The Sugar Daddy Podcast
Ready to normalize talking about money? Then welcome to The Sugar Daddy Podcast. Every episode will get you one step closer to your financial goals. Whether that is learning how to invest, budget, save, retire early or simply make better money choices, Jess & Brandon have got you covered in a way that's easy to understand, and easy to implement. Tune in as they demystify the realm of dollars, so it all makes cents, while giving you a glimpse into their relationship with money and each other.
Brandon is an award winning licensed financial planner, and owner of Oak City Financial, with over a decade of experience and millions of dollars managed for his clients all over the United States.
New episodes published the first three Wednesdays of every month.
The Sugar Daddy Podcast
74: Practical Tips for Raising Financially Confident Kids with Maya Corbic
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
I think the hard, like I guess the good thing about all that was that now I know that, even if I have nothing in the end, like even if I were to lose everything that I've built over the last 30 years, uh, since we immigrated I would still be okay because, at the end of the day, money is important, but it is not the most important thing. Um, as long as we have our health, as long as we have each other, that's what really matters. You want to have good people in your life, people that you can rely on. You're like your spouse, your partner, your kids, your siblings. That's really what matters. So I think for me, the lesson in all that was like, we can always build it all up, we can always earn more money, but it's the people that matter the most.
Speaker 2:Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 3:Today we are talking about one of our favorite topics, which is raising children that are financially responsible, financially aware and hopefully, really wealthy, because we always joke that we are trying to build trust fund babies without them being the stereotypical trust fund baby, but we want them to have the wealth of a trust fund baby.
Speaker 2:So this is going to be an exciting conversation the wealth and the wealth of knowledge as well.
Speaker 3:There you go, but we have an expert with us today. We have Maya Korbeck. She's all about raising wealthy children in the best way possible and really educating them in that process about money and finances and building wealth. So, maya, we are so excited to have you on the Sugar Daddy podcast with us today. Thank you so much for have you on the Sugar Daddy podcast with us today.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me on. I'm really excited about today.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's going to be a great conversation. We met Maya at FinCon and if you follow us on socials, all you saw for several days was just FinCon, fincon, fincon, everything. We went to dinner I think it was the first night and just totally hit it off. We were like you have to be on the podcast. We love what you're doing. We were already following you because your information that you put out for parents is so fantastic and easy to understand. That's the point that I think is really important is that everything that you share with your audience is really easy to comprehend and implement. You were going to say something.
Speaker 2:I was just going to simply say, for those that don't know what FinCon is, it's a conference for finance content creators.
Speaker 3:Money nerds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically.
Speaker 3:Yes, money nerds unite. So let's get into Maya's bio so everybody understands the knowledge that she's going to bring to this conversation, because it's going to be a good one. Maya Korbik is a CPA by trade and is the author of the children's book From Piggy Banks to Stocks the Ultimate Guide for a Young Investor, and she's the founder of the Wealthy Kids Investment Club. Her popular Instagram account, teach Kids Money, has over 160,000 subscribers and inspires parents to raise financially independent kids. Her work has been featured in CBS News, nbc, abc, fox Girl you got all the acronyms. You've been doing a lot. Thank you for being with us today, because we know your time is very precious, thank you. Thank you for having me, of course, so we like to kick off all of our guest episodes with understanding your first money memory. Do you have one for us? I?
Speaker 1:do actually. Yeah, so it's. It's a little bit of a weird one, but I was maybe seven or eight and I wanted to buy my mom a mother's day gift. So I come from Bosnia, which used to be part of former Yugoslavia. It was a communist country and we actually didn't have Mother's Day. We celebrated International Women's Day, which now everybody celebrates. It's March 8th.
Speaker 1:So for us that was Mother's Day and I wanted to get her a gift. But I had no money and I don't know where my dad was Maybe he was on a business trip or somewhere and I couldn't ask him. So I had to ask my mom for money, and I remember not liking the feeling of not having any money of my own, but wanting that money to spend on something that was important to me. And so I asked her for money and my mom didn't want to give me any, but I was begging her and 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, I can't tell you.
Speaker 1:And in the end, of course, I told her and she gave me money and I ended up buying this. It was just a little cute ceramic box in a shape of an apple. It was not a box like a container in a shape of an apple where she could store her jewelry or her rings. And I remember eyeing it before that for a couple of weeks in the store that was close to where we lived and I just thought it was so adorable and I thought she would really like it. And in the end she gave me the money and I got that for her and she had it for a very long time. But just the feeling of not having money of my own was very discouraging to me and very, I guess I just felt I really I think from that moment on I knew I wanted to have my own money. I wanted to not have to ask for someone's permission to buy something that I wanted or that was important to me.
