Money Lessons We Learned From Our Parents

If you could have a candid conversation with financial advisors who have decades of experience helping professionals, business owners, and families just like yours plan for their financial future, what questions would you ask? I'm Chip Munn, financial advisor, author, host, and CEO of Signature Wealth Group. For decades, my partners and advisory teams have had the opportunity to answer the tough questions for hundreds of our clients. Now we want to do the same for you. On the Signature Life Show, you'll hear answers to your burning and most perplexing finance, investing, and retirement questions from our Chief Investment Officer, Senior Wealth Advisors, Certified Financial Planners, and more. We aren't just financial advisors. We're parents, children, community leaders, and entrepreneurs with a passion for helping empower our clients to live life intentionally, what we call a Signature Life.

John Tate, what's up, man?

Chip Munn, it is a good Friday. It's sunny outside.

Welcome to Friday.

Doesn't get any better.

No. Well, and it's one of those things that I appreciate this time of year. It's warm. Scott Mitchell and I were talking about this yesterday, that, yeah, I'm just over the cold weather. So it's nice to finally have it be Spring and kind of not that fake spring where it's warm for 2 days. And then about the time you try to purge your closet, Jack Frost comes back or whatever and just freezes you out. It's real spring now.

Yeah. The outside activities at our house have definitely ramped up a notch in the past couple of weekends and more walks around the neighborhood, more outside playing in the backyard, jumping on the trampoline, whatever it is. I mean, I don't jump on the trampoline, but Turner definitely does.

Well, that's good. My Turner got a trampoline 3, 4 years ago for Christmas, and I think he jumped on it Christmas morning. You know, Trish had taken what felt like 3 days, like full days, putting that thing together. And yes, for those who are paying attention, my wife put the trampoline together because that's how she rolls, and it costs roughly $400 per jump.

Well, our Turner has taken to the trampoline a little bit more than that, but he's figuring out how to do front flips and backflips and all this stuff. And so he seems to enjoy it, but it's always more fun to do it when his parents can sit outside and watch him do it rather than him being outside by himself doing it. So the weather is definitely better that Kristen and I can sit outside and watch him do it.

Everything's different being the parent versus being the child, isn't it? I mean, when you experience— again, my Turner got his for Christmas— when you experience gifts as a child versus as a parent, just completely different. And the thing, John, that we wanted to talk about recently celebrated Mother's Day is some of the things that we've learned about money from our parents. So as we kind of kick it off Tell me a little bit about money in your house.

Money in our house growing up, I grew up with two younger brothers and all three of us had specific chores to do during the week for money. I mean, it started with cleaning the room. It started with picking up after the dog in the backyard. It included vacuuming our bedroom, some of those things. And we would get a set amount per week as long as we checked off all the things. If we didn't do all the jobs,, then we got less than what we would make otherwise. And so it kind of started there and tying— when I was growing up, tying the idea of receiving money with responsibility or a task or something that you had to accomplish in order to achieve it, kind of like a job, not quite like a job because there were definitely some weeks where I didn't earn anything because I didn't do anything. And that's not necessarily something you could do in the real world, but that's kind of where it started. And so we're trying to do that same thing with Turner in our house today. Kristen and I are kind of on the same page. You need to have tasks, you need to have responsibilities if you want to earn some money. It's not just something that's given away for free.

Well, you know, it's interesting, and I've never asked my mom about it, but I have a picture that she gave me. It's actually on my personal website of me at, I don't know, 3 or 4 years old, standing by the road selling straws. With stickers on them. Now, I don't know if they were drinking straws or if it was straw that I picked up out of the yard, because that was one of my tasks at a time, was my grandmother would give me a penny a pine cone to go pick up. Little did she know that I would dump the pine cones behind the bushes and then put them back in the bag. Never knew how you could get 1,000 pine cones out of one yard, but it was definitely task-oriented. But my parents never had to teach me about the connection between money and work because I figured it out myself. Pretty quick. What was your first job, John?

My first job was— oh my gosh, the first job I had was, it was me, my younger brother Andrew, and our father's riding lawnmower, and we would ride that thing around the neighborhood and mow grass in the summer and do yard maintenance.

