The Practical Wealth Show

Where Did My Money Go? 7 Simple Money Habits to Get Ahead

Have you ever looked at your bank account and asked, "Where did all my money go?"

You earned money. You paid your bills. You bought food, gas, and the things your family needed. But by the end of the month, there was little or nothing left.

This is not always an income problem.

Sometimes, the real problem is what happens to your money after you earn it.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May explains seven simple money habits that can help you gain more control over your financial life. These habits can help you save more, reduce debt, prepare for emergencies, and protect the people you care about.

What You Will Learn

In this episode, Curtis explains:

• Why you should pay yourself before paying everyone else
• How to give every dollar a job
• Why you should not spend every raise
• How to begin building a cash reserve
• Why paying off debt should not leave you without savings
• How insurance and legal documents protect your family
• Why learning new skills can increase your income
• How one small financial action can create lasting change

The Seven Money Habits 1. Pay Yourself First

Do not wait to see what is left at the end of the month.

Save a portion of your income as soon as you are paid. Start with an amount you can handle, even if it is only 5%. Over time, work toward saving 15% to 20% of your income.

2. Give Every Dollar a Job

Decide where your money will go before you spend it.

A cash-flow plan helps you prepare for housing, food, transportation, insurance, debt, savings, family needs, and fun.

You should tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

3. Do Not Spend Every Raise

When your income increases, avoid turning the entire raise into new monthly bills.

Consider saving half of every raise and using the other half to improve your life. This allows you to enjoy today while also preparing for tomorrow.

4. Build a Cash Reserve

Unexpected expenses are part of life.

Start by saving $500 or $1,000. Continue building until you have enough money to cover six to twelve months of your main expenses.

The purpose of this money is to provide safety, access, choices, and control.

5. Stop Using Debt to Fund Your Lifestyle

Debt allows you to buy something today using money you hope to earn tomorrow.

Make a list of your debts, balances, payments, interest rates, and payoff dates. Then create a plan to reduce your debt while continuing to build savings.

The goal is not to become debt-free and broke.

The goal is to have less debt, more savings, fewer payments, and greater control.

6. Protect What You Have

A strong financial plan must include protection.

Review your life insurance, health insurance, disability coverage, property insurance, liability protection, will, power of attorney, and account beneficiaries.

These tools create a fence around your money and your family.

7. Increase Your Ability to Earn

You can only reduce spending so far.

Learning new skills can help you solve more problems, create more value, and earn more income.

Your greatest financial asset may not be your home or retirement account. It may be your ability to work, learn, lead, solve problems, and generate income.

Your Next Step

You do not need to change everything at once.

Choose one action:

• Save 5% of your next paycheck
• Review last month's spending
• Cancel one unused subscription
• Make a complete list of your debts
• Add $50 or $100 to your cash reserve
• Review your insurance coverage
• Enroll in a class that can improve your skills

Small steps can create big changes when they are repeated consistently.

Financial freedom rarely comes from one dramatic decision. It comes from making better decisions again and again.

Resources

Take the Financial Freedom Assessment: https://curtis-vn4wwj0z.scoreapp.com/

Visit Practical Wealth Solutions: https://www.practicalwealth.net/

Connect with Curtis May on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtismay/

About Curtis May

Curtis May is the founder of Practical Wealth Solutions and the creator of the Money 4 LIFE Operating System™. He helps business owners, working families, and professionals take control of their cash flow, build savings, reduce debt, protect their families, and create a strong financial future.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May sits down with Brian S. Eyster, founder of The G.R.A.D. Process, to discuss how families can pay for college without sacrificing retirement, cash flow, or long-term financial security.

College is one of the biggest financial decisions a family will ever face, yet most parents are given incomplete advice. Many are told to simply open a 529 plan, fill out the FAFSA, and hope things work out. Brian explains why that approach can leave families exposed, especially when they do not understand cash flow, FAFSA rules, CSS Profile requirements, tax positioning, merit aid, and the timing of financial aid calculations.

Curtis and Brian discuss why college planning should start much earlier than senior year of high school, why cash flow management comes before college savings, how the Student Aid Index affects financial aid, and why parents need to understand the difference between need-based aid and merit-based aid.

They also challenge the traditional advice around 529 plans and explain why college funding should be treated as part of a larger financial plan — not as an isolated savings goal.

