From Allowance to Income: Preparing Your Teen for Financial Responsibility

00:00:12 - Mike Mills
Hello. Hello, everybody, and welcome to Mike Mills Mortgage and Finance podcast. I am your host, Mike Mills, a local mortgage maker here in Dallas Fort Metroplex. I host this podcast each week, but I also help people every day achieve the challenging goal of homeownership. So if you ever have any questions or need help with a client, please feel free to reach out to me anytime. I am happy to help. Now, today we are breaking away from our usual real estate topics and diving into the other half of the podcast title, which is finance. Now, with the holidays wrapping up and family time still in everyone's world right now, we are continuing our conversation. I started a little over a month ago with my daughter, focusing today on imparting crucial money management wisdom to the next generation. But before we dive in, let's ponder this. How are we really teaching our kids about money these days? Are we grooming them to become cogs in the corporate machine? Or do we dream of having them have true financial independence? Now, in my parents eight, the baby boomers, they had unions, lush benefits, golden pensions, and early retirements with great companies that really seemed to care about their employees. But fast forward to today's generation, and we've got 401 managed by large hedge funds, hedge funds, shorter vacations, long work hours, and salaries that barely keep up with the rising cost of living. So we might want to rely on schools to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to financial education. But let's face it, if you want your kids to have success with money in today's challenging work environment, we as parents have to take the lead and take charge whether we like it or not. So what are we going to teach our kids? I mean, I work in mortgages, and I talk to people every day about what it takes to buy a home with income, assets, and credit. And even I'm unsure if my daughter will be able to afford a house when she's ready to settle down to start a family. But knowing her, she might just decide to wander the earth like kane and kung fu and going from town to town and getting in adventures today, here's the real crux of the problem. Money isn't just about how much you make, it's about what you do with it. The steps we take to show our kids how the system works might seem small, but it's the path I'm taking with my 16 year old daughter to get her where she needs to be in the easiest, least eye rolled and bra calling way possible. So if I wanted to stand on her own two financial feet, my wife and I need to kick start our financial education now while we still have some of her attention. Because once she flies the coupe in a couple of years, those lessons become harder and harder to teach. Now, full disclosure, this is my first rodeo in guiding any child through this financial journey, so I am no expert. It's trial and error process for me, too. And we're going to share all of it with you, the good, the bad and the ugly. So without further ado, let me introduce my ever enthusiastic but mostly disgruntled teenage daughter, Katie James.

00:02:59 - Catey Jane Mills
How's it going?

00:03:00 - Mike Mills
How's it going, everybody? All right, so obviously you are super pumped about being here today, as we can obviously tell. So tell me a little bit. All right. You're having to sit in here with me and go through this stuff. Okay. So last time you were mad because you didn't have enough time to prepare on the stuff that we were going to talk about. Do you feel like you've had enough time today?

00:03:22 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes. He sent me the text of what I will be asked. I have prepared answers, but they're not fully thought out. So I'm feeling better.

00:03:36 - Mike Mills
Okay, good. So I want you to really share. Now that you're going through this the second time, I want you to tell everybody about how you really feel about this whole thing that I'm making you do and what you may or may not be able to be able to get out of it.

00:03:53 - Catey Jane Mills
Like how I feel about being here?

00:03:54 - Mike Mills
Yeah, being here. Me making you do all this stuff. Go ahead, unload. It's fine. You're in the trust.

00:04:01 - Catey Jane Mills
I recently have started rewatching Grey's anatomy, and that's what I was doing before this. That's what I will be doing after this. And I could be doing that right now, but I'm not.

00:04:10 - Mike Mills
So you're saying you're upset because you can't watch Grey's Anatomy and that's really all you're thinking about at this point?

00:04:14 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:04:15 - Mike Mills
Okay, so Grey's anatomy is the issue.

00:04:17 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:04:18 - Mike Mills
Gotcha. All right. Well, I'm glad at know it's not because you hate.

00:04:26 - Catey Jane Mills
You.

00:04:28 - Mike Mills
All right, so the last time we kind of went through everything that we were going to do and go through and talk about, and we did a couple of those things since we last talked. So I want to first start with we had to go open a checking account.

00:04:42 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:04:43 - Mike Mills
Right?

00:04:43 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:04:44 - Mike Mills
So tell me from your perspective how all that went and what your impression of that was, what you thought it was going to be versus what it actually was and things of that nature.

00:04:53 - Catey Jane Mills
Okay. Well, when we went, I was like, again, I didn't really want to go. There's not a whole lot of things I want to do except watch Grey's anatomy. It wasn't that bad. I thought it would be, like, a little easier, kind of, or not easier, but they wanted a lot more information than I thought I would need to give because I thought they would just need my name and your name and your account and then just attach me.

00:05:19 - Mike Mills
Right.

00:05:19 - Catey Jane Mills
But I had to do my Social Security number and all this stuff, and we had to sit there and answer questions and do all this. So it wasn't that bad. It didn't even take that long. I wasn't really involved in it, but it wasn't fun. I'm lying, but it didn't suck. It wasn't that bad. I thought it would be a lot more difficult. It was more detailed than I thought it would be, but I thought I would have to do all this stuff, and I didn't really have to. I just had to answer questions.

00:05:52 - Mike Mills
So what did you have to do exactly? So tell everybody how we went through the process.

00:05:56 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, it was a minute ago, but we went in.

00:05:59 - Mike Mills
Well, what did we do first, though?

00:06:01 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, we had to schedule an appointment.

00:06:03 - Mike Mills
Well, did we have to schedule an appointment right away or did. We started. You started online, right?

00:06:08 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, I thought we could do it online, but I was wrong.

00:06:11 - Mike Mills
Okay, so you had to go online and you had to fill everything out.

00:06:14 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:06:15 - Mike Mills
And that's when they asked you, do you understand the importance of your Social Security number now?

00:06:19 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah. With all this stuff that we've been doing. I have it memorized, basically. Yes. I use it so much, I never even knew I had one until like a month ago.

00:06:31 - Mike Mills
So you never even knew you had a Social Security number, and then all of a sudden, now you have it by memory because you've had to use it so many times.

00:06:37 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:06:37 - Mike Mills
Yes. So we went through the process. We filled out everything online. And then you thought at that point we were going to be done. But why did we have to go in? Do you remember?

00:06:47 - Catey Jane Mills
Because actually, I don't remember. Did I have to prove that I was real or something?

00:06:52 - Mike Mills
Well, it had to do with your age.

00:06:54 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, because you had to be with me.

00:06:55 - Mike Mills
Right. Because you were under 18, and if you were going to be on a custodial account, which is what we kind of had, then you had to come in and I had to come with.

00:07:03 - Catey Jane Mills
You because I had to prove that.

00:07:04 - Mike Mills
You let this correct. Yeah. It's basically like a proof that your parents are allowing you to do this, because the only proof of age they have was your driver's license, and you're under 18. So we had to physically go into the location. Okay. So we fill out everything online, put in all your basic information, and then we find out that we have to physically go there. Which you were just really stoked about.

00:07:26 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, I thought that we could just do it online, and then it was like, schedule an appointment, and I was like, what?

00:07:31 - Mike Mills
Well, because most of your life is stuff that's done online, right?

00:07:34 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, it is. Almost all of my life is done online.

00:07:37 - Mike Mills
Very rarely do you have to physically go somewhere and do it. I know. So then we had to go into the bank. All right, so tell us about that.

00:07:43 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, it was a bank. It was like you'd expect. It was boring. And when I walked in, I was like, I don't want to be here. And then we went to the room, and I answered questions for the lady, and then she made you do it on her app, which I thought was weird because I thought she would have to do it on the thing. But I just don't get why we had to go in. I mean, I get why we had to go in, but we basically did it all on our phones. On the app.

00:08:05 - Mike Mills
Yes.

00:08:05 - Catey Jane Mills
I feel like we could have just.

00:08:07 - Mike Mills
Well, but again, it comes down to proving, because you're a minor, opening up a checking account, that we have to prove that you and I have the relationship and it's okay. And then they tied you to my account. So what she was doing through the app, the reason she had me do that, is because all of my information, it was easier to set up if I initiated it through the app rather than her, like, filling out a bunch of stuff and then starting something brand new.

