How To Start Investing Early And Build Real Wealth

If you could send one money message back in time, what would you say and would you actually follow it? We sit down for a personal conversation about the financial lessons Jason Taylor wishes he had locked in earlier, and the small decisions that can change your entire money trajectory. From first investments to first real paychecks, we get honest about what helps most when you are trying to build wealth without feeling deprived.

We talk about investing early, why being too conservative when you are young can limit long-term growth, and how time and consistency beat perfect timing. Jason shares how he started looking at stocks as a kid, then fast-forwards to a bold early adult move: buying a home sooner by renting rooms to friends so the rent helps cover the mortgage. We also dig into a practical higher-education strategy for lowering student loan pressure, including the community college transfer path and the key detail many people miss: confirming credits will transfer. 

From there, we zoom out to the core habits that make “financial wellness” real: an emergency fund sized to your life stage, living within your means even when lifestyle upgrades tempt you, and building multiple income streams in today’s gig economy. We wrap with parenting and financial literacy, plus a funny reminder about sneaky recurring costs like memberships you pay for but rarely use. If you want clearer budgeting, smarter saving, and a calmer relationship with money, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the best financial advice you would give your younger self.

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Transcript

Welcome To My Pocket FP

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to My Pocket FP, the podcast where your wallet finally meets its financial planner and they actually get along. Join your host Jason Taylor, certified financial planner, money sensei, and your guide to financial freedom. Whether you're planning for retirement or just trying to figure out where all your money went last weekend, we've got you covered. Get ready to take control of your financial life with smart tips, surprising insights, and yes, an app that fits right in your pocket. This is My Pocket FP, because your future deserves more than guesswork.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Join us for a personal look at the financial lessons Jason wishes he'd known earlier and how they can help you today. Welcome back. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer here with Jason Taylor, certified financial planner and creator of My Pocket FP. Jason, thanks for joining us and sharing some stories. Um we're interested to dig into this one.

Advice To A Younger Self

SPEAKER_00 1:09

If you could go back in time, what financial advice would you give your younger self?

SPEAKER_02 1:15

You know, it's kind of funny. Um I like a lot of things I did financially, and there's some things that I could have done better, of course, just like all of us when we look back in our lives. One thing, you know, starting early, I would definitely recommend, which I did do. The one thing I didn't do is I was more conservative when I was younger uh than I think I should have been as far as the investments I bought into. Um instead of you know buying into Apple and some of those, you know, techie stocks, I was buying Wendy's and banks and safer investments, which did well, but I could have done a lot better with the things that were up and coming, the growth stocks.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

That's pretty good though, that you were investing. At what age did you start looking at the stock market?

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Uh fifth grade.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Oh, wow, that's awesome. So you were pretty good at budgeting then. Is it safe to say as a young adult when you became 18 and older?

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yeah, I'm a third generation accountant. Um, and my dad did a good job explaining to me how money worked, and um, he helped me actually buy actual stocks when I was in fifth grade. So um, you know, that's you know another thing is you know, dads out there should really uh encourage

Starting Stocks In Fifth Grade

SPEAKER_02 2:30

our kids and help their kids uh get investing early.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

And in the previous episode, too, you mentioned that you took that extra step when you were renting. I don't know if this was during college, but you had a place, but you rented out rooms to your uh friends. When

Buying A House With Roommates

SPEAKER_00 2:47

was that? And how did you even think of doing that?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So I believe it was my senior year in college, I had read Rich Dad, Poor Dad uh by Robert Kiyosaki. And it was all about using other people's money, was kind of the chapter that uh got me interested in doing that. I wanted to buy a house, you know, get into the market sooner than later. Uh I didn't quite have the money myself month to month to pay for it. Uh, so I you know started talking to friends saying, hey, what are you paying in rent? Uh, and get an idea of you know how much I could get rent-wise, and found out that it would cover the mortgage I could qualify for. I had saved up enough for a small down payment. Uh it was, I think, like a 5% down payment at the time. And then I, you know, I've shocked my friends and they said yes, we if you bought a house, we'd move into it. I move forward with it.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Yeah, that's great. That's

Community College Then Transfer

SPEAKER_00 3:40

great. You had the foresight. I had another question too, because I'm hearing this more often now, and maybe that's because of the the skill sets and the jobs that are more popular now. But a lot of people say, hey, and I I think you might have even touched on this, is like it it might be worth it to a community college or a very local school, you know, after high school, and then transfer to the school where you want to graduate. Um, what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Exactly. And you know, it's I think it's a great idea for anyone to do that, especially the first two years. And when you're doing your algebras and your basic, you know, courses, uh, you know, your level 101 courses in most colleges, the key is to make sure they do transfer. When I transferred schools, I know some of the credits actually didn't transfer over. So that would be something you'd want to look into to make sure you're not wasting your money. Um, but if you stay within the same state, usually going from community college to a uh state college, it's not a problem at

Build Multiple Income Streams

SPEAKER_02 4:36

all.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

And then when you think back to like your early career, um what's one financial habit that you wish you started sooner? Like this is post-college and now you're working full-time.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Right. Um, my other advice, you know, always have, especially nowadays with a gig economy, it's so much easier to have more than one stream of income. Um, and that's something, you know, I wish I would start a little earlier. Um, I did do that when I reached out and started selling insurances and things outside of the accounting world. But that's a place where I think a lot a lot of young people, you know, you don't just have it have to have a nine to five job nowadays. Uh with the internet, it's a lot easier to have more than one source of income.

