Ever wanted to feel confident about your financial future? Wish you had learned about money management at an earlier age? In our enlightening conversation with Gordy Bustos, we promise to unravel profound insights about financial literacy that will change your perspective.
Gordy Bustos, my wife's cousin, has an intriguing story to share about his journey with money. From earning rewards for good grades at age seven to teaching his daughters the power of compound interest, Gordy's experiences are packed with wisdom. He shares the significance of having a goal while saving, the impact of early setup of an IRA on retirement, and the role visualization can play in teaching financial concepts. We even delve into my daughter's milestone of buying her own condo at just 20 years old.
But that's not all. We also confront the fear that often accompanies investing, and Gordy helps us navigate through these financial waters. He distinguishes between a financial advisor and coach, emphasizing the benefits of having both. We broach the subject of real estate investing and the value of understanding multiple investment avenues. By the end of our conversation, you'll learn that financial literacy is not just about being frugal, but also about adopting a positive outlook and stress management. So, if you're ready to take control of your financial future, tune in for this enlightening episode!
Don't forget to subscribe, like and share it with a friend or two!
Ever wanted to feel confident about your financial future? Wish you had learned about money management at an earlier age? In our enlightening conversation with Gordy Bustos, we promise to unravel profound insights about financial literacy that will change your perspective.
Gordy Bustos, my wife's cousin, has an intriguing story to share about his journey with money. From earning rewards for good grades at age seven to teaching his daughters the power of compound interest, Gordy's experiences are packed with wisdom. He shares the significance of having a goal while saving, the impact of early setup of an IRA on retirement, and the role visualization can play in teaching financial concepts. We even delve into my daughter's milestone of buying her own condo at just 20 years old.
But that's not all. We also confront the fear that often accompanies investing, and Gordy helps us navigate through these financial waters. He distinguishes between a financial advisor and coach, emphasizing the benefits of having both. We broach the subject of real estate investing and the value of understanding multiple investment avenues. By the end of our conversation, you'll learn that financial literacy is not just about being frugal, but also about adopting a positive outlook and stress management. So, if you're ready to take control of your financial future, tune in for this enlightening episode!
Don't forget to subscribe, like and share it with a friend or two!
Welcome to Money Conversations with KJ. Kj is a lifelong entrepreneur who's made a lot of money, lost a lot of money and found his way back again. If you're looking for a sterile how-to, you're in the wrong place. Kj and his guests will walk you through real-life situations told by the people who live them, and they are as messy as they are inspiring. Each episode will offer lessons learned, advice on how to replicate successes and avoid pitfalls, and a new perspective to power your financial literacy. Far from a one-size-fits-all, this podcast can help you build a roadmap to your personal promise land Milk and honey for some, whiskey and steak for others and remind you that you're not alone on this journey.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. I'm your host, kj. Today I have a really exciting guest. He's actually he's family. He's my wife's cousin. He lives in a different state. I don't see him a lot. I've talked to him a few times, but he wanted to come on to the podcast and share his story. So I'm always super excited to share everybody and anybody's story. So I'm really looking forward to it, because I just know a couple of tidbits of your story. But let me welcome Gordy Bustos to the podcast. Welcome, gordy. How are you?
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you Good. How about yourself?
Speaker 2:Doing great. I'm doing good, doing great. You know, this podcast is all about money conversations and how we handle money, what we've done it with our journey. And, just so the audience knows, are you retired right now or close to it? Because I know you're almost you're about my age.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm close to you. I got about 10 years to go 10 years to go.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you've had a life pretty much you know, a long journey with money so far. So we'll get into that. And I know you're married and you have a couple of kids that are adult kids like I have right, a couple of girls right Out there doing their thing, living life, and maybe we'll dive into that a little bit. But let me start off with my always usual first question with any of my guests, which is how old were you, if you can remember, because not like I don't remember, but how old were you when you remember that mom and dad sat you down and talked to you and taught you about money?
Speaker 3:I would say around the age of seven, around that age, that's nice.
Speaker 2:That's a great age for the parents to sit down, because I teach people that it's statistically known now and through my conversation that we subconsciously start learning about money between the ages of five and seven, because that's when mom and dad are giving us, you know, the dollar or the couple of dollars to go buy you know candy or go to the movie or something like that back in our day. And so we didn't know and we start to figure it out. So at seven, can you share with the audience what were some of the money lessons that mom and dad taught you at that age?
Speaker 3:I think during that time it'd be a grade they used to pay me for good grades. Oh, so you got rewarded. That's how it started hard work and schooling get rewarded.
Speaker 2:How did you react to that? Because I've had a few people tell me that right, and I think our generation that was the norm that you would get rewarded for good grades, because as a parent you always want your kid to get good grades right. So how did you receive that? Did you like work extra hard because you wanted the money, or you worked extra hard just because you wanted to learn?
Speaker 3:I worked extra hard because I wanted the money. Okay, and that led into other things like mowing lawns and realizing I like that money.
Speaker 2:So your mindset at that early age was I want money for you. Fill in the blank.
