348. How Do You Build Generational Wealth?

When people hear the phrase “generational wealth,” they often picture trust funds, family empires, and names like Rockefeller or Kennedy. Real generational wealth is not just about leaving behind a large account balance. It is about passing down values, habits, opportunities, work ethic, and a clear understanding of how money can support a meaningful life.

In this episode of A Wiser Retirement® Podcast, we discuss what it really takes to build generational wealth. The conversation goes beyond dollars and investments, focusing instead on how families can prepare the next generation to handle money responsibly, pursue their own goals, and carry forward a family legacy with purpose.

Related Podcast Episodes: 

Ep 304. Under the Radar: Wealth Strategies for the Quietly Rich

Ep 219. Do you have a wealth preservation plan?

Related Financial Education Videos:

Divorce Proofing Your Wealth: Beyond the Basic Prenuptial Agreement

Should I Use Wealth Management?

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Transcript

Generational Wealth Beyond Trust Funds

SPEAKER_07 0:00

Most people think generational wealth means leaving a trust fund, but the families who are actually pulling it off, they're passing down something you can't put in a brokerage account. Today we're discussing how to build real generational wealth. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to a Wiser Retirement Podcast, where we cut through the noise and bring you real, honest conversations about investing, retirement, and building lasting wealth. No sales pitches, no gimmicks. Just insights to help you stop guessing and start planning your financial future.

SPEAKER_07 0:32

Welcome to Wiser Retirement Podcast. I'm Casey Smith. Today I'm joined with senior financial advisor Shauna Theriault, who will be discussing how do you build generational wealth? Hey, Sean.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Hello.

SPEAKER_07 0:43

Welcome back to the podcast. I feel like it's your podcast now. You've done so many episodes.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_07 0:50

All right. So let's dive into

The Grit Problem In Rich Families

SPEAKER_07 0:52

this. Um how do you build generational wealth?

SPEAKER_04 0:56

I mean, see, I think there's I think the whole misnomer about generational wealth, it's like you think tens of millions of dollars and you think about, you know what I mean? You think about this generation. Kennedy Rockefeller. I can't have generational wealth, but that's not even true. Yeah. Like to me, it's like my favorite stories or my favorite things are like you take someone who came from nothing and made themselves into some, and everybody is somebody. That's not what I mean. But they came from very um modest, modest beginnings where they didn't maybe learn a lot about money or they didn't have access to opportunity and they created their own opportunity. And then they get to make sure that their gener their next generation didn't have the same struggles that they had. But there's a problem with that. The problem with that is that the grit that they went through to get to where they are is not always passed along to the next generation because they didn't have to fight for that. And so sometimes, you know, trying to keep that all, you know, understanding the value of a dollar and to, I don't know, I just feel like I see that. How to work for something, how to work for something, how to respect and you you know, not be frivolous or there's there's a certain there's a certain dynamic or um grit created when you're when you go through that to where you appreciate and you know you don't it's not frivolous and it's you know, and it's we're just talking about money. There's so many other things in a family, obviously, but it just creates opportunity to have options. And I don't know, passing that on, I think is really more important, you know, to than just the money part, because if you don't know what you're doing with the money, then you know.

SPEAKER_07 2:43

I relate to that in a lot of different ways.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:48

I came from just a middle class family, but my grandfather as a pastor was a member of a country club and I always felt like I was a bit of a guest, because technically I was. I wasn't a member, he was. Um but I remember seeing all the wealth and thinking, wow, like there's this whole there's a whole world I didn't know existed. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I think I think that had a lot to do with what I wanted to build for myself. Um but I had to work to to go figure all that out. I worked two careers for 12 years to make it to make it to build what you see today at this company. Um I also see it from an employer standpoint that the best employees are the ones who've had to work to get to where they are, even as young people. You can see it in young people where we've had the more successful entitled young people not work here very long because they just don't know how to work.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

They don't have the drive, the self-starter.

SPEAKER_07 3:53

Correct. Figure things out.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

Figure out a reality.

SPEAKER_07 3:58

Sometimes I think pr if you're a good problem solver, it comes from solving your own problems for so many years. Like, okay, how I can't get to point B, but or from A to B, but how how am I going to figure this out? Um so those are the people I look for is coming out of adversity in some sense.

Parenting With Means Without Spoiling

SPEAKER_07 4:17

Right. Right. There's a there's a book written uh called The Adversity Effect. And uh I I definitely related to that uh as a former Barry board member he's since passed away that uh that wrote that book. But um but yeah, I but how do you it so for that for gin for the second generation of that? Right you you've you've you're a airline pilot and now you're making six hundred plus thousand dollars a year, you live well below your means, you're saving all this money, maybe your parents have passed away, you inherited assets already.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 4:50

How do you your kid hasn't wanted for really anything?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

No.

SPEAKER_07 4:54

So how do you do you do you pretend like you don't have the money and you just make them work for it? And that's so I feel like it's hard to do that as a parent when you when you got the extra dollar sitting in your pocket.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

It is hard.

SPEAKER_07 5:08

At the same time, you want them to have opportunities you never had. Right.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

It's a hard balance as a parent. I struggle with that.

SPEAKER_07 5:14

I mean, I probably would have been on a college golf team somewhere if I if I had had the um means uh yeah, the means. Instead, I was mowing yards and working.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Yeah, but that's why you built this. Do you know what I mean? I know I go back and forth. I go back and forth.

