What's in store for you:

1. Photo From My Life
2. Financial Thought: Asset Location
3. Life Thought: So In It
4. Good Sh*t: Go High Level

Subscribe to this Newsletter

Photo From My Life:

Financial Thought:

Asset Location: One of my goals with this section is to continue giving you actionable tactics and not just high-level ideas. Hopefully, this improves your financial life. With that in mind, I want to introduce a concept that doesn’t get talked about enough, but is important and relatively easy.

You’ve probably spent time thinking about asset allocation (how much to put in stocks vs. bonds vs. cash, etc), but asset location is about what types of accounts you place them in.

At a high level, there are three types of investment account structures:

1. Taxable accounts: Think brokerage accounts. You can buy and sell whatever you want here, but you’ll pay taxes on dividends, interest, and capital gains.
2. Tax-deferred accounts: 401(k)s, traditional IRAs, etc. You don’t pay taxes now, but you will when you withdraw in retirement.
3. Tax-free accounts: Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s. You pay taxes up front, but never again. Growth and withdrawals are tax-free.

So, why does location matter?

Different types of investments generate different kinds of taxes. For example:

• Bonds and REITs generate regular income which are typically taxed as ordinary income.
• Stocks often produce capital gains and qualified dividends which are taxed at lower rates.
• Tax-efficient index funds and ETFs may not create much taxable income at all.

So, here's the actionable takeaway. You want to match the least tax-efficient investments with tax-advantaged accounts, and keep the most tax-efficient investments in your taxable account.

While everyone's situation is different, here's a rough rule of thumb:

• Put bonds, REITs, and high-dividend stocks into tax-deferred accounts (401(k), traditional IRA). This way, you don't pay taxes along the way and when you withdrawal the funds in retirement, you'll likely have a much lower tax rate.
• Put growth stocks and index funds into taxable accounts.
• Put high-growth or alternative assets with big upside potential into Roth accounts if possible. Tax-free growth in these accounts are incredibly powerful.

Life Thought:

So In It: There’s a strange kind of exhaustion that comes with having kids. I don’t really know how to describe it. You’re just in it. All the time.

You spend the whole day chasing, feeding, cleaning, negotiating, and repeat. You count down the minutes to bedtime, dreaming of a quiet house and a little time to yourself. Then, the second they're asleep, you find yourself scrolling through photos of them, watching videos of them laughing, and thinking about how cute they are.

It makes no logical sense. You were just desperate for a break and now you're sitting there missing them?

I mentioned this to a friend recently, and we both agreed. It’s bizarre, but it’s real. So I figured I’d share it here. No major insight. No takeaway.

Good Sh*t:

Go High Level: This is specifically for my readers who are small business owners, marketers, and builders.

We just started using Go High Level at Pono Ventures, and I’m a big fan. Is the UX perfect? Definitely not. It’s a little clunky in spots. But once you get past that, it’s incredibly powerful.

We were previously using HubSpot, which has a great interface but charges you like you're Salesforce. Go High Level, on the other hand, gives you way more automation features and does it at a fraction of the cost.

We’re building out full customer journeys, email flows, text automations, and custom lead pipelines. It’s the kind of tool where the more you explore, the more value you unlock.

I know this only applies to a small slice of my audience, but if you're running a services business or managing lead funnels, it’s worth checking out.

Disclaimer: VDB Wealth is a registered investment adviser. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.

‍