Meet Lauren and Matt, a young couple in their early 30s. Lauren is a rising marketing executive, while Matt is a software engineer rapidly climbing the corporate ladder. Together, they’re doing well financially, earning a combined six-figure income. But like many H.E.N.R.Y.s (High Earners, Not Rich Yet), they find themselves juggling a mountain of financial priorities.
Between student loans, high rent, saving for a future home, and planning for kids down the road, they’re overwhelmed. They want to enjoy life now—dining out with friends, traveling occasionally, and upgrading their lifestyle—but they also know they need to secure their financial future. The challenge? They’re busy, their to-do list feels endless, and they’re not quite sure where to start.
For Lauren and Matt, the solution is simple: focus on a few key financial rules of thumb. These guidelines can serve as a framework for managing money and building wealth, even with a packed schedule.
1. Pay Yourself First
Rule of Thumb: Save at least 20% of your income before spending a dime.
Lauren and Matt realized that waiting until the end of the month to save wasn’t working. Instead, they automated savings, directing a portion of their income into retirement accounts, a house fund, and emergency reserves. By saving first, they could spend guilt-free, knowing their future was secure.
2. Protect Your Income
Rule of Thumb: Have disability insurance that covers at least 60–80% of your income.
Many young professionals overlook disability insurance, assuming nothing will disrupt their careers. But Lauren and Matt learned that their employer’s group plan capped coverage at a modest monthly maximum, far less than what they’d need. They opted to supplement it with individual disability insurance, ensuring their income—and lifestyle—would be protected in the event of an illness or accident.
3. Life Insurance: More Than You Think You Need
Rule of Thumb: If you have dependents or plan to, get 10–15 times your annual income in term life insurance.
While Lauren and Matt didn’t yet have kids, they knew it was part of their future plan. They secured affordable term life insurance policies, providing peace of mind that their future family would be cared for in the event of the unexpected.
4. Max Out Tax-Advantaged Accounts
Rule of Thumb: Take full advantage of 401(k) plans, IRAs, and Roth IRAs to build wealth tax-efficiently.
Lauren and Matt made it a priority to contribute the maximum allowable amount to their 401(k)s, leveraging employer matches where available. They also funded Roth IRAs to diversify their tax strategies, giving them flexibility in retirement.
5. Tackle Debt Strategically
Rule of Thumb: Pay down high-interest debt first while keeping student loans manageable.
Lauren and Matt made a plan to aggressively pay off their credit card balances while sticking to a manageable payment schedule for their student loans. By prioritizing high-interest debt, they freed up cash to save and invest.
6. Build Cash Reserves
Rule of Thumb: Save 3–6 months of expenses for emergencies and additional cash for specific goals like a home down payment.
The couple set aside enough money to cover emergencies, giving them confidence in their financial future. They also opened a separate savings account dedicated to their future home’s down payment, contributing to it monthly.
7. Plan for Housing Affordability
Rule of Thumb: Keep your total monthly housing expenses—mortgage, taxes, and insurance—under 30% of your gross income.
Lauren and Matt began researching homes in neighborhoods they loved, but they stayed realistic. By sticking to the 30% rule, they ensured they wouldn’t overextend themselves financially, leaving room for savings, fun, and unexpected costs.
8. Invest for the Long-Term
Rule of Thumb: Allocate the majority of your portfolio to equities to maximize growth potential over time.
With decades to go before retirement, Lauren and Matt committed to investing heavily in equities. They set up monthly contributions to their 401(k)s and IRAs, knowing that time in the market, not timing the market, was their best ally.
9. Enjoy Life, But Stay Grounded
Rule of Thumb: Budget for the fun stuff without compromising your financial priorities.
Lauren and Matt didn’t want to give up their social life or occasional vacations, but they budgeted these expenses around their savings and debt payoff goals. By prioritizing their financial health, they found a balance between enjoying today and securing tomorrow.
