6 steps to your first (or next) million-dollar milestone

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Hello, and thank you for joining Women Talk Money. My name is Alex Roca, and I will be your host for today's event, How to Get to Your First Million. In today's discussion, we're going to be covering six clear steps to help you get to your first million or maybe your next million.

 

And we're going to be talking about some of the volatility that we've been experiencing lately. And we're going to be sharing some tactical action items that you can actually address as early as later today. We have such a great conversation for you.

 

Now without further ado, if you have tuned in before, today is going to look a little different. I am joined by Ryan Viktorin. She is a VP financial consultant in the Boston area.

 

And today, it's just going to be the two of us. We're going to have a candid conversation. Think of it like a fireside chat style event.

 

A lot of you have been asking questions, and we're hearing you. You want to know about the economy, and you want to know what you need to do to protect yourself and maybe even still have your money grow. And so, Ryan, what do you think about that? What are you hearing in your day-to-day meetings?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me, Alex. And just by way of quick introduction, I've done this for almost 18 years as an advisor. So I've seen this over and over and over with the volatility that comes for whatever the reason really is. And we'll talk about that in a little bit. But I totally get that it is-- it's noisy out there.

 

There's a lot coming at us at it feels like a million miles a minute. And so we want to make sure that we really-- I'll give you the piece of advice that I've been giving all of my clients over the past couple of weeks is, again, I'm in these conversations every single day, which is just like, let's all just take a collective breath. Like, it's just like-- so let this calm down a little bit.

 

And yes, the markets have been choppy over the past week. And by choppy or when we hear the word volatility, that means ups and downs. It's not just downs in the markets. And it just feels like whiplash a little bit at times.

 

So yes, the market's been a little bit rough this year, of course. But let's take a chance to zoom out and look what it was over the course of the past year, three years, five years, 10 years. And when we do that, you can say, OK, so here's some volatility that we're seeing. But yes, It has grown. And we're pulling up something on the screen here that I think is really important.

 

And you can start to see over the course of history there's been a lot of big things that have gotten in the way. And I haven't been around for all of it. I got to go back to about 2008 when I started. But a lot of these moments, I sat right there with my clients.

 

And the one thing that I hear every time there's any sort of volatility is, yeah, but this time it feels different. Yet I've heard it for every time for 18 years. And everything unprecedented is unprecedented until it actually happens. But from a volatility standpoint, we've been here before.

 

So what does this all mean for the purpose of this conversation for today? It's a really good time to, like I said, zoom out, but let's revisit the plan. Let's revisit the goals you've got and make sure that we're still on track for whatever those things really are.

 

But I don't want to diminish the fact that there's some real things that are very technical going on right now. So I want to give a quick shout-out. Yesterday, Fidelity put on a very special Market Sense that's regarding tariffs and this administration's decisions. And this was just yesterday.

 

And it's already up on the YouTube channel. I think we're going to put it in the chat so that people can access to it. So if you want really specifics from some of our top economists and thought leaders on what's happening, that's worth tuning into.

 

But for today's discussion is how are we really going to help you continue to grow, and to get to your point, Alex, to that first million or next million or whatever your number is? So that's what we're going to dive into today.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Yeah. And I think it's important to double down on this idea that nobody really knows what's happening. Nobody knows what's going to come down the line because nobody has a crystal ball for the future. But what we do have is some of the historic data that can help us make more informed decisions as opposed to emotional decisions.

 

And I would almost argue that periods of volatility in the market can really help you understand your own risk tolerance a little bit better. And what I mean by risk tolerance is how well you react to the ups and the downs of the market. Or another way to think about it is, how will you react to seeing your balance potentially change in periods of volatility?

 

So Ryan, I'm not sure if this is true for you, but my previous clients like to think that their risk tolerance was very aggressive right up until something happened. And then they were like, wait a second, maybe I'm not as aggressive as I thought I was. And I think that's OK. We can always make adjustments if your risk tolerance has changed.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Of course. I mean, it's easy when things are going really well. 

