving nearly 70% of his income, including how he reaches his money before 59½ How a union tradesman can stack a pension, a match, and a Roth to change his family's trajectory A phishing text pretending to be an Amazon recall, and how to spot it Start Here Join the community built to help you master your money, stay accountable, and reach financial freedom. 👉 Try Master Money Academy FREE for 7 days today! https://mastermoney.co/join/ 👉 Join Andrew’s FREE Investing for Beginners Masterclass https://event.webinarjam.com/q05p7/register/0o8z9io?webinar_id=21 👉 Join The Master Money Newsletter where you will become smarter with your money in 5 minutes or less per week Here! https://expert-hustler-605.ck.page/6aa7bb9a79 Partner Deals Indeed → Get a $75 sponsored job credit http://Indeed.com/personalfinance Wayfair → Up to 60% off | MEMORIAL DAY WAREHOUSE CLEAROUT http://wayfair.com Chime → Get more rewarding fee-free banking at https://www.chime.com/PFP Monarch Money → The all-in-one financial tool + Get 50% Off at http://www.monarch.com/PFP Gelt - Get 10% off your first year by mentioning “Personal Finance Pod” on the intake form; the CTA is to book a free discovery call at joingelt.com DeleteMe → 20% off with code PFP https://joindeleteme.com/PFP20/ Resource/s Car Insurance https://secure.money.com/pr/gc43ce394da5 Best HYSA https://secure.money.com/pr/r453ecf4d190 Stock Brokerage Accounts https://secure.money.com/pr/v8d06f8de92c Best IRAs https://secure.money.com/pr/oe09b73d1952 Favorite Travel Credit Cards https://milevalue.com/best-credit-cards/?aff=mastermoney Tool/s Mentioned Compound Interest Calculator https://mastermoneyresources.com/investment-calculator-page Episode/s Mentioned The System to Pay Cash For Cars (and NEVER Have a Payment Again!) https://youtu.be/kgmjjQEN3Xs How to Access Your Retirement Accounts EARLY (Roth IRA Conversion Ladder for the FIRE Movement) https://youtu.be/ut8rDIJ1kSI The 1-3-6 Method For Building & Managing Your Emergency Fund https://youtu.be/rGdII_Z0hnw Watch Next 4 Dead Simple Steps to Become Financially Free https://youtu.be/dM4DKC7-Y5s How to Build a Vacation Fund That Pays You For Life + (Money Q&A) https://youtu.be/SMDRQkqnA74 Hit This Number and You Can STOP SAVING! (Even When You are Young) https://youtu.be/R2ebV44XaAY Why Franchises Might Be the Best Kept Wealth Building Secret with Alex Smereczniak https://youtu.be/3lXtpxTwrQI Why a Mini Retirement Can Change Your Life https://youtu.be/o5HIfbIwfjI Connect with Andrew Instagram → https://bit.ly/Skool-Instagram TikTok → https://bit.ly/Skool-TikTok Facebook → https://bit.ly/Skool-Facebook Podcast → https://bit.ly/Skool-Podcast Youtube → bit.ly/Skool-Youtube Newsletter → https://bit.ly/Skool-Newsletter Website →⁠ https://mastermoney.co ⁠ X → ⁠https://x.com/mastermoneyco LinkedIn →⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-giancola-45027b340 ⁠ Question for you: What topic do you want covered in the next Q&A? Drop in the comments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Andrew Giancola?

  Now, if you watch this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube, you've probably noticed the wood slat walls behind us. We wanted this podcast set to look professional, but also not be a project that was overly complicated. And I found these slat walls on Wayfair and it completely changed this space. And it's now basically the background that you see in every single podcast or piece of content that we record. And that's one of the things that I love about Wayfair. You can shop thousands of products across different styles and budgets, use customer photos and reviews to see how things actually look in real homes, and find something that fits your space. They also have Wayfair verified products that are hand vetted by product specialists using a 10-point quality inspection.

• 0:44Andrew Giancola?

  And with more than 20 million verified five-star reviews, you can feel a lot more confident about what you're ordering. I've used Wayfair for this studio and our home, and I absolutely recommend them for your space. So transform your space with pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get 5% back on every single purchase. Head to wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 1:20Andrew Giancola?

  When I started the Personal Finance Podcast, I had no idea how big it could become. I just knew I had something I wanted to share, so I started putting it online. And looking back, I definitely wish I would have started a decade earlier. One of the horror parts about building something online, though, is making it look professional. A website used to mean hiring a developer, figuring out design, and potentially spending thousands of dollars. In fact, on my website, I spent tens of thousands of dollars. That's what impressed me when playing around with Hostinger's AI website builder. I told it what kind of website I wanted, and I built the first version in minutes. No coding, no designer or developer needed. And Hostinger doesn't stop at launch.

• 2:04Andrew Giancola?

  Their AI can help with SEO, website copy, email marketing, and more. Plus, your domain, website, email, and marketing can all live in one account with plans starting at just $3 every single month. Hostinger builds your vision step by step. Create your website today. Go to hostinger.com/pfp and use code PFP for 10% off now. On this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to be answering your questions on this Money Q and A.

• 2:43Andrew Giancola?

  What's up, everybody? And welcome to the Personal Finance Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew, founder of MasterMoney.co. And today on the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to be answering your questions on Money Q and A. Now, if you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money Newsletter by going to mastermoney.co/newsletter. And don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or whatever podcast player you love listening to this podcast on. And if you want to help out the show, consider leaving a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Now, today, we're going to be diving into a bunch of different questions. We're going to be talking about fees and how to spot fees that are robbing you.

• 3:27Andrew Giancola?

  We're going to be talking about how to ensure your kid's future and how to talk to your kids about money and break that generational wealth curse. We're going to talk about how to retire a few decades early and someone is saving a huge portion of their income, and we're going to dive deeper into their situation. Plus, we'll go deeper into gap insurance and talk through how to plan your finances if you have a child with a disability. So this episode is action-packed. I'm really excited to dive deeper. So without further ado, let's get into it.

• 3:58Andrew Giancola?

  So the first question that we have here is from Tessa. Tessa says, "Hi, Andrew. Your podcast has helped me immeasurably in building a strong foundation and feeling confident in investing. I am looking to reduce fees with my 401K and optimize long-term returns, so I've just un-enrolled from professional management at Fidelity to manage the account myself. Some of the widely managed funds currently held in my account are FCNKX and DEMIX, which have had very high returns, but also high fees. DEMIX returns have been 228% over the course of one year and 28% over five years and 22% over 10 years, with an expense ratio of 1.3%. Wow, that's high. Should I consider keeping it, given the historically very high returns?

• 4:42Andrew Giancola?