The Bottom Line
For busy professionals like Lauren and Matt, knowing where to start can be half the battle. These simple rules of thumb create a foundation for financial security without requiring hours of effort.
By paying themselves first, conserving their income, planning for the future, and investing wisely, Lauren and Matt are well on their way to turning their “High Earners, Not Rich Yet” status into true wealth and financial independence.
If you’re a HENRY looking for guidance, remember: the key to success isn’t just earning more—it’s using what you earn to build a life of security and opportunity. The earlier you start, the greater the rewards.
Important Disclosures:
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
Investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax or legal advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific situation with a qualified tax or legal advisor.
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC
Pay Yourself First: The Simple Formula for Building Wealth
Meet Sarah. Sarah earns a strong income, has a well-documented budget, and keeps track of every dollar she spends. Yet, at the end of every month, she finds herself with little to show for her efforts. Bills pile up, unexpected expenses crop up, and her savings account barely moves. Despite her best intentions, Sarah feels like she’s treading water—always working hard but never truly getting ahead.
Now, meet Emily. Emily earns about the same as Sarah, but her approach is different. Rather than budgeting every expense down to the penny, Emily follows one simple rule: pay yourself first. Every month, Emily sets aside a fixed percentage of her income—without fail—into her savings and retirement accounts. Whatever is left, she uses for bills, discretionary spending, and fun. Unlike Sarah, Emily doesn’t stress about where every dollar goes because she knows her financial future is secure.
“Pay yourself first. Then pay everyone else.”
The Power of Paying Yourself First
The difference between Sarah and Emily isn’t income or discipline—it’s strategy. Paying yourself first is the cornerstone of financial success. It’s a simple shift in mindset: instead of saving what’s left after spending, you save first and spend what’s left. This approach helps ensure you’re building wealth systematically, rather than leaving it to chance.
Here’s why this strategy works:
Automated Success: By setting up automatic transfers to your savings or retirement accounts, you remove the temptation to spend the money elsewhere.
Freedom to Spend: When you’ve already saved, you don’t have to feel guilty about how you spend the rest. Whether it’s dining out, a spontaneous trip, or a new gadget, you’ve earned the right to enjoy your money.
Compound Growth: The earlier you start saving and investing, the more time your money has to grow. Small, consistent contributions today can turn into significant wealth tomorrow.
Why Budgets Often Fail
Budgeting can feel restrictive, and for many, it’s a system that’s easy to abandon. When you budget, you’re constantly making decisions about what to cut, which can lead to frustration and, ironically, overspending. Paying yourself first eliminates this decision fatigue. By prioritizing savings, you’re securing your future without obsessing over every expense.
Avoid the Interest Trap
There are two types of people in the world: those who earn interest and those who pay it. The “pay interest” group often spends first, saves whatever is leftover (if anything), and ends up relying on credit cards or loans to fill the gaps. This cycle of debt makes everything more expensive and creates a financial treadmill that’s hard to escape.
The “earn interest” group, however, saves first and lets their money work for them. They systematically invest, avoid unnecessary debt, and benefit from the power of compounding.
Building Wealth: The Core Principles
To position yourself for financial independence, follow these basic principles:
Live Below Your Means: Spend less than you earn, no matter your income level.
Pay Down High-Interest Debt: Attack high-interest debt like credit cards first, and free yourself from the burden of compounding interest.
Systematically Save: Set a savings goal—start with 10–20% of your income—and automate contributions.
Build an Emergency Fund: Aim for 3–6 months’ worth of expenses to cover unexpected events.
Max Out Retirement Accounts: Take full advantage of 401(k) plans, IRAs, or Roth IRAs for tax-advantaged growth.
Invest in a Diversified Portfolio: Use dollar-cost averaging to invest consistently in a balanced portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other assets. Avoid chasing high-flyers or timing the market.
