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Ever wish you had a mentor to help you become who you were meant to be? Crystal Ware is redefining what it means to become your best self, in business, life, and love and sharing everything she she knows to get YOU there faster.
Are you stuck? Feel like you are meant for more but not sure how to breakthrough? Every week, we will explore all of your questions on building a path to true happiness, achieving success and creating our dream life. Brick by brick, we will work through the issues and mindsets that keep us stuck, dive into finding our passion and how to take ACTION. Clarity (vision) + Confidence (Owning your worth) + Courage (to live life on your own terms and become your own CEO) propels you to your destiny. And the good news it: its all within you!
Each week, host, Crystal Ware, will bring you all of the practical wisdom to grow every aspect of your career and life including mindset, vision, goal planning, social media management, financial acumen and so much more. You'll also meet top business leaders, entrepreneurs, mompreneurers and innovative thinkers who invested in themselves and found their way success and happiness by leading on their own terms.
You were made for more, so start living like it today. Join us as we take action, grow together, and get inspired to reach for your dreams.
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Get Clear with Crystal Ware podcast, the place where we get clear on our goals, own our worth, and learn to be the CEOs of our own lives. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, lawyer and former Fortune 500 corporate leader. Who found the confidence to say goodbye to a lucrative career and start my own business.
Now I'm opening up the playbook and sharing everything I've learned to get you there faster. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it because you are made for more. So put on your big girl pants, jump on board and let's reach for the stars. Are you ready to get clear?
Today on the show, we have an amazing financial planner and another podcast host, a fellow podcast host of Beyond Budgets, Deb Meyer. And I was really excited to talk to Deb because, there are always burning questions that everybody has about finances and what to do and how to do them and, [00:01:00] transitioning and all the things that I thought, let's have a conversation about.
Thank you Me or other average Joes out there. So Deb Meyer is a certified financial planner. She's also a CPA who worked in corporate and a SIPA. She is the award winning author of redefining family wealth host of the beyond budgets podcast and founder of worthiness. com, which is a fee only fiduciary wealth management firm that guides parents through the most.
Important financial decisions using a value based approach. She's been featured in the wall street journal, Forbes and CNN business as a contributor to Kipling. So she has a lot to offer us by way of guidance. She shares so many insights and has great guests on her show. So I was excited to dive in and just talk to her about what it's like to be a working mom, what it was like to transition from corporate.
And then. We get to some really interesting, exciting questions [00:02:00] that I really wanted to probe on with regard to where we are in the economic cycle and what we should be doing with our money. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Can't wait. Give us some feedback, leave a comment. And if you like what you hear, feel free to hit the share button and share that with a friend so that we can get more coverage and keep bringing these excellent guests onto the show until then keep getting clear and enjoy this episode.
Deb Meyer: Thank you so much for having me, Crystal. It's a pleasure to be here.
Crystal Ware: I'm so excited to dive in. And one of the things I love to talk about first and foremost is a little bit about your background and how you got into becoming a financial professional. How did you decide you wanted to be a CPA? What was your kind of job? You're in a, we can call totally off the beaten path career path now, it's not totally standard.
So help us understand how you went and got to where you are today. Really, family and value driven career. [00:03:00] And, I think that's really helpful for women to learn and understand from.
Deb Meyer: well, my path started early. I was kind of a money nerd growing up.I actually read money magazine as a middle schooler. Truth. It's embarrassing, but it's the truth. so I just, you know, It money fascinated me. It was always something that I was interested in. I started earning money at a pretty young age.
I wasn't in the babysitting so much, but I was really into just earning a paycheck right away and saving it. So I started my first job actually at age 13. I was a little waitress and like a senior citizen retirement community. So not a nursing home, but more of a independent living facility for senior citizens.
And then just kind of stayed in the workforce throughout the rest of high school and even into college. And, when I graduated college with an accounting degree from St. Louis university, I decided I wanted to go [00:04:00] into public accounting, give that a go. so I started at Deloitte tax and was there for a little over two years.
really just helping with a lot of tax compliance where it's, taking what people have done the last year and then getting it into the tax return that needs to be filed, doing it for some pretty sizable families that with, big family businesses. And what I loved about that job is I got to work with some families, but what I didn't like about it was always backward looking and I really wanted to be in something more forward looking where I could have an impact on people's futures rather than just looking at.
