Autumn Lax, CFP AIF Featured On The Investor Mama Podcast
"Savings Strategies For Your Children"
Click here to listen to the full episode! Episode will be released on 9/1!
Full Transcript:
Introduction [00:01]
Welcome to the Investor Mama podcast money conversations with a mom's touch. Your host, Jen Narciso, interviews amazing guests each week to help you become educated, be inspired by other money stories, and stay motivated on your own wealth-building journey. No matter where you are financially, whether you're in debt or financially free, this podcast is for you. Now sit back and enjoy.
Autumn's Money Story [0:30]
Jen: Welcome back to the Investor Mama podcast, Money Conversations with a Mom's Touch. I'm your host Jen Narciso, and on today's episode, I have the pleasure of bringing on Autumn Lax from Drucker Wealth. And today's episode is really cool, because I know so many of you have asked me this: how should I save for my kids? What type of account should I set up for them, and Autumn is going to break it down. She's going to talk about 529 plans versus UDMA accounts, what the best strategies are, and when you should save for what, Roth IRAs for kids, all of that. And so I'm really excited because I know I have questions on this and some of the similarities and differences. And depending on what your goals are, what your use for the money is, and your purpose for the money, should help answer some of your questions on what types of accounts might be best for you and your family. And I should say I have to make this caveat that anything we talked about today is not financial advice. It's for entertainment purposes only. And so please speak with your own financial advisor, your own CPA, your own accountant, and so forth. Again, this is not financial advice. This is just for entertainment purposes. But I hope you do enjoy today's episode. And so without further ado, Autumn, welcome to the show how are you doing today?
Autumn: Good! Thank you so much, Jen. I'm really excited to be here! Thanks for having me on.
Jen: My pleasure. I'm so excited because I know even for me, I've tried to set up all these different accounts for kids between 529 plans, UGMA accounts, and Roth IRAs for them. And there's all these different terminologies and all these different things. And I know there's benefits, pros, and cons to each, but it'd be so helpful just to have them laid out. Like, what their purpose is, when it's appropriate when it's not. But before we dive into all of that I would love for you to share your own money story and your own background. Because I know you're a mom as well.
Autumn: Yeah, absolutely, I am. I'm a mom to two kids, I have a 6-year-old and a 13-year-old. So there's a lot going on there with those two age groups. And when I was growing up, we didn't really talk about money a lot, it was more of a hush topic in my household. I really want to change that. I want to help parents feel more comfortable talking to their kids about finance. I kind of fell into it when I started working part-time as a bank teller out of college. And it just sort of became something that I had a knack for. But I realized a lot of people don't. Money is something that a lot of people want help with and need help with. And so I really started to build my career in finance. I currently work mostly with mid-career professionals, and a lot of them are moms. So that's really exciting for me just to be able to make that connection because I understand the juggle/struggle that we go through. And before joining Drucker wealth, which is the company I'm with currently, I actually spent time working at JPMorgan, Bank of America, and some of those bigger financial institutions that you're familiar with. And most of those companies focus on investing. So they're creating a portfolio of stocks and bonds and helping you manage it. And they may be helping you manage that money towards a goal, which is great, and I don't want to undermine their place in the financial world. But true, comprehensive financial planning is so much more than that. It's more than just an investment portfolio. And at Drucker wealth, we actually map out a plan for all of our clients. And that plan will help us determine how your money should be invested. And so, before we ever make any recommendations, we want to know you know how do these recommendations fit into your bigger picture. You want to make sure we're taking a look at everything from a very comprehensive view. We look at taxes, insurance, estate, and planning your personal goals. We want to make sure you have a plan in place to take care of your children to you know, go on that Disney vacation or put in a pool, but also save for college and save for your own retirement. So it's really about blending how do we accomplish the things we want to do now with some of those bigger like bigger picture ideas. I love it.
Jen: Can you also just clarify I know I've mentioned this in other episodes, but I think it's just so important for people to understand the difference between CFP®s alike, what Drucker Wealth is, and I guess how you define the different terms of when looking for a financial advisor like certain questions or things like that.
