53% of adults are financially anxious. That is a statistic that makes me nervous. It also makes me uneasy to think that my kids could grow up to be a part of the statistic.
The truth is we can teach our kids financial literacy so that they know how to budget and have emergency savings for a rainy day. But where do you start if you have no clue?
Start with this episode.
In this episode, my guest breaks things down to be the simplest form when it comes to talking to our kids about money. My guest is Dr. Caroline Clerisme who is known for helping doctors get a game plan and pay off their student loan debt. In this episode, she shares:
- How we can start to talk to our kids about money
- How we can start to introduce those conversations, especially if we’re not confident in finances.
- The difference between financial freedom and generational wealth, and why it’s so important for us to be working towards both of those things.
So if you’re like me and want to get a bit better at having these conversations with your little ones, stay tuned to this episode.
LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | STITCHER
About Caroline
Dr. Caroline Clerisme is a general dentist, wife, mommy, and author. She is also the founder of Doctors out of Debt, a company that helps doctors get out of debt and create generational wealth. Dr. Clerisme received her doctorate degree from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
Dr. Clerisme has been on several podcasts and is an avid speaker at several professional schools and business clubs regarding debt repayment and generational wealth. She is also an entrepreneur and investor and has several businesses that she operates. When Dr. Clerisme is not seeing patients, coaching doctors or writing children’s books, she can be found spending quality time with her husband and daughter.
Connect with Caroline
Website: https://www.doctorsoutofdebt.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctorsoutofdebt/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doctorsoutofdebt/
Links Mentioned
Book : Lily and the Talking Piggybank: Let’s learn about Money
Website: https://www.doctorsoutofdebt.com
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Transcript of this episode
Toni-Ann Mayembe 0:05
You are listening to the real happy mom podcast, the weekly podcast for busy working moms to get inspiration, encouragement and practical tips for this journey called motherhood. My name is Toni-Ann and you are listening to Episode 181. Hey there and welcome back to another episode of The Real happy mom Podcast. I’m super pumped because today I have a another mommy dentist on and that is Dr. Carolyn Claire’s my and we are not talking about dentistry or teeth. We are talking about financial literacy. In today’s episode, Doc really just breaks things down to be simplest form when it comes to talking to our kids about money. Because I’ll be honest, that’s one thing that I haven’t felt as confident in in. So I brought Dr. Carolyn Claire’s made to talk to us about this. She helps daughters who are in debt and gives them a game plan on how to pay off their debt. But I feel like a lot of the information that she shares, crosses over all different backgrounds and different lines of work to because it’s all the same principles. And so today, she breaks down with us, you know, some of the things that we can start to talk to our kids about when it comes to money, how we can start to introduce those conversations, especially if we’re not confident in finances. And then lastly, she helps us to understand the difference between financial freedom and generational wealth, and why it’s so important for us to be working towards both of those things. So if you like me and want to learn a little bit more, and want to get a little bit better at having these conversations with their little ones, definitely stay tuned to this episode. Now, before we jump into this episode, I want to make sure that you know about the real heavy amount of Facebook community. This is a free community where we just have a little bit more of the conversations that we’re having here, as well as free monthly Trello trainings where I show you how to use Trello. To help simplify systematize and get some routines in your life so you can make life easier for you and for your family. And if you’re like Tony, and I don’t even know what Trello is, I don’t even think I need to even get them this Trello business. Let me tell you Trello is a project management tool that I have been using for several years now. And when I say that I can pretty much plan and manage and systematize like anything in my life with Trello. Like anything can be done with Trello. And I want to show you how so make sure you join me over in the roadmap and on Facebook your knee so you can learn how to go to real happy mom.com/community. Again, that’s real happy mom.com/community to join me inside of the real happy mom Facebook community. All right, so we have that out of the way. Now let’s go ahead and jump on into this week’s episode. All right, well, today we have a very fun guest. I’m super, super excited because I have another dentist friend on the podcast, but don’t get nervous. We’re not talking about teeth. I’m super excited to have another dentist friend on podcast. So welcome to the podcast.
Caroline 3:18
Thank you so much for having me. I’m smiling. I’m happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 3:24
Absolutely, absolutely. Now, I love that you have this other side too, because I think a lot of times as dentists we’re kind of like boxed into to fit this certain mold. And we can only focus on being an awesome dentist. But there are many sides to us and you have many sides to so again, we’re not talking about tea today. But we are going to be talking about financial literacy, which is a really fun topic, especially when it comes to our kids. So before we talk about that, I want you to share a little bit about you and what you do.
