Episode: 340 - Investing Made Simple: How to Start Growing Wealth with Just $10 a Day
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Building wealth and navigating the road to financial independence can seem daunting, especially if you're just getting started. However, understanding the basics and developing a roadmap can simplify this seemingly overwhelming journey. Frank Buchholz, a retired senior vice president and financial advisor with four decades of experience, sheds light on how to make this journey more accessible to everyone. Let's delve into some of the insights he shares.
Breaking Down the Complexity of Investing
Investing often appears complicated due to the jargon and complex concepts attached to it. Yet, Frank emphasizes that understanding these concepts doesn't require a college degree. He believes that the biggest hurdle is a lack of understanding among new investors. By presenting real-life examples of what has worked and what hasn't, one can grasp the essentials without feeling overwhelmed.
The Importance of Financial Education
Frank stresses the critical need for financial education, particularly for young people. He highlights a significant deficiency in financial literacy among high school students. Fortunately, places like California are beginning to address this gap by introducing finance-related curriculum in schools. Understanding money and investments from a young age is crucial, as Frank points out that many Americans retire without sufficient savings, which is a preventable tragedy.
Managing Debt Before Investing
When it comes to investments, the management of debt plays a vital role in an individual's financial strategy. Frank advises that aside from necessary loans it’s crucial to steer clear of accumulating unnecessary debt, such as credit card debt. By doing so, individuals can allocate more resources towards investing, which will yield better returns over time.
The Power of Starting Early
Time is a powerful ally in the realm of investing. Frank gives an enlightening example: investing just $10 a day can lead to over a million dollars in 36 years, assuming a 10% return. This demonstrates the incredible impact of starting early and staying consistent. Small regular contributions can add up significantly over time, offering security and peace of mind in retirement.
Adopting a Disciplined Long-Term Perspective
One of the most critical aspects of successful investing is maintaining discipline. Markets fluctuate, and it’s easy to be swayed by short-term downturns. Frank underscores the importance of viewing investing as a long-term commitment. Panic-selling during downturns can be detrimental to one’s financial goals. Instead, he suggests staying the course and even viewing downturns as opportunities to invest more.
Ignoring the Noise: Handling External Influence
In today’s world, it's important to navigate the noise of sensational media coverage and social influence. Frank advises on maintaining a balanced perspective by consulting diverse news sources and relying on solid, proven strategies rather than fads or hearsay. Communities or advisors can also offer valuable guidance and stability in turbulent times.
What Financial Freedom Means
Ultimately, financial freedom is about choices. For Frank, it’s not about the ability to make extravagant purchases but having the wealth to make those choices if desired. It's about the freedom to live comfortably and securely without monetary concerns overshadowing health or lifestyle.
Conclusion
While the path to financial independence may seem intimidating, the insights shared by experienced professionals like Frank Buchholz provide a clear guide. By educating yourself, managing debt wisely, starting early, and maintaining discipline, financial freedom is achievable. It’s not about making vast investments instantly, but about steady progress towards a secure financial future.
For those looking to take the first steps or refine their financial strategies, consider Frank's advice: assess your income and spending, start small, and make use of potential resources to guide you towards financial stability and independence.
Resources Mentioned
Connect with Frank Buchholz: https://investorsgoldenplaybook.com/
The Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner https://www.debtfreedad.com/planner
Connect With Brad
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Transcript:
Brad Nelson:
So investing can feel so overwhelming, especially if you're just getting started. But what if I told you that building wealth doesn't have to be that complicated? Now, today, I'm joined by Frank Buchholz, a retired senior vice president and financial advisor with over 40 years of experience helping people achieve financial independence. Now Frank has a gift for making investing simple and accessible, and he's here to share practical strategies that anyone, no matter their income, can use to start growing their wealth. Now again, if you've ever felt like investing is out of reach, this episode is going to be for you. Let's dive in.
