Time on Your Side: A Guide to Millennial Investing

By bankrate logo
November 11, 2019
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Written by: Bankrate Staff |

Millennials (individuals born between 1981 and 1996) number 83.2 million and are characteristically known as the largest, best-educated and most diverse generation in U.S. history. However, saving for retirement, budgeting and establishing and maintaining a financial plan remains a challenge for millennials, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security.

Nearly half of all millennials are already concerned about their ability to retire when they choose and two-thirds are concerned about outliving their retirement savings. Crushing student loan debt has also crippled this generation’s ability to invest.

Millennials’ slower start to investing can also be attributed to watching their parents go through the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s. They may be more wary of the stock market, which can inhibit their willingness to take risks.

In fact, three in 10 millennials say cash is their favorite long-term investment, but a third of Gen Xers, 38 percent of baby boomers and 44 percent of the Silent Generation invest in stocks. Millennials have traditionally preferred saving their money rather than investing and view savings accounts as a safer bet than the stock market.

If you’re a millennial, Bankrate’s guide can help you determine why it’s important for you to invite risk, how to determine your investment goals and how to get started in the stock market.

Why should millennials invest?

Because they witnessed the Recession, you may perceive investing as risky, but not investing is actually riskier. “The worst thing you can do in your mid-twenties to mid-thirties is not saving money and invest. If you invest money early on, it gives your money a long time to grow,” says Mike Kerins, founder and CEO of RobustWealth. He says that in spite of the ups and downs of the market, it’s rare that the stock market stays down for a long period of time.

Stock investments deliver bigger returns over cash and bonds in the long run. Money sitting in savings accounts is stagnant and subject to rising inflation, whereas stock market investments can compound over the years. More specifically, large-capitalization stocks returned 10% compounded annually from 1926-2018. Over that same time period, long-term government bonds returned only 5.5% annually and T-bills returned 3.3% annually.

“The surest way to build wealth over long time horizons is to invest in a diversified portfolio of common stocks,” says Robert Johnson, professor of finance at Creighton University and chairman and CEO of Economic Index Associates.

The other advantage of saving money over time is that it’s like a snowball effect. “Millennials need to begin compounding early and let that compounding work its patient magic over decades,” says Johnson. Compounding means that when you earn interest on your investments, you earn interest on the interest.

For example, if you start investing $6,000 per year when you’re 25 years old, you’ll have a larger return than if you just deposited that money in a savings account or under the mattress.

Evaluate how much you’re able to invest

Just getting started is critical for any young investor. How does a 20-something novice investor with a modest income (who’s also likely making payments on student loans) get into the market in the first place? The first step is to determine your current situation.

Calculate your total debt

Put pen to paper (or get a budget app) and figure out how much money you make per month minus how much you have going out. Consider:

Rent or house payment

Student, auto and other monthly loan payments

Credit card monthly payments

Other debts or required payments

After you figure out generally how much it costs you to live on a month-to-month basis, you can determine how much extra you have to invest.

Next, determine how you’d like to approach your student loans, credit card debt and any other debt you have. Aim to pay off your high-interest debt first (called the debt avalanche method) or pay off your smallest amount of debt first (debt snowball method). The research shows that it’s much easier to stay motivated when you pay off smaller debts first because you get a quick win right away.

Mike Broker, chief strategy officer at Trilogy Financial, says, “You can start small while paying down large student loan debts or working on other obligations, but start to save for your future now.”

Determine your financial risk level

The Recession may leave some millennials with residual nervousness about the ups and downs of the stock market — but these ups and downs are normal. Consider goals-based investing to specifically invest for specific time horizons. In other words, if you have a short-term goal, such as saving for a house in a few years, you might consider investing more conservatively.

Decide where your investment funds will come from

Where will you pull your extra money for investing? From your savings account? From loose dollars you have in your checking account at the end of the month? What if you have no extra cash for investing and need to come up with an alternative plan? Here are several options for getting started.

