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Accidents will happen in life so captain your ship or at least hire one! "Yes", he replied, "the boat went past me first on its way towards you." "You were lucky it missed you. I wasn't so lucky." "Well," said the newcomer, "I saw that it might hit me so I moved out of the way." (01:51) Empty boats in the way of a job loss to a car accident to a house fire to a fall down the stairs, it can all hit us when we're unaware. (02:28) By planning for these occurrences though ahead of time, we can avoid our boat being wrecked, even if we can't always avoid it being hit. (02:38) Quote for the episode: "And in all of it by having a plan we're picking up our heads and we're looking upstream and we're ready with an oar in our hand to try to get out of the way." (03:07) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

"Little by little, a little becomes a lot...plus compounding interest!" - paraphrasing a Tanzanian proverb You get your first 401(k) statement that you threw a couple pebbles into and it essentially says you know, "well thanks for playing, but you still have pretty much nothing", right? (02:19) And the great thing, unlike the crow with his little pebbles, the pebbles that we're using those amounts grow on themselves. (02:46) Every dollar that you put in grows on the next dollar and the next dollar. So every pebble, when you do it, is going to raise the water up faster to the surface than the one before it. (02:53) Quote for the episode: "If you were wanting to retire tomorrow, it probably wouldn't matter if you threw in a couple more pebbles. It really wouldn't. If you're retiring 30 years from now though, it certainly does matter a lot." (03:29) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

New information can lead to making new and different decisions! Jimmy replied, "Well, I'm not going to have to sell for some time since I only put a small amount down, I still have plenty leftover to buy food and pay my taxes. In fact, the extra that I invested has actually done quite well." (2:00) Paying off your mortgage was taught to us as a positive going back to the Great Depression kind of mentality. (02:41) For most people though their home is one of their biggest, if not the biggest, asset that they have. And when you have a home that's paid off, that's a lot of money that you can no longer touch. (02:49) Quote for the episode: "And depending on mortgage rates at any specific time, the last few decades have shown historically low interest rates, so funds invested outside the home may have the opportunity to grow much more than the interest rate being paid out on the mortgage..." (03:35) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

Trying to increase wealth rapidly may find you lost in the thicket. Take the time tested path! So if you are a hare, you likely don't need a shortcut to win the race. And if you're young, you are likely already a hare. (02:21) Trying rapidly to increase your wealth through market timing or dealing in some kind of a speculative security or things like maybe cryptocurrency, it may find you in the thicket just like the rabbit. (02:31) Being young means that you have time on your side. (02:45) Quote for the episode: "Be the hare. Just stay on the more time tested path. Sometimes it's just about having someone show you what path you may be already running on." (03:13) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

Find balance between work (saving) and play (spending). The earlier you start, the easier it is! The traditional fable promotes working hard but did you know that most ants die within a few weeks to a few years? What a waste! (02:18) When you're young, saving early is like putting away a few pieces of food every day in early spring for the other grasshopper. (02:39) Quote for the episode: "If you have a savings plan put together for you when you're young, you might be very pleasantly surprised what it projects to turn into." (03:10) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

Just because it made sense then, doesn't mean it makes sense now! Re-evaluate! So it's one thing to do something, and quite another to understand why you do it. (02:14) And while some of these actions may have made sense at some point in time, or were taught to us to make sense in some situations, that doesn't mean they necessarily still make sense for us today. (02:24) Regular evaluation is what makes us more intentional, what makes us more purposeful with our actions. (02:35) Quote for the episode: "If we're regularly asking ourselves, 'will this make my life more or less enjoyable', then we can be more objective and intentional in deciding what actions we actually want to take." (02:58) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

It's one thing to say a task should be done but it's a different matter to actually do it! But in the midst of the rejoicing over the good fortune, an old mouse rose and said, "I will say that the plan of the young mouse is very good. But let me ask one question, who will bell the cat?" (02:59) "...if you actually go out with that bell, more times than not, it's not as hard or as scary as you may think." (04:13) Quote for the episode: More times than not it's not a scary cat with giant claws, it's a little cute kitten, and you're gonna leave saying 'why didn't I do that earlier?' (04:20) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

