104: How YOU and YOUR FAMILY Can Become MONEY SAVVY FAST with Adam Carroll

Foreign.

Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author.

Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear. Clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the earn your happy podcast and I'm so excited for you to meet my guest today, Adam Carroll. I actually met him at a train the trainer program that I was enrolled in with Jack Canfield. So he and I probably spent about three weeks of some serious discomfort growth time. Amazing experiences, the whole range, you guys, the whole range in this training program. So he is a beautiful human being. And the second that he spoke, I just knew that he was up to massive things. And the last few years have been really, really incredible to watch his journey. And I know that you're going to be so excited by what he does in the world. He's an internationally recognized speaker and thought leader in the field of financial education. He's presented at over 600 colleges and university campuses. He has done hundreds of leadership symposiums and countless local and regional events. Adam's TEDx talk at the London his school has been viewed over half a million times on YouTube. And his work in financial education led to the crowdfunding and release of the student loan documentary Broke, Busted and Disgusted which is coming out on Netflix this December. He's the author of Winning the Money Game and the Money Savvy Student and the founder, founder of MoneySavvy.com you guys, even if this is not a hot topic for you, or if it is, this podcast rocked my world. Everybody needs to listen to this and everybody should click the share button immediately after because it's something that affects all of us, our entire life, our children, and it's so important to create the conversation and the education around what Adam is about to share. So, you guys, let's get started. Adam, I'm so excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much for coming on, Lori.

Thanks for having me on Earn your happy. I'm so excited to be with you.

I love that you're here because we kind of have an awesome Past together. We met at Jack Canfield's Train the Trainer, and immediately, you are just such a captivating speaker and you're so passionate about what you do that everyone was drawn to you. And clearly, you're incredibly successful and you're doing amazing things in the world. So for people who don't know who you are, can you give us a little bit of background on your story and how you started doing what you do?

I'm just a boy. I'm just a boy, Lori. Just a boy looking for a girl. You know, I got out of college several years ago, and I was a debt statistic. I graduated with a fairly significant amount of debt. I had lived like a rich college kid, as most college kids do today, and realized the error of my ways when I became a broke professional. And luckily for me, I met a woman my senior year in college who gave me some great advice. And she told me, get rid of your debt or I'm going to get rid of you. And so I married her. And we've been married, because that's what you do. And we've been married for 17 years this year. And we went on this path where we blasted away all of our debt in the first two years of our marriage, and then we lived that way ever since. And while we were going through the process, I was thinking and talking out loud about, you know, why. Why don't people teach this? How come more people don't know what we're doing? And it just seemed like what we were doing was very simple. We lived on one income, and we used the other income to blast away all of our debt. And yet many of our friends thought we were living some, you know, some crazy lifestyle. And so we. I started teaching that methodology or that framework and wrote a book called Winning the Money Game, started delivering programs on college campuses that led into a documentary film on student loan debt, which we just sold to cnbc. And I just wrote another book called the Money Savvy Student, and I'm now developing a program called Raising Money Savvy Kids. Because I think the issue is we're not starting people early enough in the war on financial education or the war against debt, I guess.

Mm. So why is that so important to you? Like, why has this become something that is just your number one thing?

Well, you know, interestingly, I've listened to a lot of your podcasts, and one of the things you talk about in your intro is being a lifestyle entrepreneur, and I love that concept. When Tim Ferriss sort of brought about the whole idea of lifestyle design. I never really understood it when I was younger, but I knew that what I wanted was freedom and flexibility. And I also knew that having grown up in a family where having credit card debt was normal and getting a Christmas bonus was counted on so that we could pay off said credit card debt, I knew that freedom and flexibility was not something that my parents had ultimately, and it was something that I wanted. So when my wife and I were on this debt payoff path, and candidly, when we were done with it, you know, 25 months into our marriage, we had like $3,000 a month in discretionary money. And when you're 26 and you have an extra three grand a month, it feels like you're a millionaire. So I wanted other people to experience the freedom. And ultimately my mission behind everything I'm doing now is I want you to free yourself, to be yourself. And that's why we're doing what we do.

Oh, I love that. You know, you have a quote on your website that says when you have financial freedom, you also have the freedom of relationships, freedom of service. It just went on and it really hit me. It struck a chord. I think I'm slaughtering that, so I'll have you do it. But it really struck a chord with me because relationship freedom, time freedom, service freedom. I mean, these are things that people don't realize, why it's so important to understand money and what it can really do for you when you have those things. And it just. It made me think about all of the people that I know, who are they kind of say, you know, they're stuck in a relationship or they can't leave, or this is how life is because they don't have this freedom. This is just how it is for them. So how do we rewrite that story? What do you find the most that you hear? What's the story that you hear the most around money with people first?

Well, I think the story is that, as you alluded to, they're stuck in their present situation because of their belongings, their possessions, which we get possessions because we believe that's what makes us happy. I think initially, and I don't know if you recall this, but when we went to train the trainer with Jack Canfield, Jack made a comment and he said, you know, when you first get started in life, all you want is stuff. Like, stuff's important. And then you start making money and you're like, now I want better stuff. So you go out and you buy better stuff. It's more expensive stuff. And then once you have all the expensive stuff. You're like, now I just want different stuff. Like, I don't want the more. Or maybe I still want more expensive stuff. I just want it to be different. And then after a while, you're like, I don't want any of this stuff. I just want significance in my life. And I found that. There's a number of people that I've talked to when I ask the question, what do you most want to do? And they'll tell me things like, I want to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I want to dig wells in Africa. I want to spend two months out of my year in Italy off the Amalfi Coast. And when I say, well, why don't you go do that? And they go, well, it's not that simple. And I'm like, sure, it can be. What's keeping you? Well, I just bought a new couch the other day, and I have these payments that I'm going to have to pay for the next X number of months. And it's like, okay, time out. There's a saying, and I don't remember if it was Mark Twain or somebody that said, show me a person's checkbook and I'll show you their priorities. And I think we've sort of misinterpreted maybe what we are trying to build. And I want us to get back to the point of understanding that we work for a reason. Our money should work harder than we do, and that ultimately I want you to build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle.

