Episode Summary

In today’s episode, Mary Beth and Neela demystify the world of investing. They explore the crucial differences between saving and investing, underscore the importance of starting early to take full advantage of compound interest, and explain why diversification is your best defense against market volatility. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting out, this episode will equip you with the knowledge to make wise investment decisions and set you on the path to financial security. Get ready to transform the way you think about money, as we break down complex financial concepts into easy-to-understand language. Let’s dive into the basics of investing and learn how to let your money work for you!

What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

• The best way to leverage the power of compound interest and maximize wealth accumulation
• Inflation explained and how to outpace it
• Why diversification is so crucial to your financial success
• How to approach your emotions around investing
• The reason to focus on long term planning for your investments
• Sorting out the differences between saving and investing
• How to evaluate and understand your risk tolerance
• The best way to get started on your investment journey

Stay Connected:

• Connect with Mary Beth on Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn
• Connect with Neela on Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn
• Join the Abacus community by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn

Transcript of the Episode

Neela [00:00:14]:

Hey there. Welcome to the If Money Were Easy podcast, the show where we teach you how to expand what’s possible with your money. We’re your hosts, Neela Hummel 

Mary Beth [00:00:24]:

and Mary Beth Storjohann, 

Neela [00:00:25]:

certified financial planners and co CEO’s of Abacus Wealth Partners. Today on the show, we’re going to talk about Investing 101: Wall street without the jargon. 

Mary Beth [00:00:38]:

Sounds exciting. 

Neela [00:00:40]:

I’m excited. A little school reference and also a jargon free Wall street experience. Let’s do this. 

Mary Beth [00:00:46]:

Okay. But also, being a finance nerd, did you used to get excited about going to New York and actually being on Wall Street? I remember being in college. 

Neela [00:00:53]:

Oh, yeah.

Mary Beth [00:00:54]:

And Wall street of past is not Wall street of present. But whenever I think of Wall Street, I remember on my actual camera taking photos that you print, I took a picture of the Wall street sign when I was in college in front of it and so anyway. 

Neela [00:01:06]:

Wall street equals warm and fuzzies. Is that your… 

Mary Beth [00:01:10]:

Yeah, it does. So, so many warm, fuzzy memories. 

Neela [00:01:13]:

And now with the girl. 

Mary Beth [00:01:14]:

Yeah, the girl, yes. She’s like further down now, though. She’s not actually on Wall street, she’s somewhere else, isn’t she? 

Neela [00:01:20]:

Well, that’s rude.

Mary Beth [00:01:21]:

Yeah, you didn’t know that? She was there for like a year and they relocated her.

Neela [00:01:25]:

Oh, my God. 

Mary Beth [00:01:26]:

Anyways, I digress. Okay. Welcome back, Neela. Welcome back from sabbatical. We’re talking about investing 101 Wall street. Why? Why is investing important? And why is it so overwhelming to so many people? 

Neela [00:01:38]:

So we should start by saying that investing is basically the key to having your money work for you and that we work so hard and we spend so much of our time working. And investing is basically making sure that that money that you have worked hard to save actually does something for you and can take care of you at a future point, whether that’s for some goal or it’s to not be able to not have to work at some point to take care of a loved one. We always talk about money equals options, and it’s hard to have those options if investing isn’t part of your plan. 

Mary Beth [00:02:18]:

Yes, exactly. I mean, investing gives you financial security. 

Neela [00:02:23]:

Yep. 

Mary Beth [00:02:23]:

Whether it’s a part of your plan and getting to that retirement point or. Or the unexpected, making sure if you’re not investing, as Nee said, it’s probably going to be a struggle.

Neela [00:02:32]:

Yeah. And I think we should also say that as important as it is, we’re never formally taught about it. Unless you pursue a particular degree or you’re like us and you become Certified Financial Planners, this is not common curriculum at really any level across the country. And so it’s like so important. And also, if you feel like you don’t know where to begin, you are in really good company because there’s very little formalized mandatory education about this where you would have been taught it. So if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t worry, there are many like you. 

Mary Beth [00:03:09]:

Yes. You’re not alone. Okay, let’s start though. Is saving the same as investing? Because I know, I’ve had plenty of conversations where people say they interchange the two.

Neela [00:03:21]:

Yes. 

