Listen Here
Today’s episode features a true legend in the world of financial educatio
n—Sharon Lechter. Sharon is the co-author of the globally renowned book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a bestselling CPA, and a former advisor to two U.S. Presidents. Her mission: to elevate financial IQ and empower people everywhere to achieve financial freedom.
Dave Wolcott sits down with Sharon for a comprehensive conversation that goes behind the scenes of the Rich Dad story—how it began, why it resonated with millions, and the powerful legacy it’s still creating today. Sharon shares her unique upbringing around the language of assets and cash flow, her early business ventures, and the pivotal moment that led her to collaborate with Robert Kiyosaki and create the groundbreaking Cashflow board game.
Listeners will gain a fresh perspective on wealth-building, as Sharon breaks down complex ideas like good and bad debt, the importance of true diversification, and why “assets are sexy.” She also shares practical, actionable wisdom for navigating today’s uncertain markets, and timeless advice for teaching children the mindset and skills they need to be successful with money.
Whether you’re just starting your wealth journey or looking to take things to the next level, Sharon’s insights are guaranteed to change the way you think about money and legacy.
In This Episode
- The origin of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Sharon’s journey to financial literacy advocacy
- The difference between real asset diversification vs. Wall Street’s version
- Understanding good debt vs. bad debt and how to leverage it wisely
- How to break the cycle of financial ignorance for the next generation
I thought Rich Dad was my legacy. When I left Rich Dad, I said, “What am I going to do?” But then I realized, no, somebody upstairs had a lot more for me to do. And that’s when I got the call from President Bush and served Bush and Obama. Then I got the call from the Napoleon Hill Foundation. So when one door closes, other doors of opportunity open. But sometimes you have to close the door for other doors to open.
Welcome to the Wealth Strategy Secrets of the Ultra Wealthy podcast, where we help entrepreneurs like you exponentially build wealth through passive income to live a life of freedom and prosperity. Are you tired of paying too much in taxes, gambling your future on the stock market, and want to learn about hidden strategies for making your money work for you?
And now, your host, Dave Wolcott, serial entrepreneur and author of the bestselling book The Holistic Wealth Strategy.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Wealth Strategy Secrets of the Ultra Wealthy. I’m your host, Dave Wolcott, and today I’m honored to be joined by a true legend in the world of financial literacy and entrepreneurship, Sharon Lecter. Sharon is the co-author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, the number one personal finance book of all time. She’s a CPA, bestselling author, and former advisor to two U.S. Presidents on financial education. Her mission: to elevate financial IQ around the world.
In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the Rich Dad story—how it started, why it struck a global nerve, and the legacy it’s still building today.
We explore Sharon’s top wealth-building principles, dive deep into real asset strategies, and expose the truth about Wall Street’s version of diversification. You’ll learn why assets are sexy, how to make debt work for you, and what to teach your kids if you want to break the cycle of financial ignorance in your family for good. This conversation is packed with timeless wisdom and modern strategies for investing in uncertain times.
So if you’re serious about financial freedom, this is one episode you don’t want to miss. Let’s dive in. Sharon, welcome to the show.
Well, thank you, Dave. I’m delighted to be with you.
It’s such a pleasure to have you on the show, Sharon. And as we were talking, you know, this is just such a fantastic opportunity to really have you in person here to share with the audience your mission, which so much aligns with ours and, I believe, is the true systemic issue—one of the largest issues, quite frankly, within this country—really around financial education and, you know, getting smarter. And it all starts in the schools, which is completely lacking in today’s schools.
And, you know, whether you’re a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, an entrepreneur, or someone of trade, we’re just not taught financial education anywhere. And so the work that you’ve done with Robert has literally changed millions of lives. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run into that have read the Purple Pill and taken it, and, you know, it’s really changed the trajectory of their lives—including myself.
I think one thing that would be really fascinating is to put together another book today and just talk about the use cases of how many people took these concepts that you guys originally had and really put out to the market—a different way of thinking—and seeing how that’s really just taken off.
