“Working to help parents raise money-smart kids.”
Hello, friends!
I hope you’re able to enjoy this Presidents’ Day.
I’ll keep things light this week as I try to weave in some wisdom from past Commanders in Chief.
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Doing Right: As it happens, I hail from Caldwell, New Jersey, the birthplace of our twenty-second and twenty-fourth president, the only one to serve non-consecutive terms.
He’s also the only president to share a name with one of my top five favorite Muppets!
In my research for this newsletter, I discovered that, per two of Grover Cleveland’s biographers, his last words were, “I have tried so hard to do right.”
That phrase struck me as worthy of a mention here, for Cleveland is considered fairly unremarkable in a time of fairly unremarkable presidents.
Still, he appears to have taken his own advice and been steadfast. While his stance on reducing high tariffs doomed his first reelection campaign, that same stance was in part why the country brought him back.
And this virtuous guidance might be useful to us today.
I desperately want to do right by my kids, just as my parents have strived to do so for my siblings and me. And I imagine that’s the case for you as well. (Why else would you be reading this newsletter?)
Whatever our achievements and however history may view us, trying hard to do right seems a good compass for our journeys. 🧭
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What a Wolverine!: Gerald Ford famously starred as a linebacker and center for two University of Michigan national championship football teams. Unlike today, top athletes often played on both offense and defense.
Ford even turned down offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. Of course, he did so to attend Yale Law.
Back then, star athletes commanded a fraction of the salaries paid to today’s best players. In fact, many professional athletes needed side hustles to make ends meet. And at that time, a side hustle was merely a “second job.”
Today, however, it’s a different story. A top athlete like Ford can expect a small fortune right out of college. And now players are beginning to make millions even earlier thanks to new NIL (name, image and likeness) deals.
I can only imagine the plethora of not-so-smart money choices that would have been available to me and my young adult brain had I gone from a kid with zero income to a multi-millionaire. 🤯
To that point, I discuss sudden wealth as well as its pros and cons with my upcoming podcast guest, Jedidiah Collins. A former NFL player, financial educator and creator of Your Money Vehicle, Jedidiah is on a mission to help athletes navigate a problem many of us think we’d love to have: getting rich early.
And as you’ll soon hear, Jedidiah’s mission extends far beyond professional athletes to include his own experience raising two young girls, something to which I can very much relate.
Stay tuned!
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The Sound of Silence: Our current White House resident is famous for his gift of gab, acquired after overcoming a debilitating childhood stutter. However, the thirtieth man to take America’s reigns, Calvin Coolidge, was reticent to speak.
“Silent Cal” was apparently as sparing with money as he was words, so I’m sure he would have invited Joe the Monkey and friends (and their money-smart message) to the Rose Garden to perform.
My teenagers certainly wish I’d take a page from Coolidge’s book and zip it rather than go on the stump. And while I advocate for money conversations – a theme we revisit often here – I think money lectures should be used sparingly, if at all.
In my essay “No Single Point of Failure,” I describe three ways our kids learn money smarts. Coolidge might have agreed with my assessment that modeling and experience are the two more effective methods of instruction.
Conversations, though, are essential, and while those discussions might elicit eye rolls or dismissive mumbling, perhaps we can take comfort in these words from our twenty-sixth president, “the man in the arena” himself:
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life, we get nothing save by effort.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Until next week, enjoy the journey!
John, Chief Mammal
These sources were helpful to me in writing this newsletter:
P.S. Please consult with a financial or investment professional before engaging in any decisions that might affect your own financial well-being.
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