Savings

If you have some money stashed in a savings account, you might consider it seed money for your investment accounts. Many companies require you to invest a minimum amount of money to get started. For example, the minimum initial investment for Vanguard Target Retirement Funds is $1,000. A $3,000 minimum applies to most other Vanguard mutual funds.

Set an investing budget

Once you determine how much you have leftover at the end of the month, put that money to work for you directly into an investment account at the end of the month. Amounts might vary per month (the car might inevitably need a new alternator) but at least you have an idea of a general amount to budget toward investing per month.

Educate yourself on stock market basics

Financial lingo can seem intimidating, but as you learn more about stock market basics and stay up to date on financial news, your financial knowledge will grow.

Beginner investing terms you need to know

Check out Bankrate’s full glossary of investing terms, but here are a few must-know-now terms:

Bonds: Bonds are loans made to large organizations, including corporations, cities and national governments. The interest payment (called the coupon) is what bondholders earn for loaning their funds to the issuer.

Brokerage account: An arrangement between an investor and a licensed brokerage firm where the investor can deposit funds with the firm and place investment orders through the brokerage.

ETFs (exchange-traded funds): An ETF is a basket of securities you buy or sell through a brokerage firm on a stock exchange. ETFs are offered on virtually all asset classes ranging from traditional investments to alternative assets like commodities or currencies.

Mutual funds: A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities.

Stocks: Stocks are securities that represent an ownership share in a company.

Financial news and education

Stay up to date on financial news/general stock market news, which you can find on any major news source. Brokerages such as Fidelity have a ton of free beginner investing resources and educational tools to help get you started on the right track. Do research on your own to determine what might work best for you.

Many millennials are interested in socially responsible investing (SRI), which can blend in investing with socially responsible causes to bring about a positive change. Studies have found that millennials prefer to invest where their money can make an impact. In fact, U.S. Trust found that 76 percent of high net-worth millennial investors have reviewed their assets for SRI impact and Morgan Stanley found millennial investors to be twice as likely as others to invest in companies that incorporate socially responsible practices.

Determine your long-term and short term goals

Short-term and long-term investing both require a different approach to investment goal-setting.

Short-term investment vehicles

Paying off student loans, vacation funds, financing a dream purchase, buying a house — all of these are considered short-term goals. Paying off student loans could also be considered another short-term goal.

If you have a short-term investing goal, consider savings accounts, short-term bond funds, money market accounts or certificates of deposit (CDs).

Savings accounts

Savings accounts are bank accounts that earn a small amount of interest. Marcus by Goldman Sachs Bank is a great place to start, and offers a high-yield savings account with a competitive APY. The best savings account rates will not net you too much interest at all, which is why

they’re ideal for short-term investing. Never invest any funds earmarked for retirement in a savings account.

Short-term bond funds

Short-term bond portfolios typically involve corporate and other investment-grade U.S. fixed-income issues from one to three years. These portfolios are attractive only if you have a short savings horizon because they are less sensitive to interest rates than portfolios with longer durations.

Money market accounts

Money market accounts are a lot like savings accounts. Unlike savings accounts, where your bank or credit union can only loan out your cash, in the case of a money market account, the bank can put your money into low-risk investments such as certificates of deposit or government securities.

Certificates of deposit (CDs)

CDs are money invested for a set period. The issuer pays interest at regular intervals until a specific date of maturity. Once your CD matures, you receive your original investment, plus all of the interest you’ve accumulated during that set period. This is only a good option if you can be sure you won’t need your money before maturity. You’ll have you have to pay a fee in order to withdraw the funds before maturity.

Long-term investment vehicles

It’s fine to have some short-term investments, but millennials should always have some sort of funds invested for long-term goals that you can turn into college funds for future children, a second stream of income and/or retirement.

Some excellent long-term investment vehicles include equity index funds, equity ETFs and mutual funds.

Equity index funds

Compared to bond market index funds, equity index funds can offer more risk (which is what you want when you have a longer time horizon). Your returns are higher compared to a bond market index fund, and equity index funds offer you the advantage of a hands-off, diversified, low-cost method of long-term investing.

