Understanding Financial Literacy with Kiara McClendon | April is Financial Literacy Month
Apr 21, 2021 13:00 · 6838 words · 33 minute read
and in the process i was frustrated that i didn’t know how to do some of the things that i was expected to know you know as a full-time employee and then i i reflected on and i said why is this not required for kids why is this not required for college students to actually learn about just being you know savvy with their money and learning how to manage their money so for me instead of complaining i just decided to you know be a part of the solution to the problem instead of just highlighting the problem and doing nothing about it what’s going on what’s going on what’s going on ballers and welcome to another episode of beyond the ball podcast i’m your host jonathan jones and the focus of beyond the ball is ultimately focusing on stories strategies and successes to help student athletes succeed beyond their degree and if you all have not subscribed i want to encourage you to subscribe to the youtube channel because there we have exclusive video content as well as podcast episodes so make sure to subscribe and don’t miss any of those updates but now we’re going to go ahead and dive into our guest today and i i guess this is a phenomenal individual who we happen to find these interesting and very cutting edge individuals so i guess today she is a speaker she’s an author and she’s an athlete development professional i’m going to go ahead and welcome to the beyond the ball podcast miss kiara mcclendon how are we doing hello hello how are you thank you for having me uh i’m good i’m good i’m good glad glad to have you on glad to have you on so go ahead just just take a moment and just share a little bit about the work that you do and just give people like a snapshot because i know i didn’t cover it so please go ahead take this time and go ahead and dive in okay sure so again thank you for having me today on beyond the ball i love your podcast and all the things that you’re doing so i’ll shout out to you for that um to share a little bit more about me so my name is kiara mcclendon as you mentioned and um i am the owner of a small business called a for effort llc as well as i started an athlete development and financial literacy program called exceptional athletes so financial literacy athlete development are two things that i’m super passionate about and i try to be innovative in the approach to how we support our student athletes in those spaces so that’s the first thing second thing is i’m an author so i actually have published two children’s books under my book series called the adventures of the money mavens so again an extension of that financial literacy education for young kids it starts as early as kindergarten and goes all the way up to our flash cards which are age appropriate for adults actually um well children ages 12 and up through to adulthood and then the last piece is i’ve been working in college athletics for about six years now in a variety of capacities being a mentor to student athletes so my focus has been excuse me athletic development as well as the academic development of our student athletes um so all of those things my main theme has really been how do i mentor support uplift and inspire um the next generation of leaders who are student athletes yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean i really love just just the the fact of how how passionate you are about financial literacy right and and ultimately educating equipping and i mean i’ve even hopped in on some talks where you were you you were sharing some stats just about across the country why isn’t this topic being taken more serious so uh just kiara how did you dive into it why why did this become so so relevant and and why did this become an area that that you saw needed to be a solution sure so well i can first talk about just my experiences and like my upbringing so i have a one of my grandparents my grandmother was actually a very successful like bank manager um back in my hometown so she was with the bank that she was with through four mergers into four different banks so went from collective to fleet to summit to bank of america so when we see bank of america now those are all the banks that it was before that so she had been in the banking industry for a number of years i’ve been in the bank been around that environment um but yet and still never had formal education on just the importance of money i remember having maybe one unit in my fifth grade class which shout out to my teacher mr elder he did an excellent job of trying to expand our mindsets to different things um we wrote checks and did like deposit slips so i was aware of that but again still never being required to take you know classes on the subject now fast forward i have two master’s degrees so i went to school for quite a long time right quite a bit of debt in the process and during that process still no formal education on arguably one of the most important um tools if you will that we have to use to make decisions which is money right so for me when i became a professional i started to go through the process of just planning my life planning my retirement like figuring out my salary and how i could manage my personal lifestyle and in the process i was frustrated that i didn’t know how to do some of the things that i was expected to know you know as a full-time employee and then i i reflected on and i said why is this not required for kids why is this not required for college students to actually learn about just being you know savvy with their money and learning how to manage their money so for me instead of complaining i just decided to you know be a part of the solution to the problem instead of just highlighting the problem and doing nothing about it so i took all of those experiences i started to educate myself taking some classes reading some books and then really learning by doing so i made some