Wealth Beyond Riches: Building Prosperity With Purpose, Values, and Impact

Unlocking Hidden Financial Tips You May Not Know for 2025 Success (Ep. 27)

• Abbey Henderson, CFP®

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Are you ready to start 2025 with a financial game plan tailored just for you?

Abbey Henderson, CFP®, CEO, Wealth Advisor & Coach, dives into the top five financial planning to-dos for kicking off 2025 on the right foot – whether you're fresh out of college or gearing towards retirement. She explores why automating your finances can save you more than just time, shares tips on how to ensure every dollar counts, and discusses the importance of checking in with your credit and estate plans. Plus, Abbey reveals how minor adjustments today can lead to major lifestyle upgrades tomorrow. This is a must-listen for anyone ready to take ownership of their financial journey!

Key discussion points include:

  • Automate your savings and bill payments to reduce stress and stay on track [03:48]
  • Don't leave money on the table—learn how to maximize your 401k and other benefits [08:16]
  • Review and rebalance your investments for long-term success [12:56]
  • Check your credit report for errors and opportunities to improve [16:50]

Connect with Abbey Henderson: 

Wealth Beyond Riches, Episode 27
Unlocking Hidden Financial Tips You May Not Know for 2025 Success


Speakers: Voiceover, Abbey Henderson, Wendy McConnell


00:00:01

Voiceover

Welcome to Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson, CEO, wealth advisor, and coach at Abaris Financial Group. In this podcast, we help generous, fun, and passionate professionals overcome their biggest financial concerns while leveling up their lifestyles based on their values. We do this by exploring the five levers which represent the diverse resources each person possesses throughout their lifetime. These levers encompass finances, health, mindset, relationships, and time, offering a holistic approach to personal development and growth. Join us on this transformative journey as I and my guests draw from years of experience to guide you in achieving your life goals while staying true to your values. But that's not all. This podcast will equip you not just to build personal wealth, but also to understand how your prosperity can contribute to the betterment of the world around you. By exploring strategies for giving back and making a positive impact, we'll empower you to create a life of significance and leave a lasting legacy of positive change.


00:01:08

Wendy McConnell

Hello and welcome to the Wealth Beyond Riches podcast with your host, Abbey Henderson, where we talk about enriching your life in every way. I'm Wendy McConnell. Well, hey there, Abbey.


00:01:19

Abbey Henderson

Hi, Wendy. How are you?


00:01:20

Wendy McConnell

I'm good. You're looking very bright today. I like the pink purplish going on.


00:01:24

Abbey Henderson

Well, thank you. I felt like I needed to pretend it wasn't one degree this morning. That has been the topic of the day.


00:01:31

Wendy McConnell

You're at 1. It was 11 this morning. We're up to 23.


00:01:36

Abbey Henderson

I don't know. Does your dog hate it? My dogs hate it.


00:01:40

Wendy McConnell

Unfortunately for all of us, when there's snow on the ground, she'll just stand outside and lick the snow. And then she starts shivering and doesn't understand why.


00:01:48

Abbey Henderson

Oh, poor baby.


00:01:51

Wendy McConnell

Are they dealing with it though, the dogs?


00:01:53

Abbey Henderson

They're not happy. No, they like the snow. It's the cold that is not okay.


00:01:58

Wendy McConnell

It's no fun.


00:01:59

Abbey Henderson

Their little paws.


00:02:01

Wendy McConnell

Oh, the poor things. All right, so what are we going to be focusing on today?


00:02:07

Abbey Henderson

Well, it is January, so I thought it would be fun to talk about my top five financial planning to-dos to start off 2025 for good, not evil.


00:02:24

Wendy McConnell

Okay. All right. Well, and this will be an interesting test. I will follow along and see if I'm doing any of these or if I'm not. I'll let you know if I plan to do any of these if I've inspired you.


00:02:34

Abbey Henderson

Yes. All right. Well, I wouldn't be me if I didn't put in just a quick plug for reviewing your vision or creating a vision if you don't have one, which we've talked about in previous episodes. But as we all know, what we want for the future and what we find fulfilling and what brings us joy can evolve. And so it's important to keep reviewing that, if not every year, every couple of years. So that is my plug for doing that.


