A Wiser Retirement®

210. How can I set my child up for financial success?

• Wiser Wealth Management • Episode 210

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On this episode of A Wiser Retirement™ Podcast, Casey Smith is joined by Missie Beach, CFP®, CDFA®, Senior Financial Advisor, and Michaela Dowdy, Financial Planning Associate, to talk about strategies for educating your children on money management, credit, investing, and saving to pave the way for their financial success.

Podcast Episodes Referenced:
- Ep 168: Everything You Need to Know About 529 Plans

YouTube Video Referenced:
- Georgia Will Now Mandate Personal Finance Education in Schools

Blogs Referenced:
- Should we use the 529 for private school or save it for college?
- Benefits of a Custodial Roth IRA for Your Kids
- Teaching Your Kids About Money

Learn More:
- About Wiser Wealth Management
- Schedule a Complimentary Consultation: Discover how we can help you achieve financial freedom.
- Access Our Free Guides: Gain valuable insights on building a financial legacy, the importance of a financial advisor for business owners, post-divorce financial planning, and more!

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- A Wiser Retirement® YouTube Channel

This podcast was produced by Wiser Wealth Management. Thanks for listening!

Teaching Kids Financial Responsibility

Speaker 1

You want to set them up for financial success. Set them up and understanding that sometimes it's better not to have the things that they think that they want in order to have more choices.

Speaker 2

Exactly, and I think it's going back to what Missy was saying, like, even as, when they're young, like, and they're, you know, in that seven, eight range, or it's like, ooh, I really want that toy or those kinds of things, and it's like encourage them to save for it. Or it's like, okay, well, if you want it so bad, then, like, let's save for it.

Speaker 1

Welcome to the Wiser Retirement Podcast. We believe the best financial advice should always be conflict free. I'm your host, casey Smith. Today I'm joined with Missy Beach, the world's best financial planner, also called Senior Financial Advisor, and Makayla Doughty, the future of wiser wealth management, also a financial planning associate here at our firm. And today we're going to talk about how to set your children up for financial success. I'm really interested to listen to this podcast because I would like to know this myself.

Speaker 3

Yeah, me too, casey and I are still trying.

Speaker 1

Oh, my goodness, One of my first articles ever published in the AJC was about teaching your kids about money, and I will say that I tried really hard to maintain everything that I suggested in an article. It's just tough to stay in age to teach kids almost anything. It's because we run so fast in so many different directions and when I was a kid it was so I felt like it was so easy, at least for me, because you know you went out and got a job and you worked or you just did something. I mean, I'm owed yards and got money. I did things, got money. But today there's travel baseball, there's travel soccer, there's, you know and you pretty much run 100 miles an hour from the time you wake up to the time you get to bed. And maybe that's why it's such a shortage of young workers at pizza places and Chick-fil-A's and everything else, because we're all just busy running around doing Johnny's going to be in the MLB.

Speaker 3

Yeah, they are over scheduled. It's not like they have idle time for part-time jobs anymore.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Between high achieving scholars and athletes, where's time for part-time work?

Speaker 1

So you know we can't fix that problem. We can fix a lot of things here at Wiser Wealth, but not that. So let's just kind of die into the theory here and what we need to be focused on. I mean, I shared with you guys over lunch yesterday that you know I have one about to get a college who his job has been to be good at golf and he got good enough to get a full D1 scholarship to Mississippi State. So good for him, Did his job.

Speaker 3

Check that box.

Speaker 1

But he's in a situation now where he wants more money and you know I was. I was surprised. I was surprised when I was at the dinner table. I'm like okay, where is he? And I text him and he's like I'm working. And I'm like you're working what?

Speaker 1

do you mean you're working. And he's like I got a job at DoorDash, so my son's out delivering meals when he gets dark after golf for money. And of course, my financial mine, my parental mine, went off first. So I was like, okay, that's, that could be a dangerous job and unnecessarily dangerous job. And then my mind went to money, of course, and I'm like wait a minute, I pay for that car. Right, you're, you're, you're exchanging car. For it's like the Uber drivers I mean it's great service, but they're just exchanging, they're extracting cash out of their car.

Speaker 3

There's no way, you actually make money doing that. They don't think that way no.