Equity ETFs

Equity ETFs track an index and usually offer low expense ratios. You can also buy a basket of investments in a single fund, which offers ample diversification. They trade like a stock and are higher risk compared to a bond market ETF, ideal for long-term investing.

Mutual funds

Mutual funds deliver diversification, a distinct advantage compared to choosing individual stocks (a much riskier approach). A disadvantage of mutual funds is that they’re typically more expensive to manage over the long-term because they’re professionally managed.

Investing for retirement

More than any other generation, millennials are interested in work/life balance, saving and retiring early. You don’t need to work for an employer to invest for retirement, but if you do work for an employer, Kerins says it’s important to take advantage of your company match.

In order to take advantage of the company match, you must put in a specified amount of money into your company’s retirement fund. Under current regulations, an employee may contribute up to $19,000 of pre-tax earnings to an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan ($25,000 if you’re age 50 or older).

If you want to invest outside of your company’s 401(k) match, or your company doesn’t offer a 401(k), open an IRA. A traditional or Roth IRA are good choices. For 2019, your total contributions to all traditional and Roth IRAs cannot be more than $6,000 ($7,000 if you’re age 50 or older) or your taxable compensation for the year, if your compensation was less than this dollar limit.

How to get started in the stock market

It’s possible to go it alone or get help from a financial advisor or through other methods, but you can also go the DIY route and open investment accounts with a low-cost provider like TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, Charles Schwab or Vanguard.

DIY options

Broker says, “As a generation, millennials mostly like to be hands-off and make things automated, so send money to your savings account, Roth IRA or whatever vehicle is right for you automatically every month.”

For millennials who want to do the research and/or choose their investments completely solo, certain brokerage accounts are geared toward beginning investors, such as Robinhood or Fidelity. Monitor your portfolio to make sure you’re on track with your investment goals.

Guided investing

If you’d like guidance in building your investment portfolio, consider using robo-advisors. Robo-advisors are investment management companies that rely on computers rather than human beings to help you choose your investments. (Though some robo-advisors do allow you to talk to actual financial advisors.) Robo-advisors ask questions about accepted risk level, time horizon and overall financial goals to give you the best asset allocation possible and rebalance your portfolio over time.

The most important thing to remember? Just get started. With time on your side, Johnson says you have so many options at your disposal. “Time is the greatest ally of young investors because of the magic of compound interest,” he says.

Click here to read the full story.

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By Trilogy Financial
June 19, 2018

No matter how much you and your partner have in common, investing will uncover differences. Maybe one likes playing it safe while the other relishes risk-taking. One wants to invest every available penny, while the other yearns to live it up now. Or perhaps you disagree on when to retire.

Differences are inevitable, says Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, founder of KBK Wealth Connection in Waitsfield, Vermont. “That’s the nature of a partnership.”

But some couples don’t discover their differences until they fester into conflicts. You can avoid discord by bringing financial topics into the open, finding common ground and compromising.

“Learning how to talk about and work through conflict will make you stronger partners,” says Kingsbury, author of “Breaking Money Silence: How to Shatter Money Taboos, Talk More Openly About Finances, and Live a Richer Life.”

Click here to read the full story.

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By Authority Magazine
March 9, 2022

By: Charlie Katz |

As part of my series about the “How to Navigate and Succeed in the Modern World of Finance”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Motske.

Jeff Motske is an author of a financial compatibility guide, an accomplished executive, radio personality and host of The Jeff Motske Show, and financial advisor. More importantly, he is a believer in the power of everyday Americans and is committed to helping them reach financial independence. He began his career in retirement planning out of college, and as he watched the landscape of financial services, Jeff saw how disconnected most of his industry was from the real-life issues of Americans. In partnership with Kevin Mackintosh, he created Trilogy Financial in 1999 to bring together resources on financial, tax and estate planning for middle-class Americans. Jeff started Trilogy with the vision of improving the industry, a vision that is still guiding him today. In 2016, he spearheaded the creation of Trilogy Capital, an RIA asset management firm that provides investment solutions for everyday Americans. Jeff has dedicated his career to helping everyday Americans, business owners, savvy investors and new couples build the business and lives they dream.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I was a math major in college, and one of my professors suggested I get into the mutual fund or financial services business. At the time, it wasn’t a very common business. So I thought about it for a bit, and found a wanted ad for a financial advisor in the local newspaper. I took the job and was blessed enough to have a manager that trained and mentored me. This person really taught me to be an advisor to my clients, and I grew my career quite quickly. If it weren’t for that professor, I’m not sure I would have considered finance as a career.

