MINISODE: The Problem With Saving Just for Emergencies & Retirement

How many times have you heard "Save for an emergency!" and "Save for retirement!" We're not saying those aren't super important things to save for… but what about the rest of your life?

Things like buying a house some day, or having kids. Taking that 6-month sabbatical. Buying out your business partner. Starting another business. You don't just have the cash sitting around for that, do you?? Probably not, which is why you need a savings goal for them, too.

We know you might want to save for all of the above, or maybe for your own special thing, but popular saving advice doesn't really tell how to get there. So we have a tip: fill your intermediate bucket.

• The "complete" bucket strategy
• How the financial planning industry is guilty of neglecting the intermediate bucket, too
• What you might want to spend your intermediate bucket on
• The questions you should be asking about your intermediate goals
• Why you shouldn't focus on just short-term and long-term buckets
• What you can do right now to start filling your intermediate bucket
• What a "balanced" investment and savings strategy looks like

If you're new around these parts, let us give you a quick rundown on our bucket strategy...

You should be saving money for three buckets:

• Short-term (tomorrow to 2 years out)
• Intermediate (2 years to 10 years out)
• Long-term (10+ years out)

The short-term bucket is often what people fill up (and spend) first, but we recommend that you take a look at your 2- to 10-year goals and see how much you want to save for those.

For example, if you want to buy a house in the next 5 years, you might want to calculate how much you'd want to spend, and what a 10 or 20% down payment might look like. That's your new intermediate savings goal!

Did you do the math above and felt your jaw drop at how much cash you might need to save? (Even if your goal isn't buying a house, your goal might be expensive!) This is also why the intermediate bucket gets neglected — because people aren't sure how to gather that much money.

And the truth is: you can't save that much cash. You'll have to gain some compound interest with investments. Our advice? Invest monthly in a balanced portfolio. What in the world is that? Listen to the episode to find out!

Want more quick tips like this? Make sure you're subscribed to the Wealth by Design podcast!

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

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• Episode 4: The Bucket Strategy
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