Best advice ever
We asked members of the W. P. Carey School of Business community to open up about financial wisdom they've received — along with the stories that led them to appreciate these truths.
We asked members of the W. P. Carey School of Business community to open up about financial wisdom they’ve received — along with the stories that led them to appreciate these truths.
Buy low, sell high. Pay yourself first. Know what you owe. Pithy money advice abounds in our culture, but how does it look in practice?
Great advice rarely involves a hot stock tip or new cryptocurrency buying strategy — instead, it’s about the habits and mindsets that lead to improvement. For many, even seemingly simple pieces of advice have led to transformational experiences.
We hope these stories remind you of the people and places that shaped your financial intelligence, and inspire you to pay it forward in the future.
Choose quality
Siblings Holly and Justin Hillsten are the long-haired duo behind DrainFunnel, a product designed to eliminate the buildup of hair in bathroom drains. Holly, a senior studying economics, runs the marketing side of the business, while Justin, who majored in chemistry and returned to ASU for computer science courses, handles the product development. In April, they received $8,500 from the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, won through Venture Devils Demo Days.
Holly: The best money advice I’ve received came from our parents. They taught us that investing in items that are higher quality pays off in the long run.
Justin: A few years ago, when gas was cheap, and people were buying SUVs, my parents thought that wasn’t the wisest thing to do. Instead, they bought a Prius because they knew gas prices were unpredictable.
Holly: Priuses aren’t cheap, but they’re reliable, and our parents saved on gas costs over time.
Justin: Clothing is another example. Our mom would take us to Goodwill because you could find older pieces of clothing that were inexpensive but high quality, like Levi jeans.
Holly: Some of my favorite tops and skirts are my mom’s from when she was my age. They still look new and are timeless styles. I’d rather have three tops that last a long time than 10 trendy tops that are of lower quality.
Justin: I can elaborate on this with DrainFunnel. One of the first things we did was buy a 3D printer for $350, which was on the low end of those available at the time. It worked for about a month and then it started failing halfway through a print. When we got money from Venture Devils the first time, I invested in a high-quality 3D printer. Since buying this printer, we’ve had no problems. Not only has it increased prototyping speeds, but it has also given us more time to focus on other aspects of the business.
Holly: Our goal is for DrainFunnel to be a high-quality, long-lasting solution for clog prevention.
Balance saving with experiences
As the CEO and co-founder of Wela, a financial technology company, Matt Reiner (BS Finance ’09) has money on his mind 24/7. So, it’s surprising that one of his favorite pieces of advice is the classic adage “money can’t buy you happiness.”
That said, being financially prudent can help you create the life you want. “It’s important to learn how to balance saving with the experiential aspects of life,” Reiner says.
For Reiner, that means applying behavioral economics to his spending habits. “If I don’t see it, I can’t spend it,” Reiner explains. In addition to using online tools to set aside part of his paycheck automatically, Reiner swears by a daily spend limit. When Reiner and his wife want to take a vacation, for example, they lower the amount they can spend each day. Over time, the extra funds add up. “If you focus on spending less for a few weeks, it becomes normal,” he notes. “You don’t even realize you’re spending less and saving more.”
The Reiners first implemented this strategy when they decided to build their own house. Impressively, they initially stuck to a daily spend limit for two and a half months. “During that period, we had the lowest credit card bills we’ve ever had,” Reiner says. “We were able to save money and build our beautiful house, which will hopefully be our lifelong home.”
Reiner introduced the daily spend limit to Wela users once he saw its usefulness in his own life. “By putting a course of action in place, you’re able to start saving for things you want to experience,” Reiner says. “The great thing about a daily spend limit is that you can start and stop it whenever you need to, depending on your current goals.”
Maximize happiness
“The best piece of money advice I’ve received was from a mentor of mine, who said, ‘Use the money to love people; do not use people to love money,’” says Kelvin Wong, clinical assistant professor of economics.
“As an economist, I focus on how people maximize their utility (happiness) when they face a constraint on their budget,” he says. “In today’s world, it seems natural to focus exclusively on ourselves. We buy things for our enjoyment and save money for our future self. While there is nothing wrong with caring for ourselves, it is easy to forget that our ultimate goal is to maximize utility and that the happiness of others often plays an important part in achieving this. Happiness could mean that spending money on others or giving to causes and charities we care for can be equally (or even more) satisfying as other ways we choose to use (or save) money.”