Speaker 3:That would be for things that I wanted. That you know mom and dad weren't going to buy anything at the store. You know how that goes. Absolutely so your mindset to earn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a very typical answer that I get from a lot of folks that yes, we did when we were younger our generation for sure. I didn't give allowance to my kids. I just didn't believe in it. But that was just me. But for and I'm just my parents did it a couple, a few times. It wasn't like long term that we had an allowance. They felt like you know there's you had chores to do, they're your chores, go do them, type of thing. But as you were being rewarded in receiving money and the dollar amount isn't the important part about this, it's you used a word a minute ago. You said it because it's the things that I wanted, right, and so at what point in time? That? Because you were making money early, so you get grades to make money, mowing lawns to make some money, to go out and get the things that you wanted, because it's seven up until you left home. You didn't need anything. It's what you wanted, right?
Speaker 3:Basically, it's what you wanted, and I was all about saving money also, so how did that start?
Speaker 2:That's interesting. How old were you when you when you figured out you know what I want to save money and that you actually were saving?
Speaker 3:Well, that started with my grades. I would save that money. My parents did a joint account with me. Okay, I had an opportunity to put money in there and then spend some money. I wasn't allowed to spend all of it.
Speaker 2:So they kind of they monitored what you did with money. Now, it's interesting that you did that.
Speaker 3:Teaching savings.
Speaker 2:Yes, you know I which is exactly one of the modules and the training that I offer out. There is savings right, and I remember when I was younger and I saved. I saved because I was told to save right, and I know now that I teach. We must learn how to save for a purpose, meaning why, what do we save for? What's the goal, the purpose of saving? Not just saving, because just saving doesn't do us any good. Right, we must have a goal for it. So did your parents teach you early then like you're saving because, and then you fill the net blank. What is that?
Speaker 3:That would be like if I wanted like a bicycle at that age and then or skateboard or whatever. I would have to save for that.
Speaker 2:Okay, I still have money in the bank. So did you recognize or actually let me rephrase that when did you recognize, when you started learning those, those lessons so early in life, seven's really early? Um, yeah, At what age did you recognize? That builds a couple of things, I believe. It builds in people, it builds character, it builds discipline, it builds um goal setting. If so many things can happen when our parents do that, teach that lesson for us and help guide us along through there, at what age do you? When you look back, you're like, wow, I didn't realize it at seven why I was doing that. I was just told hey, you want something, you got to get good grades. Go mow the lawn, whatever, I'll reward you X, Y, Z dollars. You wanted a bike and then you had to figure out oh, I need 10 weeks worth of allowance. So whatever the math worked out on that. But what age when you reflected like, wow, that was a great lesson.
Speaker 3:I would say about 13, when I became a paper boy. Okay, and they treated you, they treated you like a independent contractor, so I'd actually managed the money supply, the product, um billings, um things like that, taxes all at 13. That's when that started changing.
Speaker 2:That's really early.
Speaker 3:We started paper boy. That yeah Cause I couldn't work until I was 16. So that was the first thing I could actually have a legit job Interesting, I'd say, about 13.
Speaker 2:It started, so you understood money at a pretty early age. I put you in a in a very, um, elite category. To be honest with you, most, most of us that didn't do that. We just we wanted things. Obviously, all kids want whatever right Bikes, shoes, I want to go here, I want to hang out there. They want, and it was all that. Stuff takes money and so they all, as kids, we all want stuff, which is great. But you started learning some really good savings lessons early in life, which is awesome. At what age do you think you remember and who taught you the lesson of credit?
Speaker 3:Um, it would be my mom, she would. Uh, she deals with me right now, too, on credit, managing it um, controlling it, using it.
Speaker 2:Okay, so do you feel you've been a really good steward of your credits since day one, or do you think that's been a cycle of up and down?
Speaker 3:Um, it was a cycle. So you know it wasn't till I was like 18 years. First credit cards and you learn a little bit. You know how not to use it off and after that you know it takes a while to learn credit. I agree, totally different.
Speaker 2:I agree, you know, I think, uh, when you're young, the most first people's experience with credit cards or the kids who go to college, because at colleges they just start handing them out like they're like, they're candy, right? Uh. And I think the mindset of most people on their first credit card is, hey, I just got free money thousand bucks, 2000 bucks, whatever the dollar amount may have been and they think like, well, I can go spend money now, when it wasn't what you know, we know today, or it wasn't earned money, uh. So that's why people get in trouble, because they don't realize, hey, earned money you can spend, it's gone, you got whatever you got for it. You know you spent credit money, you got to pay that back.
Speaker 2:So talk to us about how learn. And again, I'm going to say 90% of people have had this lesson of the up and downs with credit. So it's it's not anything that any of us should be ashamed of by any means. It's a learning lesson. And so how old were you when you realize you know what, I spent too much of my credit. Now it's going to take time to pay it back, and it was kind of a lesson learned. How how old was were you when that happened?
Speaker 3:I say around the age of 21,. Probably it's like a couple of years for me to actually learn how to manage it. Okay, and so maybe three years.
Speaker 2:And then when we get ourselves in pickles, we're a little embarrassed and ashamed of why that happened and how it happened. Do you remember going to your mom and maybe asking for help and go oh, look what I got myself in a pickle, mom. How do I get out of this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, once in a while I'll ask him. Sometimes you. It's tough love so, but sometimes I borrow money from them and other times we just have to suffer through it until I get it done.
