Matt Morizio: Chocolate Chips and Interest Rates Fun Ways to Teach Kids About Money

D Brent Dowlen: [00:00:00] Money is a complex subject in the fact that people have really strong feelings about it. No matter how you feel about the subject. Money is a core part of life that, and that’s just the reality we all live in. As dads, one of the biggest things we worry about all the time is money. How do we make enough money?

How do we have enough money? Where’s the money coming from? I think every father in the world probably worries about money nonstop. Regardless of how you feel about money personally, it impacts your life and that of your children. But money is not the issue. The real issue is our relationship with money and how that relationship will impact your children’s relationship with money in the future.

Today we’re talking to father of seven, Matt, Morizio. Who’s the financial advisor about our relationship with money and how that relationship with money will impact our kids going forward, and how to change that conversation to help them build a positive [00:01:00] relationship with money starting pretty early in their life.

Mascot a great dad story for us real quick, and then we’re gonna jump to our sponsor and then we’ll dig into this conversation. For Dads with Matt, Morizio. So Matt, every dad has that story that just. You remember it, and it might be good, it might be bad, but it puts a smile on your face when you think about it, because it was just one of those experiences.

What is your dad’s story,

Matt Morizio: man? I had, well, as a dad of seven, there are so many stories that I could probably pull from some funny, some inappropriate, um, man. Am I gonna have to go with the very first moment of being a dad, my first son?

Well as he’s coming out, they were like, you can see hair. And that, like, that one rocked me. But, um, I would say the first moment that he came out was like this overwhelming feeling of responsibility [00:02:00] and gratitude and like, um, joy beyond belief. Right? So I remember seeing that and then I remember so. Then I remember looking in the delivery room and everybody tells you all the things about when you’re gonna be a da.

Good luck. Get your sleep now you better like coffee, all the like, they give you all kinds of warnings. Well, nobody warned me that like the delivery room’s gonna look like World War II and like a bomb scene. Like there was blood everywhere. I was like, doc, she gonna be all right. Like, am I gonna do this thing alone?

Uh, and apparently that just loss of blood is a very normal thing. Like that’s just a normal amount of blood. But I was very unprepared for that. And I guess that was a great like, start into the unpreparedness of what is farther

D Brent Dowlen: new. Dads always, I, I love to talk to first time expectant dads. Because like nobody tells you that crap in like, in like the birthing [00:03:00] classes or your friend.

It’s not everywhere. Like, dude, like the delivery is is is not fun. Right, right. Yeah. So I’m great movies, right? You, you see the great movies and they’re like, oh, but they don’t show you that part. Right.

Matt Morizio: It’s like the baby on the chest and it’s so sweet and loving and everybody’s feeling great, happy.

Nobody said it looks like a crime scene.

D Brent Dowlen: No. For all the expectant dads, you know, it is a little, but it is worth it. ’cause they put that baby in your arms and you’re just instantly in love. Yeah. But, but yeah, it’s a little shocking if you’re not expecting the ick that comes with it.

Exactly,

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[00:05:00] Support an amazing company and every purchase, guys, you help keep this podcast on the air and make it possible for us to do these shows. So thank you in advance. You’re helping two great companies and you’re helping keeping your favorite podcasts on air. Now we heard a great story from Matt. Let’s jump back to this episode because guys, changing the conversation about money for your kids is gonna be big.

Welcome to the dad Hat She ings podcast, the Unfiltered Truth about Being a Dad. Real Dads real stories, unfiltered, canned conversations about fatherhood. I’m your host, Brent Allen. And today my special guest is Matt Morizio. Matt, welcome to the Dad Hat Standings podcast.

Matt Morizio: Thank you for having me psyched to be on this.

It’s a real honor.

D Brent Dowlen: Now, right off the bat, I gotta ask about the dad hat ’cause you are wearing a very unique hat. I, I don’t even know exactly what this is. [00:06:00] Uh, so I’m excited to hear what is the dad hat explanation for what you’re wearing today.

Matt Morizio: Well, this is a cool idea. This is actually a, a skull cap. You can hear it, it’s hard.

It’s a, a catcher’s skull cap. So this is, uh, the logo of Wilmington Blue Rocks. This was my catcher’s skull cap way back in the day. Uh, a million years ago. I played minor league baseball in the Kansas City Royals farm system and the, and not that I, that is who I am, but I look back on those years, those five seasons that I played in the Royals Farm system.

And only now, you know, in the rear view mirror can I see those seasons of life and say, man, I can attribute so much of who I’m to. What I learned while I was going through what I went through playing ball in the middle of nowhere America. And really it wasn’t like on the diamond is everything around like the adversity and the figuring your life out and being plopped you’ve never been and [00:07:00] understand make life happen there.

Like there’s so much of it. And now I’m able to not just pass the baseball stuff on, but like I’m passing so many of my wirings and life lessons onto my kids. So the the, and I will say that my whole life as a baseball player, I was a pitcher in a shortstop. And it wasn’t until college I converted to catcher.

I never caught in my life. But then I ended up playing all four years of college at Northeastern in Boston. And then. Professionally as a catcher. So it also, rep is representative of being willing to jump into the deep end, even if you don’t know what’s going on. Because for me, I would say the coolest things in life, most impactful things in life have happened when I’ve taken those almost blind leaps of faith to say, all right, well I think I’m ready for this moment, but I’m not so sure.

But here we go.

D Brent Dowlen: Alright, I dig it. I, I, I played catchers in softball in junior high. So my, I’m rubbing my knees. Same thing. [00:08:00] My knees are just aching.

I don’t that flexible. My, my knees did not like combined with wrestling at the time. Like it just, just drilled. Yeah. That’ll, how tall are you outta curiosity? 6 2 6 6 2 catcher. Wow. That’s, I know,

Matt Morizio: I know. Usually you think like a short guy. I’m like more long. Lan,

D Brent Dowlen: right? Yeah, it is. It’s not what you would expect at all.