Anouncer:
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experience the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial success. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson:
Hey guys, welcome to today's show. I am Brad Nelson, founder of Debt Free Dad. I paid off about $45,000 of debt. I've been debt free now for more than 11 years. I've also helped thousands of other people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars with the work that we do here at Debt Free Dad.
Brad Nelson:
Now, after listening to this episode, if you're ready to take things to the next level, you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck, you want to reduce financial stress, you want to build your savings and finally pay off that debt for good. But maybe you're like many of us. You're not really quite sure where to get started. Now we've created some incredible free resources here at Debt-Free Dad to help you get there, and I'll be sharing some details about how you can get those later on in today's episode. So hey, frank, how are you? And welcome to the Debt-Free Dad podcast here today. Good, good. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it very much. Yeah, absolutely so. What brought you to the investment industry? Now, I mentioned in the introduction, like you have a lot of experience we're talking several decades, like 40 years. What got you into this to begin with and helping people with investing?
Frank Buchholz:
I always found the investment world to be a very fascinating area, if you will, and even in college, my major was business administration, with a finance minor, and I did take several investment classes with a gentleman by the name of Dr Neil Pepper. And I did take several investment classes with a gentleman by the name of Dr Neil Pepper an easy name to remember, of course and he was inspirational because he was brilliant, number one, number two, because he could actually figure things out and present things in such a way that made sense to me. So after graduating from college, I did have a couple of jobs before I got into the investment world. It's hard to come out of college as a 20-year-old and hop into the investment arena because it's kind of challenging, to put it mildly. So I started in 1982 when I was 30 years old, and so here I am four years later and, candidly, you learn a lot over time. So it's been a very good career. I did meet a lot of very interesting people.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, you mentioned the person that you were learning from was able to present things in a more simple way and you mentioned that word simple. When you know helping people understand and teach people about investing, can you share with me, as a new person to investing, someone who's just getting started, what are some of the maybe bigger misconceptions or things? Maybe they don't completely understand? Maybe from outside influences or social influence, but what do you feel people aren't grasping when they first get started about investing?
Frank Buchholz:
I think the biggest problem I found with most people is they don't have a clue, when it comes to investing, about what investments are all about. They're very challenging. It's not that they're not smart. They've never studied it, understood it, and so in my book I try to make it more of a non-college textbook where I have actual life experiences with clients so they can actually see what people did that made sense and also illustrate in such a way the two things they don't want to be doing. So it makes sense from that standpoint. So, yeah, the bottom line is the fact that it is very, it's very complicated, but you need somebody to kind of guide them.
Frank Buchholz:
It might go with the book, of course, is to present things in such a way that made sense. But my clients over the years complimented me on the standpoint that I could present something that's complicated and boil it down where they can understand it easily, and I was also made sure I never intimidated clients by using all these fancy jargons. You know standard duplication and SEC and yield to maturity and blah, blah, blah. You know all that nonsense.
Brad Nelson:
So you got to boil it down, make it simple. So that's kind of where I was at with it. Number one why is that so important? But number two what's keeping schools from actually teaching this stuff at such a young age? Because, as you know, the value of investing, especially long term, is getting started early and too many people get started late, or because they just don't understand how important this is to start teaching kids this stuff, and maybe at least your opinion on why aren't they teaching people this stuff?
Frank Buchholz:
Well, that's a good question, because even in my case, I didn't worry about money until I got into college and I was taking finance classes. So if I take a finance classes, guess what? So, interesting enough, in California they finally got put in a money class, if you will, in the high schools here it's coming up the next year or two or what have you, but that was actually going to be a ballot proposition, but they finally approved it through the legislature, thank God. So at least a little more people could be more aware of this. And the bottom line is the fact that currently, half of people in America retire with no money saved for retirement, which to me, is a crying shame. Crying shame If they're going to live off Social Security, good luck. So you know there is a crying need out there. So you know there is a crying need out there.