Recapping the 9 episodes that reframe our investment mindset to ease financial anxiety! The worst 15 year period in the market over that same period of time going back to 1970, positive 3.7%, same exact index, different time period, very different result. (06:04) Uncertainty on the other hand, we talked about how it does historically show a high correlation with volatility: financial crisis of 2008, COVID in 2020, the uncertainty period was the drop. Once there was more perceived certainty, a plan of action, what are we going to do? The market started its recovery. (07:29) When you use a mathematical statistically diversified portfolio, the goal is like that of a healthy cookie, we want the most delicious flavor that we can get for the least amount of unhealthy ingredients. (13:46) Quote for the episode: "The fear should not be paying for advice, it should be not getting something for that advice, not getting the value that you're paying for." (15:35) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

Is the financial advice you're receiving worth it? Goal statement: I now better understand how advice versus fees for that advice can separately affect my situation. (02:13) Pensions are mostly a thing of the past and Social Security is not going to replace your six figure salary that you and your spouse have. You are now responsible for your own retirement in this society. (04:26) When they came out then, so Vanguard, this low fee, low cost company, when they came out and said their research showed that having a proper advisor could add 3% per year in overall net worth growth above what you would have gotten without them? (06:13) Quote for the episode: " This study didn't even talk about things that a good comprehensive adviser will be doing for you, like taking advantage of say matching contributions through work, or analyzing your cash flow to maximize how much you could save every month, or making sure you have the right life insurance or disability insurance so it doesn't blow up all in your face." (10:07) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

If we learn about normal fluctuations ahead of time, then we'll be better prepared to cope with those inevitable market downs. Goal statement: "I now better understand how much up and down is normal for investments so I'm better prepared to not freak out when it does." (01:50) ...he [Dr. Markowitz] could now mathematically mix together what should produce the most return for the level of risk someone was willing to take, which is fantastic, right? (06:14) So when you get to a year with this portfolio goes down 12%, you could say that is actually normal. This should happen once roughly out of every 10 to 11 years. (08:47) Quote for the episode: "And as the time period gets shorter, that range of possible returns increases. So the range for what can happen in any one month is much more than what can happen over say a 15 year period of time." (09:19) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

When you hear news about "the market", how much is actually applicable to your investments? Goal statement: I better understand what they mean when they say 'the market', and how that actually relates to my investments. (01:42) When you hear about the market on TV, most people's reaction is either "Oh no", when it does, something bad when it goes down or "Great! Yes", when it goes up. However, they are not talking about your specific investment. (03:10) We could break this down, in fact, much further because out of your stock piece, maybe it isn't all in the SandP 500 maybe part of the equity or the stock pieces in real estate funds, maybe foreign funds, maybe small cap funds, small company funds, which are all different than the SandP 500. (05:51) Quote for the episode: "Basically, just look down at your bingo card that is your investment account and make sure, before you get worried, that it is actually matching what's on your card." (06:53) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.

A bit more savings is almost always possible and what that means for your future self! Goal statement: I better understand how impactful it can be to consistently push my savings just a little bit further. (01:58) If your kid gets sick and needed a medicine costing $100 a month, you would figure out a way to afford that right? That means that you can also figure out a way to pay yourself another $100 a month. (06:43) So when we take that original $100 a month scenario, and we do the same thing, but assume that you increase your payments every year because you make more every year so it should go somewhere towards you. (08:39) Quote for the episode: "The more you can keep pushing that upwards in small incremental feasible amounts, the greater that exponential long term number can grow to. Do that for yourself." (09:17) Securities offered through TFS Securities, Inc., and Advisory Services through TFS Advisory Services, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. TFS Securities, Inc., is located at 437 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732) 758-9300.