Financial Thankfulness
by SGL Financial
Our 2 Cents – Episode #235
Financial Thankfulness
It’s Thanksgiving season! On this episode of Our 2 Cents, the Lewits share reflections on gratitude and what we can all appreciate this time of year. Tune in now!
- Quotes of the Month:
- “I’m stuck between ‘I need to save money’ and ‘You only live once.” – Anonymous
- “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – CS Lewis
- A Financial Thanksgiving:
- Beyond the food and festivities, how does gratitude influence the way you save, spend, and plan?
- The Lewits explore what Thanksgiving traditions can teach us about our financial mindset.
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Podcast Transcript
Announcer: You’re listening to Our 2 Cents with the team from SGL Financial, Building Wealth for Life. Steve Lewit is the President of SGL Financial and Gabriel Lewit is the CEO. They’re here to discuss all the latest in financial news, trends, strategies and more.
Gabriel Lewit: Welcome back to Our 2 Cents, you’ve got Gabriel Lewit here, Stephen Lewit. You missed Steve practicing accents which I told him explicitly not to do on the show here.
Steve Lewit: Horrible.
Gabriel Lewit: Because he was terrible at that.
Steve Lewit: I’m the worst accentor possible.
Gabriel Lewit: We try to goof off a little bit before we start the show here, but we are excited to talk with you today. We’ve got our Thanksgiving special.
Steve Lewit: My favorite holiday, for sure.
Gabriel Lewit: We have a lot of Thanksgiving themed topics saved up for you for today to really set the mood for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. So, we hope you have lovely plans lined up, you’re ready to relax, watch some good football, watch the-
Steve Lewit: Go Bears. Go Bears, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: … Bears win hopefully.
Steve Lewit: Yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Do they play on Thanksgiving? No. Who’s playing on … Lions always play on Thanksgiving. I always forget who plays on Thanksgiving, there’s a team that always plays.
Steve Lewit: Detroit.
Gabriel Lewit: It is Detroit, right, I think?
Steve Lewit: Yeah, yes, yup.
Gabriel Lewit: Something like that. But yeah, hopefully you’ve got just lots of great plans lined up and have a wonderful, wonderful time. All right. And I’ll probably say that again before the end of the show but let’s go ahead and start off with something simple for you, Steve. Some of our favorite things to talk about here for little anecdotes are quotes of the month.
Steve Lewit: Ooh, I love quotes. Well, sometimes.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, our team picks them for us and sometimes we’ve got better quotes and sometimes we’ve got great quotes and sometimes we just have quotes. So, we’ll see what we’ve got for today.
Steve Lewit: What do we have for today?
Gabriel Lewit: Well, today we’ve got a quote from Anonymous.
Steve Lewit: Oh, I know him, yes.
Gabriel Lewit: Which doesn’t mean we made it up, it just means, when we found it online, it does say anonymous.
Steve Lewit: Yes.
Gabriel Lewit: And it says here, okay, quote, I’m stuck between I need to save money and you only live once.
Steve Lewit: Oh, I love that place. Oh, that’s a tough one, I love it.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. What do you do if you’re stuck between I only live once which would mean you do what with your money?
Steve Lewit: You just spend the heck out of it, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: You’d probably try to spend it. And, gosh, I need to save money for the future but I only live once.
Steve Lewit: So, so what-
Gabriel Lewit: How do you balance those off?
Steve Lewit: Well, it’s hard. If you’re pragmatic, you save. If you’re a break the rules person, you spend. That’s a real hard one. I think what you could do is talk to some people that didn’t save and find out what their lives are like and see if that’s what you want to risk.
Gabriel Lewit: You could, you could. You got to find someone that’s never saved a nickel that lived a long time.
Steve Lewit: We could introduce you to a few of them.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, I think, if we knew them, they would … If they had no money, how would we know them?
Steve Lewit: Well, they come here and they have no money and they say, “Hey, we didn’t get it done. Can you help us?” and we say no because you have no money.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, yeah, I guess. So, maybe there’s a balance there between living for the now and saving for the future which I think is important to balance and straddle the line between the two.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. Well, it gets back to a bigger balance which is we all have desires and desires are fiery and we want to go get them and do stuff and we get excited. And then there’s the other side of it which tempers the desire which is the pragmatic self that’s reasonable and logical.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, so think about that folks and, if there’s a balance there, you feel you’re missing, maybe you rebalance.
