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Dan Slagle  00:00

With the work we do with with our clients, it's it's so important to emphasize like financial planning isn't only about building wealth, like it's about giving you the confidence and the flexibility to actually choose how you want to spend your life.

Natalie Slagle  00:16

Yeah,

Dan Slagle  00:17

sometimes the best. This is so cliche, but I'm I'm gonna say it. It just came to my head. Like sometimes the best investment isn't in the stock market, right? It's like it's in buying yourself the freedom to choose your time. I think that goes a long way in this one life we have to live.

Natalie Slagle  00:38

Welcome to Money Dates, the podcast that makes money conversations with your partner feel a little less taboo. I'm Natalie Slagle, a certified financial planner, and I'm joined by my husband and business partner Dan Slagle, also a certified financial planner. Say hi, Dan.

Dan Slagle  00:53

Hello.

Natalie Slagle  00:54

In each episode, we'll share honest stories and practical tips to help you and your partner feel more connected and confident on your financial journey, so grab your drink, get comfortable, and join us for our money dates. Hello, Dan.

Dan Slagle  01:12

Natalie, happy summer!

Natalie Slagle  01:14

Happy summer! You know what we forgot to do because we're not the best at tooting our own horns.

Dan Slagle  01:19

What?

Natalie Slagle  01:20

We forgot to celebrate with everybody that we have been podcasting for one whole year.

Dan Slagle  01:26

Oh, you brought this up yesterday, and I was like, "Has it already been a year? You said, "I think you've said we've put out 30-five episodes. I should know this.

Natalie Slagle  01:35

I think this is going to be episode 30-five. Sorry if it's not episode 30-five. My notes say it's episode 30-five, and I'm proud of us. This has been really fun. This has been a really fun thing to embark on with you, and I'm grateful that our business allows us to do it. And we just continue to get feedback of people who are listening. Someone said that they're a fan of our podcast, and I'm like, oh my god, we have a fan. That made me feel a certain way.

Dan Slagle  02:03

Yeah, it should make you feel good. Obviously, that means some of the content that we talk about, if not all of it, is relevant to at least our audience. So

Natalie Slagle  02:11

yes,

Dan Slagle  02:12

that's a win in of itself. So congratulations for making it one whole year.

Natalie Slagle  02:17

We did it, and today's topic I think is really interesting because if you would have told me in 2021 that we were going to be having a podcast on can people afford a pay cut, I'd be like, who's taking a pay cut? But times have changed, so we're going to get into that today.

Dan Slagle  02:36

Yeah, so today we're going to be talking about something. Honestly, we've been hearing more and more from our own clients, and I'd say even our friends and our own natural network as as well.

Natalie Slagle  02:47

Yeah, people just kind of taking a step back and saying, "I think I want something different, and usually that's in the form of how they're spending their day to day and their work, and sometimes when they're looking, they're getting surprised.

Dan Slagle  03:05

Yeah, yeah. Would you

Natalie Slagle  03:05

say that?

Dan Slagle  03:06

I mean, yeah, for sure. And I, I think like the dilemma comes from like in the examples we're going to be providing throughout this episode. The difficulty comes from like someone having a very high paying job, like a lucrative job, high base salary, some additional stock compensation, maybe a good bonus structure, and they're actually considering leaving that position for better work life balance.

Natalie Slagle  03:34

Yeah.

Dan Slagle  03:35

So actually, to your earlier point, like if you were to fast forward from 2021, I feel like this was a common theme in 2021 was it not?

Natalie Slagle  03:42

Well, I feel like you just switch jobs and automatically you're going to get higher pay. That was kind of it. Felt like the environment. Everybody was stuck at home and just going from one startup to the other, and it was people were looking for that work life balance, but people were also like just taking money, like they were just jumping jobs, and it it would be really surprising from our point of view. It would just be these 2030, $60,000 pay increases for the same work. And but now people are shifting for different reasons. Maybe it still is work life balance, but the perks of a higher pay might not be there anymore,

Dan Slagle  04:21

right? Right. So not only is it a work-life balance, at least from the discussions we've been having, it's either making a total career shift, like changing industries, right, or or possibly taking a few months off. And kind of our job is really modeling how that would look, how that would play out in in the real world as much as possible. Caring for family, whether that's making the decision to stay home and watch the children, or vice versa on the opposite scale, like taking care of an elderly parent, there's been a few examples of even pursuing like going back to school.