Speaker 2:Until you get it done. Nice, yeah, um, get back. To get back to the beginning, right Now you have. You have grown kids. Now Do you remember distinctly sitting down with your daughters, either together or individually, and having money conversations with them?
Speaker 3:I do and I have one story I'm not. When they were little, you know, the kids always want something in store.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:So I would say, okay, you can have that candy or whatever they want, but I put a paper on a refrigerator and there it was, dad with their credit card. So they would have to do chores and actually work it off and I would give them a limit. So that's how I use them all.
Speaker 2:How old were they when you? How old were they when you did that?
Speaker 3:I'd say about 10 and 10, about 10 and 13., 10 and 13.
Speaker 2:And but what about?
Speaker 3:Worked off pretty good.
Speaker 2:Okay, so those are great. I call working lessons, which are great, and this question is twofold One for you and teaching your kids. What specific lessons have were you taught that you remember other than? I mean? I know parents always want to talk to us about save your money, watch your credit very basic stuff, and financial literacy is a lot more than that. So are there any lessons you can specifically remember that mom or dad taught you? And also, who taught you more, mom or dad or both?
Speaker 3:They both did. I mean, they're both frugal, they like to do things and spend money at the same time, but they taught me the frugalness. For the most part it's interesting.
Speaker 2:you say that their generation before me. That's interesting. You say that their generation before me.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, okay. So so when you described your parents as frugal, which is a great word I've had a lot of conversations where folks tell me about their parents One is frugal, the one's a spender, right, one's a saver, one's a spender and you're telling me both of your parents are frugal. That means they were both savers and we you know the term. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right? So would you consider your whole lifetime of making money and doing things with money, because that's what your mom and dad did? You were frugal your whole life with money also.
Speaker 3:I believe so, I believe so. I'm not totally frugal. I do leisure and spend some money, but for the most part trying to save money and manage it. So Okay, and I got from both of them.
Speaker 2:I would imagine your daughters are the same then.
Speaker 3:Um well, now I have one daughter that's frugal and the other one she's pretty liberal, spending your money, anybody's money, anybody.
Speaker 2:That's funny. Well, again, just through conversation, I find and this helps people, because there are people out there that have a little tug of war, right? One one, one parents, one one parents, the other a spender, a saver, and you, we all will typically the conversations I've had will gravitate to one or the other and as they become an adult, they are one or the other. And, uh, knowing today that 62% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, it's all about not how much money you make, but what you do with the money, which is why people live paycheck to paycheck. And when you, when we only have our parents to follow, as as uh, examples, right, right, in your case, that was real easy, like both parents were the same and it's it's.
Speaker 2:It seems obvious, obvious that, yeah, you, you definitely would be the as frugal like your parents, cause that seems normal, right, when we're learning subconsciously about money five to seven, five to 10, that that's normal. That's what life should be. Life should be about not wasting money, being frugal, being smart, right, with money. Did you find yourself in your lifetime of work and of living paycheck to paycheck?
Speaker 3:Um, yes, once in a while you get ahead, but sometimes the way things happen, you're paycheck to paycheck.
Speaker 2:Why do you think that is?
Speaker 3:For me. I took some risks here and there. Okay, the entrepreneurial spirit, so I opened businesses and things like that. Take risks, right, man, I'll send you back paycheck to paycheck for a while.
Speaker 2:So well, kudos for you for taking risks. I'm a lifelong entrepreneur and, yes, it is a roller coaster ride and I've talked about this before more so for entrepreneurs than W2 earners, people with J O B's right Um, because we it's very hard for us as entrepreneurs to budget, unlike people who have the exact same paycheck every week or every other week, whatever it may be right, and and you can stay right, and you can stay, hopefully, on track, versus, as an entrepreneur, the money comes in waves, right, ups and downs, and so when you're real high and then you could be real low, and I've and, as my intro says, right, I've had it, I've lost it, I've had it, I've lost it, and, and I'm, and now I'm fine again. So how have you, besides your parents teaching you some things about money? At what age did you have, or maybe haven't have, or had, a mentor?
Speaker 2:That I haven't have you or haven't you?
Speaker 3:I've always had my mom as my main mentor. Okay, she still mentors me now. Nice, okay, yes, Awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, that's great to have because it's hard.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, having a parent as a mentor is great, um, because there's more than just a mentorship of learning. There's, like we mentioned earlier, there could be tough love, right as they're mentoring you. There could be tough love versus. I talked to a lot of folks who say play sports, you know, from a, from a kid, all the way through, say, college or whatever, and, and coaches are a great resource as mentors, right, um, and and some coaches can be pretty tough and some are not, but, um, so you feel that you are today, as a benefit, obviously, from your mom mentoring you your whole life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've had other. I guess I've had other mentors from projects and people I meet and discuss things with, but for the most part it's been my mom. But I've had mentors, short-term ones, here and there, I guess.
Speaker 2:Well, that's great. I mean, I highly encourage people. When, when you had those mentors, this is one of the things I think people started with and I'll. I'm going to ask you once someone was your mentor. Was it because you asked them to mentor you or because they offered to mentor you?
Speaker 3:They would offer Tell me their stories, just like we're talking, give me some insight, that kind of stuff, or let me know what they're up to, and then that kind of helps out a lot.
