As a Christian, Should I Incorporate Tithing into My Budget? What is Tithing? Let’s start with “what is tithing?” The word "tithe" comes from an Old English root meaning "one-tenth." The tithe was an offering of one's income to the Lord as an expression of thanks and dedication. The funds were used in the Old Testament as a means of taking care of the priests, the Levites, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widows (Numbers 14:28-29). Today, it is common for the church to use these funds to take care of their pastoral staff, programs at the church such as nursery and outreach programs, missions, and providing help to those that need it, both inside and outside the church. Should I Tithe and How Much? So, do I have to tithe as a Christian? The short answer is probably, which is likely not the definite answer you were looking for. Like anything, this is more of a heart issue than a letter of the Law. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (NIV) states, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” As the passage states, how much to give is what the Holy Spirit impresses on your heart to give. As mentioned before, Tithe means one-tenth in Old English. So, 10% is the typical amount. Where Does Your Tithe Go? We have already covered what your tithing is used for normally, but how do you know what your funds are actually being used for? Every church is different in terms of how to handle and distribute the funds. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure there are checks and balances at your church. Just because we are being led to give does not mean to give vicariously. If we are being negligent with our offerings, we give way to fraud and corruption within the body of Christ. There are multiple ways to gather more information when giving to prevent this. Make sure more than one person is handling the finances As an example, at my church we have a person that pays the bills and payroll, multiple people that count the donations, distribute them to different departments or deposit the funds and a treasurer that oversees the budget and expenses but does not personally engage in transactions in either field previously mentioned. Ask Questions Where does my money go to? Can I make sure this specifically goes to a field I want it to go to? If it is a generic giving, how are the funds used? Make sure to attend a budget meeting when your church has one This meeting should be annually and go over the expenses and budget report. It is the result of the previous year and what the next year’s proposal will be. If your church does not have one, maybe it is time to bring this up. We need to hold each other accountable. Personal Benefits to Tithing Although your motivation to give should not be “how will this benefit me”, you do get tax deductions if your church operates solely for religious and educational purposes. The donations you make to your church throughout the year can be deducted from your taxes only if you itemize your expenses on Schedule A when you file your personal tax return. To use Schedule A, your total itemized deductions must exceed the standard deduction for your filing status. If the standard deduction provides a greater tax benefit, your church donations won't offer any additional tax savings. However, you can deduct those donations in the next five tax years that you choose to itemize deductions. Summary Jesus Christ left this to his Disciples, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). Going, telling, baptizing, and teaching takes money—money God provides by giving you and me the talents and abilities to earn money to care for our families and His church. If you are a Dave Ramsey follower, you know that in Baby Step 4 you are to save 15% in retirement. If you add 10% tithe on top, your budget already has 25% allocated. Some people simply cannot afford that. 10% is not the hard law, but you should give what you can afford to give. Think of the widow that gave her last copper coins to God. “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you; this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-44).

Every year my family, including my siblings' families and my mom, take a week and head down to the beaches of South Carolina (Hilton Head, to be exact) and spend a week swimming, beaching, dining, exploring, and doing all the things that make a wonderful family vacation. One thing I enjoy is the relaxation of sitting in the pool, floating around, and reading a book I've wanted to get into but didn't hit the "must read" list during the year. This week, I went through a book titled, What The Happiest Retirees Know by Financial Advisor and author Wes Moss. Before you go out and buy this book, read to the end of this article for my summary of some of the most critical points and learn how you could receive a free copy from Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers. Retirement is something most people aspire to do. Even those who love their work and have a passion for what they do would enjoy chasing other core pursuits at some point in their life. I get great satisfaction from helping teach people about investing, retirement, and creating a plan to blend all of those. However, there will be a day where I'll enjoy playing with grandkids, joining a pickleball team, traveling with my beautiful bride, volunteering with my church, or the myriad of other things that one's brain would go to when their career is over. Just as Dave Ramsey tells us, doesn't that mean we owe it to ourselves to learn the best practices of what successful and, more importantly, happy retirees know? This article and Wes's book will give you an excellent glimpse into some of the best practices of a happy retiree. Below are the top five things I learned from his article from the 2,000 retirees Wes Moss interviewed in this study. Live Within 2 Hours of at Least Half Your Children What I most enjoyed about this book is it looked at the financial and non-financial traits of those that quantify their retirement as enjoyable or happy. This was one trait that stuck out to me. The average happy retiree had 2.5 children and lived within 2 hours of at least half of them. Think about the rationale here. You live in Ohio, and your children (and just as essential grandchildren) live in Florida. Those first steps, the kindergarten graduation, the dinners on the weekend together, and on and on. These are irreplaceable memories, and while no single trait was a single determinate that you were or weren't going to be happy in retirement, this particular trait struck me. Retirees struggled with the thought of packing up their life and moving to be closer to their kids. They felt they'd intrude on their children's lives, but the exact opposite was true. In many cases, your children would welcome your retirement years being closer to them, to the extent it doesn't create unnecessary financial burdens on your retirement. As a result of this information, count your blessings if at least half your children live close and if they don't, perhaps count on the cost of creating a little less separation between your families. Have at least $500,000 in Liquid Retirement Savings I know what some of you say: "John-Mark, I don't need that much, or I need so much more than that." Yes, both statements can be accurate based on your unique situation, but on average, this amount of retirement assets provided the highest level of satisfaction. Interestingly, when Wes did his study, as your assets went higher than $500,000, there was a diminishing level of happiness happening, which means he didn't find having $750,000 or $1,000,000 makes someone any happier than the retiree that has $500,000. Consider why this could be the case if you have $500,000 in retirement assets that would, on average, generate about $2,000 in income each month without touching the principal. Again, this is an average because, as we all know, from 2022, the stock market also has negative years. $2,000 from your portfolio each month, maybe $2,000 from one spouse's Social Security and $1,000 from another spouse's Social Security, and you're staring down the barrel of $5,000 in monthly income. If you live the Dave Ramsey lifestyle and have no payments to anyone in the world, this can usually provide a baseline lifestyle that is pretty enjoyable. Of course, some people want and need more income, and those people would need to save more, but on average, the highest level of happiness in the study in terms of retirement assets was $500,000. Speaking of not having any payments in the world, as we live the Dave Ramsey lifestyle….. Have Paid Off Their Mortgage or Will Soon My favorite retirement line is that "it's a pretty basic equation; it's all about making your income (Social Security Retirement, investments, pension) equaling your expenses (living expenses, debt, taxes, etc.). The less expense you have, the less stress you put on the asset (income) side of the equation. Therefore, we should eliminate as many expenses as possible before retirement. You could eliminate lifestyle expenses such as your gym membership, vacation sinking fund, or something similar, but who wants to do that before retirement? Let's instead stop giving the bank our hard-earning money in retirement or as soon as possible. The mortgage is your single largest monthly expense, and removing it from your life should be a major priority and "must do" before retirement. If you're wondering about how to ensure you have your mortgage paid off before you retire, talk to your Financial Advisor at Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers, who can run a rapid mortgage payoff calculation, telling you the exact amount of extra dollars you should allocate towards the mortgage each month to ensure it's paid off before you enter the green pastures of retirement. As Dave says, when you pay off the mortgage, the grass will feel different in the backyard! Have at least 3.6 Core Pursuits The Wall Street Journal did an article a few years ago that made the case that retirement is killing you. What!?!!?!? The reality is if you cut off all your social networks and remove any semblance of exercise and daily movement, then you probably are setting yourself up for a risky health situation. However, the happiest retirees had at least 3.6 core pursuits that they transitioned into when they retired. Wes explains these core pursuits as the "ings." Walking, biking, traveling, volunteering, and boating, they could also be things like starting a band, leatherwork, hunting, and animal adoption. The list is endless. However, the key is retirement should be called REFOCUS, not retirement. You're just starting a time in your life where the thing you spent the last 30 – 40 years doing and perfecting is over, and now you're getting to start over and refocus on a few other passions. The additional side benefit of having at least 3.6 core pursuits is they typically open up your social networks, and the last habit I'll share is ….. Have at least 3.6 Close Connections (AKA Friends) Every topic that Wes studied had, at some point, had a diminishing return. Just as I mentioned in regards to retirement assets, the happiest people had around $500,000. Have less than $500,000 or more than $500,000, you are more likely to be less happy. Having more or less than 3.6 core pursuits, you are likely to be less happy. However, close personal connections or friendships were the one data set that never saw diminishing returns. The more personal connections someone had, the more likely they were to be happy. Even those that are introverts still need people in their life to share life with. It's one reason churches are so focused in today's world on a small group outside of corporate worship. Living life with a group of close connections makes life better, and that includes retirement. If you struggle with creating close personal connections, one idea is to use your core pursuits to develop those connections. If I love to walk, find a local walking group. If I love to play tennis, find a local tennis club. Finding close personal connections with people that enjoy the same things you want will undoubtedly create relationships that are meaningful and impactful. We Are Missional In the book, Wes talks about his goal of helping at least 1 million people retire one year earlier. We want to join him on this mission, which is why we are willing to give you a free copy of this book if you're 50 or older, a client of Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers (or would like to be) and think you'd benefit from hearing about the habits of a happy retiree. We want your retirement years to be your best, not stressful, tedious, or without meaning. Contact your Financial Advisor today to get your free copy.