This conversation is especially valuable for parents with children in middle school, high school, or college, as well as advisors who want to better understand how college funding connects to retirement, cash flow, taxes, and long-term wealth building.

Key topics include:

• Why college planning should not start senior year

• The difference between FAFSA and CSS Profile

• How the Student Aid Index impacts financial aid

• Why cash flow management matters before college planning

• The risks of relying only on 529 plans

• How test scores can impact scholarship opportunities

• Why asset positioning matters

• How parents can avoid sacrificing retirement to pay for college

• The problem with Parent PLUS loans

• Why college funding must be part of a coordinated financial strategy

The big takeaway: college planning is not just about paying tuition. It is about protecting the family's entire financial future.

Your Network Is Your Net Worth: How Relationships Create Opportunity with Guy Dunn

What if your greatest asset isn't your money, your business, or your investments?

What if it's your relationships?

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May sits down with entrepreneur, speaker, networking expert, and author Guy Dunn to discuss why networking remains one of the most valuable wealth-building skills in business.

Guy shares lessons from more than three decades as an entrepreneur and explains how strategic relationships helped him build multiple businesses across industries. He also discusses his newly updated book, Networking for Business 2025: Contacts + Opportunity = Success.

Topics Discussed:

• Why networking is still the highest ROI marketing strategy • The difference between collecting contacts and building relationships • How to become a valuable resource in your network • Why follow-up is where most people fail • Strategic alliances versus cold prospecting • How entrepreneurs can create opportunities through relationships • Why young people should learn networking before entering the workforce • The connection between social capital and financial capital

Resources:

Guy Dunn https://ideaguybrands.com/

Networking for Business 2025: Contacts + Opportunity = Success https://ideaguybrands.com/

Book a Financial Freedom Session with Curtis May https://practicalwealth.net/FreedomSession

Connect with Curtis:

Website: https://practicalwealth.net

Podcast: The Practical Wealth Show

LinkedIn: Curtis May

Instagram:@practicalwealthadvisor

A business can have revenue, clients, employees, and status and still be financially unhealthy.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May sits down with Rachid M. J. Barry, Founder and CEO of RMJ Consultant, for a powerful conversation on why revenue is not wealth.

Many business owners and high-income earners look successful on paper but are quietly losing money through poor tax planning, messy books, weak entity structure, bad debt, over-withholding, and a lack of financial coordination.

Curtis and Rachid discuss why business owners need more than a once-a-year tax preparer. They need a coordinated team that understands taxes, cash flow, bookkeeping, protection, liquidity, and long-term wealth strategy.

Rachid brings his expertise in tax planning, tax resolution, accounting, bookkeeping, CFO services, and business strategy. Curtis brings his focus on cash flow control, liquidity, protection, debt-to-capital strategy, and the Money 4 Life Operating System.

Together, they unpack how entrepreneurs can stop asking, "Where did my money go?" and start telling their money where to go.

Key Topics Covered

• Why revenue is not the same thing as wealth

• The difference between tax preparation and tax planning

• Why talking to your accountant only during tax season is too late

• How messy bookkeeping creates poor business decisions

• Why taxes may be one of the largest wealth transfers in a business owner's life

• The importance of quarterly financial review

• Legal tax avoidance versus illegal tax evasion

• Why W-2 high earners may still need tax strategy

• Common "silent leaks" in small businesses

• Entity structure, S Corps, C Corps, and business tax planning

• Low-hanging tax strategies such as accountable plans, hiring children, business travel, and the Augusta Rule

• Why your financial life should be treated as one ecosystem

• How tax strategy and cash flow strategy work together

• Why business owners need advisors who communicate with each other

Best Quote Themes From the Episode

• "Revenue is not wealth."

• "Tax preparation records history. Tax planning looks through the windshield."

• "If you only talk to your accountant during tax season, there is not much planning left to do."

• "Your financial life is not a collection of separate problems. It is one ecosystem."

• "Business is a team sport."

• "The goal is not just to make more money. The goal is to keep, control, and multiply what you earn."

• "Once money leaves your hands unnecessarily, it stops working for you."

Learn more about Curtis May and Practical Wealth: LINK Learn more about Rachid Barry and RMJ Consultant: LINK

Most people focus on making money, investing money, and reducing taxes. But very few stop to ask a more dangerous question:

Can someone take this from me?

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May sits down with Mark Pierce, a trust and LLC attorney with more than 42 years of experience in asset protection, complex tax planning, and estate preservation strategies.

