Money Through The Eyes Of A Child

#045 How do you make learning about finance fun and easy, especially for kids and beginners? We have someone very special to break it down for you…

 Meet Rishi Vamdatt, the 12-year-old personal finance educator and visionary behind Easy Peasy Finance, a kid-friendly resource that can be utilized by parents and educators alike to teach young minds about personal finance while keeping them engaged. Having started learning about finance at the age of 6, Rishi is now using financial strategies that some adults don’t even use or know about. 

 In this episode, Rishi talks about his journey of learning about finance, his favorite money and finance books for kids, and how he’s applying his knowledge about investing for retirement. He also highlights the benefits of listening to the Easy Peasy Finance Podcast with your kids, the biggest challenges he has encountered along his financial education journey, and the results you can expect from investing your money for retirement. Then, Rishi shares a few simple action steps you can take to get your child or teenager involved in learning about money and finances.

 “Now, after these almost four years of Easy Peasy Finance, I’ve kind of learned a lot of things along the way and it’s a lot easier now than it was at the beginning.”           - Rishi Vamdatt

 Rishi is 12 and he’s already planning for retirement?! Don’t let that intimidate you, though. Let that be inspiration and fuel for you to empower your kids to start making financial decisions early in life! It’s possible and it’s easier than you think. 

 If you enjoyed this podcast and know someone else who would benefit from it, we invite you to SHARE it & RATE/REVIEW it on our website, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you’re tuning in from!

 Stay tuned for more episodes coming your way!

 Resources Mentioned:

Listen to the Easy Peasy Finance Podcast

Subscribe to Rishi’s YouTube channel

Learn more about Easy Peasy Finance

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Blue Chip Kids by David W. Bianchi

The Kid’s Money Book by Jamie Kyle McGillian

Transcript

[00:00:00] Eric: Welcome and we are back and ready for another episode. Now, let me pose a question to you, parents out there. What if you taught your child about money and everything you said, or came out your mouth seeped into your child's brain and they reacted on everything you said about money. What if they were overly enthusiastic about it and wanted to do things with money by themselves?

[00:00:23] What we're going to learn here today is a real life example of a child. Who has full awareness of financial literacy and truly enjoys it. Now, your child doesn't have to become a super genius and financial literacy, but if they could retain a small amount of what our guest today knows and use that with repetition that will lay some strong bricks in their foundation.

[00:00:48] Our guest today is Rishi vom. That Rishi is the creator of easy peasy finance along with his parents and the kids. Only 12 years old, he started [00:01:00] learning at six and since then has kept a full grasp on financial literacy. Rishi is learning, retaining end using methods and financial literacy that some young adults don't even use today.

[00:01:13] Now, when you hear Rishi, he sounds like a young adult with a kid's voice, but when you listen, you can see the role that this child is. On with his finances, no matter what profession or what career he may choose in life. Like I said before, he has easy-peasy finance podcast, which is a podcast for kids, but adults can get information out of that too, which will help them just the same.

[00:01:36] He has a YouTube channel and there's other things that Rishi is doing. And if it didn't sink in, as of yet, remember he is only 12. What were you doing when you. So let's get into a couple of words from our sponsor. Um, man, come on guys. 

[00:01:52] Host daughter: Sorry, dad. mom, get him[00:02:00] 

[00:02:04] my dad is taking too long to start the show and I'm taking over as the producer. So let's start the show.

[00:02:17] Introducer: Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have it all financially do well off parents simply hand their children money or is there more to this welfare? Welcome to raising financial freedom, the pocket. We are here to talk about everything you never knew to teach your children when it comes to starting their financial future, the principles behind wealth and methods that are out there to teach your child about personal financial freedom.

[00:02:40] There was no real trick to earning other than money. We are here to discuss, teach and grow with you. Raising financial freedom, the podcast with your host and concern parents, Eric yard. Let us get right into today's show.[00:03:00] 

[00:03:00] Eric: We all want the best for our children and teach them can have its difficulties. But if you are persistent, there is a lot of connection that your child brain starts to make. And now some of that information starts to seep in and stick. So you might not see a change if this is done gradually and that's.