00:08:29 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:08:31 - Mike Mills
Now, how much money do we have to put into your account?

00:08:33 - Catey Jane Mills
$25.

00:08:34 - Mike Mills
$25.

00:08:35 - Catey Jane Mills
I got $25 that day.

00:08:37 - Mike Mills
You got $25 that day for going through and suffering the process of opening up your own bank account. I'm such an evil person. So you got money for it, though, so that wasn't terrible. Although you didn't particularly care that much about that either. Just generally disinterested in the entire process, right? I guess, yeah. How was our interaction that day?

00:08:57 - Catey Jane Mills
He was mad at me.

00:08:58 - Mike Mills
Why was I mad at you?

00:08:59 - Catey Jane Mills
Because I wasn't paying enough attention.

00:09:00 - Mike Mills
And why weren't you paying enough attention?

00:09:02 - Catey Jane Mills
Because I didn't want to do it.

00:09:03 - Mike Mills
Because you didn't want to do it. So you were not happy about having to go through it. So now tell everybody about what kind of situation you had in having to pay for things prior to opening your account. And then now that you have an account, is anything different? Is it the same? How does that work?

00:09:18 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, honestly, I was thinking earlier of a reason why it's different, but it's really not.

00:09:24 - Mike Mills
So what did you have to do before? Explain that.

00:09:26 - Catey Jane Mills
Before on busy kid, there were, like, chores and stuff that I could click, right? And it would put money into my thing, and then every Friday, I would get, like, payday, and it would put the money into my savings, and then I could load my card. It would do, like, 90% of it went into savings, and then, like, 10% of it, or. Sorry, 90% went into spending, 10% went into savings, and then I could put it on my card. But now it's the exact same thing. I just don't have, like, a payday, and I don't click chores. So if I just get my birthday and Christmas and all stuff like money, I just give it to you and you just put it in my thing. So it's like the same thing as busy kid.

00:10:05 - Mike Mills
It is. But that cash, now you can actually put in yourself, which we haven't done that yet.

00:10:09 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, yeah. I can go to an ATM.

00:10:11 - Mike Mills
Yes. You can deposit money into your account and you can take it out, whereas before you couldn't. And for me, do you know why it's better for me that you use your debit card than us using busy kid anymore?

00:10:22 - Catey Jane Mills
Because it gave you fees. Whenever I wanted to put money on my card or take money out. Put money in.

00:10:27 - Mike Mills
Right. So every time we made a transaction, if I loaded money into your account or if I even, like, you know, when y'all would get cash? If I would take cash off that account because I would give you however much for your chores that day or that week or whatever. And then if you wanted cash because you want to go do something with it, then I would have to pull it off, but then it would charge me every single time. So now I can just transfer money back and forth because we're on the same account. It's with bank of America, by way. So now we can transfer money back and forth, and I don't have to pay those fees. So it's always better, right?

00:10:54 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:10:55 - Mike Mills
So how much these days do you use cash versus a card when you have the chance to. And do you like either one better or worse?

00:11:01 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, I use Apple Pay.

00:11:03 - Mike Mills
Okay.

00:11:04 - Catey Jane Mills
I love Apple Pay because I don't even have to. You just put your stuff in my phone, put the card in my phone, and I just tap my phone, and then I don't even have to get my wallet out. I Apple Pay, okay. For everything.

00:11:17 - Mike Mills
For everything. See, I don't use Apple Pay hardly at all.

00:11:20 - Catey Jane Mills
It's so much better than using my card because you don't have to stick it in. You have to type in your pin. You literally just tap your phone to the little thing where you would put your card in and double click and you scan your. Yeah, and then that's it.

00:11:31 - Mike Mills
And that's it. Okay. See, we're learning technology hacks as we go to. I'm sure everybody else uses Apple Pay. I just don't use it very often because I think when you get older, you just don't trust stuff. So you just don't. Like, I'm always worried I'm going to get to the line and it's not going to work. And they're like, well, how are you going to pay?

00:11:46 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, like, it helps a lot because in the mornings I get Starbucks, but I have to mobile order because if I wait in line, I'll be wait to school. So I can just mobile order and I can pay through Apple Pay on my phone, too. And I don't have to put my card information in. I just double click.

00:12:03 - Mike Mills
So then you just roll up and get your order and you're done. Yeah. Okay. So you're streamlining the process. You're better at spending money than me. Congratulations. Yeah, you're learning that process pretty well. All right, so we set up the checking account and got you your own little girl card. You've got your own little. Your bank of America card that you can use. We still haven't done any deposits yet. I think you're a little nervous about that, but we need to do that soon. Do you still have some cash from Christmas?

00:12:29 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:12:29 - Mike Mills
Of. Okay, do you want to put it in there?

00:12:31 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, we can.

00:12:31 - Mike Mills
Okay, well, we'll need to do that here pretty quick, so I can show you how to do that, too. So we haven't done that yet, but these are little bitty steps we're taking here. So next thing is we go set up a savings account. All right. So we went to bank of America to do your checking account because that's where my wife and I bank. We have a lot of our accounts there. And then where'd we go to do your savings account?

00:12:49 - Catey Jane Mills
Eecu.

00:12:50 - Mike Mills
Eecu. Now, do you remember why we decided not to do a savings account at bank of America?

00:12:56 - Catey Jane Mills
Because it would be harder to get it at EeCU. So it's harder to get money from the savings account.

00:13:03 - Mike Mills
Right. So harder to get your cash moving.

00:13:06 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:07 - Mike Mills
Right. So with a savings account, it's kind of like an out of sight, out of mind thing. Right? So you can set up, we'll get to this later on, but when you start, because now you're gainfully employed, which we'll talk about in a minute as well. You have A-J-O-B-I do. But you can actually set up your accounts when you get with your employer, and they'll deposit a certain amount of money into your checking account and they'll deposit a certain amount of money into your savings account. If you want, you can set it up that way. So it's like split because they go direct deposit on everything. Used to, back in my day, we actually got checks, like physical checks. We would get a envelope with a check on it and we had to go physically to the bank to deposit it every Friday whenever we got paid. Now it just goes directly into your account. Seems really antiquated, doesn't it?

00:13:48 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, I would not want to do that.

00:13:51 - Mike Mills
Can't just Apple Pay your way out of that, right? So was there any difference between going into EecU and setting your savings account versus going to bank of America?

00:14:00 - Catey Jane Mills
I mean, there might have been, but I feel like it was just the same thing. Just ask questions. Open this. How much money do you want to put? What's your Social Security number?

00:14:09 - Mike Mills
Yeah. On that day, I gave you a pretty good little chunk of money, didn't I? And were you appreciative at that point?

00:14:17 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:14:17 - Mike Mills
Not really.

00:14:18 - Catey Jane Mills
I was.

00:14:21 - Mike Mills
You didn't really know until we got out of the room, though, did you?

00:14:23 - Catey Jane Mills
No. Well, because they were doing it or whatever. And I don't even know if she said the amount. She's like, do you just want to put the minimum? And you're like, yeah. And then you're like, do you even know how much money I'm putting on your thing? And I was even.

00:14:36 - Mike Mills
And then you're like, have you even gone and looked at it since? I mean, you know, how much is, uh. But that's the idea, right? The idea is like, when you have two separate accounts, that's nothing more convenience would make more sense for you to have your savings in your checking account to bank of America together. And maybe one day when you get on your own, you want to be able to do, oh, Mr. McElroy's got a, got a comment on his chat. He says, make sure you have all your alerts set up. So do you have your alerts set up?

00:15:07 - Catey Jane Mills
Okay, I'm trying to figure out on my bank of America, I don't know how to put it. Whenever you put money on my. Because, like, I always am asking you if, like, give you money, did you put on my card? And you're like, yeah, I did. And I'm like, okay, well, I don't know how to.

00:15:20 - Mike Mills
Have you even gone and looked?

00:15:22 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, I tried.

00:15:22 - Mike Mills
You tried?

00:15:23 - Catey Jane Mills
And now I get notifications. If I go to Sonic, it's like you spent a dollar and sonic. Okay, but I know that I spent that money.

