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ALEX ROCA: Hello. And thank you for joining Women Talk Money. My name is Alex Roca, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Welcome to our back-to-school two-part series. If you missed last week on spending, saving, and paying down debt, you'll be able to catch the replay on YouTube. Today is lesson two, focusing on investing fundamentals. So whether you're just looking to get started, or you want to brush up on the basics, you've made it to the right place. With me today are two Fidelity panelists, Sasha Heathman, a workplace financial consultant out of the Chicago area, and Dani Stadelmann. She's an investment consultant in the Massachusetts area. I am so glad that you're both here with us today. There's a lot that we're going to cover in today's conversation. So we're going to jump right in. Sasha, investing can feel like a lot. So what's something that you wish you knew before you even started investing?
SASHA HEATHMAN: Sure. So something I wish I knew is really the importance of getting started. The earlier the better, but there's no wrong place to start. And really utilizing the power of compounding interest, which I can really relate to my clients, because growing up, money was never a topic that we talked about. And I worked so many jobs in my teenage years. But by the time I graduated from college, I really had nothing to show for it but a ton of student loan debt. So what I really didn't understand was that even with small amounts, it really has the potential to add up over time. And it can be discouraging early on when you only have so much to save, and then you see your balance, then you compare that to the things that you're aspiring for, or your financial goals. It just doesn't feel possible. But every little bit does count. And it's really when you're looking back that you can actually see that. So investing can really be a great way to help you achieve your goals. And as we like to say, it's a way for you to make your money work as hard as you do.
DANI STADELMANN: I'll actually add to that, Sasha. That was really well said. Investing can be so overwhelming, especially if you've never done it before. I mean, there's so much jargon, different terms. And let's face it, there's a lot of risk involved. So what I would say is I never want that
to stop anybody really from getting started. And I think that's what paralyzes us up front. It's all about taking some time up front to really feel comfortable just with the basics so that you can then learn over time more of the education that will help you be successful. And by the way, that's why Sasha and I are here. We are here to help our clients with a lot of the terminology and decisions that you may have ahead.
ALEX ROCA: That's perfect. Get comfortable with the basics. The good news is that's our goal today, to help you with exactly that. So what else should you keep in mind before you get started? Sasha, let's start with you.
SASHA HEATHMAN: Yes. So in the spirit of learning and education, we are in our Back to Basics series. Building off last week's event on saving and paying down debt, you want to make sure that you've built that solid financial foundation, and you feel secure in your day-to-day expenses. And that really helps you feel more prepared to be able to plan beyond that, beyond your student loan payment, or beyond paying your electric bill. So we have a little slide to give you a refresher on what that means. And first, here's a hierarchy of financial priorities to, again, really build that financial foundation. So you always want to pay down your high-interest debt, which is usually credit cards. And you always want to make sure you pay those minimum payments to stay on time. Then ideally, we want to have that emergency fund. So if something were to go awry, you want to make sure that you're not going to fall further into debt to try and overcome an emergency.
And ideally, you want three to six months of your essential expenses. But if you don't have an emergency fund yet, start small. Start your goal small. Give yourself a $500 goal, then push yourself to 1,000. Then keep going until you've hit that three-to-six-month mark. You also want to make sure you're consistently contributing to your employer retirement plan, your 401(k), or 403(b) if you do have access to that. You always want to make sure you're at least getting your full employer match. Ideally, just like with our emergency fund goal, set it small, and then keep on working towards a higher goal. So set your minimum is your employer match, if you have one, and then keep working towards that 15% guideline. And then speaking of goals, usually, when we think of investing, right, we jump right into, what should we invest in? Mutual funds, stocks. But it's really important to start with what you're investing for. What is your financial intention? What's your goal behind wanting to invest? And Dani mentioned previously, right, investing involves risk. So what are you taking risks for? And that will really help build your confidence that when you see your balance go up and down along the way, you know what the end goal is.
ALEX ROCA: I think that's so powerful, Sasha. With that in mind, Dani, what questions should you be asking yourself if you are interested in investing?
DANI STADELMANN: Yes, I think there's probably a lot of questions our audience have. But really start with the key five questions. Start with your why. Why are you seeking out the help from an advisor? Or why are you saving? What is that intent? as Sasha said. And what are you investing for? Next would be the timeline. When do you think you might need to use this money? So you don't have to have an exact date. But really, is it a few years? Or are we talking about decades?
