Intentional Money Life

Today I got my 25th (and 26th) 5 star review as a financial planner through Nectarine!!!

I don’t think I can adequately describe how much I LOVE this job.

I get to spend an hour with people I’ve never met, and we get to dig into a topic that I find incredibly fun, and that they have a huge range of experiences with from anxiety to excitement and so much more. And it’s financially accessible for most people!!!

These meetings cover a wide range of experiences…

- Sometimes it’s all about money and the strategies they could use to be a little more intentional with it (and how to automate it).
- Sometimes it’s more about their relationship with money, and helping them see that despite their (insert negative word) relationship with money, they’re actually doing an incredibly good job (or they can make that happen).
- Sometimes it’s helping them realize that they totally can retire, or take that pay cut, and sometimes it’s helping them realize that they are not yet on track and here are some steps they can take to get more on track.
- Sometimes they’ve made investing complicated and need help figuring out how they can simplify it (and reduce their investing fees).
- Fairly often, we talk about the importance of balancing some intentional spending now with saving/investing for the future.

I regularly have clients who come into the meeting feeling anxious, completely overwhelmed and probably wishing they hadn’t booked the session. However, I’ve yet to have a client leave our meetings like that! They tell me at the end how they feel so much better, understand things more, no longer feel that it’s all scary and complicated, and realize that they can do this. Because THEY CAN!!!

So regardless of how you feel about money, and regardless of what your financial situation is, I’m here for you!

You can find me and all the other great financial planners at www.hellonectarine.com. You can also find the rest of my 5-star reviews in case you don’t believe me 😊

I updated this chart at the beginning of July and meant to share… it’s been a busy summer!! I can’t wait to see our family net worth hit a million dollars!!! Hopefully in another year or two…

I especially find it interesting to see the dips in investments. We don’t often add to our taxable investment accounts, so you can see they took a big hit between January and July of 2022 (we lost over $30,000). But then we were regularly contributing to our retirement accounts, so they took a smaller bit ($3,000, and we got some shares on sale). Either way, as you start to zoom out more and more, it makes less of a difference

Monday was Kaiya’s kindergarten graduation (though they wrote 2023 on her certificate 😂) and Tuesday was the kids’ last day of school!!!

So now we have a 1st grader and just 1 more year until both kids are in elementary school and on the same schedule (and when we can save/reallocate $1,145 a month).

It’s pretty hard to believe!!!

I asked Kaiya what her favorite part about school was and she said PE because they learned a lot of fun games. She also loved music, art, and library. In her regular classroom she liked the projects the most and English class (“we got to do Fun Friday”). When I asked what she learned this year she said subtraction, she started to learn to read in English and Spanish, to count higher in Spanish, and syllables in both languages. She also learned to be “responsible, respectful, and safe, and sometimes help others”. Also, I’m proud to say we didn’t get to school after the morning bell this whole year!! It helps that we live less than 5 minutes from the school 😂 I remember hearing we had to be there by 8am and being stressed about it (I still am but at least we made it)

They chose to have frozen yogurt to celebrate (and today we’re headed to the coast)

Happy Father’s Day to my husband and all the fathers! ❤️❤️❤️

I’m excited to share that this week I started the first CFP course!!! Becoming a CFP is a fairly long (and somewhat expensive) process. I’ll have to take and pass 7 courses, pass a 6 hour test, complete 4,000-6,000 hours of experience, and agree to ethics requirements. All in, I probably won’t be a certified CFP for at least 3 years. But I’m excited to get started!!! This is something I had always considered, but since I wasn’t really ever planning to leave Higher Education I didn’t actually think I’d do it (hard to get that much experience when you have a regular job that isn’t in the field!)

It’s kind of funny being at the start of another educational journey at this point… after I thought I was DONE with any big educational undertakings when I got my master’s degree 9 years ago (joke is on me… especially after doing a master’s program where I took one test the entire time… now here I am facing a 6 hour test that I will have to pass 😂)

So here’s to growing and changing and learning and doing things you never expected to do… but being super happy to have the opportunity to do them anyway! ❤️❤️❤️

Compound interest/growth is pretty incredible... especially when given the TIME to compound!

