When is it OK to talk about money?

[Nathan Gesner]

In 2005 my oldest brother asked me how my house sale was going. I mentioned it went under contract in three days and we were making $125,000 profit. I was in the military and would be considered lower middle-income at the time, so this profit was pure luck and a real blessing. I only answered his question, but later learned he felt I was "bragging" about it.

We grew up poor (I would pay good money for more of that government cheese if anyone has a source!) but all my siblings are now middle class. I've worked hard to grow a successful business, a strong investment portfolio, and am now part of the evil 1%. I try to keep it on the down-low with everyone, not just my family, but they do know I own investment property, that I travel quite a bit, etc. Even when they ask questions about how many properties/units I have, I try to play it down (without lying) and then change subjects quickly. I just learned my mom has been referring to me as her "millionaire son" even though I've never told any of them what I earn or what I'm worth. 

Anyway, I'm just throwing this question out for my own curiosity: when do you feel it's safe to discuss income or net worth with others? Do you feel it's better to lie about it so they never know anything?

[Jody Sperling]

I love, love, love this discussion. Talking about money should be as natural as talking about the weather. Those of us who have it, by and large, worked for it. Like you, I grew up poor. Not government-cheese-poor, but grape-drink-and-bologna-on-Wonder-Bread poor.

No one taught me how to make or spend money. The extent of my financial education was from my dad, and I'm grateful to him that he tried anything. We used the cash-in-envelopes system. All that taught me was that my meager paycheck didn't go very far.

I knew a few wealthy people around us, but you couldn't go up to them and ask, how'd you do it? And I knew a lot of people who looked wealthy, but lived way above their means.

I'm frankly lucky to have stumbled onto a resource on YouTube that changed my life. YouTube! I'm a millionaire because I saw a video on YouTube. That's both sad and fortunate. The evil empire isn't all bad, I guess. But anyway, that early video was one of Clayton Morris's and I watched a ton of his stuff, then found, who I thought was an inferior educator, Brandon Turner. (Yes, humble pie, history proved me wrong.) That set up the real estate investing.

But at the same time, I came across videos about velocity banking, infinite banking, and money management. Those are the ones that showed me the tragedy of what we're doing. By hiding our wealth, refusing to talk about money, bowing to people who get uncomfortable with money talks, and people who accuse us of bragging, we're participating in their enslavement to banks.

People actually think thirty-year mortgages are a good thing! People thing their primary home is an asset! People believe the stock market is the surest way to build wealth! People buy brand new cars off the lot with money they don't have, take trips to the beach with credit cards they can't repay.

Talk about money. Say to people, I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but I came from government cheese and now I sleep on a mattress of Benjamins with a pillow of solid gold and you can too, with relative ease and speed. 

Just by paying attention to where money goes first, you can quadruple your wealth in two years and not even notice a difference in your lifestyle. That's a start. Imagine if you used that new wealth to buy assets. But I'm rambling. Please talk more about money. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be ashamed.