  Say thanks so much for all that you do." Now, first of all, this is a great question, and congrats on taking the reins on your 401K. That is absolutely fantastic, and thank you so much for the kind words. I am so glad the podcast is helping you out. I think that is the entire goal with this show, is to help as many people as possible do things like this. And as we start to talk about this, you will see that is a multimillion-dollar savings that you could be coming up with as we go through this. Now, one of the most impactful moves that you can make in investing, for anybody listening right now, is that reducing investment fees is really, really important. Just having a 1% to 1.5% fee can eat into your returns over 25% long-term. This is a really big deal.

• 5:25Andrew Giancola?

  And even though 1% doesn't sound like it's much money, it is an incredible amount of money. In fact, once you start to do the math on 1% returns, it will show you just how impactful this can be. And so, one of the things I want you to do is I don't want you to anchor to something that basically states, hey, historic returns have been really high over the course of the last year. Short-term returns are not something I actually look at much whatsoever. In fact, I usually try to look at the longest time horizon I can to see what those returns have been, because that is going to be the best indicator on how this fund has performed through the ups and the downs. So a lot of times, when I'm evaluating index funds and ETFs,

• 6:08Andrew Giancola?

  I like to find funds that have been around at least a few decades, so I can see how they did throughout, you know, different timeframes. And if they have been here since past the Great Recession, that is even better, because I can see the worst possible situation and what happened there. Then I can see their progress throughout 2010, all the way up to 2020, when we had the COVID years. And during COVID, I want to see what happened when that COVID drop happened, and then looking over the course of the next couple of years as well, so that you can see pullbacks, you can see bull runs, and you can see what happened to that fund over those timeframes. Because in reality, when you're investing for retirement and when you're investing in your portfolio, you want to understand what the worst-case scenario could be and what the best-case scenarios could be and how they actually react in some of those markets.

• 6:53Andrew Giancola?

  The cool thing is you can build portfolios based on your risk tolerance, and you will have the ability to figure out what funds actually work for that risk tolerance. So a few notes for listeners is when I look up some of these funds, so DEIMX, for example, that is an emerging markets fund, which is formerly Delaware's Emerging Markets, okay? So emerging markets have been hot as of late, which I think is super interesting. But the reported returns that I have are a little bit different than what you listed, but either way, they're eye-popping. And that's exactly the problem, because emerging markets funds don't put up numbers like that by being safe. They don't do this in a way that causes it to be a safe fund to own. Instead, this fund holds nearly 83% of its money in just its top 10 positions.

• 7:35Andrew Giancola?

  So it is heavily concentrated in its top 10 stocks, okay? So that's one thing that could possibly be a red flag for some people, depending on what your risk tolerance is. But it is heavily concentrated in two things: technology and Asian stocks. And so, when you dive deeper into a fund like this, that concentration is why the real return is so high, and it's the same concentration on why it could have a really hard pullback in a down market. And so, we just want to make sure that when we evaluate funds like this, we understand past returns tell you exactly what happened. And as you look deeper, you can see exactly what's going on there. Now, I want you to understand part two of this, which is the 1.3% expense ratio and what this will actually cost you. Because an expense ratio can take a slice of a fund,

• 8:20Andrew Giancola?

  and it can really, really eat into your returns. DEMIX charges about 1.32%. Now, a broad emerging markets index fund can charge closer to 0.10%, so 10 basis points, which is significantly cheaper than that. Now, that gap looks pretty tiny, and that gap doesn't seem like it's much when you start to look at this. But here's the illustration that I want you to see, okay? Let's say you had $100,000 invested, and you had it in both funds that are at a 7% rate of return over the course of the next 30 years. If you had the fund with a 0.10% in fees, you would end up with roughly $740,000 in that fund over the course of 30 years. You'd be saying to yourself, that's amazing.

• 9:04Andrew Giancola?

  Compound interest is absolutely fantastic. But let's look at the difference in fees right here, okay? Because at 1.32% in fees, that $740,000 drops down to $525,000 in that fund. So you invested $100,000, and you lose, just to that 1.32% fee over the course of 30 years, $215,000. So here's what I would say to most people out there listening right now. Fees are not worth paying when they are inside of your funds. There are way too many low-cost index funds and ETFs out there that have really low fees.

• 9:45Andrew Giancola?

  In fact, Fidelity has 0% expense ratio index funds and ETFs, where you pay $0 in fees whatsoever. And so, this is something where if you're going to pay a fee that high, someone better really be helping you and giving you a home run return. And that home run return better be available for decades and decades, which guess what, guys? I hate to say this, it doesn't exist. It's that boring investing and consistently investing over time is what's going to get you your results. And so, in reality, this is something where that high fee has to be earned every single year. Otherwise, it's not worth having whatsoever. So what I would do is I would go out, if I was in your shoes, now, this is not financial advice, but this is me telling you,

• 10:29Andrew Giancola?

  if I was in your shoes, here's what I would look. I would find comparable low-cost replacements. I would go out and say, okay, here is DEMIX. Here's some of the things that it does. Here's some of the holdings that it has in place. And if you want to continue to look at something like that, there are plenty of funds out there with really low fees. Fidelity has an emerging markets index. It's FPADX, and that has a 0.10% expense ratio. Vanguard has emerging markets, VWO.

• 10:59Andrew Giancola?

  Schwab has S C H E, E as in eagle. These are the same asset class, but they are at a fraction of the cost. And so in reality, what I would do is look further into some of those index funds and ETFs. I would evaluate them, see if they fit my risk tolerance and fit my criteria. If they do, and I want emerging markets in my portfolio, that would be the further place that I would look. And so you can zoom out and look at your entire plan long-term to see if there is anything else that you want to do or adjust, but I would look for lower cost options. There's plenty of lower cost options that are out there and historical returns are just a shiny object. They're just something that a lot of funds put right in front of you or a lot of, you know, advisors put right in front of you so you could see over the course of one to two years, you know,

• 11:44Andrew Giancola?

  here's the difference maker. Here's what's going on. Here's how this shifts over time. And in reality, I would love for each and every single one of you to kind of evaluate your funds on a yearly basis. I think you should be evaluating your funds on a yearly basis so that you can get in there and you can really make sure that you are doing the right stuff. Fees are just really, really expensive. They're going to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars over the course of your lifetime. And we've done episodes in the past where I've talked about, you know, someone who's built up a $5 million portfolio and their portfolio gets drawn down to half of that because they have a one to 2% fee. And so we want to make sure that we are careful with this. And I really, really appreciate your question because it is such an important financial education lesson for people to learn is that fees will destroy your wealth building ability.

• 12:29Andrew Giancola?

  I would much rather pay a fee that high to someone who is going to help me on a quarterly basis and help me, you know, with my index funds and ETFs and they can help you answer your questions, those types of things like an advisor or whatever else. That's a better fee to pay than something in a fund. And in reality, if you can reduce all of your fees across the board, oh my gosh, you're crushing it if you're doing that. So many DIY investors out there, you know, know this and they, the reason why they're DIY investors is because they want to reduce fees as much as possible. But there's nothing wrong with, you know, having an advisor in, in, in your corner as well. As long as that advisor is truly helping you and truly helping you along. But there's plenty of advisors out there that are less than a 1% fee when they are holding AUMs. And so that's the, that's the reality. They really need to be helping you. They need to be meeting with you quarterly.

