In July, the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? returned with a new host and celebrity pairings. When it originally debuted in 1999, childhood movies like Richie Rich and Blank Check led me to believe that if you had $1 million, you'd be set for life. A million dollars today looks very different than it did in the 1990s. This year, Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire. It begs the question: Do you really need to be a millionaire to retire, and what happens if you can't?

To be frank, it's imperative to accumulate at least $1 million in net worth. That doesn't mean you need $1 million in cash—your net worth includes assets such as your home and investments. To provide context, let's compare retirement costs from the 1990s to today by looking at four key factors: life expectancy, housing, electricity, and groceries. Consider this a bare-bones retirement.

In the 1990s, the average retiree could expect to live to around age 65. Today, life expectancy is closer to 74, with many people living into their early 80s depending on gender, health, and lifestyle.

Mortgage payments averaged about $700 per month, compared with roughly $2,300 today. Even if your mortgage is paid off, you'll still be responsible for property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and home improvements.

Electricity cost around $0.07 per kilowatt-hour in the 1990s. Today, the national average is closer to $0.19 per kilowatt-hour. Our dependence on electricity has also increased dramatically, and with AI data centers placing additional demand on power grids, energy costs could continue rising.

Groceries have followed the same trend. A household might have spent around $2,600 per year in the 1990s, compared with approximately $7,300 today.

Based on these assumptions, you'd need a retirement income of about $50,000 per year on your first day of retirement, with that amount increasing by roughly 2% annually to keep pace with inflation. If your investments can't generate that income, you'll need other income sources. In later decades of retirement, your annual income needs could exceed $100,000.

What Should You Prioritize If You Can't Reach $1 Million?
Focus on growing your assets, not just eliminating debt.

Many people believe paying off debt and reducing expenses are the keys to a successful retirement. While those are valuable financial habits, they won't offset rising costs that are outside your control.

Instead, think of your home as an income-producing asset. Purchase a property that can contribute to your retirement strategy, whether through appreciation, downsizing opportunities, or rental income. Just as important, invest your 401(k) appropriately. Simply leaving it in a target-date retirement fund may not be the optimal strategy for everyone. Your investment allocation can make the difference between a comfortable retirement and one filled with financial stress.

Conventional wisdom says paying off debt is always the gold standard. While aggressively paying down high-interest debt is almost always the right move, low-interest debt is different. In many cases, it's better to maintain those loans while allowing your investments to compound over time. As interest rates change, look for opportunities to refinance into lower fixed rates, and keep savings available to cover future closing costs.

Even If You Fall Short, Avoid These Mistakes
Your investment portfolio should continue to be growth-oriented throughout retirement. Growth remains one of your best defenses against inflation.

Whenever possible, avoid taking large lump-sum withdrawals from your retirement accounts. One of the biggest mistakes I see is when people realize they haven't saved enough and, before consulting a financial advisor, withdraw money from their 401(k) while they're still working to pay off debt. Those withdrawals can increase taxable income, raise Medicare premiums later in retirement, and permanently reduce the assets available to generate future income.

As a kid, I thought becoming a millionaire was the ultimate financial goal. Now, as a veteran financial advisor, I realize the target keeps moving. It can feel like we're running on an endless treadmill.

But there is still reason for optimism.

Everyone's financial journey is different. Focus on your strengths, continue improving where you can, and remember that progress is more important than perfection. Build a system that keeps you on track, or find someone who will hold you accountable. Consistent, disciplined decisions made over time will have a far greater impact than chasing the perfect plan. 

Do you feel like you’re constantly playing catch-up? Like you can’t enjoy today because you’re investing so much in your future? Welcome to the ongoing dilemma of mortality.

If I can stop being morbid for a second, most people want to live in the moment and have once-in-a-lifetime experiences while they’re young. That makes sense. Waiting until retirement to travel brings its own set of challenges. But if we could strike a balance and do both, what would that look like?

Starbucks or Santorini
If you spend $7 at Starbucks every weekday, you’re likely spending about $1,820 a year. But that’s not where the real money drain comes from. That’s often just convenience or not wanting to make coffee at home.

Now enters the real culprit: Uber Eats.

