Your 2024 Financial Game Plan

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Quote

“Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” - P.T. Barnum

Financial Game Plan

*AHHHH goes the buzzer, the 2023 clock shows 0:00.

Congratulations, you somehow survived 2023. It was a wild year with crypto billionaires getting wrecked, the fed achieving a soft landing (fingers crossed I didn’t jinx it), two major global conflicts, etc.

Now with 2024 approaching there is no time like the present to get your finances in order so you can take control of your money and have it start working for you.

So huddle up, the clock is about to reset, here is the seven step game plan.

P.S. These steps are inspired by one of my favorite podcasts, The Money Guy Show (with my own personal touch).

1) Deductibles

First off, make sure you have your deductibles covered. This what you have to pay out of pocket before insurance steps in to help with additional costs.

These need to be covered in case you have a major setback this season…because we all know s**t happens.

2) Track Your Spending

In order to successfully complete the rest of these steps one needs to know how much money is coming in and how much is going out.

This step could arguably be #1, but nonetheless needs to be done to properly calculate your saving and investing rate. Do this for a minimum of three months.

Even tracking for a short amount of time like this will make you more aware of your saving and spending. Then you can always go back and track a month here and there to make sure you haven’t fell into any bad habits.

No matter what though, you need a baseline to start from.

I’ve used EveryDollar and Fina.xyz to track my spending.

3) Build an Emergency Fund

As we mentioned, and just like any good team, you will have unplanned injuries (in our case costly events). To keep this from wrecking your finances in 2024 you need to have an emergency fund saved up.

Typically, three months of expenses is recommended. Personally though, I’m a little more conservative and prefer a savings amount closer to six months.

The reason for this (especially if you have a family) is things can happen fast. Car trouble, home maintenance, sickness, etc. If you are unlucky enough for a couple of these to take place close together having a bit more tucked away in an emergency fund will help.

P.S. Have this in a high yield savings account. Yields are close to 5%. Here is my “Cash Is No Longer Trash” post covering different options to earn a yield on your cash.

4) Get Your 401k Match

If you like free throws in basketball, you’ll definitely like free money.

Most large employers offer some type of 401k match. Essentially they will match every dollar you invest up to a certain % of your salary.

For example, the company I work for matches 100% of my contributions, up to 5% of my salary. To make the math easy, if your income was $100k and you contributed $5,000 to your 401k, your employer would contribute another $5,000.

A 401k match is about about as close to free money as you can get. Check out “401k For Dummies” if you need more info here.

5) Pay Down High Interest Debt

High performing athletes struggle to play at the top of their game with nagging injuries, just like having high performing finances is a struggle with nagging debt.

If you have any high interest debt get it paid down ASAP. For the majority, this commonly comes from credit cards.

There are two common methods for paying down debt. The first being the avalanche method, and the second being the snowball method. Pick one and start attacking.

6) Max Out Roth/HSA

Now you have your foundation set and it’s time to start investing. In order for your dollars to achieve their maximum potential, it’s important to utilize tax advantaged accounts.

Roth IRAs and HSAs are both accounts that have great tax advantages. I won’t dive to deep into the details in this post, but here are a few resources to check out when you are ready: Tax Haters Rejoice and How HSAs Work.

Educate yourself on these and start investing (take a peek at broad market ETFs like VOO, QQQM, and SCHD).

7) Stack That Cash

After these steps, where you invest your money really begins to change on a case by case basis. Some will prefer to max out their 401k (for tax advantages) while others will prefer to begin funding their traditional brokerage, save up for a down payment, prepay future expenses, etc.

Income level, stage of life, and future plans all play a part here but at least now your foundation is set.

Conclusion

Hopefully this helps you form your financial game plan for 2024 and nail down the basics.

Finances can be intimidating, but everyone loves a good underdog story.

Go win it. ~ Cade

*AHHH goes the buzzer, the 2024 clock shows 365.

Cade's Finds

GTA 6 Pitch Deck - In case you live under a rock, the GTA 6 trailer released last week. It’s expected to do $8B in year one sales, here is the pitch deck.

How High Will Bitcoin Go in 2024 - Bitcoin has crossed the $40k number once again. Here is a short video to catch you up on the details.

Favorite Investment Writing of 2023 - Nick Maggiulli put together a compilation of his favorite investing articles from this year. These are worth a scroll with your morning coffee.

Best Memes

Who needs integrals when you have excel?!

IFYKYK

Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. Do your own research. Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. about the email don’t hesitate to send me a reply.