00:03:09

Wendy McConnell

And do we reassess at a certain point? Like how many years is the plan for that we are supposed to be thinking ahead?


00:03:16

Abbey Henderson

Well, I mean, I think you can think ahead as many years as you find inspiring. So when you review it, I think you're looking for, has anything changed? So sometimes when you actually achieve something, you're like, oh, I achieved it now it's not really what I want anymore, so you need to update it. Or I've achieved it and now what's next?


00:03:40

Wendy McConnell

Right.


00:03:40

Abbey Henderson

Or, you know, all sorts of reasons.


00:03:43

Wendy McConnell

Okay, so number one, number one, hit me with it.


00:03:48

Abbey Henderson

Automate.


00:03:49

Wendy McConnell

Oh, okay. Automate. What?


00:03:52

Abbey Henderson

So we can automate a lot of things. But as we all know, when things are taken out of our control and happen automatically, that can be a very good thing because it means they actually happen. So our brains and behaviors and biases and all those things get taken out of the picture when things just happen. So first and foremost, it's great when you can automate your savings. And that can take several forms. You know, your 401k or employer-sponsored retirement plan where you contribute a certain percentage. Every paycheck is one way to automate. So make sure you're signed up. And if, especially if you haven't, sometimes, you know, your annual open enrollment comes around at the beginning of the year. So if that's the case, make sure that you're in that plan and contributing what you can. So when you never see it in your paycheck, you can't miss it. Yeah, you don't realize it. And you can do that for other types of plans too. So if you're self-employed, you can set up sort of the same equivalent. You just have your investment firm, your brokerage account, whatever vehicles you have for your savings. I have not come across one yet that does not have a feature where they will sweep your money automatically from your checking account. So again, same idea. When you don't see it or it's not in your account for very long, you can't spend it.


00:05:36

Wendy McConnell

Right. Okay.


00:05:38

Abbey Henderson

So that's on the saving side.


00:05:40

Wendy McConnell

I do, I do both of those, by the way.


00:05:42

Abbey Henderson

Gold star at myself on the back.


00:05:45

Wendy McConnell

Okay.


00:05:47

Abbey Henderson

Oh, and I, you know, while you're checking your 401k or your employer plan, if I could twist your arm and have you increase it just by 1%, if you do that every year, that actually adds up and you don't feel it too much out of your paycheck.


00:06:03

Wendy McConnell

Okay, how about this? Every time you get a raise, you increase it.


00:06:08

Abbey Henderson

Awesome.


00:06:09

Wendy McConnell

Okay.


00:06:09

Abbey Henderson

Can be harder to do, but yes, I love that idea. How about you do both? You do 1% in January, and then when you get your raise later in the year, okay, you increase it. I will. I will get you to save every last dollar if you give me the opportunity.


00:06:26

Wendy McConnell

If it were up to you, I wouldn't be able to buy food.


00:06:30

Abbey Henderson

Well, I'm not that. Not quite that I'm kidding, but pretty close.


00:06:36

Wendy McConnell

No designer bags, no shoes.


00:06:38

Abbey Henderson

I know. None of the fun things. Yes, well, in moderation.


00:06:42

Wendy McConnell

Exactly. All right, so what's number two on the wish list?


00:06:47

Abbey Henderson

Oh, I'm not done with automating yet. Another thing that you can automate are your bill payments. So one in particular that comes in handy is automating your minimum credit card payment every month. So if you do that, you know, you will never miss a payment by accident. And again, it's the minimum, so you know that you will at least be putting that towards your credit card. So hopefully that's, you know, that's a relatively easy number. And then you can always go back in later in the month or right before the payment's going to happen and increase it if you need to, but just as that safety sort of precaution, safety net, just set up your minimum credit card payments automatically to happen.


00:07:33

Wendy McConnell

Okay.


00:07:33

Abbey Henderson

And then the other thing to do if I, you know, while I have my wish list, is to keep notes someplace of what you're doing, especially if you're one half of a couple. So, you know, maybe your partner isn't in charge of the bill paying or they're not in charge of setting up these automatic transfers into your investment accounts. Just keep a note someplace of what you're doing, how you're doing it, so that if anything ever happens to you, it's easy to find.