The Bottom Line
Paying yourself first is the simplest and most effective way to build wealth over time. It shifts the focus from what you can’t spend to what you can save, creating a sense of freedom and confidence in your financial journey.
So, the next time you receive a paycheck, remember Emily’s example. Before you pay your bills, treat yourself—your future self, that is. Because true financial security begins with one simple act: paying yourself first.
Deflation
We’ve been talking about the risk of inflation, but there’s also the matter of deflation to consider. Deflation impacts how we view the markets, pricing of equities, and the movement of interest rates. It may be surprising, but deflation can be good or bad. It all depends on the broader circumstances.
COVID-19
COVID-19 cases are declining. We’ve seen a 77-78% decline in new cases over the last seven weeks, which is pretty remarkable. On March 2nd, 2021, Texas reopened everything thoroughly, and they have removed the mask mandate. Texas reopening to its full capacity is undoubtedly a good sign for the economy.
Good Deflation
We saw prices slowing last year during COVID-19 lockdowns, which is expected, but now as the economy is reopening, inflation expectations increase 2.5 – 4%. But the argument, of course, is that this will be transient. The deflation argument begins with technology and innovation. Much of the technology that we use today seemed like science fiction not too long ago. We are all very familiar with the Netflix story, but innovation happens so quickly that we often forget the process. Netflix was renting out DVDs for the beginning of the 2000s and didn’t start streaming until 2007. And that was just 14 years ago!
Netflix made the process more comfortable with just a click. No longer are you putting together your DVDs list to order by mail — and then waiting for your picks to become available. There is no more waiting, just streaming at your convenience. So we would consider that part of good deflation.
Next, let’s discuss autonomous driving and electric vehicles. These vehicles are replacing internal combustion engines. Also, about 3% of the workforce are involved in trucking and delivery service. Over time, a portion of these workers will be displaced. Companies no longer have these wages to spend and can work a robot much harder with increased production.
Our final example of good deflation is supply chain management. Meaning, when you think of a brick-and-mortar such as a Dollar General, they’re limited by their shelf space. They need to make sure they’re only putting products on the shelf that they can sell to you.
However, online retail does not face the same constraints. They have their algorithms tracking what you want to buy and larger warehouses where product lines can go from thousands to millions. They can ship across the country, but they’re working on 3D printing and autonomous delivery. Therefore, instead of sending you $80 tennis shoes worldwide, they could 3D print shoes locally and bring the prices down significantly.
Bad Deflation
Central banks do not like price deflation because debt may become harder to pay back. You may be making less money, delivering the same interest, and have default risks rise in the economy. This puts stress on tools to lower interest rates to be stimulative since rates are already low. That’s why the Feds are keeping the money supply hot — to counteract the deflationary forces.
When we start seeing bad deflation, the technology will begin to show diminishing returns, and the money supply will grow. Then, we’ll start seeing some increase in the CPI. Bad deflation is also known as monetary deflation: the money supply gets pulled back to fight off what interest rates increase from, ultimately diminishing return.
House Passes $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Package
The house has passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, heading to the Senate for approval. Now the Senate has to make a couple of adjustments to ensure they have all 50 votes pass. There were some concerns with two house Democrats who voted no on this package. However, it did not matter due to plenty of yes votes. The likelihood that it’s going to pass is high, and after this, they’re talking about a $3 trillion infrastructure bill.
10-Year US Treasury Yield (EOD) Index
To put the rate discussion into context, we need to bring back our discounted cash flow equation and run it through a couple of scenarios. Last August, there were about 55 basis points on the EOD, but last week it had over 1.5-1.55. When this happens, you should look back at our discounted cash flow model and how it affects stocks.
When we talk about cash flow, we look at the expected flow of profits going forward with a company. Stock could be priced today with dividends, but most of the market uses a free cash flow measure. When people think about long-duration bonds, they think, “How long am I going to paid interest? One year, three years, or five years?” Your pay depends on the rate and time: the longer the rate, the longer the duration.
