Creating a Happier Financial Life in 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is straight talk from the House with certified financial
planner Tracy Aton right here on thirteen ten wui b A.
Of course, Tracy. She comes to us from Tanton Investment House,
a fee only fiduciary with offices right on the west
side Middleton. The website Tantoninvestment House dot com. That's t
A N T O N investment House dot com. Great
website and resource. Learn more about Tracy and the team. Also,

(00:22):
I'll inspect to this some previous shows podcasts all online
again that website Tanton Investment House dot com. Tellphon umber
six oh eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. That's
six so eight five zero one fifteen four nine. And
joining us this morning is certified financial planner Tracy Anton. Tracy,
how you doing this week?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm doing great, John, how about you?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
I'm doing really good. It's great to talk with you.
And I saw when you sent over some of the
show notes. I saw this week's title and I thought,
this is right. This is Tracy to a T creating
a happier financial life in twenty twenty five. What brings
what brings this topic up and what is what kind
of what's kind of the background here Tracy.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, somebody just asked me recently, like do you make resolutions,
And I thought, well, I don't necessarily make like hard
cre resolutions, even though I'm very goal oriented. I think
I'm so goal oriented that I don't probably need a resolution.
But I said, I'd just like to, you know, kind
of trend in better directions. You know, if I'm going
off in one direction, you know, if I'm not as healthy,

(01:21):
if I'm doing this or I'm doing that, I just
you know, I just said general trend. But anyway, it's
not necessarily the best way to make a goal. But
it's a resolution time, right, It's the perfect time of
the year to kind of talk about that. And I
think improving your relationship with money is for some people,
is one that we really should hit upon, and I

(01:42):
think it can be really helpful. You know, a lot
of people over the last I mean, even since COVID
have had health or financial strains that they hadn't had before.
So you know, we were I was looking at this
and I had done a show previously, I think it
was back in twenty twenty two related to this. You know,
there's a lot of key information in here that is

(02:03):
still applicable, so I thought, well, let's, you know, kind
of revisit this subject. And then also they were talking
about there was a survey. Now this was done a
long time ago, but it had was by the Next Advisor.
It connected three thousand adults in June, and over half
had said that they felt very or somewhat anxious about
their finances. So I find when I talked to people,

(02:28):
I think it's getting better over time. Actually, but I
think some people feel like, oh, I don't you know,
I don't know much about this subject, or I don't know.
And one thing I would have to say is what
I find is most people know more than they think.
And I think that's it comes across because a lot
of people have four one ks or retirement plans through

(02:48):
their job, and so they've had some exposure to the
sack market and they've heard of a roth Ira or
they might even have one. So some of the terminology
can always get a little funky for people, but once
you break it down, I think it becomes pretty clear
and people feel MY goal would always be that they
would feel much better about it. So again, relationship, you know,

(03:12):
money money in your relationship with money is really important
it's just like any other relationship, and again we should
really refocus and think about how to improve that relationship
with our finances and not just how to manage our money.
So again we need to improve our thinking as we
develop a healthier mindset about money tooshon and to help
reduce stress about money. So some of the ways to

(03:32):
do this is to focus on cultivating a healthier mindset
about money and really your self knowledge, you know, enhance
your self knowledge and define your goals and just kind
of like ease up on the financial task to try
to make them as more as enjoyable as possible, even
though it's not fun to pay bills, but figure out

(03:53):
ways to do that. So I think some of this
is a little tactical and some of it's a little
bit you know, relationship okay, you know, a little touchy feely.
But hopefully at the end of this program we can
think I think I can make a happier financial.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Life should be an exciting show. As always, as we
talk with certified financial planner Tracy Anton here on thirteen
ten wi b A. Never forget about the website Tanton
Investment House dot com. That's t A N T O
N investment house dot com and the telephone number six
oh eight five zero one fifteen forty nine. That's six
eight five zero one fifteen forty nine. So, Tracy, what
are some techniques to help us achieve kind of that

(04:30):
happier financial life.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, one study said focus on yourself. So studies from
Penn and Princeton's show as income rises, so does happiness
for most people. However, income does set a floor and
our end raises a ceiling for just how happy a
person can be. And what we have found that once
earning's reach about one hundred thousand more money brings pretty
much no significant increase to happiness. So spending a lot

(04:56):
of time trying to you know, continue to increase increase income,
don't do it for the happiness quota, you know quota.
So when when income rises, some people start to compare
themselves with new peers, Suddenly your hashback you adore just
it becomes less admirable as your peers drive up in
a convertible. And I have found this. I mean I
had a guy I told you about this probably years ago,