Speaker 2:As a kid, was money talked about in your household?
Speaker 1:Not really. Um, you know, I think I kind of grew up with a poor mindset, not abundance mindset, when it comes to money. Um, my parents, before the war in Bosnia, before we immigrated, uh, and lost everything I think we were middle class and we lived okay. Um, my mom always used to say that money was very hard to come by, that you had to work extremely hard, and so they built those good work habits in me. But, you know, my mom was also very good at, like, budgeting the money, but my parents never invested, they didn't have credit cards and, you know, not to mention, they didn't talk about any sorts of passive streams of income or entrepreneurship. That wasn't even on their radar.
Speaker 1:So I learned a lot by observing, and I learned even more so by observing once we immigrated and we had to live in government shelters and government housing. My mom had to be very creative to stretch that dollar and make sure that it goes as far as it possibly could, because at one point we were in welfare and we had, like we had absolutely nothing. So I was very good, I think, at budgeting and stretching the dollar, which I think I still am, but I lacked all these other skills and the skills that I picked up. I picked up by by watching Um, but the rest of it I kind of had to learn on my own through the books, through podcasts like yours, um TV shows, youtube and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Being an immigrant and coming from you know, maybe middle-class, to then coming to the United States. This was when you immigrated to the United States, not Canada, right? No, I was actually in Canada. In Canada, yeah, okay, so from Bosnia to Canada and then totally changing kind of economic classes. What is what? What do you remember that being like as a child? So you have these vivid memories of seeing your parents stretch the dollar and obviously being motivated yourself to sounds like not want to have to do that. Right, and your adult life. But what else do you remember? Being an immigrant, being in a new country and kind of losing it all?
Speaker 1:Yeah, losing it all was very challenging, very challenging. And, um, I don't, I know my parents. Before the war, they had an opportunity to come to Canada and they chose not to because, as strange as it may sound, and even though the standard of living is better in North America, canada and America, united States included, some people don't want to leave. They're just happy living where they live right. And so when my parents came, it was terrifying, because I was almost 15 and I have a younger brother he's five years younger and my parents, they had to start from scratch. My mom is a chemical engineer and a computer programmer and my dad had a bachelor of economics and they didn't speak English. None of us spoke English. So, not only that, it was a culture shock. We had to learn English, we had no connections, we didn't know anyone. We had to be on welfare.
Speaker 1:On top of that, my dad much, much later on was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of the war and what we experienced, or what, mostly what he experienced, but we've all experienced things, so, but it's just affected him the hardest.
Speaker 1:Um, so it was very hard to start all of a sudden living normal life when you have these mental health issues, uh, and that caused my parents to split up and my mom and my brother and I ended up in a shelter for women and children.
Speaker 1:It was just really bad, but it was, um, I think the hard, like, I guess the good thing about all that was that now I know that, even if I have nothing in the end, like even if I were to lose everything that I've built over the last 30 years, uh, since we immigrated I would still be okay because, at the end of the day, money is important, but it is not the most important thing. Um, as long as we have our health, as long as we have each other, that's what really matters. You want to have good people in your life, people that you can rely on. You're like your spouse, your partner, your kids, your siblings. That's really what matters. So I think, for me, the lesson and all that was like we can always build it all up, we can always earn more money, but it's the people that matter the most I always.
Speaker 2:I always appreciate that perspective because I'm fortunate enough that I didn't have I didn't have a tough upbringing by any means grew up, you know, in the United States middle-class, upper middle-class never had to worry about going without and so I don't have, I didn't have to have that mindset of I've had nothing. So going back to nothing doesn't scare me because, in all honesty, I've always had a pretty good life. So, like certain aspects of losing it all is scary to me because I haven't had to experience that and that is one thing that I've noticed through some people that I know that have experienced similar aspects of life growing up that you've experienced, where you've had it rough and you had to pull yourself up by I'm not going to say bootstraps, because you didn't even have bootstraps.
Speaker 3:I didn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you had to do it all yourselves and I'm just as somebody that sees that like I'm just saying I don't even have words for it. Really, I admire it and admire is not a good word. Yeah, I admire like that, that ability, because I think when you've, like I said, when you've been through what you've been through, the sky's the limit, because you don't have the same fear that I have, because you've already done things that I've never had to do.
Speaker 3:Have you been listening to our podcast and wondering how am I really doing with my money? Am I doing the right things with my investments? Am I on track to reach my financial goals? What could I be doing better? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it's time for you to reach out to Brandon to schedule your free yes, I said free 30-minute introduction conversation to see how his services could help make you the more confident moneymaker we know you could be. What are you waiting for? It's literally free and at the very least, you'll walk away feeling more empowered and confident about your financial future. Link is in our show notes. Go schedule your call today.
