Congrats on your best earnings year yet!
Now let’s make sure you don’t lose it.
“Whoa, Tyler. Chill man. I’m still coming off the high of a good year!”
Look, I don’t want to be a downer or a pessimist.
But like that Farmer’s Insurance commercial, I know a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two.
And the unfortunate thing I’ve seen is high performers who are killing it at the earning money game…but they stay financially stressed for decades.
That’s because they’ve made one simple mistake:
They assumed that being good at earning money means they’re good at keeping it.
If you want your high-level performance to mean high net worth some day, there are a couple things you can do:
Avoid the Silent Killers
In financial planning, there are certain threats to keeping your wealth.
Taxes
When it comes to taxes, are you:
Trying to get the biggest possible deductions year over year?
Implementing a long-term tax strategy aimed at paying your lowest lifetime tax bill?
Let me give you an example of a long-term tax move with a client:
I have a high earning client who was laid off right before 2024 started. She wasn’t earning quite as much as her former salary because of it.
We converted her 401(k) to a Roth IRA this year, paying a little bit of tax now at a lower income tax bracket, allowing her to have 0% tax money in retirement and save 8% in taxes this year (resulted in $3,000 tax savings currently).
Let me ask you again: are you winging it with taxes, or executing a plan?
Inflation
Stuffing money into your high-yield savings account is a great plan for short-term financial needs, but a really unwise thing to do for long-term wealth.
You can spend your high earnings now on vacations, houses, cars, dinners, etc. today. A good investment strategy will allow you to KEEP spending money on all those things in the future—without running out of money.
Invest Boring Before You Invest Sexy
Being a go-getter personality, you may be looking for your next money move.
The crypto craze.
AirBnB rental properties.
Private equity-owned businesses.
Before you dive head-first into those, invest in the boring mutual funds & ETFs that have proven to be time-tested investing success strategies.
You will not brag to your friends about investing in an index mutual fund.
However, if you stick with the strategy over a few decades, there will be a lot of people jealous of what your patience provided you.
First, develop an investment plan that covers your future.
Then, use your extra cash to take a chance on building something really cool.
Execute a Financial Strategy Calendar
How often do you actually measure your financial health?
If there’s one thing that entrepreneurs, salespeople, independent contractors, etc. have in common it’s that you can make a truckload of money in one year and then have no idea what your stuff is doing, how it’s performing, or what your next steps should be.
You need structure. Just a teensy bit of it is a good start.
Try this:
Monthly – Cash Flow
Is money in more than money out?
What percentage of my income did I save?
Quarterly – Net Worth
How much debt did I pay off?
How did my investments perform?
Are my assets bigger than my liabilities?
Annually – Goals
What do I hope to accomplish financially this year?
What action steps must I take to achieve them?
And if you don't have a financial plan to review, you might need to create a WRITTEN financial plan.
Don’t Procrastinate
You high performers have a habit of telling people like me “oof, yeah, I need to get serious about my money,” and then disappear for a year.
And your net worth only grew if YOU worked hard for money.
But it sure as heck wasn’t because MONEY worked for you.
I’m not saying you must have a financial planner to succeed—some people can handle all of these items above themselves.
But if you’re busy, stressed, and have a million questions...
If you are both results and relationship oriented and want fast results while having a fun time…
…then it may be time to have a chat with someone like me.
What’s the worst that can happen?
A 10-minute phone call to confirm 1 of 2 things:
You’re already doing things best and you get more confidence in what you’re doing, or
There is something that may need to change and you’ll make a lot more/save a lot more money than the cost of a planner
Get to Know Century Financial
Century Financial is a Memphis-based wealth management firm. We are backed with the resources of a large investment company, while we intentionally keep our team small to ensure that you get personal, high-level service.
Want to take the next step to get to know us? You have a couple options:
Explore our website
Contact us at info@centuryfinancialllc.com or 901-752-0022
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