Mary Beth [00:03:22]:

And they are not the same. 

Neela [00:03:24]:

Correct. 

Mary Beth [00:03:25]:

How would you explain? 

Neela [00:03:26]:

I’ve also had the same experience of this conflating savings equals investing. I would say saving is important. To invest, you need to have savings so that you can invest that money, but they are not the same. And they are also both important parts of a financial plan. So when I think about saving, I think about cash, I think about an emergency fund, I think about a resilience fund. I think about short term security that gives you the ability to handle an unexpected expense or be able to withstand a job loss or something kind of in a short term, like a less than twelve month type experience. And when I think about investing, investing is for the longer term. And if you are in your twenties, in your thirties, in your forties, in your fifties, in your sixties, what has happened is longevity has gotten so much higher and so people are living into their eighties and nineties. And so investing is about the future. So it’s like beyond where the cash would be. Investing is to really let your money work for you in a long term basis. What would you say? 

Mary Beth [00:04:42]:

So I’d say yes to everything that you said and said another way with saving, what we’re doing is we’re keeping our money in the bank, right? And you’re earning a minimal interest on that amount of money. So as you said, short term, that money, if you’re saving your money, you are getting a small amount of interest by keeping it in your bank, in your checking account, in your bank’s savings account. That’s that short term. Investing you are looking at the longer term. As you said, you’re using the money to buy assets like stocks or bonds or real estate. Those are assets that have the potential for significant growth. So the things to think about when you’re thinking about saving the money you have in your savings account, inflation actually has the ability to diminish the purchasing power of that money. If you’re saving, you have a little interest inflation is going to eat away at your purchasing power. So that’s why if you’re only saving, it’s not going to work out for the long run because inflation will come around and erode your purchasing power. So, Nee, what is inflation? 

Neela [00:05:38]:

Inflation is essentially that over time, the costs of goods and services go up. You might have heard from a media standpoint that the Fed is targeting a 2% inflation rate. This is why when you’re hanging out with your parents or maybe even your grandparents, and they’re saying, well, back in my day, you know, I got paid a nickel for an hour of work, it’s not because there were insane child labor issues back then. Well, I guess depending on how far you back, there were, maybe depending on how far you want to go back, there might have been. But essentially that over time, the cost of goods and services go up. Because this is where if you got a loaf of bread for a certain dollar amount today, you know, five years from now, it’s going to buy you a slice, right? 

Mary Beth [00:06:23]:

That’s why they always have those little printouts the year you were born, what a dozen eggs cost, what bread costs. That’s the birthday card thing.

Neela [00:06:29]:

Why it’s so important is that if you’re only saving, if you’re only keeping your money in a bank account, or if you’re only keeping your money under a mattress or in a hole in your backyard, yes, that has happened. I have met somebody who did that. 

Mary Beth [00:06:45]:

Is that you? 

Neela [00:06:46]:

What I’m like also, don’t look in my backyard. But if you are not investing, if you are only saving, your money will not catch up. It will not keep pace with that growth. And so while you’ll never see the value of your account go down, make no mistake, it is losing money in terms of what you can do with that money.

Mary Beth [00:07:07]:

This is especially important for an elder generation, is when it comes to healthcare costs. We see those rise at a rate that outpaces inflation on an annual basis. And so that is where investing comes into play. Not only are you looking at an investing strategy that needs to help you outpace inflation and grow your money, but you need to take into consideration the costs that will be incurred when you are in your seventies, eighties, nineties, and what the inflation rate is for those specific areas to ensure that your investments can be allocated in a way that ideally keeps up with those.

Neela [00:07:40]:

Yeah, it’s a great point that healthcare and education are two of the areas where we’ve seen higher than average inflation. And it’s kind of interesting because for quite some time. Up until about two years ago, you know, we had experienced, like, a ten year period with very low inflation. 

Mary Beth [00:07:58]:

Low inflation, right. 

Neela [00:07:59]:

And then in the last couple of years, all of a sudden kicked off by pandemic supply chain issues. Everybody listening probably noticed to what happened to their grocery bill. Things shot up. And this idea of inflation that most people have been really good about knowing when it comes to, like, salary and getting more money each year. But I think people really started to see it in terms of what they were spending their money on and how much those goods and services were costing. 

