Letters to my daughter about money and life
I struggled to find a way to share lessons with my daughter. Here’s how I found a way to do it.
Time to read: 4 minutes
When you become a parent, everything changes. You start thinking about creating a brighter future for your kids.
Am I doing the right things? Will she be OK? Will I be a good enough dad? How do I give her every opportunity out there?
For me, as a financial advisor, I started to reflect on what I want to teach her about money and, more importantly, how to use money in pursuit of a life well lived.
So, from a dad, to his daughter, here is where I am starting…
I used to write these ridiculous slam poems for co-workers. In reality, they were just poems and the lines rhymed. They ended up becoming a pretty fun way to break the ice in Friday morning meetings.
They eventually faded into the background and were forgotten. They were always a source of inspiration and creativity for me, but I couldn’t find a good use for them anymore.
It’s also one of those moments where I wish I could sing, but that has never been and never will be reality. In fact, my tryout for the choir in middle school lasted literally 5 seconds.
Here’s how my first, and only, audition played out
Imagine opening the door to an auditorium (that was the basketball court at the time). At the far end of the court was a piano and the choir director.
I walked across the entire court and stood in front of the piano.
He started playing, I started singing.
And then he stopped, looked at me and said, “Thank you for coming. Truly. But this isn’t going to work.”
I’m not even sure I completed one line. It was obvious that I wasn’t destined to reach Taylor Swift status with my singing.
As I walked back across the full length of the basketball court, I could hear every step I took.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…
That walk felt like 30 minutes even though it probably only took about 30 seconds.
Fast forward to today.
Writing (not singing) became my source of creativity and inspiration. And that writing turned into fun poems, and now I’m turning them into my own little way of sharing lessons about money and life for my daughter.
Because if I tried to sing them … well … you’d only listen to the first 5 seconds before running for the exit :-)
I call these letters/poems/slams (whatever!) “Money Lessons for Monty”. (btw, her name is Montana).
Who knows. Maybe one day I’ll make a book out of it.
And now, time for my first poem
Please know this is simply my way of expressing how I think and feel about money in a way that resonates with me. It’s my way of not taking the topic and myself too seriously.
I hope you find them, at the very last, enjoyable. And maybe, just maybe, you find a little nugget that you can use in your life or pass on to your kids.
Cheers to health, wealth, and the good (financial) life,
Brent