Love that. So I know you have a book, the Money Savvy Student. So can you tell me a little bit about where that came from and what are the key kind of philosophies or steps in there?

Yeah. So my background, you know, obviously has been in the education space. I've done a lot of programming on college campuses. Over the past 12 years. I've been on 700 different college campuses and everywhere from Florida State University on the east coast to the University of Spoiled Children in your neck of the woods. And in every single one of those schools, I would meet students who, when I asked the question, how much do you have in student loan debt? They gave me this deer in the headlight stare. They had no clue, couldn't answer the question. And I asked them, well, do you have any idea what your payments will be when you graduate? And again, no clue. Their guesses range from $100 a month to $1,200 a month. And so I wrote the Money Savvy Student, namely, as a way to get this book into the hands of high school classrooms. And I want the book to be used as a supplemental curriculum because I wrote it in a way that, you know, even eighth graders are going to pick it up and read it and get a lot out of it. And the main, you know, the main priorities are things that I've, I've tried to impart on my kids and they're things like you are expensive. You know, most kids have no clue how expensive they are. And in the book, I tell a story about a teacher in a Dallas classroom that had their students write down everything that they were wearing that day and then assign a cash value to it. And then he said, now I want you to figure out how much do your glasses cost, how much do your braces cost, how much do your extracurricular sporting events cost, and add all these numbers up and then multiply all that times the number of times you've been involved and see literally how much it costs your parents to raise you. And I think that the key to that is that in society today, I think we have sort of taken on this approach where we have to protect children from all of those nasty financial decisions that need to be made. And then what happens is we release them into the world at 18 and the first thing they do is get a $1,000 pre approved credit card and have rampant access to private student loans at 11%. And they make terrible decisions because they've never been able to make small decisions. They've never been able to make failures or have failures on a small basis and be instructed by their parents. And so that ultimately is kind of, in a nutshell, what the book is all about and just helping students understand what they truly need to know.

With the holidays and the new year coming, you probably are looking around your house thinking that you would love to upgrade and freshen up your environment. And there is no easier way to do that than with your window treatments. Nobody covers windows better than Blinds.com. blinds.com brings your space to life in your way. They have free design help. Other retailers may claim to have experts, but blinds.com has spent nearly 30 years building an award winning team of over 100 design consultants that are ready to help you create your dream space. Always convenient, always tailored to you. Three ways to shop 1. Perfect fit. Whether you want to DIY have it all done for you, or you're somewhere in between, choose what works for you and rest easy knowing the fit is guaranteed. So the holidays come fast, you guys, and you can Freshen up your window treatments fast as well. And unlike some competitors, the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden fees, and there's zero pressure. From blackout in motorized options to classic shutters, blinds.com has window treatments for every room, style and budget, even shades for your outdoor space. The Black Friday deals@blinds.com are going strong all month long, so don't miss your chance to save big. And as always, our listeners still get 50 off when you spend 500 or more. Just use code earn at checkout out limited time offer rules and restrictions apply. See blinds.com for details. 2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss. You become the leader. That idea that you have that has been eating at you forever that just will not leave you alone is going to come to life. Maybe it's something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And with Shopify, 2026 is when you find finally make it happen. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did and that I use Shopify. It gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store. You, you can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand setup is fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos. So marketing is built in too. You can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets and do it all from the same dashboard. In 2026, stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start today at shopify.com happy go to shopify.com happy that's shopify.com happy hear your first cha ching this new year with Shopify by your side.

Oh, that is huge. You're literally bringing me back to when I turned 18. Like the day I turned 18 and moved out and discovered that all of these stores wanted to give me money. And you know, I, I, I literally racked up so much credit card debt at the time. For me it was overwhelming. You know, it was probably a few thousand doll. I am 18 with a job that's not remotely paying me that much and credit card debt. And I remember thinking I was upset with these credit card companies because I didn't understand, you know, I didn't think about the consequence. I didn't understand that there would be consequences to this. I just thought that, you know, I would figure it out. I guess. I guess that was my mentality behind it. But looking back, I had zero experience managing money whatsoever. So that is huge. How do we do that without, you know, because I think some people might be worrying about, well, how do we get kids to learn about money but without maybe the fear that they have around it? Because I think what happens is we just think that we're going to be putting that fear or worry onto our kids. So how do we do that responsibly?

