Emergency Fund Done? Here’s EXACTLY How to Start Investing (Beginner Guide)

You’ve built your emergency fund… now what? 

If you’re ready to start investing but feel overwhelmed by choices like index funds, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, and taxes, this episode breaks it all down in a simple, practical way.

In this conversation, we go beyond basic budgeting and dive into how to actually grow your money, build long-term wealth, and make smarter financial decisions based on your goals, values, and lifestyle.

You’ll learn why diversification matters, how index funds reduce risk, and how to think about investing in a way that aligns with both your financial future AND personal values.

⏱ What You’ll Learn in This Video
✅ What to do after building your emergency fund
 ✅ Why index funds are one of the best beginner investments
 ✅ The importance of diversification (don’t put all your eggs in one basket)
 ✅ How to choose investments based on your risk tolerance & goals
 ✅ The truth about 401(k)s, taxes, and retirement withdrawals
 ✅ Why a Roth IRA can be a powerful wealth-building tool
 ✅ How taxes impact your long-term investment strategy
 ✅ The role of insurance (life & disability) in protecting your finances
 ✅ Why investing should align with your values, not just numbers

💡 Key Takeaway
Saving money creates stability… but investing is what creates freedom.
Your savings account protects you, your investments build the life you actually want.

🎙 Featured Guests
Dr. Constance Craig-Mason, MRFC®, NSSA® CEO, Concierge Financial Advisory | Founder, Money Talks Movement 
🌐 https://www.conciergefg.com/
  / ccraigmason  

Laura Pesek, CFP®, CLU, ChFC Certified Financial Planner & Fiduciary 
🌐 https://rosefinancialassociates.com/
  / laura-pesek-cfp%c2%ae-clu-chfc-a8b76517  

🖤 Join the Luxie Community 
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🎙 Listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/69pekqC... 
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Transcript

What To Do After Savings

Erica Rawls 0:00

So after the emergency fund, then what are we talking about? Investing. Where would you recommend investing? I know you can't give a lot of investment, you know.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Yeah, yeah.

Advisors Match Risk To Timeline

SPEAKER_02 0:09

So if I I often do a talk on the seven strings of income and assets to build wealth. So if I could say anything, it would be indexes. And you might agree with me. So indexes are a way for you not to put all your eggs in one basket, as the old timers would say. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. But what they really mean is don't just invest in one stock company per se. Even if they're household names and you're very familiar with these brands, that is an example of just putting one dollar into that particular company. We they they perform every day on the market. However, when you're thinking about it, it's like you can't control what the CEO does, you can't control what products they roll out, or you don't have anything to do with what decisions are being made. And so when we start to see volatility in that company, it could be industry related, it could be something that they're doing company-wide, and you don't want to see all your eggs go down just because you're you're not actively involved in the management of what these companies are doing. So indexes allow you to participate in the market per se from the aspect of being in different industry sectors all at once. You can be um more diverse, different size of companies, different size of companies, different um indexes, right? And so when we're thinking about whether it's$5 or$3,000 that you can put into something like that, it allows you to be somewhat um diverse in what you're spending on. And then you don't even have to be the expert of what companies should I put my money in. If you have what they call an investment advisor, um, someone who's licensed in investments, then they can help you to figure out not just what is gonna get you growth, but they could help you figure out, well, what is your comfort level? Right. If and when this index or the market changes.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah.

Invest Based On Your Values

SPEAKER_02 2:14

So they'll ask you a myriad of questions to learn, yes, what's your timeframe for needing to use this money? Maybe it's 20 years out. So that gives them an idea of how aggressive you can be with your investments. Yeah. And it will also give them an idea of like, what's your interest? Because there's even something called um investing in your values. Where if you're someone who's like, hey, I don't want to put my money in um what they call sin stocks, you know, things that have to do with tobacco or um uh artillery or um porn or you know, certain things that that don't align with who you are, then if you have an investment advisor, they know which of these companies support or don't support those kinds of things. So it's not just about, okay, I will I put in a certain amount and then when I'm 50, I want to see X amount of my account. That's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yeah, but it shouldn't be the only thing that's driving you when you're thinking about putting your money somewhere for the Okay, so why not? If it's okay, I want to have this X amount of money in my account when you're 50, like that's a thing, but it shouldn't be the driving force.

