515 | What Your Kids Need To Know About Money

Chris LoCurto 0:00
On today's show, a lot of parents avoid complex topics with their kids like money. But if parents aren't teaching their children then someone else is, and that's not a great plan, what parents need to know about teaching their children finances, is coming up next.

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Welcome to the show, folks. I hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are. Today, we are talking about a topic that a lot of parents avoid. And I know a lot of you follow us. Hopefully, you've done a really good job of this, but I know a lot of people still do they still struggle what is that topic. Money with their kids? It's one thing to struggle with money as individuals, but man, what are we teaching our kids some may think that their children are too young to learn or that the topic is too complicated to explain. Either way, avoiding the topic does not set their kids up for success in the long run, and may actually be doing them more harm than good. Some of you may have grown up in a house where talking about money was taboo, you get what I'm saying? On today's show, we've got an expert on this topic. And that is Paige Cornetet, author of The Best Selling spend then series, a collection of children's books teaching financial literacy by simplifying traditionally complicated concepts. So do me a favor and welcome to the show, Paige. Paige. Welcome.

Paige 1:47
Thank you. Thanks, Chris, for having me on today. Oh, it's so

Chris LoCurto 1:51
good to have you here. You're not a stranger to us and what we do here. You've got a lot going on, you got some great stuff that we're going to talk about today. And we have had the honor of facilitating you as you went through your own Next-Level Life. How many years ago? Was that? That five or six?

Paige 2:11
I want to say five or six. Yes. Yeah. A lifetime ago. But

Chris LoCurto 2:15
a lot has happened with COVID in there, too. Yeah, it is so funny. COVID seems like that one year was like three years. It's just crazy. But so we're joking around before we started this because you've got your nice winter. turtleneck on you've got snow on the ground, we have a ridiculously warm day. It's 69 degrees here. It's just crazy. So it's so funny how you guys have got it coming down, or at least snow on the ground. And for some strange reason, we're warming up. Right? So you've been through Next-Level Life. Let's start there. How was your experience? What's happened in life sense?

Paige 2:57
Yeah, that's it's kind of crazy to reflect back. Now. Six years later, it was a pivotal point in my life. What to say I was 2627. And I really was at a crossroads with a lot of things with my family with what I wanted to do with my life. There was just a lot that was going on. And it was really divine timing to have like, something opened up and I was able to come down and meet with Joel and it was through a friend that told me about it. And it just all lined up perfectly. And it was amazing. The experience I had was two shoot days, but it felt so much more than that. It's so juicy and enriching because you're going through your whole life. And if I remember correctly, like the family roots like in vines, you guys use a lot of beautiful, you know, visual aids to really talk about, you know, who you came from, where things came up your childhood and going forward. So it was one of the most amazing experiences, I have recommended it to so many people. And it just helped enlighten me just of what I have, you know, and what I came with and what was my upbringing, and how to go forward from that. So I loved it with you all and I still think about things. Oh, yeah, remember, we talked about that? So it was a great experience. You guys are really like game changers and life savers.

Chris LoCurto 4:44
I love it because of what we're talking about today. And you know, you are you know, like we're the same way we love teaching. We have hearts, the heart of a teacher. But for so many kids is not something you know a lot, not a lot of people love to teach kids. And that's where I started teaching, believe it or not, junior high youth ministry way back in the day. That's, that's, you know that that has always been my heart is to help kids. And so this topic is so near and dear. And so I'm so glad we're talking about this. I'm so glad you wrote this book. And the thing I love about it is your perspective. You know, what you came from, which makes this so amazing. So I want to get I've got probably way more questions than we will even get to. But let's kind of talk about your books. You just published my dad's class last year. This book is it's geared toward parents, correct?

Paige 5:46
Right, geared towards parents, and I wrote my financial, children's books first, really, from the lessons within my dad's class, making it really clear and really concise with stories and pictures and making it very fun for kids to understand. And I was like, Okay, that's great, you know, grandparents and kids read these books. And then what, right, like, okay, so where's like the parent, you know, version for that? And so I started reflecting of like, I really need it, you know, write this book about my upbringing, and how I learned from my dad, and you know, how in, you know, his structure and how he did it. And the really like, clearness that my father taught us, children. And so yeah, I launched it last year, and it's really fun actually, looping back to the Next-Level Life like thinking, Oh, my gosh, it's been almost seven years since doing Next-Level Life and now launching a book about my childhood. There's definitely that was very, it's like having a baby. Like, you're, it's like a part of you. And you're like, Oh, I hope I hope it's okay.