I know. I

Matt Morizio: know.

D Brent Dowlen: Tell us, you, you got seven kids. Firstly, you know, hat hats off quite literally. That’s seven kids. You got your hands full, bro. Yeah, you’re right. So tell us about you, right? You, you used to play ball, but tell us about you.

Matt Morizio: Yeah. Well, I would say the most important piece of my life, uh, is my faith.

It really is my guiding light for, for everything I. All the decisions I make and all the directions I go and everything that’s really matters to me. Um, [00:09:00] and that’s something I learned over the years, really in baseball actually in this, this, these five seasons when I was playing. I really leaned into my faith and understood and grew it then.

But, um, that is the guiding principle. Then I, I, I guess maybe I’m simple minded, but I really do a good job. Com compar compartmentalizing my life and I really look at my life in really four pillars. Faith in this order, faith, family. Fitness and then finance. Um, and I’m not the first to think of that. I just have heard it and there, and it, I grabbed it because I’m like, this works for me, this makes sense for me.

But yes, I played ball professionally. Um, uh, got out of college and immediately we got pregnant while couch surfing, trying to find a home because I got released, which is the baseball team, baseball term of being fired. So I wasn’t planning to, not to have to go home to not not be playing. So we had to find a place to live.

We had just gotten married and while we were trying to figure out where we were gonna be, we got pregnant with our first. And [00:10:00] that story happens over and over for multiple times. We got twins in there. Um, I got a sales job right after that ’cause I had to earn money for the family. And eventually in a bunch of the meetings I had in that sales job.

My former managers and bosses of the founders of the old firm I used to work for, they had, they met me and said, do you wanna, do you wanna get in wealth management? I think you’d be really good. Fast forward nearly a decade after that meeting or more. Um, here I am running my own investment management firm, financial planning firm, and seven kids.

I moved from Boston to Charleston, so there’s been so many twists and turns that I couldn’t cover, possibly in this, in this quick answer, but yeah. Man of faith, faith, family, fitness, finance in that order. And if things aren’t going well in life, I always can kind of go back to that to see where am I outta whack.

D Brent Dowlen: So what, what’s the ratio? Boys and girls? You Seven kids, four

Matt Morizio: boys, three girls. Yet the last one, tip the scale. So boys rule, girls [00:11:00] drool. In my house,

D Brent Dowlen: I’m, I’m surrounded by women. So, uh, I, I’ve got two daughters, but my mom lives with us. It’s, I got four women in the house and me. Oh my gosh. I, I’m always at a disadvantage, except right now they’re, they’re daddy’s girls pretty well, so

Matt Morizio: that’s sweet.

D Brent Dowlen: Little bit of, yeah.

Matt Morizio: It’s like, whew, little, having a daughter is special.

D Brent Dowlen: Uh, it, it’s funny the differences between boys and girls, right? I, I, oh yeah. Coworker I worked with actually across two different companies, uh, two different sites. And when I first met him, he was a young guy. He was just outta school and you know, we’d start talking about fatherhood like me and some of the other guys who had kids and like he just kind of slink way.

Right. He was, then he got serious and, uh, met an amazing young woman and I watched them get serious and then get married.

Mm-hmm.

D Brent Dowlen: And [00:12:00] we, we changed companies we were working for, still working together. And he became a dad. Right. Overnight. I watched this miraculous change from a guy who never wanted, like, that’s that’s right.

We don’t wanna talk about that kind of stuff to this very open, mature, like, he started actually like picking the brains of his coworkers and at we, we had one meeting one day, we got to the end of the meeting we’re about, he’s like, Hey Brent, can I ask you? Yeah. What’s up man? And he, he started like parenting questions and he asked the other parents in the room and it’s like, wow.

It was cool to see. But then his first one was boy. Yeah. And then one day I came in and he looked like, he looked like he was gonna die. Like just grave, right? I was like, yo, what’s up brother? He is like, how do you sleep at night? You’re gonna have, gimme a little context in that, right? [00:13:00] My wife’s pregnant again.

I was like, dude, congratulations. Estimate. He’s like it. It’s a girl. I was like, oh, okay. That explains all the context right there, right? The boy was rough and tumbled. The minute he found out he was, I said, your whole world just changed, huh? He’s like, dude, I can’t even look at women the same way. I was like, Nope, and you never will again.

Like it’s

for

D Brent Dowlen: the better. Once you start thinking about that being someone’s daughter. No doubt. It’s amazing that mental shift for, uh, between boys and girls, it cracks me up. So Good. So you do finance now?

Matt Morizio: Yeah. So personal finance, investing, financial planning, really helping people get some clarity on what’s happening in their bank accounts with their investment accounts.

Like, and, and more importantly, how do you make that go to where you wanna go to?

D Brent Dowlen: Okay. That’s cool. I, a lot of us can use help in that. I, I know that’s a lacking area, my expert. That’s funny. [00:14:00] So you, you’ve got seven kids, you gotta have some bad jokes. Yeah.

Matt Morizio: Yeah. Well I, I know that, uh, for sure my kids would for sure.

Uh, tell me that. I always tell the dad jokes, but I was thinking about, I have a dad, more like a dad story from the weekend. Um. With seven kids, obviously our time is pretty split divided. Attention is hard to, hard to come across, so I was really having a hard time connecting with my wife, uh, over the weekend.

So I, um, I did what I thought any experienced husband would do. I sat on the couch and put my feet up and within minutes we were having a beautiful conversation. It.

D Brent Dowlen: We gotta work on your dad jokes, man. You got seven kids. You gotta, you gotta bring that game up, dude.

