WIN 4 - Goal Setting and Managing Your Financial Life with Nancy Doyle

Welcome to win the Women Investing Network, the podcast where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs, business leaders and real estate investors who are winning in business and life. Learning from others is the fastest way to grow your skills, gain knowledge and avoid pitfalls so you can win. Join our hosts, Elizabeth Embry and Jason Hartman. Elizabeth is a seasoned real estate investor, experience corporate executive and skilled mentor. Jason is a self made multimillionaire investor, entrepreneur and highly acclaimed thought leader. Together with their successful guests, you'll get the tools you'll need to win.

Welcome to another exciting episode of Win the Women Investing Network where we help.

Women win in their investing and in life.

Our guest speaker later today will be Nancy Doyle.

She wrote the book Managing youg Financial Life and it was really a great conversation with her.

She has a lot of energy and passion and knowledge around helping women plan and prepare for the future. And she starts with really a great approach of spring cleaning, doing some basic education and then really focusing on what are the things important and then building a plan.

And you know, that sounds simple once.

You start doing it. I believe it actually is.

The reality is though, a lot of.

Us don't even know what goals or objectives we're trying to target.

And a lot of people, when they.

Are talking about goals, it's interesting because people will say, oh yeah, I want to retire at 55, I want to retire and live in the Bahamas. I want to achieve a vice president next year in my career.

They have really great lofty goals that they can articulate.

The thing is, they haven't really thought about how reasonable or actionable those times and targets are and what the plan is in place. So setting a goal isn't identifying a target and it's not a to do list. Okay, on Tuesday I'm going to do this. On Wednesday I'm going to do this. On Thursday I'm going to do that. It really is having a clear plan in place, a vision and plan in place of knowing what objectives you're trying to achieve and then what metrics or measurable things will let you know that you've actually achieved those goals and creating enough of a work back structure a structure a framework in order to get you there. Now, a lot of people believe that goals are incredibly hard to write. They think about the smart goals they might have done at work. They may think about vision activities that they've done with members of a mastermind group or with a group of friends. They may have gone to a workshop or two or three or four. I myself actually teach a workshop on Goal setting. It's based on a structure that I created with a former boss of mine, Tony Buzzuti, he's now the CIO at F5. And when we were working together at Washington Mutual, we sat together for a and work through what my five year plan was, what my two year plan was, and then what are the highlights of the skills I have today, the skills that I needed and what are the gaps in between to achieve that five year goal. And created a really a great structure of what resources I have in place to help me achieve those targeted activities that'll hit my two year goal and then later my five year goal. And what's interesting, I believe the first time I worked on that template with him, it was like 1997, 1998 maybe. What's interesting is I've achieved all of my two year goals since then. And people that I mentor, people that I've managed, people that I've helped both with their real estate investing and in their careers, they've leveraged that template and they too have achieved their goals.

You know, the thing that people need to keep in mind is goals need to be accessible.

The concept of goal setting can't be overwhelming, it can't be too much. Otherwise, you spend a lot of time writing your goal topics, but then you never actually build a plan to achieve it, or you never validate that you've actually achieved those goals. The book the Goal by Golrad, I'm going to mispronounce his name. It's Elya, who, I don't know, E.

E. Goldrad, let's call him E. The.

Book is called the the Process for Ongoing Improvement. And it was Originally published in 1984. And I'll tell you, it was, I think I read the book in 88. It was the book that changed my life, truly changed my life because it was an early Six Sigma approach to streamlining manufacturing and it was told in the form of an allegory. So it's honestly, it's an easy read. It is truly a sit down on a Saturday and read the book type of thing. You know, curled up next to the fire. You know, we're transitioning into spring, so maybe no longer a fire. Maybe you're in a warmer climate, so you can actually sit on your back deck and maybe have a cocktail or a sangria or something, who knows? But the book really takes the approach of looking at the things that are the roadblocks in your process or in your life and the things that you're trying to achieve and helps you Clear out all the clutter as you're trying to achieve those goals. And in that, I think that Nancy's book really focus. I mean, literally, it talks about spring cleaning in preparation for your financial planning. And so I really loved how these, these two concepts kind of tie together. One is more specific and is truly related to your preparation for your financial future and your financial life. And the other is more conceptual and again, it's tight to manufacturing, but it was. It's easily applied to virtually any situation. So my tip for the day is build a financial plan, but start with understanding what your goals are in mind. Don't get overwhelmed.