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If you want to learn more about our firm, we encourage you to visit our newly revamped website with some cool information.
Keep up to date on Gatewood Wealth Solutions through our daily 3x3s and our weekly market insights on our YouTube,Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts.
Disclosures:
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.
All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested directly. The economic forecasts outlined in this material may not develop as predicted, and there can be no guarantee that the strategies promoted will be successful.
All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
Securities and advisory services are offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
Exit Planning
You are accustomed to CIO Aaron Tuttle and me speaking on our views of the economy and financial markets every week. However, I had a chance to interview Larry Weiss, a CPA® and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), to discuss how a business owner should consider their exit plan.
Here are his insights on what it means to sell a business, both as the seller and the buyer.
Exit Planning is Critical for Business Owners
One of the more significant parts of exit planning is the life after the plan. Larry takes all of his experience to teach and help privately owned businesses grow, exit, and win. An exit plan asks and answers all the company, personal, financial, legal, and tax questions involved in transitioning a privately owned business.
Baby boomers own the majority of all businesses. Larry says, “a large portion of those owners will eventually transisition in the near future.”
He found that nearly all business owners don’t have a formal plan. Most of the time, they haven’t put together a team to help them with it. From his experience, Larry stated, “nearly all business owners regret selling their business a year later. They don’t regret the price, they regret what happened after the exit, and they just weren’t prepared for it. They went from being the big fish in their pond not even to feel like they had a fishbowl to hang out in.”
Business Owners Fail at Transitioning their Businesses
Often business owners believe they should define a plan right before they are ready to sell; however, the reality of exit planning is that it is more about business strategy. Therefore, your team must know the businesses’ needs and wants long before you think about exiting your business. If they don’t understand those, how will they help create a successful business exit?
Once you can understand the owner’s needs and wants, you will need to know what they want to do in the next chapter. As a business owner, you should know and manage your three gaps to meet your goals.
1. Profit Gap
The profit you are sacrificing by not operating at a best-in-class level.
2. Value Gap
The business value you are sacrificing by not operating at a best-in-class level.
3. Wealth Gap
The additional wealth you need to accumulate to meet your goal
These gaps are crucial to why you want to start the exit planning process early. For example, if you need the business to be worth $10 million, so you can net $7-6 million, you must define a plan to increase your business’s value.
Larry also suggested to grow your clients business to the top line; you should follow the 4 C’s:
1. Human Capital
Value of talent (your team) that you have in your company
2. Customer Capital
A measure of the strength of relationships with your clients
3. Social Capital
How you move information within your company; the culture
4. Structural Captial
The company’s systems and processes
Types of Exit Plans
Two significant categories exist when talking about an exit plan. You either have internal, or you have external. Internal means it will be intergenerational, such as somebody within the business familiar with it (child, co-worker, partner). However, external is quite varied. It could be a strategic, outside buyer in one company, a few companies in different industries coming together to form a new company, an employee stock option plan, or a financial buyer.
GWS suggests to business owners early enough in the business cycle to set some profits aside to a diversified investment account. The more a business owner has outside the business, the more options they have later.
Business Owner Transactions
The type of transactions that business owners will look to is stock sales vs. asset sales and income transaction vs. capital transaction. Understanding the options and knowing what’s selling the business isn’t as important as what you get from your company. So, part of the process, and one of the reasons you should start early, is to become better informed. Therefore, one of the values of working with an exit planner is they can help educate business owners through all types of issues.
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If you want to learn more about our firm, we encourage you to visit our newly revamped website with valuable information.
Keep up to date on Gatewood Wealth Solutions through our daily 3x3s and our weekly market insights on our YouTube,Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts.
Disclosures:
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.
All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested directly. The economic forecasts outlined in this material may not develop as predicted, and there can be no guarantee that the strategies promoted will be successful.