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Exactly.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: And we see years like last year where the market was up 20-plus percent in the year before that where you say, yeah, I'm OK with risk tolerance because things go up. Then real volatility happens, and you say, oh, actually  wait--

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Wait a second.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Hold on.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Not so much.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Right. Exactly. And I think those are moments to really like lean in to say, how am I really feeling about this? And it's OK to feel a little bit uncomfortable.

 

What I try to do for our clients-- and, again, when I say I-- I say we like the mes across the country that sit with clients that actually do this. We want to get you to a place where, of course, we're going to optimize and try to grow your wealth, but also get you to a place where you're sleeping at night the whole time.

 

And you're never going to hit that panic button because that's what really can derail what you're on track for with your goals because missing those up days in the market can be more detrimental than participating in and just letting it go down and letting it go up as time goes on.

 

And there's been movement even over the course of the past week that's been up, down, sideways, up, down, sideways again. And so the chances that you catch it at the perfect time is really, really low. So I would just encourage let's just revisit the plan. And, again, of course, that's what we're going to get into today. So let's dig in.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Absolutely. And earlier you said something, and it really caught my attention because I've experienced something similar where it's this number that people have in their minds that one day if I reach this number, I'll be OK. And I can't even count how many times people said to me like, oh, if I just get to $1 million, then I can retire. Do you see that as well?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Yeah, oh absolutely. And I see it in two kind of ways. Either there can be this like hyperfocus on this one number. And sometimes it's a million, sometimes it's 500,000.

 

I have a client who is hyperfocused on $5 million. Why? It was a nice round number that he liked. That's just what he was going for. What if you get to the point where you have $4.9 million and then you don't take an action and then you see some of the volatility like this? It's like you start to get super hyperfocused on just one number.

 

That's one thing that I notice. But the other thing that I notice is that sometimes it's a complete question mark. One of the most common questions I get is what should my number be? Do I have a number? Is there a particular specific thing that I'm looking for? And the answer is it totally depends. It depends on what lifestyle you want to live and depends on what your goals are and when they're actually happening. So yeah, it's really common to try to focus on that. And so that's why today we're saying like getting to your first million or your next million, but it's a moving target. It's really building the plan that's the most important part.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: That's actually such a great segue into our first step, which surprise is to create a plan. And I know, I know that might not be as exciting as you were expecting or hoping to hear. But it's also not a secret. I also have some stats that I want to share with you to put things into perspective.

At the end of 2024, there were roughly 22 million millionaires in the United States, which is about 1 in every 15 Americans. Yet only a third of Americans actually have a financial plan. What's interesting to see is that nearly everyone who has a financial plan, 96% to be exact, feel confident that they're going to be able to reach their financial goals.

 

So it's even more important, to Ryan's point earlier, not only to create a plan and revisit yours when things happen, but it's more important to stick to that plan in periods of volatility. Ryan, you meet with clients every day creating financial plans. My question is, if it all starts with a financial plan, why don't more people have one?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Well, I ask myself this question every day, Alex, because this is all I talk about with clients. But I think really it comes down to the idea of it can be really intimidating. It can be like, oh, it's going to take a lot of my time. Oh, it's going to be-- it's a lot of work, things like that. And life just sort of gets in the way. We're all very, very busy people.

 

But I can't stress enough-- and I would wholeheartedly agree with that statistic that 96% of people who have a plan feel really confident they're still going to reach their goals.

 

And again, if we go back to this volatility, my clients who I've been calling to see how they're feeling about everything, they say, well, not thrilled.

 

But isn't this what we plan for? Like, isn't this part of the reason why we create a plan? And I said, yes, yes, I've trained you well. This is perfect. This is exactly what we're thinking about. So whether you have built your own plan yourself or you're working with someone, it's really, really important.

