Brennan and Erin Schlagbaum
After paying off a six-figure mortgage and student loans, Brennan and Erin Schlagbaum shifted their focus from debt paydown to wealth-building.
Without a mortgage, the couple was able to save the majority of their income. They put most of their money in low-cost index funds and, over time, their brokerage account surpassed the $1 million mark, according to an account screenshot viewed by Business Insider.
BI spoke with Brennan, a CPA who runs the financial literacy company Budgetdog, about his investment strategy and what he held in his portfolio as of December 2024.
For years, nearly all of the couple's stock-market money was in three Vanguard index funds: a total stock market fund (VTSAX), a total international stock fund (VTIAX), and an emerging markets index fund (VEMAX).
In October 2024, they moved 100% of their index funds to ETFs within all of their accounts in response to Vanguard's rollout of automatic ETF investing. They switched to Vanguard's equivalent ETFs, which you can find on the overview page of the index fund. For example, the equivalent ETF of VTSAX, which Schlagbaum said was their biggest holding, is VTI.
Vanguard
The equivalent of their VTIAX holding is VXUS, and the equivalent of their VEMAX holding is VWO.
ETFs and index funds are similar — in fact, many ETFs are index funds — and can offer long-term returns, diversification, and cost savings thanks to low expense ratios. One key difference is how they're traded: ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the trading day, while index funds can only be bought and sold once a day at the close of the trading day. ETFs also typically require a lower investment minimum. You can buy a Vanguard ETF for as little as $1, for example, whereas most Vanguard mutual funds have a $3,000 minimum.
The Schlagbaums switched to ETFs for two main reasons: One, they're slightly cheaper. For example, VTSAX has an expense ratio of 0.04%, while VTI has one of 0.03%.
Two, ETFs may offer tax savings when compared to index funds. ETF investors are taxed only when they sell the investment, while investors who own mutual funds — and index funds qualify as mutual funds — are liable for paying some capital gains taxes when a fund sells assets and realizes a gain.
Just because they're putting their money into ETFs doesn't mean their strategy is shifting. They're still playing the long-term, buy-and-hold game, Schlagbaum said, adding that, "if you stay in index funds, it's not going to make or break you long-term."
The way he sees it, the ETFs he converted to are very similar in terms of their holdings, just slightly less expensive and more tax-efficient: "It's like, why wouldn't you take it? It's low-hanging fruit, in my opinion."
Schlagbaum owns one individual stock: Meta Platforms (META), which he said he bought in October 2022 when the stock price dipped to $97.
He prefers index-fund investing to stock picking and especially doesn't like to try to time the market, "but we did time the market a little bit there," he said. "It just seemed like such an obvious buy."
He considers META, which is at $624 as of December 16, 2024, "my biggest win of all time."
That said, "If you're an investor and you're just starting, individual stocks should not be on your radar. That gets people into so much trouble, and it's not necessary to build wealth. The best investors have the bulk of their portfolio in ETFs and index funds."
The couple owns a primary residence, but no investment properties.
"If something breaks in my house, I call somebody, even if it's a hanging up a picture," said Schlagbaum. While he has zero interest in managing more than one home, he recognizes the benefit of diversifying his portfolio with real estate, which is why syndication deals make sense for him.
Courtesy of Brennan Schlagbaum
A real estate syndication is when investors pool money to purchase a property. Once they contribute capital, their role in the deal becomes completely passive. The real-estate syndicator is responsible for finding the deal, executing the transaction, and, ultimately, delivering returns to the investors.
"You lose control from that aspect. You don't really have control over how that performs," said Schlagbaum, who invests in five multi-family syndications. But if you work with a syndicator with a good track record that you trust, "I think it's one of the best ways for somebody that hates real estate but understands the tax benefits of real estate to get in, because you don't have to do anything."
A small sliver, 1-5%, of the couple's portfolio is in bitcoin.
"We have 1.5, and that position is sitting at $150,000 based on the price right now," said Schlagbaum. "But it's really just 1.5 bitcoin in general. That's going to move with whatever the pricing is, but that's been a huge grower. We were buying at around 15,000, and now it's at 100 plus thousand."
When it comes to highly speculative assets, he believes in having a number of things in order before investing: "Bills paid, emergency fund intact, bad debt paid off, retirement secured, non-retirement invested, all other financial goals are handled — and then, if you have extra money, I think bitcoin is a solid buy."
