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Dan Slagle  00:00

What would make me feel more secure by the end of 2026 what financial stress do I want to reduce? My favorite is something that we use more of, like thinking about the future. Imagine it's December 2026 What do I hope to have accomplished financially? Right? So you're putting yourself in a future lens, looking back at even where you you are now, and that allows you to think, or like almost feel, what could be, what can be. I should say, I love that. So asking yourself questions like this, and then sharing your responses with with your partner.

Natalie Slagle  00:46

Welcome to Money Dates, the podcast that makes money. Conversations with your partner feel a little less taboo. I'm Natalie Slagle, a certified financial planner, and I'm joined by my husband and business partner, Dan Slagle, also a Certified Financial Planner, say Hi, Dan, hello. In each episode, we'll share honest stories and practical tips to help you and your partner feel more connected and confident on your financial journey. So grab your drink, get comfortable and join us for our money. Dates. Happy New Year.

Dan Slagle  01:18

Dan, Happy New Year. Natalie, how was your holiday vacation?

Natalie Slagle  01:24

Well, you know how it was? Because you were there for most, if not all of it. It was great. Lots of wonderful time spent with our daughter and my mom was in town. But as the listeners will soon hear, or if they haven't caught it already, we

Dan Slagle  01:41

got a cough. Tis this season, right? It's not

Dan Slagle  01:45

not just a cough. It was probably a flu, a cold, a culmination of all three, cough, cold, flu. So I have met with three to four different people. Have asked everyone how their holiday break was. Literally, everyone I have talked to has been like, yeah, I have a cough. I have just been sick for the last two weeks. I'm like, Okay, it's not just me. It's just the season of the year, the season of life. We didn't have childcare for two weeks. I'm not going to blame our daughter, but there's probably some truth into why you and I are both feeling under the weather today while we're recording.

Natalie Slagle  02:18

I'm glad that she wasn't as sick as we are. And it was funny, because I went to the doctor yesterday because I was like, gosh, I can't kick this cough. It's been two weeks. And when I got in there, I was like, I have been coughing for two weeks. Like, I was kind of nervous, because, you know, maybe it's something really serious. And the doctor's response was, two weeks, that's it. And I was like, What do you mean? That's it. This is the longest I've ever been sick in my entire life. And you respond with that. It no sympathy. She was like, Oh, you might have a long cough. This could be four to four to eight weeks. I was like, What is life? I just I can't right now.

Dan Slagle  02:56

So look and looking at us right now. It like, it literally, Natalie, it appears that you and I have been locked inside the house for the last two weeks, because not only are we both sick, but we are literally dressing the same. What's going on today? For those of you who can't see we're wearing both wearing gray sweaters, and I believe blue undershirt, collared undershirts. Oh, yours is white. Okay, the camera makes the tint seem a little blue, so there is some variation there.

Natalie Slagle  03:24

Didn't you know that the more you dress like your partner, the more you love them. It's like a study that's just, there's no

Dan Slagle  03:31

study that's just, literally, every time I dress first and you copy what I'm wearing,

Natalie Slagle  03:37

I made it up, but I do feel, I feel like there's, there's got to be some truth to it. Okay, Dan, before we get in today's show, which is a really important show, I really hope that you all listen to it to have some good takeaways and then have some conversations with with your partner or yourself regarding the intentional money goals for 2026 but before we get into it, if you have been listening to our podcast. Could you just take 15 seconds and give us a rating on whatever platform you're using that would mean the world to us? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Take 15 seconds give us a rating. I hope it's a good one. And yeah, well, let's jump right in, Dan. So today we're going to talk about intentional money goals and what's worth aiming for in 2026 Where do you want to start? There's a lot to uncover. Yeah, well, I mean goals. I I know some people that hear the word goals and they like, shriek, or they, you know, they're like, oh, goals, whatever. And I don't blame them, because most goals, right, they don't survive past February. And I know that there's, like, some stats, you know, there's all these stats about when the financial goal drops. And I thought it was neat, because when I was looking, I was trying to find a stat for this, but Strava, the running app that you. Use, I don't, I don't know what happens on Strava, but like, I know, it's a running app that you use, and a bunch of you runners out there use, they identified the second Friday in January as quitters day. That's when most people abandon their financial goal. And so this Friday, January 9, is quitters day. So hello to all my quitters out there.