Speaker 2 6:59
To the world, so, well, we think it's great. So and we love that you put this out there. What inspired you to write now obviously, you know, like, you just shared, there's this aspect of what do parents and grandparents do. But what got you going, Okay, I've launched these kid's books, I need to, you know, put this out there for the big kids. What inspired these

Paige 7:25
people I think, what happened with going back to COVID, 2020, we had a baby, my husband and I, but we ended up losing our child. And thank you. And because of that, like this book was already in creation, like I, I'm very creative when I'm pregnant. So it was like, it was coming out of me like, oh, wish I should write a book and do all these things. And, you know, all this. And after losing him, it was even more impactful, because it was like, okay, like I am, I'm still a parent, right? Like, and we can, we can be parents without children. And we can have children in our lives that you can make an impact on. And now we have a beautiful daughter who's six months old, but I wanted to, you know, relate, I can relate to parents now. So I was like, Okay, this is hard, right? Like, there's stuff and like, life gets busy and wild and all this stuff. But how do you really, you know, have an impact, and be purposeful with your teachings? And my dad was so great at that. It's like, oh, my gosh, he had four kids and was running a business and all these other things. And like really carved out time every Saturday to sit down with our notebook, and learn about stocks and economy and like accounting, like these really big topics for a seven-year-olds.

Chris LoCurto 8:53
You know, it's so funny, because so for me, my mom would sit down with us, and she had her old checkbooks that she wasn't using, you know, we would sit down and we would pay groceries, you know, I'm 50, almost 53 Now, so this is a long time ago, you know, use a checkbook to pay for, and so listening to you, and what you experienced, I mean, I'm so thankful for your dad, I love that you've put out this book, but praise God, you know, for men who sit down and moms as well, and sit down with their kid and actually walk through this process because it's so stinking needed. And it's so impacted so much of my life being able to be lived that way. So I'm excited for how many parents are listening to this going, Okay, I've got to take this step. Even if my kids are older, I've got to take this step. So yeah, so why do you think parents should teach money concepts to their children? I mean, it's a softball pitch. It should be obvious, but there are so many that don't know Why do you think they should teach you?

Paige 10:02
Yeah, well, regardless, if you teach them or don't, or you know, have open conversations with your kids, they're still going to learn about money. Kids especially toddlers are so smart, like, they're the best salespeople in the whole world, they understand transactions, they understand that, oh, if I want this, I need to do this, or save this or, you know, there's, they understand the exchange. And that's really all money is, is an exchange for something. So they conceptually get that now, with what you're exchanging it with, whether it's a piece of plastic, or money, you know, and actual cash, things like that. That's where you can step in and help really guide them and lead them and create this scenario of like, they're under your roof. And they can have these trials and errors and failures, and Ooh, maybe I spent too much money on that. So it's really giving the power to the child. And that's what my dad and mom were both really good at, it's like, here's some money, you're gonna actually have to like, save it and look at it and mark it down. But you're also going to be able to spend it in the way that you want to and, and you have to earn your money and put it in your bank. And so there's a lot of empowerment, when you're, as a kid able to do it, versus like, Oh, mom just buys everything your dad buys everything and like, okay, there's no conversation about it like it just have magically happens. Like I get these things. So gosh, Paige, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to push back on you here. Are you suggesting that we don't allow the world to teach our kids? We don't put them out there as adults to go, Hey, go figure this thing out. Is that what you're saying? Oh, my gosh,

Paige 11:49
yeah, no, I know. Exactly. Well, and it's like, they're gonna learn regardless. Right? So why not? You be their teacher, right? And, and really, you know, have the idea like, for me, because my family, my dad was so purposeful with, okay, I want to be the teacher for my kids, like, I'm going to be the best. And vice versa, right? The kids are going to be your teacher too. I think that's something that's really missed. It's not just teachers and students, well, who is the Teacher, and who's the student, I feel like, my dad learned so much from us, as we learned from him, too. So it was a, it was a fluid, you know, ongoing lessons with the family, which was so beautiful. So

Chris LoCurto 12:30
yeah, I think there's this give and receive that happens that and I think a lot of parents are so concerned with, do I know what I'm doing, which is why again, go learn this stuff, get the book, learn how to do this, so that you don't have to try and figure this out, you can get expert advice. And then it allows you to pay attention to what the kids are teaching you. I mean, there is it it is so transactional with everything, you know, if it's teaching choices and consequences to you, or if it's teaching your kids how to play ball, you know, whatever it is, I love, fellow Grand Rapids person out there. One of my buddies, Brent van Haren, when he started teaching his daughter soccer, he taught as though he was one of the coaches, and they had all these plans together to teach these kids soccer. And they went out there and they tried to teach him soccer and one of the parents on the sideline was going, if you can forget all of your plans. If you can just get them to kick the ball in the right direction, you're going to have a good day. That's all they care about. It's like, you're right. So it's like, wait for a second, okay, these are little girls, they don't know it, just being able to allow them to have fun and learn. It taught them how to coach. And so it was such a powerful piece. And so I love that you share that. Are there things that some topics that should be avoided when discussing money with kids, in your book, you make the statement, the solution to the problem of teaching children about money is to become very intentional about providing financial education? So we'll talk about intentionality with parents, but as the things that they should avoid.

Paige 14:11
I would say, depending on how old your kids are, like, everything has to be very age-appropriate, right? You're not going to tell an eight year old Hi, we have this amount of money, right? Like I have millions of dollars, right? Like, you know, probably be cautious of the numbers and of the age appropriateness to the kids. But I do think eventually those conversations the kid might be asked, How much money do you have? Right? You know, so you kind of gotta be prepared a little bit with that answer of it. And I would just say age appropriateness, I think is the biggest thing and really guiding the kids to that and we'll watch what's the point right why do we do this? Why do we have this what does this look like if you have a Family Business or, you know, you're an employee or, you know, you're an entrepreneur, like all these sorts of amazing conversations that can come out of oh, well, dad does this or mom does this or you know, with it. So age appropriateness. Yeah.

