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An interview with Gail Perry-Mason
Welcome to the holiday issue of Keeping Family First. We are joined today by Gail Perry-Mason, Financial Advisor and author of “Money Matters for Families,” and “Girl, Make Your Money Grow.” KFF: Gail, it’s great to have you with us today. GPM: Anita, it’s always great to be with you. KFF: Your first book, “Money Matters for Families” talks about the essential elements needed for building a financial foundation. What are a few of these “essential elements?” GPM: You know what, I think that in families—like you say—family comes first. It does. Economics is such a large part of our families today. Number one is our kids—we need to know the difference between a need and a want with our kids. And you know that because our kids will ask us for everything in the entire world. Also, a lot of people are working parents and we tend to buy things for our kids more than if we were home most of the time. We tend to buy things because we feel a little guilty. So the first essential element is knowing the difference between our needs and our wants. Having a family foundation, and when we sit down and eat together around the dinner table, we need to come together and talk about finances and expose our families to finances. KFF: That’s so helpful. In exposing our families to finances, what is the first thing parents should do to prepare our child to have a proper view of money and to handle it well? GPM: The first time your child asks you for money—I don’t care whether they are three, four, five or on up—say, “Here’s a dollar. How are we going to divide up this dollar?” We have to give some money to charity, or tithe—we have to. You’re not going to receive unless you give. So if a child has a dollar, say “Okay, well, you have to take the dime out and it can either go to church or to someone who needs it. Then, what bills do you have? What do you need to do?” And they’ll say, “Bills, I don’t have any bills, I’m a child.” KFF: Wow, that is so awesome. I think it’s the first time I’ve heard it put that way. Let me ask you, what’s the best way for an average working class or middle family to save for their child’s college education? GPM: The best way to save is a 529 trust. And every financial firm will have this—but always get information first—or go on the internet and look at what is a 529 and see what best fits you. Some families can invest $25 a month. Some families can invest $1,000 a month. But we still need some type of trust. I always say, “We have to stop putting our trust in money and our money in a trust.” And this is where the 529 trust comes in. So we have to say, “let me start a trust fund.” We always say we want a trust fund for our kids. This is a way to get started—no matter how little it is—or how large. We have to start putting away something. But you brought up a good point, the middle class—how do we save? It’s so difficult. We’re trying to survive. We’re the ones who are getting taxed the most, paying the most and spending the most. The wealthy don’t and the poor don’t. But, we spend the most. And we keep the economy going. And we’re in trouble. I don’t care what anyone says, we are in trouble. So how do we save? First of all, we have to learn how to make layoffs in our house and stop spending so much. KFF: I heard you mention that and I was going to as you about that—and home economics… GPM: Yes, home economics—it comes right back to that, I’m glad you said that. It comes right back to home economics. KFF: Elaborate on that. How do we layoff. What are layoffs in the home? GPM: You know, Anita, I started just laying off some cable channels. My cable bill was $72 a month and I reduced it to $32 a month by laying off a couple hundred channels. Which I didn’t need anyway. And our kids don’t need to watch them anyway. So the kids came home from school and started crying saying, “The TV is broken…” So we have to be really careful about what we layoff and what we do. I had my VCR on for a couple of years and never used it. Walk around the house and say, “what can I layoff and what can I unplug?” Now, I don’t mean layoff your kids and layoff your husband or your wife. I don’t mean to do that. But start looking at the liabilities around your household. Then you can find assets in your household. Every time I do a seminar, most women have two closets full of clothes. Just take one closet back—take a few items at a time to a consignment shop and get some checks coming in. My largest check was $598. I took that check and put it into a 529 account for my child. All I did was layoff some clothes that I never was going to fit—because I’m never