Financial Education and Parental Influence

Speaker 1

And so I was. This is like a whole text exchange, you know it's like. Well, first of all, you know you need to be talking to one of us before you just take jobs to you, should. You should do some math so you know how much the tires cost. You know what's, what's the cost per mile to drive your vehicle. That would, that would be the first place I would go. No, no, I probably know 18 year olds going to go and figure that out.

Speaker 3

Did you talk about IRS mileage reimbursement rate?

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's true, you could, you could start there, and I mean you have to go calculate your car. I think a Ford F-150 is probably a little more expensive than most, most vehicles though probably probably exceed the dollar a mile, I guess the IRS is ruling on that.

Speaker 1

They're probably doing it with a Prius. So, yeah, we we'll have that conversation shortly after report back, but this week it will be the conversation of, like, this is not a good idea, we're going to do something else. But probably you set up an official, some type of an allowance. And you know, I go on a message board, I can read it and places like that and looking to see what other parents are giving their college kids and I was shocked it was very little. I was like whoa, that's two hundred and fifty dollars a month. Doesn't, doesn't go very far. I guess, if you're going the meal plan, maybe it goes a little further.

Speaker 3

Oh yeah, if you're on the meal plan two fifties fine.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, I guess most of them are probably no plan.

Speaker 2

Yeah, because most of the time, for most colleges, you're required to have it for at least the first year, when you live on campus, you have to have the meal plan.

Speaker 1

Right, well, let's, let's start. Let's start at the very beginning. Let's assume we have little children.

Speaker 3

Oh, all right. Well, I remember when mine were little, at the grocery store. You know you go through the checkout line and they always want something. You just tell them no, Otherwise, every time you go through a checkout, check out line, you're going to be buying something.

Speaker 1

I do remember that that phase yes, yeah, and they do it on purpose.

Speaker 3

They put all the candy and stuff like that right there Kid level right.

Speaker 1

So when they were really young, I think, we gave them 10 bucks or something Not very often, but that was like their money and so that kind of eliminated that.

Speaker 3

Oh, you did so, you, but like when they're one.

Speaker 1

Now when they're one. No, no, no, that's just, they just hate parents at that store. Yeah.

Speaker 2

Funny.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so all right. So let's say start financial education early.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1

When they are taught. Delay gratification.

Speaker 3

gratification, don't just like, oh sure, little junior have a given wherever they want. Hershey bar every time.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's true. Well, I think our house things just piled up and you look around and you're like these kids have way too much stuff and it just became you only get things when it's your birthday or Christmas.

Speaker 3

Yes, or if grandparents want to spoil you, but outside of that, yeah, we're not buying. No, or your birthday is coming up or Christmas is coming up. Let's decide what we're going to get rid of and give to kids who don't have things. So let's pair it down.

Speaker 1

Right, not the broken stuff, the nicer.

Speaker 2

The things that still work my kids always gravitate to the broken stuff.

Speaker 1

Nobody wants your broken toy.

Speaker 2

We're going to throw those away.

Speaker 3

Right, yes.

Speaker 2

Quarterly clean out.

Speaker 1

So yeah, delay. So that'd be an example of delayed gratification. So you know, by this now and add it to your list.

Speaker 3

Yes the list. Oh, my boys would hate the list.

Speaker 2

See, I was always put in charge of the list. So my parents, like, for a grocery shopping, it was always like I got to write down the list and like help build the list. And then for, like, when I was growing up, it was very because I grew up in like the middle of 0809 credit crisis, everything. So finance was top of mind for everyone then and was all over the news and you couldn't escape it if you wanted to, and so it was very evident when we would just go to the grocery that it was like we're only going to spend like $100 or $150, whatever amount it needed to be, and it was always just like a game for like me and my mom, and it'd be like okay, we're going to get some coupons, we're going to clip those, and then we get up to the register and I'd be like are we going to do it?

Speaker 2

Are we going to do it? And it was like just a game, like watching the coupons come off yes and then it was also just like watching it go up the whole time and you're like we're getting close, we're getting close. So people thought we were crazy, but that's okay.

Speaker 2

So it just became like very much a like ingrained part of like you budget your life and like budget it in a way of like the things that you can definitely like control, like grocery shopping, you can majority control granted I mean, right now inflation's insane but for the most part, you can control, like, how much you're spending at the grocery store, and so that was just a really small way that I got to see, like from an age of like seven and eight, like, okay, this is how money should be going out of the house is like you're actually thinking intentionally about what you're putting in the cart. You're not just grabbing the best name brand option because it's the best name brand option and so, granted, you know, you have to be careful with that, because I did have the story with I freaked out that we went over budget, so then the people behind us thought that it was like, oh no, like they're in dire need.