00:08:03

Wendy McConnell

Yes. All the passwords, everything. Everything.


00:08:07

Abbey Henderson

Well, that could be another New Year's resolution if you don't have that.


00:08:10

Wendy McConnell

Yes, do that.


00:08:11

Abbey Henderson

All right, I'm done with tip number one.


00:08:13

Wendy McConnell

All right, let's hear number two.


00:08:16

Abbey Henderson

Number two, don't leave any money on the table. What does that mean? You ask me. What does that mean, Abbey, so back to the 401k. Make sure that you're aware of what your employer matches, if you have one. Also just be aware of what potentially any benefits that have changed. Make sure if something's changed, you're taking advantage of it as well. But the idea is most matches are a percentage of what you contribute. So if you aren't really paying attention, you're not contributing enough, you might not get the full match. So January is a great opportunity to just go in and double check and make sure that that hasn't sort of slipped away from you over time by inertia.


00:09:08

Wendy McConnell

So you're saying that like if they match 3% and you're only putting away 2%, you're missing out on a 1%?


00:09:17

Abbey Henderson

Potentially, yes.


00:09:18

Wendy McConnell

And also like say you're, you're, you've been doing 3% but now they go up to 4%. Now you want to make sure you go up to 4% to take advantage.


00:09:30

Abbey Henderson

Exactly.


00:09:31

Wendy McConnell

Okay. You've taught me well. You've taught me well.


00:09:34

Abbey Henderson

You are a good student because you know, sometimes it's really easy to just click past those emails where things might have changed.


00:09:43

Wendy McConnell

Yeah.


00:09:43

Abbey Henderson

So another thing that I see getting added on occasion as new benefits are the ability to take advantage of health savings accounts doesn't apply to everybody. You have to be in a high deductible health insurance plan. But that is something that I see added to a package on a fairly regular basis. That's another thing to keep an eye on just in case it becomes available. And as a quick aside, health savings accounts are triple tax-free. So you get a deduction when you put the money in, it grows tax-free and then as long as you take it out for qualified medical expenses in the future, it comes out tax-free.


00:10:25

Wendy McConnell

So awesome.


00:10:26

Abbey Henderson

It's the best savings vehicle out there. So good thing to take advantage of if you can and it's been added.


00:10:33

Wendy McConnell

Okay. Love it.


00:10:35

Abbey Henderson

Few more ways to make sure that you are keeping all of your money. This is a quick pitch to get organized for your taxes. April 15th will be here around the corner. And it's important. Even if you think you might not be able to itemize your deductions, you don't know for sure unless you're keeping track. And especially if you are self-employed or have a business, keeping track of all those expenses is important. So to make sure you get all of your deductions, it's a good time to get organized with your tax documents so you're ready to go. Fun stuff, I know. And along those lines, if you want to make an IRA contribution, that can save you on taxes potentially as well. And then the last thing you want to think about in the don't leave money on the table category is it's a good time to check your withholdings if you're employed. So this is a question that we get a lot because people sometimes are getting big refunds, so they don't necessarily have their withholdings out of their paycheck set up correctly. Now, some people love to get a refund because they feel like it's sort of forced savings. And that's totally cool. And you are basically giving the US government a tax-free loan of your money until you file your tax return. So you just gotta sort of decide, you know what, which you prefer, the forced savings or the free loan.


00:12:15

Wendy McConnell

Right. Got it. Yeah. See, I mean, I'm on the mindset. I've always, you know, I'd prefer to get a little bit of a return, not like a huge amount because if I, if I got it during the year, I wouldn't put it away like I got it back. You know what I mean?


00:12:29

Abbey Henderson

I do know what you mean.


00:12:30

Wendy McConnell

So, I mean, it's just more beneficial to me and the type of saver I am. Well, I'm getting better, but typically, no, I get it.


00:12:39

Abbey Henderson

And you know that I am a big believer in finding a system that works for you. And if that's your system and it's a net positive, I will not screw up your system as long as you're aware of the trade-offs.


00:12:53

Wendy McConnell

Okay, great tip number three.


