Flint, Not Fire: Raising Kids with Connection Before Correction | Mike McCarthy

#076.  What does it really mean to build generational wealth — and how do you pass it on without losing your kids in the process?  In this episode, I sit down with Mike McCarthy — serial entrepreneur, co-founder of GoBundance, former leader in the growth of Keller Williams, and author of The Miracle Morning for Parents and Families. Mike has helped scale businesses doing billions in sales, but what sets him apart is how intentionally he applies leadership, discipline, and values inside his own home.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful idea: give kids the flint, not the fire.
 Instead of simply handing down money or opportunity, Mike explains why parents must focus on preparing the heir — teaching responsibility, stewardship, and self-mastery — long before wealth ever changes hands.

We also explore one of the most important parenting principles you’ll hear: connection before correction.  Especially with adolescents, Mike shares why maintaining trust, presence, and relationship is the foundation that makes guidance, discipline, and financial lessons actually stick.

This episode is filled with practical frameworks parents can implement immediately, including:

• How to teach financial responsibility through skin in the game, not handouts
• Why you need to prioritize connection before correction
• Why preparing heirs matters more than preparing estates
• A weekly family meeting that becomes the operating system for your home
• A simple daily routine — CHARMS — to help kids build discipline, confidence, and self-mastery
• How to raise money-smart kids without entitlement, control, or burnout

This is a conversation for parents, entrepreneurs, and leaders who want their success to strengthen their family — not come at its expense.

If you’re focused on raising grounded, capable kids and building a legacy that goes far beyond money, this episode with Mike McCarthy is a must-listen.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session076

Transcript

Justin: [00:00:00] Well, today I am absolutely thrilled to welcome a powerhouse guest to the show, someone who's built incredible success in business, but more importantly, is deeply intentional about how he shows up as a husband, as a father, and a legacy builder. My guest is Mike McCarthy. He's a serial entrepreneur.

Justin: Motivational speaker and author. Over the past two decades, he's played a major role in the growth of Keller Williams to become the number one real estate company in the world leading over 9,000 agents and more than 23 billion in sales annually. But what really sets Mike apart and why I want to have him on the podcast today is his heart for family and his passion for building generational wealth that goes far beyond money.

Justin: He's a co-founder of GoBundance, which is a mastermind for high performing men, committed to living full, authentic, wealthy lives. And he's also the founder of Fan Abundance, which brings those same values into the home, helping entrepreneurial families grow together in purpose and connection. He's also the co-author of The Miracle Morning for Parents [00:01:00] and Families and The Family Playbook, where he shares powerful tools for helping families establish rituals, values, and a growth mindset.

Justin: Mike, welcome to the MoneyDad podcast. 

Mike: Hey, thanks for having me. 

Justin: Thanks for coming on here. It's an honor to have you on here. I want to start off with a few questions here in terms of, you know, you, you've had some incredible success in real estate in entrepreneurship, uh, but I'd love to start with your most important title.

Justin: Dad. How has fatherhood shaped your journey as an entrepreneur? Hmm. 

Mike: Yeah. That's so powerful. You know? I think, you know, the best way to really unpack that is to just tell a story about when I was a young entrepreneur and I had a young child, my, my first Tyler, and he was probably, uh, three or four years old.

Mike: I real had a realization in a moment, like in an instant that he had over the last [00:02:00] four years of his life since he had came to be with my mom, with his mom, and I. He had become one of my greatest teachers. And the lesson that he, he brought was love. And so it was amazing for me to have that realization.

Mike: But what transcended sort of my own even physical awareness at that moment was a voice saying to me, Hey, you should share with that child the impact that they've had on, on you. I thought, oh man, that's like pretty deep and intense. Like do you, how do you share that with a 4-year-old? And what was amazing is we were fiddling with some stuff in the garage when I had this realization.

Mike: He was off playing with something and I turned and I told him what I had to say, which was that he, you know, I appreciate everything he's taught me about love, that I love him so much that it's helped me to learn love and to learn love and to give more love is something that he gave as a gift to me and.

Mike: To everyone that I, that I come in contact [00:03:00] with. And I thanked him for that. And he sort of instinctively there, there happened to be a step stool right? Where he was fiddling and he kind of like climbed up the steps, like to be at my height with me and like he was even maybe a little taller and he just kind of gave me a big hug.

Mike: And I think in many ways that's how parenting has influenced my, or, uh, being a father and parenting has influenced my leadership and my entrepreneurial journey is that. Uh, it's forced me to bring more love into everything that I do. I think that's an important thing through for our intimate relationships to keep our heart open, to really know what it means to, to love is not necessarily just this roses and puppy dogs and, you know, ice cream feeling.

Mike: It's also the, the pain of like holding the space for someone else. Is there. They're going through something. And, and for me, that's all called love, giving love. And I think in leadership and in business, when we can show up and give [00:04:00] our love first and come from a, a place of love we, we almost can't lose, you know?

Mike: It's such a winning strategy. And I think sometimes we forget that that the, that in the face of like business domination and hustle culture. You know, aggression being the way that wins, like I don't know. I would argue that, that in the end, if, especially if you want to enjoy what you have, the path is love.

