September 2024
Here are some key takeaways from their conversation:
- The bill requires financial literacy courses to be offered to all California high school students by the 2027-28 school year and be part of the graduation requirements for the class of 2031.
- Research shows financial habits are often formed by the age of seven, making early education critical.
- Studies suggest proper financial literacy can add around $127,000 in value through better habits and knowledge around investing and saving.
- Morgan shares her story of transitioning from a career in entertainment to finance after taking a financial literacy course. She says the course changed her perspective on money management and equipped her with more confidence and financial stability, ultimately inspiring her to want to help others in the same way.
- Morgan and Chris encourage listeners to check out financial resources like THE FINANCIAL COMMUTE, other video series, Couchside Conversations, as well as websites like NerdWallet, Investopedia, and The Points Guy.
- Chris also suggests younger, high-earning professionals to learn more about our Modearn offering, which provides tailored financial advice to the next generation who may not meet the typical wealth thresholds of other advisory firms.
Watch previous episodes here:
Ep. 103 How to Prioritize Tax-Advantaged Accounts for High Earners
Ep. 102 A Financial Guide to Divorce: Tips from an Advisor
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for another episode of THE FINANCIAL COMMUTE. I'm your host, Chris Galeski, joined by client coordinator Morgan Jul. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you. I'm really excited to be here.
I'm excited too, because I recognize the importance of financial literacy as it relates to my life and others around me. You have a really cool story about how the impact of financial literacy caused you to make a complete career transition. But today, we're going to talk a little bit about this new, bill that was passed in California, where Governor Newsom says that all high school graduate students, starting in the year of 2031, are going to be required to take a financial literacy course to help them be better set up for their future.
So it's going to be started out as an elective in 2027, but then become a mandatory class or course that they need to take in order to graduate by 2031.
Yes, and that is just crazy to me. First of all, that we haven't had that yet in California. California is the 26th state to add that to, a requirement to graduate, which I think it's crazy. I also learned in kind of my process of researching this bill, that only 25% of Californian students have access to financial literacy, as opposed to about 70% in other states, which is just a huge stat in California, as we know, is a very expensive state to live in, and people need to be prepared for that.
It's so expensive. And, you know, one of my other colleagues and partners, Kevin Rex, we were talking and he said that through some of his research and his kids, he's got young kids- that most people's financial habits are formed by the age of seven.
And that's just astonishing to me on two fronts. Not only that, we're the 26th state to start this, but also that only 25% of, you know, students today in California, are given an opportunity to learn about good financial decisions through school. And so I'm so excited for this to become a reality because the value, it's very hard to quantify the value, financial literacy can make on somebody.
But you found an interesting stat.
Yes. So going to your point, you know, I didn't have this in high school. I didn't have this course, which if I did would have saved me a lot of money. When I was 27, I sought out my own financial literacy course to kind of give myself some education on the topic because I felt like I needed it.
And, and yeah, in my research for, you know, doing this podcast with you, I learned that the value of a financial literacy course can be a value of up to $127,000. So it goes to show that, I mean, you know, I invested a pretty penny in the course I took but it already has paid off tenfold.
Yeah. That's incredible to think that, you know, by teaching this education early enough, it can then equate to about $127,000 in value over the course in somebody's life, just by properly knowing how to budget, how to spend, stay away from credit card debt decisions that they have to make between retirement accounts or investing. It's astonishing to me.
Your story is really interesting because your dad actually works in finance. Very smart guy. And then you used to work in entertainment. You were, an associate producer for, a television show and also Dancing with the Stars.
Correct. I did the Kelly Clarkson Show and Dancing with the Stars. Working in entertainment my entire 20s. I loved it, you know, it was some of the most fun I've ever had. And like you said, I grew up with a dad who worked in the financial services industry. Never in a million years did I think I would want to work in that industry.
But, you know, I felt like he gave me a really good baseline growing up of ways to make smart financial decisions. You know, he was always making sure I was on track and I felt good about it. So I can't imagine people that don't have that in a parent. What they're thinking, they're probably just googling things, not knowing how to get a straight answer, you know, from Google and just feeling so lost.
