Ep.36 Top Tips for Raising Money-Smart Kids from Megan Whitesides

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Welcome to the Money Style youe Problem podcast where every week we talk about how you can become good with money in your pocket and in your mind by using practical life coaching tools and simple and efficient ways to do money math. Are you ready to invest in yourself? Let's dive into this episode. Welcome to the money's not your Problem podcast. Today I have a special guest, Megan Whitesides, who is a certified life coach and a preschool teacher. I'm gonna let her introduce herself to you guys.

Okay. I'm Megan. I husband's name is Mike. We have four boys, 17, 15 and twins that are nine. I so a coach. I also teach preschool in my home. Anyway, so I've done coaching for five years since. Anyway, certified in 2019. And then I've taught preschool in our home for 17 years. So it's been a long time.

Is there a specific thing that you coach on?

I mostly coach. I mean, you know, kind of you get a lot of everything, but for the most part, I coach on relationships and parenting or most mostly like parenting. There was a two and a half year period that I was a contract coach where in this lady's program and she taught or teaches. She still does teach, but she doesn't have anyway, E commerce. So I was a, we were called momentum coach. So I was a momentum coach when her program coaching people who owned E commerce businesses. But again that it was not all business that we talked about. It was definitely relationships and definitely all that stuff. So that's mainly what I. What I focus on and coach on is parenting and relationships.

And during the summer, do you do preschool as well?

Nope, it's over for now. And so that's good. It's fun. It allows me to.

Good. And you don't have any preschool age your kids anymore, right?

Not anymore. But I did, I did do it all while they were growing up. I did it before we had our first kid and I've done it ever since. So it's great.

Great.

Yeah.

It gives you a whole balance. Right. And an understanding what the mothers are going through.

Yeah, for sure. I. It's. It's just interesting. You probably see this in different phases of your life where it's like, you know, at first I was like younger than a lot of the parents that had their kids in there and then about the same age. And now I'm like older and the parents are still, you know, like what, late 20s, 30s, and I'm like, oh yeah. It's just so interesting to be on, you know, the other, the other side. Whereas yeah, I've got. Yeah.

I had the realization one time. I taught high school math for 17 years.

Okay.

And the first year I started, I was teaching this personal finance class for seniors. And when I left that school to move to Utah, I was thinking, wow, that kid is not almost 40. That graduated in my first class is almost 40.

That. Yeah, that's crazy.

Now let's transition to the topic of today. You know, we're going to be talking about money, Right.

Okay.

And again, it's mostly a reflection and things learned that sometimes we don't have the time to stop and just think about it. I'm going to start with your past and your experience growing up. Looking back, how did your family look at money?

That. See, let's. I say tricky because I'm like, I don't remember a lot. I, you know, when I, When I think about this, I guess what comes up or what I've thought about is just we were encouraged to save money. Um, but I don't recall, like, ever hearing my parents talk about it or say, like, we can't afford that or different things. Um, you know, and, and maybe my siblings obviously have a, A different story, but I don't, I don't remember any of that. So I just remember. Yeah. Being encouraged to save. We actually, I mean, as far as money goes too, it's. We. We were always encouraged to work and get, get jobs. So during high school, I had, you know, various jobs. But yeah, that's kind of looking back, I don't remember much.

How many people in your family?

I am one of four siblings total. I'm the third. So I have an older brother and sister and then myself and then a younger sister.

Okay. And did you grew up in a church?

Yeah.

Did you learn how to tithe or did they show?

Yes, good. Yes. Good reminder. I would say there was other questions that I had thought about that that came up. So, yeah, you know, whatever money we made, we were encouraged to pay our tithing on. And so that was definitely something. I think that was beneficial for me personally, because I don't feel like I'm. I say natural. I don't know, anyway, but like, as far as giving or being generous, I don't feel like that comes real natural and easy for me. So definitely I feel like tithing was, was helpful in that, and it's definitely, like, helped me as I've gotten older and then also, you know, teaching that same thing to my kids as well. But I, I do, you know, I'm sure you have know plenty of Statistics or different things where people, even if they aren't religious and donate to their church, but any donations to any organization or whatnot, people tend to be more like what financially well off. I don't know if that's, you know, the right phrasing for it.

They're prosperous.

Yes.

You're generous, you become more prosperous.

Right.

And probably some wisdom that we get from the Lord from just helping others. And you're better managing our money because we want to have that money to donate or to do something with that. Right?

Yeah.

And, and it's interesting because I taugh girls always from the beginning. I have two daughters. When I would give them their commission at the end of the week, then for the chores, for the things that they made, they did, I would say what are the three things that we do with money? It was like brainwashing, right? Spending and saving. So it was always that. But then with the time they stopped going to church. So then I'm like, I still want you to give. It's too wise for you to give because you strengthen your giving muscle.

