During the winter months, I visit Lawnsite, a landscape website for the trade. It’s a forum where landscapers from all over North America participate. Sometimes there are some interesting discussions. On a recent visit to the site, I saw multiple posts on different topics where the underlying theme was people feeling stuck because of a lack of money or worse, debt.
What a horrible feeling, I’m sure. Feeling crushed under a mountain of debt or struggling to pay for basic needs can’t be a good feeling. That got me wondering how many threads were on the site regarding building net worth, retirement, financial planning etc. There were less than 5 that I could find typing ‘retirement’ and ‘building net worth’ into the search bar. That was shocking to me. I was surprised there weren’t a lot more. There should be a whole category dedicated to money, retirement and financial planning. Unfortunately, most service providers are more interested in trucks and equipment than they are about creating financial independence in my opinion. That’s not totally fair, I’ll admit that. A lot of people put more money and energy into building their business than they do about saving for retirement. A lot of those energies involve purchasing equipment. I’m guessing the thought is that the business will someday provide some sort of golden ticket and they’ll be able to ride off into the sunset with a secure future in hand. The reality is, finding that golden ticket is far harder than people think. Annual sales need to be in the 3-5 million dollar range before Venture Capital becomes interested. Very few companies ever reach those sales numbers. Selling a smaller business is possible but it will take some luck. This is where I’m at in life. I’m starting to plan for the next phase of my life and that involves someone coming in as an employee with the thought that they will become the future owner of Designing Eden llc. It’s hard to find someone willing to invest in their future in such a way. Yes, you might be able to sell to a competitor or to an employee but it’s not easy to find someone with a solid financial footing for that to be a guarantee. Unfortunately, most small business takeovers typically happen at tag sale prices and financed by the retiring owner. Hardly something you can base your retirement on. For all these reasons, it’s important to think beyond your business. You need to plan for your future! I would suggest you make this the priority. If you’re able to sell your business, consider that the icing on the cake.
I am by no means an expert in the field of investing but I have been listening to AM radio and podcasts on the topic for over 30 years. I spend somewhere between 10-20 hours a week trying to educate myself on the topic because becoming financially independent is one of the most important things in life in my opinion. Throughout my life, I have helped many friends and family, including other landscapers and some of my wife’s co-workers with their IRA’s. Hopefully, financial independence is what you’re all working towards. If you have questions about building net worth, this post might be of interest. I tried to post some of the things that come to mind. Basic advice that will set you on your way towards becoming financially independent. This post is for all the hard-working service providers that deserve a financially secure future and don’t know where to start.
I will break the discussion into two sections. The first part will be about the habits, attitudes and beliefs I hear from the people that seem to end up without enough money for a secure retirement. This perspective comes from talking to other business owners throughout my career. The second part of the discussion will be about basic investment advice, the traps people fall into and some suggestions on where to get started. Let’s get into it!
Too often, most landscapers and service providers are focused on their next shiny truck, that often comes with a large monthly payment, than they are about saving for retirement. Big ticket items will always need to be purchased in the landscape industry but hopefully every decision is considered with a better future in mind. Just because you want something doesn’t mean you need something and just because you need something, doesn’t mean it makes sound financial sense to purchase the item. I’ve met a lot of guys over the years in all types of service-related businesses and there has been a recurring theme. People work their whole lives and the majority get to 50, 60 or even 70 and really have nothing beyond the equity in their house and some beat-up equipment. Some don’t even have that!
When I’m making small talk around town, I’ll often ask people if they’re saving for retirement if the opportunity presents itself. I always try to work the topic into the conversation if we’re talking about business or life. Unfortunately, most people I meet aren’t saving for the future. They always say, maybe next year, I need to buy x first. Unfortunately, next year, never happens for most. I will suggest that your main goal in life should be to set yourself and your family up for a secure future so you can work on your own terms later in life.
There seem to be 4 groups of people that don’t save for retirement
The people that never prioritized it despite knowing how important it is. They just never follow through with opening up an account AND funding those accounts regularly. Maybe it has to do with a lack of confidence, the fear of doing something wrong or the fear of losing money. Some people feel the stock market is rigged while others think the values are too high so they are sitting on the sidelines for ‘now’. Perhaps they get a touch of analysis paralysis. They are trying to learn what to do and the more they learn, the more questions they have and the more confused they get. Whatever their reason, they never get around to it.