[00:03:18] We as adults are fully aware of the problem that is out there when it comes to financial literacy, but through an eyes of a child, do they even perceive that there is a problem? So 

[00:03:28] Rishi: I think like not really a problem, but something that could be better kind of, I feel like there's a lot of kids that do that.

[00:03:35] And also I get others, a lot of kids that don't understand the importance of kind of learning about finance. When they're younger and also a lot of adults as well, that can like learn more about finance and how they a sake. See that a lot of times they don't, they're kind of overwhelmed. They're stressed out about money.

[00:03:54] There's a lot of stuff like that. That's happening. And then with easy-peasy finance, we're trying to educate people [00:04:00] and try to solve those problems. 

[00:04:01] Eric: Now just hearing that you can tell that Rishi knows that there's an emotional aspect when it comes to money and that it can affect your judgment. So now I know you want to know where that is all start for this young man.

[00:04:14] How did he get involved and why is it such an ease of learning for him? Because for me, I'm thinking there's a little bit of magic dust involved in here. 

[00:04:23] Rishi: I got interested in finance and everything. That was when I was sick. So if at the beginning, when I was six, my parents, they had some books about finance, just flying around.

[00:04:34] And so they weren't geared towards kids or anything. But at that time I just picked one up and I started reading it. And I got really interested in that when I was six. And so my parents, they saw the interest and so they got me other books and magazines about finance. Like Forbes, fortune Kiplinger's different things like that.

[00:04:53] And I kept on the interest in that. And so eventually, uh, when I was eight, then me and my parents, we [00:05:00] decided to turn my passion for finance into something. So we made easy peasy. Finance. What is your 

[00:05:06] Eric: favorite book? Since you read so many books 

[00:05:10] Rishi: so far. I mean, there's a lot of books. The first one I read was I will teach you to be rich as few others.

[00:05:16] I read like the kids money book, blue chip kids. There's a lot of things like that. What's your favorite? I don't know. I'd say blue chip kids. That was like the first book meant. And for kids that I read, the 

[00:05:28] Eric: first tool that Rishi said out of his mouth is. On this show, we've talked about books. Rishi just gave you a list of books, and that is a great place to start purchase some books and your child's age group and see where that takes them.

[00:05:44] Even if you have to sneak it in with other books, just start because they might just be interested 

[00:05:50] Rishi: now. I mean, like at the beginning, I like from the beginning, I was very interested in fighting. And so like, as the journey went on and how I created [00:06:00] easy-peasy finance and it continued, I've been doing it for almost four years now.

[00:06:05] And so steadily we've been like doing more and more videos and creating them and I've also become actually more knowledgeable. Finance as a research to topics as it learned more about them. And so like my interest in finance, it's really grown since the time I was six and I first got interested. What is your favorite?

[00:06:24] I mean, there's a lot of topics about finance, also a lot of topics that we covered, but I'd say my favorite is probably investing and how like using compound interest, you can earn a lot of money if you invest with longterm. 

[00:06:37] Eric: So now. Deeper within the rabbit hole. And he is now opening up to us that this started at six and that he enjoys learning about investing.

[00:06:49] Now, at this point, I'm kind of impressed. He also mentioned the magic word compounding. No, I love some compound interest. Now you're wondering, okay, he's [00:07:00] learning. Is he applying what he's learning? Um, 

[00:07:02] Rishi: so when I'm investing, uh, I believe in like investing for the long-term in to take advantage of compound interest and what I invest in.

[00:07:11] So currently, like, even though I'm just 12. And since I started investing when I was seven, actually I'm investing for my retirement, which is a long, like, which is really far away. So I am investing for the long-term in what I am investing in. So when I started, I was kind of investing in individual stocks and things like that.

[00:07:30] But as time has gone on, I've realized that actually index ones are better for long-term investors. Because they provide diversification and they're kind of going with the market. And so over time I've shifted my investment to that. And right now I invest all of my money in an index fund that checks the S and P 500.

