January 29, 2025 • 53 mins
This episode explores the critical theme of teaching children financial literacy and responsibility, framed through the experiences of Maya Corbic. Maya is a Canadian based CPA and author of a kids’ book "From Piggy Banks to Stocks: The Ultimate Guide for a Young Investor" and the founder of the Wealthy Kids Investment Club.
Her popular Instagram account @teach.kids.money inspires parents to raise financially independent kids.
This episode is packed with practical strategies for engaging discussions about money, and steps for investing in children’s financial futures, all while emphasizing the importance of open communication and support within families.
In this episode we discuss:
• The importance of family bonds and relationships over wealth
• Insights into raising financially responsible kids without the pressure of societal expectations
• The impact of Maya's immigrant background on her financial philosophies
• How to shift from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance
• The significance of open conversations about money in family dynamics
• Practical strategies for parents to teach financial independence to their children
• Investment strategies suitable for child accounts and starting early
• Emphasizing balance: the role of rest and reflection in financial wellness.
Watch this episode in video form on YouTube
Leave us a question in the form of a voicemail
You can email us at: thesugardaddypodcast@gmail.com
Be sure to connect with us on socials @thesugardaddypodcast we are most active on Instagram
Learn more about Brandon and schedule a free 30-minute introductory call with him here: https://www.oakcityfinancial.us
Notes from the show:
Connect with Maya on Instagram
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think the hard, like I guess the good thing
about all that was that now Iknow that, even if I have
nothing in the end, like even ifI were to lose everything that
I've built over the last 30years, uh, since we immigrated I
would still be okay because, atthe end of the day, money is
(00:20):
important, but it is not themost important thing.
Um, as long as we have ourhealth, as long as we have each
other, that's what reallymatters.
You want to have good people inyour life, people that you can
rely on.
You're like your spouse, yourpartner, your kids, your
siblings.
That's really what matters.
So I think for me, the lessonin all that was like, we can
(00:41):
always build it all up, we canalways earn more money, but it's
the people that matter the most.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Today we are talking about one of our favorite topics
, which is raising children thatare financially responsible,
financially aware and hopefully,really wealthy, because we
always joke that we are tryingto build trust fund babies
without them being thestereotypical trust fund baby,
but we want them to have thewealth of a trust fund baby.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
So this is going to be an exciting conversation the
wealth and the wealth ofknowledge as well.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
There you go, but we have an expert with us today.
We have Maya Korbeck.
She's all about raising wealthychildren in the best way
possible and really educatingthem in that process about money
and finances and buildingwealth.
So, maya, we are so excited tohave you on the Sugar Daddy
podcast with us today.
Thank you so much for have youon the Sugar Daddy podcast with
us today.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Thank you so much for having me on.
I'm really excited about today.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yes, it's going to be a great conversation.
We met Maya at FinCon and ifyou follow us on socials, all
you saw for several days wasjust FinCon, fincon, fincon,
everything.
We went to dinner I think itwas the first night and just
(02:10):
totally hit it off.
We were like you have to be onthe podcast.
We love what you're doing.
We were already following youbecause your information that
you put out for parents is sofantastic and easy to understand
.
That's the point that I thinkis really important is that
everything that you share withyour audience is really easy to
comprehend and implement.
You were going to say something.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I was just going to simply say, for those that don't
know what FinCon is, it's aconference for finance content
creators.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Money nerds.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, basically.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yes, money nerds unite.
So let's get into Maya's bio soeverybody understands the
knowledge that she's going tobring to this conversation,
because it's going to be a goodone.
Maya Korbik is a CPA by tradeand is the author of the
children's book From Piggy Banksto Stocks the Ultimate Guide
for a Young Investor, and she'sthe founder of the Wealthy Kids
(02:57):
Investment Club.
Her popular Instagram account,teach Kids Money, has over
160,000 subscribers and inspiresparents to raise financially
independent kids.
Her work has been featured inCBS News, nbc, abc, fox Girl you
got all the acronyms.
You've been doing a lot.
Thank you for being with ustoday, because we know your time
(03:18):
is very precious, thank you.
Thank you for having me, ofcourse, so we like to kick off
all of our guest episodes withunderstanding your first money
memory.
Do you have one for us?
I?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
do actually.
Yeah, so it's.
It's a little bit of a weirdone, but I was maybe seven or
eight and I wanted to buy my moma mother's day gift.
So I come from Bosnia, whichused to be part of former
Yugoslavia.
It was a communist country andwe actually didn't have Mother's
Day.
We celebrated InternationalWomen's Day, which now everybody
(03:55):
celebrates.
It's March 8th.
So for us that was Mother's Dayand I wanted to get her a gift.
But I had no money and I don'tknow where my dad was Maybe he
was on a business trip orsomewhere and I couldn't ask him
.
So I had to ask my mom formoney, and I remember not liking
(04:16):
the feeling of not having anymoney of my own, but wanting
that money to spend on somethingthat was important to me.
And so I asked her for moneyand my mom didn't want to give
me any, but I was begging herand begging her and in the end
she kept on asking me she's like, what is it for?
And I said I can't tell you, Ican't tell you.
(04:41):
And in the end, of course, Itold her and she gave me money
and I ended up buying this.
It was just a little cuteceramic box in a shape of an
apple.
It was not a box like acontainer in a shape of an apple
where she could store herjewelry or her rings.
And I remember eyeing it beforethat for a couple of weeks in
the store that was close towhere we lived and I just
thought it was so adorable and Ithought she would really like
(05:02):
it.
And in the end she gave me themoney and I got that for her and
she had it for a very long time.
But just the feeling of nothaving money of my own was very
discouraging to me and very, Iguess I just felt I really I
think from that moment on I knewI wanted to have my own money.
(05:25):
I wanted to not have to ask forsomeone's permission to buy
something that I wanted or thatwas important to me.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
As a kid, was money talked about in your household?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Not really.
Um, you know, I think I kind ofgrew up with a poor mindset,
not abundance mindset, when itcomes to money.
Um, my parents, before the warin Bosnia, before we immigrated,
uh, and lost everything I thinkwe were middle class and we
(05:59):
lived okay.
Um, my mom always used to saythat money was very hard to come
by, that you had to workextremely hard, and so they
built those good work habits inme.
But, you know, my mom was alsovery good at, like, budgeting
the money, but my parents neverinvested, they didn't have
(06:22):
credit cards and, you know, notto mention, they didn't talk
about any sorts of passivestreams of income or
entrepreneurship.
That wasn't even on their radar.
So I learned a lot by observing,and I learned even more so by
observing once we immigrated andwe had to live in government
shelters and government housing.
(06:42):
My mom had to be very creativeto stretch that dollar and make
sure that it goes as far as itpossibly could, because at one
point we were in welfare and wehad, like we had absolutely
nothing.
So I was very good, I think, atbudgeting and stretching the
dollar, which I think I still am, but I lacked all these other
(07:02):
skills and the skills that Ipicked up.
I picked up by by watching Um,but the rest of it I kind of had
to learn on my own through thebooks, through podcasts like
yours, um TV shows, youtube andstuff like that.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Being an immigrant and coming from you know, maybe
middle-class, to then coming tothe United States.
This was when you immigrated tothe United States, not Canada,
right?
No, I was actually in Canada.
In Canada, yeah, okay, so fromBosnia to Canada and then
totally changing kind ofeconomic classes.
What is what?
What do you remember that beinglike as a child?
(07:39):
So you have these vividmemories of seeing your parents
stretch the dollar and obviouslybeing motivated yourself to
sounds like not want to have todo that.
Right, and your adult life.
But what else do you remember?
Being an immigrant, being in anew country and kind of losing
it all?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, losing it all was very challenging, very
challenging.
And, um, I don't, I know myparents.
Before the war, they had anopportunity to come to Canada
and they chose not to because,as strange as it may sound, and
even though the standard ofliving is better in North
America, canada and America,united States included, some
people don't want to leave.
(08:19):
They're just happy living wherethey live right.
And so when my parents came, itwas terrifying, because I was
almost 15 and I have a youngerbrother he's five years younger
and my parents, they had tostart from scratch.
My mom is a chemical engineerand a computer programmer and my
(08:40):
dad had a bachelor of economicsand they didn't speak English.
None of us spoke English.
So, not only that, it was aculture shock.
We had to learn English, we hadno connections, we didn't know
anyone.
We had to be on welfare.
On top of that, my dad much,much later on was diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress disorderbecause of the war and what we
(09:04):
experienced, or what, mostlywhat he experienced, but we've
all experienced things, so, butit's just affected him the
hardest.
Um, so it was very hard to startall of a sudden living normal
life when you have these mentalhealth issues, uh, and that
caused my parents to split upand my mom and my brother and I
ended up in a shelter for womenand children.
It was just really bad, but itwas, um, I think the hard, like,
(09:30):
I guess the good thing aboutall that was that now I know
that, even if I have nothing inthe end, like even if I were to
lose everything that I've builtover the last 30 years, uh,
since we immigrated I wouldstill be okay because, at the
end of the day, money isimportant, but it is not the
most important thing.
(09:51):
Um, as long as we have ourhealth, as long as we have each
other, that's what reallymatters.
You want to have good people inyour life, people that you can
rely on.
You're like your spouse, yourpartner, your kids, your
siblings.
That's really what matters.
So I think, for me, the lessonand all that was like we can
always build it all up, we canalways earn more money, but it's
(10:13):
the people that matter the mostI always.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I always appreciate that perspective because I'm
fortunate enough that I didn'thave I didn't have a tough
upbringing by any means grew up,you know, in the United States
middle-class, upper middle-classnever had to worry about going
without and so I don't have, Ididn't have to have that mindset
of I've had nothing.
So going back to nothingdoesn't scare me because, in all
(10:41):
honesty, I've always had apretty good life.
So, like certain aspects oflosing it all is scary to me
because I haven't had toexperience that and that is one
thing that I've noticed throughsome people that I know that
have experienced similar aspectsof life growing up that you've
experienced, where you've had itrough and you had to pull
yourself up by I'm not going tosay bootstraps, because you
(11:02):
didn't even have bootstraps.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, you had to do it all yourselves and I'm just
as somebody that sees that likeI'm just saying I don't even
have words for it.
Really, I admire it and admireis not a good word.
Yeah, I admire like that, thatability, because I think when
you've, like I said, when you'vebeen through what you've been
(11:26):
through, the sky's the limit,because you don't have the same
fear that I have, because you'vealready done things that I've
never had to do.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Have you been listening to our podcast and
wondering how am I really doingwith my money?
Am I doing the right thingswith my investments?
Am I on track to reach myfinancial goals?
What could I be doing better?
If you answered yes to any ofthese questions, then it's time
for you to reach out to Brandonto schedule your free yes, I
said free 30-minute introductionconversation to see how his
(11:57):
services could help make you themore confident moneymaker we
know you could be.
What are you waiting for?
It's literally free and at thevery least, you'll walk away
feeling more empowered andconfident about your financial
future.