Mike: If you fight for what you have and you, you take it, and you don't feel proud of yourself in the process of what you're building, you're not gonna, you're not gonna love what you've built. If you build it with love, you're gonna be able to appreciate it and have it, and it'll feel good. 

Justin: That is such a, a different message.

Justin: Love, right. In in that you hear versus some of the uh, yeah. Whether it's hustle, hustle, culture, the growing culture, things like that, where it is bringing that that to the forefront because it's such, it's at the heart of all relationships. Right. Um, and if [00:05:00] you're, if you don't love something, you're not gonna wanna do it.

Justin: Uh, whether it's your family, whether it's your business whether it's your passion for anything. I remember when. I, you know, for me, speaking of love, that unconditional love, I don't think I've ever felt that prior to holding my son in my arms for that very first time. I, I, you know, you, you know, love spouse is one thing, obviously, but in love of, parents and everything else.

Justin: But until I think, you know, I, I put him in my arms, my oldest in my arms that connection and that, that feeling of like, oh, there's this child that is. Completely dependent on you for everything and everything. And that to me opened my own I guess eyes as to, you know, what am I doing in this all for right?

Justin: And so, 

Mike: opened your heart. 

Justin: It opened my heart. It definitely opened my heart. You helped you helped grow Keller Williams into a, a. You know, number one real estate company in the world. You know, you talked about heart, but what lessons from perhaps whether it's that [00:06:00] experience or other experiences do you bring into parenting or that you bring into teaching your son or your kids about money and leadership?

Mike: Yeah, I mean. The first thing is, you know, being a family that has some financial resources, financial capital, there's many forms of capital and wealth. So I want to be clear there, but being a family that's acquired a certain amount of resources, you know, my number one thing is making sure that my children understand how to how to deal with what will come into their lives in the future.

Mike: Is not necessarily money or inheritance, but responsibility if they choose, which is to be a part of, to be a part of our family in a meaningful way. And that's to, to understand the history, the story behind how the wealth was built, to have a reverence that's, that's that comes through education.

Mike: And then also challenging our kids [00:07:00] to actually. Go out and make their own way in the world and not give them necessarily any pathway or inheritance that enables them to do nothing. I think it was Warren Buffet who famously said something along the lines of, give them enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.

Mike: Mm. And so, and then there's another book David R. York is the author and he talks a lot about, about the idea of how we do a great job of preparing wealth for our children. Meaning like getting the trusts and the bank accounts and the five 20 eights and the, all the different like things set up for them.

Mike: Yeah. But we failed to prepare the heirs for the wealth. Mm-hmm. And so we miss half that equation. So. How do we do it in our family? Like my son, when it was time for him to b to get a car, we didn't just buy him a car. He had to buy my old car from me. And we, we [00:08:00] matched his money and his grandfather's, uh, and his slash 'cause he, he has passed since his trust from his grandfather paid a third.

Mike: So he paid a third grandpa, paid a third. I, we paid a third, my wife and I, and. He had to go get his license and do the paperwork and show the initiative and, do all of that. And so we challenged them to sort of take ownership of the things that they want in life. And, that's all well and good.

Mike: And, and at the end of the day though, I mean, I'll just share this one thing because I think it's more important than anything you could do to teach your kids anything. Is before you teach them anything, which I would say comes off as, let's call it correcting. Make sure you're, you're connecting before you're correcting.

Mike: And I actually would argue that if, especially having teenagers now, if you're not 90% [00:09:00] connecting and 10% correcting. That 10% should be strategic at a specific time when they're ready for it. Then they're just gonna be criticized 90% of the time. All of us as parents, we just, I, I think it's just in our DNA, we can't help it.

Mike: We want them to be, yeah, the better versions of us. And so the most important thing we have to do is maintain the connection between us and them as they move through. Adolescence 'cause it's so hard. It's a challenging time. All kinds of crazy stuff, even in the last three, four months have popped up that I never dreamed I would be dealing with.

Mike: Right. That they don't tell you about when you have teenagers. Yeah. But the, the way through is, can you connect, and when I say connect, what I mean is like. Meet them where they are and ask them as many questions as you possibly can about everything that they're interested in, and let 'em talk and listen.

Mike: Put your phone away. Just [00:10:00] listen to what they're saying because if, if you have the connection, then now you, you have the ability to actually reach them with any message that you need to reach them at. And so at different times in their life, they need to be taught how to be responsible for money, how to.

Mike: Set boundaries, how to lead how to do your work , in a fashion and, and, manage your time and manage, you know, your, your own energy. And how do you personally develop as a, a human being? Like, those are all things that we talk about a lot in our family, and we have for a lot of times.

Mike: But what I've noticed is that. If we don't maintain that connection, they don't care what we have to say. Mm-hmm. My 16-year-old recently was like, I don't like any of the stuff you do. It all sucks. It's challenging. And uh, and I was like, I get that as a six, someone who was 16 year years old at one point.

Mike: I get that. Um, but it's, it's really, uh, the, the quote from David [00:11:00] York, which I failed to complete earlier, is give them the, flint and kindling and not the, not the fire. So how do you teach them how to wield the power that is fire without getting burned? It's the same concept with money. If they're just given a bunch of money or fire, but they're not taught how to actually create or build that fire, that money, then it's gonna burn them no matter what.

