Wealth by Design

Our minisode series on the COVID-19 pandemic continues to roll out, and in our latest episode, we tackle a question many of y'all probably have on your minds: is this a short-term or a long-term thing? We're in a bear market, the possibility of a recession is looming on the horizon...so how long is this gonna last?

We can't tell you exactly how long things will last, of course. We aren't wizards (yet). But we can share some helpful advice to help you get through it. In this minisode, we talk about what we can expect based on historical data, how long "crisis mode" may last, and what you should remember so that you don't give in to the panic and fear.

• How long "crisis mode" might last
• How long the actual recession might last, historically speaking
• The way overinflation can fool us
• Keep the long term in mind
• Positive takeaways from previous recessions

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• The Toujours Planning Blueprint to Wealth + Security to Wealth + Security
• Our YouTube Channel
• Schedule a free call with us — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?

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As we're now officially shoulder-deep into quarantines from COVID-19 and continue to experience uncertainty in our daily lives, as well as the stock market—we'll be providing periodic updates on what's happening, how to interpret it, plus any actions you can be taking right now as a result of any developments. As of late March 2020, we're officially in a bear market, which is sparking a lot of questions and stoking the recession fires.

We know that what's happening in the stock market right now can be incredibly confusing and you're wondering what all this means for you and your business. This week we're giving a layman's terms update on what's happened these last two weeks in the market and what you can do right now in the midst of the chaos.

• How the pandemic is affecting the stock market
• Why we're seeing wild swings in the market and what they mean
• When will the stock market stabilize?
• What officially being in a bear market means for your business
• Are we in a recession?
• Three things you can do right now

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjTFTiDyiao&t=2s

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• Schedule a free call with us — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?

• Ask Your Questions
• On Facebook
• On Twitter

As coronavirus continues to create uncertainty in our daily lives that's being reflected in the stock market, we're starting to hear more and more talk about an oncoming recession. And while we've not yet been declared to officially be in a recession (as of the time of this recording)—we are overdue. Fortunately for entrepreneurs, our job description is to help people by solving problems. And while a recession brings problems to light, it also brings opportunities for entrepreneurs to solve those problems.

We know that this can be an incredibly uncertain time, and you're likely wondering how to be proactive and help prepare your business for a potential recession once the coronavirus quarantines are over. Dustin and Danielle give their 3 best ways in this short video, which we hope helps calm some of your fears and answers some of your questions.

• Is this market uncertainty from coronavirus quarantines going to result in a recession?
• What is a recession and how does it work?
• Options to increase cash flow
• Ideas to prepare for what the economy may look like for businesses after COVID-19

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhkuSsFSBmA

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• Schedule a free call with us — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?
• We dive deeper into some of these preparedness topics in our episode 97, What You Need To Know So You Can Prepare for 2020.

• Ask Your Questions
• On Facebook
• On Twitter

March 2020 is one for the books. The coronavirus has reached pandemic level, many cities and states are issuing quarantines and shutdowns, and the stock market… well. The stock market is a reflection of just how crazy our lives are right now.

We know that this can be an incredibly scary time, and you may have questions about your investments. Danielle is answering them in this short video, which we hope helps calm some of your fears and answers some of your questions.

• The #1 question we hear from clients and listeners
• How long a recession usually lasts
• The difference between greed and fear in the stock market right now
• Why it's important to remember that no one has a crystal ball
• The mentality you need to embrace to handle this stock market

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEtnRQG4wQ0&feature=youtu.be

• The Toujours Planning Quiz — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?
• The Toujours Planning Blueprint to Wealth + Security

• Ask Your Questions

• On Facebook

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We've got something new for you! Every couple of weeks, we'll be mixing up the style of our podcast: 1 week will be long-form and the following week will be a minisode. These are super short-and-sweet tips to help you get your financial house in order, get the DL on what's going on in the economic world, and generally empower you to live life on your terms!

With that said, let's dive into this week's episode: What is a Work-Optional Lifestyle & How Can You Get There?

The most exciting part? You can choose your own adventure: listen to the audio above (or on your podcast app) or pop over to the video to watch this 2-minute clip right now!

• What the goal of our work really is
• What BULB stands for
• How you can calculate your BULB number
• How to start putting money toward your BULB
• Why we believe in a work-optional lifestyle instead of retirement

As we've mentioned before on this podcast, we're big fans of the BULB. BULB, which stands for back-up life bank, is not a complex number to figure out.

