141: The 5 Financial Accounts You Need to Set up BEFORE 2026

Austin, we finally did it. We've officially launched the first ever multi-asset investment opportunity in partnership with Republic and the Cashmere Fund that includes SpaceX, Proplexity, and XAI all wrapped up into one investment. After months and months of work behind the scenes, we've finally been able to get this opportunity across the finish line. So Austin, I'm so stoked tell everyone what we've created. We've created a very, very interesting opportunity that is open to any of our listeners to consider here and learn about. So as you guys know, there are publicly traded companies on the stock market and there are privately held companies that are not traded on the stock market. Now, anyone can buy and sell stock in the public ones, right, they're on the stock market, go to public.com, make some trades, but only those with deep connections are able to buy and sell stock in the private ones. Investors in those companies have to be invited. For example, Robert, you were invited to invest into Elon Musk's company XAI a couple of years ago. It was at a $5 billion valuation, which at the time seemed pretty crazy, but now it's trading at a rumored $200 billion valuation, which is a 40x return in just two years. That's the type of stuff that happens with these private companies, right? They have these crazy potential insane upsides. And after months and months of hard work working with the lawyers and republic and the cashmere fund and brokers and everybody around the scenes, we finally now been able to offer these types of investments to the Rich Habits Podcast listeners, newsletter subscribers or just anyone else that supports the show. - So with this little is $7,500 committed, your money will be invested in the likes of SpaceX, Proplexity and XAI, as well as 38 companies inside of the cashmere fund, including Mr. Beast, Beast Industries, Katie Perry's DeSoi, Graza, Acorns, and many more. This has been something we've been working on behind the scenes now since August, and we're thrilled to be able to unlock an asset class of pre-seed to pre-IPO privately held companies to the world. - So if you want invested alongside Robert and myself in this opportunity to have SpaceX, Proplexity, XAI, Mr. Beast, Graza, Acorns, Katie Perry's, like exposure to all of these privately held companies with your $7,500, which is how much I'm investing, Robert's investing, right, diversifications, the name of the game, click the link in the show notes below, go to republic, R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C.com, republic, not to be confused with just public, but republic.com, you'll probably see it, popped up there, you'll see our faces on the website, but anyone that's accredited is invited to invest in this. We are so excited to unlock this asset class, Robert, and yeah, it's gonna be great. So let's keep it there. We'll come back with my entry guys about it in every episode going forward. We have $10 million of allocations, so we're not too sure how long it's gonna last. We've already filled up many percentage points of that in just the last couple of hours since launching this on Wednesday, October 22nd. You're watching this now on Monday. I'd imagine a lot of that has been filled up by now, so if you wanna join us, you're invited to click the link in the show notes below. So Robert, let's now jump into this episode and what we're talking about. So give us the breakdown. What is this episode all about? - The top five financial accounts you need to set up before 2026. 2026 is just around the corner, and if you have been set up the right financial accounts by then, you could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table next year. And here's what most people don't realize. We're sitting at a major inflection point. The 2017 Tax and Jobs Act is going to sunset. Retirement contribution rules are changing under the Secure Act 2.0. Student loan policies are shifting, and if you wait until December of 2025 to scramble and open these accounts, you're going to miss out on free money, tax breaks, and years of compounding growth. So today, we're breaking down the five essential financial accounts. You need to have in place before we flip the calendar to 2026. This isn't theory. This is your financial infrastructure. And without the right accounts, you're literally leaving money on the table every single month. So Austin, let's get into it. - Before we dive into the specific accounts, I think it's important for us to talk about like why this actually matters. So why should someone care about opening up the right accounts in 2026? - Your accounts are your financial infrastructure. They're the foundation everything else is built on. If you don't have the right ones, you're not just missing opportunities, you're actively losing money. Let's say you're not contributing to your 401K and you're missing out on a $500 employer match every year. That doesn't sound like a lot, but over 30 years at a 9% average return, that's over $76,000. You just left on the table because you didn't open one account. - And Robert, that's just one account. You now multiply that across in HSA, a Roth IRA brokerage accounts, right? The compounding losses can add up pretty fast. So today we're going through the five accounts that you need to have set up before 2026. And we're gonna tell you exactly why each account matters, what they do for you and how to think about prioritizing them. So be sure to stick around to the end. So Robert, let's talk about the foundation. Kick us off with the first account. - The first account is a high yield savings account for an HYSA. This is your emergency fund. And if you don't have one yet, this is the first thing you need to open today. High yield savings accounts are paying anywhere from three to four percent APY. That's not going to last forever, but while rates are high, you need