I started working with a financial planner this year and I've already saved and invested more than I ever had before
- Working on an Insider series to help millennials take control of their finances has changed my relationship with money.
- This year, I met with a financial planner for the first time to start making progress.
- I made significant strides with my emergency fund and invested in my retirement plan and cryptocurrency.
I started working on Insider's personal finance series for millennials, Master Your Money, shortly after I moved from my hometown of Los Angeles, California to Brooklyn, New York in 2019. I had $4,000 in my account, barely any savings, and no retirement savings. Plus, I was barely affording my bills every month.
Master Your Money empowered me with so much knowledge, and after an unpredictable 2020, I decided to put that information to work and enlist the help of a Certified Financial Planner.
That decision helped me grow my emergency fund, expand my investment portfolio, and put me on track to retire comfortably — here's how.
My financial planner helped me figure out my goals and how to achieve them
Before I started working on Master Your Money, I didn't know what a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) was — it sounded expensive and hard to find. At the start of 2021, I was struggling to make financial goals. I knew I wanted a safety net and some money to play with, but I had no clue how I was actually going to get there.
Fortunately, my employer invested in a new financial wellness benefit with Facet Wealth, making it easier to find one. I was able to get a financial planner, Raman Singh, and more hands-on help with my money, without spending a lot.
We worked together over several sessions to understand what I wanted and developed a six-month plan to accomplish by the end of the year. The plan included more retirement investments through a 401(k) and a Roth IRA, while also thinking ahead to bigger purchases, like buying a house.
This was a great test to see how dedicated I was to reaching my goals. I'm happy to say I passed this test and I'm on a great path to getting the financial independence I want.
High-yield savings accounts grew my money with minimal effort
Last year, I wrote that I had about two months of expenses saved. Since then, my expenses changed a lot.
I've moved twice, both times to a more expensive apartment than the last. But, I continue to make good progress on my goal of having at least three months of savings.
Moving all of my savings to a better high-yield savings account pushed my money in a better direction, and faster. All of my savings accounts offered some type of APY (usually 1% or less), but my financial planner recommended I start my emergency fund and splurge accounts in an even higher high-yield savings account.
Through his recommendation, I scored an account with HMBradley, which offers up to a 3.5% interest rate if you meet certain criteria. This helped boost my savings by over $130 in less than six months. I'm able to dedicate and automate a certain amount of my check every month to the account, which allows me to save without thinking about it and prevents me from spending money I know I should set aside.
I expanded my investment portfolio beyond a 401(k)
Last year, I wasn't thinking about investing in cryptocurrency or the stock market. The market can be unpredictable and there are so many horror stories out there.
The safest route for investing was my employer's 401(k) program. I took advantage of my "free lunch" by utilizing employer matching and automatic payments, and the benefits are starting to show! Which is amazing, but my financial planner wanted to challenge me to take it a step further by starting a Roth IRA and a brokerage account.
With these accounts, I should be able to retire more comfortably with minimal tax implications and utilize the brokerage account to fund a larger purchase five to 10 years down the road.
Outside of my financial planner, I decided to independently invest in cryptocurrency. I'll admit that it was going well until it wasn't, but that's the risk I took. Fortunately, I followed the very solid advice of not investing more than I was willing to lose.
- Read more from Master Your Money:
- A millennial who paid off over $30,000 of student loans and personal debt shares 3 hacks she used to reach her goal
- 3 steps a 27-year-old millennial took to build a $250,000 investing portfolio
- The Master Your Money Bootcamp will keep your money working for years to come