Latest / Money In Motion with Klaas Financial / Holiday Budget Wisdom: Stay on Track for Retirement

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Holiday Budget Wisdom: Stay on Track for Retirement · Money In Motion with Klaas Financial

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Speaker 1: And our phone lines they are open for you right now.
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Speaker 1: three two one thirteen ten. Speaking of your phone, it's
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Speaker 1: an amazing tool. You can check out COLSS Financial right
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Speaker 1: from your browser on your phone. Just go to classfinancial
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Speaker 1: dot com. That's coss klaas Financial dot com and their
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Speaker 1: telephone number six O eight four four two five six
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Speaker 1: three seven. And joining us this morning from Class Financial
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Speaker 1: our CJ Class and Eric Schwartz CJ. How you doing
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Speaker 1: this week?
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Speaker 2: I'm doing great.
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Speaker 3: How are you?
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Speaker 1: Sean? Doing really well? Great to talk with you, Eric.
0:37
Speaker 1: How have you been?
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Speaker 4: I'm doing great, Sean. It's been fresh shout today.
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Speaker 1: It's an exciting conversation. And of course we look towards
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Speaker 1: UH gift spending and other things going on with holidays,
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Speaker 1: and of course the importance of keeping our big plans
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Speaker 1: in mind during this holiday season. So we're going to
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Speaker 1: get into that and just a moment a couple of things.
0:55
Speaker 1: As mentioned, of course, phone lines are open for questions
0:58
Speaker 1: Class Financial. Of course, you can find them online classfinancial
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Speaker 1: dot com. That's closs k l a A s Financial
1:03
Speaker 1: dot com. Great website to learn more about Class Financial. Also,
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Speaker 1: if you miss any part of the program, you can
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Speaker 1: listen back and subscribe to the podcast right online at
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Speaker 1: clausfinancial dot com. Our telf number six O eight four
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Speaker 1: four two five six three seven that first appoyment at
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Speaker 1: Class Financial. It will be complimentary to you again that
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Speaker 1: telephone number six so eight four four two five six
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Speaker 1: three seven. Before we start looking towards the holidays and
1:24
Speaker 1: get some tips for for helping folks when it comes
1:28
Speaker 1: to keeping things in check during the holiday season, let's
1:30
Speaker 1: actually look back at last week's program. Of course, each
1:33
Speaker 1: and every week we do the class Quiz question a week.
1:35
Speaker 1: We'll take a look back at last week's program and
1:37
Speaker 1: get the question and answer to the Class Quiz question
1:39
Speaker 1: the week.
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Speaker 3: Eric, absolutely, thank you to everybody for listening as always,
1:44
Speaker 3: and our winner from last week was Sally from Evansville,
1:47
Speaker 3: so thank you for listening, Sally. And our question was
1:51
Speaker 3: what does the letter R stand for in the acronym
1:54
Speaker 3: r MD, and the R stands for required required minimum distributions?
2:00
Speaker 1: Fantastic and you can listen back to that program at
2:02
Speaker 1: class financial dot Com. That's cos k l Aasfinancial dot
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Speaker 1: Com will be giving you a chance also to win
2:08
Speaker 1: this week with the Class Quiz question of the Week.
2:10
Speaker 1: A little bit later on in the program, of course,
2:12
Speaker 1: our friends from Class Financial provided a twenty five dollars
2:14
Speaker 1: gift card to Texas Roadhouse. Tell you a little bit
2:17
Speaker 1: later on in the show how you can win that
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Speaker 1: little tip. It definitely is beneficial to listen closely for
2:22
Speaker 1: a number of reasons. But also one of those is
2:24
Speaker 1: that oftentimes the question and answer come up during the program,
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Speaker 1: and of course, with the holidays fast approaching and gifts
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Speaker 1: spending on the horizon, I've got a guess this can
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Speaker 1: create some issues when it comes to savings for retirement,
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Speaker 1: and we're going to work through some tips and CJ,
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Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about some of those some
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Speaker 1: of those pieces of guidance, some of those smart tips
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Speaker 1: you can provide for folks.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Sean. We often will find that post holidays,
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Speaker 2: we will meet with some clients and say, oh, we
2:54
Speaker 2: need to dig ourselves out of a hole here, so
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Speaker 2: we're going to give you thirteen tips today. It relates
3:00
Speaker 2: to kind of being mindful as you do your holiday
3:02
Speaker 2: shopping and avoiding getting too deep into a hole. Now,
3:07
Speaker 2: since we talk a lot on the show about keeping
3:09
Speaker 2: debt in check as you get closer to retirement, of course,
3:12
Speaker 2: this just becomes more and more important that these holidays
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Speaker 2: don't set you back too far. Now, according to the
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Speaker 2: US Census Bureau, during last year's holiday season, consumers purchased
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Speaker 2: a record amount, with core retail sales reaching nine hundred
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Speaker 2: and ninety four billion dollars. Total holiday spending, which includes
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Speaker 2: online and in store purchases, reached nearly one trillion dollars
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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, representing a four percent increase compared
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Speaker 2: to the previous year. Now, if you want a joy
3:45
Speaker 2: filled holiday without a January while it hangover, here's the plan.
