Tim Sheehan – How This Dad Teaches Our Kids To Be Financially-Smart
#81: Tim Sheehan - How This Dad Teaches Kids To Be Financially Smart
"We want our kids to be healthy and happy in every way, including financially."
-Tim Sheehan, talks about why it’s so important to teach our kids how to be smart with money.
Tim Sheehan
in 10 seconds
- Tim Sheehan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Greenlight
- Greenlight is helping create financially-smart kids
- Tim is a father to 4 kids (ages 20, 18, 16 & 11)
- Tim and his family live in Atlanta, GA
In today's conversation, you'll learn 3 key things:
- Why it's so important to teach our kids how to be financially smart
- How Greenlight makes it easy for kids (and parents) to save money
- How a special gift from Tim's Dad changed his life
Clip: Greenlight Card – Changing How Our Kids Think About Money
Watch Time: 2 minutes
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/yBZ85UXaycw
Tim: They generally don’t teach kids about money in school.
So if you have a parent who taught it to you, then you’re lucky and that’s fantastic, and you probably have a leg up on everybody else, but I just wanted to give the tools and the information, all kind of packaged in an easy to use product.
Because we all know how busy parents are, right?
Everybody is so busy. I just wanted it to be simple and easy to use, and fit right into their lives so that it wasn’t something to go learn how to do.
Learning how to save. Learning that you have to earn your money. That it’s not just always given to you. That you should spend wisely.
Because if you just spend, spend, spend, you’re not going to have any money left over.
And if you have no savings, you’re not going to be able to absorb an unexpected expense that pops up, like your car needs to be fixed and that wasn’t in your budget.
You didn’t plan on that. If you have some savings, you can absorb it, you can handle it.
So it’s all these kinds of things that, I get excited about it, because we all know how fast they grow up and soon enough they’ll be out on their own.
We want them to be healthy and happy in every way, including financially.
Clip: Are we spending more than ever?
Watch Time: 1 minute
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/MVld_kC8wDg
Rob: It seems like we’re living in a time where the consumerism and all the buying has accelerated — it’s so easy to buy stuff.
Today I can hit a button and it can be on my door that day.
I can imagine the number of people with financial problems is only going to go up. So, learning these skills seems more important than ever.
Tim: You’re absolutely right, and it’s a good point. The lack of friction and how easy it is to order things.
It’s probably causing even more spending than traditionally would happen.
Clip: The Best Gift I Ever Got From My Dad
Watch Time: 2 minutes
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/dp8QVhOhuR8
Tim: My dad gave me that computer, and what’s interesting about it is, I hadn’t done anything to indicate that I wanted it. I didn’t request the computer.
But he knew me. I’ll try not to get emotional because he’s no longer with us, but, he knew me well enough that he selected that gift for me.
And of course, it changed my life, because learning to work with that computer and learning to program, put me on a path to a career in the tech industry, which transformed my life for the better.
I always remember that because it was his idea to give me that computer and what a gift it was.
Rob: That is amazing, and in a lot of ways parallels what you’re doing with Greenlight.
Your kids might not realize it now, but if you can teach even one kid to learn to save, you can change his life.
Tim: And that’s the way I look at it. Thanks for saying that.
It’s the kind of stuff that they’ll take with them their whole lives.
LISTEN TO TIM’S DAD TIP
Sponsored by: KickstartReading.com
Watch Time: 2 minutes
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/aaxDzttQ_44
Tim: This might be one you’ve heard before but this is one my dad did with me: play with your kids.
Whatever it is that they’re interested in, get down on the floor, play with them.
If they’re older and they like a certain sport, go play it with them, even if you’re not good at it.
I’ve played some activities where I wasn’t very good at it, but it was just being involved and playing with them.
That whole process of playing with them, those are the things they remember to this day.
The older ones still talk about these whiffle ball games we had in the front yard, or the kickball games we had.
So that would be my advice: play with your kids.
Clip: Rapid Fire Questions with Tim Sheehan
Watch Time: 3 minutes
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/rmzxNZWvjDo
Rapid Fire Questions with Tim Sheehan:
– What was your first job? Paperboy
– What was your first car? White 1976 Toyota Corolla
– Favorite meal to eat for dinner? Steak / or pizza
– Favorite movie? My Life As A Dog
– Favorite podcast? True Crime – old murder cases
-What’s your most memorable computer program you created as a kid on your Commodore 64? Sheehan’s Cave (based on Zork ad Planet Fall)
Thank you Tim, for showing us how Dads can help teach their kids about money, and remind us why it’s so important to play with our kids!
You can learn more about Tim Sheehan
LISTEN TO MORE EPISODES OF THE DAD THE BEST I CAN SHOW
P.S. Get 5 FREE Dad Tips from top entrepreneurs, athletes, and more to help you balance Dad Life at:
https://DadTheBestICan.com