Mike: And you see that with people that win the lottery, where they, they lose it and it's 'cause they don't have time to integrate that wealth into their life. So if we're not preparing our heirs for whatever wealth they may steward, like my kids won't be able to take a bunch of money out, but they'll be able to, to contribute in the world a lot with the money that's there and they'll be able to get resources from it, like education and loans for houses or a business, something like that.

Mike: But they're not gonna get some meteor of money. They're gonna have to learn how to make their own [00:12:00] money. 

Justin: What you just said there in terms of connection, make sure your connection be connecting before you're correcting. I think that's such a , powerful nugget because it's so true.

Justin: Right? Especially, I mean, my boys are not close to, to being teenagers yet, although my oldest has just turned 11, so, he's kind of getting there. But maintaining. And making sure you have that connection so that you can have that that pathway right, that you can teach, um, or guide or correct is so important to, I think just as a parent to have, make sure that they do and make sure that those bonds are, you know, it's not just a, it's not just a one time thing.

Justin: You have to continually, I'm sure, maintain those. Those connections to make sure it's strong. Yeah. And, and, um, it's so easy as a parent to, to go back to what you said before, like, go back, to criticize or because you wanna make them, you wanna make them a better version of yourself, right?

Justin: You don't want them to make Yeah. Necessarily the same [00:13:00] mistakes or, or go through the same things that maybe that you did. But. It that, uh, that's so true. So true. 

Mike: Yeah. I heard a quote, quote once along that same line, Justin, if I can get it right. It was just recent that we parent our kids to survive our childhood instead of thriving in their own childhood.

Mike: So like we're trying to help them to not experience the heartaches or the pains or the things that we did or we're trying to make. Help protect them, navigating through. But the only image we have of it is our own childhood journey. So we're constantly projecting that onto them and then trying to protect them against what happened to us when their story is totally different.

Mike: And that's. Yeah. That's like a tricky thing as a parent to let go of that, that construct that, you know, you wanna live vicariously. It's basically living vicariously through your child in a Right, in an unhealthy helicopter parenting kind of way, yeah. But we all do it, I think. Yeah. [00:14:00] If you care about your children, you're probably doing.

Mike: Yes. On some level, 

Justin: yes, on some level. And then going back to also what you talked about where it's so important to make sure that yeah, we're not just obviously handing our kids a bag of money and letting them do with, you know, as they please, it's really teaching them work. Giving them the whether it's the value system or giving them the, the, uh, what's the right word, giving them the, the tools or the structure to think about and, and make their own decisions with it.

Justin: And some, and some guidelines around that. So important. You co-founded GoBundance, uh, which is a mastermind for high achieving men. What key, whether it's money or other life principles that you know are regularly discussed in that group, you know that dads listening today can take home and really apply it to their own families and, and lives.

Justin: I. 

Mike: Yeah. The first thing is that originally we [00:15:00] didn't have like this well thought out vision and business plan and idea that go abundance would be what it, what it was. What we just started out with was. Three, four guys that would get together. We had each other's backs. We would share vulnerably and authentically.

Mike: Here's what's happening in my life. Here's where my finances are, here's where my, um, health is at, here's where my relationships are, are, here's how I've been contributing to my community. Here's the, my, the picture of what my businesses are doing right now. And we would show up to these adventure trips and we would share all with a small group of.

Mike: Men And, and that recipe is still what we do today in, in GoBundance. Just, you know, in a more organ, more organized format and with a lot more power behind it because it, it went from four guys going on trips to eight guys going on trips once a year, and then it was 16 and then we finally had an event with 16 [00:16:00] and called it GoBundance didn't even charge for the event.

Mike: And, uh, people were like, what's go abundance? And we're like, that's, it's just what we're here doing. We're moving towards abundance as a group, and that's what we're all about. And, uh, then that very next year we did another winter event and it, it, we had 45 men show up to that event. We didn't exclude women purposely.

Mike: It was just started out as a guy's trip. So you could imagine it'd be a little awkward if all of a sudden you're like. Hey, there's four of us, and then these four women are gone on a trip, sweetheart. But there is a women's division now, just to be clear, for high achieving women that we co-founded with some, um, high achieving women that, that lead and run and own that.

Mike: But some of the lessons are that we had this grassroots idea of just supporting one another, being authentic, being accountable and that grew into the, you know, the pillars of [00:17:00] GoBundance and then also creating this community that people were willing to be a part of.

Mike: And at the end of that event with 45 individuals, people are like. Can we join? Can we sign up? What is this? Right? And so we just started selling memberships and we didn't know what it was, but what we did do, Justin, is we built it with love. To my previous points, we built it because it was the mastermind group that we wanted to be a part of.

Mike: So we built it for ourselves first, but then we also. Realized that the community was smarter than any one of us as the four leaders, and so we started leveraging. The collective genius of the group to make all of our decisions, to create all of our offerings, to empower all of our trips, to empower all of our local chapters.

Mike: And so there's a there's a sense, a felt sense of community leadership within go abundance that I think is unique. And I think that's the same thing you should [00:18:00] apply to your family leadership. If the leadership in your family isn't a communal felt sense of everyone's voice matters and you don't regularly have ways of fairly making decisions and hearing and listening to input and enabling kids to negotiate and even plea, you know, even try to get what they want through, um, in a family meeting, like it's a missed opportunity that I see a lot.