00:15:30 - Mike Mills
Right?

00:15:30 - Catey Jane Mills
I don't care.

00:15:31 - Mike Mills
Right. Why do you need to know that, though?

00:15:35 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, in case somebody else spends my money.

00:15:37 - Mike Mills
There you go. Okay, so in case someone else gets access to your account, then you know that money is going in there, so that's why you need that. There's probably a way to set up deposit alerts. I haven't gone in there to look at it, but we'll look at that, too. I'll make some notes here. We got deposits, and then I don't know where my pen is, but we got deposits, and then we've got to set up your alerts in your savings. Okay, so now what I was saying is that maybe one day it'll make more sense for you to set up your savings account together with checking and savings at bank of America, because you can split them up there as well. But again, the idea is, when money's not in the account, it's harder to spend. Do you understand? A. It's. It's nothing more than just a human nature hack, essentially, because all you're trying to do is just, if the money's not there, it'll still be there. You know that you have the money, but if your regular account that you're using out of it, do you get the low balance alert?

00:16:28 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:16:30 - Mike Mills
So you get that all the time.

00:16:32 - Catey Jane Mills
I've only gotten it twice.

00:16:34 - Mike Mills
You got the low balance alert two times?

00:16:36 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:16:36 - Mike Mills
Okay, good. Well, at least you're getting them, and they're coming through now. Going through all this using your debit card now and having cash and having the two accounts, is it just something that you're just completely oblivious to, or is this something like, do you have a little bit of sense of, like, I'm becoming a little bit of a grown up or feeling about it?

00:16:56 - Catey Jane Mills
The EECU is like, again, I just don't pay attention to it because I'm not using it anytime soon. It's just like my savings and I don't open the app ever. But bank of America, I'm like, okay, the card has my name on it. I'm like, I have a Bank of America card.

00:17:11 - Mike Mills
You're kind of a big deal. You feel like you're okay, well, that's good. I mean, that's the idea. Some of this is part of these little steps that we're doing and setting up. This is all simple stuff. None of this is incredibly complicated, but it's, to give you a sense, a little bit more of, hey, I'm in charge of my own stuff here. I got to control it. We can't really do budgeting yet because you don't have any expenses other than the fun stuff that you like to spend, nor do you have any income coming in yet to make sure that you have that. All right, Chad's got another tip. Because do you know why Chad has all these tips, by the way?

00:17:42 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:17:42 - Mike Mills
Chad, he's a banker. He works for. I won't say who he works for because I know he's changed recently. I'll change that up. But he said opt out of overdrafts also, if not already done. Just a reminder is for checks, ATM and debit transactions only. If you use your credit portion, then you can overdraft.

00:18:00 - Catey Jane Mills
Okay, interesting.

00:18:01 - Mike Mills
But we're not going to have any overdrafts.

00:18:03 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:18:03 - Mike Mills
Right.

00:18:04 - Catey Jane Mills
Because I don't know what that is.

00:18:06 - Mike Mills
Do you don't know what an overdraft is? No. What do you think it is? Think about the two words. What do they mean?

00:18:12 - Catey Jane Mills
Over. Which is more? Draft.

00:18:16 - Mike Mills
What's a draft? Where they take something.

00:18:21 - Catey Jane Mills
There's so many different definitions.

00:18:23 - Mike Mills
If they took too much out of your account and you didn't have enough in there, that's an overdraft. If you have $10 in your account, you go spend 15. You're overdrafting your account.

00:18:33 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:18:33 - Mike Mills
And they can charge you for that sometimes, too, depending on the account. So if you overdraft, it used to, back in the day, again, old school stuff, we used to have to write checks. Okay. And remember, she asked you if you wanted checks at the bank. She asked you if you wanted checks.

00:18:49 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, yeah.

00:18:50 - Mike Mills
No. Very few checks being written these days.

00:18:53 - Catey Jane Mills
But, hey, $38 fee.

00:18:54 - Mike Mills
$38 fee. That's the overdraft charge. So the checks we used to write, we could float our accounts. So when I was in high school, if I had a paycheck and I was depositing it on Friday, I could write a check on Thursday for like $50. If I was going to pay for something. And because if I was going to the grocery store. Right. So then the grocery store would take the check, they would put it in their account, in their deposits or whatever, and then they would have to deposit into their bank account, and then their bank account would take a day or two to clear. So you could float checks where you could write a check ahead of time for money that you didn't have yet and then get it.

00:19:30 - Catey Jane Mills
Now, was that allowed?

00:19:32 - Mike Mills
Yes, absolutely. It was allowed. Now, they got smart to this, though, because what they started doing was now they had scanners that they would run their checks through. So then they would verify in your account if that money was there. It was a hack in the beginning, and then they figured that part out. Yeah. And you can still write checks, but nowadays if you don't have the money, and they'll know. So there's nothing that you can do now. But we used to be able to do that again back in my day. All right, so let's talk about the book now, your homework assignment. So we went through our checking and savings adventure there. Again, very simple stuff. But know this is the process of you learning this stuff, the deposits and alerts and all these things, learning what an overdraft is, which you found out for the first time today. Thanks, Chad. I guess, obviously failed on that one. All right, so let's talk about the book. What was the book?

00:20:20 - Catey Jane Mills
Do you remember what the book was about?

00:20:22 - Mike Mills
What's the book called?

00:20:23 - Catey Jane Mills
It's called rich dad, poor dad, poor dad.

00:20:26 - Mike Mills
And what's.

00:20:27 - Catey Jane Mills
Robert something.

00:20:27 - Mike Mills
Robert Kiyosaki.

00:20:29 - Catey Jane Mills
Yep.

00:20:29 - Mike Mills
Okay, so what is the gist of the entire book based on just what you've read so far? And we'll get into the first chapter.

00:20:35 - Catey Jane Mills
How to get rich, how to get.

00:20:38 - Mike Mills
Mean, kind of, maybe. I guess it's something like that along those. So. All right, so tell me about the very first chapter. What did you read in the first chapter, and what did you gain? What was kind of the gist of it?

00:20:53 - Catey Jane Mills
It was about him when he was younger. I think the whole book is about him when he's younger.

00:20:57 - Mike Mills
Kind of. I mean, he gets into a little more in depth a little bit later on.

00:21:00 - Catey Jane Mills
This part was about him when he was like eight or nine.

00:21:02 - Mike Mills
Yes.

00:21:02 - Catey Jane Mills
And he was with his friend, and he had his dad, who was. He was really smart, but he didn't have a lot of money.

00:21:10 - Mike Mills
Like a PhD. Yeah, he had a good job, made good money. He just didn't manage his money very well.

00:21:15 - Catey Jane Mills
And then his best friend's dad was really good with money. He got to eigth grade and that was it.

00:21:25 - Mike Mills
So his functional education wasn't that great, but he had a lot of businesses. Yeah.

00:21:31 - Catey Jane Mills
And so they were trying to make, him and his friend were trying to make money.

00:21:37 - Mike Mills
So do you remember on the very first part in the book, he actually went to his dad and asked him, do you remember the question he asked him?

00:21:44 - Catey Jane Mills
It was like, how do I get rich? Or something? He was trying to go with his friends and they wouldn't let him because he wasn't rich.

00:21:50 - Mike Mills
Yeah. So he was asking, how do I get rich? Right. And then do you remember what his dad told him? It goes directly into him making or doing what he did.

00:22:02 - Catey Jane Mills
It was like, oh, make money.

00:22:03 - Mike Mills
You have to learn how to make money.

00:22:04 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:22:05 - Mike Mills
Right. That was it. Right?

00:22:07 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:22:07 - Mike Mills
No other clarification?

00:22:08 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:22:09 - Mike Mills
Right. Okay, so then he made money. So then what did he do?

00:22:13 - Catey Jane Mills
He created coins with like.

00:22:14 - Mike Mills
But how did he do that?

00:22:16 - Catey Jane Mills
He melted down like toothpaste tubes. They were made out of like lead back in the day or something. He melted them down and made coins.

00:22:24 - Mike Mills
Made nickels.

