Wealth Strategies for New Millionaires: Tips and Guidance

Millionaires must celebrate their success while reassessing their financial strategies and focusing on simplicity for continued growth.

### Navigating Millionaire Status: Essential Wealth Tips for Continued Success
* 🎉 Congratulations on reaching **seven-figure status**! This milestone is significant and should be celebrated, but it also prompts the question: **what comes next in your financial journey**?
* 💭 It's crucial to reassess your "why" for accumulating wealth, as money should be viewed as a **tool rather than a goal**. Without a clear purpose, you may find yourself **unfulfilled despite your financial success**.
* 📊 The wealth-building journey consists of three stages: **making wealth**, **maintaining wealth**, and **multiplying wealth**. Understanding which stage you're in will help you **define your financial goals** and **adjust your mindset accordingly**.
* 🔍 As you progress, aim for **simplicity in managing your financial life**, as increased complexity often accompanies greater wealth. **Consolidating accounts and automating payments** can significantly reduce stress and improve efficiency.
* 💡 Reassess your risk tolerance and capacity, especially as your financial situation changes. It's important to **align your investment strategies with your current life stage and future goals** to avoid unnecessary losses.
* 📉 Optimize your tax efficiency by employing a **three-bucket strategy**: tax-free, tax-deferred, and after-tax accounts. Understanding where to allocate your investments can help **minimize tax liabilities and maximize growth**.
* 🚀 Finally, remember that reaching a million dollars is just the beginning. Focus on **maintaining good habits**, **controlling what you can**, and **continuing to grow your wealth**, as the journey towards **financial independence is ongoing**.

hey hey hey, you're a millionaire now, so now [Music] what BR. I am so excited to talk about this 'cause this is a point in time worth celebrating. You finally crossed over into seven-figure Lane. It's something you've been working towards, but then the question becomes now what? What comes next? What changes? What stays the same? How do I make sure that I'm continuing to move in the right direction? I don't care what anyone says, that first million is still a huge milestone, even with inflation and everything else, and it's definitely to be celebrated. But I want to tell you, most people don't make it through that make wealth stage, reaching the first seven figures. But we probably do need to have a conversation about how do you maintain this, or how should your mindset shift, what should you focus on. We're going to put a lot of attention on that today, so we're going to walk through five wealth tips for you to follow when you cross over the seven-figure Mark. But the very first tip that

we would tell you is right now you should subscribe to the channel so that way you can stay up to date on all the information that we are putting out there for you to do money better. So Brian, with that, let's jump into the very first thing. CU all right, we're celebrating. We just crossed over seven-figure land. We just crossed over a great thing for you to do once you are at millionaire status is to review your why. Yeah, this one's important. Important is because we have a saying around here is that money is a tool, it's not a goal. And I think for anybody out there who thinks that your life's going to be better with 3 million, 5 million, and you haven't actually put the why, your life is going to be better, and actually put purpose to that, you're going to be disappointed. You because I think there's a lot of people that they just don't know how to use money as the effective tool that it can be. This is one of those things when I wrote

millionaire Mission. The last two chapters, especially the last one, I said, What do I do with my money? I try to load you up with how that journey started, how it ended, and how my mindset has shifted. Yeah, when we talk about getting to a million, we focus so much on making it, on the making it, on the making it. Well, that's the first stage of the three stages of wealth building. We think there are three stages that we all can actively participate in on our wealth building journey. There's the make wealth stage, that's building up the pot of money, and then there's the maintained wealth, that's the making sure that the money doesn't go away. And then once we reach into the later areas, once we get into abundance, then we get to think about how are we multiplying wealth, how are we using the wealth that we have created to not only change our lives but change the lives of those around us. Well, depending on where you are in your financial journey and as you begin to define your why, you'll have to assess