By.

By the 85. I literally counted 85 books available on Amazon that were a cornerstone around goal setting. So don't get overwhelmed. You don't necessarily need to follow a methodology. One of the methodologies I've used in the past is the Tony Robbins RPM or rapid planning method. I think that that's great. It helps you identify the focus areas and then scheduling your time based on blocks. I think that that's a great system I've used. You know, smart goals that you might have used in your corporate life. I find that those are a little cumbers at a company like Amazon where everything is metric based. It's always good to have those metrics tied to those goals. It'll really help you make sure that you've actually achieved, moved forward and achieved those goals. You can fine tune based on the data that you're collecting about how you're moving toward your goals. But don't get overwhelmed. Don't get overwhelmed. Don't get intimidated by the concept. Start by writing stuff down. Journal is a great place to do it or in a computer. But tie it to your calendar so that you know that you're actually moving the ball forward on your specific areas. And then set up a review time. And so those easy steps are, you know, dream big and identify the goals or targets that you're wanting to achieve, calendar them, put them in your schedule, and then set up a time for review. Make sure that you're actually achieving your goals. And then the fourth step is adjust. Make sure that you're taking the time to adjust. And with that, I'd like to introduce our guest.

It's my pleasure to introduce Nancy Doyle. She's the founder of the Doyle Group. She's a finance expert and she's also an author of the book Manage your financial life. Nancy, welcome to the show and thanks so much for being here.

Well, thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

So I know that you have an extensive background in wealth management and finance. Do you mind giving our listeners a little bit of your background?

Oh, sure. Happy to. First of all, my undergrad is in economics at Georgetown. I have a Master's MBA in Business from University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. And I also am a CFA or I have my Chartered Financial Analyst designation. I've had that for about 20 years now. I've worked in finance and investing for about 30 years in a number of different roles. Consulting, banking, corporate finance, equity analysis and wealth management. For the last almost 11 years now, I've worked with one family, helping them manage their investments. And what's a little unique is I'm a consultant, I'm independent. I don't work with one particular wealth management firm. Rather the family I work with, we invest with a number of different money managers across a lot of different asset classes. And that independence and objectivity is really nice because we can choose whatever investments from whatever investment manager depending on the needs of the family I work for.

You know, that's really cool that you have this, in essence, freedom. You have all of this depth and breadth, but you have this freedom to provide specific and targeted support for individuals and I'm assuming corporations.

Well, actually this is just a family that I work with. It's similar to someone who works with a family office type model. So.

Got it.

I'm not involved in the corporate entity. It's helping this family. It's taxable investments. So it's just focused on investing for the needs of the family. And they're very long term oriented investors, which is also helpful. We're not trying to manage to one particular quarter or a particular investing benchmark. It's really trying to enhance the wealth of this family for them and for future generations.

Very cool. So Nancy, I was looking at your book Manage youe Financial A Thoughtful, Organized Approach for Women and I gotta tell you, I loved it. It's spoke to my need for things to be organized and decluttered and it was really very cool. Who's the target audience for your book?

The concepts I talk about apply to both men and women, but for many reasons, I really am targeting women because I've been in the business for a long time. Over the years, many women have reached out to me with questions about managing their financial lives. They want to be more knowledgeable on the topic. And also most of us in our lifetime, especially women, go through transitions that have a financial impact, whether it's having children, buying a home, changing careers, starting a business. And unfortunately, divorce and widowhood are also transitions that many women go through that have a financial impact. Because of these factors and because people know I've been in this business a long time, a lot of women have reached out to me with questions about can you recommend a resource? Can you help me, you know, suggest some books that will help me be more knowledgeable? So I looked around trying to find resources for friends and family, and honestly, I didn't find anything that I felt was truly comprehensive, easy to understand, and also independent and objective.

And there's so much out there. I mean, there's just such a massive information galette out there. It's crazy.

Well, there is a lot out there. And what I found was there's things written about a specific topic. For example, creating and sticking to a budget. There might be something about saving for your children's college or saving for your retirement, even how to finance buying a home or other major purchases. It's not comprehensive. But also what I found is there's a lot of things that have been written by people. Once you look into their backgrounds, they're actually selling product or they're aligned with a financial services firm. And I'm not looking for more clients. I work with this one family and enjoy my work, and I'm not selling any products. And that's fine if people do that. But I think it's really important to let the readers know that. By the way, I also have a business. I'm looking for new clients or I'm aligned with a firm and they sell this product that I may or may not recommend. So for all those reasons, I decided to write the book about four years ago.

