ABC's of Money with Alan Akina - Lesson 13: Open Mic & Ask Anything

Good morning, kids, or good afternoon depending on where you are. Welcome to another edition of the ABCs of Money, Lesson 13. Welcome back, you made it! Yay! This is the last lesson. So Lesson 13 is what we call Open Mic. And I told that to my kids the other day, like, Open Mic? What is Open Mic, Dad? Open mic means I have the microphone and you can ask Uncle any question that you want. So I hope you brought your questions. I'm gonna go through it. Kiani has been behind the camera. She's been working hard getting the board ready, getting the stand, answering your questions online. And so she's awesome. And let's give Kiani a big Instagram round of applause. Yay, Kiani! Thank you so much. First question.

What should teenagers do right now to position themselves before they turn 18?

Financially speaking, okay, number one, you're doing the right thing. You're learning, understanding money. Number 2, I want you to pretend that you are an air traffic controller. So an air traffic controller is the, the person that sits in the big tower at every airport. They can see the whole airport, and their job is to direct planes coming in, direct planes going out, what gates to go to, what, what strips to land on, This is how you need to be with your money. You need to be able to direct your money. Okay, so understanding all that. The next thing is you need to create some income. Okay, so you need to get some income from work, work money that's gonna go right into your savings account. Okay, this savings account is gonna be your holding area for you to find places for this money to go to work for you. Now, how much money should you put in here? Minimum 10%. Of what you make. So from your job, maybe you had a yard sale, you work for your parents, you do chores, whatever money you're bringing in, we're gonna want to put at least 10%, up to 25% away into the savings. And then from the savings account, we're gonna direct it into buying stocks. You might start a business with it, or you might invest in real estate. That, that's a little bit harder, but— Um, Do that and then read, read books. Read a lot of books.

What stock companies do you invest in?

What companies do I buy? I buy US companies that are really solid, that I know, that I have an idea of. So because I use a lot of Apple products, I'm very familiar with Apple. I have an Apple phone, all my computers are Apple. Different services from them. I see how they make money. I have Apple, Microsoft, Disney, right? Disney is a good company. They, you know, they have a lot of different companies that they own. There's a lot of great companies out there. I own a bunch. I mean, I own hundreds and hundreds of different companies. in my mutual funds. And so I try to spread it out, not all my money in one company. You want some diversification. So I pick individual stocks and then I have mutual funds.

Do you have any book recommendations?

Book recommendations? So I liked, I liked a lot of books that Robert Kiyosaki wrote. He's the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. Very, very, very good book. One of my favorite books. The Millionaire Next Door is a book based on research. Very good book. It was great for me. Another good starter book would be The Richest Man in Babylon. Gives you some financial concepts. And then a real estate book is that— that might— my favorite book is by John Schaub. It's called Building Wealth One House at a Time. So those are those, you know, Rich Dad Poor Dad. Of course, you can get my book. Okay, kids, so you can have my book. This is a great starter book, covers a lot of things that we talked about. You see, it's really simple to read. It's there's big words. Okay, if you haven't done it yet, you can get this for free. Okay, kids, here's here's how you get. You can download this right to your phone or your iPad. Go to this website. Very simple. AlanAkina.com. You can download the free copy right to your cell phone and read it, or your computer that you're on, and absolutely free. Okay. The other ones you probably have to buy. The other thing that you can do too, okay, without having to buy those books is to go on YouTube. There's a lot of great book reviews or talks by these authors. And so I've been learning a lot about over the last 12 months. I've been learning a lot about investing in stocks from one of the greatest investors our world has ever seen. His name is Warren Buffett. Okay, so look him up. Go to YouTube and type in Warren Buffett. You'll see all kinds of interviews, and he shares his philosophies of how he invests. I've learned quite a bit, and I haven't had to buy a book for it. I just watched his YouTube channels, and I watch it. I listen to it when I'm driving my car, when I'm in the shower, I have it playing, and just, you know, out and about. I just try to absorb— my schedule is pretty busy, so I try to absorb information every day that can help me, and I do it through YouTube.