Steve Lewit: Well, you have the-
Gabriel Lewit: Just like you would your portfolio, you could rebalance your spending versus saving to come up with a better overall balance for you.
Steve Lewit: Well, it’s the same thing with impulse buying for Christmas coming up. A lot of people are going to say, “Oh, I’d love Johnny to have that. Ooh, that’s great, let’s buy that. Ooh.” And that’s desire and it gets out of hand and then you’re don’t save.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Make sure you get your grandchildren Christmas gifts this year.
Steve Lewit: They’re all bought.
Gabriel Lewit: I’m just saying.
Steve Lewit: I had them last year.
Gabriel Lewit: Just reminding you.
Steve Lewit: Yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: You got some time.
Steve Lewit: Did you hear that, folks?
Gabriel Lewit: In case you want Black Friday specials, right?
Steve Lewit: Here’s the deal. Now everybody thinks I’m a terrible granddad.
Gabriel Lewit: No, I’m teasing, I’m teasing, teasing. Okay, next quote of the month is this one from C.S. Lewis who is … Who’s C.S. Lewis? Hold on.
Steve Lewit: A writer.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, he wrote a book. Oh, the Narnia guy.
Steve Lewit: Yup.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s Narnia man.
Steve Lewit: Very famous.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay. So, he says here you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
Steve Lewit: Hey-
Gabriel Lewit: I feel like that should be in Sing Song.
Steve Lewit: You should-
Gabriel Lewit: Steve, if you’d like to.
Steve Lewit: You’re never too old.
Gabriel Lewit: Oh, boy. We got the gold buttons.
Steve Lewit: To dream and dream. So, yeah. So, listen, you’re preaching to the choir here. What does age have to do-
Gabriel Lewit: Producer Gabby liked that, by the way.
Steve Lewit: Oh, good, good. Did she really?
Gabriel Lewit: Well, she gave us an X sign. I think that means she likes it, right?
Steve Lewit: That was the pock sign, that means-
Gabriel Lewit: I think this was-
Steve Lewit: … stop it.
Gabriel Lewit: The show where the buzzer, what’s the … America’s Got Talent. We buzzed you.
Steve Lewit: Yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: She buzzed you. Ehhh.
Steve Lewit: Folks, I got three buzzes in two words.
Gabriel Lewit: I’m just teasing, okay.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. So, listen. Look, look, look. Why are you too old to dream and set … Hey, I just started playing the piano, everyone says you’re crazy, you’re so old, you can’t play the piano. Why can’t I play the piano?
Gabriel Lewit: Well, I will say I’m glad you gave up on this idea of being the fastest sprinter for your age group.
Steve Lewit: Folks, here’s the deal. So, I used to be a sprinter in college and I can run pretty fast. And I said to Gabriel, in my age group, I think I can beat the world record and he said-
Gabriel Lewit: The whole world, right? The whole world?
Steve Lewit: It’s the world Olympic record for … They have 60, 70, 80, 90, they have different age groups and I really wanted to go for it. I do have a few repaired parts in my body however.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So, I think that was a little more pragmatic to maybe switch the piano.
Steve Lewit: It was. It was very, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Because you still have your hands, they seem to work.
Steve Lewit: Yes, yes.
Gabriel Lewit: So, that’s good.
Steve Lewit: So far so good.
Gabriel Lewit: All right. So, yeah, so if you’ve got dreams, if you’ve got the desire to balance a little more living versus spending and saving, let us know. Yeah, dream away.
Steve Lewit: Dream away, do stuff.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes, indeed. Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit about Thanksgiving here. So, of course, you’ve got Turkey on the table, you’ve got family members around that same table and then you’ve got a time to be thankful because it is called Thanksgiving. Correct?
Steve Lewit: Yeah, it is. I didn’t know you needed an affirmation about that.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes, yes. So, it’s called Thanksgiving so yes about turkey and family and traditions but it’s also a good time to talk about something I think that we’ve all heard before but is, I think, important to talk about which is being thankful.
Steve Lewit: Actually being thankful.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes.
Steve Lewit: Yes.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes. Taking a purposeful time to be grateful, to show gratitude which can help shape your attitude by showing gratitude. Did you know that?
Steve Lewit: Yeah. Attitude, gratitude, sounds like the beginning of-
Gabriel Lewit: It rhymes.
Steve Lewit: That could be a song, you want-
Gabriel Lewit: I’m just …
Steve Lewit: Hey, that could be a song. You want to sing it for us?
