August 22, 2023 • 45 mins
Thank goodness my guests have a sense of humor! Glitches and all, this was a great episode. 😋
Ready to change your perspective on #money?
Watch this episode on financial literacy with our distinguished guests Hassan Thomas (FYI-FLI), Sam X Renick, Founder - SammyRabbit com , Derrick Wesley (Seedlyng App), and Romy A. Pickron, CFP® (Asset Achievers).
We dive into the heart of financial education, discussing its scarcity in schools and the challenges parents face while teaching their children about money.
#paradedeck #mrspie #financialeducation
Come join us at our virtual events monthly. Visit our website to learn more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Riff Morca.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I can't hear you, you're going to be muted.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Wait a go, Shelley.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
You said it.
You said something might happen.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
You called me ready for anything.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
You hear me now.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Perfect, greatest intro ever.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
There was a tiny glitch happening on my side.
I can see myself on ParadecLive TV.
I can see myself on ParadecLive.
(01:49):
I can't hear you.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We're going to roam around the room.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Hi everyone.
Hi everyone, reduce if I so.
(02:55):
I'm excited to be here with youtoday and I look forward to
sharing these financial gems forstudents, teachers and parents
today.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Awesome.
Thank you for doing that, y'all, and I'm apologizing for the
glitch.
So, before we go further, forthe folks who are on Facebook,
linkedin, youtube, twitter andParadec live, please make sure
you love and like the video andsupport.
All my friends were heretonight, so why don't we go to
Hassan next?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
All right, well, hello, hello.
My name is Hassan Thomas.
I'm the CEO and founder of FYI.
Fly with.
That stands for is for yourinformation, financial literacy
and investing.
So a little word play on thatword fly for that younger
audience.
I'm a award-winning podcaster,author, speaker, so I go to high
schools and colleges and speakwith recent grad students on how
(03:46):
to make, manage and grow theirfinances and I'm super happy to
be here.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Awesome.
Thank you for that.
And then Sam.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Well, thank you, Mrs Pie, feeling very proud,
inspired and empowered.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
You're at home, okay.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
You're at home.
Please on that next rank, AKASammy Rabbit.
We like to help teach kids andteach parents and teach everyone
interested in teaching youngkids especially great money
habits.
We do it at samyrabbitcom.
We welcome everybody to SammyLand.
Come join us, Give us yourfeedback, let's learn together.
(04:24):
Let's make sure all of us,including the next generation,
has a great, great president inthe future.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I love that.
And then, definitely last butnot least, I think Derek is
otherwise known as the greatconnector.
Derek knows everybody and hedoesn't know him you know,
somebody who knows him, and so Idefinitely want to pause right
here because I'm also just, youknow, just to be, just to be on.
Thank you, tracy, our kids needthis badly.
Yes, that's why we're here forreal.
(04:52):
So just to pause and give ashout out to the seedling app
and I just just a transparencythat our company, mrs Pie, my
daughter, everybody who'sattached to me, supports this
app.
It is amazing.
So tell us you know who you are, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So, derek Wesley, thank you for that introduction
and thank you for having me onShelly with this amazing group
on the panel this evening.
So I'm the owner and founder ofseedling financial education.
We work mainly with schools andnonprofits to provide our
innovative financial literacytools.
We have the mobile app, likeyou mentioned, which builds a
(05:30):
personalized curriculum for eachuser, so you can be as young as
five all the way up toretirement age and you get
content based on your assessmentscore and what you're
interested in.
And we also work with teachersin the classroom and we provide
our full turnkey solution toschools to make sure that the
teachers have everything theyneed so that they can help the
(05:51):
students learn those importantfinancial lessons that they need
once they graduate, because alot of schools aren't offering
it.
So we're happy to come in andfill that gap so that the
students can get everything sothat they're ready to be
successful when it comes totheir finances.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
I love that.
Something that we talked about,both Derek and myself and Sam
we talked about before, was thisgap in financial literacy,
education, education when itcame from parents to our kids.
So a lot of us, a lot of usparents, you know we don't do a
great job of telling kids, youknow how to say or explaining
that money doesn't actually growon trees.
(06:27):
We just answer the request ofyou know I need this, I need
that, and the money magicallyshows up, and so you know
something that, as a mom, that achallenge that I have, is
really explaining even thebasics because, to your point,
Derek, it is not widely taughtin school.
So I wanted to actually go toHassan real quick to get your
(06:49):
your take on kind of the stateof you know the way things are
right now and what are some ofthe obstacles that parents have
in just having some of thosebasic, basic conversations about
financial literacy.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, for sure.
So I'm definitely glad youstarted with me, because I was
going to jump up.
I was going to jump up because Ithink I may be the, I may I
don't know, I may be the closestone that was that was
previously a kid.
So when I was a kid, you knowwhat.
I was a kid.
I will tell you this.
You know, my mom and my parentstold me things, but they didn't
(07:26):
tell me why.
They didn't show me and tell meOkay, boom, you need to be
saving.
But let me tell you why.
And also, they didn't tell meyou know what happens if you do,
but also what happens if youdon't.
So I don't want to say we wantto scare our kids or scare the
younger generation, but we gotto be real with them.
(07:48):
We got to be real and let themknow what happens if they make
that smart financial decision or, on the opposite end, if they
make that, you know, not sosmart financial decision.
So I think that's where youknow parents can, you know, take
a take.
That is the way that we will beable to learn is to know why
(08:18):
and what.
If we know what happens if wedo and what happens if we don't,
kind of explain the pros andthe cons.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
I love that.
So can we just pulling on thatthread a little bit.
What are your, what are yourthoughts around that?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I think that that's a great way to address it.
Hasan, and going back tosomething you said, shelley, I
am currently not a parent, butwhat I have heard from parents
is that they do not have a goodunderstanding of finances
themselves, and so how do theyshare information that they
don't even have with theirchildren?
(08:54):
And my advice is to start withthe component that we can all
begin with, and that's withengagement.
Even if you don't have a goodunderstanding of finances, we
all still work with finances, sowe're all still paying bills,
we're all still budgeting tosome degree, and so my mother
did an excellent job of gettingme engaged, and I believe that
(09:17):
that is a strong component toallowing your children to have
an introduction to finance, andso, whether that's going to the
grocery store and taking downthe prices of the items and then
calculating, those items arestarting with an allowance, and
so that way, your children willunderstand the power of the
(09:39):
dollar.
So I believe in getting themengaged in any way that you
possibly can, and that'll set agood, strong foundation for them
.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
So I love it.
So, Romy, there's a.
There's a comment in the room.
If I can, I'm going to try toshow it.
It's from Tracy and she'stalking about we have to do more
than just paying, basically,our kids and this is, you know,
I'm going to read it out forthose of y'all who listen to our
podcast lately this week wehave to do more than just paying
our kids for chores.
(10:10):
That is the great lesson, andhow do we teach them how to get
well?
And so now, here's thatconversation the difference
between I'm looking at Sam, I'mlike we talked about this the
difference between earning well,investing, saving, and chores
right, paying my kid.
So what do you?
(10:34):
What are your thoughts, Sam?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Well, I can see right off the bat there is going to
be another gap.
That's a generational gap.
My parents, you know it wasfunny when Romy said about the
power power I was thinking Igrew up in the power of the
paddle and things like why.
Those were questions you didn'task, you just kind of follow
(10:57):
directions.
But I think, you know you'vehit on a lot of important topics
, at least from my perspective.
I think kids learn best bydoing so.
Engagement is a great strategy,particularly if you're good at
it and can get them going.
You know, education is aprocess, so I think we need to
be realistic.
There aren't any silver bullets.
(11:18):
If there are, please, you know,let me know.
I haven't found any.
So I think you want to get thethe the topic going.
You know, however, that might be, and it can just be as simple
as, maybe, making a deposit intoa savings jar or a piggy bank
at SammyRabbitcom.
You know we try and breakthings down into simple steps
(11:42):
and so for us, the mostimportant thing any parent can
teach a child to do is to savemoney.
All right, I like the idea.
You know I'm seeing Romy's anasset achiever.
All right, I love the idea of,like, asset building.
All right, all of these thingsare in the way I view it are
mindsets, and that's that'swhere we begin, and so that
(12:04):
happens often in language.
So parents might, you know,have these family meetings, for
example, you know, startestablishing a culture of wealth
building, and so that there's alot of ways to do it, but start
, you know, doing it.
And as a part of the doing, Ithink, you know, as a parent, as
(12:27):
a teacher, and I, I thinkthat's where it starts is with
parents, as opposed to, say,schools, and in my view of it,
schools can add on.