Caroline 3:57
Sure thing. Hi, everyone. I’m Dr. Colleen theories me I am a general dentist in New Hampshire. And I’m a wife. I’m a mom. And I’m also the founder of doctors out of that. And what I do is I help doctors and when I say that because I mean dentists, physicians, pharmacists, I help them to get out of debt, to create generational wealth. That’s what I show them to do. And the reason why is that as doctors and I made it, I know I’m saying doctors spend two bucks, put it put us in a box, but it’s really everyone. Sometimes we go to school and then we get one of those six, six speaker degrees and it’s hard for us to pay it off. And then we don’t get to enjoy life and practice medicine or dentistry like we would like to so this is what I do. And while talking to several doctors, I have a course where I teach you exactly how to get out of debt and create wealth. Going through that and even coaching some clients one on one like that. earlier. We know about Money to better. And that’s when I reached out to another dentist, my best friend, Dr. Alicia birch and I told her, I really want to write a children’s book and things that she is an author, a children’s book author, so she does write books, and I said, can make it can we do this please like, I really want to write a children’s book about money. And just like, Yeah, let’s do it. And literally in the talking piggy bank was born. And it’s the, it’s a fun book to talk about money. And I think that a lot of moms can really appreciate a book like that. So they can, it’s gonna be easier to pretty much start talking about something that’s taboo in some cultures. In a nutshell. That’s it.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 5:45
Nice, nice. And you brought up something here. As far as you know, we I feel like we aren’t taught about money and how to handle money and be really multiply it because yeah, I think when I was coming up, they taught us how to use a checkbook and all that stuff. I don’t think they teach that anymore. I don’t know. This whole thing about financial literacy is something that I wish was in the schools and the curriculum, and that they were teaching it to all kids, but I feel like it’s like, you don’t learn about it. Unless when you grow up around people that are financially literate, or you go out and find it yourself. So I’m just wondering, like, what was your story on like, how you’ve been got to this point, because, like I was saying, as dentists, we love what we do what most of us I can’t talk for everybody. I know you mean, we love what we do. And so I just think it’s so fun that you know, you have this passion outside of work. And I was just wondering how that all even got started.
Caroline 6:44
So I’m sure you guys can hear an accent. I’m originally from Haiti, from the Caribbean, why it’s way warmer, by the way than New Hampshire. But anyway, so growing up in Haiti, my parents always instilled in us to try not to old people money, and to pay everything cash. And to not be afraid to talk about money will be on the kitchen table, like dining table, we’ll just be talking about money, when it was time for them to purchase a car. Me and my sister, they just involve us in the conversation. They’re looking at it to your dad color to make the most of everything. And I feel like it’s very important to not make money, a subject that you owe topic that you don’t talk about, just talk about money. And I think that has helped me a lot faster. But that was when I was young. Fast forward to several years later, 2011 I graduated from dental school, I had $250,000 in dental school, I was like, Okay, what am I going to do with all this? My parents told me to stay away from debt, what am I doing? So after I realized that, it would take me about, if I took 25 years to pay all that off, I would have ended up paying about half a million dollars because of interest. That’s and I’m like, Okay, I need to figure this out. And that’s when I really realized that there are ways to pay out pay down the debt, but a lot of it has to do with your mindset, how do you see money? How do you use money, all of those things are gonna impact what you do with the money. And that’s when I really started investing, I’m learning more about investing and all those things. Because in Haiti, investing the stock market or real estate is not something that’s huge, like it is here in the US. But it has been an interesting journey. And I feel like I’m still going to join it there, even though I don’t have any debt. But it’s still a journey of financial freedom, because you want to, you want to keep the financial freedom because it’s so easy in this country to go in that like so. So easy. Even I tell people that if you if you want to go in that, just go just go back and get a call back. It’s so easy to make it so easy. Every single week, I get something in the mail that says you’ve been pre qualified, I’m like, oh, what? It’s so easy. But it’s it’s been an amazing journey we’ll eat. But again, the reason why I talk about money so much just because I know, it’s a tool that can be used to pretty much better our lives and centralize orders.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 9:25
Yes, yes. And one thing that I’ve been trying to do is have more conversations about money on the podcast. So there are several episodes that I’ll make sure to include those in the show notes, where I’ve had conversations with different women about money, but when it comes to talking to our kids about money, I think that is another fun topic. And especially since you have the talking piggy bank, I’m just wondering like, what are some point it’s or what are some things that you would suggest moms listening to start with when they’re starting to teach their kids about money?