Natalie Slagle  04:53

Yeah, we we've seen that, and all of these things, Dan, they have one thing in common,

Dan Slagle  04:59

and that. That is, they cost money.

Natalie Slagle  05:02

They cost money,

Dan Slagle  05:04

or they at least cost income.

Natalie Slagle  05:07

Yeah, they they cost income. So the question really comes down to: Can my finances support the life that I that I want to live going forward? Can my finances do that? So that's where we come in, and we've started to help clients assess this. And so, of course, in true fashion, if a client asks about it, and if people are talking about it with amongst their friends, we're like, "This would be a good podcast episode. So, let's dive in.

Dan Slagle  05:33

Let's paint the landscape. Like Natalie, you are Bob Ross right now. Actually, I'm going to be Bob Ross. Let me tell you a little bit about like the current landscape. What do you? You're smiling. You're smiling.

Natalie Slagle  05:43

I feel like I have more Bob Ross vibes, but maybe that's you know. I like. I could never see you just like painting for three and a half hours. Sorry, that's just. Anyways, anyways, sorry to.

Dan Slagle  05:57

Maybe after this episode, that's what I will decide to do. We will see.

Natalie Slagle  06:02

No, you're going to have soccer on, anyways.

Dan Slagle  06:04

Okay. Any anyways. Yes. At the time of the recording, the U.S. loss last night. Anyways, there's other teams to watch when it comes to soccer in the World Cup. But going back to the beautiful portrait that I've been painting of this current job change landscape or the environment, job switching and quitting are down overall right now, but the people who are leaving, I feel like most are, and we'll we'll talk about some numbers here. Most are changing careers entirely, right? To go to off your earlier point, they're not just changing companies and like getting the next bump up in in pay. They're actually changing careers and industries. So, I believe it was USA Today found that 60-4% of workers from 2020-two to 2020-four who switched jobs also changed careers. That's pretty. That's a meaningful percentage of figure. Like 60-4%

Natalie Slagle  07:00

Yeah, we have a whole demographic within our industry of career changers-people who want to be financial planners-and I'm always so impressed by that group of people because I think it takes so much courage and belief in yourself that you can take on something new. I'm just in awe of people who've done that because I've never experienced it. I've literally always been either working my way towards or have been a financial planner, and so kudos to all of you who have thought about it, working towards it, or who have done it. I mean, ah, so brave, so cool. Very proud of you.

Dan Slagle  07:35

Let's dive a little bit deeper into the numbers on like on that that percentage base that change careers, like why, right? And and that's the study or survey. 67% wanted to work remotely, 52% wanted a better work life balance, and 48% wanted more meaningful, fulfilling work.

Natalie Slagle  07:56

And at first, I was like, wait, all of those numbers they add up to more than 100% but it must have been like clicking the boxes. Yeah,

Dan Slagle  08:04

check the boxes. Yeah,

Natalie Slagle  08:05

I was impressed by the 40-8% want more meaningful work because there are people that I'm like, wow, their their jobs and their lives. Obviously, we get a glimpse, and I feel like we get a pretty good glimpse into our clients' lives. But there's been some people who you know I think they have this really cool job and then they'll just kind of share in a meeting like I'm bored or I'm not feeling fulfilled like I'm not feeling like I'm making an impact in the world and sure the pay's good but I'm just I'm just over it and it's really impressive for people who are using that as the motivation like they want to make more of an impact, or they simply just want to feel like there's more meaning to what they're they're doing day to day.

Dan Slagle  08:48

Yeah, and part of our job is also uncovering this through thoughtful conversations, especially as like if someone is a new client, for example, and taking them through some of these exercises to identify what's important, what's working, both personally and and professionally, and then also a lot of times in this conversation, we can get into the the numbers and sort of model what impact this would have on on your long term finances or what this might mean for you to take a step back, like reduction in income for a few years, right? Like I can't tell you the number of people in the tech industry that we have worked with that have said at some point I want to take a step back and maybe work in like the nonprofit field and and take a reduction in pay because I'm just I'm not getting that the satisfaction that maybe I I once was and and a lot of times, these tech companies will have their employees locked up with the the golden handcuffs in form of high salary stock compensation. So, you know, part of our job again is like unraveling, diving deeper, and then modeling what would be the financial impact. Which again, we'll get to more of a not a real life but a mock example. Here in a little bit,