This is the hole in your pocket. There’s nothing in the house, you’re too tired to cook, and suddenly a burrito, chips, and a driver tip cost $35. If that happens once or twice a week, you’re looking at around $2,870 a year on takeout. Alternatively, you could book a round-trip ticket to Mexico City for about $350 and spend 100 pesos, around $6, on tacos. Here’s where people struggle. You want to make better choices, but exhaustion and poor planning get in the way. The solution is to have a backup plan. That could be easy meals at home or moving money into savings before you have the chance to spend it. Paying yourself first should feel empowering, not like punishment.

Non-negotiables
You should be investing at least 10% into your 401(k). That’s a minimum starting from your first job. If you don’t have access to a 401(k), you should be maxing out a Roth IRA or traditional IRA. The contribution limit for 2026 is $7,000, or $8,000 if you’re over 50.

Here’s why this matters. If you’re 22 and starting your first job, contributing $7,000 per year for 10 years with an average 7% annual return could grow significantly over time. By age 62, that could reach around $1.5 million. When you’re in your 30s, $7,000 a year may feel manageable, but early on, it can feel like a tough trade-off.

Choosing your trade-offs
Every choice has trade-offs. When deciding what matters most, you need accountability and the ability to course-correct. If you consistently justify overspending, your long-term goals become much harder to achieve.

Working with a financial advisor can help you navigate these decisions and stay on track. Let’s set up your plan and start making smarter choices together.

​Congratulations, you’ve opened your first self-directed investing account. Many investors enjoy learning about the securities they want to invest in but often overlook the basics, such as placing orders or understanding margin trading and short selling. When used correctly, these tools can contribute to wealth creation; however, they can also lead to losses beyond an investor’s means.

Understanding the difference between market orders, limit orders, and stop orders can help investors control price execution and manage risk, especially during periods of volatility. The benefit of thoughtful order placement is discipline—it removes emotion from decision-making and helps prevent impulsive trades. The pitfall, however, is overengineering trades or reacting too frequently to short-term price movements. Poorly placed orders can result in unintended executions, missed opportunities, or unnecessary losses, particularly when investors focus on daily market noise instead of their broader strategy.

Margin trading and short selling introduce leverage and complexity, which can amplify both gains and losses. Margin allows investors to borrow money to increase their position size, while short selling seeks to profit from declining prices. These tools can be effective for experienced traders who manage risk with precision, but they carry significant downside. A clear historical example is the 1929 stock market crash, when widespread margin buying—often with as little as 10% down—forced massive liquidations as prices fell, accelerating the market’s collapse and contributing to the Great Depression. Losses on margin can exceed the original investment, and short positions carry theoretically unlimited risk if prices rise sharply. For most investors, the pitfall is not the tool itself but the temptation to chase returns, underestimate volatility, and ignore how quickly leverage can compound mistakes.

This is why a long-term plan should anchor the majority of an investor’s wealth and future goals. Long-term investing emphasizes diversification, compounding, and alignment with personal timelines such as retirement or major life events. Tactical strategies like advanced order types, margin, or short selling may have a place for a small portion of capital, but they should never replace a disciplined, long-term approach. Wealth is built more reliably through patience and consistency than through frequent trading or aggressive speculation. Investors who maintain this perspective are far better positioned to navigate both market cycles and life changes. As I build portfolios, I identify key fundamentals that provide insight into a company’s financial performance and growth opportunities. While some of this analysis can be supported by tools like ChatGPT, the real value comes from digging deeper and maintaining a historical record.

It's summer, and there’s no better time to utilize those extra hours of sunlight than to grow your money! Depending on the phase of life you are in, let’s evaluate traditional passive strategies like dividend investing, rental income, and growth stocks.

Traditional passive strategies like dividend investing are often appealing because they provide the perception of steady, predictable income. Dividends can help smooth cash flow and reduce the need to sell assets during market downturns, which is especially valuable for retirees or income-focused investors. However, the pitfall is assuming dividends are guaranteed. Companies can reduce or eliminate payouts during economic stress, and high-dividend stocks may sacrifice growth or concentrate risk in certain sectors. Evaluating dividend strategies requires looking beyond yield to fundamentals such as payout ratios, cash flow sustainability, and long-term business strength.