Frank Buchholz:
And my goal, of course, was to provide a roadmap for people to understand easily the value of starting early and also what to invest in so they can retire without any debt, without any money worries, because when you get older, you're going to have issues, no matter what. You have issues with health or whatever. Well, if you compound that with money worries, it will make things worse. So in my case, thank you very much, scott. I'm telling you, I retire without any money worries, that's my goal for every person in America.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, you mentioned debt. Let's talk about that real quick. You mentioned the word debt and when people are starting to first think about investing and your 40 years of experience, what is your philosophy in talking to people? If they have credit card debt or student loans or auto loans or things like that, how does that fit in to their overall strategy in investing, and do you recommend let's take care of this stuff first so you have more money to invest, or what are your thoughts there?
Frank Buchholz:
Yeah. So bottom line of course is, in my case I only borrowed money to either buy a house or buy a car, and of course I was borrowing money from my employers, so I was pretty darn careful to make sure I paid them back, if you will, but my credit card debt.
Frank Buchholz:
We pay the credit cards off every month. So, having said that, a lot of people young people these days in particular have a tendency to live for today and they kind of, yeah, tomorrow's a throw us way off, I'm not going to worry about it. But but nobody's ever really explained to them in great detail about the concept of saving and investing today, and I try to drive that point home in my book over and over and over again the sooner you start, the better off you're going to be. So, as an example, I did some work. I have a website I came across.
Frank Buchholz:
If you invest 10 a day over the next 36 years and have the same returns you did over the last 36 years in the stock market, which is 10%, you'd have $1,264,000. And your investment would be about $110,000. So you would only get 10 times your money back, but you'd also, of course, have a return of 10% per year. So it's a concept like that that drives the points home. $10 a day is $300 a month, obviously, but still $10 a day. They can forego something, whether it's two cups of coffee at Starbucks or what have you. So it's important to start now, not later.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, I love that you bring that up. I could go so many different directions with this, frank. I'm on social media, I'm on TikTok and I talk about this stuff, and one of the TikToks I recently just did actually just a few days ago that blew up has nearly almost, I think, 750,000 views now. And I asked the question if things are so bad and people are living paycheck to paycheck because you brought up Starbucks, why is it that the Starbucks line is wrapped around the building? Or why are they able to sell out concert venues and sporting events, and why are shopping centers packed with people still if people are struggling so much? But I think people sometimes have this misconception If I need to invest, I have to invest a ton of money to have any sort of money at the end of the day, but you're mentioning all it takes is just $10 a day, something like as minimum as $300 a month to get started, and in 35 years you could have over a million bucks.
Frank Buchholz:
That's pretty awesome, pretty powerful stuff. And, of course, what they can do literally, if they can buy what they call the ticker symbol, is SPY, which of course is an exchange traded fund, a bushel basket full of stocks, and it mirrors the returns on the 7.4 is 500. And you can buy fractional shares on that through a discount broker firm like our Merrill Edgeworld or Charles Schwab or what have you. Yeah, no charge to invest, no charge to reinvest the dividends, which it's very important to do. That, of course, obviously, but you can do it in an economical way and you start off very, very small and it's perfect for the first time investor.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, it's so good. And what would you say to individuals right now? I mean, you've been doing this for 40 years. You've gone and you've seen some historical events that affect investing, affect the market Things like 9-11, a housing crisis back in 08-09-2010. I mean, you've seen some things and now we have a presidential change. Things are changing rapidly, but people tend to have this fear that the world is kind of crumbling around us and a lot of people maybe fall into more like doom spending and they're like what's the point that I can't ever buy a house because things are so expensive. What would you say to individuals who are especially young people and someone as you have seen a lot, what advice would you give to them to help them kind of maybe reevaluate that type of a mindset right now?
Frank Buchholz:
Yeah, the first thing you do would make sense would be to actually ascertain how much money you're actually taking home for your paycheck Not what your gross earnings are, but what you're taking home and then, of course, then you can kind of put it on a monthly scale what are your expenses? And the irony, of course, is that once people start adding up their expenses, they can then, of course, realize that a lot of expenses are not necessarily important or necessary for the lifestyle they can forego the whatever. So if they could take just a little bit extra off the top and start investing, that that will pay dividends down the road in a very much way. So in my case, we retire with no worries, and if I want to do whatever, I can do that right now. So to retire with no money worries to me is a real blessing, and it also helps you in terms of just being able to help other people as well. So I think that that's the ultimate goal for me. As far as the clients go, for sure.