I can only imagine. So like you said, I sought out this financial literacy course with a company called Deeper Than Money. I went through their 12 week program called the Wealth Accelerator when I was 27. It absolutely changed my life, opened my eyes to so much when it comes to finance. I really wanted that deep understanding of it.
Like I said, I knew a lot of this stuff growing up, but I wanted like I wanted to go deeper and make sure that I was going to be set up for, for life. So I went through this program, absolutely changed my life and it changed my life so much that I wanted to change careers and help other people one day and become an advisor.
Hopefully one day like you, and help others really feel confident in their finances and their future.
And what I like about that is not only did you have access to good information through, you know, your dad, but sometimes it's like teaching or coaching your child from a parent and it doesn't always, you know, hit the right way. So I could see the benefit by you kind of going deeper and signing up for a course.
But then to think about the value, you know, the article says around $127,000 of lifetime value. Yes. But this caused you to make a complete career shift from entertainment into finance. And you've been with us for about four months and have already gotten your first promotion. And I'm sure a lot of it is tied back to that course that you originally took.
I learned so much in the course, and it just opened my eyes to how much people don't know. And so many just basics to, you know, people like I said, millennials, people that are in my age bracket, they're starting to make a decent amount of money at this point. A lot of people are getting married, having their first kids, and they're still going, but what do I do with my money?
And that's a really scary place to be in. So for me, going through the wealth accelerator, you know, I learned so many things starting simply from just creating a spend plan. Notice how I didn't say budget because that could feel so restrictive. Just learning those just no brainer accounts that every single person should have and how to implement those into your plan.
Investing. What is it? How do you do it? I have so many friends that now that I work here, they come up to me and they're like, Morgan. So what are your thoughts on this, this and this? And I'm like, okay guys, I'm still learning a lot, but I can give you some background, you know, some basics.
You know, paying off debt, even just the concept of buckets and how those work. You know, if I'm planning for a trip, it's like, I want to save that in a separate bucket in my high-yield savings account so that when I am ready to go on that trip, it doesn't feel like I'm pulling it out of my savings.
Then you have this guilt and anxiety. It's like, no, I planned for this, and this is something that was important to me. I wanted to do it. And then you don't have that guilt when you go to actually spend that money. So I think there's so many things that I learned in the course and emotionally... is it's literally deeper than money.
Money is very emotional, but we need to look at it sometimes from a non-emotional perspective and just know that money is a tool to not only get you what you need, but also what you want. And that's a really exciting and empowering thing.
I love some of the things that you shared, not only in terms of the emotional decisions that we make around money, but I'm going to sound like the old guy- 25 years ago when I was in college, one of my teammates on the men's golf team at San Diego State, he used to have these envelopes with $5 bills, and he would take out a couple of $5 bills.
You know, that would be his lunch. He would take out, you know, a couple for dinner. And that's how he kept track of his budgeting by only having $5 bills. And I thought it was so silly. But it makes so much sense today about that's not only how he created his spending plan, but how he made sure that he stuck to it by setting limits and restrictions on there, which is one of the keys to success.
Yes, most of the people that I see that are very successful in terms of their confidence with their money not only know how much they have coming in, but often how much is going out on a regular basis and being able to track their spending versus what their projected budget is. I'm so glad that you shared that.
As you look back at that course, what's one of the biggest takeaways that you had from that?
So many different things. I think for me, it was really just a general, well-rounded understanding of a lot of those topics that I just mentioned-investing, paying off debt, planning for your future, planning for a family, retirement. You know, just really feeling like I know the basics, the basics for all of these different topics. And they're all going to work together simultaneously and create the best outcome for me and my finances and my life and make me feel really comfortable and confident in that.
I really hope that California can execute well on this. It's very difficult to capture somebody's attention, especially on a topic that's so important in this day and age through social media and YouTube, people have a lot of access to good generic information, but it oftentimes doesn't, you know, give people the foundations of what you're looking for.