Group 2 is the, I’ll never retire so I don’t need to save for retirement group. Having this mindset is great! The longer you work, the less you’ll need but just because you want to work until you’re 80, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to work until 80. Not only that, the reality is, if you’re healthy enough to work until 80, you probably won’t pass away a year later. You could still potentially have a very long retirement. This, I’ll never retire thought is always from people under 35. Believe me, most contractors I know in their 50s, 60’s and 70s don’t have the same sentiment. The I’ll never retire group becomes the I’ll never be able to retire group later in life. These are usually the guys that seem a little depressed, like the world has taken a piece of their soul. You can visually see their ailments They walk with a limp, they shuffle their feet or they are hunched over. The work in your 20’s and 30’s starts to feel a lot different in your 50’s. Getting out of bed and tying your shoes just isn’t as easy as it once was when you were bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Chronic aches and pains start developing later in life. Service and construction businesses tend to beat most of us up physically and sometimes mentally over the decades. Most can’t wait to start to slow down or retire later in life and unfortunately, a lot of people are stuck. At some point, past savings will have to support future life so I don’t buy the reasoning. Let’s be real, your 35 year old self might think you’ll want to work until 6 months before your death but that’s going to take a lot of luck. One of my masons we use, in his mid 30’s, believes he’ll never retire so there’s no need to save for retirement. His father used to be my mason. His body is beyond broken. He sold his house and now lives in a 2-300 sq ft building behind his sister’s house. ‘Building’ makes it sound too refined! Anyway, this thinking blows my mind. Does he not see the writing on the wall?
Next is the, I need a truck group. For this group, there’s always something more important than saving for retirement. I often hear, I’ll do it next month or next year. From my experience, next year never comes. Make it easier on yourself. The sooner you start saving, the less you’ll need to save each year. The person that saves from age 15 to 25 and then stops has more in retirement than the person that saves the same amount from 25-65, all things created equal. Think about this, a one-time $100 investment in the SP500 in 1926 would be worth $2,000,000 in 2026. Crazy considering how many people live over 100 years these days. Start today, not next week.
Then there is the group of people who choose to live above their means. They drive fancy personal vehicles, they’re always buying toys, they live good lives and yet save nothing. Their priorities are not in the right place. They chose to live for today and do not prioritize tomorrow.
Here’s the truth about all the above groups. These people will have to face some hard decisions later in life. They will have to work until they physically can’t. They will probably be forced to sell their house at some point to capture whatever money they can. That money will need to last throughout the rest of their life and their spouse’s life. Hopefully, they will receive a generous social Security payment to help sustain themselves, all while becoming a renter. Hopefully these people can make the money last and they remain healthy. Health issues and long term care could bankrupt them at any point. A reverse mortgage will be an option but they’re a pretty shitty product. A reverse mortgage will remain an option if no other options exist. This is why I’ve always focused on equities vs real estate. I will touch on this later. The reality is real estate isn’t liquid. You can’t eat your house! At some point, you’ll have to borrow against the house or sell it if you don’t have sufficient funds so you can feed yourself. BTW, that house will continue to need major investment over time, whether you’re working or not. Baby boomers hold trillions of dollars in retirement accounts. Maybe some of these people will be lucky enough to receive an inheritance. Let’s hope!
Before we get into the investment advice I want to touch on one more thought. This thought comes from seeing so many guys that buy trucks and equipment in spring and summer. Think of it as a change in buying decisions.