Gabriel Lewit: Producer Gabby Xed me on that one too, buzzed me. Ehhh.
Steve Lewit: We’re not doing well today. AGT does not want us.
Gabriel Lewit: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So, anyways, how can you be thankful? What does this look like? If you’re sitting around the table with family members and maybe this is … It’s usually, if you’re going to have a smaller gathering, maybe eight, 10, 12, you could do this with a table of 24 people probably but this might be harder. But the idea is to go around and talk about things that you might be thankful for and research shows that gratitude can actually also improve, believe it or not, financial behaviors if you do this from a financial context.
Steve Lewit: Really?
Gabriel Lewit: Did you know that?
Steve Lewit: No, I did not.
Gabriel Lewit: Mm-hmm. So, it was a study published in the Journal of Psychological Science revealed that inducing a state of gratitude significantly increased participants’ financial patience by about 12%.
Steve Lewit: What? Financial patience? Okay, I’ll bite on that. What is financial patience?
Gabriel Lewit: Well, financial patience is maybe, in my opinion-
Steve Lewit: I should be patient, I’m dead broke and maybe it’ll get better?
Gabriel Lewit: Well, you don’t get rich overnight.
Steve Lewit: Well, that’s true.
Gabriel Lewit: You don’t become wealthy overnight.
Steve Lewit: Yes.
Gabriel Lewit: And you could be one of those people that’s eternally frustrated by what they don’t have versus one that’s appreciative of what they do have. I don’t know anybody like this.
Steve Lewit: Neither do I. But here’s the deal. I think that’s very accurate because your emotions can get in the way of you doing things that will improve your financial life.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah.
Steve Lewit: Let’s say you don’t have enough money, let’s say you’re tight on your budget and you’re always complaining and moping about it, it’s you can’t see the next step to get you out of that.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Well, we are in a business in this financial world where it’s all about more, right?
Steve Lewit: Yes.
Gabriel Lewit: When someone comes to us, they don’t come to us because, yes, we’re going to make you less money.
Steve Lewit: Yes. I haven’t heard that yet.
Gabriel Lewit: We haven’t yet.
Steve Lewit: Nobody has paid us for that.
Gabriel Lewit: No, they have not. Okay. Unless it’s a Roth conversion but then it’s actually more even though it feels like less money.
Steve Lewit: That is correct.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay, but that’s a different topic. So, nobody comes to us saying, “Hey, we want to make less money,” it’s all about, Gabe, Steve, how can you help us make more money, more this, more dollars after taxes, more return on our investment, more money to leave our kids, more income, more and more and more and that sometimes can feel counter to this idea of being appreciative or happy with what we have. Now, the two can coexist together.
Steve Lewit: Sure, sure.
Gabriel Lewit: I think the quote we were talking about earlier is a good lead into that, it doesn’t have to be … You can be appreciative and also still want more for your future but that’s the idea. So, let’s talk about your income. Maybe you want to make twice as much money as you’re making today but you can still take the time to sit down and say, “Wow, I’m appreciative of this job that I have that pays me this money, that allows me to put food on my Thanksgiving table,” because, believe it or not, lots of people out there might be sitting around Thanksgiving this year with no job.
Steve Lewit: Exactly, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Right?
Steve Lewit: Yeah. See, that appreciation feeds you energy. I think that’s what that article was talking about that it gives you financial patience. When you’re appreciative of what you have rather than … It’s the old half glass empty and half glass full.
Gabriel Lewit: I’m definitely a half full guy.
Steve Lewit: Yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: 100%.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, me too. But a lot of people, they judge themselves as not being good enough because their neighbor appear to have more money. They feel that they haven’t accomplished in life because they didn’t reach their ultimate goal and they get stuck in that energy, it’s a real negative energy that holds you back. When I play tennis or even football games today, if you’re a competitor and you get stuck in that loss, well, guess what, you’re going to lose again next week.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, no, it’s very true. And, actually, speaking of a very similar point related to that, this idea of maybe losses or losing or being negative, people have made financial mistakes in their past and what we are going to talk about here is how those mistakes, actually, if you look at them from a different light or a silver lining or a glass half full perspective, in life as a whole but you tend to do what with your mistakes after you make them hopefully?
Steve Lewit: Not repeat them.
Gabriel Lewit: Learn from them.