• 13:14Andrew Giancola?

  They need, there's a lot of things that need to be happening there. So in reality, you're making some, you're making some great moves here. I really commend you for thinking about this and looking deeper into those fees. Really, really important stuff. And I think it's really powerful for you long-term to look further into that. So great question. I truly appreciate it. And if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.

• 13:35Andrew Giancola?

  The next question is from Scott. So Scott said, another great episode, Andrew. Thank you. And he was referencing our car buying in cash episode that we recently just had. And he said, what are your thoughts on gap insurance? Is 20% down a threshold on getting it or not? So first of all, Scott, thank you so much for the kind words. I truly appreciate that. Our episode talking about buying a car in cash and we go into how to finance cars as well in that episode. But that episode has gotten tons and tons of feedback that people are absolutely loving it. So if you haven't heard that episode yet, go and save it or bookmark it or go check that out as well. If you have not done so already, because we get creative with it a little bit. We kind of talk about, okay, here's some cool ways to pay cash for cars if you haven't thought about it in this way. Now, one of the things that we talked about in that episode is how to finance cars.

• 14:18Andrew Giancola?

  And we have a rule when it goes to financing cars called a 24 12 10 rule. What that stands for is 20% down, which is what Scott is referencing here. Four years or less is how long you have the car loan for. 12 stands for seven plus five. So it's 7% or less spent on car payments and 5% or less of your income spent on maintenance. And then 10 stands for driving that car for 10 years or longer. That's how you win with cars if you are going to finance them is following something like that. Now, in reality, there is something else that can help you avoid putting 20% down called gap insurance. Now, gap insurance, here's exactly how it works.

• 14:57Andrew Giancola?

  Okay. If your car gets totaled or stolen and your regular insurance only pays for the cash value of that car. And if it has depreciated pretty significantly over the last couple of years or even the last year, you may be underwater on that car. So if you owe more than what the car is worth, gap insurance covers the difference. Let me give you an example of this. Let's say you buy a brand new $35,000 car. Now we know the most expensive time to own that vehicle is when you make that first right turn out of the dealership. Why? Because that vehicle will typically depreciate 10 to 20% the moment you drive it off the lot. It's the reality of owning a depreciating asset. And unfortunately, it is one of the things that we all have to deal with.

• 15:40Andrew Giancola?

  And especially if you buy a brand new car, it's one of the main reasons why I don't buy brand new cars. I buy slightly used cars, one to three years used because I do not want to take that depreciation hit. It's not fun for me. I really don't enjoy it. And so I don't like throwing money out the window. And so for me specifically, at least right now at this time in my life, I'm not buying new vehicles. Now in the future, I would love to buy a new vehicle at some point in time. I've never bought a new vehicle in my life before, but it's not something I'm going to do anytime soon. Not because I can't, just because I don't want to take that depreciation hit is the reality. Okay. And so if you drive a $35,000 car off the lot, okay. And it takes a 20% depreciation hit. That means that car is now worth $28,000 with a 20% depreciation hit.

• 16:24Andrew Giancola?

  And let's say a week down the line, you're driving your car and all of the sudden you get, you total your car. Well, the insurance company is going to give you $28,000, but you still owe the $35,000 in the vehicle. If you put nothing down. And so now you're underwater on that vehicle by $7,000 and you owe $7,000 and you gotta go get another car. Well, this is the predicament that a lot of people fall into. So gap insurance pays the difference there. It pays that $7,000 for you if that were to ever happen. So let's talk about the situations where you would actually want gap insurance. And there are a few. One is for people who put little to nothing down.

• 17:05Andrew Giancola?

  Okay. Two is for people who take out a long-term loan, something like 72 or 84 months. You're most likely going to need it then. Three, for people who are rolling negative equity from an old car into the new car. That's another reason why people get gap insurance. Four is if they are leasing because many, many leases require this anyways. They require you to have gap insurance. So if the car, if the company who is leasing the vehicle to you requires gap insurance, you can see why. And the last one is if you buy a vehicle that depreciates really fast. So luxury vehicles depreciate really quickly off the lot. And typically that's, that's one of the things that you want to look at. But if none of those describe you and you put 20% down, then gap is usually not a problem you need to solve. But if you do decide to do it and you want to get gap insurance, here's how this works.

• 17:49Andrew Giancola?

  Many people will overpay badly with this because the car dealership is typically going to try to offer you gap insurance. They're trying to try to give it to you there. And usually it is a one-time charge that is like in the $500 to $700 range. And a lot of times they'll roll it into your loan. Well, typically that's where you overpay because when they roll it into your loan, you're paying interest on that money. It's not worth it whatsoever. Your own auto insurer, I would go and get some quotes from them. If you are at State Farm or Allstate or whoever you're with, go check with your auto insurer before you buy a vehicle and see what it costs. Some people have reported back to me that their gap insurance is costing them $7 a month or roughly $88 per year. And the cool thing about doing it through your insurer is you can cancel it the moment your loan balance drops below the car's value.

• 18:34Andrew Giancola?

  And so in reality, you do have a situation here where you can get the same protection for a fraction of the cost. And so I would always, always, always, if you're going to get gap insurance, you're going to do it through your own insurer. But if you don't want that additional cost, if you don't want to just be throwing that money away to an insurance company, that's why we talk about putting 20% down to protect yourself. Now, 20% down could come from a number of different things. It could come from paying cash for that vehicle and saving up 20%. It could come from you trading in your vehicle to that dealership and that's going to cover your 20%. Or maybe it covers a chunk of it and you cover the rest, the 5% or 10% or whatever the difference is. So it could come from a couple of different things. So you don't have to worry about it. Also, if you're buying a used car that has really taken the major portion of depreciation,

• 19:17Andrew Giancola?

  you also most likely don't need it because you're buying the car at the actual value. You're buying it at the value that it will be over the course of the long-term. And sure, it may slowly depreciate over time. Like for example, I drive a 2018 Ford F-150 and it's slowly depreciated every single year. But it hasn't been anything that's drastic like 20 or 25%. It's, you know, you know, 5%, 7%, things like that where your loan's already going to cover the difference there. And you're going to be way ahead of it if you do finance your vehicle. So gap insurance is a great option if you do not have 20% down or if you don't have enough to cover the gap there. If you're buying a new vehicle though, and you don't have that amount of money, you most likely probably shouldn't be buying a new vehicle. Instead, you should be looking at slightly used so that you can make a more logical decision

• 20:02Andrew Giancola?

  when it comes to your long-term wealth building. So for many people out there, don't overpay on a car, but gap insurance can help you with the difference there if you need to do it so you don't have to put that 20% down. Now I get the argument, hey, let's get gap insurance instead. And let's go ahead and invest those dollars because I can outpace the, the market or I can outpace returns there. And that's completely fine. Just run the math, do the numbers. It's going to depend on your situation and you're going to need to do the math because that's the reality of how this is going to work. So great question, Scott. I truly appreciate you sending that in and for sure, look deeper into that for each and every single person's situation.