00:12:56

Abbey Henderson

And this is also in the category of it's easy to sort of let time get away from you and not necessarily pay attention, especially if you don't have a financial advisor doing this for you. It's to review your investments. So question number one is, do you have cash sitting around that's uninvested and should be invested? And sometimes this can happen if you have mutual funds and you have the setting on your account where any distributions at year-end are paid in cash versus reinvested. And by reinvested, I mean any interest and dividends and capital gains distributions go to cash instead of buying new shares of the mutual funds. So a lot of mutual funds make big distributions in December. So it can be really easy to have, you know, an unexpected pile of cash in your account if you have it set up that way. So love that when, well, you're paying taxes on it either way. So just what? You know, like everything. There's a double-edged sword to this. Exactly. So. Yes. Do you have cash sitting around? Have you been a really good saver all year? And maybe you have more in your savings account than you need for your emergency fund or other short-term goals. So just take a moment to see if you have anything sitting around. If you do, then there's two approaches, you know, one, well, there's more than two, but one is you can put it into your investments in a lump sum. The other is that you could drip it in over time, over the course of the year. You know, hindsight is really the only thing that tells us which is more beneficial. However, going back to sort of your comment about the fact that you. There's sort of a mental benefit to getting your tax refund.


00:14:58

Wendy McConnell

Yeah.


00:14:59

Abbey Henderson

There can be a mental benefit to dollar cost averaging if the market goes down during the year because no one is a fan of putting investments in. In January, having the market go down in March and see all that money. Now, long term it's okay, but short term, it doesn't feel good.


00:15:17

Wendy McConnell

Well, and you know, aren't most of our investments really were supposed to be looking long term?


00:15:23

Abbey Henderson

Yes.


00:15:23

Wendy McConnell

Okay, that's what I thought.


00:15:25

Abbey Henderson

Absolutely. Not everyone can necessarily look at their account and feel that way in the moment.


00:15:32

Wendy McConnell

Okay. Yeah, no, I understand. I get.


00:15:35

Abbey Henderson

So, you know, if dollar cost averaging feels better and keeps you invested in the market long term, go for it.


00:15:42

Wendy McConnell

All right.


00:15:43

Abbey Henderson

The next thing that happens over time, if you're not paying attention and don't have an advisor, is that your portfolio can drift away from what your targets were. Now step one is I hope you had a target. So you had an idea of how much you wanted in stocks, how much you wanted in bonds, what the mixes were within each category. You should do it more often than once a year. But you know, while we're doing sort of a New Year's resolution cleanup sort of thing, it's a great time to take a peek and see if that has happened. So if you've had a good market like we had in 2024, your equities might, your stocks might have creeped up a little bit higher than maybe what your target would be. Can be a great time to rebalance everything. Okay, tip four, not all of these are that fun. However, they still need to be done.


00:16:40

Wendy McConnell

Wait, which ones were fun parts?


00:16:43

Abbey Henderson

Fun, I think. Okay, I led with the fun part.


00:16:48

Wendy McConnell

Oh, okay.


00:16:50

Abbey Henderson

So tip four is to check your credit report. A lot of people don't know that you are actually entitled to one free credit report every year. And we will link to the website where you can do that. And again, this is important because it's really easy to sort of let time get away from you, especially if you don't have a credit monitoring service that you subscribe to that would alert you to any changes. If you're not paying attention, things can happen.


00:17:22

Wendy McConnell

My credit card actually gives me updates on what my credit score is. It'll tell me, oh, your credit score has gone up, your credit score has gone down, or there's been a change in your credit. And then, you know, I have to go in and, you know, go in further to see if it's gone up or down or whatever, you know, because every time I, you know, open up something new, a new card, or take out a loan, you know, that takes a hit. But we're expecting that totally.


00:17:47

Abbey Henderson

And that's definitely one way, if you don't want to pay for a service, to have an idea what might be changing. So I would still pull your credit report once a year. It's free, it's easy. You can do it online. You don't talk to anybody. Why not?


00:18:05

Wendy McConnell

Well, and if it's that easy, then, yeah, because I got to tell you, I had an issue with my credit report. I was reported late for my mortgage one time, which it was not late. It was literally lost in the mail. I had called them, I had discussed with them what had happened. All of this back and forth, and they still reported me as my credit score went down by 200 points.


