MoneyDad Podcast

#032.  Today’s guest is David Edey.  David is a Certified Executor Advisor and author of The Executor Help book.  He opens up about his own estate nightmare that he dealt with when his parents passed, and why he decided to write his book to help others.  We discuss the challenges and struggles he faced with settling his parents estate and cover mistakes that he as well as his parents made.  We discuss what is an estate plan, and the reasons why everyone should have one, as it is not just for the rich or wealthy.  We talk about how digital assets form part of the estate plan.  

We dive into what factors we, as parents, should consider when selecting an executor for our estate, and when it makes sense to consider obtaining a professional third-party.  We discuss the importance of involving our kids in conversations about our estate.  And the critical importance of having an up-to-date will, especially to make sure we have a say as to who is raising our kids, in the event something happens to us.  

We also cover practical tips on what we can do to make it easier on our executors, while we are still here, and talk about some of the key professionals an executor may need to engage to settle the estate.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session032

#031.  Today’s guest is Michael Gilmore.  Michael is the Founder of the Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards, which celebrate the important work being done around the world to help people understand money better.  He is also an author, having authored three books under the pen name “The Seven Dollar Millionnaire”, with his latest book titled “The Little Book of Zen Money”.  $7 dollars is the smallest amount of money you can save and invest each day to become a millionaire in your lifetime. He discusses his origin story of when he started working in financial literacy and how he used that anger to fuel his passion.  He dives into what motivated him to write his first book for his 17-year old daughter as she was getting ready to go away for school.  He reviews the financial freedom formula that provides the 7 simple steps kids can follow to achieve financial freedom.  

We get into how understanding money is like a pathway and that once you are on the path, it is pretty straightforward.  And how money can be very simple to learn and that we don’t need to overcomplicate things.  We discuss what inspired Michael to write his latest book “The Little Book of Zen Money”, and how being Zen with money is not about avoidance; rather, it is about seeing reality directly and facing it head on.

We discuss the importance of tracking your spending.  And finally, why it is important to create more awareness of financial literacy projects around the world and celebrate them through the MAIAs.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session031

#030.  Today’s guest is David Delisle.  He talks about why it’s important to normalize conversations about money with our kids and we discuss what inspired him to write his graphic novel, The Golden Quest.  The book is a very fun way for kids to learn about money.  Its been described as “Rich Dad Poor Dad meets Calvin & Hobbes” and it’s such a great book that is beautifully illustrated.  David talks about the importance of having our children develop strong financial habits, which helps to avoid getting caught up in a lot of the noise that is out there.  He digs into how we should help our children understand what is important to them, or their “why”.  And this can help our kids pause and reflect and be mindful of their spending choices.

He covers the four golden rules of money, and emphasizes the importance of having our kids develop strong financial habits.  We also get into what parents should be doing to help their kids invest, and the actions parents should take to get more comfortable talking and learning about money, especially when they don’t consider themselves experts.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session030

#029.  Today’s guest is Andy Tran.  We get into how Andy got started on his journey with helping people create secondary suites and garden suites.  We talk about what it really means to create legal secondary suites.  We talk about what garden suites are, why they are becoming more popular, and how it is a housing option with many different strategies suitable for different demographics including empty nestors, parents with aging parents, and parents with young adult children.  

This can be an amazing house hacking strategy that parents can use to have our young adult kids live in these garden suites, which are essentially built in the backyard of our principal residence.  And it is a way to help our young adult kids get ahead, allowing them to build their savings for a downpayment on a house or use those savings to invest.  

Andy dives into the process of how to create a garden suite, typical sizes/sq footage of these units, timelines it normally takes, typical budget of how much you should plan to spend to build one and how homeowners are typically financing these today to build these out.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session029

#028.  Today’s guest is Clifton Corbin.  Clifton talks about his journey including important money lessons that he learned from his parents, but also talks about the struggles he had running up credit card debt and going through a debt spiral in university.  We talk about how his journey inspired him to write his own book “Your Kids, Their Money” to help parents teach their kids about money and avoid the pitfalls he went through.  If you are a parent of little children, we discuss strategies you can use to teach in a fun and enjoyable way.  We discuss the importance of giving our kids the opportunity to practice good money habits. One of the ways they can practice is through the use of an allowance, and Clifton talks about the do’s and don’ts of this approach, if you decide you want to go this route.  And we discuss the most important thing that we must remember to do, in combination with the practice we give our kids.  

We also dive into how we can use storytelling to teach lessons to our kids.  We go over an unconventional strategy that Clifton uses of lending money to his kids.  And we end with the best ways that we can teach our kids about earning money.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session028

#027.  Today’s guest is Cherry Chan.  Cherry talks about her journey as an entrepreneur and how she helps everyday, hardworking Canadians like you and me achieve financial freedom.

