May 18, 2025 • 27 mins
The generation gap between parents and adult children creates natural tension, especially when it comes to defining success in today's rapidly changing world. What happens when Baby Boomer wisdom meets Gen Z reality? How can parents offer valuable guidance without imposing outdated ideas?
This thought-provoking exploration of parenthood tackles the universal desire we have for our children's success while acknowledging the dramatically different landscape they navigate. While parents may still value the stability of a lifelong career with benefits and steady advancement, younger generations face a gig economy, remote work revolution, and constantly shifting job market that renders some traditional advice obsolete.
Yet beneath these differences lie timeless principles that transcend generations. Financial literacy remains crucial - living within your means, saving and investing wisely, and avoiding preventable financial disasters apply regardless of age or era. The airplane oxygen mask metaphor perfectly captures the essential truth: parents must secure their own financial stability before they can effectively help their children. This means preparing for retirement rather than becoming burdens, while still offering support when needed.
Beyond money, the true legacy parents leave includes wisdom, values, and the tools to make good decisions independently. Young adults benefit from remaining open to parental guidance while developing their own judgment in a world their parents couldn't have imagined. Both generations ultimately want the same thing: a successful, purposeful life filled with meaning and stability.
Ready to deepen your understanding of success across generations? Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon, and check out my book "Slaying Your Dragons: Living the Life You Always Wanted" available now.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello there, this is Michael Caine, with Living your
Success 24-7, another hopefullyexciting episode.
Let's jump right on in.
Let's just jump straight infrom the fire, from the pot into
the fire, as they say.
Okay, they used to say that I'mdating myself.
(00:23):
But today, as you know, all ourtopics is dealing with some
manner or form of success how toget there, how to keep it, how
to not lose it.
But in this case it's not aboutus Success, technically it is.
The topic is parenthood and wedo have a vested interest in our
(00:46):
children, young adults.
Now, keep in mind when I saychildren, these aren't three,
four-year-olds necessarily, butthey're in their 20s, 30s or
more.
Not to date ourselves, but wehave a vested interest in the
success of our children.
That's it, simple.
This is today's episode Ourinterest in our children's
(01:11):
success.
Now, okay, I'm aware and I fullyacknowledge there's different
groups out there.
You know, baby boomers Okay,I'm not saying which group I
belong to millennials, gen z,gen x, all this.
They have different viewpoints.
(01:31):
They don't have total agreement, uh, with amongst each other's,
let alone versus, it seems likeeveryone else versus baby
boomers sometimes.
But we do have an opinion onleadership and direction we give
(01:56):
our kids and you know excuse mewhen I say kids, children you
will always be mommy and daddy'sprecious one, okay?
So please excuse my word ofchildren and kids.
Child, we know you're youngadults, we know you're
(02:20):
independent in mind and body andspirit.
But I want to talk aboutparenthood.
I want to talk about bothperspectives.
I'm going to start with theperspective of a parent first,
(02:44):
and I can't say that I fullyunderstand or I'm aware of every
nuance of challenges ourchildren face.
Experience we can relate fromour own experiences, but it may
not be necessarily the same,because in our day we didn't
have cell phones and theinternet computers as we have
now.
So our children may think andmay give us, downplay our
(03:12):
opinions or reject our premisesand solutions to their
challenges because they'redating us, maybe rightfully so
to some degree.
But still there's somecommonality and common ground
and that's where I'm going toshoot for, because, just like I
mentioned in other podcastsabout, doesn't matter what
(03:33):
country you come from, what raceor culture, religion you are,
we essentially want the samethings at the end of the day we
do Now.
It's how we go about.
It can be productive or hellishor demonic or angelic, but we
essentially want the same things.
So I'm going to go with thepremise that everyone listening
(03:56):
to this podcast wants theirchildren, no matter how old they
are or young they are, to dowell.
Okay, I know there's parentsout there that don't give a damn
, and I'm not talking about theones that don't give a damn
because you know they're hellbound.
They are who they are and notpart of my discussion.
I'm talking about the parentsthat care, and so only the
(04:20):
parents that care.
Please listen to this If youdon't move on.
So parenthood not easy.
Anyone says it's easy, eh, nottelling the truth.
Or definitely not a parent, orat least a good one.
Sometimes, as parents this is aconfession we push our own
(04:43):
ideology, own concepts andexperience on to our children
and you know, sometimes it's not.
You know, generally it's wellintended that we want them to do
well.
For example, without anydiscussion of children, you can
say well, yeah, you should get agood job, a job with benefits,
(05:06):
you should have a eight to fivejob, stable and in one employer,
forever.
That may be the scope of thebaby boomers or older
generations viewpoint, which issummarily discounted,
discredited, rejected by ZenGenin, ZM, ykapct, whatever
(05:28):
alphabet you are, so you knowit's rejected.