Natalie Slagle  10:01

I think understanding how much money you're leaving on the table can be a really important aspect of it. And some people get they're like, I don't even care what the figure is. The figure could be a million dollars, you know. And some people, when you look at the RSUs or these vesting that's coming and and they're leaving before the vest happens, it it is 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of dollars. And so it's. I think it's prudent to give all the numbers, and that's our job. And a client could be like, it literally doesn't matter what you show me. And then it's like, okay, well, maybe we don't have to do the analysis. But ultimately, you know, where we provide the numbers, and we just want to make sure that when you're thinking about this, the new job will it improve my life? Will it provide what I'm not getting currently? So that that's a big question.

Dan Slagle  10:49

And honestly, I I think it's a healthy shift, right? Like even if it makes the financial planning a little more complicated, I I think it's such a healthier shift for for someone if they can make it like work, if it can be feasible to change careers, change jobs, and possibly, you know, obviously, what we'll get to like a reduction in income, or for more satisfaction from a work-life balance standpoint, then I am all for that.

Natalie Slagle  11:18

Yeah, exactly. And I think what I'm going to have a conversation later today with a client about this entire topic, and what we like to help our clients understand is what's actually driving the change, right? And so I think there's there's questions that you got to kind of figure out on, and this is to help make sure you don't land in in the same situation that you're trying to escape from right now. So, what are you trying to accomplish here? And we we kind of have a list of questions to ask yourself. So, if this is a situation you've considered for yourself, as I ask these, take a second to pause and just like and answer it for yourself. So, are you trying to switch your career, are you trying to simply take time off before your next chapter? Maybe you actually want to stay in the same job. It's just a matter of going to your boss and saying, "I just need a little bit of a break. You know, those are very two different things. Maybe you're trying to just essentially reduce stress and avoid burnout. If that's the main driver here, then what do you have to do to make sure that that doesn't happen again. Maybe you're simply trying to spend more time with family. Are you trying to work remotely, or are you trying to pursue work that feels more meaningful? And maybe it's a combination of a lot of these.

Dan Slagle  12:32

Those are some good questions. I would encourage listeners like rewind it a little bit. Let Natalie repeat those questions. Do you take some time to to think about it, if if this does resonate with you, and I feel like once you know like your top priority on these questions that that you just propose, like it kind of tells you what the trade offs you're actually willing to make will be, right? Because like from my standpoint, I want like the idea of I want more flexibility, and I also want more money. They're they're going to pull you. Likely will pull you in opposite directions.

Natalie Slagle  13:07

Yeah,

Dan Slagle  13:08

and that's okay. That's okay. Number one, as long as you know which one you're choosing, because you may not be able to choose

Natalie Slagle  13:16

both. Yeah, making that priority list is is really important. Okay, so now we got to put on more of our financial planner hats because when clients come to us, they they're like, "Can we afford to do this? What can we afford? So we're going to transition a little bit into how we start to build the finances to support this decision for a client on can they afford a pay cut, a different job with with lower income. So, step one, one of my favorites, you got to build a budget.

Dan Slagle  13:49

A budget,

Natalie Slagle  13:50

but yep, yep, you guessed it, cash flow, right? So it all centers around how much money do you need, and so to start, you really need to understand what is essential, and a lot of people they're like, I don't want just the necessities. I want the wants to be taken care of as well, because I don't want to take a pay cut and then have also to experience a completely different lifestyle. We've had a lot of our clients that say like, I want to keep spending exactly how I'm spending today, or some clients of like I'm sure I can trim a little bit, so I'll work on like where the money is going and where we can trim. So having an understanding of where your cash flow is going, and this isn't just expenses, right? So this is going to be your savings as well. So are you saving to your bank account, investment accounts, employer retirement plans, 529 plans. I would want to know all of that. Where is all of your money? Because the goal again is to answer that question: Can this new income actually support the life I want?