SPEAKER_07 5:30

It's like it's like with my first two kids, uh, they they had set these strong passions and one to compete at these super high levels. Like, okay, well, your job is to be good at that. And so we're gonna set goals and we're gonna measure your success against the goals that you set every single year. So you're you're working towards something, not just be like, uh, see, that's a good habit though.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

So I think it's about it's about the person who came up through. And sometimes we learn this too late when raising kids, right? Because we're trying to figure it out. So it's like the person that came up through, it's like, how can you pass that down? And it really is by living in the habits that you create and being the example of the habits you create. And so, you know, not just throwing money at it, not just, you know, being that it's really, I think, discipline and and leading yourself well so that they hopefully they don't always follow.

SPEAKER_05 6:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

But if you keep with the same theme or try to so that way they, you know, follow what you're doing, they may fall a few times, but maybe they'll gravitate towards what you're doing because they see it works.

SPEAKER_05 6:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

You know, I love there's this quote that I love. Um, and it's really all about habits because I feel like, you know, when we meet with clients, you know, we're looking at their financial situation. And sometimes clients come in and they're like, Well, I did all this because my parents had nothing, or I did, or I did I couldn't do any of this because my parents had nothing, you know? So it's like, what habits did you create out of that which you don't want to do or what you want to do because you didn't follow them? But there's this awesome quote, and I think I've said it on the air before, and it's um, and I don't know whose quote it is, um, I think Les Brown potentially, but if you do what is easy, your life will be hard. And if you do what is hard, your life will be easy. And life's never easy, but if you do the things in the beginning to set yourself up for success and lead yourself well, and you know, financially and and and in health, and in, you know, just leading yourself well, then you'll have more options. But if you if you continuously just keep doing what's easy and not paying attention, ignoring it, what seems like easy now creates less options for you in the future and it makes it harder to fix later because undoing the habits that you learned as a child or that you taught your children, that is the hardest thing because it's like ingrained in you, and whether or not you purposely you just absorb things, you know. So I think in and the example you're giving, you know, being able to lead yourself well in what you're doing, you know, giving back, being disciplined, not being frivolous, um, and showing showing and leading by example and creating those habits in your family gives them a foundation to lean on.

SPEAKER_07 8:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:19

You know, but I don't know that it creates the grit. It's still not there.

SPEAKER_07 8:22

Yeah. I'm I'm not sure. I mean, it's it's I would say neither one of them have been uh successful as others. Is that if that makes sense? Or there are I don't mean this in a derogatory way. No, but my son and his golf, he's done well better than most.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 8:44

But he's not like this 18-year-old that just got on the PGA tour.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

But is does that is that is that 18-year-old like just a natural god giving it. Or is it because he came up through adversity and pushed himself in a way that he had to push himself and he had bad days, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_07 9:02

And and yeah, but he, you know, it's it's um I I look at it as like, you know, it's raining outside, it's hot, it's whatever, but he's still in the range hitting golf balls because he's got to figure something out.

SPEAKER_05 9:16

Right.

SPEAKER_07 9:16

So as long as you're putting in the discipline, um, there's never been a coach that said he wasn't trying. Right now, if you're not trying and you're just kind of coasting and and you're living the golf boy frat life, right, then that's a different story. Yeah, I don't think that's there. So I think you I think and and to turn this back around and uh to be more general, I I think that you can if they're passionate about something and and you show that you work hard at it, then then I think you can get to what we're talking about, even though you have you have means,

Goals And Discipline Over Lifestyle

SPEAKER_07 9:49

right? Right. Um there's always you can always level up. I mean yeah, I I still live in I still live in the same house I lived in in 2007. It's been remodeled twice now. Yeah, but it's in just a normal house. And and all their friends at school, you know, we never had anything at our done at our house because they were like, oh no, our house is so small compared to my friend who's got 12,000 square feet and his dad's a brain surgeon or something, right? So I feel like I've left some on the table for them to say, if you want that, then you go build something yourself and um and go do that, right? Um I'm I'm also very I'm also very conscious of not make of making sure that my passions in life do not have to be theirs. Does that make sense? Yes. I wanted to build a wealth managed firm. I've always loved airplanes, I've always loved um investing and which turned into planning eventually. Um that but that's my passion. I I'm not putting that on them. You you know, you're gonna see my kids running this firm someday. Right now, probably not. Yeah. Uh and and but and there's no pressure, and I'm not disappointed because because right, that this is I'm getting to live my life. Right with them to go live their life. Right. I I think about this, this is an example. I'm not comparing myself to Rockefeller, but you think about Rockefeller, his son did not take over that empire, his son took over the philanthropy of the of the family because he was really passionate about helping community and helping people. So he took the wealth and then he created all these things that you see with the Rockefeller name on it. Uh and so it's okay, you know. What I think is if you create wealth, as long as it allows people to pursue their passions. What if you have a son or a daughter that's really good at art and they want to pursue that? And maybe they're gonna be a well-known artist. It takes a while for that to happen.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

Yeah, but but most artists don't even become well-known until they pass away.

SPEAKER_07 11:35

That's true. And then there's limited amounts.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

Like we have a client who's an artist and he's gonna be famous one day, but he's like, I'm gonna be famous when I die.

SPEAKER_07 11:43

I know one artist right now that I think is trying to change that. Um, is he does folk art? His name's cornbread. You can look him up. Cornbread. Cornbread. He signs everything cornbread. I love it. Uh, but but we're at a shop up in northwest Georgia that sells a lot of his stuff. And the lady at the catch ready is like, well, you know, he's thinking about stopping doing this now. He's gonna probably retire from painting for a while. And it's like, that's a great story to tell people to pay these crazy prices for what he's for what's limited. It's limited, oh, he's he's done painting. We're gonna have to, we're gonna have to buy all this right now for sticker price, you know. I was like, wait a minute, he's just trying around with the price, but he's not actually dead. He's just genius. It's a great business move. It's a great business move. Um, but but again, uh, I think it's setting goals and standards. Uh, you know, our youngest, he's kind of wavering in what his passion is. You know, he's the one most likely to be working at Chick-fil-A at this point. Because if he wants something, you're I'm kind of like, okay, well, you go wash the car.