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Speaker 2: Start by setting a reasonable holiday budget now and then
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Speaker 2: stick to it. We'll walk you through some concrete steps
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Speaker 2: to enjoy the season without derailing your retirement future.
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Speaker 1: Let's kind of then get into that as we As
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Speaker 1: we get into those tips, what tips, Eric, how do
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Speaker 1: you then suggest when it comes to making some of
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Speaker 1: those sound holiday gift buying decisions.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, Sean, the main idea here is we're just trying
4:13
Speaker 3: to avoid going overboard on holiday spending.
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Speaker 4: Like CJ just said, we talk to clients all the time.
4:18
Speaker 3: In January February, and while we understand that it can
4:23
Speaker 3: be an expensive time, sometimes things are a little bit
4:27
Speaker 3: even beyond just an expensive month or two. So we're
4:31
Speaker 3: we're going to go through, like CJ said, thirteen strategies
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Speaker 3: here to consider. So I'm going to do the first
4:36
Speaker 3: one here, which is pay yourself first so you can
4:39
Speaker 3: keep your retirement on track. So this is an we
4:41
Speaker 3: call it an old faithful we talk about all the time.
4:45
Speaker 3: You know, as you look at what you're putting into
4:47
Speaker 3: your retirement savings, make sure that you are continuing to
4:51
Speaker 3: do that through the holidays. Okay, so if you're saving,
4:55
Speaker 3: we generally tell people to aim for ten to fifteen
4:57
Speaker 3: percent of their income each year, including your employer match,
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Speaker 3: make sure we're continuing those.
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Speaker 4: Through the holidays.
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Speaker 3: So I've talked to clients before that, I'll say, well,
5:08
Speaker 3: you know, November and December, I usually just you know,
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Speaker 3: stop my four to one K contribution and you know
5:15
Speaker 3: it helps with cash flow a little bit. And I
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Speaker 3: understand that, but I think if you're doing that every
5:20
Speaker 3: year for two months, that is really going to add
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Speaker 3: up over time, and if you can find a way
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Speaker 3: to keep that contribution going through the holiday months, it's
5:31
Speaker 3: going to make a big, big difference. Tip number two
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Speaker 3: here is to create a holiday cash envelope system. So
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Speaker 3: I said that the pay yourself first one was one
5:41
Speaker 3: of our old faithfuls. I would call this one that
5:44
Speaker 3: as well. It sounds a little old school, but it
5:46
Speaker 3: can work pretty well. So if you if you decide
5:48
Speaker 3: now on kind of that total spending for the holidays,
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Speaker 3: and you can write that number down on an envelope
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Speaker 3: withdraw and cash and then set it aside. So let's
5:59
Speaker 3: just use an example here. You spend say five hundred
6:02
Speaker 3: bucks on gifts and two hundred dollars on festive meals.
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Speaker 3: Pull out that seven hundred dollars, put it into an envelope.
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Speaker 3: That way, when the cash is gone, your holiday spending
6:12
Speaker 3: is done.
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Speaker 4: You don't have any.
