Many of us are trying to figure out how to become financially free later in our lives. Dan Sheeks has the goal to pass along these concepts of financial freedom to young people, especially in a day and age where not everyone's having the opportunity.
Many of us are trying to figure out how to become financially free later in our lives. Dan Sheeks has the goal to pass along these concepts of financial freedom to young people, especially in a day and age where not everyone's having the opportunity.
Key Takeaways:
About our Guest:
Dan is a high school Business/Marketing teacher, real estate investor, and personal finance advocate. Author of BiggerPockets newest books - First to a Million: A Teenager’s Guide to Achieving Early Financial Freedom. The book introduces teenagers to the strategies, concepts, and the mindset needed to achieve early financial freedom.
Steven Pesavento 00:05
This is the Investor Mindset podcast and I'm Steven Pesavento. For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with understanding how we can think better, how we can be better, and how we can do better. And each episode we explore lessons on motivation and mindset for the most successful real estate investors and entrepreneurs in the nation.
Steven Pesavento 00:32
Welcome back to this week's episode of the investor mindset podcast. My name is Steven Pesavento. And each week, we share mindset tips and real estate investing strategies to help you take your business and your investment portfolio to the next level. Today, we've got a very special guest, Dan Sheeks is in the studio. How you doing today, Mr. Dan?
Dan Sheeks 00:52
I'm doing great, Steven, excited to be here. Thank you very, very much for having me on.
Steven Pesavento 00:57
Yeah, I'm excited to dive in. Because, you know, I think this topic that we're gonna be talking about is so important, not only for all the parents that are out there, they're going to be listening, but for really everybody who is interacting, and going to be eventually hiring and working with young people out in the world. And, of course, you are a high school business and marketing teacher, you're a real estate investor. You're a big personal finance advocate, and you're author of a brand new book that's coming out via bigger pockets, called first to a million teenagers guide to achieving early financial freedom. And today, what we're going to really be diving into is some of these concepts that are so important, but also how can we help pass along these concepts of financial freedom to young people, especially in a day and age where not everyone's having the opportunity, like your students are to be taught this by their teachers in their school. So it really does come down to the community, it comes down to the parents, and it comes down to people volunteering to, you know, come and share this information. So we're gonna be diving into some really important things, there's obviously we're gonna encourage you to be able to pass along this information to people who can make an impact. But tell us, Dan, a little bit about why you ended up putting this together after so many years of teaching financial literacy to to young people.
Dan Sheeks 02:24
Sure, yeah, great question. I've been teaching for 19 years. And I've been investing in real estate for six or seven. So not too long for real estate investing. But about that same time, six or seven years ago, my wife and I also found the fire movement, we found bigger pockets, we found Chuza phi, and that community, and we really kind of went all in on building passive income streams, index fund investing, real estate investing, and setting ourselves on a journey to early financial independence, which we have done. You know, we've been fortunate, we've done really well on that front. And so it only made sense at some point. You know, I'm in front of young people every day, I love my job as a high school business teacher, I I get a lot out of my job is very rewarding and fulfilling. Because I know I'm making a difference. But, you know, I teach classes like personal finance, and entrepreneurship and marketing. And so it just made sense, once I got exposed and learned enough about the early financial independence strategies, and real estate investing, and passive income and everything else that falls kind of under those umbrellas, that I just needed to pass it on to my students, which I've been doing in my classroom. But at some point, I realized this is bigger than this needs to be bigger than what I'm doing in my classroom, the kids that I have exposure to every day. So let's go out. And I built a website and social media accounts, and then eventually decided to write the book, which bigger pockets is publishing, there's also a workbook that goes with the book. They're both, I think, available right now, basically, and so is just about sharing that knowledge because because my my passion is working with young people. So that's my niche. And so let's get this information out to young people, because there isn't anything else out there that's specific to young people. So that's why
Steven Pesavento 04:21
I think it's so it's such a big idea and what is so surprising to me, but then I it's surprising me that it's not more prolific being that I think it's one of the most important topics that young people should be learning but they're not. And I think back to when I was in high school or earlier, that I was not learning anything about entrepreneurship or business or financial education, none of that was going on. And then as a as an adult as, as a business owner working with junior achievement. Other organizations like this. I've I've come to find that it's still missing from the curriculum. It's nonprofit companies and organizations are having to come in and have volunteers come and share their experience with clap with classrooms just to give students a little taste of what financial education literacy is all about. So one of the things that I think people will be surprised about, but tell us a little bit about your experience on how these young people how these kids are really reacting to that financial independence movement.