Okay, what stage am I in of my wealth-building journey? Because the why can change. The why can mean very different things to different people depending on the different stages that they're in. Well, I think it's no, it's not by accident that the first stage is security. I mean, we all want to be able to pay our bills. You want to be able to sleep at night knowing that money just, you're just not under this obligation that every little decision is, you have to wake up, go do this job so you can pay these obligations. So, security for yourself, your family, this is super important. That's a great why. The second thing is flexibility, another great as you start building up your assets. You're going to kind of say, Hey, now I can think about my career differently. Do I have to do it this way or can I make some changes? And then the last thing, this is what I love, and it gets you closer to independence, is time. You know, so much of your life is, you're

going to be under this obligation because you don't control your time, because you are paying the bills by giving a little bit of your time to earn money. But if you can do this right and own your life that much sooner, you now get to control time. You don't get to make time, but you at least get to control how you use your time, how you spend your time, and that is wealth in our eyes. And even though you've gotten now to million-dollar status, you have to figure out, okay, how do I assess which one of these stages am I in? Because a million dollars for some might still very much be in the make-wealth phase. A million dollars for others might be in the multiply-wealth stage. So, you need to assess for yourself, where am I on the financial order of operations? If you don't have your free copy, you can go check it out at moneyguy.com/resources, and it will walk you through, am I in those early make-wealth stages? Am I in the middle maintained wealth?

stages, or am I now at the multiply well stages. Am in those latter stages where my why might be focusing on abundance goals, like investing in my kids' college education, or saving for a wedding, or thinking about having amazing trips and amazing travel, or giving to my charities. All of these are appropriate wise, but they're appropriate depending on where you are inside of your own unique and specific financial journey. I love at the end of the financial order of operations, we do spend a lot of time talking about abundance, and you know specifically doing charity, right? That's definitely a multiply goal. We also can talk about how you can start living your best life with your lifestyle choices. Maybe it's okay, this is the stage where you have luxury, but I'll tell you no matter where you are, once you reach this level of success, you're probably going to lean into this next goal, which is you want to aim for simplicity. Yeah, we know that as our financial life progresses, complexity tends to find us. We tell you that all the time. We were

trying to think about, okay, what's a really interesting illustration that we can use to show this. Like, how can we communicate this idea that as our financial circumstances change, that the complexity increases? So, we ask a Content team, Hey, content team, specifically Nick, can you come up with an amazing illustration to really show this, to really depict this? And this is what it came up with. And for those of you out in podcast land, let me describe this to you. It is a squiggly line going from bottom left to top right. But as simple as that seems, it's true. As our portfolio value gets larger and as our financial circumstances change, realistically, the complexity inherent naturally happens without us trying to make it happen. So, one of the beautiful things that we can do as we hit these check marks and as we cross over these thresholds is figure out, Are there ways that I can simplify my life, that I can make things a little bit easier to get my arms wrapped around? Well, I think this is if you take into account what's out

there on social media so many people they're sharing what success looks like. And I, even for myself, when I started, came out of college. I was preparing tax returns, working in public accounting, and I used to daydream about when I'd prepare a tax return for a business owner or somebody who had like six rental properties. I'd be like, Look at all these K1s, look at this schedule, this is so cool what these people have going on. And then I think about in social media, I see people who are pushing do a flip, you know, do rental property, if you go do one rental property, let's do a hundred rental properties. And when I see these things as they're portrayed, I always think about now here I am in this position to where I'm living this life that I think my younger self would have been impressed with, but all I find myself doing is going, How did life get so complex? I mean, my tax return, I mean, I would love to have my taxes done by April 15, but it is an

impossibility as I'm wrangling in all the k1s, the different business returns that have to be done, the property, the you know, it's just complex. And that's why I'm telling you, look, don't take our word for it. You don't have to seek this out. It's just going to naturally happen. And that's what Nick's chart kind of shows, is that you will think, hey, I want all these things, but one day you're going to wake up, once you are successful, your life will be complex. And that's why we're going to tell you the goal: Simplicity. Even if you're not going to be able to reach it fully, that should be the goal so you can know what you can control and how we can streamline this. And one of the beautiful outcomes of aiming for Simplicity is that there are some positive results that come from it. One might just be alleviating the stressors of managing a larger portfolio. I mean, when you open your very first Roth IRA and you buy your very first