Common Budget Set-up Questions As a financial coach, I hear some common questions when it comes to setting up a budget, even if someone has been budgeting for years. “I want to start budgeting but besides my monthly housing payment, I am not sure what else I should include. What other things should I include or where do I even start to create my budget items?” “I currently budget for housing, groceries, gas, and utilities. What else do I need to budget for?” “Yeah, I budget every month. I set aside a certain amount for the various items I know I spend on each month. Now, am I supposed to track how much I spend on them then?” So how do you know where to start if you are creating your budget on your own? If you aren’t working with a financial coach, the best place to start is a tool you probably aren’t utilizing properly. Your bank account. How can my bank account help me create my budget? This works best if you aren’t using cash only to pay for things. But every time you use your debit card or credit card (note we suggest and prefer using your debit card over a credit card), your bank account tracks that transaction and logs it for you in your bank statement. It also tracks any payments that you have auto withdrawn each month automatically (which you may or may not have forgotten about). When creating your budget, we suggest reviewing your current bank statement, and the month prior statement to get a full view of what expenses you have either auto withdrawn, written a check for, or charged to a card. This should give you a pretty good picture, but if you want to take it a step further, you can even pull two months prior and review that as well. We call this a “statement autopsy”. This means you are going line item by line item and categorizing them into potential budget line items. Examples not only include gas, groceries, housing, and utilities which are all pretty standard. But you will find spending tendencies you were unaware of or expenses you forgot you were being charged for monthly. Knowledge is power Now that you have a good idea of what you spend every month on things, put that data to work for you. Include all your monthly non-negotiable payments: housing, utilities, student loans, etc. Some of these items will be fixed numbers that don’t change from month to month, but items such as gas and groceries fluctuate monthly. Reviewing the previous months will give you a good idea of how much you are spending on average, and give you a good starting number to insert into your budget for that category item. Next, include any type of subscriptions, eating out, clothing purchases, outdoor expenses, entertainment items, or expenses that seem to be more lifestyle or “fun” things. Follow the same steps as above by adding these as line items to your budget and seeing on average every month how much you are spending in these areas to plan a budgeted amount to keep you accountable for your spending in the following weeks. Again, some of these items, such as subscriptions, may be set in monthly dollar amounts, but reviewing your statement may surprise you on how several of those subscriptions can add up, and quickly to a high dollar amount without you even realizing it. Or you may be getting charged for something monthly that you completely forgot about and no longer use/need. Perhaps the end number you are seeing on how much you spend on eating out monthly makes you want to toss cookies. These could be dollars going toward other items or savings that you didn’t even know about had you not done this exercise. How you set up your budget matters too Remember, it’s not just what you put into your budget, but also how you set it up that is going to make you successful. We always suggest creating a Zero-Based Budget. This means you are taking all of your monthly income (or income for that pay period) and assigning every dollar to a line item leaving you with “0” in the bottom line. This does not mean that you no longer have any money left in the bank or going to savings (because in the savings line, you are hopefully contributing here!), it just means that you have assigned every dollar in your income a “job” for the month. The dollars are either going to savings, housing, utilities, groceries, car payment, eating out, movie nights, etc., etc. Next, you need to TRACK YOUR EXPENSES. I can not stress this step enough. Yes, doing the homework (statement autopsy) and planning your budget column is important, but all that work means nothing if you are not seeing how much you are truly spending in these areas each month. You could be “putting aside” $800 a month towards groceries, but what if you are spending $1000? Or what if you are budgeting for certain amounts each month, but then go over five budgeted amounts (line items) by about $50. That’s $250 you are not accounting for coming out of your income, consistently. This in the end will affect your savings, or how much you can put towards debt. I always tell coaching clients, that there’s no reason to meal plan if you don’t meal prep, and cook the meal you are scheduled to make that night. You have to do all of it to be successful and see results (plan, prep, and then cook the meal). By setting up your budget to include a planned column, and a tracked expenses column, you can set up the third column to calculate if you are over or under your planned amount. This will allow you the ability to go into your budget and adjust amounts accordingly so you don’t go over your monthly income total. Budgets are not cookie cutter Not only is every person’s budget going to be different, but every month’s budget will also change. Just like every month in your life brings something new (birthdays, holidays, vacations, special events, etc.) your monthly budget will have new items added or taken out of it that you will need to adjust for these changes. The foundation of your budget will not change, but you will have fluctuation some months more so in other areas. Being diligent and aware of these upcoming expenses makes you more responsible when planning, which in turn makes you more successful to achieve your goals.