Certainly, they can be a firstpoint for some people, but it's
a huge advantage if your parentsget these comfort stations
going.
And then, I think the secondthing you want to communicate is
(12:47):
this idea you just hit on MrsByte you want to be earners.
You know the Jeff Coates.
We're earners.
That means we work for moneyand that means also, we have our
money work for us.
We want our money working ashard as we work.
That's how it grows, that'sright.
Builds wealth and puts you onthe road to riches and things of
(13:08):
that nature.
I think once you get involvedthen you start building on your
skills or your knowledge aboutmoney and also your teaching,
engagement skills and all ofthese type of things.
But start early.
A lot of the studies andresearch indicate kids begin
learning about everything butthat includes money from birth,
(13:31):
maybe even earlier, throughsound, through sight, so they're
constantly hearing things,watching us and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And one thing I just want to add really, really
quickly to Sam's point, onething that I told my little
brother and little sister, whois eight and 10, I told them
let's save money off the top andthen spend whatever is left
over, Because they don't havebills, they don't have anything
that they really need to pay for.
So let's save a little moneyoff top and I think that's a
(14:03):
much easier concept.
Of course I learned that fromRich's man of Babylon, but just
explaining to him like that, hey, save a little off top and then
whatever is left over go aheadand spend.
That's kind of makes them feelgood to know that they have
money to spend, but it makes usfeel good to know that they got
money to save as well.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah, you hit on a key point there, hasan.
Look, kids, they're a window ofopportunity.
They don't have expenses, theydon't have bills, and when you
think just about saving, forexample, kids probably all
languages is like this, butwords have multiple meanings, so
probably young kids will beintroduced to the idea of, let's
(14:45):
say, saving meaning like rescueand rescue the princess, the
prince, whatever it is.
Now, when it comes to money, itgets even trickier, because
there's often two types ofsaving, like what I call save,
spend, save while you'respending money, and save,
accumulate, start, keep, putaway.
And so that is just a goldcarrot principle Prioritize
(15:12):
saving, save first, pay yourselffirst, save first, then spend.
So, man, I love that, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And just listen to you guys.
Hey, I'm fine man.
FYI, listen to you guys.
One of the main things that I'mpicking up on is just mindset.
That's what I'm hearing, justtraining the kids to have the
right mindset about money.
Sammy, I believe you have thesong where you constantly preach
about saving as a habit.
Creating those habits in ourkids are super important.
(15:40):
And something else that I thinkabout with my own kids is
framing the conversation.
Growing up in my household, whenI was younger, my parents they
were more so.
Children staying at a child'splace don't ask us about our
money and what we're doing withour funds.
You stay in your place.
But I think if we are proactiveas parents these days, then we
get the opportunity to introducemoney to our kids and then that
(16:03):
way we can frame thoseconversations.
We can read books together andstart building, laying that
foundation, and as we continueto go grocery shopping or even
making a big purchase, then Ican talk to them about those
things where now it's not astaboo as before.
Now it's open and they'restarting to think about their
future financial decisions andhow to manage money.
(16:25):
So us as parents today we can'tbe afraid to have those
conversations and if we'reproactive then we can ensure
that we're guiding theconversation in the correct way
and we can answer thosequestions as they come.
And if we don't know, thenthat's a challenge to them.
Hey, how about you go researchit and then come back and teach
me something about it?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Are fun.
There's a lot of information onthe YouTube streets.
There's a question, but I wannaget because, you know, tracy,
while we have the experts here,because if you asked me this
question I would be going backto these four people.
Okay, so the question is tosaying that my grandson loves
YouTube.
(17:01):
Are there financial educationvideos on YouTube?
And this one I'm kind of thisone, you know I'm again.
I love YouTube.
I'm on the YouTube streets aswell, but can't get the
information just from anywhere.
Sammyrabbitcom is a greatwebsite for kids.
There are books that help yourgrandson learn at his level not
sure how old he is, but let mejust throw that to you guys.
(17:25):
What are your recommendationsfor grandparents who are looking
for tools or short videos orthings like that for financial
literacy for kids?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And anybody can see it that fly, fly, that fly fly.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I would definitely say, like what Dary said threw
me the alley hoop.
I beg you, fy fly would be agreat place to start for that
younger generation, for sure,anybody who wants to learn more
financial knowledge.
But honestly, y'all may not likethis of some people listening,
but you're gonna have to vetevery single video.
(18:00):
You can't just allow becausethere is too many or too much
content out there.
Nowadays, whether it be TikTokor YouTube, that's the main
social media platforms orplatforms that my little brother
and sister use.
They're eight and ten, so youknow kind of you know, take that
into reference, but you'regonna have to vet these videos
(18:20):
and then send them.
You know a couple people or youknow a couple videos that you
like that are appropriate.
Send them, let them study thatand then follow that person, um,
whoever that you like, or thosevideos.
Follow those type videosbecause, I'm sorry, it is a lot
of crazy information out there,a lot of false information out
there, and if you just leave itup to a eight or 10 year old or
(18:43):
12 year old, they could go downthe wrong rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
No pun intended and I'll um put in a shameless plug
here and um our financialliteracy app.
You'll find FYI's live you'llfind sammy rabbit for the
younger kids, those videos thathave been vetted by my team to
make sure that it's appropriatefor students.
Even in the classroom.
We have content from Senseieducation, the Sensei bulls um,
(19:10):
easy peasy finance, just funengaging things, and we'll be a
kugo.
He's a former professionalsoccer player, the founder of a
frugal athlete.
He's giving financial literacyadvice.
So these are vetted people thatwe work with that we provide to
our students to make sure thatstudents are getting the best
content that's out there.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
I love that.
And then another um, notshameless plug, but if you go to
our youtube channel, weactually did a product review.
My teen daughter did a productreview of the seedling app, and
so you know.
So when I say what I'mrecommending, it is because we
actually have insight in it.
We weren't, you know, paid offto do it y'all it wasn't
affiliate marketing was on it.
(19:52):
So so when we're standing behindthat product because we know
that it works, and then Idefinitely want to make sure I
do a shout out for, for those ofyou, one of the most incredible
stories I heard came from romeabout how, um, she went to
becoming debt-free and living mylife in the island.
So you know, rome is another um.
(20:14):
You know, asset achievers isanother really good source for
those who are trying to climbout of debt and and kind of
simplify their lifestyles.
But again, any, literallyanybody on this, this panel here
is kind of where you want to gofor information.
If you can't find them, you canfind me and I will get you to
them, no problem at all.
So um, so let me shift and youknow, for, for the folks that
(20:37):
are on parade deck, thatcommunity is, the majority of
probably 99 of those communitymembers are veterans.
So obviously we have a mix ofveterans who are, you know,
different ages, different agekids, you know global right and,
as I mentioned before, thereare 6.6 or so million I can't
(20:58):
tell the number because I can'tsee very well community members
on that site and so I want tospeak to them a little bit
because, as I was thinking aboutall of the tools and resources
that all of you have to offer, Iwas also thinking about
veterans who are transitioningout of, out of that space, um,
you know, kind of leaving thatenvironment, and now you're
(21:18):
coming into this side of theworld.
Money's different, you know,pays different, you know
everything is a little bitdifferent, and so I wonder if
there was out, you know, go goaround the room, start with Sam,
go to Derek, go to Hasan andthen Romi you can close this out
if there's advice that youcould share for veterans who are
transitioning and they'relooking for some assistance or
(21:41):
any encouragement that you cangive them in terms of financial
literacy, transitioning fromveteran status into non-veteran
status.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
So we'll hit Sam, then Derek, then Hasan, then
Romi well, first I'd like tothank all the military families
out there for their service.
You know, one of the greathonors uh, we had when we first,
you know, near when we firststarted, maybe back in 2003 is
we got to tour, uh, just, youknow, over a hundred military
(22:08):
bases, you know, around theworld working for the Air Force,
aids of Society and Departmentof Defense, bringing our live
programs to military bases, andit was just an incredible
experience.
The military community is, youknow, they're inspiring oh yeah,
and empowered.
Uh.
You know, hasan hit onsomething.
(22:29):
I mean you have to do yourhomework, that's.
You know you're gonna get outof things what you put into them
.
I definitely would takeadvantage of uh resources that
are on the base.
Every base I've been to hasthese family readiness centers.
They do a tremendous job ofhelping people make their
(22:51):
transitions into civilian life.