mistakes along the way but i feel like that characterizes my ability to just share my experience with with the student athletes and the people that i serve yeah so if there’s somebody out there who that like they’re in square one right now they they don’t know what they should be doing just in regards to starting their their financial literacy journey or or or furthering their their knowledge in this subject like what like is there a one two three or is there something that you can provide people to help them like just get started in this development process sure i mean i think the simplest thing the simplest ways to start out with your financial literacy journey is one we have to examine your mindset as it relates to money right so i think a lot of us spend a lot of time um thinking about money in a scarce with a scarcity mindset like i don’t have enough or there’s not enough or i’m in competition with others for money when in actuality you’re really in competition with yourself and the opportunities that you create for yourself allow you to create opportunities to make more money whether that be through pursuing you know a different career path or your you know different opportunities whether it be investing whether it be whatever that your avenue is for creating that you know um stability for yourself i would say first and foremost look at that get rid of the scarcity mindset look at money as a tool for access and an abundant resource for you to get to where you want to go so that’s number one number two if we’re talking about practicality creating a budget everybody has some type of money at some point in time unless you’re just not able to work at this moment so whether you get you know five hundred dollars a week five thousand dollars a week fifty thousand dollars a week the biggest thing is how do i look at the money that i’m bringing in and maximize the use of that money how do i make sure that the things that i want are taken care of second and the things that i need are taken care of first i cannot get the things that i want before taking care of the things that i need so i would say those are the two biggest things to start out with your mindset and then building the budget and really examining how to make the money that you’re currently bringing in work for you before we even talk about adding additional streams of income and all that good stuff ah kiara are you stepping on my toes you’re stepping on the toes sometimes i just want what i want you know what i’m saying sometimes i just want to you know i you know tuesday i might want sushi i might not want to look at the budget i might just want to go get sushi hey listen you can do that but then you’re not you get sushi today and then miss out on a bill tomorrow you know people just have to be careful and one thing that people have i guess mistaken as it relates to budgeting is that we’re saying you can never have things that you want in actuality a budget makes it so much easier for you to get the things that you want and still save for things that you need in the future or want in the future if you follow it’s a it’s a common rule but if you follow the 50 30 20 rule 50 of your after taxes after deduction income is supposed to go to the things that you need right 30 is allocated to the things that you want and 20 is allocated to the things that you are saving for so that 30 you can get the sushi in there if you’re smart with how you use that 30 you know dang you’re gonna come through here and drop the extra give give us the bonus bar yeah lee man i i can’t say i don’t think i’ve ever heard of it put like can you say that one more time so 50 30 20 50 goes to needs 30 goes to once 20 goes to savings so and then the 20 really should be paid to you first so when you get your paycheck that 20 should automatically go to your savings then you take the other 80 and like i said split in the 50 take care of your needs first and then split in the 30 taking care of that stuff that you want man well that’s pretty cool over there could look like you was cutting up a pie as you would yeah man that that’s that’s that’s pretty cool that’s pretty cool so as as you said something about like a scarcity mindset i think and and this this is going to be this is going to be a general statement but but i feel that looking at some some people’s in certain cultures you know that it might look like might look like a culture that that me and you might might be a part of and and understanding that money sometimes has an association of well well first the association of money with with status right and then on the other side of that like i think anybody can teach about money right like money anybody who has taken the time to study and learn but at the same time there’s a level of relatability that i don’t think that everybody carries why are you so relatable just just when it comes to you know doing the work that you do like you know partnering with colleges universities and and even you know partnering with with athletes like like talk talk just a little bit about that and you know why you’re so good at what you do okay so first i’m going to touch on the status piece as it relates to money so we know college athletics professional athletics or any any arm of entertainment is big business right it’s a lot of money that comes in and there’s a lot of money that goes out and that’s one of even more of a significant reason why it’s important to teach the athletes how to manage their money because they’re in a lot of cases the avenue by which these fields make their money like the if if college athletes weren’t competing colleges wouldn’t have money college athletics programs wouldn’t have money same for professional sports but yet and still i think we you again it’s it’s it’s awesome to be rich but it’s even more impactful to be wealthy and when we get caught up in chasing money and and showing off our money for status purposes that’s a rich mindset i don’t want to be rich