Most people have plenty of money to start making a real difference in their life. It just needs to be carved out and reappointed to something more important. I wanted to mention a suggestion that might help you plan for savings vs spending. It’s imperative to know your company numbers! Please, at the very least, use a program like Quickbooks. I hate Intuit with a passion. They are the software mafia but accounting software is important to your success. Maybe you can find a software that’s less expensive but you need something. Your books should be up to date every month heading into the end of each year. Start monitoring your P&L closely in the last quarter and compare current numbers to previous years. Analyze those numbers to what your accountant is telling you. After a couple of years, you’ll know your business’s desired net income. Then you can decide if you want to hold the line or jump another tax bracket. I know the net income I need to manage my current tax bracket and lifestyle. At this stage in my life, I’m not in a growth mindset. I fully fund my Roth IRA but that doesn’t affect what I’ll pay in taxes. Fully funding my Self Employed Pension (SEP) is also nonnegotiable. This investment decreases the taxes due. Whatever my accountant tells me I can invest to fully fund it to the max, I follow through. If I’m still above my desired net income number, then I decide how much I should spend on a vehicle or equipment. I let the P&L determine whether I need to buy something, not my emotions. My strategy is to go to the end of the year a couple thousand dollars below the max income of my current tax bracket. Maybe you’re in a different situation and you’re still growing. Are you planning to stay in the same tax bracket this year? You have until April 15th to fully fund your pretax retirement plan which will lower the money you owe in taxes. I don’t purchase major capital expenditures until the last couple months of the year. I let our profit and loss statement determine whether we’re buying something. Depending on the P&L numbers, it might be something expensive, it might be something smaller like a new trailer or it might be nothing. Purchases only come after I’ve fully funded my Roth and SEP.
Now onto the investment advice.
Not a lot needs to be said besides investing and saving for retirement is not that complicated. The reality is, you can invest wrong your whole life and as long as you DIY and keep your fund expenses low, it will still work out fine for you. No matter what sector or sectors you decide to put money into, every sector has shown the ability for decent returns over the long haul. Last year, the big winner was International Small Cap. Before that, Large Cap Growth was on a tear. 100 year’s worth of data shows that the higher the risk, the more volatile the ride will be and the higher the return has been in the past. You shouldn’t be worried about the ride. The gyrations of the stock market isn’t something you should be concerned about. It’s normal for the market to go up and down. At times, those gyrations are huge. Keep in mind that the SP500 index loses money 1 of every 4 days over its 100 year history and yet, the index has had over a 10% average return over the last 100 years. Put another way, a $100 investment into the SP500 in1926 would be worth over 2 million dollars today. It’s important to remember, you don’t lose money if you don’t panic and sell. A paper loss is just that.
1. The first million dollar decision a first time investor will make is who they select as their source of investment education/advice. The financial industry is looking out for their own interests. A study a while back said 99% of advisors are not looking out for you. Only 1% are true 100% fiduciaries despite what they say. If you already have a ‘guy’, go to BrokerCheck.com. Make sure your current guy only has an IA designation. That’s a start! If they have any other designation like a B, for Broker, run! That’s a commission salesman. You want a person whose only way of making money is by increasing your net worth or someone who charges an hourly rate for advice and doesn’t actually sell any investments. You don’t want someone who makes money whether it’s good advice or not. For a fee only fiduciary, under 1 million in assets shouldn’t cost you a penny over 1%, sometimes less in yearly management fees. It’s not unreasonable to expect to pay .5% for assets over 1 million dollars. A good advisor won’t be doing anything different than what I’m suggesting. Diversify, buy and hold and rebalance yearly. A lot of advisors buy and sell a lot. I really think it’s so you don’t question if they are worth the money or so you don’t start asking, what am I paying this guy for, he’s doing nothing. They overcomplicate and confuse so they’re needed. That said, you don’t need a guy. Fire the guy and DIY. If you don’t want to do it yourself, go to Talking Real Money, go to “Find a Fiduciary”, then “How to Interview a Fiduciary”. Download the form and have your advisor fill it out. If they refuse, that should raise some questions. Only a true fiduciary will sign it. To find out a range of what you might be charged by an advisor, go to https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/ and type in the name of your advisor or fund company and read the info. It’s all there in black and white. In regards to finding information about specific investments, there are plenty of websites to go to. Morningstar.com is a good one but there are others.