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Speaker 3: Surprise credit card bills in January, and you know, with
6:17
Speaker 3: that cash in hand, you'll feel more deliberate about each
6:20
Speaker 3: gift and hopefully resist that urge to overspend when you
6:23
Speaker 3: see you know, a twenty percent off or some other
6:26
Speaker 3: sale advertisement. We know, we know the stores will get
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Speaker 3: very creative to explain all the reasons we should add
6:33
Speaker 3: something else to our card. Tip number three, leverage inflation
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Speaker 3: friendly deals. Okay, so we all know that prices can
6:41
Speaker 3: climb right at this time of year, and over the
6:43
Speaker 3: last few years, we've certainly all experienced that. So get
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Speaker 3: savvy here and make sure you're comparing comparing your different options.
6:53
Speaker 3: So compare online retailers for free shipping promotions. Consider price
6:57
Speaker 3: match guarantees. A lot of stores will do that. And
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Speaker 3: if you spot, you know, a popular kitchen gadget on
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Speaker 3: sale at store A for a hundred bucks, but store
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Speaker 3: B is offering ten percent off if you sign up
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Speaker 3: for their email list, take advantage of that. These small
7:11
Speaker 3: little savings really really can add up over time, especially
7:15
Speaker 3: during such an expensive time of year. And then tip
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Speaker 3: number four here, mind the hidden costs. Gifts are not
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Speaker 3: the only line item. Okay, So that's generally what we
7:26
Speaker 3: think about when we think of holiday spending. But if
7:29
Speaker 3: you're hosting a holiday dinner for a large group, it
7:33
Speaker 3: might be might be too expensive to do this year,
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Speaker 3: So perhaps you maybe consider like a potluck and have
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Speaker 3: have people bring bring things to contribute or instead of
7:45
Speaker 3: you know, facing high shipping costs, consider dropping off gifts
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Speaker 3: in person when possible. So really these are are kind
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Speaker 3: of what you'd call, you know, really really small things
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Speaker 3: you can you can be considering, but they really do
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Speaker 3: add up, really really add up over over time.
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Speaker 1: It's pretty staggering you think of Sometimes you look at
8:05
Speaker 1: look at what it costs to ship some things. It's like, oh,
8:07
Speaker 1: my goodness, sometimes costs morning get it from point A
8:10
Speaker 1: to point B, then whatever it costs it originally.
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Speaker 4: So exactly, exactly.
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Speaker 1: Really good guidance this morning. Eric Schwartz and CJ. Closs.
8:18
Speaker 1: They are our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial Online
8:22
Speaker 1: Costs Financial dot com. That's coss k l a a
8:25
Speaker 1: S Financial dot com. You see a lot of credit
8:27
Speaker 1: card commercials this time of year, and I'm guessing that's
8:29
Speaker 1: not a coincidence. We're going to continue our conversation with
8:31
Speaker 1: c gen.
8:32
Speaker 4: Eric.
8:32
Speaker 1: We will talk about our credit cards this time a year.
8:34
Speaker 1: In the meantime, if you haven't been the website, I
8:36
Speaker 1: urge you head on over there right now. Coss Financial
8:38
Speaker 1: dot com. That's coss k l a a S Financial
8:41
Speaker 1: dot com. You can learn more about everyone at Costs Financial.
8:44
Speaker 1: You can learn about their separate divisions. You can sign
8:46
Speaker 1: up for the weekly Market Pulse newsletter. You can also
8:48
Speaker 1: schedule a conversation right online at cossfinancial dot com, or
8:51
Speaker 1: you can give them a call six so eight four
8:53
Speaker 1: four two five six three seven. Don't forget no charge
8:56
Speaker 1: for that initial get to know your appointment at Coss Financial.
8:58
Speaker 1: It will be complimentary to you again. They're telphone number
9:01
Speaker 1: six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
9:03
Speaker 1: More of money in motion with Coss Financial is next
9:06
Speaker 1: right here on thirteen ten WIBA talking with our retirement
9:09
Speaker 1: planning professionals CJ. Coss and Eric Schwartz. Of course they
9:12
Speaker 1: come to us from Class Financial. The website Coss financial
9:16
Speaker 1: dot com that's Coss Klaas financial dot com. Great website
9:20
Speaker 1: to learn more about Coss Financial, how they can help
9:22
Speaker 1: you or if you're an employer as well, some of
9:24
Speaker 1: the great test services that they provide at Coss Financial.
9:27
Speaker 1: You can learn all about them online cossfinancial dot com.