Well, I've always tried to stay in the air conditioning or at least near the water, and so my first job was I sold Columbo's Yogurt at a little stand beside our grocery store in my town. And so it was a nice little air-conditioned job, but I think— I'm not going to say who owned it, but anybody from Pamplaco would know— but I probably was 14. And so I always had a healthy understanding that money required work. And I think that that did come, in my case, from my parents not handing it out freely. I mentioned, you know, working in the air conditioning. I was awful at mowing lawns. My dad would make me cut the grass. And again, my dad has passed away. My mom knows the truth. I would periodically hit a stump so I didn't have to cut the grass. I mean, it's a terrible financial investment on my dad's part at the time to get me to do something I didn't really want to do because it costs more to get the lawnmower fixed than it did Again, I'm glad my kids aren't listening and they're getting a little bit older, but it's one of those things that it quickly got my dad to understand that I needed to get a job outside the house. And I was more than willing to do that, but it does begin the process, right, of a young person starting to understand the importance of earning a living to some extent, of the difference between wants and needs, right? Because my parents provided for my needs for sure. But my wants exceeded their willingness. And so for my wants, I had to go out and work for it.

I mean, are you saying your children don't listen to the podcast? Is that what you're telling me?

Carson does, but it's safe to say that the younger two do not. No, despite the fact that I send them every episode. I mean, it's kind of one of those like, look how cool your dad is things, but, um, they're not buying it.

They're not buying it. Well, I mean, it's hard to do when you're a parent to prove to your kids that you are cool, but I'm sure you do a pretty good job of that. When we were younger, it was very easy to— because with 2 brothers, 3 of us altogether, there was a lot of competition for every dollar that came into the household from whatever the youngest one needed to whatever I needed. And so The needs were pretty much covered. It was the things that we wanted that we had to go out and save for. That is what I remember is trying to balance that feeling of, "Gosh, I want this right now today, but if I spend the money on that today, I'm not going to have the money for this that I really want a couple of weeks from now. I have to earn and save up for that and not spend on the things that—" potentially catch my eye today so I can do something with it later. I mean, saving was a big deal because those big ticket items were something that just weren't there unless we were saving the money to pay for them. It wasn't something that my mom and dad got and paid for. I don't know that we ever saw my parents use the envelope system. I know there are apps for that today. And I know in talking to some folks that come into the office, I know there are some families where they saw their mom stick money in certain envelopes for certain different expenses and kind of pay out of that system throughout the month. And whatever was left over kind of stayed in that envelope for future months and that kind of thing. But using a system, whatever it is that works for you, whether it's envelopes or an app on your phone or whatever it is, come up with a way to kind of track the money that comes in and goes out. That's something I think I saw my parents doing all the time. That's something that I'm trying to teach Turner today as well. All that kind of goes into making goals, like you said, of figuring out what is truly important and then try to figure out how the money goes to work towards that goal. Yeah.

And I mean, how about the old Christmas Club?

We had a small bank in my town and there was always a sign about starting your Christmas Club account. And my mom has always been a diligent saver. You know, she was a schoolteacher, and one of the things that she did, and I don't know that she ever got any specific advice on it, I think she just kind of figured it out, was she would have money taken out of her paycheck every month and put over at the Teachers Credit Union, which was not her normal bank, and she would use that to save up for things, usually frankly, that she would turn around and give to my brother to help us with something. But it was a means of kind of that envelope system that you talked about, about the importance of saving. John, what are your experiences? What are some of the things— and of course, your dad having been a financial advisor, probably a lot of these things, I'm sure— but what are some of the things that you learned from your parents about investing?

From an investment standpoint, it was mostly, you know, my dad and I sitting down, and back in the day we would go through the paper because that's where you looked at different stock quotes. And so we would kind start there and then talk about how the companies that were listed there fit into our daily lives. GE made a refrigerator or the light bulb that was over the kitchen table that we were sitting at, or Ford made the car that was in the driveway. Whatever it was, we talked through how these companies fit into our daily lives, what they produce and for what, and how the stock price correlates to whether or not that company is of a good value to purchase or not. So that is kind of how he got me interested in investing. There weren't a lot of ways when I was growing up to do that other than open up an investment account. But what they did do at an early age is open up checking accounts for my brothers and I so that we would have a place to put the money that we earned with mowing lawns or allowance or whatever. Then we could then watch and see how much we saved up up over time. They would go over the monthly statements with us and look and see how much we deposited and what we were spending money on. And it was good to go through that. And it was a real life, real world example of how to run a budget. And if there wasn't any money in the account, as was my case through most of high school, it seemed to come in and go out just as quickly. It was just good to have that conversation. And that got me used to talking about money, with others, which I think communication when you grow up, communication with the people that are in your house about money and about the monthly statements and about income coming in and expenses going out, it's very important. So I think just starting the conversation when you're young is important, and that saving and watching money grow can be rewarding or maybe fun in some circumstances.