What's already been going on in the past. so that's when I transitioned into wealth management, I left public accounting and, around that time as well, my husband and I, we had both met in public accounting, total nerds, right? And, he was staying in public accounting and I was like, Hey, if we're going to get married, we probably need to find some better work life balance here.
So, it was also a good transition point just to get to [00:05:00] something that wasn't. You know, 55, 60 hour work weeks from January to April. And then again, like August, September, October. So, anyway, I left and, he stayed at least a little bit longer, but, my path after that was working for a multifamily office and I did that almost seven years, left Halloween of, 2013.
So a little over 10 years ago. And, Yeah, I've been on an entrepreneurial path ever since. So when I left the multifamily office, I was working for families of very significant wealth at that point. usually investment assets of like 3 million and above. so it was a very different feel because I didn't grow up with, a large amount of money or ultra wealthy friends.
And so I felt a little bit like a fish out of water when I was advising families that, had very substantial investment assets. so when I started on this entrepreneurial path, I just wanted to start working with families that were, you know, more in those beginning stages, trying to get good financial foundation.
[00:06:00] So, When I started worthy nest in late 2016, my real mission was working with families, fairly early in their careers and life stages. And then it's gravitated a little more towards I serve a mix of clients. I have some as old as their 70s. And then I still have some younger families as well. So just runs the gamut.
Crystal Ware: But, the common thing for any of the clients that I advise now is really just helping them build a broader financial future for their families and, thinking strategically about even passing that wealth down to the next generation if they're in that life stage. Wow. And if I back up a little bit to your early start, because I think, it will be interesting also for people to hear a little bit about, your background, would you have put yourself in like. Lower middle class, solidly middle class. Were there any kind of like money hangups that you guys, or, or maybe you kind of subconsciously got growing up from your parents that kind of pushed you into being so interested in [00:07:00] money and getting a job so early?
Deb Meyer: Yeah, I think, well, my dad's unemployment was a big thing. when I was young, we moved around a lot, to be frank, I lived in like four different States before fourth grade, just because my dad was in manufacturing and plants would close down. And if he wanted a job, we had to move. So, there was just a lot of instability in that profession.
And, he was the main income earner. Luckily, my mom was a CPA. so she was able to find new work, when we would move, but there were very long bouts of time where my dad was unemployed or looking for work. And then when he was employed, things were, fine financially, but my parents were always very like, Save be frugal, even when times are good, you have to have that savings mentality just because his job stability was or lack thereof.
It was so unstable for several years. And I guess once I graduated high school, that's when I was kind of trying to figure out career path. I knew I wanted to [00:08:00] do something in business, but I wasn't quite sure what, and I'm just seeing the stability that my mom had as a CPA really helped me see, Oh, okay.
Like this is a good profession that regardless of where I am. Physically located. I can find a job and make a decent living. Nothing crazy or extreme, but just something comfortable and secure. And then when I left the multifamily office, it was more so because I wanted to be a stay at home mom, to be quite honest.
at the time I had two young boys. I now have three boys and they're much older. but. At that life stage, my husband was working full time. He was also getting his MBA in the evenings and weekends, and it was just a lot to handle.so I just tried to be a stay at home mom. I lasted about four months and then, transitioned out of that and started doing this part time accounting work, that was SVCPA services.
So I, I haven't, Mentioned that company name before, but it, it [00:09:00] was an accounting practice that I had. And then I eventually merged it into my, investment advisory firm worthy nest. it's been a, been a evolution for sure. Yeah.
Crystal Ware: And that's what I mean. It's really interesting to kind of dive into where you get the interest and where do things resonate and how does your money. philosophies come from, my dad was also unemployed for a short time when I was very young, I think before I was five, but I think that like had a lasting effect on me that my parents were talking about money a lot.
And so I knew about credit cards and I knew about writing checks and I knew about having cash and all the things. and like you, I also, I had a job starting at 14 and pretty consistently had a job,Through high school and then into college and everything. And it was like very important to me to have my own money because, I didn't. Feel like, I guess I could ask my parents or that I should ask my parents, for money, or be a, [00:10:00] you know, economic burden. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. and not that they ever felt that way. Right. I think, gosh, with what we had, they did so much for me and I'm so, so blessed and thankful for all that they did, but it does all of those little pieces kind of go.
