Nurturing Financial Literacy in Kids with Lauren Rosberg

 

Maggie Nielsen  00:25

Thanks for tuning in. Remember to like and subscribe or write a review as it helps us grow and share with friends as we have to keep talking about this shit.

 

Molly Stillman  00:41

Gloria Steinem once said, we will never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. Barbara Provost and Maggie Nielsen are the team at purse strings that will help you navigate the ins and outs of financial independence so that you can be financially fearless. This is women and money, the shit they don’t talk about.

 

Maggie Nielsen  01:04

Hey, Lauren, we’re so glad to have you on our podcast today. Before we get started, could you give a little intro of who you are and what you do?

 

Lauren Rosberg  01:11

Great, I’d be happy to. Thank you so much. Dr. Barb and Maggie for having me. I’m really excited about this topic of installing financial literacy in our children. A little bit about me is I’m married. I live in Libertyville, Illinois, with my family, which is behind me. So it’s my husband, Eric, and our four kids. We’re a blended families. So I am, Blake and Aubrey are my biological children. And then I have two children through marriage. And that’s Patti and Amelia. So, Blake is 13. Aubrey is 11. Addy is nine and Amelia will be eight this weekend. So we’re looking forward to celebrating her a little bit about my background 2006, I started as a financial advisor for a large Wall Street firm. It was fascinating as far as getting up to speed and working with people about retiring saving for college. And it was a fantastic place to learn the business. But however, is more about matching people with a financial product, instead of doing holistic planning for them. So I worked there for about three years. And then the firm that was that was on the news every day in 2009. And I just couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t my calling. I really wanted to do holistic financial planning for people then I incorporated tax estate planning insurance needs, instead of just bringing in assets and, you know, making a profit for the firm. So I moved over to the Registered Investment Advisory space, which, if you’re familiar with the term fiduciary, we’re fiduciaries, that means that we have a legal obligation to put our clients interests first. And to make sure that we are doing the best job that we can taking care of our clients. I started at Mercer a little bit over a year ago, and I am absolutely loving Mercer advisors. It is such a wonderful environment. For me, we have a strong focus on finding women in the financial field, women advisors, about 50% of our client facing employees are women, which I think is just amazing. And it’s amazing. I love it. I mean, if you look at our marketing, go to Mercer advisors.com, it’s, you’ll see pink and lavender. And it’s just very different. It speaks to people of all ages, races, genders. I’ve just been floored with the culture, the being at Mercer. So that’s a little bit about me. And with having four kids. We’re talking to them all the time about different things. And one thing that’s been really important is talking to them about money. I do it all the time, sometimes to my clients, and Amelia, who’s about to turn eight this weekend. She loves to get in front of my computer and put zoom on, change up the backgrounds and pretend she’s talking to clients. And she’ll say, oh, yeah, she’ll be like, tell me about your money. Wow, that’s a lot. I’m gonna want to manage some.

 

Barbara Provost  04:36

Oh my gosh, you have a little financial advisor in the wings. It’s fun.

 

Lauren Rosberg  04:43

Yeah. So it’s, you know, just close to my heart of how can I teach them about money, um, and how I can do them in a positive light that will help them move forward.

 

Maggie Nielsen  04:54

Well, we’re so excited to have you on today and dive into this topic, as we’ve had different episodes really talking about Our money stories in our money mindset. And we know how much learning about money in childhood really reflects how we talk about money later in life and some of those money stories we tell ourselves. So can you share a bit about your earliest memories of money and how they shaped your thoughts and feelings about money, kind of that money story that you hold?

 