Target retirement fund. It's not super complicated to manage that, but now as your portfolio has grown and you now have a million dollars, and it's in Roth IRAs and after-tax brokerage accounts and 401ks and old 401ks, it becomes harder to keep your arms around that, making sure that it's all working cohesively together. So as you prioritize simplicity, you can actually make managing the portfolio easier. And the other thing that you can really do is now when you simplify your financial life, you can begin leveraging your time to focus on the things that truly matter to you, to focus your efforts and attention and energy on the things that you want to be focusing on, because the financial life is not pulling you in a thousand different directions. Well, the most powerful of the three ingredients to wealth when we're talking about the whole thing of discipline, the whole concept of ingredient number two is money, and then the third ingredient, which is the most powerful, is time. This is also the resource that when you are wealthy, you want to maximize. I mean, you

want to own your life, so let's focus on that, and let's leverage it. Let's free up as much of this valuable resource as we can. So now, let's pivot and actually talk about what are some of these simplification strategies. What can you actually control that allows you to bring simplicity into your life? Yeah, one of the easy things that you can do is you can just think about consolidating accounts. A lot of times in our financial life, our finances become a patchwork quilt of the life that we've lived up until this point. So, we might have old 401(k)s or old IRAs or broker accounts that were set up from different jobs or different seasons and stations in life. A lot of people don't recognize that you can consolidate those. If I have a lot of old IRAs or old 401(k)s, those might be able to be consolidated into a single account. A lot of old brokerage accounts can be, again, consolidated. And when you can get the number of accounts that you're having to manage down, it's going

to be much more easy for you to manage that portfolio moving forward. But we also had set it and forget it. Now look, this is the always be buying or automate as much of your wealth-building process so to actually becomes a journey to becoming inevitably wealthy because your money just every month, no matter what's going on with the economy, what's going on with politics, you're always building these automatic behaviors that are walking you closer and closer. But it doesn't have to be just the automation of wealth building, meaning saving and investing. It also could be the automation of paying your bills. I mean, this is one of those things where my wife, I was traveling out of town without her, and she goes, Hey, I just want to make sure we cover again how do we pay our bills and stuff. I said, Honey, it's all set up automatically, meaning that I have our utilities where they're automatically being paid. I have our annual insurance premiums being paid. All of our credit cards pay off automatically every month. There's

nothing wrong. The more you can set it and forget it and simplify your life, the better you'll be. Another thing you can do is, when you think about your overall portfolio strategies, you can review your asset allocation structure. I mean, have you actually taken the time to look at the individual investments that you're using inside of your portfolio? Here's a real easy pro tip: if every single holding inside of your portfolio says large cap growth, you may not actually be diversified. If you have 10 different funds that are doing the exact same objective, you may have no benefit from holding those 10 different funds. So, one of the things you can do is analyze, Are all the holdings that I'm holding in my portfolio being used for a very specific reason and a very specific purpose? And if that's not the case, perhaps you can consolidate them down again, making the portfolio easier to manage, easier to navigate, and more efficiently and effectively accomplish your investment strategy. So, after hearing all this, you still might be thinking, Wow, a lot I hear

what these guys are saying, but I know when I look at my own life, even if I did these three things, these simplification strategies, I got a lot going on, and that there is a next step, and yes, this is the Fulfillment of the abundance cycle, is that we give you tons of free advice. I want you to learn, apply, grow your life, and what we share with you. This is the part of it why we know it works. We ask nothing of you until you reach this level where you're reach complexity, and you're going to say, Man, I still can't wrangle my hands, my head around everything I have going on. We'd love for you to consider working with us. You know, there's nothing wrong if you've only had one journey into the seven figures, into eight figures that you're walking towards. We've done this hundreds of times. Let us continue to help you and actually maximize this moment in time. Another thing that you can do, another step that you can take as you enter into millionaire statuses, as you take a look.

at your overall financial life. One of the beautiful things that is worthwhile, no matter whether you are in the make wealth, the maintain wealth, or the multiply wealth phase, is to reassess your risk right now, where you are presently. Yeah, I think this is important because when you think about a 20-some versus a 55-year-old, their goals of their investment portfolio is going to look completely different. Now, in the industry, there's, you know, a decade or so ago, um, you think about target retirement funds came on the scene, and what made them so unique is that you only had to answer two questions: was how much can I save, when do I need the money, and then they would automatically create what's called a glide path, meaning that they would be super aggressive at the beginning when you're in your 20s, but then as you got closer and closer to the date that you had listed as the date you needed the money, they'd get super conservative. Well, you can actually, you'll see this same process happen with you, and this is