What is a CFP®? [4:55]
Autumn: So I am a CFP, which stands for Certified Financial Planner™. It's a very rigorous course of study that you have to go through. And then also a test that you have to take and then ongoing continuing education to maintain the license to be well versed in all of the areas of financial planning. I'm also an accredited investment fiduciary, which just is another level of making sure that I'm putting my client's best interests first. And in terms of, you know, the fee-only pricing structure, Drucker Wealth works on two different models. So we charge a flat fee for a financial plan, and clients can hire us to do just a financial plan for that one-time flat fee. I really love this model, because you're paying to get a very comprehensive, thorough analysis and advice, and it doesn't matter, you know, which direction we go in terms of the advice we give, it's the same fee. So you're not going to be charged more, because we put you in one product or another; it's very unbiased advice that you get. We also have a model for clients who want us to then after the plan is done, manage and invest their assets. And that's a percentage of assets under management that we charge, which is more the typical model that you find in some of the bigger financial institutions. And that is just, it's an ongoing service where we, you know, we work with clients to then actually implement those recommendations that came out of the plan.
Jen: Right? Yeah, I love that. Because me personally, I try to, if you can, if you have any wherewithal and savings, I always think is good to do it yourself. So you're not paying the percentage points, the fees. But for someone who doesn't really know, I think getting a financial planner is super helpful, just to know, especially when it comes to taxes and asset protection, and you know, what state docs you should have in place for your family. I think all that is so critical, and it's overwhelming to people. So I encourage you, if that's something that you don't want to deal with, or don't want to do, then you should definitely hire someone to go through with that because it's so important to have something in place for all it
DIY Approach vs Working with a Professional [7:14]
Autumn: It really is. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And there are a lot of people that are, you know, kind of DIYers, they're comfortable managing this on their own, but most of the clients that come to us say, you know, hey, I tried doing this. You know, especially as moms like we're so busy that, you know, time is something that we don't have a lot of, and I've just found in my life, that there are certain things that it is more worth my time to pay a professional to do. And, you know, having a financial plan, I think, is one of those areas.
Jen: Yeah, no, I 100% agree. And even if you are well-rounded, I still feel like it's sometimes good just to have a second look like an eye on your plan and see if there are ways that you can even save on taxes or other stuff.
Autumn: Yeah, absolutely. It's, you know, a lot of people will say, "Hey, I just want order and direction, you know, can you help me kind of organize my life, make sure I'm putting money in the right places and doing the right things" I have a vision for, you know, how I'm moving forward in life and not just haphazardly throwing money here and there. So I feel really passionate about it. I love the work that we do. I love the clients we work with just because so many people come to us kind of scared, you know, honestly, kind of like, "I'm embarrassed about my spending habits", "I feel like I should be further along", or "I feel like I should have more than I do". And then by the end of the process, they're just so happy to see the clarity and have that peace of mind. So it's a real feel-good job. I love it!
Jen: No, that's great. That's great. And I want to dive into the kids, and what different accounts are, but one of the things that you're making me think of is, and this is a question I also get asked a lot, "when should you be saving for if you're in debt?" Let's say when you should be saving for yourself first, versus saving for kids. Like I think that's such a common area where someone comes in, they're like "I'm in debt, but I really want to start, you know, saving for my kid's college fund", or "I want family vacations or all these things", what's kind of your order of operations for savings? And again, let's say a person comes to you they have some debt, not just mortgage debt, but let's say student loan debt and or credit card debt, but it's not like good debt. And it's just, you know, say 5% interest or something, you know, different interest rates, but then they also have their retirement accounts, they have their work accounts, they have their Roth accounts, they have their kids that are young, but they want to you know, to save for college soon. How would you help someone kind of think through where they should be saving and spending? And yeah, I'll leave it broad like that.
