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Chad Miller

@miller_chad26

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Helping families build wealth & a life they OWN
Faith + Finance
Licensed Financial Professional | 📍 S. Florida
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Your savings might be doing two jobs at once. That's usually when the cushion disappears.

Keep surprise money in one jar. Keep "someday" money in another. Same you, two different jobs.

Try it tonight. Add up one month of your basics. That number is the unit you build from.

When did a surprise bill show up at the worst possible time for you?

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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7 hours ago

"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?" PROVERBS 27:23-24, KJV

In Solomon's day, knowing the state of your flocks meant knowing if your sheep were sick, had a disease, had broken limbs, etc. That flock of sheep was the source of survival for most people.

This concept applied today is interesting.

Do we know what's going on in every part of life, and know it to the point of diagnosing what needs to be worked on and what's going good, so we can replicate the good and let go of the unhelpful?

Solomon then warns that riches and power (the freedom of the nation) doesn't endure to every generation.

So what does this mean?

Instead of worrying about what you do or don't have, what is next, or if you are in the right spot in life, what if... what if... we are called to simply start by taking care of what we need to and can (know the state of the flock)?

This week I will be replacing worry for certainty by KNOWING the state of my life.

Enjoy the Sunday. by @miller_chad26

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a day ago

The price tag shows the dollars. It never shows the hours.

A 30-year mortgage is 360 monthly payments, and every one is paid with hours of your life.

Here's a simple example. A $1,500 house payment, a $500 car payment and a $100 phone payment add up to $2,100 a month. At $25 an hour, that's 84 hours of pay every month, just for the payments. Your numbers will be different, and that's the point. If that number surprised you, you're not bad with money. Nobody ever shows you this.

A surprise repair lands on top of that. A cushion you already built can take the hit, so it doesn't turn into more hours at work.

How many hours do your monthly payments cost you? Do the math and comment your number of hours below.

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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3 days ago

Everybody says pay off the house as fast as you can. I get it. No mortgage payment feels amazing.

But a paid-off house can't pay the electric bill.

Swipe for the order I'd look at: cushion first, then extra on the house.

Save this for later and send it to someone who just bought a place.

What's the best money advice you ever got that didn't fit your real life?

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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5 days ago

Some big news in your money this week, in plain English.

Diesel hit an all-time high. The national average peaked at $6.53 on Sep 22, above the old record of about $5.82 from June 2022. On Oct 6 it was $6.32, against $3.68 a year earlier. (AAA)

Diesel runs the trucks that haul your food, so higher costs can reach the grocery shelf later. That is how it usually works, not a promise. Food prices are already up 2.7% over the 12 months to August (BLS CPI), and about 7.2 cents of each food dollar goes to transport, storage and energy (USDA).

Now the other big bill, the home payment. Here is the 30-year mortgage rate, in history. It peaked at 18.63% in Oct 1981 and hit a low of 2.65% in Jan 2021, in Freddie Mac's records since 1971. The latest reading, Oct 8, 2026, is 6.95%. Rates move weekly.

What that means in one budget: a grocery bill that was $800 a year ago is about $822 now, at +2.7%. And on a made-up $300,000, 30-year fixed loan, principal and interest only, the payment is about $1,209 a month at 2.65% and about $1,986 a month at 6.95%, roughly $777 more. Examples only, your numbers will be different.

None of this is your fault. Nobody taught us to read these numbers.

One calm move this week: pick one bill and write down what it was a year ago and what it is now.

What's the first bill you noticed creeping up at your house?

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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6 days ago

The 5 second trick to estimate when money could double.

No calculator needed. It's called the Rule of 72. Divide 72 by a yearly rate (the percent your money grows each year) and you get a rough number of years to double.

Myth: it takes forever for money to grow. Myth: interest rates don't matter. Myth: a few years won't make a difference. Here's what the math says.

Hypothetical, here's what $10,000 could do in 30 years at a steady rate:
4% doubles in about 18 years and could reach about $32,400.
6% doubles in about 12 years and could reach about $57,400.
8% doubles in about 9 years and could reach about $100,600.

You can't set the rate. You can choose when to start. Higher rates usually come with more risk, and more years means more doublings. Time is the part you control.

What's one thing you started, even small, that you're glad you did?

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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7 days ago

by @miller_chad26

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10 days ago

I've never found someone yet who tries to decorate their house before they even pour the foundation, or before the roof is on or the walls are up. However, when it comes to a financial plan, unfortunately, things get mixed up very quickly.

Your financial plan should have an order.

1. Protect your income.
2. Build an emergency fund.
3. Invest for the long term.
4. Then start leveraging your assets.

Each layer holds up the next, so skipping one makes everything shaky.

If your financial home needs a checkup, or you need help drawing up the plans, drop a 🏠 in the comments. by @miller_chad26

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11 days ago

I bet you didn't know what happened in the first week of October. Here's what changed in your money, in plain English.

If your bills have felt heavier lately, you are not the only one.

Mortgage rates rose. The average 30-year rate went from 7.03% to 7.28% in one week, and it was 6.34% a year ago. On a $300,000 loan, that is about $188 more a month in principal and interest than a year ago (our math, illustration only). (Freddie Mac, Oct 1)

And the housing market is feeling it. Sellers outnumbered buyers by 57.9% in August, the widest gap since Redfin began tracking in 2013, with about 1.53 million active sellers and 972,000 active buyers. (Redfin, Sep 10)

Households spent more without earning more. Spending rose 0.9% in August while income, after inflation, was flat. The saving rate was 4.1%. (BEA, Sep 30)

And costs for factories jumped. The ISM prices-paid index rose to 77.9 from 71.1, with tariffs, steel and aluminum, and oil-based products cited. (ISM, Oct 1)

One calm move: pick one bill and write down what it was a year ago and what it is now.

Save this for later.

Which of these showed up in your household first, and what did you notice?

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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13 days ago

Investing is a big topic, so let's break it down in simple terms.

A stock, a mutual fund and an ETF are not the same thing, and here is the plain English version.

A stock is a share of ownership in one company.

A mutual fund and an ETF are both baskets of many holdings. A mutual fund is priced once a day after the market closes. An ETF trades on an exchange during the day, like a stock.
Indexing is a strategy. ETF or mutual fund is how you buy it.

Funds charge a yearly fee called an expense ratio. In 2025 the average was 0.40% for equity mutual funds, 0.05% for index equity mutual funds, and 0.14% for index equity ETFs. That is not the only cost. Sales charges, trading costs and taxes can apply.
Source: Investment Company Institute, March 2026. Asset-weighted averages, not a ranking. Your fund may differ.

Before you buy anything, check what it owns, what it costs, when you can trade it, and whether it fits your goal, timeline and comfort with risk. The fund's prospectus or fact sheet is where to look.

Education, not advice. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Not FDIC insured.

What was the first investing word that confused you, and what finally made it click?

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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13 days ago

T-I-M-E by @miller_chad26

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15 days ago

A paycheck is a trade.

Your time goes in. Money comes out. The day the time stops, so does the money.

That's true when you're sick for three weeks. It's true when you're laid off. And at 65, the check just gets smaller.

An asset works on a different deal. Built well, it can keep paying while you're busy living your life.

So the real question isn't how much you make. It's what you're building that doesn't need you in the room.

Which of the three questions was the hardest to answer? Answer them honestly, no wrong answers here.

The one that made you pause is the one to start with. You don't have to figure it all out at once.

When you're ready to start the conversation, my DMs are open. No pressure.

OWN YOUR JOURNEY by @miller_chad26

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16 days ago