i want to be wealthy because that building of wealth sets me up to be successful but also the generations that come after me and when we talk about changing the narrative changing the mindset being wealthy is actually more other centered if you think about it based on what i just said because it’s about making sure that the generations that come after you are set up being rich is me flashing or being flashy for the people around me who to be quite honest like they may not have as much money as me or they may have completely different habits that don’t ascribe to the same beliefs that i do so i’m not worried about being flashy and being rich for them or showing off my riches for them i’m worried about that next generation and that’s what we have to make sure that we’re instilling in our athletes um the other piece as it relates to the relatability um i’ve worked in college athletics for six years as i mentioned on the side of academic achievement as well as student athlete development so i work with athletes on how they learn how do you dissect information coming from the high school environment to the college and environment how can i make sure you know how to maximize your time study um take advantage of the on-campus resources connect with professors dissect your syllabi actually learn and study this content so that’s one so i already know that then the athlete development side is how do we put together programming that’s effective for our student athletes that’s relevant that’s fun that’s engaging that you know has a cultural tie to who they are and i’m also a young professional still in my career yes i’ve been in college athletics for the years that i mentioned but i’m not quite 15 20 years removed from you know you know certain college and so on and so forth so like for me some of the music that they listen to not all of it because some of it is a little crazy but i still listen to it you know or or some of the programs on tv some of the podcasts and things like that i relate to so i’m able to take a teacher’s mindset and ask the development mindset and then a a cultural awareness and put it all together and then deliver the financial literacy education because i know what i’m talking about so i think that’s huge and there have to there has to be more black and brown individuals in this space talking to athletes when we know that a large majority of the athlete groups that we’re discussing are black and brown individuals hmm wow talk talk more about that why why is that why is that so important just from a holistic perspective to learn from somebody who looks more like you or learn from somebody who has similar experiences as you why why is that so important i think that from a theory perspective and there’s like educational theories that go over this but they i’ll take it there for a second so there are a number of studies that talk about how students that have an african-american teacher that are african-american identifying or black identifying students are more successful in school because they identify with their teacher or their teacher looks like them or has that cultural competence that cultural awareness that understanding and the student identifies with that person so their drive to be successful is also attached to some identifier that they have with this person that is their educator right that same thing is the case for when we’re talking about educating student athletes or college students or even professional athletes then on top of that um there’s another podcast that i watched and part of that episode they were talking about how the finance industry specifically is very much so quota based um you know financial professionals financial advisors are trying to get these athletes these big money clients in there sign them manage their money and don’t always know or understand what is a priority of that particular athlete like talking to a client whose parents have been wealthy in the past that conversation is totally different than a first generation millionaire then a person that’s never had more than you know five thousand dollars at a time and and now has signed a contract for 50 million or five minutes or whatever it is so in that i think it’s important for us to be conscious of that like having people that are in the industry whether it’s the education side the financial advising side agents whatever that are like i’ve been where you’ve been i’ve seen what you’ve seen or i can identify with the things that you identify with because we have a shared experience in some way shape or form yeah well i never even thought about it like that just in regards to you know the the quota and ultimately that that a client is more so a client could potentially be be more so a number versus being an individual mm-hmm but that’s called this gonna be a little controversial here that’s college athletics in general like there’s however many hundreds of thousands of kids maybe even millions of kids every year that’s trying to get a spot right there opportunities to get on a division one program more specifically at power five spot whether it’s football basketball et cetera or any other sport are very very slim that same slim chance and i’m not saying numbers because to be honest i don’t know all of the numbers but the same scarcity of spot or scarcity of opportunity exists at the pro level we just were talking about how the wnba this year has a large number of college athletes that have declared for the wnba drafts they only have 12 teams 12 spots 144 spots right but i think they said it was what like 500 or maybe i made that number up but it was a large number of students again looking for that opportunity so i think that’s also important to be just mindful of that like the industries that we’re in operate off of that i don’t say elitism but just this idea like there’s only one spot there’s only one opportunity there’s only this one thing and and i think unfortunately college athletics can can