When he retired, he recommended I be the manager of the office — and I was the youngest guy in the office! And I managed it really well. Once you have that kind of confidence, it helps take you out of your comfort zone.

That’s exactly what I did. And it helped me grow in my success with both clients and team members. I was happy and in a great place in my career. But one night when my wife and I were visiting with friends, my buddy’s wife — who was a woman of few words, but a deep listener — said to me “well, you know you’re going to leave that firm and start your own, don’t you?” She said it so confidently, and it meant a lot coming from her. At the time, my wife was pregnant and I thought there is no way this is a good time to take a risk like that. But she made such a bold impact on me, and so I did — I went and started Trilogy Financial in 1999 because I was in a good place financially. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would have started my own company.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

There’s a lot of funny mistakes, but I think one of them stands out the most. When I left the old firm to start my own, I didn’t do it the “right” way. I didn’t have a business plan, I didn’t have office space, I didn’t have a team — nothing! I just dropped of my letter of resignation and that was that. Looking back, that probably was not the right way to do it, but it worked out somehow.

When I left, team members wanted to come with me! We had nothing — we worked out of my garage with cardboard furniture. It was late in the 1990s and when we had a new computer get delivered from Dell, people would calls dibs on the box to use it as a desk!

Integrity aside, I would have planned better. But it worked really well, and I’ve learned a lot from it and other mistakes.

It was funny, because when the pandemic hit, I needed privacy at my house to take calls (we have a lot of glass walls), and I found myself back in my garage with a make-shift desk and a water heater in the background — just like old times.

Is there a particular book that you read, or podcast you listened to that really helped you in your career? Can you explain?

I’m a big reader. I’ve read so many books that have helped me in my career. I’m a big Patrick Lencioni fan, he writes on business and team management, and how to get teams to work better. I’ve read every book of his and love his disruptive style. His podcast The Table Group is great as well.

The book Learned Optimism by Dr. Martin Seligman is another great one. If you can get through the first third of it, I believe it’ll make you a better person, advisor, father and help you better speak for yourself. I’ve read it three or four times and I get something new from it every time.

Max De Pree wrote a great book called Leadership is An Art that looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. This book has also greatly helped me grow, lead and train teams.

All of these are a bit disruptive and unique, and I love that perspective because it really helps you step out onto a new platform of leadership.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We are! We are working on a state-of-the-art client experience service center. As a financial advisor, many people perceive our job is to advise people how to save and spend their money. But we believe it takes more that to make an impact.

The service center is called the Mack Service Center, named after my late partner and co-founder of Trilogy Financial Kevin ‘Mack’ Mackintosh — a meaningful client service team was one of his core focuses. He designed and developed the service team based on what he learned over the years as an Eagle Scout, rowing crew member and in business. From day one, he had a clear vision of what Trilogy could accomplish when we worked together and focused on service. In fact, he was an early and passionate adopter of our ONE TRILOGY culture — One Purpose. One Plan. One Experience.

This service team consists of a group of people with a unique culture that will be delivering great, helpful service to our clients. This is contrary to what’s “the norm” for financial advisory companies. Most have an advisor-led the service model, and there’s nothing wrong with that except that not all advisors have service as their strong suit.

We’re building what I call a “trust transfer” — we want the advisors spending more time advisor-ing while the service team does what they do best.

Mack took the ball and really got it rolling for this project. He found the right people to lead it and get it off the ground. He passed in early 2020, and the Monday before he did…he told me it was ready.

He instilled the right attitude, built the right culture. And I’m proud that his legacy lives on.

Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the central focus of our discussion. Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When you started your company what was your vision, your purpose?