All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
Securities and advisory services are offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
Larry Weiss and Weiss Advisors is not affiliated with or endorsed by LPL Financial and Gatewood Wealth Solutions.
Our Newest CFA, Christopher Arends!
Congratulations, Chris!
Christopher Arends is now a CFA® Charterholder, belonging to the global community of more than 170,000 investment management professionals dedicated to upholding the highest professional standards, cultivating fair and robust investment markets, and putting investors first.
Chris started his investment operations career before joining Gatewood Wealth Solutions to support its Portfolio & Investment Team. He supports the firm’s daily performance monitoring of its portfolios and individual client accounts. Chris analyzes holdings, new assets transitioning to the firm, gain and loss positions to assist advisors with tax efficiency, and optimizing client portfolios to allocations suited to account goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. Chris also supports portfolio trading and tracking.
Chris is a CFA® Charterholder and has his Series 63 & 7 securities registrations held with LPL Financial and Life and Health licenses.
His certification has been long in the waiting, and the Gatewood Wealth Solutions team is incredibly excited and proud of his achievement. This accomplishment is an excellent testament to Chris’s commitment to excellence!
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Disclosures:
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
Q4 Market Commentary 2020
Please Note: This commentary only applies to market happenings through Dec. 31, 2020 and was developed before the events of Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.
Executive Summary
At GWS, we consistently preach the importance of financial behavior coaching — having someone to help you make money decisions rooted in data and research, rather than emotion. Q4 was an exercise in this behavior management.
We saw a significant market selloff this quarter, not unlike the selloff of 2008. While the recovery this time was much faster, investors still felt the same sense of fear and trepidation. The biggest lesson of Q4 was not to abandon your strategy — even when the market has a steep decline, there’s a global pandemic going on, and domestic politics are heated. This is where the accountability your financial advisor provides comes into play.
At GWS, we also continue to monitor and update you on significant political and economic happenings that impact the market and your portfolios. This quarter, major themes were continued economic shutdowns and expansion of the money supply. We constantly evaluate the short-term implications of these decisions, filtering through an objective lens, as well as potential future ramifications.
Q4 Market Downturn
While market downturns can certainly be scary, they have two things in common: they only last a certain amount of time, and they always come to an end. Looking back at historical data, the aggregate amount of time the market is down is significantly shorter than the time it is up.
That said, it is likely we will still have turbulence in the future. That’s why it’s so important to stick to our investment strategies in chaotic times. Remember, at GWS, our planning and investment strategies already include buffers for market downturns. We do a custom cash analysis for each client to understand what his or her specific cash needs are, and we make sure that amount is always available to them. In general, that amount equates to approximately 24-36 months of expenses.
At GWS, we believe this shows the value of contact between the client and advisor and team. Robo advisors can’t empathize with clients in the way that a human can. Our greatest value comes during times like this, when we can empathize with clients and help them make the right choices, rather than choices based upon fear.
Economic Response to Pandemic
The wealth gap in the United States shrunk during the first three and a half years of the Trump administration. We saw the biggest gain among the lower and middle class in decades. According to BBC News, “the latest numbers show economic output surged by an annualized 33% in the third quarter of 2020, following a record fall as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.” In fact, the vast majority of people who were affected by work in service industries, which caused the wealth gap to increase again.
The market and economic response were less due to the pandemic and more to the resulting governmental restrictions. At the beginning of the shutdowns, the whole concept was to flatten the curve. Lawmakers created policies designed to flatten the curve, but ultimately failed. While there is certainly some need for a public response to pandemics like this, there should be further consideration given around the cost benefit of the different restrictions.
The question is, was the benefit of slowing the pandemic greater or worse than the cost of closing the economy?
People are going to be very divided over this issue. Do we shut the highways down to save every single life from the possibility of death? Or do we allow certain speeds on the highway, with the idea that there is going to be a certain mortality rate?
There is no easy answer to this question, but it’s not going anywhere in the future. Viruses are going to be with us forever, and we need to have a plan in place for how to protect our citizens while still also protecting the economy.
