Birth to Net Worth with Marie Baginski - Episode 5

Good afternoon, and welcome to Birth to net worth. Episode 5. Jesse, how you doing, dude?

I am doing amazing. We got the salmon run right around the corner, so I'm getting ready to get out and do some camping and do some fishing and some more real estate, obviously.

Fantastic. That sounds awesome. What's the weather like up there?

It's a whopping 60 degrees, bro.

Marvelous. That sounds perfect. We're at 100 degrees right here.

Oh, my gosh. You got to be kidding me.

Yeah.

I know what to do with 100 degrees.

Well, we got somebody awesome today. We got Maria Baginski. She is a fixer and a flipper and a mama and a great, great lady to know. She's got a background from one of the mentorships that some of our friends have been part of, and she's going to talk to us about her passion for financial literacy for kids. So let's bring her in.

Marie, what's going on? How are you?

I'm doing great. How are you guys doing today?

Wonderful.

Phenomenal.

Awesome. Well, like Tristan said, It's 100 degrees here in Arizona, so it's lovely.

Oh, my gosh. You know what? 75. Just so you know. 75 degrees in Alaska is like the equivalent of 100. 100 degrees down there, just so you know. So here in another couple degrees, I'll be. I'll be feeling your guys's pain.

Sure it is.

I've already got the AC on. We're. We're already kind of cooking.

And the igloo is melting.

That's right. The igloo is melting. Yeah.

Fantastic. Well, Marie, give us a little bit of background. You've done fortune builders, you've done a bunch of other things, but tell us about your childhood, you know, where you come from, you know, what did you learn in life? And tell us about your experiences.

Yes. So I am originally from New York. Staten Island, New York, to be exact. So if you ever watched Jersey Shore back in the day, I'm sure you've seen and heard what typical Staten Islanders sound like. I grew up. My mom's side of the family are all immigrants from Italy, so I grew up with a hardcore Italian background. My dad's family has been here for a long time, but my parents did get divorced when I was young, so I grew up primarily know, with my mom's side of the family. And, yeah, it's actually interesting. You know, I heard expressions like, money doesn't grow on trees. And like, what do you think we're made out of money? Like, these are the typical Things I. I grew up hearing. So yeah, it was definitely different than living the life out here in sunny Arizona, that's for sure.

Interesting. Oh, I read that you had 14 years of experience as a professional engineer.

Yes. So interestingly enough, I actually went to high school for performing arts and started singing opera when I was 12 and got into college as a music major. And somehow freshman year of college decided that I wanted a real degree. So I said, you know, I could always go audition for a Broadway show, but they don't care if I have a degree, so let me not waste my time in college. And so I switched into the engineering program and I got a degree in electrical engineering.

Wow, interesting. So you, you sing though, still, right? You do. What kind of music are you into?

Honestly, a little bit of everything right now. I sing at church on Sundays. It's like contemporary Christian rock type of stuff. For real hymns. I actually about 5 years ago I sang at Carnegie hall with a choir and that was singing like folk style music, but really everything. I still like to sing classical Andrea Pucelli when I'm in the car by myself, but my kids are like, that's.

Probably the best time to sing that.

Yeah. And then like, you know, regular pop, hip hop, what's favorite famous on the radio a little bit, everything.

That's awesome. Okay, well, before we end, we're probably gonna have to have you belt out a verse or something of Living on a Prayer.

Okay.

Get some Bon Jovian up here.

Why not?

I love it. So how do you. How do you go from 14 years of engineering experience to real estate? What does that transition look like? I mean, you gave us a little bit of an insight into, you know, what your childhood was, you know, some of the things that you heard growing up about money, what your parents told you. How does this transition happen?

Honestly, it was really crazy. So I graduated with my degree in engineering and I decided like, if I had rich parents, they would pay for me to like go backpacking through Europe for a year. But I don't. So I said I have to figure out how to do something cool before I go get an engineering job. And so I actually went and worked for Club Med for six months. I like got that job while I was still finishing up my senior year in college. So I was like bartending. I was always like hustling and working again because I had to figure out how to pay for everything on my own. So bartended all through college, bartended in the summers in New York and then got this job where they bartending in pubmed in Cancun. So, like, what's better than that?

So I literally, hard knock life, right?

