On this episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I was joined by Chris Mouzon, Financial Coach and Co-Founder of United Agency; Derrick Wesley, founder of Seedlyng Financial Education; Faith Teope, multimedia journalist and CEO of Leverage Retirement and Mac Gardner, Certified Financial Planner and Founder & Chief Education Officer of FinLit Tech to share insights on changing the way we think about financial literacy.
Here’s what we discussed:
Chris Mouzon is a Financial Coach and Co-Founder of United Agency where he helps people and families build better lives through finances. With expertise ranging from Entrepreneurship and wealth building to business tax hacks and retirement planning, Chris is knowledgeable in many different areas of Finance and Business. Chris believes in the power of positive energy and daily habits to transform lives and he's sharing what you can do to reach a place of financial (and personal) freedom.
Derrick Wesley is the visionary founder of Seedlyng Financial Education. He is on a mission to bridge the financial literacy gap among youth and young adults. With a background in education and a passion for empowering the next generation, Derrick founded Seedlyng to instill essential money management skills in students worldwide. Through interactive workshops, personalized curriculum, and cutting-edge technology, Seedlyng equips students with practical financial knowledge. Derrick's vision is to create a world where financial literacy is not just a subject in school but a life skill embedded in every young person, empowering them to make informed financial decisions.
Faith Teope is a multimedia journalist, children’s financial literacy author, and CEO of Leverage Retirement. She is the Editor of Fortunaire, and MoneyTalk as well as a contributor to Safe in Harm’s Way as a financial abuse advocate. She is also the host of the miniseries, SAVVY, that explores the systemic gaps in financial literacy, and is the keynote for the 2024 Financial Literacy Summit at the Federal Reserve.
Mac Gardner, a Certified Financial Planner practitioner, has served in the financial services industry for more than 20 years.
His passion for financial literacy led him to publish his first book, “Motivate Your Money!”. The book served as a tool to share his extensive experiences in the field of Personal Financial Planning. As his family grew and his clients began to ask him for ways to teach their kids about managing money, he decided to use elements from his first book to develop a financial literacy platform for young children. "The Four Money Bears" represent the four basic functions of money. When children gain exposure to money management skills at an early age, they are likely to develop healthy financial planning habits as adults. Mac also serves as Founder and Chief Education Officer of FinLit Tech. The company's mission is "Building a Bridge Between Financial Literacy and Financial Technology".
On this episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I was joined by Chris Mouzon, Financial Coach and Co-Founder of United Agency; Derrick Wesley, founder of Seedlyng Financial Education; Faith Teope, multimedia journalist and CEO of Leverage Retirement and Mac Gardner, Certified Financial Planner and Founder & Chief Education Officer of FinLit Tech to share insights on changing the way we think about financial literacy.
Here’s what we discussed:
Chris Mouzon is a Financial Coach and Co-Founder of United Agency where he helps people and families build better lives through finances. With expertise ranging from Entrepreneurship and wealth building to business tax hacks and retirement planning, Chris is knowledgeable in many different areas of Finance and Business. Chris believes in the power of positive energy and daily habits to transform lives and he's sharing what you can do to reach a place of financial (and personal) freedom.
Derrick Wesley is the visionary founder of Seedlyng Financial Education. He is on a mission to bridge the financial literacy gap among youth and young adults. With a background in education and a passion for empowering the next generation, Derrick founded Seedlyng to instill essential money management skills in students worldwide. Through interactive workshops, personalized curriculum, and cutting-edge technology, Seedlyng equips students with practical financial knowledge. Derrick's vision is to create a world where financial literacy is not just a subject in school but a life skill embedded in every young person, empowering them to make informed financial decisions.
Faith Teope is a multimedia journalist, children’s financial literacy author, and CEO of Leverage Retirement. She is the Editor of Fortunaire, and MoneyTalk as well as a contributor to Safe in Harm’s Way as a financial abuse advocate. She is also the host of the miniseries, SAVVY, that explores the systemic gaps in financial literacy, and is the keynote for the 2024 Financial Literacy Summit at the Federal Reserve.
Mac Gardner, a Certified Financial Planner practitioner, has served in the financial services industry for more than 20 years.
His passion for financial literacy led him to publish his first book, “Motivate Your Money!”. The book served as a tool to share his extensive experiences in the field of Personal Financial Planning. As his family grew and his clients began to ask him for ways to teach their kids about managing money, he decided to use elements from his first book to develop a financial literacy platform for young children. "The Four Money Bears" represent the four basic functions of money. When children gain exposure to money management skills at an early age, they are likely to develop healthy financial planning habits as adults. Mac also serves as Founder and Chief Education Officer of FinLit Tech. The company's mission is "Building a Bridge Between Financial Literacy and Financial Technology".
Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and transform your financial future? Then you've come to the right place. This is the Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Stewart, where Tony has insightful conversations with financial experts who are changing the way we think about money. Catch up on the latest financial trends and hear practical advice from Tony and his expert guests so you can build healthy habits that work, Be empowered with tips for implementing small changes that can have a big impact on your financial future. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast changing the way we think about money. I'm pleased to be joined today by Faith Teope, matt Gardner, derek Wesley and Chris Mazon. In this episode, we'll be discussing why it's time to change the way we think about financial literacy. Welcome everyone to the Get Ready Money podcast. Thanks for being here today.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us. We're excited.
Speaker 2:It's great to have you guys all here again. So you know, let's start off with a quick round of intros, a little bit of origin story and your connection with financial literacy. Chris, you want to start off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll open it up. And actually, before I open it, it up here's a shameless plug.
Speaker 4:My uh, I can't. I, oh man, I gotta pull back, pull back, pull back, pull back. If we put it on your chest, in the chest.
Speaker 3:There you go get ready, that's right, haven't gotten it. Tony has dropped this awesome guide to changing the way we think about money. You should go out there and get it. So that's a shameless plug for you, tony.
Speaker 2:I did not pay Chris for this Tony love.
Speaker 3:That's it. That's it. But yes, guys, I'm Chris Chris Mouzon, financial coach, also have an insurance background here to just educate people about money. My wife and I have wife and I have been here in the industry uh teaching people money for man going on 10, 11 years Now. We get the privilege of lifting up the hood under people's financial life and really diving in and uh giving them some guidance. We all know that uh, most times we're not getting the most guidance uh in our financial life unless we seek it out, and and we've been super passionate about just sitting down with ordinary, everyday people like us and just helping them guide their way to whatever they want financially, and so we're always super excited to have these financial conversations.
Speaker 2:Faith, you want to go next.
Speaker 5:Sure. Hello everyone, I am Faith Chiope and I am the CEO of Leverage Retirement and also as a multimedia journalist. I am a children's financial literacy author, an editor of Fortune Air Money Talk and the contributor to Safe in Harm's Way as a financial abuse advocate, and I'm also the host of an investigative miniseries called Savvy that explores the systemic gaps in financial literacy. And I'm thrilled the host of an investigative miniseries called Savvy that explores the systemic gaps in financial literacy, and I'm thrilled to be here At this stage in my passion. It's really stemming from being a mother and wanting to make sure that my kids have the skills that they need and then rinse and repeating that and sharing that with from my family to yours.
Speaker 2:Awesome Mac.
Speaker 4:Greetings everyone. Mac Gardner, certified financial planner, author of a couple books One is called Motivate your Money and the other is called the Four Money Bears. I also serve as the founder and chief education officer of a company called FinLit Tech, which is short for Financial Literacy Technology. Our mission is simple. Our mission is to build a bridge between financial literacy and financial technology to provide and promote overall financial wellness to communities across the country and I am a huge fan of Tony and everyone on here.
Speaker 4:I've been watching everyone grow and watching everyone's ventures do really really awesome things and help make an impact. So thanks for having me again, tony.
Speaker 2:Glad you're here, Derek.
Speaker 6:Right. Last but not least, right, tony, thank you for having me on. Derek Wesley, owner and founder of Seedlink Financial Education. We work with schools, banks and nonprofits to provide our innovative financial literacy tools for teachers, mainly in the classroom. We have a train the trainer model, because we know a lot of teachers aren't financially savvy and they might need a little extra help and support, so we make sure that they have all of the tools that they need to be successful. And thank you for inviting me on and I'm happy to be back with the band again. Yeah, I'm glad you guys are all here again, guys and women, sorry.
Speaker 2:So let's you know, let's get into it, you know. The first question on my mind is what degree of impact you all feel that financial literacy is currently having. Is it really making a difference?
Speaker 4:All right, who, who, who? Who wants to? Who wants to grab that one? Cause? That's a double-edged sword right there.
Speaker 3:I was going to say ladies first.
Speaker 6:All right.
Speaker 5:I think that of course, there is an impact and I do think that we are seeing improvement because we live in the information age, so people have access to that insight when they want it. As far as the formal programs and the books that are out there, sometimes I think that as finance pros we think that we are holding the button on a water fountain and we're like here here's the information you wanted, just when you were thirsty for it, and then, out of excitement or just because we have so much knowledge, we tend to push too hard on that button and then it's just hitting them in the face. So it comes from a great place, I think. Sometimes I still no, not sometimes I still see so much fire hosing, and so I think we are making an impact. I think that financial literacy and all the different programs think we are making an impact. I think that financial literacy and all the different programs out there are making an impact. I just don't think it's landing as solidly as it could. So I think there is room for improvement.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'll echo that. What frames my response here is something that I think we all seen a lot more of. We are all seeing a lot more content, a lot more stuff out there about money right, we're just seeing it. Social media marketing states are promoting, hey, financial education, financial education, financial education. So that's the pro. We are seeing more of it, and, by default, when you see more stuff or hear more stuff and more content is being thrown out, yeah, it's landing on more ears. The question, though, is what type of content is being presented and how useful that content is, and where it's coming from, and so that's why you know it's. It's really important. I'm glad that that it seems to be more focused now. I think COVID pushed a lot of people to that edge, like, Whoa, this financial stuff is important because I'm not making money. I need to know how to manage this stuff, but I think we also just need to be really careful, uh, as to what's out there and where the content is being derived from the sources that they're pushing out.