Mary Beth [00:08:28]:

Right. So inflation is why we need to invest. Part of the reason why we need to invest, to ensure that we have enough resources to stop earning an income. But one of the tools that we have in our pocket when it comes to investing, that is an outsized resource. With investing versus saving only is compound interest. 

Neela [00:08:46]:

Yeah. 

Mary Beth [00:08:46]:

So when it comes to compound interest, I always like to say that compound interest is your money’s best friend. They go together. 

Neela [00:08:53]:

And how does compound interest work? What does it even mean?

Mary Beth [00:08:57]:

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say we have early Eleanor. Early Eleanor saves $100 a month over ten years from ages 25 to 35. Let’s say that early Eleanor earns 6% interest. That means the early Eleanor has saved $16,387.94 during that time. And then early Eleanor stopped saving. She stops. She’s done until age 65. That money sits. That $16,387 sits for 30 years until age 65. The balance early Eleanor has at age 65 is $94,118. Early Eleanor has earned $77,730 in interest just from saving over those ten years and letting the money sit for 30. Now, let’s look at late Lauren. Late Lauren doesn’t start at 25. Late Lauren starts saving at 35 and saves the same amount, $100 a month for ten years from 35 to 45. So again, assuming that 6% interest, late Lauren has the same amount of money saved at that ten year point, that’s $16,387.94. But late Lauren only has 20 years until age 65. So 45 to 65, 20 years. So her money is not sitting as long, doesn’t have as long to grow. At age 65, late Lauren has $52,558. So late Lauren has earned $36,170. That’s versus early Eleanor, who, again, saved the same amount but just started earlier, who has $77,730 in interest. So we’re looking at almost at a $40,000 difference, $41,000 difference in that interest just by starting earlier. So this demonstrates the benefit of compound interest and how time is on your side when it comes to investing your money and growing it. You want to be the early Eleanor. You don’t necessarily want to be the late Lauren, but even if you are late Lauren, it’s better than being even later Lauren. So do want to get started. So that’s where you always say, when’s the best time to start investing? Today. If you haven’t started, start today. Don’t wait another five years. Don’t wait another ten years. Don’t wait until you have the opportunity. And we always say even start with the smallest amount if you can. Just getting started. When we did our episode of things we wish we knew when we were 22, we talked about if we had started earlier, what would it look like if you’d started even earlier with your savings and how that could look. So I think the power of compound interest is one of the most underrated when it comes to those who are just getting started and understanding really what you’re losing out on by not beginning. 

Neela [00:11:51]:

I mean, at the end of the day, early Eleanor saves less dollars, but ends up with more money. 

Mary Beth [00:11:58]:

Yes. 

Neela [00:11:59]:

So in aggregate, she’s saved less, but because she got started when she did, she ends up with a lot more money. And so I think that’s so powerful because I think we can also really get down on ourselves when we’re getting started in our investment journey of, I can only save x. And the response to that is great. You’re saving, you’re investing, you’re starting somewhere. And so just get started, and then as you are able to dial it up. But the value of starting as early as possible is enormous. So when we think about the basics of investing and a big disclaimer that this entire industry is made to make us feel stupid because we’re never taught about it.

Mary Beth [00:12:44]:

What I know, shocked to hear that. 

Neela [00:12:48]:

You know, at the end of the day, we joke that financial planning has a couple of key basics. And I’d say, you know, the same thing goes with investing. It’s focusing on if you key things and really tuning out the noise of everything else. And so when you talk to someone who’s either interested in becoming a client or a friend, and you say, okay, these are kind of the main principles of investing that I would recommend, where do you begin? 

Mary Beth [00:13:14]:

Diversification. You don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket. So a lot of people, when they first learn about my industry, depending on where you’re talking, it’s like, what do you think about this stock yeah, right. I went to a family wedding reception over the weekend and one of my distant cousins came up to me and said, I hear you’re in money. I need you to make me some money. That’s the thing. That’s it. So the power of diversification is incredibly important. That is where I always start, because it helps to mitigate risk. If you put all of your eggs in one basket and that one basketball goes under, you were in trouble. 

Neela [00:13:52]:

Yeah.

Mary Beth [00:13:52]:

So diversification is making sure your money is put in a variety of assets and industries and even different sized companies. 