• 20:36Andrew Giancola?

  All right. So the next question is from Al. So Al says, I have a special needs son, and I'm trying to legacy plan with him in mind as well as our daughter. He receives SSI currently, and we don't know what the future holds for him. We feel somewhat in the dark about planning for him because of the asset limits he can or can't have to maintain his Medicaid status and services. How do you plan financially for a special needs child without jeopardizing their benefits? So for many people out there who don't know, when you have special needs, or when you have a disability, and there's a number of different things and scenarios where this can happen, we have a member in Master Money Academy who's actually dealing with this. Basically, he can't make a certain amount of money. Otherwise, he loses all of the specific benefits that he has in play.

• 21:18Andrew Giancola?

  And so we have to work through and be very specific on how we're thinking about building wealth when we do stuff like this. And so for Al, first of all, I want you to, I want to say and commend you for thinking about this and trying to plan this out. And this is a very difficult thing to plan out. It is not, it is more complex than what most people realize. And I would recommend a couple of things before I start and dive into this is I am no expert in this whatsoever. I would recommend if you can find a high quality advisor who can help you, who specializes in this kind of stuff, I think that could be very, very helpful. And a CPA who specializes in this stuff could also be very helpful long-term because they're going to know the rules and regulations. They're going to know how to make sure that you are doing the right things in the right order.

• 22:03Andrew Giancola?

  So I would say, when things get complicated like this, that is a wonderful time to find an advisor who can help you, because that is a scenario where they will be able to help you through this process. But I do have some, some tips or some thoughts and the ways that I would approach this also is I would first start like that. I would start with a professional and try to find a professional, but then I would try to figure out exactly what you're trying to avoid. So SSI and Medicaid services tied to it have a countable asset limit of just $2,000. And this is the difficulty that I find with a lot of these programs. And so if your son personally owns more than that, his benefits could be suspended or lost. So one of the things that many people say is never leave money or assets directly to your son.

• 22:45Andrew Giancola?

  An attorney who specializes in this can also be very helpful, because if you leave it in a will, or as a beneficiary, or informally, everything below is about routing support to him and making sure he gets coverage and making sure he gets his needs met. That's the big key, and I know that's what you're trying to do. I would make a third-party special needs trust the center part of your plan, because this is the cornerstone tool, and this is built for exactly what you're describing. So there are third-party special needs trusts. Sometimes they're called supplemental needs trusts, which is a trust that you create and fund with your money for your son's benefit. Okay? Because the assets are owned by the trust and never by him, they don't count against his $2,000 limit. So this is the beautiful thing about a trust, and this is why you should have attorney

• 23:29Andrew Giancola?

  help you through this process to set this up. But this trust is going to be something that can help you avoid that limit, because all of the assets that you put into that trust will be owned specifically by that trust. Because it's funded with your assets, meaning money that was never his, there is no Medicaid payback requirement. So when your son passes, or whatever remains can go to your daughter, or whoever you direct this money to go to. So if you wanted this to go to someone else, you can also do that as well. The third thing I would do is I would try to point everything towards that trust instead of your son. So you can redirect your legacy towards this trust. You can ensure that your daughter has access to it as well, and you can update your wills, your life insurance beneficiaries, you can update, you know, all of those different things towards the trust, so the trust is the owner.

• 24:12Andrew Giancola?

  For example, for my kids, which is a very different trust, but for my kids, we have a trust in place that allows my kids to get our assets and our money if anything were to ever happen to us. And I have it set up in a way where you can customize it, where each kid is going to get a certain amount of money at a certain age. It's going to be 33% at a certain age, 33% at another age, and 33% at a third age. And you can customize these in any different way that you want to. And so the beneficiary of all of my accounts is actually the trust. It is not my kids anymore. It is the trust that we have in place. And so then you have the ability to have this, and so you could think about it as a middle person. The trust is the middle person between your assets and your son, so they're not designated directly to him.

• 24:55Andrew Giancola?

  But also, just making sure that you have, like, if there's grandparents in play, or if there's other folks in play who you feel as though could give money to your son, make sure they understand this concept as well, because any person who names your son directly in their will can accidentally just disqualify him. And so it's really important that everyone gets their dollars pointed at this trust. So if you are, have other people who, like maybe a distant grandparent, or an uncle, or an aunt, who want to give money to your son as well, they need to point those dollars at this trust. So everything is kind of going towards this trust is the key. Now, one thing you can do is you can add an ABLE account for everyday expenses and accessible savings, things like that. So for anybody who doesn't know what an ABLE account is, this is a tax advantage account

• 25:39Andrew Giancola?

  that your son can own where the balance does not count against SSI, up to $100,000. So you or he can contribute up to $20,000 per year inside of this account. And this is ideal if, if there is money that he needs for day-to-day care, or if there's money that he needs to access. It gives him some independence in managing his own funds, and you have the ability to be able to get some tax benefits. You have the ability to be able to kind of ensure that he gets his needs met with an ABLE account. And I'm sure you've, you've potentially used this before. Another thing I would do is prepare what is called a letter of intent. A letter of intent is a legal document, but it may be one of the most important things that you create, because it is a letter of intent is where you write everything down, everything that you would want a future caregiver to know.

• 26:24Andrew Giancola?

  His routines, his medical history, his likes and dislikes, the things that soothe him, and give all this information as much as possible, because this document is going to outlive you. And having this in place is really important, and you can have it to where any future caregiver can get this letter of intent in this document. I think it's really important to have. Also, thinking about your daughter as well, planning your daughter's role thoughtfully. I know you want to make sure that you are taking care of both of them. And so I would probably plan your daughter's inheritance separately, and then decide if you want her to be a trustee on your son's trust, or who you want to be a trustee on your son's trust, and kind of do it in that way. But in reality, this is a complicated, a much more complicated situation that you really have to plan for. And so I would plainly tell you to bring in a professional here and find an attorney

• 27:08Andrew Giancola?

  who specializes specifically in special needs planning, or even in elder law, not just a general estate attorney. I wouldn't just find a general estate attorney, because the rules are very, very complicated. And so we want to make sure that we find someone who can help us through this, so you're not in the dark, because you want the best care for your son, and you want to make sure your daughter is also taken care of. And so because of these two things, I would say that a professional is the most important thing that you can do, and it is money well spent, big time. I mean, this is big time money well spent. And if you feel as though you're in the dark, they can help you and walk you through that situation. So definitely find an attorney, try to find the best one you can in your area or your state, because it's really, really important so that you're not in the dark. But I appreciate you sending in this question.

• 27:53Andrew Giancola?

  If I can help in any way, shape, or form, please let me know. This is something that you really want to talk, sit down and talk to someone.

• 28:01Andrew Giancola?