Speaker 3:That's really good. I think that if there is a pro that I can think of, it's that it's sparking the conversation.
Speaker 3:I know if we go back four, five, six, maybe 10 years, we're not talking about it as much, and so if there's anything that's coming from this overload, this fire hose of information that we're seeing, is that people are actually having conversations, co-workers are having conversations with each other, family members are talking about it because they're seeing it. But that also, right to the downside of that, they don't know what to think now. They don't know what to believe because there's so much information out there that they need someone to kind of say hey, you know, let's not take in this bit of information because it might not suit you, but this bit of information might suit you. So it's really just finding a way to have some wisdom and decipher, like, what is the right information for that person. But I think that the benefit of it is that we're actually starting more of the conversations and more people are talking about it.
Speaker 6:Really good point, guys, and from my aspect and the lens I'm looking at it through, you know, as an educator, I'm seeing that more and more states are requiring it for graduation, and so that's a huge thing. That's really good that more schools, districts are going to be looking for resources to provide to the students inside of the classroom. And that impact, though that's a key word, mac, I think you had kind of touched on it a little bit. That impact, where are you getting the information from? Is it good information? Is it valid?
Speaker 6:And so, even as part of what we offer to the schools, whether it's reading or math or science or history, whatever it is, you want to know if the students are actually learning and mastering the content. And that's something that we really focus on making sure that the students are mastering it, because we can give them all the information in the world, but are they actually learning it? Are they actually getting it? And so that's something even for the adults, their parents they're being flooded with so much, but how do they know is the right information? And so that's something on our end that we definitely keep in mind when working with our students, to make sure that our partners are vetted that the content we provide, that it's aligned to the state standards so that the students are actually getting the right information, because before we jumped on we were talking about all the social media content that's out there. But it's good information, so it's getting better slowly but surely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm with all of you. I think part of it is the overwhelm, but, derek, I think you really hit on it is is the information actually helping people? Are they actually able to do something with it? Because there's no shortage. And I think, chris, you may have mentioned this. You know it's all over there and it's disparate. You know it's coming from all kinds of different sources. So how do people figure out what's good, what's not good? And so how do people figure out what's good, what's not good? I mean, what do you guys think is you know, how can people start to evaluate what is valuable information, what's not valuable information.
Speaker 5:Oh my gosh, how are they supposed to decipher what's valuable and not? I mean, let's just put this in perspective of nutrition and fitness. If you try to find Google how to lose 10 pounds, I don't know, in 24 hours you're going to get so many different responses what to detox, how to work out, how old are you supposed to know? You won't. You won't because you don't have enough of the skill set to decipher. Okay, this person is talking like this because they're whatever, they're coming from this background or you just have no idea. If they just wrote that and gave you this insight and it actually would never work for anyone.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think about this and I speak about and I play in this space a lot and the thing that is really concerning for me as we're watching this space unfold, this financial literacy, financial technology, fintech, finlit social media is driven by likes.
Speaker 4:It's driven by how many eyeballs you can pay to capture. It's not driven necessarily by the quality of the person, the background of the person. I know tons of extremely qualified advisors in this space that have very little to no presence in social media, like none. But then we could list off a bunch of people who just have a page or have a presence, or blah, blah, blah, blah, and because they have a bunch of likes, off a bunch of people who just have a page or have a presence, or blah, blah, blah, blah, and because they have a bunch of likes and a bunch of people watch them, people just default or they must know what they're talking about because a lot of people listen to talking to them. So we need to be careful when we have social media and we're utilizing all these tools. There's tons of information out there, but we got to find a better way to bet it, because anyone can say anything.
Speaker 3:I see that I see that happen so much, right, like, one of the things that I think we've kind of prided ourselves on over here is that we're part of people's what we call trusted board of advisors. Right, like, one of my good, good buddies is in the health space and he's always like you need a personal board of advisors, right, like, is there some person that you go to just for money? Is there some person that you go to just for help, just for marriage, just for relationship? Like, is there someone that you believe and trust in to do that? And we've done a good job of that so that now I have, and a lot of the people I work with have sent me information on the internet that they see that.