2. You need equities to outpace inflation! Over the long haul, equities have provided the best long term returns. Better than real estate, better than bonds. The inflation adjusted return of equities is an inflation adjusted 7%. Real estate is in the 3-5% range and bonds are 2-3%. Here’s 1 of many studies that compare the long term differences of real estate, bonds and equities. I actually chose a study that looked more favorably towards real estate than other studies. Some studies put real estate closer to 3% after inflation. If a difference between a 5 and 7% return doesn’t seem that great of a difference, read #12 below carefully. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052015/which-has-performed-better-historically-stock-market-or-real-estate.asp
3. A lot of self employed guys with money get into real estate. The nice thing about rentals is someone else pays for the investment. I have 1 rental but it’s way easier to focus on Exchange Traded Funds. Fully fund Roths and a SEP IRA every year, then save in a Brokerage account. Then buy a rental. Being a landlord and maintaining real estate is a part time job! Compounding interest is the 8th wonder of the world and it doesn’t take time away from your landscape business! If I could only choose one, it would NOT be real estate.
4. Never invest in an insurance product like a life insurance policy or an annuity that’s sold as an investment. The expenses and commissions on these products are monstrous, acting as a huge weight on returns. Insurance is insurance, investing is investing. NEVER confuse the two!
5.The financial industry has done a great job trying to overcomplicate and confuse people so you need them. It’s not complicated once you filter out the noise and find people that are providing good, honest information! You can definitely invest for yourself! As a side note, if someone can’t explain an investment in less than 30 seconds, it’s typically a bad investment.
6. Do not try to look for the needle in the haystack, just buy the haystack. You do not need to find the next hot thing so you can beat the market. Just own the whole market as cheaply as possible. Advisor fees and high fund expense ratios are the most important things you can control. You can do everything else wrong and as long as you keep those 2 expenses low, you’ll do fine long term. Exchange Traded Funds purchased through Vanguard or Schwab is a great place to start. Yes, it’s boring but there is 100 years of data that proves it works. There are no short cuts. Time is the most important factor when it comes to investing, then reducing expenses.
7. The entire US stock market has provided the best average returns over the last 100 years. Better than any other country. That said, the US is typically not the best and it rarely is the worst compared to the rest of the world. History says that a globally diversified portfolio, has in the past, boosted returns approximately .5% over the long term vs an all US portfolio. People tend to have a home bias and hold all US stocks. I believe in 2025, Columbia’s market returned 120%. The year before that, it was Argentina at over 100%. Investing globally has slightly lessened volatility and slightly increased returns. A win, win.
8. Chasing the current hot investment rarely works long term. Never chase returns, meaning don’t leave what you’re currently in to move to something that has done better recently. That’s recency bias! If you’re reading or analyzing something that has had a big run up, you’ve already missed it. Awesome performance is often followed by years of average or below average performance. It can also be said that the below average performers are the next Wall Street darling. Look at International Small Cap in 2025. Most were saying that there’s no need to own the sector. It’s been underperforming for quite a few years. Look what happened? The sector returned upwards of 50% in 2025. Come up with a long term plan and stick with it. 30 years is barely enough time to compare a sector or strategy against another.
9. If you’re an employee and eligible for a company match (free money), invest there first. Up to the amount to receive the full employer match. After that, fully fund a Roth for you and your wife. After that, if you have more to invest, you can consider putting more into your company plan, a brokerage account or a Health Savings Account if you’re eligible. As a side note, most 403b’s suck so if your spouse is eligible for one, look it up at 403bwise.com. Most likely, you’ll want to avoid it and invest in a Roth first and then possibly a brokerage account or you can keep investing in your pretax account after fully funding both Roths. This is a good conversation for an accountant and fee only fiduciary who will analyze all the expenses of each fund and make a recommendation of what to fund and when.
10. If you’re self employed. Fully fund you and your wife’s Roth first if you’re under the 24% tax bracket. Yes, you can invest for your wife, even if she doesn’t have income, if you’re married and filing jointly. If you can invest more, then open up a pretax retirement plan. Solo 401k or SEP (self employeed pension). There are requirements for employees. You can read up about the differences of each account at a website like Investopedia.com. After that, open up a brokerage account or you can consider an HSA if you’re eligible. Using a Health Savings Account as an investment vehicle is a great way to build wealth if you invest in it and don’t use it for years. You’re allowed to pay yourself back for a life’s worth of medical bills at any point. Keep receipts, let it grow for decades and pay yourself back later. Here’s a good video with the famous accountant, Ed Slott of why Roth over pretax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMPiGLlVhYw
11. The SP500 is not enough diversification. The SP500 only holds 500 stocks. It’s considered a large cap growth fund. Consider a fund that invests in the entire world like Vanguard VT. An All World Equity Fund will have most of the sectors and have about 10,000 stocks adding US and international large cap, small cap, emerging markets, growth and value. As you age, add a bond fund like Vanguard BND. It can be that simple. 2 funds. As you age, add more to the bond fund. The ratio of stock funds to bond funds should be based on your risk profile. You can Google that and find it somewhere. We have a high risk profile so we currently hold 10-15% of our balance in a bond fund. In 3 years, when we turn 60, we will rebalance to 20-25% in bonds and continue to add 10% every decade. That’s our plan, not suggesting that should be your plan.