00:18:28

Abbey Henderson

Yeah, yeah, it's. And that's one example of something you'd want to be looking for. So you want to look for anything that's incorrect information. So, you know, late payments that weren't late is one huge one, because that, like you said, that is a big part of your credit score. The other thing would be credit limits that aren't correct. So another thing that really impacts your credit score is utilization. So how much of your credit limits do you actually have a balance on versus, you know, zero? So you want to make sure that those are correct. You also want to make sure that the accounts that you think are closed or closed and that, you know, all the accounts that are open. So making sure that there's no accounts you didn't know about. So, you know, that's obviously, unfortunately, in this world of identity theft and all sorts of cybercrime, making sure that everything looks kosher on there in terms of what's open is important as well.


00:19:42

Wendy McConnell

Okay.


00:19:43

Abbey Henderson

You also want to look for forgotten accounts. You know that Nordstrom's card you opened 15 years ago, and then, you know, you sort of. It got lost and. Or it's in a desk drawer someplace and still sitting around, you know, just to be aware of anything that's forgotten or any authorized users. So, you know, maybe you put your teenager on an account as an authorized user and, you know, you're 18 year old, 19 year old, they go off to college and now they're 40. Maybe they don't need to be authorized user on your credit. Maybe they do, but just, you know, to clean things up. It's just a good time to make sure that everything makes sense. Some quick notes, though, don't. Just because you see accounts that are open, don't jump to the conclusion that you should just close them because your length of credit history is important. So, you know, I'm not necessarily saying that you should close that Nordstrom's card. Just, you know, be aware that it's there. Be aware that it's there. Think about it.


00:20:55

Wendy McConnell

Old credit is the best credit, as.


00:20:58

Abbey Henderson

Long as it is good credit.


00:21:00

Wendy McConnell

Yeah, well, you know, and again, I have a story. I have lots of stories when it comes to credit cards. My husband and I, when we were closing on this house, we had a credit card that we had used, and then we paid it off and then we just put it in a drawer and they closed the account from inactivity.


00:21:20

Abbey Henderson

Yep.


00:21:21

Wendy McConnell

And then when we got to the closing table, they're like, oh, your credit score is not as high as it was. And I was like, that finally figured out that's what it was. So if you do want to keep your credit, sometimes there's stipulations, so just keep that in mind.


00:21:35

Abbey Henderson

Yep, yep. Don't rush to do anything. Think it through. Yeah, and that's a really good point that, you know, I am very guilty of not always opening all my mail, especially if it looks like yet another credit card offer. But you should open the envelopes, keep track of what they're sending you. I'm not great at it.


00:22:01

Wendy McConnell

Bad crap.


00:22:02

Abbey Henderson

I know, I know. One other thing, you know, while you're thinking about it, you might want to consider one of the credit monitoring services that does cover things in addition to just your credit report. So they monitor your information on the dark web. A lot of those things you can't necessarily do anything about. I mean, I was part of that data breach from the background check firm. Just because of my job. I've had a few background checks. So it's always a bummer when you see that your information, especially if it's like date of birth, Social Security number, all the things.


00:22:47

Wendy McConnell

Oh, yes.


00:22:48

Abbey Henderson

Are out there. It is a little bit of wake-up call, though, to think about maybe using one of these services. And a lot of them will help you fix your identity if it gets stolen. So just something to consider while you're perusing your credit report and coming up with plans to deal with that.


00:23:10

Wendy McConnell

All right, noted.


00:23:12

Abbey Henderson

Last tip. Do your estate plan.


00:23:16

Wendy McConnell

What?


00:23:17

Abbey Henderson

What's that? I know, I know so many clients. If I had to pick one thing that we recommend that clients do and they come back, you know, a year later for their annual review, and we sort of go through all of our recommendations, the number one thing that didn't happen was updating there or doing a first estate plan.


00:23:45

Wendy McConnell

Mm.


00:23:46

Abbey Henderson

So I'm going to put this on my January list because maybe if I put it on your January list, it'll get done by December, maybe. No, I know people. People really don't like to do their estate plans.