Mike: We teach that. In our miracle, uh, morning for Parents and Families playbook is, you know, how do you do a family meeting once a once a week and what does that look like? Um, but at that, the idea of this communal leadership and getting back to go abundance is the big lesson for me. And I started applying that to my real estate businesses, to my teams, to, to the way I even lead myself to just.

Mike: Really reflect on how can I, um, instead of me [00:19:00] make all my decisions, ask people around me and, and get feedback and then decide on what I want to do. And I think gobundance creates a, a really healthy platform for guys to level up in the areas that matter most, that we probably for, uh, are the things we forsake on our way to success.

Mike: Mm-hmm. We let our health go, we let our relationship slide. We let our contribution to our community, our church, or our, our spiritual path starts to to shorten or get, we start to veer off of it. And so I think abundance is, yeah, we're all successful achievers, but we're not here because we want to make more money.

Mike: We're here because we want more out of life and we wanna, uh, live to the fullest in every area, not just making money. 

Justin: And that's the big distinction there, right? It, yeah. It's not just about money, it's about all your areas of your life, whether it's health and fitness, relationships family, um, spiritually.

Justin: Like [00:20:00] all of that is so important. And yeah, you're right. Like a lot of times when, whether it's high achieving men or women, you know, are, are going for their goals, they can. You know, they can lose sight of or sacrifice those other parts of of their lives in pursuit of those goals, right? So I think it's such a great concept.

Justin: Great mastermind group. That you have, uh, you know, with goal abundance and, and the shared values and ideals that you, that you do with that collectively. Because a lot of cases as well, especially if you're an entrepreneur, you know, it's, it can get lonely out there too as well, right?

Justin: Like you're kind of Yeah. Fighting your own battles and, you know, putting out fires and building a business and, and there's, you know, unless you find that community or group of people that you can kind of relate to who are kind of going through those same. Same challenges and same obstacles and same opportunities.

Justin: It, it's, um, it's tough for others to relate to that. So, yeah. So yeah, definitely. That's a, it's great there. [00:21:00] Going back to the, the family meeting once a week. I'm curious. I just, 'cause I've, I've thought about putting that in place with my own family. We haven't.

Justin: Done it yet, but I'd be curious to see, just even from whether it's, you know, the miracle warning for families, some of the things that parents or dads out there, if they were trying to think about putting that in place for their own families, how that could look like. . You're obviously taking input and feedback from, whether it's your kids or other whatever, but maybe, you can outline some of those key aspects that you feel are important to put in place in that meeting. 

Mike: Yeah. Well, I think it's all the power and, and whatever framework you're using should be through like an appreciative and a generative lens.

Mike: Like it should, shouldn't be like. Conflicting or negative, or here's all the problems we need to solve in the family. It should be more around starting with what do we have to celebrate as a family? And so what we start with is appreciating every member of the [00:22:00] family and all sharing why we're grateful for that member of the family.

Mike: And then they share why they're grateful for themselves. So it starts off on a very positive note. The kids are very quick with their answers. Generally, we do give sometimes an opportunity to journal some of their answers ahead of time or draw out. We've been doing these type of meetings since our kids were around like eight and four, so obviously originally my daughter started out just kind of like drawing things and half participating, but it's never too early to expose them to meaningful conversations and sit them down at the table with you and just let them.

Mike: Blab away or, or draw away or whatever, as long as they're not being too disruptive. But once you've sort of opened with some gratitude, then what we do is we say, since our last meeting, or if you've never had a meeting, if we look back in the history of our, our family, what are some peak experiences, things that, you know, what was the most fun you ever had with [00:23:00] your family?

Mike: What's the, , biggest challenge we've ever overcome as a family? Um, what's the greatest accomplishment we've ever collectively done as a, as a family? What was our most fun vacation that we ever went on? You start to go through that idea of the identity of your families rooted in the stories, and the stories are made up of the moments that matter most.

Mike: The teachings that I've learned around leadership are really about, um, finding our strengths and, um, inspiration within the stories of whatever that team system, organization group might be. And so you do that and you do it often enough. Then if you're in a family meeting, you may only be going back over the last week.

Mike: So I aced this test. 

Mike: I scored that goal. I accomplished this thing at work. I did all five workouts. I was supposed to, um, we had dinner three times this week as a family. That was great. Um, we got to go [00:24:00] visit our. Our fam extended family for a night. So you revisit all of the peak experiences that you've had as a family since the last time you, you went through those.

Mike: Um, after that we moved towards just acknowledging, um, what our family values are and re and reciting them. And talking about them a little bit. Ours are all values with one to two word titles and then a a a th a two to one to two sentence description of what it means to live that value. So it's values plus values statements, um, that, that we taught.

Mike: We teach that, and then we also use it in our family. After that, we go over the schedule for the next week and just align. Here are all the things going on. Then we look ahead, what are some things we need to plan on the schedule? Is there flights we need to book? Is there reservations we need to make?

Mike: Um, and then we look at the individual goals of the [00:25:00] family, uh, members. Usually every family member is working on one fun goal and one hard goal, which is like a longer term goal. And they get to set what those are. And then we talk about how they're doing on those. And the, the adults do it too. And then we talk about any family goals that, that we're off track on or how we're doing on our family goals.