Chris LoCurto 15:14
Yeah. I love that because, you know, your dad teaching you how to understand the stock market and stuff like that. That's so what is appropriate? The funny thing is like, we will teach adults, you know, in business, when we're talking through business owners, or business leaders are asking about, you know, what do I share with my team, as far as our, our finances are counting? And I'm like, if they cannot digest it, don't share it. You don't tell somebody who does? You know, for us, we were like, hey, and again, this is a testament to how important your book is. We have grown adults that do not understand business finances, one on one, Hey, guys, you have to make this amount of money. But there are all these expenses that come out of running a business. And that gets us to the bottom line. I mean, it is incredible, the number of adults that don't get that. So, you know, we have a lot of business owners that are like, what do I share with my team? And it's like, well, if they can't understand, you know, payroll, if they can't understand brick and mortar, you know, what you're paying? If they can't, then don't share that stuff. They can't digest it. Right. Exactly. I think that's so important. If you know, if your kids are at the edge, if they can't digest that you know, what millions of dollars means or, you know, we're $100,000 in debt, then probably don't share that. Exactly, exactly.

Paige 16:39
Now, as they get older, you know, and you talk about debt, and you have you kind of have those open conversations when they're probably like in their teenage years, right before they go to college if they're going to be taking on student loans, right? So having those open convert, like, it's kind of like, you want to just think about and again, then your kids are going to ask you questions, too. So it's like, okay, well, Mom has, you know, $200,000 in student loans, and that's debt. And I took that on to have my education now to have the job that I have, and now I'm paying them off. And so we got to think about okay, here are your options, you want to go to community college? Do you want to go to trade school? Do you want to go to this school and like, you're gonna have to take on this IOU? What is that? You know, so there's all this lead up to it. But kids are smart, right? Like, so age appropriateness is like, you know, you don't always have to not tell them things, but also helping them learn, I think what you said is amazing about these adults that don't know anything about what they don't know about payroll, teach them about payroll, right? And then you can have that conversation. Okay, well, what is that? What, oh, that stuff gets taken out. And this is how it operates and all that. So same with kids, right? Like you make money. You know, you spend money and like leftovers, what was saved it you know, kind of all these things that you can have as they're doing it with you.

Chris LoCurto 18:05
So good. So good. All right. When we come back, right after this, we're going to talk about what it's like to be intentional, as a parent teaching kids about finances.

Unknown Speaker 18:18
Freedom, it's so powerful, I felt rejuvenated, almost renewed,

Speaker 2 18:22
I just felt so welcomed and loved and accepted for who I am, and not an ounce of judgment. So I was very comfortable there that had a really big impact on me, and that's going to be worth it. It's going to be hard. But it's going to be even better. On the other side. For me, it

Unknown Speaker 18:40
was just, it was just very refreshing. And I want to say lifegiving. For me, it really was,

Speaker 2 18:45
you know, I would go to Next-Level Life again. And probably again, and probably again, because it's so powerful.

Chris LoCurto 18:53
If you want to experience the same kind of life transformation, this same kind of self-awareness and freedom that they have. Or maybe you're just curious what the process would look like for you, then head on over to ChrisLoCurto.com/next level life

Okay, so, as we go into intentionality another, I'm just so excited about all this, just super giddy. You know, we teach choices and consequences all the time. You know, if you have bad choices, you get bad consequences. If you have good choices, you get good consequences. And one of the things we still want people's parents to understand or business owners, business leaders, and adults don't matter is that when you hold people accountable to choices and consequences you create decision-making. When I know that if I talked back to mommy or daddy and I got in trouble my choice was to talk back to them and the consequences that can And with it was my choice. I realized I don't like it when I think my consequence is their choice and it's their fault. Well, then I don't have a hard time talking back. Right? So I love when we, you know, as you were talking about right before the break, hey, I'm Mom and Dad, I've got $200,000 worth of debt from my schooling because I chose to go this route. Let's talk about maybe better choices for you, you know, maybe community college, maybe you know, as you're mentioning, hey, let's think through here's choices, look at my consequences. And this is, you know, again, age-appropriate, let me share my consequences. So you get it. Yep. And then make quality choices. So let's dive into the intentionality part, which is just sorely lacking in our culture today. So you talk about parents being intentional about their approach to teaching their children, especially where themes like finances are concerned, what's holding parents back when it comes to having a plan or a strategy with their kids?