Dan Slagle  05:23

I'm surprised. It's almost the second Friday in January already. It is the ninth, so it's still pretty early on and in the month in the new year. I'm a new user to Strava, like within the past few months, so I'm still getting used to the platform, yeah, but they must have, they must have the data to support this, I bet because, because they have the, you know, they keep track of, they have all my data and unfortunately, unfortunately, of and it can help me become a better runner. It's not just a running app, so, you know, Natalie, it's more of a activity type app you can record hiking, walking, cycling, swimming, the data like they have, they must have really good data, because it probably tracks how many people are coming onto their platform using the platform, and then where the fall off occurs.

Natalie Slagle  06:17

Yeah. So happy quitters day on Friday, January, 9, everybody. So why are people quitting their goals? Whether it's a physical goal, financial goal, whatever it may be, they're too vague. They could be borrowed from someone you spoke with, something you saw on social media. There's too many goals, and you don't really have a system in place. There's no willpower things like that. So today, we want to kind of focus, obviously, on the financial goal side. But you know what it would take to be successful in creating a financial goal setting, intention and and seeing it through in 2026 and I just don't like the idea of creating a financial goal, or any kind of goal on January 1, you know, like this goal could take a month or two just to create, and then you're working on it for the rest of the year. So, and I think around the intentionality, it should take time to think about what's important to focus your energy and money in 2026 so

Dan Slagle  07:27

rather than like what you're saying is, rather than at the end of like December 31 rather than waking up and saying, oh, I need to create new goals for the for 2026 right? Some of these goals take time to to develop

Natalie Slagle  07:40

Exactly, exactly so. And the reason why it takes time is because there needs to be intention, and for you and I, or if you are operating in a household where you need to have another conversation about the goal, you need to find the time to have the conversation. So I just want to give grace to everyone out there that it takes it should take time. Like, you should not have your goal set and made by January 1, because the thoughts need to occur. They're writing it down in the conversation. So when it comes to creating an intentional goal, like, what does that actually mean? I have some filters that you all can use. But Dan, do you have anything to add before I go into the filters of what an intentional goal actually means?

Dan Slagle  08:29

Well, I think an intentional goal should really be aligned with a lot of different areas of of your life, right? It should be, there should be alignment with your goals to your values,

Natalie Slagle  08:43

individually, collectively. If you're setting household goals together, maybe with your partner, your your family, you also need to consider now, I would say, consider what season of life you're in, right? That's going to be really important. Give yourself like you just said, give yourself some grace where needed, depending on what you're going through in the moment. And also, I would say, once you say like the other one is like, the numbers right? Exactly, exactly. So let's break down each of those individually so we have the values filter. Well, I really want to talk about your financial goals. So because, well, yeah, you are a massive goal setter. You you write your goals out and you hit them every year. So much so you're so good at your goals that this year you told me, because we had a nice getaway just the two of us. Thank you to Nana for watching our baby while we had some time to celebrate our relationship together. But you had told me, what was it? It was like you were like, I write down my goals, and I hit them every year. It makes me think that I should do something different, and I it's just kind. Of comical, because I'm like, You're doing what most people can't do or are unable to do, because they write down the goal and then they forget about it, but you write it down and and you're able to, like, look back. I just think your system is really cool. I don't want to go into it yet. I just had to put you on the hot seat and and share how, like, that's just a really cool thing you do, but I would like you to share at some point today, you know how, why does that work so well for you, and maybe some takeaways for us, for us measly folks who don't, who don't do what you do.