9:30
Speaker 1: That's Coss Klaas financial dot com. They're telephone number six
9:34
Speaker 1: oh eight four four two five six three seven. Don't
9:37
Speaker 1: forget no charge for the initial gets to know you
9:38
Speaker 1: appointment at COSS Financial. It will be complementary to you
9:41
Speaker 1: again in the office right here in Madison six o
9:43
Speaker 1: eight four four two five, six three seven talking about
9:47
Speaker 1: some holiday tips thirteen tips to share with you this
9:50
Speaker 1: week about about keeping debt and check during the holiday season,
9:54
Speaker 1: and it can be hard and it's important to have
9:55
Speaker 1: these plans in place before you start doing stuff to
9:58
Speaker 1: really keep yourself safe and for protected and no joke,
10:01
Speaker 1: and I'd love to see the numbers on this. You
10:04
Speaker 1: basically can't watch television without seeing a couple of credit
10:07
Speaker 1: card commercials during the season. And of course a lot
10:09
Speaker 1: of them are talking things like zero percent interests and
10:12
Speaker 1: other things, which which is very enticing CJ. But you
10:17
Speaker 1: may want to use a little caution here tell us
10:18
Speaker 1: about this.
10:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's interesting if you actually look at
10:23
Speaker 2: how much money goes into marketing credit cards. And by
10:26
Speaker 2: the way, everybody knows this. Every single retail vendor out
10:31
Speaker 2: there now has their own credit card and so you know,
10:35
Speaker 2: let's just not to sound like a conspiracy theorist here,
10:38
Speaker 2: but let me ask you all, why are they doing this?
10:42
Speaker 2: Is it because you know there's no money to be
10:44
Speaker 2: made and they just want to make it easier for
10:46
Speaker 2: you to you know, make good decisions. I mean, come on, everybody.
10:50
Speaker 2: If every single retailer out there, even the mom and
10:53
Speaker 2: pop shop that you know opens up next door to you,
10:56
Speaker 2: has a credit card to offer, there's something in that.
10:59
Speaker 2: So what we would say is, if you carry any
11:02
Speaker 2: holiday credit card balances into the new year, remember that
11:06
Speaker 2: average rates can hover around twenty four percent or more.
11:11
Speaker 2: Advertisements that talk about zero percent interest rate that may
11:14
Speaker 2: sound interesting, but once interest is added, that brand new
11:17
Speaker 2: item can cost double or triple overtime if you don't
11:20
Speaker 2: get it paid off. So you know, Eric was talking
11:22
Speaker 2: about sometimes you can just you know, put in your
11:25
Speaker 2: email address and they'll say, as a first time customer,
11:28
Speaker 2: you know, if you let them send you emails for promos,
11:33
Speaker 2: you can get fifteen to twenty percent off. I was
11:34
Speaker 2: just looking at this for an item for my wife
11:37
Speaker 2: for the Christmas holiday season. That's one thing, but it's
11:40
Speaker 2: a whole nother thing to say, oh, but if you
11:42
Speaker 2: just put that transaction on a credit card, we'll reduce
11:44
Speaker 2: it by twenty or twenty five percent and then just
11:46
Speaker 2: you know, eventually paid off. That to us is kind
11:49
Speaker 2: of like a that's a line in the sand. Maybe
11:52
Speaker 2: don't be doing that because that I would say, most
11:56
Speaker 2: most of you listening to us will not get it
11:58
Speaker 2: paid off in time wise, they wouldn't be offering that
12:01
Speaker 2: to you. Okay, So that was tip number five resists
12:04
Speaker 2: the credit card trap. Tip number six is consider thoughtful
12:08
Speaker 2: low cost alternatives. This is a big one. Everybody, you know,
12:12
Speaker 2: holiday season can get so stressful because we know of
12:15
Speaker 2: the debt that we take on. We know of the
12:17
Speaker 2: pressure to find just the right gift that says just
12:20
Speaker 2: the right thing, And we would encourage you, like, keep
12:23
Speaker 2: it simple and thoughtful. Maybe instead of something expensive, maybe
12:26
Speaker 2: you do like a small movie, popcorn night at home.