Really like the systematic approach that it has for achieving financial goals. Do you mind sharing with the listeners some of the highlights out of the book?

The system I talk about in the book is really the system I follow. And it's evolved over the years as my life and my needs have changed. But it really boils down to four steps. First of all, get organized. Being organized is essential. Second, you have to analyze your financial profile objectively. And I liken it to when I was an underwriter working in a bank. Or if you're looking at an investment decision, think about your financial profile as an objective third party would analyze your financial profile. And you need to do it before you make any big changes in your life. You have to be an objective and you have to do it before any big changes. The third step is educating yourself about investing. And you have to start with the fundamental investing concepts that's really the foundation of your education. You need to learn about the different kinds of asset classes or investments and also the different types of investment accounts. The last step is actually investing your money, which starts with determining what your needs are. You also have to look at the different investing options you have. And last, you have to be actively engaged. You have to monitor your investments and learn how to assess the performance of the various investments you have. And also from time to time, look at your overall asset allocation. You have to revisit it and make sure that you're invested correctly. You may need to make some changes so it's not a set it and forget it exercise. You have to be actively engaged going forward.

You know, that's true. I see so many women early in their career. They set up their IRA, they work for a company for five years, or, sorry, their 401k, they've got a bunch of money going into a fund that they know very little about, and they're not really paying attention to. I mean, money is growing because they're putting money in, their company's putting money in, but they're not really managing their financials with that.

Well, I think you raise a good point because I think what happens is when you set up your, you know, say your 401k selection or you have other taxable investments too, and you look at the. I recommend that everyone look at their entire pie, if you will, and look at kind of an aggregate asset allocation. With time, your asset allocation is going to change because different investments may grow more than others. Your needs may change. So you have to stay actively involved. I also think in the book, I try to lay out some of the key risk factors that I think people need to understand. If you're investing in a mutual fund, what are a couple of metrics or a couple of information points you can look up, you can look up online and just see how really risky your investment might be. Also at the beginning of the book, in the Educate section, I talk about what causes different investments to change in value. And I think a lot of people may not really understand how these different asset classes or investments, types of investments, change in value. I think that's important for everyone to understand.

So a lot of the audience here.

Is other real estate investors. What are your thoughts about real estate? From my experience, the coasts are more of a cyclical market and they have a lot of volatility. Where the Midwest is more of a linear market. It has a lot of, a lot more stability, but certainly less appreciation.

What are your thoughts well, are you talking about residential real estate? Someone deciding whether or not to buy a home or investing in real estate as an asset class, like with a REIT or other investment.

So I personally don't have a reit, but I have rental properties that have, that are cash flowing with rentals. There are other people that are starting out that just get into REITs because it's a great way to take a smaller dollar amount and kind of distribute your potential risk.

Exactly. I think in terms of real estate, a couple things. I think REITs are a nice way to get diversification. So you're not tied to, say if you can only invest in one property, there can be some risk there. If you're tied to one geographic region that's reliant on one particular industry, that may be a factor. But whether you're looking to buy a home for yourself or an investment property, I could see your point about the coast being cyclical, but I think it's helpful to look at what's happened over the last five years with demand. Also think about supply coming to market. If you're in an area where there's been a lot of building recently and you go to invest in a property, at some point there may be excess supply which will have an impact on the value of your investment. And in the book, I talk about supply and demand as one of the fundamental investing concepts that everyone needs to understand. And I think it does have a big impact on the real estate market.

I couldn't agree with you more.

I remember in the, what was it, the late 80s when Dallas got completely overbuilt and that was the first time that I ever saw just whole buildings sitting idle. It's amazing.

Well, and I think it's also a good lesson for people about liquidity. Another fundamental investing concept I talk about in the book, because supply and demand is clearly a factor. But if you, for example, live in a part of the US Say Arizona, during the last housing bubble where there was, you know, there was a lot of overbuilding and people who, whether it was an investment property or their own home, who were in Arizona, some of them wasn't the right thing to do to sell their home. And if they were trying to change jobs or had lost their job, it ties you to a particular community. If you're not able to move because you are stuck in a home that you're not able to sell, that's just one example. That can happen anywhere in the US But I think looking at the building over the last five years in a particular area Looking at the underlying economic trends in the community, you know, are companies coming in, are companies leaving? All those things will have a value on your real estate going forward or have an impact on the value.