So when people have problems with money or spending money or how do they feel about money, earning money. Talking about money. I think all those little. Things can kind of resonate and build up in there and they don't, you don't always realize that until you talk about it. So really interesting. So for people that don't know, what is a family office and what were you doing for these, more wealthy folks?
Deb Meyer: Yeah, a family office is basically, it's really helping guide wealthy families through not only the investment decisions and financial decisions, but even helping with like family education and legacy goals. So passing on the next generation. The, the values and the actual financial [00:11:00] assets to the next generation through family meetings, really just getting a broader framework for what it's like to handle money responsibly and, for a lot of people who are already born into a lot of family wealth.
It's a very different position to be in than, someone that grew up in a middle class or even upper middle class family that felt like they were just kind of working their way up and it was always this, this harder toil. they're just very different circumstances and, they need to be handled a little bit differently.
Crystal Ware: So yeah, I, I spent about seven years there, just working with, I had about 60 families that I worked intimately with and got to know the main client and their children and sometimes their grandchildren, and it was a neat, neat place to be. And I really enjoyed those relationships that, again, ultimately I just felt called to, be home or present with my kids, but also just do something a little bit different on the wealth management side. And when you are working with them, were you [00:12:00] focused solely on like kind of what we see as the traditional financial advisor Path where we're talking about investments and funds and, stocks or, or were you guys also evaluating real estate transactions and other investment deals or into corporate or, operational companies?
Deb Meyer: Yeah. So we did have more robust investments at the multifamily office. we had a separate investment consulting group that, I don't technically know what the firm owner paid of the outside consulting group, but I know it was pretty sizable dollars to get in these kind of private investments and real estate, private equity, some of those kinds of things.
I don't really deal with that in my practice today, but, I do have. Connections, especially for faith driven investors. there's a whole separate website. I can refer them to if they're accredited and interested in some of those opportunities. But, I try to stick more to publicly traded investments like mutual funds or exchange traded funds, things like that.
Crystal Ware: Yeah. well it's interesting [00:13:00] because we've had those conversations. and it took me, I'm pretty astute, but it took me a little while to like get the differentials on like what your financial advisor would be advising on. And so, for one, there's a little bit more risk to you as a financial advisor.
If you're, you're helping evaluate
Deb Meyer: Yeah, some of these outside investments. Yes. And that's yeah, part of the reason I like, I'm like, I'm just more of a plain vanilla. I don't like the liquidity as well. Like, the fact that you can't
Crystal Ware: Mm hmm.
Deb Meyer: right away, even if the investments not doing as well. You just have to trust the managers of that investment.
and that, that can be a very scary thing, especially if, you know, they say one thing when they start the investment and say, Hey, we're going to have these distributions and, and then the distributions don't happen or whatever. So, yeah, I personally am not a huge fan of the illiquid investments, but I at least had the experience.
Knowing the illiquid side that I could make the decision when I started my own [00:14:00] firm that I was gonna district to stick to the liquid ones the public publicly traded.
Crystal Ware: Well, I think, I think it's just very interesting for people to hear because it's not something that's often talked about. And for people, you mentioned that, a lot of people you work with might have 3 million in assets or somewhere in that range, then those are some of the people that might be starting to look at what else am I doing?
Where else am I going? And I think it can be hard for people to find, creditable. consultants or professionals to talk through some of those things with. So, I think it's just always interesting to share and bring up, while Deb might not do that. There may be a component in working with her.
Will she can help you
Deb Meyer: Yes. Carefully vet those. Mm-Hmm.
Crystal Ware: and find, or find the consultants or reputable people and, or faith based, investing opportunities for people that are interested in, in, guys, I didn't say, but I reached out to Deb because I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to have her on the podcast, because I found her through a [00:15:00] faith based website, where she had done some discussions and some speaking, with people, of faith on financials, because not that, not that faith drives everything that you do, but I do think, You know, people that care about that a lot are going to lead with that.
So anyway, that's how I found, Dev and we're aligned in those ways. so in your book, redefining family wealth, you talk about key wealth building behaviors. Why do you think these are important in creating solid financial future for women?