1 Timothy 6: 6-7: “But god liness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Over the past 3 years, contentment has been a hard objective to obtain. If you listen to the news, they would have you believe the world is literally coming to an end. The media continually streams negativity with the constant reminder of the death toll associated with Covid-19, the war between Ukraine and Russia, record inflation, uncontrolled crime, unprecedented climate change, impending recession woes, and the list could continue indefinitely. The objective for Dave Ramsey’s “Real Estate Reality Check” live stream on 7/14/2022, was to inject the American people with some hope in a world immersed in constant negativity and fear. The “Reality Check” started with the facts: 2020 real estate values were up 29%, 2021 real estate values were up 18%, and now in 2022 real estate values are up 8%. Dave Ramsey and many economists remain optimistic for real estate values for 2023, predicting a 3-4% increase for the upcoming year. During the presentation, Dave Ramsey presented information that supported several decades of a steady 3-4% increase in real estate value. Yes, there were some years that exceeded these percentages, and others that did worse (2008), but on average, across the United States, there was always a steady incline. It is important to note that there are certain microeconomic pockets across the U.S.A. where the property values exceed the average yearly percentage increase due to desirable cost of living, favorable politics, and/or fewer Covid restrictions. Conversely, there are small microeconomic pockets throughout the U.S.A. where property values continually decline due to increases in crime and higher costs of living. This information was presented with the desire to paint an overall picture of the housing market facts during a time when the Fed is raising interest rates at a very quick pace. It also addressed that there is rising fear, in so many Americans, that the increased interest rates and inflation will lead to “another 2008.” The message continually injected into the presentation by Dave Ramsey was “We are not going to go through another real estate value decline that was seen 2008.” In history, there has never been positive correlation between increased interest rates leading to an overall decline in real estate values. A graph was presented from the 1970s when interest rates were 17% and still, the real estate values continued to steadily increase. 2008 vs. 2022 Dave Ramsey highlighted several key differences between the 2008 housing value crisis and recession opposed to the current situation facing America. 2008: New housing starts- 2.07 million 3.7 million homes for sale Almost 600,000 homes in foreclosure Less demand for houses due to fewer buyers 55 million gen X in mid 30s Now: New housing starts- 1.38 million Approximately 800,000 homes for sale Less than 100,000 homes in foreclosure Institutional Investors are buying over 25% of the homes in America (closer to 28%) Higher demand for houses due to more buyers 66 million millennials in their mid-30s 12 million more households than 2008 When comparing the information, speculation was offered that what we may see in the housing market is not necessarily a devalue in real estate but a price adjustment. This brings up 2 important terms to define: Value vs. Price. Value is what an appraisal will tell you a piece of real estate is worth. Price is what someone is willing to pay for that particular piece of real estate. With the white-hot housing market over the past 2-years, people have been paying tens of thousands of dollars above the value of a piece of real estate due to the high demand. To reiterate, in 2008 there were 3.7 million homes for sale on the market, now there is an estimated 800,000 homes for sale with millions more buyers wanting to get that dream house. Again, in 2008, more homes for sale, fewer buyers. Today, we have fewer homes on the current market but more buyers. Remaining optimistic for the near future of the real estate market, Dave Ramsey says that he expects the prices to start accurately reflecting the true value of the properties being sold. One possible reason for the price adjustment is the increase in interest rates. On 7/14/2022, when the presentation was given, the 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate was at 5.5%, and 15-year fixed mortgage interest rate was at 4.75%. Dave Ramsey also speculated that the weakened economy and possible pending recession also may bring prices paid for real estate closer to the true appraisal value of the property being purchased. All-in-all Dave Ramsey wants people to relax and not over think the current situation. He concluded the “Real Estate Reality Check” presentation with the following words of advice: If you are in a position to sell, then now is a good time to sell. If you are in a position to buy, then now is a good time to buy. George Kamell concluded with encouraging people to try JOMO (Joy of missing out) instead of basing decision off of FOMO (Fear of missing out). Reviewing Ramsey’s recommendations for buying a home: Debt free with a 3-6-month emergency fund Payments no more than 25% of income 15-year fixed mortgage 10-20% down payment No FHA or VA loans, as they normally have higher fees If you would want to watch the replay of the livestream or see the charts used, visit the Ramsey Solutions Replay Link Here If you would like to discuss how the real estate market may effect your individual situation, please contact one of our Financial Advisors or Financial Coaches today! In addition, if you would like to learn about how to invest in real estate, check out this article by our Chief Investment Officer, John-Mark Young on REITS by clicking here.

How the “little things” can impact your budget Are you really good at not going overboard on the big stuff, and making outrageous purchases when not needed? Or did you hunt around trying to find the cheapest rent and have to forgo on some of the other luxuries maybe another apartment complex was offering to save on the bottom line? What about your car? Are you driving a used car with low monthly payments? Or maybe you already have it paid off? If you can answer yes to any or all of these, that’s great. You are focusing on the big picture, and how big expensive items can alter your overall budget. Now answer me these questions, do you go out once or more a week for lunch and or dinner? Do you have daily coffee runs and purchase a coffee that could range from $3-$8 dollars? What about your impulse buys? Do you find yourself saying you “need” that shirt you saw online because you saw it was on sale? Or did you go down too many aisles at Target and now have a cart full of things you have no idea how they got there now that you are at the register? If you can answer yes to any or all of these, it’s time to take a pause and reevaluate your spending habits. Because maybe you are doing really good at the BIG things, but maybe you are doing REALLY BAD at the little things. And even though they are little, they are the things that could be impacting your budget the most without you even knowing it. Can the little things really be impacting you that much? 100% yes. If you truly start putting numbers to these small items, you can watch them gradually build upon each other over time. Because $5 here doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you over spend $5 here, and $5 there, eventually you will start to end up with things like $50 over your budget in just one week. And if this becomes an unnoticed habit, within a months’ time span, $5 here and $5 there, could potentially be upwards to $200 over budget, again, without you even knowing it. Without putting real numbers to things, I understand how it can all seem like speculation. So that is why we suggest start tracking your spending to see really how much you are spending on these “little things” here and there. Let’s do some loose math, with some hypothetical situations… You get a coffee to treat yourself every Friday. Not just a black, gas station coffee. A nice, fancy coffee with syrups and a fancy name coffee that on average costs you $5.00. Then you go out and grab fast food once a week for lunch for your “cheat day”. On average this could range you from $7-13 depending on what you get. Let’s split the difference and say $10.00. So, in a week’s time span, those two items could be costing your roughly $15.00. On average there’s 4 weeks in a month, meaning you’ve now spent $60 in those “quick treats” for the month. You do that every month for the whole year, and you are looking at $720 in just coffee and lunch once a week. Depending on what you drive or where you live, that could easily be a monthly car payment, or half of a monthly mortgage payment. Not all “little things” add up to be bad things…. sometimes they can be good things Ever head the saying “every little bit helps”? Well that applies to right here. The inverse to spending $5-15 weekly on frivolous things, and saving that money weekly can increase your budget over time. For example, I was talking to a co-worker a few weeks ago, and she mentioned how she is coming to the end of her Invisalign treatment. This was an $83 amount monthly cost. She and her husband are trying to pay off their mortgage and decided to throw that $83 a month onto the monthly mortgage payment. She said, “it’s not like we are accounting for it in our monthly budget to go to food, gas, or other expenses. And it’s not like we feel like we are missing out on something each month by not having it in our budget, so why not?!” Now, I know upfront, $83 doesn’t seem like a huge deal (I’m not saying it’s not something to forget about either), but if you add up the $83 over a year’s time span, that equals out to be $996. Basically $1,000 extra for the year they are now able to put towards their mortgage by not even having to change their lifestyle or budget. It’s all about Opportunity Costs I talk about this a lot in my coaching meetings. Asking yourself, do I want to spend, or put my money towards this item, or do I put it towards this expense or savings? You have to weigh the pros and cons for each expense to what your end goal is. If you’re on Baby Step 2 – your end goal is getting out of debt so that weekly $5 coffee may not feel worth it when it comes time to pay the bills. As a previous supervisor once told me, “You can have one cookie now, or two cookies later”. It’s all how you look at things and how your want to prioritize your outcomes. Being aware is being responsible I’m not saying you can’t treat yourself once in a while, and have the expensive coffee or grab a lunch out, because we all need to live a little and enjoy life. But just be aware of how easily these items can stack up to decrease your cash if you are not being diligent with keeping track. By being aware, you can make smarter impulse purchases.

As a public-school teacher in the great state of Texas, you are aware of the TRS (Teachers’ Retirement System) of Texas. What may not be well know, without research, is the intricacies in terms of planning for retirement. This article will give insight as to what to expect when you reach retirement. In the words of Alice Cooper, “School’s out forever!” The first thing we will look at is the contribution rate per paycheck. The current rate at 7.7% of an individual’s paycheck goes directly to the TRS. So, if your salary is at $55k a year, $4,235 goes to the TRS. If you are a Dave Ramsey follower, you are already half way to your “Baby Step Four” of a 15% towards retirement. How much will you receive as a pension in retirement? Depending on your age and how many years of service, will provide you with an estimate. All of the below calculations are based on a retirement age of 60. This chart looks at the projections based on the a 30 year old. Right now, the average salary for a public-school teacher is $55,000 per year. Therefore, if you are 30 years old and you plan on working 30 years, your pension would be approx. $70,380 per year in retirement. But what if you only work 25 years. Based on starting age of 30, your pension will be $51,750 annually. The pension is calculated by “years of service” x “2.3%” x “Average 5 year salary before retirement.” This chart examines the numbers from the viewpoint of a 40 year old that would retire at age 60. So if you are a 40 year old and are planning on working 30 years in the TRS, you will work 20 more years. The column 25 years of service, assumes you retire at age 60, already had 5 years of service and thus would end with 25 years of service. The column 20 years of service looks at a 40 year with no previous years of service and working until age 60. The column 15 years of service, looks at a teacher with no years of service and only planning working 15 years, until age 60. Notice that 5 years difference in service equals around $9k difference in pension. This chart is the viewpoint of a 50 year old. Same assumptions as above. The age 60 chart is a little different. Because we are looking at age 60 as the retirement year, all of the “Years of Service” is past tensed. That is why the average salary are all the same. Remember, the TRS takes into account the past 5 years salaries and averages them out. So if you make $55k now, you probably averaged $52k in the last 5 years. An important factor is Social Security. According to TRS of Texas, each school district determines whether or not their employees will get social security on top of their pension. So your cash inflow at retirement could be a lot more depending on if this benefit applies to you. Please contact your school district if you are unsure if you have this benefit or not. A benefit that gets overlooked is healthcare after retirement. Your age will determine what your monthly premiums look like and you must have achieved at least 10 years of service. As of today (2022), if you are under age 65, your premium will be $200 a month, or $2,400 annually. If you are over age 65, your premium will be $135 a month, or $1,620 annually. To give you an idea, private health insurance costs almost $9,000 annually (on average). Medicare groups A, B, And J costs, on average, $3,600 a year. Talk about a huge cost savings!

