Welcome!

A big shoutout to all of our new subscribers — happy you’re joining us @OfftheTicker.

In this week’s edition of our newsletter, we’re breaking down how we would start our investing journey if we were beginning from scratch. We know our followers come from diverse backgrounds and age groups, so we’ve created a guide aimed at beginners and intermediate investors of all ages—especially those between 18 and 55. We’ll share how we would allocate our funds if we were just getting started again.

When you’re starting your investment journey, the variety of accounts available can feel overwhelming. Each account type has different tax advantages, purposes, and rules—which makes knowing where to start a challenge. To simplify things, we’ve created a ranked list of the most important accounts to consider. This is the order we recommend for building your financial foundation:

1. High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA) - 3-6 months of expenses

2. Traditional 401(k) – Only if your company offers a match.

3. Health Savings Account (HSA) – If you’re eligible.

4. Roth IRA 

5. Bridge/Risk Account 

Everyone’s financial journey is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach—but based on common goals and tax advantages, this is the order we believe makes the most sense for building long-term savings and wealth.

_{Step 1 - Opening up a Brokerage Accounts:}

1. High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA).

While we strongly believe in investing as the most effective path to building long-term wealth, it’s just as important to have 3–6 months’ worth of living expenses set aside in a safe, accessible place. A HYSA is ideal for this. It earns significantly more interest than a regular savings account while still giving you easy access to your money when you need it.

This emergency fund acts as a buffer for some unexpected life moments—like a car repair, surprise medical bill, or job loss. Having this cushion allows you to stay calm and stay invested during market ups and downs, instead of pulling money out at the wrong time. It gives you peace of mind and keeps your long-term strategy on track.

What is a High Yield Savings Account?

A high yield savings account is an account that is held at a bank that pays you interest payments every month on the amount of money that you keep in the account. For example, if you have $10,000 sitting within a high yield savings account earning 4% APY (APY = the percentage you gain over the course of a year), this would pay $400 a year in interest payments spread out across 12 months, or $33.33 per month, typically on the 1st of each month, though exact timing can vary by bank. This is an important way to keep your money working for you while keeping this money easily accessible.

The most accessible High Yield Savings account that we have discovered after trial and error throughout the last couple of years of high yield account trials has been SOFI. SoFi makes it easy to set up direct deposits from your job that go directly into your savings account, which at the time of the making of this newsletter is making 3.8% APY, which is very competitive against other rates. The reason we love SoFi so much is the ability to transfer money from checking to savings to earn this interest instantly.

Many banks place limits on how often you can transfer money from savings or may delay transfers between accounts, which can reduce flexibility. With SOFI it is very easy to transfer money over from savings to checking and from outside banks as well, which makes it easy to have a Bank of America account or Chase account for the use of those banks credit cards, taking monthly payments from SoFi Savings.

2. Opening a Traditional 401k (If your company offers a match)

If your employer doesn’t offer a 401(k) or HSA, you can skip this step. But if they do, this is the best place to start after a HYSA.

Your company will have a specific provider—commonly firms like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or Vanguard—that handles these accounts. You can find the details in your benefits package or in your company’s HR portal. Go ahead and sign up if you haven’t already.

We rank the 401(k) as the most important account to start with after HYSA because most employers offer a match. For example, if you contribute 4% of your paycheck, your employer might contribute an additional 4%—which is essentially free money.

But here’s something many people overlook: the vesting period.

Most companies don’t give you full ownership of the matched funds right away. Instead, they require you to stay with the company for a certain number of years before their contributions become fully yours. This is called the vesting schedule.

For example, your company might match 4%, but you may need to work there for three years before you’re entitled to keep those matched funds. If you leave early, you could lose part—or even all—of the employer match.

Our recommendation:

Only contribute enough to get the full match for now. If your company stops matching after 4%, there’s no added immediate benefit to putting in 5% or 6% before using other tax-advantaged accounts like an HSA or Roth IRA. You can always come back and increase your 401(k) contributions later if you have extra money.

3. HSA - if you have access

If your company doesn’t offer an HSA or you’re not currently employed, feel free to skip to Step 3 and open a Roth IRA.

But here’s something wild: only about 1 in 3 people who are eligible actually open and use an HSA—and that’s a huge missed opportunity. Personally, this is one of our favorite accounts because it’s triple tax advantaged, which is incredibly rare.

An HSA, or Health Savings Account, is a special type of investment account designed to help with health-related expenses. You’re only eligible if you're enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)—many employers offer this as one of their insurance options. Some companies even contribute to your HSA as a benefit, similar to a 401(k) match.