Right. And there are just so many different examples of that, and I think that’s really aspirational for much of our audience. Right. How can we grow our wealth outside of Wall Street? Getting out of that casino, taking control of our financial future.
So, with that as a backdrop, I’d love for you to help share the origin story with how you met Robert and really came up with the idea around Rich Dad Poor Dad and putting that together.
Well, thank you, Dave. I appreciate it. It actually starts at my dining room table. When I was a kid, at 10, I used to have to scrub out bathrooms between tenants in real estate properties my dad owned. And we would talk about assets, we would talk about cash flow, we would talk about liabilities at the dinner table. I didn’t realize what a unique upbringing I had until I got out into the real world. He owned orange groves. He said, the orange gives me oranges, gives me cash flow. The orange groves are going to give me appreciation.
And some of those orange groves are part of SeaWorld in Florida right now. And so I learned, kind of from the inside out, the importance of the word “assets.” It happens to be my favorite word on earth. Assets are sexy—another one of my taglines. And I realized, when I got out into the real world, I got my degree in accounting, and I was fast-track in public accounting, how few people understood money. They’re taught to go chase money, exchange your time for money. And as a CPA in public accounting, I learned how many businesses succeeded, but probably more important, I learned how many businesses failed.
And the vast majority of them failed because they didn’t understand money. They didn’t understand time value of money. And it was something that I just said, this is something people need to learn. And I realized what a great benefit I had, having the parents I did. So fast forward a few years—I started a company called Sight and Sound. It was a talking children’s book, because successful businesses solve a problem or serve a need.
Our kids didn’t like to read. And in that company, it was a new technology at that time, back in 1987. Kids didn’t have screens, they didn’t have electronics. Dinosaur day—I know you can’t imagine a time when kids didn’t have screens—but we said, how can we get parents to trust us because we have this new gadget? Well, we did deals with Disney, Warner Brothers, and Sesame Street, and that helped us expand that goal to do the first children’s talking book around the world. And so I learned a lot about publishing, a lot about licensing, a lot about international trade. Sold that company in ’91, and we relocated to Arizona. Our oldest son went off to college and came home.
And—credit card debt. He left in September, came home in December, and he got to the college campuses and there were tables: free pizza, free money, free T-shirt, free money. And he had a really good time his first semester in college until the bills came due, and he came home in December of 1992 and asked us to bail him out—which we did not do. But that was when I dedicated the rest of my career to financial education—December of ’92. Fast forward a few years, I got a call from Mike in ’96.
He said, I met this guy that has an idea for a board game that I think you might want to see. And so I met Robert at the very first beta test for the game Cashflow. It was drawn out on a piece of butcher block paper. The different caliber bullets were playing pieces, so it was kind of an interesting first impression. But I was the only one that got out of the rat race at that beta test. I loved it because it was so consistent with what I was doing with schools at the time—to try and get our children to learn about money from a standpoint of assets, not paychecks. And so I just volunteered as a friend to Robert to help him commercialize it, because I had all the connections, I had all the resources to help do that.
In the process, he told me he wanted to charge $200 for the board game. And this was 1996. I said, that’s kind of pricey for a board game. Maybe you should write a brochure to explain the philosophy that would encourage people to invest in it. And that’s when he asked me to be his partner. I helped him write that brochure, and that brochure was actually Rich Dad Poor Dad. We never expected it to take on a life of its own.
We never expected to write 15 books. We said, oh, people wanted more—well, let’s do a trilogy: Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cashflow Quadrant, Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing. Oh no, they wanted more. So over our 10 years that we were equal partners, I was CEO of the company, I was able to expand it around the world to build the largest personal finance brand in the world. We wrote 15 books together, I launched the Rich Dad Advisor series, and we had multiple audio and other products.