That's so true. Looking at a trend line and if you can look at an area for 20 years and see where the ebbs and flows, but then you layer in all of that other intelligence that you're talking about. I love these tips. Are there other tips that you want to share with the listeners, especially around this concept of this financial spring cleaning since we're in spring?

Well, that's something that I've been talking about recently, especially going into tax time. That's the perfect time to do a financial spring cleaning. And that's a big part of the getting organized section of the book. Because to manage your financial life, you really have to know what you need, what you have and where it's located. And there's really three steps. First, you gather up all your documents, everything you have in your home related to banking, credit card retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, you know, legal tax, anything related to big purchases. Gather it all. You've got to sort and some of the rules, you know, that everyone talks about with your tax returns. You need to keep your tax returns, all supporting documents, for seven years from the date you file your taxes. Taxes. It's not seven years from December 31st of a tax year, it's seven years from the date you file.

That's a great call out.

And you never know. That could be something that could trip you up if you don't keep records for the right amount of time. Also, I would recommend people keep their bank and credit card statements for that same seven year window. I personally think whenever you have a loan or payoff notice, keep that documentation indefinitely.

I think it's important now that we're in more of an electronic age where you're no longer getting your paper copies, you're starting to get electronic copies. Are there other, in essence, different rules, things to think about when you're getting electronic versions of these? I'm relying on my bank to keep that information. Is that something that I should be doing?

I recommend that people keep both. And what people aren't aware of is that banks and financial services firms don't necessarily keep the seven years archived that I recommend that everyone have. What you can do, for example, with an investment account or a retirement account, but more importantly for an investment account, because it relates to your taxes, you'll get an annual summary. You can get a PDF version. Keep that on Your hard drive obviously password protected with all your financial files. But I would also print out a hard copy of if you have an investment account, the year end summary, I would keep that for as long as you have the investments in that account. Also, it's very important that you keep documentation related to any new investment you make. So if, for example, you make an investment in a REIT fund, keep the initial confirmation as long as you have that investment, both an electronic copy and a paper copy. Because again, you just don't know how long banks are going to keep information. At some point we can all just keep electronic copies. But now I'm not sure if my bank has information going back seven years, I can get three years, but not seven years. So you might want to keep the hard copies too. And you know, you can keep an annual statement for most of these things.

And that makes a good call out. Especially if you're selling an asset, you need to have the information that you.

Just like with Saudi, Arabic, just like with your home, any improvements that you make to your home, you need to keep track of that because it has an impact on the cost basis, which is important when you go to sell your home.

Absolutely. So are there other specific tax advice that people should be thinking about and also for the lucky people that may be getting tax refunds, what should they be doing with thinking about with those?

Well, two things. First of all, something that we can all do to help us at tax time is in the book I talk about the importance of creating a filing system that works for you and one file, whether it's electronic or paper. It's really helpful to keep what I call a current year tax file. And it sounds very simple, but a lot of people don't do it. Keep a file folder in your desk anytime you have an expense that might be deductible, a donation, anything that occurs during the year, make a copy or make an electronic copy and keep a folder on your hard drive of anything related to taxes, because you may not remember that come next April. And I think a lot of people are going through their checkbooks and whether online or their paper checkbook, trying to remember their donations and other expenses they may have incurred that are deductible for taxes. So that's one tip that saves me a lot of time and I recommend everybody do it because think of all the documentation you receive at year end. It doesn't all come on the same day. Whether it's proof that you have health insurance or if you take a distribution from a college savings plan, you need to document it. Things come through electronically or in the mail at all different times. So it's good to have one folder to gather that. And don't wait till December, set it up in January, because you incur those expenses and make those donations all year long. Now, in terms of the tax refund, I think it's very tempting to go out and buy yourself something nice. But I really recommend that you start with, as I say in the chapter on investing, you need to start with your needs, and you need to make sure you have your bases covered. I mean, everybody needs to first look at, okay, do you have credit card debt outstanding? If that's the case, your tax refund really, I believe, should go toward addressing that credit card balance that you're carrying. Also, do you have your emergency fund? I know everyone talks about that, but that's. You need to have those two things squared away. And if you're in good shape with both your, you know, not having credit card debt and, you know, having your emergency fund established, I think it's important to look at your retirement accounts because the vast majority of us have not saved enough for retirement. And you'll be thankful down the road if, rather than buying yourself something nice with your tax refund, if you put the money away for retirement. That's really important.

