Personal Finance Club

Personal Finance Club Teaching you how to build wealth by living below your means and investing early and often!
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08/19/2026

Sometimes investing can feel so abstract when you’re looking at charts and talking theory, so start simple. It takes about five minutes. WHY we do it this way (Roth IRA, target date index fund, buy and hold, stay the course, etc) is a longer explanation, but if you’re new to investing, at least we can demystify what it actually looks like to invest.

It’s really as easy as this post explains. If you’re someone who has NEVER INVESTED before, I highly recommend doing this. Fidelity and the brokerages listed here have $0 minimums. Go open an account and throw in 100 bucks. That simple exercise can help eliminate the “static friction” keeping so many people from getting started. The fear of the unknown or worry about getting it wrong keeps so many people on the sidelines. Go give it a try with just a little bit of money and watch it while you keep learning more.

The buttons to click are really easy. BUT I read stats like this ALL THE TIME: “The market averages 10% per year but the average investor averages 4%.” That difference between what human investors make vs. what the market returns is MASSIVE. And it all comes down to human behavior. That’s why it’s so important to understand WHAT and WHY you are doing this rather than just clicking the buttons, or else you’ll be sure to go back in and unclick them one of these months and be a part of that statistic.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy + Jenn

Bruce is a real person! You can find him Bruce BrownBruce started out making $70K as a welder. After a year with his com...
08/07/2026

Bruce is a real person! You can find him Bruce Brown

Bruce started out making $70K as a welder. After a year with his company, he barely squeezed by a 300 person layoff out of 1400 at the coal mine! Bruce was contributing up to the match on his 401(k) but was laid off 18 months later.

At first glance, Bruce’s story doesn’t scream “future millionaire.” But he made smart decisions: starting side hustles, getting raises, and increasing his savings while living below his means. By 26, Bruce was making over $100K, maxing out his 401(k), Roth IRA, and HSA. His one guilty pleasure? Car payments on a Duramax pickup truck.

Bruce started a haying business side hustle with his brother. He kept making the tough calls: ditched the car payments, went back to his old truck from high school (that had racked up 300k miles), and got DEBT FREE. The haying business snowballed (literally) into a snow removal business which then expanded into an excavation and grading business.

Every decision Bruce made, big and small, compounded. Just like the stock market. As his income grew, he kept investing early and often. In 2025, Bruce’s net worth hit $1 MILLION!

Be like Bruce.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.‎
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-Jenn & Jeremy‎

08/04/2026

When you earn money, think of it as something to grow. Like seeds you plant in the ground. Years later those seeds turn into mighty trees!⁣‎
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A brokerage account is a bank account in which you invest. If you invest in a normal brokerage account, the government taxes you twice. Once when you earn the money from your job (income tax). Then again on the additional growth of that money (capital gains tax).‎
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But our friendly US government has made us a great deal. If we invest inside of special investment accounts they eliminate one of those taxable steps saving us a lot of money.

In a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), the government taxes you as normal when you earn the money, but then the money is never taxed again as it grows. So in the tree analogy, “Roth” means the government takes some of the seeds but none of the trees.

In a traditional IRA or 401(k) it’s the opposite. Money comes directly out of your paycheck into the account without being taxed. That lowers your tax burden today, but then you pay tax on the full amount when you withdraw it later. So they let you plant all the seeds, then harvest some of the trees.⁣‎
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In this example it actually works out the same (you end up with seven trees). The difference comes down to your tax bracket now vs when you’re in retirement. It’s a mistake to assume you’ll be in a lower tax bracket in retirement. The goal is to have millions of bucks in your IRAs by then. You want to be able to take out massive amounts at a time without incurring a huge tax burden. The Roth version also protects you against future tax hikes!

Generally, Roth is likely better for younger and/or lower income earners and Traditional is likely better if you’re older and haven’t saved much for retirement yet. There’s even an argument to have some of each. Having some money in “Traditional” status gives you some flexibility to “convert” that money to Roth during low income years. But they’re both better (tax wise) than a taxable brokerage account, so just pick one and start investing!
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As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.‎
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-Jeremy‎

07/29/2026

Compound growth is magical. If you know how to harness its power, you can become filthy rich. You plant a little seed and it keeps growing and growing. At first it happens slowly, and then it snowballs and grows at a rapid pace!

Albert Einstein reportedly said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”‎

TIME is the key variable in the compound growth equation. In the early years, not a lot of magic is happening. The majority of your portfolio is just what you put into the account. But as the years go on, you get growth on the growth and the numbers begin to snowball. This is the power of compounding.