It was really an opportunity to educate people on how to think about money in a different way—how to move from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. We actually met through my husband, Mike, who’s a well-known international intellectual property and licensing attorney. So that’s how we originally met.
Wow, such a fantastic story. And, you know, I can remember the first time reading—in about 1999, shortly after it had just come out. And one of the things, you know, for me—the concepts of just thinking differently around your wealth, right, and really understanding. I had kind of just transitioned out of the military, so I had absolutely no idea how the world worked in terms of financial constructs and such. But, you know, how it was really portrayed—this concept of how money is moving around, and then the analogy of the Rich Dad Poor Dad—I thought was so great from a strategic perspective. But one of the key contributions I think you made, as well as Tom Wheelwright, who’s also been on the show, is your financial prowess.
And really talking about it from that kind of CPA perspective and really the numbers, right, because once you kind of get past Rich Dad Poor Dad, you get your head around it—okay, I need to change my thinking this way, I’m on board—and that’s very strategic. I know so many people have done that. You know, it’s kind of like, okay, 101—we’re going to shift our thinking this way—and you gravitate to that.
But then the biggest question I think a lot of people have is, okay, what’s next? I can invest in real estate, but wow, there’s a lot to do there. And I think the real light bulb for me was Cashflow Quadrant, and just really taking that complexity and simplifying it into that simple quadrant, which to this day holds so true. We talk about that with our kids, with our clients, with our partners, and it’s just such a simple but powerful concept. Love it.
Yeah—Sharon’s holding up a copy of the book. Yeah.
So it was so great. But you really, Sharon, you really brought this whole element of getting a little deeper into the accounting and how we could make this real.
We should all focus on educating others – your kids, your peers, your family – on how to think differently about wealth.
Well, I think it’s so important, Dave, you know, we’ve got—if you think about the overall messaging of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it was very contextual, and you really have to do that to get people to expand their thinking and say, “Okay, maybe I should be thinking differently.” But then, when you get to that point, you have to somehow give them the map to take that contextual change and make it a reality.
That’s actually one of the reasons I launched the Rich Dad Advisor series—because those were content experts who could go deeper into their individual subjects while we could maintain that context of not letting people go smaller in their thinking because of fear. The number one thing you deal with in money is fear. People are afraid of it. They don’t know it, they’re not taught about it, and therefore they’re afraid they’re never going to have enough, or they’re afraid they’re going to lose it when they get it. That scarcity mindset exists because we’re not teaching kids about money in school.
So, I appreciate the compliment very much. My number one goal was not to speak to people as a CPA, talking down to them, but as an individual saying, “Here, let’s think about it in this manner”—in a way that wasn’t threatening or intimidating—because money can be an intimidating subject.
Wealth is preserved through education. The rich get richer because they teach their children about money.
Yeah, and also, let’s face it, Sharon, this is a completely contrarian viewpoint. This is completely contrarian to Wall Street accumulation theory—building for retirement. So why don’t we transition to that and, from your perspective, tell us about where we are in the state of financial education today as a country and as a society. What’s holding us back?
Well, just five years ago, there were only five or six states out of the 50 that required a personal finance class for high school graduation. Today, we’re up to 26, but it’s still not enough. We need all 50 states. I had people in an interview last week say, “How do you bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots?” It’s education. If we make sure every child is armed with financial education in school, that levels the playing field. If you think about some of our world’s billionaires, they started from very meager beginnings, but they learned how to buy, build, and create assets.
If you look at the Wall Street casino a little bit—40 years ago, the Fortune 500 companies’ value was 85% bricks and mortar, 15% intangible. Today, that’s more than flipped. Over 90% of the valuation of Fortune 500 companies is intangible. It’s through systems, their branding—think about Airbnb, the largest hotel company that owns no hotels; the hospitality industry. Uber owns no physical vehicles—it’s all in the software. Amazon as well. This allows us to compete a little bit better because assets today come from your brain—intellectual property.