Okay, Ashlyn says, my dad is receiving some settlement money. Where should he keep it until he starts his one-on-one classes? A savings account? A money market account? What do you suggest?

Yeah, so I would, um, Depending on how long it'll sit there, I would probably put it in a money market because there's not that much risk to it. So, you know, have it in his checking and then move a majority over to a money market or at the least a savings. Now here's another option, which is some online banks. So it depends how much money it is, Ashlyn. Goldman Sachs has— they're an investment bank. Remember we talked about the 4 types of banks? They're an investment bank, but they started a retail bank product. It's kind of weird. But I think I saw they're offering like over 1.5% or 1.2% in an online savings account. So that could be even higher than the money market and should be FDIC insured up to $250,000. So it's protected if anything goes wrong. So double-check that.

For college, for kids that are going to go into college or haven't decided a major, what advice would you give to figuring out what they want to do as far as their career?

Great question. I would, I would look around at different professions and study up on the different degrees that these schools that you're looking at offer. But then ultimately, what does that degree get for you, right? So the school and the degree is just a stepping stone to get you to where you want to be. So, so I would say look at the kind of lifestyle that you want to have. And then find things that interest you and then figure out the field that they're in. So I'll give you an example of how I started my college career. I came into it with 2 goals, came into college with 2 goals. Number one, I wanted to go into a career that I could help people. And number two, I wanted a career that could provide a good enough living to be able to take care of my family. So those are the 2 goals. And so then I started looking around, well, what can help people that I'm familiar with? Well, then the medical field came up. Well, I don't really want to be a doctor, but what else can I do? So I narrowed it down to 2 fields, either physical therapist, because that, you know, really helps people, older people, younger people recovering, or a chiropractor. I was exposed to chiropractic care when I was 19, 20 years old, and it helped me. So I got interested in that. I just went to college and I thought about going to chiropractic school 'cause it helps people and they can make pretty good money. Now, did it work out for me? Obviously not, but the 2 goals that I have did. Chiropractic school didn't work, physical therapy didn't work for me as a career, but what I do today, I still help people in a different way. I help them with their financial problems, not their medical problems. And I can provide a good living for my family. So you set those targets, you'll start to figure things out.

Our auntie got into an MLM scam. How does she recover getting out of it? And how can I protect/prevent it from happening to me?

So you gotta be aware of things, right? This is where financial education comes in. Things, when you understand money, it just makes sense. And then you'll be able to tell For the most part, what is a scam and what's legitimate? Because you'll be able to read. But it's just that this part of her learning experience, she's gonna have to learn from that. But what I would do is make sure they're not going to charge her credit card anymore. See if there's a refund policy that she can get any money back, and then don't have them charge because a lot of these MLMs, they get you in and then they charge you every month to buy their product. Even if you don't sell it, you still got to buy $150 of their. Whatever their shake, weight loss product, whatever it is, their pill, and people forget about it. Just keep getting all these shipments, and you hear about these people with like all these products in their garage. It's because of that they don't they don't stop it. You got to think about the cash flows. You understand money. Remember air traffic controller? Man, I I got I got more planes going out than coming in. My airport is going to be empty. That's your money copper. So. Yeah, get a refund. Stop all payments to auto ship.

What inspired you to start one on one?

Great question. Two things. Number one, my childhood, right? My my experiences as a child really molded me into what I am doing today. And the the other part of it was, do you remember our business class that we did? And we took a a line from the movie Robots. Remember robots? See a need, fill a need. That's exactly what I did with One on One Financial. So I filled my own need. I was looking for financial education. I was looking to learn about money. I was very curious as a college student and coming out of college. I wanted to know about money. So I researched it and studied it and tried to find places where I can learn. I couldn't find any place that I could go to learn the things that I wanted to know. So I filled the need. For myself. That's how I started One on One, filling a need for myself and helping other people along the way.

Is there a minimum amount you need to put into a high-yield savings account?

No, I don't think so. Yeah, I think a lot of those online banks have no minimums. The local banks might, but you know, you're a kid. So if you're a kid, they have custodial accounts and they usually lower the requirements.

