Former Financial Advisor: “Do Not Buy A House!” Do THIS Instead! @humphrey
Humphrey Yang (guest), Marina Mogilko (host)
In this episode of Silicon Valley Girl, featuring Humphrey Yang and Marina Mogilko, Former Financial Advisor: “Do Not Buy A House!” Do THIS Instead! @humphrey explores simple wealth-building playbook for 2025: save, diversify, stay calm Humphrey Yang outlines a straightforward 2025 approach: build an emergency fund, invest consistently via diversified ETFs, and avoid early wealth “killers” like overspending on cars and carrying high-interest debt.
Simple wealth-building playbook for 2025: save, diversify, stay calm
Humphrey Yang outlines a straightforward 2025 approach: build an emergency fund, invest consistently via diversified ETFs, and avoid early wealth “killers” like overspending on cars and carrying high-interest debt.
He explains how time horizon and risk tolerance determine whether money belongs in the market at all, emphasizing automation and dollar-cost averaging over trying to pick the “best day” to invest.
On asset allocation, he favors a three-fund portfolio as a core, with limited “alternatives” exposure (including a small Bitcoin allocation) only after the basics are solid.
The conversation also covers when renting beats buying, how to think about real estate as an investment, when (and why) to hire an advisor, and psychological strategies for staying invested during drawdowns.
Key Takeaways
Aim for a 20% savings rate if possible.
Humphrey notes the US average savings rate is far lower (~4%), so getting to 10–20% meaningfully increases flexibility and long-term compounding potential.
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Build a 3–6 month emergency fund before investing aggressively.
He recommends stockpiling cash in a high-yield account until you have ~3–6 months of expenses (e. ...
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Don’t invest money you’ll need soon.
If you’ll need funds within a year (e. ...
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Use ETFs as the default ‘set-and-forget’ wealth engine.
ETFs provide instant diversification (e. ...
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A classic three-fund portfolio is a strong core allocation.
He cites a common split: ~50% US stocks, ~25–30% international stocks, remainder bonds—adjusting bonds downward for younger investors who want more growth.
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Only add higher-risk ‘alternatives’ in small doses.
For most people, he suggests keeping alternatives like crypto/real estate to a modest slice (e. ...
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Delay concentrated bets until you have momentum (around $100k).
He argues large swings early can reset years of progress; building a solid base first makes risk-taking less demoralizing and more mathematically meaningful.
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Automate investing; consistency beats timing.
Recurring investments (every two weeks or monthly) implement dollar-cost averaging, and he dismisses the idea of a universally “good day” to buy.
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401(k)s are best when the match matters; otherwise match accounts to time horizon.
He frames a 401(k) as a powerful forced-savings and tax tool (especially with employer match), but says if you need money in ~10 years, a taxable brokerage may be more practical than risking penalties/lockups.
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Rent vs buy is local-math, not ideology.
He rents in SF because rent is cheaper than an equivalent mortgage; he suggests comparing rent to the mortgage for a similar home and considering whether local appreciation has historically been strong (while noting it’s not guaranteed).
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Treat Bitcoin exposure as a small portfolio allocation, not a lifestyle bet.
If you believe in crypto long term, he suggests ~3–5% in Bitcoin; for simplicity, he mentions using a Bitcoin ETF for exposure instead of managing wallets/exchanges.
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Meme coins reward speed, network, and emotional control—not fundamentals.
He says meme coins can’t be valued like stocks; success often requires being plugged into crypto communities, moving fast, and avoiding greed (e. ...
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Cars and consumer debt can be early wealth killers.
He calls overspending on cars a common compounding blocker and suggests keeping transportation costs roughly within 10–15% of gross income; credit card debt is another major drag.
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Holding some cash inside a brokerage can be strategic.
He prefers ~10–15% cash (often swept into a money market yielding ~4–4. ...
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Stay sane in downturns by extending your time horizon.
He expects 20–40% drawdowns over time; if you don’t need the money soon, staying invested is easier and historically rewarded—noise from social media and nonstop news makes this discipline harder.
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Notable Quotes
““I would stockpile some cash until you have at least three to six months of an emergency fund saved up.””
— Humphrey Yang
““There’s never such thing as a good day… As long as you’re consistently investing, that’s more important.””
— Humphrey Yang
““My ideal holding period is typically forever. That’s the best holding period.””
— Humphrey Yang
““For every one person that makes… a 20x or a 50x… you have 99 people losing all their money.””