  So I want to talk about a scam text that I have been getting as of late, and this is going to be our scam for the week that we will talk about, about a financial scam of the week, that I have been getting as of late that I think is pretty interesting. And this is one that's probably been coming to a lot of you as well, and I have it on my phone, so I'm going to read it here. But it says, Dear Amazon customer, so if you're an Amazon customer out there, we are writing about a product from your June 2026 order. Following inspection, this product falls short of quality benchmark and has been recalled. For your safety, please stop using the affected item pending review, and to review the recall details, request a refund, please open the page below. So sorry for the inconvenience. We are dedicated to this strong product safety standards. And so it gives a link to click on down there. And so I investigated this a little bit, and I said, this looks a little fishy.

• 28:45Andrew Giancola?

  This is something that I want to make sure I understand what the product was, to ensure it wasn't like a food item, or, or something along those lines. And so you open it up, and it wants you to log into your Amazon account. But then I looked at the URL, and I looked at it pretty quickly, and it said, it was a URL that looked like Amazon, just like it, but it wasn't Amazon. And so what's happening here is that these scammers are getting your login information, then they're going to Amazon, logging in, and stealing your credit card information that has been stored inside of Amazon, or trying to, or ordering things, or whatever else they can do. And so they're trying to get as much information as possible out of you. And so this is one of those things that I just want you to watch out for. This is the scam of the week, and we talk about a lot of these over time.

• 29:29Andrew Giancola?

  And so it's really important to have that financial protection plan in place. As AI keeps advancing, it is one of the most important things. Now, one of my favorite ways to protect your finances online is a service called DeleteMe. So if you haven't heard of DeleteMe before, what they do is they go to data brokers, and they remove your personal information. So if you Google your name, if you Google your address, if you Google, you know, your phone number and put it in quotations, you're going to see your information pop up on a ton of different websites. These are data brokers, and these data brokers can sell your information to anybody out there. And in fact, many times, if a financial scammer out there gets a piece of your information, like your address or your name, they could try to find the rest of the information to

• 30:12Andrew Giancola?

  put the puzzle together, so they can open things like student loans in your name, or so they can open things like credit cards in your name. I know, because I had my identity stolen, which is why I'm so passionate about this. And so if you go to joindelete.me/pfp20, you get 20% off DeleteMe. But they gave me these reports. It shows me how many hours they have saved me, and it's been hundreds and hundreds of hours every single year, because it takes a lot of time to get your information removed from those websites, and a lot of hoops that you have to jump through. But they do it all for you. So again, go to joindelete.me/pfp20. They have been a longtime sponsor of this podcast, and a sponsor that I absolutely love and have been using for years and years.

• 30:52Andrew Giancola?

  All right. The next question is from Gayatri. So, hi, Andrew. Currently, I am wondering, is term insurance worth it? And how much to take? And until what age should I take it? I am a 43-year-old female, and I have no health issues. So, thank you so much for the kind note. And this is going to be something where I'm going to explain step by step right now, how to think about term insurance. So, I have my term life insurance through PolicyGenius. PolicyGenius has been a longtime partner of this show as well. And I have used them for a long time. But you want to start with the only question that matters for most people. Does anyone depend on you financially? Okay? Because if someone depends on your income, whether it is a spouse, whether it is a child, whether it is an aging parent, whether it is a business partner,

• 31:36Andrew Giancola?

  those are the situations where you would likely want to have life insurance. For most people, you don't want to get whole life insurance. You don't want to get all these different expensive life insurance plans. Instead, you want to look into something like term life insurance. The way that it works is that it's going to cover you for a specific time period. So, let's say, for example, you're 43 years old, and you want to have term life insurance all the way up until the age of 60. Well, if you're looking at that, that means that term life insurance is going to cover you for the next 17 years. The thought process is that if you get term life insurance, it's going to be so inexpensive. Like, for example, mine's $30 a month for about $1 million worth of coverage. And so, when I look at this, I'm saying to myself, okay, well, I've got this timeframe where I got this life insurance policy when my son was born at the age of 30,

• 32:22Andrew Giancola?

  and I am going to have it all the way to the age of 60. By the time I turn age 60, my portfolio is going to be large enough that nobody is going to need life insurance anymore, because my portfolio can cover everyone's living costs, and we're living off of it, and all those different things. And so, most people say, hey, why don't you get term life insurance? It's cheap, and then invest the difference. And that's going to help you accelerate your portfolio and grow your portfolio over time. And so, if you feel as though someone is depending on your income, then you've got to figure out how much coverage do I take out? Because if something were to happen to you during that timeframe, you want to make sure that your kids are covered or your family members are covered, and so they aren't going through really hard financial struggles. And typically, my rule of thumb is anywhere from 8 to 12X what your one-year income is.

• 33:05Andrew Giancola?

  So, you can take the number that you make every single year. Let's say it's $100,000 per year. Multiply that by 12, and you want $1.2 million worth of coverage. And you can do this on each family member. So, if you want life insurance, and then your spouse wants life insurance, you each can do your individual policy and multiply that number by each individual person. That way, you have enough coverage on hand. So, 10 is like right in the middle. That's the range that you can look at. 12 is if you want to be a little more conservative and just make sure you have enough. Term life insurance is cheap enough that if you're young, going to 12 is great. But if you feel as though the cost is too high to go to 12, you can always go to 10 and be okay there. So, for most people, this lands anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million in play that can help with this scenario.

• 33:48Andrew Giancola?

  Let's say, for example, you have a 12-year-old, and you're 43 years old. Well, if you have a 12-year-old and you're 43 years old, they really only need about a decade or so of coverage. And so, if you say, okay, $500,000, that's going to help cover living expenses. That's going to help cover, you know, college, all those different things. Then maybe that's enough. But if you feel as though you need more, then that would be the way to think about it. So, 10 to 12 times your income is the key here. And I think the length of time is really important as well. So, for most people, you do it all the way up until you feel as though your portfolio can cover everything else. So, when you map this out, a lot of times, people will do it up to the age of 60 or 65, because that's when they plan on retiring. Then they don't have to really worry about it anymore, because then they know they have enough portfolio value there

• 34:31Andrew Giancola?

  to be able to hand it down to their kids or their family members if they need it. And typically, your kids are out of the house, or they are old enough by then. So, those are the two things, is looking at when the people who depend on you won't need it anymore. And so, if they're going to be an adult, or if your portfolio is just going to be large enough that it can be handed down to them, and they don't have to worry, then those are the two scenarios where you can think about it. Now, if you have a really large portfolio now, then you also probably don't need it unless you just want to have it on hand to be safe, because that large portfolio can help take care of them as well. So, those are just some of the scenarios and some of the things to think through as you go through this. And independent brokers are the best place to look for these. You know, PolicyGenius is where I did mine. They made it super simple, and they're super cheap. So, that's why I like them. But if anybody depends on your income, you definitely want to look into this, and you want to make sure that you are doing 10 to 12 times your income.