Speaker 2:Learning helps out a lot Right and because I encourage people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and from great Go ahead. Yeah, from various people. Learning from various people is good.
Speaker 2:I believe so. I believe so also Because at every age in life, right, I mean, I still have mentors myself. Now I think we should. I want people to understand the value and slash, the importance of having a mentor or, even better, in my opinion, be a mentor. Yes, right, we are now in life. Right, we've traveled a lot of years through life here and we have a lot of life experiences that we can mentor. So do you find yourself, do people come and ask you, can you mentor me? I like, I see what you've done with your life, some of the things you've done, and I need help in whatever XYZ category. Are people doing that and have you actually mentored with people?
Speaker 3:Some people ask me and, but mostly I mentor my daughters as they're grown adults. But once in a while I get people ask me, when they give themselves in financial trouble, how to get out of it or what to do next. I mentor a little bit here and there.
Speaker 2:That's great, I you know again. I named this podcast Money Conversations for a reason.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because you tell me I find for myself and for a lot of the folks of the people that I talk with, you know our generation talk. There's two conversations that were a little bit, I'd like to say, taboo, that people didn't like talking about, which is great. I didn't like talking about, which was money and sex, because it made people uncomfortable Right. So, on a comfort level of talking about money, even from the early age through now, how comfortable were you or are you talking about money with other people?
Speaker 3:I'm pretty, pretty comfortable with it because you know I have a lot to talk about. I'm not sure I get more experiences, so if all I can help us through experience, that's good.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean obviously having your mom as your mentor I'm sure because she's your mom, you've had just tons and tons of conversations with her about it versus. I mean that puts you so far ahead of the game than the average, because most people are fearful of talking about money. Most people do you, do you find your? Do you find your? Your kids come to you easily to talk about money, or do they come to you a little apprehensively about talking about money? Because usually when people want to talk about money it's because maybe they're in a pickle.
Speaker 3:They're pretty easy to talk to me and they usually are in a pickle and I tried to help them out on how to get out of it or how to move on or get ahead, that kind of stuff. So they don't have a problem.
Speaker 2:They don't have a problem. Yeah, I just truly believe that if we all, as humans again I, my podcast is listed to all over the world that the more we can share stories about money with each other, the more we're going to learn, the better we're going to do with money. Right, Because I?
Speaker 3:agree.
Speaker 2:Again, living paycheck to paycheck has nothing to do with how much money you make. It's what you do with your money is why you live paycheck to paycheck. And 62% Americans is a lot of people, right. Let me ask you how important are making goals to you, and do you remember when you really took goal setting serious?
Speaker 3:I'm goal oriented. When I want something, I'll actually write it down and try and stick to it. I'm the kind of a I need to see it on black and white paper and write it down, and that's kind of where I'm at. I'm goal oriented, so yeah.
Speaker 2:I love that answer. My follow up was do you write them down? And you just told me you did. You know because I do, my regular listeners know I because I teach this this story that Harvard did a study back in 1979 of its graduating class about goals and asked them how many of you have them, how many of you write them down?
Speaker 2:And of that graduating class of 79, only 3% of the class had clear written goals In. Only 14% of the class had no goals at all. Yet they were like, well, I'm in school, I don't have goals yet, right. And then they followed up with them 10 years later and they saw, they found out the study showed that the 3% who had clear written goals written down earn 10 times more money. So it shows you, that shows us, the value of actually writing the goals down. So when you just shared with me like no, no, I have to write them down, I have to see them in black and white, such a powerful statement, is that a great lesson or a lesson that you taught your girls? And did you teach them that early? And do they do it today? Because not everybody does it.
Speaker 3:No, they do that and they still do it today, so that's one good thing that they've taken away from it.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, I like to say go ahead.
Speaker 3:I do the same with my bills and finances. I have to write it down, and so I can. You know, look and see for my own eyes versus computers.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, you know I like to equate goals. Goals are a roadmap to our future, right, and if we don't write them down, we don't know where we're going. So, by writing them down, that's why the benefit and that study showed they earn 10 times more money because they knew where they were going. Right and so but, but it's hard and I can reflect back.
Speaker 3:It is, but each time you know, you look at that paper and you can check off a goal you met or how close you're getting to the goal. So that's what I like about it.
Speaker 2:That's. That brings up a great question. So one of the when you have a goal, whatever the goal is, and you're 50% of the way there, do you celebrate?
Speaker 3:I celebrate when I'm done with that goal.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Maybe I should, but I celebrate when I'm done and then then I'm good, I'm happy.
Speaker 2:You know goals. Sometimes, again, we all have short, midterm and long term goals. I like to teach people to celebrate even the small wins. So, as an example, if you people who want to save let's say, to buy a house and they need $10,000. Well, it could take some people a few years to save $10,000. But I say listen, every time you hit, put some milestones there for you. Hey, I hit 1000 bucks. Right, have a little celebration. I'm not saying going out, spending a lot of money, celebrate, but celebrate you get. A celebration could be as much as if your daughters were in that example and they came to you and say hey, dad, guess what I just got? My goal is 10,000 to buy a house. I just hit 1000. I'm celebrating, I'm sharing it with you. That's a celebration, Right.