Steve Lewit: Learn from them.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, and they can actually become very valuable. Let’s say somebody, all of a sudden, they wanted something that they realized they didn’t save enough for and that prompts them to become a saver. That could happen. Maybe you lost some money unexpectedly more than you thought by gambling and then you learn maybe I shouldn’t gamble so much.
Steve Lewit: Yes.
Gabriel Lewit: So, these types of mistakes that you’ve probably had in the past could be very valuable in shaping your financial future. And this reminds me in part about … We actually sent out a letter recently about Thanksgiving.
Steve Lewit: Yes, we did.
Gabriel Lewit: And it was talking about how some people have not great Thanksgivings.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, they’re-
Gabriel Lewit: They go wrong. Thanksgivings that go wrong, okay?
Steve Lewit: They’re miserable at the Thanksgiving table.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, not that they’re miserable but just they have these grand plans and it’s going to be perfect, and it’s going to be this amazing day and then monkey wrenches get thrown in there. I don’t know where monkey wrenches the phrase came from, by the way, but it is a phrase, yeah. Anyways. I think it’s a phrase. Did I just make it up?
Steve Lewit: No, no, no.
Gabriel Lewit: No, it’s a phrase, okay.
Steve Lewit: It is a phrase, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Oh, yeah. Yeah, it’s a wrench, okay. Anywhos. You can tell I’m not much for the tools and traits.
Steve Lewit: No, but I don’t understand why it’s a phrase that says there’s always a monkey wrench in what you do. It’s what’s the matter with the monkey wrenches?
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Well, in our letter we were talking about how Thanksgivings where everybody gets sick the day before Thanksgiving and everyone’s sneezing and sniffling. And other Thanksgivings where the dog eats the turkey right off the table. It’s sitting there cooling off and, whoops, Ralphie got it.
Steve Lewit: Yup.
Gabriel Lewit: Fido or whatever.
Steve Lewit: Now we have to eat Ralphie.
Gabriel Lewit: Right? People that get hurt playing backyard-
Steve Lewit: That was a horrible thought, wasn’t it?
Gabriel Lewit: Ehhh. People that get hurt playing-
Steve Lewit: I know. It just went through my head, I said I have to say it.
Gabriel Lewit: People getting hurt, for the third time before you interrupt me again, playing backyard sports during Thanksgiving and having to go to the hospital or other things like that. The power goes out in the middle of … People have these stories where Thanksgivings did not go as planned but what we had talked about in our letter is how you can take those what you could consider bad events and talk about the benefits that were gleaned from them, the good that came from them.
Steve Lewit: And sometimes those are the most memorable events because it was different and it worked out okay despite everything.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. And so, this idea of financial mistakes that I was just talking about briefly a moment ago, it could be similar. There are silver linings that can be taken from these, there are things that we can learn, there’s lessons we can impart upon our kids and family members because we’ve learned those lessons the hard way. So, there can sometimes be this negative aspect to it but we can also look at the positive that we can take from past mistakes.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. You could actually take that a step further. Some people advocate that there are no mistakes, that each step is what it is and, as you said, that step is taking you on your journey where you’re going to learn something for the next step.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes.
Steve Lewit: So-
Gabriel Lewit: Well, Zen master Steve says, yes, there are no mistakes.
Steve Lewit: There are no mistakes.
Gabriel Lewit: All right. Okay, other things that you could be thankful for, supportive relationships, either family or otherwise, even maybe your neighbors. And of course you could be thankful for your home. If you are in a home and you’ve got power and electricity, hopefully, for your Thanksgiving and you’ve got heat when it’s cold outside or air conditioning when it’s hot, that can be something you can just take a moment and be appreciative for and thankful for.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. And I think your point right there, Gabriel, that you said, this is a pearl of wisdom, folks, is you got to take a moment. Because if we generally ask somebody are you thankful for your home, they’re going to say, yeah, I’m thankful, of course I’m thankful for my home. But when do you really sit down and consider what that really means? Take a moment and really be thankful for that moment that you have a home and a shelter over your head.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. And we will shift gears here in just a minute so as we don’t get too preachy on this topic but-
Steve Lewit: I wasn’t being preachy, I was …
Gabriel Lewit: Well, I think, if we spend the whole 30 minutes talking about what to be thankful for, we might cross into that territory, but I think here’s the point. It’s like meditation which I don’t do enough of and I’ve read a lot about, you take a minute, they say, just to close your eyes and be Zen and blah, blah, blah. You can tell I don’t do it very often.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, I can tell.