It's a different world outthere, true, but at the same
time as loving, caring parents,we want our children to have
stability, to have a good job aswe define good job, to be fair
(05:55):
but it may not be what ourchildren want or need, and so
what do we do?
So let me still do my type rate.
The last thing us parents wantis for children to.
(06:15):
I know some of you say comeback home.
I know some of you are thinkingthat that may be true too, but
because of some challengesthat's the context we want them
to do well, meaning Some form ofeducation.
And that education isn'tnecessarily academic.
It could be vocational, likebeing a nurse or engineer, like
(06:42):
you know, auto repair,electrician stuff, like that
Plumber vocational in nature.
So when I say educated oreducation, I'm not saying for a
year degree, two year degree,whatever it's.
However you get there.
So you need, you do need skillsand knowledge, whatever they
(07:02):
may be, and that's what usparents and knowledge, whatever
they may be, and that's what usparents, talking to both sides.
Now, that's what we want for ourchildren, that we care for and
we love, and we're notnecessarily looking for little
mini-me's.
Maybe we are okay, maybe we aresometimes.
(07:28):
Maybe we are Okay, maybe we aresometimes to be truthful, but
we want you, our children, to befinancially stable, meaning you
could pay all your bills andnot only just pay your bills.
We want you to have a margin ofsafety where you can save and
invest your money as well.
Save for your future like a401k, an IRA, a Roth IRA, in
(07:50):
particular, other investmentvehicles 457 plan, 403b,
whatever.
We want you to be able toinvest in a qualified,
non-qualified investmentaccounts.
Pre-tax, post-tax, say.
Invest in budget wisely.
(08:11):
You know to live within yourmeans.
So if you make $500 a week,you're not spending $600 a week
putting it on a credit card orsomething borrowing money.
No, we don't want that.
We don't want that for anyone.
It's not sustainable.
Those cards will collapse.
(08:32):
One little win, boom, you'redone.
Bankruptcy foreclosure Can Iget an amen?
Hey, I've seen those.
I've experienced.
Each one of those Personallyexperienced that.
Why Foolishness?
A lot of people don't want tohear that, and sometimes it's no
(08:53):
fault of your own too.
But I believe I never met aperson that says I saved and
invested too much.
I don't think I've ever metanyone that said that Even when
I was in the money business, Idon't think I ever hey, michael,
I just save and invest in toomuch.
I haven't heard, maybe that'sout there, but when I hear it I
(09:17):
couldn't do anything.
Really, did you really needfour cable channels?
Did you really need that thirdor fourth, whatever that third
or fourth thing is?
Did you really need to do that?
Not saying not to have fun, youwant to be a wet blanket?
(09:37):
Yeah, when I had meagerresources, you know couldn't do,
let me fly to spain.
Well, I couldn't do.
It certainly wasn't putting ona credit card.
At least I had sense enough notto do that.
But uh, you know you have tolive within your means and and
what you have to do, and somethings are out of your control.
So I'm not saying that.
But sometimes we set things upto where it's past.
(10:01):
The point of no return is allI'm saying Not to be judgmental
here, but listen to these otherpodcasts and gurus financial.
They have one thing in commonfor the most part Eliminate
those oops and errors that werepreventable.
(10:22):
A lot of this stuff waspreventable, but we did it
anyway.
Like being with the wrongperson.
I won't go there, but a lot ofpeople are broke and don't have
money because of whoever they'rewith, and you know you have to
decide what's important.
It's each stage of your life,when you're three, four years
(10:43):
old, you just want the love of amother, and a father too.
Mother's in first position, bythe way, father, so sorry about
that.
That's why Mother's Day isbigger than Father's Day.
Okay, you can check it out.
Check it out for yourself.
It's a reason they did do mostof the heavy lifting in the womb
(11:06):
and all that.
We won't get into that, won'twe?
But we're valuable too, though.
Okay, I'm a father, but so.
But we're valuable too, though.
Okay, I'm a father, but so welove our children.
We hopefully have a side chatand give them our wisdom,
(11:26):
experience, share our opinionson the possibilities that they
may have come to and encouragethem to make good decisions, and
we hope that doesn't have to bea sales job on staying away
(11:47):
from foolish decisions.
You know, and I know there'sparents out there that are the
frame of mind Well, I want mychildren to take care of me.
No, you need to get off yourbutt and take care of yourself.
I mean, you know and I'm nottalking about Older generations
(12:09):
where, yeah, that was part ofthe thing I'm talking moving
forward, you need to do all youcan do so where, yeah, that was
part of the thing I'm talkingmoving forward, you need to do
all you can do so you'refinancially solvent and not put
everything on your children.
That's just too much of a youknow, and I understand there'd
be some debate and argument onthis.