Retirement Goals Need Real Math

SPEAKER_02 3:23

It's not everything, it's not the whole equation. Well, I will say, because I'm a holistic investment advisor. So my perspective is I'm looking at the person that I'm talking to and what's important to them. So, yes, we've done the math and we know what you need by 50 if that's your goal. But I also want to know who are you and why does this even matter? So I'm a person that can help you to invest based on what those things are. Right. I I've talked to a lot of people who believe that, you know, I'll retire when I become eligible for social security. I'm social security advisor. Okay. And I've had people who are like, I want to retire when the math says I retire. Like my husband is retired and I'm 46. Yeah. So we are like two peas in a pie. We're everywhere together. But to that point, somebody might have that goal. Is that I want to be in my late 40s, early 50s, running around doing what I want to do. Well, you gotta make the math math for that. Right. And that the the Sabers account isn't gonna make that happen. Yeah. That's for stability and for the what ifs. Your investments are what help you to be able to create that kind of life.

Taxes Shape Your Withdrawal Plan

Roth IRA For Tax-Free Growth

Protect Income With Insurance

SPEAKER_03 4:31

That's good. You have anything you want to add? Um, and I guess too, also making sure uh along the lines of what she was saying, um, to get the um investment that aligns with your values. Um also too, it's important to talk about how is that money gonna be taxed to you, right? Um, it's not just that's not elephant making all tax money is how is that money taxed to you. So um disclosure, I'm not a CPA and not a lawyer. So when we talk about these things that relate to our business, um, we're just advising clients on ways that they can keep more money in their pockets, right? Because as you're seeing, whatever the goals are, you know, all of us grew up with putting money in 401ks. If you want to save for retirement, you should save in your 401k. And now as I'm dealing with my clients that are retired, they're they don't want to take the money out of the right now, it's because they don't want to be taxed on it, right? They want to spend the money, but they say, well, if I take this money out, I have to pay taxes on it. So it's important to know about how taxes affect your um long-term money as well. And there's always again that that scale, that balance between when do I want to take the money out, how much am I gonna pay taxes on it, where is it gonna come? Is it gonna be Social Security? Do I have a pension or not? Yeah. If I'm not someone who has a pension who's fortunate enough to have that, because as we know, the uh industry has evolved, moving away from those companies that took care of people after 34 years. Yep. You know, the the industry has changed. People don't stay at the same jobs for years like they used to, where the company gives you a pin after 30 years, here's your pension. So a lot of it has fallen on our shoulders to make sure that we are saving enough money. And and again, not only when it comes time to take that money up, how how much of that will I be able to keep? So the earlier you start and um things like again, I'm I'm not a tax professional in that way, but we do advise our clients if you're gonna start with something early, take a look at a Roth IRA. Having that money be able to grow and compound tax-free, I think is really a great investment tool for our um young folks to to take a look at. Yeah. Um, I also have a lot of background working with young um professionals, young doctors specifically. So um I in my business do um focus a lot on the protection side of it. Um, so these are things that young folks need to think about. Look at those disability insurance plans. Look at life insurance. A lot of your employers, it is um a great benefit to have those. Um, please take a look at those um benefits and and be smart about protecting yourself because a lot of the reasons why um people have run into financial difficulty is because of something like that. I had a work accident or I was in an accident and now I can't work. So now my paycheck is not coming. So just making sure you have that solid foundation of protection in place. Um, we all are gonna have something happen at some point. We're all not living forever. Right. Um, so having those very basic plans in place. Um, and then on uh when it comes to retirement, making sure that you have the right mix between um risk and safety. And what does that mean to you?

Sponsor Shoutout And Subscribe

Erica Rawls 8:01

Because we're all different. That was good, right? So good. You can watch the full episode here. And did you know this episode was sponsored by Rob Shaw, Austin Insurance guy? You know why he's so good? He's no, he's that good. It's because I use them. I use them on our real estate properties, investment properties, and I think you should use them too. So do me a favor, go click on here so you can watch the full episode. And then by the way, subscribe. We would love to have you