Speaker 2:If that makes any sense, I'm not. I'm not as good with words as Jess is. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say I'm like it's, it totally makes sense. But I think the fear that you have is the fear of the unknown. But the unknown is it's bad in a way, but not really Like. I felt that, you know, the bad things were like I was actually just thinking about that and, um, I was kind of going through some things and I was writing in my journal. Sometimes I just use my journal to kind of like, you know, just get stuff out of my head, and I remember being embarrassed to bring people into our house, or not even a house.
Speaker 1:We had an apartment, um, when we first moved here and I remember one time one of my friends came over and I just saw the look on her face and she looked around and she's like, oh, this is, this is cute, and I knew what that meant. She was like I think she was just 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, I bought myself a computer, I bought like all these things. I decorated my room, I painted it, I you know, uh, but I couldn't control the rest of the household, 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 I want to say is, like it seems daunting and I think there would be like a big bruise to the 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 do this? It could be exciting.
Speaker 1:And also, um, I find that I was a lot more creative, uh, when I had less, because now it's just easier. Oh, I can just spend money. Like I'm doing this challenge, I'm going to be doing this challenge with my daughter to teach her about budgeting and I'm going to use our front porch as a you know a way to do that. So I, you know we've I've asked my Instagram community to give us a budget and they're going to give. They give us like $50 to decorate the front porch, and so $50 is it's not a lot, but you know, I know I can do it even on a cheaper and it just kind of requires 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 and really find ways to like tackle this and like make this look like I don't know $200 decoration versus you know, something that you spend 50 bucks on.
Speaker 2:I think, for me. I think one of the things that, like I've thought about through my entire life is that, like I said, I was fortunate enough in my upbringing that I should be successful in life because of what I've had afforded to me growing up. And the fear of not being successful is more or less that, because there's no reason for me not to be, because you have individuals that have had significantly harder lives than I have and they've become successful. So with the tools that I have, I should be. So I think that's kind of like what I think through in my own personal life, my head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel I totally understand what you're saying and I sometimes feel that I have put some sort of expectation like that onto my own children because I feel that they are growing up privileged. Because I feel that they are growing up privileged, they have had experiences and possessions that I could have only dreamed of when I was their age and sometimes I feel guilty as a parent that I've put that sort of 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 you going, like it makes you really try harder and they don't have to try as hard and I, in some ways, I just think that maybe it's okay to let our kids be content. And you know what's success Like? Success is just the definition of everybody has a different definition of it, right? So my definition can be very different from my kids definition.
Speaker 1:Um, maybe someone's definition is to just be who they are Like. Why do they have to reach for more If what they, what they do right now, makes them happy? If they reach for more and they're constantly stressed out, burnt out, they don't have time for family and friends, then like what's the point of that? Just so the society can approve of us? Like that?
Speaker 1:may not necessarily be the right thing.
Speaker 2:That's probably a hard thing too in regards to, like, first-generation immigrants, because you know the few friends that we have that are first-generation, you know you kind of do have that back and forth between the their parents, you know that came over here and didn't have anything and then them growing up with a lot more than their parents ever had. So I think that's just a common theme.
Speaker 3:But then when you have abundance, doing what you're trying to do, maya, and we're going to get into that is like teaching your children the financial responsibility. But then also to be grateful, right, because we always joke, we're like we don't want to raise spoiled brats, but they're spoiled, we just don't want them to be brats. You know, like how do you make sure that they're appreciative and grateful? But then also, to your point, find that contentment because constantly you know that hustle culture that grinded out. I mean when you have to, because you're on welfare and you're in the shelter and you're like this cannot be our life. That's one thing.
Speaker 3:But if you have a good life and you've been given, you know the tools and resources, you also have to find contentment in just being right. And I think, especially for us in that millennial space, you know you're constantly go, go, go, do, do. Do you have these big aspirations? And then you know I always I feel guilty if I watch a movie and I'm not folding laundry at the same time or I'm not checking emails at the same time. It's like you also have to learn how to rest and just to be and be content and be grateful and kind of pause and sit in that as well, without the hustle and bustle and grinding it out constantly.
Speaker 1: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 doing laundry or cooking or something. I feel guilty and I don't really want that for my kids. I want them to understand and know that rest is important and I think you know this is going to sound really weird, but I think only a couple of years ago I actually learned that I should be resting like other than sleeping, and that resting is okay. I mean, you don't have to earn it.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, you don't have to earn rest. Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:I'm still learning that.