But what I mean is peoplerestrict and limit themselves to
(12:34):
the point where, yeah, youcan't take care of yourself and
then you know you're looking forother people to do that for you
and it's just not fair on thenext person, regardless of their
children or spouse or whatever.
You want to put your the topplan.
You want to put yourself in aposition to have the resources
(12:55):
to take care of yourself.
That's the goal.
It doesn't always happen, ofcourse it doesn't.
Like I said, I blew up bankaccount boom, bankruptcy,
foreclosure, debt and thingshappen.
So I'm telling you thingshappen.
I'm saying people that set thatup intentionally.
I have a problem with that Bigproblem.
(13:20):
Yeah, and my parents?
They're passed on now.
Thank God for us.
They had a mindset ofindependence, you know.
They saved, invested.
Yeah, they had problems.
(13:41):
They had financial problems andall kinds of problems on this
earth.
They grew up in an era whereracism was at one of its worst.
They experienced a lot ofhardship.
They experienced a lot ofhardship, but their intention,
which seemed to prove out laterin life, is to work hard, smart,
in their best interest, intheir family's interest, and not
(14:04):
make too many bonehead errors.
You know how you learn something.
You still do the same stupidthing anyway.
Okay, that's what I'm talkingabout.
You want to avoid those things.
You know a cat has nine lives.
(14:25):
Well, how many lives do youhave financially?
Where you do the, you may noteven get to number three or four
or five, and if you get tonumber nine, that may be the
last thing you do.
So don't expect that and dothings intentionally where
that's an option.
It's all my point.
People that legitimately try andfail.
It's understandable.
You know how many times, yeah,I fail.
(14:45):
Yeah, why did I make thatdecision?
Ah, dang it, I wasn't thinkingon that.
And then you regroup.
You hopefully talk to someonewith wisdom, hear them read
their book, watch them, or theyshare their testimony of the
hardships they went through andwhat they did to get out of it.
Hope you're listening to all ofthat.
Help me personally.
(15:09):
Not everyone can have a goodfriend, a good father, mother,
figure or person that they trust, that can lead them to the
promised land, and I understandthat too.
But I don't want to put in aposition where you say, well, I
have no choice.
I couldn't have stopped thispreventative.
(15:37):
You know, to some extent thatcould be true, but with
everything every single year,you know we don't.
In our older age, the goal isnot to be a burden to our
children.
No good parent wants to be aburden to their children.
Now it doesn't mean thechildren may have to step in and
help mommy and daddy.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying that at all, butI want to.
(16:03):
As I grow older and age andthings start hurting and just
all over the place can't bendover to get a quarter off the
ground without being a majorissue sometimes.
But the point is we want ourchildren to do well over and
above us, not to the extent howthey can help us.
That's just no Something wrongwith that picture.
By any measure, we want ourchildren to be successful.
(16:25):
We want ourselves to besuccessful.
Anyone listening to my podcastknow when you get on the
airplane and they do the safetyroutines, what do they do?
I've said this many times Putyour own oxygen mask on first
before helping anyone else.
Same thing with your money,your job, your life.
(16:45):
You put your crap togetherfirst before you start thinking
about helping somebody else.
That's what you do, that's theelse.
That's what you do, that's thegoal, that's the intent.
But it doesn't always happenthat way and I understand that.
But there's a but.
(17:07):
We must do, as parents, all wecan do to set up our children
for success.
And it's not always about themoney, because rich folks give
their children money and they dodrugs, commit suicide and do
other stuff, blow the money.
So just giving people money isinsufficient, and that's not
what I'm saying.
It's nurturing, sowing a seedin your child's life so they can
(17:33):
weigh good decisions versuspoor decisions.
And if they make a poor one,they know why.
Mommy, dad told me that.
Uh, your granny joe told methat, but I did the opposite
anyway, and that's fine.
You learn, don't do it again.
Certain things is just dealbreakers when it comes to being
successful in life.
(17:53):
It just is.
And you want to stay away fromthose things, it's all I'm
saying, those who's reallylistening to me, not cursing me
right now.
Okay, what the hell is he now?
He don't know my life.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah,you know it though, you and God.
(18:13):
What's the truth?
What's the truth?
What's the truth?
So I struggled, hell yeah,heavily, seriously, and you got
to pick yourself back up.
Surround yourself withpositive-minded people, not
(18:37):
having billionaires around youand millionaires, like everybody
says, a lot of people say, butreal people, genuine people that
have your best interests atheart more than how much money
they have in their pocket.
Now, I'm not saying beingaround broke people either, that
don't have any motivation to dowell.
I'm not saying that either.
Don't take one extreme to thenext, but it's important that we
(19:03):
invest the time and energy,even before money, to our
children's present and futureand nurture them, give them a
hug, give them some wisdom.