Right.

You become aware there are organizations. At one time, one of my daughters wanted to help the animal society.

Like the Humane Society?

Yeah, Humane Society. So she wanted to donate money for that and I even showed her that she could go to Amazon, purchase something that they needed that showed there. They had a list and it was straight to them. So she does. She didn't even have to write a check or anything like that for you since you're not naturally bended that way to do the giving. It has to be something intentional that you do. Did you have a hard time paying your tithing when you're little or a little bit of resistance?

That's a good question. Maybe, I mean I can't think of any specific time or kind of a general, but maybe I did you know for sure when I was younger. I'm sure if you're like high school and you make 200 bucks or something, it's like wait, I have to give $20 of this? Like that's so yeah, I don't have a great answer for that.

No, it's great because. Well, it's great because I learned this just recently that in our long term memory we, most of the memories are there are going to be negatively what impacted us. So you would have a recollection if something is really hard for you to do. Ok. And that's why when we spin, we spin negative thoughts a lot because our long term memory has a lot of those negative because of the emotion that we felt with the situation. Right.

That's interesting. I love that because I don't have a super great memory of like I say growing up. I mean I do, I remember things, but in general I don't have any real.

The happy, the.

Yeah, like. I mean, yeah, like life was good. I had a great growing up, you know, all that. So that's, that's interesting. I like, I like that. Yeah.

Because you just kind of. That's kind of part of life. But the negative is stayed because he made that connection. And probably we can think about that in trauma as well. Someone went through trauma that's going to be ingrained in their brain in the long term memory wherever. Right.

Yeah.

That's why I think also when people get PTSD or they're older, then they'll remember things from war because those are the impact and negative gut stored there.

Sure.

So that's a good thing that you don't have a negative, you know, a very impactful negative. Yeah, that's really good.

Very true.

And your parents were. Did your mom stay home? Do they work outside the home?

How do you go? I say yes to. Well, so she. How old was I anyway? I was probably six or seven. She. My mom actually taught preschool, so I grew up with that. And so she did work, but she was home anyway. But I don't from home.

She did a preschool in her home.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes, well. And that was, that was when I was born, I guess before. I guess when they had my older brother and sister. My mom taught elementary school.

Okay.

My dad stayed home and I don't know how many years they did that, but they did do that I think for a few years before then my sister and I were born. So. Yeah, but you brought up a good point or a good reminder for me is yes, we were, we were taught to save and to spend and to. To give or to donate.

I think.

Yeah, for sure. That was. We had, you know, the. Yeah. The little, the little jars of the little box.

Right. Totally piggy bank that you put the separate part.

Yes.

Tell me about your dad. Did he do something that was like entrepreneurial or he worked at a. Just a regular corporate business.

Yeah, regular. Went to work probably what, 9 to 5 ish. He was a. It was. It was a business called steel coatings and he managed. I don't actually know all the details or many of the details of what.

He did well, but he went to work and then he came back.

Right.

So that's why you watch it. And I think your mom had some of them to do with your entrepreneurial.

For sure.

Yes. Because you had your own pre school, so that's your own business. And then you have your coaching business. Do you run your coaching business with Mike?

No, I say not.

No, he does market.

No, not together. He's kind, does his own thing and I do my own thing. But we do have travel stuff.

Are you gonna tell me at the end?

Yeah, but we're actually working towards making more of that and integrating where I would help do more of that. So at the moment, like, my. My parenting coaching stuff and his, you know, business coaching stuff is. Is separate, but we do have. We do have plans to make that something and emerge. Yeah, yeah.

It's over. You thrust it over the other side.

So. Yeah.

So was there anything from your past then, from growing up that you carried with you through your youth as you're developing more understanding about money?

I mean, I. I guess. I don't know. I guess anyway, you're probably not looking for any specific answer, but like, I guess I'm thinking that you. You work hours and you get paid X amount of dollar per hour, and that's kind of. Yeah, I mean, you know, the. The types of jobs and stuff I had when I was in high school where that. Which is very normal around, you know, where we live as far as. So I would say that that still is a mentality that I have, and I think that's fairly common. But it definitely is interesting to explore that. It's not necessarily that time. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, because, you know, my. My older boys right now, they go to work and get paid however much per hour. And they, they've been thinking in those terms. They're like, I bought lunch today and that was an hour worth of work. And so it. I feel like it is a little bit tricky to teach that. You're like, yes, that is what it is. But it's also you not just going and sitting there and getting paid that it's what you're doing while you're there.

Yeah. It's how you're impacting the organization, how you. The whole bringing value.

Right, right, exactly.