to take advantage of it. Compare that to a traditional checking account that pays you basically a big nothing burger. You're leaving free money on the table every single month. You don't do this, so act fast. - And the goal here is really simple. You wanna keep three to six months of expenses in your high yield savings account. Because this is not your spending money. This is not your investing money. This is your, the car just broke down. Or I just lost my job. Or I'm having a really rainy day money, right? It needs to be an account that's separate from your checking accounts. You don't just go spend it, but it's also earning interest in easy to access in case of an emergency. So if you're just getting started, do not overthink this. Go open an account on public.com, start earning that 3.8% APY. They make it incredibly simple. They are consistently one of the highest paying savings accounts out there. But if you don't use public, that's fine with us. Does not matter, just go try it. Go maybe go with ally or wealth run or something else that makes sense to you in your situation. Doesn't matter what you use. What matters is that you're actually using a high yield savings account for your emergency fund. - Like Nike said, just do it. So many people that I talk to have tens of thousands of dollars sitting in a traditional checking account or savings account making zero. Don't be that person. Get the money to the high yield savings account. Get the free money. We love public, but anywhere is fine. Just make sure you do it. - Now our second type of account that you need to have are your retirement accounts. Think 401K, Roth IRA, and traditional IRA. So here's why this specifically matters for 2026. When the tax cuts and jobs act sunsets, tax brackets are likely gonna go up a little bit, which means if you're planning to contribute to a Roth IRA, which means you pay taxes now and then you withdraw the money tax screen retirement, it might be a little bit more expensive to do that in 2026 and beyond compared to right now. So opening and funding a Roth IRA now, while those tax brackets are still lower, could save you thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars over your lifetime. - Let's break down the accounts quickly. If you have an employer sponsored 401K, you need to be contributing to it because most employers offer a match. Usually 3% to 6% of your salary, that's free money. And if you're not contributing enough to get the full match, you're literally saying no to a guaranteed 50% to 100% return on your money. - And then there's the Roth IRA. We've talked about this one for so long. It's such a powerful wealth-building tool. You contribute after tax dollars, but all the growth and withdraws in retirement are completely tax-free, which I like that. No taxes, sounds good to me. For 2025, up to 7,000 is how much you can contribute, or 8,000 if you're over the age of 50. And if you're under 30 and start maxing this out right now, you could easily have a million dollars in this account by the time you retire in your mid-60s. - And if your income is too high to contribute directly to the Roth IRA, look into the backdoor Roth IRA strategy. It is a completely legal way to get money into a Roth, even if you're above the income thresholds. We won't go deep into that today, but just know that it exists. - So the bottom line is if you don't have some sort of retirement account already working for you, but it's a 401k, if it's a Roth IRA, if you got to have some sort of retirement account rocking and rolling or contributing to consistently. So the first type of account we talked about was the high yield savings account, the second type of accounts here are their retirement accounts. You need those heading now into 2026. Open the account, doesn't matter which kind it is. And you're like, oh, Austin, I don't have money to put into it. Of course you do. You've got $10, $25, $50 a month. Like that's better than nothing. Starting somewhere is what's important. Just getting started, period is what matters. - We talk about it all the time and that is exactly why I love doing this. It's all about taking action. An account number three is one of the most underrated accounts in personal finance, the health savings account, or you've seen it called in HSA. And here's why this is so powerful. An HSA has a triple tax advantage. Let me say that again, triple. You contribute pre-tax dollars, the money grows tax-free, and you can withdraw tax-free for qualified medical expenses. There are no other accounts in the tax code that gives you that. - And here's a little secret for you, Robert. If you can afford to pay for those medical expenses out of pocket throughout your life, you can actually just let your HSA grow over time and invest into it like a retirement account than after the age of 65, withdraw from it for any reason, not just medical reasons, any reason, and you only pay income tax, just like you would with a traditional IRA. So you get the pre-tax and then it's tax later in retirement. So it's essentially like a shadow stealth retirement account if you think about it like that, which I think is pretty interesting. So if you're healthy and you're not tapping into it, an HSA is essentially this shadow stealth retirement account that you should be taking advantage of. Now, the catch is you need to have a high deductible health plan, which means for 2025, your deductible needs to be at least $1,600 for individuals or $3,200 for families. - If you qualify the contribution limits for 2025 are $4,300 for individuals and $8,550 for families. And if you're 55 years or older, you can contribute an extra $1,000. Max this out if you can, it's one of the best wealth building tools nobody talks about. - How cool is that, Robert, if you think about it, right? Hey, I'm going to contribute, let's say, what's the individual again here? It was $4,300. So not only do I write off $43 against my taxable income saving me probably $1,500, right? So I get to save money on my taxes by contributing it. Let's say it's invested for seven years and it doubles now because the stock market doubles every seven years to $8,600. So I've got $4,300 to profits and I can spend all $8,600 on my kids' braces and there's no taxes. Right, you know what I'm saying? Like how cool is that? It's such a cool account that no one talks about. - All right, Robert, let's talk about the fourth type of account people need going into 2026. And that is drumroll in normal taxable brokerage account. Give me that bridge account on public.com. This is your after tax investing account and it's absolutely essential. If you have financial goals that you want to achieve before 59 and a half years old, right? 