What role does your culture and your background play in your life as a father and as a CEO?

I use a lot of my culture growing up in Hawaii, my surroundings, just 'cause that's what you know, right? You become, you know, part of your environment. And the environment that I grew up in was a Hawaiian family that was very open, loving, caring, and hardworking. And so, and then I use some of the cultural roots from my Hawaiian background And I implemented that into, um, into my company. And so we've created at my company, um, core values and, uh, our first core value, core value number 1 is lead with your heart and serve. And I think that that comes from my, my growing up, my, my childhood days, my Hawaiian ancestry, right? Your heart, leading with your heart. It's about serving other people. That's core value number 1 for us. And, And it's played a huge part in building, building the company that I have today is culture, right? Your, your company becomes, um, like your personality. And that's what ONEoONE has become. It's like the extension of me, my personality about helping other people, being very concerned about others and teaching and helping them to grow and to be successful. So, um, yeah, so very important to, to, Use your roots and all the good things from it. Yeah.

Do you recommend starting a CD?

CD is not bad. Yeah, CD is like a like a little higher savings rate, but I would check the rates. So so if you have money, right? So this is what you're asking, right? So you have money from work, it go into a savings account. Savings accounts don't really pay that much at your traditional or local banks. If you do the savings online. The online banks pay a higher interest rate to you because they don't have to pay for their physical stores. And then they have another savings tool as a CD or certificate of deposit, which is like another way to save money, but I don't think the rates are that high on it. And then there's money markets, another saving vehicle that's not as risky. So those are things to research: savings interest rates, money market interest rates, CDs. And really, you're asking about a CD because you're trying to earn money on your cash.

Would you recommend opening an online banking for young adults that are heading to college in another state?

Yeah, yeah, that, that having an online bank account, something you can move money in and out quickly for your college-age students, is going to be helpful. And then again, those online banks offer a higher rate. I was just telling somebody that I think, I think the investment bank Goldman Sachs has a really good— I think it's called Marcus. The Marcus account has a lot higher interest rate on the savings.

How do we pay off our home quicker? We don't have that much of accelerated payments due to our mortgage and other bills. Also, we have a 30-year loan.

Okay, so this is what— this is my specialty. It takes an hour to explain this, but for most people that have a positive cash flow, so they make more than they spend each month, it doesn't need to have to be like thousands more, just hundreds more than you spend each month. By having you on a certain system, it's a budgeting and tracking system, and it's a, it's a detailed debt paydown system and banking system to show you how to use your paychecks to work for you. So one of the things I teach people is Instead of putting your paychecks, right? So here's your paycheck into a regular checking account. We put it into a debt checking account, which saves you more interest. And I have I do these hour-long webinars that are free. I just did one last night and the night before. Unfortunately, I'm not having one today because I'll be on the road. But next week, so. Message me here on Instagram. I'll forward you my schedule, and if you can't make it to the live event, I'll send you a recorded video on how you can pay off your mortgage quicker. That— I do that every day. Every day.

What's a tip you can give to any kids that are listening? The biggest tip you have for them?

Okay, so there's a couple of them, right? Number one is to do the best you can in school. I know it sounds crazy, but here's the thing. You need to have some education, right? And so challenge yourself to take the best classes that you have at your school. And then if college is for you, try to go to the best school that you can to get as much information because all this knowledge, you're going to use some of it. You're not going to use some of it. That's just the way it is, right? But the more knowledge you pass through your brain, the better off you'll be and the better prepared you'll be to make wise decisions when it comes to investing, when it comes to building a business, when it comes to, to communicating with others. And so education, huge. Okay, your academic education. Secondly is financial education. Learn, read, listen to YouTube channels on finances and podcasts, right? That's something you can do. And then I would say take the shot. Don't be afraid to fail or to lose. That is part of life. That's part of the process. We will lose some, you know, sometimes some games we're just going to lose, but that's part of what we need to do. So if you want to start a business, try it, go for it. You buy stock, go for it. You're going to learn. Could we start small, right? We're not going to put like millions of dollars into our new business or millions of dollars into a stock. We start really small and then we work our way up. So if I could go back and tell myself— I'm not sure how old you are— I would tell myself to be more aggressive, to try harder, not be so conservative or scared of failing or things not working. And I had to develop that over years, over time, and I wish I would, you know, take that back.