So whether you're 18 or 60, yesterday was probably the better time to invest, but today is going to have to be good enough! [Trust me, I get it. I did the math and I'll miss out on over $600,000 by the time I'm 65 just because I didn't invest a a little bit from 20-30 years old!]

So if you don't have credit card debt and you do have an emergency fund, it's time to get started with investing! Start with your company provided retirement plan (401k, 403b, Simple IRA, TSP, 457, etc.) to see if they offer to match your retirement contributions. If so, definitely get their full match before you do anything else! If you're already getting the full match, you might consider either an IRA, or increasing your contributions at work. [By the way, this is all stuff we can talk about in a one-time, one-on-one, 1-hour, advice-only financial planning session via Nectarine... sign up at the link in my profile!]

Skeptical about all of this? Or maybe you know you don't yet have the knowledge to get started? Comment "free pdf" below and I'll send you my free downloadable Investing 101 pdf with 10 things I think ever investor should know.

Income taxes can be SO TRICKY, especially since no one really teaches us about taxes and it can be super complicated. But just a little bit of tax knowledge can be super helpful!

For instance, understanding your current tax bracket and your expected future tax bracket can help you decide if you should make Roth or traditional retirement contributions (learn more about this decision in my blog post: intentionalmoneylife.com/rothortraditional).

And understanding how marginal tax brackets work can help you understand the impact of getting a raise or bonus at work (hint, it's always in your favor to take the extra money, check out the second picture here!).

If you want to learn more about taxes and how they fit into your financial picture (and how you can be strategic to keep your taxes down!) sign up for my Level Up Your Finances course! It's on sale right now for $223, but on Saturday it goes back up to $279! This course teaches you about way more than taxes too... investing, retirement planning, taxes, goal setting... all sorts of fun stuff. Sign up at intentionalmoneylife.com/levelup

I recently got some new followers so figured it's a good time to re-introduce myself!

I'd love to hear from you all in the comments! Introduce yourself please! And I'd love to hear about either what your financial goals are for this year, or what vacation spot you are currently dreaming about.

And comment "Investing 101" and I'll send you my Investing 101 downloadable pdf!

My coworker Garrett and I (from Clarity Wealth Development) got the awesome opportunity to provide a 4 hour financial wellness workshop to the employees at a local company last weekend!!! It was so incredibly fun 🤩

We didn’t know what the audience would be like so we covered basically everything we could fit in… understanding your relationship with money, setting goals that matter to you, smart money management, credit, debt, taxes, investing, retirement planning, insurance, net worth, budgeting, growing the gap between income and spending, and prioritizing your money goals and next steps.

We had people in the audience who were in the process of buying their first house, people who had goals to one day own some land, some had credit card and student loan debt, some were wanting to build an emergency fund, some were wondering how to invest for their kids, or how to start their simple Ira so they could take advantage of their match, and so much more.

If these employees just take and apply 1/10th of what they learned, we could have a huge impact!! And hopefully they’ll take more than that… we sent them all home with a workbook partially filled out so they’d be ready to tackle their money situation! ❤️❤️❤️

Roth vs Traditional contributions is a very common, and actually fairly complicated, question. I wrote this blog post to help you understand the decision and things you might want to consider when making the decision.

You can find the post at intentionalmoneylife.com/rothortraditional (my blog is also linked in my profile).

If you read the post and leave even more confused, set up a meeting with me through Nectarine! I can walk you through your actual situation and help you understand how to apply it to your own decision-making. You can sign up here: https://hellonectarine.com/advisor/michelle-onaka.

In the end, know that there isn't necessarily a "right" answer but more a "good enough" answer, because we'll just have to make some educated guesses as to what will happen in the future.

How have you made this decision? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Happy (almost) Mother’s Day!!!

If you’re the gift-giving type (or you’re expected to give a gift but are not the gift-giving type), consider giving the gift of a Nectarine financial planning appointment ($150, 1-time, 1-hour advice-only session to talk about all things money) or my Level Up Your Finances course ($223 this month only, video and workbook based course that covers investing, taxes, and initial financial planning).