Gabriel Lewit: But that’s the idea of thankfulness. You could take a second, close your eyes, really be in the moment, say, “Wow, I’m appreciative of this thing or things,” and that could actually cause you to become a better financial more patient person over the long term and be more Zen.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes it’s hard because, look, the market goes down and you just lost 15% of your money and you’re going to close your eyes and say, wow, that was great.
Gabriel Lewit: What a great buying opportunity. What a great buying opportunity this is.
Steve Lewit: I’m so happy for that. But yet there is a note of appreciation that you have money in there in the first place.
Gabriel Lewit: There you go, there you go.
Steve Lewit: Yup.
Gabriel Lewit: All right. Well, we hope that was, I don’t know, inspirational, motivational.
Steve Lewit: Not preachy.
Gabriel Lewit: Not preachy.
Steve Lewit: I hope it wasn’t preachy, folks.
Gabriel Lewit: We just thought it would be good to talk about because we always are focused on more and more and more here at SGL, getting greater income, greater wealth, greater safety, greater legacy, all those great things.
Steve Lewit: And nothing wrong with that.
Gabriel Lewit: And we do intend to still do that but we also want you to enjoy what you’ve got along the way.
Steve Lewit: And tell you how thankful we are that you are part of our family.
Gabriel Lewit: I was saving that for the end, but you can steal my thunder.
Steve Lewit: It felt right.
Gabriel Lewit: it’s okay.
Steve Lewit: It just felt right.
Gabriel Lewit: We are indeed very thankful for you our listeners, our clients and everybody that we’ve ever spoken with, we appreciate you guys.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, man.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Okay. So, let’s talk turkey number two, okay? Thanksgiving-themed topic number two. Now, this one will have a little bit more financial practicality too it, okay? So, we’re going to talk about typical Thanksgiving traditions and, as we sometimes want to do on the show, we then take these things and we turn them into financial topics.
Steve Lewit: Yes, we do.
Gabriel Lewit: To attempt to make things interesting for you here.
Steve Lewit: We seem to do that a lot.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes, okay. So, what are traditions and what do they have to do with financial planning? Well, let’s get into that. The first one, everyone’s, well, I won’t say favorite, but there is, for many people, their favorite. Macy’s Day parade. You know about this, Steve, because why, where did you used to live?
Steve Lewit: In New York City.
Gabriel Lewit: You sure did.
Steve Lewit: And I used to go up to 70, 81st street. I forgot which it is and watch them blow up the balloons. It’s amazing.
Gabriel Lewit: What, they use hand pumps back then?
Steve Lewit: They got these little hand pumps.
Gabriel Lewit: We’re allowed to kid each other on the show.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, tell them the story.
Gabriel Lewit: He’s okay with it.
Steve Lewit: Take them on the segue. You said you were watching … Hand pumps. You said you were watching TV and they put this little thing on about the telephone.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, no. So, yes, folks, a little segue here speaking about feeling old. Yeah, I’m almost 42, I’ll be 42 next year and, of course, I grew up with phones that were connected to wall jacks.
Steve Lewit: And dials.
Gabriel Lewit: And dials and things like that, there weren’t cell phones when I was a kid. So, I’m watching, I think it was some HGTV type show on the screen with my son and my kids. And sometimes, when you watch really ancient historical shows, they put these little snippets on there like, “The ancient dinosaurs back in 300 million BC used to do blub,” stuff that helps you understand the ancient times, these little factoids. So, we’re watching this HGTV show and this thing pops up and it says, “Back in the late 1900s, people used to have phones that were connected to wall outlets.”
Gabriel Lewit: This factoid on the show like people wouldn’t know this.
Steve Lewit: And Nathan said, “What’s that, Dad?” Oh, man.
Gabriel Lewit: Oh, man. He didn’t catch it. I looked at him like, “What am I?”
Steve Lewit: 2,000 years old.
Gabriel Lewit: Was it 2,000 years ago they used to have … You think that would be something when you’re being able to teleport somewhere, you’d be like, “Yeah, back in the ancient days, they used to take airplanes.”
Steve Lewit: Drive cars.
Gabriel Lewit: I didn’t feel like I had anything in my lifetime yet that was to be positioned as that ancient. Anyways.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, great, I love it.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So, you used to be back there at the Macy’s Day Parade watching them blow up the floats-
Steve Lewit: With the hand pumps, yes.