going to lose enough weight to get in those clothes. I go to another shop and take my kids’ clothes and they give you money as soon as you walk in the front door—you just make an appointment. That’s money for your kids’ 529. Once you make layoffs, I call it home economics, we can find assets right there in our house to start our own trust fund. KFF: So it’s so important for us to be resourceful. GPM: We have to. We have no choice. KFF: But that takes time and energy, and we don’t have time and energy anymore. GPM: You know what, you’re right, but we can’t afford not to. That’s one thing that we have to do. I don’t care if you have to get up earlier to take a few items out of your closet, you can do it. Or when you’re getting out clothes, say, “I’m going to take this outfit out to wear today and I’m going to take this outfit out to take to the consignment shop.” It doesn’t take that much time. And then find a consignment shop that’s near your home. I have a place where—I call it “run and drop—” I just run in and put my name on the hangers. They say okay, Gail, this is for you, write your telephone number and name. I’m like, “Okay.” And they send me a check. And that’s what I do. KFF: Your point is that there is money to be made, and money to be found if we’re willing. GPM: Yes, if we’re willing to take a little bit of time. Daylights savings time is coming up. I’m going to get up one hour earlier. And that’s the time I’m going to spend on my financial plan, try to find money in my household and clean out my closet. And the middle class is like, “Maybe I have to get my credit together a little bit more, I have to do this a little bit more…” So we have to repair the past and prepare for the future. And you can do both. Some people say, “Oh, I can’t do it all.” We can. KFF: Tell me, what are one or two of the most common mistakes we as parents make when attempting to teach our children about money? How can we avoid it? GPM: That the ATM is a cash machine. They think, “Oh, we’ll just go to the ATM and take out the money. KFF: My kids have said that at age three, “Just go to the ATM.” I said, “There has to be money in the ATM…” GPM: Yes. We don’t explain to them where the money comes from. And when I started, my oldest son, who is now 21—at age 14—I did not know how to set things up to pay online. I’m learning now. I had my kids do it. So I was like, “Direct TV, pay it online. AOL (which is now free) pay it online for me. Find me the best rates. I just told my kids—pay my bills for me. Then they were like, “Oh, mom can’t afford this pair of gym shoes that I want or can’t afford this…” Our kids need shoes. But we have to look at needs and wants. Need shoes, want Nike. Big difference. My son is putting together a basketball team and he’s requiring everybody on the team to wear those new $15 shoes that are coming out at Steve and Barry’s. So he’s so excited that they are all wearing $15 gym shoes. But we have to explain to our kids what’s a need and what’s a want. And money—I know everyone says it—but money doesn’t grow on trees. And they’re sick of hearing it just like we were growing up. But we have to explain to them that it just doesn’t grow. It grows only when we put it somewhere with compounded interest. KFF: Absolutely. The holiday gift-giving season is upon us. So, what do you recommend we do to avoid getting into financial trouble this season? GPM: First of all, we’ve got to stop spending so much money. One thing I did do, and I’m not telling everyone to go out and buy Tiffany stock, but my Goddaughter wanted some Tiffany earrings, so I’m thinking, “I can own the company cheaper than what these earrings cost. So let me buy her the company.” I just bought her one share of the company at like thirty bucks a share. I bought her guess at seventeen bucks a share and it’s now $53 a share. But those guess jeans that I bought her, she can’t even wear anymore. But the stock went from $17 to $53, it’s still growing. So, I would say, buy companies for your kids and frame them. KFF: That’s great. GPM: Frame them and hang them in their room and it’s like the best gift. They realize, “Wow I’m an owner of this company…” And buy the item also. This way you know when you’re spending money there, “Well, I do own the company too.” Or if you buy a Starbucks gift card—and we spend so much money at Starbucks—”get some Starbucks stock. And the same thing with our spouses. “I’m not going to buy you anything honey, but I’m going to contribute to your IRA.” Think about it. Because down the line the gift you buy them—you spend all this money—and the stress of going shopping, we could have bought them stock. But I love getting up in the morning and