Both are a great way to set moms up for financial success… and I’m sure you know moms aren’t always great at spending money on themselves… so they might not think to spend money on something like this that may not seem strictly “necessary” (but will absolutely be helpful, and that gift will likely benefit the whole family!)

I got to see the northern lights in Alaska back in 2009 or so but we didn’t have good camera back then and I could only see the green and white in the sky. Unfortunately what my camera captured this time isn’t what I saw (the camera can see a lot more than I can) but it was pretty awesome watching the sky in Oregon last night!! This is the progression of the sky for about an hour and a half last night, right outside my house ❤️

I just got my first review on Nectarine!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I love getting to do these sessions so much. I don’t think I can describe how happy it makes me to get to help someone figure something important like this out 😍

Book a session with me here: https://hellonectarine.com/advisor/michelle-onaka

I started my business so I could help people make intentional money decisions so they could use money as a tool to create a life that they love.

I did not start the business so I could spend a whole bunch of time trying to find clients. I just want them to come to me magically so I can focus on having fun conversations and helping people move forward!

So I'm incredibly excited to announce that in my 3rd job (😂) I get to do that!!! I have been hired as a Financial Planner with Nectarine Financial, which is a new registered investment advisory firm from the awesome team behind Personal Finance Club. Their goal is “to help individual investors get access to top quality financial advisors without the conflicts of interest that plague the rest of the industry”. No selling of products, no commissions, no management of your investments. Just advice.

So what does that mean?! It means you can now hire me for a 1-time, 1-hour, advice-only financial planning session! This is similar to my Money Strategy Sessions that I used to offer, except now I'm affiliated with an advisory firm which means I can actually give investing advice! I am "federally covered" which means I can work with people who live in any US state.

So if you or someone you know needs advice, guidance, support, etc. related to investing and other financial topics, send them to me!

Advice-Only Financial Advisors We don’t manage your money, sell any products, or earn any commissions. Pay for just the advice.

Took the kids (and my mom) to the tulip festival today! (My oldest is out of school for 3 days for parent/teacher conferences so I kept the little one home today too.) We had a beautiful day… I think I’ve probably been 5ish times but it’s never been this nice out (and the mountain has never been visible like that!).

As usual, we packed a lunch so we only spent money when we really wanted something (aka my mom bought a funnel cake for all of us to share, which was an astonishing $12 even though it probably costs 25 cents for the ingredients).

I’m so excited, and so grateful for Clarity Wealth Development, for the fun opportunities they’ve given me! Now I get to do all the fun stuff I was doing, plus I get to advise clients!!!

So if you’re looking for a financial advisor/planner (for yourself, for your friend or family member, whoever!), whether that’s a one-time hourly consultation, a one-time financial plan, or for someone to manage your investments, check me/us out at Clarity!! I think we’re pretty awesome 😉❤️

www.claritywealthdevelopment.com

Not particularly artistic but looking for an inexpensive stress-relieving and relaxing activity?

In my quest to find things I could do that are just for me, and that I don’t have to commit hours at a time to (or hundreds of dollars), I found some paint by numbers kits. I chose this one on sale from Michael’s ($7.50) partly because it was listed as “easy” and partly because turtles are cool (and because of the sale, obviously). And it’s even good for winter time in rainy Oregon!

I started it in late November and have painted on and off since then… and I just finished it last weekend. So $7.50 for 3.5 months of evening entertainment, not bad!!! [To be fair, there were also several holidays, and I have little kids, and I studied for and passed my series 65, plus planned an international trip in that time as well, so most people wouldn’t take this long to do it.]

So if you need to add self-care or stress relieving activities to your life and if you aren’t artistic enough to just paint, check one of these out! I have 5 more kits so I’m basically stocked up for years 😬😂. You could even give away the final painting as a gift!!

Clarity Wealth Development had an amazing trip to Hoodoo mountain on Thursday!! It was such a fun trip… blue skies, beautiful views, the snow wasn’t too icy and never got slushy, and good company. I’m so glad to be part of the Clarity team (and we missed a few who weren’t able to join us for the day).