Dan Slagle  14:55

Yeah, that's a really good question, and and it's important to everything you. Shared like to re-emphasize, you also need to take into account what you're currently saving, because if you take a lower-paying job, like that might be one area you do have to cut back on, and rightfully so. But it might not feel as great if you're having to just like turn savings off completely. Not to say that it wouldn't work, but I think that would add a little more financial stress by taking a reduction in pay. Yeah, everything you just talked about from a cash flow budgeting standpoint, like it's the the boring part to me, and it is also the most essential part.

Natalie Slagle  15:38

Both can be true.

Dan Slagle  15:40

Both can be true, and both are

Natalie Slagle  15:42

true for most people. Both are

Dan Slagle  15:43

true, absolutely, absolutely.

Natalie Slagle  15:45

Not for me, but that's a whole nother podcast. Because why is this so important? Because we want anyone going through this process, whether you're a client or a listener, to go from "I hope this works out" to "I know this is going to work. I don't have to worry about the money because I've done the heavy lifting. I've done the analysis. This is going to work, so I don't have to worry about that piece. Ah, wouldn't that be so much better to go from I hope this works out to I know this is going to work? Makes me feel better just talking about it.

Dan Slagle  16:14

Let's get off the high level information. Let's go through a case study that we actually built out. I think this will be a lot of fun.

Natalie Slagle  16:20

I'm excited for this because I worked hard on this, and I was like, "This is so helpful. Like it was, I was like, "Dan, we need to do this. I want to know how much money we could take in a reduction of income. And I'm going to use my example to help us out. Okay,

Dan Slagle  16:37

wait before you get any further. Just want to also mention to our our listeners that this case study, along with some of this information from the podcast episode, we're going to link to our show notes. We actually break down the numbers in a blog post that we have on our website, so we'll make sure to to link to that as well, so you can easily grab this information and and possibly apply it to your own financial situation.

Natalie Slagle  16:59

Right, and we have a newsletter, and if you're on the newsletter, you are the first to know of our blogs, our podcasts. So make sure to sign up for that. We'll have that all in the show notes, I'm sure. Hopefully, right? It'll be there. It'll be there. Okay, so we have a case study, and some of this is related to an actual client situation. Some is kind of made up, but we are going to call the clients Dan and Natalie because I'm not that creative, and so Dan and Natalie are in this situation where they're making really good money, right? Combined household income of 430,000 and Natalie comes to me and says, "Hey, Natalie, now this is confusing. Okay, Natalie comes to me and says, "I want a different job. And when I've started to look at the jobs that interest me, they have lower pay. So I need to know what is the lowest amount of money that I can accept in order to still make everything else in our life kind of work as is, right? So that's that's the situation.

Dan Slagle  18:03

I just want to put it out there that this is a hypothetical case study. If we already haven't got that point across, like not our actual bank account figures or expenses, it could be close. But that's all I'm going to say. So everyone, just relax. It also sounds like everybody said that I need higher.

Natalie Slagle  18:18

Every number is so much higher in real life. Just kidding. Okay, so first, I tell Natalie you need to figure out how much you're spending, right? So Natalie says debt payments. This is mortgage, car, all of that is $60,000 a year. Then our fixed expenses and bills. This is childcare, utilities, all of that is 72,000 a year, discretionary expenses. So this is going out to eat, groceries. You know, just the spending 76,500 and we travel, right? We as in the fake Dan and Natalie $18,000 a year. So that's the expenses, and again, this is all in the blog. It's the same numbers in the blog. It's that if you're a visual person like I am, and then I ask Natalie, okay, great. What are you saving? I need to know that as well. So Natalie says, okay, to the bank account, 18,000 a year, 401k 49,000 because we're both maxing this year. Brokerage is 24 grand, 529 is 5000 a year. Okay, you don't need to memorize this, but again, combined household income right now is 430,000 Natalie makes 250 and Dan only makes 180 I'm just saying, you have to say it like that because I wanted to feel like a female empowerment of like look at me as the breadwinner. You know, a lot of

Dan Slagle  19:41

our our client households actually, without going into too much information, a lot of households actually do have a female in a heterosexual relationship have a female breadwinner. So I know interesting side note. I just that

Natalie Slagle  19:54

is a stat at our firm that I do really love. So our hypothetical situation emulates that. Okay, so here's a big assumption that goes into this, and I think it's going to be pretty close to a lot of our listeners. But obviously, for our clients, we get in the nitty gritty. But we have to assume a tax, a flat tax rate, right? And so, of the 430,000 I'm going to assume 25% of that goes towards taxes. This is state, local, federal, FICA, all taxes, right? So in total, that's 107,107 $500 for this couple that goes towards taxes. 25% goes towards taxes. The savings that I listed 22% of their total income is going towards savings. These percentages are are important because this kind of helps us back into the math here.

