How to Teach Your Children About Money

Mindy:
Welcome to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, show number 129 where we bring back Tiffany Aliche, The Budgetnista to talk about teaching your children all about money.

Tiffany:
You’re not trying to create like this perfect kid that’s going to know all the things, that you’re just wanting to give them enough exposure so they can start to generate interest in different things. And especially, when it comes to financial education, to me it’s as important as reading, writing, adding and subtracting. If you cannot manage your money, you will not be able to eat, you will not be able to sleep someplace safe. You will not be able to transport yourself from one place to another. You have to have some basic core financial education if not, it’s going to be very difficult to be an adult.

Mindy:
Hello, hello, hello. My name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my “they didn’t teach you this stuff in school” co-host, Scott Trench.

Scott:
I’m certainly super intending to teach you something with this podcast episode, Mindy.

Mindy:
Oh. Scott and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else and show you that by following the proven path, you can put yourself on the road to early financial freedom and get money out of the way so you can lead your best life.

Scott:
That’s right. Whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big-time investments in assets like real estate, start your own business or simply learn how to teach your children about money, we’ll help you build a position capable of launching yourself towards your dreams.

Mindy:
Today, we welcome back Tiffany Aliche, The Budgetnista to the podcast. We last spoke with Tiffany on episode eight where she shared her financial story. To give you a bit of a recap, Tiffany grew up talking about money. Her dad is an accountant, her mom was actively involved in teaching the children daily financial discussions like grocery shopping. Basically, Tiffany was financially perfect. Those are her exact words. She had a good job. She had a home that she owned. She was saving money for retirement. But then she met a friend who convinced her to invest in a way that was not beneficial to her.
Life didn’t think that was quite enough so it threw 2008 at her, closed the school she was teaching at and foreclose on her home. But rather than accept her downturn, she realized, “I need to take responsibility for my past actions and turned my life around.” That is also a direct quote. And did she ever? Tiffany has a passion for budgeting. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and she has combined her passion for budgeting with her passion for children and teaching to create the Live Richer Challenge, The Budgetnista, like 50 other things and she is…

Scott:
A serial entrepreneur, massive success story, changing literally millions of people’s lives today across the various businesses she started, and I would venture to say modestly financial successful in the process.

Mindy:
Modestly financially successful, yes. Ridiculously financially successful. Before we tell Tiffany’s whole story, let’s hear a note from today’s show sponsor.
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Okay. Huge thanks to the sponsor of today’s show. Tiffany Aliche is The Budgetnista. Welcome back to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast.

Tiffany:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited. Last time I was on, so many people we’re like, “You were on a podcast.” I’m like, “Yes, I was.” So it’s awesome to be back.

Scott:
Well, this time around everyone is going to be like, “You had The Budgetnista.” So it’s come full circle from this time, I think.

Mindy:
I know a lot of podcasters and they’ll send me notes. Everyone is like, “Hey, how’d you get that guest on?” “I know people.” So we last spoke to you on episode eight of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast which came out in February of 2018 and since then, you’ve been a busy little beaver. You’ve been on the Today Show. You’ve been on MSNBC, PBS. Last week you were on Queer Eye. How did you even get on there? I didn’t even know. I’m scrolling through Facebook and somebody’s like, “Did anybody else freak out when they were watching Queer Eye and there’s Tiffany? I have to go watch that now. How did that happen?

Tiffany:
Honestly, they slid in to DMs, one of the producers on IG. She was like, “Hey, we’ve got an amazing person, his name is Tyreek and he needs some financial guidance. Are you, fingers crossed, you live near Philly?” And I was like, “Yeah, I live in Jersey. It’s totally like an hour and some change drive away. I can come.” And they didn’t know this, but they never had a financial coach or whatever on the show before ever. And so I went and Tyreek was just awesome and amazing. Just a big huge heart. He actually texted me today. I was like checking in on him like, “How you doing?” He slid in the DMs and I went down there and they signed me to an NDA. It’s been almost a year. So I’ve been like [inaudible 00:05:50].

Mindy:
Oh my goodness.

Tiffany:
Yes. It just feels surreal because so many people have reached out to me as a result of that.

Mindy:
That’s awesome, that’s awesome. You were on the show on episode eight, and I sung your praises back then for the Live Richer Challenge which I still love. I think that your information is outdated on your website because it says only 700,000 women have gone through it, but I thought it was more than a million.

Tiffany:
Yes. For the challenges stuff, we have more than a million dreamcatcher. So that’s like our Beyonce’s Beyhive. I would say about 900,000 women have gone through one or more of the challenges. There’s the fundamental, savings edition, credit addition, home buying network. So there are five Live Richer Challenges that are still completely free.

Mindy:
For people who are listening now, if you are just starting to get your financial life in order, you know somebody who needs to get their financial life in order and has expressed interest because you don’t want to be preachy, livericherchallenge.com will take you step-by-step. It’s, what, like a four-week process or five-week process?

Tiffany:
So it depends which one you choose. They’re about a month long, but it’s an email course. It comes directly to your inbox and I use my preschool teacher like super Spidey senses to really walk you through as if you are a four-year-old learning personal finance and really just walk you through with kindness but just real clear direction. You don’t have to know how to do anything except for read, write, add, subtract. Everything else, I give you all the scripts, all the lessons, everything that you need and it’s completely free. This is like year five or six right now? And so they’ve been free. Really, it’s my give back to my community.

Mindy:
It is fantastic.

Scott:
I think it should be a requirement that everyone has to study finance in some form at some point on these lines. What do you think, Mindy?

Mindy:
Raise your hand if you have a law named after you?

Tiffany:
I do, I do.

Mindy:
That’s another thing that you’ve been up to since we last spoke. You have a law named after you, The Budgetnista Law passed in January of 2019 making financial education mandatory for middle school students in New Jersey. First of all, that’s amazing and now we are 150th of the way there.