Link is in our show notes.
Go schedule your call today.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
If that makes any sense, I'm not.
I'm not as good with words asJess is.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I was just going to say I'm like it's, it totally
makes sense.
But I think the fear that youhave is the fear of the unknown.
But the unknown is it's bad ina way, but not really Like.
I felt that, you know, the badthings were like I was actually
just thinking about that and, um, I was kind of going through
(12:44):
some things and I was writing inmy journal.
Sometimes I just use my journalto kind of like, you know, just
get stuff out of my head, and Iremember being embarrassed to
bring people into our house, ornot even a house.
We had an apartment, um, when wefirst moved here and I remember
one time one of my friends cameover and I just saw the look on
(13:04):
her face and she looked aroundand she's like, oh, this is,
this is cute, and I knew whatthat meant.
She was like I think she wasjust shocked like where I lived
and how I lived and cause,outside of the home you couldn't
tell.
Like I had two part-time jobs,I dressed nice and actually my
room was really nice.
I bought my own furniture, Ibought myself a computer, I
(13:26):
bought like all these things.
I decorated my room, I paintedit, I you know, uh, but I
couldn't control the rest of thehousehold, right, so she only
saw what she knew, and then,when she actually saw the rest
of the house or the apartment,she was kind of like, oh, but
anyways, I think I guess what Iwant to say is, like it seems
daunting and I think there wouldbe like a big bruise to the
(13:48):
pride If, for example, for me,if I lost everything that I've
built, but at the same time,there is some freedom in it,
because it's kind of like, well,I've got nothing.
So, um, I'm free to explore and, okay, what's the next step?
Like, how are we going to dothis?
It could be exciting.
And also, um, I find that I wasa lot more creative, uh, when I
(14:14):
had less, because now it's justeasier.
Oh, I can just spend money.
Like I'm doing this challenge,I'm going to be doing this
challenge with my daughter toteach her about budgeting and
I'm going to use our front porchas a you know a way to do that.
So I, you know we've I've askedmy Instagram community to give
us a budget and they're going togive.
They give us like $50 todecorate the front porch, and so
(14:39):
$50 is it's not a lot, but youknow, I know I can do it even on
a cheaper and it just kind ofrequires me to be more creative
and to when I have less money,it really forces me to I don't
know have more fun with it andreally find ways to like tackle
this and like make this looklike I don't know $200
(15:00):
decoration versus you know,something that you spend 50
bucks on.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I think, for me.
I think one of the things that,like I've thought about through
my entire life is that, like Isaid, I was fortunate enough in
my upbringing that I should besuccessful in life because of
what I've had afforded to megrowing up.
And the fear of not beingsuccessful is more or less that,
because there's no reason forme not to be, because you have
(15:28):
individuals that have hadsignificantly harder lives than
I have and they've becomesuccessful.
So with the tools that I have,I should be.
So I think that's kind of likewhat I think through in my own
personal life, my head.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, I feel I totally understand what you're
saying and I sometimes feel thatI have put some sort of
expectation like that onto myown children because I feel that
they are growing up privileged.
Because I feel that they aregrowing up privileged, they have
(16:05):
had experiences and possessionsthat I could have only dreamed
of when I was their age andsometimes I feel guilty as a
parent that I've put that sortof expectation on them, because
I always tell them you know,when I was an immigrant, I was
hungry, I was hungry for success, I was hungry for better life
and that hunger just keeps yougoing, like it makes you really
try harder and they don't haveto try as hard and I, in some
(16:29):
ways, I just think that maybeit's okay to let our kids be
content.
And you know what's successLike?
Success is just the definitionof everybody has a different
definition of it, right?
So my definition can be verydifferent from my kids
definition.
Um, maybe someone's definitionis to just be who they are Like.
(16:52):
Why do they have to reach formore If what they, what they do
right now, makes them happy?
If they reach for more andthey're constantly stressed out,
burnt out, they don't have timefor family and friends, then
like what's the point of that?
Just so the society can approveof us?
Like that?
may not necessarily be the rightthing.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
That's probably a hard thing too in regards to,
like, first-generationimmigrants, because you know the
few friends that we have thatare first-generation, you know
you kind of do have that backand forth between the their
parents, you know that came overhere and didn't have anything
and then them growing up with alot more than their parents ever
had.
So I think that's just a commontheme.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
But then when you have abundance, doing what
you're trying to do, maya, andwe're going to get into that is
like teaching your children thefinancial responsibility.
But then also to be grateful,right, because we always joke,
we're like we don't want toraise spoiled brats, but they're
spoiled, we just don't wantthem to be brats.
You know, like how do you makesure that they're appreciative
(17:50):
and grateful?
But then also, to your point,find that contentment because
constantly you know that hustleculture that grinded out.
I mean when you have to,because you're on welfare and
you're in the shelter and you'relike this cannot be our life.
That's one thing.
But if you have a good life andyou've been given, you know the
tools and resources, you alsohave to find contentment in just
(18:13):
being right.
And I think, especially for usin that millennial space, you
know you're constantly go, go,go, do, do.
Do you have these bigaspirations?
And then you know I always Ifeel guilty if I watch a movie
and I'm not folding laundry atthe same time or I'm not
checking emails at the same time.
It's like you also have tolearn how to rest and just to be
(18:34):
and be content and be gratefuland kind of pause and sit in
that as well, without the hustleand bustle and grinding it out
constantly.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more and I'm with you.
I feel guilty every time I am,as you said, like if I'm just
watching a movie without doinglaundry or cooking or something.
I feel guilty and I don'treally want that for my kids.
I want them to understand andknow that rest is important and
(19:06):
I think you know this is goingto sound really weird, but I
think only a couple of years agoI actually learned that I
should be resting like otherthan sleeping, and that resting
is okay.
I mean, you don't have to earnit.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yes, yes, you don't have to earn rest.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I'm still learning that.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I think that's also probably very hard for a working
mom.
Yes, I think so too I think menmaybe have a little I don't say
maybe we do have a little biteasier when it comes to that
aspect, but I feel most moms,especially working moms, feel
guilty because, like there'ssomething there's always
something to do.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yeah, there's always something to get done, because I
have to tell jess numerous.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I'm like jess, just stop I know it'll get done later
.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You need to rest it's hard right, because otherwise
you can just keep going rightyeah, maya, let's switch into
you.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Know you?
You immigrated.
You ended up living with yourmom and your brother.
You were on welfare in theshelters.
How did you go from that tobeing a CPA?
What's that?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, so, um, I think for me personally, the
traditional schooling was theway out of poverty.
And, um, you know being onsocial media and I know both of
you are, and you have yourInstagram account and there are
a lot of people out there thatyou know they talk badly about
(20:33):
nine to five and you know, goingto school, getting good
education, getting good grades,getting a great job and I think
there's a time and place foreverything, and for me, that was
my salvation, that was my wayof getting out, because I didn't
have the education.
I did not know much aboutentrepreneurship, I didn't know
(20:54):
much about passive incomestreams or anything like that.
Maybe I could have done stufflike that, but to me, all I knew
was that if I go to school andI get good grades, uh, I can get
into one of the topuniversities and then from there
, I can hopefully continue myeducation and then get a job at
(21:15):
a really good company.
And that's what I did, um, andthat really helped me, you know,
increase my earning power andbecome a CPA, and, uh, it wasn't
a straight journey.
I was really all over the place.
I thought I was going to end upin sciences, um, my choice of,
(21:38):
or my career pursuit wasstrictly based on my financial
need.
I did consider what I like, butthat was second to kind of
thinking like, okay, what'sgoing to make me the most money,
that's going to help me get outof where I am.
And so I did consider becominga dentist and I did a dental
co-op.
I didn't like that.
(21:59):
I thought about becoming adoctor and we dissected a rat in
biology class and I was like,absolutely not.
And then, I think, at one pointI was like, oh, maybe I'll be an
engineer electrical engineerand I went into an open house.
It was all men and machines andI was like, okay, this is not
me either.
And my friend was going intobusiness, so I just ended up
there.
And then I learned thatbecoming a CPA like a lot of
(22:21):
times, like a lot of theaccounting companies, they'll
pay for your further educationto get your CPA designation and
I was like this is awesome, Iwant them to do that for me.
And when they pay for it youhave to sign on that.
You're going to be with themfor a couple of years.
And I'm like this is awesome,that just means I'm going to
have a job for the next twoyears.
So I was like, why wouldn't I dothis?
(22:42):
So they, you know, they paidfor my education.
I had a job and my salary kepton increasing, Um, and I was
actually able to use the moneythat we that I earned.
So my, my husband and I, wepaid off our mortgage and all of
our debts like student loansand such, by the time I was 32,
so we were debt free and then Iwas able to quit corporate world
(23:06):
and start my own thing.
So it really worked out.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So where's your husband?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
from.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
He is from Serbia.
Okay, yeah, from former.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yugoslavia as well.
Because I always wonder, youknow, like when you have those
dynamics, you know, especiallylike you were to marry someone
that had lived their entire lifein Canada, like how that
difference of growing up, youknow, can interact in a
relationship.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, well, there is a difference, because his family
immigrated before the war andhis family immigrated with money
.
They had more money.
They didn't immigrate directlyLike they were actually living
in other parts of the world.
His parents are in medicalfield and so they came with
money.
He had a much better life thanI did.
(23:57):
You know his mom, his parents,paid for his school.
I had to take student loans,like.
So it was very different and ittook a few years for him to
understand what I was trying todo for us to put us on a budget
to pay off all of our loans, tostreamline our personal finances
.
And once he came on board, webecame unstoppable.
(24:21):
I think that dynamic of youknow like a couple that like has
goals and they're on the samepage, and it just really really
worked well for us, um, and so Ithink that's when we realized
like we can accomplish so muchmore when we're working together
and we're on, when we're on thesame page, and he really
started learning more aboutpersonal finance and investing
(24:43):
and getting more interested in,like what I was, I guess, what I
even promote now to my students.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
That's amazing.
Yeah, we always talk about ifyou're pushing and pulling in
different directions in yourpartnership.
It's going to take you so longto go in the same direction.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
If you even make it at all, if you make it.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
So what you said about being on the same page,
because something as big aslet's pay off our house and
let's be debt free and have nomortgage, I mean you have to be
on the same page to do that,because otherwise, unless you're
a bajillionaire, I mean it's,it's not going to happen.
You have to be aligned in yourgoals, and so are you two
(25:24):
technically part of the firemovement.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I wouldn't say exactly like we're.
I didn't even know what firewas until I would say, until
maybe six, seven years ago.
Um, I wish I did, because maybeI would have jumped on it and
be even more serious.
Uh, but we've along the, youknow, like we were going to be
(25:48):
married for 20 years.
It's going to be our 20, 20year anniversary next summer and
uh, and we just use commonsense, I think, and our common
sense was like let's pay off ourdebt, our mortgage, and let's
just kind of keep growing ourwealth, but at the same time
(26:08):
let's try to have fun like wehave right now.