Matt Morizio: You’re right. I gotta,

D Brent Dowlen: I made Christian de jokes last week. Come on. [00:15:00]

Matt Morizio: I know. It’s pretty terrible. I guess that’s the point.

D Brent Dowlen: I, I shared a, uh, my, my daughter helps me ’cause my dad jokes suck. Like dad jokes are so in the moment, like so many dad jokes are just like that in the moment.

Ah, kind of thing. Right. So my daughter actually got me a book actually jokes. When I started doing the show.

Matt Morizio: Oh, that’s awesome.

D Brent Dowlen: She’s like, you need help.

Matt Morizio: That was really good. Yeah. Well, maybe you can just show me that again after, and I can take a snapshot of that.

D Brent Dowlen: Right,

Matt Morizio: exactly.

D Brent Dowlen: I need that. So, Matt, what do you wanna talk about today?

Matt Morizio: Well, man, the, for me, my latest passion, my mo, what I’m most passionate about now, I would say in my life. Is really helping people transform their relationships with money.

Mm-hmm.

Matt Morizio: Um, I’ve done it with my kids and well, I am doing it with my kids in the form of teaching them. We [00:16:00] homeschool, so we have this thing called Money Mondays and I’m really teaching them everything that I wish I knew as a kid and all of the things I’m learning in the thousands of conversations I’ve had with people about their money.

All of the things that I’m learning are really the heavy weighted conversation, stress filled conversations people are having because I, I would argue outside of health, finances is probably the biggest burden that couples have, the biggest burden dads carry, or providers, whoever they are, often their dads.

Um, so if I can help people figure out how that game of money works, starting with my kids, because I don’t think there’s any more important ministry than the ones in our home. If I can help them figure out the game of money, I know firsthand that as I’ve under, as I’ve learned the rules of the game, basically as I’ve understood how it works, understood how to look mon, look at money for what it is, just a store of value.

And if I can exchange enough [00:17:00] value, I’ll get paid money in return and use that, use some of like the pieces as of of finance as, as their chess pieces on the chess board now. I no longer am attaching my emotions to money as much. Mm-hmm. And firsthand like I’ve experienced my entire life change as my relationship with money has changed.

So that’s really what I’m most passionate about because I recognize that that emotional change, that emotional shift spills over in all the important things that people’s lives from parenting to being more present with their spouse, to getting better at their fitness and like. Being able to do the things they want to with their money because they figured it out.

Maybe like they plug some of the holes that are, you know, leaking gas or whatever. So I would love to help anybody at any of your audience that’s listening that thinks that, hey, money is a back burner thing that I know I need to address, that I’m not, you know, I would, um, be honored to just serve them in however I can today.

D Brent Dowlen: Awesome. Well, you know what, I, I, I can certainly [00:18:00] light these questions up because. We, we were talking off camera, uh, before the interview started, I, I told you this was the journey I went on several years ago that really, like this, this subject is honestly responsible for my personal development, uh, journey.

This, this is where it all started with me, is learning. I did not know anything about money, uh, several years ago. And so, you know, there’s, there’s a lot we can jump into with this, but. Let’s, let’s start with this one. ’cause you made a, an interesting comment about getting emotionally detached from the money.

And some of the dads listening may not be familiar with that concept, maybe scratching their heads. I know the first time I heard that, that was like, uh, what are you talking about? Like, it’s, it, it is money. There’s, there’s not a separation of emotions and money and I’m not attached to it, but. It’s a complex [00:19:00] idea, right?

Um, that we don’t generally talk about in education or anywhere else. So can you explain that concept a little bit? What you mean by getting emotionally detached from your money?

Matt Morizio: Yeah, I appreciate that question. Uh, especially having an audience of mostly dads is that men socially typically aren’t encouraged to.

Think about their emotions and work through their feelings and understanding like, you know, the idea of having emotions toward anything is almost taboo. Mm-hmm. So, I, I get what you’re saying. So let me explain. Often we, uh, we, we ab absorb. We absorb, or, uh, we, inherit is a better word. So often we inherit the relationships with finances, whether we know that they exist or they don’t.

We inherit whatever our parents typically will pass down to us, our parents. I’m gonna screw my kids up. You’re gonna screw your kids up certain ways. I’m trying not to. I really, really am. [00:20:00] Um, but there’s gonna be something that I do that I’m like, shoot, I never meant to do that or pass that to you. So we often inherit whatever our parents have passed to us in terms of relationship with money, how you relate to your mind.

Is it always a source of strain or stress? Is it a, a problem in the family? Do you openly talk about it? That’s much more rare, but it does happen. Um. And often our parents haven’t talked about it. So they’re taking whatever their parents’ relationship was. And if you wanna go up a couple generations for me, I’m 40, I’m 41.

So a couple generations before me was the Great Depression era. So that’s often the relationship with finances that’s getting handed generations. Unless somebody like you’ve done Brent, which I admire, you’ve taken the reins and said, I’m gonna break this chain. We are no longer going to be scared to talk about money and figure out how it works.

Like it’s just another piece of, of, of our lives and we’re gonna have conversations about it, we’re gonna learn about it. And once you break those chains, you’re no longer passing [00:21:00] whatever you inherited. Now you’re, you’re telling a new money story. So really like the, our relationships with finances come often from money stories, whether you wanna call ’em money stories or not.

Times when we were a child and we understand like. How, what money represents to us. Our parents may just say simple things like, oh, those, those, those rich people, they can, they buy their kid anything they want. Right? And that will, that will over time, that seed gets planted and grows into some type of fruit towards how we feel about money.

Good or bad fruit. But it will, or like if your parent constantly picks up every single penny and then make sure you gotta save the penny and don’t. That subconsciously is creating something in your mind or, or, or more like for me, um, I can tell you one money story if that’s helpful. Uh, I remember I grew up within a divorce family, so lived mostly with my mom.