This isn't the end here.
You will overcome if you wantto.
These challenges in life willcome.
(19:24):
You will fall, like riding thatbicycle.
What did you do when you fellthe first time?
And the second time and thirdtime you got back up and said
dog, dog, gone it.
I'm gonna ride this bicycle.
These people aren't smarterthan me.
There are nothing more than me,capable than me.
(19:46):
I can do this.
Maybe they did the first time,second time, maybe you'll do the
fifth and sixth time.
Don't measure, don't compare,but you can emulate and borrow
the good stuff from what you seegood folks, talented folks.
So it's important that you havea mindset of I want my children
(20:11):
to do well, and then that leadsoften to leaving them a legacy.
And if you can leave a legacyof and I'm not just talking
about financial money, but alegacy, but including money and
inheritance, god bless you.
That's good.
Leave them something wisdom, agood message, something and
(20:33):
money.
If you can Give them a headstart, have no problem.
Some people say, well, I'm notgiving my children anything.
Well, that's you, everyone'sdifferent.
I would give them a leg up andopportunity to not start from
ground zero.
Definitely that's my mindset.
Everyone's different can argueup and down on that and that's
(21:00):
fine, I don't care.
I know what Michael Caine'sgoal intentions are.
Ok, your goal intention is isup to you.
So I, on the other side of thiscoin, the children I hope you're
open and listening and justdon't write off us old folks.
Us old folks what?
After 30, we start to be oldright?
(21:22):
35, 40, older, 50, you real old, 60,?
Oh, you about to die?
That's what they think.
No, we still got a lot of lifeleft in us.
You hear about the great wealthtransfer.
Who do you think is coming from?
It's coming from us.
So I hope you're listening.
A lot of people childrensquander their parents'
inheritance or fortune orwhatever they leave them.
(21:43):
Squander it, blow it, blow itup.
Don't do that.
Save it for a rainy day.
Save it for a rainy day, havefun, because the money isn't
going with you in the nextspiritual world after you die,
(22:05):
not taking it with you.
You could throw it in the gravewith you, but somebody's going
to dig it up later after thatfuneral and dig it up and take
it.
Promise you that you won't beusing it.
So this isn't a commercial fora living trust or a will, but do
encourage that where you can gofrom the grave and see direct,
(22:35):
send that money where it needsto be sent.
So but children, young adultshere talking to you, listen to
wisdom.
You don't have to follow everyiota of advice, but pick the
stuff that appeals to you.
But you just don't want to doanything foolish.
You really don't.
(22:56):
I've been there, done that.
It's not pretty, staying upsweating at night and having
panic attacks.
You really want to do that.
Be on drugs, medical drugs,because you can't control your
mind, because you lost your mindbecause of making too many bad
decisions.
Educate yourself Financially,health, wise.
(23:17):
And, yeah, you should help yourparents.
If you can, you should.
If they need your help, theymay be extended themselves for
you and everybody else and maybethey need help too.
They need a little love, theyneed a lot of love.
They don't have all the answers.
(23:39):
We don't have all the answers.
You're doing the best Parentsdo the best they can, and that's
my point.
But you have to invest in yourknowledge, your education, so
you have a direction that's goodfor you in life.
Life goes quick.
You don't want to have too manybig titanic issues happen.
(24:04):
Where you're trying to get outof there is a point of no return
, unrecoverable, where the roadyou kick that can down the road.
The road is, the road is gone.
Do not I promise you want thatto happen to you.
Don't spend over your means.
Save, invest, have a purpose inyour life to what career, job
(24:30):
you want, and in previouspodcasts I made a distinction
between job and a career.
Job you want and in previouspodcasts I made a distinction
between job and a career Job iswhat you do.
Career is your life.
That's your purpose, that'syour life, that's your intention
intentionality we do jobs toget by, to get the money that we
need.
The job could turn into acareer, okay.
(24:51):
So it's important that you beopen to feedback and definitely
have self-control and highemotional intelligence, where
you're listening more thanyou're talking.
What did he say?
That's why God gave you twoears and one mouth.
One mile Doesn't mean youropinion isn't important or
(25:21):
warranted, but educate yourselfon the possibilities, the
various options, and then lookover those options and see which
one is for you.
Don't jump in immediately, jumpfrom the pot into the fire.
You could do that inadvertently.
You say I didn't mean to theway you did because you didn't
(25:41):
take time to weigh the costs andthe benefits.
Benefit-cost analysis I knowsome of you business majors
heard that and business owners,entrepreneurs what's the
benefits versus the costs andwhat's the sacrifices I need to
(26:03):
make?
So it's important that you beintentional, but intentional in
a good way, where the outcome,the benefit, will grossly
outweigh the negatives.