Dan Slagle  10:33

But first of all, no one here is measly. Second of all, I write down my goals, and even if I hit my goals, there's a camp of the world that would say you're not supposed to hit all the goals that you write down, right, right, right? And you've even come out and said, Well, maybe you should challenge yourself a little bit more and come up with a goal that you might not hit, right? And and for me, it's that's, that's always hard, because I tend to probably dwell on not reaching or accomplishing a certain goal that I set out. Do you want me to talk about it now? Or do you want to Okay? Oh, okay,

Natalie Slagle  11:10

not yet. Okay. Let's go into the three filters when it comes to having intentionality behind a goal. So the first one you mentioned was the values filter. So what do you care most about now? So I would like you to answer this right now when it comes to a financial goal, and don't think about the goal specifically in this moment, but think about finances and the decisions that we're making with our finances in 2026 what is a value of yours that feels really important right now. And some examples could be security, freedom, experiences, flexibility, like, what is the value of yours for your finances in 2026

Dan Slagle  11:51

You're putting me on the spot. I haven't thought about this at all when you laid out some examples to me, the first one that comes to mind is flexibility, and we've talked a lot about our pending, impending home purchase, and that whole dilemma, I'll call it, and for us to finally have a decision, I am looking forward to a little bit more flexibility where our dollars can be used to even cover certain expenses that we didn't intend for in 2026 that just might Come up, right? Whether it's an emergency or treating ourselves a little bit more. I think flexibility also goes hand in hand with for me, at least with experiences. So thinking about the the travel that we have planned for 2026 Right? Like a lot of these things, these experiences, the flexibility to have time with our daughter in 2026 those are the things that stand out to me more so than like, feeling a sense of well, I guess like you, I think you said security and freedom. I'm like all of these values, because these are all values of mine. They're like, all intertwined. It's like hard to separate each one, because when I talk about experiences, I'm talking about freedom, flexibility and having the security to do so, right? But like so if I think

Natalie Slagle  13:07

about most, most, most, most, I'll go back

Dan Slagle  13:11

to and say flexibility for all the reasons that I just shared. Great.

Natalie Slagle  13:16

This is when you now ask me, ooh,

Dan Slagle  13:20

I feel like we're teenagers and you're teaching me like how to interact socially.

Natalie Slagle  13:24

We're on a date. I ask you a question, and then you respond, saying, now I would like to hear

13:31

from you.

Dan Slagle  13:32

Okay, let me practice this. Natalie, okay. Natalie, what do you care most about right now?

Natalie Slagle  13:38

I care most about self care in 2026

Natalie Slagle  13:47

and I know that I have put self care not on the back burner. I think I do a pretty good job of leaning into what my needs are, but I've never prioritized it above all else, and what I'm what I have learned as a friend, as a daughter, as a mother, as a wife, is that the better I take care of myself, the better I am as everything else you know, all the other roles in my life. And so I want to prioritize that when it comes to financial decisions, and that flexibility, security, those are all also important. Like, kind of how you said, like, there's all these other things that also still matter. But the most, the thing that I've been really trying to go into the new year with is thinking, like, more about my about my self care, and I think that's hard to say as a as a mother, as a wife, as a business owner, as someone who has all these clients, like to say, like the most important thing financially for me to focus on in 2026 is myself, but I'm going to do it, and I'm going to say it, and I'm not going to apologize for it. So here, no one's asking you to go, no. I know my like, inner female makeup is like, oh, you know, you can't self care. You can't prioritize yourself at the tippy top. But there's barriers I'm breaking in this moment. So yeah, that is a values filter of mine is, you know, does this financial purchase, does this financial decision support my self care needs. And a part of my self care needs, you know, is like having a really great family life. And so it, you know, it's not all this only about Natalie, but yeah, so that's my response with that. I love it. I love it. Yeah, I'm excited. So let's talk about the next filter, Season of Life. Filter, this is so important. This is so important. I think about all the conversations we have with our clients, and such a great reminder for us. But where are you at in your season of life? Are you a new parent? Have you just gone through a career transition. Have you just started a business? Did you just sell a business? Are you about to retire in five years? All of these different stages of life mean so many things financially, and that means you could have more or less resources to fit around your financial goal