Deb Meyer: Yeah, I think it's really important because for a lot of women, we can beat ourselves up and say, okay, whatever mistakes I've made in the past, that's going to continue to just be a driving force in the future. And for wealth building behaviors, there are things you can implement kind of on a micro level and just get started and feel comfortable and then get to a point where you're like, Oh, like this is actually working well.
I'm ready to add on this other wealth building [00:16:00] behavior. So, the wealth building behaviors that I mentioned in the book are actually drawn from the millionaire next door, which, Dr. Thomas Stanley wrote many, many years ago. And then I was privileged to know, um, get to know his daughter, Dr. Sarah Stanley Fala who, co wrote the next millionaire next door with him, before he passed.
So she brought his, Introductory work into more of a, recent, data set and just had a lot of the same wealth building behaviors that he discovered, back in the, I believe it was the early two thousands. so anyway, With that, I think one of the key things to be thinking about would be frugality, just knowing that you're not spending beyond your means.
that's just kind of a table stakes basic idea that if you're always having to borrow or you're always having, you know, running a cash flow deficit each month, it's very stressful and it can take a toll on you, not only financially, but emotionally as well. So just. [00:17:00] the idea of saying, Hey, I want to make sure whatever I'm bringing home from a paycheck perspective or business distributions, whatever it is, I'm making sure that the bills I have and the living expenses I have are not exceeding those, after taxes are paid and accounted for.
So that's kind of step number one. And then I would say, after you've developed the discipline of frugality, the Just being more disciplined in general to monitor where things stand financially. for a lot of people, it might be having a budgeting app and just seeing, okay, month in, month out, where am I spending?
and then once they have a good feel for the budgeting side, being able to monitor investment accounts, really see on a monthly basis or a quarterly basis, do an independent review. If you don't have your, you know, a separate financial advisor, just being able to take a look and see where did the account balances go?
How much have I been contributing? Just having a much better framework for understanding where things stand [00:18:00] financially and not just doing it, you know, once every year or whenever you feel like it, putting a calendar, calendar reminder to To check it more frequently. so that's another piece of being disciplined monitoring.
And then we're also thinking about prudence. what would the prudent person do? So on two extremes, you know, you might have someone that the minute they earn a dollar, they're spending it, right? And then you might have another person here who the minute they earn a dollar, they stick it in the bank.
Well, what Hopefully there's maybe a happy medium there where you might be spending some of it and you might be saving some of it, or you might be giving some of it to charitable causes, but figuring out what that happy medium is for your family and understanding that it's, each family is going to be unique in terms of what they are looking for on.
Their budgeting on their future goals. So, you know, for any women out there that are thinking like, okay, I think I have kind of the day to day [00:19:00] budgeting nailed down, really setting some goals for what you want to be adding from a savings or long term investment standpoint, and what you might want to be putting in short term savings to do more fun things like travel or, Education funding.
If you wanna send your kids to, you know, private school for K through 12, that's gonna cost a lot more than if you send 'em to, to public school, which is free. So just figuring out what some of those short and long-term goals are once you feel like you have a good, framework for the the day-to-Day budgeting.
Mm-Hmm.
Crystal Ware: Yeah, I think that's really helpful for people to understand. And, And creating that, what would you say is the most difficult thing? because we talk a lot about savings and I think frugality in our very materialistic driven marketing economy. think that is hard to talk around because if you do use credit cards, if you are racking up debt, you know, Dave Ramsey's debt snowball, it is a [00:20:00] real thing.
It is really crazy. I always credit my parents. past financial woes on helping me always have a clean, like I am a no debts kind of person.but where do you think we need to, as a community, as a culture, whatever you want to call it, talk to women about making more money. Like we can understand how to budget, but At some point you can't cut any further, at some point life becomes mundane or, you know, boring, or you just have the basic bills, but we can always add more.
Why do you think we don't talk about that or help educate women more on value, their self worth, how to get ahead, how to make more money? Or how to,grow a business where you have unlimited, maybe not totally unlimited. Maybe you're not going to be Elon Musk, but you know what I mean?
We're building a business where it may have two, 3 million of cash generations a year versus [00:21:00] a 75, 000 salary. That you've capped out for your geographical location and, you know, educational background. So where do you think that kind of falls in the picture of what we need to be helping women with?
