Danny has been on the show before, but has ventured into a new field to share with us today. He decided to start writing a series of kids’ books about the wealth lessons he has learned along his real estate journey. No doubt that teaching children money and wealth lessons early can have a tremendous impact on their future, as it did for Danny at the age of five. So tune in to hear ideas on educating our children, or even check out Danny’s book after the episode! If you enjoyed today’s episode remember to subscribe in iTunes and leave us a review!
Best Ever Tweet:
“Make sure if they do get a birthday present or earn a little extra money running a lemonade stand, that they always take care of it and have a special place to keep it” – Danny Randazzo
Danny Randazzo Real Estate Background:
- Preciously a financial consultant, now an investor and owner of Randazzo Capital, they focus on 150+ unit MF properties
- Owns $130,000,000 of real estate
- Check out his new children’s book here: The Boy Who Lost His Wallet
- Listen to his previous episodes:
- Based in Charleston, SC
- Say hi to him at http://www.investwithdanny.com/
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TRANSCRIPTION
Joe Fairless: Best Ever listeners, how are you doing? Welcome to the best real estate investing advice ever show. I’m Joe Fairless, and this is the world’s longest-running daily real estate investing podcast. We only talk about the best advice ever, we don’t get into any of that fluffy stuff.
First off, I hope you’re having a best ever weekend. Because today is Saturday, we’ve got a special segment, Situation Saturday. Here’s the situation – this hits home for me, and you’ll probably know why in a second… The situation is you’ve got some kids, you’ve got a kid, and you wanna teach them wealth lessons. You don’t know, or maybe you don’t have a good resource to teach them those wealth lessons.
We have a Best Ever guest who has been on the show multiple times before, Danny Randazzo. How are you doing, Danny?
Danny Randazzo: Joe, I am doing great, and thank you for having me on. I am excited to be back again, and be able to speak to the Best Ever listeners.
Joe Fairless: Yeah, looking forward to it. Best Ever listeners, you probably recognize Danny’s name; maybe you attended the Best Ever Conference in Denver and you heard him there, and/or you’re a loyal listener. Episode 961, titled “House-hacking Bay Area to a one million dollar commercial building.” That’s where Danny gave his best ever advice. Then episode 1447, “What to look for when vetting a potential partner?”
Today we’re talking about wealth lessons. Danny owns or has ownership in and assets under management – 130 million dollars of real estate. He was previously a financial consultant, now he’s an investor and owner of Randazzo Capital, and they focus on 150-unit multifamily properties. But here’s the thing we’re talking about – clearly, he’s got qualifications to have this conversation, and the thing we’re going to be talking about is if you are looking to educate your kids or children on wealth lessons, he’s now an author of a five-part book series, and each book is focused on a key lesson for kiddos.
Danny, first off, tell us about what was your inspiration for why you have this series, and ultimately Best Ever listeners, we’re gonna get to one of the lessons. That’s the focus of our conversation. But first, let’s get a little bit of context from Danny.
Danny Randazzo: The background to this very important wealth lesson that really set me on a path to financial freedom and taking ownership of my financial outcomes in life all started on my fifth birthday, and it’s really a transformational journey of how a single birthday present at five years old gave me financial freedom at the age of 30. It was so impactful and powerful, that lesson that I learned at such a young age. When I share that story to people – and that’s really what the first book is all about – it’s called “The Boy Who Lost His Wallet.” The focal point of the story is about protecting your money.
When I share that story with people of all ages – I’ve shared it with seniors, I’ve shared it with young people, I’ve shared it with middle aged folks, anywhere from 20 to 60 or 70 years old, and a lot of the feedback that I get really shocks me. They say “Danny, I wish I would have learned that lesson like you did, and I would be better off today.” Because in my daily life I interact not only with high net worth individuals who invest in our real estate investment opportunities, but I interact with just everyday folks like you and myself, Joe, who are always interested in how can they get ahead, how can they achieve financial freedom.
I needed to write this book about why it’s important and imperative for everyone to protect their money, whether you’re a young child, or you’re just getting out of college and getting started, or you’re a professional and you’re working and trying to take care of your family, it’s absolutely critical to take ownership of your money and your financial situation. That’s the inspiration behind this book.
One thing that I was thinking about as I was preparing to write the book is how can I not only get into the minds of the young people, but I’ve also tailored the book to be helpful to that parent or that adult figure who’s reading the book to the child for them to be able to learn the lesson if they may not know it as well as they should. Does that make sense?
Joe Fairless: Yeah. What ages would this be best for?
Danny Randazzo: This would be best for ages between two to five, and the caveat to that, I would say, is some of the Dr. Seuss book series I’ve seen gifted to the older generations of people, and they are such impactful lessons that it really applies to anyone. If you’re struggling or want to take better control of your financial freedom and your financial outcomes, then I think this book and this lesson will be very helpful, not only to the young people in your life, but also to you potentially.
Joe Fairless: So let’s talk about the lesson. This is a five-part book series, so how do you structure the book, and then what is ultimately the lesson that, regardless if we read the book, that we should teach our kids or kids that we come across?