Saw my [00:22:00] dad every other weekend, but it happened pretty young. I remember though, when I was through school and in college, I came back for, for, it was Christmas break. And I walked into my childhood home, which was too big at this point. It was just my brother and I, we were both outta the house, so my mom was the only one living in there.

And I remember walking into the home and it’s winter in Boston where I lived, so it’s cold and I walk in and there are these giant blankets just draped in doorways. And I didn’t, that didn’t exist when I was a kid. So I’m wondering. Um, and I peeled the blanket back to walk into my living room where my mother was sitting watching tv and I was like, mom, hey, hey, what, what’s happening with the blankets?

What are we doing? And I learned when I walked into that room, it was noticeably warmer in that space. She was effectively cocooning herself into her room so that she could save on oil heat. So I re like triggers. So many other memories of [00:23:00] like being yelled at when I was a kid, if I didn’t turn the heat down when I left the house in the winter, all the things.

And what that was doing was, was planting the seed of scarcity in my, in my heart and in my mind about money and that it’s a finite resource, so you better be smart and skate and save. And uh, it sent me on this journey of, you know, price tag checking and worry my whole life now. If you spend frivolously, frivolously just for the sake of it, like you’re gonna waste money for no real reason, but there’s other parts of it that are very unhealthy, where like you may be missing out on opportunities to invest in something that might make you more money down the road or serve somebody in such a way that would change their life, but you miss the opportunity because you’re too scared to part with your money because you’re worried you won’t get more ever, you know?

That’s a long-winded answer. Hopefully added some color to what I mean when I say our relationships and our emotions [00:24:00] toward our money.

D Brent Dowlen: Well, and so these things develop in places we don’t even think about. Uh, you got

Matt Morizio: it

D Brent Dowlen: for a lot of faith-based people, right? We heard money is the root of all evil, which is completely taken into context.

Uh, got it. Scripture. But if you grew up in a faith-based community, that is likely something you heard a lot. And this idea that money is the root of all evil, right? Money is bad, money is bad. That’s what you’re hearing every time. And so it creates this myth in your head that, well, people with money must be bad, right?

They must have done something bad to get to all that money they must have, right? Rich people having money is bad. People having money. And we, we start to tell ourself this myth because that scripture is taken out of context so often. And so for a long time that’s, that’s, I see rich people. I’m like, oh, they did some shady crap right there, man.

That’s

Matt Morizio: right.

D Brent Dowlen: That’s a shady bro. Right, right,

Matt Morizio: right. Oh, I’m sorry about that. Jeez. I have it on focus [00:25:00] too.

D Brent Dowlen: So, you know, there’s, we don’t understand. It’s not something we’re ever taught that there are actual mental and emotional stories Were, we’re told ourselves our whole lives at our program that really impact how we move into our adult lives and how we handle our finances.

And as men, right? We worry. Like, that’s the number one thing I hear with guys is the minute they, their, their birth story is, the minute I saw that child in my arms is how am I gonna pay for all this?

Hmm. So that’s,

D Brent Dowlen: that’s the, the minute it starts with, oh, they’re beautiful. Oh my God, I’m gonna like break them or something.

And then he moves to, how am I gonna pay for all this? Hmm. That’s one of the top things guys worry about. We, we safety proof our house when our wife is pregnant, we’re like, oh, I gotta get rid of all these sharp corners. Oh my God, that’s so dangerous. Right? And we start worrying about the, how am I gonna pay for this?

’cause we start buying things for the baby and it’s like, oh my gosh, this is, but that is one of the [00:26:00] number one fears of men, particularly when they become fathers, is how do we pay for all this, right? Mm-hmm. Got it. Because most of us don’t know, like we, we don’t know what we don’t know about money. That, that was a huge shock for me is the first time I heard someone talk positively about money.

I’m like, okay, sure. But then I started looking into it. I’m like, I didn’t What you mean There’s different, there’s there’s more than one type of income. What do you mean? I actually have to do something with my 401k. What, what do you mean? Like it, it was such a mind blowing experience because you don’t know what you dunno.

Yeah. So we, we talked about some emotion attached to it. Yeah. And that’s something that gentlemen, if you can like, wrap your head around that, that you are telling yourself stories about money that can actually damage your ability to make money or to have money. Yeah. [00:27:00] Um, if you take nothing else from that, we need to start right there for you guys.

’cause that alone will massively impact your life.

Matt Morizio: Got it. You got it.

D Brent Dowlen: What do you, what do you tell your clients about these emotions and about the way they think about money?

Matt Morizio: Well. I recognize that people don’t first come to me because they say to me, Hey, I think I have an unhealthy relationship with my money.

Like, I think I need some help. In the same way, people don’t go to Jenny Craig because they’re like, I think I emotionally eat and I need to work through that. No, they’re like, I need to lose 20 pounds and a few inches on my waistline, like help me out. So people come to me asking for help with investments and like, I need help managing my money, investing it.

I got cashflow. I can’t figure out where all my money’s going. I earn enough. I think I don’t spend, I don’t think I spend too much. Like where, where are we falling short? Also, I wanna buy these things. I need, I have these plans, this college bill, this like this stuff’s coming up down the road. I’m not sure if I’m gonna be able to [00:28:00] afford it.

Like can we come up with a roadmap? So, yes, a hundred percent I’m doing all of that. So I. Often the conversations with clients are very like blocking and tackling nuts and bolts on strategically how are we using our money effectively. But what I am reminding of, reminding them of, and hopefully they’re catching, you know, more is caught than taught with kids and adults, believe it or not.

