The Value Of Money As A Tool with Robby Butler – Bonus Episode

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[00:04] Welcome to the Prosperity Podcast. Fresh alternative personal finance talk for independent thinkers who prosper outside of Wall Street. Here’s your host, bestselling author, Kim D.H. Butler. Welcome to the Prosperity Podcast. Today, we’re going to be speaking with someone that’s related to Kim Butler, but we’re not going to be speaking with Kim. It’s actually her son, Robbie. And we’re going to be talking about a different perspective or a different generation of prosperity. So, Robbie, are you there with me? Hi, Spencer. I am. Well, it is so wonderful to be able to speak with you. And so our audience knows and to bring our audience up to speed, Robbie just recently graduated and he’s now moving into the workforce. So if you could take 30 seconds and

[01:00] let us know where you graduated from and what your degree is in and then what you’re going to be doing next. And then we’re going to get into some prosperity talks. So tell us about that. Perfect. Well, I graduated from Principia College about a week and a half ago. That’s a small liberal arts school in Elsa, Illinois. And I graduated with a double major in business and theater, which were two strong interests of mine that held throughout all of college. I’m going to be joining Principia’s fundraising team when I graduate. And so I will be traveling around the country and helping to grow our annual fund and our operating budget in general by speaking with friends of my college and getting involved in that way. And I’m very excited

[01:43] to give back. And it’s a great outcome of my four years of good education at Principia College. That’s so wonderful. So since you’re going to be talking with people throughout the country about contributing back to the school or whatever that is, it means that you have to have a lot of wealth or money conversations. So let’s start with the base foundation. And I think a lot of our listeners are probably saying, okay, so Kim Butler is on the show and she’s always teaching us things. What have her kids learned? So let’s hear some of the things that you’ve learned from mom. Well, I think the first thing that comes to mind is that you want money to work for you. And that comes to play in so many ways, of course. But I know that my sense of money

[02:35] is that money is a tool for achieving your goals, for living the way you want to live. It doesn’t do any good to just sit. It doesn’t do any good to just store. It’s pretty dead without some activity to have a purpose for it. And so having my money work for me is something that I always keep in mind as I’m growing my savings, as I’m pursuing investments, as I’m thinking about my future, I’m going, okay, I’m not just saving this money to have a larger bank account number. I’m doing it for something, but what is that something? And what’s going to have the greatest payoff for me, for my community, for the experience that I want to have in the near and far future? So that’s one thing that I always hold to. And it comes into place so

[03:22] perfectly with the work I’m going to do, because many people who I’ll be visiting with have accumulated some wealth, they’ve got some savings. And so what do they want to do with it? How do they want their money to work for them? And that doesn’t mean that it is giving back to them. Sometimes it is giving back to the institutions they worked for or they went to school for. Sometimes it is serving a greater vision that they have for their lives. And that can be unselfish. And that’s why I’m going to do the work I’m going to do. That’s excellent. And so because you’re going to have these conversations, how do most recent college graduates receive money? And obviously you’re going to be saying this from your perspective, but from the conversations you’ve had, how are most of

[04:09] them seeing money? Well, I know I’m grateful that my friends have big visions for their lives. I think that’s why they’re my friends. They have strong hopes for their futures. They’re driven by what they see is valuable. So I’m grateful that my close circle of friends, I think has an active view of money as a tool, not as a goal in and of itself. But I do get the sense sometimes that college students feel like money is the goal in and of itself. And I mean, if you had a pile of $100 bills sitting next to you, it might feel really good. But if you don’t have something to use it for, it’s still going to be a pile of paper. And I do think that part of people’s growth in their financial understanding is

[04:55] realizing that it’s not just about the dollar figure. It’s about, okay, what are you going to do with it? And what’s that going to do for you, for your family, for your friends? And what’s going to put that money to use? So I know that my friends often have a good view of how money can be bigger than just what it is. But I think college, graduates in general sometimes look at it in too small of a way. That makes sense. So it sounds like the real principle that we want to hang on to is that money is just simply a tool and you want it to be doing something. So I think what would be really helpful for our listeners is to hear a story or a memory that you learned from your mom that helped you solidify that thought. Can you think of anything