Tiffany:
Thankfully, there are some other states that have financial education that’s mandatory. So Jersey actually was ahead of the curve. So before my law, there was a law in place already for high school which is awesome. And so when a friend of mine who actually was a student in one of my free classes I used to teach at the United Way came to me, her name was Angela B. McKnight. I forget what she was doing back then as a living, but she did a lot of volunteer work in her city where she lives, Jersey City so much so that someone said, “You should run for office.” So she did it and she became an assemblywoman.
As soon as that happened, she said, “Tiffany, I want to create real lasting change. I want to do so through education. I want to write a law about financial education.” And I said, “Well, there’s already won for high school. But Angela, I used to be a preschool teacher for over 10 years and I used to teach age-appropriate financial education to my little ones. Financial education should start as young as possible.” She was like, “Well, let’s do it. Let’s write a law for middle school and elementary school.
And so we worked on it. At first, it read a little differently. It read like it was really clear and specific about the ways that financial education had to roll out, but then we had some pushback from some teachers and educators and even I had to understand because when I was a teacher there used to be these new mandates that would happen and you’re like, “Well, what am I supposed to fit that into the educational day?”
So we really wrote the law to soften it to say that you integrate financial education. And I really help the educators on the education committee understand that integration meant that you could be doing an art project for the art component of the day and maybe the kids are making savings boxes out of shoeboxes. So you don’t have to stop, money time like that’s the part. That’s hard for educators to be like, “Now, we have to talk about money.” It’s like no.
Instead for the math portion of the day, maybe you guys are counting the money that you saved in like a jar that you’re going to be giving to charity. And so it was awesome in that. We wrote this law. It was supposed to be for elementary school and middle school. We did all this work, met with committee, got the Senate and the House on board, but on both sides of the party, everyone was like, “Yes, this is awesome.” It goes to the governor, Governor Christie at the time who was on his way out. He said he would sign it, he didn’t.
And in the state of New Jersey when a bill is not signed, it’s automatically vetoed. And so we were like, “No.” All of that hard work. But the good news is we went back to the drawing board. And you have to do the process all over again. But this time for some reason there was some pushback about the elementary school component and we were like, “Fine, fine, fine, fine. We’ll just do middle school.” And our current governor, Phil Murphy said, “Absolutely. We think it’s awesome.”
And not only do I think it’s awesome, I want to actually do a public signing which is awesome because most laws, they get passed no one kind of knows, but my mom got to come, my friends got to come. The school where they did it was a middle school so the kids got to see an actual law being signed into law. And so it’s officially called A1414 if you want to do your googles. But we call it The Budgetnista Law around these parts.

Scott:
Love it. Do you require BiggerPockets Money as part of that integration?

Tiffany:
No. I mean, here’s the thing, I didn’t realize but a few of my financial friends actually were paid to come in as folks to come help New Jersey integrate that law into their school systems. So I thought it was so awesome that it didn’t just help kids, it actually helped create jobs, which I didn’t anticipate. I mean, when the law was signed and hit me, but it didn’t hit me like what it meant in real life until around the corner my friend Rianna Liz, she and her husband, they’ve got a daughter, Olivia. Olivia is in middle school and one day she was doing her homework and she said, “Miss Tiffany,” because she knows I teach financial education as The Budgetnista.
She said, “Can you help me with my homework?” I don’t understand this part. So I’m looking at it and I’m like, “Oh, it was homework about money.” And I’m like, “You guys are learning money in school? You’re learning money in school? Wow. I did that.” It was a full circle moment of like not this kind of esoteric is a law. It’s like, “No, Olivia is learning money in school because you got a law written and now her life is not going to be the same.” So that’s just awesome.

Mindy:
Well, I am so pleased that New Jersey has a law. I’m not sure that Colorado has a law. I have a seventh-grader. Well, she just finished seventh grade, so she’s 2/3 of the way through middle school and there’s been like a comment, but not a whole plan. What is it called, Junior Achievement? Is that the financial…

Tiffany:
Yes.

Mindy:
So they came in second or third grade for her, but then my younger one didn’t have anything. So I think Colorado needs to catch up with New Jersey a little bit.

Tiffany:
Absolutely.

Mindy:
We have had people ask questions about how to teach their children about money and it’s tough because how much information is too much information to give them? You don’t want to, “Hey, sweetheart. Let’s talk about budgeting.” She’s like, “I’m three. I don’t know what I’m talking about.” Actions speak louder than words, but you also need to use your words to teach your children. And then one day I got this email that The Budgetnista has written a children’s book. And I responded right away. I’m like, “I have got to bring Tiffany back on the show.” Because who better to teach children about money than a former preschool teacher who now teaches everybody about money.

Tiffany:
Yes.

Mindy:
So Tiffany, why do you think parents have such a hard time teaching their kids about money?

Tiffany:
Oh, one, I think a lot of parents feel like they don’t know about money so they’re like, “How am I going to teach something I don’t know?” And then two, especially culturally, I think a lot of parents come from a cultural background that says that it’s not appropriate for kids to learn about money.

Mindy:
It’s not appropriate for anyone to talk about money.

Tiffany:
Yes. But I say it’s not appropriate for kids not to learn. It’s inappropriate not to teach your children about money. Because here’s what happens. Your three-year-old that doesn’t learn about money becomes the 13-year old that’s like, “Huh, I don’t know anything about money.” Becomes the 18-year-old that’s like, “I don’t know anything about money.” Then becomes the 30-year-old that’s still sleeping on your couch.
At some point, there has to be an injection of education and the earlier you start, the better. So the purpose for example for The Budgetnista Law, it’s not that these middle schoolers are going to lead trading stocks by the end of middle school, but it’s going to normalize the conversation about money because once you begin to normalize it, then you can start integrating it into your day to day life.
That’s what we’re wanting. We’re wanting that the first time you hear budget is not when you’re just graduating college or the first time you learn about credit. I know I had credit cards in college. I didn’t know. I used to sign up for credit card so I can get Snickers bars. I’m like, “Yes, I’ll take the giant Snickers bar. Here’s my life signed away.” And I didn’t know it wasn’t until after I graduated and I remember I was checking my credit report for the first time, I had 21 credit cards. I was like, “No, I don’t.” And I was like, “Wait, 21 Snickers bar sounds about right.”
So I learned that the best way to teach financial education to kids is the way that I grew up learning that my parents did a really good job into matching what I cared about as a kid to what they cared about as an adult. I mean newsflash. The parents, their kids don’t care about your bills. They don’t. But they do care about things like candy, a bike.
I remember my very first financial lesson. I vaguely remember, but I don’t know if I remember just because they told me the lesson so often is that I apparently had this obsession turning on water. I turn on water everywhere and it was Feng Shui before Feng Shui was a thing. And my parents were like, “How do we get four year old Tiffany to stop leaving the water on and having a meltdown if we turn it off?
And so one of the things that my dad did was we didn’t have a lot of money as a kid when we were growing up. And so we used to have to rotate ice cream days. You could get ice cream like once a month, but my day since I’m the second oldest was Tuesday, so I can go inside on the Tuesday and get my dollar and then the rest of my sisters would have to go inside and get ice cream from the freezer.
But I could go to the ice cream truck when the ice cream truck came around on Tuesday. So it’s Tuesday, normal turn the water on, wasting water as usual. It’s Tuesday. “Hey, I hear the ice cream man. Daddy, can I have my dollar?” “You just missed the water man.” I’m like, “Okay, what does that mean?” So apparently when the water man comes, you have to pay him and I didn’t have any other money except for your ice cream day dollar. Apparently I don’t remember, but they said I had the meltdown of all meltdowns.
Like, “What do you mean the water man took my dollar?” He was like, “You can still get ice cream but just from the freezer.” “I don’t want ice cream from the freezer.” But one thing I know for sure, I never, ever ran that water again because he paired what was important to me, which was ice cream to what was important to him, the water bill. And so that was the start of having those types of conversations like, “Hey, Tiffany. You want a bike for your 10th birthday?” “Absolutely, I did. “We’ll sit down and you have to do the budget with me.” “Okay. Well, what does that mean?” “Well, here’s all the expenses that your mom and I have and here’s what me and mommy makes every month. So I’m going to let you use my fancy calculator to subtract what we spend from what we make.”
And really I was looking at the expenses and asking, “What does that mean?” I’m nine going on 10. “What’s a mortgage?” “What we paid for the house every month.” “You pay for the house every month? I thought you bought it like a shirt, one time. It’s done.” And so learning those things and imagine adding up the money and figuring out what your bike budget is going to be based upon all these things, cost money and then you guys make this and this is what’s left over? And even which was left over, some of it has to be saved and then some of it has to go to my sisters. And then I get this much money with bike money?
So really those things stuck with me. And so I tell parents first and foremost, figure out what’s important to your kid and then match it to what’s important to you and that’s how you’re going to start to integrate age-appropriate financial education to them.