I would definitely, if you'renetworking and and you should be
and making connections, youknow, take advantage of those,
try and figure out what it isthat you really love to do and
see if you can make that pay orif it does pay.
If it doesn't pay, then maybeyou shouldn't do it, but if it
(23:14):
does, you're going to probablyexcel at things that you really
love and enjoy uh doing, becauseobviously it doesn't seem like
work when you're doing it.
And then you know the too biguh for me, uh commandments of
money are if you earn here,spend here, earn here here,
(23:36):
spend the air, automate all ofyour finances, but especially
automate your saving andinvesting.
And you know, once you, onceyou do that, you're on the,
you're on the road to riches,meaning greater financial
security, stability, freedom andindependence awesome um.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So for me, um like Sam said, thank you for your
service.
Um my dad was in the navy and Ilove hearing his stories about
the different places that he'straveled to in his lifetime.
Um unfortunately for us, wehaven't had the opportunity to
work with very many militaryfamilies or any programs or um
organizations that help them, sothat's definitely something
that ceiling um is lookingforward to being able to do in
(24:20):
the future.
Um we work with a companycalled Sensei CENT SAI education
, and just go to their websiteand they have a tremendous
amount of articles and quizzesand lessons um specifically for
military individuals to be ableto learn, and so it's targeted
(24:41):
and catered specifically to lifein the military.
Once you come out and nowyou're here um living with us
normal civilians um being ableto help support you on your
journey.
So definitely check outSenseicom and just type in
military in the search andyou'll get tons of information
to help you on this journey.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
That's awesome.
How about you, hassan?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yes, for sure.
So, of course, thank you allfor your service.
And I was really excited whenSammy said automate.
Automation has been a true gamechanger for my life.
I automate everything.
I literally went to CharlesSchwab which is called Schwab
now it's a brokerage and I uppedmy because I got a new job and
(25:27):
I upped my Roth IRA contributionfrom $50 to $200 a month and
that's and I'm and I told the.
Now you don't tell numbers, butI told the numbers because I
want people to see that you canstart with investing a little
amount and then increase as youstart increasing.
So a lot of people talk aboutlifestyle creep and whenever you
(25:50):
make more money, you then beginto spend more money.
Well, let's do.
Well, let's, let's kind ofswitch a little bit, let's make
more money and then invest moremoney, save more money.
We can raise our spendingbudget a little bit.
You know that's what.
That's what it's there for.
You know, still, have fun.
It's the tool, of course, totake care of us, to take care of
our family, live, have fun.
(26:10):
But I think automation is isreally huge and has really
changed my life.
And then it'll start back.
Also what Sam said as asknowing.
You know, being in the know,getting to know your financial
education, becoming educated,because I feel like when you
don't understand something, youtend to fear it yeah so if you
(26:31):
can become educated on it, thenyou're more confident to make
that positive action and I thinkthat's where things will really
start to change for everyonelistening here.
So books, podcast, however youcan learn and kind of you know,
infuse it with your day-to-daylife.
I think that's the best thingpossible to get started.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Awesome.
How about you, Romy?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yes.
So one of the best places thatI believe our veterans can start
with is going to the foundationfor financial planning and
where you will findprofessionals like myself who
are certified financial planners.
So we are considered the goldstandard within the financial
Planning industry and we alsohave a fiduciary Responsibility
(27:19):
to you, and what that means isthat we have to put your best
interests and make that as apriority, and so, with the
foundation for financialplanning, they offer pro bono
services to disable veterans,and also the veteran affairs dot
gov.
They also offer financialcounseling on a free basis to
(27:42):
qualify veterans.
So thank you all for yourservice and if I could be of
assistance to you, please reachout to me and I would be happy
to assist.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
That's awesome.
Thank you so much y'all, so Iwas thinking about a couple more
questions before I let folkshave dinner.
And, by the way, just anotherreminder y'all please like the
video so they don't kick us offYouTube.
But you know we'll have.
We'll have.
This episode will be live on Onall, wherever you get your
podcast in a couple of days.
(28:14):
So that'll be good.
So you won't you won't get anyof the visual interruptions that
we had and apologize for thetechnology glitches.
But I wanted to find out fromeach of you kind of how you want
to leave your mark.
You're, you're doing, you'redoing such incredible work and
usually when I start my myepisodes, I always start with
(28:34):
just honoring my guests fromfrom a real perspective.
I think people know that you'rehere because I genuinely
respect what you do and alsothey know that I stalk and
follow you and use your tipswherever I can as well.
But I want to find out, youknow from you, like what's the
mark that you want to leave andhow can we as a community help
you to Get there?
(28:55):
I think we're all gonna getthere together.
So you know what's the mark youwant to leave and how can we,
how can we help?
So I'll throw it to Sam first,and maybe the same order.
With Sam, there was Derek, andthen we do Hassan and then we'll
do Romy.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Well, thank you for that question, shelly.
You know, I guess it's beenabout 25 years ago.
I was at a transition point inlife and I was asking myself
what am I going to do goingforward and how can I make a
contribution?
And for me that was mainly whatit was about Not necessarily
(29:30):
making a mark, but you know, asyou grow older, you do think
about.
You know what are you gonnaleave behind this, that and the
other other Thing.
And so I thought the one area Imight be able to make a
Contribution was in this area ofFinancial, what people call
financial literacy or education,and basically taking on the
(29:53):
challenge of trying to make iteasier for Parents in particular
, but teachers, trainers,community leaders To talk to and
engage kids about money veryearly In their life.
Let me just say, if I was goingback, I'm not sure I would do
that again, but at the time Iwas feeling very inspired and, I
(30:19):
think, even empowered, and Ithought you know what I Grew up.
I think I shared this with you,shelly, and what I like to
describe is upper poverty.
I mean, maybe we had food toeat, a place to sleep and and
let me just say, basic clothingBranding was.
You know, was out there, butnot like it is today.
(30:40):
We might be in the glory, glorytime of branding, but I just
felt so as an adult, lookingback and reflecting on this
experience where we didn't have,you know, what people now
called discretionary Income.
I think that's even aquestionable idea, particularly
when I see all these young kidseating a flaming hot Cheetos and
(31:01):
and what but and so but.
One of the things my father didPrimarily was talk to us about
some of the things everybody'spointed out here.
Son just said something aboutthe power of education, and so
he started talking to us.
Sharing with the idea is thatyou know what, if, if you work
(31:22):
hard and you learn, become alifelong learner, you can get
whatever you want.
And for some reason that was abit.
You can't get it now becausewe're not gonna give it to you.
But if you work for it and earnit, there aren't any really
limits to what you can do.
And he might follow it up witha question like are you willing
(31:44):
to work for what you want?
And you know, for some reasonthat really resonated with me
and what I'm really happy to sayis one of the pieces of Advice
a son also gave.
That, I think, was anothergold-carat gem.
Something I did in my firstprofessional job at 21 is what?
It's?
Two things one, as I startedpaying myself first and we had a
(32:07):
little bit of automated Savingsand investing there, where they
would take money out of yourPaycheck so it wouldn't be in
your hands, which is it was agood thing for me, I think,
probably good thing for mostpeople and so it started
accumulating and then I didexactly what a son Said is is,
when I got a raise, the firstthing I did was I took a portion
(32:30):
of that raise and bumped up,built up my saving and
investment program, and I didallocate a little bit more for
increasing my living andspending that type of a thing,
but I prioritized the saving,investment, wealth building what
(32:53):
I thought of as freedomaccounts.
That works okay, it takes time,it builds up, that's solid.
I just want to go back and sayone final thing, and this is
regarding the military community.
The military community,obviously, we're very big on
planning and strategizing, andso if you're changing careers,
(33:13):
you want to make sure you have aplan and a strategy that's
going to serve you well in everyarea of life, including
managing your money.
So, samyrabbitcom, the workwe're doing in financial
literacy education, that's themark I want to leave.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
Wow, that is so powerful.
There's so many nuggets there.
I feel like I'm going to haveto go back and just pull them
apart.
And you're right, there was alot of things that Hassan shared
that are just gold mine.
So I appreciate you sharingthat Over you.
Derek, what do you got to say?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
So for me, as far as leaving my mark, I was inspired
to create seedling during mytime in the classroom with my
students.
Unfortunately, a lot of themwere homeless.
Some of them, the only mealthey were going to receive was
the meal from school.
But I really felt like theirparents needed financial
education so they can makebetter decisions, so that they
(34:07):
can provide a better life fortheir students.
But the parents weren't gettingit, the students weren't
getting it at school, and Icould.