Speaker 3:They value my opinion on what I'm going to write, what I'm going to say about that so they'll send me an article. Hey, what are your thoughts on this? Hey, they'll send me a TikTok. Hey, is this true? Like is this all.
Speaker 3:I have to do, right. And then I'll be like I don't know, like let's stay away from that, let's set up some time, it right. But I think that's important that you have that people have someone that they check off and say, hey, I, I don't know about this, what are your thoughts on it? And, ideally, if it's a professional, that would be great, right. And so I think we have to find a way to make ourselves available so people know, hey, I trust your opinion and you know my situation specifically, so is this information that I should apply or not?
Speaker 6:Very good points. What I'm hearing is that you have to have a community right, a financial education community of people that you can trust. I'm going to throw this to you all kind of as a question that I'm thinking about listening to you talk, since that's kind of the space where you all operate. How do you get people to open up within that community though, to get over saying I don't know? Because I know that's a challenge for a lot of folks, right, they might be fearful to admit they didn't know something, or they might not even want to open up and engage in a conversation at all. How can someone that's looking for being a part of a community like that be able to open up and just understand it's okay, you don't know it all. That's why we're here, right?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think there's there's like three different angles here. So there to directly answer you, derek, I think that's a challenge for those that are on the front lines as financial professionals, to make sure that we are being approachable and not creating a culture of shame. But, tony, you asked a question that spawned this whole thing about well, how do they know what's true? And then, chris, I think that you were really leaning into this is that, you know, you said somebody sent you a TikTok and said is this true? And so I think what really got pinpointed there was that that individual was seeking the information.
Speaker 5:So all the information that is out there, will people be able to decipher what's right and what's wrong or what's misleading? Not on the offset, necessarily. They may lean on somebody who they think that they trust, but then it will be up to them, when they're seeking that one piece of information, to compare and contrast to other sources. And unfortunately, that's what it's going to take. But I think it's going to be bigger issues where they'll have to do that. I mean, they're not going to say should I open a savings account with this institution or this institution? That's not going to be that big of a deal, right. But on the bigger issues. You know, maybe a tax question or something.
Speaker 2:Well, faith, I think you hit on something is. You know, I don't think people sit at home and go. You know my big question is like, okay, you know, should I have a Schwab account or should I have a Fidelity account? Their question is like, okay, am I going to have enough money for retirement? Where do I invest my money? You know they don't sit there and go gosh, you know, should I really open a Schwab account to? This is not a shout out to Schwab by any means, but nothing for again Schwab. I'm a Schwab customer, but you know that's.
Speaker 2:I don't think that's what people are looking for and I think that's an issue with a lot of the financial education material and, derek, you were starting to go down that road. Is that for a lot of people? You know they've never dealt with money, maybe in their family, you know they didn't talk about money or culturally there's issues and I think that may be part of why people aren't accessing. There's issues and I think that may be part of why people aren't accessing, because there's billions of videos on 401ks, but I don't know if that's what people are really looking for. I mean, maybe that's part of it for me. What do you all think?
Speaker 4:I look at culture a lot of times and I look at your community a lot of times and I look at, okay, where do people go to for guidance, something wrong with your health?
Speaker 4:Pick up a phone, family doctor, somebody in the community takes care of that, may have an attorney or something. And I think our profession as a sort of financial planning, wealth management profession, is still so young that there's not the default there may be a CPA in your community that you go to for your taxes. I'm just trying to think sort of broad picture like where did you go to in the past for this information when you want it? Now we have the proliferation of technology and FinTech and all this stuff. You can literally go on and you can find something somewhere, but is it going to be germane to you? And so I think that's really where we have to work to leverage technology more, because if you're in a community that doesn't have these resources, you got to get it from somewhere, right, but then you have to find someone that understands you, your specific needs, your specific wants, your specific cultures, and so that's that's. That's. That ideal thing hasn't been built yet and we would love to be able to help build it.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. I think these, these are the right conversations. Derek, the thing that kept popping in my mind when you're saying, like, how do you get people to be open and right, kind of just go through it if they're undereducated? It's really about creating safe spaces. Right, just a space where people feel safe to say I don't know. And, uh, faith, you said, right, like a lot of professionals. Right, get into that shaming, like you can't do this. And right, look at yourself if you do this. But it's really like, how do we create safe spaces for someone to come to us and say I don't understand how this works? Can you explain that again, or what would be the best way to do this? And I think in social media age, there's not a lot of safe spaces. The comments are not safe, there's certain places that just aren't safe out there, and so I think if we can create more smaller communities of safety, people will be more open to learning and kind of getting the information that they need and applying it.