sometimes create that unhealthy relationship with that with that mindset yeah and then even and then i’ll i’ll just add to the conversation because even if you know an individual declare our young lady declares for the you know wnba one one one benefit that there is if they don’t happen to make the team in the wnba that there are some that there are deals overseas and then they actually could generate more money potentially more money in some of these uh some of these countries for some of these teams but at the same time you’re giving up a lot in order to make that dream a reality right you’re you’re you’re you’re going clear across the world you’re you’re you’re going to be more so by yourself you might be the only american but it’s just i think it’s one of those things where you know there’s a few different sides of the coin and it just depends on everybody’s situation huh yeah i’ll say this and i’m i’m definitely not knocking the wnba or like the you know the teams i think that the organization is amazing i think we need to see more support for the wnba for women’s sports specifically because just this past women’s final four women’s tournament like those athletes the female athletes that were playing were bawling do you hear me like i paid more attention to their tournament no offense to the guys but then i really did the guys tournament because of all of the last minute victories last minute theaters all that and those same athletes are going to be the ones that go into the wnba or go play overseas so i just want to see any athlete male female identifying or other identifying be able to be successful in their space but specifically when i speak to you know the aspirations to go pro in the nba wnba i just am calling attention to the fact that there aren’t that many spots going overseas is an awesome opportunity but not everybody’s always as open to that at first anyway and then i mean since you brought up the the the women’s tournament i got to bring it up as well uh so one one thing i heard i mean i went i went in and i looked and it the stats showed that women the the the women’s tournament ultimately like the ratings like the followings the the most followed players were on the women’s side right yeah that’s the thing i think really says a lot about just us understanding that we do need to put more support there we do need to put more attention there and that’s why i mean i like i saw the new wnba jerseys i think i think those are really amazing and i think it’d be i think it’d be pretty cool you know see some guys wearing some jerseys hey yes yes i think women athletes women’s sports athletes more specifically wnba athletes and even like the women’s soccer they have always been vocal about their support for their male counterparts or male athletes and other leagues and slowly but surely we’re starting to see it um unfortunately like and god rested so like kobe was doing a lot in that space as it related to supporting women’s basketball but i’d love to see more athletes speak out in favor or in support of what they’re doing and put some money behind it really because the opportunities we need them the exposure we need them but one of the biggest disparities for them is the lack of funds um that are being allocated both at the college level and professional level four for women’s basketball that same um thing that you mentioned you saw ratings as the the most popular athletes i think i saw a meme on instagram that broke down potential earnings and like i don’t know if it was 20 athletes or the top 20 or whatever but like half of them were female basketball players and the other half were male basketball players and i think the top two or three were actually female college basketball players so projected earnings as it relates to name image and likeness also position them at a higher level so we need to respect them like put some respect on that name put some money behind and support behind behind what they’re doing and and hopefully this past tournament has shaken things up a little bit and just put people on notice and hopefully we don’t have too many more ignorant comments like i’ve seen from some of these athletes because some people made some very ignorant statements i won’t i won’t i won’t name no names but that you know they need some some education and some support um so that they can be better allies yeah i saw that tweet i i saw that tweet out there i said oh my goodness he they can’t be serious right oh they can’t so we’re gone we’re going we’re gonna pivot we’re gonna pivot i want i want to ask you this because i was i was looking at something uh just the other day no i was looking at something but i was just just looking at how the the scope has shifted because when when you and i were growing up rappers were talking about money they were talking about maybe drugs and a few other things now the conversation has shifted for rappers are talking about credit they’re still talking about money but they’re talking about investing there some of them are business owners mm-hmm and just just talk to me am i tripping or has has there been a paradigm shift in just the conversation that that’s taking place or a cultural shift yeah i mean i think we i’ve definitely seen and and shout out to younger rappers that are doing it too like he’s pretty quiet for the most part when it comes to a lot of his interviews but like roddy rich did an interview he sat down with um and i don’t know what platform but he talked about that like being a young rapper like going back into his hood and buying a home there and saying i did it intentionally because i wanted people to see you know what it is i’m doing and he was inspired by nipsey who is a huge inspiration for me i can’t i could have a whole conversation just about nipsey alone but again people like him people like jay-z obviously when he put out um his album and um i i’m forgetting the name of the song but and i can’t sing the lyrics because they’re pretty