That's a great question. I mean, I think the analogy that I could give is if your child wanted to surf, that was the one thing they wanted to do, is just go out and surf. You'd probably say, well, first you have to learn how to swim. I'm not just going to put you out in the ocean without teaching you how to swim first. And yet we still do that as parents. We send our kids out into the world having never taught them to swim, and they're expected to surf in the real world from a financial perspective. So here's how we do it. We begin, and this is kind of the framework that I use in the course that I'm launching here called Raising Money Savvy Kids. The framework is essentially that financial decisions need to be pushed down to the kid's level. And I'm not saying huge ones. Like you're not going to ask your 8 year old if you should buy a whole life insurance policy or a term policy. That's not the intent. But if your child is getting an allowance, and there are certain parameters put around that allowance in terms of what they buy versus what you buy, the young children as young as five years of age will begin to figure out that there are consequences to spending money, to saving money, to the fact that money can be finite. As in, well, you spent all your allowance last week at Target, so I know you want that today, but you're going to have to save it until next week in order to get it. And many parents, I won't say most, but many parents would say, oh yeah, go ahead, throw it in the cart. The reality is that, and I don't remember who came up with this. I think it was the U.S. department of Agriculture said the average cost to raise a child from 0 to 18 is upwards of 300. And when you consider all the other factors out there, such as a massive amount of Americans are not prepared for retirement, and I think it's like 3 in 10Americans don't even have $1,000 in a savings account. So you look at those kind of statistics and part of the reason is we're spending money on kids that we don't have, number one. Number two, we're not teaching them the habits that they need to learn early on so that they do have money when they get to be 20, 30, 40, 50 years of age. And ultimately it all just boils back down to are we giving them the basics? It's blocking and tackling. And I think that boils down to give your kid an allowance every single week and make them pay for stuff.

Oh my gosh, it's so simple. But at the same time, you know, when you do it all at once, if you're not doing it at a young age, you said something really interesting is, it's really. Money is a habit. So it's like when people try to. I'm just equating it to something that's right in the front of my mind. With a lot of people who understand, especially this time of year, it's like working out. If you try to do everything or lose weight all at once, it's like, oh my God, you have to learn the food, you have to learn the timing, you have to learn, you know, what's good for you, what's not, what you should be doing in the gym, it can be really overwhelming. But if they learn at a young age and it's a habit, it's something that is, is so second nature. It's just a part of you. So even if you do screw up, you can kind of go back to those, you know, those essential habit, those things that you learned in order to be able to get yourself out of maybe whatever you're in. So that is so huge. So tell me about. I was reading a little bit about what you do with your kids allowance and it's so brilliant. Could you share that with us?

Yeah, for sure. We this. It's actually kind of a funny story because I did a TED talk at the London Business School two years ago and the premise of the talk was I had been playing Monopoly with my kids and was noticing that they were playing just slightly outside of the rules of the game and they were doing Things like buying each other out of jail and they were loaning each other money to buy properties. And, you know, it was very socialistic and I appreciated how nice they were. Yes. It's like if Bernie Sanders were here, I'd have been super proud of my kids and how they were playing.

Yeah, what's your kids numbers in case I ever entered up in jail?

Right. They would totally bail you out too and have the money to do so. But they, I said, guys, how come you're playing this way? I'm just curious because our games were taking four and five hours. You know, it was just a long, long game. And they're like, well, you just want them to be on the board with us, dad. And then I'm looking around and I was kind of watching how they were making decisions and listening to their banter and it made me wonder, I wonder if they're playing this way because the money isn't real. And what if the money were real? Would they play differently? And so I went to my credit union on a Friday afternoon and having figured out how much I would need on the board at any one time, and I pulled out $10,000. Actually I pulled out $9,990 because you have to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork at 10 grand. So I pulled that out in all the denominations of bills that you would find on a Monopoly board with the exception of a $500 bill. And then Sunday morning we played a high stakes game of Monopoly. And interestingly, the kids played differently, my boys both played differently. One played much more conservatively. Where before he would buy everything that he landed on if he had the money or not, and afterwards, when he had money in front of him, he was looking ahead at how many spaces did his brother own and how many properties were on them and how much would he owe? Did he have that in front of him? It was really interesting to watch him do that. And so from that exercise, I decided that one of the things we would do is begin pushing financial decision making down to our kids. So they each got an allowance and it was a weekly amount. They get a dollar per year of age per week. So my 13 year old gets $13 a week, my 11 year old gets $11 a week. And they're responsible for certain things and we have rules and structure around that. And they know what they spend money on and what we'll spend money on and oftentimes, and this last weekend is a great example. Lori, if you don't mind me telling this story, Love it. My daughter Came into my bedroom. My wife, I think, had gone off to the gym, and I was laying there reading a book or something on Sunday morning. And Piper said, dad, can we go get donuts? And I said, well, I'll fly if you buy. And she goes, what do you mean by that? And I said, I'll drive you, but you're going to pay for them. If you want donuts, I'm happy to take you over there. So she's like, okay, let's do it. So we get in the car and we drive over to a local convenience store that sells donuts. And I said, hey, while you're in there, get me one. And I gave her a couple bucks. So she and my son go in to buy donuts, and they came out with half a dozen, and there were only three of us. And I said, guys, I'm curious. Why did you buy six? And Piper said, oh, it was a better deal, dad. It's cheaper to buy half a dozen than it is to buy three individuals. So we just bought six, and then we'll freeze them. And they would not have done that had I paid. They wouldn't have learned it. They wouldn't have figured that out. They wouldn't know how much donuts cost. They would have said, hey, can we get strawberry quick or can we get hot chocolate? And I'd be like, yeah, sure, whatever, and it'd be another 12 or $15. And instead they make these decisions. And I said, how can you get anything to drink? My son says, because we can make hot chocolate at home for free. Now, some people will say, oh, you're just. You're raising a bunch of misers, you know? And I'm like, no, no, no. They're conscious of their money. And most kids are totally unconscious about money because it's not their money. But when it's your kids money and they're spending it, they're conscious of it and they make great decisions. And when you start to watch it, it is like magic. Because the kids save, they want to invest, they understand. My daughter gives to Compassion International, and she's sponsored a little girl in a third world country for the last three years. I mean, that kind of stuff does something to you when you see your kids doing it.