I like how Brooke Steel, our teacher, our coach, she talks about if she goes to the dentist and he charges X amount and you want them to remove your teeth as fast as possible, and if it was about the money per hour, then would he take very long time to remove that tooth? Because to make it worth.

Yeah, right.

No, we just need to make this go quickly.

Right.

It's what that person is Bringing to the customers, to other people. Right. That are using that service, that they want the stuff the faster way possible. That's the most efficient.

Totally.

Right. I. I like that. That story.

Yeah. Yeah, I do, too. It makes it. It makes it easier to understand, like.

Yeah, that concept. Because sometimes, like. Oh, what does that mean? Right.

So you talk about that you grew.

Up in the church, so did you see any connection between your spirituality and your money understanding?

I. I do remember. And again, I don't. I guess I don't remember what age. Probably my late teens or twenties. I don't, you know, exactly. But I do remember thinking, you know, we're commanded to, or, you know, give or donate 10%. And I do remember thinking, like, test it out. Out. You know, it's just like fasting. It's like we're, you know, do fasting and it's good, but it's like if you don't really have a testimony of it or you don't understand it, we'll put it to the test and try it out. And I do. And again, I don't remember anything real, you know, definitive. But as far as, like, I do remember consciously thinking, like, well, yeah, like the Lord says he'll bless us, whatever that means, whether it's with physical stuff or health or whatnot, if we pay our tithing. So I do for sure believe it's helped me in my testimony of tithing and I guess, you know, kind of in a general sense too, like we, you know, you know, I guess I paid growing up. And then also once we've been married and we make sure to do it, we've always been blessed. And again, whether that's with having enough of everything or, again, we don't know, the protection or health or other things that happen. But I don't even see.

Right.

Yeah, totally.

That you're not seeing.

So I. I think it's for sure helped with my. Yeah. With my spirituality.

I think it's. It's interesting to look at it because sometimes we don't see that connection. Right. But having that assurance. You had that assurance that you're going to be blessed and you're not expecting it was going to be a check. You just knew. You just trust the promise. And I think that's really important because I like President Ballard. He used to say that he had a believing blood. And I'm the same way. I believe in tithing. I pay. Certain things are harder, but I put it to the test. Right.

Right.

I never question it. So some people have a hard Time and they question those things because it's something that they need to develop. So in your case, you're like, life is good. I know I have to work.

Yeah.

How I make money, I'll pay tithing, and that's not a big deal. It's a commandment, and I'm gonna do it. It wasn't a resistance, so it just, that faith just carrying you through those things didn't make that money was supposed to be something that, like that obstacle for you or the refining fire, right?

Yes. Yeah. That's a good way to put it because I, I, I guess I could feel like I can relate to that. Elder Ballard as well, because I'm like, I just always have been. I just believe like that just the way it is.

Right.

Right. Yeah. It's funny too.

I was like, that's, that's the truth. And it's good. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that's good. I like it.

So is there anything. Of course, you are a worker, so you still carry that understanding that you have to work and that you bring value to. You're helping the mothers with the preschoolers and you're helping your coaching clients. Right. Was there a person that kind of helped you or gave you a book about money or something that, that it was interesting to you?

So shortly after we were married, we went to, to a finance class. I should have asked my husband what it was. I think it was through the, the USU extension. And again, I don't know if it was probably a month long or whatnot, but I do remember, yes. Going to that class obviously, and, and getting lots of information and lots of different things that were very beneficial. I, you know, I still say I would, I could be. I'm pretty naive too. But as far as when I, I got married when I was 20 and so I was young and it was like pretty clueless as far as like everything. Anyway.

How was that adjustment you got married, Mike. Was he money savvy and he, or he had a bunch of debt or like, you know, were those things ever issue?

Definitely. He was. Yeah. More money savvy and, and wasn't not in debt? I, I wasn't either. I don't recall exactly. I know I had a few do my name when we got married, but I think that probably was helpful that when we both got married, we neither of us were were in debt. So I think that was absolutely helpful. For sure. But yeah, for sure. He, for sure. He's been, been probably the, my best teacher, I guess as far as. Yeah, just the one you know, now even that our, our young or our kids are getting older. He helps with, he helps them like invest their money and he helps them kind of figure out and know what to do with it anyway.

No, that's great because, because you see that, that balances that. And again money was not supposed to be one of your refining fires because you guys can debt free and that puts you in a very good position because the majority of people today, they come in into a marriage full of debt. And not that having debt you shouldn't get married, but.

Right.