'Cause retirement accounts are great. We love a good 401k and a good, you know, traditional or Roth IRA, whatever you might have a 403B or something like that. But they lock your money up until you're almost 60 years old. You want to buy a house, you want to start a business, you want to take a sabbatical maybe, or maybe even retire early like what I want to do. You need money that you can access without the penalties. That is what a bridge account or this brokerage account is for. - Yeah, you can invest in stocks, ETFs, index funds, whatever you want. And while you will pay capital gains taxes when you sell, we love the bridge account because the flexibility is worth it. Plus, if you hold investments for over a year, your tax that long-term capital gains rates, which are way lower than ordinary income tax rates. The key here is automation. Set up automatic contributions every month, even if it's just $100 or $200, and invest in diversified index funds that we talk about all the time, like VOO or VTI. Don't try to time the market, don't chase individual stocks. Just buy, hold, and let it compound, and you'll thank us later. - And if you're younger and you're like guys, you just named all these accounts, which one do I actually go do first, right? We have a phrase for it. Here we go, ready? Match, beats Roth, beats taxable, okay? Up to the match with your employer 401(k) 'cause that's free money. Who doesn't want free money? I like free money. Up to the match to get the free money. Match beats Roth. So next is your Roth IRA. Max that out $7,000 a year, or 8,000 if you're over the age of 50, and invest that into the VOOs and VTIs of the world like Robert just talked about. Then if you have autonomy over your 401(k), which could be you, go back and max out the 401(k). That's great, and you get some nice cool tax savings there on the upside. And then if you don't have autonomy, which is a lot of us, we go put it into the taxable account, which is exactly what this account is, right? And Robert, it's important to remind people here like, if you ever want to retire and not trade time for money for the rest of your life, you need to have a nest egg that's growing for you over time. - And the easiest way anyone can begin investing towards their future is on public.com. They make it incredibly simple to build a multi-asset portfolio, including ETFs, stocks, bonds, crypto options, and more. They also offer access to industry leading yields up to 3.8% APY for your emergency fund. - And for a limited time, you can earn a 1% match on all of your IRA deposits, IRA transfers, and 401(k) rollovers, which is $1,000 of free money for every 100,000 you roll over to the platform. So that old 401(k), that's still at your old employer, you haven't moved over or changed anything with, roll it over, get your 1% match, and claim your money. - Fund your account in five minutes or less, head to public.com, front slash rich habits, to claim your 1% match today. Paid for by public investing, full disclosures in the podcast description. - All right, Robert, let's round off with our fifth type of account that people need to have opened up before 2026. - Account number five is a 529 college savings plan. Now this only applies if you have kids, or you're planning to have kids and you wanna save for their education, but if that's you, this is a huge opportunity. A 529 is a tax advantage account, specifically for education expenses, you contribute after tax dollars, but the money grows tax-free and withdrawals for qualified education expenses are also tax-free. Plus, many states give you a tax deduction for contributions. - Isn't that cool? You get a tax deduction for saving for your kids' college and you're using the profits from the stock market to pay for your kids' books and tuition, or maybe they go to trade school and you're like, how cool is it? It's such a flexible account, I love it. Now here's the new rule that makes it even more exciting. Under the Secure Act 2.0, if your kid doesn't use all the money in their 529 account, you can roll up to $35,000 of it into their Roth IRA, which means that they now have $35,000 in their Roth IRA and their mid 20s, let's say, that's gonna grow for them for the next 40 years. You know what, 35,000 turns into after 40 years, Robert assuming a nine and a half percent return, well over a million dollars, right? This is generational wealth we're talking about here. So the 529 account, especially after the Secure Act 2.0 that came into play makes it just that much more advantageous. - So if you have kids open a 529 now, even if you're just putting $50 to $100 a month into the account that's going to compound over 18 years and make a huge difference in their life, and if your state offers a tax deduction, you're getting free money just for contributing. - All right, Robert. So we've talked about the five accounts, right? The high yield savings account, the retirement account, the HSA account, the taxable account, and now the 529 account. If I were someone listening right now, I would feel overwhelmed, maybe a little bit of anxiety thinking about all these things in account. So let's give them an action plan. - Yeah, so item number one, we're gonna keep this super simple. Open the accounts you don't have, start with the emergency fund and retirement accounts because those are non-negotiable. You have to do it as soon as possible. Don't get lost in the Christmas holiday season and don't do this. Step number two, automate those contributions. Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings, retirement, HSA, and brokerage accounts. Pay yourself first. And step number three, review your accounts annually. This is so important. At least once a year, look at your contribution limits, check if you're maximizing employer matches and adjust as needed. - So if you're feeling overwhelmed, just listen, take a deep breath, don't do all five of these at once. How about you start with water, too? Go open up the high yield savings account this week on public, maybe a Roth IRA the next week, also on public, but building the habit of like, hey, what's my money doing for me? Am I paying myself first? I love that you talked about that, Robert. Let's dig into that for a second. Because we hear, hey, you got paid from your employer cool, my money's gonna go to rent. My money's gonna go to this thing I wanna do with my friends. I'm gonna go to the bar, I'm buying the shoes. I'm gonna pay yourself first and then go do those things. Talk about the importance of that. - Yeah, so many people don't realize that your money has to have a job. You know, I've been saying for years and years that anyone that'll listen is make your money work as hard for you as you work to get it. And by assigning a place, putting automation to your money and not letting it sit in your checking accounts, you will find so much more money available to you to be able to invest in these five accounts. Because if it just sits in your account and the weekend rolls around, your buddies hit you up to go to a concert or you go to a farmer's market or to the mall, you're just gonna blow the money. And that's why I love to tell people and make sure they understand, get your money, working as hard for you as you work to get it. It's so critically important in your wealth building strategies. - And I think another one of my favorite things that you say is what doesn't get measured, doesn't get managed, right? So if you're not measuring the money coming in and out of your account, if you're not using an honest budget and you know, keeping eyes on all this stuff, you're never gonna be able to manage it accordingly. So all we're saying here is that these accounts are the infrastructure for building wealth. Without them, you're gonna end up paying more in taxes. You might miss out on some free money or you could lose years of compounding growth. So get them set up before 2026. So you're not scrambling or paying more than you should. And you know, we've heard this phrase a lot, but I'm gonna say it again here, Robert. The best time to open up an account and start investing was 10 years ago. The second best time is today. - 100%. Wow, what a great episode. I just love breaking these things down because I feel like anyone that takes action is gonna be shocked in a year, two or three years. How much more money they have in these accounts, working hard for them, just because they took these simple steps and got it done. - You know, Robert, I've actually been contributing to a 529 account for my niece and nephews. For the last, I think two or three years it's been but a log into this account right now in real time. I only contribute like 150 bucks a month. I had to go to Vanguard is where I did it on. So like, you know, no gatekeeping here. I went to Vanguard's website and what I ended up doing was they had a minimum deposit of like 3000. So I had 3000 made the deposit and then I was like 150 bucks a month. It's invested in the S&P and it's invested in some growth stuff, right? So like, essentially the VOO and VUG ETFs is kind of how it's broken out here. 80, 20 split between VOO and VUG there. It's got $11,000 in it here, Robert. And this has been like just three years. So like, yeah, to your point, you kind of put this stuff on autopilot. Oh yeah, 100 bucks, 150 bucks, whatever you have. That's what I do every month now, every month. That's all good, it's gone. It's in the budget. I'm not worried about automation, right? Come back three years later to 11 grand. So like, that's the type of stuff we're talking about. In the moment, it doesn't feel like any traction is being made. But then you look at the accounts if it's an HSA, if it's a brokerage, if it's a Roth, if it's a 401K, a 529, whatever it might be, you come back two, three, four, five, six years later and you're like, whoa, I've been making some like real progress on this. - Yeah, so many people we see it every day in our world on Instagram and TikTok and even X where all of these people shout to the mountain tops that saving money $10, $20 here a week and investing doesn't make a difference and they just need to make more money. And I just think it's ridiculous 'cause the math doesn't add up. We did an episode recently where we talked about $1 in your early 20s, turns into $70 in retirement. So anyone listening out there that doesn't think compounding is this magical kingdom, you just have to understand the power of it. So don't listen to the fake gurus telling you that this $50 or $100 a month can't make a difference because what Austin just illustrated is proof the money will start to really pile up even if you're only starting out small. - Now Robert, we got a ton of cool questions coming at you from our Instagram DMs, our rich habits podcast at gmail.com. We love answering the questions before we jump into the Q&A section of the episode gotta give a shout out to Neos Investments. Neos offers ETFs that seek high levels of monthly income with a keen focus on tax efficiency while providing core portfolio exposure across