Um, hopefully what they’re catching is that, and I will say this explicitly as well. Often in the conversations how we talk about using certain dollars for certain things, what they’re, what they’re learning and catching is that, okay, if I’m, if money’s coming into my life, then it’s, I’ve worked hard to earn it.

It’s my job to assign jobs to each of these dollars I’m earning. Some of those jobs are for next week’s mortgage payment or rent payment or whatever those, that money’s job is to [00:29:00] sit safely and don’t, don’t do anything. That’s okay. When you put money into a savings account, knowing there’s a purpose behind it, you don’t have to worry, am I missing out on investing that money instead, should I be doing something differently?

No, no. You gave that money a job. That’s that money’s job. And once you have enough money doing the job for that, whatever that job is, then it’s a different job. And you assign it, you put it, and that’s a different account and a different style of investing. But the mindset is like, oh, these are tools for.

Like, I have a hammer for a nail and I have a screwdriver for a screw. You know, not everything is, they say like, you know, to a carpenter, everything’s a nail. But, uh, you have certain jobs for your finances. And then as you assign that, so those are a lot of the conversations. We may use that terminology.

Sometimes we don’t. But that’s really the mindset is thinking. Uh, mindset is, okay, I earned this money and I have to give jobs to this money. Really, at the end of the day, I would say the highest. [00:30:00] Or, or I would say the most impactful lesson I’ve learned around money is knowing that if I’m trading my time for money the rest of my life, I will forever be chasing it and feeling unfulfilled.

And that like blows me away. Like you talked about, wait, I have different incomes, so there’s a for what’s this for? Okay. What’s it like? How does that work? The reality is like I used to think. Hours in payment out, hours in payment out. And if that were true, and I hope dads are listening to this ’cause I’m sure there are many hardworking dads, but if that were true, ours worked and effort put out, then the roofers and the laborers of the world would be the wealthiest people in America.

Right. And I thought to myself, shoot, if that’s not it. And then I got, went down this real journey of like, well, what is it? It’s really about understanding how to not trade time for money and in, and to do that you have to trade. You have to have something that is [00:31:00] either so valuable that people are willing to pay a lot of money for it.

A great example is like a brain surgeon. There’s not tons of them, and if you don’t get the brain surgery, you die. So the outcome’s really, really severe. So people are willing to pay a lot of money for you and your expertise. Or I tell my kids this, or you do a lot of something that’s not necessarily very expensive, but you do a lot of it like mowing lawns.

You not, people aren’t gonna pay you $800 to mow your lawn, but they may pay you $50 because for them that hour and a half, two hours you spent is worth paying you 50. So they can earn more in their day job or whatever it is. So they say, okay. That’s a fair trade of value. You, you mow my lawn. And then in my kids’ minds they’re thinking, okay, if I just do something to take something off somebody else’s plate, now I can earn income and that person’s happy.

This is a win-win, rinse and repeat enough times. I have enough lawns, I can make enough money. Right. But I think people get confused in, in somewhere in the middle where they think I should be [00:32:00] doing this thing that the world doesn’t necessarily perceive as super high value. But I should be paid a ton of money ’cause I work really hard.

You just have to understand like how does the game of money work? Like it’s an exchange of value. So if you’re doing things that the marketplace determines is $50 jobs, roughly, you can never charge a thousand dollars for that job. And if you do, you have to be in some really unique area and have a real good reason for it.

Otherwise, you’re like, no matter how hard you work, that’s the value that the marketplace has put on that thing. So do more of it. Or get out and do something else, but you can’t just get frustrated, which is what most people do, and spend 40 years grinding in that spot, wishing and hoping they had more money because they’re frustrated.

They put a hard lot of hours in, a lot of hard work in, and the outcome just isn’t the result, isn’t what they want. And they spend their life angry. They live for the weekends, they have Monday comes around and they’re angry again. You know, like then they, they’re two weeks vacation a year, never feel like enough, right?

People [00:33:00] are crafting lives that they feel like they need to escape from. My conversations with clients and people in my life is like, let’s build a life. You don’t feel like you have to escape from

D Brent Dowlen: first. Uh, don’t ever talk to my daughters with the words. $50 for a lawn that’s head. Oh my gosh,

Matt Morizio: no, mow my lawn for free.

You know that That’s the cost of doing, doing business. You live here, you gotta mow the lawn.

D Brent Dowlen: I’m, I’m, I’m 45 years old, man. Like, $10 for a lawn was huge and it was a big lawn. Inflation sucked. Right. You know,

Matt Morizio: inflation, you go

D Brent Dowlen: dollars, like I a little throw up in my mouth. You, it’s like, no. Um, that, that, that aside there, there’s a lot of insight there.

That took me a lot of work to figure out. Um, before we step farther, let me, let me ask you, what’s the best part about being a dad?

Matt Morizio: Hmm. Wow. That’s, uh, the best part about [00:34:00] being a dad. Um, I think, I think the best part about being a dad is the responsibility and the honor of raising people to grow up and hopefully stand on your shoulders and do, do more than you could have ever.

Um, because of the groundwork that you, right, like, I think the greatest honor and the, the best joy of being a dad is to see your children grow and succeed in ways that you, you can’t even, could not have even seen in advance. And, uh, you recognized like you played a part in that, but even that was outta your hands, like you prepared them.

And then you watch them grow and flourish. It’s why I don’t get upset when my kids get older. People often parents will often ask like, man, I wish I could turn back time. Like, [00:35:00] uh, it’s going too fast, you know? But man, it’s such an honor and a joy to see kids get older for me because they’re, to me, they’re growing one step closer into that person they’re created to be.

So I think that’s probably the coolest part and the best part.

D Brent Dowlen: I love it. It’s, I, it’s funny. People told me, they’re like, just wait till your kids are teenagers. You know? When they find out what you’re gonna have, like, people were telling me this before my first daughter was born. They’re like, yeah, just wait.