SPEAKER_04 12:43

We get really good training at Chick-fil-A, though.

SPEAKER_07 12:45

Like anybody who's ever worked there, it comes out and it's like that's not derogatory at all. Uh I was relating it to myself. My first my first job was was busting um tables at Johnny's barbecue in Powder Springs, Georgia.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 12:58

And John, Mr. Johnny would pay me uh under the table cash. Uh and I looked it up. Uh hiring a 14-year-old is uh hard. Yeah, with all the newer laws. Yeah. So the problem is like you we need to go find you a job. And then I was like, oh, well, the world's changed a little bit. 15 at 15, we're gonna find it. 14, yeah. 14 is kind of hard.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 13:17

Exactly. So so I so yeah, I think to to get that grit uh that we're talking about, I think it goes back probably to goal setting. It's okay, if you do this, then it unlocks this. And maybe that's maybe that's it. Yeah. Or or or maybe some people are some people are just driven though.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

They're not, or they are.

SPEAKER_07 13:37

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

So even if you set goals, they're not ex if they're not excited about that's what's hard. Like, how do you get them excited about things? It has to be something they're passionate about.

SPEAKER_07 13:46

And sometimes too much wealth, like I saw it in one of my son's friends. The family has so much wealth that the poor kid has so many options that he could do with his life, all paid for, whatever he wants to do.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

You're like, what do I do?

SPEAKER_07 14:00

That he did nothing.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:01

He did nothing. He just doesn't have and and he's he's coming along. Yeah, he's coming along. He went to college for a semester and he's like, I don't know, I really don't like this. Doesn't have to be in college, doesn't have to think about where the next dollar comes from. Everything's already paid for.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:14

So it creates a kind of a situation of okay, well, what am I gonna do with my life? And and as my son said, well, he has so many options that no option is is what he's kind of gone with.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

I have seen families, I would say a lot of our wealthy, what I would say wealthy, meaning retirable, or they have a lot of excess. Because you could be wealthy having two million dollars if you spend 40,000 a year. You know what I mean? So it matters what you spend. True. Um, but I've seen some families that are wealthier, they just live very modestly. They drive the 10-year-old cars. They, you know, it's a very modest, um, or I've seen it where, you know, they have a lot of wealth, they could easily pay for a hundred percent of the child's college, and they're like, well, we're gonna pay for 50% because they need some skin in the game, you know, and maybe eventually we'll pay off their student loans, and maybe eventually we'll do, you know, something different. Um, but that way they have skin in the game and they take it seriously. Because if you're paying your own way partially, you take it seriously.

SPEAKER_07 15:15

I mean, generational wealth, I think typically starts where it's we we we say we're saying it's grit, you earned it, you built the business. Right. Um, or you just saved money, you're you're a C-suite executive who worked their way their entire life to get there, or you inherited assets from multiple sides of the family, whatever it is. Um, I think it's the lifestyle that I think we're probably talking about.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Exactly. Because you can have someone because if none of those things they just disciplined and saved and they spent within their means and saved first, didn't rack up debt.

SPEAKER_07 15:51

I mean, there's there's been a few times when people inherited money. And it's like, I inherited eight million dollars from my parents. Can you believe this? Like, if you he would never buy dinner, he would he would he we didn't even I didn't know I had this much money. This is this is this is crazy because we thought we were.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

Some of them were in the Great Depression era, and they didn't spend anything. They didn't spend anything. Understandably, they stood in soup lines or they saw their families do that, you know?

SPEAKER_07 16:16

So really, I think what we're talking about is generational wealth is you've already created it. How do you get it to the next generation? Right. And and I don't I don't know that responsibly. Responsibly meaning like, you know, I think and we're totally kind of off our show notes now, and that's fine. This is how you and I have conversations. But maybe maybe it's not about dollars.

Defining Wealth As Options

SPEAKER_07 16:40

Maybe it's not about we we we talk about wealth, obviously, but maybe yeah, what does wealth mean?

SPEAKER_04 16:45

Maybe it depends it depends on different people, it's different things.

SPEAKER_07 16:49

Maybe maybe it's not dollars, maybe wealth is just understanding how to manage money. Yeah. Maybe that's wealth in itself. Then maybe that's generational of not having tons of credit card debts.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

And yeah. Cause I can tell you there are tons and tons of families, including myself, where, you know, it's it's what is generation or what is wealth? Wealth is having options, feeling financially secure that if something comes up, you know you can cover it. It is working towards retirement or being retirable and being able to still support your family and live a good life, not a lavish life, but a good life where you are comfortable and you're not stressing about the smallest things. You know, you can handle issues that come up. And then, you know, not being a burden to your children in the future, being able to cover medical expenses in the future, being able to travel and do some things for them or to give back to, you know, some charities. And then, you know, most people, they're not trying to leave necessarily. They would like to leave some sort of inheritance if there's anything left. I would say the majority of people are like, well, I'm not trying to leave five million dollars to my kids, but if there's money left, that'd be great. Because how great would it be if you spent your whole life being comfortable, not stressing about money, not getting into debt, being able to help your kids start on the right foot, you know, maybe even help your grandkids a little bit give back. And then at the end, you're comfortable and you leave them some so they can continue that on. I mean, yeah, that's the the American dream, I would think. I mean, I would say most people operate within that that would make them happy and feel I I think there's another layer to

Helping Kids Start Life Neutral

SPEAKER_04 18:26

that.

SPEAKER_07 18:26

I mean, I think about the young people at our firm now that all are gonna be probably first generation wealth.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

Yes. And because they were the ones that end up staying here that are make really great employees and connect with people.