Next would be, how much money do you have to start with? So you can start investing with as little as $1.00. But some investments do have minimums, and that's something you have to consider. So decide on how much you're going to start investing from the onset. And then that's probably going to have some role in the choices that you may make moving forward.
And then how comfortable are you with risk? So when you think about your savings, what is that gut feeling, or that tolerance, for the ups and downs in the market? That's something that's really important to be sharing with your advisor or yourself, and just really getting that right. And then lastly, are you looking to do this on your own? Or are you looking to have some professional help. So there are a few ways, different ways, to invest.
And you can pick individual stocks, bonds, you can invest in mutual funds, or ETFs, Exchange-Traded Funds. You can also explore the digital investment management. Or you can also hire a professional money manager. So it really depends on how involved you're looking to be with your portfolio. And if you are looking to pick individual stocks, you first need to really learn about researching those stocks, building a diversified portfolio, and so much more. These are things, and education, that we will obviously provide our clients. It is doable. I have a lot of self-directed clients. But it can take a lot of time.
So really just kind of button down, do I really have the will to do this, the skill to do this, and more importantly, the time? And it's not impossible. It is a full-time job to manage your portfolio for the long haul. People do it every day, and they're very successful. And a lot of times, we can come to the table with guidance and resources to help our self- directed investors be very successful. And the other option is you can look into professional investment management. And a professional like myself, or Sasha, we can help you with that decision.
ALEX ROCA: Now I know that we're going to talk a little bit more about investing options later on. So let's just stay in the classroom for now. Dani, you touched on risk. A term that we hear often when we talk about investing is risk tolerance. So, Sasha, can you tell us a little bit more about this?
SASHA HEATHMAN: Sure. So yeah. Dani mentioned earlier, investing has a whole lot of new terminology and jargon. But I'm so glad that you all are here for it. So I'm going to pull up a nice little visual so that we can see a few of those terms. So specifically, risk tolerance, it's really about how comfortable you are with seeing your balance go up and down. Right? Investing involves risk, risk of gain, risk of loss, there's uncertainty, and there is possibility that you might lose money while investing.
And so in general, the more risk you're willing to tolerate, the larger the potential investment gains. And right, you're that much closer to accomplishing your financial goals. But also, right, have to see both sides of it, that with gains also can come losses. But really, your comfort level with the two can pay off when you look at investing for the long term.
So to help balance, right, the risk of loss, and then also potential reward, you can spread out that risk among your investment choices. And there's two investment concepts on the screen that I want to point out that can help with managing that risk. And those two terms are on the far right, asset allocation and diversification.
So asset allocation simply means the combination of investment types, the combination of stocks, bonds, and cash, that you design either through a mutual fund, or as Dani mentioned, as a self-directed investor. But it's your combination of those different investment types to help create the potential reward or desired outcome in terms of investment returns.
Then we look at the other term. Right below it is called diversification, which diversification simply means, spreading your money within those different investment types. And here's where that term, don't put all your eggs in one basket fits in. So by investing, so specifically, let's talk about stocks, for example. By investing across different companies, different industries, countries, size of the companies, you can really have a greater potential for growth because your overall portfolio isn't dependent on that one hen, or that one investment type, or stock.
Now neither of these ensure profit, or guarantee against loss. But again, it can help smooth out that ride on your financial journey so that at the end of the day, you are on the right track to accomplish your financial goals.
ALEX ROCA: That's great, Sasha. And actually, I want to dig in just a little bit more here. How would you determine what the right asset allocation is for you?
SASHA HEATHMAN: So there's several factors that can help an investor determine which investment mix, or asset allocation, makes sense. The easiest factor to identify is time. And Dani had mentioned that earlier. One big question to ask yourself is, right, what's your time frame? So the sooner that you need your money, then the less risk you want to take, because you want to remove some of that uncertainty of, will I hit my goal, or will I not?
And then vice versa, the further away you are from needing your money, then the more risk that you may want to take so that you have that greater growth potential, and can accomplish your financial goal a little bit sooner. So time is a really easy indicator. But some other factors to consider would be, of course, your comfort level with that. So risk tolerance. What is your actual financial goal, your overall financial picture, and then maybe even age if you're investing for something like retirement.
So choosing your investment mix, or again, that asset allocation, it is one of the most important decisions you're going to make. And then this chart here, it does illustrate, number one, investing, but then, of course, investing at the right level of risk that you feel comfortable with, and then, of course, that your goal requests of you.
So as you can see here, just from left to right, the sooner you need your money, the more to the left you want to be, and then vice versa. So I do want to focus your attention on the bottom half of this chart, because it does illustrate investing involves risk, risk of gain, risk of loss.