12:30
Speaker 2: Maybe you propose a white elephant gift or a secret
12:32
Speaker 2: Santa exchange where you bring one gift and all of
12:35
Speaker 2: your friends exchange things instead of buying one for every
12:38
Speaker 2: single one of your friends. So consider thoughtful, low cost alternatives.
12:44
Speaker 2: And then finally, tip number seven for me is give experiences,
12:48
Speaker 2: not just things. So my daughter just last night, my
12:53
Speaker 2: middle daughter said to me, Dad, what do you want
12:55
Speaker 2: for Christmas? And I said, I don't want anything physical
13:00
Speaker 2: or financial from you. I just want the day with you.
13:04
Speaker 2: And of course she's a sixteen year old girl, and
13:06
Speaker 2: she was like, oh, come on, I want to get
13:09
Speaker 2: I would rather give you something and spend time with you.
13:11
Speaker 2: Is through what she's thinking, But.
13:13
Speaker 4: This is true.
13:14
Speaker 2: We often impose these financial expectations on ourselves. So just
13:20
Speaker 2: slow down. Focus on time. A homemade pasta meal, a pizza,
13:25
Speaker 2: night with a family, singing carols in the neighborhood. Oh
13:29
Speaker 2: my goodness, I promise you that will bring you more
13:32
Speaker 2: long lasting joy than any one time gift that you
13:35
Speaker 2: give to to a family member. So consider experiences not
13:40
Speaker 2: just thing.
13:41
Speaker 1: Love hearing that talking this morning with CJ. Claus and
13:43
Speaker 1: Eric Schwartz our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial online
13:47
Speaker 1: Class Financial dot com that's class k l a A
13:50
Speaker 1: S Financial dot com. There telephone number six so eight
13:53
Speaker 1: four four two five six three seven, no charge for
13:56
Speaker 1: that initial get to know your appointment at Class Financial
13:59
Speaker 1: at Dell will become implementary to You could just pick
14:01
Speaker 1: up the phone make that appointment six so eight four
14:03
Speaker 1: four two five six three seven. Of course you can
14:06
Speaker 1: schedule appointment also right online Class Financial dot com that's
14:09
Speaker 1: coss k l a A S Financial dot com. We're
14:12
Speaker 1: going to continue our conversation with Cjen Eric. We will
14:14
Speaker 1: do that next as Money in Motion with Class Financial
14:17
Speaker 1: continues right here on thirteen ten. Wuib A talking with CJ.
14:21
Speaker 1: Closs and Eric Schwartz this morning. They are our retirement
14:24
Speaker 1: planning professionals from Class Financially. You can get to know CJ,
14:27
Speaker 1: Eric and the whole team at Class Financial on their
14:29
Speaker 1: website Class financial dot com. That's Class k l A
14:32
Speaker 1: A S Financial dot com. You can also listen back
14:35
Speaker 1: to this in previous shows podcast and schedule a complementary
14:39
Speaker 1: chat right online Class financial dot com or pick a phone.
14:42
Speaker 1: Gimme a call six O eight four four two five
14:44
Speaker 1: six three seven. Don't forget that first appointment at Coss Financial.
14:47
Speaker 1: It will be complementary to you, not going to cost you. Thanks,
14:50
Speaker 1: gimme call six so eight four four two five six
14:53
Speaker 1: three seven. Getting through the holiday season and trying to
14:57
Speaker 1: really be smart about purchases and other things, and obviously
15:00
Speaker 1: very much still enjoy the holiday, and we've had some
15:03
Speaker 1: fantastic suggestions. What about that's there looking to borrow from
15:09
Speaker 1: our retirement savings or savings account for holiday spending? Is
15:13
Speaker 1: that ever a good idea.
15:14
Speaker 4: Eric.
15:16
Speaker 3: Sean, I can tell by your reaction you already know
15:18
Speaker 3: the answer to that question.
15:21
Speaker 1: It's a trap, right exactly.
15:24
Speaker 3: So, unsurprisingly, neither borrowing from your retirement accounts or tapping
15:29
Speaker 3: your emergency fund for holiday gifts is a smart move
15:32
Speaker 3: or recommended.
15:35
Speaker 4: Now, one thing I.