Scott:
Do you have a framework? I think that’s a wonderful set of things. I’m trying to try to think through this because I don’t have kids so this is a hard thing for me to wrap my mind around with what these things are. But do you have any frameworks for milestones maybe or concepts that you should teach at various ages like early years, four, five, six years old?

Tiffany:
Absolutely.

Scott:
They should be learning these concepts middle school?

Tiffany:
So I would say super young, meaning like under the age of five. The pre-financial education is what you’re looking at. So those are things like that’s why I wrote… (singing). I’m getting my band a black [inaudible 00:18:54] set up in a white then a black.

Scott:
Awesome.

Tiffany:
Happy Birthday Mali More. For example, this book is ideally for three to seven year olds, right? It teaches concepts like donating, less versus more, giving, sharing. So those are pre financial education lessons. So math is a pre-financial education lesson and before math is even the book rhymes on purpose because when you rhyme, that means you can count and keep up. And if you can count and keep up, you can start to learn about numbers and if you can learn about numbers, then you can start to learn math. And math is a pre-financial education lesson.
But really especially in that book, Happy Birthday Mali More teaches… Mali gets all these presents and she gets so many presents, it actually starts to push out her family and friends, and she has to decide what’s more important, the presents or family and friends? And she decides instead to donate some of her present so other people can enjoy it. That’s a free financial education lesson. So that’s something that you would teach that’s age-appropriate for a little one.
Now, let’s start talking about elementary school. So now by now, they have some of these basic concepts like counting and sharing and giving. These are some basic concepts they might have already learned. But for elementary school, now you can start teaching them about actual core concept like saving, right? So one of the things that I was able to do when I was a kid, I had a piggy bank. And whenever we got paid, my parents would give us money and they said you have to always save some.
So for allowance. So making sure that your child knows that with the money that they receive some of it has to always be set aside for savings and saving for why, for what. Explaining what that means. So having those conversations. So I’ve got a bonus daughter. She’s now 13 going on 45. And when my husband I got together, she was like six or seven. So she was in that like elementary school age range and we used to, also in that age range, introduce core concepts and using the right words like budget.
So we would go out shopping and before I came, her dad was just… Because she’s the only child. Her dad would just by her whatever like, “Oh, we’re at a store. Get whatever doll you want.” And I would be like, “Is it her birthday? Is it something I’m unaware of? Of course she loved me.” And I’m like, “Why don’t we just give her stuff for getting her stuff.” And she was like, “I have a good thing going.”
I was like, “No, why don’t we create a budget for her?” She does little things around the house and we give her like $5 here and there. She puts some in her piggy bank, and she knows what her budget is based upon what’s in her piggy bank. And when I tell you, she actually truly enjoyed that. Kids are more autonomous than we give him credit for versus saying, “Go pick out a doll.” She loved knowing, “Hey, Tiffany. What’s my budget?” “It’s $5.” And now she can choose what she wants with her $5.
She loved that. And it was way less expensive than getting her some random doll. So we would always do that like, “What’s my budget?” And so that was introducing core terms in elementary school. And then I would say high school, this is when you really start to ramp up, right? So in high school a lot of kids can start to work and so I encouraged that like in the summertime making money… And so my dad used to sit down with us where we would make money and every pay period, he would sit down and we would have to map out what are we going to do with this?
So he was teaching us had a budget but in real time. So you can start doing that with your high schooler as money starts to come in mapping out what are we going to do with those funds? At the end of the day, we want to teach kids that some of your money is for spending, some of your money is for saving and some of your money is for investing. Those are the three things. I actually bought like it was a special piggy bank that had those three sections.
So Alyssa used to know that whenever she got money, she had to put something in those three sections to start to get that habit going. So high school actually starting to do the work with your finances, middle school learning the basics and saving and learning how to navigate that in the real world. Just a little bit and then really elementary school learning the terms and for really, really little ones learning the basic tenets like sharing, giving service.

Scott:
Awesome. I think it’s a fantastic framework with that. Is there anything you could share about how she’s handling money currently? Are you noticing a lot of payoff with what you’ve kind of worked on over the years and that she’s got a very good advanced ability to handle that right now?

Tiffany:
No.

Scott:
Not what I was expecting.

Mindy:
I’m so glad you said no because I’m failing too and I don’t want to be the failure.