Speaker 3:It's a celebration.
Speaker 2:That is a celebration, because we want to. We need to feel like we need to reward ourselves at some level that what we're doing is the right thing and we're reaching our goal. Because oftentimes if you don't reach your goal, you really kind of beat yourself up about it, right, like, what have you found? And I don't think that anybody's reached every goal we ever put out, because goals change anyway. But what happens to what has happened to you in your lifetime when there's a certain goal you want, wanted to reach, but you didn't reach it? How did that affect you?
Speaker 3:I mean it is disappointing sometimes, but you can change your goal level or the end goal. You can always change that too. So that's kind of what I do. If I can't achieve it, I'll just change the end of it where it's at.
Speaker 2:We can change the goal line, so to speak. Right, it's our goal, it's what we want, and we change. We change as people, it's okay to change. So I just like people to understand that, yes, set your goals, celebrate the little wins towards reaching the goal, but don't beat yourself up if, for some reason, that goal changes and you need to adjust. Yep. As long as the goal is yeah, as long as the goal is moving forward, I think we're all going to be okay.
Speaker 2:Yep, I agree so you told me in the beginning, you're about 10 more years to retirement. At what age did you start thinking about retirement?
Speaker 3:I might say probably around 40. I thought about it in my 20s and didn't do nothing about it because life gets in the way, and then, once I hit about 40, I'm starting to think more about it. So let's talk 10, 15 years.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about the thought process in your 20s, because it's really important to understand compounding, the rule of 72, which works on time. And picture and imagine at age of 20 when you thought about it but you didn't take action. You waited almost 20 years. You said 40, right, yeah, you cost yourself 20 years worth of compounding which, depending on how much money you put away, literally could have been multiple six figures of money. But why do you think at 20,? I mean, every 20-year-old knows about retirement, but I find through conversation that they're like yeah, I don't need to worry about that right now, I get other things I need to take care of first. But why do you think it left you?
Speaker 3:I was about the same. I was explained about it. Didn't find the importance about it at the time. Like I said, life got in the way kids and other things and then so it went on the back burner. But I kicked myself right now because I should have let it compound from when I was 20. And but I'd be better off. But kind of is what it is now. Now I'm going to make it happen.
Speaker 2:But yeah, now, based on knowing that, based on that, what kind of conversations have you had with your girls about? Because how old are they right now?
Speaker 3:They're 30s, early 30s.
Speaker 2:So what kind of conversations have you had with them about compounding, about the importance of time? So they're through their 20s. Yes, have they been saving for retirement?
Speaker 3:I don't think they have. Yeah, they're caught up in there getting their life established, but I don't think they have. We've talked about it, but I don't think they have.
Speaker 2:So knowing, yeah, knowing what you know now and the importance of it, how do you think I mean, if you're talking to another, a peer parent, parent of, like, my kids are ages 24 to 40, but and I've had my conversations with them how do we get that 25, 30, 35 year old to understand the importance of putting that money away and letting it compound? How do we get that point across?
Speaker 3:That I'm not sure, because I do have people I know that did put money in that 20 and I'm doing what they're supposed to be doing. How they came about, I'm not sure. Maybe their parents, I'm not sure, it wasn't important for me at the time and so, but you know, today we're sure how to make it. Well, I try.
Speaker 2:Here's what I did with my kids. I think we're all visual learners, right, and if we just tell our kids, hey, listen, you need to save for retirement, you've got to start now. That is such surface level of a training that it's no wonder that they don't do it. Versus using yourself as an example to your girls to sit them down and say look, here's how old I am now. This is where I am sitting financially right now. Be an open book. I'm an open book with my kids. This is where I am. This is what I should have done.
Speaker 2:We all made enough money to put away the hundred bucks a month in most cases, right, and a hundred bucks a month compounding from age 20, early 20s or whatever, and tell where the age we are. Today, we literally have seven figures of money, right. And so I think I think teaching the lesson in a, in a detailed manner, to get them to understand Listen, we're only on this planet a finite amount of time and at the age you and I are now, we're like we're in the fourth quarter, right, and we're like so I don't, we don't have the luxury of compounding because those years have passed, but we got to teach our kids. You have the time, don't waste the time. That extra trip, that extra pair of shoes, that extra, you know, night out, every weekend, is not worth your future. Right, and pencil it out in numbers and get them to understand. And I know now I have four kids. Two of them do it, two of them don't. Right, follow the lead, so to speak.
Speaker 2:And my 40 year old now is recognizing it. Crap. I should have been putting that way that it starts tomorrow my lessons. When I teach them I said, guys, this is more about a habit than it is anything else, and it doesn't matter to me if you only start every paycheck saving $5, right, every paycheck. Fine, because if you're living paycheck to paycheck, because we all, even people, have paycheck to paycheck, it's not that you don't have no money, it's just what you're doing with it. So you know, warren Buffett teaches us we have to learn how to pay ourselves first, and paying ourselves first means putting that money away before you pay any kind of commitment, any type of bill. And so I always teach my students that, hey, it's a habit more than anything. Start with five. Five goes to 10, 10 goes to 20, 20 to 40, and let it keep growing until the pain I hold you or how much money you really need to put away on a monthly basis. But creating that habit and if your girls haven't learned yet, and watch their accounts grow by not doing anything, by letting compounding take effect.