 

I also think the other reason why people don't potentially have one is we kind of toss around the term plan a lot. It gets a little lost in the fray a little bit. So it can also mean something completely different to different people based on where they are in their life. It can be someone who needs a retirement plan. It could be someone who's younger and needs just a savings strategy.

 

But I want to focus on where do we actually start? If what's hard about doing a plan is starting, I want to give some action items for where should people actually live when they're starting their financial plan before you get even to the numbers, and the budget, and all of that.

 

This community has heard me say it before, but I have to say it again, which is the who, the what, and when. Who are the important people in your life that we are planning for? Is it just you? Is it kids? Is it parents? Is it siblings? Like, who are the important people in your life?

 

What are you planning for in your life? Most commonly, for a lot of people, it's retirement, but it could be college savings or buying a house or a second house or leaving a legacy, whatever the thing is. And then when? When do you actually need that?

 

That is the foundation before you even start to dig into the numbers to live in and have open discussions. If you have a partner, if you're married, you have a spouse, that you're planning with somebody, like that is the foundation to start with. And then you get into the other parts of the process.

 

And this is what I talk about all day with clients. We're here to help you figure that part out, too. There's tons of tools to be able to do this, online and start to build this out.

 

But I always say capture it. Write it down. What are within those three? Who are we planning for? What is it? And when are they happening? So capture it. And then you move through the process from there.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: That's so fantastic. And I actually love that you brought in the different stages of life because you get to pick what you need, depending on where you are financially and what kind of plans or goals you have. It's really so much more than just the numbers.

 

When you think about a financial plan, I want you to think that it's more. It's a map that puts you on the driver's seat of where you envision your life and your finances going. Ryan, I want you to elaborate just a little bit more. What could potentially be included in a financial plan?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Yeah. Once you've gone through the framework of how to visualize what your goals would really be, there's a lot of aspects of it. And it usually starts with this budgeting part of it.

 

Sometimes I don't mean living within a budget, but having an understanding of what your expenses are versus your income sources and how much you're able to save on a monthly, or quarterly, or annual kind of basis. So that's budget planning.

 

Again, this is part of what gets confusing, Alex, because I'm going to use the word plan in 10 different ways in the next probably two minutes. And so we toss around the same term to describe different things, which is, again, sometimes why it's hard. So that's where we're kind of going to break down.

 

But once you get to that point where you start to save, then you start to say, OK, maybe we are focusing on investing those savings. And we start to think about what kind of investment do you want? What's your risk tolerance?

 

We have whole sessions on Women Talk Money sessions on each one of these topics. But these are like the bones of it. One of the other parts of that could be involved in a financial plan is debt management. And when do we pay off some debt? What type of debt? How fast, things like that?

 

For some people, it might be education planning. So maybe they have either they're paying off like some student loans or maybe it's they have children that they're trying to save for private school or college. And so they need some education and savings plannings. There's also insurance planning. And that's talking more about protection.

 

And then we're going to talk a little bit more about that later. But how do we protect against the unforeseen things-- forgive me-- in life? And then a big one, like an overarching type of planning that we really work towards, whether you're saving towards it or living in it or getting close to it, is retirement planning. It's like I said before, a goal for most people is when can I actually stop having to work for a paycheck and actually start living life and not having to work?

 

There's also tax planning because we just know the IRS just like loves being involved in everything that we do. So we have to try to navigate through that. And then there's also things like estate planning too, which are those really important documents.

 

So that god forbid, the worst happens, your things are taken care of, the people are taken care of, and your assets are taken care of In a private and tax efficient way as well. So like I said, there's lots of different components to a financial plan. Again, shameless plug, we have sessions on each one of these. But those are going to be the bones of what's going to be in most people's financial plan.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: There are so many things to think about, so many options. But again, that's where the Ryans of the world can help you make sense of it all. We're seeing a lot of comments on the chat, questions around this idea of is it too late? What do you think about that?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: No. Easy answer. No, no, it's never too late. 

