#NationalParentsDay

Throwback to circa 1992 in honor of National Parents Day. Here are mine!

Today is National Parents Day in the U.S.! Did you know, and are you celebrating? 

We have Mother’s Day in May and Father’s Day in June, and apparently Parents Day in July. Former President Bill Clinton established National Parents’ Day in 1994 after signing a resolution that recognized the “uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children.” If you’re a parent, please pat yourself on the back. In actuality, you should give yourself a pat on the back everyday of the week. You deserve the accolades. Trust me, I know from experience. 

As part of the childrearing process, in whatever form that takes,I want to encourage you to have the conversation early with your kids about wealth. You can run wealthy experiments, or the ability to experiment to achieve a positive wealthy outcome, with kids. It will grow their self-confidence and yours as you embrace the art of testing, growing, and learning. 

While you’re having the conversation with your children about wealth and creating intangible life-long lessons, I also know that your spending tangible dollars on your kids. 

So, how much money will you invest in child-rearing activities (tuition, 529 plan, extracurricular or cultural capital activities, etc.) in 2021?

I also urge you to teach kids tangible wealth lessons with real cash. Studies show that when you make money tangible, like with real dollars, it gives weight and importance to purchasing decisions and even can make deferring gratification feel almost fun.

Also, a recent neuroscience experiment found that spending with credit cards, rather than cash, facilitates spending that are difficult to justify on purely financial grounds. So, your children (and even you) can learn good lessons when you teach them financial principles that involve cash. 

When children have to spend their cash, they will feel the hardship of parting with it for something that they want.

Finally, there is one unique way to boost your retirement savings so that you can still invest in YOUR future while investing in your child’s. Do you know about the ‘Backdoor IRA conversion strategy? If you do, make sure you tell your friends and don’t keep it to yourself. If you don’t, you’ll now be in the “know.” If you have a 401(k) plan that allows after-tax contributions, you can put up to $58,000 a year into a 401(k) account and convert some or all of the money to a Roth, with a minimal tax hit if executed well. Most people are typically permitted to contribute $6,000 per year (as of 2020) into a Roth IRA and $19,500 a year into Roth 401(k) contributions. The trick is to ask your employer if you can make after-tax contributions to a 401k and whether you can roll it over to a Roth.  

And guess who took advantage of this strategy the most in 2020? People who generate an income greater than $150,000. Even then, many people do not take advantage of this boon to your retirement savings. 

A Wealthy Girl Corner 

Earlier in July, I appeared as a guest on Gbenga Ogunjimi’s Elevated Conversation Podcast, who became a father in mid-July. In our episode, we talked about the “language of wealth” and being transparent with your kids in your wealth journey in order to have intergenerational wealth. You can listen to the full podcast episode here. Gbenga acknowledges a big theme of my book - your family is a core value for you, and you can’t separate your personal and professional life. Remember, your family story is your wealthy story.