Oh, that's awesome. And you know, it. It also clearly helps them understand value because I'm out in la, so I have. I'm. I come from the Midwest. And now being out in la, it's like I really do look around and see some of these, you know, it's like 16 year olds driving Ferraris for real. And I'm like, they don't even understand the value of that vehicle. And what other people in the world, how they view that, they have no idea. So then you see them treating it so poorly or treating all of these things. You know, I see all of these girls with Coco Chanel purses that are, you know, $10,000 for a bag that they chuck on the ground. And I'm like, oh my gosh. They have no idea the value of what they have because they've never been, they have never been taught, they have no clue. It's just expected. So it goes to show just how much value when it's something that they are actually buying and they value and they take care of. So do you see that as well, like with different things in their life?

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, you know, again, when it was us buying stuff, they would have lots of requests and it was, I want this, can I get this? And then when we laid down the law and just said, hey, listen, if you want big items, let us know. We'll take it into account. We'll plan for a birthday or a holiday. There are moments where we spring stuff on them and they're unbelievably grateful for those things. And otherwise we're like, but here's how much it is and here's how much you'd have to save over X amount of days. Or, you know, my daughter's now babysitting and she'll understand I need to get X number of babysitting days. So she's got business cards printed and you know, because she knows she's got a hustle if she wants that stuff. And ultimately what it is, I think is almost enabling that. Enabling them or empowering them? Not enabling, but empowering them for the responsibility that having money gives you. You know, when you have money, you have responsibilities and when you don't have money, you have no responsibilities. There's no consequences, there's no ramifications of your actions. It's just, it's not your money, it's my money. Right?

Too many people finish their workday feeling frustrated, drained and unfulfilled. I know that. I have experienced that myself. And the good news is it doesn't have to be this way and you don't need a new job to fix it. Patrick Lencioni, author of the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and more than a dozen other bestsellers, created the Working Genius assessment to help you pinpoint the kind of work that gives you energy, the kind that lights you up and it also shares the kind that drains it. So over a million people, including me, have taken it and completely changed how I lead and show up every day. If you're a CEO, an entrepreneur, or someone who just wants to level up in business and in life, Working Genius is going to give you the clarity and confidence to operate in your strengths and find greater joy in what you do. Because confidence isn't pretending to be good at everything, it's knowing where you're truly gifted. Take the Working Genius assessment today and get 20% off with code earn@workinggenius.com that's working genius.com you'll be glad you did it. There are so many challenges to business that I don't want starting to be one of them for you and when you want more. When you're starting a business, you need Northwest Registered Agent because you get access to thousands of free guides, tools and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business. And it's all in one place. You can build your complete business identity with Northwest today. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow business for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides. Real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business business every step of the way. You can sign up for free account to begin managing your business hub with lawyer drafted operating agreements, bylaws, resolutions, membership certificates, bills of sale and more at no cost. Northwest makes life easy for business owners. They don't just help you form your business, they give you the free tools you need after you form it like operating agreements, meeting minutes and thousands of how to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running a business. And let me tell you, this is life changing because I had no idea how much went into this. So don't wait. Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business Identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit www.northwestregisteredagent.com Earn free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent at www.northwestregisteredagent.com forward/earfree.

So you do a 10101070 rule. Can you explain that?

You bet. So when we started one of our goals was we wanted to foster a savings habit, an investment habit and a giving habit. And we use the 10-10-70 rule. So 10% of their allowance goes to savings, 10% goes to investing and 10% goes to giving. And then the other 70% is theirs to spend as they see fit. So the savings jar is sort of, it's sort of a long term savings and we usually say, what are you saving for? And they'll say, well, I don't really know. I don't have anything in mind. The invest jar, we have something called the family 401k plan where I will double whatever they have in their invest jar up to a certain amount every month. And usually it's more than what it's right up to or a little more than what they get in their allowance. So if they have money set aside, I've sort of incentivized them to actually put that money in the invest account and that goes into a stock trading fund that they buy dividend paying stocks that I've told them, you're going to hold this for as long as humanly possible. Here's why. Ultimately, my middle son especially understands the idea that his money is making money. The other two aren't quite at the same level as he is, but he's wanting to know how much did my Microsoft stock pay this quarter, dad, how much did I make on that? What's cool about that is I would love for him at 18 to have a robust financial account that pays him $1,000 or $1,500 a month in passive income, just investment income that if he wanted to go live on that, he could. That's his prerogative.

That's so, so great because it's again, it's just building these habits I of, okay, I make this money, I always give this amount or I make this money, I save this amount, I invest this amount amount. So do you notice just like maybe on giving days or save or the days that you guys really put this money into different areas, do you notice just maybe some pride with them or what is something that you notice maybe with how they're carrying themselves or how they're speaking in their lives.

They'Re much more inquisitive about the cost of things. And when we talk about, you know, we go to the store and I'll say, hey, quick teachable moment here guys, how much do you think? Blah, blah, blah, blah blah. And then I'll get guesses and we make it a game, right? But the whole time I'm thinking, I want them to know this. When we go to the grocery store, I want them to know how much we just spent because I want them to have in mind as they get older that you know, oh, I have 20 bucks, I'll be able to get a week's worth of groceries. No, you won't. You'll be able to get two days worth of groceries. And so there is a pride, there's definitely a curiosity, and it's cool to watch them go in and decide on a bigger ticket item. And my boys are big into Nerf guns right now, so I don't know if you've been around Nerf guns lately, Lori, but you can buy.