You just need to make sure that the other person knows. Right. That you're on the same page. Either you're gonna pay it off or you're always gonna have debt or you always believe that car loan is a good thing. You know, you have to talk about. We on my training with the Dave Ramsey we talk about there are four things that we need to talk about before getting married. Someone's engaged could get married. One is money. The second one would be in laws. So how much you're going to let the in laws in or out into the new home. Then kids if you want to have them. If not, how many was going to be the disciplinarian? What, what are your views about, I don't know, banking, children or whatever. Right. But having that understanding. It doesn't have a specific order. But the fourth one would be relig because it's research shows that especially for LDS couples that got married in the temple, they stay married three times as more as the ones that did not.

Oh, interesting.

And there's other statistics about that. And, and it's not only with LDS church. If you look at other religious sects, they also have a higher rate of people staying married.

Right.

It's not like tolerating marriage, it's like happy marriage. People that are engaged in their faith, they're happier.

Right. I like that. Yeah, I totally believe that too. Yeah.

So those very important things, if you, someone has debt and the other person's like no, I don't want have any debt. But they talk about it and they're like okay, so let's get rid of that debt because right then it's good. You, they work together.

Yeah, totally, totally. Well, I, I love that. I think those are really wise things too because you know, if one person is more of a spender and one's more of a saver, like that's okay. But you just have to like again, what, what is it that you're spending on? And anyway, what know. So I Like, yeah.

And how set is your mind about changing or not? Because if you refuse to have debt and the other person's okay and don't see anything being the big deal and doesn't mind having five or six credit cards, a car loan all the time.

Right.

That might be a red flag. They might look this. You know, we sometimes don't want to see those red flags.

Sure.

Or we even avoid those conversations because we don't want to see the truth totally at that moment. It's so much better to learn that before getting into a situation, you're like, what just happened here? No, it was there all along. We just, we just woke up. So now let's move into the kids. Since you already have talked about you and Mike working together and you talk a little bit about him teaching them how to manage their money invest. What is your part? How do you teach them about money or do you do that?

Yeah. So we, like I said, we've got. Got our two older kids and then we've got two younger ones. I. I'm not super great at this, but I give them, you know, an allowance or whatever it is that they. And not. But anyway, I do that for obviously lots of reasons, but one for sure is to say, okay, now you've got this money, you pay your tithing, you can save this, you can spend this just to help them see kind of how money works. And I'm trying to remember, now that we're talking about this, I just listened to. What was it? The. It doesn't can't recall. But anyway, I just listened to something recently that was talking about money and how it's important. They. Well, you know, they said that it's important to help your kids see the money physically because we don't. We don't see it much. So I think for, again, for younger kids, it's helpful because I, yes, I give them cash, I give them the money, and then they, you know, pay their tithing with the change and the dollar bills and different things. And then also, like with the older boys, like, I've helped them set up Venmo account and we do, you know, both Mike and I are on their savings and checking accounts at the school or at the school, at the bank. And so I, I try also to talk about money positively. You know, I guess you could say call it that and not talk about it in the sense of, like, that was wasteful or that was a stupid choice or that was a whatever. Because even sometimes I'll catch myself like, oh, like that was Such a waste or whatnot. But I, I just am like. And same with time. Like, that's just how I chose. Chose to spend it. That's how you chose to spend it. And, and I feel like for me, I've had. I've gotten coaching for, you know, for sure as well, but it's taken me some time to get to where I'm okay with them purchasing xyz because sometimes, sometimes that is really hard. They have the money, they want this thing right now. And so again, I'm not super fantastic at that all the time, but one thing that's been helpful for me is, is making. And again, I don't always do this, but making them wait like a day or two.

Okay.

Because if it's not something that they've ever even had in their mind and we're at the grocery store or whatever store, like, oh, I want this, I want this. And it's like, well, you actually didn't even know until like right now saw that.

Uhhuh.

So it's been helpful again, like I said, for myself to be like, yes, I will bring you back. Yes, we can get this, but let's wait, you know, and see how you're feeling about it tomorrow. And it's been interesting because there have been a few times. One of my sons, just recently, he wanted a. Well, my older son bought an Orbee. Do you know what those Orbee water pellet guns. My old son did. And then my younger. One of my younger sons wanted one. Anyway, and Mike and I were going out of town, we went to Florida, and he wanted me to order one. Anyway, blah, blah. Long story short, I didn't end up ordering it for him. And we came home and he's like, did you order that gun? And I said, no. And he's like, oh, good, because I actually don't want it now. And so I was just thought. I just. And I didn't say anything. I just thought that was good for him to realize, like, he wanted it in the moment and he wanted me to order it right then. And I said, well, I'm leaving town. We can get it when we get back. But then he had changed his mind.

So that's excellent.

Yeah.

And it's hard to do because at the moment they are so taken over by the emotion. Yes. Want that. That that thing is going to disappear, that you're not going to be able to find another one. And we see that in adults as well when they go walk on a car dealership or they go look at new houses. Right. People get those emotions and usually when we're acting under the emotion, don't make the most wise financial choices.