Gabriel Lewit: Sorry, we got sidetracked.
Steve Lewit: I think it was ’86 or-
Gabriel Lewit: What else were you going to say?
Steve Lewit: No, it was just amazing how organized it was and I think that’s the thing about a parade is that what goes on behind the scenes is meticulous to get all the bands, all the people lined up, have them show up on time, get the balloons blown, get them tied up, teach the people how to … To control those in a windy day is not easy and it’s just a tremendous amount of choreography that most people do not realize is behind that.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So, what does that have to do with your financial planning? Well, in our opinion, a well-run financial plan to you our clients and to others out there that might observe it, should seem generally simple. Should seem as you would watch the Macy’s Day Parade and be like, “Wow, this is all going off without a hitch, everything’s on time.”
Steve Lewit: Yeah, I get my check every month, so…
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Your retirement should be the same way. Your income’s coming in, the portfolio’s on autopilot, the taxes are being taken care of, your RMDs are scheduled, your beneficiaries are in place. All those things that you might otherwise not worry or think about are being handled, hopefully, behind the scenes generally probably by us doing the heavy lifting but that’s our goal for you is to make it very seamless. Simple, enjoy, yeah.
Steve Lewit: Just watch the parade and don’t worry about the stuff in the background.
Gabriel Lewit: Exactly. Okay. Next up, cooking the feast. When you cook your turkey, whether you boil it or you bake it-
Steve Lewit: Or you buy it from Whole Foods.
Gabriel Lewit: Or you could do that.
Steve Lewit: I mean I buy my turkey.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, let’s say you buy your turkey, is it important the timing of the baking?
Steve Lewit: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay. How long? How hot? Those things matter, okay? Timing and consistency and all these different things. You put in the turkey at the wrong time or for too little or too long and you get … No, I will tell you, the worst thing on Thanksgiving is an ultra-dry turkey.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: You just don’t want that so the timing really matters. And let’s look, investing, you’ve got to be sometimes really on the ball with your timing. Put things in at the right time of the year like year-end tax planning, you’ve got deadlines, you’ve got … Things that you’ve got to just really know the timing of. Maybe the market’s down and you had money in cash and it is a good time to invest if you were otherwise thinking about it, dollar cost averaging, there’s all these timing-based elements. And I think cooking food for Thanksgiving, lots of timing to juggle, same thing with your financial planning.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. It’s when should I be aggressive maybe as I get older and more conservative. So, everything has to do with where you are in that time factor and I think time plays into everything.
Gabriel Lewit: I think even the biggest one is when you start saving. If we happen to have any younger listeners or I know we have listeners here with grandchildren, I think I might’ve shared this but I just had a client who had an 18-year-old grandson or … No, this was a different person, anyways. But they helped fund a Roth IRA for their 18-year-old grandson. I had a different 18-year-old client that funded her own Roth IRA. But the concept was there and it’s amazing how much that can set somebody up for the future but the timing of that meeting, doing it soon while they’re young in that tax-free account, boom, big deal for long-term savings.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. So, cook your financial turkey moist and at the right temperature.
Gabriel Lewit: Sure.
Steve Lewit: Well, you said we apply Thanksgiving to finances. That’s a direct application.
Gabriel Lewit: All right, all right. How about everyone’s favorite thing to watch on Thanksgiving, football?
Steve Lewit: I love football and Thanksgiving. Well, that directly ties into finances.
Gabriel Lewit: 100%.
Steve Lewit: 100%. Easy one.
Gabriel Lewit: Easy one. What is it?
Steve Lewit: Well, you have to have an offense and a defense. So, there’s a time to be offensive when you’re younger and you’re earning a living and you put your money in the market and, if it goes down, you got plenty of time to recover. It’s-
Gabriel Lewit: And by offense or offensive, in your words, you mean aggressive?
Steve Lewit: Aggressive, yes, yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay.
Steve Lewit: And there’s time to be defensive is to, look, we’re ahead 30 points, I don’t need to get another touchdown and give the other team the opposition so I’m going to run the ball and be more defensive.
Gabriel Lewit: Mm-hmm. And in investing terms, defensive could mean things like managing risk, taking a little bit of a hedge, protecting your assets.
Steve Lewit: Yeah, using buffered products or things like that, yes.
