#35 Money Mindset: Reflecting on 10 Years of Personal Finance Education - My Journey in Schools

Join me in this insightful episode as I celebrate 10 years of teaching personal finance in schools. From kindergarten to grade 12, I share reflections on the diverse experiences, challenges, and transformative moments encountered along the way. Discover how classroom dynamics, the art of connection, and a shift in mindset have shaped my approach to financial education. Explore the evolution from a scarcity mindset to emphasizing financial stewardship and abundance. Whether you're in Alberta or beyond, I invite you to join the conversation and explore the impact of financial literacy on young minds.

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As I celebrate a decade of teaching personal finance in schools, I can't help but reflect on the transformative journey it has been. From kindergarten to grade 12, and even into college where I presented to my personal finance class, every moment has been a lesson in growth and understanding.

In this episode, I want to share some key insights gleaned over the years, highlighting the evolution of both personal finance education and my own mindset.

Understanding Classroom Dynamics: Venturing into various classrooms across Alberta, I've witnessed firsthand the profound influence teachers and peers wield over students. Each classroom presents a unique environment, and not all schools or teachers share the same ethos for nurturing young minds.

Navigating Challenges: From affluent classrooms to those with more significant socioeconomic challenges, the diversity of experiences has been eye-opening. It's imperative for me to consider these dynamics while engaging with students, irrespective of their backgrounds.

The Art of Connection: Connecting with students on a personal level goes beyond delivering presentations—it's about fostering trust and understanding. Reading the room, adapting to different personalities, and addressing varying levels of comprehension have become invaluable skills in my teaching arsenal.

Shifting Mindsets: Over the years, my approach to personal finance education has evolved. Moving away from a scarcity mindset focused solely on budgeting and saving, I now emphasize the importance of financial stewardship and abundance. Teaching children to view money as a tool for achieving their goals is paramount in shaping their financial futures.

Looking Ahead: As I embark on the next phase of my journey, I remain committed to empowering students with essential financial knowledge. Whether in Alberta or beyond, I welcome opportunities to continue spreading financial literacy and making a positive impact in young lives.

In conclusion, the past 10 years have been a whirlwind of growth, learning, and impactful experiences. As I contemplate the future, I'm filled with gratitude for the opportunities to educate and inspire young minds. Thank you for joining me on this reflective journey, and I look forward to many more years of empowering financial education.

Transcription:

00:00 kindergarten to grade 12, and I even spoke and presented to my own personal finance class while in college. Today I am celebrating 10 years of presenting, budgeting, and personal finance in schools, and so this is kind of going to be a reflective episode. Now full disclosure, I actually recorded this episode once already. 00:29 and kind of reflected on some things that actually pulled out some not fun things that I have noticed and found in schools and and experiences that I've walked through with teachers specifically and situations and 00:50 Maybe someday there'll be a right time to share that. But my purpose of this is not to throw anyone under the bus or to bash anyone in any way, shape or form. And. In reflecting my purpose, I guess, of reflecting is to share the growth and again, like the things that I have learned and have shifted in with my money mindset and with my budgeting and personal finance and those pieces just from teaching. 01:20 It doesn't need to be a bachelor episode of like, Bachelor Tells All or whatever. Whatever those episodes are, I don't really know. But what I will say is what's been really interesting, so going into schools, as many different classrooms I have, so I've spoke from mostly central Alberta, but I've also spoke for other schools throughout Alberta. 01:51 and in all different grades, all different classrooms, all different teachers. 01:57 And... 02:02 Seeing how influenced the kids are by their teachers, their peers. 02:15 The whole learning environment in the classroom and in the school, not all schools are created equal. Not all teachers have the same heart for kids whatsoever. 02:32 And if I ever end up having kids and putting them in school, I will be very, very, very careful about what that looks like, especially for the younger kids. And I mean, the older kids as well, but I mean, being able to help them navigate those situations while also being in them, I think is important, right? But the kids can do that as they, to some degree, as they get older. 03:01 But when they're the younger grades, they don't understand all that's going on. They just kind of become sheep, right? Like a school of fish. 03:14 Yeah, so that's what I'm going to leave that at that because I think that I don't know how much reflecting on some of my experiences is beneficial. Yeah, so personal shifts. Let's talk about them. So 10 years of presenting. 03:39 I can guarantee that I have shifted as a presenter, even though it doesn't necessarily feel like it a whole lot for me. One of the things, one in terms of presenting and speaking and those things. Now, when I first started, we primarily spoke to com classes, which is like grades nine, 10, 11 usually. And so it was a really heavy, like it was a really full presentation. 04:07 And then we expanded into all the other grades as well, which is wonderful. 04:17 being able to go into a kindergarten class at 9.30 and a comm class, you know, an hour later with, you know, a grade three or grade four class in the middle of that. 04:35 is... 04:38 really, it's been, it really has been a growth experience because I have learned to read rooms and people very, very quickly. And I'd say that's a skill actually that I've actually probably developed more than I realize. And thanks to doing the presentations specifically. And because no classroom is the same whatsoever, right? And we know that. 05:08 but also like, I guess living that out and being like, okay, I need to execute this presentation, but in order to execute this presentation, I'm not just mailing it in. My goal is to connect with the kids and in order to connect with the kids, they need to have some sort of like no trust factor with me and want to listen to me and want to engage with me. I'm not just trying to like be like the Muppets, like teacher lady in the background, that's you know, mwah, mwah, mwah, whatever. Like that. 05:37 I'm not just trying to just check the box while I showed up for the kids. I don't care if they listen or not. I care. And so connecting with each of those levels and meeting the kids where they're at for that day and in that moment is, yeah, a skill, I'd say. And I by no means hit the nail on the head, I don't think every time, but. 06:05 It's really fun and really cool to do. It's also very draining. Reading, I mean, it's, you know, you talk about meeting someone new and picking up on their body language and their cues and facial expressions and all those things. You walk into a classroom with like 30 some kids in it, plus a teacher, sometimes an EA, usually a couple of kids who, you know, are at a different level. And then there's other kids that are at a different level 06:34 you know, a couple kids are struggling for the day. And I've been in classrooms where I've been in all the classrooms from like kind of more that like very kind of I don't want to say first class, but like kind of that more that like white collar, you know, I want to say higher end kind of classroom down to. 06:58 like regular real life classrooms I want to say, but ones where there's kids that they're eating in the middle of the class and when you ask the teacher what's going on or what do I do with that, they're like, oh, this is the only time the kid gets food. They don't have food at home and so this is where they eat. And so, like, yeah, I have dealt with all of it. And, 07:28 and it's really presented. So you're constantly like, okay, like what's going on? Where are the kids at? And also where are the teachers at? Because this is what I said I wasn't gonna get into a whole lot and I won't. But. 07:41 I honestly am shocked at how many teachers aren't friendly or receptive to me, even though they're the ones who booked me. And not just to me, but to having someone else come in and teach their quote unquote kids. And even when they're the ones that like signed up for the presentation and booked it and whatever, there's no obligation to have me in. 08:09 But then I come in and there's almost this like intimidation factor that comes up and scarcity, feeling not good enough, I don't know. But there's almost kind of this like, oh, well, like kind of standoffish. And it's shocked me. Anyways, and it happens often, but we're not, we're going to leave that. So. 08:35 That's been really, really interesting. And probably one of the biggest skills that I've picked up on is learning how to be really perceptive for what's going on for a kid. Cause there's times where sometimes in some of the presentations, you know, I'll want to push a little bit more to have the kids, you know, like, hey, no, you actually need to like finish this or, you know, like work out the math problem for, you know, a couple of classes, even though they're basic or whatever, or, or push the kids a little bit more to find an answer. 09:05 And so being able to know which kids that it's okay if you challenge them a little bit and just how to approach them, like approaching them with humor, approaching them with like, you know, softness or like, I don't wanna say kindness cause that's everybody, but like, yeah, with more softness or, you know, kind of that, like, you know, I'm dealing with, you know, lots of girls and boys, you know, like there's the mix too, right? And so that shift. 