Lindsay’s husband struggles with a mental disability. She’s worried about the impact on her family’s finances. How does she maintain harmony in her marriage and protect her kids’ future?
An anonymous caller is stoked about her young nephew’s interest in saving for retirement. What’s Paula and Joe’s advice for a teenage saver?
Following up on a discussion from episode 494, Melanie has exciting news to share about automating ETF investments at Vanguard.
Another anonymous caller wants to get personal about Paula’s personal finances.
Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.
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Lindsay asks (at 01:25 minutes): What’s your advice to someone who wants to stop sharing control of money in their marriage to protect the family’s financial future?
I’m 44 with three beautiful children and a husband who’s neurodivergent and self-admittedly unreliable with money.
My husband is a beautiful artist but makes a variable income due to his mental disability. He can be highly productive but sometimes he’s not capable.
I make $104,000 a year and on average, he makes $50,000 a year. I have $40,000 saved in an IRA at Vanguard.
My company’s 403b plan offers a two percent match and I plan on ramping up my contributions to set myself up for retirement.
I want to separate our finances to ensure that the money I’ve put away for myself is safe and will eventually go to the kids. How do I keep my family secure financially?
Anonymous asks (at 30:29 minutes): My 15-year-old nephew recently asked me if he should open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and this was the happiest day of the year.
He has a summer job lifeguarding, and he’s ready to open a Roth IRA for 2023 before the tax filing deadline.
My question is, where? Fidelity has a youth account for teens aged 14 to 17, but I’m not sure what happens when he turns 18. Is it big fees? We could always pivot then if we needed to.
He’s also planning to ask his parents where they invest, so maybe he can get a no-fee account there. But I don’t think he’ll earn enough to invest the required minimum of $50 to $100 a month.
What’s your advice for us? Would a broker let him open an account where I have investments as his aunt? I’m so excited to get him started, but I want to start him off on the right foot.
Melanie asks (at 49:18 minutes): I’m currently listening to episode 494 and someone mentioned that there isn’t a way to automate buying ETFs.
I want to let the listeners know that there’s a way through Vanguard with a pilot they just started. I recently received an email invitation for it.
After clicking the link and logging in, I now have an option to set up weekly, monthly, or bi-weekly ETF investments. I set up a monthly investment, and the first transaction hit last week.
I set it up on a Monday to start once a month, and on Wednesday, it executed my trade for VTI.
And so now I don’t have to think about it. At least once a month, some ETFs are going to be purchased.
Anonymous asks (at 1:01:36 minutes): Paula, given your recent life changes and many accomplishments, I’m wondering if you could talk about your personal financial planning goals?
Among other things, you moved to New York City, completed a fellowship at Columbia, starred in a Netflix documentary, and continued to grow the Afford Anything business.
Some questions that come to mind are:
- How do you think about personal financial risk currently? And is it different than what it looked like three years ago?
- Are you looking to expand your real estate portfolio today? Why or why not?
- How are you shifting your broader investment portfolio over time, if at all?
- How and where do you see your time, energy, and focus allocations changing? And can you comment on which of those changes have been intentional?
I realize that these are deeply personal questions, so feel free to ignore any and all of them, but I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about these days.
Resources Mentioned:
Episode 494: My Husband Makes Double My Income, But Saves Nothing! Should I Be Worried? | Podcast Episode
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