Our vacations were mostly likecamping in Canadian North or we
would go to Cuba, and forCanadians Cuba is really, really
cheap Maybe not so much now,but back then that those were
our vacations and uh, but nowyou know that we're in a better
(26:32):
financial place, those vacationsare completely different.
So we just kind of did what wecould afford and we really
didn't overextend ourselves.
We were really the underdog andI think, like when we paid over
our house and when we didstarted doing certain things
that were like outside of ournorm but it took so many years
(26:53):
to get there People were kind oflike they started paying
attention, were like, oh, like,where, where did that come from?
Like we thought you guys werelike you know they.
Just they had no idea.
And that's why, like you know,sometimes the personal finance,
like you look at people and youhave no idea who has got how
much money, just because theydrive a certain car or live in a
certain house.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Like you don't know you don't say that all the time
yeah unfortunately, I feel likesocial media that's.
One of the drawbacks, I wouldsay, of social media is that
everyone's showing a highlightreel and that highlight reel
might not even be like realityat all in their life for the day
.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
They're renting the apartment to shoot content.
They're literally buyingdesigner bags, the actual
shopping bags off of Etsy andthe internet and they're just
basically staging a life.
(27:48):
Right, and it's the people thatwe know that are the most
wealthy.
I mean, they're driving HondaAccords, they're driving Toyotas
, they're not in flashy cars.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
My mom and her Nissan Rogue.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yeah, exactly.
So you know we see it verydifferently because we know how
much debt people carry and youknow Brandon obviously is a
financial advisor and so histhing is always you don't know
where people's money is comingfrom.
That down payment for thathouse could have come from a
grandparent they could be, youknow.
The grandparents could bepaying for the fancy private
(28:21):
school.
I mean, unless you are in thatperson's bank account, you just
don't know.
And people are just showing youa highlight reel online.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
So yeah, yeah, I just wanted to say so.
My husband, he actuallyfinished bachelor of economics
but he ended up going back toschool to become a plumber.
So he actually has his ownplumbing and um drains and
waterproofing company.
And, to your point, he told meone time um, there was a problem
at this.
It's in a beautiful part ofToronto, a beautiful mansion,
(28:52):
luxury vehicles in front.
These people had sewage in theirbasement, like like things were
backed up and so he goes.
He's like I went in therebecause he doesn't do the work.
He has people who do the workfor him but he sells.
So he said I walked in and he'slike man, I'm not, like I'm not
even going in.
He's like this is gross, weneed people to come clean this
up, like you know.
And he anyways.
(29:13):
So he gave them a quote, um, andthey're like oh, um, here's our
credit card.
He tried charging it.
It wouldn't go through.
They were giving him all theseother credit cards.
Uh, everything was not goingthrough.
Then he said well, we can setyou up with a company to approve
you for a loan so that you canpay for this.
They couldn't get approved.
So they have sewage in theirbasement.
(29:36):
They're driving these luxuryvehicles they have.
They live in this beautifultheir basement.
They're driving these luxuryvehicles.
They live in this beautifulmansion, yet they cannot get
approved to get sewage out oftheir basement and get that
cleaned up and get their pipeschanged and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
That puts things into perspective and I think, as we
get older and as our goalschange, of the life that we want
to live, we really don't careabout know.
We really don't care about cars, we really don't care about
those material things.
Yes, we want a nice, safe home,you know, for our families and
for game nights and, of course,to have security and shelter,
(30:10):
but when it comes to thosematerialistic things, our view
is just, you know.
It's just very different thanwhat the internet tells you.
Let's pivot into.
You got your education, you gotyour CPA.
The company paid for it, youknow.
Now you and your husband areworking towards these big
financial goals.
(30:31):
Talk to us about your Instagramaccount and why focusing on
kids and investing.
And where did that fire anddrive come from?
Because you don't just wake upone day and then have 160,000
followers on Instagram.
So that takes some work andintentionality.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I wish it was that easy.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah, oh my goodness, it would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yes, no, it's definitely not that easy.
But so 12 years ago, when Idecided to quit my accounting
job, I was actually a taxaccountant at that point I did
some audit and then I was in tax.
I wanted to do somethingmeaningful that actually would
matter to me and I startedteaching financial literacy.
(31:14):
So I used to go to schools.
I would teach gradekindergartens all the way up to
grade 12 to high school, andthen COVID hit and of course I
couldn't do that anymore.
So I had to transition mybusiness to be completely online
, and the way Instagram happenedwas really just a way for me to
advertise and let people know.
Hey, this is what I do.
And at the very beginning itwas really awkward because I
(31:39):
felt it was really awkward tofilm myself and like, put my
face.
It took me, I would say, awhole year before I started
putting my face out there.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It's such a beautiful face.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
No, thank you.
But it just felt like you knowthis, like narcissistic person
just putting herself out there,and like I just had to get over
a lot of uh, self-criticism andsome sort of fears of judgment
and everything else, Uh, and nowit's like it's it's second
nature.
I don't even think about it, um.
(32:13):
But also I had to learn aboutwhat it is that my followers
wanted, and so I did talk a lotabout allowance and how to teach
kids to save and how to teachkids to budget and, as I said, I
have two kids.
They're teenagers now and I'veexperimented a lot on them.
They were my guinea pigs and Ikind of know what works, what
(32:34):
doesn't.
But also, like you know,because I've been working with
other parents for the lastseveral years, I also know what
works for other parents and Ibelieve that there's no one set
way to teach kids financialliteracy.
We can talk about that a littlebit more after, but, um, so
it's teaching all these things.
But then I started realizingthat every time I would talk
about investing, people startedpaying more attention.
(32:56):
And there was this is like somefive years or no, actually
maybe three, four years ago likenobody was talking about
investing for kids.
Nobody was talking about howpowerful that could be and I was
like, well, I think this iswhat people need.
So I was like, okay, let's talkabout this.
And once I started talkingabout it, I actually realized
(33:16):
people are really payingattention.
They were like signing up for myfree classes, for my cheat
sheets, and I think that's whenother financial literacy
influencers who don't teach kidsand money.
But then they started seeinghow my account was growing so
they're like, oh, this issomething we should start
talking about too.
So all of a sudden, like peoplestarted talking about it more
(33:37):
and more, to the point now where, um, actually one uh podcast
that I was on and I subscribedto their newsletter, I actually
just ended up getting uh anemail from him and he just had a
daughter and he was saying, islike in his newsletter, he's
explaining how he's investingfor his daughter.
And I'm like, oh, my God, thisis exactly what I teach, like
(33:58):
you know, in my, on my Instagram, and like word for word, and
I'm like it seems that it's good, like we've started a movement,
like people are doing this,people find the value in it and,
um, I'm so glad because nobodytalked about kids and investing
years ago.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah, well, and it's so interesting too because
obviously we know in thisfinance space, in investing, the
time is what matters most,right?
So even if it's $5, $10, $50,whatever you can do, that
consistent daily, weekly,monthly drip, whatever your
cadence is, that's what's goingto compound, when you know when
(34:38):
you start them with aninvestment account, when they're
a baby, versus you know whenthey're 30 or 40.
So the time really makes senseto invest for your children.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Well, it's also shifting the conversation.
So I can remember as a kid thatthe big thing was getting you
know savings bonds.
You know you get the kidssavings bonds when they're a kid
, when in reality what theyshould have just been doing is
investing.
But they didn't have theinformation and obviously you
know the internet wasn't aroundso they didn't know where to
access this information.
Where now, for example, youknow what I'm talking to?
(35:11):
Clients and stuff with theirkids?
I'm like, unless your child isworking and you guys need this
money that they would be puttingin a savings account, a savings
account for a kid doesn't makeany sense.
It's like they're not going touse it.
Don't put it in the savingsaccount, put it in invested and
it's going to grow significantlymore by the time they become
adults.
So it's, like I said, it's justchanging the conversation.
I think people were on boardfor trying to do something for
(35:32):
their child that's going tobetter their future, but now we
just have better tools to do it.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, yeah.
And if I may say, you know, yousaid something which I had a
discussion about with, I think,my daughter and we did not have
internet back then.
Internet was, or is, the gamechanger, and also social media
accounts.
Both of them can be bad butthey can also be very good.
(35:58):
They've really raised awarenessof financial literacy.
And you know, I remember andI'm really dating myself but in
the nineties and early twothousands, we just had books.
I remember reading a rich dad,poor dad and cashflow quadrant.
Those two books, they opened myeyes.
(36:20):
And now I see on social mediapeople are criticizing those two
books and they're saying allthese horrible things and I said
you know what, if it wasn't forthose two books, I would have
never, ever understood passiveincome and how it works, because
no one was talking about it inmy realm, like in my sphere of
influence or in my circle.
(36:40):
This is, people who understoodpassive income were way
wealthier than I was.
They were not hanging out withpeople like me.
But you know, with likenowadays, yes, you know, you
have internet so you can seereels and on social media and
you can learn about these things, but back then we didn't have
that information, and so we didwhat we thought was the best,
(37:02):
which was the savings account orsavings bonds for kids, and in
hindsight like why would we dothat?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
that made no sense, but that's all we knew it's easy
to criticize when you're doinghindsight like right I mean you
talk about rich dad, poor dad,because you know those because,
like those, were the books thatopened up the pathway to where
we are now when it comes tofinancial literacy.
Yes, they were the forefathers,the starters of all those.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah.
And Robert Kiyosaki love him orhate him, it doesn't really
matter To me.
I owe him and I forget who theco-author is.
Um, cheryl Cheryl, I forget hername.
I really apologize for thatPeople have the internet.
They can look it up, yeah.
They can look her up.
Actually, I didn't even know.
We always talk about RobertKiyosaki writing that book rich
(37:51):
dad, poor dad but there was aco-author and I met her.
She's a lovely lady and when Imet her, uh, I met her last year
and I was a speaker at thisconference and so was she and we
spoke and I I had tears in myeyes.
I said to her you changed mylife because you opened my eyes
to something that I didn't know.
(38:12):
My parents couldn't teach methis, the school was not
teaching me this and there wasno internet back then.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
So people will.
We will, of course, link all ofyour socials and we want people
to follow along with the greatinformation that you're giving
and the courses and, of course,you have a children's book.
I mean, there's so manyresources that you provide to
your audience, but let's talkabout you have teenagers now.
What is that discussion ofmoney in your house now?
(38:41):
Because I know recently youposted a reel.
I think your daughter wantedmaybe some Uggs or some cute
boots versus some other piece ofclothing and you made her.
You know she had to decide.
She couldn't get both or sheneeded to use her own money and
growing up you said you guysdidn't talk about money a lot.
You obviously didn't have a lot.
How did you want to change thatfor your kids and your family,
(39:04):
and do you have suggestions forour audience on how to do that
without it being scary andintimidating?
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Oh, absolutely yeah.
So I don't want money to betaboo in my home.
I want us to talk about itopenly.