equities, fixed income, real estate, cryptocurrency, and cash alternatives like T-Bills. Their ETFs may be especially interesting for investors looking to generate some tax efficient monthly income inside of their investment portfolios. Their funds may serve as a compelling income-focused alternative or even complement to many of the investments already in your portfolio. So if you're looking to add passive income-focused ETFs to your portfolio, consider learning more about Neos ETFs at neosfunds.com. And as with all investments, investors should carefully consider their investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of Neos exchange traded funds before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please visit neosfunds.com and please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. An investment in Neos ETFs involves risk, including possible loss of principle. There's no guarantee that Neos ETFs will make monthly distributions and the amounts may fluctuate from month to month. cryptocurrency is relatively new and the market has its own specific risks. Neos ETFs are distributed by four-side fund services, LLC. - Love of some disclosures there, Robert. All right, let's jump into our first question coming from Christina. Christina says, "Hi guys, my name's Christina and I love the Q&A portions of your episodes. They allow for learning from others and you to give the best advice, big fan of the show." So here's my question, "Is there a general rule of thumb for when to refinance a home? Do you recommend a certain percentage of interest rate reduction before doing it? Our household income has reduced recently due to a sale job compensation plan change. We have a second child on the way and daycare is outrageously expensive. We have a 6.7% interest rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage with a monthly payment of $4,100. We could really use the extra cash flow from refinancing hopefully in late 2026. So my question is, how do we know when the right time is to refinance our mortgage?" Robert, you are a real estate guru, walk us through your thoughts as to when it makes sense or a general framework you use to determine when is it worth it or not to refinance a home mortgage. Yeah, this is a great question and many people struggle with understanding the totality of the math here. And in this instance, Christina and anyone else that's considering, just look at it that if you can get 75 basis points to one percentage, you're doing great because that probably gets you above that break even point to where it makes sense long-term to do a refinance. So let me give you a general rule of thumb. If you were to, let's say refinance and you were to get a 1% reduction in the rate, your closing cost, for example, would be around $5,000 and your monthly savings, depending on how much you refinance, would be around $165. So if you were to take that math, it would take you 31 months to break even to see the savings in the future on the payment. And right now, my biggest problem with this logic in this situation is I don't think you're going to be able to refinance and save enough considering you're already paying 6.7% and it would be tough to save a full percentage point right now to be able to reduce your current mortgage payment enough to make a difference in your household net income. So I hope that helps. I'd love to give you better answers if you could get 2% or 3% off and save $5 or $600 a month, which would help your cause. But unfortunately, I don't think the math will work in your favor currently. - Yeah, Christina, this one's tough, right? Because your monthly mortgage is $4,100 and you're like, how do we get it down to $3,500 or $3,000, right? Or how do you get it down? You have a mortgage rate of 3% instead of 6.7. And our reality is, I don't think mortgage rates are going to be in the 4% range at all anytime soon, right? We're thinking maybe five's next year if we're lucky, but I don't know at all. It all depends on the 10 year yield, which is a misconception. A lot of people think it depends on the federal reserve cutting interest rates. Nothing to do with that. The framework that I use is refinancing your mortgage comes with an upfront cost, a couple thousand dollars, right? So your monthly payment is $4,100. My general rule of thumb is if you can recoup over the next 18 to 36 months, your entire upfront cost in monthly mortgage payments savings because of a lower interest rate, then it makes sense. So that's kind of the framework I like to use. Like when does it make sense? It makes sense when you can recoup on your cost to refinance over the next 18, 24, maybe 36 months depending on your situation. It just seems like you guys are pinched for cash and unfortunately that means either one, a career change. Maybe you're really good at sales. Like go do sales for someone else that has a better compensation plan. Or it seems like if you're making great money and the compensation plan change is actually affecting you pretty badly. Maybe there's a world where you can do what you're doing for a competitor, right? Maybe they have a better compensation plan than so there's a lot of different ways to think about this. But just no Christina, we're rooting for you and we hope that our sort of framework around the mortgage refinancing helps your situation. So our next question comes from Lex on Instagram. Lex says, "Hi, Austin and Robert, we'd love your take on our situation as we try to make smart long-term decisions for our family." We're both 49. We met later in life and had a child and are mid 40s who is now four years old. My husband earns $200,000 a year in a stable corporate role with good benefits, taking home $8,400 a month. I've built a strong career in communications and consulting, but after a layoff in 2023 and a consulting slowdown in 2025, I've had no income since May. We bought our home in 2023, unfortunately, right