When we talk about asset categories, a financial planner, when they talk to you about diversifying your assets, is usually referring to stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. When I talk, or probably when you talk, about diversifying assets, it’s against asset categories—businesses, real estate, paper assets, intellectual property, commodities, digital currencies. When you can diversify across asset categories, you give yourself the best way to stay solid and continue moving no matter what happens in the market.
When we talk about asset valuation, it’s about the momentum of your money. People want to put money in a savings account, but then your money’s going in the wrong direction because inflation is still higher than the savings rate. So think about the velocity of your money—is it moving in the right direction?
Yeah, 100%. We run a virtual family office and spend a lot of time with family offices. It’s very interesting because I think they are some of the best professional investors in the world, really, in how they look at asset allocation—endowment groups, family offices. It is true diversification, not Wall Street’s definition. Frankly, the old model of 60:40 doesn’t work anymore—it’s completely upside down in today’s market.
And now we have even newer assets coming into play, like cryptocurrency. You mentioned a really big one that I think we should highlight, which is intellectual property. We are in a knowledge-driven economy, and that intellectual property is worth so much. So, how can we tap into that? One of the things I’d also like to get your perspective on is around assets being “sexy.”
Part of our investment thesis is that we focus on real assets that are non-correlated to the stock market and really have what I like to call a trifecta, or a three-dimensional return profile: you can drive cash flow, you can drive tax efficiency, and you can force appreciation in the asset. Real estate is a perfect example of that—you can win on the upside by 3x or protect your downside. Maybe your passive income isn’t that high, but you could have a really big exit.
So you have three ways to hedge the downside. If I compare that to equities—unless you’re day trading, most people are just hoping that value will go up in the future. What do you think?
I hold and pray. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I think it’s really important for people to become more strategic investors and understand that you have to actively manage your portfolio. You need to ask, “How can I best advance this?” There are people we teach about the importance of real estate, but you also have to understand the tax implications of that real estate. Do you have ordinary income that can be offset by it, or are you not going to get the benefit of the depreciation? You need to go in understanding that.
That’s the beauty of family offices—they’re looking at the whole picture, all of the assets combined, and how they come together to give you the greatest lift in the overall portfolio. That’s why it’s important to have the right advisors on your team. People who try to do it on their own can’t be experts in everything anymore, so you need to have those experts on your team.
Shannon, if you could break it down to your top five pieces of wisdom on financial IQ, what would they be?
Assets feed you; liabilities eat you. Understand that there’s good debt and bad debt, and be honest with yourself about how you categorize your debt. Good debt helps accelerate your pathway to wealth. Bad debt is basically putting your money down the toilet. It’s important to be honest with yourself on good debt versus bad debt.
It’s also important to consider—who are you listening to? You referenced the Cash Flow Quadrant. Think about the five people you spend the most time with. What segment of the Cash Flow Quadrant are they in?
One piece of advice I have, whether it’s related to money or life, is: when was the last time you did something for the first time? Think about that. That’s what keeps you stepping outside your comfort zone, meeting new people, and identifying new opportunities. To maintain your vitality and youthfulness, you need to continue learning and growing. Challenge yourself to do something new for the first time, and you will find new people, new opportunities, and new revenue streams.
My last bit of advice is that successful businesses either solve problems or serve needs. We have a lot of problems and a lot of needs. Think about how you can solve a problem or serve a need and create an economic model around it so that you’re doing well personally by doing good in the world.
Yeah, wow, fantastic. Let’s unpack those a little bit—too tempting to move on from there. So, let’s talk about debt a little bit, especially right now where we’re seeing the commercial real estate industry being severely impacted by deals that were put together in ’21 and ’22. Even the greats, such as Kenny McElroy, and many well-known operators are having challenges across different asset classes—not only multifamily, but office and others—primarily driven by the unprecedented rise in interest rates that was uncontrollable.
I like how you said debt can be good or bad. So, what are your thoughts around leveraging debt, and how do people know what’s a good LTV for them? If they’re looking at a deal, how do you figure out what’s comfortable?
