The Art of Spending Wealth Wisely

Speaker 1 – 00:00
Welcome to EWA’s FinLit podcast. EWA is a fee only RIA based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We hope all listeners
of this podcast will benefit as we deep dive into complex financial topics that we will make simplified for you. And
we hope that this really serves as a catalyst so that you can make the best financial planning decisions for your
family and also save time. Today we’re talking about very often our, you know, our clients have accumulated enough
wealth to be financially secure and so now it’s just shifting the mindset from being a saver to a spender, even giving
permission to spend.
Speaker 1 – 00:44
So today we thought we’d share the perspective on, you know, from our clients who we respect a lot believe, you
know, a lot of the clients that we work with, they live a great life, they have strong values, they’re very family oriented.
So if you are, you know, new into money or trying to give yourself that permission to spend when you know you have
enough. We just thought, we compiled a list of, here’s some cool stuff our clients do. Here’s some of the best things
that clients spent spend money on. So we’ve got two rockstars with us, Ben and
Devin. We’ve compiled data across the, the list from EWA with clients, some potential
prospects that we’ve talked to about working with. So yeah, I guess. Why do you guys think this is important before
we go right into it?
Speaker 2 – 01:24
I think the biggest thing, I mean we’ll go through this list, we’ll talk through all these cool things, but the biggest thing
that I think permeates throughout all this is just people’s time just gets more and more important as you get older.
There’s a statistic that the most amount of time you spend with your kids from 0 to 18, it’s 70% of the time you’ll ever
spend with them is in that age range. And so the more that you can do to free up your time, to spend time with your
family, to take those trips, to do all those things that you want to do is really important. It’s what’s holding. You know,
you’re really your only non renewable resource is your time. So all these things are pretty much time savers and are
able to help you spend time better, no question.
Speaker 1 – 02:05
Devin, any thoughts to add to that before we sink in here?
Speaker 3 – 02:08
Yeah, I mean I think that spending your money is both an art and a science and we can get bogged down into the
spreadsheets and the projections and the, in the, and the Formulas.
Speaker 1 – 02:16
And the tax codes, which is a science.
Speaker 3 – 02:18
Which is the science side. But at the end of the day, it’s. Sometimes you’ve reached your number and you can spend
freely on the things that will bring you some joy, whether it’s with your family, by yourself, on your passions, things
that are frivolous. So again, compiling some of our favorite things that we’ve seen and we’ve heard of that. If you’ve
kind of reached that point in your life and in your finances, let’s have some fun.
Speaker 1 – 02:42
So awesome. Okay, perfect. Let’s go into number one. I think we always talk about, you know, time zone and
renewable resource. I think these guys have heard me say that a million times, at least, but it’s just true. I mean, it’s.
It’s a good reframing. So one of the first things we’ve seen our clients do that are, you know, financially secure for
their standards. They’ve accumulated enough to. To be okay paycheck is because they want to, not because they
need to earn anymore. Or maybe they’re already retired. There’s a lot of convenience factors that clients spend their
time on that we think are very good to save that time. So Devin or Ben want to give
some examples of those?
Speaker 3 – 03:21
Yeah, I think the first one is, again, in theme of saving time. I mean, I don’t know if anybody’s gotten on a plane in the
last 25 years, but it’s an absolute nightmare. So if you want to save time and hassle and keeping your shoes on
through security and you’ve got the financial wherewithal, it’s okay to book a private jet.
Speaker 1 – 03:40
Right. What net worth, though? Let’s not get too carried away here. I’d say step one would be, like, fly. So not. I totally
agree with you, by the way, but, like, step one is like travel. Make travel enjoyable because travel is, like, a huge thing
people want to do more of. And so get TSA Precheck. That’s like a must, period. Like, I’m not traveling with you. Yes,
get TSA Precheck. It’s clear. These are like a couple hundred bucks. Yeah, they last for years. Get global entry if
you’re going to travel internationally. If you’re. If you’re worth, like, let’s say between 2 to 5 million, like most. And like,
depending on what your spending goals are, like fly first class or. Or up, you know, make it enjoyable as possible.
That would be tier one. I would say 10 million plus net worth.
Speaker 3 – 04:24
That’s what I was going to say.
