Money Dates

“There's always going to be some new technology, some new shift, some new way of thinking... but here's the thing, we still have the same nervous system that we had back then.” Many investors right now are worried that today’s market is “different”. Our hosts, Dan and Natalie Slagle, discuss why the bubble we might be in is no different from previous ones. They give a tour through four centuries of market mania. Dutch tulip futures trading for the price of an Amsterdam house. Isaac Newton losing a fortune in the South Sea Bubble. The dot-com crash that erased 78% of the NASDAQ. The 2008 housing collapse built on leverage instead of speculation. The 2021 meme-stock and crypto frenzy that took Bitcoin from $5,000 to nearly $69,000 and back down again. Every one of them runs on the same fuel, beginning with a story people tell themselves, a fear of missing out, and the conviction that this time is different. A bubble is simply price disconnected from underlying value, propped up by expectation rather than fundamentals. It goes from displacement, boom, euphoria, profit-taking, panic. Can you tell a genuine paradigm shift from a bubble narrative? Would you buy your winning investment today, at today's price, if you didn't already own it? And whose voice are you listening to, and what do they gain if you believe them? Assets change, stories change, but the instinct to chase and the instinct to panic don't. As an investor, it pays to keep a level head. Key Topics: The 40% Question (04:41) Why Smart People Do Dumb Things With Money (07:13) Defining a Bubble: Story Over Fundamentals (10:09) Tulip Mania: Betting on Flowers That Don't Exist Yet (15:41) Newton's Costly Lesson: The South Sea Bubble (23:28) Dot-Com Bust to Housing Collapse (25:13) GameStop, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin's Wild Ride (26:48) "I Would Never": Confronting Hindsight Bias (28:27) FOMO Confessions: Crypto Buys and a Banana on a Boat ETF (33:37) Three Questions to Stress-Test Any Investment (39:18) Closing Takeaways: Different Story, Same Nervous System (44:15) Resources: Money Dates Episode 34: Too Much of a Good Thing: Diversifying Out of a Single Stock Without a Massive Tax Bill https://www.equalvoices.co/podcast-1/too-much-of-a-good-thing-diversifying-out-of-a-single-stock-without-a-massive-tax-bill Schedule a Free Consultation Here: https://www.equalvoices.co/start Join our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest financial resources: https://www.equalvoices.co/contact Natalie Slagle, CFP®, and Dan Slagle, CFP®, are the founding partners and lead financial planners at Equal Voices Wealth https://www.equalvoices.co/ — an independent firm dedicated to helping high-earning couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s confidently navigate the complexities of managing money together. At Equal Voices, they specialize in turning financial stress into strategy, guiding couples through everything from cash flow and investing to aligning money with shared goals. Disclaimer: For updated disclosures, please visit https://www.equalvoices.co/legal

“This decision should not be based on a spreadsheet at the end of the day.” Our hosts, Dan and Natalie Slagle, turn the mic on their own family planning by asking themselves, “Should we have a second child?” To Dan, the first time around carried the thrill of not knowing; the second carries the different weight of already knowing what’s in store. Natalie counters that knowing what's coming brings its own quiet stress, even if the unknowns felt scarier the first time. From there they work through age gaps, their reliance on a friend-built support network in lieu of nearby family, and how parenthood has already reshaped their careers, especially the pay and ambition gap that tends to open up for mothers specifically. Then Dan lays out seven financial categories every couple should walk through: childcare, housing, income, healthcare, everyday costs, education savings, and long-term costs. They land on a short list of questions worth asking before making the big decision. What's the monthly cash flow margin? Is there an emergency cushion? Does this feel affordable, or merely survivable? Here’s the thing, though. Spreadsheets can help to inform a decision like this, but they shouldn't be the end-all-be-all. A child isn’t just another investment. They’re more than that. And so when it comes to the choice of whether or not to have baby number two, more ground can be covered with good old-fashioned communication between husband and wife than any document filled with calculations ever could! Key Topics: Why the Second Time Feels Different (06:12) Age Gaps, Village-Building, and Career Timing (11:53) The Motherhood Pay Gap, Up Close (18:00) Seven Financial Categories, Mapped Out (19:43) Housing, Cars, and Kicking the Can Down the Road (26:21) Income Shifts and the Reduced-Hours Question (28:57) The 529 Guilt Trip and Long-Term Costs (32:03) The Real Questions Before Deciding (34:43) Resources: Learn more about Portland's Preschool For All Program: https://multco.us/programs/preschool-all Schedule a Free Consultation Here: https://www.equalvoices.co/start Join our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest financial resources: https://www.equalvoices.co/contact Natalie Slagle, CFP®, and Dan Slagle, CFP®, are the founding partners and lead financial planners at Equal Voices Wealth https://www.equalvoices.co/ — an independent firm dedicated to helping high-earning couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s confidently navigate the complexities of managing money together. At Equal Voices, they specialize in turning financial stress into strategy, guiding couples through everything from cash flow and investing to aligning money with shared goals. Disclaimer: For updated disclosures, please visit https://www.equalvoices.co/legal