before my layoff. And the home's value is 1.3 million. We owe one million on it. It's a 3.4% mortgage with an 8% HELOC, which means the mortgage and the HELOC payment together is $6600 a month. We have roughly $300,000 of equity in the home. We have a $600 a month car loan, $800 a month student loans, $800 a month credit card, and other living expenses of just under $2,000 a month. We've already burnt through our emergency fund and we're now selling stocks out of a $30,000 brokerage account to make ends meet. Our combined 401Ks are worth around $650,000. We love our current community and our daughter's school. But the cost of living is steep. We're open to renting or even relocating, but we've value stability for our daughter. I've been applying and networking constantly while balancing childcare. It's the first real dry spell I've faced. I've worked since I was 14. And it's hard not to contribute financially. I've explored everything from becoming a Pilates instructor to acquiring a small business, to launching an app. And right now, I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. We'd love your perspective on whether to hold onto our home and write out this period or sell it and reset in a lower-cost area. We also want to know how do we protect our long-term wealth while covering of short-term needs and any short-term financial moves that you think that we should prioritize. We both have worked really hard to build a life that we love, but we feel stuck between playing defense and taking bold action. Lex, I am so glad that you reached out to us 'cause I've got the solution. Here's the solution. And we read this actually ahead of time and I was like, okay, this'd be fun to think through, but then it didn't hit me till after I read it the second time here live. Your husband earns 200,000 a year in his stable corporate role, but he's only taking home $8,400 a month. That means he's taking home 100,000 of his 200,000 salary. Where's the other $100,000 a year going? Because at an effective tax rate of 20%, you're still talking about $60,000 a year, $5,000 a month of after-tax dollars that is going somewhere. Where's it going? Is he contributing to his 401K? Is he doing different types? You mentioned good benefits. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes here, but you need to pause all of that and you need to make sure that that 5,000 a month is coming home to you guys. You don't need to be putting in a 401K. You don't need to be putting it into a life insurance policy through your work. You don't need to be putting, you don't need to be doing any of that stuff. You need to make sure that $5,000 a month extra is coming home to you. Now we're talking about 13,400 a month. That changes your life. The second thing I want to talk about is I empathize of having a dry spell and not being able to do anything since 2023. Time to get a job though. Time to go wait tables. Time to go throw boxes at Walmart for $18 an hour. Time to go scoop at Chipotle. Go get a job. I mean, I'm trying to be nice, but I'm also not, 'cause you've been kind of like spend two years like let's just go get a job. I understand that you might wanna go make the 120K that you were making before as the corporate person. I was the president of the company. I hear you. Hopefully that comes around in your future. But we're in crisis mode. In crisis mode, doesn't mean I've got the flexibility to save out for that one cool dream job at the dream location that I wanna work at. It means sure I'm applying to those things, but I'm also now doing DoorDash every single day. Or I'm also working at Walmart for six hours and doing part time here at Publix or whatever it might be to make that $12, $15, $18 an hour that's gonna help us get across the finish line. Because again, you guys are in crisis mode. You've spent through the emergency fund. You're cashing out the investment. You're doing everything and you're saying, hey, we're gonna even sell the house. Like we can't do this anymore. One, I think there's about $60,000 a year that could be headed toward your husband if you play your cards right. And there's another probably 30,000 a year. Maybe more that you could contribute. So we're talking about a 90,000 year difference. 90,000 more a year hits your bank account. You're not in this situation anymore. - That's a great breakdown. And I'm gonna add a little more pain to it. Your situation is pretty traditional. You guys have a $1.3 million home. And I think you're living beyond your means. To me, it just feels like a very typical house broke situation. Even if you were making money, I would need to see you make over $100,000 to add to the $200,000 to make this make sense. Because if you think about it right now, your monthly payment and he lock is $6,600 a month. But your husband's only bringing home $8,400 a month. There's no world that that makes sense. So I would consider selling the home, getting what you can out of it. I don't know what neighborhood it's in or what city it's in and what the capital appreciation is year over year. But the housing market is suppressed right now and could stay that way for quite some time. So I would look at selling the home, becoming a renter for a couple of years to you guys get back on track and do exactly what Austin stated. You have to go get income. I know you're taking care of the kids, that's very admirable. But what about a consulting job online? What if you consider something that's much less pay but you could do from home while you're still taking care of the children? That is another option as well. But right now you have to seriously consider downsizing your expenses or getting additional income because you can't keep going at this pace because you're gonna start draining your retirement accounts and you will no longer be able to preserve that wealth that you guys had worked so hard to build. So I hope this helps. Don't look at renting or getting a lesser job as a bad thing. Who cares about what people think? You have to care about your family and care about your future, especially at your age right now because you guys are at a great inflection point to where if you don't get back on track, you're gonna slowly drain these savings in your retirement accounts and you don't wanna be in that situation. Yeah, I'm leaning towards all of them too, right? 