Speaker 1 – 04:25
Now we’re talking private jets. So what makes. And obviously with, even with tsa, even with global entry, like in, it’s
still a nightmare, but just try to make it as enjoyable as possible.
Speaker 2 – 04:36
And this isn’t go out and buy a private jet. This is like, hey, a NetJet subscription. This is like having the availability to
get on a private plane, book it at your convenience. It’s not necessarily ownership.
Speaker 1 – 04:48
Yeah. And so you’re, I mean, if you’re worth 10 million bucks, generally, you know, you’re probably spending 30 to
40amonth after taxes, between Social Security, pension, you know, and the safe withdrawal rate. So a lot of our
clients that have that kind of net worth are spending 15, 20amonth. And we’re trying to coach them to get up to that
spending level. Cause, like, they don’t necessarily have the biggest goal of like, I want to like room my kids and pass
20 million on because that’s going to keep growing. So it’s hard to stomach saying, oh, I’m going to Florida from
Pittsburgh and spending 20 grand on a private jet. But if you’re like 50 and you have 25 years more, and let’s say you
do that, you know, once a year, you start breaking down the math.
Speaker 1 – 05:34
Can you afford not to do that because you want to make that enjoyable? You’ve got the money, where’s it going to
go? Otherwise, it’s most likely not going to have a relatively impact on your kids in a good way because too much
money can, you know, could ruin or enable them. So I think some exercises breaking it down with how many trips do
you have left and how do we want to maximize the enjoyment of those trips and remove the friction, remove the
stress. But Devin, so you’re the one that mentioned the private. Any other thoughts
around that?
Speaker 3 – 06:01
Yeah, I mean, you know, Ben was saying we’re not saying go out and buy a $7 million plane, but if it’s going to cost
you, again, it depends on the situation. But if you’re flying with your family and you’re going to Africa and you have
the financial wherewithal, you know, spend an extra 25-50k on the flight and it’s going to save you dozens of hours of
your time and so much hassle where it’s going to be worth it. Again, assuming that it doesn’t impact your broader
financial plan significantly, then yeah, it’s, again, it’s totally okay to spend. So would say it’s in that kind of 20 to 50k
range per.
Speaker 1 – 06:28
Per flight domestic, not Africa. Africa would be a couple hundred grand to fly private.
Speaker 3 – 06:34
That’s out of my kind of expertise at this point, but I. Yeah. Is it really that much?
Speaker 1 – 06:39
Yeah, six figures. Well, it’s usually five to $10,000 an hour.
Speaker 3 – 06:44
Okay.
Speaker 1 – 06:44
Yeah, but most private jets couldn’t make it across the. So scratch Africa.
Speaker 3 – 06:49
Let’s say Mexico.
Speaker 1 – 06:51
Domestic.
Speaker 3 – 06:52
Okay. North America.
Speaker 1 – 06:52
Yeah.
Speaker 3 – 06:53
All right, gotcha.
Speaker 1 – 06:54
That’s usually a private. To do that you would need to own a private and it would probably be, you know, you’re
talking like a billionaire range to have it plane big enough privately to go across the waters.
Speaker 3 – 07:04
So point is that we see people and families with a lot of wealth and they’re, you know, we do the projections, they’re
probably going to end up passing with significant wealth. And do they want to give that to their kids when the kids
are in their 60s or do they want to splurge on a lifetime experience that their kids will remember for the rest of their
lives and their grandkids, etc. So point is that it’s not as expensive or out of range as you would think, especially
when you get into that 5 to 10 to $15 million net worth range. So.
Speaker 1 – 07:30
Yeah, and I would say to wrap up the travel, a lot of times I see like, we’re huge into points and I think the booking,
some of the travel and you know, if you’re a good saver, like saving money while you do it, maybe flying for free,
trying to get this first class, it’s all great. But a lot of times I see people like, if you, instead of thinking I could think a
good reframing of a vacation or travel is not, oh, I’m not earning money or taking time off. It’s like, no, think about
how hard you worked and how high your income is, what your time is worth. You should value your time when you’re
not working even more because the whole purpose of it is enjoy that time with your family.
