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Building a firm to help millennials crush their money goals • @Greiser • @FranWalsh73 • Tweets ≠ Advice

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

3–6 months of expenses in a high-yield savings account.

At today's rates, $30,000 sitting in a HYSA earns roughly $1,500/year.

Same $30,000 in a checking account earns essentially zero.

"Optimizing" isn't often as complex as it's made out to be.

You'd be shocked how many people still do these even though they know they shouldn't.

Sometimes the biggest value an advisor can bring is forcing you to execute on the things you already know but are being lazy about.

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

A client had his best income year ever.

Then a surprise tax bill, penalties, a missed estimated payment.

His CPA's advice? Set aside more cash.

Todays article: the 7 questions that separate a tax planner from a tax preparer.

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https://t.co/GpPEj63JlH

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

You make $250K+.

You should feel financially secure.

33+% of people earning $250K+ still live paycheck to paycheck.

I've sat across from dozens of them. It's almost always the same 3 myths destroying their finances. ↓

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

Most people who do Roth conversions do them at the wrong time.

They convert when income is high—because they finally have the money to do it. But that’s when conversion is most expensive. You’re adding taxable income on top of already-high earned income.

The right window is a low-income year: a career transition, a sabbatical, early in retirement, or a year where RSUs don’t vest and bonuses are small.

The conversion strategy that actually works: convert enough each year to fill your current bracket without pushing into the next one. Do it systematically during low-income windows. Let the clock run for as many years as the tax-free compounding has left.

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Someone once messaged me: "I have $5K from a bonus, where should I invest for maximum growth?"

They also had $23K in personal debt.

There is no investment on earth that guarantees a 25% return.

Paying off high-interest debt does.

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

The same HSA advice goes viral every week:

“Pay out of pocket, invest your HSA, let it grow, reimburse yourself later.”

That advice is correct. It’s also incomplete.

The part nobody mentions: you need to keep every receipt. The IRS has no statute of limitations on HSA reimbursements—meaning you can reimburse yourself for a $400 dentist bill from 2019 in 2031. But only if you can prove the expense.

The strategy works best as a reimbursement account for documented medical expenses—not as a general investment account you tap whenever you feel like it.

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Americans will pay billions in early withdrawal penalties this year.

Most don't know there's a legal way around it.

It's called the 72(t) rule - and it can unlock your retirement accounts years before age 59½. Here's what you need to know ↓

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

"Good debt" and "bad debt" are the laziest labels in personal finance.

A mortgage can destroy your plan. A business loan can build real wealth.

The label tells you nothing.

Here's the 5-factor framework the wealthy use to evaluate debt: ↓

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

You’re optimizing the wrong thing.

Most people track their savings rate. A few track their investment returns. Almost nobody tracks their tax drag.

Tax drag is the annual erosion from dividends, interest, and short-term gains inside taxable accounts. At $500K, even a 1% difference in after-tax return is $5,000 per year. Compounded over 20 years at a modest growth rate, that’s a six-figure gap.

The highest earners I work with didn’t get ahead by finding higher returns. They got ahead by stopping the leak.

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Most people guess how long it'll take their money to double.

The Rule of 72 calculates it in 3 seconds.

It also tells you what inflation is doing to your cash, what your fees are really costing you, and how far behind you actually are.

One formula. Four uses. ↓

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Most high earners will pay $100k+ in avoidable federal taxes in early retirement.

The tax code offers a 10-year window where $0 is on the table.

Most miss it entirely - because of account decisions made at 35.

Here's how it works.↓

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Most people think about life insurance as income replacement.

It is. But for a high-income earner with a stay-at-home spouse, it's also childcare replacement.

The average cost of full-time childcare in the US is $18,000 a year per child.

Two kids. Ten years until the youngest is independent. That's $360,000 - before factoring in lost income, household management, or the cost of rebuilding a career that was paused.

A $1,000,000 term policy for a stay-at-home spouse shouldn't be optional coverage.

For most families with young children, it's one of the most important financial decisions they can make.

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

I remember the morning I realized the number I was chasing wasn’t the point.

I’d hit a savings milestone I’d been targeting for two years. I sat with it for about 20 minutes.

Then I set a new number.

I didn’t feel free. I felt like I was at the start of the same race, just in a different lane.

The moment I actually felt free was the first time I said no to something I didn’t want to do—not because I couldn’t afford to say yes, but because I didn’t have to.

The number matters. But it’s not what you’re actually after.

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Cutting your daily coffee saves $1,825 a year.

A 10% raise on a $150K salary adds $15,000.

That's an 8x difference - before you account for the compounding misery of auditing every small purchase

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

The highest-leverage financial decision you'll ever make isn't a stock or tax strategy.

It's who you marry.

10 years ago she said yes when I hadn't figured anything out yet.

That decision compounded more than any account I've ever opened.

Happy anniversary, love.

[Ryan Greiser, CFP® @Greiser]

What do most people confuse for high-leverage financial decisions?

Most of the time, when I ask clients what financial decisions they’ve been thinking about, they bring up investment picks, savings rates, or account optimization.

Rarely: income growth. Rarely: tax planning. Almost never: the cost of a bad career decision held for a decade.

I’ve seen a $40K raise create more long-term wealth than a decade of index fund optimization.

What’s a financial lever most people underestimate?

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

Two people retire with $1M each.

Same allocation. Same withdrawal rate. Same average returns in the long run.

One runs out of money in 18 years.
The other has $1.8M left after 30.

Nothing to do with how they invested.

Here's what causes it - and 4 ways to protect yourself. ↓

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

The best investment available to most Americans isn't a stock.

It's their 401k match.

100% guaranteed return on day one. $4,000 in, $4,000 matched, $8,000 compounding immediately.

Over 30 years at 8% the match alone builds to $390,000.

Some people on the internet call the 401k a scam.

Those same people are turning down a 100% guaranteed return and $390,000 in free compounding.

1 in 4 Americans never claim it.

Don't be that person.

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

The average American spends $1,200 a year on coffee shop visits.

That's $100 a month. Not a problem in a silo.

The problem is the $1,200 on subscriptions they forgot about. The $1,800 in dining they underestimate by half.

The $2,400 in impulse purchases that never show up in the budget because there is no budget.

The coffee isn't the issue.

The 15 things that feel exactly like the latte - that's where the money actually tends to leak.

[Fran Walsh @FranWalsh73]

The three most expensive words in personal finance aren't always "I'll start tomorrow."

They're sometimes "I already contribute."

- Contributing 3% when your employer matches up to 6%.
- Putting money in a savings account earning 1.5% when a high-yield account pays 4.8%.
- Having a will that hasn't been updated since 2009.
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The financial decisions most people think they've handled are often the ones costing the most in the long run.