We talk about when and how we can pay our kids an income, while also having it deductible for us parents for tax purposes.  This is a win/win situation where kids win because they can earn money to use as a tool to spend, save, invest and give.  And we as parents win because we can deduct it for tax purposes, so it saves us money.  It doesn’t apply to everyone and it can get a little technical, but Cherry does a great job breaking down the rules we need to follow to ensure we stay onside with the tax authorities.

We talk about how Cherry involves her kids in her business to teach them about money and we also get into an advanced income tax splitting strategy that could allow income in the hands of the kids to be tax free, up to $35,000 per child.  Lastly, we talk about the upcoming Wealth Hacker Conference in Toronto that Cherry and her husband are holding this November 12th to share strategies on building and protecting wealth and income and best practices around achieving financial freedom.  

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session027

#026.  Today’s guests are Annie Shoen and Nicolle Hood.  We talk about smart money habits that parents should be teaching their kids, including the habit of what they call “learning to earn”, as well as rules of thumb around budgeting.  We talk about how we can best teach our kids to be smart consumers.  And how we as parents can create a supportive environment to encourage our kids to make money mistakes.

We also get into the features of the app, and discuss how they developed it with science in mind.  They have a lot of innovative features including the use of puzzles to teach delayed gratification, as well as community leader boards.  

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session026

#025.  Today’s guest is Maya Corbic.  We get into the main challenges and opportunities in engaging Generation Z in learning about money, how engaging our kids with games can be very effective in teaching about money, why transferring money management and purchasing decisions to our kids is so important as well as key financial concepts that every child should learn before the age of 18.

We dive into the importance of showing our kids the importance of having multiple income streams and that they have the power to create money.  We talk about house hacking, entrepreneurship, and investing as well as looking at our own limiting beliefs and focusing on what money mindset and beliefs we should be fostering in our kids.  

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session025

#024.  Today’s guest is Kelly Iannone.  We get into the responsible money habits and strategies that she learned from her parents growing up.  We dive into their plan of how her family was able to live off Kelly’s income, while using strategies to divert her husband’s income to savings and investing.  We talk about how Kelly decided that investing in real estate, especially through multi-family rentals, was the path to accelerating their passive income and goal towards financial independence.

We also talk about how she exposes her two young kids to real estate and teaches them money concepts using real estate as a tool.  The various money lessons she teaches her kids about saving, investing, spending.  And how it is so important to be open and intentional about money with our kids.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session024

#023.  Today’s guest is Alissa Maizes.  We talk about what led Alissa to pursue a change in career as a financial planner, after a career spent helping not-for-profits raise millions of dollars.  We discuss some great strategies and solid examples of how parents can develop their kids mindset around giving and helping others. Alissa covers how parents can develop their kids mindset around gratitude.  She also dives into strategies of how we can help kids build long-term savings, including a matching strategy to incentivize our kids to save.  We discuss strategies on what parents can do to teach their kids about financial self-confidence and control. 

We also dive into the importance of being intentional, open and honest about money with our kids, especially during more difficult times. We get into how teaching our kids to invest can amplify their wealth, including how mutual funds or exchange-traded funds can be a better choice.  And we review what it really means to be a fee-only fiduciary and the benefits of working with one, when reviewing our own financial plans.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session023

#022.  Today’s guest is James Fletcher.  We talk about how James combined his love of investing and his love of international cultures into what he does full-time, which is manage his $100M emerging market fund he founded.  We discuss what inspired James to start Young Investors Society (YIS), and how their reach now extends into over 1400 schools and 59 countries.  James talks about the emphasis on teaching a long-term approach to investing and how rewarding the process, rather than the outcome, is most effective at teaching these kids. 

We discuss the importance of YIS providing resources to underprivileged communities.  And how YIS emphasizes and incentivizes building good habits to ensure that kids actually put in practice the concepts they are learning about.  We discuss several of YIS programs including the Dollar-a-day initiative, Money Skills Bootcamps and the Stock Pitch Competition.  James discusses the concept of the Million-dollar-decision and the tremendous power of how encouraging our teens to invest early would result in $1M more in their retirement account.  We discuss how we, as parents, can foster the importance of investing at a young age and how to develop their mindset around investing early.  James talks about the number one lesson that he has learned over the years and the key takeaway for us as parents.  We dive into benefits that teens receive in earning the designation that YIS has developed.  We cover how YIS measures their impact in the community.  And we get into several actionable strategies that we, as parents, should focus on in terms of teaching our kids about money. And how we can foster resilience within our children.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session022

#021.  Today’s guest is Andrew Hallam.  We talk about money lessons Andrew experienced growing up, including the importance of learning to earn.  He goes into the number one key he used to build his million dollar portfolio by his late 30’s on a teacher’s salary.  Andrew now travels the world and talks about the observations during those travel experiences with his wife, including how plenty of conventionally successful people appeared less satisfied than those who did not achieve the same levels of money or career advancement.  He provides a 4-part framework on how we should redefine success.  He also gets into the opportunity cost of spending, including an example of how picking up a daily Starbucks coffee on your way to work could represent a $1 million dollar decision.  We discuss the importance of developing awareness around our spending to ensure it is in alignment with our values.  And how we should look a longer lens of time like 30 years when developing realistic expectations around expected investment returns.