Danny Randazzo: Like you said, Joe, it’s five lessons and five books to the series. The first lesson is about protecting your money. The takeaway to that is ownership of your financial situation and where your money is at at all times. The lesson that I learned very early on. The point to the story is that my wallet was lost; I went from $120 total net worth at the age of five, to zero, and it really impacted me. It was a traumatic and emotional event, because I was so excited about the wallet that I got, but also the birthday present and the money that also came with it. All of that was lost in one decision. And because I didn’t keep track of it as well as I should have, that really shaped how I track and take care of my finances today.
Joe Fairless: How do you go about telling the story?
Danny Randazzo: We go about telling the story really how it first happened. The story kicks of with Danny, who’s very excited on the morning of his birthday, and–
Joe Fairless: Who is this Danny character? Any inspiration from anyone you know?
Danny Randazzo: Right, no idea. All of the books that I write are based off of real life experience, so I think it makes it relevant to the audience and to the reader. Every five year old has a birthday out there, so… We start off in the morning, Danny wakes up, he’s very excited about his birthday; he wants to know who’s gonna be coming, what kind of food is being prepared, is there gonna be a birthday cake…
He has a conversation with his mom and his parents, and really gets teed up for the birthday event. Then people start showing up to the house, so he’s got aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins… Everybody is coming in and they have a small little package in their hand, and Danny is really excited throughout the day, and throughout the meal, of “When are we gonna get to the presents? When are we gonna get to the presents?”
It kind of leads to this event where Danny gets to open several presents, and one of those presents is this awesome, new wallet. He is just so excited about getting this wallet. He also received a little bit of money for his birthday to put inside of the wallet. It was a ton of excitement, and he finds a great place to put his money and put his wallet at the end of the day, to wrap up this wonderful, best birthday ever.
Then it rolls into the following day, and his wallet ends up getting lost. That traumatic experience, that emotional event, which really helped shape my financial future, and which will shape Danny’s financial future in this book series as we continue. It really takes on a nice journey, and the great thing is I worked with a wonderful illustrator who was able to bring that graphical presentation… So I think it will be very relevant and fun for the young people to see the great artwork and be able to embrace and understand the story, and take away that basic lesson of “You are ultimately responsible for your money and for your financial freedom.”
Joe Fairless: With that point of “You are ultimately responsible for your money and for your financial freedom”, did you go with the angle that Danny, since he is responsible for his own money and financial freedom, it was on him for losing the wallet, or was there a more Hollywoodesque ending to that?
Danny Randazzo: There’s a little twist on how the wallet is lost, and again, it’s based on the real life example. I’d like the audience to be able to pick up the book and understand that twist… But the takeaway is that Danny is responsible for it. Even at the age of five, you are responsible for it. There’s no blame on anyone outside of himself, and really it’s your job to keep track of your money and make sure that your finances are in order.
Joe Fairless: Personal responsibility, I love it. Where can the Best Ever listeners get this book?
Danny Randazzo: The book is available on Amazon. I’ll be sure to get you a link for the show notes. The other place that listeners can go to get the book is RandazzoCapital.com, and will just click on the Book link that’s available on the website there.
Joe Fairless: Danny, thank you for being on the show, talking about the book that you’ve got — what is the name of the book?
Danny Randazzo: The book is called The Boy Who Lost His Wallet.
Joe Fairless: The Boy Who Lost His Wallet. Thanks for being on the show. I love the series. It is something that I will purchase for my daughter. She is three months old, so we’ll get her early, teaching her early these lessons, and certainly protecting your money at a very young age… And then you said it’s a five-part series, so it progresses into different lessons after that. It’s something that as long as they are good lessons, which they are, why not teach our kids these things? And then continue to reinforce them.
One question I have is these are books, and these are lessons, but once the book is over, do you have any tips in the books, or do you have something that you’re following up with for “Okay, here’s the lesson. Now here’s some practical ways you can actually practice this with your children”?
Danny Randazzo: I haven’t really thought through applied example or a tactic when it comes to protecting your money. I think a simple lesson that you can instill with kids is to make sure if they do get a birthday present, or if they earn a little extra money running a lemonade stand, that they always take care of it and have a special place to keep it.
One thing that I do with my nieces is if they leave a dollar or something on the counter, and they’re out running around and it’s not being taken care of, I have a very adult conversation with them that says “Look, either you need to put this in some place, or I will take it from you.” It’s really important and impactful, because I think there’s people today who don’t know their finances, and ultimately what we’re trying to teach in this lesson is that you are the responsible party, so having that practical, applied example and just making sure that if there’s a quarter on the street, go pick that quarter up and put it in your pocket, and when you get home, have a special place for it.
So I would say with the protecting your money lesson, you can do that in everyday life, whenever you have extra change, or someone makes a couple dollars running a lemonade stand, that there’s a special place and you can revisit and instill that lesson with them on a regular basis.
Joe Fairless: There’s a penny in the security tray at the airport in Cincinnati, and it was an unclaimed penny. I put it in my pocket and took it all the way to Denver for our conference, and brought it all the way back to Cincinnati and put it in the little change drawer. So I certainly practice that.
Danny, thanks for being on the show. I hope you have a best ever weekend, and we’ll talk to you again soon.
Danny Randazzo: Thank you so much, Joe.