Right, well, that’s a great question, Dave. I guess the standard accountant’s response to that is, “It depends,” because you need to have somebody who understands your own personal financial situation. What we’re seeing in the commercial market is different from the residential market. In commercial, many got into loans with balloons, and now they’re facing those balloons and having a hard time refinancing their properties, causing financial stress. Part of that is over-leveraging. Certainly, in ’07 and ’08, that was a massive issue—over-leveraging, predatory lending, all of that caused a huge collapse.
When you look at today’s residential market, over 60% of the homes in America have no debt, and those with debt are mostly under 4%. There’s a tremendous amount of equity in the residential market, which gives us a fundamental strength that wasn’t there in 2007–2008. However, it’s also adding tension in the market between sellers and buyers.
That tension is going to go somewhere. You’re going to see more creative financing—more seller financing—because buyers are taking on more risk to purchase properties, and sellers are offering more concessions. We’ll see the same in the commercial market, but the problems are bigger. Instead of a small house, you have huge commercial buildings, which means the stakes are higher and the bank gets more involved. It’s important to look at ways to hedge the downside, as large organizations are stepping in to pick up multi-housing properties in trouble, and we’ll see more of that.
I think we’ll see some easing toward the end of the year. The Federal Reserve is being a little obstinate about interest rates, but I believe we’ll see a reduction—at least one, if not two—before the end of the year.
Oh, interesting. Yeah, that’s a hot topic for sure. Who is going to be in the Fed by the end of the year—we’ll have to see. I think that would be quite a material change. If they took a point or two off and rates came down, that certainly creates another challenge we’re having, which is actually a great segue.
I know Robert has tons of theory and perspective on this, but I’d love to get your take as well—specifically on the printing of fiat currency, the debasement of the dollar, and not only the dollar but fiat currencies globally. In the times we’re in, what are your thoughts on that? Do you think we need to go back to a gold standard? How does crypto tie into this, and how should people really be thinking about the value of the dollar?
Well, we talked about diversification earlier, and it applies here tremendously. There is no doubt that the U.S. dollar’s valuation today is significantly less than it was 50 years ago, and its purchasing power is very different. Digital currency is here to stay—crypto, whichever digital currency you choose to invest in, is here to stay. You’re seeing a bit more acceptance from government, but there’s still a lot of risk. Don’t bet the food you need to eat on crypto.
It has had a nice run-up this year and will probably continue in that direction, so make sure you pay attention to see how best you can handle that. There are pundits out there predicting the quick demise of the U.S. dollar; I’m not one of them. I do believe its value has been hurt significantly. I hold significant gold and silver, which is important because that’s not a currency—if you have physical gold and silver, it’s not being controlled, and the government doesn’t know about it.
This gives you the ability to have a safety net for yourself and your family. The value of gold and silver is going to maintain itself—gold from a value perspective, silver from a currency perspective. For those Nostradamus, end-of-the-world types, that’s where you’re going to have value to help you survive. I believe in all of those things, and I believe that the U.S. dollar, against other currencies right now, is still behaving relatively well. The dollar is not going to go away, and I don’t think it’s going to be severely impacted. You just need to protect yourself as much as you can.
Great prerogative there. And I think if we look at, you know, history, right, and especially with a lot of other nations, it’s really not something that happens overnight. Right. It’s just that constant kind of debasement, really.
And well, I think our federal debt is, I mean, throughout history, if we print a lot of money and the valuation comes down, we can pay off our debt with a lot cheaper dollar. And I think we’re seeing a move in that direction here because our federal deficit is just out of control, and the only way we’re going to be able to deal with it or get it somewhat in control is by, again, lots of money being printed to pay off debt at a smaller valuation, US dollar.
