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Know My Plan

Know My Plan

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Save Time | Reduce Stress | Pursue Goals Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.

Investment advisory services are offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Know My Plan is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Please follow this link to Important Disclosure Information: http://raymondjames.com/smicd.htm

09/05/2026

We meet plenty of people with a strong net worth who still feel stuck.

It's rarely because they haven't saved enough.

It's because almost everything they've saved is locked behind an age, a penalty, or a required minimum distribution.

On paper, they look wealthy. In practice, they can't touch most of it without a fee, a tax bill, a 20-year wait, or some additional complexity.

Being rich and being free are not the same thing. Rich is a number. Free is being able to act on that number whenever you decide to.

The plan isn't just "save more."

It's building a ladder (some money working for later, and some money working for right now) so you're never trapped by your own success.

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If you're a high-achieving professional and it's time to put a real plan in place, get in touch — we're currently taking on new clients.

If you're already working with an advisor but have thought about making a change, we help people do this all the time. It's a simple transfer, and it can be done without you needing to be involved (if you'd rather it that way).

We can't wait to work with you.

Nic

09/04/2026

Here's a mistake we see a lot: using the "6 months of expenses" rule of thumb without accounting for owning a home.

Say someone spends $3,000 a month. Six months of expenses is $18,000. Textbook answer: done.

Except if you own a house, you can blow through $15,000 to $25,000 in a single repair. A roof, a furnace, a foundation issue.

It doesn't check whether it fits your emergency fund. Even if the math says $18K is enough, we tell homeowners to keep at least $25,000 in a high-yield savings account, regardless of what the 6-month formula says.

One more rule for that account: any money you're planning to spend in cash in the next 2–3 years (a down payment on a second place, a wedding, a big renovation — stays in the high-yield savings account too).

Money you need on a specific timeline shouldn't be riding the market right before you need it.

A small behavioral tip that actually matters: open the high-yield savings account at whichever bank already has your favorite credit card. You already have the app. You're already checking it. You'll actually use it.

--Nic

GTC 62.3 | How Much in a HYSA

09/03/2026

Most people think building wealth means "save more, later."

Once I make partner.
Once the kids are through college.
Once the market calms down.

I'd like to make this simpler.

The dollar you invest today is worth more than the dollar you invest in five years .

Not because you'll have more of it, but because it'll have more time to compound.

$25,000 invested today, left alone for 20 years, becomes roughly $97,000.

That same $25,000 invested 10 years from now only gets 10 years to grow roughly $49,000.

Same amount. Same return. Half the outcome.

The only difference is when you started.

This is often the difference between wishing you'd started sooner and being glad you did.

--

If you're a high-achieving professional and it's time to put a real plan in place, get in touch — we're currently taking on new clients.

If you're already working with an advisor but have thought about making a change, we help people do this all the time. It's a simple transfer, and it can be done without you needing to be involved (if you'd rather it that way).

We can't wait to work with you.

Nic

*assumes a 7% average annual rate of return

09/02/2026

Most advice says: keep 6 months of expenses in savings. For a lot of the people we work with, that's actually the wrong move.

Here's what we recommend instead once someone has some assets built up:

$25K–$50K in an emergency fund, plus whatever's earmarked for major purchases
Build a brokerage account to $100K — that unlocks a line of credit worth roughly $50K–$60K if you ever need it
If you own a home, put a HELOC in place too, so there's another line ready and never touched

The goal is access to money in an emergency, not necessarily having all of it sit in cash earning next to nothing.

If someone doesn't own a home yet and doesn't have a brokerage account to lean on, we go the traditional route: 6 months of expenses in a high-yield savings account. But once someone's got a couple hundred thousand dollars in a brokerage account, we're comfortable capping the high-yield savings account at $50K, even if their monthly expenses are $20K.

More of your money working. Same amount of protection.

If you're sitting on a big cash cushion "just in case" and wondering if it's too much, let's connect.

--Nic

GTC 63.1 | How Much Savings is Too Much

08/31/2026

If today was day one of retirement, how much income would you need your portfolio to generate?

Whatever number you just landed on, that's where the real math starts. We take that number and grow it by about 3% a year for trend-line inflation, out to whenever you actually plan to retire — say, 10 years from now. That's the number you'll actually need on day one, in future dollars.

Then it's just backing into: what do you have today? What are you contributing today? Are you ahead of plan, or behind it?

"Am I on track" is the question we get more than any other. And it's almost always followed by, "what do I need to do differently, and what exactly should I be doing every month to hit my number?"

Here's what's working against a lot of people right now: the home renovation train is still running wild. It's easy to funnel extra cash into the kitchen remodel and not realize it's coming straight out of the number you need for day one of retirement.

You don't need a complicated spreadsheet to find your number. You need someone to run the math with you and tell you the truth about where you actually stand.

Want to know your number?

--Nic

GTC 55 | What's My Number?