SPEAKER_07 18:46

They need to buy they want to buy houses. They've you know, these the young ones are starting to get married and so expensive. Maybe they're gonna have children the next few years and they don't want to live in an apartment anymore, but you need what do you need for a down payment right now? Probably to have a reasonable payment. I mean you probably need almost a hundred grand, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Right to have a four and there's other programs you can do less down if you're doing this traditional twenty to keep your payment reasonable. Right.

SPEAKER_07 19:13

A four hundred thousand dollar mortgage seems to be pretty normal for a young person.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 19:18

So that's about a hundred thousand dollars, five hundred thousand dollar house. Yeah, five hundred thousand dollar, probably probably a condo, maybe for five hundred thousand.

SPEAKER_04 19:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 19:27

I mean, a house would be a teardown at $500,000.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

You can find houses outside of the perimeter of somewhere or they maybe need a little bit of work.

SPEAKER_07 19:34

If you go outside the city limits of Marietta, Georgia, yes. Yeah, it you could probably your commute be 45 minutes to an hour.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

You can in California. 500,000 would probably get you the front door. You can buy a front door from two million for a thousand square feet or something, you know. Something stupid. Something crazy.

SPEAKER_07 19:52

Yeah. So so you think about when you think generational wealth, do you not think about maintaining the same standard of living for the kids as they go forward? And if that's the case, then you'd have to have some type of a fund for them to help them buy a house.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:10

What about make sure making sure that you don't go through adversity again? Maybe it's educational funding for the next generation or two.

unknown 20:18

Right?

SPEAKER_04 20:19

I mean, yeah, these are all because that helps the child and the grandchild, you know. Yeah. Helps the next, it helps both.

SPEAKER_07 20:25

It keeps make sure the family doesn't go below below the a certain line.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

But some people may not aspire to have a big house or like I don't know if you're not going to be able to do that. Just a house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:38

Just a house.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

I agree. But the standard of living, it depends on what the standard of. I guess when you said standard of living, that's what it brought me to.

SPEAKER_07 20:44

Flying first class doing Caribbean vacations in December. Right. But just a a standard of living. Yeah. Yeah. To make sure that the family stays comfortable.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

Have options.

SPEAKER_07 20:55

Have options or not.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

They can handle problems.

SPEAKER_07 20:58

Neighborhoods that you're getting shot at. Right. Right. Things of that nature.

SPEAKER_04 21:02

They can buy groceries and it's comfortable. Yeah. Just and save for retirement and save for education.

SPEAKER_07 21:08

Start off life at least in the neutral category. Not in the deficit category.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

Right. Which so many young people are because of student loans and so so what is that?

SPEAKER_07 21:18

You you what's the goal then? Is it, hey, I got you through college, you don't have any loans.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 21:23

Here's $100,000 for a down payment on a home.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 21:27

And what? You know that is that what we're aspiring to? Is that generational wealth?

SPEAKER_04 21:34

I think so. I mean, that's that's what we've put into place. It's like we're gonna pay for college, we pay for your braces, we bought your first car brand new. And here's a custodial account to for a down payment to get you like we never had that. And it's like that's what we've created. And and it's it's it would be modest for probably a very rich family that has a lot of money, but it's still to me, it's like that is giving them a first start on. That you know, I would have loved to have had that, you know. Yeah, I'd have wouldn't be the same person, probably though.

SPEAKER_07 22:07

Right.

Trust Funds That Require Work

SPEAKER_07 22:09

I flew uh I flew with a guy when I was at flying uh Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which is a Delta Connection carrier. Um, his last name is Candler, he was part of the Coke family. And one day I just asked him, I said, I knew you have a trust fund. Like, how why are you flying? He's like, Well, part of my trust requires that I have a job and that I work. So I was like, what better profession than being an airline pilot?

unknown 22:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:37

Which, you know, that's not a that's not an easy road. A lot of training, you could have just gotten a job somewhere else, but that's what that's that's what his trust said.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Well, that's the flip side of it too, because I honestly have met many individuals that are in that situation and they don't want everything handed to them.

SPEAKER_07 22:56

They want to know that it is someone they're correct.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Because living up to that, like think about it. If your parents are like ultra wealthy or you're in this family, it's like I don't want it just handed to me because then it's kind of like everybody looks, I don't know if they look down on you or you feel like you want to do something yourself. And so they'll go out and get a job or try, you know, go to make a name for themselves outside of the family, not even work for the family business. I've seen that many times. It's like, I don't want to go work for dad, I don't want to go work for mom because I want to show that I can do this on my own. I need to prove to myself I can do this on my own, and it's not just handed to me.

SPEAKER_07 23:34

It pins that depends on the person. I think it's really easy to flip back the other direction, though. Yes, I agree. And and problems can come in there.