Lauren Rosberg  05:18

Sure I’m, well, I had a childhood, where I was considered upper middle class, my dad is actually in the financial business as well. So he had a job helping financial advisors with estate and tax issues and how to prove upon those issues. So it’s was sort of in my DNA to get into the financial fields. We, you know, lived in a nice house, we I was able to have horses, violin lessons, I was a figure skater I competed internationally. Um, it was a great childhood. My mom was a stay at home mom, she wasn’t really allowed to work. She did work part time as at a high end, specialty children’s and adult clothing store. I don’t think it was a cashflow, positive endeavor for her. But that was and then kind of fast forward to when I was in junior high. The world kind of came crashing in. My mom found out that my dad was having a long term affair. And it’s done on. It started on Easter Sunday in 1994. And it was just crushing. I’ll never forget that Easter Sunday. So, you know, the world changed that night. It was that we’re, they’re getting a divorce. And, you know, things really changed. I remember with my mom one time, they left for Greece, and we were left with a mobile credit card. So that was the only money that we had was we could get anything wanted from the mobile gas station. So it was it was fun, you know, stocking up on chips and Slim Jims. Oh my god. Yeah. So it you know, things shifted. We ended up moving to you’re renting an apartment for a bit. So things got sorted out the divorce lasted a long time in court, they probably could have send a few kids to college for the cost of the divorce. And conversations shifted to we have $40 to last us for the rest of the week. And it was tough. From going to feeling like when he wasn’t a thing, like it was just fine. You know, it’s like, Oh, you want to American Girl doll for your birthday? Okay, you know, to Oh, my goodness, are we going to be okay?

 

Barbara Provost  07:55

Oh my gosh, that’s scary.

 

Lauren Rosberg  07:58

It was it was. But fast forward to now. I got married in my late 20s had Lincoln Aubrey my ex and I we grew up parts. We co-parent fine. But, you know, got divorced. And then over COVID I met Eric who’s just a wonderful guy. We’ve gotten married. And I have two amazing stepdaughters as a bonus, and then we added our golden doodle all over to the family. And it’s just been a whirlwind. It’s been amazing. The kids get along great. It just takes time though with the blending process. But we’re finding our rhythm, which is fantastic. Wonderful.

 

Barbara Provost  08:46

Well, yeah, so you had your own kind of money hiccups and story as we all do, right? I’ll different but we all have our money experiences. But tell me how that money experience as a child, set the foundation for financial literacy for yourself and for your family?

 

Lauren Rosberg  09:08

I will Yes. You know, actually, when I was in grade school, I was actually made fun of for having money. I lived in a neighborhood that was, you know, rather nice, but there were many kids my age. And they call me leprechaun. I still don’t know where that that name came from. And it was like, that was the only thing I could think of because Why are they calling me leprechaun but they would call me that

 

Maggie Nielsen  09:36

Like a pot of gold that you always had or something?

 

Lauren Rosberg  09:39

We looked like it was like five-minute drive to get to the bus stop just from where I lived, but I never really understood being called leprechaun then you know, it just that you know, shifted, we moved. So I was no longer made fun of for that which is great. Um, But that, you know, it just kind of was a different, you know, shift. So that was kind of my first experience with money though it’s being made fun of it for, you know, being in the upper middle-class family. So I’ve kind of feel like I’ve been on both sides of the, you know, aisle as a kid. And I remember I put myself through graduate school and lived in back of the yards in Chicago and rented a room for $700 a month and, you know, took the orange line and husband and I are rewatching, Shameless, which is funny because it was not too far from where I lived when I was in graduate school.

 

Molly Stillman  10:43

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Maggie Nielsen  11:27

And so yeah, you really have the experience of kind of being made fun of for having wealth. But you also see what it’s like, you know, not having kind of that wealth. And you can kind of get made fun of either way. And so it’s really important to kind of have these conversations with our children as well, you know that it’s not good or bad. It’s money is just kind of a tool. And so, you know, when we start having these conversations with our children around money, you know, first of all, how do we make this fun as children? Well, you just want to have fun?

 

Lauren Rosberg  11:56

Yes, well, there’s quite a few ways to make it fun. One thing that our girls do is they set up a cafe in the basement. So they are having, you know, a menu that changes with dollar amounts, they have fake money a cash register. So that’s a really cute thing that’s fun for them. So maybe just setting up a business, if it’s a lemonade stand or something, pretend there’s financial apps that also can be helpful. Green Light is a big one where you can have a credit card with your child’s picture on it, and manage that for them where they can have money added to it for doing chores, or a set allowance. There’s a lot of different ways you can use that app or similar apps for that where they

 

Barbara Provost  12:52

Is that a real, a real credit card type thing that they could use at the store?