So, okay, I really want to unpack that and highlight that for the audience because I think a lot of people completely miss that point. And it’s never calculated in any return profiles, pro formas, or anything when you’re thinking about an investment. And that point is that when you’re investing in something like real estate that has long-term debt associated with it, you’re paying off that debt with future dollars that are worth less in the future than they are today. So, as a CPA, how would you actually try to quantify that in your decisioning process—your diligence of an investment opportunity?
Well, there’s all kinds of calculations. You can do time, value of money, but that’s the benefit of having—you know, I talk about the benefit of real estate. You put down 80%, borrow 20% or 10% or 30%, you put down 20%, you borrow the balance, all right, and you still own 100% of the property, you still own 100% of the tax benefits, you have 100% of depreciation, and you have 100% of the appreciation. That’s what I call the ultimate leverage. So you have a million-dollar asset, and maybe you put down 200K. And so you have an incredible opportunity for cash-on-cash return, and that debt is going to be paid off by your tenant.
And so that debt’s being paid down by tenant money, tenant dollars. And over time, if the value of the dollar is going down, you’re paying off that debt much more quickly than you would have if the dollar was rising. And so these are all calculations that can be made, but you want to look at, necessarily, the cash flow as your way for debt service and if it’s going to give you enough of a margin that gives you a cushion no matter what happens to the dollar.
Got it. How would you advise—or, let’s say, give some advice—in today’s economic cycle to the audience? It’s certainly been a turbulent year, as it really always has, but it feels like maybe we’re leveling things out. The administration has been in place now for half of the year. Maybe people are getting numb to all the changes that are happening on a weekly basis. But should investors be bullish right now? Should they be bearish? How should people be reacting in the state of the market today?
Well, as you can tell, I’ve been around a long time, so I was making lucrative real estate deals when the interest rates were at 15%, 16%, 17%. It’s all in the numbers. And so we look at this horrendous 7% interest rate and think the sky is falling. Does the deal make sense at 7%? There are lots of deals out there that still make sense at 7%. But it also opens the door for creative financing. As I mentioned earlier, sellers who really want to sell a property can get a great tax benefit by being the bank and doing seller financing. You have a lot of money sitting on the sidelines.
And so even with these large commercial properties you’re talking about, what I’m seeing is not a bank coming in, but a private institution—private lenders, hard money—coming in to take over those properties at a reduction of their fair market value. They’re getting a better deal because they’ve got the money to solve a problem for the current mortgage holder. And so those are all things that are happening right now. That’s why it’s not an easy market, but it can be a creative market if you know what you’re doing or you partner with someone who knows what they’re doing. Because real estate’s not going away. In times of uncertainty, we talk about the 5 G’s—let’s see if I can remember them: ground (real estate), gold, guns, grub, and gas. Those are the things that we are always going to need.
And so, thinking about trying to recession-proof your portfolio, think in those references.
That’s great. Can you give us any of your top takeaways in terms of the latest Big Beautiful Tax Act that just came out?
Your thoughts there? Well, there are lots of takeaways, but certainly the estate tax deduction going to $15 million is fantastic. That’s going to help a lot of people, and of course that’s going to be the wealthier benefit. But at the same time, most of their money has been taxed along the way, so I don’t necessarily think that it’s a bad thing. The actual tax bill bringing back bonus depreciation, extending the things for tax benefits that were going to go away at the end of this year, is a huge benefit to our small businesses out there—being able to benefit them for capital investment. That’s what an economy needs to be able to grow. You’re going to see big companies and small companies start to invest in their infrastructure because they have the ability to have the tax benefit.
Certainly, the no tax on tips is going to be a great boon for those in the lower to middle-class markets. That’s going to help them from a standpoint of getting their feet on the ground. It’s going to help with child care expenses and will be very beneficial. Certainly, no tax on Social Security is going to help our senior citizens. All of those are targeted to populations that need the help the quickest, and I think we’re going to see a real benefit to our market in general and to people, families, and personal wealth as a result of some of these cuts.