SPEAKER_06 23:42

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SPEAKER_07 24:02

I I think it's uh well,

Family Brand And Living Your Values

SPEAKER_07 24:04

two thoughts. One, um, my brother-in-law uh he builds homes down in Hilton Ed. He had done some work for someone in the Maybelline family, and the gentleman that he how my brother-in-law tells a story is that I think he's like the fourth or fifth generation never to work, but they are required to sit on charitable boards. So there must be something in there about sitting on charitable boards or something along those lines of what we gathered. Um but I I I think I think going back to uh what we're you know, what we're trying to accomplish here is again uh instilling what your family brand is, what your story is. My children are all very good about behaving outside the house. And I've always instilled on them is like when you step foot out of this door, you represent my company. Why is it wealth management? Because I may not you may run into people who don't know anything else other than work me and what I do. You also represent God, but you also represent the family as a whole. So how you uh interact and treat people is a direct representation onto your family. And we've done that since they're real, real little. Um and so that that has helped in a lot of situations in school, especially. Uh and then when when Ethan got his D1 golf scholarship, I reminded him, you know, the last because you have that for you know you're getting it for about almost two years, right, before you graduate. And so I said, hey, this other kids, they have really wealthy uh uh parents in your in your school, and they have attorneys and every everybody at their back and call, and and if they do something stupid, they're gonna have a whole bunch of people trying to get them out of it. Uh, I'm telling you right now, like you have everything you have the most to lose. Because they're just living their best lives in high school, and you already moved beyond high school at this point. And if you lose a scholarship, that's on you. Yeah. So it so it's it's um you have to reiterate sometimes what what what your family's mission or purpose is. Some people don't even have family missions, but it it's um I I I would say that that is um uh that that that's one way of of leaving that legacy, but I I then I go I go back to it's not just about money. Money money no money sometimes can be a burden um but it's really what you're instilling, the work ethic that you're instilling on the next on the next generation. And and I think I think let allowing them to is this is a privilege, allowing them to pursue their passions with a hundred percent vigor, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:50

Yeah. Because anything that they're passionate about, they're gonna do hopefully well because they have dry that's where they're driven.

SPEAKER_07 26:57

But setting standards, setting goals. Right. This is what you need to do to get, you know, because I think I think you that's replicating it through work. Work you're getting a dollar to do something that you want to do right. Yeah. Or you're trying to better yourself. And I think whether it be sports and achieve being at the top level of your sport, um if you're just average at it, then then perhaps that needs to be more of a hobby. You don't need to be in travel baseball, you just do rec league and you instill, hey, you gotta give a job, you gotta you know, learn responsibilities.

Sports As A Character Builder

SPEAKER_07 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

I do think that athletes or sports in particular, it's so competitive now in all aspects of school with the young, with the young individuals. Our all three of our daughters were competitive cheerleaders. And I wouldn't say that they reached the top of the pinnacle of cheer career, although a couple of them did win really large competitions, um, several of them that were extremely hard to achieve. But I would still say it created a balance in them where they still had to juggle school and practice and they still had to say no to a lot of fun things because they had practice or, you know, sacrifices there, and then taking instruction um from coaches or other people, and then winning as a team, losing as a team, you know, lifting up others, even when maybe you don't like them very much. You know, we're I just feel like there's so many life lessons and a different drive for the sacrifices, the early morning practices, the late things that are created even if they're average that helps them in their long-term careers and in their families in the future. I've I feel like that.

SPEAKER_07 28:39

So what if you just have what I call a normal child? I have one of these that is not, you know, maybe they're just more social or they just like a lot of different things. And yeah. What do you do there?

SPEAKER_04 28:52

That's good to have balance too, you know, where they're not pigeonhole themselves into something where it's like a love-hate relationship with chair or something, you know. So I mean, I think there's a good balance there. Um, they can still be disciplined, you know, like we make our beds in the morning and we pick up our stuff, and we, you know, there's still there's still things that you can teach. Academic, academic, right? They may have more time for that where they can focus on that.

SPEAKER_05 29:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

I don't know, it's hard. I know, I know there's some parents to struggle. I've I'm I feel lucky in that I never had this. And I don't know if it's just because of the way that our house is, but you could your house can be a certain way and your kids act completely different than what you're trying to do. And so it's like there are their own people. But you know, I know there's a lot of parents that struggle where their kids are lazy or not doing anything, not doing well in school, not helping at the house, and they're just playing video games and they're, you know, or they're getting into trouble, or I don't know. So I don't know how to handle those necessarily. Um, maybe there's something else going on there. But um, you know, just someone who is average. I mean, I think a lot of us are average, you know. I think we all have strengths that we can I don't I I I think as a parent trying to find what that strength is or help them find that strength, I think is good. Cause it's great to be well-rounded too and and to do multiple things. Um, and not, you know, hone in on one necessarily. But I think it's being flexible and understanding.

SPEAKER_07 30:21

What do you want to do? What do you want to try? Uh you know, it it's using you have wealth, use that to allow your child to experience different things. Yeah.

Finding A Child’s Real Passion

SPEAKER_07 30:31

We were going through this now with with my youngest, is like he's not really super passionate about baseball anymore. He's pretty good at it, but he really wants to learn more about racing. He loves cars and mechanical things. So right, if that that's how what he's thinking.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:47

Um other children, they were so they're so pursuing what they're so passionate about that we we didn't really have to explore that much. It was more of understanding what is it they could do within what they were doing, right? And and and with him, I So they were more of the driver of it. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 31:03

And you were kind of like, What can can I do to help you? And they were more and they're the driver of that. So it was driven and it was instigated by them.

SPEAKER_07 31:10

Oh, yeah. Yeah. When Ethan was with Ethan was nine years old. I remember people saying, Are you like forcing him to go to the golf tournament? I mean to the golf course to learn how to play golf. I was like, Absolutely not. I can't he can't drive. I mean, we have to go drop and pick him up every day. If he wasn't out there, if he did bad in a tournament was nine years old, he'd turn to me and he goes, I need to be the golf course more.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Exactly. Well, from the outside looking in, some people think that, but it's like, no, I promise you, we're paying an obscene amount of money to do all these things and like travel. I, you know, it's like everyone thought, you know, baby Lily, my youngest, was like, Oh, well, you're just making her do it because the other two do it. Well, the other two don't do it anymore, and they're she's still doing it. So, you know, I didn't force her to do anything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 31:50

Um, we're where the younger one, you know, we might, we might decide. And I and I've talked with my wife about this, is like we may have to actually go on some college tours very early to say, okay, like your grades are gonna have to be here to get to where you want to go. So look, we're gonna go tour three college campuses and we're gonna like put the goal out there for you because it's gonna be a long four years, right? If you're kind of an average student, you gotta get some AP stuff, and you if you want to go to Purdue and you really want to work in F1, then then you you you have to put the hard work in now to be able to get there to then eventually get there, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:29

That's a good idea, actually, to take them to different campuses, even in middle school.