Speaker 3

That's all they have.

Speaker 4

And my mom had to turn around and be like no, no, no.

Speaker 2

She just knows the budget. I'm so sorry they were like in a hand to a 20.

Speaker 1

Trying to pay for your groceries or something.

Speaker 2

Yes, they tried to pay the difference from my mom's groceries and my mom was like that is so kind, but we don't need that.

Speaker 1

In context, your mom's a successful financial advisor.

Speaker 3

Yes, but.

Speaker 4

I love it that your mom that's so embarrassing.

Speaker 3

It's so nice that your mom turned it into a game, so it wasn't like budgeting is a bad thing and this death sentence. Most people think of budget as like oh, a really negative connotation. But you all, it was this game and like, oh, we got to stick to this number. How can we do it? And then, with the help of coupons, I could bring the total down.

Speaker 2

Well, I think it's having a child perspective to finances, because it's like when you're a kid you don't know anything about finances, like money is just this thing that you see getting spent for goods and all of that, and so they don't understand like fully when you're young that like oh, there can be stress with money, not yet. And so it's one of those things that really you get to kind of shape, like you could shape it into a game and it can very easily turn into that, because they don't know budget and budgeting can be literally a game, like oh, we have the budget game. Kids love games.

Speaker 1

I'm sorry, I'm still stuck on that story. That's crazy. So I think the X part is just. Yeah, you just touched on this, leading by example. So it's just doing things that they're watching. They're learning by watching. That's not just true with money, it's true with everything Relationships. They watch parents and learn how to interact with relationships. So, yeah, so I feel like the world's more open now. People tend to say more things about money to their children than maybe prior generations for sure, especially two generations ago.

Speaker 3

But not all families.

Speaker 1

But it's true, but not all families.

Speaker 3

Some families is still taboo for some reason.

Speaker 1

Interesting.

Speaker 3

Because we have some clients that come in and they're like, yeah, my kids don't know anything, they don't need to know, and I'm like, but they do need to have a general sense of where you stand and how it works.

Speaker 1

Yeah, those are adult children, though, and about your finances. I'm thinking about little kids now.

Speaker 3

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1

But yeah, I think the big thing is how do we get our children to understand the negative impacts of debt? Because we have over a trillion dollars in debt right now on credit cards that's just the credit cards, individual consumer debts highest it's ever been. So how do we teach our kids to just be responsible with money in a world where, on social media, everyone is buying this or has this or has that and everything just looks like it's just easy? That's one thing that I don't have regrets yet. I think my shoulder as far as money goes, but they live a totally different lifestyle than I did and sometimes I don't know that they don't understand it. They have no capacity to understand it. Yeah, Exactly.

Speaker 3

I remember when my kids were little and I forget which one of them we were at the store and they wanted something. And I'm like, no, you just don't need it right now. I just don't need to buy that right now for you. And they're like well, just use your credit card. And I'm like, oh, that's not free money.

Speaker 3

I said, and then we had the credit card talk and to explain, sure I could swipe my credit card, but that's just handing over a wad of dollar bills. And so they didn't realize in their little heads at that time like a credit card is real money. There's a tangible aspect to the credit card versus just swiping it and taking the item. Kids are like oh sure, just swipe your card.

Speaker 3

No big deal, and so we had to sit there and talk about no, it's just like I handed out all the cash in my wallet for whatever that toy was at that time and they're like all right, fine, Another money. Lesson by mom.

Speaker 1

They'll appreciate that eventually. So, Dave Ramsey had a pretty neat concept. We have the jar system. Of course, dave loves his jars and his envelopes, but you have save, give, spend, so we did that for a little while. First of all, no one has cash anymore, so I found that to be very frustrating. There's a more modern day version of that with the green light card. Nothing to do with Dave Ramsey but the green light card.

Speaker 1

I did a couple of reviews of that a long time ago for our YouTube channel, but that's what we're using currently with the younger two. So if they do a chore or if there's something that we say, hey, do this and they can, once they check it off, you get another that they've done whatever it is, and then you can transfer money into their green light card.