“This rebrand still embodies everything that we've built up to this point... but it's meeting us where we're at in our personal life, and where a lot of our clients are at.” Our hosts, Natalie and Dan Slagle, spent over a year pouring heart and soul into a full rebrand of the firm they founded in their twenties. Fyooz Financial Planning is retiring. In its place comes E_____ V_____ W_____ (you’ve gotta listen to find out!) The old brand no longer matched who they had become or the couples they serve. These are high-earning dual-income households, often in their forties, many with kids, concentrated in medicine, engineering, and tech, to pinpoint a few industries. These clients want both partners engaged, respectful, and treated as equals. Traditional firms still often default to one spouse (historically the higher earner) handling the finances; Dan and Natalie want both spouses to have a voice. With this rebrand, the work’s the same, with the added bonus of clarifying their mission. That’s ongoing, relationship-driven financial planning that keeps both voices in the room as life shifts, whether it’s new jobs, children, career pivots, or inheritances. The updated website, language, and core values now make that explicit. Fyooz had a special place; the new brand simply elevates what clients already experienced and what the founders always intended! Key Topics: Announcing the Rebrand (03:49) Why the Old Brand No Longer Fit (04:25) Origin Story of “Fyooz” and Pronunciation Woes (07:02) The Problem They Set Out to Solve (10:41) Ideal Client Profile: Love, Respect, and Numbers (17:55) “Our Ideal Clients Are” (21:40) Ongoing Planning as Relationship Work (27:18) New Brand Reveal! (And what it represents) (32:25) Resources: The New Brand Website!: https://tinyurl.com/487tbxxr NYT Article Feature Mentioned in Episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/your-money/money-relationships-marriage.html Schedule a Free Consultation Here: https://www.equalvoices.co/start Join our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest financial resources: https://www.equalvoices.co/contact Natalie Slagle, CFP®, and Dan Slagle, CFP®, are the founding partners and lead financial planners at Equal Voices Wealth https://www.equalvoices.co/ — an independent firm dedicated to helping high-earning couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s confidently navigate the complexities of managing money together. At Equal Voices, they specialize in turning financial stress into strategy, guiding couples through everything from cash flow and investing to aligning money with shared goals. Disclaimer: For updated disclosures, please visit https://www.equalvoices.co/legal