15:36
Speaker 3: Will say before I talk about tip number eight here
15:38
Speaker 3: is I'm sure there are a lot of listeners saying,
15:40
Speaker 3: oh gosh, I've never never borrow for my retirement account
15:44
Speaker 3: to pay for holiday gifts. But I will tell you
15:46
Speaker 3: that these are on the list because they've come up before.
15:50
Speaker 3: Oh yes, yes, So tip number eight here, Let's don't
15:55
Speaker 3: treat your retirement as a holiday piggybank. Okay, So some
16:00
Speaker 3: people will say, well, you know, I can take a
16:02
Speaker 3: loan against my four oh one K, and that way
16:04
Speaker 3: I don't have to pay that ten percent early withdrawal penalty,
16:08
Speaker 3: and you know, then I can just repay myself rather
16:11
Speaker 3: than rather than paying the bank or the credit card company.
16:16
Speaker 4: Sort of is what I would say to that.
16:19
Speaker 3: If you if you don't, first of all, if you
16:21
Speaker 3: don't repay that loan to your four one k according
16:24
Speaker 3: to the plan's terms, which includes interest, it becomes a
16:28
Speaker 3: taxable distribution, and from there, you know the way the
16:35
Speaker 3: avoiding of the ten percent tax early withdrawal tax penalty,
16:39
Speaker 3: Well that's out the window as well. And if you
16:42
Speaker 3: leave your job before you pay back that four one
16:44
Speaker 3: K loan, the entire balance is due immediately, or it
16:48
Speaker 3: could be due immediately, and all the while you're missing
16:51
Speaker 3: out on market gains and compounding interests that could add
16:55
Speaker 3: up to you know, tens of thousands of dollars over
16:57
Speaker 3: the next decade. Okay, so yes, you're you're paying yourself
17:02
Speaker 3: back somewhat, but you are you're taking money out of
17:05
Speaker 3: the market or out of your your investment vehicle, and
17:11
Speaker 3: and you're you're basically short changing your your future retirement
17:14
Speaker 3: retirement income. Tip number nine here, keep your emergency fund intact.
17:20
Speaker 3: This one is a lot harder. I think your your
17:23
Speaker 3: rainy day cash cushion is really supposed to be there
17:26
Speaker 3: for true emergencies. So think unexpected car repairs, medical bills,
17:32
Speaker 3: not holiday shopping. If you if you dip into your
17:35
Speaker 3: emergency fund for the holidays, your your risk scrambling to
17:38
Speaker 3: rebuild it when the when the real emergencies actually come up.
17:43
Speaker 3: So instead, let's let's try and plan ahead here. Allocate
17:45
Speaker 3: a small portion of each monthly paycheck from January through
17:49
Speaker 3: October into your your separate holiday fund so you're not
17:53
Speaker 3: tempted to raid savings at the at the last minute.
17:57
Speaker 3: And I don't know, I don't see it as much anymore,
17:59
Speaker 3: but a lot of banks used to have like special
18:02
Speaker 3: savings accounts they would set up that were for you know,
18:05
Speaker 3: holiday basically for saving for the holidays throughout the year.
18:08
Speaker 3: And you know, maybe they had some sort of like
18:11
Speaker 3: bonus interest or something if you if you contribute.
18:13
Speaker 4: It every month.
18:14
Speaker 3: So that's that's the idea here is we want to
18:17
Speaker 3: try and pre fund the holiday expenses so that when
18:20
Speaker 3: the time comes, you're not just trying to catch up.
18:24
Speaker 1: Talking this morning with Eric Schwartz and CJ. Closs every
18:26
Speaker 1: timement planning professionals from Class Financial online, Class Financial dot com.
18:30
Speaker 1: That's Class k l a A S Financial dot com.
18:33
Speaker 1: Sorry about that, Eric, you had another tip for us.
18:36
Speaker 3: Well, I think, yeah, we'll go through tip ten here Sean,
18:40
Speaker 3: And I was as we kind of moved through this, uh,
18:44
Speaker 3: you know, don't treat your retirement as a holiday piggy bank.
18:48
Speaker 3: Try to keep that emergency fund in tack. But tip
18:52
Speaker 3: number ten here is set and prioritize your your financial goals.
18:56
Speaker 3: So inflation might make groceries or travel costs more so,
19:00
Speaker 3: revisit your twenty twenty five goals and align them with
19:04
Speaker 3: your spending and your savings habits. If your goal is
19:06
Speaker 3: a comfortable retirement and say fifteen years, ask yourself, does
19:11
Speaker 3: buying you know, a two hundred dollars gift today really
19:13
Speaker 3: align with my long term vision? Because if you can
19:16
Speaker 3: identify those priorities like maxing out your IRA match, or
19:19
Speaker 3: paying down a mortgage, maybe building a college fund, if
19:22
Speaker 3: that's one of your priorities, you'll naturally kind of curb
19:26
Speaker 3: that impulse to make, you know, excessive holiday purchases that
19:32
Speaker 3: really don't serve these goals. So kind of training ourselves
19:35
Speaker 3: there a little.
19:35
Speaker 1: Bit great great habits to form this time a year,
19:38
Speaker 1: and of course as we look towards the holidays and
19:40
Speaker 1: then of course look to the new year, starting those
19:43
Speaker 1: right smart habits some great guidance as well to not
19:46
Speaker 1: get yourself in trouble during this gift giving Season's talk
19:49
Speaker 1: this morning with CJ. Closs and Eric Schwartz, they are
19:51
Speaker 1: our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial online, Classfinancial dot com.
19:55
Speaker 1: The telephone number six So eight four four two five
19:57
Speaker 1: six three seven any other final suggest question CJ.
20:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. So basically we're down to last couple of tips here.
20:06
Speaker 2: So tip number eleven is maintain a budget all year long.
20:10
Speaker 2: So budgeting isn't just for January everybody. It's meant to
20:13
Speaker 2: be throughout the year. So use a simple spreadsheet or
20:16
Speaker 2: a budgeting app to track needs versus wants. And when
20:19
Speaker 2: you see how how meal costs have increased by say
20:23
Speaker 2: five to seven percent due to inflation, you know, just
20:27
Speaker 2: you've got to You've got to account for that additional
20:29
Speaker 2: cash flow and determine where that's going to go in
20:31
Speaker 2: your overall budget. So again tip number eleven, maintain a
20:35
Speaker 2: budget all year long. Tip number twelve is adopt a
20:38
Speaker 2: positive attitude about money. Think of money as freedom, not
20:43
Speaker 2: a constraint. Even if inflation makes prices feel out of control.
20:46
Speaker 2: Remember when you manage your dollars wisely, you free yourself
20:50
Speaker 2: to spend on what truly matters. So think of it
20:53
Speaker 2: this way everybody. People who have not learned to engage
20:57
Speaker 2: money in the right way will often not want to
20:59
Speaker 2: talk about money or put their heads in the sand
21:01
Speaker 2: when it comes to money, largely because it feels out
21:04
Speaker 2: of control, scary and overwhelming. But once you move towards
21:09
Speaker 2: it and say, all right, I'm gonna start tracking where
21:11
Speaker 2: my money goes. And then then next I'm gonna change
21:15
Speaker 2: where my money goes. That's the budgeting part. And then
21:18
Speaker 2: finally I'm going to pre save for some of my
21:21
Speaker 2: known future expenses like buying a new car. If you
21:24
Speaker 2: do the hard work, just like anything in life, if
21:27
Speaker 2: you do the hard work to get to that final
21:29
Speaker 2: step where you have not only categorized and budgeted and
21:33
Speaker 2: pre saved. When you get to that final step, money
21:36
Speaker 2: starts to feel like freedom because when you need to
21:41
Speaker 2: buy a new car, there's just money there. You see
21:44
Speaker 2: my point, right, Like, I guess I need to buy
21:46
Speaker 2: a new car. I've got forty thousand dollars sitting there.
21:48
Speaker 2: It's been seven years and I've been putting it in there.
21:50
Speaker 2: It completely transforms. Or it's time for us to take
21:54
Speaker 2: a vacation again, We've got another twenty thousand dollars sitting
21:56
Speaker 2: in the vacation fund. It completely transforms the spending patterns.
22:02
Speaker 2: Instead of I need a vacation and I have no money,
22:05
Speaker 2: or I need a new car and I have no money.
22:08
Speaker 1: Okay.