Now I just have to wait for my bruised tailbone to heal 😬😬😂

Today was my anniversary, I’ve been working for Clarity Wealth Development for 6 months!! I am so incredibly grateful that I made the switch and that Kim and Kay Dee were willing to give me this opportunity! It has been super fun, and such a better fit for my family. Since I didn’t have much of an idea what my job would be when I took it, here’s an update on what I do. Though my position is technically Paraplanner, I get to do all sorts of different things.

I do Paraplanner work, like doing Roth conversions/RMD distributions/IRA contributions. And monitoring a lot of things firm wide, to make sure everyone who needs to do beneficiary RMDs or who wants to contribute to their IRA does.

I also do a ton of operations work, which, it turns out, I really love. So I work with the rest of the team to determine what they want our work to look like, then I get to implement a lot of the processes and systems to make that happen. And when there are errors or issues or when advisors have an idea, I get to dig into it and figure out what’s going on, what we want to happen, and how to make it work right.

I’m also the second advisor in meetings with some clients, and I end up doing extra meetings and support for clients who need assistance or support with their budget and other financial topics. And now that I will be able to give investing advice (since I recently passed my series 65 exam), I’ll get to take a more active role with clients as well!

Some of you know that I didn’t actually intentionally leave higher education and move into the financial planning field, it just kind of happened. But I’m so glad it did!! And now that it’s been 6 months, I’m about to contribute to my first 401k (I’ve only ever had a 403b and a 457) and also receive my first matched retirement funds (I did receive contributions towards my pension before, but never actually a match).

I’m looking forward to see what will happen in the next 6 months!

I asked my 6 year old last week what kind of Valentine’s Day family tradition we should start. After first suggesting going to the Awesome Indoor Park (when I explained this needs to be something we can do on a school day), she came up with the idea of each of us writing a letter to each other. And since that doesn’t involve money or food, I decided it was a pretty good idea.

So I spent like 3 days creating each of them a rainbow-esque heart (coloring takes a surprising amount of time!) card. Then I wrote out some things for each but found I didn’t give myself enough space on the card to write it all. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Happy Valentine’s Day!! I hope you’re enjoying your day with your loved ones… and ideally not spending more than you budgeted for at least!

I’d love to hear about your Valentine’s Day traditions!

When I completed my master’s degree in 2015 I thought I was done with education and tests… I literally had 1 test in my entire degree!

Turns out the joke was on me, since I ended up leaving higher education last year and now I’m working within the financial planning space (where they seem to like tests).

So I’m very excited and relieved to share that yesterday I passed the Series 65 test! 🥳😅🎉💃🏻🙌🏼

[This test means that in a month, assuming they don’t find anything wrong with my application, I’ll be able to give “investing advice” under the supervision of Clarity (still not in my business though).]

I’m not entirely sure what’s in store for me next with Clarity Wealth Development or Intentional Money Life but I’m excited to figure it out! ❤️

I'm super excited about this newest offer, because I've already had people go through this whole course and I know it was impactful on them. Now I'm opening up a section of that course for people to do FOR FREE!!!

This is for you if you (any of the below):
- still think that investing is gambling
- you're interested in investing but it seems scary
- you're wanting to get started investing but afraid you'll make a mistake
- you are investing but you aren't sure if you're doing it well or not
- are unsure about the idea of investing but would like to learn more
- have been working hard to pay off debt and are not sure what the next step will be
- have disposable income that you could put towards your future goals
- opened a Roth IRA but aren't sure if you're actually investing inside of it
- contribute to your work-offered 401k or 403b but don't really know much about investing
- just got a new job that offers a 401k and this is all new and scary
- would like to one day become "work optional" and gain time freedom
- have kids that you want to teach more about money than you were ever taught
- don't want to have to work until you're 85

You can sign up at intentionalmoneylife.com/leveluppreview (or find the link in my bio)

There’s still lots of cool sessions happening in this free virtual summit! (Including mine on Friday!) You can still sign up at: https://jenesisrose.com/summit/