Many of us werent taught personal finance at school, and money wasnt discussed at the dinner table.
The following is an abridged version of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Probably not as good as youd like.
It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings.
But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?
We also add humor and some fun to the content to make it more engaging and interesting.
TPH:What role do visuals play in grasping financial concepts?
Hay:Visual learning is a classic concept.
Mozart, DaVinci and Freud all used visual images and graphics to solve their biggest problems.
Human beings are visual learners and they process images 60,000 times faster than they process text.
Also, 90% of the information that we process to the brain is visual.
TPH:Can you walk us through how you go about creating a Napkin?
Audience Question:How can I convince my young adult kids to start saving for retirement now?
The second thing is to show the power of time and how money compounds.
The most powerful asset people have when theyre young is time.
Hay:Traditionally, we always say you need three to six months ofemergency savings.
We have a section onbudgetingon our website and in the book.
Having a plan in place is the best way to reach your goals.
Audience Question:How do I start a fund for my child?
Can my child invest in the stock market?
How old does a person have to be to invest?
you’ve got the option to also start saving for their education through a 529 plan.
There are a lot of fun ways to get them engaged.
They can invest in companies that they care about or that theyre interested in or that they use.
TPH:What is the best piece of personal financial advice youve ever received?
Hay:I have three pieces of advice I believe are really the most impactful.
The first one is diversify so dont have all your eggs in one basket.
The second is: Keep costs low.
Many people dont realize all the fees that we pay for, whether its for advisers or financial products.
The third piece of advice is buy and hold.
Im a big believer in investing for the long run.
Most people shouldnt be day traders and arent trained to be.
Audience Question:Do you have advice for transitioning from full-time employment to retirement?
If your company provides matching retirement contributions, see to it you take advantage of that.
Youd be surprised at how many people dont.
Even if youre saving later in life or investing later, its okay.
Dont worry about whats happened in the past, but be proactive in the future.
TPH:What do you hope that people get out of reading Napkin Finance?
Hay:The beauty of the book is that I think its really comprehensive.
It covers so many areas within money and finances everything from taxes to retirement to credit.
To listen to the conversation in its entirety, watchthe Facebook Live replay.
Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
It sounds appealing right?
Check it out here!