'Cause at $6600 a month, even if you did get this extra 5,000 a month from your husband because he's not withholding 50% of his salary. Now we're talking about it's called 13,000 five and then maybe you're putting another two or 3,000 on top of that. So 15,000 a month after taxes and that would mean 40, 45% of it's going to your mortgage payment. You could afford it, but man, it's expensive. So instead of 66, is there a world where you all could have an apartment that's 28 or 31? That's kind of where my head goes. So not only will you be making more money 'cause your husband is no longer withholding so much at work, but you're now opening up an extra couple thousand dollars from your rent payment versus your current sort of mortgage heel lock thing going on right now. And I understand you value the stability she's for. I'm not trying to say that's here or nor there. I don't remember what happened when I was poor. That's just my reality. Here's what I'm saying. Much rather you all move while she's for instead of when she's 11. And you are really up to your eyeballs. And this cannot work. We gotta go somewhere, we gotta figure this out differently 'cause we stuck around for the five or six years, we tried to make this work, we drained our accounts and now we don't have anything. And now she's gotta not just leave her friends, but leave her friends when she's 11 and she's gone, you know, way different situation then. So I love what you guys are working on here. I love that you guys are asking questions. We're rooting for y'all, but I really think that your husband's about to unlock an extra three, four, five thousand a month from his take on pay by not contributing to these accounts or whatever the different types of, maybe he's doing the all out health plan. Let's do the bronze, not the gold, right? Let's figure that stuff out. Now before we grab our last question from James, Robert, we've seen the markets right now. Stocks are stretched, valuations are pretty high right now. Handful and make a cap AI names are basically carrying the S&P, it's kind of like, it's kind of weird. You know, it kind of reminds me a little bit of like 1997, 1998, 1999. - Exactly, margin debt is climbing, speculative trading is back and markets are prices if everything is going perfectly. AI delivers, rates get cut, geopolitics stay smooth, but history shows that when markets are this one-sided, future returns can disappoint. - So what's an alternative asset option? Well, in my opinion, y'all should take a look at artwork. For the past three years, the art market has been in a down cycle. Sellers have pulled back volumes of slowed and prices have cooled, but now estates and major collections are starting to come back to market creating opportunities at even more attractive valuations. - And here's the thing, art doesn't always move and lockstep with Wall Street. Over nearly three decades, post-war and contemporary art outpaced the S&P 500 with almost zero correlation. And in like many other asset classes, supply is limited while demand is global. - That's why billionaires, family offices, and increasingly, everyday investors have been diversifying into artwork for decades. And one of the easiest ways to do that is through our sponsor, Masterworks. They've securitized 500 works of art and already had 23 exits with net annualized returns, including 17.6, 17.8, and 21.5%. - The best part with Masterworks is you don't need millions to get started. You can invest in shares of iconic works from artists like Picasso, Banksy, and Warhol. Just called 929-545-6473 to skip the wait list. - And as always, past performance is not indicative of future returns and investing involves risk. You can always find important regulation aidous closures at masterworks.com/CD. Check it out and start building real diversification today. We talk about diversification all the time, Robert. Love me some artwork. We're both investors on Masterworks, easiest way to add our work to your own portfolio. All right, our last question comes from James. James says, "Hey guys, my name's James, and I recently discovered the show in Spotify as I'm driving Uber at night. Surprisingly, some of my writers thank me for the show and they even eventually subscribe to your channel. So to say, I'm a huge fan. I feel embarrassed to say that I actually was a finance major just like you, Austin. I still remember the materials, but lack of discipline has put me in a bad spot. Lesson learned from me, even with your knowledge, if there's no discipline, you're bound for failure. Interesting, I like that, that's a good take. James says, "Here's my situation. I'm married with two young kids under the age of two, and I'm the sole breadwinner for the family. I do not have a strong base. I currently have a mortgage where I pay 2200 a month. I've got 22,000 of reckless spending and credit card debt. Three cards with an average minimum payment of 277 a month with an APR of 28%. My car is fully paid off, and that's what I use to drive Uber. Most my expenses go to groceries, credit card bills, and a $2,800, a firm loan, and some other household necessities." Now here's the fun part. Five months ago, I lost my job. And because of my lack of emergency funds, I was late for the last three months on my mortgage payments. I've met those obligations and paid them, but I was late nonetheless. Now I drive Uber almost 12 hours a day, and that's how I've been surviving. Those long hours took valuable time away from my family, which started to