KickstartMyWealth

Most people say "I'm saving" and think they are building wealth and will be set for retirement. But just "saving" in a checking or savings account actually loses money to inflation or the rising cost of things. (For example, eggs use to be 99 cents and are now $6 a dozen!)

So "savings" is only step 1.

Step 2: Then you need to "invest" that money. For most people who don't have the time nor the passion to trade frequently, I find that RoboAdvisors do a great job of investing for you. But you don't have to only go with a RoboAdvisor. You can do both: have your own stock account AND open a Robo account. (For example, 80% of your money is with a Robo account and 20% you manage yourself.)

Step 3: Trailing Stops. If you manage your own account, a way to protect your gains and minimize losses is with a trailing stop. I like the % trailing stop at 10-25%. A trailing stop follows the high of the stock and sells when it drops. (For example:

You buy a stock for $10.

It rises to $100.

Then drops to $90.

If you set a 10% TS, the stock will sell at $90. (The high was $100, dropped 10%., sells at $90.) You made a profit and minimized losses.

You can set a TS of 25% for stocks you really want to keep (say, Apple) or even 50%. 50% may seem ridiculous but alot of companies that seem to rise forever have fallen (for example, Enron, GoPro, etc.). It's important to protect yourself. I've seen customers with stocks that drop to -99%. Had they put a TS, they could have minimized their losses.

Trailing Stops - the secret parachute

I met a client who said he was stressed because he would log in everyday to his stock account and wanted to sell the stocks that were dropping. But he worked and some days didn't have time to log into his account at all. I told him the concept of trailing stops. It's an automated way to let stocks ride high and sell at a drop based on a percentage that makes sense for you. He asked if this cost money or if it was a new feature. It's free and has been around since 1990. Most brokerages have them (Schwab, Fidelity, eTrade, etc.). For me, it's the only way to automate selling on a drop when a stock reaches a high or sells when a stock starts to drop. It's a safety net that's available and free and you should take advantage of it. Trails are automated and once set, lasts six months. So you only have to do this every six months.

Time is money

By not investing your cash, you could miss out on market gains. Hence, time is money.

Of course, it's not a guarantee that stocks will rise. But that's why step 3 in our program is so important. There's a way to protect yourself on drops. This is automated...you don't need to check and monitor your account everyday. You may have a job, lack the time, or don't need to stress to see market fluctuations everyday.

Ten is Your Friend

The average return of the S&P (Standard and Poor 500) is around 10%. It can be lower but more often, it's higher.

Two thoughts to take from this:

If you buy stocks, I like to buy stocks that are beating benchmark, otherwise jsut buy the benchmark.
Saving money in checking or savings often pays less than 1%. If the S&P is making 10%, think about all the money you're not making by keeping it "safe" investments.

Returns of SPY (the ETF that tracks the S&P500):

2025: 17.72% return

2024: 24.89% return

2023: 26.19% return

2022: -18.17% return

In general, out of 10 years, 8 are up years and 2 are down years. Given there are more positive years than down years, it's important to stay invested. Most people who got out of the market on the down years, never got back in and lost out on gains.

(What is the S&P 500 average return?)

Goal is to beat the benchmark

Most money managers try to beat the benchmark, if they don't, just buy the benchmark! I like to buy stocks that beat the benchmark. I developed an app that compares stocks to the S&P500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Russell (small cap), and Nasdaq (tech stocks). As far as I know, most stock apps just show you the chart of the stock. But it's important to know if it beats benchmark or not, otherwise, don't buy it! The app I developed is the only one that compares the stock you are looking at to all four benchmarks. Go to Services and you can purchase the app for $1.00

Percentages are important

I had a client ask me about one of those Chase or promotional offers. Give them $5000-$10,000 for 3.75%. It's fun and exciting to use these offers but percentages are important. I had the client look at the S&P return which was 15%. Would she rather make 3.75% or 15%? Also, it's just another thing to manage and lose track of.

When you're deciding what to do, always keep percentages in mind. But I'm not saying put all your money in one high growth stock either.. Week of Oct 31, 2026, Google dropped -16% and ServiceNow dropped -27.30% in one day! Diversification is important.

To build wealth, we like to have 20-80% of our portfolio in diversified foundation ETFs. Yes, this sounds so boring to be in just the S&P500, Dow, Russell, or Nasdaq when you read news that Micron is return 500%. It's fun to speculate and get the "baggers" as Peter Lynch wrote but that should be a percentage of your portfolio, not the whole thing.

Another note on percentages, if you have a credit card charging 18%, better to pay that off first versus a 5% credit card.

Or if you get 3% cashback, better to use that credit card versus one that only gives you 1%.

Remember, every penny counts, so consider percentages when making decisions.

