If you're a HENRY...this is for you
In this issue, we’ll discuss why financial literacy matters for high earners & why the top 5 matter most.
The Wealth Minute
Reset & Reclaim
It's week three of our April financial literacy series. It’s not just a buzzword for budget basics, however. For HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet), it’s a critical checkpoint.
You’re making good money, but between lifestyle creep, rising expenses, and juggling priorities, it's easy for wealth-building to take a backseat.
This month is your chance to pause, plan, and pivot.
Below are three reasons it should matter to you:
You’re in the growth zone. This is your season to build—not just earn. Remember that the years before retirement are called the accumulation years.
Financial pressure is real. High earners often face invisible burdens: family support, debt payoff, and career transitions.
Wealth-building has to be intentional. Without clarity, your income becomes a cycle, not a strategy.
Now that you know why it should matter, it's time to shift into strategy + momentum.
Taking action is the most important step in building wealth but many fail to get started because they honestly don't know where to start.
Wealth Move
This is a great time to perform a personal audit of your spending. The "Cost of You Review" will help you uncover the blind spots that can delay or sidetrack wealth building. It will also highlight what areas are most important to you that need to be kept front and center.
Make a list of three financial goals you could work on for the rest of the quarter. Examples are: automate your expenses and investing, review your subscriptions from the "Cost of You Review" and choose which ones can be eliminated.
Schedule a "money date" with your spouse, significant other or you! This is one time when it's okay to talk to yourself and answer back.
The Freedom Path
The Top 5 Spending Categories
As you are working your way through your personal audit, what stands out?
What are your top 5 spending categories?
Below are ours:
Medical expenses. Both Keith and I have environmental health issues that require a significant dollar amount to manage. Supplements, quarterly blood tests and labs, along with out of network providers mean our monthly medical expenses top out over $1000 each month. Many months (like April) it's significantly higher.
Tithes and offerings. We don't see this category as an expense but it is one of the highest spending categories in our budget. We separate tithing from offerings and use The God Pocket model to guide our giving. Combined, they account for a large percentage of our monthly budget.
Mortgage. It is always our goal for our housing expense to be less than our tithes. With the move to Kentucky and higher interest rates, we are currently out of alignment on this one, but that is a top goal for 2025. We believe the Lord will either decrease our mortgage or increase our tithe to get our mortgage back to our desired alignment. Either works for us! NOTE: even though our mortgage is currently more than our tithe, it is not more than 25% of our net income. Click here to learn more on this very important strategy I teach my clients.
Investing. Between our retirement accounts and tax free investing, we send a pretty large chunk of our budget into the future. Think of your money as soldiers going off to battle. What assignment do you have them working on? And is their work going to cost you later? We prefer not to pay to get our troops back, which is why we focus primarily on tax free investing options.
Savings. These are short term savings goals, which mean they are sitting in our Ally money market account and not an investment account. Cash for the next car purchase, our son's graduation trip and our trip to Greece (none of which will happen in 2025) is being saved on a monthly basis.
Once you know where your money is going, you can best determine if adjustments need to be made. You are then actively managing your income, on the way to building wealth.
Wealth Move
Make a list of your top 5 spending accounts. Do any of them surprise you? Feel free to reply to this email and share what you find and how it makes you feel.
Open a savings account with an online company like Ally. Saving today will hedge against the increased cost of living in the months to come. Automate the contribution to make it easier to do.
Book of The Month
The April 2025 book of the month is "The New Retirementality" by Mitch Anthony.
Join me on the journey of discovery this month. I just picked this one up for the month. I'd love to know your thoughts on it.
Coffee Chat Question
If we were to meet for coffee, what would you want to know?
Feel free to email me questions that will anonymously be added to this section during each edition.
I want to automate my money, but I'm afraid I won't have enough money to pay my bills if I do.
If we were face to face, I would likely reach for your hands and hold a steady gaze while I answer you.
Why?
Because this question is rooted in fear and I would hope my proximity to you and the direct contact would help make the point.
The issue is not automation. The issue is lack of budgeting.
When you budget (and then follow it), you will know exactly how much your have available for all of the automated expenses and when they will be debited.
Another solution to help you would be moving all expense money to a different account.
That will prevent random spending from taking out your expense money.
And while it may seem overwhelming at first, the exercise of setting everything up and actually executing on it will create an incredible sense of financial freedom.
Remember that if you don't like it, you can always go back to the way you managed it previously.
Are You A Federal Employee?
"Uncertainty" was a word never associated with federal employment in the past.
It's a daily utterance these days, however.
To help you make informed financial decisions that are best for you and your family, I'm offering all federal employees a FREE Money Chat.
Click here to schedule a 30 minute chat to discuss anything you want.
Let's change the word of the day to "Empowered."