00:22:25 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:22:25 - Mike Mills
Yes. So he counterfeited money.

00:22:27 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:22:30 - Mike Mills
But he actually went through like him and his friend had this entire plan on what they were going to do, right. They collected all of the used toothpaste tubes. They were going around to people's houses, knocking on their doors, collecting these tubes. And then once they had enough to put together, they set up this refinery basically in their driveway. Right. Melting down these tubes and taking the lead and then creating a cast. So then they could drop the metal or pour the lead into the cast. And they were making nickels.

00:23:01 - Catey Jane Mills
They were.

00:23:02 - Mike Mills
I mean, look, regardless of if that was legal or not, that's a pretty good smart, he says make money. Like they were making money. Right. So just not the right way. You just can't quite make money. You can, I mean, these days they call that money laundering, and you can create dollars and all that kind of fun stuff. All right, so he couldn't make money that way. Right. So then they went to their friend, or his friend's dad, the one that had the businesses and whatever. So what did that experience go like for him?

00:23:29 - Catey Jane Mills
So they went to the friend's dad and he was like, he got them a job at some convenience store, like sweeping.

00:23:36 - Mike Mills
Yeah, it was like his store.

00:23:38 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah. And they made thirty cents an hour.

00:23:41 - Mike Mills
They worked, I don't think they made thirty cents. I think they made.

00:23:44 - Catey Jane Mills
No, sorry, ten cents an hour. They worked 3 hours every Saturday. And they made like this was like 1956.

00:23:52 - Mike Mills
Even then it wasn't $0.10 wasn't a lot.

00:23:54 - Catey Jane Mills
It was like $0.10 was like he could buy a comic book and so he'd buy three comic books and then be done. And he had to quit his little league baseball. And he was all mad about it.

00:24:03 - Mike Mills
Yes, ticked about it. And so then what did the guy make him when he wanted to come and talk to him?

00:24:07 - Catey Jane Mills
So then whenever he wanted to come talk to him, he made him like, make an appointment it, and sit in the office and wait. And then he had to wait like an hour and he was mad. And he went in, he was like, why are you making me wait? This is child labor. Give me my money. I want more money. And he was like, this is what I'm trying to teach you. Why are you having to come sit here and do this? You don't want to do this for your whole life.

00:24:28 - Mike Mills
Right? So what was the lesson in that directly?

00:24:31 - Catey Jane Mills
Do you think it was to learn how to be your own boss and not have someone else be your boss?

00:24:39 - Mike Mills
Well, you don't necessarily. A boss isn't a good or a bad thing necessarily. It all just depends on the terms of your employment and how it works. Like my job, for example. Right. So I work for a company, I have a boss, but my future and my income is tied completely to my work and what I do. And if I produce and if I sell and I make good choices, then my bosses, quote unquote, leave me alone. There is no input from them. But if I don't and I don't do my job and I don't have my self drive, then that's when I run into issues. Right. But that would be the same if you had your own company or you didn't. Okay, if you have your own company but you don't want to work, are you going to make any money? No. So what he was showing them was. Yes. I think the ultimate message was, you don't want the fate, your fate tied to somebody else and what they think of you or what they want to do. Right. That's the idea. Is that because if you are completely dependent on someone else to give you a paycheck for someone else to employ you and for them to determine whether or not you're going to make your bills this month, well, then they have ultimate control over you.

00:25:47 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:25:47 - Mike Mills
And you have to show up to, when you're supposed to show up, you have to do the work that you're supposed to do whether you like it or not. And do you remember how he used a couple of the people that were already working for him as kind of examples of what not to be? And even though it sounded kind of mean, it was a lesson they was trying to give to him.

00:26:03 - Catey Jane Mills
Was it like the people who came and talked to him, like he fired him or something?

00:26:06 - Mike Mills
Well, when he went into the office and when the kid went to the guy and was upset about the fact that he wasn't making enough money and didn't want to keep working there. And why wasn't he? Because he had told him he was going to teach him. He's like, you haven't taught me anything. I took less money so I could be here. Like, this is a bunch of crap. Right. And so he thought that that was a good thing because that meant that he had some fire. He was upset about it, like he was going to argue his point and fight for himself a little bit, which was why he was willing to teach him more, because he told his son to know Robert at the time, that once he gets fed up with having to work, because it took like three or four weeks. Right. So once he got fed up with having to work every day and earning next to nothing and he was ready to quit, that's when he needed to come see him. Right. Because he wanted to see. All right, how much are you going to fight for yourself? Right?

00:26:55 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:26:55 - Mike Mills
And this is the thing that comes up often. Sometimes people get upset about this. But are you familiar with something called the pay gap with men and women?

00:27:05 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, kind of.

00:27:06 - Mike Mills
Do you know what that is?

00:27:07 - Catey Jane Mills
They get paid sometimes a little less than men.

00:27:11 - Mike Mills
Yes. No. I mean, it's a regular thing that happens. So do you know why that is or why do you think that is? Do you have any idea?

00:27:20 - Catey Jane Mills
No. Maybe they think men work harder than women. I don't know.

00:27:23 - Mike Mills
Well, I don't have the answer to this exactly, to be very clear about that. But there are thoughts behind how this occurs. There are situations in life, most certainly, where a man is running the show, he's the boss, and he pays the female less than the male. That absolutely occurs. But there are also different circumstances in life that bleed into this. So, like, for example, I like to use attorneys as an example where if you and I were the same age and we both went to law school and got our attorney and you're a female and I'm a man and we go work, well, at some point because I can't have babies. Right. So at some point, if you want to have a family, then you're going to have to determine whether or not you want to sacrifice a little bit of work in order to raise a family. Right. And as a male, I don't have to make that decision often because of the way things are kind of set up these days and have been forever. More often than not now, there are circumstances where men stay home with the kids all the time, but you're still the one that's having to carry, deliver and go through the process of doing that. Right. So because of that, I can keep pushing my career forward, and you kind of get stalled out for a period of time. Right. And employers will also look at that in that environment and go, well, this is not the right thing to do. But this is what happens is they go, well, the guy is going to keep working and not going to want to have kids, and the lady is probably going to want to have children at some point, so I'm going to give them more opportunities. That absolutely happens. Okay. But the other side of it, too, and this occurs a lot, and I've talked to your mom about this and I talked to a lot of women about this, is that often women don't advocate for themselves enough. Right. Because you have the right to go talk to your boss and say, hey, I deserve to make more money. I deserve to have better hours in a better work environment. But often women, this is a general statement, but often you all will just be like, well, I'm happy with what I have and I don't want to rock the boat and I don't want to cause any problems. Right. Guys are egomaniacs and we bust through the door, tell them we're the greatest thing in the world, even though we're not most of the time. And. Yeah. So you've experienced that in dealing with the boys around you, right? The boys have every confidence on the planet. Yes, too much. Too much. So that's what happens a lot of times in the work environment where. And that's what the message that he was trying to teach that Robert at the time was like, you have to advocate for yourself. If you're not getting what you think you deserve, you have to fight for it. Right? You can't just take what they give you and be quiet and don't say anything about it. So that was part of that lesson that he was teaching him is he had those other employees that quietly waited, didn't say anything, didn't complain, and just took their low pay and didn't have a word to say about it. And he's like, look, I might be a jerk for not paying them what they're worth. But at the same time, if they're not going to advocate for themselves, then why would I go out of my way to do that for them? Right. So that's a lesson that you want to take from that as well, is you have to fight for yourself. But at the end of the day, what he's really trying to tell them is you have to understand that if you want to have freedom, right. It's not necessarily about money because you can have really good, high paying jobs, but if you're tied to what that employer wants you to do and where they need you to be every day, then that freedom is what can sometimes be more important in your life than the money itself. Right. And having your own and creating your own path and emblazing your own way is going to get you to that freedom in a much better way in a lot of cases than it would be being an employee. Yes. I mean, it's kind of like your mom and I. Are we at home all the time or are we around the house pretty often? We get to see all your stuff. Right. Do you have friends whose parents can't always come to their things?

00:30:53 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:30:53 - Mike Mills
And why is that?

00:30:54 - Catey Jane Mills
Usually because they're working.