Gabriel Lewit: And in offense and defense, you need both for a football game. The Bears are doing pretty well this year, their offense is doing much, much better than it has in years past but also their defense is leading the league in takeaways this year, for example, so lots of interceptions happening, you need both. Same with a good financial plan, we often call that a bucket plan. So, if you’re a client of ours or if you’re not a client of ours, we set things up in a way where, if you need money in the short term, if you need access to it, we’re taking withdrawals from it, we typically have that a bit more defensively organized.
Steve Lewit: Exactly.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay? And if you have long-term growth money, you’re a younger client, you’re saving for retirement, you’ve got a long time horizon, often we’ll be a little bit more offensively oriented for those dollars.
Steve Lewit: Yeah. And we often call that, folks, an all-weather plan. So, if you’re playing football in the snow, it’s one thing where you have to rely on your ground game, that would be like the market is down. Oh, I got to bang this out, I got to get through it. Or sometimes beautiful and it’s cool and it’s 60 degrees and you’re throwing long passes down the field and getting touchdowns.
Gabriel Lewit: There you go.
Steve Lewit: Yeah.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Well, now I want to watch football which is coming up soon, Bears will hopefully win again this weekend. If you didn’t know, folks, I am a Bears fan and they’re finally winning so I’m a happy guy and that’s all there is to it. Okay, cutting the turkey. Everyone gets a slice, maybe not the same size. All right. Well, think of the turkey as your retirement nest egg and the slices as your income, how much food can you eat? How much do you need?
Steve Lewit: Well, this gets back to our-
Gabriel Lewit: Do you go back for a second helping?
Steve Lewit: Do I live for now or do I live for later? Just go back to the quote earlier.
Gabriel Lewit: Do I want my 20,000 calories now or am I going to split it out with some leftovers over the next couple of days?
Steve Lewit: Yeah, take it home and eat it, don’t stuff it all down but some people do that. I cannot hold myself back, I always eat too much at Thanksgiving and I always go to Thanksgiving and say I’m not going to eat that much.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Well, it’s hard not to.
Steve Lewit: But then you got the potatoes, you make the … My son makes the best mashed potatoes, by the way.
Gabriel Lewit: They are pretty good.
Steve Lewit: No, they’re great.
Gabriel Lewit: I’m just going to go out and say that.
Steve Lewit: They’re really-
Gabriel Lewit: I usually make three different flavors because-
Steve Lewit: They’re fantastic.
Gabriel Lewit: … why not make three different flavors.
Steve Lewit: And then you have the cranberry sauce, I’ll have a little of that. Before you know it, your plate’s full and then you go back for more. You say I’m just going to get a little turkey and then you got a little more potatoes and a little more cranberry sauce and, all of a sudden, you’re eating like, wow, and then there’s dessert.
Gabriel Lewit: I wasn’t going to think about this but I’m going to use that as a good analogy for finances, I hadn’t thought about it before. So, yeah, so sometimes people, when they’re, as you just said, getting their seconds, you just put a little bit of turkey, just a little bit of potatoes, just a little bit of everything that’s out there thinking you just want a little bit of everything and, all of a sudden, it adds up and you’ve got a large plate. Well, this reminds me a lot of Roth conversions which we’re in Roth conversion season where sometimes people don’t want to do large Roth conversions because they have tax implications or IRMAA implications which is a Medicare surcharge. So, they say, “Well, is it even worth doing a 20,000 or $30,000 conversion then, it’s really small.” And I say, “You know what’s interesting because that’s true, I’ve had some clients that have done $30,000 conversions for 10 years and, all of a sudden, their Roth IRA is worth $600,000.”
Steve Lewit: Exactly.
Gabriel Lewit: And it doesn’t seem like a lot but, those little bits, you add them up over 10 years, take a little slice of everything and you got a big plate and that’s a very good analogy for your Roth IRA. Some of those small little conversions can still add up to be a very meaningful tax-free legacy amount or a future income spending bucket for you.
Steve Lewit: Absolutely. Was it you that were telling me the story that, if someone did a Roth conversion starting at 18 every year, how much money they would have at 65?
Gabriel Lewit: No, that was just if you had just funded one Roth IRA for $7,000 at 18-
Steve Lewit: At 18.
Gabriel Lewit: … and just let it grow to 65.
Steve Lewit: How much would they have?
Gabriel Lewit: It was $522,000.
Steve Lewit: Imagine that.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, I know.
Steve Lewit: And imagine doing that every year and letting it grow.
Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, no, it’s huge, it’s very.