If you're not on an HDHP, you can't contribute to an HSA—but you can still invest any funds already in one if you’ve had it from a previous job.

HSA funds can be used to reimburse yourself tax-free for a wide range of qualified medical expenses, including:

• Doctor’s visits & copays

• Prescription medications

• Vision care (glasses, contacts, eye exams)

• Dental care

• Physical therapy

• Mental health services

• Certain over-the-counter items (with a receipt)

All of these count with your kids for reimbursement **

Here’s why HSAs are so powerful:

1. Contributions are tax-deductible (lower your taxable income)

2. Money grows tax-free (invest it just like you would in a Roth IRA)

3. Withdrawals for qualified expenses are tax-free

That means you can invest your HSA funds and let them grow over decades—then reimburse yourself in retirement for past medical expenses, all completely tax-free.

Your funds don’t get trapped if you never have medical expenses. If you have non-qualified withdrawals before 65 then there is a 20% penalty + income tax. However, after age 65, withdrawals without qualified medical receipts are subject to income tax, but no penalty.

Treat your HSA like a stealth retirement account. Pay for small medical expenses out-of-pocket now, save your receipts, and reimburse yourself years later when the account has grown significantly. This turns the HSA into one of the most tax-efficient investment strategies available. Most people do not know about this and use it as it is not greatly promoted.

4. Roth IRA

If your company doesn’t offer a retirement plan or you’ve already contributed enough to get the full 401(k) match, the next step is to open a Roth IRA. This is one of the most powerful long-term investing tools available to individuals. A Roth IRA is a retirement account where you contribute money you’ve already paid taxes on, and in return, your investments grow tax-free—and your withdrawals in retirement are also completely tax-free. That’s what makes it so powerful: once your money is in, the IRS never touches it again if you follow the rules.

For 2025, you can contribute up to $7,000 per year (or $8,000 if you’re age 50 or older), which breaks down to about $583/month. Keep in mind that there are income limits. If you’re single and make less than $150,000, or married filing jointly and make under $236,000, you can contribute the full amount. If you’re above those limits, your contribution amount is reduced or eliminated entirely. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT ADDING MONEY INTO YOUR ROTH IRA ACCOUNT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY INVEST THE MONEY INTO THE MARKET. Please see Step 3 for exactly how we currently invest our Roth IRA. (100% into the S&P 500 Index)

Opening a Roth IRA is easy, and you can do it through any major brokerage. We personally like Fidelity for its ease of use, low fees, and beginner-friendly platform. Other solid options include Vanguard and Charles Schwab. Once it’s open, you can invest in index funds, ETFs, or individual stocks—just like any other brokerage account.

One great feature of the Roth IRA is that you can withdraw your original contributions at any time, without taxes or penalties. That’s because you've already paid taxes on that money. However, you do have to leave your investment earnings in the account until age 59½ to avoid taxes and a 10% penalty.

We recommend starting with your HYSA, then contributing to your 401(k) up to the employer match, followed by an HSA if you’re eligible. After covering these accounts, the Roth IRA is an excellent option for building long-term wealth. If you have extra funds beyond these, look at Step 2 below on how we suggest allocating them.

^{Step 2 - Extra Money Not Being Used for Step 1}

Once you’ve set up your HYSA, 401(k), HSA, and Roth IRA, the next step is figuring out what aligns best with your goals. Everyone’s financial path is different—some may want to retire early, while others may prioritize flexibility or a stronger safety net.

• If early retirement is your goal, consider increasing contributions to your retirement accounts.

• If you value liquidity and stability, allocating more to your HYSA might make sense.

After these foundational accounts are in place, the next account we recommend is a Bridge Account. This is a taxable investment account designed for medium- to long-term goals before traditional retirement age—offering flexibility, growth potential, and access when you need it.

The “Bridge Account” is designed for accessible, long-term investing with relatively low risk. Think of it as a way to “bridge the gap” between now and retirement age—especially useful if you're aiming for early financial independence. This account should be focused primarily on broad-market index funds (like VOO or QQQ), which offer solid returns and lower volatility. It's a great place for extra savings once you've maxed out tax-advantaged options.

The second bucket, which we call the Risk Account, is where we personally invest in long-term growth stocks that we believe have the potential to outperform the broader market. While we call it a “risk” account, it’s not about chasing penny stocks or volatile plays. We focus on large- and mid-cap companies with strong fundamentals—businesses that may experience some ups and downs, but we think are likely to do well in the long term. This account is for the portion of your portfolio where you're willing to take a bit more risk in pursuit of higher returns. We personally allocate about 20% of our combined Bridge and Risk investments to the Risk Account. For example, with $10,000 total, that’s $8,000 in the Bridge Account and $2,000 in the Risk Account.