I also think that eventuallyfor my kids, that will translate
to them talking to theirpartners openly about it and
hopefully, to their friends.
You know, maybe they can learnstuff from their friends and
their friends can learn stufffrom my children.
(39:33):
But you know, I think that if wetalk to our kids about money,
especially when they're younger,I think we have to be a little
bit more mindful as to how muchinformation can they take and we
don't want to scare them either.
Like if you're paying off yourdebt or if you're worried
whether or not you can pay themortgage next month, like maybe
those are some things that youwant to keep to yourself because
(39:55):
you don't want to scare them.
But if, for example, you'repaying off your debt and your
kids are a little bit older, youcan say, hey, you know what.
I didn't understand what thatwas and I have some made, some
bad choices maybe, but now I amtrying to pay that off and I'm
(40:16):
trying to shift my life and ourfinances in a positive direction
, and so these are the mistakesthat I made and I don't want you
to make.
So you know, you can see whatI'm doing and you know how I'm
paying off this debt.
You know whatever method it isthat I'm you that you're using.
But you know, if you haveyounger kids, it could be just a
(40:37):
conversation, like you know,when they ask you to buy them
something, sometimes parentswill say, oh, I can't afford it.
You know that's not a good wayto talk about money, because
then it you know, you'reencouraging the mindset of
scarcity, encouraging themindset of scarcity.
So instead, if you can affordit, maybe the answer would be I
choose not to spend our money onthis because you already have,
(41:03):
let's say, that toy.
Or you know what I choose tospend my money on something else
that would bring you more joy.
Or maybe the answer is you knowwhat I choose not to buy this
right now because I need to saveup for it, and you know here's
the plan how we're going to doit.
So it's about being open aboutit as much as we can, as much as
(41:27):
our kids can handle, dependingon their ages.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah, we talk about that exact same thing, right?
Not making money.
Taboo, speaking openly about it.
We have a five and a six yearold and you know.
If it's, hey, you eat thebottom of the strawberry and
then you throw the rest away andthere's half a strawberry left.
Hey, that pint of strawberrieswas $6.
Remember how you got $20 foryour birthday?
What if I took six of that, youknow, and you only had a third
(41:56):
of the strawberry?
Is that wasteful?
I mean, it's something assimple as that.
But I love what you said aboutmindset, because we recently
spoke about that on a previousepisode, where, whether you have
scarcity in your home or not,putting that scarcity mindset
into your children of comingfrom that place of we don't have
(42:19):
can be so limiting when you'rean adult, right?
So instead of saying we don'thave money for that, saying you
know what you just said, wedidn't budget for that, or we
didn't plan for that, or that'snot on our list for shopping
today, today we're only buyingspaghetti and spaghetti sauce,
right?
Or phrasing it in a way thatdoesn't come from we don't have,
(42:39):
instead of we're not choosingto spend money there.
If we choose to spend money onthis today, then maybe we can't
spend money on XYZ tomorrow.
And I think that mindset, themore we talk to people, the more
we realize that what wasinstilled in us as children, it
does follow.
You know, with our parents andyou know previous generations.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
it was always trying to portray like a perfect idea
(43:22):
of being a parent that I kneweverything, you know, I have it
all figured out.
And that's we as adults now andparents.
We know that's not the case andletting your kids know that
like mommy and daddy don't haveit all figured out.
We're still trying to figurethings out and we've made
mistakes and we're going tocontinue to make mistakes.
But letting kids know at ayoung age that they don't have
to be perfect, I think is goingto change how they handle
(43:45):
adversity as they get older.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, oh, 100%.
And I have.
Our son is going to be 18 nextyear, so I'm going to have an
adult child, which is reallyunbelievable.
But you know, sometimes, likenow, he will ask me questions.
He's like oh, can I do whatever?
X, y, z?
And so I mean I could be theparent and be like no, you can't
(44:10):
do it, or whatever.
But I usually sit him down, Isay, daniel, here's how I see it
.
I don't know if this is theright way of seeing it, but this
is what I think.
You're going to be an adult, soyou need to press start
practicing these adult decisions.
Um, it's up to you, dude,because if you choose to go,
(44:30):
let's say this if you choosethis path, these are the
consequences.
Let's say this if you choosethis path, these are the
consequences.
You may choose a less fun pathand the consequences may not be
as severe.
But I say I don't know whichone's the right one for you, and
I'm like you just really needto exercise your decision.
You know your, your decisionmuscles and kind of decide on
(44:50):
your own right now.
Um, unless it's like something.
We haven't had a situationwhere it's like oh, my God, like
I have to decide.
But this is like some thingslike, oh, should I go out
tonight, can I go out with myfriends?
Or like, can I sleep over?
But he has all theseassignments due on Monday and he
actually wants to apply to likemechanical engineering and
aerospace engineering next forto go to next year.
(45:13):
So I'm like, well, those are.
You need high grades for that.
So I don't know, like yeah, youcan go for a sleepover and you
can party all night, but I don'tknow what's going to happen to
your assignments.
So you think about it.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
You're like I've already got all my education.
This is on you.
Yeah, I honestly that's.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
I honestly feel it's.
It's so great and undervaluedthat people don't do that with
their kids, because I can recall.
I always tell people, you know,when I was in high school I
didn't have a curfew and itwasn't because my mom didn't
care and that I was going to beout at all.
You know hours of the night.
I knew what time to be homebecause my mom gave me the
responsibility and I learnedvery early on not to take
advantage of that and I wasalways home on a reasonable time
(45:50):
, because I also knew that if Iwasn't home in a reasonable time
, the locks might be changed,that car she pays for might be
taken away.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
There would be consequences.
I had decisions to make, yeahabsolutely.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, well, I always tell my kids, I tell them you
know, when they bring theirreport card home and you know
some marks are like they're bothactually really good students.
I should say that.
But at the end of the day, myonly question to them is, like
are you happy?
Do you think that you have doneeverything you possibly could
to like in your power?
(46:22):
Like you worked as hard as youcould, you did what you needed
to do?
Does this mark reflect that?
And a lot of times they'regoing to be like no, it doesn't,
I could have tried harder.
I'm like okay, well, that'sthat's all I want you to reflect
upon, because, really like,right now, their number one job
is to study and, you know, tryhard in school.
(46:43):
They have otherresponsibilities, of course, too
, but to me I'm kind of likejust do your best.
If you think you've done yourbest, then you know what it is,
what it is.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Let the chips fall where they may.
You've done your best, then youknow what it is, what it is.
Let the chips fall where theymay.
Yeah, going back to our earlierpart of the conversation of
like relieving some of thatstress right Of being perfect,
or you have to do this, or youhave to go to this school or be
this kind of career person, oryou know, it's just too much
(47:14):
stress.
Do you, maya, have and I knowyou're in Canada and we're in
the US, so it might be a littledifferent but do you have for
somebody who's listening, whomaybe has young children or is
expecting maybe, a favorite kindof account or investment or
suggestion on how to get startedwith investing for your kids?
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
And I'll speak to US side, because I know that your
audience is, I'm assuming,mostly in the U.
S.
So if they have a young childor if they're expecting a young
child, I would open up the five29 plan.
Um, they can open it up intheir own name and I think they
can transfer it later on totheir child when the child is
born.
I love the five 29 plan because, even if the child decides not
(47:53):
to pursue college later on, youcan transfer those funds to
another child or keep them foryourselves.
But even better, you cantransfer up to $35,000 into a
Roth IRA for that child, and thesooner they start investing for
that child, the more money thatchild will have in that account
(48:15):
.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Yeah, we did an episode completely dedicated to
529s, especially because of therecent changes.
Like you mentioned, the RothIRA and being able to transfer
money, because my concern wasalways, well, if the kids have
scholarships, or what if theychoose not to, and so there's a
lot of flexibility there now,which is great.
Are there any other accounts orinvestments that you recommend?
Speaker 1 (48:40):
I just love the custodial Roth IRA.
That's just something that wedon't have in Canada, and
especially for parents who areentrepreneurs or business owners
, there is a great way to deferor to um, uh, sorry, save on
taxes by employing their kids towork for them.
So even if your child is a baby, uh, you can hire them to do,
(49:04):
let's say, ads for you orcommercials.
And it's important to set thisup properly so that you actually
have a contract between you andyour child.
I would hire a lawyer and a taxaccountant.
It may cost you a lot moreupfront, but once that's set up,
you know, once that's in place,you basically, whatever it is
(49:25):
that you pay to your child,which has to be the right amount
, whatever, let's say, somebodywho does acting or promotions
would earn, so you would paythem the same amount.
But that's the amount that youcan deduct from your profits
from your business, and you'reobviously going to save on taxes
because your income is lower.
And then there is a certainamount of money that out of that
(49:49):
you can actually invest intocustodial Roth IRA, depending on
annual maximums, and that's themoney that can grow for them.
And you know, it's just, youcan really make your kids
millionaires easily in that way,while you're also saving on
taxes.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, we love that, and what you said is the
reasonable amount, right Likeyou can't pay them thousands of
dollars to sweep the kitchen oryour office or take out the
trash.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah Well, the thing in the US is more or less that
there's a maximum amount thatyou could pay your kids, them
being under 18 years old.
That child, they wouldn't haveto pay taxes on that income and
that's what you're using tocontribute to those accounts.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
Right, really nice.
Well, maya, this has been agreat conversation.
I love that we talked a lotabout mindset and just being
open and honest with ourchildren about just about money
and finances and, like you said,past mistakes and how we want
to help prevent them from makingthose mistakes and being
vulnerable.
I think, not only with yourpartner, with your friends, like
(50:49):
you mentioned, but definitelywith your children, is so
important in that learningprocess and then, if you're
setting up that environment,they'll come to you when they
have questions.
And I think that's so importantis that when you open up those
lines of communication, it's nottaboo, it's not scary, it's
just a part of your everydaylife, everyday home life.
Your children know that theycan come to you and ask those
(51:11):
questions as they grow andmature and those conversations
can start expanding.
You have so many resources.
We will link them in our shownotes.
Are there any final thoughtsthat you want to leave our
audience with?
Around mindset, kids, money,investing Sky's the limit for
you.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Oh, it's, yeah, it's a fully loaded question actually
, but, um, I would just say, youknow, don't procrastinate.
Just start talking to your kidsabout money and if you have
never invested, I suggest youknow, starting small, play
around.
Take $20.
If that's, you know I'm anamount that you feel like you
know what, even if I lost thisit would be okay.
(51:54):
But just do something, um, Ithink, if you like, if you
actually put that into uh action, then, uh, you're going to feel
much better about investing.
You can learn so much, um, andI just feel like everybody
should just try it.
You know, try doing it, learnas much as you can and that's it
(52:18):
.
Speaker 3 (52:19):
Perfect.
Thank you, maya, for being withus today.
This was a great conversation.
We appreciate you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Don't forget.
Benjamin Franklin said aninvestment in knowledge pays the
best interest.
You just got paid.
Until next time.