From there, it's all about investing and saving enough to get you to reach that number. If you're a successful business owner and are committed to investing and saving, you'll be surprised how fast you do reach BULB status!

But of course, you'll have more questions. That's why we're sharing all our BULB resources down below so you can continue the exploration!

We all want a work-optional lifestyle, but only those who are committed to reaching BULB status will get there. Is that you?

• Our BULB Calculator, which you can find in our FREE go-to financial and life planning resources

• All about "BULB":

• • Ep. 85: Adulting 101 Series: Saving

• • Ep. 063: Self-Employment & Retirement

• The Toujours Planning Quiz — are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?
• Toujours Planning Blueprint to Wealth + Security

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Have you ever heard about penny stocks? Are you wondering what they are and if you should be getting in on that action? We're covering everything about penny stocks in this episode of Wealth by Design, so buckle up.

Warning: we do not shy away from our opinions about penny stocks in this episode!

• [01:20] What is a penny stock?

• [03:01] How Dustin was introduced to penny stocks

• [06:10] The reality of Dustin's dot com story

• [08:19] Common misconceptions with penny stocks

• [09:54] The type of investment strategy you should have

• [10:34] Why penny stocks exist

• [12:10] All about pump and dump scams (yes, like in The Wolf of Wall Street)

• [14:22] Our final verdict on penny stocks

Penny stocks, as their name implies, are stocks that trade for less than $5 per share. You'll find lots of penny stocks that cost less than a dollar or even less than a penny. Of course, that's part of their appeal. These cheap stocks seem attractive when compared to companies that trade at much higher amounts. But you may have heard people (or "influencers") talking about how they're making money fast on penny stocks and you may be wondering if you need to get in on the scheme. We're here to talk you down.

In this episode, we mentioned the "viral" factor when it comes to penny stocks. It might seem like everyone around you is talking about a specific penny stock and making money on it. Eventually, you start to feel the pressure. Should you become a ground floor investor? Will you hit it big with this underdog company?

It's natural to feel that adrenaline rush when you think you may have discovered a "diamond in the rough," as we described it. But we're going to play devil's advocate for a moment and bring you back to reality. A good long-term investment strategy should never make you feel pressured into buying anything. Investing should never feel like a potential lottery win. You want an investment strategy that's stable and disciplined, not one that's volatile and hard to research. That's what penny stocks are, however, and those are huge red flags.

If you hear your friends, coworkers, or acquaintances talking about "the next big thing" in stocks, be wary: it might be a pump and dump scam. (You may have heard of pump and dumps in 2013, thanks to The Wolf of Wall Street movie based on the real-life Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort.) Be on the lookout for penny stocks that seem like they're on fire at the moment. That's a pretty good sign that they'll burn out quickly, and that they're actually worthless.

We hear you wondering: "If penny stocks are so unpredictable, why does anyone even invest in them?" We've already talked about why people might take a chance on penny stocks: the FOMO, the rush of adrenaline, and the desire to feel like you're a ground floor investor in an underdog company. Now let's look at the company side of things.

Penny stocks are not arbitrary. They may be companies that have failed and are now actually worth pennies. Companies that have failed but still have some type of worth tied up in their business, like tons of land, for example. On the other hand, companies may start out as penny stocks, which can be even worse!

Companies who start out as penny stocks can manipulate their price purposefully to skirt regulation. Penny stocks are called "over-the-counter stocks" since they don't trade on a regulated exchange, like the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange. Instead, they're traded in an OTC exchange. And when you're dealing with companies who manipulate prices and skirt regulation, it's the Wild West out there, as Dustin put it. It's a lawless place that you should avoid.

Technically, we're not allowed to give specific investing advice. But we made an exception for this topic. How do we feel about penny stocks? DON'T. BUY. THEM. You'll hear us get pretty emphatic about this in the episode.

Buying penny stocks is the opposite of the kind of investing strategy we want you to have! We want you to have a diversified, disciplined, long-term investing strategy. You won't find that with penny stocks. Just don't do it, folks.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• • • Episode 104: The Laws of Human Nature
    • The true story behind The Wolf of Wall Street
    • One of our many resources: A blueprint guide to wealth
    • The Toujours Planning Quiz — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?

