What are you leaving your children?

Sometimes we overlook the power of passing down education to the next generation. In this episode I share with you how my mind has shifted when it comes to leaving a legacy.

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Hello, everyone. Welcome to Wealth Talks, a podcast for single moms by a single mom. It's your girl Sam here. I am super excited for another episode of Wealth Talks. I feel like these conversations, although they aren't as frequent as I would like them to be, are very, very much needed, especially today during what's going on. Talks of recession, high inflation, inflation at what they esteem to be a 40-year high, um, coming in at 8.5%, which is really crazy. Gas prices up 40%, food up 12%, and still climbing the charts. You know, this is an uncertain time. And I don't know, we've we've had about 34 recessions, you know, as a country, and you know, everyone tends to think that theirs is um is is the worst one. Although this one is, I don't know, you know, we I'm not a financial analyst, so I'm not too sure how this one would play out. But right now, I just I'm in game mode to get myself prepared and ready so that if anything was to happen, um, I will be somewhat able to um, I will be somewhat able in a better position. I remember the first uh recession that I experienced when I was on my own was in 2008. And I remember um, you know, I work in the arts, that's what I do day by day. I work at a rehearsal studio, and back then I was I was like a front desk manager. So um I had I didn't have much say in how things was running because I wasn't in the on the executive team as I am now. But I do remember us getting our hours cut, us getting our salary reduced. Um, I remember it was it was a penny pincher, and I remember like packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And um back then I had one child, now I have three. So um my mindset is a little bit different um with preparing for this because I remember what it was like during that time. You know, back then my rent was only $800. Right now it's triple that. So I gotta make sure that I am um ahead of the game and have enough cushion to weather the storm in case the storm comes. I hope, like, you know, what the feds are doing with in with raising interest rates um will help to alleviate some of the blow. But if not, we need to be ready. Which brings me to today's episode. So I've been reading two books, uh, which is kind of I know people are like, two books, but I do the way my brain works, I need I take in as much information as I can. Um, sometimes I need to just slow down, but that's another story, another episode for another day. But how I read these two books, um, and this episode is not on strategy of reading more than one book at a time, but I listen to one audiobook and then I actually read another book um as I'm coming into the city on the train and stuff. But why I brought that up was because in the book, although they're two different books by two different authors, they they seem to have the same underlining tone. And of course, you know, recently I've been reading more books on finance because I am a financial coach and I have to stay up to speed with what I'm learning, um with what I'm teaching people and what I'm giving out to people. Um, I've been teaching pretty regularly uh for the church community, so I need to be able to give them the most um up-to-date information to help them, you know, meet meet everybody where they are to help them maximize and reach their goals when it comes to finances. So um I'm reading the book Master the Game by Tony Robbins, which is a fantastic book. It's a very deep book. Um, you know, it those books like that I have to stop and digress and really go back and listen to, and um not listen, but digest what is being taught. Um, because if we just read to read, we miss the main points. Um so, and then in the morning I listen to the millionaire mindset, which I actually love because I'm at the gym typically by myself. No one's at the gym in my complex but me that early in the morning. And I'm able to listen to the book. And throughout the book, the author has you stop, put your hand on the chest when you finish a chapter, and whatever key key points he wants you to take with you, he has you say them like personally to yourself, like, I am gonna be great with this, or I am great with making decisions when it comes to finances. And then he has you take your hand and put it on your head and say, I have a millionaire mind. And I just think it's it's very powerful to have you take that book and not just read it, not just digest it internally, but to project it externally. And I think that's that's a big step. But why I brought those two books up was not because of that either. I'm getting to the good point part, I promise you. I brought them up because they each uh have helped shift it my mindset when it comes to two things. First thing building wealth, and the second thing passing it down to my family. So the first thing how it's shifted my mindset was I'm I've been so focused on paying bills, doing this, doing that, bringing in more income that while those are great things for me to be worried about to be uh focused on, it's not the end goal. And I think what happens oftentimes is no matter what part of life we're in, we get to this point where we focus on the steps instead of focusing on the big picture. So for me, the big picture is my net worth. The big picture for me, where I'm focused on, is increasing my net worth. And yes, understanding my bills, understanding what I'm bringing in home, it's all part of the equation because net worth is actually assets minus your liabilities. So that's your bills minus what you're bringing in. But I've I found that by focusing on those little moving pieces, I'm moving away from the big picture. And my goal now is all about net worth. Yes, assets and liabilities come into that play, but the main target is the net worth. So that's what I'm focused on now. Now, the second part, and that was from the millionaire mindset. The second part, Master the Game by Tony Robbins, is a part about the legacy I'm creating. You know, Tony Robbins in this book, he has the heavy hitters in there. I'm talking about Warren Buffett, Ray Dalio, just like heavy hitters in the finance world who have made money over time because we all know money comes and goes. You know, money, there's money's no guaranteed, it's not constant. It comes and it goes. The real flex is when you can get a return on the money that you have coming in. That's the real flex right there. So what he did was he asked these OGs of the finance world, if you had to pass something down to your children, one thing, what would it be? And that that sparked the legacy um shift for me because my thing was, oh, I want to, and my focus is all about giving each of my children a home because I didn't have one, um, teaching them about uh giving them uh brokerage accounts because I didn't have one. And those are all great things. But the big picture, again, those are the small little moving pieces. The big picture is the education aspect that I want to leave for my children. And in that education aspect, most of it comes from them watching me. Most of them come from them watching me. And why I say this is because you could tell people something to their blue, to your blue in the face, until their their ears are bleeding or falling off. But until they can see it for themselves, it really doesn't set in and hit home. So that part of what Tony Robbins uh did when he asked each different investor, what would they leave for their children, what would they do different for their children? Um, they all give different answers. I'll teach my children a game, I'll leave them on portfolio, I'll do X, Y, and Z. But for me, I want to give my children education. But not the education, you know, for me writing down, telling them to read it, but from them seeing it, you know, that that tactile, that touching and seeing the visual part of it, of them seeing mommy working hard, the steps she's taken to get us each the house, the steps she's taken to give us a brokerage account and put money in that so that when we get 25 and we get 30, she's giving us generational wealth. That's that's the legacy part. So, as you know, as you as I progress, um, as you progress, because we all progress in life, it's a journey that we're on, especially when it comes to finances. We're on this financial journey in life, um, where we're constantly learning and more importantly, constantly evolving. Um, as you do that, I want you to to journal and write down what you learned, what worked, what didn't work, what would you do different, and keep that, document that for for you when you get to that point where you finally uh reach the goal of whatever you wanted to pass down to your children or what however you want your lifestyle to be, so that you can always remember the journey. Because the journey is the most beautiful thing. And sometimes when we're in the moment, it's not beautiful at all. It's not peaches and cream, it's kind of rough looking. It's like, ah, but it is something that we take with pride and we um we embrace along the journey. So this is your girl Sam, host of Wealth Talks, podcast for Single Moms by Single Mom. I am very serious and adamant about helping other single moms build their financial foundation through proper budgeting, by becoming disciplined savers, uh, by credit uh education and resources, and most importantly by protecting their greatest asset with insurance. So if you are listening and you know any single moms that can use my direction, please send them my way. Everyone have a great day.