Dan Slagle  20:49

Wait, drum roll. Okay, the whole point of this episode. So here's the real question that Natalie's going to get to. Natalie wants a new job. We already know that hypothetical. Natalie wants a new job, so and it might come with a pay cut. So the question that we're going to solve for is now with this information, what is the lowest salary she can take and still make the numbers work? That's your cue.

Natalie Slagle  21:15

That's my cue. Okay, so the first step is we have to go back to the budget, and we have to say, is there anything that you could cut? Is there? And the answer, you know, some of our clients are like, no, and some of them like, yeah, I don't need to have lease on this car. Like we don't drive it all the time, you know, something like that. So in this example, Dan and Natalie looked at their expenses and they found $16,500 a year that they can cut, okay?

Dan Slagle  21:42

Which is a lot of money, but if you break that out monthly, it's like $1,300

Natalie Slagle  21:46

Yeah, a household making 430,000 a year could probably find 16 grand that they could cut. So now their real expense drops. It was at 226 Now it's at 210 So they're still spending quite a bit of money, you know, in the grand scheme of things, they're still spending quite a bit. So now we know, okay, I can spend 210,000

Dan Slagle  22:08

Yeah, it's also nice of you to get to like even numbers for this example. Good job. Okay, so second during this conversation, so we've identified some spending that can be cut to bring household spending down annualized 210,000 The next piece of the conversation is discussing: Can you live as a household with a lower savings rate? So, in the numbers that Natalie went through earlier, we identified 22% of their household income was dedicated towards savings. But through having conversations, what we then can identify in this hypothetical example is 18% is kind of like the floor of where Dan and Natalie want to be, so they're willing to take a savings reduction of at least 4% but they still want to be able to save something.

Natalie Slagle  22:55

Exactly, and that 18% is with the help of financial planners, right? Like we're looking at the projections. You can still hit your financial goals as long as your savings rate stays at 18% So you can see we're already starting to chip away, which is going to help make the whole conversation about how much of a reduction in pay can I afford. We're starting to chip away at that. So now, now we do the math, right? Remember, we're going to keep that 20-5% flat rate for taxes. I think that's just a safe bet for most people. So, 20-5% to taxes. We've decided 18% is the figure for savings. So that leaves 50-7% for spending.

Dan Slagle  23:37

Because we, between the three, we want to get to 100% Is am I tracking?

Natalie Slagle  23:41

Yes. Now that we know what their expenses are, and it represents 50-7% of the total household income, and it needs to be to 10, we know how to then calculate what their household income needs to be. So we simply take 210,000 divided by 50-7% to get 360-8000 of their total household income. Remember, at the start of this, it was 430 so now their total income can be 360-8000 So I'm going to break that out because remember, 20-5% to taxes, so that's 90-two grand. Savings is 18% so 60-6000 In this example, we're going to assume they still max out their 401k but they have a reduction in the brokerage account. They're no longer saving saving to their bank account because we decide you don't need to, but we still have a savings rate of 18% and their expenses are 50-7% which is 210,000 Woo. Still following? Is everyone still there?

Dan Slagle  24:45

Yeah, that was a lot of information to digest. But the the one piece that I think we want to for sure add is, you made a comment: bank savings go to to zero compared to what it used to be in the previous example, and and the reason for that. Is because we are assuming Dan and Natalie have an adequate cash reserve already in place.

Natalie Slagle  25:06

Yep.

Dan Slagle  25:06

So they likely have that three to six month of expense bucket built up in their emergency fund.