Caroline 9:55
So the first thing is to figure out what is your goal, what is your what is your vision? And a fun thing that you can do with your kids have a vision board, you can ask them like, okay, so what do you want to do in the next two years or this year, maybe going to Disney, going to Jamaica, whatever it is, that takes money. So it’s good to include them in that activity. And you pretty much write down to go where you’re trying what you’re trying to accomplish for that year. And then you go on Pinterest, or some magazine ad, just take some pictures and put it on the board and put it somewhere visible that you can see every single day. And of course, something else is to read books with them. Well, one of them lily in the talking about money, that’s a good one. And listening to podcasts, and just having a conversation openly talking about money, because you don’t want it’s the worst thing ever to be in your 40s or 50s. And not knowing anything about money. And I always say, even if it’s something that you think that you might not care about, when you are living when you are a human being two things that are always going to affect you no matter what money and health since better, it’s very important to take care of your money, it take care of your health, because those things affect you whether or not you’re like, Okay, I have good genes, or it’s fine. I can pay my bills every month. No, it’s very important to be very intentional, again, have a vision board that you can do with your kids talk about goals, it’s very important to have goals. And again, nothing. And I always say always add a deadline to those goals, nothing to pressure you. But it’s for you something to be accountable for something to celebrate and be like, Oh, I paid $1,000 I paid off my credit card, not you know something to celebrate, because it’s good to celebrate all wins. You’re not always going to find other people clapping for you. So it’s good to clap for yourself, encourage yourself. So really, vision board, writing down your goals, and having some kind of accountability be you can use books podcast, or you can find a mentor or coach. Even online, you don’t sometimes I feel that when people say Oh, I don’t know where to find a mentor, sometime just online, you can just find someone that you can look up to and just look at what they have been doing and follow those. Whatever those habits pretty much. They’ll be awesome
Toni-Ann Mayembe 12:25
addition. Nice, nice, nice. Now you started talking a little bit about celebrating wins, which is something that I think we need to do a lot more often. Because I think a lot of times we have these big audacious goals, which is great. But when we don’t see ourselves, you know, you know, paying off that $250,000 loan or paying off that car in you know, a short amount of time it can get really discouraging. So I’m just wondering, especially for moms that have big goals in their kids have big goals, like what are some ways that you have found to keep yourself motivated, so you could actually get to that end goal that you’re striving for.
Caroline 13:01
So you can either go with the SMART goal process, or you can just break them down. So it’s good to have quarterly goals. So every three months what so q1, q2, q3 q4, what is what are your goals, and something that I have started doing? Every October, I started ready for the following year. Why? That’s what all of the big CEOs are doing. And that’s the thing when it comes to your finances. You are the CEO, okay, you are the CEO of your finances, you are in charge, even though you might be like, No, I don’t want to do that spreadsheet, I don’t want to do budgeting. There’s so many different options that wouldn’t work for you, I promise you, it will work for you. But really, it’s very important to be intentional about stuff like that, to break them down. So I think like having goals for the whole year that can be a little bit intimidating. Just break it down. Quarterly. That’s that’s another option. Or even every month we can have, you know, just break it down step by step, you know, step by step. You don’t have to do everything at once. Because that can be overwhelming for me. How am I gonna pay all that off? No, start with $1,000 to pay up you know? So baby step little steps, little steps. Yes, yes.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 14:20
I’m a big believer in the in the little steps because a lot of little steps make a big huge step. So I’m definitely with you on that one.