When I started Trilogy Financial, my vision and purpose was to help financial advisors be better advisors. However, as time has gone on, that’s evolved into something bigger. Now my purpose is to help everyday Americans gain financial independence. They are the group of people that often struggle to achieve their financial goals, and we want to focus and help those that need sound advice.

This is the culture we’ve built today. Our advisors want to help as many people as they can, and my job is to make those advisors more productive so that can do more for their clients. I know they’re making a difference. I see it, and clients tell me all the time “if it wasn’t for my Trilogy financial advisor, I don’t know where I’d be.” That is purpose-driven business.

Do you have a “number one principle” that guides you through the ups and downs of running a business?

I have so many, but the one that first comes to mind is that you have to wake up and challenge your comfort zone every day. Never challenge your values or morals, but always your comfort zone. If you do that, you’re going to continue to get better.

I’m a big fan of mentoring. I believe it’s important to know who is in your foxhole with you as you go through life. Who are the people you know will be there for you and you’ll be there to them? Know who they are, because they will help you succeed when you step out of your comfort zone.

As is relates to my business, I believe in One Trilogy, One Mission and One Vision. I wake up, think and talk that every day and it helps me challenge that comfort zone.

I also believe you have to trust your instincts. If they’re telling you something, you have to dig deeper to find out if its valid or not. That helps you be a better leader. And it is a muscle you have to flex. My instincts over time have grown and improved. It’s important to think through those instincts, because your words matter. You also can’t let your emotions get in the way of better decision making.

Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?

The best form of advertising is word of mouth. It’s your reputation! If you do good work, you’ll get introduced to high quality people and new clients. Your digital reputation is right behind that — potential clients are going to do their research and Google you, and you may or may not get a call based on that.

When you get a good referral, the foundation of trust is built in. And it’s all driven by integrity and good work you provide from there.

If a fellow business leader would ask you for advice about whether to bootstrap or to look for VC capital, how would you help them weigh the pros and cons of that decision?

Well…I bootstrapped it and I think that was the best decision because I didn’t have a boss with a different agenda. I have friends who went the VC route and they almost left because of that voice hanging above their head.

I recommend bootstrapping and raising the capital yourself, if you have that luxury. But if you have to go the VC route, choose wisely. This goes back to the beginning of my story. We bootstrapped everything. We had heart and grit and integrity to make it all happen. That’s why we succeeded.

What measure do you use to determine the value of a company? What advice would you give to other leaders about how to get an optimal evaluation of their business?

The traditional answer is try to maximize revenue and get your margins in line. But there’s always a story under the numbers, and I think we have a great story.

Right now, we’re focused on attracting advisors approaching retirement age with a financial planning book of businesses they need to sell and pass off their clients. Our firm is attractive to those entrepreneurs because we have the right people paired with the financial stability to take care of their clients when they retire.

Your company value includes those resources, your culture and story. We have built teams with advisors of all experience levels who support each other and the various generations of clients we have. That’s valuable.

Another huge component in your valuation in your team members’ tenure. We have long tenure within our entire team and those that are looking to sell us their business see the value because they know our team will be there for their clients for the long term.

What would you advise to a founder who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?

This was Trilogy Financial in 2015. The best piece of advice I can give is to think about what the future looks like, and how you’re going to pivot to reach that place. It’s the old Wayne Gretzky story — he wasn’t the fastest guy on the ice, but he always knew where the puck was going. And he could put himself in a position to succeed.

So how do you go about figuring out what the future looks like and how to benefit from it? It’ll take reflection, reading, some discussions with mentors or friends and more. But don’t do it in your office, or with anyone from your office. Go on vacation or put yourself in a situation that takes you away from your everyday so you can think clearly.

For example, I travel a lot for my kids’ sports. When I’m on that plane, I can put in my headphones and really go to that 35,000-foot space to think. Sometimes it’s on a beach chair on the sand — same thing.

In was 2015 on a beach reading a book that I realized I needed to pivot Trilogy from a broker-client relationship to a true fiduciary and advisor platform. I was clear we had to make that move in order to have experienced advisors making a big impact for a bigger amount of people. It was going to be hard, but we had to do it.