Autumn: Yeah, no, that's a good question. And you know, ultimately, this is some of the stuff that we uncover going through a plan because we will look at your case cash flow. So we have everyone go through a budget exercise, which tends to be very eye-opening. We look at cash flow and first look at where is the money going, you know, and what is your capacity at the end to save because sometimes money really is tight month to month. And other times, it's there, it's just being you know, it kind of evaporated, sometimes eating out, or an Uber here or there, or we don't realize how much that stuff adds up. And so first looking at cash flow to really identify, Okay, do I have a lot of discretionary money that's just kind of going to these miscellaneous places? And I can better redirect them? Or are we really operating off of a tight budget? So that's kind of the first start. But in terms of answering your question about the order of operations, I would say, the first is to have an emergency cash reserve. So that's number one, it doesn't really make sense to start investing and building out other areas of your financial life if you don't have that first to fall back on. And then it would be any kind of high-interest debt. So I say, if your interest rates are over about 5%, tackle those first because it's unrealistic that we'll be able to get any kind of return in the market, guaranteed, you know, greater than that. So historically, the market returns about 7%. So we want to make sure that, you know, we're not working backwards. If you've got high-interest debt, and you're trying to invest in the market, you're, you know, you're earning money on one end, and then you're losing it on the other end, so you're not really moving forward. So I say, tackle the debt, get it paid off, and then start redirecting money to some of the other longer-term goals, such as retirement, college savings, all of that kind of stuff.
Jen: Yeah, I love that. One of the things I also kind of, wouldn't loan like my friends and stuff. So as I say, try to put a little bit into retirement, especially if you get a company match, though, because that's free money. And you still want time on your side, if you're gonna have, let's say, 80% credit card debt, but you're realistically not gonna pay it off for 10 years, that's like 10 years of not being able to save also. So even just like a little bit, just so you have something in the 10 or 20 years, whenever. Yeah, obviously, it depends on the situation, and you know, every person, you know, as well.
Autumn: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that kind of goes back to the cash flow thing. If it's there, whenever we do a financial plan for a client, we use a, what we call a bucket analogy. So there are three different buckets, the first being your sort of cash emergency, your last being retirement, and your middle bucket being those in-between moments, you know, more accessible investments that aren't retirement based, that aren't sitting in cash. And I always try to fill each of the three buckets to some degree. So we may prioritize debt or prioritize cash reserves, and heavily, you know, fund those. But to your point, trying to put a little bit in each of those three buckets is always critical.
Jen: Right? So let's say now the person has their money house in order, they're good to go. They're saving, they don't have any, you know, crazy debt. Maybe they have a mortgage or something like that. There is a little bit of credit card debt, but nothing like too obscene or high interest debt. And they have a little bit of a reserve, and they really want to save for their kids. Let's talk about the different like, what are the different ways they could I guess even save for their kids?
Savings Accounts for your Children's Future [13:43]
Autumn: Yeah, that is a great question, and it is one that I get asked a lot. So the two most common ways that someone can save for their kids are the 529 college savings account, and then a custodial savings account. The custodial accounts are you'll sometimes hear referred to as UTMA or UGMA accounts; that stands for a Uniform Transfer to Minors Act or the Uniform Gift to Minors Act. So I'll start by talking a little bit about this type of account the pros and cons.
It's a very easy type of account to set up, you can go to just about any bank and open it like you would open a regular savings account. The parent is the owner of the account or what's called the custodian, and the child is the beneficiary. But what's really important is the child actually is, you know, the one that actually has responsibility for the account so it's opened in their social security number. The money belongs to them. Any money that you put into this account is an irrevocable gift to the child. The parent is really just managing and overseeing it while there are minor. So what a lot of people like about this type of account is it's very open-ended in terms of what you can use the money for. A lot of parents come to me really afraid to put money into the five to nine college savings account because it is more geared towards college. And so I think a lot of people appeal to the custodial account because it is open-ended in terms of how you can use the money; it does not have to be earmarked for anything specific. So if you just want to start setting money aside to give your kid a gift when they graduate college, or help them buy a car, or save up for, you know, a down payment on their first home, this is a good vehicle to use, because the money can be, you know, earmarked for anything.
But what I really caution parents about with this type of account is that once the child reaches the age of majority, which in some states is 18, and others, it's 21, the money automatically goes to them. So there are actually more restrictions on this type of account than you might think. Because as soon as the child becomes a legal adult, they get ownership of the account. And that may not be what you want; you then lose control as a parent. And so that may not be the right time in their life, they may not be as financially responsible as you would hope. And regardless, they get access to that money, they could go take it all and go to Vegas, they could buy a boat with it, you know, they can do whatever they want with it at that point. So even if your good intentions, as a parent were for them to have this money and do something with it, they they really can choose to do whatever they want. The other thing is because the account opens in the child's social security number, and it is technically their money, even though you're managing it for them while they're a minor, that affects their ability to get approved for financial aid or college. So if that's a route, you're going, this money is theirs, and it counts as theirs when they go to apply for financial aid. So that's just something to keep in mind.