Speaker 1

It's annoying because you can't deposit money directly into it. That's kind of flow through the parent account. So at Christmas time or birthdays you collect all the cash, you deposit in your bank and then you transfer it into the green light card. But they have a spot where they can give. They have a spot where they can save. You can set saving limitations or spending limitations. So if they're going to go by Fortnite skins, you can make sure you turn off gaming purchases and things like that, and then they have an investing component to it. So it's like a little mini brokerage and really they can almost buy anything there For our kids. I'm like you just need to buy VOO the S&P of my mother. And of course, when do we buy it? At the height of the market, before the crash.

Speaker 2

How does it happen? Good lesson.

Speaker 1

And of course they were like we didn't make any money on that investment. I was like it's a long-term focus.

Speaker 3

Long-term play, kids Long-term play.

Speaker 1

But now are there older ones at the credit union that allow you to get your own checking account when you're 18? Yes, some credit unions, I think, are 16, or banks, but we had to wait until 18. So now he has our flight path program for investing and then he has the normal debit card, so it feels like a big boy now.

Speaker 3

Yeah, off the kid account.

Speaker 1

Off the kid account exactly. So I think those are ways that you can budget and lead, kind of lead by example, and mimic that and then whatever device they have, whether it be an iPad or an iPhone, on the Greenlight card they have a login and then they can see everything, so they can see what money's in there. I did find in a few cases that the Greenlight card just wouldn't work online because it's a debit card.

Speaker 2

And.

Speaker 1

I'm sure it comes across kind of funny to the merchant.

Speaker 2

Yeah, so we're like some sort of prepaid, almost in a way.

Speaker 1

Ironically, we had the most trouble with Amazon, with it.

Speaker 2

That's so interesting yeah.

Speaker 1

But anyway, that's an idea, if you want to start a system. It's using the Greenlight card.

Speaker 2

I think how messy was saying the differentiation between needs and wants is something like kids can so quickly understand too, like oh, this is a need, and so on. And as far as credit cards went, it was something when I was growing up. Credit cards were not something that was used as frequently, unless you, because the point system was not as lavish as it is now the reward.

Speaker 4

Yes.

Speaker 2

And so it was really only used when they were paying for bigger purchases to get points. My parents were like we're using credit cards to get points.

Speaker 4

So we get rewards back.

Speaker 2

And then it was like debit cards were used for everything else and understanding that you don't really want to put anything on credit. And when we would buy phones, my parents were pretty confident, or as long as you could get the deal.

Speaker 2

Because now they want to say that you can't pay at all at front or you don't get the deal, all that. But it was always paying it down and making sure you could get the deal as best as you could and just kind of doing the negotiating hacks and everything, and so definitely credit was not seen as the best as far as use it in emergencies and that's what I had a credit card for was only emergencies, only your debit cards used for everything else. I remember one time when I literally went to the gas pump at 16, was not checking my account as frequently as I should have been and it literally ran my account to zero and I got a call from my dad being like what are you doing?

Speaker 2

Have you checked?

Speaker 4

your bank account lately.

Speaker 2

And I'm like, no, what's wrong? And he's like, oh well, you ran your bank account to literally zero. And I was like, oh Well, it's okay, but thankfully it stopped. Like it stopped the pump, it didn't keep going, so I didn't overdraft.

Speaker 1

I don't know how that worked, but I'm going to say exactly $100 left, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2

Hey, but that was back when I could fill up my car for like 20 bucks. It was nice back when it was a dollar like 20.

Speaker 3

Wow, back in the day.

Financial Education for Kids

Speaker 2

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Speaker 1

So that part is you know. So here you got to have some type of a budget system that they understand and and delay gratification. So we've talked about that. And the other thing is, you know, teaching them about investing. Obviously we know a thing or two about investing, you know. One of the things that I get frustrated with is individual stock investing. So it's like understanding how stock works. I think is important, but usually in high school they have the stock game. They do that. In finance school major they have the stock picking game. Usually one or two professors will do it.

Speaker 3

Or the stock club. The stock club, yes, the stock club, investing club.

Speaker 1

I just, I just don't think that that's successful, that's not, that's not really teaching them about, about investing, oh I, agree, it's a pet peeve of mine. It's almost negative learning, really. And so, really, what you want them to do, like, ok, so Secret, secret hack here by the S, by the S and P 500, right, and then lose the password to your brokerage account for like 20 years and you'll be just fine.