I graduate with my engineering degree, and three days later, I'm on a flight to Mexico. And so I worked there for six months. And I think a lot happened when I was there, just traveling and meeting people that were traveling to the resort. Somebody there, you know, told me about rich dad, poor dad. And, you know, you got to read this book, and you got to, like, see what else is out there. So eventually I, you know, did that for six months. And then some of the people that I met there, we went to Tahoe and did to. To make me aware of it, because, like you said, sometimes you're doing it and you're not aware of it. So I have open and honest conversations with my kids about it, and I think if we can all start to just be more open and honest with our communication, that will free up a lot of. We get so, so caught up in, did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing? We're worried about what other people think. Just be open and honest. My kids know that if. If I yell at them for something and. And I raise my tone of voice, and it's just because I'm frustrated. I'm. I'm working on something, and they interrupted me, maybe that my son will call me out on it, and he's like, mommy, you're not supposed to talk to me in that tone of voice. Right? Like, I. Did I interrupt you? Is this not, like, not a good time? And I'm like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe. Like, my kid knows.

Yeah.

That'S a big thing, you know? So be conscious of it. And when you can be conscious of it. So if you do spit out something and. And you did it incorrectly, the moment you become conscious of it, correct it and let your kids know that you Absolutely right. Let them know and let them call you out on it in the future. And then, you know, my big thing that I just want to leave everyone with is write down your goals. Have some goals, and write them down. Just the power of writing down your goals and telling them to someone. Tell them to a perfect stranger at Fry's one day when you're out doing grocery shopping, or tell them to your significant other if you really feel comfortable with it. But I really, really do believe in the power of writing down goals and putting it out into the universe. You can't just say it over and over in your head. You got to speak. Speak it out. You Got to write it down. Because once you put that out into the universe, it, there will be a way that it will come back to you. One of my first real estate seminars, Robert Kiyosaki was on stage and I remember him literally saying, why are you here right now? What is going to motivate you when the contractor walks away with $5,000, when Hurricane Sandy hits your house and you got to build it again, when all that shit hits the fan? Right? He didn't really say all those things, but those all happened to me. Like, what's going to keep you going? And we wrote down goals and he was like, don't write down financial freedom because that doesn't mean anything. Right? But I wrote down I wanted to retire from my engineering career before I was 40. That was a big goal for me, just to be able to retire before I was 40. And you know, my husband at the time, and we were 24 and 26 when we were writing this down, guys. So, you know, we were, we were young. And he's 26 and he writes, I want a supercar by the time I'm 40. Of course I want to retire. And he just wants like a Lamborghini. Of course. That's what every guy wants.

Naturally.

Naturally. But you know that, right? That one day that we just wrote down that goal and put it away, we never even thought about it afterwards. We really didn't. It wasn't something we kept. I know people say you write it down, the same goal every day or keep bringing it out there. We wrote it down that one day, we shared it with each other, we put it away. And I retired six months before my 40th birthday. And he bought his Audi R8 right after his 40th birthday. And those were goals we wrote down 14, 16 years before. We didn't even think about it.

Yeah.

So, you know, one thing that I just want to say is, you know, the universe is a wonderful place. What you put out, you will get back in. So be careful of that. You know, be careful of what your. Who you're getting that advice from. Like you were saying earlier, Jesse. Right. The people that are telling you, be careful what you allow in your brain. Even with simple things like, you know, Tony Robbins does this thing where he's like, close your eyes and picture an 80 year old man. What does an 80 year old man look like? And most people in the audience are visualizing their grandpa, right? And this old man that can't really walk or whatever it is. And then while you're all there with your eyes closed. He brings out like the healthiest 80 year old man in the world that looks like he's like 45 and can like bench press me. And he's like, well, he's 80. And you're all like, what? He's 80? You don't even know that it's possible until you see it. And then you're like, that's what I want to be when I'm 80. So we, we have so many influences from when we're kids and what we think life should look like, what we think about money, what we think we're gonna look like. Right? Like, am I gonna look like my grandmother when I'm 80 just because she's my grandmother? Honestly, I hope not, because my grandmother was not in good shape when she was 80. But now that I know that, I can go do some Google search and find some really hot 80 year old women and be like, that's what I want to look like, 80. So just, you know, just be conscious of those types of things. Everything you think affects your mindset. So that's my big thing. Write down goals and, and see the world through different lenses. Perfect.

I love it. Well, I just wrote down my goal again as we were sitting here as you were saying that, so thank you. Appreciate that.

Awesome. Well, thanks so much, Marie. It's been a pleasure. I know we're going to do some great things together down here and put together panels and discussions and, and help each other with our causes. So hurry up and get your ass down here, Jesse.

Hurry up.

I don't know about that. How about you guys come up here.

Don'T come down in the next couple months. It's too hot, but okay.

Yeah, I agree. I'll see you guys like in like November.

That's good.

Perfect.

Well, thanks so much.

Thank you guys so much for having me. It's been so much fun chatting with you.

Pleasure.

Appreciate you. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thanks.