Overview of How Scott & Virginia Trench Think About Goals, Spending and Investing
In this BiggerPockets Money episode, Scott Trench and Virginia Trench share the household systems they use to manage goals, spending, investing, taxes, and family life. The conversation centers on how they run their finances intentionally: a one-page vision statement, weekly money dates, clear spending guardrails, and a portfolio built around a mix of real estate, stocks, cash, and a few “side bet” investments. They also emphasize that their path includes significant privilege, luck, and unusual career upside—not something they present as easily repeatable.
Goal Setting and Household Cadence
Their vision-based planning process
- Scott describes goal setting as starting with a clear present-tense description of the future life they want.
- They keep it to one page and revisit it regularly.
- The vision covers:
- home life and family atmosphere
- weekday/weekend routines
- kids, community, friends, and holidays
- fitness goals
- a short financial paragraph
Weekly money meetings
- They hold a weekly breakfast meeting without the kids present.
- The check-in usually lasts 15–25 minutes, though it can run longer.
- Typical agenda:
- wins and gratitude
- “rose, bud, thorn” style reflections
- review of three quarterly goals each
- a household equity check
- a kid sync
- a finance review using Monarch
Relationship systems
- They use a stop / start / continue feedback framework to avoid resentment and improve household cooperation.
- The idea is to address issues early, before they build into bigger conflicts.
- Scott and Virginia frame this as a practical marriage tool, not just a finance tool.
Spending Habits and Financial Independence
Spending guardrails
- Their current spending is roughly 3.25% to 3.5% of their financial portfolio value.
- Scott says he gets uncomfortable when spending drifts above 4%.
- They track spending against a monthly target rather than using a detailed traditional budget.
What changed their spending
- The weekly review helped them find and cut:
- unused subscriptions
- duplicate services
- Amazon creep
- Costco impulse buys
- higher dining-out spending
- wasted utility spending
- Scott estimates this reduced household spending by a couple thousand dollars per month.
Main takeaway
- Their goal is not to maximize spending or minimize it aggressively.
- Instead, they want to stay within a sustainable financial independence band while preserving flexibility.
Their Portfolio and Asset Allocation
High-level structure
Scott describes their net worth as being in the chubby FI to fat FI range and divides it roughly into:
- ~45% real estate
- ~45% liquid public investments
- ~5% cash
- ~5% side bets / alternative positions
Their target mix is very similar to the actual one.
What is included and excluded
They do not count everything in the portfolio estimate, including:
- the value of some books and intellectual property
- ownership in private companies
- cars
- donor-advised fund assets
- children’s 529 plans
Real estate holdings
- They own 19 rental units.
- 13 units are in a leveraged partnership with a friend.
- They also own two fully paid-off properties.
- They recently bought:
- a quadplex
- a duplex that needed rehab and is being brought to market as a rental
Geographic concentration
- Most of their rental real estate is concentrated in Denver.
- Scott acknowledges this is a risk, but says he values being close enough to manage it personally.
- He likes the optionality of owning in a market he knows and could physically handle if needed.
Cash flow and leverage
- Their paid-off rentals still produce cash flow, and Scott values the flexibility to refinance if needed.
- He views the portfolio as having both current income and future optionality.
Stock Investing Strategy
Why he shifted away from mega-cap tech
- Scott says he became uncomfortable with how concentrated the S&P 500 had become in a handful of mega-cap tech stocks.
- He believes those companies are good businesses, but collectively priced at assumptions he finds too optimistic.
Current public equity allocation
His stock portfolio is now heavily diversified away from mega-cap concentration:
- RSP / equal-weight index fund: about 36%
- VTI: about 16%
- The rest is in factor tilts, including:
- U.S. small-cap value
- international small-cap value
- emerging small-cap value
- international value
- He also holds a small sleeve of old individual stocks from earlier stock-picking days.
Philosophy behind the shift
- He prefers owning “everything else” in the market rather than being heavily exposed to a few giant tech firms.
- He sees this as a more balanced way to capture potential market returns without concentrated risk.
Taxes and Account Strategy
Aggressive tax planning
- Scott says they are very intentional about tax strategy.
- They have very little in traditional pre-tax accounts relative to many FI households.
- They have a larger emphasis on:
- Roth assets
- basis-resetting / capital gains harvesting
- post-tax flexibility
Capital gains harvesting
- He wants to realize gains during years when they are still in favorable brackets.
- His reasoning:
- they may keep earning income through business interests and writing
- they may not ever be in a very low-tax bracket later
- future tax rates could be less favorable
Core tax idea
- Scott’s goal is to pay taxes strategically now to reduce future tax burden and preserve long-term flexibility.
Estate Planning, Insurance, and Risk Management
Estate planning
- They already have:
- revocable trusts
- beneficiary designations largely in order
- most documents updated for both children
- Scott notes there are a few cleanup items left, but the structure is in good shape.
Insurance strategy
- For rentals, they use high deductibles to keep premiums low.
- They prefer only enough coverage to protect against catastrophe.
- They also maintain enough cash to cover a deductible if a claim ever happens.
- On the health side, they use a high-deductible HSA-compatible plan and max the HSA.
Risk posture
- They try to balance low carrying costs with protection against truly large losses.
- Their overall financial structure is designed to be conservative, liquid, and flexible.
Family Life and Financial Freedom
What financial independence feels like
- Virginia says FI feels “amazing,” but they still have to be intentional because both are naturally ambitious and forward-looking.
- They actively practice gratitude and try to enjoy the flexibility they’ve earned.
How they spend their time
- Their routine includes:
- daycare-based date mornings
- paddleboarding
- work meetings and podcast recording
- workouts
- regular “night off” rotation for each parent
- occasional solo outings or hikes
Parenting and money
- Their kids are beginning to learn about money and investing.
- One daughter has started following NVIDIA.
- Their older child has a first job at Taco Bell and will begin a Roth IRA, with the parents matching contributions.
- They also discussed newer child savings/investing account options as another way to help the kids build a strong financial foundation.
Notable Takeaways
- A written vision and recurring cadence matter more than a perfect budget.
- Small spending leaks add up fast unless you check them regularly.
- Portfolio concentration is a real risk, even when the concentrated assets have done well.
- Tax strategy should be proactive, not reactive.
- Financial independence does not mean no structure—it means having systems that protect flexibility.
- Their lifestyle is built around freedom, optionality, and sustainability, not maximizing every possible dollar of return.
Closing Notes
Virginia also briefly mentions her writing career and upcoming psychological thriller, Mr. Disappear, which is scheduled for release in November. The episode ends with reminders about BiggerPockets’ free resources, calculators, blog, and newsletter.