Speaker 2:I remember when my youngest got really excited about it. She goes dad, look at my account, it grew. I didn't do anything. It's. You know it's $40 more money or whatever. It wasn't even a lot of money, but she just saw that and excited her and that's why she's an avid saver in her she's. She opened up her retirement account, her Roth IRA, at 18 years old, so she knows and she gets it right. But I think it's about teaching these lessons to the youth. Even your 30 year old children and I and I always call everybody kid my oldest kid's 40. So anybody under 40 to me is a kid, because that's how old my kids are, right. So I always say you know, listen, these are things that you know. There's wants and needs. I have a lesson on wants versus needs and you want to go, you know, next weekend to the beach or whatever, but you need to put that $200 away this month.
Speaker 2:You know you need to go put that away. I want you, when you're my age, to be sitting very comfortable with cash right. Let's talk to the people about your. What do you believe there's? Let me preface this real quick. There's a lot of people out there that always are throwing numbers out that we all need millions of dollars for retirement Right Lots of money, millions. I'm not a believer in that, because I have a number where I feel that if someone has, you can enjoy life, you can be comfortable and I also teach that there's. This is not a one-size-fits-all. We all want a. What we call retirement is different for everybody. But what is retirement when you said you had 10 more years ago? What does retirement actually mean for you?
Speaker 3:For me it's an owner property house. It must be debt-free at that point. That way I can live minimal, minimal. So it's kind of where I'm at.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay.
Speaker 3:I like $1 million.
Speaker 2:No, listen, if you had a million dollars, you're going to go spend it.
Speaker 2:I like to teach people that I think we were all for the better. Lack of words is not probably the best word Brainwash and society to believe retirement is the end goal of our working careers Right, and I don't like the word retirement. I always try to teach people to strive to be financially independent. Now the financial advisors will tell you that it means the same thing. I say no because retirement has a meaning of the end. It's over kind of a thing, right, where it's no if we strive, at whatever age, to reach financial independence, which means our money makes enough money to support our lifestyle, whatever that number is.
Speaker 2:This is a math equation and we're all different. You just described that you're ready to have your paid for house and live a minimalist life, which means not going to take a lot of money on a monthly basis for you to be comfortable and happy in life. Right, and I share the example of you know it could be. Some people are happy to live on 2000 a month and other people say I need 20,000 a month, I can't live on less, right? This is all just a mindset of what people believe. So, based on that of financialness, is your retirement reaching 10 more years because you're saving a certain amount of money, or that you have a certain amount of money invested and you know that the dividends will pay for your lifestyle.
Speaker 3:Right now a certain amount of money and I'm still achieving goals, basically.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So okay, so costs money for goals sometimes.
Speaker 2:It does, it does. We hear the term takes money to make money kind of a thing right, and I'm a believer in that, especially in today's world.
Speaker 2:Boy, we can't really leave the house without spending a dollar, but as we can help the people, as we can help the people that are out there they're listening and having a good take away it seems that you really are very goal oriented and writing them down. So the dollar amount that you have in your head and I don't like to share a dollar amount with anybody on a podcast, but you feel your 10 years from reaching that dollar point.
Speaker 3:I do Okay.
Speaker 2:So that's a goal. So for a lot of you guys listening out there right now, that dollar amount is not an age Right. If you would have reached that dollar amount, if you could reach that dollar amount at an earlier age, you think you might have retired at that point in time.
Speaker 3:Possibly, if I mean my goals like that, if they're in eight years, that'd be fine by me, but if they're 12 years, that's fine too. As long as I meet the goals, okay.
Speaker 2:So you're on track though, see. So the big takeaway here is that you have goals and you have a timeline. You'd be surprised how many people don't even have a timeline, and that's why they're living in Pager to paycheck, because they don't know where their end is right and we all have a different end. They just don't know where that is, whether it's time and or dollar amount. Like people will put in a certain amount of time in a company 20, 30 years, whatever it is and they figure that's when I retire, because I've been at that company X amount of years, but that's not retirement.
Speaker 2:You may get a check, but in today's world, typically then, there's not very many companies out there that are given pensions. That's almost a thing of the past. There's just a handful of them left out there If you're lucky enough to get one and stay long enough to do that right. So it's our responsibility to put ourselves in the positions that we want to be, and this is why, again, I like talking about it. A little bit ago, you had mentioned about and this is the question I like asking is what would, what would you tell your 21 year and especially this question is good, because you have 30 year old daughters. What would you tell your 21 year old self about money? What would you say?
Speaker 3:What would you say to him I definitely would have been the opportunities I had to set up an IRA and put money away Lots sooner. I probably could retire right now at that point or be comfortable with that point. So this is definitely a belief in IRA. I should have did.
Speaker 2:What other types of investing have you done in your career?
Speaker 3:I've owned a restaurant, property, house, those type things.
Speaker 2:So real estate. So you've invested in real estate. How much are?
Speaker 3:you.
Speaker 2:What about? Are you invested in the stock market? Let's see.
Speaker 3:Um that, I'm not just to um retirement plans, that's it.
Speaker 2:So do you have or have you hired a financial advisor?