— Humphrey Yang
““Investing takes a long time, and we live in an age where everything is instant.””
— Humphrey Yang
Questions Answered in This Episode
You recommend saving 20%—what are your top 3 tactics to jump from a 4–5% savings rate to 15–20% without feeling deprived?
Humphrey Yang outlines a straightforward 2025 approach: build an emergency fund, invest consistently via diversified ETFs, and avoid early wealth “killers” like overspending on cars and carrying high-interest debt.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
For a three-fund portfolio, how would you adjust the US/international/bonds split for someone who’s 25 vs 40 vs 55?
He explains how time horizon and risk tolerance determine whether money belongs in the market at all, emphasizing automation and dollar-cost averaging over trying to pick the “best day” to invest.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
You mention waiting until ~$100k before concentrated bets—what if someone has high income but low net worth: would you still wait?
On asset allocation, he favors a three-fund portfolio as a core, with limited “alternatives” exposure (including a small Bitcoin allocation) only after the basics are solid.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
On rent vs buy, what exact inputs do you use (taxes, HOA, maintenance, opportunity cost) and what simple rule-of-thumb ratio do you like?
The conversation also covers when renting beats buying, how to think about real estate as an investment, when (and why) to hire an advisor, and psychological strategies for staying invested during drawdowns.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
You said you want 10–15% cash in the portfolio—how do you decide when to deploy it, and do you set specific correction thresholds?
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Transcript Preview
What I'm going to tell you right now is going to be very different.
What are the worst decisions people can make with their money in 2025?
Right now, I don't have that cash. It's all fully in the market.
How do you stay sane when the [chuckles] market goes down?
Ideally, I just keep all that money in the investing portfolio forever.
Let's talk about crypto.
Oh, I have a 5X. I want a 10X.
How complex everything is.
People saying you should sell everything.
And you do the same for your meme coin strategy, right?
Not financial advice.
Hey, guys. Welcome to Silicon Valley Girl. It looks like 2025 is gonna be a wild ride for everyone who is interested in investing, starting a business, anything to do with finance. So today, we have a financial expert here, Humphrey, uh, who we're gonna talk to about building wealth in 2025, mistakes you can make with your money in 2025, and, like, general wealth-building advice. 'Cause I feel like for a lot of young people, it looks like 2025 could be a great year to start building wealth, especially when you see markets growing. It's like, it's a good place to start, right? [chuckles]
Yeah, exactly.
Everything's falling.
Yep.
Um, let's talk about that. Uh, can we start, uh, with, like, a general budgeting strategy for people in 2025, how much you save, how much you invest?
I'd like to say, for most people, that they should try to aim to save 20% of their income if they can. If they can do more, that's great, but most people... I think the average personal savings rate in the United States is about 4%, so if you can get up to 10, 15, 20%, that gives you a lot more flexibility, and that will help you save and invest more in the long run.
When you say save, like, okay-
Yeah
... I'm putting aside 10%, does it stay as cash, or does it go into a high-yield savings account? What would be the strategy there?
Yeah, I would stockpile some cash until you have at least three to six months of an emergency fund saved up. So if your monthly expenses are $2,000 a month, that's what you need to live, you should at least save 6,000 or up to 12,000. Put that away. Put that aside. That's high yield. Put it in a high-yield account. You don't touch that money. That's just for emergencies. And then anything else you make on top of that and you can save, then you should invest that. That's the general guideline, yeah.
What should be the investment strategy for someone who's just starting out?
Yeah, so investment strategy super depends on the person's risk tolerance and their time horizon. So if they need the money next year, I probably wouldn't say you should invest, because let's say you need... Let's say you need money for a wedding, right? And you know you're gonna spend money on the wedding. If you invest that money and it goes down in value, you would probably feel pretty bad about it, and if you can't afford your wedding [chuckles] when you want to afford your wedding, that's not gonna be good. Let's say your time horizon is 40 years, so you want that money to be your retirement money. Then in that case, invest all you want, and you don't really have to worry too much about it. Kind of put it into the market and forget about it. Um, for most people, so I'm gonna get to the what you should invest in now, for most people, I think ETFs are pretty solid, and those are just exchange-traded funds. That just means you're buying one fund, and within that one fund, it encompasses, let's say, 500 other s- stocks within that fund. So by buying that one fund, you are buying literally 500 stocks all at once.
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