Dan Sheeks 05:26
Yeah, they, they react really well. I mean, when you start talking about things like early financial independence, which is something that I mean, most Americans don't know about, let alone just, you know, young people. Most adults in our country do not know about the idea of early financial independence. So you start sharing that information with young people, which I do in my classroom, and I haven't I have an online community to have young people that are interested in these topics. Not all of them, but a lot of them like they perk up and they're interested, like, What are you talking about, I've never heard this concept before. I think some of them are a little skeptical at first as they should be. Whenever Whenever someone comes up, and starts talking about a topic or strategy that just sounds a little, like, maybe too good to be true, I think your guard should come up. But once I start showing them, you know, the strategies and the numbers, and I bring in guest speakers who have already reached financial independence in their in their, you know, 30s, or 40s, or even younger, then they're like, You know what this is, this is legit. And they trust me as their teacher, I'm not, you know, trying to sell them anything. So they do pay attention, and they do love to learn and a shout out to you, Steven, recognize you, you came into my classroom and talked about real estate investing, and some of the strategies you've used to have success. And my students ate it up. I mean, they love hearing about people who are not just talking about it, but actually doing it. And kudos to you for taking time to share your story with my students. Thank you very much.
Steven Pesavento 07:02
Well, you know, it was my pleasure. But I want to challenge the listeners, for everyone who's out there who is listening right now, you know, how can you go and speak to some young people and share your experience, regardless of where you're at in your life, because I can remember growing up, lower middle class family, definitely not hearing a lot about entrepreneurship in my world, you know, not hearing a lot about other options, outside of maybe going blue collar, or if I'm lucky, you know, going to university and going the traditional route. And so I think it is such a necessity for us to be able to go and bring this idea of the investor mindset bring this idea of the entrepreneurial mindset into these classrooms. And one of the best ways to do that is being able to be that model, or that mentor to a person even just for a moment to share those ideas. So I encourage anyone who's listening, you know, take a challenge, go to Junior Achievement, you know, go and find a local classroom, maybe you have, you know, kids that you are already connected to a district. And you can do that, I encourage you guys to do that, because this is how you start planting those seeds. And you'll never know, what is going to end up being harvested from those initial seeds. So talk to us a little bit about how do we plant those seeds with students with young people that are in our lives are connected to, you know, what is working as far as getting people engaged and excited about this topic?
Dan Sheeks 08:27
Yeah, I and I'll answer that question. As you know, speaking to the parents out there, although anybody who who has a teenager or young person in their life can can employ most of these ideas. So you know, parents out there who have teenagers, you're probably already passing along, you know, more than the average parent, you know, just by the fact that they're listening to this podcast, I'm guessing they, they have some financial literacy, or, you know, a high level of that. So they're probably already doing a pretty good job. But if they're not doing these things, they can start doing them. So number one, I encourage parents to open up the books of the small business that is their household, and sit their kids down and show them here's where all the money is, here's where all the money comes from, here's all the income we have the revenue streams for the household, whether that's one stream or 10, share them all, explain them all. And then go into the you know, the, the credits, the debits and the credits of the business. So here's where the money is going out. Here's the monthly bills we have, here's the the loans that we have to make payments on and show them the spreadsheet, have them, click the mouse to pay the bill and to submit the payments and include them in that every month when you sit down and balance your checkbook and go over your credit card statements. Include them in those conversations and you know what include them in the strategic decisions of where that household is going in the future. If you're going to take a big vacation, talk to your kids. above budgeting for it, put them in charge, you know, say, Okay, you need to do some research, how much is that hotel going to cost? How much are the plane tickets going to cost? You know, and it's age dependent. Of course, if they're nine, probably they're not going to do that. But if they're, and they're 15 1617, they can do some searching and find some prices and come back to you and say, here's what I found. Absolutely, parents should be adding their children on to their credit card accounts as an authorized user, that's a big one that starts building that young person's credit score before they're 18. And then as soon as that young person turns 18, have them apply for their own credit card in their own name. Now, obviously, teach them the strategies that, you know, are needed to handle a credit card responsibly. But I mean, honestly, would you do you want your child making credit card mistakes when they're 16, living at home, or when they're 22 off off on their own, you know, those mistakes at home are easy to fix, and they're probably not going to be too large. Allow them to make those those mistakes, allow them to go over the budget you gave them allow them maybe to miss a payment, if they're in charge of making the payments for your credit card, haven't missed a payment, then show them how much that cost them in fees from the credit card company and interest. And you know, and just have money discussions, a great topic I like as you're sitting around the dinner table or driving in the car, say, you know, if we won the lottery, and we got, let's say, we got $100,000 from the lottery today, what would we do with that money? And why would we do it? And let's talk about the pros and cons of all those decisions. And that's a fun conversation to have, everyone likes to think about coming into a windfall of money. You know, I want to make it a million dollars, because that's, that's almost too much. But if we got 100 grand, where's that money gonna go? Where do you where do you want to spend it? Where do you want to save it? Where do you want to invest it, and why. And those conversations can lead into, you know, many more conversations down the road.