Emergency Fund Rules Of Thumb

SPEAKER_00 5:19

And then the emergency fund that you spoke about time to time, what is the difference there? Like how much do you think could be set aside, you know, in your 20s versus you know, when you're older and now you have a house with a roof that could uh might need to be replaced versus an emergency fund when you're a single person in your 20s?

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Exactly. Yeah, when you have ownership, you definitely need to have more. Uh, we'll start with your initial question. When you're in your 20s and just starting out, you basically need a couple months of income between jobs to cover. Um, and most likely, you know, car repairs and things like that as well are good to have on hand. Each person that's always different, but it's good to have a you know, six months of you know, salary as a base level and then some good money set aside for car repairs. Uh once you get a little longer, you need to think of the worst case scenario. You know, what if this happened to my house and this happened to my car and I lost my job all once? Is a good way to start with your emergency savings.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Well, that just uh grew exponentially.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

And then what do you think about being financially

What Financially Well Means

SPEAKER_00 6:30

well? How would you describe that to yourself, the younger Jason? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_02 6:37

The way I look at it, it's having enough money to where you're not stressing every month and you're able to do the things you want to do when things come up.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

And it seems like savings is always a challenge, especially when you're at that age where you're transitioning in life from whether it's a trade school or college or whatever it is into, you know, day-to-day life. And now you're

Saving While Upgrading Lifestyle

SPEAKER_00 7:02

like, okay, I might need a new car and I need to rent maybe like a more adult apartment, you know, by myself and not with three roommates. How do you approach that but still save like to a younger person? How do you advise them? Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

What can you do? I lean a lot of other experts, you know, Dave Ramsey has his envelope system where you set aside things for expenses. You also live within your means. You know, a lot of financial planners you know stress that it's hard for younger generations to do right now. They want the nicer, newer cars, you know, they want the adult apartments. I even had roommates after I got married, we rented out our basement. It wasn't always ideal, but it paid for half our mortgage. So lifestyle decisions can really help you out.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

It's kind of like, you know, you you risk some things, but you um you put in the hard work now and you'll have an easier life later.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Is there anything else that you'd recommend then to other people? I mean, you you gave some great tips about like, you know, you're teaching I know you're teaching your kids in previous episodes. You're you know, you're teaching them about budgeting and and planning, and that's great because you know they're at an age where like what an impact that makes, and your father did that for you. So

Teaching Kids How Money Works

SPEAKER_00 8:19

it seems like you know, that's such a key message to parents to to help them plan. It's like never you say it's never too young to help your kids learn.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Because I mean that that probably definitely I would imagine put you at at an advantage just because you were, you know, this is almost like instilled in you to be responsible and to plan.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

And I know it's not quite the topic of the podcast, but you know, a big part of you know parenting is not telling your kids you don't have the money for something, but have them help in figuring out how to get the money for something. You know, if they if they wanted to, you know, like keep it easy, buy a stickers bar at the store. You say, hey, you know, we have that dollar, but how would you be able to get that dollar yourself to buy it for yourself? You kind of get them in the mindset of thinking money's not just gonna appear for things.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah, absolutely.

Funny Money Mistakes And Memberships

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And then is there anything funny you wanted to share? Like anything really funny or outlandish that you spent money on when you were younger that you like you never do today, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Like I was always very hard, like it's hard for me to spend money. I'm one of those mindsets where I don't really like spending money, so I really think about things before spending it. Um outlandish things, um probably like you know, discount programs you you pay for. I don't even know what they're called. Um, but when you basically pay for something to buy something cheaper, that was probably the the one thing that I probably didn't make the most sense, but about it when I was in my 20s.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah, they sold those things well though, they always advertise them.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

I don't even know what they're called nowadays or what companies do that, but um just those discount programs that you you pay to get a discount on something.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah, and you know, it's funny because it it feels like that's a lot of the memberships now to places like even if it's a rec center or a country club, like you pay, but then you still pay again anyway, and you already paid monthly.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

But you know, I'm glad you brought the rec center because that's one of those things that is you know a lot of times not used but paid for.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yes. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

The gym memberships and those things.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Oh my gosh, yes. That that's true. It's it's usually people say, you know, if you pay for it, then you're more likely to follow through. But the gym one, it gets challenging. Okay, well, Jason, thank you so much for sharing your personal insights and more about you know your past. We appreciate um all your time. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Thank you, Joey.

Download The App And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Thanks for tuning in to My Pocket FP, where we believe small monthly changes can make big positive changes in your financial end game. If you're ready to level up your money game, head over to mypocketfp.com and download the app today. Your financial planner is now officially pocket sized and doesn't charge by the hour. Until next time, keep your goals high, your debt low, and your pockets smart.