Dan Slagle  16:24

that is so important to recognize, and we try to acknowledge that for our clients all the time, but even just acknowledging it with yourself, right like because at the end of the day, your goals should reflect Your own capacity to hit those goals and not comparison to the rest of the world, right? I think you talked about a little earlier on in the episode, where a lot of our goals sometimes tend to come from sources that just aren't in the same period of life that we are, right? So like, if it's a fitness goal, and you follow a fitness influencer, for example, well, what is their capacity like to go to the gym, to do their workouts, to record it on Strava? Whatever it may be, we need to take that into consideration. It's so important and honestly like and kudos bless the people who are in multiple stages of what we just described, right? There are people we know, you and I have been through it where you're going through a period of being new parents, while also grieving, while also just recovery from burnout and building a business like that was us in 2024 our daughter was born? Yeah, yes. So, you know, like, again, don't want to just say it until it doesn't stick, but just give yourself some grace in actually setting out to achieve what is or what could be possible.

Natalie Slagle  17:55

Yeah, I've had this goal of in my head for so long. And you know this Dan that I've said, I want each of us to max out our 401, case. So for 2026 that's $24,500 so that's $49,000 in 2026 and I've just, I've kind of felt like, Oh, we're not maxing out our 401, case.

Dan Slagle  18:17

Like, like, it's just kind of irked at me a little bit, and I'm like, we, we're

Natalie Slagle  18:23

paying the most we're ever going to pay in daycare, unless we have two kids and two daycare costs. But we're just not in a like, we're just in an expensive part of life. And I don't know if that is a season of life or if this is a season of life where that's going to happen. And so it just it has. It's been this goal that has been sitting in my mind of like, every year that goes by. I'm like, Oh, we didn't get to do it this year. And again, I'm kind of comparing, because I, you know, we have clients who do have young kids who are in their mid to upper 30s or older who are maxing out their 401, K and I'm like, oh, maybe we should, and that's not that's just not fair, and their situation is different than ours. And so I appreciate you bringing up the non comparison, because I it can get in my head, and I need to just recognize where we're at in our season of life, and then just also in our own very personal and unique financial journey. Yeah. So the last filter to go through is the numbers filter. So what do you think about that?

Dan Slagle  19:26

Dan, the numbers filter? So we're talking about, I think what you're getting at with the numbers filter is talking about what you have, like, accessible to you from a financial standpoint,

Natalie Slagle  19:38

exactly what's realistic. You can't just say I'm gonna save $100,000 like the numbers have to support whatever the intentional goal that you have, right?

Dan Slagle  19:48

So you need to better understand your income, what income looks like for the year. You need to understand your expenses, or your fixed obligations, debt, cash reserves, right? Like, all of this works in unison. To potentially help you

Dan Slagle  20:01

achieve one of those goals. Yeah, and

Natalie Slagle  20:05

this is where we come in with our clients. So we kind of help lay out, hey, that this is numbers. This is what's realistic. It's it's really up to our clients to go through the values, the Season of Life filter. And then we help support our clients, discuss what can be done realistically through the lens of the numbers and making the finances work.

Dan Slagle  20:32

Yeah, and I think with with this filter, what's most important is, even before we set out a goal is like taking a financial inventory. I'll call it of some of these items, right? Like understanding what your individual or your household income is. Again, we talked about expenses, debt, obligation, cash reserve. So it's knowing, like what is in my toolbox that I have at disposal for some of these goals that we want to set intentionally in the upcoming year.

Natalie Slagle  20:59

Exactly, exactly. So let's talk about, you know, we're kind of working our way towards, like, okay, having these financial goal conversations. So let's talk about what is realistic. You know, how to make it a realistic financial goal. And everybody remembers from what is it, middle school or high school, the whole SMART goal, that's okay, but we have found there's these six different items that can help support a realistic financial goal, and ideally you hit four of the six.