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Agreed.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: It's never too late to do this. And I feel like sometimes we put a lot of judgment on ourselves. Like, oh, I should have done this last week before this whole thing happened. Or it's I should have done this when I was younger. I should have, should have.

 

Like, just stop. Just start now. It's never too late to try to make a plan, to try to improve your financial picture. Never too late. But it also starts to lead to-- OK, let's get into the next steps of it. And that's what I want to talk about first, which is creating the savings plan.

 

And I said this at the start of it. And this can truly apply to wherever you are. It doesn't matter what age you are. If all of a sudden you are able to save, then you say, OK, really common question is, what's next?

 

And in fact, I saw in the chat, I believe it was Ariel, who said, I paid off my credit card debt. Now what? And I'm like, everybody cheer for Ariel because she got rid of her credit card debt. But at the same time, it's when is-- that could have been for someone who's 60 years old. It could have been someone who's 25 years old.

 

But when you now have this ability to save, of course, it's better to start when you're earlier. But it's never too late to be able to do this. So yay for Ariel. First of all, claps are all around. But at the same time, it's OK, now what's next? And it's starting with the ability to understand what you can save.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Absolutely. And I'm so glad that you brought Ariel's comment because I saw it on the chat as well. And I was upvoting it myself. I was like, way to go. And so let's talk about what's next. Once you've paid off that debt, once you've maybe reached one of your priorities, how do you focus on the next one? And so setting up a savings strategy can be such a powerful tool when it comes to wealth building. And it doesn't matter how old you are or how much you have saved up already. All that it matters, just like Ryan said, is to start.

 

So I've always told my clients to think about three important things. First, pay yourself first. Even if it's just a few dollars from each paycheck, make sure that you're saving for one of your goals.

 

The next thing is commit to increasing that amount over time. A great example would be in your 401(k) or your workplace plan. Even increasing just 1% a year can have such an impact in your balances over time.

 

I shared this once, but I'll share it again. I was meeting with a client who, about five years ago, was putting away about 10% into his 401(k). He set up automatic increase. I'll tell you what that is. And every year his 401(k) contributions went up by 1%. He forgot about it, never felt it.

 

And when we met again earlier this year, he said to me, Alex, I'm so sorry. I didn't make any of the changes. He didn't remember that we had done it together. He never felt it when it actually took place.

 

And more importantly, when we got back together-- and I said, well, how much do you think you're saving? He's like, well, I'm still at 10%. I said, well, actually, you're at 15%. And look at your balance.

 

He almost cried when he saw how much he had saved. So check to see if your employer's retirement plan, so your workplace plan, has an auto annual increase. Another thing to think about is you can match it up. If you know that you're going to have an annual review, maybe you're going to have an annual increase, you can match the date to that time period so it's even less of an impact on your take home.

 

Now let's keep going here. I want to talk a little bit about keeping your savings in tax-advantaged accounts when possible, which actually brings us to the next question. How do we know where to put our savings?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: So it's for sure the savings part that is absolutely crucial. And I love that story so much that being pleasantly surprised. I'm like surprised if I find $5 in my jeans, let alone in my 401(k). That could be much bigger.

 

So I'm thrilled for him. But I want to start to now shift that saving word to invest. And there's actually a two-step process, physically save the money into an account like a 401(k) or an IRA or even a brokerage account. But then you have to do something with it. And that's the investment piece that we're really going to talk about.

 

So there's a couple slides I want to pull up because especially now we're seeing-- I'm looking at the chat over here and saying, like, should I stop investing? Should I pull out of the market? Should I change things? And, of course, the answer is no.

 

But what I also find that women tend to do is they save really well. But then they're so worried. And they work so damn hard-- forgive me-- for saving their money. They don't want to let it go because they've worked so hard for it. So kind of, like, keep our arms around it and keep it in a savings account and keep it safe in our minds when really, it's at our detriment.