• 35:15Andrew Giancola?

  My relationship with money has changed a lot over the years. Early on, I thought building wealth was about making more money. Now, I know it's really about having clarity. When you know exactly where your money is going and whether you're on track, you make better decisions. That's one of the reasons I love Monarch. It's the personal finance app that tracks everything, from your accounts and investments to your savings, goals, and spending, so you can see your entire financial picture in one place. One habit that's made a huge difference for me is my five-minute drill every single morning. I open Monarch, check my spending, investments, cash flow, and net worth, and I'm done in just a few minutes. It gives me confidence that nothing is slipping through the cracks. I also love the AI weekly recap,

• 35:58Andrew Giancola?

  because it'll flag spending changes, upcoming expenses, or shifts in my net worth before they become a problem. Instead of reacting after the fact, I can make adjustments early. It really feels like having a financial advisor in your pocket. Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code PFP at monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code PFP. It's kind of amazing how much can change in just a single year. Every summer, the kids are a little bigger, a little more independent, and life looks a little different than it did the year before. And it reminds me that while we can't predict the future, we can prepare for it.

• 36:43Andrew Giancola?

  That's one of the reasons I like PolicyGenius. See, PolicyGenius isn't an insurance company. They're an online marketplace that lets you compare life insurance quotes from some of America's top insurers, side by side, for free. And their licensed team helps you compare coverage, prices, and terms, answers your questions, and even handles the paperwork so you can get the right policy without the hassle. For me, having life insurance isn't about expecting something to happen. It's about knowing my family is protected so I can actually enjoy these moments together instead of worrying about what comes next. And with PolicyGenius, you can find 20-year life insurance policies, starting at just $276 a year for $1 million of coverage.

• 37:26Andrew Giancola?

  Head to policygenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you can save. That's policygenius.com. If you've heard any recent episode of Health Corner, you know that I have spent the last few years trying to optimize my sleep. I've tried sleep trackers, cooling my room, changing my nighttime routine, all the different things. But nothing really matters as much as having the right mattress. And that's one of the reasons I love Leesa. A great mattress is one of those things that you use every single night, and you spend a third of your life sleeping. And it can make a huge difference on how you feel the next day. Leesa has mattresses designed for different sleep positions and comfort preferences.

• 38:09Andrew Giancola?

  And their sleep quiz can help you get matched in less than two minutes. Plus, they're designed, and they're assembled in the USA, and they come with free shipping, easy returns, and a 120-night free sleep trial. So, go to leesa.com for up to 30% off mattress plus and get an extra $50 off with promo code PFP. Exclusive for my listeners. That's L-E-E-S-A.com, promo code PFP, for 30% off mattresses plus an extra $50 off. Let them know we sent you in the survey after checkout. Leesa.com, promo code PFP. One thing I've learned from running multiple businesses is there's usually a gap between how you think work is getting done

• 38:54Andrew Giancola?

  and how it's actually getting done. And we've had times where we thought we knew the bottleneck, only to realize later, the real issue was somewhere completely different. That's exactly what today's sponsor, Scribe, helps solve. Scribe is a workflow AI platform trusted by 94% of the Fortune 500. And Scribe Optimize turns real workflow data into decisions your AI strategy actually needs, automatically capturing how work happens across approved apps, surfacing inefficiency and opportunities, with no interviews and no manual discovery, and no extra work from your team, which is the key. And the live dashboard shows where work is happening, how much time it's taking, and where the biggest opportunities are right now.

• 39:37Andrew Giancola?

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• 40:15Andrew Giancola?

  All right. The next question is from Andrew. Andrew, I love your name. All right. So I found your podcast in 2025, so I'm still trying to catch up to all your unreleased episodes. I have 135 left till I'm caught up to the new releases when they drop. I signed up for your Master Money email list for your book selection. I'm an avid reader, so after seeing a book recommendation, I'm trying to either read it, or print it, or listen to it in my library app. I am immensely grateful for both your podcast and reading list. Please keep both up. Well, thank you so much for sending that message. I truly, truly appreciate it. That is absolutely amazing. I finished my doctorate in systems engineering while working full-time, and at the time had an immediate family member pass away in 2024,

• 40:56Andrew Giancola?

  for which I am working to pay off estate taxes and max out investments. I should have the estate taxes paid off by the end of 2026, and only have a mortgage left that is about 3.375% interest. I am investing 30% of my paycheck into a brokerage account, investing 17% into a Roth 401k, holy cow, and received a 9% match at work, and I saved 23% of my paycheck into a high-yield savings account. In my personal brokerage account, I enjoy investing in ETFs and stocks I dig into. In my Roth, I am mostly large-cap, but diversified across medium, small, and international. I am 34, and I plan on retiring at 44 to 45. With that information, if you were in my shoes, where would you recommend I look for

• 41:39Andrew Giancola?

  the next steps to becoming financially independent? Based on those numbers, do you see any place that I overlooked? Andrew, first of all, this is one of the most impressive setups I have ever seen in terms of people sending this in. You are absolutely crushing it so far, and the amount of money that you are investing right now, it's getting close to a 70% savings rate. With a 70% savings rate, you can retire really quickly. You are on track to being able to retire in the early 40s there by far, if you continue to do this. And I think this is really, really powerful, because you're putting 30% into a taxable brokerage, I'm reading this back now, 17% into a Roth 401k, and the 9% match on top, which is the massive bonus there, awesome stuff, and 23% into a high-yield savings account. So right now,

• 42:22Andrew Giancola?

  the first thing I would see is a 23% into a high-yield savings account. If you feel as though that cash is making you comfortable, and you feel that that's a good spot to put it, that's completely fine. But if you are trying to get to that six-month emergency fund and beyond, and maybe you just want to have enough cash on hand because you're retiring early, just in case anything were to ever happen, that makes sense as well. But once you get to that six to 12-month range, then you want to think about your SWAN number, so your sleep well at night number. Anything above that six to 12-month range needs to either benefit you in a way where it helps you sleep well at night, so you don't have to worry about it, and/or it's probably too much cash to put into high-yield savings account, for my specific thought. But if you are still working towards that number, and that's why you're putting that amount in there, so that's the first place

• 43:07Andrew Giancola?