 

Lauren Rosberg  12:56

It’s more like a prepaid debit card. Okay, got it. But they can use it at the store. Which is it pretty cool. Um, yeah. One idea too, is having budget a trip, there’s not any. There’s not much risk of having them budget and plan a trip. So we’re going to Wisconsin Dells, we have $1,000 for the week, you know, where are we going to stay? What parks do we want to go to? Where are we going to eat, you know, they might want us go into somebody’s water parks where we’re having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for three meals, but you know, just letting them have that of figuring out how to budget for a vacation. So that can be you know, a great tool for setting up bank accounts or there’s a lot of times the local bank will have a junior saving club. And then a few years ago, I started out with Blake and Aubrey with having UTM may accounts I apologize for using an acronym, but that is a minor brokerage accounts where your children actually have a brokerage account in their name that will go to them at their majority age, which is different than any every state and Illinois at 18. I can decide they can have their brokerage account or 21. So I have some little bit of control on that. Well at 21 it automatically goes to them. So we discuss what companies are you interested in? What’s stocks in you know, and just a lot of different platforms like like Schwab and fidelity. You can even purchase fractional shares of the stock so they’re able to have a portfolio or have a list of companies are interested in and see if there’s a ETF which is a basket of stocks that might fit the bill for the companies that they want to invest in. And they like tracking that that you can put the, you know, the, if it’s Charles Schwab or fidelity or whoever the custodian is they can put the app on the phone, they can look at it, they can, you’d have those discussions of you know, you got a birthday check from grandma for $50 You want to put it in and letting them see what kind of stocks they want to own and they really love being an owner of a company explaining how having a share what that means to them. And you can say, you know, you own Roblox, not only do you play Roblox, you own it. And after seeing so many robots, gift cards get used. I don’t know if you’re familiar with robotics, but it’s a virtual game that kids play where they can spend an insane amount of money on making the Roblox character look good with different outfits that all cost RoBlox. Yeah. So like, instead of doing that, I don’t really invest in the stack and see how that goes. So that’s something that, you know, we’ve done to make it fun. And then they can see their funds grow, and why you go ahead and invest money, and also having conversations about how stocks are different than bonds. And I’ve find a lot of adults even in their 40s 30s, you know, how they don’t really even know the difference between a stock and a bond. If you ask someone, they might say, well, I know bond is a little bit more conservative than a stock. But they don’t truly know the difference. So talking to them about well bond is you lending money to a company like Apple, where Apple says, I’m going to pay you 5% For you lending me $1,000. And at the end of the year, I’m going to give you your $1,000 back along with, you know, 5% interest, and there you go, that’s a bond. So you just need Apple to stay in business to get your money back and get the 5%. But if you own Apple stock, you want apple to do? Well, you want you know, you’re betting that they’re going to stay in business, but you’re betting that they’re going to release the Apple iPhone, I don’t know where we have 1617. And their technology is going to, you know, continue to grow and do well. So I’m, you know, having those conversations of Do we own bonds and stocks, you know, what, how do they work? How do they work differently when stocks are doing well? Usually bonds are they’re okay, but they’re not. They have that inverse relationship. And then when bonds are doing well, sometimes stocks aren’t so kind of balancing it out with both. Wow,

 

Barbara Provost  17:52

I can’t imagine the conversations in your household. I mean, that’s most people are not having these conversations.

 

Lauren Rosberg  17:58

They’re fun to have. We go through so much of being told not to talk about money, it’s not plights I just wrapped a birthday present and freaked out that I didn’t cross off the, you know, the price of the gift. And it’s not that we always are talking about money, but you know, I just think it’s really important for them to have a reality check of how much things you know how expensive things are, how reasonable things are and have some type of you know, realization and understand, you know, the boba tea that $7 Well, that’s a lot of money for a tea that doesn’t really have nutrients. So you know, just those conversations are fantastic. We did feed our starving children last week, and that was always a great time. There’s one in our town and the children they spend about an hour and a half packing food for children in need. And 25 cents. You know, feed a child for a day and putting that in context of your boba tea at $7. That’s 28 meals for a child that’s really a need. Just so they have you know that context or even in a kind of a more fun light. I took Audrey she wanted to go on a girls trip to go look for Beauty and Spa products. And we went to old girl. I know. We went to Ulta she got a $10 lip gloss and then we went to the Dollar Tree where she just loaded up she brought her own money and I’m kind of fearful for maybe some of the chemicals that might be the other day she goes $1 tree let go loss is way better than the old LF costs. You know, it’s just, you know, interesting to kind of see those wheels turning in her.