We next talk about what parents can do to set their kids up for success including splitting up an allowance into 3 different categories.  And how allocating allowance this way can teach delayed gratification skills.  We also dive into the main benefits of assigning chores to kids and how chores actually might be a predictor of whether your children are successful.  We review the strategies Andrew himself used in teaching young people about personal finance in allowing self-discovery, rather then telling them what to do.  And we finish with a discussion into the research around whether parents should pay for their children’s post-secondary education and how that can be a predictor of success in the child.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session021

#020.  Today’s guest is Deborah McMillan.  We get into the financially illiteracy problem that we have in today’s society.  We talk about how the personal experiences with her daughter and father led her to start her own business teaching children about money.  We discuss how parents may actually be the main barrier that is preventing kids from learning about money at a young age.  We talk about giving an allowance that is not dependent on chores can be one of the principal strategies parents use to teach their kids about money at home.  We cover what her number one goal is in teaching kids about money and how she makes it engaging.

We get into the programs that Knowledge Makes Cents offers and we talk about her hands-on program that my 7 year old son went through recently and some of the principles and concepts that he and other kids take away from these types of programs.  We discuss how parents really need to be partners in helping their children follow through with executing plans after these programs, like helping to open up bank accounts or investment accounts.  

We dive into the importance of installing positive thinking and having the right mindset and beliefs that parents should be reinforcing at home.  And why we as parents have to be very careful about the words and messages we use with and in front of our kids, because this can lead to our kids developing negative associations with money and the unintended installation of limiting beliefs in our children.  We get into strategies that parents can use to get around the challenge of how they can afford certain spending expenditures and the importance of encouraging creative financial thinking among children.  We end with healthy conversations we should be having with our kids around money and how teaching the value of money and relating how they earn it with how much things costs could be one the most important discussions you have with them.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session020

#019.  Today’s guest is Michelle Hung.  We dive into how Michelle went from a career in investment banking and pivoted to being an author and becoming an entrepreneur and financial planner helping teach women and young adults how to invest.  Michelle recently launched her second book “Investing for Teens”.  We talk about the trouble Michelle faced in university with her spending habits, and we talk about some of the biggest issues that teens/young adults face, including the importance of credit card management.  We get into the mindset of how teens should be viewing the current downturn in the stock market, and we discuss why she is not keen on investing in bonds.  We dive into the importance of investing in equities, and the mindset you need to prevent yourself from panic selling.  

We get into the risk vs reward principle, and the importance of adopting a long-term mindset when investing.  We get into why leaving your money in a savings account designed for long-term investing is a waste and lost opportunity.  We talk about flaws in the current banking system including how risk is assessed.  We also get into the types of custodial accounts available for teens in the US, and get into options available in Canada.  And we end with the biggest pieces of advice she would give to herself as a teen, that you’ll definitely want to pay attention to, especially if you raising a teenager.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session019

#018.  Today’s guest is Jabbar Adesada.  Jabbar has an incredible and inspirational story, overcoming tremendous adversity from childhood, and was only 19 years old when he purchased his first real estate rental property.  Jabbar talks about joining the military at 17 years old and the inspiration he received to pursue financial independence.  Jabbar started investing in stocks at 18, but pivoted to real estate by 19.  Jabbar and I talk about the importance of community and surrounding yourself with other like-minded young adults in pursuit of similar goals.  We talk about the adversity Jabbar went through in trying to purchase his first rental at 19 years old, and how he overcame rejection and countless people doubting him.  We dig into how he house hacked that first property, and we talk about what systems and processes he has put in place and his mindset on being able to not only figure things out, but his incredible gift of building relationships with others that he can turn too for support.  

We then dive into how Jabbar is supercharging his passive income through owning and managing short-term vacation rentals, and how he was able to purchase it with no money.  We get into the lessons Jabbar has taken away from involved in these short-term rentals, including the technology and systems he uses to automate processes, especially since he continues to work full-time in the Marines. Jabbar set a goal to achieve $10,000/mth in passive income by 30 years old, and has almost already reached that at the young age of 20 years old.  We get into advice and strategies that Jabbar would give young adults or parents of young adults on how they can get started with real estate, the common misconceptions people have, and the importance of prioritizing investing for young kids and young adults. 