all about reassessing the risk. Remember, we have to make the wealth. This is how you got to get wealthy through making the actual wealth and saving and investing. But you will reach the stage where you maintain. You're like, Do I keep running up the score, taking on more risk, or am I more nervous about the fact that I don't want to take on too much risk and just throw away all this decades of hard work we've done? This is why you should be very proactive in making sure you understand what does your asset allocation look like in relationship to your wealth-building journey. Yeah, in target retirement funds, they do a great job of simplifying this in terms of like a generalized solution. Obviously, like early on, you'll be more aggressive from a portfolio standpoint. Then, as you move through time, you begin to have more conservative assets enter into the equation. Well, that's a generalized solution for folks who are generally in the same station of life that you're in. But once you get to millionaire status, you may no longer need a general

solution you want a specific solution that's specific to you and your unique circumstances. So, as you approach financial independence, you have to think about your own unique glide path. So, as you're doing that and as you're assessing your risk at this stage, you want to think about a few things. One of those might be your time horizon to new financial goals. You made it to the first million. Does that mean that you still have 10 more years to work or five more years to work or 25 more years to work? Are you about to send the kids off to school? Are you thinking about changing jobs? Are you thinking about moving geography? All of these questions will impact how much risk should be inherent in your financial situation. And then you'll also have to think that, okay, what portfolio adjustments should I be making to get there? What makes the most sense as I begin to think about who I was before I got to this million-dollar status and now who I am now that I'm there, moving towards these new objectives and new

goals, and that's a great segue into understanding the difference between risk tolerance and risk capacity. Now, if you want to know the difference between these things, when I say the term risk tolerance, what I mean is if you've ever sat in a 401k enrollment meeting. They probably gave you a little questionnaire, maybe it was 10-15 questions. You filled it out on what do you going to do when the stock market goes down. What does your behavior look like? And then you're going to add up the numbers, and it'll tell you in this moment in time what that asset allocation. That's really telling you how much on a scale are you Cowboy versus you're just wild and you're not bothered because you're just out there giddy up. Let's do this versus are you very conservative where you just don't want any type of volatility. Risk tolerance is the type of risk you'd like to experience. There's a risk that's not talked about as much, and this is

something I have to pick on my Cowboys about is that whole risk capacity. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Because it's not, we're not part of the make anymore, we're part of the maintain. And if you're walking away from this money by taking on too much risk, you might be risking something more than what the fruit that it could generate is. We actually have a great illustration for all of my visual learners. Yeah, if you're out there listening on podcast land, you may want to check this out. 'Cause we said, Hey again Nick, give us an illustration that really shows risk tolerance versus risk capacity. And so obviously we have this end goal. We want to get to the other side of the bridge. We want to get to the financial goal we're working towards. We may have the tolerance that we can hop on a dirt bike and we can hit the ramp and we can take off or Harley if you're evil can or Harley if you're evil conv evil and

that's how much risk we feel comfortable with. We are not afraid of that; we're not nervous about that. And yet, if our goal is to get to the end result, our goal is to reach our financial objective, there may be a lower amount of risk that we should take, right? How much can I handle, and then how much should I handle? Well, as we begin to progress towards Financial Independence, and as we begin to move along in our financial Journey, the risk that we want to take needs to begin to align with the risk that we should take so that they are aligned. And when we can align those two, we can make sure they're on the same path. What we create is a very efficient and effective mechanism for getting to our financial goals, and that is the objective. What you don't want to do is just because you can take a lot of risk, and just because you can have a lot of risk tolerance, you don't want to risk not actually making it to your end goal because you took on more than you should have. Well, as you

cross into seven-figure land as you hit millionaire status. This is a great time to reassess: do I need to be taking on the same amount of risk I took to get here, or is now the time that I should begin shifting and thinking about reassessing how much I have in my situation? Yeah, I mean, I think about how this played out in life. It's like 2008. I mean, I saw some 50-somethings who felt like they were behind on their savings goals, so they're loading up in technology. When the market lost 50%, they quickly realized one of the problems with math is that if you lose 50, you got to make a 100, and that might take them 10, 15 years to fully recover that. That's just too long. That's a risk capacity problem. So, let's talk about, let's actually go outside of the market. Well, here are some additional risk mitigation measures you ought to consider. Term life insurance, it's a huge one. When just because you have a Term