Speaker 2:I think that's also probably very hard for a working mom. Yes, I think so too I think men maybe have a little I don't say maybe we do have a little bit easier when it comes to that aspect, but I feel most moms, especially working moms, feel guilty because, like there's something there's always something to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's always something to get done, because I have to tell jess numerous.
Speaker 2:I'm like jess, just stop I know it'll get done later.
Speaker 1:You need to rest it's hard right, because otherwise you can just keep going right yeah, maya, let's switch into you.
Speaker 3:Know you? You immigrated. You ended up living with your mom and your brother. You were on welfare in the shelters. How did you go from that to being a CPA? What's that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, um, I think for me personally, the traditional schooling was the way out of poverty. And, um, you know being on social media and I know both of you are, and you have your Instagram account and there are a lot of people out there that you know they talk badly about nine to five and you know, going to school, getting good education, getting good grades, getting a great job and I think there's a time and place for everything, and for me, that was my salvation, that was my way of getting out, because I didn't have the education. I did not know much about entrepreneurship, I didn't know much about passive income streams or anything like that. Maybe I could have done stuff like that, but to me, all I knew was that if I go to school and I get good grades, uh, I can get into one of the top universities and then from there, I can hopefully continue my education and then get a job at a really good company. And that's what I did, um, and that really helped me, you know, increase my earning power and become a CPA, and, uh, it wasn't a straight journey.
Speaker 1:I was really all over the place. I thought I was going to end up in sciences, um, my choice of, or my career pursuit was strictly based on my financial need. I did consider what I like, but that was second to kind of thinking like, okay, what's going to make me the most money, that's going to help me get out of where I am. And so I did consider becoming a dentist and I did a dental co-op. I didn't like that. I thought about becoming a doctor and we dissected a rat in biology class and I was like, absolutely not.
Speaker 1:And then, I think, at one point I was like, oh, maybe I'll be an engineer electrical engineer and I went into an open house. It was all men and machines and I was like, okay, this is not me either. And my friend was going into business, so I just ended up there. And then I learned that becoming a CPA like a lot of times, like a lot of the accounting companies, they'll pay for your further education to get your CPA designation and I was like this is awesome, I want them to do that for me. And when they pay for it you have to sign on that. You're going to be with them for a couple of years. And I'm like this is awesome, that just means I'm going to have a job for the next two years.
Speaker 1:So I was like, why wouldn't I do this? So they, you know, they paid for my education. I had a job and my salary kept on increasing, Um, and I was actually able to use the money that we that I earned. So my, my husband and I, we paid off our mortgage and all of our debts like student loans and such, by the time I was 32, so we were debt free and then I was able to quit corporate world and start my own thing. So it really worked out.
Speaker 3:That's amazing.
Speaker 1:So where's your husband?
Speaker 2:from.
Speaker 1:He is from Serbia. Okay, yeah, from former.
Speaker 2:Yugoslavia as well. Because I always wonder, you know, like when you have those dynamics, you know, especially like you were to marry someone that had lived their entire life in Canada, like how that difference of growing up, you know, can interact in a relationship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, there is a difference, because his family immigrated before the war and his family immigrated with money. They had more money. They didn't immigrate directly Like they were actually living in other parts of the world. His parents are in medical field and so they came with money. He had a much better life than I did.
Speaker 1:You know his mom, his parents, paid for his school. I had to take student loans, like. So it was very different and it took a few years for him to understand what I was trying to do for us to put us on a budget to pay off all of our loans, to streamline our personal finances. And once he came on board, we became unstoppable. I think that dynamic of you know like a couple that like has goals and they're on the same page, and it just really really worked well for us, um, and so I think that's when we realized like we can accomplish so much more when we're working together and we're on, when we're on the same page, and he really started learning more about personal finance and investing and getting more interested in, like what I was, I guess, what I even promote now to my students.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. Yeah, we always talk about if you're pushing and pulling in different directions in your partnership. It's going to take you so long to go in the same direction.
Speaker 2:If you even make it at all, if you make it.
Speaker 3:So what you said about being on the same page, because something as big as let's pay off our house and let's be debt free and have no mortgage, 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 your goals, and so are you two technically part of the fire movement.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say exactly like we're. I didn't even know what fire was until I would say, until maybe six, seven years ago. Um, I wish I did, because maybe I would have jumped on it and be even more serious. Uh, but we've along the, you know, like we were going to be married for 20 years. It's going to be our 20, 20 year anniversary next summer and uh, and we just use common sense, I think, and our common sense was like let's pay off our debt, our mortgage, and let's just kind of keep growing our wealth, but at the same time let's try to have fun like we have right now.
