Naomi
Appearances
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Yeah, I am so excited because in the next couple of months, we will be done with daycare payments. That's huge. An additional $1,430 that we will have every month that's not going to daycare. I was looking at our budget. It's the second highest line item in our monthly budget. And that is a huge blessing to be able to say that we don't have a place where we have to put it right now.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
So we want to be able to think strategically and thoughtfully about what to do with this money now and like have it work for us.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Definitely saving for our kiddos' future. So we're able to save a little bit each month, but I'd like to consider adding more, the addition to the house. And then, you know, wondering if we need to buff up either emergency savings or our retirement savings.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
For me, it would be bulking up our emergency savings and then saving for our son's future. Those, the two where I think we could be putting more attention to and also feel like they align with like our long-term goals.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Right now, we're teetering around just $20,000.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Maybe three.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Our retirement savings, we also feel good about and probably a lever where I'm hoping we can pull back, but we also have the opportunity to put more into it.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
I mean, that's helpful. Yeah, that's like including our continued giving and our continued Roth contributions and stuff. So, I think we're in the three to six month range probably. So for retirement, we currently contribute 17% of our combined income toward Roths and 401k.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Can we go into some more specifics? Sure. We've done some basic financial planning in the past, but because we started early, combined, we have $515,000 in retirement. I am 36 and Andrew is 40. So we are on track, I believe, to retire... at or around 65 very comfortably with actually a higher income, I think, than we have now.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
But sometimes when I run analysis or when I'm trying to predict how much we'll have, it still seems like we're going to come up short. And that's really hard for me. It just feels like it's never going to be enough. However much we're contributing, it never seems like we are going to have enough at retirement.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Yes.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
I think so because we also, it feels like we contribute so much post-tax and now we have this extra money. So if we need to do more, we can do more. But if we can do less, it'd be nice to do less.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Thinking about the future, it always feels like there's never going to be enough to prepare for the future. But we're shifting our mentality to make sure that we have enough to give us margin of joy for today. It's easier to see and we want to have these short-term goals to be able to give us joy now. But checking that anxiety is always really helpful. So thank you for sharing that. Of course.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Can you talk to us about 529s? We haven't specifically talked about how much we want to save for our kids' future or whether or not we want that to be in a college fund, for example. I do anticipate he will probably go to college, but I'd also, it's important for me to be able to fund a gap year for him to explore if that's what he needs.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
What are other options besides a 529 as we consider savings for his future future?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
We have, but I have not done anything about it yet.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
I feel excited that we can start setting some new goals and having these like dreaming sessions again about what we could do. even like having a legacy somewhere for somebody. But I think we can also be strategic and we can do a little bit for all of these things and pull some levers maybe as those goals change. So yeah, it's exciting to have that money and to have the margin.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Like I said, it's like a huge gift to be able to assign it in a new way.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
That's great.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Hey, thank you guys.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Everyone, thank you.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
I feel really confident that Andrew and I are on the same page about our priorities and our values when it comes to how we spend our money. I think we could use a little bit of improvement maybe with how we're saving for short-term investments or how we're thinking about short-term savings and goals that we have. I think that we're really good at accomplishing a goal.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
It's a little bit trickier for us when it comes to identifying what the next goal should be.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
A few years ago, Andrew and I, before we had a kid, we took a weekend to think about our five core values that we share as a couple. And for me, that was a really helpful, exploratory conversation that we had. And although we don't refer to them very often... we do refer to them when it comes to money decisions.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
So I think that having those core values identified has helped us prioritize like bigger things. And as Andrew said, generosity is one of those core values and money is one of the biggest ways we can show what we value.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Yeah, I think it is the short-term goals we disagree on. So I think Andrew feels the weight of debt a lot more than I do. So I am okay taking on more debt. I have taken on more debt in the past. I came into our marriage with more debt. But when it comes to short-term things, I am more inclined to take on debt for those things.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
I think that's where we have some disagreement about what's a healthy or good decision when it comes to what we should take debt for.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Andrew mentioned margin. That is one of them. We also have flourish as one. So we value like caring for creation and caring for other people in our homes. So allowing an environment where all can flourish.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
Generosity.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
So we have two, I think examples are important, but we have two loans right now besides our mortgage. And we identified these as priorities for the family and something that we could take on. So the one loan is for solar panels for our home. And then one loan is for a car that we purchased. Both are very low interest. Both were able to make the monthly commitment for that.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
What we would say is probably what we are considering now, which is harder for us to explore together because we disagree about this, is an addition to our home. So it is a huge purchase. It is something... that feels really unattainable if we are just trying to pay cash for it. But financing it also seems like a really enormous task as well if we were to take out like a home equity loan.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Build Wealth Right Now and How Couples Can Align on Financial Goals
So I think that figuring out if we take out a loan or if we save for cash is one area where I think we're having some disagreement.