Starting my career in 2007 had its many blessings and challenges. I remember as we headed in the Great Financial Recession (“GFC”), I would be sitting in meetings with the experienced Financial Advisor I was teamed up with, and watching him handle a lot of hard conversations. Two things became clear to me throughout those hard first years: (1) My life verse as a Financial Advisor should be (Matthew 6:34) Therefore don’t be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” and (2) a good Financial Advisor (as was my experienced Financial Advisor at the time) will find opportunities during bad stock market events. One thing, that you should be considering today, if you have any non-retirement investments is a strategy called Tax Loss Harvesting. What Is Tax Loss Harvesting? Tax loss harvesting is the idea that within a portfolio you have some assets that have traded at a gain since their initial investments and some that have traded at a loss (hopefully not many). If you haven’t had the money invested very long and you run into a bear market, then you’re more than likely going to be dealing with many of your funds that are trading at a loss, because they just haven’t had the time to accumulate any gains. To tax loss harvest an account, you would sell the funds at a loss and realize those losses against my income (up to the $3,000 annual limit) or against any other gains I have realized in my portfolio (unlimited). You also have an unlimited carry forward on capital losses that are realized, meaning if I sold investments that had $6,000 worth of losses and no gains to report in a year, I could realize $3,000 in losses in this year and $3,000 in losses in the following tax year. According to Whitaker-Myers Tax Advisors CPA Kage Rush, “Tax Loss Harvesting is an optimal strategy during periods of market declines and can reduce your tax liability or increase your refund, while keeping your money still invested for the eventual market recovery. With a firm like Whitaker-Myers, where we can incorporate tax planning, financial planning and investment management, these types of opportunities can be uncovered and executed.” Won’t I Miss the Eventual Stock Market Recovery? Warren Buffet said it best, “Buy low and sell high”. Data suggests that most investors, “buy high and sell low”. Ouch! When we describe a scenario like the one above, where an investor sells their investment to realize a loss and generate tax benefits for themselves, doesn’t that mean that I, the investor, miss the eventual recovery? The answer to that question (at least within Whitaker-Myers) is NO! The reason being is when an investment is sold to create the tax loss, we then simultaneously buy a similar type of investment, to ensure the portfolio is still optimally built around the risk tolerance of the client and to avoid the most common investor mistake: Buy high, sell low. Effectively, what you’re doing is selling low, to create the tax benefit, while also buying low, to ensure you don’t miss the eventual bounce. Wash-Sale Rule One thing that needs to be understood and planned around is the IRS Rule around wash-sales. The IRS doesn’t want you selling an investment and then buying a “substantially identical” stock or security within thirty days. If your transaction is deemed by the IRS to be a wash-sale then the losses could be made null and void (in terms of offsetting income or gains) and if severe enough the IRS could restrict trading and/or place fines on your account. This is why the tax loss harvesting should be done with the help of your Financial Planner. Client Example To help your understanding of how tax loss harvesting works, let’s use a hypothetical client example: Suzie Jones starts investing with her Financial Advisor on 1/1/2022 and we can see from this chart here, that the S&P 500 is now down 21% YTD (7/14/2022). That means if she invested $100,000, her current balance would be approx. $79,000 (she has a 21,000 unrealized loss). Let’s examine how Suzie would realize these losses while still staying invested Suzie sells her S&P 500 fund to realize the loss Suzie with her Financial Advisor simultaneously buys another security that doesn’t trigger wash sale rules. Suzie has another investment that has a short-term gain of $6,000 which is offset by this sale, meaning she no longer has to pay tax on this gain, thereby saving her income taxes on the gain. This leaves Suzie with a net loss of $15,000. She is only able to realize $3,000 per year against her income with unlimited carry forward. Suzie should be able to reduce her income by $3,000 in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. If Suzie were in the 22% Federal Tax Bracket the tax loss harvesting has saved $660 in taxes each year and $1,100 against her short-term gain mentioned above, providing a total tax savings of $4,400. When the market recovers and Suzie’s account is net positive again she would still be receiving tax benefits from when the market fell – win, win, win! Talk to your Financial Planner and Tax ELP Every situation is unique and the information provided in this article is for educational purposes only, however if you have a Schwab One Brokerage (Dave Ramsey calls these Bridge Accounts) than it is entirely possible this strategy is worth looking into. If you’re in Baby Step 7 and you haven’t set up your brokerage account yet, to start paying your house payment to yourself, now may be the perfect time to do so, allowing you to participate in this strategy in the future. Please contact our Tax Endorsed Local Provider on staff by clicking here or your Financial Planner by clicking here.

Need some extra cash? How about a side hustle? If you ask this question to anyone, I don’t think many people would say, “No thanks, I’m good.” So, if you want to make some extra money, what are some ways to increase your cash flow? Here are a few tips, and ideas to help you start a possible side hustle. It’s called a side “Hustle” for a reason Remember, if you are looking for extra cash, more than likely you are going to need to put in some extra work (or hustle), and sometimes it might be a bit harder, and maybe even a little messier, than you had hoped. Whether it be the type of service(s) you are offering, to putting in the leg work to get the marketing, website, etc. up and running, time and effort will need to put forth. How to get started Think about what you are naturally good at, have a genuine interest in, or have a skill set to offer. This will make your side hustle more enjoyable, and also feel more like a hobby than extra work. Do you have any specific talents? These can range the gamut from speaking another language, to knowing a musical instrument, or even just be really good at organizing things. Perhaps you could pick up a side job teaching someone how to do one of these skills. Have something that you enjoy doing yourself? You could create a side business creating crafts for people – wood art, crocheting/sewing items, painting canvases or murals. What if you liked to garden? You could offer lawncare/landscaping services. Have extra time and don’t mind running errands? Become a personal shopper through Insta-Cart, grabbing people food as a GrubHub driver, or pick up shifts driving people around through Lyft or Uber. If you have some spare time but don’t want to leave the house – fill out surveys. You won’t make much off each survey, but these are pretty fast and simple ways to earn cash without much effort. Do you enjoy children and consider yourself responsible? Join your local Facebook Babysitting group and see if you can babysit in the evenings or weekends. Like washing cars or cleaning houses? Pick up extra hours and cash by creating a client rotating list and every few weeks either wash their cars, or clean their houses. Whatever it might be, the first step is to write down these ideas that seem the most interesting to you, and something you think you may want to do on your down time. Then narrow that list down to 2-3 options to give you a clearer picture of how you can accomplish one of these options as you go through the next steps. Next, think through the amount of time you can commit Once you have your ideas down, think through how much time you have to commit to your potential side hustle. You need to think through multiple aspects of the time commitment here. Things to think about include: How long it will take you to set it up? Do you need to do marketing for this? Create a website or rely on word of mouth? Do you create a social media page? How long will the task itself take to do? *Pay attention here – this time could impact your pricing* Is there prep time needed? How long will it take me to do the actual task? Is there follow-up needed? How much time are you able and/or willing to commit to this? Do I want it to be an everyday, every week, or just a few times a month thing? Do I realistically have that much extra time each day/week/month to commit to it? Will there be something I have to give up to be able to achieve this goal? Set your goal Think through “what is your main goal”. Is it to get some extra cash a few times a month to be able to spend on your afternoon coffee runs and feel guilt free? Or is the goal a way to start supplementing your income and helping you build you emergency fund or pay off debt? Knowing and having a clear understanding of what you want the goal of this side business to be can help answer some of the above questions in regards to time commitment. Research, Research, and Research See if others have done what you are thinking about doing. Ask yourself, how have they have been successful, or, how what has failed? Look and see what they are doing online. Do you know someone else or a business that is currently doing this? Reach out to them and see if you can pick their brain on how they got started. Get their feedback. Take suggestions on things that they saw work or didn’t work. Also, create a checklist for yourself. See what you need to have to get this off the ground and running. This could include a certification of some sort, to office supplies, to online promotions, etc. Don’t also forget to consider any upfront costs such as materials possibly needed, or work space and rentals you may need to have to accomplish whatever it is that you have decided to undertake. How do you know when to change it from a “Side Hustle” to a business? If you feel like you are working two full time jobs, this could be a pretty good indicator your side hustle has moved on to being your business opportunity. Another indicator that you may need to consider making this your new full-time job, is when you are turning down other jobs or work opportunities associated with your side business because you don’t have enough time to accomplish these tasks. If this is something you start to see with your side hustle and want to make it into a business, that is great, however, make sure you give it time to have actual data and know this can be stable, productive income for you. You need to see steady, consistent growth overtime with your side hustle before you decide to quit your day job. And make sure you have run the numbers, can live off the income, have reviewed all the legal structure and tax paperwork you will need to fill out. Also, don’t forget you may need to find new insurance coverage if yours is currently through your employer. Be sure you understand how all of these things can affect your overall bottom line. Fast cash is nothing without the hustle Whichever route you decide to go with, remember making “fast cash” is not really a thing if you want to start a side hustle. Time, work, energy and organization all need to go into it to make it successful. From the start of the process, to being smack dab right in the middle of it, how much “hustle” you put into it, regardless of what you decide to do, will give you’re the reward you are looking for in the end.