Policy in place is the term that you had back when you were 25 years old, the same amount of insurance that you need now, that you are a millionaire, now that you're at this stage of life. So, it's worth reassessing another one that's worth reassessing. Brian disability insurance. I know you've actually worked in the insurance industry before, Bo. What I remember, kind of a shocking stat, is that you're much more likely to become disabled and lose your ability to actually earn income than you are to die. But yet, this is an insurance that very few people actually have, very few people have this that are underinsured. Another one is protecting your stuff. Obviously, you've made up to, you've built up to a million dollars in liquid wealth, you're in seven-figure L. You want to make sure you have umbrella coverage, not just the normal homeowner covers that protect your home or the normal auto and covers that protect your automobile, but something that sits over the top of it like an umbrella to make sure that you

and your family are protected in all circumstances. And then the last one is emergency reserves. This is such a powerful tool in your risk mitigation toolbox that it's not just one step of the financial order of operations; it's actually two steps. It's step one: highest deductible covered, and step four: emergency reserve. So do not sleep because this is going to be the kind of what you count as protection or the margin that's going to keep you from making those desperate decisions. So make sure you have emergency reserves. And what's so upsetting and so nerve-wracking and frankly so terrifying is that we talk about how necessary each one of these are, but listen to these statistics. This is the percentage of Americans that don't have life insurance. According to USA Today, 48%. 48% of Americans don't have life insurance. 82% of Americans don't have any disability insurance. 80% of Americans don't have any umbrella coverage. And 72% of Americans don't have a fully funded emergency fund. We just told you that as

you progress in your financial journey. You want to make sure that you're assessing all the risks that might be present, that might be inherent, and yet the vast majority of Americans are falling short in these areas. You, as a financial mutant, you want to make sure you don't fall into these statistics because you understand there is a better way to do money. And as the survey results show, these are adults, not these stats are actually adults. It's not like we're saying, Hey, yeah, there's a bunch of kids out there, so that's why these stats skew this way. Don't sleep on this. And speaking of being adults with children in the data, can you believe 54% of Americans do not have a will? So, if you have children and you don't have a will, get with it. Because if you think the reason I don't have a will is because my family, I don't want to talk about what death looks like or who's going to take care of my kids if I'm not here. If you think it's hard while you're

alive. Wait until you see what happens when the state gets involved, and you're not here to talk about what your intentions or your wishes were. I love it so. All right, Brian, let's talk about now the fourth thing that you can think about as you cross into seven-fig land. As you look at your portfolio, you recognize there are things outside of your control. You can't control what the market does; you can't control what your rate of return is. But there are some things that you can control, and one of the things that you do have some control over is what you pay in taxes. So, when you look at your portfolio, when you look at the way that you've built your wealth thus far, are you optimizing for tax efficiency? Yeah, this is where I feel like I've made my career in the fact that I come from a public accounting background, and you guys will quickly realize part of success is you'll realize you'll start saying, Man, I pay a lot of taxes. Wouldn't it be nice if I

could figure out, you know, in addition to the fees I pay, the taxes is going to be a huge part of what is causing a drag on your overall return. So we got to maximize this. This is why, look, in the beginning, we tell you you only need to do an index Target retirement fund because it's much more important to focus on your savings rate versus even what you're investing into. But they'll reach a point you are there once you're in this seven-figure status. Without a doubt, we now need to optimize how much tax friction cost you're paying. So let's talk about tax location. This is the three-bucket strategy. It's your friend in navigating this complex but actually very effective way you want to grow your money. Yeah, there are three different distinct tax buckets when it comes to your Investments, Brian. The very first one is the one you get the most excited about. This is a tax-free bucket. I get really excited about this one. This is Roth IRA, Roth 401ks, Roth 457s. These are

the types of accounts that you put money into, and you don't get a tax deduction on the front end, but the money grows tax-deferred. And then when you go to pull it out, it is completely tax-free forever. Those are the Roth varieties. But then there's also another account that goes in this bucket. There's health savings accounts. These accounts are slightly even better because not only do you get all the benefits of the Roth IRA, you can actually get a tax deduction on the front end with HSA. So when you're thinking about how you're saving and where your 25% is going and where you're accumulating, if you have the means and the ability to be building up Roth assets, that can be a huge, huge portion of your financial well-being when you get to financial independence. These are the least leaky buckets. This is why when you're trying to maximize compounding growth and really sticking it to our favorite tax-collecting Uncle Sam, you love your Roth accounts because they really are going to let you when you