Paige 21:02
Oh, I think that they just don't know, right? With the choices and the consequences. They don't know how to set it up. For young kids, or you know, like middle school or teenagers, obviously, consequences with teenagers, it's very easy to remember when you were a teenager, right? Like, that's really easy to recall. Oh, and my sister did that. And I didn't do that, right? Really easy to remember that. And I think that this is actually a great point. This is the beginning of my book, this is all about our family sayings and our family laws, which are all about consequences. And as a young kid, if I hit my sister or my sister and I were having a fight, we would have something called the repenting badge. We both went, we were both at fault. And then we both had to come to a parent and say, our side of the story. And then whoever was like, you know, really, really got the blame for it had apologized and promised never to do it again. Well, she did this in a little bit. And so there it was really great with this repente mentioned that. Regardless, if you started it, you were involved. And so you had your choice to get involved and add to the chaos had consequences, your other appointment with her. And so with that entailed a really easy segue to money, because it's the same thing, right? Your choice to do this, your choice to spend that your choice to save this, your choice to not right, and also with siblings, because I have three younger siblings, it was really easy to compare notes, right? So there's a little competition that was involved in a good way just to like, oh, well, I spent money on this and she didn't know she has, you know, more in her bank and who maybe I should spend more, but you know, there's there was, there was a lot of that like out loud conversation or just internal thinking of like, again, choices and consequences. And we had family laws. And this is the second chapter of the book. Because to help set that up for families. Now you don't have to, I say to every family, you don't have to do it the same. This is just how we did it. And you can take what you want from it. But it's nice for the children to know that if you do this, this is what's going to happen. There's clearness and there's empowerment with that, too. It's like oh, yeah, I am. Okay, if I hit my sister, I'm gonna go there plenty venture if I do this, you know, I'm gonna go to the calm couch. You know, we had a calm couch. Serpentine. So there were structures that were that you knew as a kid of like, Oh, yeah. Okay, this is what's going to happen. This is what's come in?

Chris LoCurto 23:55
Oh, my gosh, it. It's so good. So if you ask the average person, what a child needs most, most people are gonna say, love. Right? We disagree with that.

Paige 24:07
I disagree with that too. Good.

Chris LoCurto 24:11
The number one thing they need is consistency. If a child can understand how to anticipate you, then it helps them in again, their decision-making process, but it helps them to understand I know this about mom or dad, I feel peaceful, even to the extent of you know, going to the bench, right? Because I know what's going to happen. I know what's going to happen. And I think So tying that together with what you just said the reason why so many people just don't have a plan. They don't have a good structure. They don't have a good system. And so unfortunately, you know, why are we so surprised that so many people don't know how to handle their finances and they're gaining they're learning from You know, marketing and you know, companies that want to use every bit of their money. So active versus responding to it, it's so like,

Chris LoCurto 25:10
yeah, it's like, well, I don't have a plan, so I'm not going to do anything about it. And I hope that they're going to do better than I did. Well, there's your plan, you do have a plan. That's our plan. Yeah. It's not gonna work out very well. But talk about that structure, that Saturday structure, kind of dig into that and kind of help us to see I know, you're gonna go way further in this in the book and everything, there's a lot of information on that, but kind of give us a little bit of just a concept of what that structure looks like,

Paige 25:37
totally. And my dad, I, my joke is that if he wasn't a great business owner, he would have made an amazing military officer, because my dad was all about routines, and structure and systems like who, so every Saturday, we would wake up and the first thing we were doing is like cleaning the house, it's like we had our room where to pick up our room and zone a designated area. So I would have liked the living room, and I'd fluff the pillows and fold the blankets and put everything away. And then he would inspect guys to make sure

Paige 26:13
that we did it. And we would get a report on it. And we would march you know, then we go look at what my sister did. And so after we did that, then he was like, Okay, now the whole, the space is clear, we're able to like to sit down. So we'd go grab our notebooks, we would have the pen and we would have the notebook and we would sit normally just that like a table. And he would have some sort of lesson activity my dad was very hands-on, he loved to bring in jelly beans, or gold coins, or there would be something interactive, and I grew up Montessori. So we're all about like the touch, too. And then we keep it very simple. So we would date like the lesson, we'd say the title of the lesson, and then it'd be like, a couple of points, it'd be like write it down. And they make us write it down. And we do the lesson. And I still have my notebook. It's crazy to like, like, oh five is just so amazing. And then after we would talk and it only is about 20 to 30 minutes, it would not be a long lesson. And sometimes you'd repeat the lessons. Right? So let's say we're stocking talking about stocks. We would be memorizing the 10 stocks that we own. And then we learned about the stock price. I mean, they would be like, exponentially added on versus just one and done. Okay, we talked about this got it, right, like, No 12-year-olds, like, what's that? Right? Like, I don't know, I don't, I don't get what P or dividend means. So yeah, and then afterward, we do a big family brainstorm. And then we'd have the rest of the day to figure out what we were going to do whether it was going to the bookstore or movie, or playing outside. But that was my every Saturday, consistently.

Chris LoCurto 28:06
So I mean, I'm just, I would love to meet your dad. I mean, well, you need to meet my dad, you need to be so phenomenal. And the thing I love is you're going through all of that is, as you said, it's not a one-and-done here. This was a long-term plan for your dad, this is a no, this is life. I'm going to teach you, I'm going to teach you life. I'm going to teach you how to handle this. And I just am so phenomenal to learn from a teacher. That is what I love. I love to see that. I love to hear that. It is something that appears to be a reward for you girls.