22:08
Speaker 2: And finally, our our thirteenth tip for today, which is
22:12
Speaker 2: our last one of the day, is lean on a
22:14
Speaker 2: trusted financial advisor. So doesn't have to be us. We've
22:18
Speaker 2: mentioned this many times. We consider ourselves a great firm
22:21
Speaker 2: in the area, but there are a number of great
22:23
Speaker 2: kind of fee based retirement planning firms or financial planning
22:26
Speaker 2: firms in the region. But just find somebody who you
22:28
Speaker 2: know and trust, who can be that independent third party
22:31
Speaker 2: to look over your entire financial picture and kind of say, hey,
22:35
Speaker 2: you might want to consider this, you might want to
22:37
Speaker 2: consider that, you might want to shift here. And what
22:39
Speaker 2: we have found is that financial advisors very rarely are
22:43
Speaker 2: going to do a one hundred and eighty degree direction
22:45
Speaker 2: change for you.
22:46
Speaker 1: Right.
22:46
Speaker 2: It's like that first off is just not typically possible
22:50
Speaker 2: with households. But that's typically not what they're doing. They're
22:53
Speaker 2: coming in and just ever so slightly on an annual basis,
22:57
Speaker 2: pivoting certain patterns and giving feedback, and that little pivot
23:01
Speaker 2: in your direction, if you allow it to play out
23:03
Speaker 2: over the next ten, twenty thirty years, has a major
23:07
Speaker 2: chain or a major difference in where you will end
23:10
Speaker 2: up in retirement.
23:11
Speaker 1: So there you go.
23:12
Speaker 2: There are our thirteen tips.
23:14
Speaker 1: So much great information this week and every week in
23:17
Speaker 1: the program as well. Don't forget you can always listen
23:19
Speaker 1: back and subscribe to the podcast if you head on
23:21
Speaker 1: over to Clossfinancial dot com. That's all one word colssfinancial
23:25
Speaker 1: dot com. You can listen back to this and subscribe
23:27
Speaker 1: as well to the podcast right online. You can also
23:29
Speaker 1: schedule a complimentary chat right from the website as well
23:32
Speaker 1: as get to know the team at Cost Financial as
23:34
Speaker 1: well as their separate division. Again, that's all at cossfinancial
23:37
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Coss k l aas Financial dot com.
23:41
Speaker 1: There're tough number six oh eight four four two five
23:44
Speaker 1: six three seven. No charge for that initial get to
23:46
Speaker 1: know you appointment at Loss Financial. It will be complimentary
23:48
Speaker 1: to you again their number six oh eight four four
23:50
Speaker 1: two five six three seven. You want to hold on
23:52
Speaker 1: to that number as well, because it's time now for
23:54
Speaker 1: the Closs Quiz Question the Week. It works like this,
23:56
Speaker 1: In just a moment, I'll ask you the class quiz
23:58
Speaker 1: question the Week. You will then have thirty minut It's
24:00
Speaker 1: from the Today's program to call the Class Financial office
24:02
Speaker 1: right here in Madison at six oh eight four four
24:05
Speaker 1: two five six three seven. If you are the first
24:08
Speaker 1: caller with the correct answer, you won this week's prize,
24:10
Speaker 1: which is a twenty five dollars gift card to Ohie,
24:12
Speaker 1: Texas Roadhouse. This week's Class quiz question leak Is this
24:16
Speaker 1: true or false? During the twenty twenty four holiday season,
24:19
Speaker 1: consumer spending including online and in store purchases, totaled almost
24:25
Speaker 1: one trillion dollars. Is that true or is that false?
24:29
Speaker 1: First call it correct answer win that twenty five dollars
24:31
Speaker 1: gift card to Texas Roadhouse. Don't forget as well. That's
24:33
Speaker 1: Coss Financials office right here in Madison. No charge for
24:36
Speaker 1: that initial get to know your appointment at COSS Financial
24:38
Speaker 1: their number six oh eight four four two five six
24:41
Speaker 1: three seven. CJ. Eric, It's always great chatting with both
24:44
Speaker 1: of you. We'll do it all again in seven days.
24:47
Speaker 4: Thanks Sean, Thanks Sean, Take care guys.
24:49
Speaker 1: Doctor Marty Greer comes your way next year on thirteen
24:51
Speaker 1: ten WUIB eight