turn that $1 bill into $88 at retirement. You love getting excited about that. The tax-free is not going to pay any taxes. It's going to be very efficient. Now we lead to the next bucket, which is actually the leakiest of buckets, which is the tax-deferred. This is your traditional 401k, your traditional 403b, your 457. Typically, even if you chose the traditional IRA, if you did a Roth 401k, a lot of times, even though they're trying to change this, your employer contributions are still going in this tax-deferred. Your traditional IRA, your rollover IRA, if you had a traditional 401k that went into it. And the reason this is such a leaky bucket is that, yes, it's great that these assets get to grow completely tax-deferred. However, when you pull this money out, it's going to be taxed as an ordinary tax rate, which are typically your highest tax rates. And then the government has another provision, is that if you haven't taken this money out, typically around age 75, they're going to

make you take required minimum distributions, where they start paying the money out and paying at these higher tax rates, so it is somewhat of a leaky thing, still important. Look, I don't want you foregoing that employer free money. If they're giving you 50 cents or a dollar for dollar, 100% guaranteed rate of return, take advantage of it. Or if you're in a, say, if you live in the state of California and you're in that 37% federal tax rate, you can see quickly 50% of your money is going to taxes. Well, yes, let's go ahead and take advantage of those traditional accounts now, because hopefully when you retire and maybe even move to a lower taxing state, you might go from paying 50% taxes, now you're paying 22%. That's an arbitrage situation that could work to your favor. So you'd still want to fund that traditional leaky bucket, because it's still going to work out in the long term. Yeah, that's great. People ask the question all the time, how

do I know which one of the buckets to fund? Do I fund the pre-tax, or do I fund the Roth? Because I have the choice of both. Well, one of the things you have to think through is what is my present marginal tax rate. What's my combined marginal rate? Your combined marginal rate is your marginal federal rate plus your marginal state rate. Well, depending on what the sum of those two numbers is, will likely dictate where you should put your assets. If you're under 25%, so you add your federal marginal, and you add your state marginal, and you're under 25%, you may want to consider doing Roth because there's a really good chance that you're in a low tax bracket situation. Your taxes will be higher in the future, especially if you're young too, because you got more years for compounding growth. Absolutely. If you're someone who's between 25 and 30, there are other factors that come into play, like your age and what you estimate your current tax rate to be, or your future.

tax rate to be as well as the buckets that you've built thus far. And then if you're over 30%, this is like that person you described who lives in California, Brian. If you're over 30%, every dollar that you put into the pre-tax is going to save you 30 cents in taxes. That's a huge tax benefit. So if you add up your marginal federal rate and your marginal state rate, you may want to consider contributing to the pre-tax portion because that current year tax benefit is so, so, so valuable. So that's the way that you decide between tax and then or between tax-free and tax-deferred. But then, Brian, we get to the third bucket, and this is also a fun bucket to talk about. Yeah, I like this bucket because after-tax, this is just your brokerage account. So if you have an individual investment account or a joint investment account, you know, you think about the big custodians out there like Vanguard or Charles Schwab. It is interesting that these accounts, you know, they still can

be tax-favored. I mean, I think about how capital gains are at a lower tax rate than your ordinary income tax rate, rates dividends, qualified dividends that are at a lower tax rate. There's all kinds of little quirks that let this be. It's a leaky bucket, but it still has some tax favorability that you ought to take advantage of. So, we ought to talk about what are the unique things that you can do with after-tax money that you can't do with some of the other buckets. And I also like that this could be an extension of, it's not your emergency reserves, but it's definitely something that gives you access to liquidity that much easier too. Yeah, there are certainly strategies that you can employ. So, if you are someone who is building up this third bucket, here are some questions you ought to ask yourself in terms of how you're managing this bucket. Are you loss harvesting when we go through periods and bouts of volatility? Are you considering selling loss positions and buying a different type of investment? So,

you can lock in those losses and use them against current year capital gains or even future gains that you may generate. Are you looking at capital gain distributions at the end of every year? Most mutual fund companies will release when they're going to pay out dividends at the end of the year. Well, if you look at a holding and you recognize there's going to be a 20% capital gain distribution at the end of the year, and you don't have greater than a 20% embedded gain in that holding, you may want to consider selling that holding, not participating in that capital gain, not getting that tax hit. This is something you can do every single year to try to minimize your tax bill. And then the third thing is, are you charitably minded? Are you someone who's giving money to organizations that you support? Well, if you are, one of the great things you can do if you have an after-tax account that has a lot of large embedded gains is you can start gifting appreciated securities to your organizations. That's a great way to tax