Tiffany:
But here’s what I learned because when my dad was teaching me at 13, I was like, “Whatever, dude. When I get my paycheck from this little babysitting, I’m totally going to the store buying candy.” You know what it is. But what I realized and what my dad realized that the lesson wasn’t for 13. The lesson for was Tiffany 40 now. You know what I mean? So you realize like oh. Because the truth is a 13-year-old typically is not paying bills. There not needing to be financially responsible. So I’m okay with her not “learning the lesson” right now because you think she’s not learning until I had a vision board party in January for my friends and so she came and she was doing her vision board. And the other day I was cleaning up her room because it was just a mess, and I saw her vision board on the wall and she had financial goals on her vision board. I was like, “Something is sticking in.”
She wrote that she wanted to start a business and this is how much money she needed, and this how much money she thought she can make. And I thought to myself, you think she’s not listening, but she is. So if you do have a teenager, I mean, they just by nature are not listening. That’s what it seems like, but it is a slow soak and although she’s not a junior Bill Gates or junior Warren Buffett, something is sinking in.
My dad, we used to always say, “Let it not be said that I didn’t say.” So at the very least, let it not be said I didn’t say that. I’m going to say the things over and over and over, and something will stick. Something is better than nothing and you just never know where it’s going to turn out. Because I was the hardheaded one and look at me now, The Budgetnista. My daddy today is blown away. He can’t believe it. He’s like, “Tiffany, of all my girls…” He was like, “You could have paid me money and I would have lost that money.”

Scott:
This makes parenting sound a little harder than I envisioned.

Mindy:
Oh no, Scott. It’s super easy. You should have nine kids. Okay. When you were saying that it stuck, I got goosebumps, because also if she’s not listening, my kids aren’t listening. They don’t care at all. But then they do because I remember the one time. There’s probably others, but my daughter said to me, “Mom, if we can find it at a thrift store or a garage sale, can I buy it?” And I was like, “Yes, of course we can.” Because I know we’re never going to find it there because it’s a brand new thing.
But I was like, “She’s listening, she’s listening.” Even though most of the time, it’s in one ear and out the other. You know what, I think it’s really important to hear successful people talk about the struggles that they have too with their kids because if you think that like, “Why am I not doing it perfectly? Why can’t I convey these messages to my kids?” Because they’re not ready for it. What did you say? The lesson wasn’t for age 13, it’s for when you’re 40.

Tiffany:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So I can lean back on it because imagine if I had nothing to lean back on, it’s like, “I’m ready.” Wait, I don’t have the foundation to know. When I was 21, right after graduating college is usually when the light bulb goes on because that’s when kids are like, “Oh, I want to buy a car. I want to get an apartment. I want to get these things.” And you’re like, “Wait.” So that’s typically when like I never have a more engaged audience then I’m about to graduate college students. Because they’re like, “Tell me all the things. Tell me all the things.” I’m scared about it.
Like I said in the state of New Jersey, imagine if you had kindergarten all the way up into 12th grade of financial knowledge built-in when you’re finally ready to activate that now. It’s there. You can grab for something. And so that’s why it’s important for parents now. Whatever it is. No matter how difficult or how much your kid doesn’t want to hear, it’s important to be said because when they need it, they have to be able to tap into something. You don’t want them to need it and not be able to tap into that.

Scott:
Do you work with a lot of adults who didn’t have those lessons in any format like yours and what is their kind of take on the situation? Is there anger, frustration that they didn’t learn those things? How do you kind of feel about the interactions you might have with folks who didn’t get these when they’re growing up?

Tiffany:
Almost, I would say a good 99% of folks did not have parents at home who taught financial education. It’s normal not to get it at home. And so there is a level of frustration. So many people say, “I wish I would have known when I was younger. I wish I could have started sooner. I wish I would have known.” So I get that a lot and I’m like, “Well, now you know and now you’re learning.” They say what is the best time is yesterday, but the next best time is right now.
And so I tell people like five years is going to pass anyway how will it pass. Will you have leaned into learning more? Will you have leaned into earning more? Will you have leaned into navigating your finances more? So now is the time. It’s okay if you didn’t grow up with it, but you’re here now. So that’s the basis of what The Budgetnista is built upon which is when you’re ready here are the tools. I used to do one-on-ones. I don’t anymore because I find that people who typically come to me for one-on-ones are not usually ready.
Something’s happened. They’ve lost their car. They got a call from the bill collector. Something visceral has happened and they’re like, “Ah! I need help.” But it’s not enough to sustain the work that they’re going to need to do to really make a change. So I don’t do one-on-ones anymore because those people typically are not really ready. They’re just reacting to something that’s happened. So instead, I’ve created these courses and classes and largely for free, because when you are truly ready, you’ll take the class. That’s the person that’s ready who’s willing to sit for the three weeks and to take the class and to do the lessons. That’s when it’s going to stick. I can’t make you ready, but what I can do is when you are ready, create the resource for you.

Scott:
My next question is going to be along these lines of, “Hey, maybe I’ve got a middle schooler or a high schooler and it’s been a long time since I did algebra,” or whatever it is they’re studying these days. “And I’m struggling to even help them with that work. How can I begin going about teaching money concepts?” Is that kind of your advice there is go take a course, go learn it, and then teach it or how would you go about helping a parent in that situation?

Tiffany:
Yes, you could. But some of the stuff you think you don’t know but it’s like saying, “How are you teaching your child to brush their teeth or brush their hair?” You know what I mean? There’s a basic concepts that you can still teach your child without having to be some sort of expert. You’re paying bills, right? The next time you pay bills, they could sit next to you and you can show them I’m paying bills. You’ll be surprised, kids have no idea what’s happening. I remember something as simple as paying bills, it’s like, “Bills are paid? Wait a minute.”
There was a part of me that I saw. It’s something to the effect like, “Man, you don’t realize how much things cost until you move out. The cereal really surprised me.” And someone was like, “Well, detergent surprised the hell out of me.” Because at 22, like this is how much detergent cost? What?

Mindy:
It’s like $10 a bottle.

Tiffany:
And you’re like, “My mom was buying detergent at this cost.” So you don’t have to be an expert. Literally, just living your life as an adult and letting them have a sneak peek in is more than enough. So you’re going food shopping. Give them the budget. We have a hundred dollars to go food shopping. Let them pick the items off the shelf and check them off the list, and add them up on their calculator. You’re doing that anyway. So involve them in those kind of activities, those financial activities you do as an adult. So you don’t have to take a class to do that. You’re living that life. You’re paying bills, you’re buying things. You’re negotiating things. Letting your children see you doing that so they can be like, “Oh, wow. This is why I couldn’t get the Jordans for $100 because we have to eat.”
So letting them in on some of that adults interaction is going to be critically important. Because I do that with Alyssa, my bonus daughter, right? So even with The Budgetnista, when I would get paid to do a speaking engagement, it’s probably one of the reasons why she has on her vision board I want to be… She has a big pile of money and she wrote entrepreneurship. I was rolling. And she literally wrote, “I want to make a big pile of money.” Because I used to let her when I got like speaking engagements and stuff.
When the check came in, I used to let her open it and see how much it was, but then I would also let her sit down with me and show her in business where I’m like, “And I’ve got to pay this person and I’ve got to pay this person.” She was like, “Well, there’s hardly any left.” Exactly. Letting kids in on like the magic curtain, letting them see behind that curtain is going to be a critical lesson to teach them.