00:30:55 - Mike Mills
Yeah, because they have to go to their job and they have to work. But we can create that because we've created our own little world. Now, they talked a lot about education in that. Do you remember what some of the conversations he was having with the rich dad and the poor dad regarding education itself and what kind of education is important versus what is it?

00:31:13 - Catey Jane Mills
I mean, not really, no. I don't really remember that part.

00:31:18 - Mike Mills
There's two types of education as the book relates to it. There is go to school, get your four year degree.

00:31:25 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, is it like learning and then actual experience?

00:31:28 - Mike Mills
To some extent.

00:31:29 - Catey Jane Mills
There was like a pyramid, something about that.

00:31:32 - Mike Mills
So it's learning in a school structured environment. Right. Going to college, getting your degree, following your path.

00:31:39 - Catey Jane Mills
Right.

00:31:39 - Mike Mills
So, like, for example, right now, as of today, and there is no right or wrong answer to this. I know it's okay. But this is demonstrating a point right now, as it goes today, what do you want to be when you grow up?

00:31:50 - Catey Jane Mills
I don't know.

00:31:51 - Mike Mills
You have no idea?

00:31:52 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:31:52 - Mike Mills
Right. So as the path goes right now, we know we can graduate from high school and you don't have to have any idea. All right. But what's the thing about college?

00:32:00 - Catey Jane Mills
You need to figure out what ish, what you want to do so you can do the major that helps you with.

00:32:05 - Mike Mills
Right. Because if you change your mind, which everybody does, by the way, what can happen with some of those classes that you take?

00:32:13 - Catey Jane Mills
What do you mean?

00:32:14 - Mike Mills
Well, what did you want to do before, like a while back, do you remember?

00:32:19 - Catey Jane Mills
Like physical therapy.

00:32:19 - Mike Mills
Physical therapy. Okay, so what kind of classes do you have to take to be a physical therapist?

00:32:23 - Catey Jane Mills
You have to take a lot of.

00:32:25 - Mike Mills
Anatomy classes, science, chemistry, biology, all that kind of stuff. Right. You got a big fan club. Aunt Gail says you're doing great, by the way. And then Elizabeth says you're doing awesome as well.

00:32:37 - Catey Jane Mills
Thanks, guys.

00:32:38 - Mike Mills
It's not so terrible. So you have to go and figure out kind of, if you're going to be a physical therapist, you have to take certain classes along with that. Right. Well, what did you tell me? Do you remember what you told me the other day, what you're kind of thinking maybe you want to do now?

00:32:55 - Catey Jane Mills
I just said that I want to do something in sports, like sports, like medicine or broadcasting or something.

00:33:01 - Mike Mills
So let's say you went the broadcasting journalism route. So what do those biology and chemistry classes do for you if you went that route?

00:33:09 - Catey Jane Mills
Not a whole lot.

00:33:10 - Mike Mills
Absolutely nothing. Right. Nothing. Okay. But when you go to college, you realize you have to pay for those classes.

00:33:16 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:33:17 - Mike Mills
Right. So if you decided for two years you were going to be a physical therapist and then all of a sudden decided you weren't. Okay, well, then there's a good chance that half of that money that you spent on going to be a physical therapist is completely wasted. Right. And if you're taking out loans to pay for school, right, then that's money that you're going to have to pay back for something that you didn't use. So it's not that you necessarily have to find your way right away, but it is something that you have to consider when you go to college of what classes I'm going to take. Because there could be a point where I change my mind, which is completely normal. Everybody does that. I did it, your mom did it. Everybody changes their mind. But you have to consider that. Right. What he was saying is if you go that regular path of going to school and taking all the courses and even getting your degree and going through it, that's great. But that really just puts you in a place a lot of times where you can now have a job.

00:34:06 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:34:07 - Mike Mills
Right. Because even doctors and who have to go to the most schooling possible, a lot of them will come out and start their own practice as a doctor, but they have to run the business side of it. Right. They're really good at being a doctor, but maybe they're not as good at opening checking accounts, savings accounts. Right. And using Apple Pay, because they never had to. Now that's small, silly little examples, but what I'm saying is there's two types of education. There's the education, what you need to do your job. But then there's the education of what you need in order to sustain your life, essentially, which is financial education.

00:34:42 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:34:42 - Mike Mills
And right now, in school, okay, we were at a six, a public high school in a very good school district. How much do you all talk about money?

00:34:50 - Catey Jane Mills
Rarely ever. I don't think ever.

00:34:53 - Mike Mills
You're halfway through your sophomore year.

00:34:55 - Catey Jane Mills
Well, I am taking global business next semester.

00:34:57 - Mike Mills
Okay.

00:34:58 - Catey Jane Mills
But so far, nothing at all.

00:35:00 - Mike Mills
Nothing. I mean, nothing. Right. Not that that's a good or a bad thing. It's not an indictment on our school district, because every school is like this. If you get any kind of education about money at all, where does it come from?

00:35:11 - Catey Jane Mills
You.

00:35:12 - Mike Mills
Me. Right. And it's annoying as hell, isn't it?

00:35:15 - Catey Jane Mills
Very. I know I'll need it.

00:35:18 - Mike Mills
Yes. But when it comes from me and it comes from your dad, who's in your ear all the time about all kinds of stuff, you just kind of rolls off your back and you don't want to hear from it. So. I completely understand that. All right. But do you feel like at least you understand the importance of why this stuff matters as you get older? Yes. So it's just the messenger that's delivering the information right now, that sucks. Yeah. Yes. But schools don't take that role and don't do that, because there are differences and nuances to everything that isn't the same for everybody. But at the same time, there are some basic fundamentals that they could teach, but people don't put a big enough emphasis on it, unfortunately. And so you guys don't get the right. So miss Chrissy thinks you're amazing as well.

00:35:58 - Catey Jane Mills
Thanks.

00:35:59 - Mike Mills
You got a super fan club today. Okay. So he's trying to impart on them about education, that the financial part of it is important, right? The actual learning about checking accounts, learning how money works, what interest is, how credit cards function, all that kind of stuff. Because that's going to be one of the biggest parts of your life, whether you realize it or not. It's not that money is the most important thing. Right. But if you didn't have money, how would things go so well? And do you want to live with me for the rest of your life?

00:36:31 - Catey Jane Mills
No. Absolutely not.

00:36:33 - Mike Mills
So that's an even bigger deal, right? That even makes a bigger deal on why the money is important. So where do you think that you're going to start going to look for? Do you have any ideas in your head? Because I know you're not thinking about this ever, but just financial resources in general. Where would you go to now? If you didn't want to hear it from me, where would you go?

00:36:49 - Catey Jane Mills
Like, if I wanted to learn? Yeah, probably like TikTok. I won't lie.

00:36:54 - Mike Mills
TikTok? Yeah. I mean, that's fine. What about. Do you ever use YouTube to look at anything like that?

00:36:58 - Catey Jane Mills
Not for.

00:36:59 - Mike Mills
No.

00:36:59 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:37:00 - Mike Mills
Do you use YouTube very much?

00:37:02 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, but not to.

00:37:03 - Mike Mills
What do you look at on YouTube?

00:37:05 - Catey Jane Mills
Just, I don't like youtubers. I don't know, like, makeup stuff. Not very.

00:37:11 - Mike Mills
Okay, but you think you would go to TikTok more so than YouTube to get financial stuff just because you're on that more?

00:37:16 - Catey Jane Mills
I just think it's easier to find exactly what you're looking for because YouTube videos can be 20 minutes long and cover this many topics. But if I want to know this much about this topic, TikTok is, like, 60 seconds. 60 seconds about this one specific thing.

00:37:30 - Mike Mills
Got you.

00:37:31 - Catey Jane Mills
I think if I couldn't find something on TikTok, then I'd go to Safari or Google or something and look it up, and then it pulls up a YouTube video and it has, like, a highlighted amount to watch.

00:37:42 - Mike Mills
So if you went to TikTok and saw something that piqued your interest but didn't answer all the questions, then I'd go to YouTube. You'd go to YouTube? Yeah. So you use TikTok as kind of like a browsing to find things and then go from know. The way TikTok works is you can create your own environment. Right?