Mike: And then there's like sort of an open discussion. Is there anything you want to propose? Any changes in our family rhythms, anything that you want to bring to the table. And it's sort of like a free for all towards the end to give everyone a chance to sort of bring something to the table if they want.

Mike: And that's how you end up with a kitten. So,

Justin: let me guess, that was not your choice. 

Mike: Well, we, we recently decided like, hey, let's, let's make decisions with majority rules. And it's my wife and I against our two kids, and we're like, well, how should we break the tie breaker? [00:26:00] And I was dumb enough to be like, well, why don't we do, uh, rock, paper, scissors to, um, to break it?

Mike: And then my son immediately goes, I propose we get a cat. And then the next thing you know, we, we lost. But I lost. But I also want, I've never seen my 16-year-old son. I haven't seen him this happy in so long, so. Um, and he's taking great care of it, and it's really fun to, to watch him get what he wants and sometimes his parents, as much as I don't want a cat, 

Justin: yeah, 

Mike: I, I do want my son to have a cat.

Mike: Um, and so, you know, our job as parents. Is to, to say no a lot, and I've been realizing too, like, I need to say yes a lot more and really lean into the adventure of life that maybe they can open up for me. 

Justin: The, the deal that I have with my kids is that. I'll, I don't mind getting a pet as long as they have to take care of it.

Justin: And then inevitably it goes back to my kids [00:27:00] say, well, who's gonna pick up after it? And I'm like, you. And then it's, nah, no, no, I don't wanna do that. Dad has to do that. But yeah, that's, that's a good one. Uh, yeah, I think, you know, you wanna make sure that they're, uh, they're happy with that. And I was gonna say, the other thing was I think, you know, if I turn it over to my kids sometimes they'd be like, yeah, what, what we wanna do is have like candy or, or junk food all day.

Justin: And I, you know what? I think actually even in a, in a, maybe in a family meeting that, we'll, I'll start up, they can say that and I'll, I'll let them do it and let's just see how it is. And, and I think they, you know, to your point they feel. Okay, yeah, great. They, you know, we can do that. You know, it's not the end of the world.

Justin: It's just, it's fun. Um, and it's something that they feel like they had decision making and autonomy to be able to, to do that, convince us to, maybe we won't do rock paper, scissors, but, uh, we'll, we'll do some other way, but Yeah. 

Mike: But you're onto something, Justin though is like, if they view the family meeting and the family culture and the family, let's call it operating system that you use.[00:28:00] 

Mike: And they lean into it if they realize that it's a source for them to get what they want and to actually help steer the direction of the family. 'cause when we set family goals and we teach that, it's the whole family gets to throw up ideas of where they want to travel. And then maybe that's getting voted out, voted on, and then next year it's my daughter's chance if she didn't get to pick to pick.

Mike: But is as much autonomy as you can give to them. And getting what they want. Then they'll lean into this stuff and they'll, they'll, you know, you have, you have these ways to then motivate them more intrinsically to be involved, and then they learn leadership. Like that's the secret behind all of this, is that they're learning leadership not based on what they see at school, unless it's probably mediocre leadership.

Mike: Let's be honest. Mm-hmm. Um, nothing against teachers, by the way. I just think the system is broken. Mm-hmm. They're not gonna learn financial skills, leadership skills, [00:29:00] conflict resolution skills, relationship skills, all the things that they actually need. They're not gonna learn in schools. So, you know, I think we have to take it upon ourselves as, as parents to make sure that we.

Mike: We teach them that, and unfortunately those lessons are caught not taught. Mm-hmm. So they have to actually learn them by watching us do them in a certain way. So if we're saying that, Hey, our family has. Regular meals, regular meaningful conversations. We meet regularly. We have values, we have standards. We have rules of how we operate and what our traditions and rhythms and who we are as a family is very clear and what our vision is.

Mike: Then. You're doing, you know, that's all, that's all how you make sure you're truly leaving a legacy that isn't all filled with wealth and financial documents and lawyer, you know, jargon.

Justin: Yeah, absolutely. Speaking of, so [00:30:00] maybe now's a good time to touch on FA abundance. You know, you have the concept of Go Abundance, uh, which is a mastermind for high achieving men, and, and now you're a division of, uh, high achieving Women fan abundance.

Justin: Can you talk about, you know, what Fan Abundance is? What inspired you to create that mastermind experience for families and how does it actually work in practice? 

Mike: Yeah, so. Uh, I had the honor of being the CEO of GoBundance from 2015 to like the end of 2019, about four or five years. And during that time, you know, I had gotten some recent freedom by hiring, you know, some of the key positions that I was fulfilling in, in inside of my real estate business.

Mike: And I, I hired those out to other people and I got some freedom and I immediately filled that freedom with another job, like a idiot. Um, and just like a serial entrepreneur who's trying to prove something would do, but I realized that that was at the, the detriment to my family, that that time could have [00:31:00] been spent with my young family, who at the time was around like eight, four and eight years old.

Mike: And so I decided that I would create a space for families within GoBundance and that we would lean into doing family events. We developed for over four or five years, like a ton of products, events. We did hundreds of different in-person types of events. We learned how to help help families shape their goals, their values their identity, and, basically create their future together as families.