Steven Pesavento 12:02
Yeah, these are, these are super actionable things. And it's giving young people an opportunity to actually learn and apply some of these ideas before they get out into the world. Because you got to think about it, how many young people go off to college, they don't know anything about what it's costing, their parents are paying for everything, or they're not. And they're taking out huge amounts of loans. And they're responsible for paying those back at some point, but they don't really have any financial understanding about what they're doing. And it isn't until years later, if ever, that they end up discovering how big of mistakes they've made earlier, or what they could have been doing differently. And so I just think it's such a great concept to really give people an opportunity early on to do some of those things. What are what are some of the other strategies that people can implement, you know, right here today that can you know, hearts start setting that foundation in place.
Dan Sheeks 12:56
Um, there's one really cool strategy I want to talk about that I learned from a friend of mine, Adam Carroll, but another one I thought of is alright, so one small idea was not small, I think, and some people might disagree with me on this, but I think every high school kid, every teenager should have a job, whether it's just in the summer, or just on the weekends, when they should have a job, a W two jobs, they have to actually fill out an application, they have to maybe even do an interview. They get a pay stub and go through that pay stub with your child line by line go through your pay stub with your child line by line. And I think learning and appreciating the value of $1 From a very early age is something that they'll never forget. So encourage your young your child you know teenager height college kids to get a job then here's another strategy that I got from a friend of mine Adam Carroll and I have not used this myself my I have a son but he's not old enough to do this yet. So but I love this idea. And it is doesn't really have a name to come up with a name but so take let's say you have a teenager, 14 1516 years old, you and you've built up to this over time, but then you say you know, alright, starting next year, next calendar year, you are going to be on your own for for money, we are going to pay for your housing, we are going to pay for your food in the house, everything else you are going to pay for and we're going to give you a stipend, and it's got to it has to be a quite a bit of money because they're gonna be paying for everything. And so it may be 1000 $2,000 a month. So then they literally have their own checking account, which is you know, if they're under 18 Is is a joint account with the parent but it's just their money and they pay for their food. If they go out to eat with their friends, it's coming off their debit card in their checking account, even if they go out with the family. So if you go out to Chili's as a family, separate checks, and that 16 year old is going to pay for his check with his debit card into his account, watch how fast that 16 year old starts to look at the menu. And not just the items. But the prices, when he or she knows is coming out of their accounts. And not mom or dad's where I just order whatever I want. If you're going on vacation, they have to pay for their share of the gas. They're sure the lodging they have to pay for their ticket into Disney World and their food while they're in Disney World. Now you're giving them enough money that they can do this, right? You're not saying we're going to leave you at home, that's not the point. The point is, is to allow them to budget from a very early age and say, Okay, I have this money coming in that vacation is going to cost me $2,000. I'm only bringing in $1,000 a month from my stipend, and maybe a little bit extra from my part time job. I now need now to think I need to think proactively and save up some money over time so that I can go on that vacation with my family because I don't want to get left behind and still pay my fair share. You know, their activities, their clubs, their sports camps, they're paying for all of this out of their account. They learn how expensive it is one to have a kid, but they also learn to budget. Yeah, let them make mistakes, let them overdraft their checking account and get fined by the bank. If they do it once they'll never do it again, I hope let them fall a little bit short of that budget for that vacation, still let them go, maybe you give them a loan, and charge them a little bit of interest so that they can go on the vacation and they learn wow, I should have saved more. I didn't plan ahead well enough. And so basically, they're on their own financially, even though they're living in the house, except for housing in food in the house. And I think it's kind of a radical idea. But that young person that graduates from high school goes out into the real world will have no problem managing their finances, once they're out there.