(05:19):
where this guy called me he said he won the lottery,
And now I was like, really, you know, one of
those really, and he called me twice and I could
have swore he was the most sincere man I've ever
like talked to related to that. And he's like, I did, Tracy,
but I'm really stressed. He was totally stressed because he's like,
I have teenage daughters. I don't want their world to

(05:40):
be upset, you know. He goes, We're normal people. I
like to bowl. I go bowling on you know, Saturday night,
and my wife's a nurse. He goes, We're just normal,
average people. He goes, and all of a sudden, I'm,
all of a sudden, like the most popular person in
the family and I'm all, you know, and he goes,
I really don't want people to know. So again, more

(06:00):
money doesn't always bring more happiness. But anyway, what I
want to talk to again about this is one way
to boost happiness, however, is to examine what it really
matters to you. So I thought this was great. It
was talking about three questions to pause and ask yourself.
So one of the questions is what would you do

(06:20):
if you had all the time and money in the world.
I don't know what would you do? I don't know
what would you do?

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Sean ah oooh goodness, spend more time with friends and family.
All my time with friends and family, and that's probably
what all I do?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, well, probably me too. Maybe i'd exercise more, Maybe
I should do that now. Anyway, how would you live
if you knew you had only five to ten years left?
That's question number two?

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Similarly, yeah, hard.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Though, right? Yes? What would what would you most regret
if you die tomorrow? Question number three?

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Wow? So you know answering Obviously you don't have to
answer though, but you know, knowing those and having a
sense of that can really help you steer your life
in an easier way so that you really recognize how
important is that? Do I really need to do that?
Is my time better spent this way or that way?
So your answers might help you regain that focus and

(07:17):
what again truly matters? Apparently one advisor had asked his
clients who who was seventy three these questions and his
answer led him to spend more time in nature, spend
more time with family, and also writing a book. So
there you go. So the article went on to say
that it is fundamentally important not to compromise on something
that if unfulfilled would leave you with deep regret. Okay,

(07:40):
so you know that kind of makes sense, but it's
not something that we often talk about or put it
into terms. So I thought those were three really good
questions to ask yourself. What would you do if you
had all the time and money in the world, How
would you live if you knew you had only five
to ten years left? And what would you most regret
if you die tomorrow? Wow?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Those getting they get progressively harder to answer. Yes, they do.
I the answer, yeah, yeah, if we have Wow, that's yeah. Well,
something to ponder for the rest of the rest of
the day as well. And Tracy, are there other techniques
and other ways that can help us have a healthier, healthier,
happier financial Afficus out at healthier as well, but a
happier financial life.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Well, one thing was saving time and aggravation. So whatever
you can do to create more free time can lead
to happiness. And find ways to save time with your
financial matters, so automate bill payments, for example, and put
savings on autopilots so it happens without you having to
think about it each time. And if you have more
than one traditional ira or wroth IRA four one K

(08:40):
taxable account. Consider consolidating your holdings into one of each
type so you have fewer statements to keep track of
every month and also fewer investments. That's super important when
you talk about asset allocation and you talk about how
is my money invested? What is my way to return?
Getting things consolidated in one custodian would be ideal. But

(09:00):
even if you can't because you have a four to
one K that has a different custodian, consolidate the things
that you can is really important. It's a good idea
to try to check your account balances. You know, I
wouldn't say crazy, like even once a month. I personally
wouldn't do that. I do it for clients, but I
don't do it for myself because it doesn't have to

(09:21):
be done that frequently. In my opinion, every quarter is great,
you know, and double check once a year and also
update your financial plan once a year would be what
I'd recommend. And again, work towards a stress pre budget.
Eliminate constant monitoring of spending because again that can be
mentally exhausting. So you know, don't don't overthink it.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
Talk this morning with certified financial planner Tracy Anton right
here thirteen ten WIBA. Wellpe, you've had a chance to
stop by the website Tanton Investment House dot com. If
you have it, definitely do that this morning again the
website Tantoninvestment House dot com. Delpha number six So eight
five zero one fifteen forty nine. That's six eight five
z're a one fifteen forty nine. Now that we're into

(10:04):
the new year, we're talking about creating a happier financial
life than Tracy. What else can we do to help
us have that happier financial life? What are their tips there?