[05:51] off the top of your head? Let’s see. I know your mom had a milk cow. Yes, she did. And that helped her understand how to keep track of her finances and to learn some pieces of responsibility. You guys have a farm. Was there certain work obligations that you had around the house or maybe other types of things that really helped instill some of these principles into your head that were outside of books or learning? Or was it maybe conversations in a car or something you can think of? Yes, there definitely is. So when we were young, we were given birthday money and we were given we didn’t have an allowance based on what my parents saw as valuable. But when we were given these gifts of money, we were always asked very closely,

[06:46] okay, what will this be used for? What is the point of getting this? We were often encouraged to save half of it because building up some kind of useful capital was a good principle. And I will always remember my grandma saying, okay, you’re going to save this half and the rest of this you can use for whatever you want. And then my parents would say, okay, what is going to be a good use for this? I remember when I was probably 10 or 12, I decided that I want to buy some workout equipment. And so I ended up buying a boxing bag that was used for about six months, it was pretty expensive, and then not touched again for several years. And when we eventually sold that bag, my parents use that as a good lesson for

[07:37] what use was, what good uses were for my money, because I’d spent all this money and bought something that I hadn’t used. And then we tried and sold and of course, didn’t make any money back on it. And they pointed out to me that I’d used my money for something that I had not seen as truly valuable in the long term. And so I’d wasted it. And that was a good lesson for me to learn. It’s a small one, but to look critically at every expense that I’ve got now and every opportunity to spend money in a valuable way is something that has stuck with me. And I can laugh at the boxing bag example, but now when I’m looking and thinking about car expenses, when I’m considering the bills I’m going to pay and the traveling I’m going to do, what of those is going to be

[08:28] valuable for me long term and what is not? And it’s a lesson that has stuck with me. So Robbie, you’ve explained what the punching bag is a great example. And luckily it wasn’t something that left you destitute. And so now you have that and understand the value of money and you understand that it should be used as a tool. And that’s what you’re going to be doing every day for your job coming up, where you’re going to be raising capital or contributions to the school. So what does that relationship look like? How do you have that conversation with people and talk to them and say, Hey, then we’re looking for some money. Like, what’s that going to look like? Tell our audience. Well, I’m so glad you asked that because you mentioned the word relationship and

[09:20] that’s everything that fundraising is based on. And I don’t know how many of our listeners are familiar with that specific element, but the word relationship is interwoven into fundraising. People say things like relationship or friend raising. And it is truly about the relationship the fundraiser builds with the institution and with the donor. And when that relationship is strong, the support is natural. It’s not a mercenary style of fundraising. It’s about someone’s relationship being so closely intertwined with the institution they’re supporting that it’s a natural thing to give. It’s a natural thing to wonder about how things are doing, how initiatives are being pursued. And when that relationship is

[10:07] maintained strongly, the support grows and the support is a natural part of that relationship. So when I’m going out to fundraise, I’m going out to begin a relationship between me and that donor. And then I’m looking to develop that donor’s relationship with the institution. And truly, a wise and longtime fundraiser at the institution I worked for shared with me that if I can care more about the donor than I do even about the institution, then I’ll help the donor to care for the institution more than they might currently and more than they ever thought they would, which is really the point. Because if I’m raising money for an institution I care about, then I can help someone else to see why it’s so valuable.

[10:53] Okay. That makes a whole lot of sense. And I think that the same principle goes into play for your mom’s business, where she actually cares about the clients and she’s doing what’s best for them versus what’s best for her. So in every single transaction, there’s a currency. And ultimately, many times there’s more than one currency. So sure, we have the money currency that changes hands, but there’s an additional currency, meaning someone’s getting something out of that transaction. Be it if they’re donating to the school, they’re going to get their name put into a newsletter. So there could be recognition currency. Another thing could be the currency of legacy or another thing could be the currency of charity or whatever.