Speaker 1:Our vacations were mostly like camping in Canadian North or we would go to Cuba, and for Canadians Cuba is really, really cheap Maybe not so much now, but back then that those were our vacations and uh, but now you know that we're in a better financial place, those vacations are completely different. So we just kind of did what we could afford and we really didn't overextend ourselves. We were really the underdog and I think, like when we paid over our house and when we did started doing certain things that were like outside of our norm but it took so many years to get there People were kind of like they started paying attention, were like, oh, like, where, where did that come from? Like we thought you guys were like 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 you have no idea who has got how much money, just because they drive a certain car or live in a certain house.
Speaker 2:Like you don't know you don't say that all the time yeah unfortunately, I feel like social media that's. One of the drawbacks, I would say, of social media is that everyone's showing a highlight reel and that highlight reel might not even be like reality at all in their life for the day.
Speaker 3:They're renting the apartment to shoot content. They're literally buying designer bags, the actual shopping bags off of Etsy and the internet and they're just basically staging a life. Right, and it's the people that we know that are the most wealthy. I mean, they're driving Honda Accords, they're driving Toyotas, they're not in flashy cars.
Speaker 2:My mom and her Nissan Rogue.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. So you know we see it very differently because we know how much debt people carry and you know Brandon obviously is a financial advisor and so his thing is always you don't know where people's money is coming from. That down payment for that house could have come from a grandparent they could be, you know. The grandparents could be paying for the fancy private school. I mean, unless you are in that person's bank account, you just don't know. And people are just showing you a highlight reel online.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, I just wanted to say so. My husband, he actually finished bachelor of economics but he ended up going back to school to become a plumber. So he actually has his own plumbing and um drains and waterproofing company. And, to your point, he told me one time um, there was a problem at this. It's in a beautiful part of Toronto, a beautiful mansion, luxury vehicles in front.
Speaker 1:These people had sewage in their basement, like like things were backed up and so he goes. He's like I went in there because he doesn't do the work. He has people who do the work for him but he sells. So he said I walked in and he's like man, I'm not, like I'm not even going in. He's like this is gross, we need people to come clean this up, like you know. And he anyways.
Speaker 1:So he gave them a quote, um, and they're like oh, um, here's our credit card. He tried charging it. It wouldn't go through. They were giving him all these other credit cards. Uh, everything was not going through. Then he said well, we can set you up with a company to approve you for a loan so that you can pay for this. They couldn't get approved. So they have sewage in their basement. They're driving these luxury vehicles they have. They live in this beautiful their basement. They're driving these luxury vehicles. They live in this beautiful mansion, yet they cannot get approved to get sewage out of their basement and get that cleaned up and get their pipes changed and whatnot.
Speaker 3:That puts things into perspective and I think, as we get older and as our goals change, of the life that we want to live, we really don't care about 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, but when it comes to those materialistic things, our view is just, you know. It's just very different than what the internet tells you. Let's pivot into. You got your education, you got your CPA. The company paid for it, you know. Now you and your husband are working towards these big financial goals. Talk to us about your Instagram account and why focusing on kids and investing. And where did that fire and drive come from? Because you don't just wake up one day and then have 160,000 followers on Instagram. So that takes some work and intentionality.
Speaker 2:I wish it was that easy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh my goodness, it would be amazing.
Speaker 1:Yes, no, it's definitely not that easy. But so 12 years ago, when I decided to quit my accounting job, I was actually a tax accountant at that point I did some audit and then I was in tax. I wanted to do something meaningful that actually would matter to me and I started teaching financial literacy. So I used to go to schools. I would teach grade kindergartens all the way up to grade 12 to high school, and then COVID hit and of course I couldn't do that anymore. So I had to transition my business to be completely online, and the way Instagram happened was really just a way for me to advertise and let people know. Hey, this is what I do. And at the very beginning it was really awkward because I felt it was really awkward to film myself and like, put my face. It took me, I would say, a whole year before I started putting my face out there.
Speaker 3:It's such a beautiful face.
Speaker 1:No, thank you. But it just felt like you know this, like narcissistic person just putting herself out there, and like I just had to get over a lot of uh, self-criticism and some sort of fears of judgment and everything else, Uh, and now it's like it's it's second nature. I don't even think about it, um. But also I had to learn about what it is that my followers wanted, and so I did talk a lot about allowance and how to teach kids to save and how to teach kids to budget and, as I said, I have two kids. They're teenagers now and I've experimented a lot on them. They were my guinea pigs and I kind of know what works, what doesn't. But also, like you know, because I've been working with other parents for the last several years, I also know what works for other parents and I believe that there's no one set way to teach kids financial literacy. We can talk about that a little bit more after, but, um, so it's teaching all these things.