Paige 28:45
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, looking back, it was it's, it's the reward because it's self-taught. He gave us self-confidence. He gave us the rule that we can do anything. We can do it. We can have hard conversations, we can fire people, we can sit in a room with an accountant and ask really big questions. How do I save money with that? How do I do that? What can I write off and not feel intimidated to approach these topics that a lot of adults feel intimidated to approach like where do I start? I don't know. So he gave us like this confidence within ourselves of you can do it and you're gonna be on this journey with me we would sit in these, you know, professional service, meetings with him have no idea. It was very intimidating. We'd have to dress up, you know all these things and then debrief us afterward. But because I did that when I was 12 with my sister, my sister's running the family business now and I have my own company like it's because we've done this so many times.

Chris LoCurto 29:53
It's just so natural. It's not something that you have to go out and learn. It's something that it's natural. It's part of you. I mean, obviously, there's an incredible amount to learn as you go forward with running the business directly. Right. But my gosh, stepping in with confidence into running a business is just a world of difference. And again, we're talking about finances. But I mean, really, I'm sure it didn't end with finances. I'm sure there are other things that, you know, were part of this. And, you know, just even the thought of, you know, I love while you're creating a baby, your creativity comes up. I just, you know, how much of that was just so freely fostered? Because of this situation?

Paige 30:36
Yeah, it was. Right. Exactly. It was just, you know, it's so it was so innate again, and this was my upbringing. So it's like, doesn't everybody do this? Like, I was like, Wait, you didn't have that? Like you didn't have? Do you have a mom's class? Like you didn't have any class? And it Yeah, it was just it reflecting back, you know, now on it. It's just, we're, I'm so appreciative and so grateful. And I, and I wanted to share this with other families to have like, Listen, this doesn't have to, it can feel tedious and overwhelming, like, because I have a lot in the book, right? Like, this is a lot. But just take the one thing that works for you. And the best thing that you can give your kids is consistency and structure. And if you can do that from an early age, they know what's coming. And then you can add to that. And it's just it's so cool. And I'm sure my dad has tonnes of stories too of like, what we asked him I think my sister one time asked him like, well, do we have enough money? Like she's really worried that we didn't have enough? So those are

Chris LoCurto 31:40
the funnel. That's why I'm teaching you guys this child labor starts in a week.

Paige 31:45
Or 14, like gotta, go find a job, like, ya know, amazing, so. Yeah, it was. It's great.

Chris LoCurto 31:54
You know, it's awesome to think, I don't know if you've ever read CS Lewis's Screwtape Letters, but there's a fantastic part in Screwtape Letters where Screwtape is so just a quick concept, folks. This is one of the negative books that he wrote from a demon writing to his nephew, who's an up-and-coming demon. He was talking about how you know, he's got him so you don't get the letters from the nephew, you only get their letters back to him. And so he's writing to him. And he's saying you allowed him to read a book and enjoy it. No, no, no, no, that you cannot do that. You have got to make that a chore. As you're talking about this with your dad, there's no chore to this. This is you know, I'm just hearing this going, oh my gosh, it wasn't like gotta teach the kids finances. It's another Saturday. Right? Right, man. I mean, there's no way he makes it through all of this. If this is a chore. Exactly.

Paige 32:53
And I think that's such a huge component I have never spoken about is that this was fun. For my dad, this was an of course, he'd have like, I'm sure some ideas for the lesson of the day. But let's say because he was a business owner, he was having an issue or a, you know,, something that was going on in the moment about customer service, right? We would have a lesson around customer service because it was like our life. And so as he was experiencing these things, or let's say you didn't fire somebody, he talked about hiring people, right, hiring great people. And so there was, you know, flexibility within this. And he had really fun teaching us kids about it and being a part of his world because that's what we cared about while we cared about was just what are you doing? We want to be a part of it. And he enjoyed it. So we enjoy it.

Chris LoCurto 33:46
I love it. I love it. I love it. What do you see differently? Again, another great softball pitcher you go? What do you see different in what you experienced with your dad compared to what we see in our culture today? This process I would say commitment, a commitment he wanted, he knew that his kids were his legacy, not his business. And that's all he cared about. He's like, who cares if the business goes up in flames, like what I'm teaching my kids and the success of my children for what they want to be successful in? I did my job like I that's like the best compliment he can get is from you know, hearing great things about his kids. And so committed to us and, and really the commitment for my family like going down the ranks because I can't wait to do this with my daughter when she's older. Like she's only six months now but like, oh, mom's glass here we go.

Chris LoCurto 34:59
Nine months Can you hold a pencil? Not yet? 10 months, let's try that. I mean, you have to be, you have got to be so stoked to get started. And that's the funny thing. This is the question that's in the back of my mind. Yeah. What would you do differently? Like, I know, so much of what your dad did was great. But is there something you like, you know, I want to do this differently.