Brad Nelson:
If I'm ready to start thinking about investing, what are some of the first things that I need to look at or evaluate and maybe decide what I'm going to invest in? How much am I going to put in? You mentioned brokerage accounts and things like that. Schwab, that can be a lot for some people. So how do you break this down where it's simple for an average person to start walking through this?
Frank Buchholz:
Sure, sure. So, of course, the first thing I would do, of course, is read my book, the Specialist's Golden Playbook, which I think would be very helpful, and obviously that may be a biased opinion, but I think that there's a lot of good information in here which can be very helpful for clients. And then, of course, they need to take the initiative. They need to say to themselves okay, I need to get started on this and make things happen, if you will. So that of course, means contacting some firm, whether it's online or in person or what have you. They need to take the initiative to get started, and if they can kind of get things set up where it's an autopilot, meaning that it's it's an automatic deduction for a paycheck to go to investment account or what have you, that makes all the sense in the world. Plus, if they have access to a 401k retirement account in America, that is something they should contribute, and that would be the first thing I would look at. As far as doing anything. What they want to do is try to max that out as much as possible. Currently, a person can contribute $23,500 a year to a 401k, which is substantial, and of course, a lot of people can't do that, particularly starting out. But that would be the very first thing I would look at. Then, of course, on the personal side, then of course you could look at something else as far as growing the money from there.
Frank Buchholz:
But looking at the 401k, when we managed 401ks at Merrill Lynch when I was there, I was astounded by the number of people that had their money invested in a money market account. And when I left Merrill Lynch the money market accounts were paying 0.1. And you shoot yourself in the foot because those money in a 401k are long-term monies. Those monies should be 100% invested in the stock market. Now that's kind of people say, oh my God, it's too risky, blah, blah, blah. Well, it's riskier to have money invested at 0.1% because you don't have to keep up with inflation. You're never going to grow your money. So you contribute $100,000 to that 401k and you're going to wind up with $140,000 when you retire because you're not going to get the interest off that. You need growth, and growth, of course, is achieved by investing in the stock market.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, Now, obviously, when you start investing, you can use, say, someone like a financial advisor. What's a good way to qualify someone to help you? Because, again, people are going into this maybe with very little education and what I see, at least for some people, is that they'll tend to put money into things just because they were told to do it, not necessarily because they understand it and they know how it's going to work for them, their financial goals and their future. What are some things that an individual like make sure you do this and don't do this when either hiring somebody or figuring out what you're going to do.
Frank Buchholz:
Yeah, I think the bottom line, of course, is that I would highly recommend using a financial advisor and interview more than one of them. The financial advisor. If that person is good, they will give you information, educate you and hold your hand through the good times and the bad. So they also kind of act as a psychologist, if you will, because a lot of times people would want to run for the door and we would encourage them not to do so. And of course, there was one person in particular back in 1989 that ran for the door and unfortunately, you know, when you run for the door you're spending the worst possible time and of course, did you get back in? No.
Frank Buchholz:
So you've got to be kind of, you've got to have somebody to really guide you, and that's why an advisor can be very, very important for you. When you're starting off with just a small sum of money let's say it's even, you know, a couple hundred dollars or $5,000 or whatever you're probably going to need to do it on your own to a degree, because the advisors typically will have a minimums of, say, $100,000 or 250 or whatever. So just starting on your own and just putting your money into a ticker symbol SPY is a great way to get started in the stock market and you actually see what's going on with that particular portfolio and it's 500 stocks in one into one investment, so you're well diversified. Great track record pays a dividend. You reinvest, the dividends, get a compounding effect. So you can start with a very small nominal amount of money and set up a monopilot, if you can.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, yeah, Can you share maybe some common mistakes or missteps that new people will make when investing, things that we should definitely avoid if we're just getting started?