Natalie Slagle  25:12

Exactly. And we see this a lot with new clients. They're putting money towards their savings account, and there's plenty of cash. So we're like, why are you doing this? And they're like, I don't know, we've just been doing it, so we're like, let's stop that. If if we're gonna save, let's invest this. But anyways, okay. So again, we know what the new household income is gonna be: 360-8000 That's the new target. Dan is good. Dan loves his job. He is painting for three and a half hours the day, making $180,000 So the only adjustment is on Natalie's side. So now Natalie's new target salary is 180-8000

Dan Slagle  25:50

So Natalie's new salary target is 180-8000 That's a pretty big reduction from the original 250,000 right? So that in itself, hopefully, provides a little more flexibility of like what the job, the new position might be, or the time off could entail, whatever it may be. That's over like a $60,000 pay cut, right? So that's like 25% less than what she was making in this example.

Natalie Slagle  26:19

Yeah, I mean, and and that sounds scary, right? But

Dan Slagle  26:22

yeah,

Natalie Slagle  26:23

again, that's why you have to run the numbers because if it works, it works, and it's just a beautiful thing.

Dan Slagle  26:30

I think like the real question then is like, it isn't can we survive like the smaller paycheck? It's whether this still supports like the bigger goals, retirement, college funding, and like the life you're actually building as a household.

Natalie Slagle  26:49

Exactly, and there was a big change, kind of big change. They went from a 22% savings rate on 430,000 to an 18% savings rate on 368,000. So they're actually saving about $30,000 less every year. And again, that's a scary figure. Hey, you're you're going to not only take this reduction in pay, but you're going to save $30,000 less every year. And careful analysis in this example, I know we didn't give any of the behind the scenes. What do their investment balances look like? But again, we're we're just kind of assuming for the sake of this podcast and our blog that those things are in are in check and they can afford it. And so it, yeah, have putting less away and making less could still work.

Dan Slagle  27:40

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it a lot of it comes down to like your behavior as a saver, a spendthrift, or a saver, because for some people, like a decade of aggressive savings, either in advance of this or like later in life, like you can absorb this type of decision, like without missing a beat. But I do feel like for others, maybe there's also already been an inheritance or like some sort of liquidity equity event that changes like the math entirely. So I think there is. This is one of those points where a lot of the work we do it does come down to like the specific individual, a specific household, versus like the boilerplate templated answer, right? Because like in this example, we made the assumption like you, this couple, this Dan and Natalie, fake couple, could feel comfortable going to 18% from a savings rate, but like for some people, they might not be comfortable with that.

Natalie Slagle  28:39

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So even if the numbers are in their face that you can do this, you can do this. There's a comfort factor and and just a mentality that needs to also agree with the numbers that they're looking at. So a few reminders: if you were thinking you're like, okay, I've done the numbers. Now I know what the salary needs to be, but the salary isn't the only thing that's going on, right? It's not the only pieces of piece of the puzzle. So when you're comparing offers or job listings, remember to look at it as a whole package because maybe you had this really high salary, but you had kind of crappy health insurance and it was really expensive. Well, now you're taking a lower income, but it you might actually be saving through your benefits or something like that. So it's you have to look at more than just the salary.

Dan Slagle  29:30

Yeah, and we have a few questions you should consider, right? So I think the first one is to exactly your point. What are the health insurance costs? What do premiums look like?

Natalie Slagle  29:39

Yep. Is there retirement plan, and if so, what's the employer match?

Dan Slagle  29:44

And are bonuses or equity part of the deal?

Natalie Slagle  29:49

How much PTO do you get? That's especially important for those who are aiming towards flexibility.

Dan Slagle  29:55

Yeah, will working remotely save you money on things such as? Gas, parking, lunches, work wardrobe.

Natalie Slagle  30:04

Yeah, don't need as many fancy clothes. And are there real opportunities for professional development if that's of interest to you?

Dan Slagle  30:12

Yeah, and a job that pays less on on paper can leave you in the same or even better financial position. Like when you factor all of those questions in, so that is also absolutely part of the math that needs to be taken into account.

Natalie Slagle  30:27

Yes, and another item to kind of keep on the back burner-you know-you don't need to worry about this until you have a new income that's happening in your household, but a silver lining is the tax planning and the opportunities that you can be taking advantage of in a lower income year. So that's exciting.

Dan Slagle  30:50

Yeah, and you love tax planning. You are the what is your title? Your new newer title, director of tax,

Natalie Slagle  30:58

director of tax and cash flow.

Dan Slagle  31:00

Nice, I love

Natalie Slagle  31:01

it.