Paige 35:22
Well, I'm not as military as my father was. So I think there will be a little more flexibility in within the structure. And my father is not the best musician, and I love to sing, I will incorporate a lot more songs and movements into these lessons. Because I love to dance, and I love to sing. So he is monotone, he can't sing. Like that didn't happen. But I would say, you know, just incorporating my personality into it, like I'm different than my father. And now he had a great structure, and I can use that. But I think that I'll use my personnel, whatever works for me, right and making, making sure that I have fun with it, too. So gosh,

Chris LoCurto 36:10
that's so important for everybody to hear. That's so important. The basis of this thing is to get that structure. And when we come back after this break, I want to hit that but being able to take a look at who you are, I'm not going to be the singer, my wife is, and she can do stuff and make up stuff on the fly and do that. And that's great. You know, but that's not gonna be me either. I'm not regimented, like that. But I'm just like, you don't want me singing. So children, let me do this over here. You know, let me play. Yeah, I'll play some drums for you. There you go. So when we come back, we're going to hit that family structure and those family rocks. Folks, if you've been listening to me for any length of time, then you know, the number one issue when it comes to business when it comes to the family when it comes to friendships, is having a lack of high-quality communication, to make sure that you are absolutely winning in every aspect of your life, it all starts with having great communication, the best way to get that communication is to understand your personality style, and to understand the personality style of the folks that you're spending the most time with, whether it be at work, whether it be at home, the best way to do that is to go to ChrisLoCurto.com/store. And get your personality profile and personality profiles for your team today, get them for your family members. Today, as you go through that profile, you will begin to see the greatest ways to communicate go to ChrisLoCurto.com/store today. Alright, folks, we are back. And we are talking about developing a structured set of family laws so that you prepare your children to become financially dependent as they get older. Give us just some hints. And I know again, a lot more of this is in the book, folks, you got to get this book, we're gonna talk about how to get that in just a bit. Give us just some hints on how to get that structure.

Paige 38:12
Yeah, so there are a lot of different activities you can do. And I think the biggest thing is coming up with what works for your family, you know, what are and it depends on what stage of your family that you're in to right. So what are your family values? What do you value bringing words and conversation to those and saying those out loud, we had family sayings, they could also be family mantras, and they look like this, I can do it, do it, right, do your best and treat other people how they want to be treated. Nice now that's the golden rule. And all my siblings, we can all recite those and so giving that you know, self-empowerment to the kids, right? And then building like it's yourself and then your wealth. And then okay learning about wealth and because your, what you spend your money on tells a story about you what you value, right? Like if you like experiences, you're going to buy experiences, if you like things, you're gonna buy things you know, and that kind of tells what you place value on. And so earning money saving money spending money is how our family did it. And so teaching kids how to earn money that's hard child labor laws are now really earning money. So how do you create something where they can wash the car and it's you know, $10 or wash the dog you know, and do this kind of bigger chores where they can earn money and then also put in where okay if you're seven years old, you can earn $7 You know, kind of create this fictitious but not really, you know, earning money and then saving your money. We tallied it every Saturday we did a family bank. You know, we had a registrar subtract act you know, subtract it out, we took it to spend it. We added it in quarterly, we would get 10% in the coronet at national. Nice, nice. Everyone's like, Wait, how can I invest in that bank today? percent are you kidding me as I get like, of one penny on one. So funny. And so learning about that, like Oh, saving you there's an incentive to saving your money, and then spending your money allowing the kids to have the ability to take out money and to use it and to spend it on whatever they wanted to. My sister loves candy. She always wanted to spend money on candy. Like she had a candy drawer. I was like, okay, that's too much, but like, rot your teeth. But that's what she loved. She now she's a huge foodie now. So it's like food and whatnot. Again, you place your value on what you spend your money on. So things like that. And just coming up with, you know, simple structure, easy consistency, daily, weekly, monthly or doing something around it daily, we'd say our family savings weekly, we would do the family bank or earn, save, spend and monthly, there kind of be things whatever my parents felt like for that year that they were going to do with us.

Chris LoCurto 41:20
Oh my gosh, I love it. And I'm sure the statute of limitations has worn out. But so you and I can't get in trouble. But I'm sure you girls like me worked. illegally, or early on? Because it was important. I think it's ridiculous, you know, for all of these parents that like, oh, I don't want my kid to work. while they're in school. I want them to, you know, have their summers. And I'm like, Do you know what your child is going to look like? You know, when they get to college or when it's terrible. We were? Yeah, we were busting our butts. I think I was legally paid at 14 Going on from there. You know, before that is still. But I think one of the most powerful things that you just shared that I love is that your dad focused on building you as an individual first as a human being. You know, it's not about just teaching finances, because I hope you handle your finances. Well in the future. I love that the first focus was Who are you? Yes. You know, what are you supposed to be like? And so I wonder, do you guys, you know, as adults ever come back at Thanksgiving and like, quote, the family mantras or family laws, sit down at the table and go through?