00:24:02

Wendy McConnell

Well, for those of us who, like, I don't have kids, so, like, I really don't. I don't feel this pressing need. I know everybody says I still need to do it, but I don't feel this pressing need because if I die, it goes to my husband. If my husband dies, it goes to me.


00:24:17

Abbey Henderson

Well, so, yes, I think the question becomes how easily does it. How many. You know.


00:24:24

Wendy McConnell

Well, that's true.


00:24:25

Abbey Henderson

Do you need to jump through? Potentially. Potentially.


00:24:28

Wendy McConnell

Okay, gotcha.


00:24:29

Abbey Henderson

But the irony is that the kid thing is what holds up everybody, whether they have kids or not.


00:24:34

Wendy McConnell

Yeah.


00:24:34

Abbey Henderson

So if you don't have kids, you don't feel the pressing need. If you do, you can't decide who the guardian is going to be, so you do nothing. So I'm going to put in a pitch for. Even if you're not 100% decided on who's going to fill all the roles. And by the way, we have an episode of the podcast talking about who should fill the roles.


00:24:59

Wendy McConnell

Right.


00:25:00

Abbey Henderson

We'll link to that in the show notes. To just do an estate plan, you can. Most of an estate plan, you can change. So having one that isn't perfect is almost always better than not having one at all, because not having one at all means that the state's going to decide what happens.


00:25:21

Wendy McConnell

Okay.


00:25:21

Abbey Henderson

And nobody really wants that.


00:25:23

Wendy McConnell

Nobody wants that.


00:25:24

Abbey Henderson

No.


00:25:24

Wendy McConnell

And they're going to take more money too, right? They'll try. They'll try.


00:25:29

Abbey Henderson

You know, they. It's more the pain and suffering of dealing with the court system and the paperwork and all that.


00:25:36

Wendy McConnell

Okay, so I gotcha.


00:25:38

Abbey Henderson

So just a quick plug for what an estate plan is, because a lot of people think it's just the will. So it is the will. And I would also love for you at the very least to have a healthcare proxy and a durable power of attorney. So those are who will make health care decisions in the case of the healthcare proxy or financial and legal decisions in the case of the power of attorney if you can't do that for yourself. So typically you would name a partner or spouse as the first line of attack. So your first agent. And then typically you would name a backup if they didn't want to serve. Okay, love for everyone to have at least those three. There's several more types of documents that I think are important and are often useful, like trusts, living wills. But if I can only pick three, I'm picking the will, the healthcare proxy, and the durable power of attorney.


00:26:45

Wendy McConnell

That's all we're going to allow you today, is the three. So.


00:26:48

Abbey Henderson

All right. So I think if you can at least think about and take one action on those five options, those five tips, you'll be in much better shape for 2025 than perhaps you are for 2024.


00:27:04

Wendy McConnell

All right, I vow to look into an estate plan by the end of the year. Look into it.


00:27:12

Abbey Henderson

I'll take what I can get.


00:27:16

Wendy McConnell

All right, so, Abbey, if people have some questions about everything you talked about today, how do they get in touch with you?


00:27:23

Abbey Henderson

So I love questions. So I'd love to hear from people. You can do email. It's Abbey@abarisfinancialgroup.com. I'm also on the World Wide Web, abarisfinancialgroup.com. You can find me on LinkedIn, on Facebook, a little bit on Twitter, Instagram, all the places. So I'd love to hear from people.


00:27:45

Wendy McConnell

All right, sounds good. Well, thank you very much and thank you for listening today. Please, like, follow, and share this podcast with your friends. Until next time, I'm Wendy McConnell.


00:27:58

Voiceover

Thank you for listening to Wealth Beyond Riches. Click the follow button to be notified when new episodes become available. And be sure to visit our website at www.abarisfinancialgroup.com. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Abaris Financial Group. The opinions voiced in Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine what may be appropriate for you, consult with your attorney, accountant, financial, or tax advisor prior to investing. Guests on Wealth Beyond Riches are not affiliated with Abaris Financial Group or New Edge Advisors, LLC. Advisory services offered through New Edge Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor.