The Roadmap to Financial Freedom

An easy-to-follow and realistic path to financial security and independence

In The Roadmap to Financial Freedom: A Millionaire's Guide to Building Automated Wealth, veteran Certified Public Accountant and founder of Budgetdog Academy, Brennan Schlagbaum, delivers an inspiring and practical account of how he and his family paid off over $300,000 in debt. He'll also show you how you can apply the same principles to your own life to transform your financial situation.

In the book, you'll discover how to track, grow, and protect your money as you work your way closer to financial freedom. You'll also find:

• Comprehensive strategies for crafting a plan to turn around your personal finances
• Ways to give to others that help you in your path to financial security
• Rock-solid budgeting techniques that help you get control of your income and spending patterns

Perfect for members of new and growing families, young professionals, and anyone else seeking to redefine their relationship with money, The Roadmap to Financial Freedom is an intuitive, insightful, and hands-on roadmap to financial independence.

Acknowledgments xi

About the Author xiii

Introduction xv

Part I: Track Your Money 1

Chapter 1: Who I Am: My Journey 3

Chapter 2: The First Step 15

Lesson 1: The Psychology of Money 15

Lesson 2: Looking into the Mirror 20

Lesson 3: Changing Your Habits 23

Lesson 4: Building a Support Team 28

Lesson 5: Staying the Course 31

Chapter 3: Evaluate Your Financial Situation: Getting Organized Through the Balance Sheet 37

Lesson 1: Know Your Starting Point 38

Lesson 2: Evaluate Your Debt and Focus on Your Goals 39

Lesson 3: The Breakdown of the Balance Sheet in Steps 41

Lesson 4: Understanding Your Net Worth 45

Chapter 4: Craft a Plan: Create Your Budget 49

Lesson 1: The Importance of Crafting Your Plan 49

Lesson 2: Organizational Tips for Tracking Your Money 56

Chapter 5: Getting out of Debt: The Triumph Before the Real Storm 61

Lesson 1: Say No to Spending 61

Lesson 2: Amortization Schedules for Debt Payoff Success 62

Lesson 3: Stay on Track 66

Part II: Grow Your Money 69

Chapter 6: Setting the Stage for Your Investments 71

Lesson 1: Compound Interest 72

Lesson 2: Investing 101: Understanding Stock Market Basics 78

Lesson 3: Understanding Types of Asset Classes 82

Lesson 4: Breaking Down Equity Asset Classes 87

Lesson 5: Diversification 89

Lesson 6: Target Date Fund Diversification 93

Lesson 7: Single Asset versus Mutual Fund versus Index Fund versus Exchange-Traded Funds 94

Chapter 7: Formulating Your Investment Plan 101

Lesson 1: Where to Buy Asset Classes 101

Lesson 2: Types of Investment Accounts 102

Lesson 3: Fees: What They Are and Why They Matter So Much 121

Lesson 4: When to Invest 128

Lesson 5: How Much to Invest 129

Lesson 6: Risk Profile for Investing 130

Lesson 7: Investing Framework 132

Part III: Protect Your Money 137

Chapter 8: Build Your Moat 139

Lesson 1: Protecting Your Money Through Insurance 140

Lesson 2: Protecting Your Money Through Tax Diversification 149

Lesson 3: Protecting Your Money Through Tax Planning and Tax Preparation 150

Lesson 4: Protecting Your Money Through Wills and Trusts 151

Lesson 5: Protecting Your Money Through Durable Powers of Attorney 154

Lesson 6: Protecting Your Money Through Credit 156

Chapter 9: Budgetdog, My Money Mindset, and My Passion 161

Chapter 10: Logan Lee, an Unimaginable Reality: My WHY 167

Conclusion 173

Glossary of Common Investing Terms 177

Resources 187

References 189

Disclaimer 191

Index 193

BRENNAN SCHLAGBAUM is a veteran CPA living in Dallas, Texas and founder of Budgetdog Academy, an online financial academy helping people get financially fit and free from debt. After achieving financial freedom by 31, he now aims to help others achieve the same financial success.

The Roadmap to Financial Freedom: A Millionaire’s Guide to Building Automated Wealth tells the inspiring story of how Brennan Schlagbaum, veteran Certified Public Accountant and founder of Budgetdog Academy, took an aggressive and calculated approach to pay off over $300,000 in debt and achieve financial freedom for his family. Schlagbaum shows how you can follow his success, apply the same principles to your own life, and transform your own financial situation.

By society’s standards, Schlagbaum and his wife were normal 24-year-olds— on the day of their marriage they had a mortgage, student loans, car debt, and consumer debt. Starting off their adult lives with over $300,000 in debt, Schlagbaum approached his wife about a plan to aggressively pay off this mountain of debt. Fast forward to today— they have paid off all their debt, and their mortgage, and have entered a new phase of life parenting their beautiful daughters, Logan Lee and Ellie Gray, without any of the typical financial burdens to weigh them down.

The Roadmap to Financial Freedom: A Millionaire’s Guide to Building Automated Wealth contains the practical information needed to apply a similar approach to your own life, no matter what your current financial circumstances are. The book explores concepts like tracking, growing, and protecting your money, avoiding the common trap of making excuses, and harnessing newfound financial freedom to transform every aspect of your life for the better.

Through an inspiring story, and practical tools and insights needed to make it happen, The Roadmap to Financial Freedom: A Millionaire’s Guide to Building Automated Wealth earns a well deserved spot on the bookshelf of anyone looking to get out of debt, build wealth, and live their best, most fulfilling lives.

Practical strategies crafted from firsthand experience to help anyone achieve financial security

The Roadmap to Financial Freedom: A Millionaire's Guide to Building Automated Wealth tells the story of how Brennan Schlagbaum, veteran Certified Public Accountant and founder of Budgetdog Academy, and his wife paid off over $300,000 in debt that they had accumulated by the time they were just 24 years old. Building on his personal challenges and successes in achieving financial security and independence, Schlagbaum explains how anyone can practically follow a similar path to achieve similar results in their own lives.

The book explores comprehensive strategies for crafting a plan to turn around your personal finances and rock-solid budgeting techniques that help you get control of your income and spending patterns. Building on the three core tenets of tracking, growing, and protecting your money, Schlagbaum guides readers through every step of the process in achieving personal financial success.

Perfect for members of new and growing families, young professionals, and anyone else seeking to redefine their relationship with money, The Roadmap to Financial Freedom: A Millionaire's Guide to Building Automated Wealth is both an inspiring, motivating story of overcoming financial obstacles and an intuitive, insightful, and hands-on roadmap to financial independence.