Paige 42:38
We totally Can we talk and like us? So I have three, three younger siblings. And so yeah, so the four of us we do like an annual sibling trip, which is really fun. And we always laugh, like, you know, it's just fun things about our upbringing and mom and dad, and you know, all that. Yeah. Oh, yeah, we can. If you called any one of my siblings, a zombie, like, Okay, give me the whole thing. They were like,

Chris LoCurto 43:02
You need to sit down with your dad, like, and do like a serious meeting and set, you know, give him a notepad and a pen. Say, Dad, we're going to discuss how you're going to distribute your wealth to his children. So we're gonna teach you how we share that's a great idea. This is how we want it to look, dad, Sam's family, maybe dad and you're not in charge of it. So here's your nomad. Not to call out any of your friends or people that you know, well. But there's definitely a difference that you see in you in the people, you know, that is your age? What is the difference? Like? What are some of the things that are just obvious things? Oh, um, especially in the area of finances? Yeah, I

Paige 43:47
would just say the maturity with it, and the awareness of like, what is this? And, and I think a lot of the people that are my age, and if we ever talk about money or finances, it's kind of like, what's that? Right? Or like, what's that thing? But then they don't want to ask any more questions about it's like, no, no, it's okay. Like, let's have these open. I'm all for it. Right? Like, and even if I'm like, Oh, I don't know what that is, let's go find that out. Or, like, let's ask somebody, you know, it's, I think that there's a lot more, there's a hesitancy to have these conversations with everyone, right? Like, not just their accountant or financial advisor or banker or whoever it's like, even with your peers, it's kind of like, oh, okay, that's like, you don't really want to talk about that. Okay.

Chris LoCurto 44:39
Well, yeah, I think it's so funny because, again, that's something that as a teacher, you know, you're a teacher. This is stuff, the self-confidence that you were given to be able to teach this stuff and not have a problem getting quality perspective and asking questions. There are so many people that come from that place where they don't have that. That teacher in their Life allowed them to be okay with going. I don't actually know this. I don't know what that word means. I don't know what this process is that you're talking about. Yeah. So when you have that, and this is yet again, point 97 of why you'd need to teach this to your kids. Being able to ask questions and not be afraid, is why I'm able to get to so much information in my life. I'm not worried about people, you know, judging me or I don't care if I don't know the answer. I don't know the answer, right? It's just that's the way it is. And I think it's so difficult when you're leading somebody in that you can tell they're afraid to ask and you're like, or, you know, the fear. The being afraid asks really sucks, or they don't know what to ask. Like, they're like, legitimately, I want to ask you something. I don't even know what to ask right now. It's like, Alright, let me just keep teaching for another 15 minutes and see if I pull something out.

Paige 46:02
Like, let me just get hold. Hold your horses. Yeah, exactly.

Chris LoCurto 46:06
So again, just fantastic. For parents. You know, it doesn't we're not just talking about little ones. Oh, my gosh, you forgot it's about to head out the door. You know, late teens, let's make sure that we're getting them this type of information. All right. So question. Let's talk about some personal goals, such as saving up to buy something that you want, which that message almost is nonexistent nowadays. You know, people so believe that you can't possibly save up for something that you have to go into debt for everything. How important is that for children to have? And if so, how can parents teach this to their kids?

Paige 46:44
Oh my gosh, this is like, it's funny. I just had this conversation with my mom last week, we were visiting them and she goes, the best way that I would tell your brother oh, if he you know if he really wanted a rabbit she said when he was younger liked it she was like, I'm going to not auto rabbit like so she's like, the best way to get your brother to not do anything tell him that he has to pay his own money for it. You know, he had a, and now he was like 10 it has to come out of his bank and all this just like any be like, Nope, don't want the rabbit-like, crazy. I knew how to motivate your brother with like, Oh, you have to pay for this. He's like, nope, not paying for it. Like he is a great saver. It's like no not worth it. Like, I don't want to pay my own money.

Chris LoCurto 47:32
changes the value of the thing. If I don't have to pay for it. Of course, I want to wrap it

Paige 47:37
exactly like oh, and then I have to pay for it. And I have to clean Its poop. And I have to do all these animals by you know, this, the hay that goes underneath it and the cage and bomba all, etc, etc. Yeah, she's like him, she asked me for a solid year about a rabbit. And then I was like, Okay, fine. You can pay for all the expenses. And then she's like, he dropped that very quickly. So different motivators, you know, but yes, and I love that my parents did that with us. It's like, No, you, Oh, you want it, you can pay for it. Because there's a different energy exchange, when you have to pay for it, or you had to do it, there's value to that there's, oh, I earned this money. It's my hard-earned money, or I saved like I sacrifice to save for this thing. And so it's so much richer because of that.

Chris LoCurto 48:33
Again, another aspect of teaching decision-making is where so many parents look back on their kids' lives. And again, we you know, we talk a lot about this Next-Level Life and they look back and parents like, Oh, I wish, I wish they knew this or I wish, you know, my kid understood this. And it's like, that's part of that parenting part, you got to be intentional, if you will just get in there in teach these things and help them to understand this, then they will have that decision making when they're older. So go and let

Paige 49:01
they do it. Let them touch it, right? Let them experience it, let them do it. And I think that's something that, like, parents, my age now are like, Oh, just handle everything right, like Wolf. They don't need to do it. Like, it's like noodles, do the opposite. Like, let them give up, give them and say go do it. Right. Like they're cute little humans are very capable. They're very capable.