  I would look, is try to decide, okay, well, would I rather invest more of these dollars into my taxable brokerage account, or something there like that, so these dollars can continue to grow over time? That would be the optimal place to put it, after you fully fund that emergency fund, unless you are looking at getting some extra years of cash in case there's down years, so you can pull from those cash and make sure that you are, you know, defeating sequence of returns risk, things like that. So that's the first place I would look. Secondly, I would stress test the bridge to age 59 and a half. So I would think through, okay, what is the single most important concept at retiring at 44? Well, a lot of high earners get surprised, because most of your money is in your Roth 401k or things like that. So what is your plan to actually access some of this money, if you

• 43:52Andrew Giancola?

  do need it? There's a bunch of different things that you could do, and we've done an entire episode on this that you can check out, where we dive deep into all the ways that you can access your money if you retire early. But there are things, like you could do a Roth conversion ladder, there is the 72T, there is SEP payments that you can set up, there's a lot of different things that you can do. So you want to map out the years as to what you're going to do from age 44, all the way up till age 59 and a half, when you can actually access some of those funds. And maybe that's what the taxable brokerage is for. And if you are trying to use the taxable brokerage to bridge that gap, I would probably take a portion of that cash, once it's done, and I would put that cash savings into the taxable brokerage, that you can utilize that as well. Next, I like that you're going all in on a Roth. I think Roth, even for high earners, can be a great

• 44:35Andrew Giancola?

  spot to put money. And Roth is absolutely fantastic. But have someone run the numbers for your tax situation, see if you want to put it into a traditional, you could do something like that as well, if you wanted to. But the Roth does allow you to pull contributions out, and it does give you some great benefits there. And I think there are a couple other accounts you could look into. If you have a high-dose health plan, you can look at an HSA, and see if those triple tax benefits can help you, because if you save those receipts while you have that HSA, you can access those funds early. So if you're healthy, and you feel as though you can utilize an HSA, that's going to help you in early retirement as well. And I think that is a really good place to look at this for that triple tax advantage. And then also look at the mega backdoor Roth, because it seems as though you're a high

• 45:15Andrew Giancola?

  earner. If your company does allow for after-tax contributions, the mega backdoor Roth could be something that you look deeper into to get even more money into your Roth, if you wanted to go that route. So I love that for many other things. One big thing to note, this is a huge one for a lot of people, is planning for health insurance. And so, starting now by planning for health insurance can be really, really important, because health insurance is pretty expensive. And as you get to the point in time where you're trying to cover health insurance from age 44 to age 59 and a half, that's about 16 years, plus the five years they're getting in Medicare. So you could be looking at about 21 years before you get to Medicare age. And so figuring out, okay, how is health insurance going to work for me until I get to Medicare age is something a lot of people get caught off

• 46:00Andrew Giancola?

  guard. Like, right now, I pay $2,200 per month in health insurance in Florida. Every state's going to be different. Some states, you can get it for cheaper. I have a family plan, so I have five people on my plan, but that's how much I pay right now. And so you want to make sure that you're also considering that, as you start to progress through a lot of these different things. So just making sure you have your health insurance planned out as you do this. And then concentration risk, I love that you're looking at individual stocks and index funds and ETFs. And I think that's perfect, because those are really well diversified, and just making sure you have a diversified portfolio, it sounds like you do, is wonderful. And keeping the mortgage on hand, I mean, that mortgage interest rate is really, really low, so I would not pay that off anytime soon unless you really want to. If you have enough cash on hand to be in the position to do it, if you felt like

• 46:44Andrew Giancola?

  it, that's another great position to be in. But in reality, you haven't overlooked anything major, which is rare. And I think that is a, I commend you for that. I'm going to put this clap up for you. I'm going to clap it up for you, because I think that is absolutely incredible what you are currently doing, and the way that you are working through this is absolutely powerful. What I would do is pressure test your plan. I would pressure test, okay, what would happen in different scenarios? If the market dropped, that's one thing I would do. I would pressure test just the health insurance, to make sure that you have that coverage in play. I would make sure that you are capturing any additional ways to invest those dollars, because you're saving so much. You could do the mega backdoor Roth of the HSA, that's incredible too. And also, just make sure you're enjoying life a little bit. Make sure you are having a little fun, and do the things that you want

• 47:28Andrew Giancola?

  to do. It sounds like financial freedom is your number one goal, which I love that. And I think that's absolutely fantastic. And if you do all of those things, you're not just on track, you are miles ahead. You're in the top 1% of people who are managing their finances, and I think that is absolutely incredible. So, really good job. I would love to see how much progress you make going forward too. So keep me updated. I love this kind of stuff.

• 47:52Andrew Giancola?

  All right. The last question for today is from Jerry. So Jerry says, hey, good morning, Andrew. I recently found your podcast on Spotify, and I've been deep diving into my financial future. I'm 35 years old, and been in the electrical trade for 13 years, awesome trade, and recently got a new job working for an international paper as an ENI tech, so electrical instrumentation. We are union, and this comes with some new benefits that I'm not accustomed to. First, they do offer a 3% company match, and I am 100% going to get. But they also have a pension plan. All right, that's amazing. I'm making $45.46 per hour, topped out in my trade, and we have unlimited overtime potential. My son is a senior in high school this year, and plans to take part in my company's fame program.

• 48:35Andrew Giancola?

  They pay him to go to school for two days a week, and he works at the mill for three days. It's a two-year program, and once he graduates, he'll be shish shy of 100K by the time he's 20. Awesome stuff. I made a lot of poor financial decisions in the past, and I'm just now starting to invest in my future. I'm wanting to guide my son in the right direction from start, so he doesn't have to make the mistake I made, and will be set up at a young age. I'd like some tips on how to guide him in the right way, and also thinking about my newborn son's future as well. I came from nothing, and my goal is to build generational wealth for my boys, and financial freedom for my wife and myself. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I'd appreciate any advice. Well, first of all, this is why this podcast exists, is for people who are trying to figure

• 49:18Andrew Giancola?

  out their financial future, and trying to figure out what to do next. So Jerry, awesome stuff. I am so proud of you for even getting this far and figuring all this stuff out. Now, here's the cool thing about this, is absolutely get that match, and that pension is going to be a huge, huge deal. And I would say, you've already done the hardest part. You've come from nothing, you've figured it out, and now you want to change this, and change your family's financial future. And this is one of the most powerful things that people can do for their families, is you can change the trajectory of your family by doing a couple different things. One is I would lock in the foundation first. I would figure out, okay, what order do I need to think about this? Well, first, let's make sure we get the emergency fund in place. So, one month of expenses is what we want

• 50:01Andrew Giancola?

  to start with, the 1-3-6 method. One month of expenses is in place. Then, we want to make sure we have all high-interest debt paid off, so anything between that 6% to 7% interest rate needs to be paid off. Then get to three months of expenses in the emergency fund in cash. While getting the 401k match, then, once you're at three months expenses, we're going to start to invest. We're going to start to invest those dollars aggressively. We're halves going towards the emergency fund, halves going towards investments. Once you get the six months of expenses in your emergency fund, then you have the ability to be able to invest all of those extra dollars towards your investments. Okay, that's how we start this off. Number two, understand that your pension, if it's guaranteed, this is going to be something that you will be able to utilize like a paycheck.

• 50:45Andrew Giancola?