I felt like I should dosomething about this instead of
just waiting on the sidelinesfor someone else to fix this
problem.
I started introducing financialliteracy in my classroom to my
students, and so that's how Iwas inspired to come up with my
idea of to create my app andthen putting together the
(34:30):
lessons for the students, theteachers in the classroom, and
being able to leave my markthere and hopefully, as more and
more states are making amandatory for financial literacy
to be required for students tograduate and seeing that grow.
I believe we're at 22 statesright now and hopefully all the
states are going to have itwithin the next few years so
(34:50):
that we can, at least for thestudents that aren't going to
get it from their parents thatwe have that backup plan in
school, whether they're at leastexposed to us that we can start
to change their mindset aboutmoney.
I like to say, with our programwe aren't going to make you a
millionaire overnight, but wewill change your mindset.
We are going to make sure thatyou start to think about the way
you spend, the way you save,the way you invest and for a lot
(35:13):
of the students that I workwith, they are scared to even
think about investing oranything like that, because they
thought that's something thatonly rich people do.
No, you can start with a littlebit and continue to grow from
there.
Like Cassane said, start withyour 50 and then your 200 when
you get that raise or thatperfect job that you've been
looking for.
So that's where I want to leavemy mark, with educators in the
(35:36):
classroom and making sure thatthe students have what they need
if they're not going to be ableto get it from anywhere else.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
Wow, thank you for that.
All right, how about you?
Hassan?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Yes, yes.
So I actually started FYI Flyin college three years ago, went
from college to COVID that's alittle plug for my book.
Yes, yes, from college to COVID.
But, like I said, when I was incollege, I really it was
actually two reasons.
One I looked around.
You know, I was a businessmanagement major with a minor in
(36:09):
accounting and marketing, so Ifelt that I had above average
financial intelligence.
But I thought about I'm like,what about the chemistry major?
What about the art major?
What about the communicationmajor?
They're not having to take anyof the you know financial, you
know business, math classes thatI had to take.
So if they're graduating, youknow college, they're graduating
(36:31):
not understanding how to be asuccessful adult, because
everything that we do revolvesaround what's behind me and if
you're on this audio podcast, Ihave a money background.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
So everything that we do is revolving around finances
.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
So those college students, if my peers are
graduating without thatinformation, they're lacking.
And then also in the minoritycommunities.
You know we're natural bornhustlers, we're going to get
this, you won't get this money.
But the I found the problem wasis that we didn't have the
education on how to manage thatmoney, on how to grow that money
(37:07):
.
So I recognized those two,those two problems, and that's
why I started my company, fyiFly.
So my biggest goal with mycompany is to make impact, make
income and have fun while doingit.
That's that's what I want to do.
I want to do that through mybooks, through speaking.
I want to be the black TonyRobbins.
(37:29):
That's who I would, that's whomy Bob calls me, but that's
that's what I want to do.
I want to make you knowinternational impact.
I want to engage with people.
I love talking.
I love seeing the progressionof you know, from the first
class or from the beginning ofthe class to the end of the
class that I'm teaching.
I love seeing progression.
(37:50):
So that's where I want to leave.
I want to make impact, I wantto make income and I want to
have fun.
Speaker 5 (37:59):
You do, you make it, you make it, you make it easy to
learn, which is why you knowagain, for those of y'all, all
of my guests are on social mediaand if you can't find them,
like I said, you can find me andI'll find them for you.
And the information, the tips,the guidance, the free
information that they share,y'all need to.
Y'all need to go ahead and getthat, but pay for their services
(38:19):
.
Okay, so what about you?
Rumi?
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yes, so the legacy that I am leaving is empowerment
for financial freedom.
The gentleman on today's panelmentioned one key word that I
believe so many of us have somuch work to do, and that's with
our mental capacity.
(38:43):
A lot of times, if you didn'tcome from wealth, like Sam
mentioned, or like Derekmentioned, if you are someone
who's seen poverty orexperienced poverty, you believe
that financial freedom is offlimits to you.
And it's not, like Sammentioned, if you work for it,
you can attain anything that youwant in this lifetime.
(39:05):
And so my legacy is empowermentfor financial freedom, and
that's through saving, that'sthrough investing and also
addressing debt, because a lotof times in our community we are
racking up so much debt whetherit's student loan debt,
personal debt and we have asolution for it.
(39:27):
So my goal is our communityaddress all of those items to
achieve financial freedom,because it's accessible to each
and every one of us.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
You know, there's another point to be made.
Even for those who come frommoney and that out that's me,
y'all Okay you still have tolearn how to manage it because
you will lose it.
That's also me, just to behonest.
So it's not just for the folkswho have come from a poverty
background or near poverty orclose to poverty nothing you can
(40:04):
have that money and you canlose it very, very quickly, very
, very quickly if you don'tunderstand how to actually
manage and budget and kind ofstay beneath your actual means.
So I just want that out there,because I know there's family
members of mine that I needy'all to see what's happening
for real.
I need y'all to read the tealeaves and hear what she's
(40:25):
saying and what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (40:28):
Well, sheldia, the reality is, there are challenges
at every level and that's oftensomething.
I'm happy to hear you share this, because that's something that
often is overlooked.
But I will say you know, whenyou, I guess we're all to some
extent trying to move up.
I mean, even Jeff Bezos andElon Musk are trying to move up,
(40:52):
but this, I'll call it a seed.
I've lost count of how manyschools I've been in, and most
of them have been in low incomeareas.
But just planting this ideathat you can save or you can be
(41:12):
wealthy, and we would tell kidsall the time look, I don't know
what's in your head and heart,so I don't know what's possible
for you.
I think anything is, but manytimes they're either not getting
that message, not only at home,as Derek said, but even not in
the school.
So I think you know.
To start with, it's like arecipe If you're going to cook
(41:37):
chicken soup, you have to havechicken, and so you need to at
least understand what the rulesyou know I'm calling them rules
are like saving, asset building.
You do everything you can, itisn't easy, but to spend less
than you earn.
So if you start off with thatidea and you're working for
(42:00):
something that is important toyou, then you may be more likely
to make the choices, sacrifices, however you want to put it, to
reach whatever you're aspiringtowards.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
And please, just to double down on that please don't
wait until you hit rock bottomto make a change.
Yes, please, please, pleasedon't wait.
You know a lot of us and I wasinterviewing this guy he was
like finances is the same thingas weight loss.
You know, let's not wait into aserious heart attack or
something you know of thatnature to start losing weight
(42:38):
and make better choices.
Let's kind of be preventative,take those small steps, because
it is hard.
You know we're not going tostart from spending $400 eating
out to zero.
Let's not try to do that.
Let's not act like we're all,because I know I wouldn't.
You're right.
Let's start, you know, smallincremental habits.
(42:58):
Add those into your daily lifeand then watch those habits grow
over time.
So that's what I want to leavepeople with is like let's not
wait until rock bottom, let'snot wait until the worst thing
that happens for us to startmaking some of these, you know,
smart changes that can reallybenefit our lives.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
Wow, that is.
You know, that is so amazingand right on point and I am so
grateful for y'all.
We're going to hang out in theback for a few minutes before we
tell these folks have a goodnight and all that, but I just,
again, I just wanted to saythank you so much for doing this
.
I realize that you are, youknow, sharing your time and your
(43:37):
talent and your expertise andyour guidance, and I am grateful
because I do think that there'sa lot of us that really need
this information.
It's hard to understand it andso just knowing that there are
businesses and companies andleaders and experts like
yourself that we can, you know,we can work with this is just
going to help a lot of people.
So, for everybody who'swatching, again, if you're
(44:00):
watching the video, the video isflawless.
I'm for a deck to beat by way,so they have seen no glitch.
So hello y'all and thank you.
But for everybody else that'swatching, the audio version will
be live later this week soyou'll be able to go back.
I really recommend that, youknow.
Even if you watch this, youknow, and share it with your
family members, you know, listento the podcast because there's
(44:21):
a lot of really good tips thatyou know will help you,
especially if you're a teacher,your administrators or your
parents.
If you're a parent and you knowteachers who are looking for
another curriculum to share withyour kids, especially teen
parents, and you know we'rebroke because we're paying for a
lot of stuff, these are theexperts that you need to, you
(44:43):
know, connect with and work withand, again, huge supporter of
the Seeding app.
So I'm going to try to see ifthis outro works.
If it don't, y'all just hangout with me.
But I just want to say a hugeshout out Thank you.
And also thank you to theDumping Ground podcast.
I didn't catch all the comments.