Remember, this powerful force only works for you when you are investing. This same force works against you when you are in debt. The interest compounds what you owe. This is another reason to focus on paying off all high interest debt that you have before you focus on investing. The faster you pay it off, the less interest you have to pay.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.‎

-Jeremy

       

p.s. Our HUGE summer sale ends at MIDNIGHT tonight. If you’ve been wanting to get your finances in order, this is a grea...
07/19/2026

p.s. Our HUGE summer sale ends at MIDNIGHT tonight. If you’ve been wanting to get your finances in order, this is a great chance to learn how. 🔗 in bio.

If you sat down with me and showed me your investment portfolio and you showed me any one of these four portfolios I would say “Congratulations. That’s a fantastic portfolio. A+. No notes”. One of the most challenging part of investing is having the confidence to keep it this simple and stay the course. But those who do will be greatly rewarded.

How can it be that all four of these portfolios are “perfect” even though they’re different?! Well, first, they have way more in common than they have different. They all own virtually all of the companies of the world, in proportion to the size of the companies. They also all have extremely low costs in the convenient package of an ETF. There is no single “perfect” portfolio. The best we can do is choose one of many great portfolios and stick with it. I used Vanguard ETFs in this example, but you could use Schwab or iShares ETFs (these days in the US all ETFs trade free on virtually all brokerages) or you could use the mutual fund version of index funds from Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab.

Ok, what about the differences? Portfolio one and two are obviously different because one contains bonds and one doesn’t. That’s true, but both contain at least 90% stocks! If you’re in the “aggressive” portion of your wealth building journey, choosing between 90% stocks and 100% stocks won’t make much difference. Picking one, sticking with it, and putting more money in WILL make the difference.

Isn’t portfolio 4 more diversified than portfolio 2? Nope! There’s no stock or bond that’s in portfolio 4 that’s not in 2. Buying more ETFs doesn’t make make you diversified, if you already own broadly diverse ETFs.

Then what’s VBR? There’s some evidence that over long periods of time, small cap value stocks may outperform the total market. If you want to “tilt” your portfolio toward small cap value, I still give you an A+. But you don’t have to.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy

The list of things to NOT do when investing is much longer than what you should be doing. Building wealth is simple: buy...
07/18/2026

The list of things to NOT do when investing is much longer than what you should be doing. Building wealth is simple: buy diversified, low cost index funds and stay the course.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of noise that influences us to do things that we should not be doing. There’s a multi-trillion dollar financial services industry ready to take advantage of us. The industry often convinces us how scary or complicated investing is and the only solution is to buy their product or service. We see this often from expensive financial advisors and life insurance salespeople.

Also, the financial media focuses on the things that we don’t need to be paying any attention to if we are trying to build long term wealth. They talk about which stocks have had the hottest performance. They have “market experts” forecast stock market crashes. The majority of the news they produce would unfortunately fall on the “DON’T” side of this post.

p.s. Both money courses, the bundle, and the Dead Box are on sale until TOMORROW, 7/19! Check out the link in my bio to learn more do's and less don'ts!

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy

A few years ago, Howard Stern was on the radio and they were playing some clip of a celebrity who lost some weight. An i...
07/17/2026

A few years ago, Howard Stern was on the radio and they were playing some clip of a celebrity who lost some weight. An interviewer asked how she lost the weight, then Howard paused the clip and sarcastically quipped, "Let me guess: diet and exercise". The clip continued, and sure enough, that was the answer.‎‎
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That stuck with me all these years, because OF COURSE it was diet and exercise. That's what has worked for everyone forever. And everything else anyone has tried doesn't work.‎‎
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I think so many of us, when attempting something challenging, look for a secret shortcut other than the strategy we all know works and has always worked. We're looking for a shortcut because that path we know works is difficult. If you want to get fit, diet and exercise. And the same is true for building wealth. Save and invest. Spend less than you make, and invest the difference. The two rules.‎‎
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But just because it's simple, doesn't mean it's easy. It takes discipline, practice, hard work, perseverance, and a lot of time. But don't look for a secret because you won't find it. It's not bitcoin, forex, day trading, MLMs, or any other get rich quick nonsense. Live below your means and invest early and often. If you want to get rich faster or you want to get more rich, do those things harder. ‎‎
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And if you want to get better at it, keep learning, reading and practicing. Stay persistent. Persistence and improvement are the solutions to all of life's problems.‎‎

p.s. I dig deeper into the nuance of how to do this in my courses, both of which are on sale until THIS SUNDAY, 7/13! Get $30 off the money courses, $30 off the bundle, and $20 off the Dead Box.
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As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.‎‎
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- Jeremy‎‎ & Jenn
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The truth is, we can never know what's coming next for the market. It's not something that can be predicted, because eve...
07/16/2026

The truth is, we can never know what's coming next for the market. It's not something that can be predicted, because everything humans know is already "priced in." That makes future short term changes chaotic and random.