Speaker 1 – 08:04
So you should make sure to really maximize it and make it as enjoyable as possible. So when you have that
reframing in mind, that permission to spend usually comes out a little bit quicker. Yeah. So, okay. Other convenience
factor we talked about, you know, hiring a housekeeper, a nanny, if you have young kids. These are also great ways. If
you have three kids in daycare and you’re hiring a full time nanny, it’s not that big of a price difference typically, but
the convenience of having someone come to you is. And you know, a kid gets sick and then now they can’t go to
daycare and like it takes a lot of that off the plate. So I would say the next category would be kind of around the
adventure with fun adventure with your family.
Speaker 1 – 08:49
So based upon experience of our clients, like what are some of the best experiences that we’ve heard about from our
clients? What would you guys say?
Speaker 2 – 08:58
I would say it’s number one, just figuring out what you’re passionate about and spending money on that. So I mean
like bucket list type golf trips, like full wine cellars. Like we have some real like wine obsessed people that know
everything. So just wine, just figuring out what you’re passionate about and spending it on that. Don’t just spend
money to spend money. I would say those are some of the biggest things that we’ve seen. I mean we sit down with
clients in their 60s, 70s that have accumulated a ton of money and they look back and almost have regrets. Like,
man, I could have taken that trip for my 40th, I could have spent more time with X, Y and Z and done this and done
that.
Speaker 2 – 09:43
And so having that hindsight of meeting with those people in their 60s, it gives us a lot of context when we’re talking
with people, encouraging them to take these trips because it is important and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be, you
know, ideally, like you get to your 60s and 70s, okay, I’m done working. Like it’s time to spend all this. But like your
health could deteriorate. Like there’s a million factors that could change how that deferred gratitude, that deferred
happiness lifestyle. So just, you know, encouraging people to spend what they’re passionate on now is.
Speaker 1 – 10:18
Extremely important from a mindset perspective. It’s so much more enjoyable we see when you’re working because
like you have the anticipation of going to travel and then like getting back, it’s like efficient. Or if you have, if you’re
retiring away from something and have no plan, you have all the time. It’s not. And you’ve got the time to do it. Some
reason it’s not as enjoyable. And people can get, they say they want to work till 40 years to be able to travel and then
after like one month of travel, they’re kind of sick of it. So just some perspective, like do not delay, like definitely start
doing those things now. Don’t plan a life you don’t have to retire from. Don’t plan a life where you’re getting to
retirement. Two completely separate things. Like do some retired type stuff now.
Speaker 1 – 11:00
Like, we have a client every year he takes his family for at least a month over to Europe. And his whole family’s got
three kids. He takes his whole family there with all the kids. They get it. He can work. You know, he owns his own
business, but he’s able to work from there. And it’s what an incredible experience for his kids to, during summers, be
able to see other cultures and get all that kind of perspective. Yeah, yeah. It takes a lot of planning to be able to do
that. But that’s one of the things. Some of the other things, too is, like, we’ve seen clients, like, do that trip they’ve
been putting off forever, like that Italy trip or, you know, that Europe trip, or book it planet.
Speaker 1 – 11:36
We can help you do a lot of it for free with credit card points, especially if you’re high net worth and doing, like, Roth
conversions and need to pay taxes on it. But, yeah, let us help you book it. And don’t. Don’t look back. Some of the
other things that we’ve seen, a lot of clients have done, like safaris in Africa with their kids. Those have been, you
know, huge.
Speaker 3 – 11:52
Got a client that just booked a trip to Antarctica.
Speaker 1 – 11:56
Oh, nice.
Speaker 3 – 11:56
It’s gonna be like three, four weeks.
Speaker 1 – 11:58
Yeah, that’s incredible.
Speaker 3 – 11:59
Expensive, but it’s the time to do it.
Speaker 1 – 12:01
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 – 12:01
Got plenty of money. He’s in the 60s. You know how long until that trip is? You can’t do it anymore, so no question.
Speaker 1 – 12:10
Okay, well, so other stuff, let’s talk about, like, homebody. So I would say in general, like, one of the. We’ve had a lot of
physician clients. They get out of residency, get out of fellowship, start making high income, and then after, like,
three years, they negotiate their first contract. And we’ve got everything humming. It’s like, okay, now, like, let’s do the
backyard. Like, usually they have, like, three, like two to four kids. And I’m thinking of, like, 10 clients right now. That.