Mindy:
That is fantastic. And yeah, when you get that giant check, you’re like, “Wow, this is amazing.” But you can’t show them half the story. You can’t say, “Look at my big paycheck.” You have to show them where it all goes to because it goes everywhere.

Tiffany:
Yes. When she saw that she was like, “What?” I remember we used to do this thing where I told her how business works and she was so cute. I told her I was like, “When you work on a regular nine-to-five, the government tells you what your taxes are. They say, “Hey, Tiffany. You’re a teacher. You make $50,000 a year and your taxes are 15,000, 20,000, whatever.” And I was like, “But it’s different for a business because she saw me saving a receipt one day and she’s like, “Why are you saving the receipt?”
I said, “Well, for a business, I get to tell the government what my taxes are different from when I was a teacher. So the government says, you made $200 and you’re going to owe tax on 200. I say, no, here’s my receipt. I bought a laptop and here’s my receipt. I bought clothes for The Budgetnista, here’s my receipt.” And I was like, “So with that, I get to reduce how much it looked like I made because I had to use that money to run the business. So I only paid taxes on what’s left.”
After that, I mean she was finding receipts. She used to bring receipts home from the ground. I was like that’s not how that works. I mean, she was like seven and I thought the fact that she realized like, “Wait a minute. You can reduce you know what your income is.” I mean, who thinks that at seven? But because I explained it to her even though she thought about in her seven year old way, she was like, “Okay, Tiffany needs receipts to prove that she’s using these things to grow her business.”
So things like that, you’d be surprised, those things stick with kids. Everything you say obviously sticks with your kid. It might not seem like they’re listening, but I used to say that a really good lesson is like a lotion on a cold day, right? First, you put it in and it’s just kind of sitting on top of your skin and slowly but surely it does soak in.

Scott:
As you talk about these messages and those types of things, and as your kids mature into high school, maybe either go on into college, when do you think that we can get to the, in my view, the really exciting part of this which is communicating the concept of financial freedom or entrepreneurship that’s investing, those kinds of concepts? What are those conversations looks like to you and how do you get more maturing kids excited about that stuff?

Tiffany:
So I think that can start as early as middle school. I can remember my father and his friends, and my mom, they had something called a sou-sou. So sou-sou is very common in different cultures and that’s when collectively people kind of put money into a pot and then the pot changes hands every month. And so I remember like we were really little because to me a sou-sou just meant we have a party once a month. So if it was our turn to receive the money and you had the party at your house. If it was at my aunt’s house, we knew she was getting the money.
But I remember when we were really little, they started a sou-sou off. It was like a hundred bucks a month. And by the time I got to high school it was $2,000 a month. And my dad, because he was good at investing, half of that money was for sou-sou savings pot. The other thousand, they started an investment club. So here we are, “Yeah, my aunts and uncles are over. My cousins are over.” And we’re all eating food and laughing and dancing, but then they’re also talking about here’s our investment portfolio. Here’s where it’s going.
So he normalized that part like we’re investing family friends for eating. So this is the thing that you’ve seen happen over and over and now it’s starting to elevate. So it just seemed very normal that like, “Oh, people invest. People have investment clubs.” I didn’t think about that as something odd. And I just remember one day like they were passing around the investment portfolio and I was just kind of sitting there. I must have been like in, I don’t know, maybe eight or ninth grade and they passed it to me and I’m looking at it and I didn’t know what I was looking at and my uncle was explaining like, “Last month, we made this.” And I was just like, “Oh, oh, okay. Well, this is good. This is $10,000 in here. You guys started off with eight.”
So I think honestly as middle school and really getting into the meat and potatoes, definitely high school because even now to this day, I still learned from my dad when I come over. He still invests. He still leans, and if anything, he’s a little bit too. I’m like, “Dad, you are 73. Why are you so heavily invested in that?” But he likes that. “Why? Because that’s retirement money.” I’m like, “We’re here now, dude. You need to be more safely invested.”
So still even to this day, he still talks about it conversationally. So I think that allowing your children to be around it, showing them not only like explaining investment statements to them, but explaining what each component means and then what does it mean for them. Because at the end of the day, people, especially children are self-centered. This is one of the reasons why we were able to go to Disney World because, look, our stocks went up. This is one of the reasons why we were able to… You know what I mean? If you tie that back in to what’s important to children and it’s like, “Well, how do I do that?”
Although I saw my dad investing, I wasn’t super duper interested. I really didn’t start investing quite honestly until my late 20s on my own. But at least it was something that I saw, so it wasn’t a foreign concept to me. It just wasn’t something I was super interested in, but I think it’s important that exposure is what’s most important.

Mindy:
So you said you start around middle school. I can tell you that age 10 is too early because my 10-year-old wants to retire, which is great. She wants to retire early. I’m super excited. Both my husband and I talk about money all the time, probably too much, but she wants to retire from school. And you can’t do that in fifth grade.

Scott:
What if she develops a 30, $40,000 a year in passive income. Would your tune change then, Mindy?

Mindy:
No. She still has to graduate high school?

Tiffany:
You have to learn to read, write, add, subtract. At the very least graduate high school.

Mindy:
You have to graduate high school. I’m not going to force you to go to college. College isn’t the best choice for everybody.

Tiffany:
Yes, I agree.

Mindy:
But high school is. Graduate high school.

Tiffany:
Absolutely.

Mindy:
Start your business now. She is rabid about crocheting. She’s been learning since she was five. She didn’t have the manual dexterity to do it at age five so her stitches weren’t nice or even or neat, but as she kept at it over and over again she’s learned it. She’s making blankets and you look at the blanket, you’re like, “I could sell that on Etsy. I want to create an Etsy store for you.” She’s like, “I don’t want to make blankets for people.” I’m like, “What if they would give you $400 for that blanket?” And she said, “Oh. What color do you want?”