Deb Meyer: Yeah, I mean, I think for a lot of society we, frameworks around women need to be kind of prim and proper and stick in their place and they're there to support their. Husbands or significant others. And, you know, there's a lot of single women out there and they don't have a significant other, right?
They don't have, another form of, of support. Right. so part of it is just understanding, okay, number one, I have worth, it doesn't matter what the guy next to me might be earning salary wise or generating in his business, but like. I have worth as a human being. I even struggle with this myself sometimes in my business where I'm like, I'm charging lower rates than what I see some of my male counterparts doing.
Crystal Ware: Mm hmm.
Deb Meyer: I don't have a great explanation for it other than like, [00:22:00] I don't know. I just have a hard time asking for more sometimes.
Crystal Ware: Yeah. Mm
Deb Meyer: But at the same token, I'm in a supported marriage where, you know, luckily my husband earns a nice income and I don't have to be always, generating more income for us to pay our bills.
So, I think a lot of it's going to depend on family circumstances 1st, but then even within that dynamic, understanding that you do have the possibility of, you know, if you have been stuck in more of a corporate career and you want to make a transition to an entrepreneurial path, I think that's very, now is no better time than.
You know, 10 years from now, like you have opportunities, right now to start down an entrepreneurial path, if that's really your dream now, I don't think everyone should be an entrepreneur. There are some people who just don't like a lot of risk taking or it's not even risk taking. It's more just change, right?
As an entrepreneur, you, you're constantly innovating. [00:23:00] You're pivoting. Even if you've had a business for a while, you're trying to think of that next step. there are some people that just don't, they don't thrive in that environment. But for women that do that have a little bit of that, Hey, I want to always be in this kind of.
Continuous improvement and seek new adventures like entrepreneurism can be a great pathway for that. And the sky really is the limit on the income upside potential. so it's really again about some self evaluation, seeing where you're at in your family unit, and just deciding, if. There's no other place to be cutting from an expense perspective.
Raising your income is another, is another avenue to do it. And, a lot of, like you said, a lot of people overlook that.
Crystal Ware: it's really. we just don't talk about that or focus on that in the same sense. and in some ways I think it's, it's not like a, a straight answer, like there's not one size fits all like [00:24:00] managing debt, preventing debt, you know, You know, I don't want to say there's a one size fits all there either, but it's a little bit more of a clear cut path on how you do that.
but I just really want to encourage women and help women also remember that you have a value that what you do is valuable. and whether or how you can dive into that and find a way to earn more can also alleviate some burden of the future and retirement. And so on that front. we think about retirement as this magical 65, the age of 65 is like kind of the barometer.
you know, nobody really identified that that's not like. fits all either. I see people working what seems to be like till 70 a lot more frequently than we used to. and then certainly people that want to retire early. what do you think and how can women who want to retire early, you know, what are How do you help them get on the path for
Deb Meyer: Yeah. [00:25:00] Well, I, interestingly enough, a lot of the clients I work with have retired early. Quote unquote early, not, not age 65. when you think about 65, that's the age you're eligible for Medicare, right? I don't know outside of that, like what other special benefits or why, why people always tie retirement to 65.
I think financial independence is a better goal and that could be as early as your forties, perhaps. You know, there's some people who are part of this, you know, Financial independence, retire early movement where they were retired in their thirties. And when I say retired, they're not fully disengaging from the workforce.
They're just disengaging from the high pressure job where they worked lots of hours, made a good amount of money saved aggressively, like 50 percent or more of their income. and they're able to step away from that role and then go pursue something else that seems more interesting to them. Right. for those people, the pathway is, Hey, let's make enough [00:26:00] on the investment side.
We've built up enough of an investment portfolio that we can start drawing from that and then make up a little bit on the income side from a more of a passion project, something that interests you. And. Between those two things combined, you have enough to, you know, suffice until social security benefits or other items kick in down the road.
but for a lot of people, the idea of even thinking about retiring early is just like, what? How is that even possible? But again, I've had plenty of clients do it and, A lot of it does take careful planning. It's being intentional about the saving. Again, some of these wealth building behaviors we talked about earlier with frugality and just always making sure you're being mindful of where expenses are and income.