Rental income is another commonly viewed “set-it-and-forget-it” strategy, but in practice, it is more operational than passive. Real estate can generate consistent income, offer tax advantages, and serve as an inflation hedge over time. That said, rental properties come with vacancies, maintenance costs, regulatory risk, and liquidity constraints that are often underestimated. Concentration risk is also significant—one property in one location can represent a large portion of an investor’s net worth. A proper evaluation weighs net cash flow after expenses, local market dynamics, and how real estate fits alongside other assets rather than replacing diversification.

Growth stock investing focuses less on current income and more on long-term capital appreciation through companies reinvesting profits to expand. The benefit of growth strategies is their potential to harness compounding over decades, historically driving a large portion of long-term market returns. The downside is higher volatility and the emotional challenge of staying invested during drawdowns, when prices can fall sharply without the comfort of income. Growth investing works best when paired with a long time horizon, disciplined rebalancing, and realistic expectations, reinforcing the idea that even “passive” strategies still require thoughtful evaluation and alignment with long-term goals.

“Set it and forget it” strategies are very appealing, but in reality, they require more oversight than expected. There is also much more hands-on involvement. In order to make the most of your time, ensure you have a team that is set up to report to you and come forward with solutions, not problems.

It’s time! The flawless phrase from every movie about having children. You’ve had your baby shower, been to all the classes, and set up the nursery; now you are about to go on maternity/paternity leave. Here are the things you will need to weigh prior to your time away from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Short-Term Disability (STD), employer-sponsored options, and the differences in the states in which I’m registered: WA, CA, and TX.
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At the national level, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) establishes a baseline for maternity and paternity leave: eligible employees of covered employers (generally companies with 50 or more employees) can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth of a child, adoption, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition. FMLA applies uniformly across all states, including CA, WA, and TX, provided the employee meets the eligibility criteria (12 months of service and at least 1,250 hours worked over the past year). However, FMLA does not provide wage replacement—it simply guarantees unpaid leave and job protection.

Short-term disability (STD) insurance is another way employees can replace income around childbirth, especially for the medical/disability portion of maternity leave when they are physically unable to work. STD benefits are typically employer-provided (or privately purchased) and vary widely by plan. These policies generally pay a portion of pre-disability earnings (often 40–70%) for a limited period after childbirth and are not job-protected unless paired with FMLA or a state law that extends protection. In states like California with mandated SDI, workers automatically contribute to that pool and qualify for pregnancy-related disability benefits, but in Washington and Texas, STD depends on employer offerings or voluntary plans.

Beyond federal and state statutory benefits, many employers offer paid parental leave packages to remain competitive, especially in industries facing labor shortages. These employer-sponsored options can range from a few weeks of fully paid leave to enhanced packages that supplement state benefits or extend leave beyond FMLA’s 12 weeks. In California and Washington, employers often coordinate their own paid leave with state benefits (for example, topping up PFL or PFML income so employees receive full salary), while employers in Texas may choose to offer paid leave voluntarily or through voluntary insurance plans allowed by state law; uptake of those plans, however, has been limited.

States can layer on additional benefits, particularly through paid family leave programs or state disability insurance. California offers two key state programs: State Disability Insurance (SDI) for pregnancy-related disability (which often covers a portion of wages around childbirth) and Paid Family Leave (PFL), which provides partial pay for up to eight weeks to bond with a new child. These benefits are funded by employee contributions into SDI and are distinct from job protection. Washington operates a statewide Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program that provides wage-replacement leave for family and medical reasons, offering up to 12 weeks of paid leave, or up to 16–18 weeks in combined or complicated situations, with benefits based on a percentage of wages. Texas, by contrast, does not have a mandated state paid family leave or disability program for private workers; most new parents must rely on FMLA and any employer policy.

​Reviewing all of your benefit options with your employer could help put you in a better position than you think. As a dually licensed financial advisor and Washington insurance agent, I work with my clients to plan for the road ahead and identify the opportunities their employers offer, as well as options within the marketplace, to help maintain income.

What to Do After a Security Breach
That sinking feeling after you’ve clicked the button. The email looked legitimate, but now it’s downloading malware. Your mind starts racing: What do I do first?

Your instinct might be to stay on the computer and search for answers. Instead, take a screenshot of this article for later, then disconnect immediately.