Sure, for sure.

And I thought that was interesting that you. That you said that. But I don't do that all the time or, you know, just kind of taken back that of the main reasons parents don't talk to their kids about money, they. A lot of times they don't feel that they can teach them that they're capable or not in your case, but like they don't have that information. That's correct. Or they are not doing all the things that they should be doing.

Right.

Another one would be not being consistent or never starting. So they talk great ideas, but they never implement. And the other one is, I think that's when that affects the most is to be consistent. Right. Do always the same thing. And we all fail though.

Right.

I used to pay, you know, give the chart to my girls so they can mark their things and then every Friday they'll bring it to me and I would pay their commission.

Right.

A lot of times they didn't mark or I was in charge of Mark to make sure that they didn't know cheat I hadn't done. I'll just grab the chart and just put some dashes there and it counted. So.

Right.

That consist. Lack of consistency is a problem as well. But we always have something to teach because we all sometimes made up the bed purchase. We can go to the grocery store and talk about, hey, why are you choosing this and you're not choosing this brand? Right. You can talk about that. Those little things or those things are important because they're gonna need that.

That's good. That's a good reminder, I think for sure that kind of. Just when you were speaking about that one of my sons, he's. He's going to be a lifeguard or he is a lifeguard. And he wanted one of those big like straw or whatever hats. And we found one at Sam's Club. It was like $12. And he had been looking at some on Amazon that were, I don't know what, 30 doll, whatever that were a name brand. And he even said when we were at the store, because my Mike had showed him, he's like, look, there's the same hat for, you know, he's like, I don't know why. I just always want just the name brand. And I. So I asked him like, well, why. Why do you. He's like, well, no, I really think they look cooler. He's like, here, look at this. And showed Me. But he also did then say he's like but it actually is serving the exact same purpose and he ended up buying the less expensive one. Not that we always have to do that but. No, yeah it was again just that he made that decision on his own and came to that conclusion and realized or recognized like yeah I am. I do tend. I mean and he's a teenager so that's pretty.

But he also works so he knows how much he would have to work to get that one and that's fine. Sometimes I have a brother that was like that. He. We would have like a budget to buy back to school clothes and he would buy the brand clothes. He bite less.

Yeah. For sure.

A lot of times those clothes will last longer. He was happy with his choice and it was all brand in this case because he wanted to. To. To fit in.

Right.

But also sometimes the brand is a better quality. That is true right now because I like clothes to change it all the time. Mine are disposable. Right.

Right.

And so I go to Di and I just go through it and get what I need to put an outfit together.

Right.

I don't find there. Then I'll go to the next one that's a little more expensive. I don't have a problem not wearing something that's not brand. Right. So it's. It's a difference of personality.

Yeah.

One is not wrong. Right. It's having that balance totally important. So were talking a little bit about that how when your kids would make a purchase that you're not very thrilled about it. How do you handle when they decided to make a decision that does it goes against you guys recommendation or direction.

I like that. I mean that question. I think that's really good. Okay. Well I guess just kind of as an example kind of what I thinking of. So. So my. My older boys are big into mountain biking. They love anyway they love it one particularly even more than the other. But they have continuously upgrade bikes like get a new one. Then it's ridden ridden for a little while and then they want to sell it and buy the next one. And I mean so they're still spending money but. But in. In my mind and my husband's mind we're like that's a lot of money for a bike and definitely not what I would probably recommend nor would he. But they've. So how do we handle that? We talk to them about it like to help them really understand the. The choice that they're making as far as. As like this one, the one you currently have actually works fine and really well anyway but still just letting them choose like that's. And actually most recently one of one of them did buy another new one and ended up did selling his other one but still had their, you know, difference to pay. But it's just all about choices. Right. But I think maybe what I, you know, having this conversation and talking more about it for myself and for, for teaching my kids is just the awareness piece of all of it. Just that it's all choices. And again you're right. Like no right or wrong but just recognizing and then I think being. Yeah. Being aware that. That doing it maybe again not right in the moment because then it's more of an emotional decision versus like a.

Well thought out plan.

Yeah. A couple days. So again I guess it just kind of goes back to maybe the way I parent or the way we parent. It's just kind of like we be hoping we're teaching them and then they get to make their own decisions and hopefully you know, make their own conclusions as far as like oh, maybe I don't want to spend my money that or yeah, I'm glad I did that.

And I also. You can use this to teach them about getting a car. We did that with my daughter. We. And that's what I teach my students. A lot of them when I was teaching, they would come to me and said I got a job at Jack in the Box. That was one week. Three weeks later this kid came to me and said I'm buying a car. I said, really? What car? Yeah, I'm going my mom to the dealership. She's gonna co time, she's going to do something for me and it's going to be only $250 a month. I'm like, how much do you make at the Jack in the Box place?