What do children's fables, dog memes, human nature, and investing have to do with each other? Well, you just might have to listen to the full episode to understand. In a nutshell, though, Episode 104 is all about human nature and how it can work against us when it comes to investing. Fear of the unknown and fear of failure can hold us back. And greed can lead us down some bad paths and entice us to make poor decisions that we'll pay for later.

• [00:50] The enemy of investing
• [02:10] A famous quote on investing from Warren Buffett
• [04:22] How financial advisors temper your expectations
• [07:13] The roles fear and greed play in your finances
• [08:21] A case study on fear during the 2008 financial crisis
• [12:15] A quick detour into fables and fairy tales
• [17:24] Herd mentality and normalcy bias
• [20:35] How to fight fear and greed

We kicked off this episode with a famous quote from Warren Buffett: "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." What the heck does that mean? When it comes to investing, it means to be contrarian: Do your own thing. Ignore the herd mentality of doing what everyone else is doing. Don't give in to the FOMO.

To be clear, yes, Warren Buffett is telling us to be fearful and greedy when others are not. As an investment strategy, it works. But when we talk about actual fear and greed, it's important to be strong and not give in to those feelings. If you've ever heard the story, The Goose and the Golden Egg, you know that we're all supposed to be patient and avoid greed (but also, Danielle believes this story exists to scare adults). The fable has a message for all of us: nothing is certain and you can't always count on your golden eggs to keep coming.

But if we're supposed to avoid those feelings of fear and greed, how should we feel when investing? You want to strive for some feelings of normalcy and control, as Dustin put it. Take the "this is fine" meme of the dog sitting calmly in a room that's on fire — "the meme of our times" as we talk about it in the episode.

https://gph.is/2h8wI3B

The dog knows what's going on around him and accepts it. It's fine. Everything's fine. It's a little extreme (and super funny) but that sense of calm and order is what you should aim for when investing.

So, how do you achieve calm and fight off those feelings of fear and greed? How do you find the eye in the middle of the storm? The first thing you need to do is acknowledge those emotions. Know they exist and accept them. You can't get rid of those emotions and stop them from happening. But you can understand that they'll pop up and rear their ugly heads once in awhile.

If you can't get rid of 'em, have a plan to deal with 'em. Build a solid portfolio or investment strategy that will last you through those times of fear and greed. They should also last you through the good times, too! We can easily become overconfident when things are going well and make some not-so-great decisions. The point is, your portfolio or financial strategy should be strong enough to weather the good times and the bad. And it should be so strong that you don't feel the need to obsess or check on your investments every day.

Finally — and we're not just saying this because we're in the financial planning biz ourselves — hire a trusted advisor to help you. A good financial advisor will basically act as your babysitter. They'll hold your hand when things get rough and talk to you down from the ledge. And those times when things are going a little too well? They'll keep you grounded and give you a reality check when you need it.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• Warren Buffett's quote on investing, seen in action
• The Goose and the Golden Egg
• Dollar-Cost Averaging in Episode 17
• The Bucket Strategy in Episode 103
• "Putting a value on your value" the Vanguard study
• The Toujours Planning Quiz — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?

What's the most important part of your financial strategy? Creating an emergency fund? Saving and investing? Understanding what money goals you need to set for your priorities? Trick question, it's kind of all three.

In this week's episode, we're revisiting an old friend who you may have heard a lot about on this show: the bucket strategy. That's right, folks. But this time, we're paying special attention to the middle child of the strategy, the intermediate-term bucket.

We talk about why you may have been neglecting that middle bucket, as well as how you should be using our bucket strategy overall, in this episode.

• • [00:40] Why we're diving into the intermediate-term bucket in this episode

  • [05:22] Reviewing the bucket strategy

  • [06:46] Accounts you might have for each bucket category

  • [10:51] Why the focus is all on retirement

  • [12:27] Why you might be neglecting your intermediate bucket

  • [13:29] The number one asset you have in investing (hint: we talk about it a lot)

  • [14:25] Be the conductor of your own money (we get nostalgic for a minute)

  • [16:17] Problems with the financial industry

  • [19:49] How to make your bucket strategy work for you

  • [23:11] Fill your buckets according to your priorities

First up: let's talk about the accounts you might use for each bucket. Remember that each "bucket" is a category, not an account itself. You may have multiple accounts to fill each bucket, and you need at least one account to start.