Speaker 1

Exactly yeah that's the secret to to building, investing. And when you get significant wealth, then then when it builds up to be a big number, that's when you call us and we work on diversification. But up until that point, for these young people, you just just buy the S and P 500 and just let it run.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so go on YouTube. Go on YouTube, watch a video about what an ETF is. So they understand what you know. Buying the S and P 500 means. Yeah, and so they understand what that diversification is doing for them and why they're not buying single stocks. There's a ton of videos out there. I looked last night and so you just have to have them understand why they're doing that and why buying in video is not a good idea, and that's so hard right now.

Speaker 1

Because you bought it at $130.

Speaker 3

Yeah and you didn't, you didn't, you missed the boat so you can't buy it today and have that appreciation because that ship sale Sorry.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I mean at the same time I do get it. I mean I had a college roommate that bought a lot of Cisco stock back in the 90s and that was like the nividea of his time and I think he got a down payment on his house and bought his engagement ring with it and he still had money left over.

Speaker 3

But then there was probably some other guy on the hall that didn't buy something else. There's somebody else down the hall, you're right.

Speaker 1

That that probably lost a lot of money. But and it's sour to never invest it again Right.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that's how that goes, and he didn't tell anybody about it no that's the thing you only hear from the people that have the great success stories. You're not hearing from the guy who lost his shirt.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 3

And so that's what people forget. They just anchor on all these success stories like so and so bought X Y Z stock and they made a bundle.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 3

So I need to jump on and Well yeah, s&p 500, lose your password. Love it.

Speaker 1

That's. That's all you got to do Um Setting financial goals.

Speaker 3

Mm, hmm.

Speaker 1

So having a, having a savings goal, you know I will say with, with my kids. I haven't really set financial goals with them. I think we we do more of their, their sport, or you know what their, what they're after. I mean obviously grades have got to be maintained.

Speaker 1

But, no, for Ethan it was chasing a certain ranking for a while. For Caitlin that's, it's Moving up in the ranks to jump at a certain level. She's an equestrian writer. And then there's a, there's a plan which gets reversed. You know when we have a whole goal setting podcast if you're interested in how to set goals. Our kids have used this format and they've they've achieved it every year or have put forth the effort for sure. But I think that it's it's important to set a goal because sometimes you fail and it allows you to reset and go OK. How can I look at this differently?

Speaker 1

You know just because I was trying to explain this to someone recently is like just because you work hard doesn't mean you're guaranteed success. There's a lot of hardworking people who aren't successful, and so you, it's, it's. You have to understand With that how much traction you're getting with that hard work and what can you do differently? And so you can take that a lot of different angles. But from a from a money standpoint, you know, maybe, maybe you keep struggling with credit card debt.

Speaker 1

There's there's young people out there that carry a lot of credit card debt, and so maybe you know at some point the sky miles or whatever miles you're trying to get just aren't worth it, because in the end it'd been cheaper just to buy that ticket.

Speaker 2

Oh, that's what you paid an interest. Definitely, definitely.

Speaker 1

Right. So you just don't want them. You don't want, you don't want your kids to end up in a life of slavery and slavery. Slavery and I think in modern day today is you're being suppressed by the financial institutions that you took money from that now have to make payments to, and you can't change your life because of it. You can't leave a bad relationship because you're stuck paying all these bills. You can't change jobs because you bought that car and it was too expensive right Because you can't afford to be out of work.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so you want to set them up for financial success, set them up and understanding that sometimes it's better not to have the things that they think that they want in order to have more choices.

Speaker 2

Exactly, and I think it's going back to what Missy was saying, even as when they're young and they're in that seven, eight range where it's like, ooh, I really want that toy or those kinds of things, and it's like encourage them to save for it, or it's like, okay, well, if you want it so bad, like let's save for it.

Speaker 2

And then it's, you know, when they're doing the chores and they're doing all the things, and it's going in like their jar of okay, here's all my money that I can go and buy my very own iPod Touch, you know, and that was my goal when I was little, and so it's like getting them in that saving mindset and then, once they've done that, they get the reward of like, oh my gosh, like. I will forever hold pride over the fact that I bought my first iPod Touch myself. You know, and that's something so dumb.

Speaker 2

Like it's like I was nine and I think that that I'm like, yeah, I did Because then you can have, yeah, you can have fun counting that money along the way, like when they're little kids, when they're like eight.

Speaker 3

you know you get out that jar like every week or so with them and you count the money and it helps with their like coin skills and all that.