Speaker 1:But then I started realizing that every time I would talk about investing, people started paying more attention. And there was this is like some five years or no, actually maybe three, four years ago like nobody was talking about investing for kids. Nobody was talking about how powerful that could be and I was like, well, I think this is what people need. So I was like, okay, let's talk about this. And once I started talking about it, I actually realized people are really paying attention.
Speaker 1:They were like signing up for my free classes, for my cheat sheets, and I think that's when other financial literacy influencers who don't teach kids and money. But then they started seeing how my account was growing so they're like, oh, this is something we should start talking about too. So all of a sudden, like people started talking about it more and more, to the point now where, um, actually one uh podcast that I was on and I subscribed to their newsletter, I actually just ended up getting uh an email from him and he just had a daughter and he was saying, is like in his newsletter, he's explaining how he's investing for his daughter. And I'm like, oh, my God, this is exactly what I teach, like 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 nobody talked about kids and investing years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, and it's so interesting too because obviously we know in this finance 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 going to compound, when you know when you start them with an investment account, when they're a baby, versus you know when they're 30 or 40. So the time really makes sense to invest for your children.
Speaker 2:Well, it's also shifting the conversation. So I can remember as a kid that the big thing was getting you know savings bonds. You know you get the kids savings bonds when they're a kid, when in reality what they should have just been doing is investing. But they didn't have the information and obviously you know the internet wasn't around so they didn't know where to access this information. Where now, for example, you know what I'm talking to? Clients and stuff with their kids? I'm like, unless your child is working and you guys need this money that they would be putting in a savings account, a savings account for a kid doesn't make any sense. It's like they're not going to use it. Don't put it in the savings account, put it in invested and it's going to grow significantly more by the time they become adults. So it's, like I said, it's just changing the conversation. I think people were on board for trying to do something for their child that's going to better their future, but now we just have better tools to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And if I may say, you know, you said 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 game changer, and also social media accounts. Both of them can be bad but they can also be very good. They've really raised awareness of financial literacy. And you know, I remember and I'm really dating myself but in the nineties and early two thousands, we just had books. I remember reading a rich dad, poor dad and cashflow quadrant. Those two books, they opened my eyes.
Speaker 1:And now I see on social media people are criticizing those two books and they're saying all these horrible things and I said you know what, if it wasn't for those two books, I would have never, ever understood passive income and how it works, because no one was talking about it in my realm, like in my sphere of influence or in my circle. This is, people who understood passive income were way wealthier than I was. They were not hanging out with people like me. But you know, with like nowadays, yes, you know, you have internet so you can see reels and on social media and you can learn about these things, but back then we didn't have that information, and so we did what we thought was the best, which was the savings account or savings bonds for kids, and in hindsight like why would we do that?
Speaker 2:that made no sense, but that's all we knew it's easy to criticize when you're doing hindsight like right I mean you talk about rich dad, poor dad, because you know those because, like those, were the books that opened up the pathway to where we are now when it comes to financial literacy. Yes, they were the forefathers, the starters of all those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And Robert Kiyosaki love him or hate him, it doesn't really matter To me. I owe him and I forget who the co-author is. Um, cheryl Cheryl, I forget her name. I really apologize for that People have the internet. They can look it up, yeah.
Speaker 1:They can look her up. Actually, I didn't even know. We always talk about Robert Kiyosaki writing that book rich dad, poor dad but there was a co-author and I met her. She's a lovely lady and when I met her, uh, I met her last year and I was a speaker at this conference and so was she and we spoke and I I had tears in my eyes. I said to her you changed my life because you opened my eyes to something that I didn't know. My parents couldn't teach me this, the school was not teaching me this and there was no internet back then.
Speaker 3:So people will. We will, of course, link all of your socials and we want people to follow along with the great information that you're giving and the courses and, of course, you have a children's book. I mean, there's so many resources that you provide to your audience, but let's talk about you have teenagers now. What is that discussion of money in your house now? Because I know recently you posted a reel. I think your daughter wanted maybe some Uggs or some cute boots versus some other piece of clothing and you made her. You know she had to decide. She couldn't get both or she needed to use her own money and growing up you said you guys didn't talk about money a lot. You obviously didn't have a lot. How did you want to change that for your kids and your family, and do you have suggestions for our audience on how to do that without it being scary and intimidating?
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely yeah. So I don't want money to be taboo in my home. I want us to talk about it openly. I also think that eventually for my kids, that will translate to them talking to their partners openly about it and hopefully, to their friends. You know, maybe they can learn stuff from their friends and their friends can learn stuff from my children.