That's another podcast thatthey're national and they kind
(45:03):
of pick up our show as well.
So thank you to the DumpingGround podcast for showing up
and, you know, supporting all ofour guests.
We appreciate all the helpy'all.
Y'all were amazing and justbear with me while we tell these
people deuces.
Thank you for watching.
Riff Morca.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I can't hear you, you're going to be muted.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Wait a go, Shelley.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
You said it.
You said something might happen.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
You called me ready for anything.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
You hear me now.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Perfect, greatest intro ever.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
There was a tiny glitch happening on my side.
I can see myself on ParadecLive TV.
I can see myself on ParadecLive.
(01:49):
I can't hear you.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We're going to roam around the room.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Hi everyone.
Hi everyone, reduce if I so.
(02:55):
I'm excited to be here with youtoday and I look forward to
sharing these financial gems forstudents, teachers and parents
today.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Awesome.
Thank you for doing that, y'all, and I'm apologizing for the
glitch.
So, before we go further, forthe folks who are on Facebook,
linkedin, youtube, twitter andParadec live, please make sure
you love and like the video andsupport.
All my friends were heretonight, so why don't we go to
Hassan next?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
All right, well, hello, hello.
My name is Hassan Thomas.
I'm the CEO and founder of FYI.
Fly with.
That stands for is for yourinformation, financial literacy
and investing.
So a little word play on thatword fly for that younger
audience.
I'm a award-winning podcaster,author, speaker, so I go to high
schools and colleges and speakwith recent grad students on how
(03:46):
to make, manage and grow theirfinances and I'm super happy to
be here.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Awesome.
Thank you for that.
And then Sam.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Well, thank you, Mrs Pie, feeling very proud,
inspired and empowered.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
You're at home, okay.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
You're at home.
Please on that next rank, AKASammy Rabbit.
We like to help teach kids andteach parents and teach everyone
interested in teaching youngkids especially great money
habits.
We do it at samyrabbitcom.
We welcome everybody to SammyLand.
Come join us, Give us yourfeedback, let's learn together.
(04:24):
Let's make sure all of us,including the next generation,
has a great, great president inthe future.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I love that.
And then, definitely last butnot least, I think Derek is
otherwise known as the greatconnector.
Derek knows everybody and hedoesn't know him you know,
somebody who knows him, and so Idefinitely want to pause right
here because I'm also just, youknow, just to be, just to be on.
Thank you, tracy, our kids needthis badly.
Yes, that's why we're here forreal.
(04:52):
So just to pause and give ashout out to the seedling app
and I just just a transparencythat our company, mrs Pie, my
daughter, everybody who'sattached to me, supports this
app.
It is amazing.
So tell us you know who you are, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So, derek Wesley, thank you for that introduction
and thank you for having me onShelly with this amazing group
on the panel this evening.
So I'm the owner and founder ofseedling financial education.
We work mainly with schools andnonprofits to provide our
innovative financial literacytools.
We have the mobile app, likeyou mentioned, which builds a
(05:30):
personalized curriculum for eachuser, so you can be as young as
five all the way up toretirement age and you get
content based on your assessmentscore and what you're
interested in.
And we also work with teachersin the classroom and we provide
our full turnkey solution toschools to make sure that the
teachers have everything theyneed so that they can help the
(05:51):
students learn those importantfinancial lessons that they need
once they graduate, because alot of schools aren't offering
it.
So we're happy to come in andfill that gap so that the
students can get everything sothat they're ready to be
successful when it comes totheir finances.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
I love that.
Something that we talked about,both Derek and myself and Sam
we talked about before, was thisgap in financial literacy,
education, education when itcame from parents to our kids.
So a lot of us, a lot of usparents, you know we don't do a
great job of telling kids, youknow how to say or explaining
that money doesn't actually growon trees.
(06:27):
We just answer the request ofyou know I need this, I need
that, and the money magicallyshows up, and so you know
something that, as a mom, that achallenge that I have, is
really explaining even thebasics because, to your point,
Derek, it is not widely taughtin school.
So I wanted to actually go toHassan real quick to get your
(06:49):
your take on kind of the stateof you know the way things are
right now and what are some ofthe obstacles that parents have
in just having some of thosebasic, basic conversations about
financial literacy.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, for sure.
So I'm definitely glad youstarted with me, because I was
going to jump up.
I was going to jump up because Ithink I may be the, I may I
don't know, I may be the closestone that was that was
previously a kid.
So when I was a kid, you knowwhat.
I was a kid.
I will tell you this.
You know, my mom and my parentstold me things, but they didn't
(07:26):
tell me why.
They didn't show me and tell meOkay, boom, you need to be
saving.
But let me tell you why.
And also, they didn't tell meyou know what happens if you do,
but also what happens if youdon't.
So I don't want to say we wantto scare our kids or scare the
younger generation, but we gotto be real with them.
(07:48):
We got to be real and let themknow what happens if they make
that smart financial decision or, on the opposite end, if they
make that, you know, not sosmart financial decision.
So I think that's where youknow parents can, you know, take
a take.
That is the way that we will beable to learn is to know why
(08:18):
and what.
If we know what happens if wedo and what happens if we don't,
kind of explain the pros andthe cons.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
I love that.
So can we just pulling on thatthread a little bit.
What are your, what are yourthoughts around that?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I think that that's a great way to address it.
Hasan, and going back tosomething you said, shelley, I
am currently not a parent, butwhat I have heard from parents
is that they do not have a goodunderstanding of finances
themselves, and so how do theyshare information that they
don't even have with theirchildren?
(08:54):
And my advice is to start withthe component that we can all
begin with, and that's withengagement.
Even if you don't have a goodunderstanding of finances, we
all still work with finances, sowe're all still paying bills,
we're all still budgeting tosome degree, and so my mother
did an excellent job of gettingme engaged, and I believe that
(09:17):
that is a strong component toallowing your children to have
an introduction to finance, andso, whether that's going to the
grocery store and taking downthe prices of the items and then
calculating, those items arestarting with an allowance, and
so that way, your children willunderstand the power of the
(09:39):
dollar.
So I believe in getting themengaged in any way that you
possibly can, and that'll set agood, strong foundation for them
.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
So I love it.
So, Romy, there's a.
There's a comment in the room.
If I can, I'm going to try toshow it.
It's from Tracy and she'stalking about we have to do more
than just paying, basically,our kids and this is, you know,
I'm going to read it out forthose of y'all who listen to our
podcast lately this week wehave to do more than just paying
our kids for chores.
(10:10):
That is the great lesson, andhow do we teach them how to get
well?
And so now, here's thatconversation the difference
between I'm looking at Sam, I'mlike we talked about this the
difference between earning well,investing, saving, and chores
right, paying my kid.
So what do you?
(10:34):
What are your thoughts, Sam?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Well, I can see right off the bat there is going to
be another gap.
That's a generational gap.
My parents, you know it wasfunny when Romy said about the
power power I was thinking Igrew up in the power of the
paddle and things like why.
Those were questions you didn'task, you just kind of follow
(10:57):
directions.
But I think, you know you'vehit on a lot of important topics
, at least from my perspective.
I think kids learn best bydoing so.
Engagement is a great strategy,particularly if you're good at
it and can get them going.
You know, education is aprocess, so I think we need to
be realistic.
There aren't any silver bullets.
(11:18):
If there are, please, you know,let me know.
I haven't found any.
So I think you want to get thethe the topic going.
You know, however, that might be, and it can just be as simple
as, maybe, making a deposit intoa savings jar or a piggy bank
at SammyRabbitcom.
You know we try and breakthings down into simple steps
(11:42):
and so for us, the mostimportant thing any parent can
teach a child to do is to savemoney.
All right, I like the idea.
You know I'm seeing Romy's anasset achiever.
All right, I love the idea of,like, asset building.
All right, all of these thingsare in the way I view it are
mindsets, and that's that'swhere we begin, and so that
(12:04):
happens often in language.
So parents might, you know,have these family meetings, for
example, you know, startestablishing a culture of wealth
building, and so that there's alot of ways to do it, but start
, you know, doing it.
And as a part of the doing, Ithink, you know, as a parent, as
(12:27):
a teacher, and I, I thinkthat's where it starts is with
parents, as opposed to, say,schools, and in my view of it,
schools can add on.
Certainly, they can be a firstpoint for some people, but it's
a huge advantage if your parentsget these comfort stations
going.
And then, I think the secondthing you want to communicate is
(12:47):
this idea you just hit on MrsByte you want to be earners.