 

Maggie Nielsen  20:09

It’s amazing to like, or it’s great to have these conversations when it’s so almost like risk-free, you know, or more risk-free as like, you know, this isn’t our whole life savings is just 50 bucks that we’re learning with we’re dabbling with, you know, all these different things comparing, because it does get more serious when you’re older. Like, I really need this tool, where now it’s like, you know, mom’s always gonna buy us groceries. You know, whatever it may be. But then even on vacations, understanding what’s important to you, if it is the waterpark, and you don’t mind eating and PB and J, like, that’s, that’s fine. But like, if you do like a nice meal, we might not hit the waterpark one day. And so it’s just interesting making those comparisons and seeing what you have to give and take because as an adult, that is what you have to do. And I think so many things like, we have no, you know, we know we pay the water bill, but I have no idea how much the water is. And then when you get the bill, you’re like, Oh, more than I thought it might be, you know, like, and so it’s just interesting learning about these things and getting a grasp on those numbers, not just that you have to pay him but like what might that cost? And how is that in comparison to other things? Because I know that was always an eye opening thing for me as I started paying more bills, like crazy.

 

Lauren Rosberg  21:19

Everything costs money that went that water just doesn’t come out of the faucet and it’s free. And no, that’s really an interesting point for sure. And spending wisely to with that. The kids come up to me all the time. And you know, can I have this? Can I have this and you know, just talking to them of why do you want it? You know? How our What’s your plan to have the money to buy it? You know, are there chores that can be done? Do you have something similar? Can we borrow it have a Stanley mugs has become a huge thing in our house. I don’t get it either. And Aubrey the 11 year old did not get one for Christmas. It wasn’t on her list. I just Why does a child need to carry around 40 ounces of water to their class says you know I just don’t get it either. And that was something that was really important to her and we talked about does she really need it because everyone else now has a Stanley mug? What is the you know? Are we just checking the box you know it’s $40 like that’s kind of crazy to spend and she wanted it so bad she came up with a plan of you know to use a little bit of her own money she did chores we compromise forgot the 20 ounce one with the handle and stuff of 40 ounce one of the straw you know and she she was happy and you know same thing with Blake if he wants to be okay well what’s your plan you know there’s Are you picking up sticks in the back yard? Are you shoveling driveways you know how much she had saved up already needed? And they just have their own you know, kind of personalities too. Blake is always wanting to buy stuff for his sisters which is really really sweet. Yeah, it is an honoree for her to spend a dime of her own money is really painful for her she wants to cling on to all of it so you know they’re it’s just kind of neat to see their personalities and how they view money just being raised together in the same way and they just have different you know emmos of how they go about their own money.

 

Maggie Nielsen  23:42

I think that cup example is so interesting is like sometimes I think you really think you want it and you do all that work and you get it and you get the cup and then afterwards like a week later you’re like God that was not worth it you know like I really really thought I wanted it but after all that work and all this and I just kind of had this cup sitting here like maybe it’s not as fulfilling and you can really learn from that you know to sit through of like why did I think it was something I needed and like why is it not you know hitting the mark now or maybe it is and everyday you look at it you’re like oh I’m so glad I got that mug, water you know, whatever it may be but it’s just interesting when you do have to work for it and then you kind of get that reflection later of it was a good purchase or wasn’t after all that work kind of earning it and getting that product

 

Lauren Rosberg  24:23

She’s still lugging it around to her classes and it’s been a few weeks and I’m surprised and at least it’s water and you know it’s healthy for her but I just I just did not think she was going to be up and carrying it around everywhere you go and it’s funny because I saw the teachers come in they all have their Stanley mugs and you know I don’t get it we talked about kind of does it just check the box that monster friend that you have one like or is this something you need? Is it we talked about like the whole hashtag basic like do you need all the same stuff? Have as your friends the same brands or does it pay to maybe save a little bit of money and find something unique that’s uniquely yours? But you know that $40 water bottle?

 

Barbara Provost  25:10

Yeah, it’s sometimes it’s more than the mug, right? It’s what goes along with it in terms of fitting in or being like, the rest of your friends things like that. But that’s that’s expensive. I mean, it couldn’t imagine in my life ever. What we never drank water like that. In the day, we didn’t know and drink water as much as they do that. I don’t get that either. But I guess we were all just dehydrated.

 

Lauren Rosberg  25:39

You drink from like, not the faucet, but the bubbler. The bubbler? Yeah, and everyone put their mouth on the Bubbler is for COVID. And we all survived somehow. We did we did.