Right?

And he was like, oh, I'll make about, I don't know, 400. I said look, you're going to use half your paycheck and what happens when you lose your job? If they fire you, are you going to be able to pay that bill? And it's not only that bill. You have to pay for gas, you have to pay for the other things. Right, right. So I told them, you know, I taught them how to go from one car to the other. Yeah, exactly what you just said your boys are doing with the bikes.

Right.

Get a beat up at first and instead of putting your money into car payments, you save for six months. The car is not going to lose its value for six months. Then you Sell that car for almost as much as you pay and you add that money, you say then you get a little bit of better beater and then you keep doing that until you get to a car that you feel comfortable or learning how to do that. That delay the gratification and staying with the paid for car will help them in the future and in other decisions they are doing other areas of their life that will propel their financial journey too. So it's, it's really interesting that they figured that out on their own. But it's really a good example that they're catching on and they are watching and seeing how you guys live your life without drama from the money because drama creates that all more cloudy decisions making.

Yeah, good point. Yeah. I think Mike and I were both really pretty mellow. Yeah. So I mean that's probably helpful in the sense that. Yeah. We don't ever forget it or our older girl.

We. The first car we did a 41 match. So actually it was 41 Dave. That's what he told us. Dave Ramsey. So I same thing. It was a match.

What is that?

Give me some money. We would put the same. And then eventually we got to a point where she had $1,000. We had a beater. So so we knew the beater was good because we had replaced everything. So then she bought that car from us. Right. So then she had a car that was paid for. It was hers. So she's learning how to drive. So it was a great first car. It was a Honda. It was very reliable. And so when people say other things that older cars are not reliable, they need to go get a brand new one. It's because they're trying to justify.

Right. Right. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah, that's something too I feel like. And again, I don't know, just maybe both of us growing up that we like. I had a. I was just telling my older son about this yesterday. I had a really old grandma. It was a Reliant K car when I was in high school and. And my husband Drew drove some Buick. Anyway. Never had a car payment. But then when we got married again, I don't know if it was something that we both just agreed upon but didn't talk about a whole lot. But we've. We've never had car payments.

Yeah.

We just, I mean we want and like having a nice car. But it's also can see that that's not maybe at least for us in value.

You guys understand that it's not going to be unless it's a. I Don't.

Know, a classic car. Exactly. Right.

Or no one appreciates. But all, all the other ones, they.

Get you from A to B.

Exactly. Right. And. And I don't have anything having a good car.

Right.

But that's going to cost you. If you invested $700 a month for a car payment right now, the average is actually 560.

Okay.

You invested that for 30 lot of millions dollars. I hope you like the car because in 30 years, that car is going to be junk. Right.

So. Yeah, no, it's.

It's a matter of rating one thing for.

Exactly. Yeah.

Thinking about their retirement instead of just thinking of the pleasure of driving this car and nobody's paying attention because they're worried about what other people think about their car.

Right, right. Yeah, totally.

All right, so what advice would you give to a mom with four kids. Kids and raising their kids, but without being very preachy, how would you, you know, kind of consolidate that? Reconcile. Reconcile that having both. Teaching the kids. What is your opinion about having. Teaching the kids but not being super strict because you're not that. So you have great experience doing that. Yeah.

I don't know if that's the, you know, there's no right or wrong way it, it's worked for us. I feel like. You mean in regards to money, in regards to finances.

Well, I guess everything you can talk about. Yeah.

Well, no, I think it's good. I think again, like I said, this has been just helpful for me to reflect and, and want to change. To change some things to try and do better. But I think, you know, for sure, I love the principle of, you know, saving, spending and giving and giving. I think that that's a really, you know, so maybe advice too would be keep that very open. I. I also think keeping the talk about money open. Meaning. Meaning it's like. And I feel like we do a pretty decent job about that. It's not like you want everyone to go tell everyone everything or your kids, but I think it would be. I think it's wise to. To talk about it and to let your kids know. Like, look, we spend this month on a house payment and this much on gas and this much on food and blah, blah, blah. I think it's helpful for them to see age appropriate.

Right, Right. You address things age appropriate. And I like that you started really young with the safe giving and tithing because it becomes part of the rhythm of their lives.

Right. Yeah, it's. It's maybe more habit that then they, that then they would do that. So, yeah, advice I Would. I would also just, you know, maybe offer to. That you. To try to keep it as factual as you can. Because like what you're saying and teaching too is. It's when we get all emotional about it and we get all upset or you know, oftentimes, well, then we react and don't act the way that we really want to.

Money becomes that taboo, that monster. Right. That nobody wants to talk about it.