Jen: Which makes so much sense. Yeah.
Autumn: Yeah, yeah. So I just think it's really important to kind of understand that, even though there are no real restrictions on what the money is used for, it can actually be far more limiting than a lot of people realize. And I just think it's important to know, when you're weighing the, you know, the options out there and what makes sense for your specific situation to really understand how this type of account works.
Jen: Yeah, for us, personally, we have a 529 for our kids for college that we contribute every month, and then birthday money or things like that, that's really that relatives tell us they want for them, we'll put into a UTMA account. So they'll have when they're, you know, 18, they'll have, I don't know, maybe a couple $1,000 or something with, you know, growth and everything. But I look at that as just, hopefully they'll use it for a car or something else, because we will not be providing the money for it. But we figured it was just like it's for them, if they want to go to Europe, if they want to start a business, hopefully, positive things they'll spend the money on, but also aware that at the end of the day, it really is their money. And if they do want to go to Vegas, there's nothing we can do about it.
What is a 529 Savings Plan? [18:27]
Autumn: Exactly. You know, I think you've decided on a good strategy, as long as it's not, you know, you're putting in sort of a certain amount that you know, okay, if they ended up taking ownership of all of this and going to do something with it that was outside of our plan. It's not the end of the world, because it's not such a huge amount. And then you're also funneling money into the 529, which I am personally a real fan of the 529. I absolutely love it. I think there are so many benefits to that account. And as I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest concerns that I hear parents say is, I don't want to put money into an account that is so specific or locked up for such a specific purpose. What if my child doesn't go to college? And so here, here are some of the benefits of the 529 plan. Even if your child doesn't go to college, the money that you contribute grows tax-free. So that's a really big benefit, especially if you start the account when your kids are really little, all you need is a social security number. So you know as soon as your baby is born and you get that social, you can set up the 529 account and all of the contributions grow tax-free.
The other benefit is that you can change beneficiaries. So unlike the UTMA accounts where the child actually owns the money and the parent is just sort of custody or seeing overseeing it. The 529 accounts are owned by the parent, so it's the reverse. So you really have control over how you want that money to play out over the years, and you can change the beneficiary. So if you set it up for child number one, they end up not going to college, but child number two does, you can just change the beneficiary and use it for pretty much anyone in your immediate family. So it could be nieces and nephews as well; there's a pretty broad spectrum of who it could be used for.
The other thing is that there's no timeframe associated. So again, unlike the custodial account that automatically matures, if you will, when the child becomes an adult, and it's handed over to them, the 529 accounts can stay in existence indefinitely. So some people will use this as an estate planning tool because if you fund it now, and then your child gets a scholarship, or they end up not going to college, you can just keep the money in the account, change the ownership to your child, once they have their kids. And now you have a college fund set up for your grandkids, and it can just keep on going like that. So there is a lot more flexibility in terms of how it's used. There's also a pretty broad spectrum of what's considered college. So it can be really any accredited post-secondary schooling, which could be like a trade school, you know, it's culinary, school, art, school, anything like that. So it doesn't have to be your traditional four-year university.
And then the other thing is that if you know, worst case scenario if you had to take the money out and use it for non-college-related costs. Or you just wanted to cash it out altogether, and you know, do something fun with it, you impose a 10% penalty and taxes on the growth. So it, that's a little bit of a hit, but because you had tax-free growth in the account, you know, the entire time that you were adding to it, I think it kind of offsets and it's not, you know, it's not that much worse than if you had a regular investment account, which is taxable anyways. So, you know, worst case scenario, if one of those other options didn't work out for you, you could always still get the money back out. So it's not completely locked up or lost just because it didn't get used for college.
Jen: And can you use it for like, remember to or like or books and other ancillary stuff? You can't up and things like that? Or is it just for like tuition?
Autumn: Yeah, that's a great question. You absolutely can use the money for room and board for books for computer equipment, as long as it's required or necessary for the class that you're taking. There. There's a lot more outside of just the tuition that you can use the 529 money for.