SPEAKER_07 32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

And say, okay, everyone talks about UGA or whatever. Everybody talks about these schools. Here's this experience, here's this experience, here's a couple more, yeah, where it's a little more, you know, a little easier to get into.

SPEAKER_06 32:48

Right.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

Let them create their own drive.

SPEAKER_06 32:51

Right.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

Because you can't, you know, ultimately they have to do the work to get themselves in and do the grades. So it's like if they're not driven to do it, you can't force them. No, I mean you can force them as much as possible, but if they're not gonna do the study and they're not gonna put the time in and they're not gonna love it, then it, you know.

SPEAKER_07 33:06

For me, uh for me, I need to I need to see what uh what I'm looking toward usually. Yes. Um for for me in high school, after it was all over, looking back on it, I was like, I probably should have done a little better in some of those classes. You know, at the time, basketball or social things were more important, right? Uh, but looking back, it's like, oh, if I'd done a little better here, then I could have been over there.

SPEAKER_04 33:30

I feel like a lot of a lot of juniors and seniors feel that because there's, you know, especially, and I'm sure this is true in every state when they're going to apply to different colleges locally, it's really hard to get into a lot of the state schools here. Um, I know that's true in Florida as well. And so you don't really feel it until everyone's applying and you're not getting in places. You're only getting you have two options because and and you may have been an average student, but you aren't here. Yeah. But it's kind of like if I would have done just a little bit more, maybe I could have been had more opportunities, but you, you know, you don't know until you're there. And sometimes you feel it when it's, you know, you're looking around at others going, Oh, I didn't realize, you know, because I I feel like there's many times where there's given things.

SPEAKER_07 34:16

That goes, yeah. Then that goes back into how do you leave a legacy?

Passing Down Stories Not Just Assets

SPEAKER_07 34:20

How do you transfer wealth? I think that's one of the things is help as habits, but also helping the next generation look forward whether there's living for today, going, Hey, these are the things I wish I could have done better. Yeah. And we all have old people that maybe tell us that we don't pay attention, but maybe there's a family meeting. It was like, okay, look, these are these are the things that I learned. You know, um, I'm reading I'm reading this. Um, I'm reading this book. Uh it's called The Smugglers by Roger Greaves. Um, this is a guy that uh has nothing to do with finance whatsoever, but he's an aviation guy.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

I hope not with smuggler.

SPEAKER_07 34:58

Aviation guy that got caught smuggling uh drugs back in the 70s, eighties, I guess, spent 30 years in prison. But he started the book off with uh writing about typically we don't know who our great great grandfather is. We don't know what they did. And so he has crazy stories, just crazy stories. Um and he said, I'm writing this, so then so my he has he has uh I think he has two daughters. So my kids will know my story. And obviously flying drugs to and from Mexico to the US, he's got some crazy stories. I'm sure crazy stories, I'm sure it's a world we don't even know or want to know. Just airplane stuff that he that he did. Uh I yeah, I I was like, that's crazy. I and I'm reading the book, I'm going, you shouldn't be doing this, you shouldn't be doing this. And then a few chapters later, icing, sparrowing out of control. I'm like, yep, that's what happens.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

I could have seen that coming in.

SPEAKER_07 35:59

It's it's been kind of a it's been kind of a um instead of watching TV at night, you know, you I just kind of read read this book, and and uh there's just just some funny stories. And also at a time, uh he was a his family was Pima uh had a farm near Jimmy Carter's. In fact, he wrote Jimmy Carter at one point, and Jimmy Carter got him out of jail. And he found himself obviously back back in jail uh many years later. The the um anyway, the point of all that was is that uh we don't we don't know our stories. I've even thought about this. My grandfather passed away um 98 years old, just just a few weeks ago, um May 18th, actually. And I was thinking it's like his service was so good, and so many people there for 98-year-old impacted uh he was a pastor and he affected so many people's lives. But when I was driving away from all that, I was thinking to myself, how do I how is how is the next generation? I mean, my even my youngest son kind of barely knows him.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Right.

SPEAKER_07 37:01

My oldest son uh a lot more because there's a big difference. And my yeah, my grandparents, my grandkids would never know him. And and I started thinking more about that. Um, my grandmother was a writer, and I found in the house um a whole manuscript of a book where she wrote her best friend every day for it appears to be about 10 years. And you start reading it, there's stories about me, there's stories about my sister, there's stories about my grandfather in there. And so I have all this. And since we just wrote a book, Shauna.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 37:34

Um, there's two versions of it, which I found out. Um she was going to get it published, and something happened. The lady left the publishing company, and this is before Amazon and all this other stuff, right? You self-publish. Um, I found out that uh there was a second version that it changed everyone's names because I saw a letter from the publisher said that you know we need to change people's names because they might um that might you might be upsetting people. I'm like, hey, all these people are probably gone now. Right. We didn't say it. And I don't know exactly what it says because I haven't read all the scripts. Um, but I I was thinking about uh maybe hiring like a literature major in college as an intern here and start working through this and say, hey, how can we publish these writings? It's more than one book at this point. Um, but but and what Roger did with his in his book, he's still living out of prison, but um uh he's telling all these stories, and what a what a great way to pass that in this next generation. So to kind of bring that back into our conversation is how are you how are you telling your story? And we've had podcasts in the past, uh in the I think in the 100s about this. Uh, but it's it's more of how are people gonna know you? Right, right. I mean, we we have a gentleman who who puts money into his uh uh a children's trust account. I think I told this about uh in the last episode. So I'm apologize for repeating myself, but he was like, no one's gonna know who I am in 30 years. So we're gonna name this trust after myself in 30 years. These kids will be pulling pulling money out of this trust, and they're gonna know exactly who I am. And we all kind of laughed about it, but but it's so true though.