Follow the rule of 72
Jacob Gold (BA Interdisciplinary Studies ’02) grew up discussing money management around the family dinner table.
“Some families talk about religion or politics,” Gold says. “Mine talked about managing debt, dollar cost averaging, and investing in the stock market.”
As a third-generation wealth manager mentored by his father and grandfather, Gold got lots of advice, notably to keep debt low, follow the rule of 72, and diversify investments — wisdom he now imparts as an ASU faculty associate teaching personal financial management. He also is president of a private investment firm, Jacob Gold & Associates.
“The rule of 72 stood out to me as a simple mathematical compounding trick,” Gold says. It’s simple: Divide 72 by the fixed annual rate of return to get a rough estimate of how many years it will take for an investment to double itself. “Diversifying my investments to maximize that annual rate of return just naturally made sense,” says Gold, who compares smart investing to making great salsa.
“You’ve got tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, cilantro,” he says. “You don’t want too much of anything, or the flavor is off. It’s the same in a well-diversified portfolio, which should have a variety of stocks, bonds, cash, and maybe real estate.”
Gold follows the rule of 72 in both his personal and business investments. For example, at age 14, after earning the rank of Eagle Scout, he invested the money he received as a gift from his father. He didn’t touch it until years later to purchase his wife’s engagement ring. The rule also helps him control the number of assets he manages at his investment firm to maximize earnings for his clients. “My father and grandfather taught me to see the magic of compound interest,” Gold says.
Have short-term goals with long-term vision
When Victoria Crynes (BA Global Politics ’18) wanted to go to Paris during fourth grade, her parents insisted she’d have to pay for half the trip herself, teaching her a valuable lesson about money: Set short, manageable goals to earn what you need for something you want. She set up shop at craft shows, selling chalkboards and tote bags, during the two-year process to make that trip to France happen.
“That advice helped me develop a big-picture attitude toward money,” Crynes says. “What do I want in the long run? What am I willing to sacrifice to get there?”
With a long-term vision of graduating from ASU debt-free, Crynes applied for as many scholarships and fellowships she could find without letting rejection letters deter her from her goal. “I focused on paying for school one semester at a time,” she says.
The payoff was huge: Crynes earned $62,672 in scholarship money for her senior year at ASU, more than enough to cover her college fees. Each year, she has used excess funds from scholarship awards (last year, more than $20,000) to contribute to endowments for underrepresented students. All told, Crynes has helped 10 other students attend college due to her efforts to fund her education.
Crynes is currently attending the Hansen Summer Institute for International Leadership and Cooperation at the University of San Diego before attending graduate school at the University of Cambridge. She has returned to crafting to raise funds, repurposing and selling old windows, cabinets, and drawers as home décor.
“Setting manageable goals that help me achieve my long-term vision has taught me to work toward what I want, while also saving along the way so that I can finally reach that goal,” she says.
Understand your priorities
The first money advice Gail Sharps Myers (MBA ’10) recalls receiving is a reminder to save, save, save. “I heard that as a mantra growing up and into my young adult life, as my parents encouraged me to put some money away with every bit of income I received,” says Myers, who is general counsel for American Tire Distributors in Huntersville, North Carolina. Adding money to her savings account wasn’t easy, though. “There was always a reason to take it out.”
Then came expenses beyond childhood wants, like paying for college and law school, buying a house, having children and planning for their educations, as well as for retirement. “Life got expensive,” Myers says, and just saving a bit out of each paycheck wasn’t enough to cover it all. A good friend and mentor advised her to invest to reach her financial goals.
“My mentor is a stakeholder in my success,” Myers says. “She helps me navigate my professional life and, naturally, the best money advice I received came from her.”
Myers’s investments are helping her meet her financial priorities: paying for her two children to attend college and planning to retire by age 55. College tuition is covered for her daughter — still two years away — and she is now focused on investing in her son’s education and finalizing her retirement funds.
“You have to prioritize what’s important to you, and for me, that’s seeing my kids through college and planning to retire early,” she says. “Investing toward my goals has been key in meeting them.”
Call for cash pointers What brilliant money advice have you received? Email editor.wpcmagazine@asu.edu or tweet us at @WPCareySchool on Twitter to share the wisdom your family, friends, and mentors imparted — and the impact it’s made on your life today. We’ll choose 10 respondents on Oct. 1 to win a W. P. Carey clear stadium bag filled with goodies.
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