Sounds familiar.

You can buy 50 or $75 nerf guns these days. And when we go in and I'll say, well, how often do you think you're going to use that? A lot, dad. I'm like, okay, well, if you're going to use a lot and you divide the number of uses into how much it costs, your per use cost is probably going to be about what. And they might need to figure it out on their phone. And two of them can do it in their head. And I'm like, if you think that's worth it, do it. And then they'll think about it and they'll walk around and they'll put it in a cart and take it around a little bit. And then they're like, you know what? I'm going to wait because I think I might find a better deal on Amazon. How many kids do that? It's just cool to watch. And I think what we're doing is we're raising really savvy consumers that ultimately, when it's time for them to go to college, they're going to look at, how much does this school cost versus this school? I think I can get 30 hours or 60 hours of credit before I even leave high school. That'll save me another 40 or 60 grand. So they're thinking about that, which I think is important.

You know, that's so important because I'm looking back and I'm thinking about what a. You know, and of course, it's. It's all beautiful and divine. And I'm glad I had these lessons. But when I basically stepped out into the world, it was like, it was such a shock to me that I probably spent the first two years thinking, how do does anyone survive? And including myself. So I think if I was younger and I knew some of these things, I would start thinking more creatively. I think I would expand my vision, to be honest with you, because when you don't actually understand, you know, what it does cost, you don't need to think that big. So I think that, you know, what you're really doing is just expanding what's possible as well, and giving them the tools for that. So what do you see possible with conscious children? Like, what do you see happening with people who go through this course? Raising money, savvy kids.

Kids. Selfishly, part of my goal in this is I want to create a Rockefeller type fortune in my family. And the reason I want to do that is so that we can give back on massive, massive levels. And I read in a book one time that it takes two generations to create a Rockefeller type fortune. And so you have to decide, are you generation one or are you lucky enough to be generation two? And I believe that I am generation one and I am preparing my kids to take on the fortunes that we're creating. But if I don't. Studies have shown that most generational wealth is gone by the third generation because they haven't passed down not the ability to make, but the ability to manage and the ability to tend and steward the money. Well, and in my mind, that's what I'm doing with my kids. And hopefully through the course, what we're teaching other people to do is a. I want you to retire with dignity. And it scares the crap out of me right now, the number of Americans that cannot retire with dignity. I mean, if you look at what's going on societally and governmentally and in our economy today, with the amount of overall government debt, to think that our Social Security system will be completely intact in the next 20 years is. It's foolish. But what I want to do is I want to help people understand that it's possible to create the kind of life that you want. Financially, you just have to take maybe some different steps. And one of those is with your kids, who will be one of your greatest expenses in life.

That is so huge because I'm seeing it with my parents right now. Honestly, it's one of my biggest drivers for not only learning this for my future children who are not born yet, but I will need to know it, but just for everybody to learn. Because it is not fun for the child to watch their parents go through it. It's not fun for the parents to watch their children go through it. So it is, it's such a responsibility. It's. It's as big as making sure they understand how to be healthy. Because without it, you're not healthy. Right? You're, you're struggling. Your mindset, your stress. What are some of the. If you have some amazing transformations that you'd be willing to share. Money transformations.

We've had a bunch. I mean, you know, the stories are numerous and we're starting to do a lot more financial coaching through MoneySavvy.com People are finding us and asking us, will you just go through my finances and help us figure out what to do and how to pay down debt as an example or where to put investments or whatever it may be? And the one that comes to mind is a very close friend of mine had a massive house. He was living in the suburbs of Chicago, and I'm sure had a six or seven hundred thousand dollars home. The taxes alone on the house were probably 20 grand a year. And they had $50,000 in credit card debt because their fun weekend plans involve going to Target. And they would wander around Target and they'd pick up DVDs and they'd get clothes or they'd get stuff for the house or whatever it was. And not realizing it, they drop 3, 4, $500 every single weekend at Target and put it on a credit card. And when we really started diving deep into what they were doing, the issue was one of them had gotten downsized. And the conversation went something like, we're going to drown in our own debt if we don't do something drastic. It was one of those moments where I could kind of see the panic in their eyes that they finally realized the error of their ways when the smoke finally cleared and they realized they were facing a firing line. And the firing line was six credit cards, each with 8,000 or more in debt. They had a massive mortgage. They had a tax bill coming due. And what they opted to do was downsize in a massive way, begin selling off a bunch of the possessions that they thought were who they were. And as a matter of fact, it was just kind of what they had. It had nothing to do with who they were as people. It was just their stuff. And within two years, they had paid off all of their credit card debt. The wife then decided to stay home with kids because before they were all going to daycare, which was another added expense. So they downsized. She stays home, no more credit card debt. He got a promotion in a smaller town, didn't have the long commute within the city. And at the end of it, he said, you know what's amazing is I feel like we all got our lives back. It felt like we were chasing some animal that we thought we wanted, but it was actually it was chasing us. And when I hear those kinds of stories, it's awesome, because what it is, and it goes back to what you said earlier that you saw on the website. It's the four legacies Financial freedom leads to time freedom. When you have money, you have time. Time freedom leads to relationship freedom. When you have time, you spend that time with people you want to spend time with, not those you have to spend time with at work. And then relationship freedom leads to service freedom. So he and his wife volunteered at the church and they, you know, she rocked babies at the hospital and, you know, they did stuff they wanted to do, not the stuff they had to do. And it was just, yeah, it was kind of an awesome turnabout story.