Neela [00:14:03]:

Yeah, I mean, I think it’s also defining what diversification means. And it’s owning lots of companies, it’s owning lots of industries, it’s owning lots of countries and all kinds of different sectors. So I like to give the example of, now we’re going to really date ourselves, but being around in like the early aughts and coming on the other side of like the tech bubble and people coming in saying, well, I’m diversified. And you look at their portfolio and they have like ten tech stocks, and you’re like, well, sort of, you’ve got some diversification from a name standpoint, but what happens if the entire tech sector goes down? And so when we talk about diversification, we’re kind of like, hey, you don’t know who the winners and the losers are going to be, which statistically it’s most impossible to know that. 

Mary Beth [00:14:54]:

You don’t know. If we did know, everybody would be in a different place, if we knew.

Neela [00:14:57]:

Totally. If we come from a standpoint of markets are efficient and we don’t know who the winners and losers are going to be. So let’s kind of like own a lot of different ones and so that we’ll capture the upside and we’ll mitigate the downside. And great examples of this is what if you were convinced that Blockbuster was going to the moon? You put all your money in Blockbuster, you’d be in a very different position.

Mary Beth [00:15:18]:

Or BlackBerry. 

Neela [00:15:19]:

Or BlackBerry or Kodak or Enron. All these names. Oof, they’re rough, right? 

Mary Beth [00:15:25]:

Yep. 

Neela [00:15:26]:

We’ve seen people who put their entire 401Ks in a company stock. 

Mary Beth [00:15:29]:

Company stock.

Neela [00:15:31]:

And that’s rough. 

Mary Beth [00:15:32]:

It’s rough. It is rough. 

Neela [00:15:34]:

Okay, so diversification. 

Mary Beth [00:15:35]:

Diversification. So the power of diversification, as Nee said, is in owning a little bit of everything. You want to own a lot. And you can do that through mutual funds, through exchange traded funds. When you look at your 401K, there are mutual funds within that portfolio. Those mutual funds own a portfolio of funds. So your money is pooled with other investors, thousands of other investors, and those funds are pooled to purchase hundreds of different companies. And those companies, depending on the strategy of that fund, will be of different sizes. Maybe US, might be international, and they’ll be based on risk tolerance and strategy depending on the name of the fund. But that diversification is very important versus you picking out ten of the largest tech companies, as Nee said, or financial companies, for example. You don’t want to go cherry pick based on your gut or based on a Reddit thread or Google or even AI. You want to make sure that you are working with an advisor and that your funds are diversified. So you have savings. That’s happening in cash. Investing is happening in your wealth portfolio, which you’re looking at as your 401K is your retirement accounts. You have a Roth IRA. You might have an after tax investment account that’s going to be your individual account or your joint account. That’s where this diversification comes into play as we’re talking about investing. And you likely have some real estate allocation in there as well. 

Neela [00:17:03]:

Right. 

Mary Beth [00:17:03]:

And fix income.

Neela [00:17:04]:

Fun fact, you can be a real estate investor without owning a vacation rental, without owning apartment building. You can just own a little bit of a real estate investment trust. 

Mary Beth [00:17:13]:

Was just talking to a client about this, that they are a real estate investor without having to invest in an additional property. 

Neela [00:17:20]:

Right. Without having to replace light bulbs and pipes. 

Mary Beth [00:17:24]:

Yes, yes, yes. Just have that conversation. Okay, so we talked about diversification. Tell me a bit about the role emotions can play in undermining our investment returns.

Neela [00:17:36]:

I think this is a really big one. And sometimes the joke that I’ll use in terms of my role as an advisor is that I am bad decision insurance, that I’m going to keep people from making the investing decisions that can set them back, honestly, decades in their goals. And it’s because of the role that emotions play in that. Investing can be very scary, because if you are investing for the long term, the market is not, hey, we’re just going to go up 8% a year every single year. Isn’t this a lovely smooth ride? No way. It’s up 20% and then it’s down 35%. And then, you know, you’ve got recessions in there, you’ve got global financial crises in there, you’ve got world wars in there. You basically have the messiness that is the world that throws a giant fireball through your investment plan. That if you’re not focused on the long term, if you’re not focused on your investment strategy and the goals that you’ve set. Before all that drama happened, it is easy to fall prey to those emotions. And so when you read an article that says that end of the earth is coming or recession on the horizon, it’s almost like your lizard brain steps in and is like, well, we got to get out. We got to get out of the market because I don’t want to be a part of that. I don’t want to watch my money fall. 20, 30, 40%. That’s scary. And yet, all the data from an investment standpoint is that if you miss just a couple of the best days of the market, your cumulative returns are significantly decreased. And so when we think about money, and from an investing standpoint, I like to think like money’s kind of like soap, where it’s like the more you handle it, the less you have. You can have like, a really good investment plan and tune out the emotional needs. You will end up having a better investing experience and you’ll probably make more money. 

Mary Beth [00:19:37]:

And that especially comes into play this year as it is an election year. 

Neela [00:19:42]:

Right. 

Mary Beth [00:19:42]:

And we’re getting those questions of, what do you think about the market? What’s going to happen with the election? And the answer is, markets are efficient. Let it ride and let it go. 

Neela [00:19:53]:

Which basically means if you are hearing about something, if you are reading about something, the market has likely already priced that information in to what it is buying and selling those stocks for. And so if you have information that other people don’t have, well, that’s called insider trading, and that’s also illegal. 

Mary Beth [00:20:13]:

That’s for another podcast.

Neela [00:20:16]:

And so it’s like, I feel like I should do this and be like, okay, well, like, the market knows about this. This is a public story. Anytime we deviate from what the market says in terms of how much of a stock or a bond we should own, we’re basically saying, hey, I know better than the market, which is, I know better than all the millions of people who are participating in this great experience. 

Mary Beth [00:20:38]:

Right. And I should say the emotional side of investing should not be confused with your risk tolerance. 

Neela [00:20:44]:

Great point. Yes. 

Mary Beth [00:20:45]:

And so one of the things before you do begin investing is to understand how much you can tolerate volatility within your portfolio, how much volatility can you withstand without being incredibly uncomfortable, stressed out, going to be on edge, and likely make a drastic decision anyways. And so part of this is understanding what are your goals? What’s your timeframe towards needing some of these funds are access to them. And again, going back to, okay, are you watching your portfolio. How much risk can you take if you know that there might be some short-term turbulence, but that, again, markets are efficient and in general, they reward long term investors for the risk that they take? Are you willing to endure said volatility and the short-term fluctuations, knowing that, but there’s long term reward there? Or will you become so uncomfortable that you might need to make something drastic, so therefore, you should take less risk so that you can therefore, ideally experience less turbulence. And so part of this is a conversation that you’ll have with your financial advisor. That risk tolerance is set prior to you actually investing. It’s a part of your investment strategy, is to understand your risk tolerance. And then from there, once you are locked and loaded with a risk tolerance and allocation that works for your goals and values, then we want to refrain from that emotional investing because you have already agreed upon, you have committed to a strategy that works for you. And the emotions and being swayed by the news or the media, whatever is popping up has the ability to really derail you from there. 

Neela [00:22:13]:

Yeah. 

Mary Beth [00:22:14]:

You are allowed to reevaluate, though, right? Life does happen. And if your tolerance goes down and you realize, okay, I went too aggressive and you need to make adjustments, that is okay. But you definitely want to avoid big swings or changes during turbulent times. You need to take time to step away from those and evaluate for the long term. If you’re changing, maybe it’s six months out. 

Neela [00:22:34]:

Which I love that you mentioned that, because it hammers home the point that when we talk about investment allocation, we’re talking about what percentage of stocks do you have? How much do you have in the ownership of companies versus, say, bonds, which is basically like you as a lender to companies and governments and organizations. Stocks are more volatile, bonds are less volatile, stocks will make more over the long run, bonds will make less, but it’ll be a less bumpy ride. And so I like that you hit that where there might be a financial answer of like, hey, this should be your mix. But there’s also very much a personal answer, and that that needs to factor in, because if your financial answer is such that you jump out of your seat, that’s a poor financial answer. So we want to make sure that you’re in it, but it’s enough that you can withstand the bumps and the peaks and the valleys, mostly the valleys, and stay in your seat, because the value of staying in your seat is enormous as an investor.