And so when you look at the worst and the best 12 month, this is exactly why being mindful of your time frame is important. So an emergency fund, you wouldn't want that to drop below your current balance because if your car gets towed, I live in Chicago, if your car gets towed, you need $600 to get it out. You don't want to have to sell a stock or something and then not have the $600.
And then vice versa. Right? So a five-year time frame. The further out you are from needing your money, the more risk that you could take for that higher growth potential. And so everyone's situation is different. And we all have different comforts with seeing our balance go up and down. So please don't be afraid to ask for help. This is a topic that Dani and I talk about with our clients every single day. And depending on how your different investments perform over time, your investment mix will likely change. Or your goals might change. Your life circumstances might change.
So it's always important for you to review your asset allocation periodically to make sure that your investment choices still align with your goals and preferences.
ALEX ROCA: Yes, life happens. Right? And when life happens, we have to look at the plan again. I completely understand that. OK, so once we have an understanding of what our goals are, what our timeline looks like, and more or less, what our risk tolerance could be, Dani, how do you go about actually choosing an account?
DANI STADELMANN: Yeah, that's a great question, Alex. You'll want to pick an account really that's going to align with your goals. I have a slide here that could really help. So we've really broken it out into four big, or key, categories by goal.
There are so many different IRA options for saving outside of your employer retirement plan, so that's one. For general investing, trading, you might consider the Fidelity Brokerage Account. You also have for qualified medical expenses, you could consider an HSA, which is a Health Savings Account if you are a participant in a high-deductible health plan.
And then for kids, if you have children, there are a number of options such as 529s for education. There's also the Fidelity Youth Account where they can get started right at age 13. So you can scan the QR code below to take a quick quiz. And that'll help you decide. Don't forget about Sasha and I. We are also here to help you make that decision.
ALEX ROCA: OK, so after you've determined the right account based on your specific goal, what comes next, Dani?
DANI STADELMANN: Yeah, so next, you'll have to fund the account. So here at Fidelity, you can link your bank account. Nice and easy. Everything's digital. You can transfer money anytime back and forth between Fidelity and your bank. And you can also set up automatic deposits if you wish if that's something that would help keep you simplified, keep your finances simplified for you.
But keep in mind when you do add money into any account here at Fidelity, that generally does not mean that it's going to get invested just yet. So in many accounts, the money is automatically held in cash, and that's likely in a money market. Or you can choose an FDIC sweep or deposit holding. You have to take also the next step and invest those dollars into an investment like a mutual fund, an exchange-traded fund, or ETF stock, or a bond of your choosing.
And that really will bring me to what comes next. So using the money that you've deposited into your account to actually buy these investments. Now if you're a do-it-yourselfer, and there's lots of you out there, here's an example on this slide of what buying an investment or placing a trade at Fidelity really looks like. So in order to place the trade, it's really as first, you want to choose what type of investment. Is it a stock? Is it a mutual fund?
Second, you want to choose the account that you would like to place the trade in, and that you want to buy the investment in. Third is you would put in the symbol, or the ticker, for that position. And then next, you decide if you're going to do dollars or shares. How do you want to purchase it? And make that selection.
And this is an actionable buy. Right? You're buying the investment. So when using the trading tool, that's what you would choose. And then of course, you would just be able to then review, or preview, your order before submitting it, and placing it. There are other things, too, where you can choose if it's going to be a market order or a limit order. So sometimes, a lot of this, clients just want to go through directly with one of us here. That's available to you locally in your branches. We can show you how to do this, walk you through it.
ALEX ROCA: I appreciate that, Dani. In fact, we're going to place a link in the chat right now. It's basically our step-by-step guide on how to trade stocks and ETFs at Fidelity. So even though Dani did a fantastic job explaining that, if you want that step-by-step guide, you have it in the chat.
Now let's talk a little bit more about selecting and buying an investment, and some of the common types of investments that people can consider. Sasha, can you help explain that a little more?
SASHA HEATHMAN: Sure. So this is the part of investing, and saving, and investing towards a goal that can feel very overwhelming because there is a lot of choice. So you have mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETFs, thousands that you can select from. But I want you to that investing can be as simple or as complicated as you personally want to make it. And again, you are not alone in figuring out what makes sense for you. But at Fidelity, we are huge on financial empowerment and education, which is why we're here. So I do want to talk about three, three investment types that we get asked about the most. And that's stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds, or abbreviated, it's called ETFs.