Back on your emergency fund purse, if you will.

What's the recommendation on how much is enough? How much should I keep in reserves?

You know, a lot of people talk about this, and I've heard everywhere from three months to nine months. And the reason it varies is, again, depending on the person and their needs. For example, if you lose your job and face a number of restrictions for getting a new job, say you're not able to relocate, say you require flexible work hours, say you're not able to travel for business, any of those restrictions or limitations may take longer for you to get a new job. So you need to factor those things in. If, say, for example, you have health issues or someone in your family has special needs, you need a bigger cushion, you might need more than nine months. I think you need to look at your particular financial profile. That's why I talk about it in the book. And that factors into what sort of planning you have for your emergency fund. The other thing, too, and I think this is common sense, but make sure your emergency fund is in a very liquid asset class. It should be in a money market fund. It should not be invested in the market, because the market, as you know, can go up and down. And you want to be able to access that money when you need it, if in event you do need it, and if you do need it, it should be a priority to replenish it.

Now that makes a lot of sense. I really like that perspective. That's assuming that people actually understand enough about their budget and their expenses, which part of what I really like about the book is it helps you get that understanding of those expenses that are coming in, what your money really is doing, etc.

And I know some people think it's. They start with, with living on a budget and decide what they're allowed to spend every month on particular items. And I think that's a good strategy for some people. Frankly, what I find sort of like the analogy of writing down all the food you eat and then looking at it and saying, okay, I didn't eat this, that and the other. And I can be healthier if I eliminate these two or three things from my diet. If you do the same with your spending, it's really not that hard to go on your bank website, download your activity for a month, three months, six months, and sit down with your partner if you have one, and look through all your expenses and say, you know what, we're spending a lot more for this or that than we realize. I also think if people can limit themselves to, say, two credit cards, it's much easier to analyze your spending and you're much less likely to build up a credit card balance if you only have two credit cards.

You know, I completely hear you on the two credit cards because then you can actually, they'll produce nice reports for you on what you're spending. But one of the things I particularly love that you said was go back and analyze what you've been spending for six months and what categories. So for instance, I keep my information in mint, which is a little application that just kind of sucks in data. And when my husband and I looked at how much we were spending on eating out, we were floored. We were absolutely floored. And it's like, well, there's an easy way to save a big chunk of cash.

Well, another thing that I think is surprising, I know personally, before we decided to buy a home, we sat down and my husband and I looked at the amount of money we were spending on various categories. And what surprised me was the amount we're spending on our children's activities, which definitely our priority, but we were not factoring in all the wonderful opportunities the kids had to do classes and camps and things. That's a bigger part of our take home pay than we realized, and I think that exercise, doing it with your partner or your spouse, if you have one, it really can help you be more disciplined going forward because you think about, well, if we're spending this much on activities which are a priority, where can we find more money in other areas that are not the same level of priority?

Fair enough.

So, Nancy, is there anything that we.

Haven'T covered that our listeners should know?

Well, I think, you know, we talked about it a bit, but I just want to really reiterate that managing your financial life, you really do need to start with getting organized. In the book, I talk about the financial spring cleaning and some other great exercise that will help you get started because a lot of people think you can just jump right in and pull out your retirement plan statement and start there. There really is a process. I also think that you need to take a comprehensive view that that's so important and you have to work with your partner if you have one, because you both need to be up to speed, you both need to be knowledgeable and you have to be on the same page.

Couldn't agree more. What's your website? Where can people buy your book or.

Get more information about you or your company?

Sure. Well, I encourage people to come to my website, which is manageyourfinanciallife.com. you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram, which is Nancy Finance. And my book Manage youe Financial A Thoughtful, Organized Approach for Women is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and most independent bookstores.

Terrific.

Well, Nancy Doyle, founder of the Doyle Group, finance expert, author of Manage youe Financial Life, thank you so much for joining us today.

Well, thank you so much, Elizabeth.

Thank you so much for listening to the women in. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review the show on itunes or the platform of your choice. You can find the show notes and resources for today's episode@womeninvestingnetwork.com remember that guest opinions are their own and information is of general nature, so be sure to consult appropriate tax, legal or other professionals for specific advice.