But long term (many years), we do know something: The market goes up. In order for the world to exist, we need companies to provide goods and services. In order for companies to exist, they must profit. Owning the companies of the world funnels those profits to you. Over the short term, there's speculation built into the price. But long term, the growth and profits of those companies inevitably are delivered back to the investor.

Be that investor! As the paraphrased proverb goes, the best time to start investing was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Don't wait for a good market. Don't be afraid of a bad market. Invest early and often.

p.s. my money courses, the bundle, and the dead box are still on sale until this SUNDAY, 7/19. Link in bio for more details!

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy

I wish I could tell you how to double your money in the stock market in a month. I wish I could tell you which stock is ...
07/15/2026

I wish I could tell you how to double your money in the stock market in a month. I wish I could tell you which stock is the "next Amazon" or how to read stock charts to know when to buy and sell. But I can't. Because that is all nonsense. In fact, it's not even investing. It's speculation.

What IS investing? It's buying something that pays the owner and is likely to go up in value over time. Investors simply buy and hold these assets and build wealth as compound growth takes effect over time.

So how DO you get a better return in the stock market? Well it's not sexy, but here are the four ways to do it:

1.) Put more money in. This is the most important thing to do. Earn more, spend less, invest the difference. Someone doing a mediocre job investing $1,000/month is going to end up with way more than someone perfectly investing $100/month.
2.) Invest for longer. $500/month at a 10% rate of return for 10 years turns into about $100K. But do it for 40 years and it's $2.7 million. Time is your most powerful ally in investing.
3.) Minimize fees. That $2.7M above? If you pay just a 2% annual fee to advisors or expense ratios, your end value is almost cut in half to about $1.6M. That's $1.1M lost to fees!
4.) Minimize taxes. Uncle Sam is always going to get his, but by prioritizing tax advantaged accounts like Roth IRAs and 401(k)s you can minimize how much of your gains you send to the government.

I know it's not sexy, but it's how rich people get rich. And if you spend 10 years trying to get rich quick and find yourself broke, you're gonna wish you started the optimal sure thing path sooner.

p.s. Want to learn more? Both money courses and the bundle are on sale until Sunday, 7/19! 🔗 Link in bio for more info

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.‎
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-Jeremy‎
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When I post stuff like this, it's not about shaming spending money on things that you like. I believe the goal of money ...
07/14/2026

When I post stuff like this, it's not about shaming spending money on things that you like. I believe the goal of money is to maximize your lifetime happiness and to help people. And I think it's easy to fall into the trap of spending too much today in an attempt to chase fleeting happiness. That temporary endorphin boost you get from a newly leased car or a fancy dinner out wears off quickly.‎
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If you spend every dollar to your name you're very likely to be less happy. That leads to more stress about losing your job, taxes, debt, work, interest rates, saving for retirement, etc. But if you're plowing money into investing and living (slightly) more simply those fears melt away. You'll be happier today opening a bottle of two-buck-chuck at a park with a friend than a fancy night out because you're free. And you'll be happier later when you retire early or wealthy or both and can live and give generously.⁣⁣‎
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For me, Column B is where happiness is more likely to be found.⁣⁣‎
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And as far as the math, the $5.5M comes from a $1,000/month investment at a 10% rate of return. If you're wondering where to get 10%, the S&P 500 has averaged about 11.3% per year over the last 40 years and about 10% over the last 100 years. ⁣‎
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This doesn't account for inflation of course. $5.5M in 40 years won't be what it is today. (It will likely be worth about half of that). But also, this assumes that $1,000 contribution stays flat. Most people's income and investing goes up faster than inflation over time. So the $5.5M isn't out of the question if you ramp up those investments as your career advances!⁣‎

p.s. If you DO need help with the technical parts of money and investing my two money courses are on SALE this week. The sale ends on Sunday! 🔗 is in my bio. $69 each or $119 for both. 100% money back guarantee. 4.96/5 stars on Trust Pilot.
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As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.⁣‎
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- Jeremy⁣‎
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