Tiffany:
It’s true because I can remember being little and there was a young girl. She had to be maybe like 15, 16, but she was really great at braiding. And my mom did not know how to braid our hair. And so on Saturdays and Sundays, we would walk down the street and sit on her front porch and she would be braiding like all the neighborhood girls hair and she’d make 10, $15 a pop. And so she was only allowed to work on the weekend. So she was braiding and she saved up enough money. I remember by the time she was like 18 or 19, I think she bought herself a car like a little used car.
But what a great lesson to learn and starting a business. Even now Alyssa was like. “I want to start a business.” What does she want to do? She wanted to start a lip gloss business, and I was like, “Okay. In the middle of a quarantine, sounds cute.” So she added up all the things she needed for her lip gloss business. It was $450. I was like, “Who’s giving you $450?” And she’s like, “You guys are not going to invest in my idea?” I’m like, “$450? No.” I was like, “How about this? Whatever you invest, we can match it.”
I made her watch Shark Tank. I said these are the questions we’re going to ask you. Similar to this. A little nicer, but still, right? Let me see if I can find it. I told her, whatever money she came up with, we would match it, my husband and I. Someone had given her a bracelet making kit. They’re just rubber bands that you weave together to make bracelets. So she started making them and selling them to family and friends. I didn’t realize what she was doing, she was self-funding her own business. So I thought, “Oh, she switched business model. She doesn’t want to do lip gloss anymore.” So she made, I would say, a good $90 with these little rubber bracelet because I think they were three bucks a piece.
So I was like, “Oh, she switched business.” And then she came up to me was like, “Okay. I have $90. So with your 90…” I’m like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did you get $90 from?” She was like, “My bracelets.” And I was like, “Whoa, how great is that?” That this was not the business, this was the business to fund the business that she wants. So now she’s got a room full of lip gloss making kit things which god only knows who she’s going to be hawking that to. But I’m really proud of her because that’s what you’re wanting is that you’re not trying to create like this perfect kid that’s going to know all the things, that you’re just wanted to give them enough exposure so they can start to generate interest in different things.
Especially when it comes to financial education to me, it’s as important as reading, writing, adding and subtracting. If you cannot manage your money, you will not be able to eat, you will not be able to sleep someplace safe. You will not be able to transport yourself from one place to another. You have to have some basic core financial education if not, it’s going to be very difficult to be an adult.

Mindy:
Wow. That’s the quote of the episode.

Scott:
All right. Hope you’re enjoying the show. We’ll be right back after a word from today’s show sponsor.

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Now, I would have talked about your husband before we wrap this all up. Was he always on board with financial education? Okay. So we’ve talked about how to teach kids how to do finances. How did you get him on board? I’m assuming he’s on board.

Tiffany:
He’s on board now. Thank God. But in the beginning, I definitely was what he calls the bully Budgetnista. You’re such a bully Budgetnista. Because I would be like, “We’re doing this and we’re doing this. And this is how it’s going. I know all the things. You don’t know all things.” And he was just like, “Yeah, no.” And so it was so hard because the thing about my husband, he’s not a big spender but he’s a big giver, but to his detriment. Because he will give away our grocery money. I’m like, “Who?” “No, but such and such need money. They need to borrow money.” I’m like, “For a haircut? What about groceries?”
So he is an over giver. And so I tried to figure out like okay, how do I get him on track or just anybody’s partner, right? How do you get them on track without bullying them and making them feel bad? And I thought, “Well, I think in that question lies the answer. What’s something I don’t have to make him feel bad about? What’s something that he’s like, absolutely, I agree?” And that something was Alyssa, our bonus daughter, well, his daughter, right? That there’s never a time when I’m like, “We should save money for Alyssa.” Then he’s like, “It’s a bad idea.”
There was never a time. He’s always like, “Absolutely.” And so I’m like, “Well, that was our foundation.” It was like a common denominator. So when he wanted to give money to somebody random, I’d be like, “That’s fine, but can we also put that $30 in Alyssa’s savings.” Like, “Oh, you want to do this? That’s great. Well, can we also deposit money into Alyssa’s college fund that same amount of money.” Because there was never going to be any push back like, “Why wouldn’t I? Absolutely.”
And so that was the first foundation of we were both on the same page. I knew I wanted more stuff, but I’m like, “No, no. Let’s just get on the same page if we both agree putting money in Alyssa’s savings account and college fund is always a good idea.” And then I travel a lot. I love to travel with my friends. And at the time, we were dating, I remember he would be like, “Oh, I want to go on vacation.” I’m like, “Well, vacation costs money. So if you open up a savings account, you can open up an online-only savings account. I’ll show you how. Why don’t you put your vacation money in there so that way when I’m like, “Look, I’m about to head out, you can be like, ‘ooh, I want to come too’ and you can get your ticket without having to think about it, without having to swipe your credit card.”
And so that was another common denominator and we were all on the same page, great. And then when we knew we were going to get married, it was like saving for a wedding even though I knew that I didn’t want… We ended up going to a justice of the peace. A friend of mine had a restaurant that she let us use because I knew I didn’t want some big expensive wedding. I just wasn’t interested in that. So what really kind of flipped it for him, because when I met my husband I remember he had a truck that was the payment along with the… The insurance is almost $900 a month.
I’m like, “Is this truck lined in gold?” They saw him put it a while away. And his ex-girlfriend was a cosigner, which I was like, “Oh, this is great.” So she’s in our life for the next five years. So I was like, “Yeah. We’re going to have to do something about this truck.” I feel like I was more concerned about the ex-girlfriend being the cosigner than the actual payment. So he ended up giving that truck back and owing still $5,000 balance. I told him it’s a $5,000 loss. It’s a less greater loss than what the loss would be if you continue to pay this for the five years that you owe this truck.
And so he did that, but to me what really flipped the script for my husband is when he could see how when we got the house that we live in now, we were saving, saving. So by the time we got married and then engaged, he’s like, “Okay, I will pay the bills and we will save and invest the money you make as The Budgetnista.” And I said okay. So saving and investing, saving and investing. He was paying the bills, paying the bills.
Well, I was really paying the bills but he was depositing the money in the bills account because I’m the responsible one for turning on the levers. He never really looked at our savings account and we were looking for a house for like two years and every time he put in an offer, someone would come in and get the house because where we live right now was so hot and then the house we live in now came up and they wanted $180,000. But now we’ve been saving for like I want to say four or five years. They want $180,000, but it was a bank-owned property. It was a foreclosure and the bank had been burned so they’re like, “We only want cash.”
And I told my husband I was like, “We could do it.” He was like, “No, did you hear them. Tiffany, they only want cash.” I’m like, “When was the last time you looked at our online-only savings account?” He was like, “Do we have $180,000?” I was like, “We’ve been saving for five years. We live like hermits.” So we were able to purchase this house cash and that’s when it was like, I could see that’s when the big light bulb went on like… But remember, that was like five years into us being together including marriage. So that made him realized, “Okay, this is what being on the same financial page can do that it can allow us to live in our dream home.”
And then we purchased a tax deed from the city that was $10,000 and we’re renovating that. His mom has since passed away, but we were able to pay off my parents home and look after them. So the light bulb turned on when you start to realize to what money can do, but sometimes with your partner it starts with a common denominator or something simple like a vacation fund or putting money in account for a kid.