You know, I love talking about money because it is such a huge part of our lives. And I think so many of us have a lot of different emotional feelings and our identity tied to money. And when you can free someone of that, it's amazing how you're what you truly desire. And who we really are at the core of our soul is able to come through. And a lot of times we don't even realize who we are or what we really desire because it's just covered with all these different ideas and maybe all of this fear and maybe all these stories. So if somebody is perhaps, you know, maybe someone's really in debt or they have massive fear around what it's going to look like or take in order to make that transformation. What are some things that you tell those people to start being able to transform into this new lifestyle in order to pay off debt?

It's a great question. One of the first things I would do, and you allude to it all the time on your podcast, but it's sort of the self work. It is the deep introspection that it takes to figure out what do you truly value and do your belongings actually echo that value, or is it something else completely? And I'll give you a great example. We live in a fairly affluent neighborhood. There's a lot of people around us. Matter of fact, most of my neighbors are surgeons or they're business owners. One's a CFO of a major hospital. They all have these really high end jobs. Many of them are driving luxury cars at some point. I've talked to one of them in particular who said he came out, he pulled into his driveway, was pulling up his garbage can or something, and I asked him how his night was going and he's like, oh, I got to go in and do charts for four hours. And it's like, do you want to do that? Do you enjoy doing that? Or is that now just part of your life because you've built this gigantic lifestyle that that's what you have to do? In order to support it. And so, in answer to your question, I think that introspection is the first step, and it's really figuring out in the massive list of values, what are your top five. And if you're not living those top five values, what is keeping you from that? Is it your car payment? Is it your house payment? Is it the job that you're in isn't exactly what you want to do. And so you're going to work frustrated. I mean, what exactly is keeping you from living to your highest value? And I think the name of your podcast is so, you know, aptly named earn your happy. Because you do have to earn it. You have to figure out what makes you happy and then work towards that. And in some cases, that may mean taking a close look at your closet, your shoe collection, your car, your whatever, or your motivation and how you're making money and what you can do differently.

You know, it's so interesting. I am being transported right back to this point in my life where, you know, Chris's job was doing really well. I was probably 26 years old, and, you know, we. We had more money than we knew what to do with at a really young age when we first got married. And very quickly, the mortgage industry plummeted in two, 2007.

Yep.

And I remember pulling up our bills were overwhelming. The house, this house that we moved into. Four bedrooms for two people, Just this gigantic home. And I remember pulling up into the driveway when things started to go south with his job, and I just felt sick. I was like, how did I think this was me? And it's not even that it was. It's a bad thing to have that carrot, or if that's what you eventually want. But it was the only thing that I could see for a while. And that really made us. It was like, I remember we took a walk. We would take walks, like, every single night after that to try to go, what do we really want? What are we gonna do? Like, we did just. We had no idea what we were going to do, and that was huge. We just literally said, I want experiences. I want to do what I love every single day. And we had to write down what that was and get so clear on it and what we were willing to do to get there. And it's so crazy because, you know, once you figure that out, all of these other beautiful things come as a side effect of you following that. So how do you paint that picture for people? Is there a way that you can kind of be. Because I felt a lot of shame around having things in that moment. But do you know what I'm trying to ask? How do you paint that picture of? It's not shameful to desire things, but while you're trying to get out of debt, you might have to do some things that you might have to, as Dave Ramsey says, live like no other. So you can live like no other.

Yeah, I agree. And I don't think there's any shame in wanting or having really nice things in your life. I mean, we do. I love. I love my house. I love where I'm at. But I will say that the decision that we made to be where we're at was a matter of getting there. There was a journey to get there. And I think some people circumvent the journey because a banker or a mortgage broker says, oh, for sure. You can totally afford that. And we do it before we actually can. So how do you do it if you're in that situation? I think you stated it marvelously. It's, what are you willing to do? What do you like? What actions are you willing to take in order to get there? And I'll give you a great example. There's a young lady that I counseled who came out of chiropractic school, and she has $200,000 in student loans, and she's making $65,000 a year as a hired chiropractor in an office. And she said, I don't have enough money to open my own practice. And I said, okay, well, do you want to do that someday? She said, absolutely. And I said, what are you willing to do in order to get there? And she said, what do you mean? I said, well, let's look at your expenses. What do you have? And so she laid out her monthly bills and what she spent. And I thought this was really interesting. Lori. She basically assumed that she was spending about $800 a month in food between groceries and eating out. And when I went through three months of bank statements with her, her average spend on food dining was almost $1,700 a month. And I said, so you actually could be there. You know, you could create the situation that would allow you to start your own practice, but you're unwilling to cut back right now, as it seems, on eating out or shopping at Whole Foods or whatever you think is important to you right now. And all that means, really, is that the dream itself doesn't have enough leverage as reality does. And reality is, I like organic foods, and I like to have fine dining every now and again. And because that has more leverage than your dream does. It wins. And so what I tend to do with people who are in that situation is say, take me five years out from today. And I want you to imagine that you have everything you could ever imagine. What does that look like? What does it feel like? Tell me about your life. Tell me about the things around you. What is your lifestyle like? What's an ideal week look like? And they give me that. I go, does it feel good? Yeah, it does. Okay, now let me take you five years out from where you're at today. And I paint this horrible picture about a broken home and bankruptcy and foreclosure, and I create serious leverage. And they go, I really like the other one. And I go, okay, well, if you continue down this path, the one I gave you is probably more likely to occur than the one that you gave me unless you make some changes. So what are you willing to do to get to your vision? Not my vision.