SPEAKER_05 39:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 39:15

I mean, how do you how do you tell your family story that that the family understands who they are, what they're about, what and and that what their sense of purpose is and what they're trying to accomplish.

SPEAKER_04 39:29

Yeah, no, I think that's beautiful. I don't think most families look at it like that. I I just I don't think that they most of them look at it as that's our story, and we're trying to the and that's what we try to pull them out of.

SPEAKER_07 39:41

It's like a bunch of individual stories, I guess, and not where they came from. Right. Exactly. Right. If you if you build a successful business and and your kids have trust funds and they can go build a two million dollar house and it's basically paid for and that kind of lifestyle, how did you get this house? My grandfather started a chicken company and now you know we sell chicken to Chick-fil-A and et cetera, et cetera, right?

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Right.

SPEAKER_07 40:07

Uh so how do we how do we um how do we do that but do it on like a normal person level?

SPEAKER_04 40:14

I mean, I think it is having those annual meetings or talking about the hard in the families and being open. I think generationally, you know, generations ago they didn't talk about money, they didn't talk about stuff in the family, but I feel like it's more open now. So I I definitely wrote down some ideas like uh, you know, yeah to be able to talk to my family about.

SPEAKER_07 40:35

Well, I I think maybe some maybe we give people some

Teaching Money Skills At Any Age

SPEAKER_07 40:38

practical tips. This is we've all been just kind of talking in theory and and ideas. Um but to build start building wealth is I say it's simple, it's hard to do in this today's society, but it's living below your means.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

Right. Saving first.

SPEAKER_07 40:54

If you start saving and building and and you will have generational wealth to pass on for sure.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 41:00

Uh but I think it's also teaching kids. Can you imagine like your dad setting you down and saying, Okay, I I probably didn't save the best I could have. But these are the things I learned in life that that I want you to consider.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Right.

SPEAKER_07 41:19

At what age will we listen to that? Probably nothing with a teen on the end of it.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

I still think it's good for them to hear it. Because they learn about the stock market in like seventh grade in Georgia.

SPEAKER_07 41:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:31

And I thought it was always fun pulling up their custodial account and showing them their investments. I showed it to them. Yeah. Hopefully they would connect. And now that I have two that are out of the house, they're putting money in their custodial accounts. Which is awesome. And they both started Roth IRAs. And Allie, it was her idea. She's like, Can I do a Roth IRA? She had me heard us mention it, and she's like, Can we do it this year? And I matched her.

SPEAKER_07 41:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

So she put in her money, I put in, you know, we made sure it was below how much she made, but we I matched her.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:06

And so she's watching that account now. And so, you know, and started her own brokerage account and her own bank account.

SPEAKER_07 42:14

I I think there's probably a lot of people listening that are like, I should have done this, but I didn't.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

It's never too much.

SPEAKER_07 42:24

So I guess what I'm trying to say is you're gonna have to reverse track a little bit. Yes. You might have adult children that aren't maybe aren't doing the best with their money. And you're gonna have to probably approach the conversation with humility. Yep and say, Look, you're not doing great because maybe I should have t told you these things, but I didn't know them at the time. So you didn't see me act this way, so now I I should be acting this way. This is what I've learned looking back on it. Yes. And I want to do better and you want to do better, and let's work through this. Let's let's create goals and let's work on on helping helping each other and do these goals. That takes a lot of humility to to do that.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

But that's what that's what it requires, and that's what it is in a real connected relationship, though, is to be that open and honest and and you know, and to be, I mean, whether it's a positive thing or something that you're trying to course correct, um, you know, which is a positive thing, I think. You know, I think that's that's what an open and connected relationship is in a secure relationship, is that you you can openly talk about those things or or start the conversations there. And I don't think it's ever too late to start. There's there's it's never too late to start, you know, changing the way we do things, to rebuild ourselves, to reinvent yourself, to reconnect with someone, to change, you know, or adjust what you've been doing. I mean, people are we're built to change. We start changing from the time we're born until we die. So I mean, I don't think it's ever too late.

SPEAKER_07 43:55

You know, it sometimes you again you don't pass down dollars. You pass down even a work ethic. I I remember, and we'll probably probably wrap this up on this topic here, but I remember uh playing golf with a guy and and uh I was kind of teasing him um because he had had a really nice um lifestyle, but a a lot of it was just given to a massive inheritance to get money out of an estate of his parents. Right. And and uh I remember we we were doing something. I remember walking off the green and uh he was asking me something and I said I have I said I I said I don't have uh I don't I don't I haven't gotten my trust fund yet or something like that. He's kind of kind of digging at him a little bit. And um he he stopped and he said, Well, I don't know, I know I know a little bit about your family, uh, because I I think I had told him at one point, you know, my dad worked at Delta Airlines, and I think uh he'd only called in sick maybe one or two days in like almost a 30-year career, right? That's and and then there was a point in his life where he worked two jobs to pay for uh to pay for the household. He he worked at night at Delta, he worked in the daytime at uh company called Airborne Express. And my mom had to clean houses for a long time. They just they just did what they had to do, of course. And I watched that. I watched they worked hard, and so that's what I need to do. I need to go work hard. Yeah, and uh he remember him looking at me and going, Your dad gave you the best thing he could give you. And I said, What's that? And he goes, A work ethic. Yeah, most people don't have work ethic. Yeah, and that and that stopped and said, That's very true. My mom and dad listened to this uh podcast, so thank you guys for giving me a work ethic. It's paid off. I often say, I often tell people, I'm always the smartest guy in the room, but I can outwork anybody. Yeah, whenever else is gone home because they're tired or whatever, I'm still grinding away.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

Yeah, you are, you work very hard.