Diversification is "the only free lunch"

It's fun to speculate and buy stocks and hit a homerun or "baggers" as Peter Lynch wrote, but our goal is to make money and not lose money. By putting it all on one stock, you could lose alot in one day (SeviceNow dropped -27.30% in one day! on October 29, 2026 and Google dropped 16% in one day in October 2026.).

Diversification ensures that no one sector or stock will bankrupt you. Also various areas go up in different times, international outperformed US stocks in 2025 but in 2026, US stocks are back up. It's hard to "catch the bottom", so it's better to put some in international and some in US (large, medium, small cap) and be diversified.

Another note on percentages, if you have a credit card charging 18%, better to pay that off first versus a 5% credit card.

Or if you get 3% cashback, better to use that credit card versus one that only gives you 1%.

Remember, every penny counts, so look where you can also "save" money in other areas.

No one stock should bankrupt you - 10 is your friend and diversification

Enron, ToysRUs, Blockbuster all went bankrupt. You have all your money in Apple or Google, there's no way they will go bankrupt, right? In almost every stock book I've read from 10 years ago, only 1-2 companies mentioned in those books are still around today. No one stock should bankrupt you. Ensure that you have no more than 5-10% in any one company. Diversify across many companies, sectors, etc.

The 5-10% guidance doesn't apply to ETFs as ETFs are already a collection of several hundred to thousands of companies.

A client came to me who had 99% of his stock in Apple. And while he believes and loves Apple, we agreed it was best to diversify. We put a series of trails 1%, 2%, 3% to 25% so it naturally sold at highs and protected his profits as it dropped. With the cash, we bought foundational ETFs.

Also, if you look at Schwab, Vanguard, iShares or other ETFs, they generally hold Apple as well, so this client is still invested in Apple via ETFs and is diversified at the same time. For example, VTI, VOO, VUG, VGT, SCHB, SCHX, SCHG, IVV, ITOT, IWY

Only holding your company stock is putting all your eggs in one basket

Alot of the employees at Enron only had Enron stock either through their ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan), 401K, or other means. Enron stock reached a high and employees thought nothing could happen to the company. But it went bankrupt. And all the stock became worthless.

High: $90

Low: .12 cents

Feel free to own company stock but remember, 10 is your friend; don't own more than 10% of company stock in your portfolio. Diversify.

Another more recent example, at Servicenow, the high was $192, dropped to $81. I know alot of those employees. They thought they were on a rocketship but the stock in 2025-2026 has lost over 50% of it's value and is -50% 1 Year in 2026. They lost over half of their money because they thought it could rise forever and didn't diversify. Don't let this happen to you.

Have your money make money

To have your money make money, you have to stay invested. Stocks pay out dividends (a way for the company to say "thank you" for owning their stock) -- it's free money! And if you "reinvest dividends", the system automatically buys more shares. You don't have to "reinvest dividends" as long as you use that cash to stay invested in other stocks. Over time, it's amazing how quickly money grows.

Year 1: $100.00 (invested)

Year 2: $110.00+ (10% stock gain plus dividends)

If you can save $100/month, it will be $206,246.34 at 54 years, a gain of $205,046.34!

Total Account Value: $206,246.34
Total Gains Made: $205,046.34

Every penny counts

I had a friend who kept saying he would start investing when he "saved up enough". And he never felt he saved enough, so he didn't invest at all! Even with $5 or even $1 at some brokerages, you can start buying stocks. So don't think you need to be "rich" or you don't have enough to get started. Just start and with compounding and dividends, you'll be surprised at how fast the money multiplies.

Time in the market, not timing the market

Don't try to time the market. I have a person who's always asking me "did you buy at the low?", "did you sell at the high?". It's exciting to brag that you bought Meta at $17 and it's now trading at $300. But that's irrelevant and stock prices shouldn't discourage you from investing. It's more important to get started as soon as possible (Warren Buffett says he wished he started investing yesterday) as stocks pays dividends and compounds. The stock may seem at an all time high, but tomorrow can be higher or tomorrow can be lower. In the long run, in general, stocks rise, and if it doesn't we have our SITS method. We protect ourselves on the drop with trailing stops.

Most people spend too much time determining what to buy and not enough time on when to get out/sell

In "Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom" by Van K. Tharp, he says that people research and spend too much time deciding if they should buy a stock or not. But they spend zero time deciding when to get out. I met with one customer who brought nine pages of questions for me. He asked me about PE ratios, MOAT, etc. Did he ever buy the stock? Not sure. So one, he didn't "Spend time in the market" but worse, he never asked about when to sell the stock. As I mentioned above, I've seen portfolios where the stock dropped to -99%. That person spent time researching the stock but it was pointless because he had no exit plan. Think about how much you're willing to lose, 10%?, 25%?, 50%? and that should be your trailing stop. A word of caution, unless you actively trade and can monitor throughout the day, I wouldn't go lower than 8%. Many stocks can drop 6% only to rise again the next day.