Speaker 6:Okay, so start small right, smaller communities that are safe spaces to start to build from and kind of talking thinking about Mac, how you mentioned also the cultural aspect of things and just thinking about the black culture and the big rims and the shiny things and seeing the people online with stacks of money.
Speaker 6:That's unrealistic and I think there really needs to be a shift in the way that we look for people that, yeah, okay, they have some money, but how do they get that money? You're not going to be able to get your money the same way that person got it. Or, if it's an NBA player, they are seven foot tall, they can shoot the ball. You can't. What is your opportunity to tap into your unique skill set, to be able to make money for yourself and then learn how to invest that money? So I really believe there also needs to be a culture shift online and we can't just look at those pictures and those videos that are being posted and we need to be able to decipher the real from the fake, and it seems like a lot of people aren't able to do that, unfortunately.
Speaker 5:Oh well, I mean, hold on. Let me be a little voice of controversy here. Yes, social media can be infiltrated with things that are not real, but I would love to challenge the word realistic. Now the situation where there's a seven and a half foot basketball player to me 5'1", I will never be an NBA player. Okay, no matter how hard I work, I'm just not going to be able to compete with that. Okay, that realistic? That's not the part I'm talking about. Stacks of money living on a yacht and drinking champagne, traveling every other Wednesday. Those things don't have to be unrealistic. I think what we need to help people and this goes back to your question, tony what do people really want? I think we need to help them identify that, because I think, this thing, this thing, we think that that's what we want.
Speaker 5:But if we stop long enough, no, no, no, Okay, that's not what I want. What I want is to be able to keep doing that and not have to worry about money. That's a real want. Being on a yacht as a champagne isn't the want. So I think that that could be an interesting experiment to dig into interesting topic, to find out with people. Maybe it's not the safe space to reveal their low financial acumen. Maybe it's a safe space to say do you even know what your dreams are and how can I help you clarify and articulate those for yourself? Because once they can articulate it, finance pros can help you. They can come along you so easily because they're like okay, now I have a goal, Now I have a mission, but we don't have a mission. We don't know what they even really want.
Speaker 3:Dave, I think you're hitting on To you the Spice.
Speaker 2:Girls right Love that. What do you really really want?
Speaker 3:I really think that's hitting on the main point and that's almost the biggest challenge in our society. We're talking about social media a bunch almost because of it, right, because we don't ever get a chance to slow down. The society has us running so fast and thinking of so many different things that we often don't slow down to get clarity on what we actually want. You know, I typically bring this description into play where it says, right, where there's no vision, people perish. And in another translation it says where there's no vision, people cast off restraint.
Speaker 3:And so a lot of what we see right now is people casting off restraint to like the right now, because they don't have the vision for where they're actually trying to go and the clarity of, like, what they actually want money for and what their lifestyle, what they want it to be like. Most people have this idea of what they want to do for work and then the things they might want to buy Right, but they don't really have clarity on lifestyle, on time, freedom, on relationships and those things. So in the short term, restraint is cast off and so the things that we can get right now become a little bit more attainable to us. But I think that vision conversation, that clarity conversation, absolutely is the key Faith. You're right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. I think you know that's really helpful for people to find out those safe spaces and think about their goals. That's what's missed so often is not thinking about goals first instead of just shoving a bunch of solutions at them. And I think that gets back to what we were talking about earlier with that overwhelm of information. And one thing always on my mind is, you know, serving different demographics. Do you all think that financial literacy is serving all demographics?
Speaker 4:Is financial literacy equal for all. Okay, I'm going to jump on this one, because there's literally talking about this yesterday with some colleagues of mine about socioeconomic levels. Financial education, financial literacy, is something for everyone. Everyone needs it. Last I checked in these United States of America if you want to buy something, you need money Right, that's a check, and so we haven't gotten to the Bitcoin all the way yet.
Speaker 4:Could you theoretically use some bitcoin, some theory of some other wonky stuff? Yes, but so if the in a capitalist society that is a consumer-based economy as well, you need to have education, no matter how many commas you have in your financial plan of state, whatever. So everyone needs it. Now, what we, what we as advisors, fight with or contend with, is making that, making something that everyone needs unique to that person, and that's the big challenge that we have, I believe, in our society is taking in all these cultural community, all these different things that are value system to you, and taking this one commodity and weaving that into your life to get to your goals, to get to all those different things. So that's my stance on it is that everyone needs education, but we need to find some way to align the goals, the right tools, the right vehicles to get you to where you need to get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I've seen a lot of studies. I don't know if all of you have seen them, but you know how women have a lower level of financial literacy than men. Different, you know, racial ethnicities there's lower levels of financial literacy. I mean, that's sort of where I was coming from with the question. I mean, are you seeing that as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean honestly, tony. To Mac's point, it's just everyone needs it, but everyone needs it at a different level. I call it the levels of money the 101, the 202, 303 levels of money, right? But you might take an information that's at a 303 level but you're technically at a 101 level and you don't know the difference. So you think you should, so it's not going to resonate with you as much.