So a stock is just a share of ownership of a company. So owning one does involve both the potential risk and reward. But it is based on the performance of that particular company. And a well-renowned investor, Peter Lynch, used to say, buy what you know. So think about some of the products that you use in your everyday life. And if you want to research individual stocks, those are great companies to start with, because you are already a customer of those products. So why not also become the owner of those products?
So buying individual stocks one by one, it can take a lot of research. They have to report quarterly earnings. There are a few other details about the company that you'll want to pay attention to. And then it also is important to build up a diversified account. Remember, we talked about don't put all your eggs in one basket. And really, due to the time, and research, potential risks of any one company, new investors who are just getting started may want to look at some other options that kind of put together baskets of either individual stocks or baskets of individual investment types.
So if you want to explore other investments that can kind of help alleviate some of that research from you, that's exactly what a mutual fund, or an ETF can do for you. And so a common question I get in appointments is, right, what's the difference? So let's first define, what is a mutual fund? What is an ETF? Both are professionally-selected baskets of investments. That can include a combination of stocks, bonds, and other securities just like that asset allocation concept we talked about. Some can be exclusively stock, exclusively bonds.
And when you buy one share of a mutual fund or an ETF, you are buying, again, shares in a portfolio of investments that were selected by a mutual fund manager. So by definition, a mutual fund, an ETF, it does invest in multiple investment types to add that extra layer of diversification.
So we'll first elaborate a little bit more on mutual funds. And so mutual funds, there are two main styles, if you will. So there are what's called, actively-managed mutual funds, and then passively-managed mutual funds, which I'm sure everyone has heard the term, index funds. That is the same thing as a passively-managed mutual fund. So an actively-managed mutual fund means that you have a financial professional mutual fund manager doing the research, paying attention to those quarterly earnings, forward looking what new innovations are individual companies coming out with, and how are their customers going to receive that information.
So mutual fund managers and their teams. So it's not any one person. It's a team effort, which is why, right, it takes a lot of time and energy to do research. But those mutual fund managers and their teams carefully select all of the investments within the fund. And they do adjust the holdings, or the stocks that they buy within their fund, in response to real-time trends, events, legislation, if you will, in an attempt to outperform the market.
So actively-managed mutual funds, because they are actively engaged in real-time information. They do tend to have higher expense ratios than their counterparts, which again, are called index funds or passively-managed funds.
So an index fund, that's where a portfolio manager simply picks investments to mirror an index, or mirror the composition and performance of that specific index, like the S&P 500, which is simply a grouping of the 500 biggest companies in America. Now because index funds are simply mirroring the index, the expense ratios tend to be lower.
So in a nutshell, those are two key styles that you can look for with mutual funds. And then with ETFs, those have the same kind of diversification. They also are, some are actively managed, some are passively managed. But a key difference between an ETF and a mutual fund is how they are traded, which all that means, Dani showed you what's called the trade ticket, which is where you actually buy your investments within your account.
An ETF can be bought and sold throughout the day, just like an individual stock can, whereas mutual funds, they only trade once per day. So if you were to buy a mutual fund at 9:00 AM, you actually wouldn't be buying it-- well, 9:00 AM Central. I forgot, we have viewers from everywhere. 9:00 AM Central. Then it wouldn't be until 3:00 PM Central that your mutual fund purchase would be going through.
So it's really about how active that you want to be in the day-to-day buying and selling of your investment choices. But yes, ETFs mutual funds, very similar in the diversification front. It's really going to be on that trade flexibility that can really help steer you one way or another, or a combination of all. And then as I mentioned earlier, this is where investing can get intimidating, because there's thousands of choices to choose from. But Fidelity has a ton of tools that are accessible to you.
A mutual fund selector tool, for example, you can go in and just plug in some criteria. Plug in your criteria, and that'll really help narrow down your choices.
ALEX ROCA: I appreciate that, Sasha. Because that's exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking, that sounds like a lot of options. And we only talked about three investment types. So what else can we do to try to narrow down those options?
SASHA HEATHMAN: Yes. So number one is just, start with, again, your why. Dani mentioned, what are some questions to ask yourself before you jump into investing? What's your goal? Because once you know what you're investing for, and the timeline, then your next step is, what's your asset allocation that you're looking for? And then once you have your asset allocation, then we can dive into what specific investment types are we going to put together to create that strategy.