Speaker 1

A clear jar so they can see it. Yes, as it grows, so gratifying the pottery piggy banks don't work very well, because you can't see it Can't see what's in it, but a clear jar is how you save.

Speaker 2

That's what I had.

Speaker 1

I had a little clear jar and it had my name on it, it's heart so going back we kind of started on the allowance side. Going back to the allowance side, you know Dave talks about don't give them allowance, give them a commission, so make them do chores in order to earn money. That's difficult to execute. If you're a working family two husband and wife working that's a tough one because someone's got to manage, someone's got to be the bank. It's like monopoly Someone's got to be the bank, right?

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

And so if you're the bank and the player, that's a lot of extra work, so you want to stay on top of that. I think most families give an allowance and the counter to that is commissions, a little bit like hey, I got to do things or I have to find things to do to earn money. That's a little entrepreneurial component to it when the allowance is probably looked at more from an employee standpoint. I work here, I'm a part of the family, I have these chores I have to do because I'm part of the family.

Speaker 4

I'm part of the entity, and then I'm getting a paycheck.

Speaker 1

So that's more of like an employee kind of mindset, where you're not having to get creative. So you know, I end up like my son delivering DoorDash to random people throughout the county. So those are two different ways. You can do it either way. But I think the important thing is not just giving money. I had an idea recently is like okay, what if there's an allowance? You're responsible for being good at this craft because that's what got you to school, but you have to give me five hours of volunteer time every single month, like you have to find five hours to volunteer your time to help others.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's good, but how are they gonna?

Speaker 3

find that A college freshman's not gonna be able to find that time.

Speaker 1

Well, even a high schooler, that a lot of the opportunities are during school hours. True, I've noticed that at our school, the higher you know the kids who take the AP classes and the really high classes. They all have required volunteer hours. But people in the core group aren't required to have volunteer hours which I thought was a little different.

Speaker 2

But I know that that's important on college resumes now is as volunteer hours oh absolutely, I think, just being a part of clubs though, too, cause I think high schoolers, I don't know like looking back on time in high school, it's like somehow your energy is infinite at that age, and so I mean, like I was leaving the house at six o'clock and I wasn't coming back until nine, 10 o'clock.

Speaker 2

You know, I was like curfew, I'm here, you know, and so like I think it's something that you find the time, and I know like I was a part of a lot of different clubs that all required I'd have over like 40 hours of service every year on top of doing golf, cause I was pursuing college and collegiate golf at that time, and then schoolwork and all of that.

Speaker 2

So it's finding that balance, but I think it's one. It's setting them up for like time management that's beyond, like just themselves, and like cause volunteer hours are something that they're not doing for themselves, they're doing for someone else, whereas like sports, you're focused on your individual skill, and that's so individually focused that it's like I have to be me and the best I can be, which is so good, but you also have to have the balance of like there's another world out here and it's like when you're in, like the privileged stance that a lot of the clients that we have are, and they're kids, and it's a tough conversation for money cause money isn't necessarily a problem and it's not a nail biter issue that it's one of those where it's like you almost have to give them a little exposure to like there's a world out here where this is not the case and you are so privileged and so blessed to be where you're at and I think that helps put money into perspective at that point.

Speaker 2

Because, it's like oh, money doesn't just grow on trees. It really is something that mom and dad had to work really hard for this, because I'm seeing that there are other families that are struggling, and especially in the circles and especially in Atlanta, because Atlanta's hard, it's a lot of like private schools and so you get into like your own little bubble and there's nothing wrong with that, because then kids are sheltered and all of that, but also just giving them another dynamic, and so I think that's a great idea to have hours all that to say.

Speaker 1

Yeah, well, I pushed back on the sheltered part. I mean from some things, yes, from gang shootings probably. Oh, probably yeah, but yeah, even in private schools. You know we struggle with, because with that privilege comes other issues. No, definitely we have parents at our school that willingly serve underage kids alcohol as long as they drink it in their house and don't drive anywhere. I'm like what is wrong with you people, you know?

Speaker 4

So we fight other things.

Speaker 1

No definitely Not. Just I don't know if anybody's gonna die. But you know, yeah, Different issues Don't even get me started.

Speaker 4

That's a whole different podcast.