(26:24):
So that's my message today andthank you for listening and
thank you for those who boughtmy book.
I appreciate it online andpaperback on Amazon slaying your
Dragons Living the Life youAlways Wanted.
Thank you for that.
Please subscribe to the podcast.
Thank you for being on AppleiHeartRadio and Spotify and
(26:44):
Amazon, thank you so much, andother platforms.
I appreciate you for sharingand hitting those notifications
and waiting for the next episode, and thank you for supporting
me.
I appreciate it and I wish allof you well and your children
(27:06):
and your parents well as well.
So that's it.
This is Michael Caine, forLiving your Success 24-7.
Until next time, my friends.
Until next time.
Hello there, this is Michael Caine, with Living your
Success 24-7, another hopefullyexciting episode.
Let's jump right on in.
Let's just jump straight infrom the fire, from the pot into
the fire, as they say.
Okay, they used to say that I'mdating myself.
(00:23):
But today, as you know, all ourtopics is dealing with some
manner or form of success how toget there, how to keep it, how
to not lose it.
But in this case it's not aboutus Success, technically it is.
The topic is parenthood and wedo have a vested interest in our
(00:46):
children, young adults.
Now, keep in mind when I saychildren, these aren't three,
four-year-olds necessarily, butthey're in their 20s, 30s or
more.
Not to date ourselves, but wehave a vested interest in the
success of our children.
That's it, simple.
This is today's episode Ourinterest in our children's
(01:11):
success.
Now, okay, I'm aware and I fullyacknowledge there's different
groups out there.
You know, baby boomers Okay,I'm not saying which group I
belong to millennials, gen z,gen x, all this.
They have different viewpoints.
(01:31):
They don't have total agreement, uh, with amongst each other's,
let alone versus, it seems likeeveryone else versus baby
boomers sometimes.
But we do have an opinion onleadership and direction we give
(01:56):
our kids and you know excuse mewhen I say kids, children you
will always be mommy and daddy'sprecious one, okay?
So please excuse my word ofchildren and kids.
Child, we know you're youngadults, we know you're
(02:20):
independent in mind and body andspirit.
But I want to talk aboutparenthood.
I want to talk about bothperspectives.
I'm going to start with theperspective of a parent first,
(02:44):
and I can't say that I fullyunderstand or I'm aware of every
nuance of challenges ourchildren face.
Experience we can relate fromour own experiences, but it may
not be necessarily the same,because in our day we didn't
have cell phones and theinternet computers as we have
now.
So our children may think andmay give us, downplay our
(03:12):
opinions or reject our premisesand solutions to their
challenges because they'redating us, maybe rightfully so
to some degree.
But still there's somecommonality and common ground
and that's where I'm going toshoot for, because, just like I
mentioned in other podcastsabout, doesn't matter what
(03:33):
country you come from, what raceor culture, religion you are,
we essentially want the samethings at the end of the day we
do Now.
It's how we go about.
It can be productive or hellishor demonic or angelic, but we
essentially want the same things.
So I'm going to go with thepremise that everyone listening
(03:56):
to this podcast wants theirchildren, no matter how old they
are or young they are, to dowell.
Okay, I know there's parentsout there that don't give a damn
, and I'm not talking about theones that don't give a damn
because you know they're hellbound.
They are who they are and notpart of my discussion.
I'm talking about the parentsthat care, and so only the
(04:20):
parents that care.
Please listen to this If youdon't move on.
So parenthood not easy.
Anyone says it's easy, eh, nottelling the truth.
Or definitely not a parent, orat least a good one.
Sometimes, as parents this is aconfession we push our own
(04:43):
ideology, own concepts andexperience on to our children
and you know, sometimes it's not.
You know, generally it's wellintended that we want them to do
well.
For example, without anydiscussion of children, you can
say well, yeah, you should get agood job, a job with benefits,
(05:06):
you should have a eight to fivejob, stable and in one employer,
forever.
That may be the scope of thebaby boomers or older
generations viewpoint, which issummarily discounted,
discredited, rejected by ZenGenin, ZM, ykapct, whatever
(05:28):
alphabet you are, so you knowit's rejected.
It's a different world outthere, true, but at the same
time as loving, caring parents,we want our children to have
stability, to have a good job aswe define good job, to be fair
(05:55):
but it may not be what ourchildren want or need, and so
what do we do?
So let me still do my type rate.
The last thing us parents wantis for children to.
(06:15):
I know some of you say comeback home.
I know some of you are thinkingthat that may be true too, but
because of some challengesthat's the context we want them
to do well, meaning Some form ofeducation.
And that education isn'tnecessarily academic.
It could be vocational, likebeing a nurse or engineer, like
(06:42):
you know, auto repair,electrician stuff, like that
Plumber vocational in nature.