00:37:59 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah. What you like and favorite and search. That is what your for you page is.

00:38:03 - Mike Mills
So I don't know that you'll probably never do this, but my suggestion to you would be, like, once this stuff becomes impactful and you feel like there is a necessity for it, because you don't want to hear me talk about it all the time, is on your TikTok feed. Occasionally I would like and or subscribe to some pages that talk about this stuff. So what's happened to your mom? What did she tell you today? Do you remember this morning when we were leaving, if I knew about this particular tea or whatever, why she bought all that cottage cheese?

00:38:35 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah. I don't know. She's just on her health journey.

00:38:39 - Mike Mills
Yes. But where is she getting all this from?

00:38:42 - Catey Jane Mills
TikTok.

00:38:42 - Mike Mills
Right, because I've sent her a couple of things because she asked me some questions about it, and we got into the red light therapy and all the other stuff. Red light therapy is pretty awesome, but we got into all that stuff, and now all of her TikTok feed is protein intake and exercise types and red light therapy and all this stuff. So she's seeing it constantly. So what's happened now?

00:39:03 - Catey Jane Mills
She's like, stuff and she's all into it.

00:39:06 - Mike Mills
Yes, because the thing is, you have to put that stuff in front of your face. You know what I mean? Because me telling you all the time is boring as hell. You don't want to hear it. Right?

00:39:16 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:39:16 - Mike Mills
Especially because I'm the asshole that's telling you this stuff constantly, and it's wearing you down. Right. But there are better ways to digest the information. And if your method, if you like TikTok and that's something that you're on all the time, well, if you just create just a little bit of your TikTok feed that has more of that, then that stuff will start becoming front of mind, because the further you can get out ahead of this as you move through having a job, going into college and all that kind of stuff, the further advanced you're going to be when it really matters. And I know right now that doesn't resonate because you're just like, whatever, bra. But there's a lot of bruss. Okay? Some whole lot of bruss thrown around. But whatever it is, then, if you start now, even though it's not something you particularly like, it will tell you the way. It'll communicate it to you in a way that you do like, that is digestible to you.

00:40:05 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:40:05 - Mike Mills
Right? So even though it's like, I don't like eating healthy, okay, I love eating. What do I eat all the time? Cheese. Cheese? Yes. Chips and cheese is like my ghetto nachos. Right? That's my favorite thing. But if I constantly follow health related things on all my social media platforms, then that reminder is in front of me every day. Hey, Chubby, quit eating that stuff. Chubby, stop doing that. Right? And even though my nature is going to push me towards wanting to do that, I created that world specifically, so it's a constant reminder that I need to stop. Right. So even sometimes, things that you don't particularly like but that, you know, are important, you have to put that stuff in front of you. And using TikTok and using the social media stuff that you already use is a way to do that so you don't have to keep hearing it from me. So then when I ask you a question, you're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You already have the answer, right? And then I just shut up. How nice would that be?

00:40:58 - Catey Jane Mills
That'd be great.

00:41:01 - Mike Mills
Just wish dad would shut the hell up. That would be awesome. So let's see. Anything else on the book that I wanted you to take away? Well, okay. Do you remember what they talked a little bit about? Fear and ignorance, because this kind of relates to what we were just saying.

00:41:15 - Catey Jane Mills
It was like, if they were too scared to go out and not scared, but just like, they're like, oh, money. I'm not that big on money. It doesn't interest me. I guess then they wouldn't really get very far. Something like that.

00:41:35 - Mike Mills
Well, let me ask you like this. Why do you think that people in general don't focus a lot on money and finance stuff as a population? Why would you think that that's the case?

00:41:50 - Catey Jane Mills
Because it's boring.

00:41:51 - Mike Mills
Because it's boring. Right. That's part of it, for sure. Right. But then once you become an adult and you need it and it's not boring anymore, why don't people focus on it then?

00:42:00 - Catey Jane Mills
Because they're scared, I guess. Or they don't want to get involved too much, I guess.

00:42:07 - Mike Mills
Well, no, you're on the right track. It usually comes down because it's kind of complicated. Right. It's a lot of information. Right. What's your experience been, like, sitting through this? Right. It seems like a lot.

00:42:17 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, it is.

00:42:18 - Mike Mills
Right. And it's, like, almost overwhelming to a certain extent. So it's best to just be like, I don't care about that. Just, whatever. Tell me what to do and I'll do it. Right. That's how they look at this stuff. But the problem with that is it's done out of fear because, number one, they don't want to feel dumb, all right? When we do this stuff, I'm dumb all the time, so I don't have a problem, like saying I'm an idiot with this kind of stuff all the time because I am. But people don't want to feel stupid, right? They don't want to dive into something that they don't really understand because they don't really understand how interest works. They don't understand compounding interest versus amortized interest and how all that plays in a role. The stock market makes people want to roll over and go to sleep. The S and P 500, I don't need any more acronyms and numbers in my life, but there's a certain part of it. This is where dad's conspiracy brain kicks in. Where? Yeah.

00:43:05 - Catey Jane Mills
Here we go.

00:43:06 - Mike Mills
Here we go. Here we go. But imagine a system. If I wanted to make things to where you didn't want to access the information that I had, then what would be the smartest thing for me to do with that?

00:43:16 - Catey Jane Mills
Keep it secret.

00:43:17 - Mike Mills
Do I need to keep it secret? Because I can't keep everything secret.

00:43:21 - Catey Jane Mills
Just make it not interesting enough for.

00:43:23 - Mike Mills
People to make it boring and complicated, as little interest as possible. Right. Because if I know all of it, that's why law is the way it is. Right. Because when you read a law brief, it wants to put you to sleep, but it's complicated and it's got a lot of jargon that you don't understand and all of that kind of stuff. So all of that kind of puts people in a place where, like, I don't want to deal that shit because it seems like too much.

00:43:46 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:43:46 - Mike Mills
Right. But if you can get past that and sift through it, then you will be ahead of the curve on all that stuff. But it's a hard code to unlock because it is, like you said, it's boring. Very. Right. It's very boring. But it's what drives your entire life. And so I'm trying to tell you this stuff now while I still have you in the nest. So that way, when you get out, it resonates a little bit better. Because I promise you, when you're 24 years old, you will be calling me, asking me these questions at that point, probably so, okay. But that's where a lot of the ignorance comes from, is just that people, they don't want to learn it because it's boring. It's uninteresting. They just want to have their job and work and go play Fortnite or go to the Taylor Swift concert and just lBl. Right. Live the best life. Right. That's what everybody wants to do. And that's great as long as you got somebody paying for it.

00:44:35 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:44:36 - Mike Mills
You don't always have someone paying for it. And how excited are you about wanting to make sure that you marry for money? Is that on top of your list?

00:44:44 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:44:45 - Mike Mills
Right. Do you want to have to rely on your husband to.

00:44:49 - Catey Jane Mills
Absolutely not.

00:44:50 - Mike Mills
Absolutely not. Yeah. Okay. And it's going to be better that you understand more about it than him.

00:44:54 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes. Right.

00:44:55 - Mike Mills
Because you don't need no man that you got to rely on. Right. Got to take care of your own business. All right, so let's dive into you now. Have a what?

00:45:05 - Catey Jane Mills
I have a job.

00:45:06 - Mike Mills
You got a job?

00:45:07 - Catey Jane Mills
I do.

00:45:08 - Mike Mills
Okay, so tell me about how you found the job, but tell me what you went through, and it wasn't a lot, but tell me some of the stuff that you went through before you found this one and how you found it and what your process was.

00:45:21 - Catey Jane Mills
This was, like, a while ago. I was on TikTok, actually, and I get ads. Recently, I've been getting ads for college, searching, like, apps, but I got an ad for indeed, which is, like, a job thing, and you can put in your resume. I don't have resume, but your talents, and it'll give you jobs in your area. And so I was looking on that, and aqua tots, which is a swim school, came up, and I was like. And it said urgently hiring. And I was like, okay, well, that's good, because if they're urgently hiring, then they're probably not looking in. Because I was like, I haven't had a job before. I don't do stuff.

00:45:59 - Mike Mills
You have no experience.