efficiently give. So, if you are building up this third bucket, if you do have after-tax assets, there are some ways that even inside that bucket you can begin to optimize your overall financial situation. And what I love about being good with the charitably minded stuff is, in addition to you doing it in a tax-favored way, fulfilling your giving goals, you're also raising the cost basis within your taxable account, which allows, if you came across that once-in-a-lifetime investment, this strategy actually could help you build up that basis higher so you could access that money with less tax implications. Pretty cool thing. If you're interested in these strategies, we actually have a show titled Secret Investing Strategy: The 1% That Even You Can Do. I'd encourage you, go up to money.com, check out that show, and we actually dive into some of these unique strategies that you can use to make sure stretching your dollar just a little bit further than your peers and operating as efficiently and effectively as possible. I love that we close this

out kind of where we started. Remember how I said that even though there's a lot of haters out there that pick on what 1 million is, I still love that this is something to celebrate. And that's why I think the last thing we'll close it out with is keep going. That's right, is that without a doubt many folks would suggest $1 million is not what it used to be, but I'll tell you what, just like I know that first 100,000 might take 7 to n years to get there, but you going to reach 500,000, turn that into a million in the in less time than that 7 to n years it took to get to the first 100,000. When you get to a million dollar, you're going to be able to get to 2 million that much faster because the power of compounding growth is your friend. It's going to keep building on itself. You still should celebrate this, but we still ought to talk about how this is a celebratory moment, but then

we're going to say keep going and now do even better of knowing where are you at. Are you ahead of the curve, behind the curve, or right where you need to be? Yeah, that's one of the things that we've put out there for you to use. It's our know your number course. You can go check out at learn.money.com because for you, a million dollars may just be the first stop on your financial journey. But what you want to be able to define is, Okay, how much do I actually need? What is my number that allows me to live the life I want to live on my terms? Well, if you work through the know your number course, you will be able to define, Okay, this is the number that I need to get to. I know that today I'm at 1 million. What steps are going to be required for me to get from where I am today ultimately to where I want to be? And I think one of the things that's so amazing, and a lot of people lose sight of this, is they

think that the steps change all of a sudden just magically because I got to $1 million. I have to throw out the baby with the bathwater, and I have to change my strategy. I have to do something different. That's not the case. There is nothing wrong with when you get to a million dollars, when you get to seven-figure portfolio status. Don't forget to dance with the one that brought you. Don't forget the things that got you to the very place that you are today. This is, we've done so much content that says, Look, don't get distracted. I think a lot of people think that when you reach seven-figure status, the rules change. Now you have these sexy, sizzle millionaire tools that are going to pop up, and that's why there's dumb doctor deals and all these private things that people trap people with. And I was talking to somebody very successful last week, and like, Bri, okay, I've read the book, I've seen your numbers, you know that you've been willing to share. Are you telling me that that's still a lot of your

Investments are just buying the S&P 500 or these other index funds, and I said yes. I said, Don't let somebody sell you on some secret plan that is different. We have lots of clients, 20-plus million dollars, and you'd be shocked that a lot of that, 40-50% of that, could very well just be in the same type of index funds. Now look, the bigger you are, the cheaper it gets. All the other things, that there's cash, might be a little bit different. Your bond portfolio is going to look a little bit different. But don't think just because you have reached this level of success that the rules have completely changed. So what are the things that you can do? Focus on deferred gratification even now. How do I live on less than I make and save for the future? How do I turn my savings automatic? How do I make sure that I am hitting my savings numbers, that it's happening consistently every week, every month, every payroll cycle, so that I'm building? And how do I focus on

controlling the things that I can't control. What am I paying in taxes? What am I paying in fees? Where are my dollars going? How can I control those things and not worry about trying to control the things that are outside of my control, like election cycles, like market volatility, like fill in the blank of the thing that keeps you up at night. If you can continue to do those things, Brian already said this, the first million was the first stepping stone. Now the second, third, fourth, fifth million will likely come much easier. I think it's so interesting that you have this vision when you're younger of what you think success will look like, and then you'll get there and you'll realize, Yes, I have resources now, but it just feels like, I don't have as much time because I'm just so busy. I'm good at making money, but I'm feeling squeezed by all these responsibilities, these obligations. And then you also get the blind spot concern that always kicks in, it's like, Man, okay