[00:07:50] Eric: You just said, retirement, what type of numbers are you looking for in retirement? I mean, I don't 

[00:07:54] Rishi: really know. I mean, it, retirement is really far away from me obviously. Cause I'm just talking. [00:08:00] But like, even if I don't invest a lot of money because of compound interest, even at just like 11% compound interest with interest rate for the stock market, which is kind of a good figure for the last few decades, even at that rate, I feel like even if I don't invest that much money, I should be able to have enough for my retirement.

[00:08:20] By the time I get there. Oh, one 

[00:08:21] Eric: remind all of you parents listening. Remember receipt is not even a teenager yet. And he has a plan for retirement all ready. So now as a parent, you're wondering, wow, how can I get my child to hang out with somebody like Rishi? Or maybe you were hanging out with Rishi. Well, you can, now I'm going to tell you about another tool you can use.

[00:08:43] Rich is Richie's podcast. Yes. Rishi has a podcast that your kids could listen to right now, which he knows is important for kids his age to listen 

[00:08:53] Rishi: to before. Like, I feel like it's very important, especially for kids to learn about finances. [00:09:00] And so like our ECPC finance, it's kind of tailored towards kids because the videos are short, engaging, animated.

[00:09:08] A lot of the things that we do, everything is about making it for kids and easy for kids, because I feel like it's very important for everyone to learn about finance, but especially for kids, because they have a lot of things like on their side, like for example, compound interests also like, well, I'm taking advantage of, because if kids learn about finance and everyday.

[00:09:28] There'll be able to invest to starting at an early age and we'll be able to make a lot more money thanks to compounding. And that's just one of the reasons there's also like a lot of other reasons, like for example, kids, if they learn about finance at an early age, which is what we're trying to do, they can also do things like avoiding mistakes, like debt getting into like lots of credit card debt and things like that.

[00:09:51] And overspending, and those are things that we want to help people avoid by teaching them to. By teaching them about [00:10:00] finance, starting from when their kids, which is, I feel like a really important thing that we're trying to do with ECPC finance. 

[00:10:07] Eric: Yeah. That is a great thing. Not a good thing, but that is a great thing.

[00:10:10] Now, are there any special tools that you use when you're doing your investing? I 

[00:10:15] Rishi: mean, for my investing, like there's not really any specific tools, just using a regular brokerage account for my investors. 

[00:10:23] Eric: What about when it comes to banking? 

[00:10:25] Rishi: So for banking, I don't have my own bank account or anything like that.

[00:10:30] So I don't have, I also don't have my own credit card or anything like that. So there's not really anything I use for that. 

[00:10:38] Eric: Either everything was in peaches and cream for Rishi, like any human or any child, they're going to have problems. And as parents. Up to us to help our children get past those. 

[00:10:51] Rishi: So I feel like it's the biggest challenge that I've encountered is probably at the very beginning, because now after these almost four [00:11:00] years of easy-peasy finance, I've kind of learned a lot of things along the way, and it's a lot easier now than it was at the beginning of.

[00:11:06] I feel like the, one of the biggest challenges was how to get started and how to like, do the, how to find the animation software, how to do that, how to kind of get started. And also how about researching the different topics? Doing the voiceover at the very beginning, because I didn't have much practice where like, when I just start.

[00:11:26] So at the beginning, everything that we're doing is a lot harder. So at the beginning, all of these things that we're just starting out and kind of discovering a, had the correct way to do things and how to make the videos, that was kind of the most challenging thing. One of the big skills is kind of researching for all the videos.

[00:11:45] Cause I write all the scripts and then my parents. Check it, but like initially all the research that I have to do, I feel like that's one of the skills I've developed. I got at the beginning, it took a lot longer and I wasn't as good at it. But now after all this practice I've really [00:12:00] improved and I feel like I'm a lot better at researching than I was when I just started.

[00:12:04] No, Rishi 

[00:12:05] Eric: has inflammation that can. Young adults. 

[00:12:09] Rishi: I mean, for investing, like one of the things you talk about is compound interest. And so just take an example kind of also about what people can expect if they're investing for the longterm and using dollar cost averaging, which is another strategy that we kind of talk about on our YouTube channel.