I was, I was like, no, I’m really excited. You know?

Yeah.

D Brent Dowlen: Just wait till they’re teens, man. You’re gonna have your hands full. It’s, it’s not all as fun as this stuff. I was like, you understand? I was a youth minister for like 20 years. I know teens Forte, this is, this is what I get excited about. I, I enjoy teenagers.

Uh, to me they’re just starting to become interesting at that point. So my oldest just turned 13. Uh, and like, I, I absolutely, like, it was the little years that got me. But it is fun to, I’m watching her as she’s [00:36:00] becoming, as she’s growing. Mm-hmm. She’s starting to establish her own personality and, and.

Traits and, you know, heavily influenced, right. But it’s, it’s fun to watch and I’m excited to see, like, I, I don’t, I’m not in a hurry for ’em to grow up, but I’m excited to see the human beings, they’re going to become so cool, what they’re gonna bring to the world. So, yeah. I love that idea. No, I, I have a double question here for you that I, yeah.

So this is a two part question. Okay. One of the things that I was absolutely fascinated with, uh, when you and I were corresponding before the show was the fact that you’re spending time teaching your kids about money, because that’s something that’s near and dear to my heart, um, and I think something that dad should do.

But first question is for the dads listening who don’t feel like they have a good head about money, are understand the things. [00:37:00] We’re now trying to say, oh, and you should be teaching your kids about finance and stuff, right? So help us with, for the dads who don’t feel equipped to, because they don’t know, right?

They don’t have that experience, they don’t know themselves. How can they a, start that journey of educating themselves, but also bring their kids along and how dads can generally just start having these conversations with their kids. So the second question is, you know, how do you start teaching your kids about finance?

And also for the dads who don’t feel like they’re equipped to do that, how do they start becoming equipped and taking their kids on that journey with them? So we’re answering for kind of both dads there. Does that make sense?

Matt Morizio: Yeah, good question. I think that dads first off, um, you only need to be one step ahead of your children to be able to teach them something really.

And that’s true in life. That’s even true in my role. You don’t need. At the finish line of [00:38:00] finances to be able to be qualified to educate children on how fi finances work. So you only need to be a step. So what I mean by that is you can quite literally teach them tomorrow the thing you learned today before you’ve put into practice, before you figured it out completely.

If you understand it conceptually, you can go and teach it to them, and then you say, Hey, we’re gonna figure this out together. You know, like invite them into the money story. I think that’s really powerful. The most successful. People. Successful doesn’t mean like the most money, but like the healthiest relationships with money, which means the most peace that they have in their life.

These people that I talked to, the most successful, most peaceful people are the ones, believe it or not, who really kind of grew up talking about money. If it wasn’t with their family, they act actively sought out people in their life to say like, Hey, how did you make that? How do you do that? How? How does it work?

Right? So, um, I think in dads inviting your kids into the money stories and money conversations without even [00:39:00] doing anything specific changes their future relationship with money. Because what you just did was teach them without teaching them that money’s not taboo to talk about. It’s another tool we’ve been given and let’s figure out how to use it.

It’s no different than teaching them how to go out and build something if you’re, if you’re a carpenter or. You can just teach them that this is the thing and we’re learning this thing and this is how you use this thing. And as I learn more, you’re gonna learn more. So that’s what I would say. And then the fastest way as a dad to learn about money.

If you don’t know where to start, go to chat. GPT, go to use ai. I mean, it is a really powerful tool that if you’re lost on where to talk, where to where to look. You just tell your chat. GPT. Pretend I’m a financial advisor, or pretend I’m whatever you are, whatever the role you want, and I ha I want to be able to articulate this concept to my child, or I don’t understand how 4 0 1 ks work.

Can you give me the [00:40:00] top three things I need to know about 4 0 1 Ks and what are the three biggest downfalls? And then just learn both sides. I’m telling you the prompts that you can put into chat GT are really, really powerful. And I even use them today because I think. I think the farmer who didn’t believe tractors were gonna be a thing, and they, they swore by the horse and plow, uh, they got left behind when the tractors became a thing.

So I recognize in my world, if I’m not leaning into AI and leveraging it for speed and accuracy, I’m gonna be left behind. I even had a question earlier today that I use chat GT for. I wanted to like, verify and con and make my articulate my answer in a really concise, easy to understand format. I could have taken 30 minutes to kind of like map it out and write it out.

But instead it took 30 seconds and I said, Hey, I’m a financial advisor. I’ve had a client asking me about 83 80, the, uh, tax law, tax code 83 B. It’s just, it’s about like, [00:41:00] well, it’s about re stocks. Like you get stocks into a company as like a startup. Anyway, um. I want, I want to be able to articulate to them the three major points that are, that could work in their favor, but I want to also tell me the three downfalls and any outlying areas that I may not be thinking about that I want them to be aware of in the event.

Like that was my prompt and it spit out this beautifully laid out, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, bullet like, and I’m like, yes, that’s it. That’s it. Yep. You got it. You got it. Now I have the benefit of being in the world, so I know the world. So I understand Dad might say, well, how do I know it’s, how do. I can just tell you from experience of using these prompts a lot.

If you use AI to say, I am this role, and then you give AI the context you want it to deliver an answer in, it does a really nice job of giving you some facts. So, uh, that’s where I would start, dad. It’s like, or, or anybody listening that that’s the spot. And then take that look at your own life. If you can apply and apply it and then sit down with your kids, [00:42:00] it.

Five minutes. But I would say creativity follows commitment on that. So if you’re worried about how are you gonna teach them, how are you gonna articulate it? Just commit, do it. And then as you think about committing to it, you’ll start to get creative on how you are, how you teach it. Like I use chocolate chips when explaining loans and interest rates.

