Quoted: Member Media Roundup - July 2022

XY Planning Network members regularly serve as subject matter experts for major media outlets—impressive, we know. (We help make connections by inviting our journalist friends to submit requests for XYPN members' expert input using our media portal.) We've compiled this roundup of recent articles featuring some superstar XYPN member advisors.

Meet the FILE movement, whose adherents don't have children and give up cushy retirements to find a more fulfilling job and better work-life balance

Business Insider, featuring XYPN member Jay Zigmont

Many people look forward to retirement — but some workers don't want to have to wait decades to be able to enjoy their day-to-day life, even if that means scaling back in some areas and working longer.

That's where the so-called FILE approach, which stands for Financial Independence, Live Early, comes in. It's a growing contender to the popular FIRE movement, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.

Coined by Live, Learn, Plan and Childfree Wealth founder Jay Zigmont, the FILE approach is about having financial independence, and being able to balance work with the life one expects to have after retirement. 

"FIRE is like an on-off switch for work, but FILE is a dimmer switch," Zigmont said. "It's about having that right amount of work, not 'I want to bust my butt for 25 years, get the watch, and retire.'"

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PODCAST: This Couple Tackles Love and Money as a Team

Kiplinger, featuring XYPN members Dan and Natalie Slagle

Whether couples choose to marry or not, they’re going to face money questions. Do you combine accounts? Who pays for what? These can be the thorny bits on the bloom of love so maybe you should let a couple help guide you with these issues. We’ll talk with a pair of financial advisors who have an interesting combination of qualifications and personal experience about love, money and business. Also, Mr. Market has been keeping us on our toes. A quick look at where stocks are headed in 2022. All coming up on this episode of Your Money’s Worth. Stick around.

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I want to retire early as a millionaire, so financial planners say I need to do 5 things right now to manage risk

Business Insider, featuring XYPN member Charles Thomas

After spending most of my 20s making a mess of my finances, I've worked overtime to clean up my act in my early 30s so far. I've started saving for retirement, putting cash into an emergency fund, investing in index funds, and sticking to a strict budget. 

I've also found myself obsessed with trying to retire early (before I'm 50) and as a millionaire. Since I'm less than 16 years away from that time, and my net worth is nowhere near seven figures, I'm actively doing what I can now to make that goal happen. Even though I'm investing, saving, and working on bringing in new income streams to grow my net worth, I'm scared of something unplanned happening that will push me further from my overall plan.

In order to make sure I'm managing as much risk now as possible, here's what financial planners say I need to consider if I want to retire early as a millionaire. 

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Robinhood extends trading hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. — 3 things NOT to do when trading stocks after hours

MarketWatch, featuring XYPN member Mike Hunsberger

At 7 a.m., it can be the time for a morning coffee while 8 p.m. can be time to have supper, watch your favorite television shows, or even enjoy a glass of wine.

If you have a Robinhood account, it’s also becoming a time to play the stock market during extended trading hours — but is that time well spent?

Romance and finance: How to create and maintain a healthy budget with your partner

YahooNews, featuring XYPN member Danielle Harrison

Personal finance experts Julien Saunders and Kiersten Saunders at first almost didn’t make it down the aisle after their first money conversation following a trip. “I was very frugal. I was focused on paying off our trip as soon as possible. Kiersten had the opposite viewpoint — she wanted to enjoy her life now, and not worry about the consequences,” Juliann explained. “Sadly, our disagreement led to us breaking up.”

But not permanently. The co-creators of Rich and Regular.com eventually got back together and they learned how to discuss money in a calm, rational way, showing the rest of us that even financial experts have to work at love and money.

“Money is cited as one of the top reasons couples part ways, so it is very important to have an open dialogue around it,” said Danielle Harrison, a certified financial therapist in Columbia, Missouri. “As a foundation, it can be very helpful for each partner to understand the other’s money story.”

That can range from understanding how money was handled in a partner’s family growing up to what their feelings are toward money. Your partner may have very specific money memories they vividly remember that informs how they manage money.

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U.S. inflation just hit a new 40-year high. Here’s what 5 certified financial planners are doing with their own money amid high inflation

MarketWatch, featuring XYPN member Eric Roberge

U.S. inflation hit 8.6% in May, which is the highest level since December 1981. That was driven by higher rents, gas and food prices. In this high priced environment, many investors may be wondering: What should I be doing with my money? So we asked five pros to tell us what they’re personally doing with theirs to combat inflation. (Looking for a new financial adviser? You can use this tool to get matched with a financial adviser who might meet your needs here.)

Avoiding excess cash — Eric Roberge, certified financial planner and Founder of Beyond Your Hammock

“One thing I’ve done with my own money to combat inflation is to ensure I don’t have a lot of excess cash sitting around in the bank. My wife and I are always methodical about reviewing our finances every quarter and ensuring any available cash gets invested into our retirement and taxable investment accounts. We’re continuing to do what we can to not let cash sit around but we also want to avoid a situation where we don’t have the liquidity we might need, so recently, we took out a line of credit on our taxable investment account which has a low fixed interest rate of 2.5%, a huge benefit to have as rates elsewhere skyrocket and there’s no obligation to tap into this if we don’t need it,” says Roberge. 

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Here are 5 pieces of credit card advice that financial advisors are giving their clients in 2021

CNBC, featuring XYPN member Danielle Harrison

Credit cards are one of the most versatile financial tools to use for managing your money. When used responsibly, they can help you improve your credit score over time. And they can also save you money when you use your card to earn cash back or accumulate points for free flights, other travel expenses and more.

However, it can be really easy to misuse them. And making mistakes with your credit cards can be very expensive. 

Select spoke with financial advisors Danielle Harrison of Harrison Financial Planning and Bridget Mermel from Sullivan Mermel Inc. to get their best advice for managing credit cards. Here are five tips they share with their clients.

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2 Out Of 3 Americans Say They’re Blowing Through Savings to Cope With Inflation—Do This Instead

Forbes Advisor, featuring XYPN member Jay Zigmont

Americans piled up an estimated $2.5 trillion in extra savings during the pandemic. But now, that money is dwindling as people use their cash reserves to deal with the worst inflation in over 40 years. According to a new Forbes Advisor survey, a full two-thirds of Americans say they’re raiding their savings as prices for goods and services spike.

A fresh government inflation reading shows consumer prices in May were up 8.6% from a year earlier—the biggest annual increase since 1981. Inflation is hurting workers, with wages not able to keep pace. From May 2021 to May 2022, real wages adjusted for inflation dropped 3.0%, widening the gap between earnings and costs of goods and services.

Add to that rising consumer debt—$266 billion more just from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022—and it’s probably no surprise that savings are shrinking.

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Advisers express relief at tax increases proposed in budget bill

InvestmentNews, featuring XYPN member Vid Ponnapalli

Investment advisers breathed a sigh of relief — at least for now — about a congressional proposal Monday to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for a sweeping bill that would fund Biden administration spending priorities.

The House Ways and Means Committee released the 881-page legislative text for proposed tax increases to raise the revenue to pay for the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act working its way through Congress.

The tax proposal would hike rates on ordinary and investment income, place limits on huge individual retirement accounts and lower the estate tax exemption, according to a summary. The panel is due to vote on the legislation later this week.

But the legislation does not include a provision to tax unrealized capital gains on inherited assets, ending the so-called step-up-in-basis. Advisers had been dreading such a move. They also had been girding for a much bigger increase in the capital gains tax rate that would have matched the highest individual tax rate.

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