[00:12:27] If someone like follow. And invest for the long-term then they generally, they can expect like around 11% return, which would actually, it doesn't seem like that much, but because of compound interest, if they do that and they're consistent in their investments and they don't like day trade or fall for like all the trends and stuff, then they can earn a lot of money.

[00:12:49] So for example, Well, just one thing. If someone starts investing, when they're 20, then by the tender 60 for retirement, if they only invest a hundred dollars a month, then they'll [00:13:00] have close to $700,000. So that just by following these simple things, that don't really seem like that big of a deal. It can actually all add up all the things that we're 

[00:13:10] Eric: doing.

[00:13:11] It's self as a parent. Why is Rishi N his parents doing this? What is. Gold that they're trying to ch and how does my child fit into this picture? 

[00:13:21] Rishi: So I'd say kind of the end goal is to really expand and to be able to teach, teach more kids, and also adults about finding, like I talked to before, kind of all the benefits, like compounding and avoiding the mistakes.

[00:13:34] I feel like if we can help more kids and even adults as well. Also to avoid those mistakes and to get into a better financial position by growing, I feel like that's the end goal, just to be able to help as many people as possible. Like over time, ACPC finance has grown. Like, for example, like in the first year we got like 250 subscribers, but then after that, like close to four years down the line, we've like [00:14:00] grown kind of exponentially.

[00:14:01] And now we have over 10,000 subscribers. So I feel like over time, just having. Being able to do this consistently publishing a video every week. I feel like that's just been a great thing that we've been able to do. And so just being consistent with that has led to a lot of growth for us. 

[00:14:18] Eric: So after hearing all of this, we just had to know through a child's eyes, what kind of action steps can a parent take in order to get their childhood?

[00:14:28] So 

[00:14:28] Rishi: kind of like the first steps, if like, for learning about finance and for different topics, I'd say probably it's good to start with the basics. So like income and expenses, investing, saving all those basic concepts. If they're trying to teach their kids and then working their way from there to different topics.

[00:14:50] So like the stock market banking taxes, retirement. Different things based on what leads the kid is interested in. I feel like that's one thing that parents can [00:15:00] do a few steps kind of just to get them interested. And from there they can learn about more topics and become more interested by two. The first step is to kind of teach them about the.

[00:15:10] Basic concepts. You don't have to actually even use a lot of time. If you want to help your kids learn about finance aid. It's not something that tastes a lot of time. So there's a lot of other ways instead of just sitting down with your kids. So for example, something that my parents also did for me was kind of like involving me in day-to-day financial activities.

[00:15:32] Like for example, like if we went to a grocery store and like the cashier. Then my parents would explain to me about how we're paying for it and how we're using credit cards and how those are a part of money and different things like that. And depending on like the age of the kid, they can also do other things.

[00:15:50] So like, if you're going to an HCM for like people maybe in middle school, teaching them about ATM's and debit cards and how you can withdraw from your bank [00:16:00] account, or if like the kids are in high school. Then it was something that we parents can do is about how to create a budget. And if you're creating a budget, then involving your kids in that and explaining what's going on.

[00:16:14] And so that's one thing. And another way, instead of just sitting down with your kids is that you can give them an allowance. That's something that I feel like is really powerful. Because that way kids can make them even actually make their own mistakes as a kid when there's a lot less at stake. So for example, if they buy something and they don't have any money left over, if there's something else that they really want, they won't be able to have that.

[00:16:41] And so they'll also learn about like limiting spending and also saving. And those are something that's some things that are really important. And also one other thing, like, even if you're going to sit down with kids and like, if a parent feels like that's the best way, then it also doesn't take a lot of time.[00:17:00] 

[00:17:00] And so it's not that hard. Like, for example, if you use like a kid-friendly resources, they engaging in short. Things like that, then it doesn't have to take a long time. So for example, like easy-peasy finance is like a kid friendly resource and our videos are just like two to three minutes long. So if a parent wants to teach their kids about finance, it doesn't need to take a long with them.