Scott:
And how much more can he give now given the success you guys have had by being on the same page coming full circle to what was initially the conflict, right?

Tiffany:
Exactly. Now, we set aside like… I mean, for a super girl she’s going to be like awesome, by the time she’s like 30. Like she’s an employee of one of my businesses and we put all her money in a Roth IRA. And he’s like, “What?” I couldn’t have done that then and that’s why I was trying to force with your partner, I couldn’t have started off with that bigger picture that I had to start off with let’s just save in her savings account. Let’s just say for vacation and from there you can build upon this. So that’s why I encourage any savers that are with spenders to start with a common denominator that you can both agree upon.

Scott:
I’ve got a chicken or egg question for you here. Do you think that trying to teach finance to your kids is a way to bring your spouse on board with better financial habits in general or do you think you need to go with the financial habits and getting aligned with your monetary goals together first? Which one do you think is first? Or how would you approach that problem if you’re trying to do both at once with your spouse?

Tiffany:
It depends. Whoever is more malleable. Because I feel like I was teaching Alyssa financial education before I started with my husband, because she was open to it. She was seven. It was like, “Sure. What’s my budget?” And she loved it because her favorite was Staples. So we would go to Staples and she would get $5. She knew there’s one aisle that she was allowed to pick her things from. And you would see her being like, “Okay.” She had an obsession with mechanical pencils. “If I get this one for $3, I can only get this one for a dollar.”
So you see her as she actually enjoyed it. So it wasn’t a hard push on her because he was open to it and then slowly but surely, I brought long. So I’d say whoever is more open to that conversation. I don’t think you necessarily have to start with your significant other first although it’s going to be even more impactful obviously if they’re on the same page. It’s a little harder sometimes with adults because there’s a lot of undoing and unlearning that has to happen. Well, with kids, you’re typically teaching them something new. Not necessarily having them unlearn bad financial habits.

Mindy:
Wow.

Scott:
Great.

Mindy:
That’s an awesome suggestion. Okay. Is there anything else you want to cover before we move on to the famous four questions?

Tiffany:
No. The key is just to get started. That’s with anything, right? So my philosophy with your finance is like, “What’s the next best step?” And I think everybody wants to go from zero to Warren Buffett. It’s just not going to happen. Sometimes the next best step is just… I can remember literally saving $1 a month when the last recession hit, the 2008-2009 recession because I didn’t want to stop the habit of, “Tiffany, I can’t save.” So I was literally transferring a dollar on the first of the month to a savings account just to say, “I still save even though I like have nothing.”
So asking yourself what is the next best step and leaning into what I call your daily deposits. What is something one small thing, you can do a day to work towards your financial goals? So it might be a YouTube video that you watch. It might be listening to an amazing podcast, hint, hint, right? It might be reading a reading an article. What daily deposit I’m constantly working toward like if I say I want financial freedom, I define it and I put a daily deposit toward it every day.

Mindy:
Wow.

Scott:
Awesome.

Mindy:
Yeah. It’s so hard not to just fangirl all over. You’re just fabulous.

Tiffany:
Thank you.

Mindy:
Okay. It is time for the famous four questions. These are the same four questions we ask of all of our guests. Tiffany, are you ready?

Tiffany:
I am ready.

Mindy:
Okay. What is your favorite finance book?

Tiffany:
My favorite finance book is Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach.

Mindy:
Oh, so the last time you were on, you said The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach.

Tiffany:
Yes, I love him.

Mindy:
Apparently, you are a fan.

Tiffany:
I am.

Mindy:
Yes, Smart Women Finish Rich. Awesome.

Scott:
Awesome. What do you think is the big mistake people make when teaching their kids about money?

Tiffany:
The biggest mistake people make when teaching your kids about money is to teach them from a place of fear. Kids are pretty fearless. So you talk about money with a fearful tone, they inherit that tone from you.

Scott:
Love it. That’s a great answer. I’ll have to think about that.

Mindy:
What is your best piece of advice for people who are just starting out?

Tiffany:
So my best piece of advice if you’re just starting out is to do what I call simple and soon. Those are my two favorite words. So not to over complicate it. I get it, you’re like, “I’m not ready for a budget.” You don’t need to be. Go to HR. Typically, most paychecks can be split up to four different ways. I have my husband do this, four different ways. Even if it’s not a huge company. Most small companies will allow you to do so too. So from the very beginning, you go to HR and ask them to split your check.
And here’s what you’re going to want to do. You’re going to want to have some of your check put until a bills account so you can pay bills from that account, have some of your check put into a checking account for spending and that’s your allowance, and have some of your check go into an emergency account and you’re ideally wanting to grow up to six months of emergency savings and then have some of your check set aside for a more long-term financial goal.
So those are the four splits. If you just do that, that will totally transform your life. So when my husband’s money comes in now, all he worries about is the money that’s on this debit card because you don’t let your debit card to your bills checking account. The money that’s on this debit card is my spending money, because my bills are in my bills account and are automatically paid. His personal savings is in his savings account. His joint savings goes to our joint savings account and his allowance money is put on his debit card account. So all he has to do is spend his allowance money however he wants knowing that the other responsibilities are taken care of. So simple and soon. Go to HR if possible and have your checks split up.

Mindy:
That is excellent advice. We’ve never heard that before.

Tiffany:
Oh, thanks.

Mindy:
I love that.

Scott:
All right. Now, for the last question we’re famous for, what is your favorite joke to tell at parties? If you don’t have a joke, I think Mindy has got a couple.

Tiffany:
Yes, please.

Mindy:
How does a penguin build its house?

Tiffany:
Oh, a penguin. I don’t know.

Mindy:
It glues it together.

Tiffany:
Oh, no. [crosstalk 00:54:44]

Scott:
You got that one cold, Mindy. That was good.

Mindy:
Oh god, Scott. Okay. Tiffany, where can people find out more about you? Do you have a website?