Speaker 3:Um, I have not yet. I have not yet.
Speaker 2:So a lot of people ask me when should I hire a financial advisor? That seems to be the big question. Right and yes. So I'm not a financial advisor, I'm a financial coach, and there's. There are two different people. I do not give financial advice, I'm not licensed to do that. It's illegal for me to do that. I like to say I like to. I teach people. Financial coach teaches you the rules of the game that we're playing in, because we're thrusted in this game the minute we start making money. Um, so what's your reason or why you haven't, or do you think you will hire a financial advisor?
Speaker 3:I will get a financial advisor here pretty soon, imagine, and that's for investing. It's a gamble in some sense, so I'm kind of nervous about somebody else having my money and using it, so I'm kind of nervous about it. Maybe, a financial advisor can help me out with that, that thought process.
Speaker 2:I love that answer. I love that answer, guys, for on so many different levels, because most people are scared to talk to financial advisors. Most people, like you just said, have fear of loss is what it is. I've worked so hard for my money and I have this whatever nest egg number that it is and I don't want to lose it, and especially at your age, like cause, I don't have another 30 years to put this money away, and so it's very nerve wracking. I get it. I 100% understand, understand, though I just put out a video on my YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago that talked about that financial advisor, financial coach which one, which one should I get Right At the end of the day?
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, we should have both, because we need to understand when we should go talk to a financial advisor and we should understand how to find the right financial advisor. Right, a financial advisor someone who makes a living, you know, putting other people's money to work. Right, they get a piece of it. So it's important to understand how to do that, and I have that in my in my lessons of how to do that how to find the right financial advisor. There's so many of them out there and we see the commercials all there's a lot, plenty of commercials about different companies out there that can help us on that level.
Speaker 2:I want you and everybody else listening to understand that, like Warren Buffett says, if we don't learn how to make money while we sleep, we will work until we die. So it's just this vitally importance of understanding your money has to work. Your money cannot sit under your mattress in a regular savings account that doesn't pay anything. You're losing money If your money's not working.
Speaker 2:The whole goal of making money and this is my mantra within my training program is we must learn how to make money. Make money, that's the name of the game and that's what you described earlier. And you said, if I could tell my 21 year old self anything, I'd tell my 21 year old self go open that IRA, right? Because you know that opening that IRA, compounding takes effect and over 25 or 30 years later, a little bit of money adds up to it, compounds into a nice chunk of money down the road. And so by listening to yourself first is when I want the lesson to be for folks out there is pay yourself first right now, because have you had any conversations with any financial advisors yet, or you're just thinking about it?
Speaker 3:I have not.
Speaker 2:So um what? What I have not yet yeah.
Speaker 2:So I want people understand that's a business, that's how they make money and I know plenty of financial advisors and I could share with and I did a lesson on this that they won't even talk to you unless you have minimum 50 K but usually six figures because they don't make no money. Right, they're working on one, one and a half percent. If you went to them with $10,000, they're not going to put your 10, they're even. If they take your 10, they're not making any money. They're not going to help you very much. You're better off investing in a financial coach truly understanding the rules of the game and all of your options are where we can go, park money, put money to make money, make money. So I encourage you to do some homework. You want yourself a fiduciary. A fiduciary financial advisor means they are obligated to put your interest before theirs. Now understand, fiduciary financial advisors is like one and 20 or fiduciary. There's not that many of them out there that will. Will that have to do that by law, that they're registered as a fiduciary meaning hey, you're my interest before years. You can't make more money than me Because most of them are the opposite.
Speaker 2:60 minutes did a great piece on this a few years back about financial advisors and how much money they make, such as they use the example of the 401k. Right, many people believe their 401k is their financial retirement nest egg. I have a 401k, I'll be able to retire from it, and the reality is very few people can retire from a 401k. But understand that the 401k was never intended to be your sole retirement vehicle. It was just one leg of a three-legged stool. Right, we should financially, financially prepared correctly. There's three legs of the stool. One is, yes, put your money to work in certain retirement vehicles, many as you can save whatever little nest egg you can, and then you're going to get we're all going to get Social Security, and now that one's in question, how much longer is that thing really going to work for our 30 year old kids? They're likely not going to see a dime of that money. History will find out, we'll. We'll see what happens, right?
Speaker 2:I for one, have never relied on whatever check the government thinks they're going to give me, and I'll be 62 in a couple of months, so I said, no, I'm going to wait it out till they make me take it, because they make you take it. At a certain point, at 69 years old, you got to go take it. So, uh, that being said, these are the lessons we have to teach our kids. Like guys, compounding, truly understanding the rule of 72 to your benefit, gets you that. All the things you want right now, you're not going to have them later if you don't do this and you'll be part of the statistics 63% of Americans paycheck to paycheck because we are not going to get it, because we've we've concentrated more in our wants our whole life versus our needs. We need to put that money in those accounts because we want the compounding to take effect. Uh, how many or how often do you believe you have money conversations with your mom today?
Speaker 3:Oh, today, maybe once a couple of weeks, every couple of weeks.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how do we talk about it.
Speaker 2:Do you? And what about your girls? How often do you talk? How often do you talk with them?
Speaker 3:Probably, maybe once a month, every couple of months. They all be talking more with them.
