Money In Real Life

• Half Of Parents Help Adult Children

• How Much Should You Have In Your Emergency Fund?

• What Credit Score Should You Aim For?

• We’re Going To Save $26,400 on Taxes

Half Of Parents Help Adult Children

Kids are expensive.

And I’m not just talking about diapers, daycare, and the 50 snacks they need every time you leave the house.

More parents are still financially supporting their kids long after they become adults.

In 2025, half of parents with adult children said they had helped at least one of them financially.

And this isn’t just the occasional $20 Venmo.

Less than half of 18- to 34-year-olds say they’re completely financially independent from their parents.

And for 30- to 34-year-olds, that drops to 1/3.

One survey found parents are giving their adult kids an average of about $7,000 a year.

So here are 3 things that we did during the first year to reduce the likelihood our kid will need help when he’s an adult:

Open a 529 Plan

The avg student graduates with $40k in student loans.

But millions of people have over $100k in student loans.

We put $100/mo into this account and $500 on bdays and xmas.

Combined with the $1k Trump account he’ll have $110k for college.

Open a UTMA account

Homes are up 140% the last 25 years. 

By the time our kid is 25 the median home price will be about $1.2m.

We put $75/mo into this account by 25 he’ll have $86k as a down payment. 

Open an IRA

As a business owner I can employ our son. 

But, you can technically use the Trump Account as an IRA.

You can put $5k/ year into the account.

 at 18 you can convert the principal ($90k) to a Roth account.

Letting that money sit would give them $9m at retirement (worth $2.5m).

And doesn’t account for any gains during the first 18 years.

You teach your kids financial habits as they get older, and you leverage compound interest when they’re a baby.

How Much Should You Really Have in Your Emergency Fund?

You never know when your car is going to break down, your roof starts leaking, or an unexpected medical bill shows up.

In fact, 59% of Americans experienced at least one major unexpected expense last year.

Here were the most common surprises?

🚗 30% had a vehicle repair or replacement
🏠 22% had a home or appliance repair
🏥 21% had unexpected medical expenses

For each of those, the typical bill was between $1,000 and $2,000, although $5,000+ expenses weren't uncommon.

When Dave Ramsey says save $1k, is that really enough?

Nearly half of Americans reported some other unexpected expense costing at least $2,000.

So how much should you have saved?

The traditional advice is 3–6 months of essential expenses.

Which based on the average household expenses would be about $16k.

Which is especially important if you lose your income. I think to determine what’s right for you focus on who’s depending on your income (family = 6 months).

But you don't have to magically come up with six months of expenses overnight.

If you're starting from $0, I'd focus first on how you can cut $500-$1000 from your budget each month.

Build the foundation for saving, and you will save money. Obviously easier said than done.

As far as Dave Ramsey’s $1k advice. That alone can keep a broken phone or surprise car repair from turning into credit card debt.

But I’m a bigger fan of the Money Guy Show’s advice which suggests saving up to your max insurance deductible. So if you have a $5k healthcare deductible, that should be your baseline.

Then automate your savings, and use windfalls like tax refunds or bonuses to build the fund faster.

The goal isn't to predict every emergency.

It's to make sure the next one doesn't wreck your finances.

What Credit Score Should You Actually Aim For?

You don't need an 850 credit score to have good credit.

The average FICO score in the U.S. is around 714, which is actually a lot higher than I expected when hearing that.

But what number should you actually care about?

One useful milestone is 680. Around this point, lenders may start viewing you more favorably than someone with a lower score.

But 760 is the bigger target.

Once you reach around 760, you're generally in the range where you can qualify for the best available interest rates.

Obviously I’m not a fan of debt, so for the most part I don’t care about this.

But your credit score can impact insurance rates, employment and (as much as I want a paid off home) your mortgage - which is literally your biggest expense.

Going from 760 to 800 or 850 might make you feel good, but it probably won't make much of a difference when you're borrowing money.

So don't obsess over getting a perfect score.

Instead, if you’re trying to focus on getting a better score, there are basically two things that you can control now.

Pay your bills on time and stop using your credit card.

I know that sounds counterintuitive, but if you use all your available credit, than that lowers your score as well.

For me, I had some bad dings on my credit history and had to actually get them removed before I saw results.

Your credit score is a tool, it is in no way a trophy.

Get it to where it helps you save money, then focus on the bigger picture.

Here’s how we’re saving $26,400 in taxes this year with our business

So Katey and I both make content and have decided to merge our accounts under one business.

We elected to do an S-corp because it reduces our self employment tax.

This is in addition to what you pay working a w2 as income tax and is 15%.

With an S-corp you have your salary and your distributions.

Salary is taxed with self employment tax. Distributions are not.

Our salary that we take is $8k per month.

And we do equal distributions.

Over the course of the year that will save us about $14,400.

Additionally we set up a Solo 401k for each of us. We can contribute 25% of our salary to the 401k and then do a 100% employer match.

That means we end up putting $4k per month into the account that is 100% tax deductable.

Our taxes on that would be about 25% which saves us another $12,000 on the year. For a grand total of $26,400.

I wish I could take all the credit here, but we actually hired a CPA to help us through all of this.

Which is why I have been recommending Gelt in my newsletters the last month.

They have tax professionals that will proactively find ways to help you save money on your taxes.

Unlike CPA’s who contact you when it’s time to file, they are reaching out throughout the year as your finances evolve and change.

So if you’re self-employed and making $100k+, book a free consult with Gelt.

You could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table every year.

Check out Gelt using this link

That’s all for this week.

As always let me know if I can be helpful in any way!

Dan