I didn’t start out being like, oh, I got a great idea. I’m gonna do interest rates with loans and I’m gonna chop chips. Here we go, and now let me go do it. It was more like, okay, I gotta teach my kids on debt and I teach them how rates work. How can I relate to that? Like I committed to teaching it and I was like, how can I make this relatable?

Because like a bank and a 30 year note and like, that’s not gonna do anything for them. But cho, they like chocolate. You know? Like I started to get creative. So commit creativity follows commitments.

D Brent Dowlen: And I, I love that. Uh, I know so many people who have misconceptions about when [00:43:00] kids can start learning some of these things.

And I know I started my kids, uh, I don’t know, the youngest one was five or six when we set up her investment account.

Matt Morizio: Hmm. Hmm. That’s awesome.

D Brent Dowlen: You know, I, I made some initial investments, but. Over the next year, we would sit together, I’d sit her on my lap and I’d tell her what this symbol was and I’d explain why I was investing money in that.

And I would show her the ups and downs and how they right. And it was just a simple concept. This is what this symbol means. It’s this company and we did it because of this, which means it’s going to, and it really didn’t take long for the ideas of like. Capital gains versus dividends are the idea of long term yield versus short term.

Some of these concepts that like I didn’t get at 40, like I had no idea what, when I [00:44:00] actually took some time and learned and started explaining to my kids, like I was amazed at how quickly and how young they were able to start wrapping their head around these ideas that I thought was complex, which has further proved to myself as like.

I had this negative connotation about money. ’cause I think this is complex. And they’re like, oh, okay dad, that makes sense. I’m like, right. Really took a lot more work for that to make sense for me.

Matt Morizio: So good. So one, there’s one, um, foundational principle in my family’s life that, that really, I think is the money house that gets built on this foundation.

And really the thought is. The money isn’t ours, it’s ours to steward. So it’s ours to use responsibly. So if you have that mindset, um, we have, what we have in our, our life is called a, we have a blessing account. You know, in the Christian faith it’s a tithe, 10%. You can do more, but we call it a blessing account.

You can call it a other people account. You can call it a [00:45:00] generosity account. You can call it something else, whatever you wanna call it. We have this savings account that’s at a different bank. So like we have a Bank of America, you know, red Card, and then the blessing account is at a different account.

It’s a purple card ally. So no, no affiliation or anything. I’m just, it’s an easy online account you can open in five minutes. So, uh, my kids know that that’s the blessing card and every time we’re paid 10% of our money goes into the blessing account. For us, it’s to use how we feel like God’s leading us to use it on, on things we think he needs us to use it on.

And that’s often people. But what I can tell you that, that has done to my children and their, more importantly, their relationship with money, is that they recognize, like, this is good to give away because they see joy in people’s eyes when like, one, one story, this is not why we do it. So, uh, I’m not telling you this story because I think everybody should be chasing the thank [00:46:00] yous.

That’s not, that’s not generosity, that’s selfishness disguised as generosity. But we went to ihop. Of all places. It was because I couldn’t get my children to brush their teeth regularly. I don’t know what that is, but I’m like, if we brush, I have 14 total times. You can brush your teeth in a week. Above 12 or whatever, whatever it was.

Like, you get to go to ihop, we’ll go to IHOP and we’ll get pancakes, which is like the, the worst thing you probably should be doing for a toothbrushing contest. Anyway, a handful of my kids made it. Not even, they all didn’t even make it. I’m like, gosh, just brush your teeth twice a day. We’re there anyway, we’re at IHOP with our celebratory was lunch, I think it was, but we were having pancakes and at at, it was my kid’s idea when, when the bill comes around, they said, Hey, let’s use a blessing account.

I’m like, okay. They, they wanted to leave the waitress a big tip. They liked her, they talked to her a bunch. It was their idea, which was really fun. So we, we double, basically doubled the bill. The tip was the same price that the [00:47:00] bill was. Um, and it was around Christmas time. And of course, the goal, so the goal is to write it and leave like you’re, you’re being generous.

Because you feel like that’s what you’re called to do, not because you wanna see people’s reactions. Like I said, that’s selfishness, disguise the generosity. But of course, my kids had to go to the bathroom, like one had to pee and then the next had to pee, and then the next had to pee. And next thing I know, I’m standing outside the bathroom for like 12 minutes when after we’ve already paid.

And, and I see the waitress go over there and like gets the bill. And then I see her like get emotional and she, her eyes darted to see if she could find us. Like had we left. And of course we were pee, so we ha I’m standing there like, uh, and she ran up to me and some of my kids were, they got to witness this, which was super cool, such a blessing.

She came, ran over to me, gave me a hug and like, thank you so much. And then proceeded to tell us the story about how her purse was stolen a week ago and she had a bunch of money and she wasn’t sure how she was [00:48:00] gonna get Christmas gifts for her family this year. And that act of generosity just gave her hope and she was so grateful.

And like, I’m like. Oh my gosh. You know, there’s a reason my kids had to pee and we had to hear that story, but they got to participate in that and they recognized firsthand money is not even money can really change lives for the better if you’re stewarding it well, so I encourage everybody, and I don’t care what the number is, it can be $10 a month.

It can be $5 a month. It can be one. I mean, whatever it is, have a separate account where you say, this is exclusively for other people. This is not for us. This is for somebody else. Because when you, so that’s the discipline to giving. And then there’s this spontaneity to it that when you’re at in line at your coffee shop and you decide, Hey, I got 12 bucks in that account right now, I’m gonna buy coffee to the person behind you.

And you feel that impulse, that tug on your heart, you go and do it. And you don’t have to think twice. It’s in there, um, subconsciously. [00:49:00] What’s happening behind the scenes is that, uh, psychologists would, would say there’s two rude emotions, fear and love. And you recognize that like the, the desire to hoard is a fear-based emotion.

