One Wealth Perspectives

Earlier this year when Tessa, the newest and youngest member of the One Wealth Team, wrote February’s theme of retirement planning it made me think of how we are all on different mile markers of a marathon (which as a matter of fact, a few folks at One Wealth have run a marathon or are in the process of training for one!). As a 25-year-old, Tessa is just starting her journey, and she wrote that, “If the average age of retirement for women in the U.S. is 62, I am staring down the barrel of at least another 37 years of work, or 81,770 hours.” As for me, I’m on mile marker 21, getting closer to the finish line.

Estate planning can be complicated and emotionally stressful. I recently finished the HBO series “Succession,” in which the show takes the concept of the inheritance of a family business to quite the extreme. The show prompted me to reflect on my own understanding of the topic.

As some of you may know but others may not, One Wealth Advisors has a high school intern! Her name is Nathalee and she is just about to graduate from ICA Cristo Rey Academy, an all-girls college preparatory school in the Mission in San Francisco. Every student at ICA must intern each school year, and we have had the pleasure of getting to know and work with Nathalee for both her junior and senior year.

As I was pondering what to write about this week, I decided to take a little break and spend some time on social media. After watching a few videos, I came across one in which this content creator was kind of dismissing the importance of having a 401(k) or saving in general. Her message to the world was that contributing to a 401(k) is “nice”, but she has been able to make 401 memories by spending her money exactly how she wanted and when she wanted to. After watching this video, I could not help but think about how many people may either share her way of thinking or may be influenced by her.

The team at One Wealth has accumulated quite a few full and half marathon runners as of late. Whether there is a correlation between finance and endurance running, I don’t know. I do know, however, that both take having a particular goal in mind and a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other persistence to make it across the finish line. I get such joy in sharing in the excitement of my teammates who have successfully completed the 26.2 or the 13.1, yet I can empathize with those who are facing challenges in their training, too.

Oh, that familiar feeling of dread returning to your inbox after a week of being out of office. How do you avoid the inevitable feeling of drowning in a pool of emails when you return? Is it easier to just check your inbox while on vacation, or can you completely disconnect and say “Check ya later!” to work?

Over the holidays, my dad gave me a stack of wooden blocks wrapped in a bow. They looked like the pieces of wooden railroad tracks my brother and I would piece together as children. Some blocks had poems written on them. Others had small photos of me at various ages. Me on my first day of kindergarten. Me covered in chicken pox. Me dressed as a dalmatian for Halloween.

April is recognized as financial literacy month which, according to the department of higher education, reminds us to focus on learning as well as establishing and maintaining healthy financial habits. Over the years I’ve moderated many discussions on how parents could foster a productive financial conversation with their children, but until recently, I’ve been challenged to come up with a succinct way to do so. In a more recent conversation, one of our dear clients summed up my point by saying, ”Oh you mean the three S’s?” With a bewildered look, I said “Excuse me?” They said,” You know, the three S’s: Spend, Save and Share.” BAM! Thanks to them, I can now lead conversations using these three basic principles and for youngsters, I don’t think the conversation needs to be more complicated. For every $1 one receives, consider breaking it into three pieces and start to formulate one’s financial values (or habits). Clearly saving is what is most focused on, and spending is sometimes frowned upon. But why not spend some of one’s money, and consider at an early age sharing it as well.

Traveling with my family to Europe this winter break was truly a transformative experience. Days were filled with excitement and intrigue, and the experience left a marked impression on me. This experience forced me to slow down, take everything in, and appreciate and truly immerse myself in the experience. We spent a lot of time planning and researching, and we wanted to fit in as much as we could in the time we had. Having a plan set up allowed me to fully embrace the experience. It also leaves room to manage those little unexpected life situations that tend to come up no matter how prepared you are. Sometimes those moments can become valuable life lessons.