How can I find out about getting started in stocks?

There's a lot of great things on online YouTube channels, podcasts, but I talked about an app that we've been using. So Kiani, my kids have been using an app called Stockpile. So we've been giving away these, these cards. So Stockpile is an app. It's free to download on your phone. They're 99 cents a trade, but it's meant for newbies, okay? New people like you, kids. Young adults, and I like them because it's simple to use and they got great companies you can buy like Apple and Disney and Microsoft and, and Costco and American Express. And I mean, just all kinds of companies. And the trades are $0.99. So anytime you buy stock, it's gonna cost $0.99, or you sell it. So that's, you know, a little bit of money, but I think it's a great investment into your future, and probably the best thing is you can buy fractional shares. So yesterday Apple was— excuse me, Disney was at $108 a share, I believe. You don't have to have $108 to buy Disney. You can have $5, $10 to buy a fraction of that share, and you can start small. So yeah, you just start small. Buy one stock, one company. And then buy another company and get 3 to 5 different companies that you really like that are good companies. And over time, you'll start to build up and you'll have more money to put into it.

Okay, someone says it's about choosing the best ROI in your investments.

Yeah, I mean, ROI, kids, stands for return on investment. Okay, so, so I'm gonna put in this much money, right? I'm gonna put in $100 in this company. What is gonna be my return on this investment, right? That's what the R is, the return on your dollars put in. Remember, we're investing not to be cute, but we're investing to make money. Investing is about making money. It's making your money work for you so you can have more money to make it work for you. Okay? And then eventually you'll be able to have money to spend on different things.

Will you allow high schoolers to shadow one of your instructors like an internship?

Yeah, if you're, if you're a high schooler, DM me and I can arrange something for you. I think that'd be great.

What is the first step to starting a business once you have a business plan?

Oh, your first step once you have a business plan, then, then you just start. Just dig right in, go for it, start selling, create your product and sell it. Or your service and just start selling it just to a small group of people. I was telling someone on Facebook earlier, my earlier group there, they were from London, I think, right? They have a cosmetics business that they want to start. So they're looking for a factory. Well, I said, well, instead of getting a factory, just go in your kitchen and create the product itself, the cosmetic, and then use it and then get your friends and family, just your surrounding area to try it out and figure out which products work and which ones don't. Get rid of the ones that don't and focus on the ones that people like. Get it to a point where you start to develop it that people say, oh, I love this, I would buy this, how much is it? Now you know you got something that's like, well, I'll buy it, how much is it? Now you have the market ready to buy and then you can start selling online, right? You start online, use social media to market. It's free, has a broader reach. You could put pretty pictures about your, your, your your product on there and you can start to sell, and then you go to a manufacturer to make those products or something like that. But start small in your area and then grow.

Do you think 12 to 13 years old is a good age to start a business?

Absolutely. Great time. Go for it. Don't be afraid.

What's a decent loan for starting your business?

Don't take a loan. Bootstrap. You remember my business lesson I did? I talked about bootstrapping. You know what bootstrapping is? Trying to do the business as low— start your business with as the least amount of money possible. We're gonna bootstrap it. We're gonna do everything. We're gonna work hard. It's called sweat equity. We're gonna ask friends and family to help chip in to, hey, can you come over to my house? We're gonna, we're gonna make this cosmetic product, or we're gonna make you know, cookies, or we're gonna sew these shirts and masks that we're gonna sell. People come and help me get donations for free in here and then spend as little money as possible. Try not to take on a loan. Loans put too much pressure on you, cost interest, and you got to develop your product. So a lot of people think you need that, but in today's environment, for most businesses, especially with online stuff, you don't need a lot of money. Start small.