Frank Buchholz:
I think probably one of the biggest missteps is that they don't have a discipline to carry on. I think that a lot of times a financial advisor is put in kind of a precarious position because what happens is that the market all of a sudden goes south like it's been going this month in general, and then, of course, the client goes, oh my south, like it's been going this month in general, yeah. And then of course the client goes, oh my God, that investment advisor is worthless. Blah, blah, blah, and they pull the money. Oh yeah, I'm not going to do that again.
Frank Buchholz:
Well, you have to understand it's a long-term process and you're going to have bumps along the way. It's like being on an airplane the airplane is going to have air turbulence. It's like being on an airplane the airplane is going to have air turbulence. You can't get off the plane, guys. You've got to ride to the destination and of course, the destination in the stock market is a 5-10-year window at minimum. So you want to make sure that you have the ability to stick with it and ride it out. So that's a tantamount point. That's one of the biggest mistakes people make as far as I'm concerned Running for the door on the most possible time Maybe they should be buying more at that point.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, and Frank, you hit it right there. I want to talk about that real quick because it's interesting to me and I don't get. I'm not an investment advisor. We don't give investment advice or anything like that here at Debt Free Dad, but it's interesting when you talk to people outside of my business and talk about investing. People always want to buy in to the market when it's doing great because their confidence is high. You know the economy is great, but the reality is is like you want to have the same mindset of investing obviously depending on your age and where you're at, but you want to have the same type of mindset in a way of like why would you go to a department store and buy that shirt at the highest price they're ever going to sell it? Wouldn't you want to wait till it's on sale and then make the purchase Right the highest?
Brad Nelson:
price they're ever going to sell it. Wouldn't you want to wait until it's on sale and then make the purchase right? Can you talk a little bit about that mentality? Why is it that people, as investors, people, look at that market that way? I've always found that very fascinating to me. Yeah, of course.
Frank Buchholz:
Well, people look at the track record. Right, well, xyz Corporation is doing really, really well. I'm going to buy that stock, right? Well, you know, on February 1st and you're holding it now. You're not doing so well, in particular, tesla. If you buy January 1st, you're really not doing well. They always look at the track record oh, the stock's doing really well, blah, blah, blah.
Frank Buchholz:
But again, it's a different mindset in terms of looking at stock versus that favorite shirt dressed in the local department store. They tend to look at things and go well, you know, they look at it the wrong way, so they should look for things on sale. So to me, right now is a reasonable time to invest. Is it perfect? No, but again, you're not buying the market for today and today only. You're buying the market today and looking for the results 10 years from now. So, because it's come down a little, it's certainly a better buying opportunity than it was.
Frank Buchholz:
Are we going to have more bumps in the market? Absolutely no question. I don't care what year it is, what time frame it is. You know new political leadership and everything going on we're going to have more bumps in the market. But again, my biggest investor was one who always said, when the market was down, he called me up and said get those amateurs out of the way, frank, I'm coming in. He would always come in and buy more. Always get the amateurs out. Never forget that, never forget that. So that's kind of the way you have to look at it.
Brad Nelson:
So, yeah, again, seize the opportunity yeah, and so I guess my next question for you, and because I think the next challenge that goes along with this, is what do you recommend to people to deal with? Uh, like social influence, like the news media and people who sensationalize everything. Oh, the market's down and everything is, you know, panic and the world is crumbling. What do you advise people? Obviously, having an advisor and having a small group of people around you would be great, right, but what do you advise people? To ignore all of that noise, because it can be easy to kind of get sucked in to what everyone's talking about and, like you said, make that knee jerk reaction. Get out of the market because you're afraid and you lose out on those long-term gains because you don't stay consistent.