And I’ve been to their backyards, and they’re sick. Like, they’re amazing. It actually motivated me to, like, think, okay,
how to. How my daughter. How can we, like, maximize the backyard? So pool, just trampoline, you know, sport court,
all that kind of stuff. Like, every client that’s done this says it is the best investment now.
Speaker 1 – 12:56
It’s the worst financial investment in history, probably, right? Because if you, like, if you put in a pool, sport, court,
whatever it’s going to add. Let’s say you drop. I mean, we’ve had clients drop between 200 to 500k, I’d say on
average, huge range. Depending on what they do, they’re probably a third of that will increase their home value. The
other 2/3 is like flushed right. It’s down the toilet. So. But the investment of the family time that they’ve gotten out of
that offsets that financial loss by a hundred x. Yeah.
Speaker 2 – 13:27
And I don’t have kids. I’m speaking to two guys that have kids. So this is kind of backwards, but I feel like it would be
nice as a parent to not be the house where everyone comes over, but being able to like see your kids, hang out with
their friends and like, you know, be able to like host everyone in the backyard. And I, that just feels like a cool feeling
because you know where they are and you can like see them like developing a friendship, which is cool.
Speaker 1 – 13:49
Yeah. I was hanging out actually in a pool with like one of my friends is like probably one of the highest net worth
people I know. And I was talking to his wife and I was asking like, what do you think about like a pool in the
backyard? She’s like, do it. All the kids are gonna be your house. So it’s not, it’s. You’re have enjoyment, but you’re
also gonna have like your kid. You want your kids to be near you and that’s gonna make sure they’re by you. So I
thought that was like a good insight. And all the doctors I’ve talked to that I’ve like been in their backyards, they say, I
mean they all. I can, they don’t have to say anything because like as soon as you start talking about like their energy,
she shifts like completely like 10x up.
Speaker 1 – 14:24
And they’re so passionate about like how impactful it’s been for their family. So if you’re thinking about like the
backyard and just like make it yours, like if it’s a climbing wall, a tree house, a zip line, a pool, a trampoline, I mean
these are all things we’ve seen and it’s just been like we’ve seen some pretty epic stuff. So like, don’t just do it. You
know, if the finances allow.
Speaker 2 – 14:46
I live in Shadyside. So we can get like a, maybe a George Foreman grill in our backyard. That’s probably it though.
Speaker 1 – 14:52
You got all the food, you’re a foodie though. You got all the, you got trade offs. All the foodie restaurants right there
in Shady side. You’ve been to that. What’s the new one? I just called Palm. Palm. You’ve been there.
Speaker 2 – 15:02
No, we’re going Saturday, though.
Speaker 1 – 15:05
What time? I think I’m going there Saturday. Okay. It’s hard to get a reservation. I forget it was like, later. Yeah, I’m
playing in the golf thing. Let me know if it is. Maybe I won’t show up if it’s, like, really bad. I know you got a good taste
of.
Speaker 2 – 15:21
It’s.
Speaker 1 – 15:21
Yeah, yeah. We’ll talk. Talk later. We can talk. I mean, what’s the cuisine?
Speaker 2 – 15:26
It’s like. It’s like coastal, like small plates. It’s like. I don’t know. I’ve never been. It’s like brand new. We’re going for my.
My fiance’s grandmother’s birthday, so it’s gonna.
Speaker 1 – 15:37
Beyonce. I know. In public. Ben’s engaged. Congratulations.
Speaker 3 – 15:41
Speaking of splurging.
Speaker 2 – 15:42
Yeah, speaking of splurging. Yes. Buy an engagement ring.
Speaker 1 – 15:47
No, that’s awesome, though. So. Okay. Yeah, I’d say the next one would be, like, find your passion and, like, be
relentless about it. That could be travel, could be photography. It could be golf. It could be, you know, wine. You
mentioned. What. What else have you seen?
Speaker 2 – 16:02
Well, I just. Real quick. I just got off the phone with a client last night who did, like, a bucket list golf trip with a bunch
of his friends out to Scotland, played all the courses. He was talking about it, 50 minutes. It would have been very
easy for them to all wait until they were, like, later in life retired to do the trip. They all did it in their early 50s and they
were all healthy. Like, it just. Just encouraged further encouragement here to just, hey, like, plan a trip and take it
while you can. Don’t feel like you need to wait and do it. It felt like a bucket list trip and he was just, like, over the
moon, happy about it, so. It was awesome.
Speaker 1 – 16:35
It’s awesome.
Speaker 2 – 16:36
I was only a little bit jealous.
Speaker 1 – 16:40
Okay, perfect. Well, so the other thing I would say is health related, so let’s jump to health related. So how. Have you
guys seen our clients invest in their health, which is. I mean, what is wealth without health? Right? Yeah.
Devin, what would you say the top three are?
Speaker 3 – 16:58
I’d say the most common one that I’ve seen recently is paying for and hiring concierge doctors. You know, kind of
the. The Peter Atias of the world, where you have a, you know, an idiosyncratic or a specific health issue or even if
you’re healthy. I mean, they can help maximize the top end in terms of all of the. I mean, you know, there’s more than
I do tracking all of the different, I don’t know, testosterone and blood levels of this. I, I don’t do this myself right now,
but you know, for what, for 15 to 25k a year you have access to those doctors and they can really help you optimize
your health span so that you’re in your 70s and you’re not, you know, have a walker or a wheelchair.
Speaker 3 – 17:38
You’re actually, you know, healthy, jumping around and being able to travel and things like that.
Speaker 1 – 17:42
So yeah, I think a lot of medicine in, in, you know, western culture is reactive, right? You go because you’re sick. And
this is, this kind of flips the script where it’s proactive, like let’s plan so those problems don’t occur. And so one of our
clients, his name’s Sanjay man and we’ve actually referred him to a lot of our other clients. He only charges $5,000 a
year. And I remember discussing with him because he was, you know, part of a bigger group and he made the
decision, started his own business, has been great. You know, a lot of clients have enjoyed work with him.
Speaker 1 – 18:12
I can say personally it’s been amazing just because of like how much time it saved me, the quarterback, different
appointments, referrals and just the coordination versus like every call is like a half hour call waiting online to like
schedule and it’s just so irritating. But just being able to have that access directly to a doctor, you know, he comes to
your house to do like the annual or six month checkup and no, it’s been a no brainer honestly. So if you’re high net
worth and want to save time and want to take your health to the next level, we also do a lot of tests that a normal
doctor wouldn’t prescribe, like proactive tests like checking APOE levels like which I think is like your prediction of
Alzheimer’s. And if you have high gene level then like what?
Speaker 1 – 18:52
Okay, if you’re at risk for that when you’re 65, like for the next 30 years, like here’s some stuff like drinking is like
going to throw gasoline in the fire. Like you need to limit that just like all these proactive things you can do to like
protect your future health. And that’s just one of a hundred examples.
Speaker 2 – 19:08
So a couple other things on the health front is number one, personal trainer. I mean I’ve seen a lot of high net worth
clients just either have a personal trainer on staff or go to them for individualized one one sessions. Having either
like a meal plan service or even just like a private chef that will come in and cook meals for them. You know, lunch
and dinners, even just for special occasions. I mean, one of the coolest gifts that I’ve ever received was like having a
chef come to our house, like curated a menu, like, of all my favorite foods and like cooked for me and my fiance and
my family. And just kind of like was super engaged. We’re all kind of just sitting in the kitchen, like having drinks, like
watching.
Speaker 1 – 19:50
Them cook all my favorite foods.
Speaker 2 – 19:51
And were eating them and they were delicious. So it was just.
Speaker 1 – 19:53
That sounds incredible.
Speaker 2 – 19:53
It was like an awesome gift. So, like, whether that’s a gift or whether that’s like a weekly, like Friday night dinner you
can have with your family and do that, like, that’s. That was just really cool.
Speaker 1 – 20:03
You could have just saved the money. You asked me to do that. I probably could have whipped up all your favorite
foods for you.
Speaker 2 – 20:08
I mean, you know, you can order pizza and you know, order factor with the best of them, but this was legit.
Speaker 1 – 20:15
I’m on for factor. I’m so sick of it. But hey, I can cook. Have you ever cooked for you?
Speaker 2 – 20:21
No, I don’t think so. But one of these other things on the list was having a cold plunge or a sauna. I mean, I think I feel
like you can maybe speak to that part.
Speaker 1 – 20:28
Yeah, no, I think just having like a, A routine of like, you know, the cold plunge is actually, the studies have shown it
like, prevents muscle growth, but like, it really helps, like mental, like the kind of resets your mental nervous system
and reduces stress levels. That’s why I do it, like quite often. I have one in my home. And then the sauna obviously is
like a daily thing that detoxes and really good for you. So you do that daily?
Speaker 3 – 20:52
Yeah, cold and hot.
Speaker 1 – 20:54
Cold I used to. And hot I do every day. And then I did all this research at like multiple like doctors. And you can’t do
the cold. You should not do the cold plunge every day. So now I’m like waning back.
Speaker 3 – 21:03
Interesting.
Speaker 1 – 21:03
Like four times a week.
Speaker 3 – 21:04
The pendulum is swinging and I had it too cold.
Speaker 1 – 21:06
I had like 37 degrees. I have a video of Tyler, our tax guy, getting in. He was like almost crying. So, yeah, maybe some
blackmail for Tyler eventually. I’m just kidding. No, I’m not kidding. He. He almost did not cry. He Was just like, I
showed you. I cried.
Speaker 2 – 21:22
I’ve seen it.
Speaker 1 – 21:23
Yeah, it was cool. I don’t think it was healthy. It was like, you get out of that thing with like, frostbite.
Speaker 2 – 21:27
I’m laughing. But I’ve also never done it, so.
Speaker 1 – 21:29
All right, well, next time you’re over my house, it’s a requirement. Okay. Yeah. So we’ve talked about the private. The
private chef. You know, we’ve had some clients do that. And that’s obviously like what you put in your thinking diet
and exercise. Diet, sleep, diet, exercise, I think in that order. But also like, all are important or like, they’ll solve half of
your health problems.
Speaker 2 – 21:51
It also feels more in the controllable stage. I mean, that feels like something you can. You can really attack.
Speaker 1 – 21:58
For sure. Yeah. And then I think the, like hiring a coach or, you know, therapist. I think a lot of. I think after Covid, a lot
of people are therapy a lot of. I think with this one of my friends gave me advice like, don’t like, do it like for three
months. And then like, you need to make sure you’re still able to monitor your own thoughts and like, your own
decisions. So I found coaching to be the most helpful for me. Not necessarily therapy where you’re like. I think it
goes back to the proactive versus reactive with therapy active and the coaching be more there. And I think the two
have a lot of overlap. But a lot of our successful clients have a coach or have, you know, some kind of therapist. So I
think that’s very important as well to keep.
Speaker 1 – 22:36
Because your relationships are the really the biggest currency. Your time and your relationships. The time is great.
But if you don’t have the right strong relationships and pagans, but your free time is not going to be that. That
impactful, enjoyable. So. Okay, so we’ve talked about growth. So then let’s talk about last one. And we can talk about
like super high net worth. There’s like certain things you can do, like splurge, like private country clubs if you’re a
golfer. Like some clients, very few have done, like the luxury car subscriptions where you can get, you know, new car.
You pay a higher monthly fee, but then you can swap pretty often. Boutique trips, fed some clients book like private
concerts, like some high names in their backyards. That’s been cool. Very expensive though. Any other really cool
stuff out of the ordinary?
Speaker 1 – 23:26
And I’m not encouraging because like, your net worth does have to be some of those things. Like if you’re dropping
like a couple hundred Thousand for like a, that a backyard. Like your net worth has to be like even higher than 10
million probably. There’s different levels of what we’re talking about and say most of our clients, like we’re
encouraging make Travel easy, fly first class clients between 10 to 20. We’re like, okay, let’s. We’re not buying a
private jet, but we can buy a subscription card. And then after that there’s even more optionality as well. But I think
you have to be really careful too, because if you have that much net worth but you’re still most of your friend groups
are way less than you. There can be resentment. And we’ve done podcasts and all that. So you have to be stealth.
Speaker 1 – 24:03
Wealth is everything too. So some of the stuff you do shouldn’t be public. It should be private. It should be when
you’re away and no one sees it. So that’s an important artwork, not science artwork that you need to hit as well.
Speaker 2 – 24:14
Yeah. Really hard. So that’s, it’s a really hard thing to balance, I think.
Speaker 1 – 24:18
No question. Okay, before we get into philanthropy, do you guys have any other ones that we’ve missed from like a
cool, out of the ordinary, out of the box on that spurge category?
Speaker 3 – 24:28
I’ve seen some clients recently after, you know, years, decades of like prevarication and back and forth with their
spouses of finally buying like their dream cars. I feel like typically it’s like a Porsche, right? Of some kind. But yeah.
And it has virtually no impact on their, you know, long term financial plan and they’re super happy with it and they’re
obsessed over it and that’s been really cool to see. So fancy cars would be my answer.
Speaker 1 – 24:53
Okay, nice. And of course you can drive around without people like trying to like throw rocks at you, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2 – 25:01
Only other thing I would add is.
Speaker 3 – 25:02
If you have kids even dodging rocks.
Speaker 2 – 25:03
Yeah, no, it’s not really a splurge. But you know, we’ve seen, you know, private high school and more specifically like
private tutoring, like sat if your kids are in high school, like splurge for like the private SAT or ACT tutoring, splurge for
like the extra help if they needed. Like that is extremely worth it in my opinion.
Speaker 1 – 25:22
Yeah. And I’m going to say one thing about the opposite end of that too is like we have seen some clients where
they’re spending like college tuition, like K through 12, and then their financial plan’s way off track, but their income’s
Like a million plus. So you have to be careful there as well. And define high income is not a high net worth. And so
our job is to create high net worth but also living a present life today, doing really cool stuff, you know, spending as
much time with family. But you have some of those things. We do have to be, we have to be careful. So this I would
define as like all the stuff, the high net worth of your high income and haven’t saved yet. You got to be careful with a
lot of these.
Speaker 1 – 25:57
You got to go slowly into it. You have to secure.
Speaker 3 – 26:01
It’s a balance for sure.
Speaker 1 – 26:02
No question. Okay, so let’s talk about philanthropy then. What do you guys think about philanthropy? What’s the.
Some of the coolest stuff that you’ve seen. And I think stealth wealth also factors into philanthropy as well. Because
if you’re just doing stuff publicly, I mean you’re. Every time you give, you’re probably gonna have 10 times more calls
coming in the next year if you don’t do it the right way. So yeah, what do you guys think? What are some of the ways
and any general framework or advice for people that are very charitably inclined?
Speaker 2 – 26:32
Yeah, I would say, I mean the first thing, we’ve done numerous research on it, but a donor advised fund is the really
good way to, if you wanted to batch a year’s worth, you know, multiple years worth of charitable contributions into
one time, it’s a really good way to get a tax deduction when you actually put the money in the donor advised fund and
then you avoid capital gains tax if you had just donated it from just like stock proceeds or just sold it to cash and
then donated the cash. So from an efficiency standpoint, were like setting up donor advised fund and then from
there you can kind of redirect where you want the funds to go. You can make them anonymous, you can send it to
where it’s most needed.
Speaker 2 – 27:10
So there’s a lot of flexibility for it just has to go to a 501C3. So whether it’s a charity, your college, a church or
religious organization, I mean there’s a lot of avenues there. So I would say that’s the number one thing I see is
people not just doing it for the tax benefits, but just getting a bunch of money in the donor advised fund and then
able to be flexible from there.
Speaker 1 – 27:30
No question. Devin, any other thoughts with.
Speaker 3 – 27:33
I think we’ve talked about this before, but this idea of kind of making the most impact, right? I mean you can cut a
check to The United Way or your university. And that’s great. But you could also donate it to. Again, it depends on
what your passions and interests are. Maybe it’s to animal shelter, maybe it’s to your kids school. You absolutely do
it through the donor advice fund. Maybe it’s paying for groceries for the single mom that’s behind you in line at Giant
Eagle or Kroger or whatever it is. But yeah, just being able to make that impact and getting. Getting some fulfillment
and good feelings from that.
Speaker 1 – 28:09
Is there Krogers in Pittsburgh? I don’t know.
Speaker 3 – 28:10
I just pulled that out of my ass.
Speaker 2 – 28:12
That’s an Ohio brand.
Speaker 1 – 28:15
I’ve seen those indiana and like Amish country where I grew up until I was 10 years old, but I haven’t seen a Kroger.
Speaker 3 – 28:21
Indiana.
Speaker 1 – 28:22
How’d you know about Kroger’s?
Speaker 3 – 28:25
Kroger’s like a national chain, isn’t it?
Speaker 2 – 28:27
Yeah, it’s around.
Speaker 3 – 28:28
Would you rather have said Meyer? Did you have Myers growing up? Yeah, yeah, my dad lived in Michigan and when I
was in middle school and there was Meyers everywhere.
Speaker 1 – 28:36
All right, what’s the favorite. What’s the best grocery store to shop? Don’t say Whole Foods, man.
Speaker 2 – 28:41
That was gonna say.
Speaker 1 – 28:42
No, I’m just kidding. Probably Whole Foods.
Speaker 2 – 28:43
Yeah, I was gonna say.
Speaker 1 – 28:44
What about you, Devin?
Speaker 2 – 28:46
Trader Joe’s.
Speaker 1 – 28:48
Trader Joe’s. Isn’t that like an upgrade? Upgrade of Aldi’s, but the same ownership group? Pretty sure it is, I think.
Aldi and the Trader Joe’s.
Speaker 3 – 28:54
I don’t go shopping much, but if I do, when I do, it’s a Trader Joe’s.
Speaker 2 – 28:58
Another splurge would be not going grocery shopping at all, just getting it delivered to you.
Speaker 3 – 29:02
Yeah. Yep, true.
Speaker 1 – 29:04
I swear, there’s like, they have this, like, agreement where it’s like we’re gonna go pick out like the fruit that’s about to
go bad and put it in your car. So, like, I’ve only ordered certain stuff on Instacart.
Speaker 2 – 29:13
That’s fair.
Speaker 1 – 29:13
And trust me, I’m like the Instagram, like fiend, like every week. But yeah, the fresh produce is.
Speaker 3 – 29:20
Okay, here’s a question for you guys. In the last year or two, what’s the. What is the thing that you’ve spent money on
that maybe not was necessarily, like, advisable or prudent? That has been like a 10x in terms of fulfillment and
happiness on you. And I’ll tell you right now, mine is the Instacarts, is the Walmart, pluses is the whatever it’s called
Where We Do Not Enter Grocery Stores Anymore. And it has been a huge unlock for our time savings and
convenience and happiness.
Speaker 1 – 29:47
Yeah, mine would be the gym I built in my basement with this on it. And then with my daughter or taking a trip to now
or applying for free with points but taking her to London to see Coldplay. And she hasn’t stopped talking about it
since. That’s in August. Like late August.
Speaker 3 – 30:02
Nice. So nice.
Speaker 2 – 30:03
But yeah, two things. My gym for sure. I go to a group fitness class so I have the unlimited membership and it’s the
most expensive option. But I, I feel like I am obligated to go more now that I have upgraded. So I really like that. And
then the second one, I have a subscription to a site called Masterclass. I really like it. It’s like 120 a year. It’s like
10amonth. But it’s like all these crazy famous professionals teaching classes on what made them famous. So it’s
Gordon Ramsay teaching a class on how to cook. It’s Daniel Negranu teaching a class on how to play poker. Phil Ivey
teaching class.
Speaker 1 – 30:39
Rory McElroy had a triple quadruple bogey. Port Rush, whatever.
Speaker 2 – 30:44
Steph Curry teaching a class on how to shoot a basketball. Coach K from Duke teaching a class on leadership and
values. It’s really, really cool. It’s, it’s. I feel like I’m learning something, so that’s awesome.
Speaker 1 – 30:57
Good for you. Well, thanks for joining us, everybody. Any, any questions, please reach out and look forward to
catching everyone next week. Thanks for tuning in to our podcast. Hopefully you found this helpful. Really hope this
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