Speaker 1:But you know, I think that if we talk to our kids about money, especially when they're younger, I think we have to be a little bit more mindful as to how much information can they take and we don't want to scare them either. Like if you're paying off your debt or if you're worried whether or not you can pay the mortgage next month, like maybe those are some things that you want to keep to yourself because you don't want to scare them. But if, for example, you're paying off your debt and your kids are a little bit older, you can say, hey, you know what. I didn't understand what that was and I have some made, some bad choices maybe, but now I am trying to pay that off and I'm trying to shift my life and our finances in a positive direction, and so these are the mistakes that I made and I don't want you to make. So you know, you can see what I'm doing and you know how I'm paying off this debt. You know whatever method it is that I'm you that you're using.
Speaker 1:But you know, if you have younger kids, it could be just a conversation, like you know, when they ask you to buy them something, sometimes parents will say, oh, I can't afford it. You know that's not a good way to talk about money, because then it you know, you're encouraging the mindset of scarcity, encouraging the mindset of scarcity. So instead, if you can afford it, maybe the answer would be I choose not to spend our money on this because you already have, let's say, that toy. Or you know what I choose to spend my money on something else that would bring you more joy. Or maybe the answer is you know what I choose not to buy this right now because I need to save up for it, and you know here's the plan how we're going to do it. So it's about being open about it as much as we can, as much as our kids can handle, depending on their ages.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we talk about that exact same thing, right? Not making money. Taboo, speaking openly about it. We have a five and a six year old and you know. If it's, hey, you eat the bottom of the strawberry and then you throw the rest away and there's half a strawberry left. Hey, that pint of strawberries was $6. Remember how you got $20 for your birthday? What if I took six of that, you know, and you only had a third of the strawberry? Is that wasteful? I mean, it's something as simple as that.
Speaker 3:But I love what you said about mindset, because we recently spoke about that on a previous episode, where, whether you have scarcity in your home or not, putting that scarcity mindset into your children of coming from that place of we don't have can be so limiting when you're an adult, right? So instead of saying we don't have money for that, saying you know what you just said, we didn't budget for that, or we didn't plan for that, or that's not on our list for shopping today, today we're only buying spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, right? Or phrasing it in a way that doesn't come from we don't have, instead of we're not choosing to spend money there. If we choose to spend money on this today, then maybe we can't spend money on XYZ tomorrow. And I think that mindset, the more we talk to people, the more we realize that what was instilled in us as children, it does follow. You know, with our parents and you know previous generations.
Speaker 2:it was always trying to portray like a perfect idea of being a parent that I knew everything, you know, I have it all figured out. And that's we as adults now and parents. We know that's not the case and letting your kids know that like mommy and daddy don't have it all figured out.
Speaker 2:We're still trying to figure things out and we've made mistakes and we're going to continue to make mistakes. But letting kids know at a young age that they don't have to be perfect, I think is going to change how they handle adversity as they get older.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, 100%. And I have. Our son is going to be 18 next year, so I'm going to have an adult child, which is really unbelievable. But you know, sometimes, like now, he will ask me questions. He's like oh, can I do whatever? X, y, z? And so I mean I could be the parent and be like no, you can't do it, or whatever. But I usually sit him down, I say, daniel, here's how I see it. I don't know if this is the right way of seeing it, but this is what I think. You're going to be an adult, so you need to press start practicing these adult decisions.
Speaker 1:Um, it's up to you, dude, because if you choose to go, let's say this if you choose this path, these are the consequences. Let's say this if you choose this path, these are the consequences. You may choose a less fun path and the consequences may not be as severe. But I say I don't know which one's the right one for you, and I'm like you just really need to exercise your decision. You know your, your decision muscles and kind of decide on your own right now.
Speaker 1:Um, unless it's like something. We haven't had a situation where it's like oh, my God, like I have to decide. But this is like some things like, oh, should I go out tonight, can I go out with my friends? Or like, can I sleep over? But he has all these assignments due on Monday and he actually wants to apply to like mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering next for to go to next year. So I'm like, well, those are. You need high grades for that. So I don't know, like yeah, you can go for a sleepover and you can party all night, but I don't know what's going to happen to your assignments. So you think about it.
Speaker 3:You're like I've already got all my education. This is on you. Yeah, I honestly that's.
Speaker 2:I honestly feel it's. It's so great and undervalued that 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 it wasn't because my mom didn't care and that I was going to be out at all. You know hours of the night. I knew what time to be home because my mom gave me the responsibility and I learned very early on not to take advantage of that and I was always home on a reasonable time, because I also knew that if I wasn't home in a reasonable time, the locks might be changed, that car she pays for might be taken away.