Frank Buchholz:
Absolutely so. In my case, I watch two different newscasts every night. One is far left and one's far right, so I kind of get mixed, if you will, in terms of the news. Yeah, I watch as a fit about whatever, but I won't go there, um, and of course, I do read the wall street journal religiously. To me, the walter journal, to me, is probably one of the finest publications you can possibly read. I read it online and it gives me information I need to know about and to read about and to know what's going on. Um, so I find that to be very, very helpful.
Frank Buchholz:
But I'm not necessarily a big fan of investment newsletters or you know, oh, this guy's recommending this and that. Look at what I did, and this and that. And the next thing, I don't buy it. I think that a typical person should if they have enough money, they should have a professionally managed portfolio with an outside money manager, or they're starting out just buy an exchange-traded fund, get diversification that way. But I'm not one of these guys that is quick to you know. Oh, look at this great idea. No, no, no, I'm looking for proven track record ideas. So if you look at a company like 3M, for example, great track record increased dividends over the years. That's a proven track record. This new initial public offering from XYZ Industries? Not a proven track record. I probably wouldn't go there because you know it's unproven. Not a proven track record like five wouldn't go there because you know it's unproven. So I'm looking for things proven and this book's basically for the starting out investor. It's not from some professional guy who's been doing for 50 years no right.
Brad Nelson:
So that's where I'm at with the book. What about people like that, like fad, like you know the latest craze, or like I'll pick on bitcoin or something like that, but people get excited about this. Or you hear from a coworker like they're investing in this and it's doing great. What's your recommendation or advice or any sort of suggestion from an outside source like that?
Frank Buchholz:
Yeah, good point. Of course, I'm not really a fan of Bitcoin. I have studied and read about it and it's kind of like an artificial currency, if you will, so I'm not really a big fan. Plus, even in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, we talked about the perils, not so much of investing in Bitcoin, but the perils of who do you buy it to and how is it being stored and how do you access it, and so on and so forth, because that area has really opened up to a lot of fraud, if you will, not necessarily Bitcoin itself yourself, but the people behind it, if you will. So be very forewarned. And, of course, I still think that Bitcoin could be a disaster in the making. People could potentially lose a lot of money on it.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, In the beginning, when we first started talking, Frank, you mentioned helping people get towards financial freedom, so to speak, or financial independence In your mind. What does financial independence or financial freedom mean to you?
Frank Buchholz:
It means. You know, I'll give you a perfect example and this may sound elitist, but people laugh when they hear this but my goal was to never buy a Rolls Royce. That's just not me. I don't want to flaunt it, but my goal was to be able to buy it. If I wanted it, I can do that, okay. So that sounds elitist, but yet it kind of drives the point home.
Frank Buchholz:
I'm not Mr Flash, if you will. We live nicely, but I'm not Mr Flash. But I want to have freedom to make the choice myself versus having it made for me. That, to me, is ultimate freedom. And of course, in my case, right now, with my wife, we don't have money worries in retirement and a lot of people who retire they have health issues. So if you have health issues and you have money worries, a lot of people who retire they have health issues. So if you have health issues and you have money worries, it compounds. They both feed on each other. So the goal, of course, in my book was to have people retire with a comfort level whereby they're not worried about where the next dollar's coming from.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah yeah.
Brad Nelson:
It's so good, and can you speak to that a little bit? You mentioned, you know, rolls Royce, or elitist. I think. With this day and age, with social media and people seeing what wealthy looks like, sometimes it can look very misleading. It's a big mansion, it's all these fancy cars, it's going on, all these crazy vacations all the time, and what is the reality for most people who are able to retire and be financially independent? Are they living that lavish lifestyle when they get there? Or how did they get there? Did they get there by spending their way there?
Frank Buchholz:
Well, the irony, of course, is that when I left Merrill Lynch, I was managing about a billion dollars worth of assets and we had some very affluent clients in Orange County and some household names almost in Orange County, and the irony was that I don't think any of them was living this hyper lifestyle. You will with the. You know the 20 million dollar mansion on newport coast or the bulls voices, the driveways or whatever. I don't recall any of them doing that. So, even though they were very wealthy and I had some clients in the nine figures in terms of net worth, in terms of their investment accounts, even you would never know when you met them.