Those are all things that you can do. You know, if you're diligent enough about it, you have enough resources to do it. You could set your sights on a [00:27:00] much earlier retirement date. the key though, to, to consider if you retire early is some of these other expenses around, you know, medical insurance, for example, that you're Medical insurance can be very expensive if you're not affiliated with a company, or if you're not in a, you know, position where you're that 65 and can get on Medicare.
So figuring out a plan for how you're going to cover medical expenses in those years, it might be something like a healthcare sharing plan, which technically isn't insurance, but it is an option for some people, especially like. Christian or Catholic people that want to have some level of coverage there.
Crystal Ware: I have a whole blog post on it. I could go into, but, those are some of the kinds of considerations to be thinking about as well, of just knowing if you do retire early, that you're going to have some additional steps you need to take that a person who's retiring in a more traditional age wouldn't have to consider as thoughtfully. And on that, I would love to share some more on that. [00:28:00] How to retire early. I mean, when you have worked really hard, you're a professional, a financial professional, a lawyer, Many kind of stressful corporate internal jobs where you're having a high salary and you're often demanded to work or not demanded, but you know, primarily have to work more than 40 hours a week.
You have opportunities to retire early by, you can take a path like Deb has done here. In creating your own ecosystem and your own sphere and your own business, you can consult, you can work part time. There are a lot of opportunities out there for professionals to take a step back and still have money and to still have some amount of income.
And if you have enough in your savings and in your retirement funds that you can Continue to grow. And that's the point of the other position that Deb mentioned, which is the FIRE movement, the Financial Independence Retire Early Movement, which you can Google about that. There's amazing [00:29:00] blogs and other people that you can follow that talk about that, that are retiring in their thirties and forties.
And if you don't feel comfortable or you need that, that, Insurance Avenue is some of the top places you can work and it may sound crazy, but if you just want to hang out and have a good time or work on writing or things that you're passionate about, you can work at Starbucks part time and get full insurance.
You can work at Costco. You can work at target. There are other avenues where you can work for a company, but you're just clocking in and out and you don't have to bring work home for you. And you can work part time and you can get those benefits that some people. Really feel more comfortable with, because like you said, Deb, private insurance can be very, very expensive.
So I want people to really be empowered to understand that you don't have to live in a traditional way. If that's not what you're feeling called to do, there are also Facebook groups for people that have always been inspired to write, giving all kinds of incredible tools and researches, resources for people to do, writing [00:30:00] How to create the IBM and all the technical pieces and sell it on Amazon.
And I've seen people chip away at doing that to making 50 grand a year. I mean, they've got 10 books. They only have to sell 5, 000 worth of books on each one. And it's like, there's all these communities that you can get out there. And I just want people to really know that. There is opportunity for people that want to go out there and seek it.
But I do think that what you do, Deb, and what you educate people on and how you get enough retirement money so that you're not living, you know, 10 or 20 years and then all of a sudden you're like, Oh my gosh, how am I going to live till it be 80 or 90? Because I, I think if you're loving life and you're living in this aligned way, you're probably going to live to be over a hundred.
You know, you need to have. The financial backing to make sure you're comfortable. So I think that's really helpful information for everybody to have. one of the other things that I was curious about that, maybe for some younger listeners or some people that, [00:31:00] don't yet have enough assets to reach out or reach for, certain financial advisors, because there are fees associated.
So there's minimums that often come with that. What would you say is your one or two favorite tips for somebody that, has a 401k infidelity or whatever, some of the other ones are, and they want to take a little bit of extra money and just do something not brainless. Cause I mean, you gotta, but I don't know how else to say it.
Something simple. What is one thing that somebody who doesn't have a financial advisor, but wants to do something outside of their 401k, what do you recommend them do?
Deb Meyer: Yeah. I think, one option would be to fund a Roth IRA. so most people, if they are fairly early in their careers, they're not at an income level where they're going to be right up against the max, but there are max income limits on those Roth contributions that you have to be. Careful of. so if you're earning like a crazy high income now, you might not be eligible for direct Roth.
but if you're at that [00:32:00] income level already, you might be able to be, be working with a financial advisor. There's actually a group I'm part of called XY planning network, and it's for, Gen X and Y millennials,who, who want to get, financial planning guidance from, The only advisors like myself.