Well, yeah, it's always fun to watch money grow when you have it. Right. It's not so much fun looking at the bank statements when they're going in the wrong direction. But yeah, it's interesting because my dad and my granddad on my dad's side, as far as I can remember, didn't talk a whole lot about money. My granddad on that side invested, and I've told you before, and our listeners may remember that his estate planning philosophy, I called him granddaddy. Right. So we'll make a distinction in a minute because I've kind of got the Rich Dad, Poor Dad kind of thing in terms of my grandparents. But my granddad was a business person, a farmer, and his estate planning philosophy was, it's mine until I die, and then it'll be yours. And then you can worry about it until then. Don't ask me about it. And my dad was better than that, particularly after I became his financial advisor. Eventually over time, we talked more about it. But on the other hand, my first investment experience came from my Papa. My mom's dad gave me a few shares of Coca-Cola in a dividend reinvestment plan and set the dividends initially for me to get them whenever the check came. And it was, I forget, 75 shares. I think I don't forget it was 75 shares. And it just so happened that it always seemed like the money from the dividends was coming at just the right time. When I was in college, it was right about time that I had run out of my money. I would get a little check in the mail and I got really interested in that, wondering how I can get more of this that sends me money and I don't have to work because every other time, and it was a very interesting and fascinating thing, but my Papa, he talked with me a lot about money. And one of the things that he told me, John, and I hope you don't have any personal experience with it. Is that money problems are the worst kinds of problems. So he was always one. He and my grandmother never made more than probably $70 grand combined in their last years, saved up to have an awful lot, relatively speaking, I suppose, when they passed away to pass on. And it's because they spent less than they made. And he consistently talked about that both on the investment side, because for, I don't know, 15 years, I didn't drink Pepsi. Because it was explained to me that when I drank Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola made more money, and eventually some small portion of that came back to me, and that's where those dividend checks came from. And so I've been an avid Coke and Diet Coke drinker my entire life. But it was just having those conversations about little things. And I, I think that it's important as we talk about things we learn, right, is because they're to a large extent, the things that we learn are the things that we end up passing on to our kids. It's important to note that having those conversations and explaining some of these things early is really important. It is.

And, you know, one of the ways that we can teach our children, and, you know, one of the ways that I think my dad really taught me about what kind of job that I wanted to get when I was old enough to get a real job, not the kind that you would do during the summer or what have you. But as a child, you watch and learn by example. And so as an adult, as a parent, you want to lead by example. And so one of the things that I saw with my dad as he kind of went through his career was that as we moved around, when he was with Weyerhaeuser, before he was the financial planner, he would go and take a job that was offered usually for more money. And usually the new job would be in a different part of the country. So we moved around a lot when I was a kid, finally ending up in New Bern, which is coincidentally the birthplace of Pepsi. So if you go to New Bern, you may have to drink Pepsi, but I'm just saying. But once we got to New Bern and we lived there for a while, I was in the 5th grade and we really put down some roots and liked it there. That was when my dad decided to leave Weyerhaeuser and do something where he felt like he could make a difference in the town, help people financially and do something that is not only for himself, something he enjoyed, but also that would help others and kind of help the community around him. That's when he made that decision to do that. So when I was going through high school and college, I thought I wanted to be an English teacher because I could help people learn and get some benefit and enjoyment out of watching children progress throughout the year. Then when I got out into the real world, I just discovered that was not going to work for me. I decided to follow in his footsteps and become a financial advisor as well. I still get the enjoyment from teaching people, just like we're semi-teaching people on these podcasts. I still get enjoyment out of helping others. I still get enjoyment out of watching the investments that we choose for other people grow over time so that they can continue to do the things that make them happy. I feel like it's a very beneficial arrangement. That's something that I watched my father lead by example on that.. And I would like to be able to do the same for my children. And I think people listening would want to do the same for theirs.