Right. Because it always brings up contention or always we feel whatever about it. So I think, you know, if, if, if a mom or you know, even dad, they, they, they notice that they do have some negative experiences or negative things about it. To get a coach or to get, I don't know if you get therapy on that probably, but you know, get some help with that so that you can get to a place where, where it's not so emotionally charged. And then I just think, I think at least you know, maybe for myself and hopefully with teaching my kids too, it, it is, is just choices.

Right.

Like, and, and I think too, you know, what we learned and what Brooke Castillo teaches too, which I do really like, is if you do decide on something, if you're going to purchase something and you like your reasons for it, then that's, then that's all that matters.

That's enough. Right.

Justified or you don't have to. As I, and again, I would maybe even add to that. Like as long as it's not that you're going into immense debt for it, but again, not that to say also that debt's wrong. It's just, I don't know, back to choice.

Just that we know the freedom it is not having it.

That's a good point.

Because when your check comes in and you don't have any debt, then you have the money and you decide what to do. Now when the money comes in and you have all these bills, then it's already decided for you.

Yeah. Yeah.

Takes away your freedom. A lot of times we talk about financial freedom. I love that. That's one case. It's already decided for you.

Yeah, that's a.

Now finish our conversation. I know this might not be. It doesn't seem like money has that pull on you guys. So I don't know if it doesn't make any sense or you don't have an example. Don't feel bad. So just some rapid fire questions.

Yeah.

So first one I have for you is what was the most useless thing that you ever bought?

Oh, I definitely know I could think of a lot more, but I can think of One, it was probably doesn't matter how long ago, you know, lots of years ago. That even if it was last week, we don't, no, it was, it was several years ago but we probably purchased a used Apple computer on like KSL or something online. Anyway, it was just not what it said it was like anyway it was kind of all banged up when we got it and it like worked a little bit and it was just like, well again just and, and, and yeah, you know, you look back and like ah, I wish we would have just spent however much more and gotten a brand. And you know, we're speaking of brand new but as far as like that type of thing, better one. Yeah, we wish we would have done that. But I also, that's another thing I am working on and I feel like continuously working on is trying to think about the, that it wasn't a waste. Like what did we learn from that? What did we learn? Yeah. And so sorry, kind of maybe another example of that. And this was, you know, fairly recent one. My oldest son was going to do track in high school. Anyway, we signed him up, we paid the fees that we needed to pay. He went like 20, twice anyway. Then he was sick for like a week and a half and couldn't go. Then he got a job and then he couldn't go to try anyway. So we actually ended up paying, I don't know how much. It was a couple hundred dollars. And he went to this to track once? Yeah, like twice or three times, you know. And so anyway, I was, you know, I first been like, ah, like why did I, I caught myself like I should have known that, you know, whatever. But then I'm like, well like I, I, I learned that maybe we need to be a little bit more like, okay, are you committed to this? Are you going to do this? And yeah, getting a job for him has been actually really good. But you still could probably make it work. But anyway, so I would say those two things.

That's a great example because we do that sometimes we want to offer something to our kids.

Yeah.

And sometimes they don't. Not that they take it for granted, but they don't see as much value. And we did the same thing with our daughter. The school would take them, put them, the kids on the bus and take them to Sundance so they could have snowboarding lessons.

Okay.

I know my daughter said to my husband, no, we're not gonna do that. But it was one of those things that he really want her to go and he pumped her up and we got her Clothes. And then she went and she was sit and talk to the instructor, one of the instructors, the entire time. And then after the fourth time, they were like, you didn't want to participate today? And this like three or four times I said, you're not going anymore.

Right.

Hated. I spent all that money. But at least you saw that she didn't like that.

Yeah.

And that's helpful. Of course, I prefer it. Wasn't that that expensive to find out?

But yeah, good point. There's definitely some things that you just have to learn. Maybe the. The hard way. Like. Right.

And I didn't have. We could afford it. And so we had plans. So then my husband and I didn't have to get an argument. He pushed. I pushed a little bit. Like, this doesn't make sense. She doesn't like this. But then he really wanted. So we signed her and that was it. Right. Nobody beat each other up. I didn't say to him, I told you she didn't want to do that.

Yeah, right.

No, no necessary.

Right.

All right, let's go to the next question.

That's good.

What was something that you bought that turned out better than you expected?

I could think of two things. Yeah. No, so we, we moved a few years ago to where we live currently. And we. There's hills around where we live.

You guys live in Logan?

Yeah.

Yes.

But we moved to where we're on a hill and anyway, and we love riding bikes. Just going out. So when we moved here, we. It didn't take us too long before we decided to buy E bikes. Because.

Because the hills.