Right. What advice can you give us for our kids? I know it’s so interesting because I believe that the psychology of money is really 80% of this kid game, and I’d like to get your guesstimate as well. We started the conversation around the scarcity of money, and a good way for people to think about that is to answer the question: “When I was growing up, money was ___.” For me, it was scarce.
I think for a lot of people in our generation it was the same. There are a lot of psychological hurdles to overcome to shift to that abundant mindset and try to change that. But now we have a responsibility to really change that for our children and future generations, and I know you’ve been such an instrumental part of that. So what type of advice would you provide for us to educate our kids going off into the future?
Absolutely. I do always recommend couples, when they get together, to have what I call a “money date.” Go out to dinner and talk about what your respective parents’ philosophies were about money, because it will reveal a lot of things that may happen between you as a couple when it comes to money. It’s very important because, you know the phrase “the rich get richer, the poor get poorer”—it’s because we learn about money at home.
As it relates to your children, be a mentor, not an enabler. That’s a powerful statement because too many of our parents today are enablers, and the kids don’t have to work for anything—they just expect it. They get the handout. All of us are guilty of having said, “I can’t afford it.” If you think about that—“I can’t afford it”—that’s a negative statement. You want to turn off the lights and get under the covers, right? It’s negative. It feeds into scarcity. So I say, stop yourself and say, “How can I afford it?” You feel the difference—it opens your mind, it triggers your subconscious entrepreneurial spirit, and it goes to work, coming up with ideas.
You can afford what you want. Same thing with your children: “Johnny, Mary, we can’t afford it.” Well, that’s the end of it. It’s depressing. They go cry somewhere. Instead, say, “Johnny, Mary, what can you do to afford it?” Those little kids get very creative, and they go to work and find things they can do to earn the money to get what they want. Let them earn it. As long as it’s legal, let them earn it, let them buy it, and then celebrate with them.
Because the greatest reward you have is not that they’ve earned it and made this, but that you see their self-confidence grow. Once a child knows they can earn money on their own and achieve what they want, there’s no stopping them. But what we’re doing in the real world is handing them money. I kind of liken it to the old science fair. When our kids are in school—you’re in fourth grade, you go into the science fair, and you can immediately see which ones mom and dad did instead of the kid. You think you’re being a great parent.
So the next year, when it comes around to the science fair, the kids say, “They don’t believe I can do it on my own, so I’m just going to let mom do it.” Instead of helping your child, you’ve actually disabled your child. They’ve given up on the idea and on wanting to do anything on their own. It’s really important for us to understand how to make a child yearn for something better and to know that they have the ability inside them. The original word for education—educate, from Greek—means “to draw out,” not “to drill in.” Our children are instruments of brilliance; we just need to keep them curious.
When you think about school, I come back to the statement I asked early on: as an adult, when was the last time you did something for the first time? Curiosity is what helps us become lifelong learners. That curiosity often gets drummed out of our kids in school because they’re taught conformity. Then they go out, get a career, start making money, get comfortable, and get complacent. Then we have a crisis in our life that throws us into chaos. How do we get out of that chaos? By becoming curious and creative again.
So as a parent, maintain curiosity and creativity in your child’s life. Allow them to thirst for knowledge and new experiences, and that’s going to give them the self-confidence that they can do anything they want to.
That’s so powerful, Sharon. Thank you for sharing that. And that’s really evidenced, I think, by people looking at legacy. I believe the numbers are quite staggering—frankly, almost 80% of wealth is lost by G2, and it’s even significantly more than that by G3. That really enunciates the point you’re making.
I know it’s very challenging for my generation because of all the things we didn’t have. We’re trying to make up for it by giving to our kids, but just as you point out, it’s actually doing them a disservice.
Well, you mentioned family offices that you’re involved in. Some of the most successful family offices that I know have part of their program as an educational program for the next generation—to educate them about stewardship and investing—so that doesn’t happen. Because you’re right, it does happen all the time. The kids are raised in wealth, but they’re not taught how to preserve that wealth, and it’s such an important issue.