 

Because if we look at what's on the screen-- let me just explain really quickly. This was just a hypothetical of you take $10,000 and either stuck it in a savings account 30 years ago or you invested it in the market. And it is staggering the difference between the two. And now I'm not saying-- putting everything you have in the market is not what I'm saying here. But I'm just trying to articulate the power of investing, of making your money that you worked so hard for work hard for you.

 

And in addition, for this hypothetical scenario, if you kept it in the market, during that whole time, the most important part of that sentence is kept it in the market the whole time. It's not coming out when it's uneasing and putting it back in, because, again, the chances you're really going to miss those really big up days or up moments are really high.

 

If you remember what the framework we started with was the who, the what, and when, the when is really important. Because as an example, let's say that you're saving your money for a down payment on your house and you need all of the money in two or three years, that's probably not-- putting it all into the stock market is probably not an appropriate investment because in the short term, which, again, we're all living and breathing right now, it can fluctuate a lot.

 

But if you're 20, 30, even 40, 50 years old and you have 10, 15, 20, 30 years to go until you retire, you can start to see how much and how powerful having something a little bit more aggressive really can be.

And, again, I have another slide coming up for us to show this. This is, again, another hypothetical. This is a little bit of different numbers. This is $100, just $100 from 1980. If I explain what's on the screen, the bottom line or the orange line is basically keeping in a savings account. The blue line is putting it one step away from keeping the savings account and putting it in more safer type of investment, relatively speaking, called bonds.

 

And then such a huge difference in putting it in stocks over that time period. And to your point, Alex, of like saving an extra 1% every single year, that's a hypothetical $100. Imagine $100 a month.

 

Now imagine $1,000 a month that you're saving. Like, this is where you can truly wake up and you're like, whoa, look what's in my account over time. And time is really on your side. I always want to say it's not too late. But, again, it's really, really powerful. So I just wanted to bring some visuals to life like I do for my clients in this moment.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: That's fantastic. And I'm glad that you made that point, because we see it in the research where women are fabulous savers, but not always comfortable on the investment side. And I heard somebody say, yes, but if you only save, then you're going to have to save every dollar that you're going to need.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Yes.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: So it's crucial to save and invest. But then we also need to check in every once in a while. I'm sure this has happened to you, Ryan, where you meet with someone and they're like, well, I created my strategy 10 years ago. It may have changed. How you feel about the market may have changed.

 

So make sure that you feel good about what strategy you have in place. And if you need to make any adjustments, make sure that you do or that you talk to somebody that can help you figure that out.

 

Now, whether you want to do it on your own or have that financial professional work with you, that's your preference. But it is also a good place to bring up, excuse me, compound interest. Now, I'm sure you've heard about this before. Compound interest is when your interest gains interest on top of your principal, your principal being your original contribution.

 

And so that money that you put in, that money is going to grow. And now all of that money is going to go into the stock market and potentially grow as well. Think of it as supercharging your potential growth.

 

Now, some of you might have heard the phrase save early and save often. And that saying is emphasizing the power of that compounding interest, that money making money. So earlier you said, Ryan, that-- you were talking about often, save and invest often. So we've talked about how much and where. So let's pivot to how often. So take us through the automation as step four.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: I could not be more thrilled with automating things. I mean, we're all so busy. And like the client you referenced before that was increasing it, he did that automatically. He's so busy, he didn't even check that it was happening because he's working so hard. We all worked so, so hard.

 

So automating it can-- it does a couple of things really. One, it's like you just don't have to think about it. You set things up so that it can-- every month, every paycheck, every quarter, however you can, whenever you can set it up so that it automatically starts to execute the plan that you're trying to create.

 

The other thing I like about it-- and it's kind of like those 401(k) contributions. And, again, I'm going to use your client's example as well. That was out of sight, out of mind for him. Like he wasn't looking at this. It didn't hit his bank account.

 

And then he had to decide what to do with it. And that can also reduce the likelihood of saying like, oh, well, I feel like I shouldn't invest right now. It's like automate it so that part just totally gets removed, and you're not trying to time the market and things like that.