“You don't want to apply to any schools without having an idea of what that school is likely to cost your family.” Our hosts, Dan and Natalie Slagle, close out their two-part college funding series with Jonathan West of College Aid Pro. He’s a financial planner who has personally guided his own four kids through four very different college paths. Jonathan recommends that parents run the numbers before falling in love with a school. Every college calculates a Student Aid Index through the FAFSA, or, at roughly 250 more selective schools, the CSS Profile, and that number (meaning not the sticker price) is what families should react to. High earners often assume they're locked out of aid entirely and skip the exercise, but need-based aid is only one lever; merit aid, tied to grades and test scores, varies wildly and unpredictably from school to school. Jonathan also discusses community college as a legitimate, underrated on-ramp; the modest payoff of most private scholarships; a shrinking pool of college-bound teenagers; and growing openness to gap years and trades. Regardless of income, Jonathan encourages all parents to keep saving, in a 529 or elsewhere, and don't let uncertainty about the future of higher education talk you out of it. Nobody, he says, has ever regretted having more! Key Topics: How College Costs Got So Complicated (02:36) Need-Based Aid vs. Merit Aid, Decoded (06:07) Merit Aid's Secret-Recipe Problem (12:30) Private Scholarships: A Nice Bonus, Not a Strategy (20:45) Community College as a Financial Strategy (24:44) Gap Years, Trades, and Alternatives to the Four-Year Path (28:45) Inside the College Aid Pro Software (36:59) When Should Parents Start? A Timeline Guide (42:30) Resources: College Aid Pro: https://collegeaidpro.com/ Jonathan West Email: [email protected] Schedule a Free Consultation Here: https://www.equalvoices.co/start Join our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest financial resources: https://www.equalvoices.co/contact Natalie Slagle, CFP®, and Dan Slagle, CFP®, are the founding partners and lead financial planners at Equal Voices Wealth https://www.equalvoices.co/ — an independent firm dedicated to helping high-earning couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s confidently navigate the complexities of managing money together. At Equal Voices, they specialize in turning financial stress into strategy, guiding couples through everything from cash flow and investing to aligning money with shared goals. Disclaimer: For updated disclosures, please visit https://www.equalvoices.co/legal

“The easiest option is to say, ‘We'll figure it out when the time comes,’ which isn't necessarily a plan. To me, it's a hope.” For most couples, the sticker price of college never gets a number attached to it out loud. At least, not until an acceptance letter forces the issue… which is exactly the wrong moment! Our hosts, Natalie and Dan Slagle, break it down in this Money Date. Campus visits, admissions decisions, financial aid offers: these arrive stacked with emotion, and emotional timing makes for bad negotiating, whether the negotiation is with a spouse or a newly admitted teenager. Dan and Natalie offer a framework built on seven questions to prepare for college finances. It dives into such things as what resources actually exist, what your cap is, and whether your child should have skin in the game when it comes to covering expenses. Then, we’ve got harder questions. What happens to a scholarship's leftover money? Who absorbs the cost when a teenager falls for a school above budget? What actually belongs in "the bucket" beyond tuition nobody quite budgets for? And finally, when and how does a family tell a teenager any of this, in a way that reads as shared strategy rather than burden? None of it is complicated math. It's a conversation most families never have out loud… until they're forced to. Key Topics: Why the Money Conversation Gets Skipped (08:17) Question One: What Resources Do We Actually Have? (12:38) Question Two: What’s Our Cap? (14:56) Question Three: Should Our Kids Have Skin in the Game? (21:59) Question Four: Where Does the Scholarship Surplus Go? (27:46) Question Five: Who Pays When Our Child Goes Over Budget? (34:00) Question Six: What's Really in the College "Bucket"? (36:22) Question Seven: When and How Should We Tell Our Kids? (39:15) Recap and Wrap-up (42:12) Resources: Check out our blog post for an easy way to copy and paste the conversation prompts for your college money talk!: https://www.equalvoices.co/post/the-college-money-talk-7-questions-married-couples-need-to-answer-before-the-campus-tours-start NYT Article: Parents’ Financial Support May Not Help College Grades: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/education/parents-financial-support-linked-to-college-grades.html Schedule a Free Consultation Here: https://www.equalvoices.co/start Join our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest financial resources: https://www.equalvoices.co/contact Natalie Slagle, CFP®, and Dan Slagle, CFP®, are the founding partners and lead financial planners at Equal Voices Wealth https://www.equalvoices.co/ — an independent firm dedicated to helping high-earning couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s confidently navigate the complexities of managing money together. At Equal Voices, they specialize in turning financial stress into strategy, guiding couples through everything from cash flow and investing to aligning money with shared goals. Disclaimer: For updated disclosures, please visit https://www.equalvoices.co/legal