Jen: And I'm curious, your thoughts on this? I know, obviously, you won't have an answer, but just where the world's going. I feel like there's so many now, new age ways of learning and computer, like, do you think that down the road, like online courses and things like that, that may not be backed by a traditional institution would go fall under this, like as people now are getting more into, like online learning and more creatively? Developing skills?
Autumn: Yeah, it's hard to say for sure, but I imagine that we will see those changes. I think the landscape has to shift the way that we've seen the world change so much to a lot of these online avenues. I really think that, you know, we've already seen the 529 is now also available through for K through 12. Education up to a certain limit, you can pull out some of the money for K through 12. So I absolutely think we're going to see a shift in more flexibility with the 529 account as time goes on. And as you know, education is so expensive, so something is going to have to break sometime soon.
How do 529 Plans and UTMA Accounts Affect Financial Aid? [23:59]
Jen: And are 529 plans docked against financial aid like the UTMA accounts and UDMA accounts are?
Autumn: To a much lesser degree. So because the 529 account is parent-owned money, it counts it does still count against financial aid when you complete the FAFSA, but to a much much lesser degree than student loan money.
Jen: And is there a difference between UTMA and UGMA? I know you gave the different actual term but is there an actual difference in when you would do either one of those?
Autumn: I think it depends on the state. So some states adopt one or the other. Both of them mean the same thing and operate the same though. It basically just stands for an irrevocable transfer or irrevocable gift to the child meaning that once the money once you contribute the money to that account, you can't take it back out, unless you're actually spending it on the child or for the benefit of the child. I don't know how often that gets audited. But you should, you know, kind of keep some records. If you do plan on taking the money out while the child is still a minor, just you know, document that you are you're spending it on their behalf.
Jen: Because what happens if you don't is actually pretty severe. I remember hearing I don't remember exactly what had happened, let's say,
Autumn: Yeah, I think the IRS if they wanted to audit, can impose some penalties. I don't know offhand exactly what those are. But I know I definitely don't want the IRS coming down on me. So I would say yes, it's better, just to keep some records.
Jen: Yeah. Makes sense. And what other types of accounts can parents open for their kids?
Setting up a Roth IRA for your Child [25:43]
Autumn: So the Roth IRA is one that not too many people talk about in terms of setting up for your kids, but you actually can, you know, you have mentioned kind of birthday money to throw money, that kind of thing going into the custodial account, I love using those opportunities to talk to my kids about money. And so whenever my kids get birthday money, or to throw money, we talk about, you know, saving part of it, and having credit that you can spend. The other day actually, my daughter had some tooth fairy money, and she wanted to go to Target and buy some toys with it. And, you know, I operate a very simple like, you save 50% of what you get, you can spend 50%, on whatever you want. And we use this as a real learning opportunity because I knew she really wasn't going to find anything for the little amount, you know, little amount of money that she had. But we went to Target, and we walked the aisles. And it was a real, it was a real lesson. I just used it as a conversation starter about the value of money and the value of, you know, the dollar, especially as your kids get old enough to start working. And of course, she was asking about all these Barbies and these toys that were like $20-$30, which she had nothing close to. And if you go to Target as frequently as I do, you probably know where the dollar bins are at the front of the store, so that's where we went. She was able to pick out something very, very tiny. And, and you know, I let her buy it with her money. And I just like I use these little opportunities to talk to kids.
But as they get a little bit older, you know, if they're doing chores around the house, or if they're babysitting, they can be considered by the IRS as a household employee, I would definitely recommend, you know, talking to a CPA or a tax advisor before setting up the Roth IRA for your child, but as a household employee, they can earn actually have earned income, which is a requirement for being able to contribute to a Roth IRA.
So just to back up a little bit, the Roth IRA is such a great vehicle because money grows tax-deferred. It's a retirement account. So the money is intended to be long-term and used for retirement, it grows tax-deferred, and it comes out tax-free. So it's a really great vehicle for anybody to utilize. But I think especially for kids who are starting to work, they don't generally have enough earned income to really need any kind of tax deduction, which you don't get for the Roth IRA, versus a traditional IRA or your traditional 401k. When you contribute to those accounts, you actually get an immediate tax deduction. But I imagine most kids who are starting to earn a little bit of money, don't it doesn't matter, you know, they're not making enough. So putting money into the Roth gives them tax-free income later on in retirement, which is phenomenal. And they're so young that, you know, to your point earlier about having time on your side, I think that's one of the greatest assets that we can give ourselves in terms of saving and investing is just really starting early, starting with a small amount and giving yourself that, you know, long amount of time to let the money grow.