• Disconnect from the internet.
  • Make sure your device does not automatically reconnect to a backup network.
• Scan your computer.
• Use a separate device or network to change your passwords.
  • Do not use the potentially compromised Wi-Fi connection.
• Call and freeze your banking or financial accounts.

These are the first steps to take. Here’s why: even if you disconnect, other devices on the same network may still be vulnerable. That means even smart devices, like a refrigerator, could potentially be exploited if someone is determined to maintain access. A best practice is to separate your networks, such as having both an appliance network and a guest Wi-Fi.

Run a full virus scan on your computer, and ensure all smart devices are updated with the latest software to eliminate vulnerabilities. After completing the first four steps, take inventory of all your autofilled passwords. If you use a secure password manager, it can help you quickly review and update many of them.

Next, contact each of your financial institutions. This includes your banking and savings accounts, home loan or HELOC providers, credit card companies, digital payment services, investment accounts (including your financial advisor), and credit reporting agencies.

Ongoing monitoring can take many forms. If your financial advisor can initiate money movements, they will typically be alerted to any transaction requests. This can serve as a critical line of defense. Credit reporting agencies and financial institutions also offer monitoring services.

Make sure email and text alerts are enabled on the device you use most. The faster you can detect and stop suspicious activity, the better for both your peace of mind and your bank account.

Let’s face it. There are people out there waiting for a moment of distraction to take advantage. Make sure you have a plan in place, and that your family knows what to look for if they receive a suspicious email, even if it appears to come from you. As a financial advisor, I may not have every answer when it comes to securing your technology, but I can help you protect your finances.

Doing it all doesn’t have to be exhausting, it has to be passive. When you create a plan to pay off debt, that plan can’t be the only lane you’re in during your 20s and 30s. It has to be equally weighted with a regular investing strategy. When you focus solely on debt relief, it creates a mentality of sacrifice and the “one day” effect.
I like to call it the one day effect because people always say, “One day when I pay off my credit cards, I will _____,” or “One day when I win the lottery, I will ______.” One-day dreamers could use the same weighted effort to have it all if they introduced passive strategies to both pay down debt and invest.

Before we talk strategy, let’s evaluate the numbers behind this.

👷 The Early Investor

• Bought a $500,000 house at age 25
• Started investing $23,000 per year into a 401(k) at age 25 and received a 5% company match
• Average growth: 7% per year
• Age 35: $505,000 in retirement
• Paid off the house at 55
• Age 65: $4.5 million invested and house paid in full

👷 The Late Starter

• Bought a $500,000 house at age 25
• Put an extra $23,000 per year toward the mortgage
• Paid off the house in 13 years
• Started a 401(k) at age 38, investing $23,000 per year with a 5% company match
• Average growth: 7% per year
• Age 55: $696,000 in retirement
• Age 65: $1.6 million invested and house paid in full

Savings = short-term safety
Investing early = long-term freedom
Inflation eats away at cash sitting in savings

Here’s how to get it all done without stressing out:
Look at your debts with the intent of a two to five year payoff schedule, prioritizing high interest loans first. Pay them off one at a time while continuously making on-time payments through your payroll provider or bank. Don’t pay according to the due date pay on the first of the month before the due date.

When you pay off one debt, instead of automatically using that set aside money to accelerate other debt, compare the growth rate of your investments to the interest rate on the remaining debt. Allocate the money to whichever gives you the higher percentage return.

You’ll eventually reach a point where you still have debt, but the interest rate is lower than the growth rate of your investments. That’s when you can put your debt schedule on set it and forget it mode.
At that point, you understand the impact of a plan and instead of saying “one day,” you have measurable goals that help you live your one day now.

Start your plan with me today.
This year will end with you living one day.

​Let’s keep it short, like my grocery bill. The only reason I have a shopping budget as low as I do is because I don’t like to do it regularly. I set myself up at 8 a.m. one day during the first week of the month and get everything for the month. I then come back home to review my current inventory, portion meats, freeze items, and write dinners for the month. If I know the veggies will go bad and I don’t need them crisp because they’ll be used in a soup or baked dish, I freeze them too. If it’s on sale, I’ll stock up; if it’s too pricey, I won’t get it that month. This has also led me to rotate meats, so each month features a different protein-heavy cost. Lastly, buy in bulk at restaurants: $85 for five tri-tips—trim the fat for tallow, cut steaks for two, and portion chunks or slices; $24 for 20 lbs of thighs—bones for stock, whole or cubed; $15–$20 for a 5–8 lb pork loin.