You know the Jeff Coates.
We're earners.
That means we work for moneyand that means also, we have our
money work for us.
We want our money working ashard as we work.
That's how it grows, that'sright.
Builds wealth and puts you onthe road to riches and things of
(13:08):
that nature.
I think once you get involvedthen you start building on your
skills or your knowledge aboutmoney and also your teaching,
engagement skills and all ofthese type of things.
But start early.
A lot of the studies andresearch indicate kids begin
learning about everything butthat includes money from birth,
(13:31):
maybe even earlier, throughsound, through sight, so they're
constantly hearing things,watching us and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And one thing I just want to add really, really
quickly to Sam's point, onething that I told my little
brother and little sister, whois eight and 10, I told them
let's save money off the top andthen spend whatever is left
over, Because they don't havebills, they don't have anything
that they really need to pay for.
So let's save a little moneyoff top and I think that's a
(14:03):
much easier concept.
Of course I learned that fromRich's man of Babylon, but just
explaining to him like that, hey, save a little off top and then
whatever is left over go aheadand spend.
That's kind of makes them feelgood to know that they have
money to spend, but it makes usfeel good to know that they got
money to save as well.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah, you hit on a key point there, hasan.
Look, kids, they're a window ofopportunity.
They don't have expenses, theydon't have bills, and when you
think just about saving, forexample, kids probably all
languages is like this, butwords have multiple meanings, so
probably young kids will beintroduced to the idea of, let's
(14:45):
say, saving meaning like rescueand rescue the princess, the
prince, whatever it is.
Now, when it comes to money, itgets even trickier, because
there's often two types ofsaving, like what I call save,
spend, save while you'respending money, and save,
accumulate, start, keep, putaway.
And so that is just a goldcarrot principle Prioritize
(15:12):
saving, save first, pay yourselffirst, save first, then spend.
So, man, I love that, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And just listen to you guys.
Hey, I'm fine man.
FYI, listen to you guys.
One of the main things that I'mpicking up on is just mindset.
That's what I'm hearing, justtraining the kids to have the
right mindset about money.
Sammy, I believe you have thesong where you constantly preach
about saving as a habit.
Creating those habits in ourkids are super important.
(15:40):
And something else that I thinkabout with my own kids is
framing the conversation.
Growing up in my household, whenI was younger, my parents they
were more so.
Children staying at a child'splace don't ask us about our
money and what we're doing withour funds.
You stay in your place.
But I think if we are proactiveas parents these days, then we
get the opportunity to introducemoney to our kids and then that
(16:03):
way we can frame thoseconversations.
We can read books together andstart building, laying that
foundation, and as we continueto go grocery shopping or even
making a big purchase, then Ican talk to them about those
things where now it's not astaboo as before.
Now it's open and they'restarting to think about their
future financial decisions andhow to manage money.
(16:25):
So us as parents today we can'tbe afraid to have those
conversations and if we'reproactive then we can ensure
that we're guiding theconversation in the correct way
and we can answer thosequestions as they come.
And if we don't know, thenthat's a challenge to them.
Hey, how about you go researchit and then come back and teach
me something about it?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Are fun.
There's a lot of information onthe YouTube streets.
There's a question, but I wannaget because, you know, tracy,
while we have the experts here,because if you asked me this
question I would be going backto these four people.
Okay, so the question is tosaying that my grandson loves
YouTube.
(17:01):
Are there financial educationvideos on YouTube?
And this one I'm kind of thisone, you know I'm again.
I love YouTube.
I'm on the YouTube streets aswell, but can't get the
information just from anywhere.
Sammyrabbitcom is a greatwebsite for kids.
There are books that help yourgrandson learn at his level not
sure how old he is, but let mejust throw that to you guys.
(17:25):
What are your recommendationsfor grandparents who are looking
for tools or short videos orthings like that for financial
literacy for kids?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And anybody can see it that fly, fly, that fly fly.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I would definitely say, like what Dary said threw
me the alley hoop.
I beg you, fy fly would be agreat place to start for that
younger generation, for sure,anybody who wants to learn more
financial knowledge.
But honestly, y'all may not likethis of some people listening,
but you're gonna have to vetevery single video.
(18:00):
You can't just allow becausethere is too many or too much
content out there.
Nowadays, whether it be TikTokor YouTube, that's the main
social media platforms orplatforms that my little brother
and sister use.
They're eight and ten, so youknow kind of you know, take that
into reference, but you'regonna have to vet these videos
(18:20):
and then send them.
You know a couple people or youknow a couple videos that you
like that are appropriate.
Send them, let them study thatand then follow that person, um,
whoever that you like, or thosevideos.
Follow those type videosbecause, I'm sorry, it is a lot
of crazy information out there,a lot of false information out
there, and if you just leave itup to a eight or 10 year old or
(18:43):
12 year old, they could go downthe wrong rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
No pun intended and I'll um put in a shameless plug
here and um our financialliteracy app.
You'll find FYI's live you'llfind sammy rabbit for the
younger kids, those videos thathave been vetted by my team to
make sure that it's appropriatefor students.
Even in the classroom.
We have content from Senseieducation, the Sensei bulls um,
(19:10):
easy peasy finance, just funengaging things, and we'll be a
kugo.
He's a former professionalsoccer player, the founder of a
frugal athlete.
He's giving financial literacyadvice.
So these are vetted people thatwe work with that we provide to
our students to make sure thatstudents are getting the best
content that's out there.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
I love that.
And then another um, notshameless plug, but if you go to
our youtube channel, weactually did a product review.
My teen daughter did a productreview of the seedling app, and
so you know.
So when I say what I'mrecommending, it is because we
actually have insight in it.
We weren't, you know, paid offto do it y'all it wasn't
affiliate marketing was on it.
(19:52):
So so when we're standing behindthat product because we know
that it works, and then Idefinitely want to make sure I
do a shout out for, for those ofyou, one of the most incredible
stories I heard came from romeabout how, um, she went to
becoming debt-free and living mylife in the island.
So you know, rome is another um.
(20:14):
You know, asset achievers isanother really good source for
those who are trying to climbout of debt and and kind of
simplify their lifestyles.
But again, any, literallyanybody on this, this panel here
is kind of where you want to gofor information.
If you can't find them, you canfind me and I will get you to
them, no problem at all.
So um, so let me shift and youknow, for, for the folks that
(20:37):
are on parade deck, thatcommunity is, the majority of
probably 99 of those communitymembers are veterans.
So obviously we have a mix ofveterans who are, you know,
different ages, different agekids, you know global right and,
as I mentioned before, thereare 6.6 or so million I can't
(20:58):
tell the number because I can'tsee very well community members
on that site and so I want tospeak to them a little bit
because, as I was thinking aboutall of the tools and resources
that all of you have to offer, Iwas also thinking about
veterans who are transitioningout of, out of that space, um,
you know, kind of leaving thatenvironment, and now you're
(21:18):
coming into this side of theworld.
Money's different, you know,pays different, you know
everything is a little bitdifferent, and so I wonder if
there was out, you know, go goaround the room, start with Sam,
go to Derek, go to Hasan andthen Romi you can close this out
if there's advice that youcould share for veterans who are
transitioning and they'relooking for some assistance or
(21:41):
any encouragement that you cangive them in terms of financial
literacy, transitioning fromveteran status into non-veteran
status.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
So we'll hit Sam, then Derek, then Hasan, then
Romi well, first I'd like tothank all the military families
out there for their service.
You know, one of the greathonors uh, we had when we first,
you know, near when we firststarted, maybe back in 2003 is
we got to tour, uh, just, youknow, over a hundred military
(22:08):
bases, you know, around theworld working for the Air Force,
aids of Society and Departmentof Defense, bringing our live
programs to military bases, andit was just an incredible
experience.
The military community is, youknow, they're inspiring oh yeah,
and empowered.
Uh.
You know, hasan hit onsomething.
(22:29):
I mean you have to do yourhomework, that's.
You know you're gonna get outof things what you put into them
.
I definitely would takeadvantage of uh resources that
are on the base.
Every base I've been to hasthese family readiness centers.
They do a tremendous job ofhelping people make their
(22:51):
transitions into civilian life.
I would definitely, if you'renetworking and and you should be
and making connections, youknow, take advantage of those,
try and figure out what it isthat you really love to do and
see if you can make that pay orif it does pay.
If it doesn't pay, then maybeyou shouldn't do it, but if it
(23:14):
does, you're going to probablyexcel at things that you really
love and enjoy uh doing, becauseobviously it doesn't seem like
work when you're doing it.