Speaker 2 (52:34):
Sugar Daddy Podcast.
Yo Learn how to make thempockets grow.
Financial freedom's where we go.
Smart investments money flow.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
Thanks for listening to today's episode.
We are so glad to have you aspart of our Sugar Daddy
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If you learned something today,please remember to subscribe,
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(53:04):
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Speaker 2 (53:12):
Our content is intended to be used, and must be
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It is very important to do yourown analysis before making any
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I think the hard, like I guess the good thing
about all that was that now Iknow that, even if I have
nothing in the end, like even ifI were to lose everything that
I've built over the last 30years, uh, since we immigrated I
would still be okay because, atthe end of the day, money is
(00:20):
important, but it is not themost important thing.
Um, as long as we have ourhealth, as long as we have each
other, that's what reallymatters.
You want to have good people inyour life, people that you can
rely on.
You're like your spouse, yourpartner, your kids, your
siblings.
That's really what matters.
So I think for me, the lessonin all that was like, we can
(00:41):
always build it all up, we canalways earn more money, but it's
the people that matter the most.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Today we are talking about one of our favorite topics
, which is raising children thatare financially responsible,
financially aware and hopefully,really wealthy, because we
always joke that we are tryingto build trust fund babies
without them being thestereotypical trust fund baby,
but we want them to have thewealth of a trust fund baby.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
So this is going to be an exciting conversation the
wealth and the wealth ofknowledge as well.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
There you go, but we have an expert with us today.
We have Maya Korbeck.
She's all about raising wealthychildren in the best way
possible and really educatingthem in that process about money
and finances and buildingwealth.
So, maya, we are so excited tohave you on the Sugar Daddy
podcast with us today.
Thank you so much for have youon the Sugar Daddy podcast with
us today.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Thank you so much for having me on.
I'm really excited about today.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yes, it's going to be a great conversation.
We met Maya at FinCon and ifyou follow us on socials, all
you saw for several days wasjust FinCon, fincon, fincon,
everything.
We went to dinner I think itwas the first night and just
(02:10):
totally hit it off.
We were like you have to be onthe podcast.
We love what you're doing.
We were already following youbecause your information that
you put out for parents is sofantastic and easy to understand
.
That's the point that I thinkis really important is that
everything that you share withyour audience is really easy to
comprehend and implement.
You were going to say something.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I was just going to simply say, for those that don't
know what FinCon is, it's aconference for finance content
creators.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Money nerds.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, basically.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yes, money nerds unite.
So let's get into Maya's bio soeverybody understands the
knowledge that she's going tobring to this conversation,
because it's going to be a goodone.
Maya Korbik is a CPA by tradeand is the author of the
children's book From Piggy Banksto Stocks the Ultimate Guide
for a Young Investor, and she'sthe founder of the Wealthy Kids
(02:57):
Investment Club.
Her popular Instagram account,teach Kids Money, has over
160,000 subscribers and inspiresparents to raise financially
independent kids.
Her work has been featured inCBS News, nbc, abc, fox Girl you
got all the acronyms.
You've been doing a lot.
Thank you for being with ustoday, because we know your time
(03:18):
is very precious, thank you.
Thank you for having me, ofcourse, so we like to kick off
all of our guest episodes withunderstanding your first money
memory.
Do you have one for us?
I?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
do actually.
Yeah, so it's.
It's a little bit of a weirdone, but I was maybe seven or
eight and I wanted to buy my moma mother's day gift.
So I come from Bosnia, whichused to be part of former
Yugoslavia.
It was a communist country andwe actually didn't have Mother's
Day.
We celebrated InternationalWomen's Day, which now everybody
(03:55):
celebrates.
It's March 8th.
So for us that was Mother's Dayand I wanted to get her a gift.
But I had no money and I don'tknow where my dad was Maybe he
was on a business trip orsomewhere and I couldn't ask him
.
So I had to ask my mom formoney, and I remember not liking
(04:16):
the feeling of not having anymoney of my own, but wanting
that money to spend on somethingthat was important to me.
And so I asked her for moneyand my mom didn't want to give
me any, but I was begging herand begging her and in the end
she kept on asking me she's like, what is it for?
And I said I can't tell you, Ican't tell you.
(04:41):
And in the end, of course, Itold her and she gave me money
and I ended up buying this.
It was just a little cuteceramic box in a shape of an
apple.
It was not a box like acontainer in a shape of an apple
where she could store herjewelry or her rings.
And I remember eyeing it beforethat for a couple of weeks in
the store that was close towhere we lived and I just
thought it was so adorable and Ithought she would really like
(05:02):
it.
And in the end she gave me themoney and I got that for her and
she had it for a very long time.
But just the feeling of nothaving money of my own was very
discouraging to me and very, Iguess I just felt I really I
think from that moment on I knewI wanted to have my own money.
(05:25):
I wanted to not have to ask forsomeone's permission to buy
something that I wanted or thatwas important to me.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
As a kid, was money talked about in your household?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Not really.
Um, you know, I think I kind ofgrew up with a poor mindset,
not abundance mindset, when itcomes to money.
Um, my parents, before the warin Bosnia, before we immigrated,
uh, and lost everything I thinkwe were middle class and we
(05:59):
lived okay.
Um, my mom always used to saythat money was very hard to come
by, that you had to workextremely hard, and so they
built those good work habits inme.
But, you know, my mom was alsovery good at, like, budgeting
the money, but my parents neverinvested, they didn't have
(06:22):
credit cards and, you know, notto mention, they didn't talk
about any sorts of passivestreams of income or
entrepreneurship.
That wasn't even on their radar.
So I learned a lot by observing,and I learned even more so by
observing once we immigrated andwe had to live in government
shelters and government housing.
(06:42):
My mom had to be very creativeto stretch that dollar and make
sure that it goes as far as itpossibly could, because at one
point we were in welfare and wehad, like we had absolutely
nothing.
So I was very good, I think, atbudgeting and stretching the
dollar, which I think I still am, but I lacked all these other
(07:02):
skills and the skills that Ipicked up.
I picked up by by watching Um,but the rest of it I kind of had
to learn on my own through thebooks, through podcasts like
yours, um TV shows, youtube andstuff like that.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Being an immigrant and coming from you know, maybe
middle-class, to then coming tothe United States.
This was when you immigrated tothe United States, not Canada,
right?
No, I was actually in Canada.
In Canada, yeah, okay, so fromBosnia to Canada and then
totally changing kind ofeconomic classes.
What is what?
What do you remember that beinglike as a child?
(07:39):
So you have these vividmemories of seeing your parents
stretch the dollar and obviouslybeing motivated yourself to
sounds like not want to have todo that.
Right, and your adult life.
But what else do you remember?
Being an immigrant, being in anew country and kind of losing
it all?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, losing it all was very challenging, very
challenging.
And, um, I don't, I know myparents.
Before the war, they had anopportunity to come to Canada
and they chose not to because,as strange as it may sound, and
even though the standard ofliving is better in North
America, canada and America,united States included, some
people don't want to leave.
(08:19):
They're just happy living wherethey live right.
And so when my parents came, itwas terrifying, because I was
almost 15 and I have a youngerbrother he's five years younger
and my parents, they had tostart from scratch.
My mom is a chemical engineerand a computer programmer and my
(08:40):
dad had a bachelor of economicsand they didn't speak English.
None of us spoke English.
So, not only that, it was aculture shock.
We had to learn English, we hadno connections, we didn't know
anyone.
We had to be on welfare.
On top of that, my dad much,much later on was diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress disorderbecause of the war and what we
(09:04):
experienced, or what, mostlywhat he experienced, but we've
all experienced things, so, butit's just affected him the
hardest.
Um, so it was very hard to startall of a sudden living normal
life when you have these mentalhealth issues, uh, and that
caused my parents to split upand my mom and my brother and I
ended up in a shelter for womenand children.
It was just really bad, but itwas, um, I think the hard, like,
(09:30):
I guess the good thing aboutall that was that now I know
that, even if I have nothing inthe end, like even if I were to
lose everything that I've builtover the last 30 years, uh,
since we immigrated I wouldstill be okay because, at the
end of the day, money isimportant, but it is not the
most important thing.
(09:51):
Um, as long as we have ourhealth, as long as we have each
other, that's what reallymatters.
You want to have good people inyour life, people that you can
rely on.
You're like your spouse, yourpartner, your kids, your
siblings.
That's really what matters.
So I think, for me, the lessonand all that was like we can
always build it all up, we canalways earn more money, but it's
(10:13):
the people that matter the mostI always.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I always appreciate that perspective because I'm
fortunate enough that I didn'thave I didn't have a tough
upbringing by any means grew up,you know, in the United States
middle-class, upper middle-classnever had to worry about going
without and so I don't have, Ididn't have to have that mindset
of I've had nothing.
So going back to nothingdoesn't scare me because, in all
(10:41):
honesty, I've always had apretty good life.
So, like certain aspects oflosing it all is scary to me
because I haven't had toexperience that and that is one
thing that I've noticed throughsome people that I know that
have experienced similar aspectsof life growing up that you've
experienced, where you've had itrough and you had to pull
yourself up by I'm not going tosay bootstraps, because you
(11:02):
didn't even have bootstraps.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, you had to do it all yourselves and I'm just
as somebody that sees that likeI'm just saying I don't even
have words for it.
Really, I admire it and admireis not a good word.
Yeah, I admire like that, thatability, because I think when
you've, like I said, when you'vebeen through what you've been
(11:26):
through, the sky's the limit,because you don't have the same
fear that I have, because you'vealready done things that I've
never had to do.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Have you been listening to our podcast and
wondering how am I really doingwith my money?
Am I doing the right thingswith my investments?
Am I on track to reach myfinancial goals?
What could I be doing better?
If you answered yes to any ofthese questions, then it's time
for you to reach out to Brandonto schedule your free yes, I
said free 30-minute introductionconversation to see how his
(11:57):
services could help make you themore confident moneymaker we
know you could be.
What are you waiting for?
It's literally free and at thevery least, you'll walk away
feeling more empowered andconfident about your financial
future.
Link is in our show notes.
Go schedule your call today.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
If that makes any sense, I'm not.
I'm not as good with words asJess is.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I was just going to say I'm like it's, it totally
makes sense.
But I think the fear that youhave is the fear of the unknown.
But the unknown is it's bad ina way, but not really Like.
I felt that, you know, the badthings were like I was actually
just thinking about that and, um, I was kind of going through
(12:44):
some things and I was writing inmy journal.
Sometimes I just use my journalto kind of like, you know, just
get stuff out of my head, and Iremember being embarrassed to
bring people into our house, ornot even a house.
We had an apartment, um, when wefirst moved here and I remember
one time one of my friends cameover and I just saw the look on
(13:04):
her face and she looked aroundand she's like, oh, this is,
this is cute, and I knew whatthat meant.
She was like I think she wasjust shocked like where I lived
and how I lived and cause,outside of the home you couldn't
tell.