Chris LoCurto 49:30
Yeah, otherwise you get an entitled kid. And this is another thing that you know when you talk to the older generations, they're so frustrated with entitlement and everything, and I'm one of the people who go Hey, our fault people, right? You whatever, whatever we palette when we take things away from the child, I was working again, you know, 12 years old out there under the table making money because it was allowed, you know, A one-year-old and I have a phenomenal work ethic, right? And it's just, it's amazing.

Paige 50:06
Because you understand it and you understood it so too.

Chris LoCurto 50:10
Exactly. So if you allow your kids the opportunity to get in and dig in and experience and I love what you keep saying to feel it, right, if you if they can feel it, if they can touch it, they can experience it that way, then then they will, it creates decision making. When you convince yourself that doing it for them is better then you don't realize how much hurt you're putting your child in, because they're going to hurt later on in life. So, this brings me to a question I'd love to know. Because I don't know about your husband. Was he raised with this? Or how like, what is it? Like? You guys know, have a child? Where's he had all of this conflict? Like? Was he raised this way? Is he like learning as he goes? You make him come to the table with a notebook and a pen?

Paige 51:00
Yeah, no, definitely very different than me. In terms of upbringing. Of course, like, I feel like my family is very unique in the sense of like, we talked about it, and we did it. I mean, now, his parents did make him work. Like him, I think his first job was laying sod for a whole summer. And this is when he was like, he came back to realize, like, I think I'm gonna go to college.

Speaker 2 51:26
I don't want to work outside, like,

Paige 51:29
I think I'm gonna sit in front of a theatre, that sounds great. Like, I'm so cute. We laugh about, you know, as we share those experiences together. And yeah, it's been really fun, you know, being married, and like talking about these things with him, because he has a different perspective. And that's very normal when you get married, you know, you bring these different values and these different upbringings to the relationship. But in general, I feel like he is on board with what I do. I mean, he gets it, he's like, it's awesome. You know, what you did? And how you're doing it and everything. And yeah, it's fun having those conversations with him. So

Chris LoCurto 52:11
I think it'd be so interesting to see, you know, when when you start teaching and training, I wonder if he's gonna be on the sidelines going? Hey, yeah, let me throw us out, you know, you wanted to be a part of that process. Because I mean, it really does. I think when you have, even if it's just one parent, that is intentionally enjoying and loving training their child, it really inspires the other parent to get involved, you know, and just be a part and change the way that they do things as well. So normally, in an interview, I asked this question for many, many years, what would you go back and tell a younger version of yourself, but I feel like you're telling you, we've got that answer. But is there anything you would tell you a younger version of yourself differently?

Paige 53:01
I don't know. Because I think that, you know, if I went back, okay, so if I have gotten this question before, so if I would go back and like tell my 20-year-old self, do things sooner, like do it sooner? That's always what I go back to because it's like, oh, it's so I wish I did that sooner. Right? Like, just do it.

Chris LoCurto 53:23
That's yeah.

Paige 53:24
Do you think sooner? That kind of tells me

Chris LoCurto 53:26
yourself? Well, what's on the horizon for you? What's up next?

Paige 53:31
Mom's class 2.0. Yeah, I am doing a bunch of podcasts. I am spending a lot of quality time with my daughter. She's getting bigger, which is crazy. And working with a bunch of you know, families, family businesses, helping them learn about yourself and your wealth.

Chris LoCurto 53:55
That's so good. So good. All right. So let's talk about how people can get involved. The average parent out there right now listening. If they go to spend then. Yep. Which is where all your information is. But what do you suggest? How do you suggest they get involved? Where do they start? What do they do?

Paige 54:19
So buy all

Chris LoCurto 54:20
my books? Exactly, definitely.

Paige 54:23
Start there, buy all my books. And then I would say if they read my dad's class, read the financial children's books to your kids have those conversations, you can do it when they're older too, right? You can say have those conversations with teens, even in their 20s and then the one chapter, if you're going to do one thing, would be chapter five in dad's class, which is the Family Bank. to it, it's so great. It gives the kids the power to do the Family Bank.

Chris LoCurto 54:55
Yep, absolutely such good stuff. Paige, how else can people get more of you? You where they follow your social media.

Paige 55:03
Yep. Miss Spend Then on Facebook Spend hen on Instagram, I'm on my LinkedIn Paige Afendoulis is my new name. All the good stuff is paid for at spendthen.com.

Chris LoCurto 55:23
Well, thank you so much for joining us. This is so good. Such fun stuff, folks, you've got to get all of these books, and you got to get this going. And again, don't think that your kids are too old. Right? I mean, crud, even if they're, if they're gone, and you can still sit down and have some influence on teaching them about finances. It's never too late to start. But definitely, let's get those young ones going get them learning, get them molded their decision making, you know, help them to make right decisions, so much good information in this interview, you know about No, I don't want to buy that rabbit, right or No, I do want to buy more candy, or whatever it is. Help them to make those decisions. So thanks. Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it.

Paige 56:10
Thank you, Chris. Such a pleasure.

Chris LoCurto 56:13
Oh, so good. So good. Well, folks, that's all the time we have for today. As always, we hope this has helped you and benefited you. We want you to take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life, and change your kid's life. And join us on the next episode.