So a Roth IRA, the way it works is you have to have earned income, which means that you have to be, you know, working and earning the money. And according to the IRS, as I mentioned earlier, household employees, such as a nanny that you hire, or a housekeeper to clean your house are considered household employees, so they earn money, which then allows them to contribute to retirement accounts. Your child can also be considered a household employee. So if you are paying them to do chores, paying them to do yard work, mow the lawn to do babysitting, all of that counts. Again, I would keep very detailed records in terms of what pay you decided, you know, what rate is it an hourly rate, what were their actual responsibilities? And just you know, make sure that you're keeping those records just in case the IRS questions anything. But this allows your child to earn income, which they can then contribute to a Roth IRA, you'll have to set up the account for them as a custodial Roth IRA, much like the custodial savings account, and then they can contribute up to their earned income for the year or 6000. That's the maximum. And it's just another really great vehicle for your kids to start putting money into.
I know the idea of retirement is probably really lost on a lot of kids, which is why I suggest doing this. Once your kids get a little bit older, 13-14 is probably a good age, and, you know, allow them to have some fun money that they can spend, and they can use now, but talk to them about the benefits of putting money into the Roth IRA and saving for retirement. Because when you have so much time on your hands, you don't have to start out with a lot. And if they just get in the habit of this, then when they do have their first real job, the idea of contributing to a 401k is not going to be so foreign. And they're just really going to be on such a great path moving forward. I wish I had done this when I was you know, a teenager can only imagine how much money I would have, even if I was just putting 500 or $1,000 into it every year.
Jen: Yeah and with a Roth IRA account, can the colleges see that as well on the FAFSA? Or is it more like the UTMA? Or is it more like the 529?
Autumn: Yeah, it's more like they can see it. But because it's earmarked for retirement, it doesn't, it doesn't affect them in the same way. So this is money that is, you know, it has that long-term retirement purpose, there's some flexibility and being able to access money, that you contribute to a Roth IRA sooner just because you're putting the money in after you've already paid taxes on it. But it is still wrapped inside of that retirement vehicle, if you will. And so the money is ideally intended not to be touched until age 59 and a half. So with that in mind, it wouldn't be accessible for for funding college.
Jen: But kids could take the money, anything they've contributed in, it can't be on any of the growth, but they could take what they technically contributed out if you wanted to?
Autumn: If you wanted to. That's correct. Yeah. And that can you know, that can work for say, first time home purchase, if you wanted to tap into it to get a down payment on your home, I really encourage clients to, you know, going back to kind of our bucket concept to really think about retirement money is retirement money and try not to touch that should be the last piece that you touch. So even though the Roth IRA is a little bit more accessible. And I think that there's, there's something comforting about that, especially if you're hesitant to start investing or putting money away and you feel like, you're just not sure if I want to put it into something that's so locked up and so tied up that I could never get into. Yeah, there's something comforting about the fact that okay, if, you know, if there was a major disaster, and I really, really had to I can tap into this without penalty. But I still encourage people from a mindset point of view, to try to think about having money that is accessible in terms of your emergency reserve, having money that is in sort of that middle bucket that, you know is for those mid to long term goals, and then having your retirement which is truly retirement.
At What Age Should You Create a Financial Plan? [33:38]
Jen: One of the questions I get asked, which I would love your take on, is for people who maybe are older, like let's say even in their 40s, and they're just starting to be like, "Okay, I really want to get my house in order. Is it too late for me?" So for someone who's let's say in their mid-40s, would you give them the same kind of advice, as you would say, also maybe their 30s or 20s?
Autumn: I absolutely work with clients who are in their mid-40s. And I don't think it's too late at all. So the advice is going to be tailored a little bit differently just depending on so many different things, though. The obvious one is time. The shorter the time horizon, the more you have to save, and the more aggressively you have to save. So it does create some challenges there but it also is a function of your income, your lifestyle, and what kind of retirement you want to live. You know, I have seen some very phenomenal plans or clients who are older and don't make very much money because they live they don't you know, they don't spend very much, they live frugally. They don't spend a lot. They don't have really extravagant goals in retirement. And then I have worked with some younger clients who make really really good money, you know, well, well into the six figures, but they spend it like crazy. So it's really a function of your lifestyle, your spending habits. And so absolutely someone who's coming, you know, coming to us at an older stage in life, it's not too late. It just depends on what you're looking for.