So, it is a resource that again, if you're in a stage of life where you have that income and you're trying to get more financial planning guidance, you can go there. but going back to your other question, just around some simple steps, let's say you're at a more modest salary or income level. yeah, Roth IRA is a good option.
Luckily, when you put the money in, it's considered after tax dollars, and then that money grows tax free, and then you take it out tax free down the road. So, there's really just that small initial tax that you've already been paying, by, before you even put it into the account, and then you won't have to pay tax on it.
Any later time, now you can't be using it as a piggy bank. Like when [00:33:00] you're young, you, you don't want to necessarily be taking it out unless you have to for, for living reasons, but, there can be penalties and things if you're, on the investment appreciation side that you have to pay attention to, but luckily the amount that you put in, that will always be available to you to take out, without any tax implications.
And then, one of the other things to be thinking about is just focusing on that longer term versus shorter term goals. So let's just say you're in a committed relationship and you want to be saving up for a wedding. Well, weddings are pretty expensive. So maybe putting aside extra money into a cash savings account that you know over time is going to build up enough to help finance.
Crystal Ware: Some of the wedding costs, like those kinds of things, just thinking about what might be on the horizon in the next one, three, five years and figuring out, are there any things that are going to require me to have some extra cash on hand? because I want to buy a car or buy a [00:34:00] house or, get married, whatever the case may be, where, it's going to be pretty big dollars and, it might not be happening today, but it's going to be happening within the next couple of years. Well, that teed us up. for another question I was going to ask and it wasn't even planned.
Deb Meyer: Mm hmm. Mm
Crystal Ware: But what would you say if somebody came into 200, 000 and they knew they had this big life event or something that was coming up, they didn't know exactly when, but like they would need some cash liquidity in six months, 12 months, 18 months, somewhere in there. Do you like a money market account with interest or would you say like a six month CD? Is a better option today
Deb Meyer: today, because we're likely going to have some rate cuts in the near future, so like, probably as early as next week, the Fed is going to cut interest rates. It's not a certainty, but it's, it's very likely. So we'll see. Once that rate cut [00:35:00] cycle starts, we're going to see the money market or savings account, the rates that you're getting currently are going to go down.
And with a certificate of deposit or a CD, you're actually getting more of a fixed rate for a set time period. So if you know for sure you're going to need the money six months from now, you could put it in a six month CD. If you know you're going to need it a year from now, put it in a 12 month CD.
Catch the drift. So it's really going to depend on the timeline of when you're going to need that money. If you end up pulling it out of the certificate of deposit early, you'll pay a penalty. So you don't want to, estimate where you're saying, Oh, I'll need it a year from now, but really need it nine months from now and, and lock into the 12 months.
So, just be mindful of that. But again, if you want to have more of a security or safety net, getting that fixed interest rate locked in and a certificate of deposit can be great. But if it's something a little bit longer term goal, like, it could be better to put it in a bond fund where you're saying, hey, I don't know.
Crystal Ware: I, I want to [00:36:00] eventually buy a house, but it's probably 5 years out. Well, bond funds actually do pretty well in a, decreasing rate environment. So that could be something good to consider. That's a little bit longer. Longer term. and I don't know why I don't actually know this, but can most people just set up a money market account with their bank?
Deb Meyer: Oh, well, yes, you can but I don't typically recommend doing your normal bank because they don't pay great interest rates
Crystal Ware: Okay.
Deb Meyer: On money markets, but some of the online banks like capital one or ally they pay really great interest rates in general But again, if you know, you have something coming up at a certain time and you'll you want Access to it only at that time.
You don't want it to be a temptation before then, getting that certificate of deposit, but if it's a little unclear and you're just maybe saying, Hey, this is my emergency fund or savings fund in the event I lose my job or some unexpected expense happens, then you want to keep it in more of that money market or savings [00:37:00] account.
And just know that yes, unfortunately your interest rate's going to go down a little once these rate decreases start.
Crystal Ware: Okay. I think that's really interesting, helpful information. So besides that, what other information do you think women may not, or a topic Under the financial umbrella under investment under retirement that women may not be hearing enough about that you want to share about before we wrap
Deb Meyer: Yeah. I think for a lot of women, Again, going back to the worth idea, some of us don't trust ourselves enough to say like, Hey, I'm actually a good investor. A lot of women underestimate themselves when it comes to investing, but there's actually studies that have found women are better long term investors because we tend to, you know, just be a little more patient with the market going up and down.