Mark is the founding attorney of Wyoming Trust Attorney and works with families, business owners, professionals, and high-net-worth individuals to help structure wealth so it is better protected from creditors, lawsuits, divorce, and other threats.

What makes Mark's perspective unique is that he has seen asset protection from both sides. Earlier in his career, he served as a bankruptcy trustee, where his job was to attack weak structures and recover assets for creditors. Today, he uses that experience to help clients build protection designed to hold up under pressure.

In this conversation, Curtis and Mark discuss:

• Why making money is only half the job

• The difference between a revocable living trust and an asset protection trust

• Why LLCs alone may not be enough

• How insurance, trusts, and legal structures work together

• Why timing matters in asset protection

• What "too late" really means when a lawsuit or creditor issue appears

• Why business owners, doctors, dentists, and real estate investors need to think differently about risk

• How family wealth can be exposed through divorce, poor planning, or lack of structure

• Why Wyoming is often used for domestic asset protection planning

• Why your wealth protection team should include more than one advisor

This episode is not legal advice. It is a practical conversation designed to help business owners and families ask better questions before life, lawsuits, creditors, divorce, or business risk put their wealth under pressure.

Guest: Mark Pierce Wyoming Trust Attorney Website: WyomingTrustAttorney.com Complimentary consultation link: https://wyomingtrustattorney.com/

Host: Curtis May Practical Wealth Solutions Website: PracticalWealth.net

Most people believe wealth comes from earning more money.

Brock Fortner believes wealth comes from something entirely different: free cash flow.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May and Brock Fortner dive deep into the hidden reason many six-figure earners still feel financially stressed despite making great incomes.

You'll discover:

• Why income alone does not create wealth

• The difference between being wealthy and simply having a high income

• Why most budgets fail

• How lifestyle creep quietly destroys financial progress

• The importance of separating income from spending

• How real estate investors think differently about cash flow

• Why cash flow is the fuel behind Infinite Banking and long-term wealth creation

• The framework Brock uses to help families gain control of their money and build financial freedom

If you've ever asked yourself, "Where did my money go?" this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned:

Financial Readiness Assessment: ASSESSMENT LINK

Schedule a Cash Flow Strategy Call: CURRENCE LINK

Learn More: https://www.practicalwealth.net/

Most people misunderstand whole life insurance because they look at it as a product instead of a system. In this Practical Wealth Study Group, Curtis May breaks down the Four Stages of Whole Life Insurance, also known inside the Money4Life Blueprint as the Private Reserve Strategy. This is not about chasing rates of return. This is about control, liquidity, certainty, and building a personal economy where your money keeps working inside your system instead of constantly leaving to banks, lenders, credit cards, and financial institutions. Curtis walks through the Money4Life Framework: Earn it. Bank it. Borrow it. Spend it. Repay it. Repeat. You'll learn how whole life insurance can function as a foundational asset, why premium should be viewed as a capital flow instead of an expense, and how families and business owners can begin using their policies to recapture debt, build liquidity, and eventually finance opportunities. This conversation covers: Why whole life insurance is not an investment account The economic value of certainty The crisis of financial control Why liquidity matters more than rate of return How to calculate your burn rate Why you must capitalize before you invest The difference between being a saver, wealth builder, business banker, and infinite banker How to stop giving interest away to strangers Why banking is a process of becoming, not a product you buy The goal is not just to own a policy. The goal is to become the banker. Visit PracticalWealth.net to take the Financial Freedom Assessment and learn more about the Money4Life Blueprint.

00:00 – Welcome to Practical Wealth Study Group

00:19 – The Four Stages of Whole Life and IBC

01:00 – Whole Life Is Not an Investment Account

01:45 – The Economic Value of Certainty

02:30 – Whole Life as a Foundational Asset

03:10 – The Money4Life Framework: Earn It, Bank It, Borrow It

04:20 – Why Banking Means Control of Capital

05:30 – The Crisis of Control

06:15 – Stop Giving Away the Banking Function

07:00 – The Maturity Matrix: Where Do You Stand?