Your short-term bucket includes money you need between now and the next two years. That might include your regular checking account and a separate emergency fund account, which should be three to six months of living expenses saved.

On the other end of the strategy, you have your long-term bucket which you'll use to save for retirement or revivement. This includes your retirement accounts: Roth IRAs, 401k, and so on. You may even have a separate investment account if you want to save more than the maximum in a retirement account, or if you're planning to retire early. (More on that in a bit.)

That leaves us with the intermediate-term bucket, which you'll use for mid-range goals you hope to achieve in two to ten years. A down payment for a house, paying for college, or buying a new car are common mid-range goals. A lot of us don't spend enough time tending to this bucket, probably because the focus in the finance industry and the media is all on savings and retirement in your long-term bucket.

The first step in your bucket strategy? Y'all know this: create an emergency fund with at least three months of living expenses. And at the same time, if you have a 401k, start getting your matching so you can get that free money! Reaching both of these goals is important for your first step. No 401k? No problem. Focus your energy on hitting that emergency fund amount as soon as possible, especially if you have kids.

Next, you'll want to pay some attention to the other two buckets. If you don't have a 401k, you'll want to start contributing to a long-term investment account. Planning on retiring traditionally around 60 to 65 years old? Begin contributing to an IRA or a Roth IRA. Hoping to buy a house within the next few years? Set aside money for your down payment. Look at your goals and budget, and decide where your money needs to go. Once you know, set up payments automatically so you don't have to think about it. It's just ready and waiting when the time comes.

Let's say you're one of those cool kids who wants to enter retirement, or revivement, at a younger age. Props to you. To make that happen, you'll want to contribute to an additional non-retirement account that doesn't have any restrictions. Why? Without this account, you'll have to pay penalties to dip into those retirement accounts early, when you're ready to retire at 50 years old. And that's no fun.

Remember that scene in Fantasia where Mickey Mouse waves his magic wand and makes all the brooms start cleaning the castle for him? Mickey found a way to work smarter, not harder. That's how your relationship with your money should be. You're the conductor, and you're in charge. Make your money work for you. It takes some time to set up at first, but once you do, you're golden.

Don't miss out on that. Be Mickey.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• Where The Bucket Strategy all began: Episode 004
• Where fears of the financial industry come from: Episode 102
• Revivement revisited: Episode 65
• The Toujours Planning Quiz — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?

• Ask Your Questions

• On Facebook

• On Twitter

We talk about fear a lot on our podcast. Fear is natural and, TBH, necessary. But when it comes to finances, three types of fear tends to hold us back: from investing, from charging clients what we're worth, or from taking chances when building a business.

Fear can also make you focus on the wrong thing when it comes to your net worth. Paying down debt rather than building up your assets, to be specific. And that's what we discuss in this week's episode: where our fear of the "debt boogeyman" comes from, our three-step strategy on how to overcome it, and what part of your finances you should be focusing on instead.

• [00:46] The first of our Nine Commandments

• [01:25] What is your net worth?

• [01:54] Debt vs. assets: which should you focus on more?

• [04:01] How we got inspiration for this episode

• [09:38] Why the Dave Ramsey way of looking at debt is problematic

• [10:54] The types of assets you need

• [13:41] Where did Millennial "fear of debt" come from?

• [16:15] How to change your debt-fearing mindset

• [17:44] Steps to building a positive net worth

• [20:46] A couple of analogies for paying down debt and building assets

"Net Worth is King." That's our second of Nine Commandments, after "Leave the Punch Clock Mindset Behind." (A little insider info for you: we'll be talking about our other commandments in future episodes!)

So what is your "net worth," exactly? Simply put, your net worth = your assets - your liabilities.

You want a positive net worth, which is where you have more assets than liabilities. "Own more things than you owe," as Dustin put it in this episode. As simple as that sounds, we see more people focus on paying down their debt rather than building their assets. That's partly because our culture focuses on debt so much, even though assets are just as important, if not more so.

Let's be real: our society's obsessed with debt.

And honestly, we blame Dave Ramsey and his Debt Snowball Plan. Yeah, we said it.