And we're not as quick to move if something drastic happens in the stock market. so knowing that. You are a good investor just by [00:38:00] being a woman.hopefully that's encouraging. And then I know, I haven't looked at it recently, but I think elevate by, Sally Krawcheck was introduced several years ago.
I'm sure they're still active, but that is specifically built for. Females to invest if, if you are trying to get something where you have a more formalized procedure and, and wanna, be able to invest, but don't necessarily want like the financial planning guidance or specific investment advisor to work with you.
Crystal Ware: So that's something else to consider if you're trying to get more into the investing side of things and need a little education. I love that. I think that's great. Then my last question is, hopefully interesting to everybody, but I want to know really is what do you think, you know, if you had a magic crystal ball and you could say today, what do you think is going to happen with, You know, just major funds in the next six to nine months with this, you know, the election and everything going on and potentially rate cuts.
what do you think the market is going to do? What is your [00:39:00] feeling? I mean, cause you know, we hear. We, we hear it all. I don't know if we can totally try it. If it was going to be doom and gloom, does the media really want to put that out? I don't know. So it's like, what is the truth? What do we really feel like is
Deb Meyer: Yeah. Great question. I do not have a crystal ball, so I can't predict the future, but I will say, at least just from my experience, we go through different economic cycles, right? And right now, there is some concern that we could be entering a downturn if we're not already in 1, that's just more based on some of the more recent, like, labor data that was released over the summer.
Things are going to continue to be kind of volatile or a little bit shaky, just in terms of where the stock market might move over these coming months as we get closer to the election. I know for a lot of people, the elections are very heated. And I'm personally like, I try to stay out of politics as much as possible.
I, I just, I don't know, it's just not my, [00:40:00] not my thing. but trying to,decide what specific investments to do based on who's going to become president or who's going to be, in charge of the Senate or the house, like those kinds of exercises don't actually benefit you. Cause some of the studies that I've read, That one of the investment groups that I work with, they've actually looked at data like over the last 50 years and decided, okay, with elections, as long as there's actually like a Democrat in one place and the Republican in some other place.
Usually that's the best from an economic perspective. If you, if you have some kind of split between presidency and house versus Senate, like that's actually a more favorable thing than if you had just all solid Republicans or all solid Democrats everywhere. so that's, that's one thing to be, cognizant of.
And then the other piece, I've heard from the Schwab, chief investment, officer, she's mentioned that, Usually, and again, this is just [00:41:00] historical. this is not a guarantee by any means. but usually the 12 months following the start of rate cuts are actually pretty good from a stock market perspective.
Crystal Ware: There's a couple of exceptions, but again, most of the time, those 12 months can be pretty positive. but having said that again, with these rate cuts happening, I still think bonds are an important part to have in the portfolio just to keep the risk level down. Well, I love it. I think that's awesome. Great to hear from somebody else. That's kind of like at the ground floor of this, what's going on and what to expect. because there's not really a consensus everywhere, so. Use it how you will folks. Deb, we will link your website for worthiness. I will grab the blog posts that you mentioned on, I think insurance sharing plans.
and the other group that you said you're a member of, and we'll link all of that for everybody. So if you want to know how to get in touch with Deb, one, if find a way to work with a woman [00:42:00] investing coach, financial advisor. We will get that all there. and I think it's just really awesome what you're doing, supporting people and creating, you know, helping people shape the rest of their lives.
It's really a big deal. and also that you've been able to create a working environment for yourself, which is amazing for a working mother who has so much to offer and it's been gifted in such a way to give back to people. and also have the opportunity to, you know, take care of our number one, job and role in life, which is to be a mom.
So kudos to you. You are such a brilliant example for everybody. And I just thank you so much for your time
Deb Meyer: Thank you. That's so kind, Crystal. It's been a pleasure.
Crystal Ware: All right, guys. Well, everybody, I hope this has been helpful for you. I hope you've learned something. I definitely have. Remember, keep getting clear on what matters the most to you. We cannot always have it all. but we can [00:43:00] have more of what matters most. So focus on that. That is really what's going to give you the key to elevating your life, to living in alignment and to doing things that you really, really care about with people that you really care about.
until next time, keep getting clear.