What can you say to parents that are watching this? Like, what are 3 tips you can give them to simply teach their kids about finances?

Great question. So parents, number one, you have to be an example. Remember that the number one source of financial education for your children, my kids, is coming from us parents. And the way the kids learn from us is twofold. Number one, they learn from our example. What are our financial habits like? Because that's what they're going to pick up on. And number two, how are we communicating with them? Like, oh, you can't have this. Don't do that. You know this and that. Or we don't say anything about money. So, so let's change that mindset, right? Let's, let's, let's be open with our kids. Let's communicate. Now you don't need to tell your kids how much you make or all that stuff, but, but be open with them when it comes to money. It's going to come from you. Ultimately, it's, it's going to come from you. So that's. That's number one. Number two, do projects together. We we did the dream board as a family, and that gets the the the mind going. We trade stocks together, so we talk about stocks, and the kids share the different stocks that they have, and they kind of tease. Oh, mine went up more than yours. It's more of a competition, so I don't know if that's good or bad. And then With our properties, we make our kids go and work at the properties. We have them paint and clean when tenants change out, and getting them involved in those things hands-on, I think, is huge, huge. And so parents, it all comes back to you. How are you leading your family financially? Okay, remember that. How are you leading your family financially? That is key. And I have a special— What's that? I have a special announcement for you, so hang on to the end, okay?

How much backup money should I have for my business? Should I have a 1-month backup or a 2-month? What's the least?

Yeah, so most businesses fail because of lack of money. So you almost want to treat it like your personal finances. You have 3 to 6 months of Emergency funds for your business, and that that can help you get through some tough times. And I know it's hard in your personal financial life to do that, and it's going to be just as hard in your business. But you have to discipline yourself with your business to put some of that money away for a rainy day. And and I know some of you are more aggressive than others, but but that's great. That's that's great practice to have three to six months. For an emergency fund for your business.

How and where do we find the team to build a house? I want to build one of my own. How and where do I start?

So I would ask for— if you know of other people that have bought a house in your— or built a house in your area, ask for references for contractors. And you want to get 3 bids or 3 different contractors, and they can bid on your house. And you get testimonials from them. Ask them what kind of houses they've done. Go look at their other projects and get the feel for them because this is a tricky business.

When should you sell your share of stocks?

Only if you need money. If you buy good companies that you know are going to be around for a long time, if you have like companies like Apple, Microsoft, Disney, those are companies you probably never sell. Just keep keep going. Let it let let the dividends. I so so I was telling the other group earlier that you can reinvest your dividends. So in the Stockpile app. Companies, major companies will pay a dividend every quarter. And so if you switch on dividend reinvestment, just, it's just, it's just turning that on, that feature on. Every quarter they pay you a dividend, it reinvests it to buy more shares of that company. So when, when Apple pays out a dividend, I have it in my kids' app to take that dividend money to go buy more shares. And then that way you can build up your wealth automatically without ever thinking about it.

When paying our mortgage off faster, as asked earlier, should we consult with our mentor or some help can you give us personally?

Yeah, for sure, talk to your instructor. But if you're a one-on-one student, you're my student. So message me, DM me, I'm happy to help.

Are you happy with, um, with your life today as being a CEO, your company, your family, and uncle, everything Are you happy in everything that you do? Are you happy?

And ultimately, Connie, that's, I mean, that's a great question. Ultimately, that's what we do. That's, that's why we do what we do, right, is to be happy, to live happy lives. And I am very, very blessed. I, I am very thankful, very blessed, and I almost have to pinch myself every day. Kids, I'm a little sad. I'm sad that this is ending, but This is the beginning of your financial future. Take care of yourself, stay out of trouble, do your schoolwork, finish your online school, listen to your parents. I know you might not think that your parents knows what's best for you, but they do. They, they love you, they care about you, they want the best for you. And so listen to them, continue to learn, and, um, and I look forward to seeing you down the road. So God bless you, kids. God bless you, adults. I'll probably see you next week on the XYZs of Money. And comment here, message me if you need anything. Follow me for all the tips and advice. I'll see you soon. God bless you.