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Well, one thing is to minimize conflicts with your spouse
or family members and friends. So couples can relieve stress
by including some money in their budget for each other
to spend individually. So the goal here is to allow
each person to spend up to an agreed about limit
without criticism or even just checking from the other person.
And again, spouses who would rather save than spend their

(10:35):
share can do so, and therefore spouses who would rather
spend their portion can do so. So we don't come
into these relationships identical, right, Some people you know are
more free to spend, some are less to spend. Some
are happier to save and or less happy to save,
you know, or happier to spend. So again, this helps
each to have a freedom to be their own individual
person as well as part of the relationship. And then

(10:56):
some couples pay their bills from a joint account, then
divide what mains after paying you know, their bills and
you know, in separate accounts. So some couples are much
happier with separate type of accounts. And I know some
people don't have that, you know. I've known couples young
and old that don't have, you know, separate accounts, but
a lot of people do and it seems to work

(11:17):
out well.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's fascinating. That's one of those areas that I'm always
when they get a chance to, you know, know somebody
well enough. That's what converce. I always like to find
out how couples manage money. My wife and I are
very much it's it's a universal pool where it all
goes into one account, well shared accounts.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
That's because she does all the hard work.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
She does.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
Know you you are you no, I know, it is
absolutely true. Is like she manages all of that stuff.
But I'm always the dynamics of how that stuff works
is always fascinating to me because I know obviously other
couples where it's like very separate everything and they they
split the bills and stuff down to me, it's like, right,

(11:55):
that's really interesting.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
We don't split Yeah, yeah, I don't but bills, you know,
we don't do that. Yeah. It is whatever works for you.
You know, it doesn't have to be one one solution either.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well stated for sure, as we talk with certified financial
planner Tracy and tow we're gonna get some more tips
for creating a happier financial life this year. We'll get
those details from Tracy. We'll do that next. In the meantime,
I want you to head on over the website Tanton
investment House dot com. That's t A N T O
N investment house dot com. Great website and great resource
to learn more about Tracy in the team. Again, the
website Tanton Investment House dot com com. This is straight

(12:31):
talk from the house with certified financial planner Tracy Andton
right here. I'm thirteen ten double U I B A.
Of course, you can learn more about Tracy and the
whole team online Tanton Investment House dot com. That's t
A N T O N. Investment House dot com Delphy
number six oh eight five zero one fifteen forty nine.
That's six oh eight five zero one fifteen four nine.

(12:51):
Talking about creating a happier financial life in twenty twenty
five and kind of stepping through and walking through some
of those steps for increasing happiness and tracy. Are there
some other things, some helpful tips to help us up
our happiness with finances.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Well, a good place to start, according to Sarah Newcom,
who's a behavioral economist at morning Star, she recommended and
this was years ago, but it's still valid. I think
giving yourself a score on a scale of one to
ten on whether you feel you can handle whatever comes
your way financially. One reflects pessimism and ten indicates optimism.
So regardless of income, it was found that people who

(13:29):
assigned themselves scores of five or more expressed greater satisfaction
with their finances than those with lower scores. So missus
Newcom said, resilient people commonly focus on things that they
can control, such as their savings rate, rather than focusing
what is beyond their controls, such as stock returns. And
again by focusing on things that are in your control.

(13:50):
You increase your are out of your control, you would
increase your anxiety level. Surendery prayer, she said. Also, and
remind yourself of your financial achievement so far, i e.
That you've paid off your credit card or your mortgage,
and practice gratitude and forgive yourself for mistakes in the past.
One of the main points that one of one of
the advisors mentioned, I believe this is true too, is

(14:13):
if you don't have to do everything right or have
it all figured out, you take small steps and start
heading in the right direction. But most of the people
I see obviously have had in an awesome direction. I'm
doing extremely well. I mean, I see people that are
a bit older, right in their sixties, seventies and so on,
and they've done clearly a lot of steps right right.

(14:34):
But you don't have to do everything perfect. And I
think that was a really good point that he made.
It's the idea that you know, don't don't throw the
baby out just because you know you bought something in
a wrong time or wish you would have converted all
the money into your wrath. Ira. You know, a couple
of years ago, when your air income was out and

(14:54):
whatever it is, you know what I mean. So I
think we can be too hard on ourselves. And again
I think I see people too hard on themselves. They
know more than they think. And what you want is just,
you know, to have a baseline of information that you
can feel like, feel confident. And I think that's what
a good advisor can help you with. Get a financial
plan and feel confident that you are doing well. And

(15:17):
I think good advisor will help you do that.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
You know, Tracy. Something I always find interesting is is,
you know, we all we all talk about what we
do for a living, but we never really are comfortable
and kind of fearful of discussing finances. And are there
tips and things out there for folks to overcome that
fear and be able to have that, you know, those
very important financial conversations.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
You're right, I mean, fear really can literally paralyze you.
So improving our financial lives can sometimes feel like a
catch twenty two. The money issue you need to resolve
create so much anxiety that you end up running away
from it all together. So it's important to seek more
understanding and money issues. You know, like if you have
debt issues, obviously figure that out building emergency savings obviously