Steven Pesavento 17:16
Well, I just think it's it. It's a radical idea. But it's really, it's a practical idea. Because at the end of the day, what you're really doing is you're saying, hey, let's roleplay this out. But we're going to roleplay with real money. And we're going to use real life situations. And we're going to let you learn by doing because that's one of the most effective ways to learn. Now a lot of time we sit in classrooms, or we read books, or we theoretically learn but even when it comes to real estate, someone can read a lot about buying deals. But until you've actually not one, you've potentially lost money, you've made money, you've experienced what it's like to wonder if you're going to close or not, it's going to change the whole game. And I can say as somebody who add the opportunity, as all call it to grow up young, or grow up quickly, and get a job and pay for a lot of things very early on, like I knew the value of $1, early early in my life and you know, those kind of skills are so valuable. And it's surprising when I talk to young people today and they don't really understand that. And so it's so what a beautiful way to be able to give them an opportunity to learn in an environment where they can fail. And it's not going to be life or death.
Dan Sheeks 18:31
Yeah, it's about it's about allowing them to fail, while they're still in the safety of, of the parents, you know, guardianship because it's way more scary to fail when you're off up there on their bike by yourself. And then they have to come back to the parents and say, Hey, I, I just got kicked out of my my apartment, I miss rent for three months. I need I need you to bail me out. You know, I think it's an investment for the parent to teach them those skills earlier. And then they're not coming to you. They're not moving back into your house at age 25. And living in a basement for three years trying to get back on their feet kind of thing.
Steven Pesavento 19:06
Yeah, exactly. And how many parents that are listening are currently experiencing that. The beauty the beauty of it, I'm sure spending time with family, but also the curse of wondering, Hey, are they gonna be able to get back after it? Right? And so yeah, what a great way to be able to overcome that. And we just have to realize that, you know, people need to learn this stuff early. And the thought is, you know, when I meet people all across the board, when, regardless of what their ages, they always wish they would have learned about real estate investing earlier in life. And so why not start making sure that it's a key priority to teach and have people have these real life experiences? What other thoughts or advice would you like to give to folks out there who want to kind of take this and run with it and carry it forward?
Dan Sheeks 19:55
Yeah, I'll kind of transition into what what I have in my book, which is you know, written for a teenager. Honestly, though, Stephen, any young person, any adult, for that matter who's just beginning to learn about early financial independence, my book would be a great introduction to that. Those strategies, concepts, topics, and the fire movement in general, honestly, so that my book is not a real estate investing book. But I do talk about real estate investing in it. I'm a big fan of real estate investing as an investor myself. And I focus mostly on the house hacking strategy, which I think is by far the best strategy for young people to get started in real estate. And so the book and the workbook, kind of guide them through a process so that they can buy their first house hack property, you know, age 1920 2122, somewhere in there. And I have young people in my community that I facilitate the chic streets community that are buying properties at those ages 19 Two, I have a 20 year old who just closed on a second property last month. And so it is absolutely possible. And I think all your listeners understand that it is and you know, they, they might, you know, volunteer to cosign on their son or daughter's mortgage, which will help them speed up the process even more, they can be 18 at that point, buying a property. If you train them well, and they've you know, read my book and workbook and some others that are awesome. Like, I'll put a plug in for the house hacking strategy by Craig curl up. Great book for anyone looking to do that. Also published by bigger pockets. If if the parents have set their kids up right at 18, if they happen to be, you know, mature enough, which is always kind of an if you never know about a teenager, but they can do it. I've seen and worked with young people doing it at age 18 and 19. Ever a young guy in my sheiks community who happens to live here in Colorado, he's 19. And he's in his first house, AK coming to talk to my classes tomorrow about his experience, going to share all those numbers, how he found the property, how he analyzed the deal, how he closed on it, and sharing that with, you know, my current 1718 year old seniors. So the book is it does go over some basic personal finance stuff, which is absolutely important, but it very quickly moves into higher level. Personal finance stuff like the passive income, the frugality, mindset, entrepreneurship, the traits of an entrepreneur, and buying real estate and opening a brokerage account all this stuff, you know, well before, they're 2021 years old. So it's a great holiday gift, I'll put a little plug in there, I really I wanted