Dan Slagle  21:37

I think what we've done is to give the SMART acronym credit is these are more so goals, kind of using the smart system, but more so making it financially related

Natalie Slagle  21:49

Exactly, exactly. So the first one is, we have to be specific. So there's a big difference between I want to save more versus I want to save $10,000 in addition to my emergency fund. Obvious like, be specific, the second one is time bound. So you know, we're talking about 2026 so in by the end of 2026 so roughly a 12 month period, I would like to save an additional $10,000 so there's a time bound, there's all you know, there's also time can have a really big impact. I don't want to go past that, because a three year financial goal is very different than a 12 month, which is very different than a, you know, by June, six months. So having that time and agreeing on that time is really, really important. Okay, so this is when we get to more of the financial aspects. So the next, so we have specific time bound the next is cash flow supported. So this is a big part of what we do with our clients, is we evaluate cash flow, because we want to know, Is there room in your cash flow to support this plan, this goal that we're creating? Is there room for this plan? So a lot of our clients, they might want to set more funds aside for college savings. And it's like, great, we want to set more. Well, how much more? And, oh, I want to do $500 a month. It's like, okay, we need to go to the cash flow to see, do you have an extra $500 a month? And maybe you don't have it on a monthly basis, but you are have a bonus that could support it. So whatever it may be, the

Dan Slagle  23:33

next one is behavior based, so focusing on what you'll what you can do, like micro actions, versus like the final outcome, right? So, rather than a goal of like, for example, I want to save $6,000 to a 529 account. Maybe we can work backwards and say, can we automate $500 per month to get to that $6,000 goal? So just like building these like micro habits to get the same end result, but do it systematically over time? Like, how much can you tolerate this goal? Like, if it's draining, it's as if it's causing, like, certain feelings, like internal feelings about reaching a goal, if it's bringing up some maybe, like, bad memories, whatever it may be, or bad trauma. When it comes to household finances, like, is it worth it? And the likelihood is, if you're getting some bad feelings about a goal and it's causing this constant struggle or worry, it probably won't last. Is my guess

Natalie Slagle  24:34

with that goal, this is where I want to bring back up my whole like, oh, I need to max out my 401, k, because I see other people do that and you and it's like it kept causing me this, not deprivation, not anxiety, but this, like FOMO almost, or like, like, disappointment. That's the word. It was causing me disappointment every year. And it like, that's why I'm like, be gone. Be gone. 401, k max. Goal, because you are not emotionally tolerable. So thanks for sharing that one. Danilar, Miss. Expelliarmus, okay, what's the last one?

Dan Slagle  25:09

The last one? What is the last one? We've gone through five so, oh, I got it. Trade off. Acknowledge, right? So every goal crowds out something else. So a realistic goal names at the end of the day, what you are not doing this year or what you are not focusing on. So understand, when you set a goal, there are going to be trade offs to potentially other competing interests, right? Like that's going to be really important to remember, if you have a goal of, hey, I want to build my savings back up to 20,000 Well, you might not be able to take a certain vacation. That is like an impromptu trip with a friend, right? Because you have competing interests at hand. So just be aware of that.

Natalie Slagle  25:56

Yeah, and I think acknowledging that as a couple is so important. Hey, we we've decided that we are going to pay off our auto loan this year. We're going to put extra funds towards it, and so that might mean we're not saving as much to our brokerage account in 2026 and just acknowledging that and taking a second to like, say it verbally to each other, and be like, yes, we are all in alignment so that by November, if one of you are like, Man, I wish we put more in the brokerage account this year, the market's up a ton, and we didn't. It's like, no, no, no, no, remember, we already acknowledged the trade off that was agreed upon. Move on, not move on. But you know what I mean? Okay, the last thing we want to bring up is, you know, how many financial goals should you have in 2026 and there's no, there's no, like, perfect amount. Obviously, you don't want it to be overwhelming, but we'd like to make sure we're, we're almost like, focusing on one primary goal and then maybe having some additional goals that support it, and then finally, a maintenance goal. So let me give you an example. So a primary goal could be, I want to take my cash savings from 50,000 to 100,000 so I'm going to increase it, double it, and then I'm going to have some supporting goals. So pause extra investing, because I'm taking what would have gone into the brokerage account to now beefing up my cash account, and maybe this is cutting some of the expenses in order to do this. So that's a supporting goal. And then the maintenance is while this is all happening, and supporting the primary goal of taking my cash from 50 to 100 I'm going to maintain my retirement plan contributions like that's still in full force, and maybe you're maxing it out. Maybe you're doing 10 to 15% just maintain that. So as you can see, there's still a lot of amazing things happening in this example, all these different financial things happening. But the primary focus, the primary intention is to take the cash goal from 50 to 100 and again, like the primary goal could, could be the retirement savings. It could be something different, but making sure you're in alignment with what that that primary goal is, the supporting goals, and then the maintenance behind it, is important. So Dan, I think we should end the show talking about the, maybe an exercise to get people, couples started with how to just, even just start this conversation around financial in intentionality in 2026 maybe even some goal setting.