How many times can you think of something in your life that was painful but ultimately ended up being for your own good? One of the most quoted verses we recite to each other during times of hardship or worry, is Paul’s words to the Romans, divinely inspired by God, which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28. Yet we all have this perception that life should be easy, smooth and calm and in a sinful world, it is anything but that. The stock market is part of that fallen world sometimes but most of the time it’s a wonderful blessing from God. It’s quite honestly one of the most amazing feats of American ingenuity, allowing common folks like you and I, a chance to buy companies that in other parts of the world or generations ago, would have only been available to the super elite. Yet here we are in 2022 and companies that create incredible shareholder and community value we get a chance to invest into and own a piece of. Yet for many people the stock market is sadly something they fear and often misunderstand, hence the plentiful amount of data that shows us, as Financial Advisors, how most people do the opposite of Warren Buffett’s sage advice, they buy high and sell low. Ouch! In today’s article, my intention is to walk you through a quick example of how stock market drops, such as the bear market we are in today, if you’re under the age of 60, should be something you are rooting for, every once in a while, to help create even more value, than would have been possible should the market gone up in a straight line. 2018 Case Study Who remembers 2018? We had just come off President Trump’s first year in office and he successfully negotiated the Jobs & Tax Act of 2017, which gave us all money right back in our pocket, in the form of lower tax rates and he was in the midst of doing what he did best – negotiating – a new trade deal with our largest trading partner China. On top of that the Federal Reserve President, Jerome Powell was feeling pretty good about the economy, and as a result, he and his board of governors were ready to start increasing interest rates. Economically everything seemed to be going well. Around the second half of the year as the trade deal with China got tense and the market started to react negatively to higher interest rates, and eventually hit a nearly 20% decline on Christmas Eve. The only negative stock market year during President Trumps tenure in office, happened this year. What happened to investors that started investing in 2018? How did they fare since then? They saw a negative 20% in 2018, a negative 35% in 2020 and the over 20% negative returns so far this year. No way with three negative 20% returns in that period of time, that we still came out with a positive result, right? Well, the numbers may surprise you. Let’s dig in Ben & Arthur – A New Twist Let’s play the Ben & Arthur game, like Dave Ramsey does in Financial Peace University, just with a twist. Let’s assume Ben had $10,000 and he came to his Financial Advisor at Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers, on January 1st of 2018. Ben is very excited because 2017 was such a great year for the stock market and he feels like this is a great time to invest. Ben leaves his money invested from January 1st 2018 through yesterday’s close on the stock market, July 6th 2022. Arthur on the other hand, didn’t quite have the cash to invest in January 2018 but finally around the end of the year contacted his Financial Advisor at Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers, who graciously offered to meeting with him and get his funds invested on Christmas Eve 2018 (12/24/2018) and Arthur, too, left his money invested until yesterday’s close of business July 6th 2022. Who would have had more money today and would it even be a positive result, with all those negative numbers, they had to suffer through, that I mentioned above? Before we dive into the numbers, can you agree with me that logic would argue that Ben who invested nearly 12 months before Arthur, should have more money? In Dave Ramsey’s Ben & Arthur, that is the point, right? Whoever starts earlier ends up doing better. However, in that example they look at straight line, linear growth, which we know is impossible. Do market fluctuations or Bear Markets create good opportunities for me to invest? Said another way, if I’m younger (under 60 is definition of younger in investing, in my opinion) is a Bear Market a good thing for me? To understand what happened to Ben take a look at this chart right here. You can see that Ben invested $10,000 to start 2018. He saw it get to as high as $11,000 in 2018 before taking quite the tumble near the end of the year. Not to fear, it recovered until COVID-19 when the market fell another 35%, of which he quickly recovered from and then finally he has lived through our latest market turmoil and he is sitting with $14,600 just a few short years later. Arthur on the other hand, who invested during an almost bear market (-19.80% in 2018) has a chart which can be seen here. He saw his investment shoot straight up because he used some Warren Buffett tricks, he bought low and then he too had to deal with a -35% during the COVID years, while simultaneously to Ben suffering through our recent rout yet he now sits with $16,600. Wow! Nearly $2,000 more on $10,000 investment or 20% higher, because he invested on a 20% dip! Think about that with me for a minute. If you were putting into your 401(k) or your Baby Step 4 Roth IRA during the year 2018 the money you put in during January 2018, while still positive actually didn’t do as well as your deposits that were put in during December of that year. Meaning that the near Bear Market of 2018 actually was a huge blessing to you as an investor. A nearly 20% blessing. The trade war with China, a man-made issue, actually became your best friend, in terms of your rate of return. 2022 Implications What we see from the Whitaker-Myers Ben & Arthur example, is that dollar cost averaging, or saving and investing money each and every pay period can help take the emotion out of investing and turn a Bear Market (a 20% decline or more) into something that actually long term provides significant benefit to you. Knowing what we now have just learned, let’s start to re-train our brain and begin enjoying these stock market drops. Not because we enjoy watching the value of our investments decline from what they once were but rather because the greatest wealth building tool in the world has given us a cheat code – an opportunity to buy things for a limited period of time, that are cheaper, sometimes much cheaper, than they previously were. If we believe Romans 8:28 and I mean REALLY BELIEVE IT, don’t we owe it to ourselves to trust the process that has worked for 100 years. Here’s another cheat code – if it doesn’t work, it didn’t matter what you did anyways, it’s Revelation time. As always, your Financial Advisor at Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers is here to have the heart of a teacher and help you understand how this current market is affecting your plan to achieve your goals and retire. Reach out to us today!