Exactly. I mean, you could go out, but I. So surprisingly, yes, we are. We use them, you know, daily, I would say, for sure. Especially when the weather's nice. We would. We use it daily. And we. It's like when, you know, it's kind of like when you. You and your spouse, maybe a lot of times people go for a walk. It's like we just go on a bike ride and we go out. So, yeah, for sure it's fun because.

Sometimes you don't even think you're going to use that much. You're not even sure if you should buy an E bike. You're like, I don't know about this. This. Let's just buy a regular. We're used to that. But it turned out really good.

Yeah, for sure.

Always fun.

Yeah.

What was the second thing?

Well, and this wasn't, you know, a physical purchase, but it was, you know, going to the life coach school and getting certified as a life coach. Like, that was a lot of money and it was kind of a sacrifice and it was. I was, you know, kind of unsure and anyway, not. Not. But it for sure has been well worth it. Not even in the sense of being able to.

Money to make money, whatever.

Yeah. Like I. I have told people before and I don't know how it is now. I mean, I think it's changed some, but I think even if I hadn't made any money back from, like, it's still. I. I feel like for me has been and my family, I feel like I'm a much better person from mother person. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah.

A lot of the things I face with my first daughter when she was a teenager, I'm able to handle better with my second mother right now because I did that work with the life coach school with the tools and totally. It wasn't all about the money. It's just investment in ourselves.

Right, Right. But I think that's a really good reminder for me as well. Meaning, again, just kind of the value there, like, you can look at it and say, ah, that's a lot of money. I don't think we should spend that. But, you know, in the long run.

You got so much life back.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So that's great.

Thank you so much, Megan. This has been incredible. See, you had a lot to share. It's not. Not your cup of tea. That's not it. So tell me a little bit about any projects you guys have going on. I know you have something exciting. How your business going, if people want to get a hold of you and talk about parenting or if they want to get a hold of Mike.

Yeah, I feel like we always have stuff going on. So. Yeah, like I said, I, I coach mostly on parenting, but you know, any relationship that you maybe want better or you want to like better or you want to. Especially those teenagers. Right. Those are. Those are tricky. But yeah, I'm on instagram @megan whitesidescoaching and just message me there. Even if you just have questions sometimes I'll, you know, people, I'll just put up, like, ask me any question and I'll, you know, I've had people ask about potty training and ask about hitting, seeing and ask about. But just through obviously my own personal experience training I've had in preschool, it's like, you got it. You got it all.

You go from all ages.

That's great. Yeah. And then we, we. Well, this is mostly like. But again, we're getting more into it, but we have a travel Business, I guess, yeah, it's business, but it's. We travel cheap and we do travel a lot and we've just figured out how to, to, to do it. Lots of other means that you can do it for less. Also on Instagram, we, we travel cheap and then we have a website, we travel cheap.com. and I actually think at this very moment it's down because we're working on.

A program for it.

But yeah, my husband's a travel agent. He also. This is not related to travel, but he coaches businesses and helps people get their businesses set up.

I need it. I need his help to get my stuff in order because I was just, just pushing, just pushing because of that resistance. And he gave me a deadline. He told me this and that, this and he told me, gave me ideas and he went through all my social media accounts. My website gave me great, great ideas. So it was a great work with him. He's a great option to, to get your business in order.

Right. Get it kind of set up. And that was, I mean, again, that was more geared towards life coaches, but.

Right? Yeah, but he can look at everybody's profile and on Instagram and say, hey, you should change this. This.

Right? Yeah. He's got a degree in marketing, so he's done marketing for. And he does marketing at Utah State University. So that's what is.

That's awesome.

Day job is very good.

Thank you so much, Megan.

I am grateful that you took the.

Time to talk to us today. There you have it. That was my conversation with Megan Whitesides, life coach and preschool teacher. If you want to know more about her, make sure that you go on the show. Notes. I'll have the links to her social media accounts and to her website. I will talk to you guys on our next next episode. But remember, money is not your problem. Thank you for listening to today's episode. I want to take a moment to extend a special invitation to all of our listeners. If you're ready to finally become good with money both in your pocket and your mind, then I want to introduce you to a transformative opportunity. The Chief Financial Mom Academy. Our program is designed specifically for working moms of faith. Faith who are tired of feeling overwhelmed by their finances, constantly juggling priorities and feeling like they're always broke. You will learn how to manage your money effectively, build wealth and achieve your long term goals through practical lessons, personalized guidance and a supportive community. If you're ready to say goodbye to financial stress and hello to financial freedom, I encourage you to join us at StrasbourgCoaching.com join CM CFM again it's StrasbourgCoaching.com forward slash J-O I N C F M take the first step towards a brighter future for yourself and for your family today. Thank you again for listening. And remember, the future you who is good with money is in your hands. We'll see you on the Chief Financial Mom Academy Ate Brevi Obrigada.