Caroline 14:27
Yes. And you know, what I say jokingly is that when you go to the grocery store, you ever see like, when you look at your bill, it’s like the receipt, I should say it’s like 299 599 99 cents. And then by the time you look at the total it’s like 200 something. Oh yeah, those little numbers add up. So same thing to look at your goals that you might be my friend that you’re not doing much, but trust me you are doing something that we are gonna that’s gonna take you closer to accomplishing that. big goal, because that’s something I used to do when I was paying off the debt. And, and, by the way, I was able to pay off $250,000 in four years. And that’s what I teach doctors to do the same thing too, and be able to have a generational wealth for their kids. But I would have on my vision board, I would write down the year like 2012. And then I’ll say, in December 1220 12, I will pay $30,000 towards my student loans. That’s how detailed it will be very, very detailed. But again, if you feel like having a goal for the whole year is overwhelming, overwhelming, just break it down, Break it down. Little steps.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 15:43
Okay, got it. Got it. Now, I want to switch gears just a little bit, because you have talked about generational wealth and financial freedom, which are two common terms that I feel like I hear a lot in the financial space. So one, I want you to define those two terms for me, because some people listen to maybe like, what does she mean by financial freedom, because that that may look and feel different for different people. And then also, how can we start to ensure that we have financial freedom, starting now,
Caroline 16:14
financial freedom to me, because you’re gonna see different definitions. Financial freedom, pretty much means that you don’t need to have a job that you’re actively going to, to take care of your living expenses, meaning you have some kind of income, which is called the passive income that’s paying your living expenses, when your financial financially free to also do whatever you would like, if we’re having to be confined to a job, we can still go to that job, but you don’t have to go to that job. Because you do have other streams of income, coming and paying those living expenses for you. generational wealth means that it’s wealth that can be passed down to your children and grandchildren, and so on and so forth. It’s very important to understand that based on research, generational wealth usually ends after the fourth generation. And usually, it’s because people don’t talk about money, you don’t just pass down the money, the wealth, you have to talk about it. Teach about money, talk about money, whatever you have learned about money, tell it to your kids don’t just think because you know, sometimes people say, Oh, kids learn by watching. Yes, it’s true. But it’s also important to actually show them. This is how you balance a checkbook. This is how you open a brokerage account, all of those things, you have to be able to teach your children. And if you can do those things, there are several podcasts, you can find a coach YouTube, there’s so many ways to be able to have those resources to help you. What was the other question? I’m sorry, I know there was.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 17:56
So you talked about generational wealth and financial freedom. So how can we start to work towards financial freedom, or what are some steps we can take,
Caroline 18:05
you cannot say your way to financial freedom, or well, you must invest. And if you’re making probably half a million dollars, maybe you should be able to save your way to wealth. But really investing is the number one way to attain financial freedom, or having generational wealth, it’s very hard to just keep saving your money in a bank that has like point 00 1%, whatever it is now, where you could be investing in several areas, we’re in the stock market, real estate, whatever our business, whatever it is, that you have your interest in, it’s going to be easier and faster, to actually have financial freedom and generational wealth. So we’ll see it actually takes, don’t quote me on that. But I think it will take you 2400 years, something like that, to be able to have financial freedom, if you’re just putting your money towards the city, it was a fake account. And I know for a lot of moms sometimes won’t be easy, first of all, and investing can look a little bit intimidating. It really doesn’t have to be it doesn’t have to be and frank about it as you’re securing for your future and your children’s future. And also to be able to give yourself a little break. Because I think the pandemic has taught us a lot that we cannot be relying on one income. One income is way too close to zero to none. So it’s very important to invest, where you can have the passive income from investing and have the financial freedom in generational wealth that we all want and desire.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 19:53
And yes, yeah, definitely for sure. And you brought up a couple of things. The first thing that I want to ask You based off of the, what you were just talking about, which was really good, by the way, because I’m trying not to go down a bunny trail with you, because I really want to go on a bunny trail about investing. But we’re gonna do that another podcast. Very good. So I guess my next question for you is, you talk about generational wealth and how we have to, you know, talk to our kids about money and setting up accounts and things like that. Because, like you said, you know, the, the wealth ends after that fourth generation, which is like crazy to me when I think about it. So I’m just thinking about the mom who’s not confident about finances and doesn’t feel like they know enough to really talk to their kids about money. Like, where would you say, to even start, especially because a lot of the moms listen tend to have younger ones. So like, elementary, middle school age, how can we start talking to them, especially in those early ages, so that we can continue that generational while
Caroline 20:56
talking to the kids up? Yeah, so the kids. So it’s very important to have to make sure that you know what you’re doing, first of all, because investing in any investing, you can lose money, it’s, it’s a risk that it’s very important. So you might have to reach out to a financial adviser to do that. Or you can find a coach, or some kind of programs that they have, that’s, that’s something else that you can look into. But again, it’s very important to baby steps again, to go back to the baby steps, you can even start with a little calculator online to really show Okay, so if you invest this amount, you’re supposed to get about this amount in percentage, this is how much you’re gonna be having in 10 years, because I feel like a lot of people, maybe I’m just speaking for myself, I’m visual, so it’s good for them to actually see. So you can really incorporate some kind of exercises like that, to go from the piggy bank to calculators that you can find online, so to speak, and really, really understand why the power of compounding is something that we all need to take advantage of. And again, I’m telling I’m saying YouTube and podcast is amazing. They have amazing, amazing resources there. At no cost to you. So yes, yes,
