“Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with the 130 IQ. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.” —Warren Buffett

There is no shortage of discount cell service providers these days. It's to the point where The Paradox of Choice and inertia set in, leading most folks to simply stick with the same cell provider they have always used. My wife and I switched from Verizon to Consumer Cellular in October 2017. The main only reason we switched was to save money. The tl:dr version of this post is that we really like Consumer Cellular.

I won’t tell you that skipping lattes will make you a millionaire (because I don’t believe that). I’m not going to spend-shame anyone in this post. But I will forever maintain that frugality is a darn-near surefire way of building wealth. If you spend meaningfully less money than you make (that is, saving 15% or more of your income), it necessarily follows that you will build wealth. That’s not an opinion; it’s math. If you can only save 10%, then start there. But ultimately, work up toward a 20% savings rate…and then move higher from there. We have multiple clients saving more than 50% of their after-tax income.

Statements you will hear outside TWG’s walls, but not inside them: “Money is really cheap right now.” “I get a tax deduction on this, so it’s a good deal.” “The dealership is providing interest-free financing on the new model, so I’ll buy new.” “We refinanced and are saving $300/month on our payments.”

My wife Krista and I have been blessed with three children. In case you have lost count, Austin and his wife Jennifer have been blessed with eight children (and counting?).

Growing up, I was always intrigued by money. I liked earning it, and I really liked saving it. In May 1997, about a month shy of my 14th birthday, I biked from our family’s home in Eden Prairie over to the Chanhassen McDonald’s – a grueling one-mile ride (uphill both ways).

When it comes to saving for retirement, is it good enough to be maxing out your 401(k) – but saving nothing above that? As with most areas of personal finance, the answer depends on your situation.

Buying a house is a big deal. It’s an opportunity to find the home that you’ve always imagined: the perfect size, in the perfect location, with the perfect potential to make it into a place where your family can enjoy many years together. It’s an exciting step! But you know what else is a big deal? Mortgages.

Earlier this year, I took my daughter Evelyn to our first “Daddy/Daughter Dance” at Life Time Fitness. While I was merely an accessory as she twirled and twirled on the dance floor, it was a wonderful night for us. Evie turns 4 next month. About a month before the dance, my wife Krista bought a dress with Evie at Costco to wear for the dance. Evie called it her “ballet tutu dress”, and she proudly wore that dress nearly every day in the weeks leading up to the dance. Someday, I’ll be walking my little girl down the church aisle on her wedding day. [insert deep sigh] One of the habits outlined in Stephen Covey’s classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to begin with the end in mind. With our daughter, that means looking ahead to the day she leaves us and joins her life to her future husband. While our roles as father and mother won’t end at that point, we want to be thinking now about the kind of woman we hope she will be on her wedding day – and about the kind of man we hope she will marry.

If you’re planning to contribute to your children’s future earning potential (i.e. by paying for college), you are committing to a big expense. But you already know that. Here’s a good gut-check question to kick off this discussion: how much research time did you put into your last purchase of an iPhone, a computer, or vehicle purchase? Now, compare those answers to how much time you put into researching the college decision for your children.

In his recent book Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – and How You Can Too, author Chris Hogan sets out to prove “The American Dream is Alive and Available.” To write this book, Hogan’s team at Ramsey Solutions surveyed and/or interviewed more than 10,000 Americans over the past year. His book follows the footsteps of one of The Wealth Group’s all-time favorite books, The Millionaire Next Door. Books like these are great at myth-busting the popular culture’s conceptions about millionaires in America. What most people think about millionaires in America is often incorrect.

I’m still amazed at the number of vehicle commercials I see when watching a sporting event on TV. The automotive industry is projected to spend more than $15 billion on digital advertising alone in 2019. Advertising works. That’s why auto companies are spending more money than ever on advertising. What the auto companies are selling, Americans are buying.