08/30/2026

This is what the wealthy do.

Wealthy families don't just save, they figure out how to use the same dollar twice.

There's a tipping point where growth starts doing more work than contributions ever could.

At this stage, the conversation shifts:
• From saving → to strategic leverage
• From accumulation → to intentional use

(The money you've accumulated, invested, and saved becomes the collateral for a future loan that you use to maybe open a new business, become partner in a venture, second home, etc).

It's not about being aggressive or taking on too much risk, it's about being thoughtful with opportunity and having the means to take advantage of it.

At a certain point money can become a tool.

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If you're a high-achieving professional and recognize it's time to seek a professional to help you and your family put a financial plan in place, please get in touch with us, we're currently taking on great new clients.
*If you're already working with an advisor but have considered making a change, please know that we help people do this all the time. It's a simple transfer process that can be done without you having to be involved at all (if you like).

We can't wait to work with you.

Nic

08/28/2026

We ask new clients a simple question: what are your monthly expenses?

A lot of the time we hear something like "$6,000."

Then we look at what's actually coming into the bank every month. Often it's more like $14,000.

So there's a gap — an extra $8,000 a month. Over a year, that's $96,000.

We ask: where's the $96,000?

And almost every time, the answer is the same. "We don't have it. Our checking account looks the same as it did last year."

Here's the part nobody wants to hear: your expenses aren't $6,000 a month. They're $14,000. That $96,000 didn't vanish, it got spent, just not on purpose.

We will always spend what we allow ourselves to spend. So the fix isn't a stricter budget spreadsheet. It's deciding, on purpose, what matters most — your goals, what they cost, and how long you have to fund them — and funding those accounts first. Whatever's left over is what you're free to spend.

Spend first and save later, and statistically you'll save very little. Save first and spend the rest, and you'll barely notice the difference in your life, except your net worth.

If you've ever looked at your bank account and wondered where the money actually goes, maybe we should connect?

--Nic

08/28/2026

You can set a decent allocation in a minute.

You can rebalance a portfolio in five minutes.

The real value of your advisor is helping you confidently answer harder, impactful questions:

• Am I okay?
• Can we do this?
• Are we missing something?
• Is this tax efficient?
• What do we do with all these (ISOs, RSUs, AMT, ESPP, etc)

A great financial relationship is far beyond a few basis points (% returns).

It's about clarity, confidence, and making decisions that will set you and your family up for success.

--

If you're a high-achieving professional and recognize it's time to seek a professional to help you and your family put a financial plan in place, please get in touch with us, we're currently taking on great new clients.

*If you're already working with an advisor but have considered making a change, please know that we help people do this all the time. It's a simple transfer process that can be done without you having to be involved at all (if you like).

We can't wait to work with you.

Nic

08/26/2026

If a penny doubled every day for 30 days, how much would you end up with?

Most people guess it wouldn't amount to much. The real number is about $5.3 million.

Here's the part that trips people up: by day 4, you've got 8 cents. Day 5, you've got 16 cents. It genuinely feels like nothing is happening. But the compounding is just getting started — it's slow, then it's sudden, and almost all the growth happens in the last few days.

I think anything meaningful in life takes about 3 years to build — your health, a business, an investment portfolio. Everyone talks about 21 days to build a habit. I think it's 3 years to build something that actually matters.

Most people quit right around the "16 cents" mark — a few days away from the part where it finally takes off.

Compounding has been called the eighth wonder of the world for a reason. It only works if you're still in the game when it kicks in.

If you're in year one or two of something that matters, don't quit on the 16 cents.

--Nic

GTC 57 | Penny Doubling

08/26/2026

Amy's got a FULL plate.

She's a corporate super-star and a great mom raising two kids on her own.

During our intro call:

"Nic, look I have an advisor (at BIG WELL-KNOWN BANK) but it feels super impersonal and I don't have a ton of confidence that there's any sort of plan—We just have our accounts?"

More about Amy:

• Age 53, Corporate C-Suite, $530k

• 2 kids, teens (19, 17) – in and entering college
• 2 dogs

Goals:

• EXHAUSTED with work and wants a realistic date when she can call it quits or transition into something less grueling
• Loves nice vacations with her kids
• Isn't sure what's "next" but wants real financial flexibility
• Fund college tuition
• Maintain lifestyle during post-corporate career chapter

Currently:

• $900k combined 401ks, IRAs
• $475k brokerage
• $100k HYSA
❗️ [MOST CONCERNING] $2.7M in stock options that she doesn't understand

Amy transitioned from her former BIG BANK advisor to Know My Plan and we built a financial plan that aligns with her goals and gives her concrete confidence in her financial future: When, How Much, How to Stock Options, Confidence in Her Lifestyle

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If you could use the help of a financial advisor or would like to explore making a change from your current advisor, now's the time, please message me—I'm happy to talk

Nic

All stories are hypothetical and the names and identities involved have been changed.

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