Expansion of Money Supply
One of our key themes this year was the huge expansion of our country’s money supply. As a result, asset prices were pushed way up. The market will begin the year in an upward trend given the amount of stimulus created.
The Fed pumped money into the economy by putting the country further in debt. And debt ultimately has to be paid back — typically through higher taxes and inflation. This puts lawmakers in a tough position for making decisions going forward. There will be more to come from us on this in future broadcasts on how this will eventually roll out.
When it comes to debt, our view toward governmental debt is very similar to our view of clients’ debt. It’s better to get rid of it, so they can become more independent. That way, when the market goes down, they have fewer obligations that they have to service. It’s a lot easier to cut back spending than find a way to cut back money you owe. That’s why it’s our mission at GWS to help our clients become and remain financially self-reliant.
Another elephant in the room is that it’s possible to have so much governmental influence through regulation, that it moves the country farther away from a true free market economy. It becomes more of a public-private partnership, which is not truly a free market and ripe for abuse and overreach. A phenomenon called “crony capitalism.”
Issue of Election
Before the presidential election, our GWS Investment Committee carefully positioned portfolios to hedge no matter which way the election went. After Biden was determined the President Elect, the Georgia election was the next key issue. Now that Democrats control the Senate, it will be much easier for President Elect Biden to push through his policy, including increased taxes and regulations.
Conclusion
Looking outward at the rest of the year, our investment committee will continue to monitor the market’s response to economic recovery from the pandemic, expansion of the money supply, and a new political party in power.
All in all, Q4 was a good reminder to stay diligent in our investing strategies and keep a long-term view of the future. As 2021 unfolds, be sure to join us each week on YouTube LIVE to hear how we are adapting clients’ portfolios and our investment thesis for the upcoming investment horizon. We’re here to help make sure you’re doing the right things to preserve your wealth, which is part of our mission to help people become and remain financially self-reliant.
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
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Disclosures
The opinions expressed are those of John Gatewood as of the date stated on this material and are subject to change. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. This material does not constitute investment advice and is not intended as an endorsement of any specific investment or security.
Please remember that all investments carry some level of risk, including the potential loss of principal invested. Indexes and/or benchmarks are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly. Returns represent past performance, are not a guarantee of future performance and are not indicative of any specific investment. Diversification and strategic asset allocation do not assure profit or protect against loss. With fixed income securities and bonds, when interest rates rise, bond prices usually fall because an investor may earn a higher yield with another bond. Moreover, the longer the maturity of a bond the greater the risk. When interest rates are at low levels, there is a risk that a significant rise in interest rates can occur in a short period of time and cause losses to the market value of any bonds that you own. At maturity, the issuer of the bond is obligated to return the principal (original investment) to the investor. High-yield bonds present greater credit risk than bonds of higher quality. Bond investors should carefully consider risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, securities lending risk, repurchase and reverse repurchase transaction risk.
Our Newest CFA, TAO!
Congratulations, Tao!
Tao Ouyang is now a CFA® charter holder, belonging to the global community of more than 170,000 investment management professionals dedicated to upholding the highest professional standards, cultivating strong and fair investment markets, and putting investors first.
Tao’s journey with Gatewood Wealth Solutions began as a Portfolio Analyst Support intern during college. In his current role as Portfolio Manager Support he supports the investment and portfolio management operations areas. His responsibilities also include trade processing, oversight of the Morningstar Direct daily attribution reports, performance benchmarking, and portfolio tracking. Tao provides portfolio support to client families and is a member of the firm’s Portfolio & Investment team.
Tao is a certified CFA® and also has his Series 7 securities registration through LPL Financial.
This has been long in the waiting and the Gatewood Wealth Solutions team are incredibly excited and proud of his achievement. This is a great testament to Tao’s commitment to excellence!
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Disclosures:
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
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