It's one of the reasons why I love working here. Morton. Because we understand the problems that many people face and one of them is empowering people to feel more confident about the decisions that they have to make. And so, you know, when looking at it through that lens, we realize that there are a lot of people, like you and myself, that are earning and growing in their life, and they're making these financial decisions without the confidence or the advice to say, hey, you know, what?
Have you thought about it this way? Or maybe you shouldn't do that, or hey, it's okay to go and buy that Starbucks and enjoy your life today. And so that's why we launched a whole new program for those higher earners, in the world called Modearn because for a fee based advice offering, we can give them advice on how to save money for a house, what to do with your stock options, how to evaluate contributing to a 401K versus an HSA versus, you know, an emergency fund.
And so we're able to serve this population that is in so much of a need. And so I'm so grateful that not only this organization, but myself and other advisors are able to help that subset of clients.
I agree, I think the millennials and Gen Zers who are coming up and starting to, like you said, make that money are just gonna jump at the opportunity to get that advice.
I mean, we launched Modearn because we recognize that, you know, most advisory firms have to have a large minimum amount of assets in order to be able to get great advice. Otherwise they're left on their own devices and getting generic, not customized advice. And so we wanted to have an offering that made sense for people to invest in themselves, to be able to get the right decisions and help be set up for success longer term.
So I'm really excited about that offering. As you think about, you know, this course, what we're trying to do for the future and for anybody that's listening, what are some real good tools that people can leverage in order to get a better knowledge or understanding around finances?
Absolutely. Well, I think just starting here, obviously with THE FINANCIAL COMMUTE, tune in every week. But also we have here at Morton, we have our Couchside Conversations series on YouTube that is designed exactly for the Modearn client, if you will. And also, you know, we hear it all the time, at least for me. I see on my Instagram all the time these different posts of hey, if you would have invested this amount this many years ago, what you would have now, and it's like, ouch!
Like sometimes that really hurts.
The eighth wonder of the world- compounding.
Yes. So at this time in the market, just starting now, not being afraid of it, just jumping in and knowing that, you know, it's all going to be okay. And there's a reason that everybody in the world is doing this. It's to grow your wealth. That's it's for a purpose. Excuse me if it's for a purpose. Also, one of my favorite tools online is NerdWallet.
I use their retirement calculator, make sure I'm on track. Also, just to compare credit cards, high-yield savings accounts, things of that nature.
I love NerdWallet. You can track your net worth on there as well. You can connect all your accounts to it, which is kind of fun to see. I track mine like every month, see where we're at? Also another tool, Yahoo Finance. My dad actually introduced me to that one. Whether you're looking for financial news or you want to compare, you know, returns on different stocks, mutual funds, and just get that historical data and just to start educating yourself that way, you know, again, without my dad, I don't think I would have known what a mutual fund was until this year.
But thankfully, growing up I had him. But, you know, so many people are still at age 30. They don't know what a mutual fund is.
Look, it's hard to understand. And it gets a little bit confusing. And then most of the most of the resources, whether it's TV or online, I mean, they speak in such jargon. You almost need your own dictionary in order to understand this business. And so that's where early on in my career, I leveraged Investopedia a lot, because it's basically that website where you can go and say, well, what is this?
And it gives you the framework for what that is. It's basically the definitions for all of those jargon words and the things that we use here. Recently, I don't handle this part of my finances, but I'm lucky to have a wife that cares a lot about credit card points maximizing points. And she follows somebody called The Points Guy on Instagram and YouTube to get tips on how to best use credit card points to maximize your lifestyle.
And I love that as a resource, especially for, you know, younger people and older people that are looking to get the most life out of their their points that they accumulate.
And like you said, all these things kind of working together at the same time can just be a huge, you know, benefit and gain to you and your finances and then also just your fulfillment in life. Right?
Morgan, thank you so much for coming and sharing your story and the impact that financial knowledge and literacy has made on your life. And I really hope that this bill makes as big of an impact on others as it did for you. So thank you so much for joining.
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