[Music] Jesse had a good follow-up question about 401(k)s. He says it's not a great time to increase 401(k) contributions. I feel like I'm buying into a bubble only to watch the bottom fall out. Agree, disagree, want to fight? I'll fight you on this one. I'll fight you on this one. I figured you would go for it. If you think the market is high right now, wait until you see it 10 years from now. Now, that's not an original quote. I cannot take credit for that. I believe it was Nick Murray that coined that. But it's a great thought to have. Are the markets higher right now than they were at the beginning of the year? Yes. But realistically, when we think about what has happened over the past couple of years, well, 2022 was an official bear market. It was a down market where we saw a greater than 20% loss. And realistically, it's the first extended down period we've seen since the Great Recession, since 2008. I mean, we've had fits and

starts you know fourth quarter of 2018 was down and Co. Obviously, there was a quick downturn, and it came right back up. 2022 was the first time period that there was an extended down period. Well, we lost money in 2022, and so then we made that money back in 2023, and really the really positive year in 2023 got us kind of back to where we were when we started 2022. So when you look at the markets in general, where are we in terms of like all-time highs and tracing new highs? We're not a whole lot in a very different place than we were at the very beginning of 2022. And so the question becomes, all right, one, am I buying into a bubble? Is the market overpriced? What's going to happen over the short term? In reality, we don't really know the answer to that. So what matters more about where the market is in its economic cycle is where are you in your economic cycle? Are you someone who's early on in the

accumulation phase still building, still growing. If that's the case, you really don't care if the market's going up, down, left, right, or sideways because you should always be buying. If the market's going down, great, you're getting in at lower and lower and lower levels. If the market goes up, great, your past money is working for you. I don't think that you should time your contributions based on what the market is doing today. We haven't done a show in a while, but every time I hear this type of stuff, I love the human spirit and how behaviorally we think we control so much, but we don't have it. You know, if you actually look at what elements of your life you control, you know, it's your savings rate, it's your choice to what you're doing with your next dollar, how you live your life, but all the stuff that happens around us, a lot of us, you know, unless you're a big decision maker, you know, with politics, with economics, it's outside of our control. Yep, but yet

we think bubbles. We think that we, there's so many. I bet if I had to pick, I bet Jesse's on the first third of his savings and investment journey, meaning that he is still probably got 20 plus years before he retires. And so the behavior choice, your savings rate, and your investment rate is so much more important than even your investment choices in the long term, just because you got to get the ball rolling. You got to start pushing that little pebble down the hill so it can accumulate and build upon itself. And I would challenge Jesse, if you think that this is a bubble, what are you doing instead? Because, I mean, you have several choices. Are you going to consume this extra money and put it in lifestyle that's going to hurt you in the long term because you're going to get used to this extended lifestyle? Are you going to just put it in cash? We've done so many research and shows on the timing of markets, and we even show people who are great at building this all up in cash, buying at

the dead bottom, the worst investor ever. They still out, they get beaten by the people who just consistently buy every month and don't try to think about it because realize markets make money typically about eight out of 10 years. And so that yes, there's going to be periods of volatility, but do you realize Jesse as a financial mutant, and maybe you're just discovering your financial mutant, if the market is in a bubble right now, you ought to cheer that as a financial mutant because if you, especially if you're in that first third of your saving investment life, every month you're getting a little bit better deal, you're getting a few additional shares because that volatility is actually your friend. There is nothing better, actually gets sad for retirees because they lose that ability to cut the sharp or the point off of how bad markets can be by buying into it every month. You are cutting the sharpness out completely because you are, you're averaging it out, you're

buying more shares, so I would encourage you, don't get caught up. I know the news media, remember they want your eyes, they want your ears, they don't care about your wallet. Do not let them rob you of the time that is the most powerful component that you have. So just set the always be buying, set the automatic wealth building Journey, let it start today, and I promise you, yes, maybe it's a bubble, maybe it's not a bubble, but 10, 15 years in the future, you'll be like, What in the world was I worried about? Why did I even waste the mental horsepower on that?

Is This a Bad Time to Increase Your 401(k) Contributions?

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