We won't go into too much detail about his methodology (which we have linked in the show notes if you're really interested), but generally, he advises people to attack their debt first. Once it's all gone, then you should invest, he says. But there's a fatal flaw in that plan: all those years you spend paying down debt only are years you could be saving thanks to compounding interest!

But we keep shooting ourselves in the foot by paying down debt… because we're scared! Where does this fear of the debt boogeyman come from? Our parents dealt with the highest interest rates ever to date in history, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. Which, by the way, is the generation that Dave Ramsey comes from. We Millennials were raised to believe that we have to be debt-free before we save or invest. (Thanks, Mom and Dad.) Now, over the last 10 years, interest for debt is at one of the lowest it's ever been. This means that the Baby Boomer mentality of fearing debt doesn't really make sense anymore.

We need a new way of thinking about debt and assets.

We'll lead the charge on getting rid of that debt-fearing mindset. Instead of looking at debt as some horrific monster, think of it as a necessary presence instead. You can and will deal with it, but other parts of your financial strategy are more important and will make a bigger impact on your wealth.

Think of it this way: even if you pay down your debt to zero, if you haven't been saving until that point, you have no wealth. Zero is then your starting point, which is a waste. Choosing the right assets and focusing on saving — at any income level — is more important than paying down debt. Here's how to do both at the same time.

Step one: Pay off your high-interest debt first. We typically think of anything over 6% as high interest, like credit card debt. Get rid of it; pay off your credit card debt on a monthly basis. This is the only thing we'll agree with Dave Ramsey on.

Step two: Pay the rest of your debt normally. This includes your mortgages or student loans, which are usually less than 6%. Make those regular payments...and stop worrying about them. You can do it.

Step three: Put the rest of your discretionary income into savings using a bucket strategy. At the same time you're lowering your debt, you're working toward positive net worth.

We talk a lot about our bucket strategy, but here's a quick recap of how it works. You have three "buckets" to put your savings towards and we recommend using all of them to build your net worth. Using this strategy, you're putting money towards all of these goals at the same time, letting these savings grow now so you can enjoy them later.

Getting over your fear of debt takes time and change can be scary. However, we hope that our explanation of where this fear comes from can help you start changing your mindset. Don't waste time chipping away at your debt only, when you can be paying it down and building your assets at the same time to achieve positive net worth.

Tune in to the full episode to get the full download on debt… and why it shouldn't be ruling your life.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• Leaving Behind the "Punch Clock" Mindset, Episode 98
• The "BULB" strategy, Episode 63
• Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball Plan (boo, hiss)
• The Bucket Strategy's first appearance in Episode 4

The robots have taken over. Just kidding. In reality, robots haven't taken over — but they have taken over a major chunk of the financial industry in the form of robo-advisors. A lot of people assume that we're going to bash on robo-advisors ("The robots are taking your jobs!") or that we will tell them a human advisor is the only way to go.

But the truth is, we think robo-advisors are actually pretty useful. Of course, there's a time and a place to use them, which is exactly what we cover in this episode of Wealth by Design.

• 01:30 Dustin's concerns about robo-advisors earlier in his career

• 01:48 Why they're not a threat to the financial planning industry

• 03:37 What robo-advisors are

• 04:24 Why it's not a question of which to use, but when to use each

• 05:22 The questions that may come up around using a robo-advisor

• 07:11 The major downside to robo-advisors (hint: it's about customer service)

• 08:00 The limiting beliefs that come when people consider hiring a financial advisor

• 09:32 The biggest question clients have about an advisor

• 09:40 The scary stories in the media that might discourage you from enlisting help

• 11:07 What you should feel when you find the right robo-advisor

• 11:32 What robo-advisors can't do (spoiler alert: it requires ears)

• 11:47 How to have your cake and eat it too

• 13:25 The risk of letting the noise win

• 15:27 When to go with a robo-advisor

• 16:42 The rise of the subscription advisor

• 17:08 How a hybrid of human + robo-advisor can help you navigate complexity

• 18:19 When you should go all-in on a human advisor

• 19:16 The need for customization as you grow your wealth

• 20:02 How Dustin + Danielle use robo-advisors in their own business

You might not be using the term "robo-advisor," but you might be using one. Sites like e-Trade, Charles Schwab, Ellevest, Betterment, Acorn, and others all offer an automated, algorithm-based, and accessible way to invest for a low cost. Usually, you can create an account, tell them your goals, the amount you wish to invest, and the types of stocks or funds you'd like to invest in (optional), and you're off to the races. It's that easy to start investing with robo-advisors, which we think is pretty neat.