Like I had two part-time jobs,I dressed nice and actually my
room was really nice.
I bought my own furniture, Ibought myself a computer, I
(13:26):
bought like all these things.
I decorated my room, I paintedit, I you know, uh, but I
couldn't control the rest of thehousehold, right, so she only
saw what she knew, and then,when she actually saw the rest
of the house or the apartment,she was kind of like, oh, but
anyways, I think I guess what Iwant to say is, like it seems
daunting and I think there wouldbe like a big bruise to the
(13:48):
pride If, for example, for me,if I lost everything that I've
built, but at the same time,there is some freedom in it,
because it's kind of like, well,I've got nothing.
So, um, I'm free to explore and, okay, what's the next step?
Like, how are we going to dothis?
It could be exciting.
And also, um, I find that I wasa lot more creative, uh, when I
(14:14):
had less, because now it's justeasier.
Oh, I can just spend money.
Like I'm doing this challenge,I'm going to be doing this
challenge with my daughter toteach her about budgeting and
I'm going to use our front porchas a you know a way to do that.
So I, you know we've I've askedmy Instagram community to give
us a budget and they're going togive.
They give us like $50 todecorate the front porch, and so
(14:39):
$50 is it's not a lot, but youknow, I know I can do it even on
a cheaper and it just kind ofrequires me to be more creative
and to when I have less money,it really forces me to I don't
know have more fun with it andreally find ways to like tackle
this and like make this looklike I don't know $200
(15:00):
decoration versus you know,something that you spend 50
bucks on.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I think, for me.
I think one of the things that,like I've thought about through
my entire life is that, like Isaid, I was fortunate enough in
my upbringing that I should besuccessful in life because of
what I've had afforded to megrowing up.
And the fear of not beingsuccessful is more or less that,
because there's no reason forme not to be, because you have
(15:28):
individuals that have hadsignificantly harder lives than
I have and they've becomesuccessful.
So with the tools that I have,I should be.
So I think that's kind of likewhat I think through in my own
personal life, my head.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, I feel I totally understand what you're
saying and I sometimes feel thatI have put some sort of
expectation like that onto myown children because I feel that
they are growing up privileged.
Because I feel that they aregrowing up privileged, they have
(16:05):
had experiences and possessionsthat I could have only dreamed
of when I was their age andsometimes I feel guilty as a
parent that I've put that sortof expectation on them, because
I always tell them you know,when I was an immigrant, I was
hungry, I was hungry for success, I was hungry for better life
and that hunger just keeps yougoing, like it makes you really
try harder and they don't haveto try as hard and I, in some
(16:29):
ways, I just think that maybeit's okay to let our kids be
content.
And you know what's successLike?
Success is just the definitionof everybody has a different
definition of it, right?
So my definition can be verydifferent from my kids
definition.
Um, maybe someone's definitionis to just be who they are Like.
(16:52):
Why do they have to reach formore If what they, what they do
right now, makes them happy?
If they reach for more andthey're constantly stressed out,
burnt out, they don't have timefor family and friends, then
like what's the point of that?
Just so the society can approveof us?
Like that?
may not necessarily be the rightthing.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
That's probably a hard thing too in regards to,
like, first-generationimmigrants, because you know the
few friends that we have thatare first-generation, you know
you kind of do have that backand forth between the their
parents, you know that came overhere and didn't have anything
and then them growing up with alot more than their parents ever
had.
So I think that's just a commontheme.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
But then when you have abundance, doing what
you're trying to do, maya, andwe're going to get into that is
like teaching your children thefinancial responsibility.
But then also to be grateful,right, because we always joke,
we're like we don't want toraise spoiled brats, but they're
spoiled, we just don't wantthem to be brats.
You know, like how do you makesure that they're appreciative
(17:50):
and grateful?
But then also, to your point,find that contentment because
constantly you know that hustleculture that grinded out.
I mean when you have to,because you're on welfare and
you're in the shelter and you'relike this cannot be our life.
That's one thing.
But if you have a good life andyou've been given, you know the
tools and resources, you alsohave to find contentment in just
(18:13):
being right.
And I think, especially for usin that millennial space, you
know you're constantly go, go,go, do, do.
Do you have these bigaspirations?
And then you know I always Ifeel guilty if I watch a movie
and I'm not folding laundry atthe same time or I'm not
checking emails at the same time.
It's like you also have tolearn how to rest and just to be
(18:34):
and be content and be gratefuland kind of pause and sit in
that as well, without the hustleand bustle and grinding it out
constantly.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more and I'm with you.
I feel guilty every time I am,as you said, like if I'm just
watching a movie without doinglaundry or cooking or something.
I feel guilty and I don'treally want that for my kids.
I want them to understand andknow that rest is important and
(19:06):
I think you know this is goingto sound really weird, but I
think only a couple of years agoI actually learned that I
should be resting like otherthan sleeping, and that resting
is okay.
I mean, you don't have to earnit.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yes, yes, you don't have to earn rest.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I'm still learning that.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I think that's also probably very hard for a working
mom.
Yes, I think so too I think menmaybe have a little I don't say
maybe we do have a little biteasier when it comes to that
aspect, but I feel most moms,especially working moms, feel
guilty because, like there'ssomething there's always
something to do.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yeah, there's always something to get done, because I
have to tell jess numerous.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I'm like jess, just stop I know it'll get done later
.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You need to rest it's hard right, because otherwise
you can just keep going rightyeah, maya, let's switch into
you.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Know you?
You immigrated.
You ended up living with yourmom and your brother.
You were on welfare in theshelters.
How did you go from that tobeing a CPA?
What's that?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, so, um, I think for me personally, the
traditional schooling was theway out of poverty.
And, um, you know being onsocial media and I know both of
you are, and you have yourInstagram account and there are
a lot of people out there thatyou know they talk badly about
(20:33):
nine to five and you know, goingto school, getting good
education, getting good grades,getting a great job and I think
there's a time and place foreverything, and for me, that was
my salvation, that was my wayof getting out, because I didn't
have the education.
I did not know much aboutentrepreneurship, I didn't know
(20:54):
much about passive incomestreams or anything like that.
Maybe I could have done stufflike that, but to me, all I knew
was that if I go to school andI get good grades, uh, I can get
into one of the topuniversities and then from there
, I can hopefully continue myeducation and then get a job at
(21:15):
a really good company.
And that's what I did, um, andthat really helped me, you know,
increase my earning power andbecome a CPA, and, uh, it wasn't
a straight journey.
I was really all over the place.
I thought I was going to end upin sciences, um, my choice of,
(21:38):
or my career pursuit wasstrictly based on my financial
need.
I did consider what I like, butthat was second to kind of
thinking like, okay, what'sgoing to make me the most money,
that's going to help me get outof where I am.
And so I did consider becominga dentist and I did a dental
co-op.
I didn't like that.
(21:59):
I thought about becoming adoctor and we dissected a rat in
biology class and I was like,absolutely not.
And then, I think, at one pointI was like, oh, maybe I'll be an
engineer electrical engineerand I went into an open house.
It was all men and machines andI was like, okay, this is not
me either.
And my friend was going intobusiness, so I just ended up
there.
And then I learned thatbecoming a CPA like a lot of
(22:21):
times, like a lot of theaccounting companies, they'll
pay for your further educationto get your CPA designation and
I was like this is awesome, Iwant them to do that for me.
And when they pay for it youhave to sign on that.
You're going to be with themfor a couple of years.
And I'm like this is awesome,that just means I'm going to
have a job for the next twoyears.
So I was like, why wouldn't I dothis?
(22:42):
So they, you know, they paidfor my education.
I had a job and my salary kepton increasing, Um, and I was
actually able to use the moneythat we that I earned.
So my, my husband and I, wepaid off our mortgage and all of
our debts like student loansand such, by the time I was 32,
so we were debt free and then Iwas able to quit corporate world
(23:06):
and start my own thing.
So it really worked out.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So where's your husband?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
from.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
He is from Serbia.
Okay, yeah, from former.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yugoslavia as well.
Because I always wonder, youknow, like when you have those
dynamics, you know, especiallylike you were to marry someone
that had lived their entire lifein Canada, like how that
difference of growing up, youknow, can interact in a
relationship.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, well, there is a difference, because his family
immigrated before the war andhis family immigrated with money
.
They had more money.
They didn't immigrate directlyLike they were actually living
in other parts of the world.
His parents are in medicalfield and so they came with
money.
He had a much better life thanI did.
(23:57):
You know his mom, his parents,paid for his school.
I had to take student loans,like.
So it was very different and ittook a few years for him to
understand what I was trying todo for us to put us on a budget
to pay off all of our loans, tostreamline our personal finances
.
And once he came on board, webecame unstoppable.
(24:21):
I think that dynamic of youknow like a couple that like has
goals and they're on the samepage, and it just really really
worked well for us, um, and so Ithink that's when we realized
like we can accomplish so muchmore when we're working together
and we're on, when we're on thesame page, and he really
started learning more aboutpersonal finance and investing
(24:43):
and getting more interested in,like what I was, I guess, what I
even promote now to my students.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
That's amazing.
Yeah, we always talk about ifyou're pushing and pulling in
different directions in yourpartnership.
It's going to take you so longto go in the same direction.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
If you even make it at all, if you make it.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
So what you said about being on the same page,
because something as big aslet's pay off our house and
let's be debt free and have nomortgage, I mean you have to be
on the same page to do that,because otherwise, unless you're
a bajillionaire, I mean it's,it's not going to happen.
You have to be aligned in yourgoals, and so are you two
(25:24):
technically part of the firemovement.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I wouldn't say exactly like we're.
I didn't even know what firewas until I would say, until
maybe six, seven years ago.
Um, I wish I did, because maybeI would have jumped on it and
be even more serious.
Uh, but we've along the, youknow, like we were going to be
(25:48):
married for 20 years.
It's going to be our 20, 20year anniversary next summer and
uh, and we just use commonsense, I think, and our common
sense was like let's pay off ourdebt, our mortgage, and let's
just kind of keep growing ourwealth, but at the same time
(26:08):
let's try to have fun like wehave right now.
Our vacations were mostly likecamping in Canadian North or we
would go to Cuba, and forCanadians Cuba is really, really
cheap Maybe not so much now,but back then that those were
our vacations and uh, but nowyou know that we're in a better
(26:32):
financial place, those vacationsare completely different.
So we just kind of did what wecould afford and we really
didn't overextend ourselves.
We were really the underdog andI think, like when we paid over
our house and when we didstarted doing certain things
that were like outside of ournorm but it took so many years
(26:53):
to get there People were kind oflike they started paying
attention, were like, oh, like,where, where did that come from?
Like we thought you guys werelike you know they.
Just they had no idea.
And that's why, like you know,sometimes the personal finance,
like you look at people and youhave no idea who has got how
much money, just because theydrive a certain car or live in a
certain house.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Like you don't know you don't say that all the time
yeah unfortunately, I feel likesocial media that's.