So when I say educated oreducation, I'm not saying for a
year degree, two year degree,whatever it's.
However you get there.
So you need, you do need skillsand knowledge, whatever they
(07:02):
may be, and that's what usparents and knowledge, whatever
they may be, and that's what usparents, talking to both sides.
Now, that's what we want for ourchildren, that we care for and
we love, and we're notnecessarily looking for little
mini-me's.
Maybe we are okay, maybe we aresometimes.
(07:28):
Maybe we are Okay, maybe we aresometimes to be truthful, but
we want you, our children, to befinancially stable, meaning you
could pay all your bills andnot only just pay your bills.
We want you to have a margin ofsafety where you can save and
invest your money as well.
Save for your future like a401k, an IRA, a Roth IRA, in
(07:50):
particular, other investmentvehicles 457 plan, 403b,
whatever.
We want you to be able toinvest in a qualified,
non-qualified investmentaccounts.
Pre-tax, post-tax, say.
Invest in budget wisely.
(08:11):
You know to live within yourmeans.
So if you make $500 a week,you're not spending $600 a week
putting it on a credit card orsomething borrowing money.
No, we don't want that.
We don't want that for anyone.
It's not sustainable.
Those cards will collapse.
(08:32):
One little win, boom, you'redone.
Bankruptcy foreclosure Can Iget an amen?
Hey, I've seen those.
I've experienced.
Each one of those Personallyexperienced that.
Why Foolishness?
A lot of people don't want tohear that, and sometimes it's no
(08:53):
fault of your own too.
But I believe I never met aperson that says I saved and
invested too much.
I don't think I've ever metanyone that said that Even when
I was in the money business, Idon't think I ever hey, michael,
I just save and invest in toomuch.
I haven't heard, maybe that'sout there, but when I hear it I
(09:17):
couldn't do anything.
Really, did you really needfour cable channels?
Did you really need that thirdor fourth, whatever that third
or fourth thing is?
Did you really need to do that?
Not saying not to have fun, youwant to be a wet blanket?
(09:37):
Yeah, when I had meagerresources, you know couldn't do,
let me fly to spain.
Well, I couldn't do.
It certainly wasn't putting ona credit card.
At least I had sense enough notto do that.
But uh, you know you have tolive within your means and and
what you have to do, and somethings are out of your control.
So I'm not saying that.
But sometimes we set things upto where it's past.
(10:01):
The point of no return is allI'm saying Not to be judgmental
here, but listen to these otherpodcasts and gurus financial.
They have one thing in commonfor the most part Eliminate
those oops and errors that werepreventable.
(10:22):
A lot of this stuff waspreventable, but we did it
anyway.
Like being with the wrongperson.
I won't go there, but a lot ofpeople are broke and don't have
money because of whoever they'rewith, and you know you have to
decide what's important.
It's each stage of your life,when you're three, four years
(10:43):
old, you just want the love of amother, and a father too.
Mother's in first position, bythe way, father, so sorry about
that.
That's why Mother's Day isbigger than Father's Day.
Okay, you can check it out.
Check it out for yourself.
It's a reason they did do mostof the heavy lifting in the womb
(11:06):
and all that.
We won't get into that, won'twe?
But we're valuable too, though.
Okay, I'm a father, but so.
But we're valuable too, though.
Okay, I'm a father, but so welove our children.
We hopefully have a side chatand give them our wisdom,
(11:26):
experience, share our opinionson the possibilities that they
may have come to and encouragethem to make good decisions, and
we hope that doesn't have to bea sales job on staying away
(11:47):
from foolish decisions.
You know, and I know there'sparents out there that are the
frame of mind Well, I want mychildren to take care of me.
No, you need to get off yourbutt and take care of yourself.
I mean, you know and I'm nottalking about Older generations
(12:09):
where, yeah, that was part ofthe thing I'm talking moving
forward, you need to do all youcan do so where, yeah, that was
part of the thing I'm talkingmoving forward, you need to do
all you can do so you'refinancially solvent and not put
everything on your children.
That's just too much of a youknow, and I understand there'd
be some debate and argument onthis.
But what I mean is peoplerestrict and limit themselves to
(12:34):
the point where, yeah, youcan't take care of yourself and
then you know you're looking forother people to do that for you
and it's just not fair on thenext person, regardless of their
children or spouse or whatever.
You want to put your the topplan.
You want to put yourself in aposition to have the resources
(12:55):
to take care of yourself.
That's the goal.
It doesn't always happen, ofcourse it doesn't.
Like I said, I blew up bankaccount boom, bankruptcy,
foreclosure, debt and thingshappen.
So I'm telling you thingshappen.
I'm saying people that set thatup intentionally.
I have a problem with that Bigproblem.