People waste food because they buy it without a plan to use it. Pinterest, Cook’s, or The New York Times are great resources for people who aren’t used to cooking. For beginners, bulk-bin spices are your best value. When you like a recipe, reuse it multiple times a month. Lately, the Dijon Cream Pork with Crispy Gnocchi has been our favorite.

We use the extra money for an experience savings account. I may go over or under depending on how many times I entertain, but I will never hear the words, “We have nothing to eat.”

​How many days of the week do you spend money? Every day, three times a week, or one day a week? U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data found that the average American spends about $164.55 per day on essentials and discretionary items (housing, food, insurance, transportation, entertainment, etc.) when you break total annual spending into daily units. Did you know the average all-inclusive vacation with airfare sits between $150–$300 a day, and a cruise could be as little as $100 a day?

So what are we really spending all that money on? If we can be more intentional about our spending, we can start to use the excess to do more fun things or grow our wealth. But where does that money come from? First, we’ll start with a quick exercise. Tally how many days you spend money using your cards and bank accounts. This will not include your living expenses—housing, transportation, or utilities. Is it feasible to cut that spending, and by how much? What would be the financial impact?

Intentional spending is not about limiting what you spend, but understanding that it needs to serve a purpose. When presented with the option of gifts or experiences, I’d choose experiences with my family all day. This means that when I’m looking at gadgets and gizmos aplenty, they don’t mean as much to me. When you find the intentionality behind your spending—not to keep up with the Joneses—you find more joy in what you have. That’s truly living from a place of abundance instead of scarcity.

Why do we do this to ourselves? We have lofty goals for the beginning of the new year, and in order to set yourself up for success, you need to have mental stability and financial support. Many of us struggle to feel like our best selves when we are in survival mode. This could be from stress at work, weight gain, or family needs; these are compounded by financial stress. If we can control our spending habits and set our annual savings for the year, all of the things that seem out of control are relative. So today, we will talk about mindset.

Mindset is very easy to fix—JUST DO IT. If you want to achieve your goals, move forward with them. Don’t ask why you can’t do it; this wastes your energy and time and creates mental fatigue. Yes, you might not want to do it, but that’s not enough of a reason. The top tools I use to get it done are playlists, incentivizing, and discipline.

Playlists exude the energy that you are looking for to complete the task. Do you notice that when you work out there are usually no lyrics, just a steady rhythmic beat above your heart rate? When concentrating on creating, I use a Bach playlist; to organize, I’ll listen to Taylor Swift; and to cook, Frank Sinatra. Find a playlist, podcast, or show that allows you to revert to a trance-like state so that you can get out of your head and push forward.

Incentivizing helps when it comes to one-off goals. My dad used to get us Dairy Queen after we finished a day of yard work. With my brothers and sisters, to get them to clean their rooms, I would say, “You have to pick up five things and organize them, and then you can jump on the bed once,” or you could group them and jump on the bed multiple times. As an adult, I’ve seen people write their goals on champagne bottles, use the “buy now” option from their wish list, and finally treat themselves to something special.

Make your bed. This form of discipline is the least favorite but the best thing you can do. Consistency is the key to keeping long-term goals on track. This week, I want you to start with two times a week, then increase to three, until you get to every day, then go back down. Which days were harder for you? Now, with that information, can you create consistency with your task? This can be specific to a time of day or just checking a box. When the Apple Watch created the “close your rings” reminder for the hour, it wasn’t about doing it every hour; it was about doing more than what you had started with. Slowly, those reminders grew into a subconscious decision to move. Discipline is a growing skill, and it’s fed through consistency.

Changing your mindset will need to start by moving from a state of scarcity to a state of abundance. Look at what you have right now. Why do you need more? If you can’t afford what you have, you’ve probably been trying to live outside your means. Focus on small tasks to achieve your goals passively. Next week, we will start with the $1/day challenge.

Remember, you can do anything in this world, but you might not want to do the things that get you there—and that’s what will set you apart. Text me with questions or go to my Instagram @familyretire.