And then you know the too biguh for me, uh commandments of
money are if you earn here,spend here, earn here here,
(23:36):
spend the air, automate all ofyour finances, but especially
automate your saving andinvesting.
And you know, once you, onceyou do that, you're on the,
you're on the road to riches,meaning greater financial
security, stability, freedom andindependence awesome um.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So for me, um like Sam said, thank you for your
service.
Um my dad was in the navy and Ilove hearing his stories about
the different places that he'straveled to in his lifetime.
Um unfortunately for us, wehaven't had the opportunity to
work with very many militaryfamilies or any programs or um
organizations that help them, sothat's definitely something
that ceiling um is lookingforward to being able to do in
(24:20):
the future.
Um we work with a companycalled Sensei CENT SAI education
, and just go to their websiteand they have a tremendous
amount of articles and quizzesand lessons um specifically for
military individuals to be ableto learn, and so it's targeted
(24:41):
and catered specifically to lifein the military.
Once you come out and nowyou're here um living with us
normal civilians um being ableto help support you on your
journey.
So definitely check outSenseicom and just type in
military in the search andyou'll get tons of information
to help you on this journey.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
That's awesome.
How about you, hassan?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yes, for sure.
So, of course, thank you allfor your service.
And I was really excited whenSammy said automate.
Automation has been a true gamechanger for my life.
I automate everything.
I literally went to CharlesSchwab which is called Schwab
now it's a brokerage and I uppedmy because I got a new job and
(25:27):
I upped my Roth IRA contributionfrom $50 to $200 a month and
that's and I'm and I told the.
Now you don't tell numbers, butI told the numbers because I
want people to see that you canstart with investing a little
amount and then increase as youstart increasing.
So a lot of people talk aboutlifestyle creep and whenever you
(25:50):
make more money, you then beginto spend more money.
Well, let's do.
Well, let's, let's kind ofswitch a little bit, let's make
more money and then invest moremoney, save more money.
We can raise our spendingbudget a little bit.
You know that's what.
That's what it's there for.
You know, still, have fun.
It's the tool, of course, totake care of us, to take care of
our family, live, have fun.
(26:10):
But I think automation is isreally huge and has really
changed my life.
And then it'll start back.
Also what Sam said as asknowing.
You know, being in the know,getting to know your financial
education, becoming educated,because I feel like when you
don't understand something, youtend to fear it yeah so if you
(26:31):
can become educated on it, thenyou're more confident to make
that positive action and I thinkthat's where things will really
start to change for everyonelistening here.
So books, podcast, however youcan learn and kind of you know,
infuse it with your day-to-daylife.
I think that's the best thingpossible to get started.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Awesome.
How about you, Romy?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yes.
So one of the best places thatI believe our veterans can start
with is going to the foundationfor financial planning and
where you will findprofessionals like myself who
are certified financial planners.
So we are considered the goldstandard within the financial
Planning industry and we alsohave a fiduciary Responsibility
(27:19):
to you, and what that means isthat we have to put your best
interests and make that as apriority, and so, with the
foundation for financialplanning, they offer pro bono
services to disable veterans,and also the veteran affairs dot
gov.
They also offer financialcounseling on a free basis to
(27:42):
qualify veterans.
So thank you all for yourservice and if I could be of
assistance to you, please reachout to me and I would be happy
to assist.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
That's awesome.
Thank you so much y'all, so Iwas thinking about a couple more
questions before I let folkshave dinner.
And, by the way, just anotherreminder y'all please like the
video so they don't kick us offYouTube.
But you know we'll have.
We'll have.
This episode will be live on Onall, wherever you get your
podcast in a couple of days.
(28:14):
So that'll be good.
So you won't you won't get anyof the visual interruptions that
we had and apologize for thetechnology glitches.
But I wanted to find out fromeach of you kind of how you want
to leave your mark.
You're, you're doing, you'redoing such incredible work and
usually when I start my myepisodes, I always start with
(28:34):
just honoring my guests fromfrom a real perspective.
I think people know that you'rehere because I genuinely
respect what you do and alsothey know that I stalk and
follow you and use your tipswherever I can as well.
But I want to find out, youknow from you, like what's the
mark that you want to leave andhow can we as a community help
you to Get there?
(28:55):
I think we're all gonna getthere together.
So you know what's the mark youwant to leave and how can we,
how can we help?
So I'll throw it to Sam first,and maybe the same order.
With Sam, there was Derek, andthen we do Hassan and then we'll
do Romy.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Well, thank you for that question, shelly.
You know, I guess it's beenabout 25 years ago.
I was at a transition point inlife and I was asking myself
what am I going to do goingforward and how can I make a
contribution?
And for me that was mainly whatit was about Not necessarily
(29:30):
making a mark, but you know, asyou grow older, you do think
about.
You know what are you gonnaleave behind this, that and the
other other Thing.
And so I thought the one area Imight be able to make a
Contribution was in this area ofFinancial, what people call
financial literacy or education,and basically taking on the
(29:53):
challenge of trying to make iteasier for Parents in particular
, but teachers, trainers,community leaders To talk to and
engage kids about money veryearly In their life.
Let me just say, if I was goingback, I'm not sure I would do
that again, but at the time Iwas feeling very inspired and, I
(30:19):
think, even empowered, and Ithought you know what I Grew up.
I think I shared this with you,shelly, and what I like to
describe is upper poverty.
I mean, maybe we had food toeat, a place to sleep and and
let me just say, basic clothingBranding was.
You know, was out there, butnot like it is today.
(30:40):
We might be in the glory, glorytime of branding, but I just
felt so as an adult, lookingback and reflecting on this
experience where we didn't have,you know, what people now
called discretionary Income.
I think that's even aquestionable idea, particularly
when I see all these young kidseating a flaming hot Cheetos and
(31:01):
and what but and so but.
One of the things my father didPrimarily was talk to us about
some of the things everybody'spointed out here.
Son just said something aboutthe power of education, and so
he started talking to us.
Sharing with the idea is thatyou know what, if, if you work
(31:22):
hard and you learn, become alifelong learner, you can get
whatever you want.
And for some reason that was abit.
You can't get it now becausewe're not gonna give it to you.
But if you work for it and earnit, there aren't any really
limits to what you can do.
And he might follow it up witha question like are you willing
(31:44):
to work for what you want?
And you know, for some reasonthat really resonated with me
and what I'm really happy to sayis one of the pieces of Advice
a son also gave.
That, I think, was anothergold-carat gem.
Something I did in my firstprofessional job at 21 is what?
It's?
Two things one, as I startedpaying myself first and we had a
(32:07):
little bit of automated Savingsand investing there, where they
would take money out of yourPaycheck so it wouldn't be in
your hands, which is it was agood thing for me, I think,
probably good thing for mostpeople and so it started
accumulating and then I didexactly what a son Said is is,
when I got a raise, the firstthing I did was I took a portion
(32:30):
of that raise and bumped up,built up my saving and
investment program, and I didallocate a little bit more for
increasing my living andspending that type of a thing,
but I prioritized the saving,investment, wealth building what
(32:53):
I thought of as freedomaccounts.
That works okay, it takes time,it builds up, that's solid.
I just want to go back and sayone final thing, and this is
regarding the military community.
The military community,obviously, we're very big on
planning and strategizing, andso if you're changing careers,
(33:13):
you want to make sure you have aplan and a strategy that's
going to serve you well in everyarea of life, including
managing your money.
So, samyrabbitcom, the workwe're doing in financial
literacy education, that's themark I want to leave.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
Wow, that is so powerful.
There's so many nuggets there.
I feel like I'm going to haveto go back and just pull them
apart.
And you're right, there was alot of things that Hassan shared
that are just gold mine.
So I appreciate you sharingthat Over you.
Derek, what do you got to say?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
So for me, as far as leaving my mark, I was inspired
to create seedling during mytime in the classroom with my
students.
Unfortunately, a lot of themwere homeless.
Some of them, the only mealthey were going to receive was
the meal from school.
But I really felt like theirparents needed financial
education so they can makebetter decisions, so that they
(34:07):
can provide a better life fortheir students.
But the parents weren't gettingit, the students weren't
getting it at school, and Icould.
I felt like I should dosomething about this instead of
just waiting on the sidelinesfor someone else to fix this
problem.
I started introducing financialliteracy in my classroom to my
students, and so that's how Iwas inspired to come up with my
idea of to create my app andthen putting together the
(34:30):
lessons for the students, theteachers in the classroom, and
being able to leave my markthere and hopefully, as more and
more states are making amandatory for financial literacy
to be required for students tograduate and seeing that grow.
