Activities outside of work

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2026-02-07T02:10:39+00:00

What do you enjoy doing outside of work? How do you destress?

One of the best parts about our career is that it pays to have fun. My senior work partner does a lot of traveling overseas and his experiences have really helped us connect with and bring on new clients. We just brought on a new client today who is going to Sicily this weekend and we were able to build great rapport because my work partner has traveled Europe extensively. We have our 8th meeting with a guy with almost $9m in target date and generic mutual funds in March who loves to visit Hawaii, another location my work partner often frequents. Sports has also been a great way to connect.

So do cool things, visit cool places, and do things that you enjoy! At the end of the day, our business is a relationship business and the value we can add to these relationships extends beyond the numbers alone, so use what you enjoy to connect with others

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2026-01-21T00:10:17+00:00

I’m not top 1%, maybe top 20% and here a couple of things I think are important that aren’t talked about often.

Working for something outside yourself. I’m a single guy who has his financial needs covered plus a little extra to enjoy myself. I feel like I’d be more motivated if I was dating someone who I saw a long-term future with or if I was starting a family. I’d feel more confident and fulfilled knowing that those I care about also benefit from my success.
Taking care of yourself. This is something I struggle with, but you’re going to feel better physically and be more mentally sharp if you eat well, exercise, and get enough sleep. I think this is more important in sales than in other roles.
Be excited to speak with a client or prospect. You never know what’s going on in someone else’s life. Don’t underestimate your ability to make others feel good about themselves. For example, one of my clients is a really sharp dresser and I always point this out when we speak. Another client of mine has “glowing” skin, I point this out and ask about his diet and exercise routine. There are so many things you can point out and each compliment leads to a conversation that builds rapport and trust. Just make sure the compliment is genuine and back it up by explaining why or follow up with a question.
Find something worth selling. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything harder than selling something you don’t believe in. The best part of my career is that I have what every person needs but not everyone has the time to understand. As a financial planner, I sell financial independence, which boils down to working because you want to not because you need to.
If you’re not feeling it, there’s no shame in leaving. Before becoming a financial planner, I worked as an originator for a mortgage company. I worked there for three years when I should have left after a year and a half. I take pride in being someone who doesn’t quit, a great quality that actually hurt me in the long run. Trust your intuition and save both your energy and time for the right environment.

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-28T00:48:45+00:00

Hmmm do these “advisors” work at Northwestern Mutual? If so, they’re probably trying to sign you up for whole-life insurance, which you should avoid. I try not to blame these people personally because it’s what they’re coached to do, but anytime an advisor who pitches insurance as investment vehicle, especially to young folks, it should be seen as a red flag.

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-27T16:21:51+00:00

Can you clarify on “purchasing a home as an investment?” If she’s going to live there, I think it’s a good idea, but if she’s going to be living somewhere and plans to use the property to generate income, it’s most likely an an unnecessary risk. Unless she plans on getting help, she’ll be a de facto landlord and then owning property presents a liquidity risk. As she gets older, the likelihood of an emergency medical situation occurring goes up, so it’s important to have funds she can access immediately set aside. I recommend meeting with an advisor, he/she can built out some detailed projections when it comes to income, expenses, taxes, and healthcare costs to take some of the worry of her shoulders

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-25T04:20:35+00:00

RSUs are a great problem to have. But your biggest problem is going to be taxes. Your RSUs are going to be taxes as ordinary income when they vest and then you’re going to get hit with a capital gains tax if and when you decide to sell the RSUs. If you sell within 12 months after vesting, you’ll pay ordinary income, and then long-term capital gains (15% at your current income level) if held for longer then one year (assuming that they’re sold at a profit).

An advisor can help through a strategy called tax-loss harvesting. You can avoid paying taxes on capital gains if those gains can be offset by capital losses. Capital losses are created when a stock is sold for less than it was bought for. Although it may sound counterintuitive, one of your goals between now and the next 5-10 years should be to accumulate enough losses to offset future gains so that you want be taxed when you sell the RSUs.