(13:20):
Yeah, and my parents?
They're passed on now.
Thank God for us.
They had a mindset ofindependence, you know.
They saved, invested.
Yeah, they had problems.
(13:41):
They had financial problems andall kinds of problems on this
earth.
They grew up in an era whereracism was at one of its worst.
They experienced a lot ofhardship.
They experienced a lot ofhardship, but their intention,
which seemed to prove out laterin life, is to work hard, smart,
in their best interest, intheir family's interest, and not
(14:04):
make too many bonehead errors.
You know how you learn something.
You still do the same stupidthing anyway.
Okay, that's what I'm talkingabout.
You want to avoid those things.
You know a cat has nine lives.
(14:25):
Well, how many lives do youhave financially?
Where you do the, you may noteven get to number three or four
or five, and if you get tonumber nine, that may be the
last thing you do.
So don't expect that and dothings intentionally where
that's an option.
It's all my point.
People that legitimately try andfail.
It's understandable.
You know how many times, yeah,I fail.
(14:45):
Yeah, why did I make thatdecision?
Ah, dang it, I wasn't thinkingon that.
And then you regroup.
You hopefully talk to someonewith wisdom, hear them read
their book, watch them, or theyshare their testimony of the
hardships they went through andwhat they did to get out of it.
Hope you're listening to all ofthat.
Help me personally.
(15:09):
Not everyone can have a goodfriend, a good father, mother,
figure or person that they trust, that can lead them to the
promised land, and I understandthat too.
But I don't want to put in aposition where you say, well, I
have no choice.
I couldn't have stopped thispreventative.
(15:37):
You know, to some extent thatcould be true, but with
everything every single year,you know we don't.
In our older age, the goal isnot to be a burden to our
children.
No good parent wants to be aburden to their children.
Now it doesn't mean thechildren may have to step in and
help mommy and daddy.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying that at all, butI want to.
(16:03):
As I grow older and age andthings start hurting and just
all over the place can't bendover to get a quarter off the
ground without being a majorissue sometimes.
But the point is we want ourchildren to do well over and
above us, not to the extent howthey can help us.
That's just no Something wrongwith that picture.
By any measure, we want ourchildren to be successful.
(16:25):
We want ourselves to besuccessful.
Anyone listening to my podcastknow when you get on the
airplane and they do the safetyroutines, what do they do?
I've said this many times Putyour own oxygen mask on first
before helping anyone else.
Same thing with your money,your job, your life.
(16:45):
You put your crap togetherfirst before you start thinking
about helping somebody else.
That's what you do, that's theelse.
That's what you do, that's thegoal, that's the intent.
But it doesn't always happenthat way and I understand that.
But there's a but.
(17:07):
We must do, as parents, all wecan do to set up our children
for success.
And it's not always about themoney, because rich folks give
their children money and they dodrugs, commit suicide and do
other stuff, blow the money.
So just giving people money isinsufficient, and that's not
what I'm saying.
It's nurturing, sowing a seedin your child's life so they can
(17:33):
weigh good decisions versuspoor decisions.
And if they make a poor one,they know why.
Mommy, dad told me that.
Uh, your granny joe told methat, but I did the opposite
anyway, and that's fine.
You learn, don't do it again.
Certain things is just dealbreakers when it comes to being
successful in life.
(17:53):
It just is.
And you want to stay away fromthose things, it's all I'm
saying, those who's reallylistening to me, not cursing me
right now.
Okay, what the hell is he now?
He don't know my life.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah,you know it though, you and God.
(18:13):
What's the truth?
What's the truth?
What's the truth?
So I struggled, hell yeah,heavily, seriously, and you got
to pick yourself back up.
Surround yourself withpositive-minded people, not
(18:37):
having billionaires around youand millionaires, like everybody
says, a lot of people say, butreal people, genuine people that
have your best interests atheart more than how much money
they have in their pocket.
Now, I'm not saying beingaround broke people either, that
don't have any motivation to dowell.
I'm not saying that either.
Don't take one extreme to thenext, but it's important that we
(19:03):
invest the time and energy,even before money, to our
children's present and futureand nurture them, give them a
hug, give them some wisdom.
This isn't the end here.
You will overcome if you wantto.
These challenges in life willcome.
(19:24):
You will fall, like riding thatbicycle.
What did you do when you fellthe first time?
And the second time and thirdtime you got back up and said
dog, dog, gone it.
I'm gonna ride this bicycle.
These people aren't smarterthan me.
There are nothing more than me,capable than me.
(19:46):
I can do this.
Maybe they did the first time,second time, maybe you'll do the
fifth and sixth time.
Don't measure, don't compare,but you can emulate and borrow
the good stuff from what you seegood folks, talented folks.