I believe we're at 22 statesright now and hopefully all the
states are going to have itwithin the next few years so
(34:50):
that we can, at least for thestudents that aren't going to
get it from their parents thatwe have that backup plan in
school, whether they're at leastexposed to us that we can start
to change their mindset aboutmoney.
I like to say, with our programwe aren't going to make you a
millionaire overnight, but wewill change your mindset.
We are going to make sure thatyou start to think about the way
you spend, the way you save,the way you invest and for a lot
(35:13):
of the students that I workwith, they are scared to even
think about investing oranything like that, because they
thought that's something thatonly rich people do.
No, you can start with a littlebit and continue to grow from
there.
Like Cassane said, start withyour 50 and then your 200 when
you get that raise or thatperfect job that you've been
looking for.
So that's where I want to leavemy mark, with educators in the
(35:36):
classroom and making sure thatthe students have what they need
if they're not going to be ableto get it from anywhere else.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
Wow, thank you for that.
All right, how about you?
Hassan?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Yes, yes.
So I actually started FYI Flyin college three years ago, went
from college to COVID that's alittle plug for my book.
Yes, yes, from college to COVID.
But, like I said, when I was incollege, I really it was
actually two reasons.
One I looked around.
You know, I was a businessmanagement major with a minor in
(36:09):
accounting and marketing, so Ifelt that I had above average
financial intelligence.
But I thought about I'm like,what about the chemistry major?
What about the art major?
What about the communicationmajor?
They're not having to take anyof the you know financial, you
know business, math classes thatI had to take.
So if they're graduating, youknow college, they're graduating
(36:31):
not understanding how to be asuccessful adult, because
everything that we do revolvesaround what's behind me and if
you're on this audio podcast, Ihave a money background.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
So everything that we do is revolving around finances
.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
So those college students, if my peers are
graduating without thatinformation, they're lacking.
And then also in the minoritycommunities.
You know we're natural bornhustlers, we're going to get
this, you won't get this money.
But the I found the problem wasis that we didn't have the
education on how to manage thatmoney, on how to grow that money
(37:07):
.
So I recognized those two,those two problems, and that's
why I started my company, fyiFly.
So my biggest goal with mycompany is to make impact, make
income and have fun while doingit.
That's that's what I want to do.
I want to do that through mybooks, through speaking.
I want to be the black TonyRobbins.
(37:29):
That's who I would, that's whomy Bob calls me, but that's
that's what I want to do.
I want to make you knowinternational impact.
I want to engage with people.
I love talking.
I love seeing the progressionof you know, from the first
class or from the beginning ofthe class to the end of the
class that I'm teaching.
I love seeing progression.
(37:50):
So that's where I want to leave.
I want to make impact, I wantto make income and I want to
have fun.
Speaker 5 (37:59):
You do, you make it, you make it, you make it easy to
learn, which is why you knowagain, for those of y'all, all
of my guests are on social mediaand if you can't find them,
like I said, you can find me andI'll find them for you.
And the information, the tips,the guidance, the free
information that they share,y'all need to.
Y'all need to go ahead and getthat, but pay for their services
(38:19):
.
Okay, so what about you?
Rumi?
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yes, so the legacy that I am leaving is empowerment
for financial freedom.
The gentleman on today's panelmentioned one key word that I
believe so many of us have somuch work to do, and that's with
our mental capacity.
(38:43):
A lot of times, if you didn'tcome from wealth, like Sam
mentioned, or like Derekmentioned, if you are someone
who's seen poverty orexperienced poverty, you believe
that financial freedom is offlimits to you.
And it's not, like Sammentioned, if you work for it,
you can attain anything that youwant in this lifetime.
(39:05):
And so my legacy is empowermentfor financial freedom, and
that's through saving, that'sthrough investing and also
addressing debt, because a lotof times in our community we are
racking up so much debt whetherit's student loan debt,
personal debt and we have asolution for it.
(39:27):
So my goal is our communityaddress all of those items to
achieve financial freedom,because it's accessible to each
and every one of us.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
You know, there's another point to be made.
Even for those who come frommoney and that out that's me,
y'all Okay you still have tolearn how to manage it because
you will lose it.
That's also me, just to behonest.
So it's not just for the folkswho have come from a poverty
background or near poverty orclose to poverty nothing you can
(40:04):
have that money and you canlose it very, very quickly, very
, very quickly if you don'tunderstand how to actually
manage and budget and kind ofstay beneath your actual means.
So I just want that out there,because I know there's family
members of mine that I needy'all to see what's happening
for real.
I need y'all to read the tealeaves and hear what she's
(40:25):
saying and what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (40:28):
Well, sheldia, the reality is, there are challenges
at every level and that's oftensomething.
I'm happy to hear you share this, because that's something that
often is overlooked.
But I will say you know, whenyou, I guess we're all to some
extent trying to move up.
I mean, even Jeff Bezos andElon Musk are trying to move up,
(40:52):
but this, I'll call it a seed.
I've lost count of how manyschools I've been in, and most
of them have been in low incomeareas.
But just planting this ideathat you can save or you can be
(41:12):
wealthy, and we would tell kidsall the time look, I don't know
what's in your head and heart,so I don't know what's possible
for you.
I think anything is, but manytimes they're either not getting
that message, not only at home,as Derek said, but even not in
the school.
So I think you know.
To start with, it's like arecipe If you're going to cook
(41:37):
chicken soup, you have to havechicken, and so you need to at
least understand what the rulesyou know I'm calling them rules
are like saving, asset building.
You do everything you can, itisn't easy, but to spend less
than you earn.
So if you start off with thatidea and you're working for
(42:00):
something that is important toyou, then you may be more likely
to make the choices, sacrifices, however you want to put it, to
reach whatever you're aspiringtowards.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
And please, just to double down on that please don't
wait until you hit rock bottomto make a change.
Yes, please, please, pleasedon't wait.
You know a lot of us and I wasinterviewing this guy he was
like finances is the same thingas weight loss.
You know, let's not wait into aserious heart attack or
something you know of thatnature to start losing weight
(42:38):
and make better choices.
Let's kind of be preventative,take those small steps, because
it is hard.
You know we're not going tostart from spending $400 eating
out to zero.
Let's not try to do that.
Let's not act like we're all,because I know I wouldn't.
You're right.
Let's start, you know, smallincremental habits.
(42:58):
Add those into your daily lifeand then watch those habits grow
over time.
So that's what I want to leavepeople with is like let's not
wait until rock bottom, let'snot wait until the worst thing
that happens for us to startmaking some of these, you know,
smart changes that can reallybenefit our lives.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
Wow, that is.
You know, that is so amazingand right on point and I am so
grateful for y'all.
We're going to hang out in theback for a few minutes before we
tell these folks have a goodnight and all that, but I just,
again, I just wanted to saythank you so much for doing this
.
I realize that you are, youknow, sharing your time and your
(43:37):
talent and your expertise andyour guidance, and I am grateful
because I do think that there'sa lot of us that really need
this information.
It's hard to understand it andso just knowing that there are
businesses and companies andleaders and experts like
yourself that we can, you know,we can work with this is just
going to help a lot of people.
So, for everybody who'swatching, again, if you're
(44:00):
watching the video, the video isflawless.
I'm for a deck to beat by way,so they have seen no glitch.
So hello y'all and thank you.
But for everybody else that'swatching, the audio version will
be live later this week soyou'll be able to go back.
I really recommend that, youknow.
Even if you watch this, youknow, and share it with your
family members, you know, listento the podcast because there's
(44:21):
a lot of really good tips thatyou know will help you,
especially if you're a teacher,your administrators or your
parents.
If you're a parent and you knowteachers who are looking for
another curriculum to share withyour kids, especially teen
parents, and you know we'rebroke because we're paying for a
lot of stuff, these are theexperts that you need to, you
(44:43):
know, connect with and work withand, again, huge supporter of
the Seeding app.
So I'm going to try to see ifthis outro works.
If it don't, y'all just hangout with me.
But I just want to say a hugeshout out Thank you.
And also thank you to theDumping Ground podcast.
I didn't catch all the comments.
That's another podcast thatthey're national and they kind
(45:03):
of pick up our show as well.
So thank you to the DumpingGround podcast for showing up
and, you know, supporting all ofour guests.
We appreciate all the helpy'all.
Y'all were amazing and justbear with me while we tell these
people deuces.
Thank you for watching.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.