Speaker 3:So it's really about finding you know, if you take it to, you know a socioeconomic group or you know different, different ethnicities. Whatever the case, they understand money differently, different terminology, different thoughts. You know different upbringings around money. So the way that someone gets educated in that space might have to be a little bit different and we just have to do a better job of actually kind of pinpointing what that person needs or that group of people and speak directly to them, instead of making these blanket general financial statements about what to do. It doesn't, it won't resonate with anyone, and so, right, they all often say, like in marketing, right, if you talk to everyone, you're talking to no one, right? So I think that's what we're dealing with. So what I?
Speaker 6:was going to say with the creation of the app that we have, that was one of the things that we were trying to address with our students. So, basically, you take a short diagnostic assessment based on your age and your current financial level of knowledge and it builds out a personalized curriculum. To speak to the point that you guys are making as far as how important it is to be able to receive content that you can digest yourself, based off of your own experiences, and then being able to get advice, get content based on your personal preferences also. So how do you all, as financial advisors, once you have that person and you see those challenges, those cultural challenges versus our male versus female, how are you all overcoming those challenges with your clients?
Speaker 5:Well, I think that's a great question and I think that this is really less about the demographics. I mean, if we think about take women, for instance, we're getting a snapshot picture of those statistics. And what are the generations, even just two before mine, that it was a generation that deferred to their spouse, deferred to the men?
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 5:So unfair snapshot. I think I think we need to wait. If we want to do an assessment of women versus men, I think we need to wait on that statistic to really get something solid, unless we want to say, okay, we're taking that snapshot because we want to address Gen X and boomers. That's different. As far as demographics, too, I would say let's be careful about the demographic conversation because while it gives us a blanket to say OK, we can generally target a group like this because when I was growing up, I was and I've told you guys this story before I was five years old and I wanted to buy money, buy a snack at school, and so I asked my mom for money so I could buy that snack, and she told me I will not give you money, I will let you buy something at the market.
Speaker 5:You can get something and sell it to your friends and eat your profit. That that is coming from an extremely, extremely poor not just family village. Okay, the whole area was devastated, is still devastatingly poor. So a certain money conversation to my mom about her family would be very different than probably her neighbor who is twirling their thumbs wondering if fish is going to come in that day.
Speaker 5:Same demographic, though same amount coming.
Speaker 4:It's that whole abundance versus scarcity mindset, and it doesn't matter what color of skin you are. I think that's one of the bigger drivers in how you relate to and interrelate money with people is do you come from a place where money was just bountiful and you could just do whatever you wanted to do, or you came from a place where you didn't have a lot of it? And that just drives some of the habits that happen in your life, and so I agree with everything that's being said on here. It is hard to kind of say okay, because of this swath of our population or this, that and the third I think the socioeconomic levels that a person just happens to be in dictates a lot of some of this innate view Because, remember, the first habit you pick up from your parent is your parent's spending habit.
Speaker 4:It's been tested. It's the conversations that are had about money in the household when you're very young that you just pick up, and so that, I think, drives a lot of the need for financial education and why I like Chris's point you got some 101s, you got some 201s, you got some 301-ones, because I'm not going to be talking about derivatives and tax deferred and all these different things to someone who's making 40, $50,000 a year and it's really trying to make ends meet, you know what.
Speaker 2:I'm saying yeah, yeah, and maybe that it does sound like that is the better way to frame it, and I think that's where you're going, derek, with your app. Is, you know, the customizing it for where somebody is at is, I think, maybe the future, and maybe that's why this mountain of financial literacy advice doesn't really work. And, faith, what you were talking about with nutrition and diet I've used that as an analogy as well, because the diet that works for me is not going to be the diet that works for you. Faith, different diets are going to be successful. So, you know, maybe that is the lens we need to change, instead of focusing on men versus women Asian, black, you know, whatever that you know, it's your circumstance.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you guys are familiar with, uh, farm long, uh, Mac, you probably are and some of the research she's done. Um, you know that that how you grew up with the amount of money in your house impacts how financial literature are going to be, because you know if, if your parents have to both work, they're not at home helping you study and you may not have access to some of the same resources somebody who grows up in a wealthy neighborhood, and that impacts financial literacy, which is what you were saying, mac, about the socioeconomic stuff. So that brings us up to fintech, and this is definitely in our wheelhouse. Is fintech increasing inclusivity in solving some of these issues?
Speaker 5:I think. So, I think I think it. It is opening up more doors and making things a bit more accessible.