Sharon, tell us about your legacy.
Well, my legacy—actually, there’s a sign right over my shoulder here that my team gave me—says my legacy is helping other people create their legacies. I love that because it really is true. My great joy comes from helping other people find their portfolio and their mission in life. I was raised by a dad—the same dad that taught me about money—who asked me every day, “Sharon, did you add value to someone’s life today?” He’s been gone almost 20 years, but I still ask myself that. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everybody focused on adding value to other people’s lives?
So that’s my legacy. I thought Rich Dad was my legacy. When I left Rich Dad, I asked myself, “What am I going to do?” But then I realized—nope, somebody upstairs had a lot more for me to do. That’s when I got the call from President Bush, then from President Obama, and then I got the call from the Napoleon Hill Foundation.
When one door closes, other doors of opportunity open. Sometimes, you have to close a door for other doors to open.
Yeah, no. And you know, another way to say your earlier comment was just, “Do something scary every day.”
Yeah.
Right. And kind of put yourself out of that comfort zone. I think not only your comments around what kids are doing, and your legacy comments, but that’s sage advice for all of us. We have to surround ourselves with— you know, that’s the Jim Rohn quote about being a product of the five people you spend the most time with. I love your overlay on the cash flow quadrant. That’s such a cool way to articulate it. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I know most of our listeners are on the right side of the quadrant—either B’s or I’s or both. That’s what we’re really focused on. Just fantastic advice.
I really can’t thank you enough again for your mission and service. You’ve literally changed the lives of millions of people. I think that systemically, this is a massive problem in the country and globally—education. We can all take on that mission, right? Think about how we can. We’re listening to this podcast today, so great job to the audience. But how can you now educate someone else in your family, your kids, your peers, or others on thinking a little differently and taking some responsibility in terms of your own investing instead of just outsourcing it to someone else?
So in closing, Sharon, if you could give just one piece of advice to the audience about how they could change their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
Focus on buying, building, and creating income-producing assets because you are financially free—free when the income from your assets exceeds your monthly expenses. Repeat that: you’re financially free when the income from your assets exceeds your monthly expenses. Because assets are working for you 24/7. No personality problems. They’re working for you. And that’s…
We hear terms like mailbox money, passive income, but that’s not it. Focus on the income, focus on the assets—assets. And how many assets can you have? As many as you can get. When you’re working for money, there’s only so many hours in the day—that left side of the quadrant. So move to the right side. And as I said, assets are sexy, and the older you get, the sexier they become.
Love it, Sharon. If people want to learn more about you, you have so many different resources—your books and, and also it’s pretty exciting—you have a new course coming out. Would you like to share some information on that?
Absolutely. I would invite you to visit my website, SharonLechter.com. You can also email me at info@sharonlechter.com. I do a lot of high-level mentoring. I host retreats at our ranch, Cherry Creek Lodge, twice a year, so please check that out as well. Would love to hear from you. Of course, I’m on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Would love to have everybody connect with me, and I welcome anyone to ask questions.
Send something to me. My new course is Investing in Uncertain Times. I also have a real estate investing course and Money Master. We have lots of different courses, so come to SharonLechter.com and check it out. Usually, as I said during my talk, when I get mad about something I start another company. People were so flipping out about investing, I started this Investing in Uncertain Times where we do a deep dive into all the various asset categories and how to best position your portfolio to not be hurt by these downturns we’re seeing.
Awesome. Thanks so much, Sharon. Really appreciate it.
Thank you, Dave, and appreciate the opportunity.
Thanks for listening to this episode of Wealth Strategy Secrets. If you’d like to get a free copy of the book, go to HolisticWealthStrategy.com—that’s HolisticWealthStrategy.com. If you’d like to learn more about upcoming opportunities at Pantheon, please visit PantheonInvest.com—that’s PantheonInvest.com.