Mike: And at the time, GoBundance wasn't as large as it is today. So I had this great idea and we were putting all these resources into it. But it wasn't our main thing. We were still a men's mastermind group. Mm-hmm. Um, and so when COVID hit and then they, we, they put a new CEO in fan abundance sort of fell by the wayside and I was kind of like, ah, it's sort of a failed idea.

Mike: It made sense. We, [00:32:00] we had a, we had an amazing run of like, we did three international trips. Um, we did multiple, uh, summer and winter masterminds with 20 to 25 families. Um, we, we did great with it. And then over COVID, my father got sick, passed away. The, the new CEO came in and for a while it was just sort of like on the back burner.

Mike: Fan abundance was. But in January, my wife and I stepped back in to take it over. Are re restoring it back to what it once was. And the cool thing is, is now we have kids who used to be in our programs five years ago, who are now teens coming through our programs. Hmm. And we have teens who are in our programs five years ago who are coming back to lead some of the teen programs that we're doing today.

Mike: But the idea of v Abundance as an event. Is bringing families together and creating a space over a weekend where they map out their values, their value [00:33:00] statements, their their visions, their goals. Their identity as a family. Their motto, their what's their family symbol if they want, or handshake.

Mike: But they really get into like defining who they are as a family, what their goals are, their traditions, their values. And we, we, we facilitate that with a series of family exercises and then the kids. And teens will break out into breakout groups where they'll also mastermind. So we teach them money, financial literacy, uh, goal setting, uh, relationship building, all kinds of things during those breakout sessions.

Mike: So that's kind of in a nutshell. Abundance right now is just for GoBundance members and it's. Two events a year. We just had our summer event with 24 families in Colorado. And then our nice winter event will be back in January, uh, the 23rd to the 25th, uh, in Breckenridge, Colorado, January of uh, 2026. 

Justin: [00:34:00] Oh, that's awesome.

Mike: That is awesome. 

Justin: . And so I was gonna touch on, you know, you talked about. Financial literacy, you know, as one of the workshops in fa abundance, and financial literacy is, what this podcast is about in terms of making sure we help whether it's parents and their kids and families really grow in their own financial literacy and financial abundance.

Justin: And so is there a way that. I guess bundance families, you know, introduce financial literacy or personal growth to kids at different stages. And, and how, and, you know, are there examples of, of a, an activity or rituals that you've found have worked particularly well? 

Mike: Yeah, so we're, we're piloting a program right now that has 35 kids and then 35 teen, 70 total young adults in it.

Mike: And we we're running an eight week virtual program that has six sessions. And those sessions are [00:35:00] built uniquely to that age group. And it and this, this session is all all about financial literacy. So the full eight weeks, or eight eight weeks and six sessions is all about financial literacy.

Mike: And that's built just on us taking the. Lessons from all of the greatest teachers around money that we know, like Cashflow Quadrant and Robert Kiyosaki and Think and Grow Rich. And, you know, just pulling in lots of great advice from many, even David Osborne Wealth Can't Wait, and, and who's one of the co-founders of, of GoBundance.

Mike: And just, you know, pulling in the, these concepts that we know as adults. Work passive income, knowing your expenses. Understanding how much you need to live and how much you need to save, and you know how much you need to give. And really understanding the value of a dollar and what it takes to earn it.

Mike: And then creating the strategies around how do you earn a, [00:36:00] earn a dollar, how could you earn a dollar? What are all the different ways you could be earning money? And what, and then what would you do with that money? Like what do you want to spend it on? And also, what do you wanna support with those dollars?

Mike: 'cause you know, I think there's a. A good portion of financial literacy is teaching not only the taking or making side of the money, but the giving and, and, yeah, and generosity side, the philanthropic side. But yeah, it's a grand experiment. I was trying to find a facilitator to come in and build these programs from the outside in, and then I realized like I already have amazing facilitators in fam abundant.

Mike: All they need to do is go steal all the best ideas out there, and they can put together a program that will rival anyone else's. And then rather than me paying thousands of dollars to somebody who may or may not perform in. I don't know that well, I've been able to really give an opportunity to two of our really amazing facilitators to, to lead [00:37:00] these programs.

Mike: So, you know, and those will, uh, those are available. We're gonna keep running every eight weeks, run a new topic. So next will be leadership and self mastery. We'll maybe get into relationship building and health, or health, things like that in the future. 

Justin: That's such a cool thing for kids and teens to go through.

Justin: I mean, just to have those types of workshops that focus on whether it's lit literacy, whether it's leadership on, on other key skills that they need to learn really. One thing touching back on to, let's say, you know, parents out there may feel overwhelmed when it comes to, yeah. Teaching or talking about money, you know, what's one small shift that they can make to really start building that lasting family legacy today?

Justin: Is there, is there anything that you would suggest that, whether it's a, you know, something from a mindset shift or from a, even [00:38:00] tactically what, what, um, what they can start thinking about or doing? 

Mike: I mean, you know, this is all personal opinion, but if you're planning to give all of your money to your kids just at a certain age, and you're not even gonna tell 'em about it until then just understand that, you know, you're playing with fire.

Mike: Because if they don't know about it, they can't prepare for it, and you can't have real life discussions about how they should handle things. And so they end up making the decisions on something that they. They don't understand and they didn't even know about and they're surprised they're maybe feeling a bit bet betrayed by it.