Tis the Season! Wedding Season that is! With statistics showing 80% of all weddings taking place between May and October every year. And what better occasion to either practice AMAZING budgeting skills, or watch how easily it can be to BUST your budget, than a wedding. In a recent poll from The Knot, the average wedding in 2021 from across the United States cost $28,000 (number of guests, time of year, and location not specified). Oh, and these numbers did not include engagement ring costs, or honeymoon. Now for some people when they hear that only one day could cost them on average almost $30,000, they often ask, is it worth it? And I would agree with those who ask that question. That is a lot of money to spend on “just one day”. BUT I also disagree in the fact that you should NOT forgo a wedding just because you don’t think “it’s worth it”. Weddings are meant to be a fun, enjoyable experience with your family, friends, and loved ones. It’s a day to always remember, and a day to cherish for a life time. Maybe I’m getting sentimental because my own wedding anniversary was just here on the 16th of June (love you hunny!), and yes, I fall within one of those 80 percenters. But I will still to this day, say it was one of the best days of my life, I would not change one thing about it, and that I had the BEST time. So, I say, YES, HAVE THE BIG WEDDING! But do it in a reasonable, and comfortable way that is not going to break the bank, or leave you (or loved ones) in debt because of it. And I know from planning my own wedding, how that can feel like you are being “cheap” or “cutting corners” on a day that means so much to you. But there are ways you can still have a wedding on a budget, but have it be in disguise that no one will ever know! How to get started The wedding business did not become an over 300-BILLION-dollar industry just because flowers smell good and look pretty. Realize going into planning, that they know weddings are going to be emotional for you. And that you are going to want everything to be “perfect”. They play on the psychology and use it to their advantage. That’s why going into planning, you have to have a plan. Kind of like “having a meeting before the meeting” idea (office humor anyone?). Before you start looking for the “dress of your dreams”, or taste testing your menu, sit down with your to-be-spouse, and if any family member(s) are helping contribute to the expenses. Have a “family budget meeting” with them. Set what the preferred end budget expense should be, and what major elements you would like to include in your day. Think of all types of vendors you could want or need, all little items you think you “have to have”. Write them down. Because if you don’t, these are the things you will think about later and blow your budget on. Then set some realistic expectations for the dollar amount you have to spend on your day. Figure out your timeline for your wedding, and start adding a line item in your monthly budget to start saving for your wedding (cough cough…..sinking fund). Time of year/day of week matters Remember how I said 80% of weddings fall between May – October? Well getting married on one of these “off season months” could save you a lot with your vendors/venues. First off, you’re more than likely going to have more date options, and they sometimes give discounts during this slow time, because discounted work is still better than no work/business. Day of week affects pricing also. Saturday is of course going to be the most popular, and in turn cost more. Consider a Friday or Sunday for again, better date options/availability, and also pricing. Do I say “I do” to a Wedding Planner? First and foremost, you do not need a wedding planner. I repeat, YOU DO NOT NEED A WEDDING PLANNER. What you need is a hand dandy, trusted notebook (and sometimes excel if you want a digital copy of things). If you want to get super fancy, they sell wedding organizers online for like $20 – 35. Again, something I don’t think is necessary if you keep good notes, and organize your notebook in sections, but if it helps you feel like you’re on track, it’s still cheaper than a wedding planner, so have at it. The key here is what I already said, keep good notes. You need to keep notes of who you talked to (vendors and venues) and their estimated quotes they give you. You need to keep track of dates they have available, what all their services include for each specific package/price, and it never hurts to ask if they have any types of discount pricing. If you start to feel overwhelmed with details, ask a friend or a loved one to sit down and talk through details with you. More often than not, someone in your close circle has been married before, knows the feelings you’re having right now, and can help you talk through them. Also, if you feel you need a wedding planner to “make sure everything goes just right and perfect” the day of the wedding, ask a trusted family member not part of the wedding party, or even maybe an organized co-worker that you are friends with to be “point person” that day. Chances are they will say yes and feel a bit honored you trust them this much. Then when working with vendors, give them their name and phone number to contact. Discuss with your friend/family member prior to the day what your goals and expectations are and how you would like them to handle something if something were to come up during the ceremony/reception. And remember, you are the only one who will know if something “does not go off as planned”. To everyone else, it will be as how you planned it. Example, we were not planned to cut our cake until after dinner/before first dances, etc. When we got to the reception area, my “in charge day of co-worker” notified me the cake was starting to lean a bit sideways and did not think it would last another 1-1.5 hours in the 89* heat (yes, it was miserably hot out in full tuxes and ball gown). So, we told the DJ after we made our entrance to notify everyone that we were cutting the cake and to head that way. We cut the cake, smiled for pictures, and then went to our seats. No one knew besides me and a few people. And it did not ruin the day. A fallen cake, cut 1.5 hours later would have been a possible way to ruin the day I would think. Have a concept in mind before you start shopping Let’s jump back now to the planning piece of the wedding details. I like to tell people have an idea of what the feel of the wedding that you want will be. Is it country chic, eloquent and formal, or clean lines and modern? This will help you envision what type of venues to look at, dresses to steer towards, and how you can possibly decorate for the reception. Where should I shop? Check out Facebook. See if there are any local Wedding Resale pages you can join. Items on these sites range from wedding décor, signage, center piece items, to even wedding dresses. Some worn, some never worn besides when they tried them on and either changed their mind, or the wedding changed/did not happen. If you are making decorations, center pieces, never underestimate the power of your local dollar store. They often have candle votives, various size and shaped vases, and other items you could potentially use vs. heading to your chain craft store. I also read about a couple who recently were featured on Good Morning America because of their “Wedding on a Budget” story, and she shared she bought her dress online from the website Shein for $45! Again, it all goes back to your taste, and what you are looking for, but there are deals out there, you just have to be open to finding them. Also, don’t forget to shop your family and friends… Have family members and friends gift you their talent(s) Do you have any family members that perhaps are in the wedding industry themselves? Or do they have any specialized talents? Some examples of how we had family and friends “gift us their talents” for our wedding saved us several hundreds of dollars. My college roommate and her husband like to make YouTube videos on the side. Hello wedding video! One of my high school friends loves to paint. She created a canvas with our names, wedding date and picture for our guests to sign which now hangs in the entry way of our home. My best friend does design work and made our wedding invites. All we had to do was pay for printing from a print shop which was way cheaper than doing them online. All of these were HUGE savings! Again, your family members or friends may feel honored in this unique way to celebrate your special day with them. Not only did it help us save money – which of course is a HUGE benefit, but I personally felt lucky that I have people in my life that wanted to do those things for us, and to show us their love for us through their talents. Plus, if they do this as a side business, it’s additional marketing for them as you tell people of their services! Remember roses are red and violets are blue, but what’s the best flower option for you? Flowers can add up….and FAST. So how do you still have a beautiful bouquet without blowing your budget? There are a few routes you can go with this direction. Silk flowers are usually less expensive than real flowers, especially if you want something out of season from a florist. It’ll take some time and creativity, but you can usually make your bouquets, boutonnieres, etc. for a fraction of the price. If you really want real flowers, I suggest looking into Sam’s Club or Costco. You can usually buy bulk flowers for a lower price, sometimes as low as $1 a flower. Again, you’ll have to create the various items yourself, but in the long run you are saving more than you would with using a florist. They also have some pre-made bouquets