Wow. I can't even tell you how powerful that is, because I think that that is one of the unique things that I've always been able to do is see the good in what the vision is, but also see what will happen if I continue on that path. And that's been some really good motivation is to get really real with, what does five years look like if you continue on with what you're doing? And are you going to be okay with that? Because, I mean, ultimately, you know, our choices every single day make up our life. And that was one thing that Chris and I did. You're just. It's. It's so incredible is just to look at. We were like, you know what? We can give up weekends for three years. Like, we can do this. We can give up weekends, we can pay up off all our debt, and we can live this dream life. And looking back, sometimes I don't even understand how I did it because that became a habit, like being willing to do what other people are not willing to do. So tell me about this Raising Money Savvy kids course. And, I don't know, tell me everything about it. How can we enroll?

Yeah. So the course will live at moneysavvy.com, which is two V's, M O N E Y S A V-V-Y.com, parent webinar. And if you sign up for the webinar, we'll walk you through the framework, a few of the rules, basically the reasoning behind the reasons why we created the program in the first place. And from there, you can sign up. It's a video based course. It's several hours worth of video based training, but it's all broken down into bite sized nuggets. So you can watch it in eight or ten minute sequences. And whether that means you're cooking dinner and you've got it on your iPad and you're watching it that way, or you decide to do a marathon day on a Saturday and take it all in, it's totally up to you. It's great for kids ages 5 through 17. And I won't say that kids over 17 can't benefit, but I will say that habits begin to be formed at that late teenage level. And once they go off to school, they're not really under your watchful eye. So it's easier to influence them when they're in that 5 to 17 age bracket. But I will tell you, Lori, my kids are my guinea pigs and I have dozens of families who are doing the same thing that I used as test cases. And the feedback and the results have been miraculous. I mean, just, they're like, I am. It blows my mind how simple it is and yet how effective it is when it's done well. And that's really the key to the course is we give you all of the particulars, the rules, the guidelines, the agreements, if you want to sign them with your kids, contracts around lending and borrowing money. I mean, everything is spelled out because guess what, that's what they're going to have to deal with when they leave your house.

What do you think the parents are getting out of it?

You know, honestly, their wallets are fattened a little bit because they're not spending as much on their kids. And that's been a big one, is the ability to say no. And to say no, you have money, if you want to buy it, go ahead. And they're like, oh, no, I'm good.

Wow.

And so we found that we have more money. My kids have more money in their investment accounts. We have more money in 529 plans. I mean, it's just flat out there's not this desire to spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. It's like, oh, no, we're good conserving. Because saving is fun too, you know.

It'S so beautiful too, because you're getting them all in together on something. Like you're all going in together and learning about something and it's this collective idea that way. So it's not just like, no, you can't have that. And they don't understand why it's really this beautiful they feel like they're working towards something. Like, I'm getting excited about it, and I don't have children, but I have plenty of friends that do that I know are going to be in love with this. So I'm so grateful that you're doing this. So what's the best advice around saving money that you have ever gotten?

You know, it's an interesting one, and this is one that I'm going to write about in detail on MoneySavvy.com I believe that most people, their income is inefficient. And here's what I mean by that. We make. You know, most people, they make money, they go out and do their corporate chores and they get their corporate allowance, and then it goes into a checking account and they pay all their bills. And anything that's left over ideally either goes to saving, goes to investing, or it's spent. And that's just the God's honest truth. It's just gone. And realistically, your income should do a number of things. It should pay your expenses. It should eliminate or erase debt. It should build wealth, and it should do good. And in there, you could have have fun. Have fun and do good, I think are two kind of go hand in hand. But for most people, their income does two things. It pays expenses, and they have fun. And those are the only two things they do with it. And that's part of the reason that we are growing up to be, you know, 40, 50, 60 years old and not prepared for retirement is because for 50 years, our income's been inefficient. And so I teach people how to create efficiency with their income, where they're not only paying down debt, they're building investment accounts. Their money works harder than they do, and it feels like they have all the money in the world. And it is an awesome, awesome thing.

Yes. So let's say I'm part of a couple and I listen to this podcast and I'm all fired up and I have all this debt, but I'm super excited to start paying it down. How do I have these conversations with my family to start talking about getting in on savings?

It definitely is a couple conversation. I mean, there's no question and. Or family. You know, we were. I think we were fortunate in the fact that my wife Jen and I had had those conversations early on, and we knew where we each stood when it came to money. So when our kids came into the picture, we just naturally enveloped them into those conversations. I think for someone who's kind of starting from square One, and it's really sitting down again and figuring out, hey, what are our goals? What do we want as a family? And that's everything from how much should we pay for college? Is that on us or is that on the kids? And when you look at college costs today, most parents will not get away from either paying for it or co signing on a loan, which ultimately means they'll probably be on the hook for some of it anyway. So figuring out those kind of answers and deciding how big of a house payment do we really want, and do we need five or six bedrooms when there's the four of us, or can we get by on less? And what does that mean in terms of school, district, and how much time do we want on the weekends and all those things? And begin the process of just dreaming. And then the next step is, okay, now how do we make this happen? And as you do that as a family, it's really cool when everyone's on board. I mean, one of the things, things for us, and we've talked to the kids about this, is I've always had a dream of living for two months in Italy on the Amalfi coast and having a villa and just we're gonna go over there in the summers and just chill, get a Eurail pass and have fun.