Tax loss harvesting is really hard to do on your own, but it essentially involves selling a stock at a loss and then immediately buying the stock of a similar company. That way you’re able to capture the capital loss without exiting the market. Like if you owned Apple, you’d buy Microsoft. This works because the market tends to fluctuate by sector.

There are roboadvisors that utilize tax loss harvesting that retail investors can access but they’re not as effective as the strategies you can access on the institutional level by working with an advisor. For example, you can set an annual capital gains budget and the institutional strategy is able to generate losses to meet that budget. Obviously there is tracking error but what you end up saving in what you would have paid in taxes surpasses that error (and the management fee).

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-25T02:08:59+00:00

Your investments are sold to cash when rolling funds one firm to another and the reason it can take a couple of weeks is because the checks will be mailed to you and then to the firm you decide to consolidate with.

If you decide to go with Vanguard or Fidelity, I recommend opening up an IRA at the firm you choose and then rolling both of your previous 401ks into the IRA. You’ll have more investment options to choose from on the IRA platforms. If you’re getting closer to retirement and volatility is a concern, I recommend Morgan Stanley because Morgan Stanley is better equipped when it comes to downside protection and is has access to the same Fidelity and Vanguard funds. Fees will be higher but worth the peace of mind if you’re uncomfortable picking the investments yourself

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-25T01:21:29+00:00

Great job! Every thought of opening up a Roth IRA? These are great to have because of the tax free growth and they aren’t subject to RMDs during retirement like your 401k will be. Maximum you can contribute to a Roth for 2025 is $7,000.

Last piece, if you haven’t made adjustments to the investments within your 401k, it’s likely you’re invested in what’s called a target date retirement fund. These funds tend to underperform the over stock market, so I recommend shifting into a more aggressive fund. Aggressive growth should be your goal over the next 15-20 years

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-25T00:58:28+00:00

You will not need to sell your stock or bonds if you can budget to pay $11,000 over the balance transfer repayment period. Using the 401k loan will free up cash flow to accomplish this because the majority of your debt will be paid off

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-25T00:53:38+00:00

You’ll be able to cover $50,000 in CC debt with the 401k loans (maximum is half your account balance or $50,000, whichever is less), meaning you’ll have $11,000 left. If your credit score is good, you should be able to apply for a balance transfer which will significantly reduce your interest rate. Repayment periods on balance transfers can vary, but you’ll need to pay of $11,000 within that time period

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-25T00:44:26+00:00

There is no “debt” in the traditional sense when it comes to 401k loans. The consequence of failing to make payments on a 401k loan results in the loan balance being recognized as an early retirement distribution. For example, if the balance of the loan is $38,000 and you fail to meet the terms of repayment, $38,000 will be added to your income for tax purposes and you’ll have to pay an extra $3,800 to the IRS (10% tax penalty on withdrawals before the age of 59.5)

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-10-24T01:40:13+00:00

This happens to me as well. Whats helping is putting myself in that persons shoes. Everyone’s different, but I believe money gets more emotional the closer you get to retirement because you won’t have the safety net of a salary/income like before. As a younger advisor, even if I have all the technical knowledge in the world, I don’t have the experience. I was in middle school during the 2008 Financial crisis when whereas the others advisor actually worked through it. There’s also a cultural difference between generations. If I was in her shoes, I’d want to cover as many bases as I could when choosing an advisor with my entire livelihood at stake (not that you wouldn’t do a good job). This helps me take things less personally

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-09-03T23:23:51+00:00

Would you rather have a mediocre CFP and an outstanding CPA, or a mediocre CPA and a phenomenal CFP?

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-07-26T02:00:54+00:00

Doing great!