SPEAKER_07 45:56

So it's it's um uh I I I think that generational wealth is is that plus there's some extras. And and I don't I think when you're struggling with money and you're just trying to get it by, you don't tell your kids that.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

No.

SPEAKER_07 46:13

Because you because and maybe you shouldn't, maybe they shouldn't have that pressure of something they can't control.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:18

But at some point, at some point say, This is what I would have done differently, this is what I should this is what I should have thought about, right? Yeah. Um and and uh hopefully you're passing those ideals and the work ethic along. If we're talking about a really large estate, um, there's a really good chance that a person who doesn't know how to manage money, who inherits two million dollars, is gonna be a complete disaster.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 46:45

So what are you doing to make sure that doesn't happen?

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Right.

SPEAKER_07 46:48

And and that's something we're working on as a firm. Hopefully uh in the next uh few months we'll we'll have a campaign centered around that to make sure that our clients or assets aren't gonna be squandered on flexjet memberships and everything else, you know.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

Sometimes people will listen to people outside of their parents too. So it's like if we can get in front of the next generation and talk to them, you know, and it's somebody else telling them versus just their parent.

SPEAKER_05 47:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

You know, or helping them or you know, guiding them.

SPEAKER_07 47:23

Yeah, and some people don't know how to do it. They feel like, oh, I'm gifts giving her a handout, they didn't have to work on anything. Um but there's there's I think there's ways and mindsets around that.

Gifts Without Creating Entitlement

SPEAKER_07 47:32

I I tell clients all the time, I said don't um don't give them nine, you know, the max you can give is $19,000 without having to file any additional tax paperwork. And I said, Don't give them $19,000 every Christmas. Yeah, they're they're gonna expect that. It's not appreciated after the second or third year.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:49

So just make it random acts of kindness.

SPEAKER_04 47:51

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:53

Things they need or things things they need, or maybe just maybe a checking with college for their kids. Kind of random, yeah. Just kind of stepping in randomly. Don't don't necessarily just write checks every year because then if they don't write it one year, they'd be like, I didn't get my check this year. I depend on this check every single year. Then it wasn't a gift, it was it was it just became a salary.

SPEAKER_04 48:13

Yeah, I know, right? Expectation.

SPEAKER_07 48:15

Expectation that that uh it's not received the same as a is a gift.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

That's true.

SPEAKER_07 48:19

That's true. Anything else you want to add, Shauna?

SPEAKER_04 48:22

No, I think I think that that honestly wraps it up. I think it's you know figuring out what you think is wealth too, because wealth for some people is not the same for other people. Like, what is your definition of wealth? Just being comfortable, or are you trying to create something bigger? Or, you know, I think you defining what you feel is wealth, wealthy. Because sometimes, like you said, it has nothing to do with money. Money's just it's the means that keeps you your family sustainable financially, and it has nothing to do with wealth, you know.

SPEAKER_07 48:52

It could be charity, it could be a lot of different things, right? Uh, depending on what your goals and ambitions are. Yeah. Uh, and not everyone's gonna be in the top half a percent of income earners in the United States, right? They may pick careers that aren't part of that. And again, to me, that's what wealth does. Wealth creates the ability to say, I want to be a school teacher. Well, great. But I want to be a school teacher in a rural county. It's like, okay, well, you're not gonna make more than sixty thousand dollars a year. Um, so here is a here I have enough wealth that I've created an account and that's gonna supplement you. And but you're doing a good thing. Right. Or you're the artist, or you wanna work, run a nonprofit, or you want to do these different things. Wealth now enables people to follow their passions and be really good at that, even though it doesn't create millions of dollars and more wealth.

SPEAKER_04 49:44

Yeah, that's true. So be to and so to be happy is that's wealth, because I mean, or else you're doing a job you hate every single day just to make the money to do to buy the things that don't even make you happy.

SPEAKER_07 49:56

Yes, exactly. Every insurance adjuster I've ever met is makes really good money and and uh they're miserable people.

SPEAKER_04 50:03

Yeah, like great. I have the big house, but I hate what I do every day, and my life is miserable. Like, that's not wealth. That's not even you're not even happy. That's like I need to reevaluate my priorities, you know. Like what make what makes what is what is your priority there?

SPEAKER_07 50:16

So and and that's our role as advisors to help kind of coach people through these conversations. It's really hard to say, this is go how you build generational wealth. You know, I I think the formula is again, live below your means, save well. That creates that can create generational wealth. But the next generation is going to squander it all if you don't teach them how to use how to handle money.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

Right. Thousand percent.

Wrap Up And How To Connect

SPEAKER_07 50:37

All right. Um, thank you for listening to today's podcast. If you want to talk with one of our financial advisors, you can do so by going to wiserinvestor.com. See you guys next week.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

Thanks for listening to a wiser retirement podcast. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Make sure to subscribe wherever you're listening. That way you don't miss any new episodes. We'd also appreciate if you could leave a rating and review. If you have any questions about anything that was discussed today, head to wiserinvestor.com and reach out. This podcast is strictly for informational purposes only and is not to be considered as investment advice or solicitation to buy or sell any financial products, securities, digital assets, or any other investment vehicles or basis to make any financial decisions. Wiser Wealth Management Incorporated is a registered investor advisor with the SEC. The host and or guest may personally own securities, digital assets, or other investment vehicles mentioned on this podcast. Neither the host nor guest of the show are compensated for their participation, and no referral fees are paid to or received by any host or guest for clients, listeners, or similar interests. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor, tax professional, insurance professional, andor legal professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.