Steven Pesavento 22:46
to have, I want to let the audience know I wanted to have you on, you know, specifically because I know how important this subject is. And just as you know, somebody who is out there in the world, hiring young people looking to bring them on into our team, and finding people we're excited about real estate's phenomenal. But the earlier that we can start this, the better. And it's really this a public service announcement, if you have kids, I really encourage you gotten by first to a million teenagers guide to achieving early financial freedom, drop it in their stocking, and start planting some of these ideas. Because there's a lot of parents, there's a lot of aunts, uncles, there's a lot of people with friends who are having kids, or potentially you're a parent yourself. But wherever you end up falling in that category, I really encourage you to, you know, find a way to be giving back because it's that next generation, a lot of people, you know, they you know, crap on Millennials all day and they crap on Gen z's. And, you know, there's just a misunderstanding within the different generations. And that's normal. And that's absolutely normal. But this is our opportunity to be able to pass along these lessons to people who are younger than us. And God, I wish I would have known about this stuff younger and taken action on it. So I hope that you guys enjoyed today's episode got a few ideas. Dan, where can people find out more about you or get in touch?
Dan Sheeks 24:11
Best way is just send me an email at Dan@sheeksfreaks.com and I'll send that to you, Steven for your show notes. But I'm also I'm on bigger pockets every day, LinkedIn, Instagram, I'll also send you Steven for your show notes the link where they can go buy the book in the workbook, which is bigger pockets.com/teen. And if they buy both of them, they get a little discount. So I appreciate you having me on. I love talking about this stuff all day long every day. And I think you hit it on the head, you know, my way of giving back because my wife and I have been so fortunate was to write the book. And if any of your listeners out there want to help some teenagers out, just put it in their hands and hope that they they read it, digest it use it and it'll change their life.
Steven Pesavento 25:00
Absolutely, that's beautiful. Well, thanks you guys for listening, I challenge you for a third time to go find a way to personally invest some of your time talking with young people and making a difference. I promise you, it'll be worth it internally, as well as for all the people who listen, so take care. And we'll see you guys on the next episode.
Steven Pesavento 25:22
Thank you for joining for another incredible episode of the investor mindset. It's such a joy to be able to share these beliefs, these thoughts, these ways of living with each and every one of you guys, because I just know the power that it can make. And for some of you, for the select few of those people who are truly committed to going after their goals, the people who really believe that there's another level from where they're operating right now the people who are ready to make change happen rapidly. And even if you're somebody who's stuck, who knows what you need to do, you know exactly the strategy, but for some reason, you're not doing it for those people. There's another option, there is another level that you can reach and, and what I've noticed after coaching tons and tons of people through this process is that there's a simple formula. And when you can start to understand how to unlock those pieces within yourself, you'll start to feel more vibrant, you'll start to feel more energized, you'll start to make more money, and you'll start to enjoy the process through and through. So if you're somebody who is in a position, you're ready to make change happen, you're ready to invest in yourself. You really believe that the best investment, the truest ROI is invest in yourself because it continues to give back over and over again. Then I invite you to schedule a call, share a little bit about yourself and see how we might be able to help serve you with the investor mindset coaching. You can head right over investor mindset.com/discovery Set up a call and there's an opportunity to serve. I'll be right there with you. Thanks and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Steven Pesavento 27:09
Thank you for listening to the investor mindset podcast. If you like what you heard, make sure to rate reviews, subscribe and share with a friend. Head over to the investor mindset.com to join the insider club where we share tools and strategies from the top investors and entrepreneurs and how to take it to the next level.