Tiffany:
Of course, I do. I’m The Budgetnista on all the social platforms on YouTube, on Instagram. And I’m The Budgetnista at thebudgetnista.com so you could definitely find me there. And for my children’s book if you’ve got little ones and you’re like, “You know what, I do want to start teaching age-appropriate financial education because at the back of the book, I actually have some extended lesson questions and activities to do with your kid because I know people are like, “What do I do?” It’s like, “You don’t have to worry.” The teacher had me put that at the back of the book, so that way you’re a teacher or parent. You can extend the financial lessons. You can go to malimore.com. M-A-L-I M-O-R-E .com and yeah, get the book and start teaching age-appropriate financial education today.

Mindy:
That’s awesome. And we will have links to all of these things in our show notes which can be found at biggerpockets.com/moneyshow129. Tiffany, I am so excited that you were able to find some time in your very busy schedule to come on to our show. Do you sleep ever?

Tiffany:
I do. I’ve always been a super hyperactive kid. I feel like I’ve just been putting the hyperactivity to good use.

Mindy:
Well, it’s awesome.

Scott:
Awesome. It’s been very fun to watch the success you’ve had over several years, but in particular the last year or two, it’s been wonderful and well-deserved.

Tiffany:
Thank you.

Scott:
So we’re excited to see what happens next.

Tiffany:
Thank you. Me too. I’m always like, “I’m along for the ride.” I don’t take anything for granted. I’m always like, “Woo-hoo. Okay.”

Mindy:
Yeah, the energy that you have is like just you. You’re not just okay, let me turn this on for the show and then turn it back off again. You’re just excited all the time that’s so awesome.

Tiffany:
I am. Thank you.

Mindy:
So when does the next book come out?

Tiffany:
So actually you have my first… So all the rest of my book that I’ve written are self-published. And so I signed my first traditionally published book deal. And so that book comes out in next March/April of the 2021. So I’m super excited because it’s been like a book idea I’ve had for a while about… The things that keep me up at night are how does a regular person, how does… Not business owner Tiffany, but how does preschool teacher Tiffany become okay financially with not a ton of money, with not a ton of know-how. You know what I mean? Because it really bothers me that the average person it’s like, “Oh, yes. All you have to do is start a million dollar business. Oh yes, all you have to do is eat cornflakes for 10 years.” I’m like, “Yeah.”
And so I’m always thinking about my preschool teacher Tiffany self, how would she be able to be okay financially? I’m not talking about she’s going to be some multi-millionaire, but to be able to go on vacation once or twice a year to have enough money for retirement, to be able to afford a house. How does that person, how does she be okay? And so I created something that I call financial wholeness and there’s 10 steps that starts with budgeting and ends with estate planning. But it’s not fussy, it’s not overwhelming. It’s doable and affordable.
So I created this financial wholeness kind of like plan and so I’m turning it into a book. And I’m just really excited about it because I’m like, “This is what’s needed of like, “Oh, a step-by-step guide of how to do well with your money without having to make a ton or know a ton.”

Scott:
That’s awesome. I love that topic and I sense a chance that if you’d like, we’d potentially love to talk more in depth about that around March or April next year.

Tiffany:
Yes, I would love that honestly. I would love that.

Mindy:
Yes, I will hit up you and Tracy, and get on your list of people to talk to about that because that is kind of exactly what we do on our show. So I want people to be able to find that information. I want them to hear the voice that speaks to the best.

Tiffany:
Awesome. Thank you so much. You guys are awesome.

Mindy:
Awesome. Okay. Thank you, Tiffany. That was a terrible segue. I just need to quit podcasting.

Tiffany:
No.

Scott:
More penguin jokes.

Mindy:
More penguin jokes. What’s black and white and read all over? A penguin in a blender.

Scott:
Oh, no.

Tiffany:
No. [inaudible 00:59:03] Just get it black, white and you read it all over?

Mindy:
You read it all over. But he said…

Tiffany:
That’s such a kid joke. Kids will be like, “I love that joke.”

Mindy:
It is a kid joke. It’s a gross joke because I of course go to the visual and then I’m like, ew. I did say I have a 10-year-old so I have heard all of these gross jokes, and green and red. A frog in a blender. Blenders come up a lot in kid jokes.

Scott:
Oh, geez.

Mindy:
Okay, Tiffany. Thank you so much for coming today. I always love talking to you.

Tiffany:
Thank you.

Mindy:
I want to just have you on every single day, but you’ve got your own show.

Tiffany:
No, thank you. This has been awesome. Thank you.

Mindy:
Okay, Scott. What did you think of that episode?

Scott:
Her story back in episode eight was so wonderful and so powerful. She just has such a wealth of knowledge on this. She’s such an expert. She’s so perfectly set up given her skill set and background to be an expert on helping teach children about money and she brought it today with her energy and enthusiasm. What a joy to talk to her and what a wealth of information.

Mindy:
And what did she say right at the beginning? It’s inappropriate not to teach your kids about money. That’s so true. I thought it was perfect. Hey, why do you think people have a hard time teaching their kids about money? Well, because they don’t know. Okay. Fix your financial education holes and then teach your children. Teach them by example. What did she say? The lessons aren’t for when they’re 10, they’re not for when they’re 13, it’s for when they’re 40, when they’re graduating college. When they’re just beginning to start their financial life. You want to give them as many tools as they can have to make smart financial decisions. And they’re not always going to make smart financial decisions, but they’re going to make a whole lot more bad financial decisions if you don’t teach them.

Scott:
Yeah, it was fun. Hey, so Tiffany, is it working? Is your daughter good with money now? No. I love that.

Mindy:
Honestly, that’s very helpful to hear because I am rather preaching about money on this website. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard me talk about money every week on Mondays, but I sometimes feel like a massive failure because my children make bad financial decisions. I mean, bad financial decisions.

Scott:
Parenting is going to be so easy. I can’t wait.

Mindy:
I’m sorry.

Scott:
No problem.

Mindy:
Everybody who listened to Scott say parenting is going to be so easy, and when you have kids-

Scott:
I’m obviously joking when I changed my tune. This is a joke.

Mindy:
Yes. When you have kids, I am going to play that clip again for you.

Scott:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Mindy:
Okay, Scott. Should we get out of here?

Scott:
Let’s do it.

Mindy:
From episode 129 of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, he is Scott Trench and I am Mindy Jensen. And we will see you later. I don’t have anything clever. I need to… All of my preparation.

Scott:
We super intended to give you a great podcast episode today, and school’s out.

Mindy:
School’s out. Oh, that’s great. Why don’t I make you do this? Okay. School’s out. Goodbye.