Mike: So just maybe that's not the case. That's my opinion. I would just be cautious of that being a reality. That's possible. I would just, throw it out there that way. The other side of it is, you know, you, you have all of this money. I don't want to tell 'em that, that I have all this money. 'cause then they're gonna think they're rich and they're gonna go tell all their friends and.

Mike: So there [00:39:00] has to be a sacredness, I think, to understand like, hey, there's certain places where we share about finances and that's okay. And there are certain places we don't inside of our family, we do talk about finances 'cause that's healthy. We talk even about the numbers and how much our businesses are worth and how much money I make, and they know, my kids know these numbers.

Mike: The line you have to draw, if you're gonna go down this road though, is they have to understand that that is not their money. Like, you have to make it abundantly clear. Right. That I am the wealthy one. My wife and I, not you, and you, you, you all are not wealthy. Yeah. You're just getting to live right now.

Mike: Vicariously through us. And if you ever want to be wealthy, here's what it's gonna take. And that's one of the greatest lessons my dad ever taught me is when I was 10 years old, he sat me down and he had me add up. All the expenses of the lifestyle I wanted to live. Do you want kids? Do you want a house?

Mike: Do you want [00:40:00] it bigger than this? What kind of car? Do you want a motor home? Do you want a a boat? Do you want a vacation home? Do you want this? Do you want that? Okay, great. What job do you want? And then he showed me the average salaries of police officers, firemen, teachers, all the jobs I picked, and none of them added up.

Mike: Then he showed me the higher earning ones, doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur. And I made a decision in that moment, like, oh, I should probably head in that direction. Um, but we have the ability to shape that future for our children, and I think it's, you know, it's incumbent on us to take control of the, some of these teachings that are necessary and so to, to any father or mother that's out there and, you know, doing this.

Mike: Please understand I do not have this all figured out. Like I get kicked in the teeth. Every other week, sometimes every day as a father, and we just fail our way forward. I apologize, we laugh, we [00:41:00] play, we cry. But you just do the best you can and it is overwhelming to think about teaching all of this to our kids.

Mike: But you know, remember that you just have to, um, model good behaviors with it. That's first and foremost. Keep the connection alive with them and just. You know, be that present, constant force of connection, but also love. And then, and then, you know, I think plugging into some of the books and resources that teach these things, whether that's.

Mike: You know, if you do choose to become a Go Abundance member or you plug into other, more podcasts, listen to more of Justin's podcasts here, but however you do it, you know, find community of, of dads of parents that are trying to do this together and share resources, share ideas. 

Justin: That's wonderful advice.

Justin: I, I remind my kids often sometimes that I'm a parent, I don't have this all figured out. Um, we're kind of doing this. Together. [00:42:00] And uh, and so I, you know, it's funny 'cause I remember sometimes as a kid I'd look at my dad and my mom and, and I think, oh, they should have it all figured out like it, but then I realized. They didn't, and you know, and then there's a certain point where you realize, oh yeah, they don't actually have things figured out. And so I, I remind my kids, I'm figuring out just as as you are. And my job as a dad is to be the best, you know, best dad that I can possibly be to you guys.

Justin: But I make mistakes just like anyone else. And and the biggest thing is that we learn from them and we continue growing together as a family. . You talked about, books and getting in touch or listening to other podcasts. I think parents up there can certainly, tap into one of your books that you've co-authored before The Miracle Morning for Parents and Families and, and The Family Playbook. I did The Miracle Morning. Uh, you know, I read Hal Elrod's book and, incorporated that into my routine for a long time, and I found it quite helpful in making [00:43:00] sure that I.

Justin: Uh, start the day right. Centered and, and ready to go. You know? , Are there rituals or routines from, uh, the Miracle Morning for parents and family's book that you can suggest that you know, dads or moms up there can, can pick up and, and incorporate into their, into their routines?

Mike: Yeah. So the, the miracle Morning is made up of six steps, the savers silence, affirmation, visualizations, exercise, reading, and scribing, which is a clever way of saying journaling. And there, these are all six practices you do, um, in order to to, to become your best self. Every day you do 'em before you get up and do 'em before you, you, uh, you start your day.

Mike: Um, and there can be an hour version or a 10 minute version. We created a version that is for kids and it's acronym is Charms and that stands for creativity health [00:44:00] Affirmations, reading, meditation, and Service. Mm-hmm. And so it's just a slight spin on it. Like, so when we are doing our savers, what we like to do is set our kids up with some crayons.

Mike: And they're doing creativity, then we're putting something healthy in front of them to eat. So that's the health part. Maybe they're doing some jumping jacks or, so we put on like a seven minute workout or a stretch routine, or they do a bunch of pushups. 

Mike: And then affirmations. When our kids were young, they had affirmations with every letter of the alphabet.

Mike: I am awesome. I am brave, I am creative. I'm a discoverer. They would just say their affirmations. Eventually they first they created them all, they drew 'em all out. So that was part of the creativity. 

Justin: Mm-hmm. 

Mike: Um, and then meditation we throw on like a five minute meditation. Sometimes do it together as a family, but and then service would be like, can you do something nice for somebody in the house or pick something up or do something [00:45:00] in service of the household?