Jen: Yeah, no, 100% I think it's really just, what is your income? What are your expenses? And will you have enough money to cover whatever those expenses are?
Autumn: Yeah, and almost all the time, I tell people, you know, your plan will work. It just is a trade-off. You know, if you tell me you want to retire early, well, we can probably get you there. But how you live your life between now and then is, you know, can you buy a boat? Can you buy a vacation home? Can you go on, you know, $10,000 Vacations every year and retire early? Maybe not. You might have to give up some of that. So it's really a function of, and then I have other people who say, I want to, you know, I want to live my life. Now. I want to enjoy it to its fullest. And I'll work forever work however long I want to Well, okay, those are your choices. So it's all about, you know, how do you want to live your life? And what do you want to see happen?
Jen: So true. Are there any other types of accounts or anything else that I missed?
Autumn: You know, no, those are really the main ones that I think are beneficial for utilizing when you're saving for your children, and definitely the ones that I get the most questions about. Awesome!
Lightning Round: Questions with Autumn [36:37]
Jen: Well, at this point in the show, I would love to enter our lightning round. This is where I asked my guests the same four questions each week, Autumn. Are you ready? I am ready. Okay, great. Well, question number one is what is one fun fact about you that not many people know?
Autumn: I love baseball. So that's something that not a lot of people would figure out first meeting me. My son plays he's played for a number of years. But I also personally just really get into it. I love the sport. I love watching it on TV in person. So that's yeah, that's something that a lot of people know about me. I grew up in San Diego, following the Padres. And I still have a soft spot for them. Anytime I go back to visit I always love going to see a game.
Jen: That's great, and so am I; I'm a Yankees fan. So question #2: Who inspires you the most and why?
Autumn: Absolutely, my kids every single day. They just have such a fresh perspective on the world. I love seeing it through their eyes. I love seeing how they look at the world and think about things.
Jen: Yeah, I love that. I, as my kids get older, the more I appreciate that answer. Question number three is what books are you reading now? Or have read that you loved and would recommend?
Autumn: So I recently read a book called The storyteller secret. Absolutely love it. It's a great female story. So for you know, all the moms listening, if you haven't read it, it's just a good feel good story. And yeah, it's called the stories. The storyteller secret. I don't remember who the author is. But
Jen: really great, but I don't think I've heard that one off the look it but I'll add it to the show notes for sure. Yeah. And well, question number four is what is one actionable tip or piece of advice that you can tell our moms out there to help them on their financial independence journey?
Autumn: Well, I have to say putting a financial plan in place is absolutely the you know, the way to start. Because even if it doesn't, you know, doesn't have to do with how much you're investing or how much you're putting here or there. But just really getting that roadmap and that vision, the organization and understanding, you know, what you should be doing for your specific situation.
Jen: You know, how often do you put a plan like for yourself various how often do you put together a plan for your family?
Autumn: So I did do a plan for myself, and then I update it periodically, I would say at least once a year, if not more. If something changes kind of material in our world, then I'll go in and update it but at least once a year.
Jen: Well, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for coming on. How can my listeners connect with you further?
Autumn: You can connect with me online at our website is www.druckerwealth.com. I offer a complimentary 15 minute call for anyone who just wants to get a little bit more information. We can get to know a little bit more about your situation and figure out if we're a good fit. Um, you can also reach me on Instagram, @autumn_druckerwealth. That's a fairly new page. So we don't have a lot of info on there. We also have a main Instagram account, which is just @druckerwealth, you can reach me at either place, I would love to connect with some of you and talk about your financial journey!
Jen: Awesome. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you as well. All righty. That wraps up another amazing episode of the Investor Mama podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, along with my other content, please subscribe on the platform that you're listening to. And also leave a rating and written review. Autumn was great. And so if you know anybody else who would benefit from this episode, please share it or you can share it on social email, whichever works definitely want to get more listeners. So that'd be really cool if you did that. And so this is investor mama, I'll see you next week.
Closing Remarks [40:43]
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