available as well, which average about $10 a bouquet…can’t beat that. Which ever direction you go, fake, bulk, or through a florist, limit your flowers to wedding party only. Skip on flower arrangements for tables, decorations, etc. These items will eat away at your budget and fast. Now, let’s talk reception This is where the majority of your budget will be going. Between linens and centerpieces, to guest gifts, caterer, DJ, bar, etc. etc. The list could go on, but it all starts with the venue. Venue Remember when shopping for the venue, make sure to ask some important questions that could impact your budget. Can I bring in my own alcohol? Can I bring in my own caterer/food items? How many tables/chairs are provided through the venue? Or do I need to rent my own? Are linens included? What do tables look like, can you get away with little or no linens? Do you have any décor that can be used (free of charge – or cost per items)? Is it a flat fee for room rental? Or do you also charge a per person cost on top of room rental? If a barn or outside facility, are there restrooms/handwashing stations? Does the venue supply these rentals or do you need to rent these additional items? Also, don’t be afraid to look for a family member or friend that has a lot of open land/barn you could use. But be aware of a lot of additional elbow grease, set up/clean up and lots of logistics that come into play for this option. I am not saying it is a bad option, and could be cheaper for you in the long run. But beware of all the preparation time and possible costs that could come with that as well. Centerpieces You can spend more here than you would actually think. Be smart about your centerpieces. At the end of the day, people are either going to take them home (and later throw them out), you will throw them out at the end of the night, or they will sit in your basement for years later. A great place to shop for these items is that wedding resale page I mentioned earlier. You can usually get items others have used at a discounted price vs. paying full price for them. Also, keep this site in mind for your resale items! Think of ways you could potentially make your centerpieces? Or what could you collect over the months to use as your centerpieces that are cost effective? For our centerpieces, I started collecting glass bottles of various sizes and colors. I asked family and friends to save any wine/liquor bottles, and even went to a couple of restaurants around town and asked them to do the same for me. Then one weekend my then fiancé and I filled the bath tub up with water (multiple, multiple times) and peeled labels off bottles. I bought some twinkle lights, votive candles from the dollar store and added some greenery I bought in bulk cases and boom, unique centerpieces I didn’t mind throwing away at the end of the day. I also went to a summer wedding where the couple bought wide, but short vases. Filled them with water, then sliced limes, lemons and oranges to float in them with a floating candle. It was so pretty, simple and smelled great. Bonus, it helped keep bugs away. They said they just bought big crates of each fruit and was super cheap. Caterer Shop around for this if you’re able to, and think of outside of the box ideas. Caterers don’t always want to do the same thing over and over again. See if they have a unique spin, or menu idea. Sometimes these changes can be better pricing depending on what you do. The type of meat you choose will raise food costs too. Be aware of what protein(s) you are serving as that can affect your budget. Talk options with your caterer. Get lots of ideas before settling on the “normal”. Also, remember a buffet is always going to be cheaper than a plated meal per person. And from my own experience both personally, and working at a wedding/event venue during college, food usually stays warmer because it’s constantly being replenished vs. held in a hot box, put on trays and then carried to the specific tables. Bar Same as the buffet, a Beer and Wine bar will always be cheaper than a full bar. Alcohol is one of the largest up-charges in the industry and where you can spend a good portion of your budget, especially if it is an open bar. If you want something besides just beer and wine, consider adding one or two signature drinks (Bride and Groom drinks) for your guests to choose from to your beer and wine bar. FYI – this still includes sodas, water, etc. If you want a full bar, don’t go all out and do top shelf. Majority of the time the liquor is getting mixed with something anyways, and a lot of times drinks get put down after a few sips and are forgotten about. Consider doing drink tickets if you really want to keep an eye on budget. Allot each person 2 tickets, and once they are used, it turns to a cash bar. OR you can have an open bar until a certain time, and then turn it into a cash bar for the rest of the night. DJ Ever heard of a “DJ in a Box”? It is a music system which comes with hundreds of songs from all kinds of genres for you to choose from. You can create your own playlists from the options available, choose from playlists already created based off event suggestions, or a combination of both! It comes with the computer system with pre-downloaded songs and speaker so you can set up anywhere. Depending on your rental company, these can range from under one hundred dollars to a couple hundred dollars. Or, some people are skipping the preloaded portion of the music system, creating their own play lists from music off their phones or Spotify, and renting just a sound system they can hook the phone up to. Designate a “DJ” from your family or friend group, and have them take requests or make special announcements. This way if you don’t want the “Chicken Dance” played at your wedding, have no fear because you picked all the songs! Favors Do yourself a favor when it comes to favors and stick to something cost efficient and useful. A lot of guests usually don’t take their favors with them if they do not have a use for them, or if they are big and bulky. Which means you are left with a lot left over favors, and out a lot of money at the same time. I often suggest a favor that be used at the reception, or easily thrown in their bag to take home with them. My go to suggestion for this is to make a small “pre-teaser” dessert. And cookie bars work GREAT for this. They are easy to make in large batches, majority of people like cookie bars (and able to eat them with various diets/allergies), and they are very economical to make. The most you’ll spend is the time it takes to make and wrap them. Things that don’t need to make the cut... Yes, they may look magical on Pinterest, but these are the things that no one is going to notice if they never make it to your wedding, or if you splurge and buy the pre-made structures or items. Programs You do not need to tell how you know your wedding party; a lot of people already know why your sister is your maid of honor. Also, it’s not like they need to plan for intermission; the timing or agenda of how your wedding ceremony will play out is not a reason to spend money on paper and printing costs to just be left on church pews, or venue chairs. Menu cards If you are doing a buffet, talk to your caterer ahead of time and ask them to include menu cards for you. These are usually free of charge and they typically print them on nice card stock and in a pretty font. If you do go with the plated meal route, guests can always ask a server what the meal is if they did not pick their option. If they did pick their food option, usually you coordinate this with the venue so their servers know how to place these options. Fancy Signage Everyone knows the bar is the bar, the photo booth is the photo booth, and the dessert table is the dessert table (you get the picture). You don’t need signage telling everyone what everything at your wedding is. Unless you want to call out something specific, like tribute to those who can’t be there that day, or specific ingredients for allergies, or even the bride and groom specialty drink, I say skip the signage and save yourself the dollars you’d spend on these. And if you do want to do something like this, buy a nice frame (average $5 max) and print something in a nice font matching your color scheme and put it in the frame(s). Seating Charts Print your own and make it simple. Again, look at Pinterest for inspiration, but don’t get married to the over cost items that are used literally once. For ours, we used sticker paper I found online, and empty spray-painted wine bottles. Each wine bottle got a table number and everyone sitting at that table was listed on that sticker sheet. Then we took crates we had from home (we store our blankets in these in the living room) and stacked the wine bottles around and in the crates. At the end of the night, I threw the recycled wine-bottles away, and took my crates home. Most I spent was on the spray paint and sticker paper. All said, you can still have the wedding of your dreams… Mostly because you will be marrying the person of your dreams, but also because you can have a nice wedding, that is affordable, and has “Pinterest feel” without the expense. Remember, you don’t have to pay whole sale, name-brand, or full price for everything. Shop around, think outside of the box, and remember, it is for only one day. I know it’s hard because you will want it all to be perfect, but be reasonable with your wants are as well. If you are realistic with what you want, and can afford, you will have the wedding of your dreams. You don’t have to cut things out entirely, or sacrifice something, but you can have a discounted wedding and no one even needs to know.