Toni-Ann Mayembe 22:15
definitely. And you made me think about my son. So my oldest one, I call him my little Gary Vee, because he’s all about his money, like homeboy don’t play like he wants his money and all of it with interest. So it’s so funny, like the days that I think that he’s not listening or paying attention. He hears everything. So I was talking out loud to my husband, I was like, Okay, guess what? I won $100 gift card to Amazon by filling out this survey. And I’m pretty excited about it. So I was telling them how I, how I wanted to use the money. So I didn’t think my son heard me. And of course, he was like, Mommy, how did you get that? $100 and I was like, I did a survey. It’s about podcasts. And he was like, can I fill out a survey to malaria? larious? Yes, he is. So it’s funny, like you think they’re not listening. But they are. And it’s funny, it could just be like, it’s simple conversations, like talking about how you want to gift card or you know, how you saved up for the trip to, you know, the Grand Canyon that you’re going to in the summer, like whatever it is. So I love that you say to have those conversations, and then also don’t be afraid to reach out because I’ll be honest, like, I had a really hard time with my finances. And it was because I didn’t know I was like, I don’t know what to do. And I just ran away. And I just never looked at my statements, which is the worst thing you could possibly do. In your situation with especially when you’re in debt. And it took I had a money coach who, again, I’ll leave the the podcast episode, where we talked about our journey together and have paid off like $20,000 in like six months, or whatever. Yeah, like she and it was crazy. Because I kept telling him like, Rod, I don’t have money, I don’t have money. And then when I started doing things, I was like, I do have money. But it’s crazy how just sitting down with someone and you know, getting that that guidance, you can do a whole lot more than doing it by yourself. So I’m glad that you advocated for getting a mentor going on YouTube. And even if you go on, like on Instagram and search some of the hashtags like financial freedom and financially free community, there’s some good ones out there. So I don’t know if you have any good hashtags that you know, but yeah, you can drop those because I’ve been following some of them because they get me inspired, and give me some information.
Caroline 24:36
No, absolutely. But again, um, budgeting is something that’s important to know how much money you’re making, and where your money’s going. And you can have might have your kids a little if they have jobs, whatever it is, have a look budget that you can do with them. A little workshop, whatever it’s called. Just get them involved, you know, and like you said on inside gram financial freedom. For me it’s doctors out of there, that’s everything is darkness out of that as far as in, by actually by putting, putting that you should be able to see several other good posts, I guess on finances. But again, Instagram, YouTube, there’s so many resources, take these variables, take advantage of them take advantage of them.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 25:26
Yes, yes. And I like I said, again, I’ll make sure to include all links and everything that I have in the show notes. So if you’re listening, you’re like, Well, show me some I got you. I’ll show you something there. So make sure you check those out. But before we wrap up our conversation, I just wanted to know if there was anything else that you wanted to share with us real happy moms, especially when it comes to financial freedom and building generational wealth for our kids.
Caroline 25:49
Do not have analysis paralysis. Don’t say like, oh, I want to invest. But I don’t know where to start. I don’t have the money. Trust me, you have the money. If you have an iPhone, if you have a Samsung, if you have cable, if you have the money. Okay, it’s all about reallocating that money towards places that will double or triple the money that can go towards your kids education or other stuff. That will be that could add more value. So whenever you’re thinking about talking about money to your children, try to explain that, what is that what I do that it’s important to purchase things that are going to add value to your life or to your health or to your well, your network, pretty much value, value value. And vacation is value as well, you didn’t have vacation. So all those things, okay? And value value value. That’s huge. That’s huge to be mindful of those things.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 26:53
I love that you said vacations and value because that’s not something that I’ll be honest, I haven’t thought about that. So I’m glad that she said that I’m gonna make sure I have a conversation today with the little guy about buying toys that are valued, not these random things. He keeps breaking. But anyways, I digress. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing with us. This has been a really fun conversation. Now before you go share with us where we can find you online if we want to connect with you, and learn more about you or just work with you. Yes,
Caroline 27:23
that goes out of that on Instagram, Facebook, and of course doctors out of that calm. And that doctors, one s doctors out of that.com doctors out of debt on Instagram and Facebook. And it’s fun, fun community. And we don’t just talk about money, money, money, we talk about mindset and all other things because it’s what it takes way more than money to be happy. So we talk about
Toni-Ann Mayembe 27:50
Yes, yes. And I’ll be sure to include all the links in the show notes. Again, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. This has been such a great conversation. I truly appreciate you.
Caroline 28:00
Thank you so much for having me.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 28:03
Now that does it for this week’s episode of The Real happy mom podcast. To find the links in Show Notes head on over to Real happy mom.com/ 181 There you’ll find all the links the hashtags and everything that was mentioned here in this episode in a Cliff’s Notes version, they’re on that particular page. And if you have found that this episode is helpful, do me a favor and share it with a mom friend because you know what they say Sharing is caring. And we definitely want to have other moms that are empowered in are helping their kids with money. Now that’s it for this week. Stay tuned for next week for another full episode. Thursday from Monday to Thursday and Saturday for a quick tip. Take care and with lots of love