 

So automating things when you can, where you can-- there's so many tools available. Just always ask. How do I make this easier? And anytime I try to think about any sort of aspect of the plans I try to create-- and, again, this is I being the mes across the country is we're trying to create these plans that are simple and streamlined as possible, but as sophisticated as necessary.

 

So you want to make sure that it's automated where and when you can. And then it's simple, but also that it's addressing all the things that you need included in your specific plan as well. So I love automation. And I advocate for it anytime I can find it.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: I love that, out of sight, out of mind. It's so relevant. And it can really help you grow your accounts. But as many of you know, as your accounts continue to grow, there are some costs that we need to be aware of.

 

So this actually brings us to step number five. We're talking about costs that could potentially affect our earnings. And there's two big ones, fees and taxes. So, Ryan, talk to me about fees first. What do we need to be aware of?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Yeah, absolutely. This is actually where some of the confusion starts to set in as well. And, again, I've seen this in the chat where it's like, what's the fees for this? How does this actually work? And I've seen some of those questions as well. I'm going to go through a tree of options.

 

And at this point, I need to talk about what's going on at Fidelity because that's where we are now. I want to separate creating a financial plan from investment management. Building a plan, potentially having a relationship, but for absolutely calling us, getting help to craft-- every step up until this moment, having these conversations, creating your goals, creating your budget, all of this retirement planning, all of it, planning is free at Fidelity.

 

I'm pausing for effect because I say this on every single Women Talk Money session. And every time I meet somebody new, they don't believe me. And they say, what do you mean free? And so I have to explain. This is something we feel like our clients are entitled to to actually build out the financial plan.

 

No matter how little you have or how much that you have, there's obviously complexities that come with more significant assets versus someone who might be getting started.

 

There is a level of support for absolutely everybody here. So call us. Find us online. There's going to be buttons in the chat where you can click to say, hey, yes, I want to meet with someone to help me build a financial plan. That is free at Fidelity.

 

Now we get into the investment piece. So once you build out the plan and you figure out how much you can save and you start to invest, this is the part we have to be really cognizant of what the fees are for the type of thing that we're going to be investing in.

 

So it could be an ETF or a mutual fund, where there's something called expense ratios inside of those funds. So you to be aware of what the cost of those funds actually are. And depending on where you trade, if you buy stocks, it's free at Fidelity. It's free at some places, not at others. So you want to know if there's any sort of transaction costs. It could be a stock or a bond. Bonds are $1 a bond when you buy them a Fidelity. So you have to know what all of these things are.

 

And then that's more for the people who really know they want to be do-it-yourselfers. So they know what they want to buy and when they want to buy it. And even if they want to just have a fund that kind of does it for them and they want to automate their savings, you just have to know what the thing is that you're actually buying, how much it costs.

 

Then the next level of this is looking for some help. For my clients who aren't DIYers and they say, hey, listen, I need all this planning help that you're talking about, but also this investing thing, not for me. Like I don't want to do it. I don't feel comfortable doing it. And even if I did, I don't have time. So I need some version of help.

 

And people in our seat will help you figure out what version of help that could possibly be. Sometimes it's digital. If you're just getting started, you're just like, I don't need a human so much. I just need to save it, put it in, and then I'll talk to you in 10 years when I might need some more help.

 

And then as time goes on, you might need full-fledged professional management where you say, hey, I really want something customized. I want a team that's managing the assets for me. And that's what tends to be that-- you hear sort of like that advisory fee or a percentage of the assets that are being managed. And it totally depends on what the strategy is, how much, what you have, what the complexities are.

 

So this is where the fees vary. But, again, this is something that we're very transparent about when it comes to your specific situation. So if you have questions about any of that, please just don't hesitate to call us. There's absolutely no downside to asking these questions and getting some help with all of it.