Have you ever made a decision in the past that, years and years later, you came to regret? I’m sure we all have. We work with teachers all over the country, but one conversation that continually happens with educators in Ohio is their frustration with the pension system that they’re under. In recent years the requirements to be able to retire with full benefits has changed, of course not in a good way. According to STRS’s website, which can be seen here, to be able to retire with full benefits you must achieve 35 years of service or age 65 with at least five years of service. For example, a teacher that starts at age 23, would become eligible for retirement with unreduced benefits at age 58. This leads to the questions: Is the STRS Defined Benefit Plan (Pension) the best option for me? Would I regret my decision to enroll in the defined benefit pension plan, later in life? STRS Defined Contribution Plan This is a plan available to teachers in the State of Ohio that acts more like a 401(k) plan, as opposed to the traditional pension plan. Let’s look at the specifics of the defined contribution plan vs. the defined benefit (pension) plan. Teacher Contribution Amounts: Contribution required by teacher for defined contribution plan: 14% Contribution required by teacher for defined benefit plan: 14% Therefore, we see as a teacher your contribution does not change – meaning it doesn’t cost you anything extra to participate in one plan over another School District Contribution Amounts: Contribution required by school district for defined contribution plan: 9.53% Contribution required by school distribution for defined benefit plan: 14% The school district is required to make a contribution into STRS. If you participate in the defined contribution plan, you’ll receive a 9.53% contribution (think of this like a 401(k) match) into your account. How is my Retirement Benefit Determined? The defined contribution plan will determine your benefit, meaning what you can annuitize into an income stream or roll over to your IRA, when you retire, based on the deposits you and your employer have made – which is 23.53% of your salary each year and the subsequent investment performance of those deposits. STRS gives you a host of investment options along with target date funds, that will invest your dollars based on your age and expected risk tolerance at that age. A list of investment options in the STRS plan can be found here. We will walk you through an example below, however consider if you had a 401(k) that forced you contribute 14% of your pay and gave you a match of 9.53%. It would be hard to image a scenario, where that person didn’t do well into retirement. The defined benefit plan will determine your benefit by how many years you have provided service or your age + a minimum amount of service. Since this article is geared towards the new teacher, who must elect which plan is appropriate for them upon hiring, based on today’s STRS rules, you would need to work 35 years to reach your full unreduced benefit. The amount of contribution by you and your employer has no factor in how your benefit is calculated. Essentially, those contributions are your ticket into getting the pension. Should you leave employment and not stay in teaching, you will be refunded whatever you have put into STRS plus potential interest and a portion of your employer contributions (after 5 years). Hypothetical Example Let’s assume Susan is a new 23-year-old teacher having to make her decision around the defined contribution or defined benefit. Her starting salary will be $32,000 and she’ll average 2% raises over her career. How should she weight the options in front of her regarding these two different retirement plan options? In the defined contribution plan, with an average annual rate of return of 7.22%, she’ll have approximately $1,418,112 at age 58, which using the 4% distribution rule, would create $56,724 worth of annual income and (and this is important) she owns an asset worth $1,418,122, meaning if she just lives on the interest, the principal is able to be passed to her children, other family or charities she cares about. You can see the annual growth projection of this here. In the defined benefit plan, after working 35 years and contributing the same amount into the defined benefit plan, Susan would receive a monthly benefit of $4,093 which would annualize into $49,116. Additionally, if Susan was married and wanted to cover her spouse on this pension (so if she died before him, he would receive her pension still) she is going to get even less than $4,093. Finally, Susan does not own this pension, meaning that when she dies, if she had been paid out the money she had put in STRS (her contribution), there is no benefit left for her children, family or charities. You can see the STRS pension calculation we ran here. One argument we hear from those opposed to the defined contribution plan is that, “you’re assuming you get a 7% rate of return, what if that doesn’t happen?” Valid question, however the alternative plan, the defined benefit pension is only able to provide a benefit to you because the money is invested into stocks, bonds, private investments and real estate. Meaning if the stock market for whatever reason had a 35-year window where it didn’t average 7%, we would argue the pension is in big trouble as well considering it is providing you a monthly pension, only because the money has been invested and presumably did some reasonable rate of return. As always, we encourage those skeptical to view the Prudential Asset Allocation Chart, which shows the returns of the market over the last thirty years. Other Considerations Some other items you may want to consider when determining which plan is correct for you are: While you are 100% vested in your deposits in the defined contribution plan, your employer contributions are vested at 20% per year. This means that if you leave teaching after three years, you would receive 100% of your contributions (plus or minus the investment returns) and you would receive 60% of the employer contributions (plus or minus the investment returns). Survivor Benefits: In the defined contribution plan, if you were to pass away, the amount of contributions you and your employer have made (assuming your vested in employer contributions) would be refunded to your beneficiaries. There is no monthly benefit available to them. This is why term life insurance while you’re young is so important. Disability Benefits: There are no disability benefits in the defined contribution plan, so you would want to talk to your Financial Advisor about the possibility of obtaining a disability insurance policy. If you’re young and healthy these should be very affordable and easy to obtain. Health Insurance: You will not be eligible for the STRS health insurance plan. Three main alternatives to consider are: Would I be comfortable with a medical sharing plan in retirement? You can read more about these from the article we wrote last year. Would I be eligible for Medicare at age 65 because my spouse is enrolled in Social Security? Does my spouse have health insurance coverage in retirement for our family through their employer? Additional Savings Options For the educator, participating in either the defined benefit or defined contribution plan, we highly encourage them to stay away from the annuity salesmen & women that come to their benefit fairs. It is always sad for us to see how many teachers, many who are already getting a guaranteed pension because they enrolled in the defined benefit plan (pension) are being sold annuities which have much higher fee’s (if they are variable annuities) and/or much lower returns (if they are fixed or indexed annuities). Your retirement money is long term money and putting it in a low yielding investment vehicle that pays your advisor a high commission is not a great option. We strongly encourage teachers to consider opening a Roth IRA, to supplement their STRS plan. These dollars can be invested in mutual funds or ETFs, that have been vetted and approved by their trusted Financial Planner. Conclusion We are big believers in the Ohio STRS Defined Contribution plan because it allows you, the participant, to be able to save and invest for your future like you would in a 401(k), without the governmental control of a pension, which has consistently changed over time and not for the better. However, every situation is unique and it is our advice before electing either the defined benefit or defined contribution plan in STRS that you reach out to a Financial Planner who can understand your unique situation.

A key component to smart investing is ensuring that your investments are diversified. Diversifying your portfolio incorporates a variety of different asset classes to reduce the volatility of your portfolio overtime. Mutual funds and exchange-traded stocks (ETFs) both serve this purpose while having unique features that differentiate them. Mutual funds have been around since 1924 while ETFs launched in 1993. A main component that separates the two is how they are traded. Mutual funds can only be purchased at the end of each trading day. The price of the mutual fund is determined by a calculation called the net asset value. However, ETFs can be bought at anytime throughout the trading day hours (9:30am to 4:00Pm Eastern time). Mutual funds, in general, have a higher minimum investment requirement than ETFs. This minimum can range anywhere from a $250 initial deposit to funds that have a minimum investment of $3,000. Mutual funds typically have higher internal expenses than ETFs. The higher expense ratio with mutual funds is due to how they are managed. Many mutual funds are actively managed meaning that a team or a fund manager is actively making choices of buying and selling stocks in an attempt to try to beat the market. This takes significantly more effort than a passively managed fund whose investment securities are automatically selected to match an index. Mutual funds can be split into two categories: Opened-Ended Funds and Close-End Funds. The majority of the mutual fund marketplace is occupied by open-ended funds. The number of shares the fund can issue is limitless. They can be bought and sold directly between investors and the fund company. Despite there being no limit on shares that can be issued, the value of an individual’s shares is not affected by the number of shares outstanding. Close-End Funds have only a specific number of shares and does not issue new shares even as investor demands increase. Net asset value (NAV) is not used in close-end funds to determine price. Instead, price of the fund is driven by investor demand. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) share a lot of similarities with mutual funds and individual stocks. From a price standpoint, ETFs can be as cheap as the price of one stock plus fees or commission. Also, ETFs can also be sold short just as a stock can. These funds possess many tax advatanages with one of them being delayed capital gains tax. Mutual funds pay capital gains tax while holding shares, but ETFs do not pay capital gains until the sale of the product. ETFs separate themselves from other forms of investments with their creation/redemption process. The creation process is the buying of all the underlying securities and bundling them into the exchange fund structure. A specialist who is empowered to create or redeem ETF shares will buy the underlying securities and put them into a trust. The redeeming of an ETF is often referred to as “unwrapping” the ETF back into individual securities. It is the reverse process of the ETF creation. This process keeps the value of the ETF in line with its net asset value (NAV) so that it does not sell at a discount or premium. In summary, both options are good investments. Each one offers specific advantages depending on what you are looking for out of your investment. If you want to short sell or are looking to intraday trades, ETFs would be an investment to look in to. If you want a fund that will try outperform the market by selecting what it believes are the right investments, an actively managed mutual fund could be the investment option for you. These goals and criteria are important to think about so that you can tell you financial planner what you are looking for. This will allow them to customize a plan and investments that will best suit your financial needs. To discuss your specific investments and learn about more about Mutual Funds and ETFs please contact one of our Financial Advisors today!