00:46:00 - Catey Jane Mills
I don't.

00:46:01 - Mike Mills
Well, okay, back up just a second, though. Okay, so you had two other things. So one is I gave you a job.

00:46:08 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, yeah.

00:46:10 - Mike Mills
Tell us about that.

00:46:11 - Catey Jane Mills
I was editing podcast. They were like, I was not editing your podcast, but I was uploading them.

00:46:19 - Mike Mills
You were taking old podcasts and updating the information. Yes.

00:46:22 - Catey Jane Mills
And it was fine. It's just, number one, it was for you.

00:46:27 - Mike Mills
Right.

00:46:28 - Catey Jane Mills
Which is hard, because I can't separate you as my dad and my boss, and I couldn't do that because if you told me to do something, I'd.

00:46:34 - Mike Mills
Be like, oh, my God.

00:46:35 - Catey Jane Mills
And I just couldn't.

00:46:36 - Mike Mills
Right.

00:46:37 - Catey Jane Mills
And one of the bad parts is I just did it on my laptop at home. And so it was really hard for me to turn off all my stuff.

00:46:45 - Mike Mills
And just like, okay, focus on it.

00:46:47 - Catey Jane Mills
Lock in. And I could not lock in.

00:46:48 - Mike Mills
Okay, that's fair.

00:46:49 - Catey Jane Mills
And then the other hard part was, it was so boring.

00:46:53 - Mike Mills
It was repetitive.

00:46:54 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah. You did the same exact thing over and over again. You had to upload it, and you'd sit there and wait ten minutes, and you're just like, okay.

00:47:01 - Mike Mills
Can you imagine? That's some people's hell. That's their job.

00:47:03 - Catey Jane Mills
I'm sure it is. And I never want to experience that as a full time job. I could not do that.

00:47:08 - Mike Mills
Not that particular task, but just the.

00:47:10 - Catey Jane Mills
Same thing over and over again.

00:47:12 - Mike Mills
Yes.

00:47:13 - Catey Jane Mills
And so then I was like, okay, if I'm not going to do that, because at first I was doing it, but then I would do it once every day, and then it's turning, like once a week, and then I just kind of stopped doing it. And I was like, okay, did I.

00:47:25 - Mike Mills
Write you that hard about it, though?

00:47:27 - Catey Jane Mills
No, you didn't. You were just like, hey, are you going to do this? And was like, yeah. And you're like, no, she's not.

00:47:32 - Mike Mills
And did I encourage you to get a job?

00:47:33 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, you did. You're like, if you don't want to do this, you got to do something.

00:47:36 - Mike Mills
And why did I encourage you to get a job?

00:47:38 - Catey Jane Mills
Because you knew that I didn't like that at all.

00:47:40 - Mike Mills
Well, I knew that, but why else?

00:47:43 - Catey Jane Mills
I don't know.

00:47:44 - Mike Mills
It kind of relates to the book a little bit.

00:47:47 - Catey Jane Mills
How? What do you mean?

00:47:49 - Mike Mills
If you're having to go work for somebody, right. And go experience what you experienced on your first day.

00:47:55 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah. Which wasn't terrible, but no, wait, like my first day? Yeah, that sucked, too.

00:48:00 - Mike Mills
Right. But it's the idea of, like, I gave you an opportunity to do something that we could be flexible with it, and now you're having to go to a place where you have to physically show up and you have to walk in. You have to be there. So you have a little bit of a perspective on two different ways to do this. Right. So what I'm trying to do is help you understand what it actually is to be an employee. Right. I gave you a chance to kind of work on your own and make money and be freelance, as we would call it.

00:48:23 - Catey Jane Mills
Right.

00:48:23 - Mike Mills
And you couldn't focus because you were at home, so you needed to get out, and I was annoying you, which all of this stuff was fully expected.

00:48:32 - Catey Jane Mills
Right.

00:48:33 - Mike Mills
But I was paying you more than what you're making now.

00:48:35 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes. Right.

00:48:36 - Mike Mills
Okay. And you had the freedom to do it whenever you wanted to. You just couldn't discipline yourself enough at this point to do it, which all of that was fully expected. Okay. All right. So then you find about it. Indeed. Now, originally you tried to go somewhere else to get a job, though, right? What happened with that? Remember the rally house deal?

00:48:52 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, yeah. I wanted to work at rally house because that was on. Indeed, too, actually. But I had a friend go and apply, and they didn't want after school shifts. They were done. They had all those they wanted, like morning people.

00:49:07 - Mike Mills
Right. And as a high school. That's right. As a high school kid, you have limitations on what you can accept. Right. Okay, so then we go on. Indeed. Aquat is urgently hiring. Then what happens?

00:49:16 - Catey Jane Mills
So then I just applied. It was really easy. I just literally just clicked a button, and it was like, okay, put in your resume if you have one. I was like, didn't have a resume. And it was like, extra notes. And I was like, hey, never really had a job before, but I was a cheer coach, so I can teach kids. And then she reached out through the app, and she was like, hey, we'd love for you to come in. When can you come in? And it was kind of like slow responses because that app isn't. I mean, it was used, but it probably would have been easier if I went in person. I just never really got around to it before she answered me. And so I went in, I got interviewed. I guess it was just like, what are your skills? What are you not good at? Have you had any jobs before? What were the good experiences, bad experiences? And so I was like, told her all this stuff, and then she's like, okay, you have the job. And I was like, okay. So then she's like, when can you work? And I practice Tuesday, Thursday. So I work Monday, Wednesday. I was going to work Fridays, but you all thought that I shouldn't work Fridays, so I have a day off, and I won't get burnout because I have tournaments on the weekends.

00:50:27 - Mike Mills
And you haven't experienced that yet, but do you think that was probably a good move?

00:50:30 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, I definitely do. And so, yeah, I went in. First day was yesterday.

00:50:37 - Mike Mills
First day on the job?

00:50:38 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes. I sat in an office for four and a half hours and watched videos.

00:50:43 - Mike Mills
You were quote unquote training.

00:50:45 - Catey Jane Mills
Yes.

00:50:45 - Mike Mills
Right.

00:50:46 - Catey Jane Mills
So I get paid 13 an hour while I'm training. So I do the video trainings, which is like, I have to watch the classes and learn how to hold the kids.

00:50:58 - Mike Mills
Aquatots is a swim school, by the way, in case that wasn't clear. Yeah.

00:51:01 - Catey Jane Mills
And I have to learn all the different levels and how to document kids progress and do all this stuff. And then once I learn all that, then I'm, like, in water training, and I get, like, a little plastic, fake little baby doll. And so then I do that, and then I am observed why I teach a class, and then after that, then I'm certified, and then I get my little thing, and then after I'm certified, I get 14 an hour.

00:51:25 - Mike Mills
Moving up in the world.

00:51:26 - Catey Jane Mills
But right now I'm just training.

00:51:28 - Mike Mills
Yes. Okay. So what was your experience like, sitting in the office by yourself training?

00:51:33 - Catey Jane Mills
It was so boring. Oh, my gosh.

00:51:36 - Mike Mills
But necessary.

00:51:37 - Catey Jane Mills
It was. And I paid attention because I'm like, okay, 4 hours isn't that much like I'm in school for 8 hours, whatever, but also three of those hours are volleyball. And in school my mind is working, I'm doing things and I'm like, okay, I have to do this. I have to get good grades. There's a test on Friday. I have to pay attention. And I still obviously paid attention to this, but this, there weren't a whole lot of interaction stuff. It was just like hour long video. I'm just like, oh, my God, I can't. It was rough.

00:52:10 - Mike Mills
Yes, it's a lot when you have to sit in there for hours and hours and go through it. And the good thing about this job will be, though? Well, there's good things, but then there's one really bad thing. Can you think of what the one really bad thing is about this job?

00:52:23 - Catey Jane Mills
Like this specific one?

00:52:24 - Mike Mills
Yes, this specific job as it relates to. Think of it as it relates to me.

00:52:30 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, God, he did this when he was not. You weren't my age, but you were.

00:52:36 - Mike Mills
A little older than you. Yeah, but close to it. No, I was about 17 when I started.

