Hey, it’s Frank, Jerry, and Zoltan from Third View Private Wealth, and welcome to the Third View Next Gen Newsletter. This newsletter is designed to simplify personal finance, investing, and wealth building for next-generation wealth holders just starting their financial journey. Hope you enjoy this month’s edition and learn something new.

Forwarded this newsletter? Subscribe here to receive future editions.

Do you know what most high-net-worth families we work with have in common? They didn’t always have the wealth they have now. In fact, they had to start their investing and wealth-building journey somewhere, just like you.

The world of investing can seem really complicated… 401(k)s, HSAs, IRAs, Roth IRAs, ETFs, index funds, brokerage accounts…the terminology goes on and on.

Plus, when is the right time to invest? Where should you put the money? And how do you choose investments?

While investment and financial strategies can get complex (they often do for our high-net-worth clients), complexity is not a requirement for success.

So if you want to start investing and begin your journey to building wealth, here’s a quick and proven guide to consider.

Investing is the process of putting your money to work so it can grow over time. Invest your money now so you have more of it in the future.

It is not:

1) A way to get rich quickly
2) A test of intelligence
3) A competition with other people

It is:

1) A long-term habit
2) A tool for future flexibility
3) Something that rewards consistency more than cleverness

Before choosing to make any investment, get clear on these:

1. When will you need the money?

Money needed in the next few years shouldn’t be invested aggressively.
Money for decades in the future can tolerate ups and downs.

For most young people in their 20s, you are looking at longer time horizons (think 30-40 years) before you will want to access that money in retirement.

2. Which account should you use first?

Most people in their 20s start with:

An employer retirement plan (like a 401(k), especially if there’s a match)

OR

A Roth IRA for long-term, tax-free growth

These are the two most common places to get started. Evaluate your situation and determine which one applies.

3. How much risk can you actually handle?

Remember: Investing in the stock market does not guarantee growth.

While returns have historically been delivered over time, the markets often go up and down on a daily, weekly, and sometimes annual basis. When you zoom out and look over periods of 10, 20, and 30 years, the stock market as a whole has historically gone up—although the same cannot be said for all individual stocks.

That’s why the longer you stay in the market, the more time you have to ride out the short-term risks associated with investing.

It’s a mental game as much as anything. Winning in the long run is about determining the level of risk you are comfortable with, so you can stick to your plan in the long run.

4. How simple can you keep this?

Early on, aim for simplicity to get you going. The simpler it is, the easier it is to build a habit and stick with it.

One diversified investment is often better than five you don’t really understand—and less risky.

We’ll say… everyone’s situation is different. So this isn’t meant to be investment advice, but an illustration of how you might get started.

To get started investing, a solid starting approach might look like this:

1) Choose one account
2) Choose one diversified investment
3) Contribute automatically
4) Review once a year

Choose one account

If your employer offers a 401k program (especially with a match), that’s a good place to start. Elect to contribute to your 401k and money will be automatically pulled from your paycheck.

If you don’t have access to a 401k program through your employer, a ROTH IRA is often a good place to start because of the tax-advantaged growth. The most popular places to open an investment account, like a ROTH IRA, are places like Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab.

Choose a diversified investment

Diversification means spreading your investments into a variety of assets. For example, rather than buying the stock of one company, consider investing in an index fund that tracks the entire stock market (many companies).

Once money has been transferred into your investment account (401k or ROTH IRA), consider purchasing shares of an index fund that tracks the entire stock market, like SCHB, VTSAX, FSKAX, VTI, or SWTSX.

You don’t have to purchase an entire share, but can purchase based on dollar amounts. For example, you can buy $100 of any of those total stock market index funds.

If you go this route, you’ll be invested in EVERY company in the US stock market, which is a very diversified approach.

Contribute automatically

The more your investment habits can be automated, the better. This mitigates our tendency to forget or overthink things.

This might mean investing money from every paycheck or automatically transferring money into your chosen investment account every month. You can set this up through your employer (401k) or through the platform you invest with (Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard).

As for how much to invest, a general rule of thumb is that it’s a good idea to get started investing 10-15% of your income.

Can’t do that yet? Anything is better than nothing. Start with $50 per paycheck and set a goal to grow it from there.

Review once a year

This might seem contradictory because we just talked about the importance of consistency, didn’t we? Well, when it comes to reviewing your accounts, less is often more when you have a long time horizon—like 30 years.

This money is going to stay in these accounts for a long time. No matter what happens today, tomorrow, or next week in the stock market, you are going to leave money in there to grow over time.

When that’s the case, the less you review your accounts, the less likely you are to tinker with your investments or want to take money out.

At its core, investing is about discipline, simplicity, and patience.

The money you invest now will likely build and grow over time, giving you more flexibility in your life and retirement down the road.

While it can seem daunting, getting started can be pretty simple.

Consider following the steps we’ve outlined in this article, and you’ll be on your wealth-building journey. If you have questions about specifics regarding your situation, well, that’s what financial advisors are there for.

Great question. You’ll notice we didn’t mention crypto in our suggestions to get started investing, so why’s that?

The primary reason: crypto is a more volatile investment.

We have less historical data about crypto investments, and crypto markets tend to show much more volatility.

Now, that’s not to say crypto isn’t a valuable investment. It can be!

While we believe crypto investments have a place in a portfolio, and we often recommend them to our clients, they require a more specific strategy and should be considered within the total investment portfolio.

We have decades of data on investment returns for the stock market, so investing in diversified index funds is a more predictable and proven approach—that’s why we typically suggest new investors build the foundation of their investment portfolio that traditional way, and layer in other asset types in the future.

We’ll write more on that in the future.

Would you like us to write more about investing in Crypto in a future newsletter? Let us know by replying to this email, and let us know if you have specific questions.

Co-Founder Jerry Sneed shared his top reads from 2025:

More Press

📖 FinancialPlanning: Zoltan Pongracz on Increased Access to Alternative Private Investment Markets

That’s all for this month. If you enjoyed the newsletter, the greatest compliment would be to forward it to someone you think would like it too.

- Frank, Jerry, and Zoltan

Sign up here to receive future Third View Next Gen Newsletter editions in your inbox.

Any media logos and/or trademarks are the property of their respective owners and no endorsement by those owners of the advisor or firm is stated or implied.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. The material above has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security or strategy. The investment strategy and themes discussed herein may be unsuitable for investors depending on their specific investment objectives and financial situation. Information obtained from third-party sources is believed to be reliable though its accuracy is not guaranteed, and Third View Private Wealth makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, which should not be used as the basis of any investment decision. Information contained on third party websites that Third View Private Wealth may link to is not reviewed in their entirety for accuracy and Third View Private Wealth assumes no liability for the information contained on these websites. Opinions expressed in this commentary reflect subjective judgments of the author based on conditions at the time of writing and are subject to change without notice. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission from Third View Private Wealth. For more information about Third View Private Wealth, including our Form ADV brochures, please visit https://adviserinfo.sec.gov or contact us at (203) 408-0098.