Yeah, I would completely agree. We've touched a little bit on work and kind of income, right? Allowance or going to work. We've touched a little bit on kind of savings investment. As we kind of begin to wrap up, John, what's something that you learned from your parents or grandparents about debt?

What I learned from my dad and listening to him, In his opinion, there's some debt that is somewhat necessary, and that necessary debt might be something that you can deduct the interest on the mortgage, which I don't think you can do anymore, but debt on a house, that might not be something that is necessarily a bad thing because you need to have a place to live. So having debt on that might not be bad, but having debt or taking on debt to buy something that can be used up over time, that does not gain value over time, That is the wrong place to use debt. Those are the things that you should save your money for and plan ahead to purchase at a future date with actual money that you have, not somebody else's money. I think the other one is if you do have debt, make your payments on time. If you're going to carry a credit card for the benefits or the bonus points, pay it off at the end of every month. Don't carry a balance. Those are the kinds of things that on debt, there are different kinds and some is good and some is bad.

Yeah. Oh, for me it was very similar in that it was, don't charge anything on a credit card that you're not going to pay off. And I don't know that they got into it specifically with me about how high the interest rates are, which they are, but it was made clear to me that you don't use credit to buy things. That particularly aren't long-term. We know my parents didn't get into their— whether they had car payments or things like that. And I know that for most of my young life, you know, they had a mortgage, but it was very clear. And I can say, with the exception of it got lost in the mail, I forgot kind of thing, I don't know that I've ever paid any interest on a credit card as a result of learning that really young. The other thing was between my parents and my grandparents, they put a high priority on education, but they also took a high level of responsibility for my education in that they didn't expect me to go to college and pay for it myself. And so for me, that's been a big thing I learned, again, whether they were intentionally trying to, but maybe that's kind of what we're talking about here is, is pay attention to what you're teaching your kids or your grandkids by your example, because A big thing for me was putting away or making sure that I took responsibility for my kids and their education. Now, not everybody feels that way, and I completely respect and understand that, but it's one of the things that I learned that was done for me that became important to me over the years was to start saving in a 529 early. Wish my parents had fully explained it, though I don't know that you can ever fully understand how expensive kids can be, because as John knows, in the process of graduating 3, 2 from college and 1 from high school, and while I'm excited about 2 of them getting jobs, it has not been an inexpensive process to get here. But I did learn, again, John, part of it was for me was spending money on important things, saving for the things that then I found important, in this case, my kids' education. And build in a plan for the rest.

If you need help building that plan, I know that you created, based on the story on Coca-Cola stock, we did create the Invested in You program that we have, which is a way for children to not only learn about investing, but actually have you invest some money for them, and then have us teach them about it. We can certainly help with that. We can talk about money, budgeting, investing, education, anything really related to finance. We're here to help you either figure out a way to work those lessons into your daily life or teach your children about those. And so just let us know on that. But you can't say enough about what parents do for their kids, I don't think. And most parents that we talk to, they'll do anything for them, right? They put their children first and themselves second. And I think that's something we don't want to lose sight of.

Yeah. And I often reassure parents that many of our clients don't start accumulating money outside of their retirement unless they have owned and sold a small business. It usually takes till about 50 until you're the only person taking out of your pocket. And so do know that if you're in that shape or your kids are in that shape, they're not alone. For a long time, a big part of raising a family is expensive. I don't care who you are. So that makes a big difference. But also, John, to your point, I want folks to know that we are here to help. You know, our Invested in You program that we put together for clients is certainly one way that we do that. Also, if you have kids or grandkids that you need us to talk to, frankly, a lot of times they will listen to somebody else talk more than they'll listen, or at least my kids will, they'll listen to somebody else more than they will to me. And so if we can be your somebody else when it comes to financial things or beginning to start that education, just know that we're here to help. But I also want to remind you that more than anything you as listeners or we could say, they're watching what you do and they're seeing what you prioritize. And so as John and I have shared our stories of things that we've learned from our parents and our grandparents, it's important to know that if you're serving in that capacity for anybody, somebody's paying attention. And chances are, two financial advisors are talking about what they learned and what has carried over to their life from their parents and grandparents. Chances are whoever it is is watching you is going to pick up things from the way that you do things. John, let's do it again next week.

We will, we will.

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