Speaker 4:Um, yeah, I think it is uh, I'll I'll go a little bit deeper. These contraptions right here are changing everything about our society, everything how we do our banking, how we invest, how we borrow money, how we get insurance. I mean, fintech is literally changing every aspect of our lives. The sad fact, though, is that there's so much stuff I just named like five things technology can do when it comes to doing stuff with your money, it there's not a lot. When it comes to education, there's still not a lot about it. The folks on this podcast probably have done you know, I'm saying for, for, for, for our community a lot more than some of the stuff that's out there just in the banking space y'all when it comes to fintech. So I think that technology is the great democratizer only because it allows more people and allows you to scale your voice and scale your resource, but there's just still so much more to be done, so much more to be done yeah, I'll be, honest, I, I, I don't know how effective fintech is right now.
Speaker 3:Like I, I don't know how effective. I don't know that people want to be educated on their phones. I feel like people naturally default to going to entertainment. Now, that's the culture that the phones, the apps. It's just created this I'm going here to escape, escape.
Speaker 5:But, chris, are you saying that you think that people want to be educated outside their phone?
Speaker 3:I don't know if they want to be educated at all.
Speaker 4:That's the bigger question right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I don't know if they want to be, but again, I mean how often, outside of listening to something right on your phone podcast, right, audible, something along those lines are we logging into an application to be educated on our phones, Like it's? We still might do it from a computer base, right, maybe it's from a computer.
Speaker 4:I'll count it with this, or maybe even piggyback. I think edutainment is where it's at. Look at Rashad and Todd. Look at Earn your Leisure, eyl those guys I've been following Todd's mission and these guys before they even started this thing right, rashad was an advisor up in New York doing this thing, but they struck a vein. They struck a vein because they started developing podcasts and things to edutain people and bringing in some hip hop and bringing in some of the culture into the whole mix and started doing these conferences. And so now there's this sort of hybrid world where you go and you check out what they're putting on social, you go and check out their podcast and they're talking about banking and things that prior to that and I've been following this business for damn near 30 years that wasn't around, that creature never existed, and so, from that perspective, technology fintech-ish because it's touching some finances is opening doors and making and allowing for more conversations that weren't being had before.
Speaker 5:And I think I mean but even edutainment can fall completely flat. Where it's working is because they've dialed in on what people want. So if there's a specific type of humor that's like dry or dark, and there's an audience that really takes a lot of pleasure in that specific type of humor, and they don't even realize that the person that they are now following is actually subtly inserting different things about money skills, Okay, well, now this entertainment has worked for them. But if we just simply put out a cartoon show about some money skills, it's not necessarily going to be that kids are going to want to watch it. Their parents might want them to, thinking that it's going to do the trick financial literacy, but they have to want to do it.
Speaker 6:I feel like there needs to be a mixture of all of the components. Right, you need to have the phone you're getting the entertainment from there, but then you also need a coach, like you guys, being able to talk to. You also need your community to be able to check all of the information that you're receiving against each other and see if it lines up, and being able to access it in all of those different ways, I think the individual will get the most out of it because it's going to show that, okay, what I'm hearing from person A, b and C, it all aligns. And now let's put these things into action and then having someone holding them accountable that they're actually doing the things, and that's why I think that community part is really important and maybe the missing component that a lot of individuals don't have access to, to make sure that everything that they're hearing is what they should be hearing.
Speaker 2:That is a great quote, derek is make sure that what they're hearing is accurate. And, chris, that's what you were alluding to, too, is. I think that's part of it is. You know, people get overwhelmed and they're like, well, this sounds good, but I know there's a lot of false information out there. You know, should I really follow this? And I think that's something where technology can come in if it's a trusted technology provider. So this has been an awesome conversation, as always. So, to close, let's do a quick summary of what our number one takeaway is for changing the way we think about financial literacy. I'm going to start off oh sorry, derek, go for it.
Speaker 6:Oh, okay. I really love what Faith and Chris were saying about clarity on your goals, and now I think that's so important that you have a vision for what you want and then you figure out a plan to get there, and nothing's impossible, and so that was a really positive, powerful takeaway for me.
Speaker 2:Should I go next Go?
Speaker 3:ahead.
Speaker 5:Sure. I think that remembering, as finance pros, the culture behind our goal can no longer be the subliminal desire to make someone else a finance pro, nor to make people feel like they can't operate without an advisor. I think we need to rethink what we mean by meet them where they are and find better ways to help them define their dreams, because people will do what they want to do. The trick is to help them articulate that want and then hold it front and center.
Speaker 3:That's good. I think maybe your takeaway is really just getting people to be able to decipher information that will benefit them at their level versus information that won't benefit them. Not just necessarily even right or wrong information, right myths and those things. But just what can I apply right? What can I actually do? What information do I need to take in for me in my situation? Do I need to take in for me in my situation? I think we have to find a better mechanism or a way to help people do that, because there is so much information out there now.