They don’t, you don’t want to part with your money is a fear-based emotion. To generously give something is a love-based emotion. Those two emotions can’t coexist in your heart and in your mind. So when you are freely giving something that once had its, hold on, you. Emotionally, you are simultaneously, yes, anchoring joy because it feels good to give and you’re rewiring your makeup to say like, I no longer wanna hoard this thing.

You can’t do both. So that short, that act of having a blessing accountant, giving that money away is quite literally rewiring your psyche and your relationship to money for the better. It’s a super cool experience.

D Brent Dowlen: Guys, let me throw in a totally unrelated, related, [00:50:00] uh, as in I’m not related to them, pool.

There is a book called Money Ninja by marrying in, it’s available on Amazon. It’s like 12 or 13 bucks. It is an age appropriate down to about three or four years old.

Mm.

D Brent Dowlen: And covers this entire concept. You go through the story and he’s. Money Ninja is making money. He’s starting the business. He’s investing, he’s saving, he’s sharing that money with a classmate who is in the hospital needs some help, right?

It, it covers all these concepts we’ve talked about, about not only making money, but also using that money to help other people using that money to invest and save and do more profitable things with, uh, it is a super, super kid friendly introduction. To show them there is a bigger concept to money than money in, money out.

Uh, wow. So I, I, it, it was the That’s awesome. It was the first book I bought for my kids when I started talking about [00:51:00] money. I, wow. Happened to find it and I was like, this is brilliant. This, this is conversation starter.

Matt Morizio: I never heard it. I’m gonna, I’m gonna get it. That’s awesome.

D Brent Dowlen: Yeah, it’s like 12 or 15 bucks.

It’s this. Mm-hmm. Tiny. There’s a square. Very vividly bright. Uh, picture, she has a whole series, but Money Ninja is my favorite. So Cool. So that’s awesome. There’s, there’s a great entry point right there just to introduce your kids to the concept that there is more to money than you make it. You spend it.

Hmm. It’s a big concept made for little people and you’ll enjoy it too, ’cause it’s fun.

Matt Morizio: Really good.

D Brent Dowlen: Matt, is there a place where people can connect with you to learn more about these concepts to maybe, maybe they need some help with themselves and understanding their own finances? Where can people find you?

Matt Morizio: Yeah, thanks for asking that. Well, here’s what I’ll say. Anybody in the audience, um, [00:52:00] I would encourage you any of this resonated. Follow me on Instagram. That’s where I post most of my stuff. It’s just my name at Matt Maio, and if you DM me Red Hat, let’s say the name of this podcast. If you send me that dm, I’ll send you a for free.

I’m not getting paid on it. It’s a course that I created on changing a relationship with money, going from scarcity to abundance. That really does. Show some practical actionable tools in there, as well as some like what we talked about, higher level concepts. And it’s maybe three, five to eight minute videos.

So it’s not like you, you’re gonna have to invest six hours of your life, but I’ll send you that link to the course. It’s housed on a platform for a company with a company called The Ideal Life. It. I’ll send you the link. I think you just have to put your email in. That’s all it costs is an email. Um, and I’d be happy to send it to you.

So I would say that if you have questions or wonder of the next steps. Follow me on Instagram, send me a DM with Red Hat and I will send you that link and happy to have a conversation with what’s happening in your life specifically. Alright? [00:53:00]

D Brent Dowlen: And gentlemen, as always, if you’re having a difficult time connecting with the people who matter most in your life, if you’re struggling with, you know, you, you pursued maybe your profession or whatever, and have.

A rough connection with some of those people who make life valuable for you. Be sure and connect with me over@purposedrivenmen.com. There’s a little bubble down in the corner. Let me know. Let’s have a conversation. Maybe my, uh, relationship Titans program is right for you. If not, I know several other relationship coaches also that I can point you in their direction that I work with and let’s, let’s fix those relationships, because if those relationships aren’t thriving, then the rest of your life is not thriving either.

Matt, if our dads who are listening today didn’t catch anything else, what is the most important thing you want them to hear today before we end the show?

Matt Morizio: I think I would like, I would like dads to [00:54:00] know that we, and we didn’t even discuss this, but I would want them to hear, hear that they matter. They matter more in their kids’ lives than they may even realize and. You can screw a lot up as a parent, but if your kids hear, I’m proud of you, and they hear, I love you, and you say those words out loud to your children, you can mess a lot of other things up and still get it wrong.

So I would, I would encourage dads, if the emotions aren’t your thing, just use those words, I love you and I’m proud of you. Say those words to your kids over and over. And I promise you, you can screw the other stuff up and, and things will still turn up pretty well.

D Brent Dowlen: Matt, I appreciate you being on the show today and talking with us about some finances stuff.

I know this is a hugely uncomfortable subject for a lot of men. We don’t like to open up about our finances. We don’t like to be. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it’s, it is just all kinds of uncomfortable. Guys, [00:55:00] hopefully this conversation has helped open up that conversation a little bit for you. Like I said, my, my financial situation was a mess for years and I didn’t even know it was a mess because I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Mm-hmm. So, hopefully this is a good starting point for some of you guys. Talk to your kids about finances. Set them up better than you were set up by teaching ’em the things that you didn’t know. Uh, I think Bruce Lee originally said that quote, right? Don’t give your kids what you don’t, didn’t have teach them what you didn’t know.

Think it’s Bruce Lee quote, but Matt, thanks for being on to have the conversation. Guys, as always, thanks for joining us today on Dad Hat Shenanigans Podcast, A community of dads navigating life’s challenges together. Until next time, laugh, learn, and live the dad

[00:56:00] life.