explicit but he says you know at one point he says like what’s more important than doing xyz credit and like he talks about like owning the basquiat painting and owning all of these other assets and them appreciating in value and i think at that time that was the first time that we heard people really paying attention to rappers singing about building wealth rick ross talks about buying back the block all the time like and and that’s amazing um i also think the reason why that’s happening is because rappers are starting to wake up or at least convert amongst themselves about the fact that rapping’s also a finite industry like you’re not going to be a rapper forever like a knives or like a jay-z like the longevity and careers for rappers right now you got a hot song you ride that wave until the song’s not hot anymore and then you know you typical some people can keep going and and some people can’t you know so i think that also plays a role into maybe why we see that paradigm shift for that cultural shift within the entertainment industry they see that rapping and being a ballplayer or playing sports are very similar because right now as as black and brown people we don’t own any of that we don’t own either industry a majority stake in either industry so i think now it you know it’s important that we’re saying how can we how can we change the narrative how can we become owners of our own destiny our own legacy so yeah wow owners of our own destiny and our own legacy that’s that’s a bar whoo wow so you saying that the first thought that just comes to mind is just name image and likeness we don’t have to go there i’m just saying we can go there oh i mean i don’t even i don’t even i’m not gonna say i don’t like talking about the conversation my biggest thing is i’m more so waiting for the first drop of it to take place the first drop of the legislation to happen across the country and then we’re gonna see like what can be done what could be done what should be done and and the reason the the reason i’m thinking of it now initially the reason i’m thinking of it now is for one just like what you’re saying march madness has passed paige becker’s that’s what that’s her last name is back becker’s because so i i think so too i hope i’m not i’m not butchering it you see this if you see this forgive us right she she’s at the gate with 380 000 followers on instagram then we then we go and we talk sarah fuller i’m not sure how many followers she has but when she had the push and she had the wisdom and the insight to put um you know the the website in her in her instagram bio and i’m just the first thought i have is potential missed opportunity for them because you know paige becker i believe was player player of the player of the year and duplicating that is is something that’s difficult and then on the other side i’m thinking about some of these young men from last chance you yeah watching them go and and i actually and i actually interviewed deshawn but watching him go from like five thousand followers to like a hundred and eighty thousand a hundred and twenty thou right and can’t monetize that right now can’t my and i was talking with him he was like yeah it’s just eyes at this point it’s it’s it’s just eyes they can they can look it’s eyes and i was like yeah yeah i’m picking it to you i don’t know i don’t know i’m just talking well first and foremost i want to say and i i need to do a better job of paying attention to how this has worked in the naia because this has passed in the naia and there’s actually a young woman and i i wish i knew her name i read the article about it but i don’t have her name offhand she’s a women’s gymnastics student athlete and she already started to monetize one of her businesses so i think being intentional and looking at the smaller instances where this is already happening and seeing what’s worked for them and what hasn’t like we haven’t heard that the naia as a whole organization or a whole like unit is folding so it’s fine it can be done and it can be done successfully and kinks can be worked out um i think the struggle right now is you got states competing with you know the ncaa’s potential legislation and then some federal things on top of that that are really holding up the progress of just the passage of name image and likeness um more immediately you know like by 2025 the athletes that i’m talking to right now you know not gonna be in school anymore you know no more and so that that doesn’t help them so we’ve started these conversations but are we really talking about waiting until 2025 to pay them in some capacity or just allow them to monetize their own platforms i think that’s awful and by that time just imagine how much more college athletics is going to be worth sports is going to be worth i know in some places like sports betting is becoming legal where it wasn’t legal before so like just think about all this other money that you know is is is coming into the sports arena and still athletes still college athletes not being paid um or allowed to to monetize their platform so to your point i agree with you wholeheartedly i’ve always stood by the fact that student student athletes should be paid even when people are like oh my god you believe that like yes i do because i’ve been at an athletic program that was valued to be worth a billion dollars and to me i’m looking at it like they’re worth a billion dollars based on the effort of maybe what 25 guys off and on based on first second third string you know even though their rosters a hundred plus you know that interchangeably you got your star players and typically those are so offer them and they don’t see a dime like you still have students that are sending money home to their parents from their cost of attendance checks or using pell grant money that should really be used for them to be able to finance education pay their rent whatever eat you know beyond the facility and and they’re not able to do that so it’s bigger