impact my marriage. What's reassuring is I have two 529 plans for my kids, where I put some money in whenever I can. I moved my 401(k) for my old job to my IRA, diversified it the way you guys say. Thankfully, I just got a job offer, starting at the beginning of November for $89,000 a year, and I plan to max out my contributions. Now here's where I needed to help. Please guide me through a solid plan to erase all of my credit card debts. What is the most effective way that I can start building wealth at my age? How do I strategically invest to financially thrive and have enough money left for my kids so they can go to college? Thanks in advance. I feel like that store was a roller coaster, right? It was like, I love you guys. Great show. Oh my gosh, but I lost all this and I failed in all this credit card debt, but I got a job again. All right, Robert, walk him through your quick thoughts here as to what you would do in James' situation. - I love the roller coaster and congrats on the job, but please do not put any money into this new employer plan because you don't want to be maxing out those contributions. Meanwhile, you have all this credit card debt, this a firm loan and everything else. I want you to work as many hours as you can at this $85,000 a year job. And then when you get a chance, I want you to still be ubering because you can take all of that and get all of this high interest debt wiped out right away, then start contributing to this 6% match that you're gonna get from your new job. Because the number one thing is we always talk about you can't out-invest high interest debt and you have a lot of it. So that's the plan, that's where you're gonna start, you're gonna get in there, you're gonna impress them, you're gonna do a great job, but don't start the contributions until you wipe out all of these loans and credit card debt first. - Let's talk more about that, Robert. No 529 contributions are more important than 28% credit card debt. No 401k contribution and the match that could come with it is no more important than paying off those credit cards. So here's what I would do. You're working eight hours a day at this job where it's making 89,000 a year. You said you're working 12 hours driving uber, which means you got four more hours a day that you were used to working now that you can now start continue to go drive uber for. Make as much money as you humanly can until you pay off the $22,000 of credit card debt. Here's the thing. I want you to go save a couple thousand dollars for just super small starter emergency funds so you don't have to go more into credit card debt. Then you go all in on paying off this credit card debt. Once it's paid off, go beef up that couple thousand into 15, 25,000, right? It's gonna take you maybe a year or two to do that. Once that is complete and only once that is complete is when you're gonna start investing again, right? I don't want you investing and paying off this and this over here into too many things at once. That's what got you where you are today, right? You talked about not having a plan, no discipline, bound for failure, like this is the plan. Save a little bit of money over here on your public account. Use that as that starter emergency fund. Pay off the high interest credit card debt. Beef up that starter emergency fund to 15 grand. So you don't find yourself driving uber 12 hours a day again. And then you start investing toward match beats Roth, beats taxable, all the fun stuff we just talked about. Really, really appreciate the question James. We're rooting for you, my friend. Love the roller coaster of a question here. You crushed it and you're doing great. - I just don't want everyone to think we're given too much tough love on this episode. But James, you have the background. You have the stick to itiveness. You can do this. You just gotta set aside the funds, set aside the spending. However you got there and just put your nose to the grindstone, be consistent and you'll be back on track in no time. And just know too, this is only a season of your life. Right, you're gonna fast forward four years and be in a completely different financial situation. You and your wife are gonna be so deeply in love. Your kids are gonna be thriving because their dad was in a season of his life or he just worked his face off for 18, 24 months and got them out of a bad financial situation. They were in and now they don't have to worry about not being able to afford something. It's in the mortgage payment. Dad's gone 12 hours a day. What's none of that anymore? So James, again, congrats on the job or rooting for you, my friend. And for everyone listening, don't forget if you want to invest into perplexity, SpaceX, XAI, Mr. Beasts Industries, Katie Perry's, DeSoi, Graza, the olive oil company, Acorns, the FinTech company, like all of those are opportunities that are inside of this multi-asset SPV that Robert, myself, have built and is now launched on republic.com. There's a link in the show notes below. Go check it out. Read all the perspectives. Read all the disclosures. Understand exactly what you're getting yourself into. And yeah, we're really excited about it, Robert. We did it. - It's incredible. I commend you in Christian for the tons of hours and all the work to put this together and get it across the finish line. The first ever multi-asset investment opportunity. And this is just incredible. And I'm so excited for our listeners and everyone in our ecosystem. Just because this is different, this is new and it's incredible, incredible companies. So make sure you guys check it out on republic. You'll see our faces if you scroll down and you can read all the really good information around this investment. And again, thank you all for stopping by every week. Check it out the podcast, signing up for the newsletter and just hanging out with us. - Thanks everyone and have a great start to your week. (upbeat music)