00:52:40 - Catey Jane Mills
But he was a swim school instructor as well.

00:52:42 - Mike Mills
Yes, I ran a swim school for years. He did.

00:52:46 - Catey Jane Mills
So he's like, oh, are the holds still the same? I don't know.

00:52:51 - Mike Mills
Gosh, yes. It is going to be a bit of a beating. I'm going to try my best to not inundate you every day with questions just because of all of the jobs you could have chosen. This was probably the worst as far as. As it relates to me beating you down about it, so just be ready. But you chose it.

00:53:08 - Catey Jane Mills
I did take full responsibility.

00:53:10 - Mike Mills
That's right. But the good thing about this job, though, is that it is active, right?

00:53:16 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:53:16 - Mike Mills
Because you're in the water, you're working with the kids. Yes. Right. It's also different. It's not the same job every day.

00:53:22 - Catey Jane Mills
No.

00:53:22 - Mike Mills
Right. Same kids in classes.

00:53:24 - Catey Jane Mills
And that's kind of why I wanted to do it, because I really like younger kids. I like them a lot. And I couldn't do something like, I don't know, like folding shirts, work at chickfila or Paxon and just folding clothes. I want to do stuff and I.

00:53:42 - Mike Mills
Can actually do know well, and this will be good. Do you remember why I told you why this is a good thing as far as you growing into other roles later on down the road? Not with this job particular, but it.

00:53:52 - Catey Jane Mills
Helps learn how to deal with kids, I guess.

00:53:55 - Mike Mills
Yeah, but it's about communication, right? Yeah.

00:53:57 - Catey Jane Mills
And like, with the parents and stuff.

00:53:59 - Mike Mills
So you learn how to talk to adults and communicate with them, well, about the thing that they're most passionate about, which is their child. Right. So everything's serious and a big deal. You can't pretend like it's not because if you do, they'll get really fast. Right. So it's always a big deal. But that's a good communication tool because now you have to talk to children, which is its own other level of thing, by the way, communicating with kids is way more fun than communicating with adults.

00:54:23 - Catey Jane Mills
I know. I was a cheer coach. I did all of that. I'm sure it'll be very different because I didn't really interact with the parents at all, but it was different hanging out with the kids. But I mean, it's fun, like talking to them and stuff.

00:54:38 - Mike Mills
Yeah, kids are awesome. They just tell you whatever's on their mind.

00:54:40 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah, it's brutally honest.

00:54:42 - Mike Mills
Yeah, I got a little bullied. Yes, they're definitely rough. They're definitely rough. But you also communicate with kids, so now you have to learn how to communicate with adults. Right? Because why have I always told you guys, part of the reason that we don't go, not that there's anything wrong with private schools at all, but why have I said to you specifically why I prefer you to be in public school versus private school? Do you remember?

00:55:07 - Catey Jane Mills
Is it because there's like all different kinds of people and stuff, all different.

00:55:11 - Mike Mills
Walks of life, people from all different backgrounds that you have to. I mean, everything's a bubble to a certain extent, but people that you have to be able to interact with, because once you get out of our bubble in our little world, then you have no idea what you're going to run into and who you're going to have to interact with and deal with and all that kind of stuff. So interacting with people and having exposure to different types of environments is important when you're young because then you can learn how to deal with it when you get older. And this is the same thing because communicating with children and then turning on a dime and being able to turn around and communicate with an adult in that same situation is a skill and it is something that you'll develop. And then, of course, it comes down to tricks of the mind on how to get kids to do certain things and all that kind of stuff. That's going to be fun with it that I think you're really going to enjoy, but it's going to take a little time for you to settle in with it. And then once you start getting your paychecks. Have you even thought about taxes yet?

00:56:08 - Catey Jane Mills
No. Yeah, I did. So I did the math, because I don't know if I should be talking about this, but I don't really care. So I did $13 an hour. Times four is 52. I was like, okay, well, I'm working two times a week, so that's $104 a week. But then taxes, I'm like, I don't know how much is that, but I know that I'm not going to get $13 an hour.

00:56:30 - Mike Mills
Somewhere between 20% to 30%.

00:56:32 - Catey Jane Mills
Oh, God, that's, like, going to suck.

00:56:36 - Mike Mills
Yes. Now, the good news is that most of that you'll get back.

00:56:40 - Catey Jane Mills
Yeah.

00:56:41 - Mike Mills
Because you're not going to be in a high enough tax bracket. Now, you can set it up where they don't take any money out, and that's not a bad thing. But if you do it that way, then it's almost like they're saving money for you. And you'll get this little check at the end of the year, so you'll get like $1,000, and you'd be like, right, yeah. So it's almost like its own little savings account for you. Now, the government gets to make interest on that, which. That's a whole other thing down the road we'd get to. But ultimately, having them withhold that money, it's going to suck because your paycheck is going to be a lot less. Right. But you'll get a lot of that back because you just don't make enough money to be taxed at that level. But that's usually what they hold out from you, and you'll feel the pain of that when you first see it. It'll be sad and depressing, but it's a good experience for you to go through this, to have a job, to start working, and you're a very busy kid, so you got a lot of stuff that you're doing between volleyball and school, and now we're adding a job to it. So I'm probably seem like the hard driving, terrible parent, but I only got a couple more years with you, and I got to cram all this in now, while your brain is somewhat developed. I mean, with your brother, it's going to take forever because he's going to be a moron. Yeah, good luck with that one. So, at least with you, I've got you a little bit of cognitive functional. Right now, most of us men are stupid until we're like, I still am, basically. So I don't know that we ever figure it out. All right, well, that's pretty much it for today. Next time we're probably going to do this around spring break because we can only do it during holidays when you don't have school because in the middle of the day. But we're going to get into probably talk a little bit about how it was to make your deposits. We're going to talk probably some more about some taxes. We may actually have some budgeting stuff that we do at that point because you're going to have to be driving and now you're going to be spending money on things and getting money. So how much we taking in versus how much we going out? We're going to keep reading the book even though you find it super annoying. But I know you love to read, just not this stuff. I want you to try to curate your TikTok feed a little bit and see if you can add a few more of these topics to it to see if you pick up some stuff and have some questions about some things that otherwise you wouldn't have. But this was a lot better. You did much better today.

00:58:50 - Catey Jane Mills
Thanks.

00:58:51 - Mike Mills
You talked.

00:58:51 - Catey Jane Mills
I did.

00:58:52 - Mike Mills
Was it horrible?

00:58:53 - Catey Jane Mills
It wasn't that bad.

00:58:54 - Mike Mills
Okay. It's not that terrible.

00:58:55 - Catey Jane Mills
Not that bad.

00:58:56 - Mike Mills
I mean, I know coming into, you should have seen her face when she walked in here. This was like the last thing that she wanted to do today.

00:59:00 - Catey Jane Mills
I want to go watch my Grey's anatomy.

00:59:02 - Mike Mills
Yes. All right. Well, now you can go watch Grey's anatomy. All right. Well, thank you for everybody for sticking around. We're going to do another one of these in a month or two and keep going down this road. So if you all have any questions or want to ask anything, if there's anything we can interject, if I can make her do more stuff, please send me some advice. I'm happy to take it. So sorry you had to come in.

00:59:22 - Catey Jane Mills
He got a soundboard and he doesn't know how to act now.

00:59:25 - Mike Mills
Got a soundboard. I'm super excited. I mean, I've had the soundboard. I just don't usually use it in the podcast. All right, thanks, everybody. Y'all have a great rest of your week. We will be back. I'll be back on Friday. Next week, I'm actually, or Thursday, I should say. I'm having Brad Bingham, my insurance guy, come in and we are going and great friend, and we're going to talk about why insurance premiums have literally gone through the roof. Insurance is even more fun than finance. Who's excited? But if you're having to spend a ton of money on car insurance, which I am, because you're expensive, and a ton of money on homeowners insurance, which we are because we own homes. End anything else? Then you definitely want to tune into this because the premiums are going through the roof and everybody's mad about it. So we'll find out why. Brad's one of the smartest guys I know when it comes to this stuff. So everybody have a great weekend, and I will see you next week. Bye.