Speaker 3:There would be consequences. I had decisions to make, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I always tell my kids, I tell them you know, when they bring their report card home and you know some marks are like they're both actually really good students. I should say that. But at the end of the day, my only question to them is, like are you happy? Do you think that you have done everything you possibly could to like in your power? Like you worked as hard as you could, you did what you needed to do? Does this mark reflect that? And a lot of times they're going to be like no, it doesn't, I could have tried harder. I'm like okay, well, that's that's all I want you to reflect upon, because, really like, right now, their number one job is to study and, you know, try hard in school. They have other responsibilities, of course, too, but to me I'm kind of like just do your best. If you think you've done your best, then you know what it is, what it is.
Speaker 3:Let the chips fall where they may. You've done your best, then you know what it is, what it is. Let the chips fall where they may. Yeah, going back to our earlier part of the conversation of like relieving some of that stress right Of being perfect, or you have to do this, or you have to go to this school or be this kind of career person, or you know, it's just too much stress. Do you, maya, have and I know you're in Canada and we're in the US, so it might be a little different but do you have for somebody who's listening, who maybe has young children or is expecting maybe, a favorite kind of account or investment or suggestion on how to get started with investing for your kids? Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I'll speak to US side, because I know that your audience is, I'm assuming, mostly in the U.
Speaker 1:S. So if they have a young child or if they're expecting a young child, I would open up the five 29 plan. Um, they can open it up in their own name and I think they can transfer it later on to their child when the child is born. I love the five 29 plan because, even if the child decides not to pursue college later on, you can transfer those funds to another child or keep them for yourselves. But even better, you can transfer up to $35,000 into a Roth IRA for that child, and the sooner they start investing for that child, the more money that child will have in that account.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did an episode completely dedicated to 529s, especially because of the recent changes. Like you mentioned, the Roth IRA and being able to transfer money, because my concern was always, well, if the kids have scholarships, or what if they choose not to, and so there's a lot of flexibility there now, which is great. Are there any other accounts or investments that you recommend?
Speaker 1:I just love the custodial Roth IRA. That's just something that we don't have in Canada, and especially for parents who are entrepreneurs or business owners, there is a great way to defer or to um, uh, sorry, save on taxes by employing their kids to work for them. So even if your child is a baby, uh, you can hire them to do, let's say, ads for you or commercials. And it's important to set this up properly so that you actually have a contract between you and your child. I would hire a lawyer and a tax accountant.
Speaker 1:It may cost you a lot more upfront, but once that's set up, you know, once that's in place, you basically, whatever it is that you pay to your child, which has to be the right amount, whatever, let's say, somebody who does acting or promotions would earn, so you would pay them the same amount. But that's the amount that you can deduct from your profits from your business, and you're obviously going to save on taxes because your income is lower. And then there is a certain amount of money that out of that you can actually invest into custodial Roth IRA, depending on annual maximums, and that's the money that can grow for them. And you know, it's just, you can really make your kids millionaires easily in that way, while you're also saving on taxes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we love that, and what you said is the reasonable amount, right Like you can't pay them thousands of dollars to sweep the kitchen or your office or take out the trash.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, the thing in the US is more or less that there's a maximum amount that you could pay your kids, them being under 18 years old. That child, they wouldn't have to pay taxes on that income and that's what you're using to contribute to those accounts.
Speaker 3:Right, really nice. Well, maya, this has been a great conversation. I love that we talked a lot about mindset and just being open and honest with our children about just about money and finances and, like you said, past mistakes and how we want to help prevent them from making those mistakes and being vulnerable. I think, not only with your partner, with your friends, like you mentioned, but definitely with your children, is so important in that learning process and then, if you're setting up that environment, they'll come to you when they have questions. And I think that's so important is that when you open up those lines of communication, it's not taboo, it's not scary, it's just a part of your everyday life, everyday home life. Your children know that they can come to you and ask those questions as they grow and mature and those conversations can start expanding. You have so many resources. We will link them in our show notes. Are there any final thoughts that you want to leave our audience with? Around mindset, kids, money, investing Sky's the limit for you.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's, yeah, it's a fully loaded question actually, but, um, I would just say, you know, don't procrastinate. Just start talking to your kids about money and if you have never invested, I suggest you know, starting small, play around. Take $20. If that's, you know I'm an amount that you feel like you know what, even if I lost this it would be okay. But just do something, um, I think, 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, and I just feel like everybody should just try it. You know, try doing it, learn as much as you can and that's it.
Speaker 3:Perfect. Thank you, maya, for being with us today. This was a great conversation. We appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me. Don't forget. Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid. Until next time.
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