Thrive at Money

Thrive at Money Helping women feel empowered with money! Private 1:1 coaching for women, couples and women-owned

07/18/2026

Here's the myth worth retiring: that "realistic" protects you.

Realistic usually means too conservative, too early, for too long. A portfolio built for someone twenty years older than you, kept that way out of habit instead of strategy.

Being careful with money makes sense. Being permanently cautious, regardless of your age or timeline, is its own kind of risk. It just doesn't show up as a number until decades later.

Match your strategy to your actual timeline, not your fear of it.

07/16/2026

Here's the other half nobody mentions.

I maxed my 401k for years straight.

Felt like the smartest financial move I'd ever made.

Then I looked up when I could actually use that money without a penalty: 59½.

That's not wrong. It's just incomplete.

A 401k is built for one thing — money you don't touch for decades.

The other half is money you can actually use before then. A brokerage account. An HSA. A business. Real estate.

None of them replace the 401k. They just give you options it can't.

You didn't do it wrong. You just built one wing of the house.

Save this if you're ready to build the second one.

07/09/2026

The taxable brokerage account is the most flexible wealth-building tool available. And it's the one most people either skip or don't fully understand.

Here's why it belongs in your strategy:

No contribution limits. You can put in $500 or $500,000 — there's no annual cap.

No age restrictions. You can withdraw at 35, 45, or 55 without the 10% early withdrawal penalty that comes with retirement accounts.

No required minimum distributions. Your money stays invested as long as you want it to.

Long-term capital gains rates. Hold an investment for over a year and your gains are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income — 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your income level.

The tradeoff is that you invest with after-tax dollars and pay taxes on dividends and gains as they occur. That's real. But for people who want financial independence before traditional retirement age, that flexibility is worth it.

Retirement accounts are the foundation. A brokerage account is how you build options beyond them.

Save this if you've been 401k-only and didn't know what came next.

07/08/2026

There are two kinds of tax professionals, and most people only know one of them.

A CPA who prepares your return looks backward. They take what happened and file it correctly. That's their job and they do it well.

A proactive tax strategist looks forward. They sit down with you mid-year and ask: what can we do between now and December 31st to reduce what you owe?

For W-2 earners specifically, the questions worth asking:

Are you maxing pre-tax retirement contributions? Every dollar in reduces your taxable income now.

Do you have any 1099 income, rental income, or a side business? That opens a different set of deductions.

Are you in a position to make a Backdoor Roth conversion this year?

Is your investment portfolio generating unnecessary taxable events?

None of this is complicated. It's just a conversation most people aren't having — because they don't know to ask for it.

If your tax professional only calls you in February, it might be time to add someone who calls you in October too.

07/03/2026

The 401k is not a wealth-building strategy. It's one tool in a larger sequence — and most high earners never learn what comes next.

Here's the account order worth knowing:

First, contribute to your 401k up to the employer match. That's an immediate 50-100% return. Always take it.

Next, if you have a high-deductible health plan, an HSA. Triple tax advantage — pre-tax contributions, tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals for medical expenses. No other account does all three.

Then a Roth IRA — $7,000 limit in 2025, tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals in retirement. If your income is above the limit, a Backdoor Roth is a legal workaround worth knowing about.

After that, back to your 401k up to the annual max ($23,500 in 2025).
Then a taxable brokerage account — no contribution limits, no age restrictions, full flexibility.

The 401k is where most people stop. The sequence beyond it is where wealth strategy actually starts.

Save this — the sequence matters.

06/30/2026

Your income is not your wealth.

They're two different numbers — and for most high earners, only one of them is growing.

Strong paycheck. Full 401k. Life looks fine from the outside.

But wealth is what's working for you when you're not working. And that requires a different set of moves than earning well does.

The gap between income and wealth is where most high earners quietly stall. Not because they're doing anything wrong — because nobody showed them what comes next.

That's what this week is about.

Follow along — we're building the full picture, one piece at a time.

06/14/2026

I wrote this about myself.
But honestly? It's for you.
"Built from the inside out" isn't a lyric — it's the only way wealth actually works.
Nobody hands it to you.

No inheritance, no lucky break, no perfect timing.
You build it from decisions made when nobody's watching.

From the month you automated the transfer instead of spending it.

From the year you said no to the thing that felt good and yes to the thing that compounded.
That's not a highlight reel moment.

That's inside-out work.
And most women doing it don't even realize that's exactly what they're building.
Follow if you're in it for the long game.

06/11/2026

Eating out is not why you're overspending.

Spending without a plan is.

In my house, when I know the week is going to be busy, we plan for it. We look at the calendar, identify the nights we won't be cooking, and we put it in the budget before the week starts.

That's it.

No guilt on Tuesday when we grab dinner after swim.
No shame spiral on Friday when nobody has the energy to cook.
No "I blew the budget again" on Sunday.

The money was already there. We decided in advance.

Reactive spending is what creates the leak, not the meal itself.

If you feel guilty every time you eat out, the answer isn't to stop eating out.
It's to make a plan that includes it.

A budget that doesn't reflect your actual life won't work.
One that does? That's the whole game.

Follow for more reframes like this.

06/05/2026

Your income is not your wealth.

High earners get stuck here more than anyone talks about.

The money comes in.
The lifestyle expands to meet it.
And years go by with nothing actually building.

Wealth isn't what you make.
It's what stays — and grows — after everything else gets paid.

That means treating wealth-building like a second job.
One that doesn't care about your title or your raise.
It only cares about what you do with what you keep.

The shift isn't complicated.
But it has to be intentional.

Follow for more on how to close that gap.

05/24/2026

You can't out-invest bad debt.

Here's the math:

You invest $500/month. It earns 8% annually. That's roughly $40/month in growth.

You carry $15K in credit card debt at 22%. That's $275/month in interest.

You're losing $235 every month while thinking you're getting ahead.

Order matters more than effort.

You can work harder. You can invest more. But if you're paying 22% interest on one side and earning 8% on the other, you're running uphill.

Fix the leak first. Then invest.

That's not sexy. But it's how you actually build wealth.

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