And so as I mentioned earlier, we do have at Fidelity a research tool called the mutual fund selector. And you can narrow down that list of 8,000, and narrow it down based on the investment purpose of that fund. So an investment purpose is called a fund objective. So a fund objective could be, seeks total return until target date, or seeks total return with the largest 500 companies in America. Those are just a couple of examples. Something else, especially if you're nearing retirement, could be to provide inflation protection and income. So to give you a little bit a idea of what that means, two criteria, or objectives, to use as an example, many of you might have heard of target date funds, because they are often used when someone is investing toward a particular date, like retirement. And you very well could see a target date fund inside your retirement plan, like a 401(k) and 403(b).
And something I forgot to mention earlier is that if you already have a 401(k), a 403(b), or even a self-employed IRA, you're already an investor. You're already investing your money.
And so with a target date fund, the objective there is they start off more aggressive, or more stock heavy, the further away we are from that date. And then the more conservative that one mutual fund becomes, as we get closer and closer to that specific date, because it already knows you're nearing, specifically retirement if you're using it for that goal.
Another example of criteria that you could search for within the mutual fund selector is a target allocation fund, which again, if you want to just invest at a certain level of risk, but maybe you don't have the time, or the energy, to do all the research involved in selecting stocks or ETFs, then instead of using a date as a goal, you could use your comfort level with risk.
So if you're someone who has been hesitant to invest because of the market ups and downs, or because you're intimidated because there's so much choice, then utilizing one of these simplified investment choices, or maybe even starting off, excuse me, with a conservative investment strategy, may make sense.
And then on the flip side, if you're comfortable with market ups and downs and you're aiming for that potential more aggressive returns, then you can definitely pick a strategy for that. There's really something for every type of investor.
ALEX ROCA: So Dani, I want to bring it back to you because you mentioned earlier that there are options for those of us that don't want to pick and choose our own investments, for whatever the reason. Maybe we don't have the time or we don't really know how to. Can you walk us through those options?
DANI STADELMANN: Sure. So the first, I think, that's most important for us to understand the difference between financial planning, which is what I do every single day, and professional investment management, which is not what I do every single day. So I work with clients basically to co-create a solid financial plan. And that really is to give them the utmost peace of mind and confidence for today and the road ahead.
And by the way, that's at no additional cost to you as a Fidelity customer. So depending on a customer's situation, I may also bring in a matter expert, a subject matter expert, depending on where the conversation is leading, so that we ensure that our clients have the crystal clear understanding of any decisions that they may have to make or next steps that they have to take.
Sometimes, my clients, they may want to manage some of their money on their own, or all of their money on their own. So in that case, a professional like me can help them figure out what exactly they're going to need for support here at Fidelity. This is also where professional investment management might also come in if there is an opportunity or a desire for the client where they don't want to do all the work themselves, and they would prefer to delegate that work to a Fidelity professional investment manager.
So generally, there are going to be advisory fees that's going to be associated with professional management. Now I would say for just a general definition of a managed account, this is basically where you will open and fund an account. But all of the investment decisions will be made on your behalf. So you're really not having to do all the research, and the trading, et cetera. So you'll just fund the account, someone else will handle it for you, all the investing.
And then, we have had, there was an event recently about what goes on behind the scenes when you have a managed account. So we'll link that replay in the chat. So if you wanted to take a look at that. But basically, there's two main types of managed accounts. What we have is digital advice, or we also have access to advisors, such as myself.
There is no one size fits all. It is very hard to outgrow Fidelity. So we have solutions and we have advisors for all levels of clients. Now the digital experience, you may have heard of this. It was called, robo advising. So that's a digital advisor. We do offer that. And some offer a hybrid approach with access to advisors. And one of the things, our digital option here at Fidelity, that's called Fidelity Go. So you will see that if you do pop that into the fidelity.com search tool. There's no minimum to open up this account. And you can even get invested for as low as $10.
Professional management, this is where you will broaden your relationship. Right? So now, you'll have access to a team of advisors. I actually sit on a team locally here in Massachusetts. And you will have that one-on-one relationship working with that dedicated advisor and their team. And they're going to work on an investment.
They will work directly with the investment team to help you reach your goals. So one of the great things I would say about Fidelity is that as you grow, we have a robust offering to help you grow, and help you grow successfully. So all you have to do is just give us a call. We can help you figure that out. And Sasha and I, we help so many clients in this way.
ALEX ROCA: How often should you be checking in? What should you be looking for when you do check in? Dani, can you answer that?