So it's important that you havea mindset of I want my children
(20:11):
to do well, and then that leadsoften to leaving them a legacy.
And if you can leave a legacyof and I'm not just talking
about financial money, but alegacy, but including money and
inheritance, god bless you.
That's good.
Leave them something wisdom, agood message, something and
(20:33):
money.
If you can Give them a headstart, have no problem.
Some people say, well, I'm notgiving my children anything.
Well, that's you, everyone'sdifferent.
I would give them a leg up andopportunity to not start from
ground zero.
Definitely that's my mindset.
Everyone's different can argueup and down on that and that's
(21:00):
fine, I don't care.
I know what Michael Caine'sgoal intentions are.
Ok, your goal intention is isup to you.
So I, on the other side of thiscoin, the children I hope you're
open and listening and justdon't write off us old folks.
Us old folks what?
After 30, we start to be oldright?
(21:22):
35, 40, older, 50, you real old, 60,?
Oh, you about to die?
That's what they think.
No, we still got a lot of lifeleft in us.
You hear about the great wealthtransfer.
Who do you think is coming from?
It's coming from us.
So I hope you're listening.
A lot of people childrensquander their parents'
inheritance or fortune orwhatever they leave them.
(21:43):
Squander it, blow it, blow itup.
Don't do that.
Save it for a rainy day.
Save it for a rainy day, havefun, because the money isn't
going with you in the nextspiritual world after you die,
(22:05):
not taking it with you.
You could throw it in the gravewith you, but somebody's going
to dig it up later after thatfuneral and dig it up and take
it.
Promise you that you won't beusing it.
So this isn't a commercial fora living trust or a will, but do
encourage that where you can gofrom the grave and see direct,
(22:35):
send that money where it needsto be sent.
So but children, young adultshere talking to you, listen to
wisdom.
You don't have to follow everyiota of advice, but pick the
stuff that appeals to you.
But you just don't want to doanything foolish.
You really don't.
(22:56):
I've been there, done that.
It's not pretty, staying upsweating at night and having
panic attacks.
You really want to do that.
Be on drugs, medical drugs,because you can't control your
mind, because you lost your mindbecause of making too many bad
decisions.
Educate yourself Financially,health, wise.
(23:17):
And, yeah, you should help yourparents.
If you can, you should.
If they need your help, theymay be extended themselves for
you and everybody else and maybethey need help too.
They need a little love, theyneed a lot of love.
They don't have all the answers.
(23:39):
We don't have all the answers.
You're doing the best Parentsdo the best they can, and that's
my point.
But you have to invest in yourknowledge, your education, so
you have a direction that's goodfor you in life.
Life goes quick.
You don't want to have too manybig titanic issues happen.
(24:04):
Where you're trying to get outof there is a point of no return
, unrecoverable, where the roadyou kick that can down the road.
The road is, the road is gone.
Do not I promise you want thatto happen to you.
Don't spend over your means.
Save, invest, have a purpose inyour life to what career, job
(24:30):
you want, and in previouspodcasts I made a distinction
between job and a career.
Job you want and in previouspodcasts I made a distinction
between job and a career Job iswhat you do.
Career is your life.
That's your purpose, that'syour life, that's your intention
intentionality we do jobs toget by, to get the money that we
need.
The job could turn into acareer, okay.
(24:51):
So it's important that you beopen to feedback and definitely
have self-control and highemotional intelligence, where
you're listening more thanyou're talking.
What did he say?
That's why God gave you twoears and one mouth.
One mile Doesn't mean youropinion isn't important or
(25:21):
warranted, but educate yourselfon the possibilities, the
various options, and then lookover those options and see which
one is for you.
Don't jump in immediately, jumpfrom the pot into the fire.
You could do that inadvertently.
You say I didn't mean to theway you did because you didn't
(25:41):
take time to weigh the costs andthe benefits.
Benefit-cost analysis I knowsome of you business majors
heard that and business owners,entrepreneurs what's the
benefits versus the costs andwhat's the sacrifices I need to
(26:03):
make?
So it's important that you beintentional, but intentional in
a good way, where the outcome,the benefit, will grossly
outweigh the negatives.
(26:24):
So that's my message today andthank you for listening and
thank you for those who boughtmy book.
I appreciate it online andpaperback on Amazon slaying your
Dragons Living the Life youAlways Wanted.
Thank you for that.
Please subscribe to the podcast.
Thank you for being on AppleiHeartRadio and Spotify and
(26:44):
Amazon, thank you so much, andother platforms.
I appreciate you for sharingand hitting those notifications
and waiting for the next episode, and thank you for supporting
me.
I appreciate it and I wish allof you well and your children
(27:06):
and your parents well as well.
So that's it.
This is Michael Caine, forLiving your Success 24-7.
Until next time, my friends.
Until next time.
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