One of the drawbacks, I wouldsay, of social media is that
everyone's showing a highlightreel and that highlight reel
might not even be like realityat all in their life for the day
.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
They're renting the apartment to shoot content.
They're literally buyingdesigner bags, the actual
shopping bags off of Etsy andthe internet and they're just
basically staging a life.
(27:48):
Right, and it's the people thatwe know that are the most
wealthy.
I mean, they're driving HondaAccords, they're driving Toyotas
, they're not in flashy cars.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
My mom and her Nissan Rogue.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yeah, exactly.
So you know we see it verydifferently because we know how
much debt people carry and youknow Brandon obviously is a
financial advisor and so histhing is always you don't know
where people's money is comingfrom.
That down payment for thathouse could have come from a
grandparent they could be, youknow.
The grandparents could bepaying for the fancy private
(28:21):
school.
I mean, unless you are in thatperson's bank account, you just
don't know.
And people are just showing youa highlight reel online.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
So yeah, yeah, I just wanted to say so.
My husband, he actuallyfinished bachelor of economics
but he ended up going back toschool to become a plumber.
So he actually has his ownplumbing and um drains and
waterproofing company.
And, to your point, he told meone time um, there was a problem
at this.
It's in a beautiful part ofToronto, a beautiful mansion,
(28:52):
luxury vehicles in front.
These people had sewage in theirbasement, like like things were
backed up and so he goes.
He's like I went in therebecause he doesn't do the work.
He has people who do the workfor him but he sells.
So he said I walked in and he'slike man, I'm not, like I'm not
even going in.
He's like this is gross, weneed people to come clean this
up, like you know.
And he anyways.
(29:13):
So he gave them a quote, um, andthey're like oh, um, here's our
credit card.
He tried charging it.
It wouldn't go through.
They were giving him all theseother credit cards.
Uh, everything was not goingthrough.
Then he said well, we can setyou up with a company to approve
you for a loan so that you canpay for this.
They couldn't get approved.
So they have sewage in theirbasement.
(29:36):
They're driving these luxuryvehicles they have.
They live in this beautifultheir basement.
They're driving these luxuryvehicles.
They live in this beautifulmansion, yet they cannot get
approved to get sewage out oftheir basement and get that
cleaned up and get their pipeschanged and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
That puts things into perspective and I think, as we
get older and as our goalschange, of the life that we want
to live, we really don't careabout know.
We really don't care about cars, we really don't care about
those material things.
Yes, we want a nice, safe home,you know, for our families and
for game nights and, of course,to have security and shelter,
(30:10):
but when it comes to thosematerialistic things, our view
is just, you know.
It's just very different thanwhat the internet tells you.
Let's pivot into.
You got your education, you gotyour CPA.
The company paid for it, youknow.
Now you and your husband areworking towards these big
financial goals.
(30:31):
Talk to us about your Instagramaccount and why focusing on
kids and investing.
And where did that fire anddrive come from?
Because you don't just wake upone day and then have 160,000
followers on Instagram.
So that takes some work andintentionality.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I wish it was that easy.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah, oh my goodness, it would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yes, no, it's definitely not that easy.
But so 12 years ago, when Idecided to quit my accounting
job, I was actually a taxaccountant at that point I did
some audit and then I was in tax.
I wanted to do somethingmeaningful that actually would
matter to me and I startedteaching financial literacy.
(31:14):
So I used to go to schools.
I would teach gradekindergartens all the way up to
grade 12 to high school, andthen COVID hit and of course I
couldn't do that anymore.
So I had to transition mybusiness to be completely online
, and the way Instagram happenedwas really just a way for me to
advertise and let people know.
Hey, this is what I do.
And at the very beginning itwas really awkward because I
(31:39):
felt it was really awkward tofilm myself and like, put my
face.
It took me, I would say, awhole year before I started
putting my face out there.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It's such a beautiful face.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
No, thank you.
But it just felt like you knowthis, like narcissistic person
just putting herself out there,and like I just had to get over
a lot of uh, self-criticism andsome sort of fears of judgment
and everything else, Uh, and nowit's like it's it's second
nature.
I don't even think about it, um.
(32:13):
But also I had to learn aboutwhat it is that my followers
wanted, and so I did talk a lotabout allowance and how to teach
kids to save and how to teachkids to budget and, as I said, I
have two kids.
They're teenagers now and I'veexperimented a lot on them.
They were my guinea pigs and Ikind of know what works, what
(32:34):
doesn't.
But also, like you know,because I've been working with
other parents for the lastseveral years, I also know what
works for other parents and Ibelieve that there's no one set
way to teach kids financialliteracy.
We can talk about that a littlebit more after, but, um, so
it's teaching all these things.
But then I started realizingthat every time I would talk
about investing, people startedpaying more attention.
(32:56):
And there was this is like somefive years or no, actually
maybe three, four years ago likenobody was talking about
investing for kids.
Nobody was talking about howpowerful that could be and I was
like, well, I think this iswhat people need.
So I was like, okay, let's talkabout this.
And once I started talkingabout it, I actually realized
(33:16):
people are really payingattention.
They were like signing up for myfree classes, for my cheat
sheets, and I think that's whenother financial literacy
influencers who don't teach kidsand money.
But then they started seeinghow my account was growing so
they're like, oh, this issomething we should start
talking about too.
So all of a sudden, like peoplestarted talking about it more
(33:37):
and more, to the point now where, um, actually one uh podcast
that I was on and I subscribedto their newsletter, I actually
just ended up getting uh anemail from him and he just had a
daughter and he was saying, islike in his newsletter, he's
explaining how he's investingfor his daughter.
And I'm like, oh, my God, thisis exactly what I teach, like
(33:58):
you know, in my, on my Instagram, and like word for word, and
I'm like it seems that it's good, like we've started a movement,
like people are doing this,people find the value in it and,
um, I'm so glad because nobodytalked about kids and investing
years ago.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah, well, and it's so interesting too because
obviously we know in thisfinance space, in investing, the
time is what matters most,right?
So even if it's $5, $10, $50,whatever you can do, that
consistent daily, weekly,monthly drip, whatever your
cadence is, that's what's goingto compound, when you know when
(34:38):
you start them with aninvestment account, when they're
a baby, versus you know whenthey're 30 or 40.
So the time really makes senseto invest for your children.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Well, it's also shifting the conversation.
So I can remember as a kid thatthe big thing was getting you
know savings bonds.
You know you get the kidssavings bonds when they're a kid
, when in reality what theyshould have just been doing is
investing.
But they didn't have theinformation and obviously you
know the internet wasn't aroundso they didn't know where to
access this information.
Where now, for example, youknow what I'm talking to?
(35:11):
Clients and stuff with theirkids?
I'm like, unless your child isworking and you guys need this
money that they would be puttingin a savings account, a savings
account for a kid doesn't makeany sense.
It's like they're not going touse it.
Don't put it in the savingsaccount, put it in invested and
it's going to grow significantlymore by the time they become
adults.
So it's, like I said, it's justchanging the conversation.
I think people were on boardfor trying to do something for
(35:32):
their child that's going tobetter their future, but now we
just have better tools to do it.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, yeah.
And if I may say, you know, yousaid something which I had a
discussion about with, I think,my daughter and we did not have
internet back then.
Internet was, or is, the gamechanger, and also social media
accounts.
Both of them can be bad butthey can also be very good.
(35:58):
They've really raised awarenessof financial literacy.
And you know, I remember andI'm really dating myself but in
the nineties and early twothousands, we just had books.
I remember reading a rich dad,poor dad and cashflow quadrant.
Those two books, they opened myeyes.
(36:20):
And now I see on social mediapeople are criticizing those two
books and they're saying allthese horrible things and I said
you know what, if it wasn't forthose two books, I would have
never, ever understood passiveincome and how it works, because
no one was talking about it inmy realm, like in my sphere of
influence or in my circle.
(36:40):
This is, people who understoodpassive income were way
wealthier than I was.
They were not hanging out withpeople like me.
But you know, with likenowadays, yes, you know, you
have internet so you can seereels and on social media and
you can learn about these things, but back then we didn't have
that information, and so we didwhat we thought was the best,
(37:02):
which was the savings account orsavings bonds for kids, and in
hindsight like why would we dothat?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
that made no sense, but that's all we knew it's easy
to criticize when you're doinghindsight like right I mean you
talk about rich dad, poor dad,because you know those because,
like those, were the books thatopened up the pathway to where
we are now when it comes tofinancial literacy.
Yes, they were the forefathers,the starters of all those.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah.
And Robert Kiyosaki love him orhate him, it doesn't really
matter To me.
I owe him and I forget who theco-author is.
Um, cheryl Cheryl, I forget hername.
I really apologize for thatPeople have the internet.
They can look it up, yeah.
They can look her up.
Actually, I didn't even know.
We always talk about RobertKiyosaki writing that book rich
(37:51):
dad, poor dad but there was aco-author and I met her.
She's a lovely lady and when Imet her, uh, I met her last year
and I was a speaker at thisconference and so was she and we
spoke and I I had tears in myeyes.
I said to her you changed mylife because you opened my eyes
to something that I didn't know.
(38:12):
My parents couldn't teach methis, the school was not
teaching me this and there wasno internet back then.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
So people will.
We will, of course, link all ofyour socials and we want people
to follow along with the greatinformation that you're giving
and the courses and, of course,you have a children's book.
I mean, there's so manyresources that you provide to
your audience, but let's talkabout you have teenagers now.
What is that discussion ofmoney in your house now?
(38:41):
Because I know recently youposted a reel.
I think your daughter wantedmaybe some Uggs or some cute
boots versus some other piece ofclothing and you made her.
You know she had to decide.
She couldn't get both or sheneeded to use her own money and
growing up you said you guysdidn't talk about money a lot.
You obviously didn't have a lot.
How did you want to change thatfor your kids and your family,
(39:04):
and do you have suggestions forour audience on how to do that
without it being scary andintimidating?
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Oh, absolutely yeah.
So I don't want money to betaboo in my home.
I want us to talk about itopenly.
I also think that eventuallyfor my kids, that will translate
to them talking to theirpartners openly about it and
hopefully, to their friends.
You know, maybe they can learnstuff from their friends and
their friends can learn stufffrom my children.
(39:33):
But you know, I think that if wetalk to our kids about money,
especially when they're younger,I think we have to be a little
bit more mindful as to how muchinformation can they take and we
don't want to scare them either.
Like if you're paying off yourdebt or if you're worried
whether or not you can pay themortgage next month, like maybe
those are some things that youwant to keep to yourself because
(39:55):
you don't want to scare them.
But if, for example, you'repaying off your debt and your
kids are a little bit older, youcan say, hey, you know what.
I didn't understand what thatwas and I have some made, some
bad choices maybe, but now I amtrying to pay that off and I'm
(40:16):
trying to shift my life and ourfinances in a positive direction
, and so these are the mistakesthat I made and I don't want you
to make.
So you know, you can see whatI'm doing and you know how I'm
paying off this debt.