Yes. Amazing.

And so we have slated for the summer of 2018 to go do that. My kids know it and they're excited about it, and they know that's what we arrange our lives around, some of those kinds of trips, and they're cool with that. And so, you know, make it a family event. But it definitely is. At the very least, both couples need to be in on it. And, you know, I'd say in an ideal case, kids and two kids included, too.

I totally agree with that. Okay, so I know that you talked about, you know, Rockefeller type of legacy and what that, what that really means to, you know, have to break all of those different glass ceilings that we don't even realize that are there around beliefs. Right. So as you notice that you're reaching maybe the next level in income, do you ever find that you are kind of feeling like you're maxed out at a certain spot or that's kind of where your financial thermostat needs to be reset? And what are the things that come up that kind of block you when you're like, whoa, how am I going to go to this next level?

Oh, man, that is such a huge question. And you clearly know all about the financial thermostat and the secrets of the Millionaire mind and all of that we do. We have a financial thermostat that's set for most people. And I think it was Jack Canfield at an event I went to with he and Mark Victor Hansen where they said, write down the number that you'd like to make. And so everyone wrote down that number and they said, now add a zero to it. It. What does that do to you? And most people are like impossible, can't do it. No way. That's your money mindset. And yet are there people making that kind of money? Absolutely. I mean, when. And here's the thing for me, and hopefully your listeners take some stock in this. Are you a Snapchatter?

Yes.

Okay, so Evan Spiegel, who started Snapchat, who's now 24, I believe, you know, 11 years ago he was my daughter's age. 11 years ago he's 24. He's worth 3 billion or 4 billion dollars. Tell me that it's not possible to make any amount of money you want to in today's day and age. All you have to do is put in the time. And you referred to Dave Ramsey's whole live like no one else. I have a saying that if you do for two years what most people won't do, you can do for the rest of your life what most people can't do.

Wow.

And it's two years. You and your husband did it for three years. If we give up weekends and Chris was willing to do it right, give up weekends for three years. And now who wouldn't give their right arm to live the way that Lori and Chris harder do? Come on.

Thank you for that. And really, it's just like you said, you were talking about having those conversations. It took a lot of conversation. It was like a lot of self work, a lot of conversations to get there. And I know that's clearly what you and your family do. And I so look up to people with children who are raising just really conscious children because I can't imagine what they are going to be able to do in this world with that awareness and already with those ideas of giving back. How exciting. How exciting is that? So beautiful.

Oh, it's awesome. And I got three pretty amazing kids, I'm not gonna lie.

So any last advice to new entrepreneurs? Because I know we have so many people who want to either start a business or maybe are network marketers or want to work for themselves. Is there anything that you would tell them?

Number one, I think one of the allure to being an entrepreneur and doing your own thing is that, hey, I get to make whatever I want. I can make as much as I want and it's all mine. I think where a lot of entrepreneurs fall down is they don't separate their finances into business and personal. And for us, that was a big, as simple as that sounds, that was a big marker for me to say, okay, I have a corporate account. And that corporate account pays my personal account a salary. And it felt like I had legitimized my business when I paid myself a salary every month. And what it also did was for those of your listeners who are entrepreneurs that are married to someone that's like, hey, how much are you going to provide every month? I need to know because we have these bills to pay. It creates almost an evening effect when you say to your spouse, hey, listen, I will commit to 2,000, 5,000, 10,000amonth coming out of my business, whatever it may be, and then just stick with that number and you're going to have highs and you're going to have lows. But what I've done is I have a line of credit that I know that I'm paying myself every two weeks. If the money isn't in my account, I'm drawing from that line of credit to make sure that the exact same amount of money is going into my personal account in my salary. And it creates just kind of an even, there's not this panic like, oh my gosh, how are we going to make the house payment this month? There's not that at all. It's just this very even keel financial flow. And I would say one of the things that people want is sort of financial contentment. You can have it. As an entrepreneur, you just have to organize your finances in a way that gives you that.

That's beautiful. So you guys, you know that I am a huge, I so believe in events, I believe in courses, I believe in finding your resources and your books. And Adam, your website alone is, is such an amazing gold mine of tangible things you can do immediately, no matter who you are and what age you are. And that is MoneySavvy.com, you guys. And also this course that he has coming out, I am beyond thrilled about. I think it's so vital and it's so important. And even if you don't have kids, I guarantee we could probably take so much from it, raising money, savvy kids, which you can enroll in right now, which is in the show notes. So I am so thrilled about that. Adam, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on today and acknowledge your incredible work in the world, because what you're doing is truly so needed and so impactful. So thank you for all that you're doing. I know how hard you work.

Oh, I appreciate you, Laurie. I have to tell you both. I, my wife, my assistant, all of us were doing your work out for the new year, and so I feel like you and I are connected more than we probably are just over interviews like this. But you're coming into our house on the daily, so I appreciate what you do. And keep it up.

Oh, I love hearing that. And you know I have a final question, right?

Yes. Lay it on me.

Okay. So you are in an elevator, and it's a quick ride. It's like 30 seconds with somebody else, a total stranger, and they look over at you and they say, how can I make myself happy? What do you say?

I say this sounds super cheesy and simple. Free yourself. Free yourself to be yourself.

I love it. It's so perfect. Thank you so much for coming on, Adam. And you guys, if you loved this episode as much as I did, make.

Sure you share it.

And until. Until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment, Tell us what you think, Tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye. Bye.