Dan Slagle  31:02

Yeah, a lower income year isn't just a-it's not a sacrifice. It it does open up tax planning opportunities. You know, it could be a good calendar year to think about a Roth conversion at a lower tax rate. Yeah, and right, and it could. I guess why don't you go through this, Miss Director of Tax

Natalie Slagle  31:20

Capital gains-you could have capital gains realized in a lower bracket. Your net take-home might look different if you're paying less in taxes. Maybe you don't need to withhold so much, so you can work with your your tax withholdings to get that accurate. And then also revisiting your contribution strategy. Maybe you've been doing pre-tax because you're making over 400 grand a year, and now you're going to make less, and you should actually be doing contributions towards your Roth 401k So there's there's always things to consider and to take advantage of when we take a step back in income.

Dan Slagle  31:55

Yeah. So don't think of what I'm gathering is like don't think of the step back in income as a setback, because sometimes that type of year can actually make your longer-term financial plan actually stronger.

Natalie Slagle  32:08

Yeah, yeah, have more diversification within the in the different tax buckets, which is one of my favorite things.

Dan Slagle  32:16

All right, we're going to get you off your tax soapbox here. I guess let's just round it out. Maybe that makes the most sense, right? So I think the biggest fear people have is making the wrong decision. But you know, in reality, like careers aren't a straight line,

Natalie Slagle  32:31

right? Yeah, they're you know meant to teach you skills to build relationships and give you like a sense of balance, and you just never know what doors are going to open when you make this sort of switch like this.

Dan Slagle  32:47

Yeah, yeah. Your your career drives a lot of your financial life, but it doesn't have to, you know, necessarily be driven by salary alone.

Natalie Slagle  32:57

Right, and as you can tell, like there is a time and a place to do some really thoughtful analysis and to run the numbers before you make the leap, and not after, because it'll make the decision just feel that much more comfortable when when the numbers have been ran.

Dan Slagle  33:16

Yeah, running the numbers is is so important, and I think yet you know like with the work we do with with our clients, it's it's so important to emphasize like financial planning isn't only about building wealth, like it's about giving you the confidence and the flexibility to actually choose how you want to spend your life.

Natalie Slagle  33:37

Yeah,

Dan Slagle  33:37

sometimes the best. This is so cliche, but I'm I'm gonna say it. It just came to my head. Like sometimes the best investment isn't in the stock market, right? It's like it's in buying yourself the freedom to choose your time. I think that goes a long way in this one life we have to live.

Natalie Slagle  33:54

Yeah, I feel like the whole reason why we did this podcast is because we wanted convince people that they could do this, you know. I hate when people feel stuck, and I think creating a sense of empowerment is important. And this is a really big decision. So if you need help, whether you're a client of ours or you're not a client, then reach out to us. Like you, you really should have professionals help evaluate impacts of this, and again, to give you that confidence in making that decision. So, we will of course have a link in our show notes on how to schedule with us if you're not a client, and if you want to revisit the numbers on how we kind of calculated this, so you can do it for yourself, then be sure to check out our blog because I think that's a really good tool to kind of help you start to evaluate this for yourself.

Dan Slagle  34:45

Yeah, awesome. Thank you, Natalie, and to our listeners. Thanks for for spending your money date with us today. And well, yeah, was then that that was so nice.

Natalie Slagle  34:57

That was cute. We should say that more often. Thanks for. Spending your money date with

Dan Slagle  35:01

us.

Natalie Slagle  35:02

I was gonna say your eyes look very green right now, and I'm just loving it. So I think I get to say that since we're on a date, we're on a money date with all of our listeners, and your your eyes look so pretty right now. I love it. It

Dan Slagle  35:15

must be my wonderful lighting that you ripped down before this episode.

Natalie Slagle  35:20

I did, I did. All right. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Dan.

Dan Slagle  35:24

Okay. Thanks, Natalie. Bye. Bye.

Dan Slagle  35:29

Hey, if you've enjoyed this episode and are looking for personalized financial guidance, schedule a free complimentary consultation using the link in the description below. Natalie and Dan Slagel are the founding partners of Fyooz Financial Planning, a registered investment advisor. The information provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only, and should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. Advisory services are offered to clients or prospective clients where Fyooz Financial Planning and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. For more information, including our disclosures, please visit our website at www.fyoozfinancial.com.

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