Steve Lewit: But it seems like such a little thing.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, yes, it does. And those little things can add up as your turkey, your little slice of gravy.
Steve Lewit: Well, what adds up-
Gabriel Lewit: Slice of gravy. Slice of turkey and little dobble of gravy.
Steve Lewit: What adds up for me is dessert. It’s such a little thing and, all of a sudden, I gained seven pounds-
Gabriel Lewit: Well, that’s what you’re supposed to do.
Steve Lewit: … on such a little thing.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay. So, we had more here but we’re going to pick one last one. Okay, here’s my favorite, the post meal nap.
Steve Lewit: All right, this is a stretch. I’m thinking how does this apply to money?
Gabriel Lewit: I know, I know, that’s what everyone’s thinking. How does the post meal nap apply to your finances? You’re going to be like, “Ah, I knew it,” once I say it.
Steve Lewit: My finances are in such great shape, I can relax and take a nap.
Gabriel Lewit: Close.
Steve Lewit: Yeah? No, okay. Let me see. Post turkey nap. I feel so satisfied that I can close my eyes and dream.
Gabriel Lewit: No, it’s simpler than that. You’ve worked really hard to stuff your face at Thanksgiving-
Steve Lewit: And you’re tired?
Gabriel Lewit: And you’ve earned your nap.
Steve Lewit: Oh, you’ve earned your nap.
Gabriel Lewit: And you’ve earned … Just like retirement’s the reward for years of discipline and preparation, you’ve earned it, sit down on that couch, watch the football game.
Steve Lewit: This is a strip … This is not … No, no, no. No, no.
Gabriel Lewit: Take a little nappy.
Steve Lewit: You’re not working at Thanksgiving.
Gabriel Lewit: You sure are. It’s a lot of work eating all those plates of food.
Steve Lewit: Oh, my God, this is a stretch.
Gabriel Lewit: It’s tough work.
Steve Lewit: This is the longest stretch you’ve had in a long time. Now I’m going to be ready for a nap, this is hard.
Gabriel Lewit: Who doesn’t like a good post-Thanksgiving meal nap?
Steve Lewit: Everybody does.
Gabriel Lewit: All right, folks. Well, that’s our Thanksgiving extravaganza for you. We were saving up for this one.
Steve Lewit: Yes, we were.
Gabriel Lewit: We always look forward to it. And if you didn’t know, just a little factoid about me, my favorite food, if you were to ask me that, is the Thanksgiving meal.
Steve Lewit: Mm-hmm.
Gabriel Lewit: Okay? So, I can’t just pick one but it’s the whole meal combined.
Steve Lewit: Now, what’s the favorite food in the Thanksgiving meal?
Gabriel Lewit: I can’t answer that. It’s the whole plate.
Steve Lewit: On the plate … All right, let’s do a meditation.
Gabriel Lewit: It’s not possible. I can’t choose.
Steve Lewit: You’re looking at the plate, what do you eat first?
Gabriel Lewit: The whole plate with … Sometimes I’ll even take a fork and I’ll put a little Turkey on it, a little mashed potato, a little stuffing, a little gravy and a little cranberry sauce all together in one bite.
Steve Lewit: Very pragmatic.
Gabriel Lewit: Yes, because you can’t just pick one.
Steve Lewit: Okay.
Gabriel Lewit: It’s whichever one calls out to me, they speak to you.
Steve Lewit: I always look forward to the cranberry sauce.
Gabriel Lewit: Me too. All right, folks, that’s it.
Steve Lewit: All right.
Gabriel Lewit: Well, as Steve already stole my thunder, I will still end with, once more, we are wishing you a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving. We’re very thankful for you, our listeners, for you as our clients, for everything-
Steve Lewit: Yes, yes, yes.
Gabriel Lewit: … our relationship and working together. And we wish you and your family well, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we will probably not be recording next week for our show but we will catch you in December.
Steve Lewit: Yes, December. Can you imagine?
Gabriel Lewit: December.
Steve Lewit: Stay well, everybody.
Gabriel Lewit: Stay well, stay warm.
Steve Lewit: Happy Thanksgiving.
Gabriel Lewit: Talk to you soon.
Steve Lewit: Bye now.
Announcer: Thanks for listening to Our 2 Cents with Steve and Gabriel Lewit. For any questions about your finances, give SGL a call at (847) 499-3330 or visit us on the web at sglfinancial.com and be sure to subscribe to join us on next week’s episode.
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