than just you know setting them up to be successful entrepreneurs or or or to to be able to to make money from a from a work perspective i just want to make sure they can they can eat they’re not missing any meals wow man kiara i’m gonna have to bring you back on or something we’re gonna dive a little bit deeper into this and just talk you know just just talk more up more about this and you know just even just even talk talk about you know updates and different things like that because i know you’re always on the go you always you always have have something going on on your side but before i let you go before i let you go i gotta i i gotta run you through i gotta run you through the two-minute drill okay and and the two-minute drill is just when i’m gonna ask you a few rapid fire questions i actually didn’t tell you this before but i’m gonna ask you through some a few rapid fire questions and it’s just going to get people to see a different side of you have a little bit of fun so are you ready i think so yeah i’m ready let’s go let’s go you think so let’s do it let’s do it okay okay here we go favorite food ice cream haha that’s awful but ice cream ice cream which one so i’m actually a vegan so i like vegan ice cream like ben jerry’s has this like crazy vegan flavor that’s like cookie dough something something is great okay okay okay uh what what’s the last book you read um so i started to i’m reading two books at the same time the five love languages and the seven the seven successful laws of spirituality i said deepak chopra book i’m listening to both of them on audiobook okay uh what’s what’s your favorite podcast yours i don’t put that in there or set people up i really put it out there to ask people like if you have a different one you could say that i’m not it wasn’t like a setup sure so i mean i i definitely think yours is dope i have my own like instagram live series that i do on a weekly basis called castro’s with kiara so i don’t consider it at a podcast but informationally it would be similar to that and then obviously everybody’s in love with the i am athlete i am woman podcast right now so i love i love those as well definitely definitely and you know we you know we got to get you on the podcast way but anyway uh what what would be your go-to uh streaming show of preference hmm like netflix kind of streaming sure sure netflix um i mean we i think we kind of mentioned last chance used so every time they have a new season i’m always on that um yeah let’s just go with that for right now last chance gotcha and then what what’s what’s one tip that you want to leave for a student athlete what’s one tip that’s hard but i think just everything that is going on in your life right now seems so big and daunting and like you have to have everything all together right now and the most important thing that i want student athletes to know is like take your life take your progress take your growth one day one step at a time you don’t have to have everything all figured out right now solid solid solid and then last thing i want to ask you this is bonus it’s just bonus question uh but who would you like to see me interview next on beyond the ball i don’t know if he’ll do it because he’s a pretty quiet guy but you should reach out to prince prince moody he’s the assistant director of student athlete engagement at ohio state and he’s done a lot of great things um with their student athlete development programming there so he’s a great guy um real vibrant he’s always everywhere knows everybody i call him the connector so he’d be another really good person to connect with so so kiara thank you for you know taking time and rocking with us here uh at beyond the ball and uh you know sharing your sharing your message uh just sharing what you do uh with the ballers out there oh but now at this time just share where people just share where would be the best place for people to connect with you and then also you know just letting people know about some of the services you offer please do that at this time sure so um if you want to connect with me personally on social media follow me at kiara k-i-a-a-r-a-i-m um and then you also can check out my business page for exceptional athlete which is the athlete development financial literacy program that i mentioned if anybody’s looking for a financial literacy guest speaker for like your summer bridge programs any sports organizations um or other athlete development uh programming that you have please reach out to me april is financial literacy month so the more that i can do in this month and the months that follow the the better and then if you’re if you got kids and you’re looking to start your financial literacy journey with them check out my website which is moneymavenscrew.
com um and the adventures of the money mavens as i said it’s a coloring book series that helps to educate children on just the basics related to financial literacy so got a lot of places if you missed any of that just connect with me on instagram at kiara i am and all of that information is um in my bio well once again like i said thank you so much kiara for hanging out with us and rocking with us and thank you and and adding value as as i know you do really well thank you thank you for having me this has been great dope dope everybody out there everybody out there listening all the ballers out there listening uh i want to encourage you all whenever wherever you’re listening to this episode whenever you listen to it uh be sure to take a screenshot and then tag myself tag kiara on instagram you know we’ll reshare we’ll repost it but let kiara know what you took from the episode right let her know what really stood out to you let her know what really hit home and then click that link in her bio and then make a purchase right make a purchase make a purchase so uh everybody thanks again for rocking uh i’m jonathan jones and this is beyond the ball where we help you succeed beyond your degree what’s.