I've never done this before. I've never had, you know, this multiple millions of dollars under my command. These complex decisions, these tax things keep popping up. How do I navigate this since this is my first time? And that's why it always comes back to, and this is, I share it with you guys often, don't hire a financial adviser while your life feels simple. If your life feels simple, you probably don't need a financial advisor, especially with resources like the Money Guy Show, where we just straight up just give it to you. Go to money.com/resources. But if you do this right and you do it well, you will get a complicated life. And then I would encourage you, this is the Fulfillment of the Abundance Cycle, take the relationship to the next level. Let us clear out the chaos, restore order to your financial chaos, and actually do this better because there is a better way to do money, and we're doing it one client at a time. We love that you have hit this milestone. You've crossed into

seven-figure millionaire status. Our hope is that you will keep going, and you will enjoy the journey. We're going to keep going along that journey with you, loading you up with information so that you can hopefully do money better. So, I like to always close it out by giving you guys a little tidbit and what I've learned from doing this with clients, building my own wealth, watching Bo build his wealth, is that abundance is that intersection of where wealth kind of intersects with purpose. Make sure you're doing it right. I'm your host, Brian Preston, Bo Hansen, Money Got Team out.

So You’re a Millionaire…Now What?

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The Money Guy Show

Celebrating Your First Million: Next Steps

Crossing into seven-figure territory is a significant milestone that deserves celebration.

It's important to review your "why" for making money, as it should be a tool for achieving your goals, not the goal itself.

Assessing your stage in the wealth-building journey is crucial, as the "why" can change depending on whether you're in the make, maintain, or multiply wealth stage.

As financial circumstances improve, the complexity of managing portfolios naturally increases.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of aiming for simplicity in financial life to alleviate stress and streamline management.

Consolidating accounts is highlighted as a key strategy to reduce complexity and gain better control over finances.

Automating Wealth-Building and Financial Management

Automating wealth-building processes, such as saving, investing, and paying bills, can simplify life and create consistent progress towards financial goals.

It's important to review and diversify portfolio holdings to ensure they serve specific purposes and avoid redundancy.

As individuals reach millionaire status, reassessing risk and adjusting asset allocation becomes crucial for maintaining and growing wealth.

Navigating Financial Independence: Risk Tolerance vs.

As you approach financial independence, it's important to assess your unique circumstances and time horizon for new financial goals.

Understanding the difference between risk tolerance (the risk you want to take) and risk capacity (the risk you should take) is crucial for making informed financial decisions.

As you transition into millionaire status, reassessing your risk-taking approach and implementing risk mitigation measures, such as term life insurance, can help you align your financial goals effectively.

Essential Insurance and Financial Strategies for Millionaires

Reassessing insurance policies is crucial as life circumstances change, with a focus on disability insurance, umbrella coverage, and emergency reserves.

A significant percentage of Americans are underinsured and lack essential coverage, highlighting the importance of proactive financial planning.

Additionally, optimizing for tax efficiency and utilizing a three-bucket strategy for investments can help mitigate tax friction and enhance wealth growth.

Understanding Different Types of Tax Accounts

Roth accounts offer tax-deferred growth and tax-free withdrawals, making them ideal for long-term financial well-being.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) provide additional benefits, including a tax deduction on the front end.

Tax-deferred accounts, like traditional 401ks and IRAs, can be leaky due to ordinary tax rates upon withdrawal and required minimum distributions.

Optimizing After-Tax Money for Financial Growth

After-tax money offers tax favorability through lower rates on capital gains and qualified dividends.

Strategies for managing this bucket include loss harvesting, timing the sale of holdings to avoid capital gain distributions, and gifting appreciated securities for tax-efficient charitable giving.

Building up after-tax assets can raise the cost basis and provide liquidity for future investments, making it a valuable part of one's financial strategy.

Maintaining Financial Strategy After Reaching $1 Million

Reaching a million dollars doesn't mean you need to change your strategy; stick to what got you there.

Many successful individuals still invest in index funds, showing that the rules don't drastically change with wealth.

Focus on deferred gratification, controlling expenses, and building savings consistently to navigate financial complexities and achieve further success.