Mary Beth [00:23:33]:

And as an advisor, it is our job to educate you on the impact of the allocation as well. So if it turns out that your risk tolerance is lower than what is sustainable for your financial plan, it is our job as financial planners to let you know that you will likely end up off plan and we’ll need to potentially maybe save more, increase your savings rate in order to account for the differences. But that is understanding the risk tolerance and your asset allocation will impact the success of your financial plan and your goals, depending on what those are in the timeframes involved. So it’s one big puzzle that kind of feeds into each other for the results. All of the pieces are connected and the results depend on your preferences and then obviously, success of the market and allocation.

Neela [00:24:14]:

I think there’s 45 things we could say about things to consider when investing, but if we just really focus on those three, which is making sure that your investment allocation is lined up with your goals and your values, and have an investment allocation that’s diversified so that you’re really owning lots of things, and then you have a plan for keeping your emotions in check, whether that is working with an advisor, educating yourself in terms of kind of what does it feel like when my portfolio is down by a certain amount? I think there’s a lot of other pieces of keeping fees low and making sure that you’re not making some of these other adjustments, but those are the big ones. Would you agree? 

Mary Beth [00:24:54]:

I would agree. The only other thing I would address is how do you get started? 

Neela [00:24:59]:

Yeah. 

Mary Beth [00:25:00]:

Where do you go to get started with the investing? You know, we have people with 401Ks that could be sitting in cash funds or like, how do you know you’re invested properly and where do you go to begin investing? 

Neela [00:25:11]:

Yeah, and I think, you know, we’ll give that constant answer of, it depends. I’d say there’s two different paths. One, if you have experienced some sort of a wealth event where there’s a big change in your life, if you are retiring from a job, if you are switching from a job where you’ve been there for a long time, if you have a windfall from the sale of a company, if you have inherited wealth from a parent or a spouse, if there’s like a big seismic change to your wealth event, that’s typically when people look for an advisor because there’s so many different moving parts, and that’s really where we can come in and make a huge difference in somebody’s life. So I’d say if you’re looking to have just more professional expertise, that’s when you want to look for hiring a certified financial planner. I would say if you are just getting started on your wealth journey. So if you are joining us from the What I Wish I Knew About Money When I Was 22 episode, which is doing very well, I should say. People seem to like that one is that there are a lot of great sites out there that can help an early investor get started. The Ellevests, the Betterments, the Schwabs, the Vanguards, where you can work with them to open accounts and get started in your investing journey. 

Mary Beth [00:26:26]:

I think that’s it. Good for investing 101. 

Neela [00:26:29]:

Yeah. 

Mary Beth [00:26:30]:

Thanks y’all. 

Neela [00:26:30]:

Thanks everyone. 

Neela [00:26:33]:

Most people have formed helpful and harmful habits around spending, giving and investing. Head to abacuswealth.com/quiz to take our financial archetype quiz and learn your three dominant money types. You’ll receive personalized guidance that helps you have a healthier, more balanced relationship to money. 

Neela [00:27:15]:

Abacus Wealth Partners is an SEC registered investment advisor. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of Abacus Wealth Partners by the SEC, nor does it indicate that Abacus Wealth Partners has attained a particular level of skill or ability. This material prepared by Abacus Wealth Partners is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as a substitute for personalized investment advice or as a recommendation or solicitation of any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Opinions expressed by Abacus Wealth Partners are based on economic or market conditions at the time this material was written. Facts presented have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Abacus Wealth Partners, however, cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information, and certain information presented here may have been condensed or summarized from its original source. Abacus Wealth Partners does not provide tax or legal advice, and nothing contained in these materials should be taken as tax or legal advice. Economies and markets fluctuate. Actual economic or market events may turn out differently than anticipated. No investors should assume that future performance will be profitable or equal, either the previous reflected performance or that of the reference benchmarks. The historical performance results of the comparative benchmarks do not reflect the deduction of transaction and custodial charges or the deduction of an investment management fee, the incurrence of which would decrease indicated historical performance. The S&P index includes 500 leading companies in the US and is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large cap US equities. The holdings and performance of Abacus Wealth Partners clients’ accounts may vary widely from those of the presented indices. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Abacus Wealth Partners and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Abacus Wealth Partners unless a client service agreement is in place.