Robo-advisors are:

• Algorithm-based. They take data to determine the best fit for your investment needs, and they pair you up with the right stocks and funds to make selection super easy and quick.
• A little cookie-cutter. How could they not be? A robot can't understand the nuances of every element of your financial life and goals (thank god). So, you'll want to ask yourself, "Am I OK with a little cookie-cutter advice to get my investments off the ground?"
• Cheap. For those of you out there who are super conscious of price, robo-advisors are great. They're some of the lowest-priced advisor services out there, but you know what they say — you get what you pay for.
• Pretty DIY. Robo-advisors don't have a human advisor on the line, waiting to answer your calls. Sure, there's tech support and a few resources to help with your questions, but they're going to be fairly general.

In this episode, we cover a lot of ground about what exactly a robo-advisor is, as well as when to choose one. We talk about scenarios that make you prime for a robo-advisor, like:

• When you are just starting out with investing.
• If you're a total DIYer with your finances.
• Your situation is pretty simple (no kids, not a ton of money to invest yet, etc.).

We also walk you through the scenarios that might make a robo-advisor a "tighter squeeze" for you, such as if you:

• Have a thriving business and high levels of income (and no clue what to do with it).
• Are sick of DIYing your finances, or managing all the complexity alone.
• Are second-guessing the investments you've got now, or you're not getting the results you want from them.
• Want a more customized, tailored financial plan that covers more than basic investing.
• Are worried about looming recession — or you've been hit hard by one.

As we all know, robots aren't human (#duh). That means that there are certain things lost in translation — things like supporting specific goals, understanding emotions around investing, and navigating complexity. That's where we start recommending a hybrid: human and robots, unite!

If there's one thing you take away from this episode, it's that you do not have to choose one or the other, robots or humans. You can use both to optimize your financial plan and future. One suggestion we make is pairing your robo-advisor investments with a subscription advisor — this is new!

With a subscription advisor service, you don't have to have any investments with an advisor, but you can get the financial advice and plan you need to really focus on your financial life and goals. This is right for you if your situation is becoming be a bit more complex, i.e. you own your own business, want to understand estate planning, you have kids or a growing family, etc. but you don't have a ton of interest in investing (or money to invest). This is something many advisors are beginning to offer because it comes without an investment requirement or minimum. You can get financial advice "on retainer," so to speak, and your robo-advisor can continue to invest your money in the smaller accounts and portfolios you've selected.

P.S. You can learn more about subscription advisor services with Toujours Planning.

But if it's to level up and really grow your long-term wealth so you can enter "revivement" or live that work-optional lifestyle, we do think that a human advisor is the best way to go.

We know just how much value a human advisor brings people, because we are human advisors! We think that deciding to go directly with a human advisor is a good decision for all the reasons you might choose a hybrid option… except for one big difference: you want the whole enchilada.

You're sick of DIYing. You're losing money on robo-investments or not seeing strong growth for how much you're investing. And you're feeling the fear that comes with ups and downs in the market. In short, you need a sensei.

You want someone to create a custom plan for you, to walk you off the ledge if you're getting spooked, and to help you come out stronger on the other side. Most of all, you're ready for a custom financial plan and investment strategy that gets you from the hamster wheel of hustle to feeling secure, free, and wealthy.

You want to feel listened to, cared for, and like you don't have to do the work yourself. You're busy and you are ready for help. If that sounds like you, then you're probably ready to work with a human financial advisor.

As you can probably tell by all the knowledge bombs we've dropped here, this episode is super in-depth and talks all about the benefits, downsides, connections, and scenarios that might help you decide where to start your investing journey. We also cover a lot of ground on mindset, what you might be feeling (or fearing) with your decision, and how to know if you've found the right fit.

To get all the magic, make sure to tune into Episode 101. It's short but jam-packed with great info that can help you really start to build long-term wealth, so don't skip it!

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

• The definition of a robo-advisor (Investopedia)

• Subscription advisor services

• The Toujours Planning Quiz — Are we a good fit for your financial planning needs?