 

So I know the other one you were talking about that comes in for costs that I already mentioned is taxes. I'm going to let you talk about some taxes now because I just talked about fees.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: I appreciate that. Thanks. Thanks for sharing the burden there. I will say, though, Ryan, thanks for breaking that out because we talked about it earlier. It really comes down to where you are in your life. And depending on what service you're needing or what support you're needing, we're going to be able to customize for that.

 

Now, thank you, Ryan. Let's talk a little bit about taxes. We can see the chatter in the chat. And you're all correct. Taxes can have such a large implication on your money throughout your career and later on in retirement when you're taking distributions.

 

So your tax bracket can change, your deductions may vary from year to year. And big life events can be a factor. Plus, there's so many other things that can affect your tax bracket. One of the things you could do is consider reducing your taxable income, where you can max out your retirement contributions. Whether we're talking about your workplace accounts or maybe an IRA.

 

Take advantage of HSAs, Health Savings Accounts, if you're eligible and you qualify. You could explore charitable giving opportunities. And one other thing is you could consider itemizing your deductions. This is a great place where we'll encourage you to talk to a CPA, your tax advisor.

 

You may also want to consider implementing some tax smart investment strategies. Actually, Women Talk Money did a whole tax session back in February, so check out the replay if you want to do a deeper dive or if you want to read the recap article we just published last month.

 

I believe we're going to put the link in the chat right now. And remember, we're going to email all of this to you later on. Now to my next question, I think that brings us to step six. What's last, Ryan?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: So last, we got protect. And, again, in the chatter, I see a lot of questions of, hey, should I start to protect things? And it could be market volatility, but it could be moments in time. I know I saw one that says, hey, my husband's a year out from retirement. I'm thinking of retiring six years from now. Should I start to protect?

 

And my answer is I think you have to look. You have to actually revisit your plan as you start to see how has what has happened-- it could be the past week. It could be this year. It could be any sort of volatility. How has it started to affect things? There's also lots of different versions of protection.

 

So I'm going to hit on some of them. So we keep saying this. We have whole sessions talking about each one of these, in particular. But it's important to understand some of them.

 

So one is I think a protection for-- we're protecting against things that are unexpected. And sometimes they're tough to talk about. So we think about if, god forbid, you were to pass away, life insurance can protect against the fact that you're no longer here to earn what you were earning.

 

And I actually talk on both sides of this. So like, let's say you're married or you have a partner and one person works and one person doesn't.

 

It's very common to say, OK, the person that works needs insurance because they can't work anymore, but that person who doesn't work, the only reason the first person can work is because you're taking care of the rest of the family. So I always advocate for life insurance on both sides because it's such a integral part on either side of it.

 

Another type of protection you can think about, especially in this world of insurance as well, which tends to come up, is disability insurance. So what if you can't work in the way that you used to work anymore and you become disabled in some way? That's where disability and insurance come in. And that's kind of like outsourcing the risk of that happening.

 

And then, again, a lot of what comes up now is, how do I think about what my risk is in my investments, in my asset allocation? And that's your mix of stocks, bonds, and cash. And should it change? So to answer a lot of the questions in the chat, should it specifically change because of volatility in the market over the past week or two? No.

 

Should it change because something happened in your life and you need to change something to be on track for? Maybe. But the point is, should you revisit things? Yes. So the answer is it's a good time to-- I can't say that enough. It's a good time to come back to it.

 

A couple other things that we can talk about from protection that's on a lot of people's minds is what if I end up needing long-term care when I'm older? Some of our community-- I think I saw one question is like, I'm 70. What are the things I need to think about?

 

It's like long-term care as time goes on when you get into your 80s and 90s could be a very real possibility, especially for women who outlive men. I always say and then we'll take over. But we outlive men.

 

And then we might need some help on the back end. And so we might need some coverage for that. So that's long-term care insurance or at least making a plan for it. And then the other thing that does start to come into play, especially when it comes to, again, going back to the woman who said, like, hey, we might retire in a year, is I get a lot of questions, especially in a year like this about annuities. And how do I use something like an annuity to protect the income that I need in retirement? Because when that paycheck stops and it's not going to come that next month, literally, what do I do?