Speaker 2:Are they receptive or how are they?
Speaker 3:No, they're receptive they are. We can talk about my finances, their finance. We're pretty open. We're pretty open.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're pretty open. So within a family that's very normal. And when I say money conversations, it's funny. When I taught my youngest one at 18, she gets her first job. I taught her how to raise her own credit, how to invest correctly and by the age 20, she bought her own first property her condo that she has. And in today's world people are flabbergasted at 24 that she owns her own place. How did you do that? And I share with the story is my daughter's never made more than 15 bucks an hour, yet she has her own condo that she's pretty much had her. I taught her that You're going to buy the condo, two-bedroom. You're going to rent one room out. They're going to pay for half your place. You don't even pay for your whole place. Your roommate that you're going to go get is going to pay for half your house. So she loved that concept she just had. She just went through a. I tell people, life throws us curveballs all the time, would you agree?
Speaker 3:I agree yeah.
Speaker 2:She just had a curveball thrown at her. She had a car accident. She's fine, she didn't get hurt, but her car got totaled. She carried the proper insurance and all those types of things. But it ended up costing her out of pocket, even though the car got totaled and it gets paid off by the insurance company. She paid on that car three years. By the time they paid the car off she's getting like 1800 bucks. She had to come out another two grand for the down payment on the new car. Lesson learned here Right, I says.
Speaker 3:I starting over?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is, but I I watched her go through this process and I got to be honest with you. I just told her last week. I said I was so proud of how you handled this curveball that life just threw at you. You didn't freak out, you didn't stress out. And I asked her why. She said well, dad, because you've taught me one. I was prepared.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was a pain in the butt. I had to go through all the motions of dealing with the paperwork, finding a new car, all of these things, but financially I had the money to go buy another car, my credit was great, and so it's a little minor hiccup and not a huge inconvenience in my life, whereas she has friends. If something like this would happen and this is for a lot of folks this would be a major turmoil in someone's life. If your car just got totaled and you're living paycheck to paycheck right, this would cause a major anxiety and stress. This is why people struggle with money Anxiety and stress. As you watch your children grow older, do you see? Do they have anxiety and stress about?
Speaker 3:money. They do, they do, yes, they do, but then, like your daughter, they get through it.
Speaker 2:Well, we all get through it, right. I always I mean, the sun is going to come up tomorrow, that's right, that's my saying. I'm like look, my dad taught me, don't cry over spilled milk. It's spilt, clean it up, let's move along. Kind of a thing, right. And I always say listen, the sun is going to come up tomorrow. Whatever your problem was today, look, the sun's coming up tomorrow. It's a new day. Let's just go fix this problem Now. Easier said than done, I think, though.
Speaker 3:Right, well, not easy, and that's one of my lessons also I like to tell them at five o'clock in the evening make it a cut off, Don't worry about nothing. You can't do nothing till morning.
Speaker 2:That's what you've taught your daughters, yeah.
Speaker 3:Because they get stressed out and that's not good for anybody.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not good physically. I mean you, we physically get sick People get heart attacks and stuff. I love that mantra. Hey, five o'clock cut it off. We worry about this problem tomorrow again. I love that mantra.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, you're out there listening, steal that mantra Now. It doesn't have to be five o'clock, it could be six, seven, whatever time you guys want, but I think that is a great mantra lesson that we have to be able to let go right, because people will dwell on it all night long, can't sleep, and you know anxiety and your body, you know changes when you, when we, those things happen to us. So to teach your daughters the mantra five o'clock, let it go, let's have dinner, let's relax. We'll worry about this. There's probably be here tomorrow. I like that. I like that a lot. I'm definitely have to remember that. Oh, there you go. Lost you there for a second. My back, yeah, you're back, you're back. Just a little little technical glitch there. So great the taunt. You're there. Five o'clock, let it go. Let's worry about it tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, well, jordy, I tell you what it's been a great talking with you. We had some great takeaways today. One guys I think Jordy was very fortunate early age in life, seven years old, started learning about money from mom and still, to this day, learns with mom Awesome and kudos. And so for all you guys out there, their parents never stop teaching. It doesn't matter that you kids get up and older and out and doing their thing. Let's just stay there and be the mentors for our kids. I think that's a great lesson. I love that last one. Right there, five o'clock, cut it off. Let's not worry and stress about this problem. Let's deal with it, finish dealing with it tomorrow. So again, thank you for coming out today. It's been awesome. I think the audience definitely got some good takeaways from that today. So for the rest of you guys, listen.
Speaker 2:If you're out there on YouTube watching this, do me a favor. Smash the like button. If you haven't subscribed, do that please now. And the rest of you on the podcast platforms, subscribe to my channel. We have new guests out on a regular basis. So until then, we'll see you guys on the next one. Hey, everybody, hope you enjoyed that episode. I really enjoyed making all these episodes for you. Remember, we're just having conversations with people's journey with money and the things they did right with it, the things that did wrong with it, and how. How did they really come about getting their mindset with money. So every episode's different. We all have a good takeaway from them. So do me a favor hit them like button, smash the like button and subscribe to my channel, because every episode that I do is going to be different, as all our journeys are different. So you guys, take care and we'll talk to you next week.