(16:01):
that's really important. But diversification and if you don't know
if what your portfolio is properly diversifying, you know you
should ask an advisor, go seek help, even if you're not,
have a strong relationship with somebody, get some outside perspective
on it. So you know, all these things can increase
your happiness if you feel like you've got these things
kind of ticked off. So a study was published by

(16:25):
FENRA and the Global Financial Literacy Excellent Center. They found
that low levels of financial literacy was a top contributor
to financial stress and anxiety, and that this was again
before the pandemic. But the report analyzed the survey responses
of nineteen thousand Americans. So another study that was done
by Herbers and Company. They published in December twenty twenty one,

(16:46):
found that the top earning Americans who hired a financial
advisor were nearly three times happier than those who manage
their own finances, which kind of surprised me. I mean,
I'm glad when people are happy, but you know, that
was surprising. This study also notice those who went solo
to manage their own investments became statistically unhappier as they
made more money, which could highlight how difficult it could

(17:10):
be to manage large sums of money on your own.
So you know, the stakes go up. I mean it's okay,
but you know a lot of people say, oh, I
just want you know this Robinhood accounts got twenty grand
and it it's like, go for it, have fun. You know,
you pick out the stacks that you want to follow
and stuff and usually you know, maybe it amounts to something,
but maybe not. And that's okay. But you know, for

(17:30):
their larger sum of money, they don't want to take
those kinds of you know, stretches. They're right, they don't
want to stretch their their knowledge in certain in certain areas.
And I wouldn't either if I was. You know, I'm
never going to fix my car. Okay, I'm never going
to do that, and I don't think a lot of
people are now the way cars are made. So it's
this idea of you know, get a good advisor and

(17:53):
reduce the stress and so that you and as long
as the good advisor is telling you giving you comparable things,
you know, how how markets did and how did you do?
What is your rate over one three, five, and ten years.
You know, how's your financial plan looking as cash flow
going to be good? When are you going to be
able to meet your goals? What are your goals and
are you going to be able to meet them? So

(18:13):
these are the things that you should really focus on.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Talk this morning with certified financial planner Tracy Anton here
on thirteen ten wuib I, I hope you've been to
the website. If not, head on over there right now
or when you get into the office this morning, Tanton
Investment House dot Com. From there you can listen back
to this in previous shows podcasts. You can also get
more information about tracing the team. Again, it's a free resource,
a great resource to you. That's Tantoninvestmenthouse dot com and

(18:38):
Tracy what are some areas and some other other steps
how to help us kind of face those our financial fears.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well, they're just talking about what what are you afraid of?
So the most intimidating part of facing your financial fears
might be figuring out precisely what you're afraid of and why. So.
Financial planners often ask first time clients to recall their
first experiences with money, because this can provide insight to
their adult approach to money. For example, someone who earned
an allowance might have a different understanding about money compared

(19:06):
to someone whose earliest members is of a single parent
struggling to make ends meet. So when we get a
better understanding of the fear, we can offer more direction
on how to move forward and overcome it. Those are
good tips, to be honest. I've never asked anybody you
know what they felt thought, you know, what their first
experience with money is. I've asked them, you know, what
your experience with the stock market? If they if I

(19:29):
sense that, you know, they're not that experience, or they're
they're saying they're uncomfortable, then you know, we have that
kind of conversation. So I think it depends on the advisor.
And I also just think as time rolls on, you
get to know someone and you can try to meet
them wherever they're at.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
And Tracy, what about you know, as we as we
talk about some of these these kind of solutions to
these issues, what are there other things than that we
can do to move out of our fear of finances?
What are some of the other things there?

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Well, one of the things this article was talking about was,
you know, read some books that help you increase your knowledge,
or articles, or watch some financial videos or aid listen
to a radio show right on your way. I mean,
people will say to me, you know, I learned so
much from just listening, you know, to me and other
people that are doing radio programs about finance. And I
love that because, you know, just a little bit goes

(20:20):
a long way. I think, you know, I think you
have to be careful because obviously, you know, maybe we
all have a bent, right, and so you have to
be careful who you listen to. But I think the
more information if you can kind of segment and think, okay,
this thing makes sense, you know. And I've heard from
people say to me, I really like your style because
you're just straightforward. And I think that you have to

(20:41):
find someone that meshes with your style, whatever that is,
if that, if that, if that person speaks to you
and you really understand it, that's the most important thing.
But I think, you know, you do kind of have
to step in the water and learn a bit.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Let's talk about self help. I know that's a you know,
a good place to start with things. What if somebody
doesn't have the time, or you know, if not everybody's
interested to learn when it thinks about finance, what can
they do then to be financially happier? Tracy, Well, again,
I just.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Think hiring a financial advisor. Of course, you know I'm
a financial advisor. I'm going to say that. But hiring
a financial advisor can provide an unbiased view of your
finances and help you reach your financial goal. So, even
if you're not having a long term relationship with someone,
at least going in and getting some basic information is
really important, especially for young people. Right, So I would

(21:29):
say a fee only fiduciary would be the best way
to go. And the reason why is because again fee
only means that you know you the client. You know
you're only You're the one who's paying the fee, not
the fee isn't getting paid by a third party. So
this reduces the conflict of interest that arises that the

(21:49):
advisor would be incentivized to sell you a product that
are in the best interest of themselves instead of yours
due to potentially maybe higher commission or back end fees
or stuff like that. So fe only advisor, you know
people people know now fiduciary the word fiduciary, Yes, working
in your best interest is super important. But fee only
add that part to it as well, because again fee

(22:11):
only means that all the fees are completely transparent and
there are no hidden fees you know to be aware of,
so you're not you know, the advisor isn't getting something
that you're not aware of. And I personally always review
what the client pays me upfront as we talk about,
you know, what was their gain in their account and
what was their net rate of return, so we you know,

(22:33):
I just address it right away because I just think
it's really that important because you know, I'm I'm offering
a service, and I want that service to be of value,
and I think it's a it should be compared and
it should be looked at every single year. This is
what you're paying us, and this is and this is
what we've done.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's really important distinction as well. And I know we've
done some shows for folks that wonder f the only
fiduciary if you want more information to obviously trace right
there get a really good job of laying out what
separates a fee only fiduciary from others when it comes
to advisors. There's some great information online. Tanton Investment House
dot com head on over there now T A N

(23:11):
T O N Investment House dot com the telephon number
six So eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. That's
six so eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. So Tracy,
let's put a little bow on this whole thing. Let's
wrap it up about you know, when it comes to
creating a happier financial life, will stocks make us happier
in the new year?

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Right? The question yes, all my time will tell I think.
But I'm optimistic. I mean, you know, the market is
training at the high end of our fairly value range, right,
so stock positioning is increasingly important. What stocks you're going
to buy. I always feel like there is good opportunity
in anything, though, you know, you just have to be

(23:50):
selective about what you choose. You know, recently I read
an article and talked about, you know, healthcare stocks and
how healthcare stocks had gone down. But there's also talk
about deregulation of some of the healthcare stocks, so that
could be a bonus for healthcare. So I went right
off any sector per se or anything like that. And
I also think that the tailwinds that we had in

(24:12):
twenty twenty four, they are receiving a bit, you know,
we inflation can be a bit stickier now. Long term
rates have kind of swung up some, and the US
economy does seem to be slowing, but it doesn't necessarily
mean we can't do well. We also are seeing some
value in small cap stocks that are trading that are
at relatively discounts, attractive discounts, So that could be an

(24:34):
area where if you have additional dollars you want to invest,
you know, look to those areas value in small caps.
If small caps are okay with you, I risk wise right.
And then again, I think earnings will start being reported
for this fourth quarter, and I don't think there's much
concern here because the economy has regained has remained healthy,

(24:55):
but there might be some slowing going forward. So the
big question I think that everyone's wanting to know is
the tariff talk. You know, how much is it rhetoric,
how much is it you know real? How much is
it just you know, political stance to try to get
get what we want, But you know how much will
be implemented? So how big will the tariffs be? You
know what countries or products will be taxed, and as

(25:18):
important is what countries or products will be excluded. And
some of this information, you know, is reiterated in a
morning starticle that I read, So it's the same idea.
It's like, I feel optimistic that things will look good
in this year. Maybe I'm always an optimist, but I
do think. I do think it. Stocks, you know, look

(25:38):
good for the new year, and now bonds might have
more of a struggle again.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Be fascinating to follow, and of course you will hear
it all right here on straight Talk from the House
with certified financial planner Tracy Anton. So we have of
getting no Tracy in the team and learning more. Great website,
t Anton investment House dot com. That's t A N
t O N investment House dot com and the telephone
numbers six oh eight fives zero one fifteen forty nine.
That's six so eight five zero one fifteen forty nine. Tracy,

(26:04):
great work. As always, you have a fantastic day, Have
a great day.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Take care,