08:00 – Stage 1: The Saver

09:20 – You Can't Invest Until You Capitalize

10:30 – Contract Wealth vs. Statement Wealth

11:45 – Stage 2: The Wealth Builder

12:45 – Premium Is Not an Expense

13:45 – Freedom From Debt to Others

14:40 – Your Burn Rate and Liquidity Number

15:50 – Debt-to-Capital: Bringing Debt In-House

17:00 – The Difference Between Chaos and Opportunity

18:00 – Stage 3: The Business Banker

19:00 – Money as Inventory

20:00 – Financing Opportunities Through Your System

21:00 – Stage 4: The Infinite Banker

22:00 – Closing the Financial Loop

23:00 – Banking Is Not a Product

23:30 – Immediate Action Plan

Most people don't have an income problem — they have a money flow problem.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May breaks down the Money 4 Life Operating System: a simple framework for creating more control, liquidity, cash flow, and freedom.

The framework is:

Earn it → Bank it → Borrow it → Spend it → Repay it → Own it → Repeat

This is not just another budgeting conversation. Curtis explains why money disappears through bills, taxes, debt, lifestyle, and poor financial structure — and why the real question families and business owners should be asking is:

Where did my money go?

Curtis also explains how the Money 4 Life Operating System connects to cash flow control, private reserves, becoming your own banker, wealth transfers, and building true financial independence through ownership and systems.

At Practical Wealth, we help families and business owners find money they are losing unknowingly and unnecessarily, then redirect that money toward cash flow, protection, liquidity, private reserves, and legacy.

Visit: PracticalWealth.net Take the Financial Freedom Assessment or schedule a strategy session.

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#Money4Life #PracticalWealth #CashFlowControl #InfiniteBanking #PrivateReserve #WealthTransfers #FinancialFreedom #BecomeYourOwnBanker #CurtisMay #PrincipleBasedPlanning

Are Trump Accounts a good idea — or just another financial product being sold as a plan?

In this episode, Curtis May breaks down Trump Accounts from a Practical Wealth and principle-based planning perspective. These accounts may help children begin saving and investing, and eligible children may receive a one-time $1,000 government contribution. But Curtis explains why one account does not replace cash flow control, liquidity, protection, and a real family financial system.

The real question is not, "Should I open a Trump Account?"

The better question is:

Do I have a financial system that gives my family control?

At Practical Wealth, we help families and business owners find money they are losing unknowingly and unnecessarily, then redirect that money toward cash flow, protection, liquidity, private reserve building, and legacy.

Visit: PracticalWealth.net Book a Financial Freedom Session or strategy call to start building a financial system that gives you more control.

00:00 — Introduction: Why Curtis is talking about Trump Accounts 00:35 — Initial reaction: The government does not create wealth 01:10 — Trump Accounts: Good idea, but not a complete financial plan 01:45 — What Trump Accounts are and who may qualify 02:45 — Why an account is not the same as a strategy 03:35 — Statement wealth vs. real financial control 04:30 — The missing conversation: cash flow 05:20 — Where Trump Accounts may fit in a family plan 06:10 — Questions families should ask first 07:00 — Positive monthly cash flow and emergency liquidity 07:50 — Proper life insurance protection 08:30 — Wealth transfers: Where your money is leaking 09:45 — Mortgage, taxes, retirement plans, insurance, college, and major purchases 11:00 — Why you finance everything you buy 12:00 — Find the money you are losing unknowingly and unnecessarily 12:45 — Building a private reserve and becoming your own banker 13:45 — The goal is not more accounts — it is more control 14:30 — Final takeaway: Trump Accounts can help, but they do not replace a financial system 15:15 — Practical Wealth call to action

Most people don't have an income problem. They have a cashflow control problem.

In this episode, Curtis May breaks down why money disappears so quickly — even for high-income earners and business owners — and why budgeting alone usually fails.

You'll learn:

• Why most people unknowingly operate from one financial bucket

• The hidden danger of unmanaged cashflow

• Why wealthy people use systems instead of budgets

• How "wealth transfers" quietly drain your income

• Why liquidity matters more than most people realize

• The difference between tracking money and controlling money

• How cashflow mapping creates financial clarity and control

Curtis also introduces the concept of:

"Tell your money where to go instead of asking where it went."

This episode is especially important for:

• Business owners

• Families living paycheck-to-paycheck despite good income

• Professionals with debt and no liquidity

• Anyone frustrated by financial stress and disorganization

If you want to stop reacting to money and start controlling it, this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned

• Money Organization Plan

• Cashflow Mapping

• Money4Life Blueprint

• Debt-Free for Life concepts

• Reservoir Account strategy

Schedule a Strategy Session

Practical Wealth