 

Barbara Provost  25:51

This has been such a great conversation, you’ve offered so many great interesting tricks and tips and ways that you work with your own children around money conversations. And what I love about it is just breaking down those simple asks every day into kind of a financial conversation, which doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be if you want something, and this is what it costs. How are we going to go about purchasing it without just you know, shelling out the money for them? It’s really a learning opportunity for your children. What else do you have to as we wrap this up, Lauren, what other tips have we not covered that you would like to share?

 

Lauren Rosberg  26:35

Sure, I think one thing about finances is just being human, with your child, explaining it being honest. You know, if you didn’t start saving for retirement or saving for college to later, be honest, also to make sure you’re not talking to your children from a place of scarcity, of fear of we don’t have enough money for that. Maybe try saying something like we’re choosing not to buy that right now. These are financial priorities this year. And then also to a lot of times, we just talk about saving and spending and being careful, but giving them permission to make money to invest to have calculated risk that they’re going to use their money for. I met young adults that are scared to go to college because they have to take the loan out. And that’s most most kids, BYU student loans, or, you know, to better themselves because they do have to take a loan out and there’s good loans, there’s not so great loans. If anyone’s dealt with a Parent PLUS college loan, those are expensive, but there’s times where it makes sense. And there’s times where you can use your money to make an investment and you should. So it’s just being honest, I had Aubrey I took her dropped her off at school one day, and she said, Well, we have the book fair today. Can I have some money? And like, you know, Aubrey, you know, we’re choosing not to, you know, spend money on the book fair right now, you just had your birthday, you have plenty of boats, we were just library. So anyhow, she pick her up from school. And guess what she comes home with books. And her friendly love. Her dad gave her $100 to spend at the book fair. So she gave all 20 of it and is trying to tell Aubrey like, hey, you need to pay her friend back. You know, like, that was really nice of her. And I was like, no, she said she didn’t need it. And we know you’re gonna do it, you know, and just having those conversations of what’s right. You know, it was nice of Leila, like, you have the means to pay her back. You know, it’s not that you don’t have any books. Yeah, just kind of those tough conversations. That’s what’s right is to pay her back.

 

Maggie Nielsen  29:05

Yeah, I like that. You touched on some of those tough conversations. It’s not always easy, just understanding why they are not just donating that money to you. Or you know that you know, if your family can’t afford something, how to kind of reframe that, because I feel like as a parent, you know, you do want to provide anything and everything to your kids, but it’s also like, Yeah, can’t do it all. And so how do you kind of explain that and show that without them also having that scarcity mindset like

 

Lauren Rosberg  29:30

You mentioned, you know, money isn’t everything, but teaching the young them financial literacy when they’re young, teaching them to have a financial plan. Hopefully that grows with them into their future. Hopefully they have that because anyone that is on a sound, economic path. Their voices are louder, they have more options. It really opens up when you’re confident about your finances. You can really take charge and You know, you can choose different jobs that interest you, you can, you know, maybe it’s getting out of a not so great situation in having the money to go ahead and do that. It’s, it’s really powerful. You know, and I know different schools. For me some teach finance and and most don’t, and everyone’s going to have to handle how they use their paycheck as an adult. So why not start teaching those skills from a young age?

 

Maggie Nielsen  30:32

Definitely. Yeah, I love that. So, before we wrap up today, is there anything else that we didn’t touch on that you want to make sure shared with our audience?

 

Lauren Rosberg  30:39

I think that’s pretty much everything. I’m just very honored to be included on this podcast. And I just encourage all your listeners to have those conversations with your children. Even though your parents might have said it’s not polite to talk about money. It’s, you know, stuff you need to talk about. It’s just, it’s a skill. I mean, we teach our kids how to eat healthy, we teach them how to be kind and loving to others. We teach them to do well in school, why wouldn’t we teach them how to manage their money? Because money is not everything, but it’s sure the hack makes life a lot easier when you have a plan to manage your money.

 

Maggie Nielsen  31:22

Definitely, definitely. Well, we thank you, Lauren, for coming on today and sharing your expertise. This was really great as we know, we need to have these conversations with our children and really help them grow a positive money mindset. So we appreciate everyone tuning in today and listening. Remember to take some action, whether that’s a conversation with your kids, calling a financial professional, or just checking your bank account, every little step makes a difference. And please share this with a friend as we have to keep talking about this shit and we’ll talk to everyone against it.

 

Announcer  31:51

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