surprising people. I do love doing that, but we have to think of creative ways. All of my kids, I don’t want them to buy me anything. I love for them to write me a letter. One year my oldest son framed everyone’s letter with a picture and that was my most memorable Christmas—was getting a letter from my kids, in a frame with a picture. That was just the best. And that’s what I like moreso than going to buy momma something from the Dollar Tree or Dollar Store. I mean think about it. It’s cute, but they don’t last long and we keep them and I start a fire hazard with all of these trinkets from every dollar store in America. So we have to start having our kids write us a letter and do things such as that. That’s what I think. KFF: That’s great. We don’t have to spend a lot of money and we can do things that are more meaningful like buying stock, as well as the letter. GPM: Yes, and that letter means so much. Even when I get mad at my kids I look at the letter and go, “Okay I can’t get mad anymore.” It works always. It’s a win-win for everybody. KFF: How did you get involved in the financial sector? GPM: I started out as a receptionist when I was 21. As a matter of fact I had my oldest son and I needed a job. But I wanted to become a stock broker and they wouldn’t let me. I moved up to secretary. They gave me tuition reimbursement so that I could go to school… and they said “Oh Gail, you have a job and benefits, you should be very happy.” So one night somebody left their books on the table—the “how to study for the series seven exam” book. Well, I went and Xeroxed those books. I didn’t know copyright laws, I’m sorry… We know them now. So I ended up just Xeroxing those books and I studied them. I’m great in math. I said I’m ready to take the test. They said, “Gail you should have never done that but you’ll never pass the test anyway.” It is one of the most difficult tests. I passed it. Then I put on this seminar. I brought in a guy named John Rogers-him and Melody Hopson. I brought them into Detroit for a seminar. I didn’t have enough money for the seminar. I was a secretary at the time. I didn’t have enough money. I asked my mom for the money and she wouldn’t give it to me. I asked my job—they wouldn’t give it to me. So I took a job as a waitress the nights I didn’t go to school and with $350 in tips I ended up bringing dollar bills, everything down to this hotel in Detroit, to put on this seminar—counting out my pennies—all from tips. I said to folks, if you had $25—I don’t care how much you have, you have to invest it. That’s how I got started and I just never looked back. And I became a first vice president. And that is my life. KFF: That’s amazing. GPM: And I would never have changed it. KFF: What is your passion? KFF: And you have a money camp that you run… GPM: I have a money camp. Every summer. It’s a week long where I teach kids everything from etiquette—how to sit, how to stand, to how to package food at a food bank— because you’re always supposed to give back. So I teach them everything, how to read the stock page. They are the best stock pickers in the world. KFF: Where, what ages and how can we learn more about this? KFF: Absolutely! GPM: I need your help, Anita with this. KFF: For sure. KFF: What’s next for Gail Perry Mason? GPM: I just got asked to write for Heart and Soul magazine. I’m doing a tour across the country with Wells Fargo—an enrichment tour teaching women how to enrich their lives financially—health, wealth and spiritually. Ilyana Vanzant is doing the spiritual and Dr. Roe is doing the health. But what’s next is I’m trying to do a book. I’m trying to lose 50 pounds and save $50,000. So I’m on a 50/50 plan—net weight to net worth. I’m doing a big seminar January 2, 2007, trying to teach people how to get healthy, I’m trying to learn but I want to learn with people and write my next book. Because you know, if we don’t have our health, what’s the sense in having our wealth? I also want to teach people that we can’t love anything that can’t love us back. Money can’t love us back. I could be a multimillionaire if I didn’t give away as much money. Money is replaceable. People aren’t and our health isn’t. So, I want to get more into health and then teach people how to become wealthy. One day, I’ll be there what I’m teaching people. Not yet. KFF: That’s wonderful. I understand. It’s a journey. We’re all on a journey. GPM: Yes, it is a journey. KFF: Gail, thank you so much for your time and I wish you the very best in all of your endeavors. GPM: Oh thank you—Thanks for investing in families! KFF: You’re welcome, thank you. Copyright ©2006 by Keeping Family First.
Copyright ©2006 by Keeping Family First. |