As a CEO, you’re constantly making decisions. And there are a handful of pivotal ones that you HAVE to get right. Think them through, talk to people who can give you advice — maybe a mentor from the past, but it’s most likely not someone inside your company because it could impact the company negatively.

What are the most common finance mistakes you have seen other businesses make? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

Early on, it’s easy to not have an organized budget and operating plan. But you NEED to do those things. You need to figure out your budget quickly, your costs and your cost controls. If you’re not thinking about your Return on Investment (ROI) on every dollar you spend, you might get to a point where you’ve gone too far. Don’t just spend money on something because you need it. You have to draw a line, see the line and know where you will get results if you cross that line. It’s easy to misunderstand your ROI or not be able to apply the concept to everything you buy, because they’re not very tangible benefits. That’s when you have to think through it to identify them so you don’t spend your way into trouble.

Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to succeed in the modern finance industry? Please share a story or an example for each.

There’s a lot of things people need to succeed in the modern finance industry. It’s always changing!

  1. You have to have grit: Grit and perseverance are huge because it’s not an easy business. The barrier to entry is getting harder and harder. If you have grit, tenacity and can get out of your comfort zone, you can be successful. There are elements within the industry that are naturally not fun, but you have to do them in order to succeed.
  2. You have to be able to cater to the masses: It’s very important to hone your people skills and your communication skills. If you can figure out how to communicate with people individually, in a manner that best works for all different types of communication styles, the sky is the limit. And this goes for both speaking and writing!
  3. Be great at follow through and follow up: You have to say what you’re going to do, and then do it. At Trilogy, we get our clients’ questions answered, and we follow through on everything we said we were going to do. Sometimes it requires 2 of us in a meeting, so things don’t get missed, but that’s ok! There’s nothing worse than telling someone you’re going to do something and then don’t.
  4. Position yourself well: To excel in any business, you have to get good at promoting yourself in a way that makes your clients talk about you when you’re not around. That’s the fastest and healthiest way to build a financial firm. Make that positive impact on them, service them well and they will tell their story. You may even get longstanding professional friendships that give your business value through obtaining good referrals.
  5. Structure your week: Plan your week, your calls, meetings and the time you need to build plans, recommendations, etc. If you plan well, have good systems in place and are focused on doing good work for your clients, you can spend 90% of your time working on your clients and 10% of your warm referrals that are coming in the door — instead of spending a significant amount of chasing cold leads.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

The best tip I can recommend is to build that structured week. The beauty about a financial career is that you have flexibility to carve out what you need to do.

It’s important to keep ahold of your support system. They matter. For example, for the last 26 years my wife and I have had a date night every Wednesday. And we stuck to it — if I had a late meeting or engagement, I made it clear that I had to leave by 7pm. I also make sure I’m at my kids’ games or matches. And when we take our vacation over 4th of July weekend, we maintain a “no electronics week” to make sure we get the release we need. The ability to “shut off” is important. So plan your vacations and your breaks. If you’re working hard, you need a break. It’s the best way to be great for your clients.

Another suggestion is to not give your clients your personal cell number. You need to set boundaries, and be able to let go. A lot of good advisors get too many clients they’re trying to service, and it ends up being detrimental to everyone involved. You have to trust people on your team to help you out. You can only do some much and you have to let go and trust others — this is that concept of trust transfer again.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My movement would be to have a well-regarded advisor in front of every everyday American. They’re the neglected population! I hear people who only want to go after high net worth individuals, but it’s those who are 52 years old with $400,000 in their retirement that need someone to get ahold of them. These are the people who need the support and the education to get to where they want and need to be.

The hard part is, that person who needs support the most often doesn’t think they have to money to sit down with advisors. These are everyday Americans and they deserve for someone to help them pursue their dreams.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Click here to read the full story. 

Jeff Motske is a Registered Representative with, and securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through TC, A Registered Investment Advisor. TC markets advisory services under the name of Trilogy Financial (“TF”), an affiliated but separate legal entity. TC and TF are separate entities from LPL.

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