Speaker 1

I still maintain that the best teachers are in public schools, but in some of the worst environments. But I will say this because I live in the city of Marietta and you're in the city of Atlanta, missy, so you know our public school choices are very different than people who live in Cherokee County or even East Cobb, where the public schools are almost like private schools. So it's all about where you live. Yeah, not, you know. For me to make that statement, you have to understand where I'm coming from in my situation, missy situation.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Where, if I lived further north, we probably wouldn't need that being in a private school, yeah, sure.

Speaker 1

So let's talk about college and career planning as they get older. That's tough, you know. I mean man for my oldest. I don't know that he'll be a PGA golfer. If he's gonna kick it into high gear, this is his opportunity. So he's gonna have the opportunity to do that. But he's a good people person. He's a good networker. Not too worried about him, I think it'll turn out just fine. His painful will be watched. He's coming from school at hard knocks, like his dad, so it'll be painful to watch a few little mistakes, probably here and there. But yeah, I mean, how do you? I mean?

Speaker 1

when kids are really little. They want to be, they want to play baseball, they want to be golfers, they want to be in NFL or pro basketball, you know. Or now I guess it's for kids like my 12 year old. You know, I want to be a YouTube, famous, or.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2

I mean, that's just tough.

Speaker 1

I start figuring it out, my thing is like let them dream, Let them think that there are no limits and as they get older they might go okay. Well, maybe being an astronaut is not what exactly it wanted to be, but you know.

Speaker 3

And I think once they get to the college level they start to kind of find their way. Like, my oldest is a junior now and he knew going into college he wanted to do something in the business realm but he didn't know what. So he started off as a double major in finance and business analytics. But then as he went through it he realized, oh well, you know, I could get my masters in business analytics in four years. And so he changed paths and dropped the double major and realized okay, I'm just going to get my masters in four years and be done, and then maybe I'll go back and get my MBA later at some point.

Speaker 3

but hey, I could get my masters and be done with it much faster, and so I'll do that, and so that's what he's doing. But he came to that on his own realization, just working with his advisor, and we stayed out of it.

Speaker 1

You figured it out. Obviously, you figured out. He liked the subject matter at hand.

Speaker 3

I guess. So, even though I don't know what he does, what he'll do, he'll figure that out.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I just, they will figure it out, you just have to. I just want them to think that there's any limitations, right? Yeah, that's just it.

Speaker 3

It's fine to change your mind, yeah, but let's not drag out college for eight years while you figure out your mind.

Speaker 2

And it's also so important to understand if it's a good investment for whatever profession you're going into.

Speaker 4

That's how it's going to fail.

Speaker 2

You don't need to be going to an $80,000 year school to go and do a job where you're going to average $60,000 a year.

Speaker 1

You don't need to do you don't need to go to Duke if you're going to be a minister. Yes, exactly, exactly. A great definitive school, yeah but is it worth $150,000? In debt.

Speaker 2

That's where you have to look at the ROI of like, could you not get the exact same education? Maybe not exact because the professor's going to be different, but at least at the end of the day, it matters about the paper and it does matter that you have a great education. But really, like, looking at the overarching view of like okay, can you get a finance degree At Georgia, at Georgia?

Speaker 3

On the Hope or Zell or do you need?

Speaker 1

to go to USC and UCLA.

Speaker 2

Like, do you really need that experience? So I think it's weighing out those options and really figuring out because there are times where it's more beneficial to go to a more expensive school and you've gotten a lot of scholarship and it's a great community and it's going to build you holistically and there are arguments for that but also weighing out the you know, 40, 50 grand a year versus the 10 grand a year.

Speaker 1

Sometimes I wonder about even physicians. You know we've met with several recently that are carrying over a half million dollars in debt and you're just kind of like wow could you have done that? Could you have done that cheaper? There had to have been a way to do that cheaper. Can they, though? I don't know.

Speaker 3

I don't know, but I just think that's a great way to do it.

Speaker 1

Just half a million dollars. Yeah, it's hard. And a general practitioner is making like $150,000 a year. That just doesn't to me there's an ROI on that, because it costs $150,000 a year to live right now, so I can't Well and that's where I think you're getting all of the education reform and all of that where they're like you need to start.

Speaker 2

You know giving. When the tuition is set for a business major and art major, those need to coincide with what they're actually going to be making in the future.

Speaker 1

That's the whole thing. They should start charging different levels of tuition based on the major. So if you go to school and you're an art major, then maybe you're paying. I think art major and it could be different. Scad has so many different levels.

