Each of us have a different relationship with money. Whether it’s a frugal approach to spending, a passion for investing, or a struggle to save, we all have our own individual approach to finance.

How much of that can be traced back to our parents and our upbringing? There’s a good chance that this relationship was instilled at an early age. Your decision-making now when it comes to financial planning could have quite a bit to do with the way you were raised.

That’s what we want to explore on this episode of Money Wisdom. It’s referred to as family of origin and it impacts many different aspects of our lives. If you’ve had the chance to read Joel’s book, The Wealthy Think Differently, you’ll discover many of the same ideas as we’ll discuss in this episode. But we want to look at people’s approach to money and the way they think about it.

To do that we’ll look at a few different groups of people: those that went through the Great Depression, people that grew up poor, and those that had a wealthy family. How do each of those situations manifest into adulthood? We’ll also talk about communication within these families. Usually there isn’t enough conversation as it pertains to money and finances, and that can be a problem.

In The News

Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf was recently fined $17.5 million for his role in the company creating fake accounts for millions of customers. It was a ploy to artificially inflate sales numbers and hit bonus incentives. That is the largest individual fine in the history of the bank’s main federal regulator. Joel will give his reaction to this news and John shares a story about a friend who was fired from Wells Fargo for not following this scheme.

Fun Facts

If you love trivia, we have two fun facts to deliver on this show. John shares one about thunderstorms that Joel ties into finance. And then Joel turns around with a fact about Walmart, which turns into a conversation on the battle between Amazon and Walmart.

This episode will entertain but also inform. Thanks for checking out our latest episode of the Money Wisdom podcast. We’ll talk to you again next week!

[0:48] – In the news: Former Wells Fargo CEO has been barred from the banking industry and faces a $17.5 million fine.

[3:41] – A friend of Jon’s was fired from Wells Fargo for not doing the thing all of his peers were doing.

[4:06] – Fun fact: At any given moment, there are 1,800 thunderstorms in progress over the Earth’s atmosphere. Joel finds a way to tie it into finance.

[5:17] – Joel throws out a fact about Walmart.

[7:11] – Quote of the Week: My retirement plan is to get thrown into a minimum security prison in Hawaii.

[8:04] – Jerry Seinfeld quote: My parents didn’t want to move to Florida but they turned 60 and that’s the law.

[9:48] – Let’s dive into the psyche of the average investor and talk about how the way they were raised effects their decision-making.  

[10:08] – A lot of things go back to ‘family of origin’ issues.

[10:53] – How did living the Great Depression impact the way people thought about money later in life?

[13:13] – What about the people that grew up poor? What is their relationship with money?

[14:41] – Do people that grow up in a wealthy household usually end up wealthy on their own later in life?

[16:27] – How do most families communicate about money?