[00:17:21] Like they don't need to sit down for hours and hours. It can just take a few minutes and that can really be powerful because I mean, a lot of people like it, they don't want to use a lot of time for this, but you don't need a lot of time. We do something that's really not. What 

[00:17:35] Eric: is one thing people can stop doing right now?

[00:17:38] Rishi: Oh, one thing that people can stop. I mean, I'd say one thing is kind of about living within your means. Like a lot of times people, they don't realize what they're spending a lot of money on or things like that. And so like they end up not living within their means and that can lead to a lot of problems, like getting into debt and different things like that.

[00:17:58] And so I'd say one thing that people [00:18:00] can do kind of to counter that. Is to create a budget. And so a budget is basically a plan for managing your money. And so it has a, your income and your expenses and what you want them to be. And so you can kind of allocate a different amount of money for everything, including a saving and investing.

[00:18:17] And so if you have a budget in place, it'll be a lot easier to see where your money is coming from and where it's going. And so that way you can kind of come to the problem with people not living within their means. If you can figure out where you can decrease, spending and increase your amount for saving and investing.

[00:18:34] Now, you 

[00:18:34] Eric: might say Rishi is not having fun and he might be. Making himself an outcast with his friends where it's totally not true. You see like all little kids is playing his video games. He's doing what other kids do. He's going to school. He just likes learning about money. Also. 

[00:18:51] Rishi: I feel like the whole process is also really fun.

[00:18:54] Like, uh, being able to research a topic, create a draft, then like have my parents [00:19:00] fact-check it and do the voiceover and they count all of that lead to then publishing it. I feel like the whole process is also really fun for me, in addition to the kind of like being able to help people and for them to learn more about finance.

[00:19:12] That's also nice cause they seeing how we're benefiting people and how a lot of kids are learning. And also. Like even like people who are like 50 or 60, they're also like looking at our videos and learning from it and seeing that as also really fun. In addition to the actual process of making the videos, all my friends and also teachers have been really supportive.

[00:19:34] All of them know about easy-peasy finance and a lot of them actually also. The videos, none of them like as interested as I am in finance, but many of them do watch your videos and they do definitely know about easy-peasy finance and have been very supportive. 

[00:19:50] Eric: I want to thank you for coming on reason financial freedom.

[00:19:56] Thank 

[00:19:56] Rishi: you so much for having, 

[00:19:57] Eric: uh, can you let the parents out [00:20:00] there know where we can continue this conversation? And what do you have going on in 

[00:20:09] Rishi: the future? Sure. So in the future, a few things that we're kind of doing, so again, we're going to continue to publish one video every week and that's like something cause consistency, like kind of.

[00:20:24] Or two, we talked about this, about how we're being consistent. And so like any person watching this easy peasy, finance will continue to make one new video every week. And also we currently actually have two books on Amazon easy-peasy money and ECPC investing, and we're also going to work on a third book easy-peasy banking.

[00:20:46] So that's another thing that we're working on right 

[00:20:48] Eric: now. Look out for those books. And once again, Rishi, I would like to thank you 

[00:20:56] Rishi: for coming on the show. [00:21:00] 

[00:21:00] Eric: Wow. The things you could learn from kids is just incredible. I can pretty much see a bright future for Rishi. What I've taken out of this discussion is that there is example.

[00:21:10] Of exceptional financial literacy everywhere. You just have to take the time and notice also take a page or two out of their book and try to apply that to your children as well as always, please go to our website, leave a review, let us know how we're doing and what you think could be improved on, but it's quick, it's fast and it's right on our website.

[00:21:34] Raisin financial freedom dot. So until next time, stay safe and give the gift of financial freedom. 

[00:21:42] Introducer: We really hope you enjoy this episode of financial freedom. The podcast stay connected with us directly through raising financial freedom.com. You can also join the discussion on social media, which you can also find links on our website.

[00:21:56] If you would like to speak with us, please send us an email through [00:22:00] info@raisingfinancialfreedom.com. And as always thank you for pushing your mindset towards a better reality. This concludes the most thought provoking portion of your day. Don't forget to please like, and subscribe to stay fully up to date until next time.

[00:22:14] Be kind to yourself and each other. .