 

And annuities can help start to alleviate that because it's an income stream that you can't outlive that doesn't get affected by the stock market or what the Fed does and things like that. So again, there's whole discussions, whole sessions to talk about each one of these things. And I acknowledge that I'm hitting these really, really quick.

 

Getting to that protect part is you might be getting to your first million or your next million. But how do you keep it once you get a little bit closer to your goal? And so that's the way to think about it and try to think about the unforeseen.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: Now I want to look at the chat. I want to look at some of the questions that are coming in because we want this to be as interactive as possible. And so we want to tackle some of these as well. So Ryan, I want to ask-- this was actually one of my favorite ones-- what are the biggest mistakes that you see people making when it comes to creating and managing their financial plans?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: This week or in general? I would say this is the last week--

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: You pick.

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: OK. So no. So one is not getting started, just like sticking your head in the sand and saying, I'm just not going to do it at all. That's a mistake. Two is having an emotional reaction to what happens in the stock market. It's really the emotions that can really get in the way.

 

And again, I don't want to diminish it because it's hard. I am not saying it is easy to stay invested. It's as much a stomach game as it is a head game from that point of view. So I guess a mistake I would say is not-- here's how I would say it.

 

When I meet with clients, I actually in the good times have them visualize what it can potentially be. Like let's journey back to what it would have been like if you retired right into 2008, or what an opportunity it would have been if you were 43 in 2008 and starting to invest.

 

And I actually see [? Sharita ?] said, is it too late to start savings at 43? Girl, I'm going to be 43. We're young. We have time. [? Sharita, ?] yes, please start saving.

 

So it sort of depends on where you are, but not planning, sticking your head in the sand, not visualizing this, those are some of the mistakes that I actually would start with. I don't know if you have a different answer, Alex.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: No, no, actually, I kind of want to build up on that because sometimes it is about the mindset around what we have going on around our financial plan or how we feel about that financial plan. So do you have any tips that you share with your clients about how to stay positive, even in periods of volatility?

 

RYAN VIKTORIN: Yeah, I mean, I do think that if we think about the financial news cycles, they are designed to sensationalize what's going on. And just to come out and say it, like they're looking for views. They want you to tune in. They want you to be wrapped up in it. They're actually not necessarily trying to make you better investors, specifically.

 

So I guess, what did the kids say these days? Touch grass. Or we just say, take a breath, maybe turn it off. People like me have to keep it on so we get to know what's going on. We can know this. So call us if you have any sort of question.

 

If you have an advisor, call them. You are absolutely fine to say, hey, I just need you to talk to me for a second. And I got an email today from one of my clients that said, I know I shouldn't do anything, and I won't. But I just kind of need to hear your voice. I just need to hear you say that I'm going to be OK.

 

And the reason I can say that is because we've done the planning. So it's like, revisit your plan, take a breath, try to try to turn off all the news and the social media. I know it's really hard, but try to back up from it a little bit.

 

ALEXANDRA ROCA: I completely understand that. I mean, even being in the industry, you read or watch some of that and you start getting nervous as if you didn't have all of the years of experience that you have.

 

I like to think of it-- and let me know if you think the same way, Ryan. I like to think of the advisor as the little plastic covering around the panic button. So before you press the panic button, just call your advisor. Just have that plastic protecting that panic.

 

Now, today was wonderful. Ryan, thank you so much for chatting with me, for being such a great fountain of information, for everything that you've shared with us today. I know that we covered a lot.

 

But we're going to have a slide that we're going to put up. I actually see it. It's up. It goes over all of our upcoming events. And it's also going to remind you how you can get help right away. Together, we can figure out what your next best step is.

 

To all of you watching, I want to thank you again for joining. And we'll see you again next month. Have a great day.