Mike: And so we would have our kids do that. My wife was pretty good about doing it in the morning with my, uh, daughter when she was younger and my son, um, as they got older and they were going to school, we weren't waking 'em up like an hour early before school to do like a miracle morning. We're having 'em sleep in.

Mike: But they did have to do those miracle morning items when they got home before they could get on their screens. Hmm. Okay. And so. What I would suggest everyone does is whether you read the book or not, pick five or six things that you want your kids to do that'll help them become better versions of themselves and serve the household and feel proud of who they are and get them to make a commitment to what is their sort of daily routine.

Mike: They're, whether it's done in the a am or done before video, games after school, but what's their checklist? There's something very healthy about For all adults. Yeah. To have like an [00:46:00] idea of what are our, our daily habits that we want to check off and you know, I have my own version of. The Miracle Morning and I like to, to stack things together.

Mike: So I journal while I'm in the sauna and then I do breath work and then I listen to a meditation when I'm in the cold plunge. And then, I'm so, I've got like a way of doing it that's all my own, but I think kids need to be. Encouraged to, to have the creativity to create their own routine for whatever they want without it being too easy.

Mike: Like, I'm gonna eat ice cream and then I'm gonna sit on the couch. You know, like, you gotta still guide them, but give them the autonomy to be creative about the things they're gonna choose from a menu of what they could be doing to better themselves. Awesome. 

Justin: Yeah, absolutely., As we.

Justin: Wind down here, some closing reflections. What's, what's one thing you know, you'd say to a busy parent listening right now who feels behind on their own financial [00:47:00] journey and unsure on how to lead their kids? 

Mike: Yeah. Well, I just want to say like, I have a lot of compassion for what, wherever someone's at, on their journey.

Mike: And I would just say to understand that wherever you are today is not where you're gonna be tomorrow or in the future. And I think it's just about can you surround yourself with, with the right people. So continually searching for community of. Of people that will take a stand for you and maybe not, um, accept less than, less than what you're capable of doing.

Mike: And they, they really want you to rise to a certain level. And that can be hard. Um, it can take letting go of some of the relationships we do have in. Leaning into new ones, but you know, you are the average of the five parents, five people, five leaders, five teacher, you know, that you, that [00:48:00] you spend time with.

Mike: So, you know, reflect on who are your mentors in each area of your life. Who are the people that, that are inspiring you to, to level up in your finances, but also oftentimes. A lack of financial success is really a deeper underlying thing, and I think sometimes we don't equate the two, but the harder you work on yourself, the more likely you are to feel valuable and know your worth, and be able to go out and claim more in the marketplace, whether that's through sales or a, a raise or a different job or starting a business entirely in a different direction.

Mike: There's a part of even doing the miracle mourning that helps you to do that, to develop into a person who believes that they are worthy of, and capable of and of more in their life. And sometimes we have blocks that say We're not enough and we don't deserve and we're not worthy. Actually all of us have that.

Mike: And by the way, it doesn't matter how [00:49:00] much money you make, or at least you could make the amount I've made, which is a pretty good amount, and that will still be there. And it's just a symptom of us having that voice. We need to quiet down and know, like, Hey, I'm, I am a human being that's doing the best that I can right now.

Justin: Mm-hmm. 

Mike: And as long as I get just even 1% better or do one more thing tomorrow and every day. If you just do one thing that's hard that you don't want to do, just that one habit right there. Yeah. Yeah. One hard thing every day that you don't want to do and you do it anyways. Oh, you're 

Justin: makes it on your way, the world.

Justin: For sure. Yeah, for sure. , So where can my listeners learn more about whether it's abundance, fan abundance, or, you know, get their hands on a copy of the Miracle Morning for parents and family? 

Mike: Yeah, so you can just type in Miracle Morning for parents and families on Amazon. It's also the Miracle Morning for Parents and Families [00:50:00] Playbook.

Mike: It's a separate book. They look very similar. One is eight exercises that are leadership exercises you do with your family at home, like setting up your family meeting, setting up your. Your screen time contract is something that's in there. Setting up a home reward and allowance system is in there. Uh, creating your unique family values and structuring your goals as a family.

Mike: Those are all, all exercises that you could take from that playbook and do it at home, but those are available on Amazon. If you're interested in GoBundance, you can go to gobundance.com or fa abundance.com if you're interested in fa abundance. Um, and you can also just reach out to me directly. My Instagram's go, Mike McCarthy, and then my website is go mike mccarthy.com.

Mike: So, and, uh, happy to serve in any way I can and appreciate the opportunity to be here with you, Justin, and sh and share with your guests. And I hope something I said makes an impact in, in someone's life. If just one person. [00:51:00] Has one change or breakthrough or outcome from this conversation, then it, it'll all be worthwhile.

Mike: So 

Justin: I, I know, certainly, yeah. Listeners out there and, and myself included, thank you so much for this, Mike. Appreciate your wisdom on this and, and Sonia so much of what you've shared, uh, it resonates with me. And you know, whether that's. Uh, connection, uh, before correction. And other ways to make sure our family units are strong, that we develop our kids into leaders whether that's on the financial sense, whether that's teaching them the skills that they need to, whether than just handing them a pile of cash or just making sure our, our family values are, are shared between each other.

Justin: So yeah, so much, so much love, uh, from me. Thank you so much, Mike. I really appreciate this. 

Mike: Yeah. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it.