DANI STADELMANN: Yeah, that's actually really good questions. I would say, how you monitor and manage your investments is really going to depend on the type of investments that you've made, or you have. So if you're someone who's picking stocks, you're probably going to be reviewing your investments a lot more heavily. With mutual funds, and ETFs, as Sasha was explaining earlier, these are a basket of investments inside of the fund.
You might be checking maybe more on a quarterly basis for that. If you're someone who's investing in a specific goal outside of retirement, such as a down payment on your first home, maybe you have an upcoming wedding, an annual review might be more appropriate, just so that we can build that into your financial plan so that you still have the success moving forward.
And I would say, too, just, like you had asked yourself questions before beginning to invest, if you remember those five key questions at the beginning of this webinar, when you check in, consider asking yourself these extra questions. Do your accounts still feel like the right fit for your goals? Are your investments diversified? Because that is really important. And are you comfortable with the risk level? Sometimes, that just needs to be tweaked or adjusted.
And if you're a do-it-yourselfer or a self-directed, when it comes to investing, does it still feel right? Does it still feel like a good fit? Is this how you want to spend your time moving forward? It is doable. I will say it's a full-time job to manage a portfolio, your own savings. But managing your own portfolio, that will, skill, and time that it takes, we can educate you. And any advisor here can educate you on how to be successful. And if you're still feeling uncertain, we can help with that too.
ALEX ROCA: I appreciate that. Absolutely. We're running up on time. So I want to ask, because this feels like a lot sometimes. So let's talk about the additional small moves that we can make today that could still make a meaningful difference in the long run. Sasha, what would you suggest?
SASHA HEATHMAN: Getting started with what you have. You don't need a lot of money to get started with investing. You can start with as little as a dollar. And we have a slide that really illustrates that, the power of small amounts, the power of 1%. So as you can see here, compounding growth means you start off small, and then you let your money do the heavy lifting for you. Don't get me wrong, you're still saving. You have an active part in it. But right? Your investment choices definitely help give you that lift. So get started.
ALEX ROCA: What about you, Dani? What would you say is the focus?
DANI STADELMANN: The strong focus is absolutely, don't wait. It's definitely, let's get moving. Take action when you can. And I would say, there's never a better time than now. So that would be my advice.
ALEX ROCA: Absolutely. And sometimes, it's not just about how much you're investing, but how often. So making sure that you automate those savings, and that you stay consistent with that investment strategy that you decide to move forward with. So thank you for sharing that. I do want to ask, just in general, what would you say is your top lesson that you would want people to take away from our session today? Dani, let's start with you.
DANI STADELMANN: Don't wait. Don't let yourself get paralyzed. Please call us. Let us help you. And I will say very, very vulnerably here, there was a time before I studied for my licenses to come into this industry, and be able to help more people with the fears I used to have. So it's not intimidating once you sit down with an advisor like Sasha and I, where we will break things down for you. You will understand. And our ultimate goal is to help you have more peace of mind and confidence for the road ahead.
ALEX ROCA: Thank you for that, Dani. And Sasha, what would you say?
SASHA HEATHMAN: I would say start with your why. So even when the road gets bumpy, if you will, the markets are volatile, you can see your account balance up one day, down another. But when you think about what the purpose is, thinking about your why, staying focused on what the money is for, that can really help you stay the course. And then, of course, if you need any support, or you just need that reassurance, hey, have I made the right decisions? Dani gave a lot of great self-reflection questions to think about.
Remember, you're not alone in figuring it out. Advisors like me and Dani, we can help you along the way so that you feel confident that you're on the right track.
ALEX ROCA: Absolutely. And I want to make a comment before we wrap up, because a comment that we get quite often in every single one of the sessions, and the questions that are submitted before the sessions, we hear this question time and time again. Is it too late? And the answer is, no, it's not. It's never too late. Yes, it would have been great had you started at 22, but most of us don't. So just start today, wherever you are, whether that's a call to someone like Dani or Sasha, whether that's just downloading the presentation to give yourself a checklist to go through.
Just start where you are, and you'll be better than if you didn't start at all. So Sasha, Dani, thank you so much for everything that you shared today. We have a slide that we're going to pull up in just a moment here. It's going to share some of the upcoming events. And it also has a QR code to remind you how else you can get help.
And make sure that you share with a friend or a family member so that they can get in on the conversation as well. If you haven't already, make sure to join the community. So scan that QR code, download the calendar holds for the upcoming events, and we'll see you again soon. That's a wrap. Dani, Sasha, thank you again. And thank you all for watching, for joining. I hope you have a great day.