Financial Literacy for Kids with Mac Gardner, CFP®

Joe Biden ran on a number of proposed tax law changes during the 2020 campaign. Several of these proposals temporarily took effect as part of the American Rescue Plan, and several others have been introduced in Congress. Note that, historically, major tax reforms seem to pass towards the end of the year, with changes applying to the following year. In this episode, I’ll summarize some of the proposed changes.  Also, Money Checkup will be taking a hiatus after this episode. This summer I’m focusing on renovating our home and working on a lifelong dream of mine: Publishing a children’s book. I’ll be blogging about our renovation all summer, so if you’re interested in following along, sign up for my newsletter here.

While playing professional football, Jedidiah Collins realized that he didn’t know how to manage money. Despite earning a high salary, he’d spend most of his paycheck right after he received it and didn’t know how to plan for the future. With encouragement from his family and mentor, he began to learn about personal finance, eventually studying for the CFP® exam during the offseasons. After a few years of working in wealth management, Jedidiah realized his passion was helping people who were just beginning their financial journeys.    "Rich is having a lot of money today," Jedidiah says. "Wealth is how many tomorrows I don't have to worry about money."  Today, Jedidiah runs Your Money Vehicle, an online certification course in financial literacy. His hope is that students will learn basic principles of personal finance and put them to use throughout their lives. https://fitadvisors.com/financial-literacy-jedidiah-collins

Physician contracts can be very complex, and often physicians turn to attorneys for help reviewing them during the negotiation process. Poonam Lakhani, an employment and business attorney with The Prinz Law Firm, works with physicians to do just that. She reviews contracts to understand compensation structures, non-compete clauses, termination clauses, whether there are specific steps that can lead a physician to become a partner, and more. “My goal is to make sure that as much is defined as possible, because when there’s vagueness in an agreement, that’s where disputes occur," she says. Poonam is based in the Chicago area and is a member of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago. She has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star every year since 2016. https://fitadvisors.com/contract-review-for-physicians-with-poonam-lakhani

Dasarte Yarnway founded his own wealth management firm at age 24 out of a desire to help people create multi-generational wealth. At Berknell Financial Group, he encourages clients to think deeply about their relationship to and beliefs about money, then works alongside them to create a unique, holistic plan that reflects their values across all aspects of their financial life. Then, he helps clients use their wealth to invest in themselves, their families, and their communities.  “How do you create that better life when no one’s telling you what the rules are to this system?… If they had a compass, how could that change the trajectory of their financial life?”  The child of immigrants from Liberia, Dasarte is passionate about making financial planning more accessible to everyone. https://fitadvisors.com/episode-59-designing-your-wealth-with-dasarte-yarnway/

Tracey Bissett works with business owners to help them understand their financials, manage their cash flow, and set pricing in a way that ensures they earn a fair salary. Though Tracey believes it is essential for business owners to know their numbers, she doesn’t believe anyone should feel shame because they don’t — and she works with her clients to understand where those feelings come from and develop strategies for addressing them.  “I don’t see how you can actually hit your goals for your business without knowing your numbers.” Tracey operates her firm, Bissett Financial Fitness Inc., from Toronto. She is also a professor at Centennial College’s School of Business. https://fitadvisors.com/managing-your-business-cash-flow-with-tracey-bissett

In this episode, US Bank loan officer Christina Razzi (NMLS# 162739) walks us line by line through a loan estimate. She outlines what each number means, which ones vary from bank to bank or from state to state, and which are estimates that will change as you get closer to closing. Here is a sample loan estimate that you can use to follow along: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home/loan-estimate For more detail, visit: https://fitadvisors.com/how-to-read-a-loan-estimate

I recently had the opportunity to join former Money Checkup guest Brent Lacey on his podcast, The Scope of Practice. We talked in detail about tax planning for 2021 and beyond. I hope you enjoy this bonus episode!  For more details and to learn more about The Scope of Practice, visit: https://www.thescopeofpractice.com/podcast-episode-40-how-to-maximize-your-tax-savings-in-2021-anjali-jariwala-ceo-of-fit-advisors/

A few years ago, one of Mac Gardner’s clients approached him. She served on the board of a children-serving nonprofit, and she asked if Mac could create some financial literacy materials for the kids the organization served. Mac did — and he learned along the way that many kids have very little exposure to the basics of personal finance. He created The Four Money Bears to help instill in kids those basic principles. “There are really only four things you can do with money: Spend it, save it, invest it, and give it away. Those are the four building blocks of financial literacy.” Mac also runs a company, FinLit Tech, that focuses on building bridges between financial literacy and financial technology. He lives in Tampa with his family. 

Katrina Ubell, MD worked for a decade as a pediatrician. After years of big fluctuations in her weight, she lost 45 pounds in a year and has been able to keep it off since. With her physician husband’s encouragement, she left her practice to launch her own business, where she focuses on helping other physicians understand their food habits so they can make permanent changes to their lifestyles.  “Swapping out different actions will only help for so long, because you’ll still be thinking those thoughts and feeling those feelings that don’t support you.” More: https://fitadvisors.com/weight-loss-katrina-ubell

Less than 2% of global assets under management, across mutual funds, hedge funds and other asset classes, is managed by women and people of color, according to a 2019 Knight Foundation report. After a decades-long career in investing, University of Rochester Senior Investment Officer Rob Rahbari knew statistics like these. So in 2020, when the university’s president challenged every university department to recommit to diversity, equity and inclusion, Rob and his teammates developed an open-source list of funds owned and managed by women and people of color to share with other endowments and foundations. “It doesn’t mean anything until dollars start moving in the direction of these diverse firms. We haven’t seen a sea change there yet, and we’ll only be satisfied when that happens.”  Moving investment dollars is challenging and will likely be a slow process. Rob hopes his team’s list is just the first step.