Kurtis Hanni

INTRODUCTION
Happy February

I hope you had a great week. It is hard to believe the never-ending month of January is finally over.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to relaunch this newsletter with the new format. I received positive feedback which was encouraging.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, if you haven’t shared them with me. Just reply to this email.

I’m excited to share a new person with you. I first crossed paths with this person early in my Twitter journey.

I had followed his account for awhile, but got a chance to meet and interact with him during a cohort based course he co-led on Twitter growth.

The more I learned about him, the more impressed I was with not only his financial knowledge, but also who he is as a husband and dad.

Let’s dive in.

THE INTERVIEW
Meet Kurtis Hanni

Kurtis was fortunate to start with a solid foundation of financial education and knowledge. This background supported him through his undergraduate studies in accounting and career in finance, culminating in his most recent 9-5 role as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

This past year Kurtis broke free from his traditional 9-5 career and launched his fractional CFO business, with the goal of helping business owners manage their money and create the future they want.

The Early Years

Kurtis’s parents educated him on finances starting at a young age. His entrepreneurial spirit shined through as he was always looking for creative ways to earn money. This helped establish his strong work ethic.

His aunt and uncle also had a financial influence on his early years. They would gift him savings bonds each year. Kurtis didn’t appreciate these at first, but closer to middle school, he began to understand the value of these gifts.

Despite this early education and background, he, like probably many of us, didn’t take these lessons to heart in his early career. After college, he was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a home young, but did little to save.

The Turning Point

This all changed when he got married and started having to discuss finances with his new wife. With two people now making financial decisions, things became more challenging. His default had been to “just not spend.”

Kurtis set out to create a plan and work to help educate his wife. She had little prior money exposure. Through educating her, he realized he knew the basics, but not well enough to teach them. As he learned more, the path toward financial freedom became more clear.

Simple, Effective Strategy: Index Funds

Kurtis’s financial strategy is straight forward yet effective. He allocates 20-25% of his salary to index funds and does not touch them. He has learned the hard way that deviating from this strategy leads to mistakes. If he had avoided these mistakes, he would have likely left his traditional 9-5, five years earlier.

What was this big mistake?

Kurtis’s biggest mistake was being tempted by picking individual stocks and crypto. He based a lot of his decisions in this area on short-term thinking and rash decisions.

His advice is to focus on long term thinking. He acknowledges he made his mistakes when he lost focus on the long term in favor of the short term.

Long Term Focus and Planning

Kurtis emphasizes the importance of long-term focus. He has annual 5-year and 20-year planning sessions with his wife. This helps remind them they are still early in their journey, but decisions they make today, impact the long term.

He is not worried about achieving his 5 or 20 year goals, but knows by setting them, he and his wife are forced to think long term.

Everyones motivation is different, but with long term focus and a belief in yourself, you can succeed.

Kurtis’s Advice

He noted that early in his career he wishes he had been more aggressive saving money. He had opportunities to rent out rooms in his house, but didn’t take full advantage. He also spent too much on toys early on. I know I’ve done that too.

His other advice is to “hide” money from yourself. Max contributions to retirement and investment accounts. If the money is not there to spend, you can’t spend it. This allows for a strong financial foundation and forces you to live within your means.

If you want to connect with Kurtis be sure to:

• Follow him on 𝕏

• Join 20k+ business owners and leaders and Subscribe to his newsletter.

KEY LESSONS AND TAKEAWAYS
Simplicity for the win

If I am honest, I was surprised by my interview with Kurtis. I expected him to have an advanced and complex strategy for building wealth.

My biggest take away was: it doesn’t have to be complex to be effective.

Here are some additional lesson’s and takeaways I took from Kurtis’s story:

• Start financial education early: It’s too late to change our upbringing or how we were taught about money. However, as fathers, we have the ability to impact our children, nieces and nephews, etc. Here’s some tips I shared this week on 𝕏.

  Did your dad talk to you about money?

  Mine didn't.  

  In a world where schools skip the subject and credit card companies prey on the uninformed, it's on us dads to break the cycle.

  I've sifted through countless resources to find these 9 gems to help you teach your kids

  — Eric | Stage3Finance (@Stage3Finance)
  3:08 PM • Feb 2, 2024

• Focus on Long-term Goals. When it comes to finances, thinking short term often leads to looking for quick wins. It can just as easily lead to quick loses as well. Focus on the decisions you’re making to today that can have a positive impact your future.

• Keep your Investment Strategy Simple. Invest a percentage of your income consistently in low cost index funds and “forget” about them. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated.

• “Hide” money from yourself. Whether it is investments or an emergency fund, make the money as inaccessible as possible. The power of compounding only works with time.

Here’s three ways I can help you:

1. Follow me on 𝕏 for free content including tips and tricks.

2. Reply to this email with subject “Coach” to discuss my one-on-one coaching.

3. Simply reply to this email and tell me where you’re stuck or struggling with your personal finances. I’ll make future newsletters that will help you tackle those challenges and advance on your journey toward financial freedom. I reply to every email as well.