Dan Slagle  28:39

So I had a great I just had a great conversation with the client earlier today, and we asked some of these intentional questions to them in advance of our first meeting of the year. And they said they spent some they spent a night, not a whole night, but at a bar, talking about it while they while they had some child care

Natalie Slagle  28:58

they did. That makes me so happy, and I know who you met with, so that makes me even happier, because I love that for them, they have lots of littles, and so they deserve a night away.

Dan Slagle  29:10

To your point, I'm really happy that they had this conversation, they stepped away, and they were so excited to share their responses to me. So I think what where this could start is like each part partner could think about some of these questions like privately. So even before you share them with your partner and you start riffing off of each other, of like, what do we want to set in on for for the coming year, 2026, in this example, you need to first before you go to that conversation. You need to be prepared of what is really important to you, so maybe asking a question to yourself, like, what would make me feel more secure by the end of 2026 what financial stress do I want to reduce? My favorite is something that we use more of, like thinking about the future and. Like, imagine it's December 2026 like, what do I hope to have accomplished financially? Right? So you're putting yourself in a future lens, looking back at even where you you are now, and that allows you to think, or, like, almost feel, what could be, what can be. I should say I love that. So asking yourself questions like this, and then sharing your responses with

Dan Slagle  30:27

with your partner, right? And then once you've done that,

Natalie Slagle  30:32

we really advocate for transparency and like working together on your finances and your financial plan and so creating at least one shared financial goal together and write down, you know, what's the amount, what's the monthly action? You can take what you're saying no to, and just keep it simple for now, you can go back and, you know, to what we were talking about before, with the, you know, the six realistic ways to create a financial goal. But I think just keeping it, you know, like a light and airy conversation, is going to be really, really important for this. So let's wrap this up some key takeaways for everybody listening is progress beats perfection. Realistic goals really compound. It's amazing work with working with our clients who are might be a generation ahead of us, a couple decades older than us, and seeing all of their small financial goals and what it led them to at retirement. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Consistency is a more is the most impressive, right being consistent and not focusing on the intensity, but on the consistency. And one thing that that I have really appreciated, you know, as we've been operating our business now for for a few years, is that a boring financial year is often a really, really successful one. So Happy New Year, everybody. We're really, really excited for the podcast coming your way in 2026 Which reminds me, we want to start having some guests on the show. I think I've talked about this before, and we are going to open up to our audience. If you're a listener and you want to be a guest on our show, could you please email us? And you're going to email us with our financial planning firm. So it's just hello at Fuse, financial.com so that's Hello at F, y, O, O, Z, financial.com and we just love to hear from you. Maybe you have a unique financial experience. Maybe you and your multi generational family are really good at talking about money, and you want to share about that. You want to share how you have those conversations. Maybe you have an inheritance, or you got an inheritance and it made you feel a certain way. Maybe you and your partner commingled your bank assets and you figured out, oh my gosh, this does not work, and you unwound it all. We want to hear about it. So if you have a story or you just want to be on our show, could you please email us hello@fusefinancial.com we look forward to hearing from you in the new year, and I look forward to having more of these episodes with you.

Dan Slagle 33:07

Dan, I do too. Natalie, thank you. Thanks.

Dan Slagle  33:12

Hey. If you've enjoyed this episode and are looking for personalized financial guidance, schedule a free complimentary consultation using the link in the description below, Natalie and Dan Slagle are the founding partners of Fyooz Financial Planning, a registered investment advisor. The information provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. Advisory services are offered to clients or prospective clients where Fyooz Financial Planning and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. For more information, including our disclosures, please visit our website@www.fyoozfinancial.com www.fyoozfinancial.com.