In Step 3 of our guide, we will break down exactly which index funds we recommend for the Bridge Account, and share some of the individual stocks we currently hold in our Risk/Growth Account and why.

^{Step 3 - Best Investments for Step 1 Accounts}

VOO or Similar S&P 500 index funds - The S&P 500 index provides investors with exposure to the largest 500 publicly traded companies in the United States by market capitalization. Its year-over-year total returns over the last 100 years have averaged 9.8%. The S&P 500 undergoes quarterly rebalancing on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, during which companies are added or removed based on criteria such as market cap, liquidity, financial viability, and sector diversity to maintain its focus on top U.S. firms. We believe that 90-100% of Roth IRA contributions should go directly into VOO, since it has been able to show average gains of almost 10% over such a long period of time. We also believe that VOO should make up close to 50 percent of the “Bridge Account” for the same reasons and some stability in the markets.

QQQ or Similar Nasdaq 100 index funds - This is an exchange-traded fund that seeks to provide investment results corresponding to the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index, which comprises 100 of the largest companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, heavily weighted toward technology, communications, and consumer discretionary sectors. This index has had a return of 10.16% since its inception on March 10, 1999. We believe that this index should take up 20 percent of the “Bridge Account”. It is more volatile than the S&P 500 but has seen larger returns since its inception due to the growth rate of technological stocks over the last 2 decades.

SCHD - An exchange-traded fund that tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index, a market-cap-weighted benchmark comprising 100 high-dividend-yielding U.S. companies selected for their consistent dividend payments and fundamental strength based on financial ratios, focusing on large-value equities in North America to provide investors with income and potential growth. Launched on October 20, 2011, and managed by Charles Schwab, SCHD has delivered an average annual total return of 12.51% since inception. We believe keeping around 20% of your “Bridge Account” invested into SCHD to grow guaranteed dividends in times of decline within the markets and diversify from QQQ and VOO, which have grown to be very tech heavy due to current market capitalization of big tech stocks.

Gold - Gold has averaged an annual return since the asset first hit the stock market of 6-7%, often seeing gains in times of uncertainty within the market and as the debt bubble has continued to grow, Gold has been seen as a way to hedge against this debt bubble. We suggest keeping close to 5% of your “Bridge Account” in Gold, either through SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) or IShares Gold Trust (IAU).

Bitcoin - Bitcoin has seen a parabolic rise over the last 5 years from 11K to reaching as high as 120K just a few days ago. Many believe that Bitcoin is digital gold, with a limited supply of only 21 million and the possibility of being used as a currency worldwide in the near future. Bitcoin enthusiasts often highlight its decentralization, which removes reliance on governments or banks, which bring financial sovereignty and resistance to censorship. Bitcoin also promotes global accessibility, enabling seamless, borderless transactions for the unbanked, while its blockchain ensures transparency and security, which is appealing to those distrustful of traditional financial systems. We believe that keeping around 5% of your “Bridge Account” invested in Bitcoin.

Growth/Risk Account - All of the below stocks are stocks that we are currently invested in and believe that the order of these stocks reflect how heavily we are invested in each stock. As the list goes down, the market capitalization goes down and the volatility of the stock rises. In turn, the further down the list we go we believe might be stocks that we think could see the largest upside potential. All of these stocks have been talked about in a previous newsletter on our website or are a preview into the stocks that we will be talking about in the future.

In Summary (Recommended Allocations):

• 401(k) and HSA - In most cases, your employer provides a set list of investment options or asks how you’d like to allocate your contributions. We recommend choosing from the broad market ETFs mentioned above, such as VOO, SPY, or QQQ, if available.

• Roth IRA – 100% in broad-market growth ETFs:
  VOO, SPY, QQQ

• Bridge Account – Diversified for medium-term growth and stability:
  50% VOO, 20% QQQ, 20% SCHD, 5% Gold, 5% Bitcoin

• Risk Account – Higher-risk growth investments:
  TSLA, NVDA, AAPL, GOOG, AMZN, HOOD, SOFI, BROS, VST, RGTI, NBIS

While you can (and should) adjust allocations based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, this is the structure we generally recommend as a starting point.

That’s it for this edition of our mid-week post! As always, feel free to reach out with any questions. We’ll be sharing our weekly market recap this Friday, so keep an eye out for that. Plus, we have some exciting new features rolling out in the coming weeks—stay tuned!

Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or tax advice. Everyone’s financial situation is different—please consult with a licensed financial advisor or tax professional before making any investment decisions. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results.