Speaker 4:First of all mine, but I'm going to throw a little bit on top of his as it pertains to technology. Ai is here. Ai is here. Ai is real. If you all have not looked at the various ways that AI is impacting the financial services industry and financial services, the different things that can or can't be done, that, I think, is going to be a very powerful tool because, as this being platform whatever you want to call it continues to grow and people start putting in questions into it at all these levels the 101s, 201s, the 301s that's going to be a resource. It's not going to replace the advisor, it's not, but I and it can now serve this mass and serve people. So that's why I think technology is going to be a big impact in this space.
Speaker 2:Those are all awesome. I think my biggest takeaway was the comment about building safe small communities where people feel OK, because I think that's one of the biggest things I encountered in my career was people not wanting to say that they didn't understand something. Nobody wanted to admit they don't know what an insurance premium is or how an insurance claim is paid All these things that we think people should know and they think they should know. So they don't want to say, gosh, what is a deductible? Again, how does that work? Because nobody wants to be that person who says, gosh, I don't really know what I think I should know. So for me, I think the safe spaces are really important. Maybe for those of us who are advisors, you know, create those safe spaces for your clients and make sure that your clients feel comfortable saying that thing.
Speaker 2:If you're running a community, you know, um, or if you have a fintech app, you know, allow for people to really be open about what they don't know, um, because for me, I think that's the biggest thing is encouraging people to be able to ask questions and feel safe, um, and ask them questions. So this is awesome. So where, where people, where can everybody catch up with you guys, faith, where can people find out what you're up to? The Savvy mini series? Give us your plug.
Speaker 5:If you just go to faithtiopecom you can find all the things, and I love social media, so I'm on all the platforms.
Speaker 2:Cool and I'll give a shout out to Faith's miniseries, savvy, which is still taking place, and there will be links to Savvy and everybody's website in the show notes. Derek, where can people find you?
Speaker 6:You can find me at seedlingcom S-E-E-D-L-Y-N-G and learn all about the awesome things we're doing to close the financial literacy gap for all.
Speaker 2:How about you, Chris?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like playing on social platforms, so everywhere on social, at CMuzan1, my first initial, last name, the number one, all platforms. You could also go to unitedagencybiz, that has all of our business stuff over there. We actually just dropped some eBooks for the month of April for financial literacy, the 101 levels, so five separate eBooks. Again, find them anywhere on social, go to the website and you can download those for free as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome and a shout out, chris, to your Instagram channel. You've got some good videos going there which are nice, easy videos for people who want just quick takes on different financial topics, and Mac for Money Bears.
Speaker 4:For Money Bears. You can definitely find that out. We're going to be launching the game the For Money Bears Barryville soon. This will be your first Elvis Khan game game that teaches, analyzes and tracks the financial education process through gamification as well as through um. I don't want to use the term ai, but, uh, it's through looking at, uh, different adaptive learning technologies that that we're going to be incorporating into it to make sure hey, you know, you know the kid's spending too much, or a user spending too much, maybe they should be saving and give them some quests to do, some investing, to do some other different things. So we will have some adaptive learning aspects of it. And we also have Motivate your Money, which is the platform that we built for grown people.
Speaker 4:And a little plug for myself. We picked up a really great client. United Healthcare actually is a client that we picked up for a lot of folks. They expect, when you're young, to not have knowledge and then when, all of a sudden, magically, when you're in your 30s, you should know all this stuff about money and then when you retire, you don't know anything about money. So I've been working with them to develop some really neat multimedia financial education content for retirees, and so that's really the whole mission behind FinLit Tech is to develop financial education platforms, utilizing technology to leverage it and again get more financial wellness out there.
Speaker 2:Very cool.
Speaker 6:Very cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very cool, very cool. Yeah, and for people subscribing to my newsletters, you know I'll have news about when, uh, the poor money bears game berryville drops. Uh, so you can check it out. And faith, you have a book coming out soon, right I?
Speaker 5:do the monster job. It hits bookshelves on may 20th, so I'm pretty stoked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, congrats so thank you. So, yeah, for people who are.
Speaker 6:Tony's got a book. Tony's got a book, get the book.
Speaker 3:Tony's got a book, go get it.
Speaker 2:And you can pick up copies of the Get Ready Blueprint in any online bookstore. Chris, thank you for the plug and thank you all for being here again today on the Get Ready Money podcast. Appreciate your time and insights.
Speaker 5:It was great. Thanks, Tony.
Speaker 3:Lots of fun. Thanks everybody.
Speaker 2:Always a great time, and thank you everyone for tuning into this episode of the Get Ready Money podcast. If you learned something today to change the way you think about money, please share this with a friend and be sure to subscribe. Let's change the way we think about money. You.