Frank Buchholz:
So they were down to earth, not ostentatious, not flamboyant, not rustic, not elitist. They were. We could have a conversation and there was no, none of this, you know. Nobody had their nose in the air like an arrogant son of a gun. So that's the client base I worked with and, of course, this is Orange County, which, of course, can have some people that you know, hoity-toity if you will. So I think that, for me personally, I never saw that and that's probably how I kind of shaped the way I think as well. I mean, we're not where they are, but we're very comfortable.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, my last question for you, frank, before you tell us a little bit more about where people can learn about your book and more information about you, is if I'm just starting out, what's one piece of advice that you could give me? Say, I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I've got some debt. Money is a little bit stressful. In your opinion, what is the best first step that someone like that could take?
Frank Buchholz:
Well, I mentioned earlier, I think the bottom line is to figure out how much money you're taking home and where your money is going, then figure out where you can cut back and take that money and invest it. And, of course, also set up an autopilot whereby the money's coming out of an account every month bank account go into maybe a savings bank account. Then you move that to an investment firm if you will, so it's on autopilot, so you're not even really seeing it. And or start with a 401k. Do that for sure. That's the first thing you want to do. Invest it there.
Frank Buchholz:
When we were charted out, we had a house payment, two Honda payments and a rug payment. So I'll never forget we had a rug payment with Beneficial Finance. I look back and go oh my God, so I know what it's like to be in debt. So I also know what it's like to be the other direction. So I'm very thankful I'm on the other side of the coin right now. But I do want everybody in this country to be where I'm at, where they can live, where they want to live and how they want to live.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, that's awesome, Frank. Where can people learn more about you and what you have to offer?
Frank Buchholz:
So thank you. We do have a website called investorsgoldenplaybookcom. Now talk about the book and talk about yours truly. They can even email me and I can give them some guidance in terms of what I recommend. I will not have specific recommendations in terms of buying an individual stock or what have you, but I can give some ideas in terms of how they should manage their asset allocation mix, how much to go into stocks and bonds and so on, depending on their age. So I think it'd be very helpful. It's a good way to start and also they can pick up the book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. What have you? A lot of different websites by now.
Brad Nelson:
Awesome, so it was so awesome to have you on and just share some insight. I love that you've been doing this for 40 years and again in this day and age, we've got obviously a lot of younger folks and people coming up and it's just a different world right now. People are scared, people are wondering what they should do, and it's just awesome to have someone here with some real experience and some history.
Frank Buchholz:
Yeah, yeah, thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Brad Nelson:
Now if you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck, you want to reduce financial stress, you want to build savings and finally pay off debt for good. But again, maybe you're not sure where to get started. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Simplify my Money is sent to follow strategies to manage your money effectively, stress free money decisions that will help you simplify your financial life with proven tips that actually work, and you're going to gain the tools and the confidence to tackle your financial goals head on. You can sign up for simplify my money by clicking the link at the top of the show. And today we are kicking it off with Claudia, and Claudia says no spending this week. All bills paid and my budget for the month is completely done. Claudia and awesome wins this past week Congratulations. Completely done, claudia. Awesome wins this past week Congratulations.
Brad Nelson:
Carla says I adjusted my monthly budget to make better use of my sinking funds and starting to save up for those future expenses. Carla, awesome, awesome job, awesome win, jody. Jody says my paycheck sat in my account for a solid 24 hours before I did anything with it. This is what less stress looks like. She says I was able to sit down, review my budget and tell my money where to go, rather than it all be gone within hours to just random stuff. Jody, taking control so proud of you and it is such an awesome, awesome feeling. So great job. Hey, as always, guys, congratulations to all of you guys who are taking a stand for your financial life. We get that getting out of debt isn't easy, but with our help and hopefully with your consistency and discipline, we promise you guys, this will be some of the best work that you guys do in your entire life. Thanks for joining us on today's show and we will see you guys on the next episode show and we will see you guys on the next episode.
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