  A pension is a huge and increasingly rare benefit. This is one of those benefits that really doesn't come around much often. And I'm sure for most people, these are going to go away fully at some point in time unless something changes. So don't fully count on your pension money until it's vested, one. But once it's guaranteed and it's vested, then you can utilize this as part of your financial plan. Meaning that if you need $100,000 per year by the time you retire, and your pension is going to cost, cover $60,000 of that, then you only need to cover the rest, the $40,000 per year in order to be able to retire. Plus, social security and all the other fun things that come into play. So if your pension is covering, let's say $60,000, and you need to cover $40,000, that means you would need about a million bucks invested in order to be able to retire, because you could draw it on 4% per year roughly.

• 51:29Andrew Giancola?

  And so that's going to start off to kind of think through how to utilize your pension in a way that makes sense. When you start to invest, I would look at opening a Roth IRA for your family, and then contributing to that 401k, making sure you continue to get that match, and then contributing to 401k after is really important. For 2026, you could put $7,500 per year in the Roth, and then start to contribute to that 401k, and even a taxable brokerage, if you have more money left over after that, if you get a bunch of overtime or whatever else. I think that's wonderful. And then be cautious about lifestyle creep, because as your income increases, you want to make sure your lifestyle stays the same. That way, you could take those extra dollars and put it towards your financial freedom, so you don't make the same financial mistakes that you say you may have made in the past. Now, let's talk about teaching your son about finances,

• 52:12Andrew Giancola?

  because what he is doing already, I love that you guys are doing that program. I think that's absolutely incredible. And one of the things that he can do is he can open up, since he's making money now, he can open up a Roth IRA. And so this is going to be a really, really powerful opportunity, because most people never get it. And a Roth IRA grows tax-free long-term. And when you're young, putting money in a Roth IRA means you have more time for this money to grow. And the growth of that money is going to be the majority by far. And he's not going to ever have to pay a dime in taxes on the growth of that money. And so because of this, this can be a really, really powerful account for him over the course of the next 45 years. Let me give an example why. Because if you open a Roth IRA, I'm pulling up an investment calculator right now.

• 52:54Andrew Giancola?

  So let's say you put in that $7,500 per year over the course of 45 years at a 10% rate of return. He would have $5,391,786 in this account. And the amount of that, that would never have to pay a dime in tax, meaning the growth of that money, is just over $5 million, so $5,054,000. That is a massive benefit, because he has so much time for this money to compound, and because he has so much time for this to work for him. And so because of this, the Roth IRA is really powerful for young people who have time and time for their money to grow. And then secondly, I would teach him the behaviors before dollar amounts. So teach him, and lead by example, because kids watch your example, especially when they're his age.

• 53:37Andrew Giancola?

  Lead by example. So at his age, habits matter more than numbers for anything. So teaching pay yourself first, every single time you get paid, a portion of your paycheck is going to go towards your Roth IRA or whatever other investment accounts you want to go towards. So a minimum of 20% is always the key, but if you can get him to save 50% now, and kind of get in the habit of that, boy, oh, boy, he could retire in his 40s pretty quickly if he wants to do something like that. Avoiding debt is the second thing. And kind of showing and teaching about debt and why it is important to avoid debt at all costs. If he wants to buy a truck, or if he wants to buy something that is really, really of interest to him, making sure that he pays cash for stuff like that can be important to establish some of those boundaries. Because a classic mistake for folks in the trades is, you know,

• 54:22Andrew Giancola?

  making good money, and then all of a sudden they go out and buy a $60,000 truck. No, you want to avoid that at all costs, and want to be something where, you know, you don't want him buying side-by-sides or whatever else that he would want to go out and buy, and be able to go and finance it, because many people go out and finance that. I think that's really, really important. For your newborn, what I would say is there's a lot of things that you can do. If your newborn was born over the course of the last couple of years, the Trump account gets that $1,300, make sure you do that for sure. And then a 529 plan helps save for college, that's another thing you could do. And then using like a taxable brokerage account or a Trump account, if you want to save for them for long-term future stuff, is great. I'm not a big UTMA or UGMA person because of the restrictions, but I am a huge custodial Roth, once you have earned income.

• 55:07Andrew Giancola?

  But you got to have earned income before you open a custodial Roth IRA. That's the rules behind that. But being the model, the role model for all of your children, that's the big key. And then talking about money. I like to frequently have conversations about money and how it works. Again, you're going to notice that your kids are going to have different personalities when it comes to money. I have one kid who he saves every single penny. My other son spends every dollar he gets immediately when he gets it. And my daughter's too young to know yet, but we'll see how she is. And so I have to teach them very differently. And the lessons are very different for each and every single person, based on their personality and kind of how they operate when it comes to money. So I would ensure that you are teaching them and leading by example in that way as well.

• 55:48Andrew Giancola?

  So the bottom line is getting the full match, understanding your pension, getting that emergency fund built up, and making sure you have all of this stuff in line is really, really important. And time will do the heavy lifting for your kids, which is great. And you can kind of get a bunch of different things set up and build something really serious here. You've got so much time for this money to compound still out. You're still very young, and I think there's a lot of cool things that you could do. So your past mistakes, don't beat yourself up about those. This is the time is now, and you can do some really great stuff with this if you set it up right. So you can build that generational wealth for you and your family, which I am so excited for you to do. Listen, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast. If you have questions, again, make sure you reach out. And if you want direct help from me, inside Master Money Academy,

• 56:33Andrew Giancola?

  I am answering messages every single day. We are doing weekly live coaching calls every single week, working through people's finances. And we are doing monthly master classes, going through a specific topic and teaching you about a bunch of different things. Plus, we have a six-month system now, inside Master Money Academy, where if you follow the steps every single week, I tell you exactly what to do to transform your finances over the course of the next six months. You will transform your finances in the next six months by joining Master Money Academy. There's a couple of things that I want you to be able to do. One, is you've got to be 100% committed. You have to be willing to at least invest about an hour or so per week in learning about your finances. Two, you have to be willing to do the work and put the time in and the energy in.

• 57:15Andrew Giancola?

  This is not something that, for people who are just going to be willy-nilly and not do it, you have to be willing to do it. And three, you have to be willing to actually want to build wealth. If you want to build wealth and you want to change your financial life forever, I would love to invite you to join Master Money Academy, because I promise you, it'll transform your life. And I'm personally, every single day in there, helping people. And I answer every single question, every single day, inside Master Money Academy. So I'm really, really excited for that. So if you are in debt, if you are someone who is investing, but you're just kind of investing in random accounts, you don't really know what you're doing. If you're someone out there who is trying to build wealth and generational wealth for you and your family, I'm helping families every single day inside of Master Money Academy. The link is down below in the show notes, so please check out that link down below

• 57:59Andrew Giancola?

  if you have not done so already. And there's a seven-day free trial. Go check it out. We have all of our courses in there. Take some of our courses, come to a live one-on-one coaching call, ask some questions, and I will directly answer you. And ask some questions in the community, and I will personally answer each and every single one of you. And if it's not for you, nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But would love to see you inside Master Money Academy, and can't wait to meet you inside. So please, join down below. And thank you so much for listening to this episode. We will see you on the next episode.

• 58:34Speaker 02

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