Go ahead and buy that MEME stock

It sounds irresponsible to say "go ahead and buy that MEME stock" but I say this for two reasons. One, if the stock is making new highs over and over, why not ride the wave and make profits too? But because it's a MEME stock, it WILL drop. (Watch the Netflix documentary on Gamestop.) A person kept buying Gamestop, made lots of money but in the end went bankrupt. This won't happen to us. Why? Because we have our SITS method, trailing stops. When the stock drops, the system automatically sells. We will have made money and/or minimized our losses. So I have no problem buying MEME stocks, as long as you have trails. I bought Gamestop myself but also got out with the trailing stops when it started to tank.

Do you really have the time? Be honest with yourself...Just go with a Robo account

I've met so many people and have spent 20+ hours training, helping people with their stock account. Their heart is in the right place. They want to make money. They want to build wealth. But a week after meeting them, I ask if they've started investing or set their trails to protect themselves and the answer is no. No for various reasons; I wanted to watch the World Series, I had to make dinner, I set aside Sat night but ran out of time, etc. Life just gets in the way but they keep saying they want to manage their accounts themselves.

You have to make your finances the #1 priority. Having money buys peace of mind and freedom of choice.

If you don't have time, a Robo account does a great job. After taking a risk questionnaire, it will allocate your funds, do tax loss harvesting depending on your account value, and rebalance your account automatically.

Open a Robo account, put money in there. And if you want, keep a small amount in your stock account if you want to manage it yourself.

But it's important to get started.

How should I buy? In increments, not waiting for the lows

My friend received a large sum of money and he wanted to buy $50,000 shares of x and he didn't own anything else. NOOOO! That's putting all your eggs in one basket. If that stock falls, he will have lost all his money. It's important to diversify and you can use the "foundational ETF" list to get started or start with a Robo account. Make this 20-80% of your portfolio.

To buy stocks,

Buy (5) shares now. Get in a little now.

Buy (5) shares tomorrow or buy (5) shares at the next dip.

It's not necessary to go all in at once because you can also lose all at once as well. For every stock rise, there's also a stock dip. It might be -1% or it could be -30% in one day, but all stocks do drop at some point.

Also, don't wait for the "low". I know clients who wait for the "low" and five years have gone by...imagine all the returns they missed out on. No one knows the "bottom" until it jumps back up.

The trend is your friend

Another trading phrase is "the trend is your friend". How I use this: if the stock is trending up AND beating benchmark, I'll buy it. Winners are winners for a reason. Losers are losers for a reason. After looking at charts and trends for over 20 years, the trend chart tells a story.

Definition: Align your trades with the prevailing market direction (higher highs and higher lows in an uptrend, or lower lows and lower highs in a downtrend) rather than betting against the momentum

Don't love your stocks, rotation is normal

Take a look at sector charts. This is an example of sectors (energy, technology, real estate, etc.) that have reached a high each year. You'll see that sectors rotate. One year, real estate and all things related to real estate was big. Another year, technology is at a high and all things related to technology. If you hold on to a losing sector and related stocks in that sector, you may be missing out on gains in the other sectors.

People say "real estate goes up forever", well not really. In 2025, it was the lowest performing sector.

It's ok to rotate out of a sector and go into another one.

Cut your losses short and let your winners run

I have multiple clients who ask me if they should put a "profit exit", that is, sell stocks to take profits. I respond "why are you stunting your children's growth??". I like to let stocks go as high as possible. On the drop, we let the trailing stops take care of any profit exit naturally.

One way to structure your buys and trails:

Buy (5) shares with a 10% trail

Buy (5) shares with a 15% trail

Buy (5) shares with a 20% trail

That way, you incrementally buy (or buy more if the stock has dropped for the day), and incrementally sell as the stock drops but also keep some stocks in case it bounces back up. Also, you've let the stocks rise as much as possible, given it some room to drop and take profits, while also keeping some stocks for later.

Another method: Jim Cramer says take profits up to the amount you put in. So if the stock rises, sell the amount you put in to take profits and the rest is "the houses money".

Never catch a falling knife

The trading world has lots of fun sayings and "never catch a falling knife" is one of them. Stocks can seem on sale because it keeps dropping and seem "cheap" but if it keeps dropping...yes, you bought it on sale...but would you have been better off buying the S&P returning 12% for the year or Meta at -18% (as of October 28, 2026)?

Definition: Avoid buying a stock or asset whose price is plunging rapidly, as it is difficult to know where the bottom actually is.

Will or Trust? Both!

Some people think they don't have enough money to create a Trust. Or they have a will, so they don't need a trust. You need both as they serve different purposes.

I've updated my trust three times at $3000 each, so $10,000. Don't let that scare you, recently, I found that Suze Orman has a "must have documents", a trust, will, health care directive, power of attorney, and more for $153! https://willandtrust.musthavedocs.com/willandtrust-offer/

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