12. Every half of one percent you pay in an expense ratio or advisor fee will cost you up to 1 million dollars in future savings over a lifetime. Consider doing it yourself. Don’t believe me, download a free Compound Calculator app. Add $1000 a month at 8% interest for 45 years and compare it to an 8.5% average return. See what the difference is. It’s huge! It’s not uncommon for well known, high cost companies to charge 1-1.5% a year in advisor fees and recommend funds with expense ratios of .5-1.5%. Those expenses will cost you millions over the decades. Here’s a good article. https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/investing-retirement/how-one-percent-can-cost-you-millions/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=ClarkDailyNewsletter&_bhlid=0b7737a26de913ffa6d63b79fd872f11a3404d8d
13. Never give a bank teller or anyone else trying to sell you an investment, your time. Never not ever! The worst thing you can do is to start talking to a teller about retirement plans. The true fiduciaries don’t actively look for clients. Again, keep it simple, cut out the middleman and do it yourself. I helped a friend who was giving money to his bank, who was then giving it to a known, high cost company. For years, his balance wasn’t rising much more than his deposits. In 5 years, since moving the investments to a DIY approach, his money went from 100k to a 500k balance. He had multiple people taking their share along the way and then the money was going into front loaded funds with huge expense ratios. All those savings are now added to his balance every year.
14. Research shows that the more you react, the more you adjust, the more you go to cash when the market is tanking, the less you’ll have down the road. Come up with a strategy, set it and forget it.
15. No matter what sector of the market you invest in. All sectors have one thing in common. The returns are different and come at different times but they all are worth way more over any 30, 50 or 100 year period. You can do it all wrong and as long as you DIY, you’re doing it at a low cost custodian like Schwab or Vanguard and you’re choosing well diversified funds with low expense ratios, you’ll be fine. Over time, you can refine your strategy in any retirement account without penalty. You can’t make changes in brokerage accounts without some capital gains so choose wisely. Keep the brokerage simple like Vanguard VT ETF.
16. Learning the basics is probably the most important thing you can do. Where to start? First, read or listen to the book, The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It’s available on Audible. I would suggest the podcast Talking Real Money. I believe it is one of the best. It’s easy to understand and it is great advice. Once you’re feeling comfortable, dive into the data on PaulMerriman.com. A nonprofit whose mission is to provide data and research based on the past 50 and 100 years so everyone has the knowledge to DIY. His Sound Investing Podcast isn’t as entertaining, but the information is gold. I listen to it at 1.25 speed. While you’re there, go to the Writings link and download his free book, We’re Talking Millions and listen to some podcasts where he is interviewed on the topic. You can spend weeks looking over and analyzing the research on his site but if you don’t enjoy it, just stick with the Talking Real Money podcast and the audio books Simple Path to Wealth and We’re Talking Millions. Then FOLLOW THROUGH!!!!!Most people never follow through!
17. Lastly, realize that anyone can become a multi-millionaire with time! Have a plan, invest regularly, buy and hold, don’t react to crashes, actually buy more when the market is tanking like Warren Buffet and at some point you’ll be making more in interest than you do working.
Disclaimer. The opinions expressed here are for general informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any financial product or security.
Information is based on sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy, completeness, and timeliness are not guaranteed. This content is not tailored to any individual’s financial situation.
Strategies and views discussed may not be suitable for everyone and do not address all risks or considerations associated with investing. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and no outcomes are guaranteed.
All opinions reflect current market conditions and are subject to change without notice, including any forward-looking statements based on assumptions and expectations.
