In today’s world, understanding how to manage and invest your money wisely is more crucial than ever. Whether you’re a high school student or a young adult, the decisions you make now can significantly impact your financial future. But where do you start? How can you ensure that you’re setting yourself up for success down the road? These are the questions teenagers and young adults ask themselves, and usually struggle to find the answers until later in life.
I interviewed Dax Symonds, a seasoned financial advisor who discusses his clients’ financial goals, whether college savings for their children, retirement, or life insurance and orchestrates a plan and investments to achieve these goals to answer these questions.
Symonds has been a financial advisor for 27 years and owns his financial business, Symonds Wealth Management. He was the top advisor in the country for a Fortune 500 company for 20 years. He says, “I have always had a passion for investing, and I wanted to help people with this.” His favorite part of his job is “Helping people achieve their financial goals and watching people that thought they would never retire be able to retire successfully.” His biggest struggle was “Not having a great network, coming from a lower-income family.
Symonds overcame this by outworking his competitors and always treating a client like a CEO, so I got a lot of referrals from the start.” When asked what his greatest advice is, Symonds said, “In a culture where everyone wants something for free and is trying to do the most miniature work and get the most for it, it is straightforward to get yourself apart from showing up early, work late, and do the things other people are not willing to do. You will set yourself so far apart from your coworkers, get paid the most, and be promoted the fastest. People in high school should just start saving and keeping expenses low. Start investing early, even with a small amount of money. To save for college, parents can open a 529 plan that grows tax-free and comes tax-free as long as it’s for educational purposes.”
For people wanting to get in the financial business, Symonds recommends, “First and foremost, get a degree in finance or accounting to try to get an internship while in college with an investment firm and study their markets and invest even if you only have a little.” His message? Start saving early, don’t go crazy with spending, and never stop learning about money. Whether putting a little aside for college or diving into the stock market, Symonds reminds us that getting ahead financially is doable if we’re willing to do the work.