[11:40] What have you seen to be the currency that people are seeking besides just the money piece? Oh, I hope I can articulate this because I’ve got what you’re looking for. And it is the currency of feeling good that your money did something far greater than what it could have done in any other avenue. It’s the currency of knowing that whatever vision you have for your life was driven through a nonprofit lens or a for-profit. But for whatever you gave to, whatever you donated to, the vision for your life is being fulfilled through that gift. I mean, that’s powerful. When someone gives money and realizes that what they did was help put a child through college or high school, they helped a student have an education

[12:33] that they never would have had. I mean, that’s a powerful gift. And that’s not something that you can buy at the grocery store. And it’s not something that your money does when it just sits around. So the currency is that gift of fulfilling a broader vision by supporting a nonprofit that has the tools that you want to support, to give back in a broader way. Interesting. So I think one of the concerns that many of us business owners, entrepreneurs, because I’m specifically speaking for myself, when I’m talking with someone that’s looking for a donation, one of the things that concerns us most when we’re donating our money is that it’s going to go to the highest and best use. And so, for example, when

[13:23] donating to government programs is really scary because there’s so much bureaucracy and it’s usually just padding pockets of special interests. And in nonprofits, that can happen, not as much. So how can you ensure that the actual legacy moves on instead of just that money going to bureaucracy and to something that’s not actually going to make an impact? Well, it is a fundraiser’s job to show any donor that their money is making an impact. And that’s, I’d go so far as to say that’s one of the major things a fundraiser must do is to say, thank you so much for your gift and this is how we put it to work. And I’m not suggesting it’s an easy thing to do, but is it absolutely necessary to continue to

[14:12] raise support by proving that the money is being used correctly and appropriately? Yes. So there’s not a fast answer to that, but that’s part of the fundraiser job is to accept that gift, but to prove to the donor that it was used correctly. And that’s true no matter what kind of institution you’re fundraising money, you’re fundraising for, you have to figure out is it being used correctly and how do I share that with the donor? That totally makes sense. Now, do you feel like now going into this, the fundraising category and career, growing up, learning these principles in your household, did that prepare you for this? And what are some of those key principles about money or finance are you going to take

[14:59] to this career? In terms of key principles, I know that my mom was so firm with us about being unselfish with our money and being unselfish with our acts. That’s one of the cores of fundraising that you’ll never get away from is being unselfish enough to want to give away your money for something that is bigger than you. So we were taught that throughout our whole lives. I was taught to help my sister with things. I was taught to help out around the house, especially when I was little. And as I grew up, I would watch instances of philanthropy that my parents would do such as giving Christmas toys to underprivileged children. Little examples like that, filtered throughout my life, encouraged me to practice that quality in my own life. Also being economical was a natural part of

[15:56] growing up as well. We didn’t carelessly spend money. We asked ourselves very carefully if things that we wanted were needs or wants. And that’s always a good practice to be economical, to be very watchful when going throughout your day. We didn’t just buy toys because we wanted them. Sometimes we were allowed to in order to learn a little bit of a lesson on it, which I talked about earlier with that boxing bag. But we were taught those kind of things throughout our lives. And now I know they’re coming into place. So I absolutely know I was prepared for this industry without really knowing it along the way. It’s one of those beautiful elements of unfoldment that are just kind of part of the fun of working hard

[16:41] and finding out why along the way. That’s fantastic. I think for our listeners, they’re getting a special perspective because they’re hearing what it’s like to be in the household of Ken Butler and hear the different principles that are taught. And so as we wrap up here, it sounds like some of those top principles are that you definitely understood that money is simply a tool and that you should be a good steward over your money and be responsible with it and understand the difference between needs and wants and ultimately understand that it’s a tool that can be used for good and you can take that money and share it with others and you have to work hard for it. And then as you have it as that vehicle, it can go and help other people’s lives. Does that sound about right?

[17:30] It really does. Yes. Well, thanks so much for spending some time with us today on the podcast and we truly wish you the best of luck with your career and that we hope that you can go out there and raise money for the cause that you have and that people can understand that you care about them more than just the money or more than the school, but you’re trying to form these relationships. And for our listeners, hopefully these principles that we’ve talked about will help you out with your finances and with your accumulation of wealth and the purposes that you’ve set forth. So we wish you the best of luck, Robbie, and stay tuned for a next episode. Thank you, Spencer. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity Podcast. To take control of your money

[18:21] and have it work for you, visit us at partnersforprosperity.com. If you liked this episode, make sure you subscribe and leave a review.