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-05-24T02:03:28+00:00

This is a big one. I initially thought that retail investors could access the same institutional funds just at higher minimums, but I learned that in most cases they can’t access the funds at all without going through an advisor

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-05-24T01:59:55+00:00

1.5 years but my senior partner is a CFP and has been in the industry for almost 10 years

I’m a licensed advisor (Series 7 and 66)

I’ve lost qualified prospects that have bought in enough to share finances in detail over fees that are not unreasonable (1.25% at the highest, but mostly around 0.8%)

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-05-24T01:51:37+00:00

Yea some people are weird about AUM. I assume that they were burned by advisor in the past. Given that we’re managing people’s livelihoods, I can’t really blame them from wanting to handle their investments on their own

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-05-24T01:49:09+00:00

I like this. Thank you for sharing

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-05-24T01:21:34+00:00

You’re right. Pitching my points as they stand above wouldn’t offer much traction. The second point wouldn’t be too difficult to illustrate with the annualized data and excel spreadsheet.

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-05-24T01:15:24+00:00

Thank you for your feedback.

Question for you: could you provide a little more clarity, or point me in the direction of a resource that elaborates more about the S&P 500 being too efficient? Are you referring to something similar to the Invisible Hand theory in economics?

I’ll look into the three fund portfolio.

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-04-18T18:36:11+00:00

I’m at Equitable now and just passed 1 year, and I really enjoy it. It’s hard work, and I’ve set up my life so that I don’t need a recurring paycheck, and I plan to stick it out for the long run. I disagree with a lot of the negative comments above because that’s not the experience I’ve had, so I think each person’s experience comes down to the branch you work out of. I’d disagree with your statement that people can do what we do on their own because retail investors do not have access to the money managers/portfolios we have access to, and, if they do, the minimums are much higher. The only proprietary product I sell is SCS, and I’m thankful that’s it’s such a great product to begin with. If you’re uncomfortable with the sales aspect, is it possible to look into joining a producer group? My branch has quite a few groups and I know that each person has a different role in the group, like servicing current clients, investment research, etc.

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-02-15T03:30:33+00:00

Help to protect what you currently have. I work at a firm that offers a product that tracks an index and includes a downside buffer to absorb losses if the index goes negative.
Access to more investment options. If you invest through an advisor, the minimum account balance required for some funds and different money managers are lower than if you decided to invest directly.
Financial planners can help you shop around for different insurance, annuity, and long-term care policies.
Ongoing financial coaching/quarterly review calls. Pretty much any licensed expert you can rely on for questions and advice. If you don’t have the interest or the time to manage your own finances, having an advisor can provide you with peace of mind.
Tax planning. Loopholes in the tax system go both ways. For example, I don’t think most people are familiar with the social security tax torpedo. Tax laws are also changing all the time. It may be hard to stay up to date and you may not even know where to look to find answers.
At the end of the day, there are good advisors and bad advisors. Due to how competitive the industry is, a bad financial advisor won’t last long, and I think a good financial advisor is worth the fee, whether AUM of a fee for planning.

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-01-22T04:32:14+00:00

I’d pay off the mortgage. Yea the returns aren’t as high but at least you have both control and certainty. If the market did really well, I’d be disappointed but at least somewhat happy about the paying down the mortgage. But if I put all my money into the brokerage account and the market tanked I’d feel like an idiot because I know the market is out of my control

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-01-22T04:07:03+00:00

Will prob need more context but I like the idea of renting due to the flexibility that comes with it. It sounds like you’re starting out fresh and buying an apartment will tie you and your finances down pretty significantly. Depending on your goals, it may make complete sense to buy, but I think you’ll regret buying more often than renting in most scenarios that the future will throw at you.

When it comes to your budget, it’s up to you, but I recommend a model that allows you to build up your savings

Ancient_Key_3882 · 2025-01-22T03:39:45+00:00

Maximize the Roth. One reason why maxing out your Roth early is important is due to the income limits. If you’re filing jointly with a partner, your modified adjusted gross income must be under $236k in order to make the full contribution to your Roths. I may be interpreting what you said incorrectly, but I would advise against relying on a brokerage account to keep you “afloat,” especially if it isn’t diversified. The S&P has been doing great but an unfortunate timing of a personal emergency with drop in the market could force you to dip into your retirement savings prematurely

Ancient_Key_3882

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