Speaker 1

So maybe that's a bad example, but let's say history major, because I've always wondered what you did with that. A history major is something that I feel like that you have to go, then go get your master's and you're going to go teach, or you could be. Maybe you could be history undergrad and then go into law.

Speaker 2

That's what a lot of people do. If you don't have a true law program or a policy.

Speaker 1

But if you just left undergrad with a history degree, I don't know what you're going to do, and so my or the concept here is that that degree would be less than maybe a finance degree. You pay more for the finance degree because the ROI on that is going to be should be higher if you stick to the goal. But that's being kind of modeled and talked about even some of these smaller schools. Maybe we should charge more for different programs, because what we see I think it brightens up on the board of visitors at Berry not the trustees, the big board, but the board that they say thanks but no thanks, but we'll put you on this board but what we see is in the school itself. So you have these different deans of different departments and you have the resources kind of being equally handed out and really the business school should be getting most of the resources because they're the school that we're the ROI on alumni and people giving back when you look at the donors.

Speaker 1

I don't see too many ag majors there.

Speaker 4

I don't see too many education majors there.

Speaker 1

So maybe we should be charging more for one set and then a little less for other sets, so that's an idea that's being pushed around. There's a lot of different schools. My thing is, students and sometimes parents don't understand the ROI on a college degree. They just think, oh, get a good college in a Berry we have a lot of first generation college students and, what's interesting to me Now, barry has a huge endowment. They're very generous with that endowment, so the what people are paying is a lot less on what the sticker price is.

Speaker 1

The last I checked it was $29,000 a year average tuition, but I think the sticker price is over 60. So there's a lot of there's a lot of give. So what's interesting, though, is the fact oh, I'm hitting your computer there was the fact that, when people go to take out loans, of all the disclosures that are in the student loans, none of it says this is what you are expected to make when you graduate.

Speaker 3

That's so disappointing, and there was a website.

Speaker 1

It's not there anymore, but there was a website where someone was trying to do that. They were saying this degree, this college, this is the region you'll probably live in, this is what you'll probably be making. So it's taking all the polls we see on what people get paid as professionals is integrating that into cost and say this is what you should get on the other side. That should be the top piece of paper before you sign for a student loan.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yes, because we've all met people with 150,000 dollars student loans from some school we never heard of.

Speaker 2

Well, and a lot of schools actually will do that for their college seniors after they've graduated. Yeah, but it's too, late, yes, but they'll post it online is what I'm saying.

Speaker 1

Oh, what they're making.

Speaker 2

Yes, like what their average graduate from this major. You know, at this year was you know?

Speaker 1

55,000. But if that should be before you sign for the student loan Right yeah. Yeah, that's how you solve that problem, but there's a lot of there's a lot of interest in that. The schools have no incentive to do that whatsoever.

Speaker 3

No, no, they just want to keep paying them bottoms and seats.

Speaker 1

So anyway, but that that does kind of fall. That does fall into you know budget. What's the point of teaching your kids about being responsible and then and then they blow it out and they blow it out, and now they're stuck with with a $1,500 a month student loan payment and they're making $2,500 a month the first year they're employed or $3,500 a month net.

Speaker 3

Yeah they start off in the hole and it just, yeah, sets them back.

Speaker 1

You know, someone asked me recently is it better for me to get a Berry College or KSU? I'm not a I'm not a big fan of KSU. I just we've interviewed a lot of people there. I've not. We've had maybe one or two that I thought were rock stars. But I think Berry is a better education. But a a education at KSU where there's no debt is way better than a Berry College education with that with that, yeah, right. So I, you have to think about these things in the end.

Speaker 3

Absolutely.

Speaker 1

All right, Gus, we've got. Oh, speaking of college savings, we have a great episode 158. This is episode 210, episode 15 or 168. Everything you need to know about 529 plans. We also had a video here recently on YouTube channel. Georgia will now mandate personal finance education in schools. I think that rolls out next year or the tail end of this year. Those the governor Kemp initiative and we have some great blogs that we've also linked in our show notes that to learn more about teaching your kids about money. Thanks, guys, for the conversation and thank you for listening to today's episode. If you're interested in learning more about Weiser Wealth Manager, I want to schedule a consultation, meet one of our fiduciary financial advisors. You can do so by going to weiserinvestorcom. Click on the schedule now button to get on our calendar. We'll see you next week, Thank you.

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