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session018

#017.  Today’s guest is Robert Farrington.  Robert and I talk about his passion and early interest in personal finance and investing, including what inspired him to start The College Investor to help millennials start long-term investing and get out of student loan debt.  We talk about why Robert is a big believer in the ROI approach to college.  And we get into the struggles for millennials to find balance as the sandwich generation, with aging parents and young children, juggling between competing financial priorities in their lives.

We next dive into the world of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and NFTs to gain a deeper understanding of their purpose, use cases, and analogies of how you can think about them.  We talk about why Robert views crypto as a currency, rather than as in investment.  But at the same time, we talk about how crypto and NFTs can act as the onramp to getting our teens and young adult children excited and engaged about investing.  We also dive into how our teenage kids should get started in investing and exploring many different asset classes, including crypto. And we get into why it actually may be better off in the long run to have small, manageable losses, rather than outsized gains.  Finally, we talk about the ultimate benefits of having our teenagers and young adults invested, which is to help them build the habits and skills of saving/investing and tracking their investments.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session017

#016.  Today’s guest is Bobbi Rebell.  Bobbi and I talk what inspired her to write her latest book “Launching Financial Grownups” and we get real about some of the challenges and struggles that she has had in raising her teenagers/young adult children as it relates to guiding them on making smart money decisions.  We talk about why teen/young adult children are taking longer these days to become independent adults compared to generations ago.  

We get into why parents are artificially propping up lifestyles for their young adult children and the unintended message parents send to their young adult children when they support them.  And we talk about strategies on how we can avoid this.  We discuss why it is important to have a clear exit strategy if your adult child is moving back home with you and how the pandemic impacted relationships between parents and their older kids.  We dive into how being vulnerable and open about the money choices we as parents make can help teach kids about money.  And we dig into strategies parents can use when talking to their grown kids about money, especially when they seem to think they know better.  We also get into challenges that parents face in letting their adult children go from a financial dependence perspective, especially since these children are wrapped up in our identity.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session016

#015.  Today’s guest is Phia Zacour Phia and her husband Mike reached Financial Freedom and retired from their traditional jobs in their early 30’s with their two young kids.  Phia and I talk about the reasons why they pursued financial freedom, but why the reality of financial freedom did not line up with their expectations when they first transitioned to early retirement.  We discuss her childhood experiences and intentional lessons that Phia’s parents taught her and how she developed an early negative association with debt.  We dive into why parents should let their kids fail early in order to lead to a growth mindset.  We get into the financial and non-financial reasons why parents should not buy their kids a cell phone, including the missed learning opportunities you have in teaching them financial lessons if you buy it for them.  We talk about why kids should manage their own screentime and ideas on how to implement a non-monetary token system to help teach them self-discipline, budgeting and responsibility.  We review strategies to teach kids as young as 2 years old the ability to delay gratification and why family meetings are Phia’s favourite way to teach kids to have an open dialogue about money.  And we cover how calculating metrics such as cost per use allows kids to reflect on their spending decisions.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session015

#014.  Today’s guest is Sam X Renick.  Sam and I talk about what inspired him to start getting the message out to kids about teaching them great money habits, and how he created the character Sammy Rabbit to be a platform for this message.  We discuss the importance of habit formation around saving, spending, giving and earning.  And we talk about why saving is the #1 money habit kids can learn and why the numerous benefits of developing that habit transcend the actual financial benefit or interest income that the kids would receive.  We talk about how parents can use money scripts to develop positive associations around money with their kids.  We talk about why we should give our money a purpose.  We get into why we, as parents, are most qualified to teach our kids about money, even if we cannot role model everything that we want them to learn and that why it’s important to teach them when they are young to take advantage of that window of opportunity.  We also cover why habits are so powerful and why they are predictive in helping our kids succeed.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session014

#013.  Today’s guest is Dani Mendonsa.  Dani and I talk about some of early childhood lessons Dani’s parents taught her about money as well as how a sports injury caused Dani to pivot and get involved in the teaching profession.  Dani’s done some outstanding work helping to co-create the ChooseFI financial literacy curriculum from the ground up where she served as the co-curriculum lead for the K-Gr5 writing team.  We talk about why it was critical to integrate elements of financial independence (FI) into the ChooseFI financial literacy curriculum.  We also talk about the Passport to FI, a fun activity for kids to collect stamps and actively learn how to get on the path to FI.  We also dive into the themes around the series of books she recently authored for 7-10 yr old kids to bring money concepts to life including meal preparation, budgeting, entrepreneurship, buying new vs used, and vacations to name a few.  And we cover why it is important to have kids involved in these processes and decisions and how it develops ownership and makes it more memorable.

Show notes and more at:

https://moneydadpodcast.com/session013