You know whatever method it isthat I'm you that you're using.
But you know, if you haveyounger kids, it could be just a
(40:37):
conversation, like you know,when they ask you to buy them
something, sometimes parentswill say, oh, I can't afford it.
You know that's not a good wayto talk about money, because
then it you know, you'reencouraging the mindset of
scarcity, encouraging themindset of scarcity.
So instead, if you can affordit, maybe the answer would be I
choose not to spend our money onthis because you already have,
(41:03):
let's say, that toy.
Or you know what I choose tospend my money on something else
that would bring you more joy.
Or maybe the answer is you knowwhat I choose not to buy this
right now because I need to saveup for it, and you know here's
the plan how we're going to doit.
So it's about being open aboutit as much as we can, as much as
(41:27):
our kids can handle, dependingon their ages.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah, we talk about that exact same thing, right?
Not making money.
Taboo, speaking openly about it.
We have a five and a six yearold and you know.
If it's, hey, you eat thebottom of the strawberry and
then you throw the rest away andthere's half a strawberry left.
Hey, that pint of strawberrieswas $6.
Remember how you got $20 foryour birthday?
What if I took six of that, youknow, and you only had a third
(41:56):
of the strawberry?
Is that wasteful?
I mean, it's something assimple as that.
But I love what you said aboutmindset, because we recently
spoke about that on a previousepisode, where, whether you have
scarcity in your home or not,putting that scarcity mindset
into your children of comingfrom that place of we don't have
(42:19):
can be so limiting when you'rean adult, right?
So instead of saying we don'thave money for that, saying you
know what you just said, wedidn't budget for that, or we
didn't plan for that, or that'snot on our list for shopping
today, today we're only buyingspaghetti and spaghetti sauce,
right?
Or phrasing it in a way thatdoesn't come from we don't have,
(42:39):
instead of we're not choosingto spend money there.
If we choose to spend money onthis today, then maybe we can't
spend money on XYZ tomorrow.
And I think that mindset, themore we talk to people, the more
we realize that what wasinstilled in us as children, it
does follow.
You know, with our parents andyou know previous generations.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
it was always trying to portray like a perfect idea
(43:22):
of being a parent that I kneweverything, you know, I have it
all figured out.
And that's we as adults now andparents.
We know that's not the case andletting your kids know that
like mommy and daddy don't haveit all figured out.
We're still trying to figurethings out and we've made
mistakes and we're going tocontinue to make mistakes.
But letting kids know at ayoung age that they don't have
to be perfect, I think is goingto change how they handle
(43:45):
adversity as they get older.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, oh, 100%.
And I have.
Our son is going to be 18 nextyear, so I'm going to have an
adult child, which is reallyunbelievable.
But you know, sometimes, likenow, he will ask me questions.
He's like oh, can I do whatever?
X, y, z?
And so I mean I could be theparent and be like no, you can't
(44:10):
do it, or whatever.
But I usually sit him down, Isay, daniel, here's how I see it
.
I don't know if this is theright way of seeing it, but this
is what I think.
You're going to be an adult, soyou need to press start
practicing these adult decisions.
Um, it's up to you, dude,because if you choose to go,
(44:30):
let's say this if you choosethis path, these are the
consequences.
Let's say this if you choosethis path, these are the
consequences.
You may choose a less fun pathand the consequences may not be
as severe.
But I say I don't know whichone's the right one for you, and
I'm like you just really needto exercise your decision.
You know your, your decisionmuscles and kind of decide on
(44:50):
your own right now.
Um, unless it's like something.
We haven't had a situationwhere it's like oh, my God, like
I have to decide.
But this is like some thingslike, oh, should I go out
tonight, can I go out with myfriends?
Or like, can I sleep over?
But he has all theseassignments due on Monday and he
actually wants to apply to likemechanical engineering and
aerospace engineering next forto go to next year.
(45:13):
So I'm like, well, those are.
You need high grades for that.
So I don't know, like yeah, youcan go for a sleepover and you
can party all night, but I don'tknow what's going to happen to
your assignments.
So you think about it.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
You're like I've already got all my education.
This is on you.
Yeah, I honestly that's.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
I honestly feel it's.
It's so great and undervaluedthat people don't do that with
their kids, because I can recall.
I always tell people, you know,when I was in high school I
didn't have a curfew and itwasn't because my mom didn't
care and that I was going to beout at all.
You know hours of the night.
I knew what time to be homebecause my mom gave me the
responsibility and I learnedvery early on not to take
advantage of that and I wasalways home on a reasonable time
(45:50):
, because I also knew that if Iwasn't home in a reasonable time
, the locks might be changed,that car she pays for might be
taken away.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
There would be consequences.
I had decisions to make, yeahabsolutely.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, well, I always tell my kids, I tell them you
know, when they bring theirreport card home and you know
some marks are like they're bothactually really good students.
I should say that.
But at the end of the day, myonly question to them is, like
are you happy?
Do you think that you have doneeverything you possibly could
to like in your power?
(46:22):
Like you worked as hard as youcould, you did what you needed
to do?
Does this mark reflect that?
And a lot of times they'regoing to be like no, it doesn't,
I could have tried harder.
I'm like okay, well, that'sthat's all I want you to reflect
upon, because, really like,right now, their number one job
is to study and, you know, tryhard in school.
(46:43):
They have otherresponsibilities, of course, too
, but to me I'm kind of likejust do your best.
If you think you've done yourbest, then you know what it is,
what it is.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Let the chips fall where they may.
You've done your best, then youknow what it is, what it is.
Let the chips fall where theymay.
Yeah, going back to our earlierpart of the conversation of
like relieving some of thatstress right Of being perfect,
or you have to do this, or youhave to go to this school or be
this kind of career person, oryou know, it's just too much
(47:14):
stress.
Do you, maya, have and I knowyou're in Canada and we're in
the US, so it might be a littledifferent but do you have for
somebody who's listening, whomaybe has young children or is
expecting maybe, a favorite kindof account or investment or
suggestion on how to get startedwith investing for your kids?
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
And I'll speak to US side, because I know that your
audience is, I'm assuming,mostly in the U.
S.
So if they have a young childor if they're expecting a young
child, I would open up the five29 plan.
Um, they can open it up intheir own name and I think they
can transfer it later on totheir child when the child is
born.
I love the five 29 plan because, even if the child decides not
(47:53):
to pursue college later on, youcan transfer those funds to
another child or keep them foryourselves.
But even better, you cantransfer up to $35,000 into a
Roth IRA for that child, and thesooner they start investing for
that child, the more money thatchild will have in that account
(48:15):
.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Yeah, we did an episode completely dedicated to
529s, especially because of therecent changes.
Like you mentioned, the RothIRA and being able to transfer
money, because my concern wasalways, well, if the kids have
scholarships, or what if theychoose not to, and so there's a
lot of flexibility there now,which is great.
Are there any other accounts orinvestments that you recommend?
Speaker 1 (48:40):
I just love the custodial Roth IRA.
That's just something that wedon't have in Canada, and
especially for parents who areentrepreneurs or business owners
, there is a great way to deferor to um, uh, sorry, save on
taxes by employing their kids towork for them.
So even if your child is a baby, uh, you can hire them to do,
(49:04):
let's say, ads for you orcommercials.
And it's important to set thisup properly so that you actually
have a contract between you andyour child.
I would hire a lawyer and a taxaccountant.
It may cost you a lot moreupfront, but once that's set up,
you know, once that's in place,you basically, whatever it is
(49:25):
that you pay to your child,which has to be the right amount
, whatever, let's say, somebodywho does acting or promotions
would earn, so you would paythem the same amount.
But that's the amount that youcan deduct from your profits
from your business, and you'reobviously going to save on taxes
because your income is lower.
And then there is a certainamount of money that out of that
(49:49):
you can actually invest intocustodial Roth IRA, depending on
annual maximums, and that's themoney that can grow for them.
And you know, it's just, youcan really make your kids
millionaires easily in that way,while you're also saving on
taxes.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, we love that, and what you said is the
reasonable amount, right Likeyou can't pay them thousands of
dollars to sweep the kitchen oryour office or take out the
trash.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah Well, the thing in the US is more or less that
there's a maximum amount thatyou could pay your kids, them
being under 18 years old.
That child, they wouldn't haveto pay taxes on that income and
that's what you're using tocontribute to those accounts.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
Right, really nice.
Well, maya, this has been agreat conversation.
I love that we talked a lotabout mindset and just being
open and honest with ourchildren about just about money
and finances and, like you said,past mistakes and how we want
to help prevent them from makingthose mistakes and being
vulnerable.
I think, not only with yourpartner, with your friends, like
(50:49):
you mentioned, but definitelywith your children, is so
important in that learningprocess and then, if you're
setting up that environment,they'll come to you when they
have questions.
And I think that's so importantis that when you open up those
lines of communication, it's nottaboo, it's not scary, it's
just a part of your everydaylife, everyday home life.
Your children know that theycan come to you and ask those
(51:11):
questions as they grow andmature and those conversations
can start expanding.
You have so many resources.
We will link them in our shownotes.
Are there any final thoughtsthat you want to leave our
audience with?
Around mindset, kids, money,investing Sky's the limit for
you.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Oh, it's, yeah, it's a fully loaded question actually
, but, um, I would just say, youknow, don't procrastinate.
Just start talking to your kidsabout money and if you have
never invested, I suggest youknow, starting small, play
around.
Take $20.
If that's, you know I'm anamount that you feel like you
know what, even if I lost thisit would be okay.
(51:54):
But just do something, um, Ithink, if you like, if you
actually put that into uh action, then, uh, you're going to feel
much better about investing.
You can learn so much, um, andI just feel like everybody
should just try it.
You know, try doing it, learnas much as you can and that's it
(52:18):
.
Speaker 3 (52:19):
Perfect.
Thank you, maya, for being withus today.
This was a great conversation.
We appreciate you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Don't forget.
Benjamin Franklin said aninvestment in knowledge pays the
best interest.
You just got paid.
Until next time.
Speaker 2 (52:34):
Sugar Daddy Podcast.
Yo Learn how to make thempockets grow.
Financial freedom's where we go.
Smart investments money flow.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
Thanks for listening to today's episode.
We are so glad to have you aspart of our Sugar Daddy
community.
If you learned something today,please remember to subscribe,
rate, review and share thisepisode with your friends,
family and extended network.
Don't forget to connect with uson social media at
TheSugarDaddyPodcast.
You can also email us yourquestions you want us to answer
(53:04):
for our Pass.
The Sugar segments atTheSugarDaddyPodcast, at
gmailcom or leave us a voicemailthrough our Instagram.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
Our content is intended to be used, and must be
used, for informationalpurposes only.
It is very important to do yourown analysis before making any
investment, based upon your ownpersonal circumstances.
You should take independentfinancial advice from a licensed
professional in connection withor independently research and
verify any information you findin our podcast and which you
rely upon, whether for thepurpose of making an investment
decision or otherwise.
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