09:32 of like, you know, which boys are, you know, the sports boys or, you know, you have like, you know, usually a couple of kids depending on the grades, you know, they're wearing cowboy boots. And so trying to connect with all those different like, you know, the girly girls and, you know, who talk, you know, they're talking Barbies or, you know, makeup or whatever. The whole, all of it, right? And that's without like, not to mention like the schools that I've been in that, like Catholic schools or Christian schools or private schools where 10:03 there you're dealing with lots of like there's all sorts then there you add kind of different dimensions and whether they come from like really huge families or they're you know like very very i don't want to say conservative but they're very you know devout religious you know you can tell that that is where that kid is viewing things from and all those different viewpoints and so learning how to approach kids 10:32 And also, but I mean also I'm not their teacher, I'm not even, I'm not a substitute, I'm not any of that. And so just coming in to, my goal is always to connect with the kids and to. 10:47 provide information, right, and teach the kids on a topic, hopefully something that they'll grasp. And I mean, we know that kids learn especially by doing and through play and through fun, right? And so trying to keep it fun and upbeat, not, again, not that like the peanuts teacher, right? And to leave the kids feeling like money. 11:14 is a good topic and a safe topic. And, you know, cause who knows what they're being, you know, what they're hearing at home and what they're walking through or what their, you know, their parents are going through, et cetera. And so that's probably, yeah. Kind of clearly unpacking this real time as this has come up. One of the biggest things that 11:38 I've noticed a shift in myself is how I... 11:46 shit have shifted from teaching very much about like budgeting and how to hold on to your money as tightly as possible from that place of scarcity. And so and like passing that on to the kids because a that's the curriculum but be that also was my mindset and my outlook and my like, oh, well, if this is how you win, this is how you get ahead you 12:14 You know, you're ruthless, you hold onto it as tightly as possible. You know, you budget like crazy, you say no to anything fun, et cetera, et cetera. Instead of coming at it from a place of abundance and like that open-fistedness and being able to say, how can I be a wise steward of my finances and how can I steward my money well and use it as a tool in my life? 12:43 and those shifts. And so even though the curriculum hasn't shifted a lot, I mean, my words and how I, my interpretation and just my outlook on things has definitely shifted how I present and how I teach. And I think it's really, really interesting and impactful. And I guess like, I'm so thankful for the shifts that I've done on this journey and continue to make for myself. And... 13:10 And I think teaching those things for the kids, like there's been classrooms where I see kids that, you know, you can tell that they, it's always, I always, I love asking questions and so it's always interesting to me to see the kids ask, like if I ask, you know, okay, who likes money, right? And almost all the kids put up their hands and depending on the class, and then I ask who likes, you know, saving money, who likes spending money. 13:40 And it's really interesting. And then one of my favorite questions is, do you think that we can buy everything we want the second we want it? And the kids are like, no, of course, right, because they've been, you know, that's been drilled into them. But then I ask, do you think millionaires can buy everything they want the second they want it or billionaires? And like, and just to get the kids thinking and 14:09 And it's interesting to see the responses because most of the classrooms are like, yes. And then I'm like, well, but no, right? And some of the kids are like, well, I don't think so, but like also like, yes, right? And so that's a super fun question and discussion I love having with the kids of like, no, if you're being a wise steward of your money and how millionaires continue to be millionaires, 14:38 is because they aren't buying everything they want the second they want it, right? They're being wise stewards of their money. And so that, those are really fun questions and things I guess that along the way as I've grown and shifted again, that that comes out now in the presentations. And even though I'm talking about budgeting and the importance of saving your money and you know, 15:06 Yeah, budgets and not spending and those things and debt and credit cards and all sorts of things to still be able to say, K. But now when you steward your money wisely, you can go do fun things with it, right? So that's been a really cool shift. Yeah, and that scarcity piece. I kind of talked about just the levels of connection. And I mean, and the grades too. I talked about it in different classrooms, but 15:34 Obviously how I present to the kindergarten kids is very different to how I talk to a grade 11 12 class of You know mostly boys, right? And so being able to find Places and areas where you can I you know, they can identify with you or you can kind of like spark that like oh She's not just you know, like oh, okay. She's not just lame, right or whatever. I'm sure 16:02 I know lots of the kids have still thought that I'm lame, but I do my best. Anyways, yeah, so that's, I'm excited. I mean, I don't know how much longer or what the future will look like in terms of continuing to do the presentations, but for now, I love them. And so if you're listening to this and you're in Alberta, or you know someone in Alberta, or you have kids, I like whether it's a teacher or you have kids. 16:32 or you know someone with kids or you know a teacher in Alberta, I would love to come into their school, your school, whatever that is, and present to however many classes. So just reach out and I'd love to connect. And outside of that as well, you know, this is the company that I do this through is just for Alberta. But 17:00 Personally, I've been asked to develop things and do things outside of that. And that's something that I'm definitely having the works and am open to talking about. So if you have a need for that, if you see how that would be beneficial and you're someplace else, reach out. And I can point you in the right direction of resources as well for the time being. So it's been a good, good 10 years. 17:29 I can't believe it's been 10 years. That feels... Whoo, like... 17:37 Yeah, flown by, but also really good anyways. So thanks for listening today. If you have any like feedback or takeaways from today's episode, I'd love to hear and we'll see you all again soon.