Pedal Power: Biking Tips and Financial Smarts

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Coming to Northeast Wisconsin live from the Civic Media Studios and featuring TV and radio broadcast veteran John Minow along with the City of Green Bay's longest-serving mayor Jim Schmidt.

This is Minow and the Mayor.

And here are your hosts.

John Minow and Jim

Schmidt.

Hey, thank you very much.

Welcome back.

Our number three man on the bear here on Trucker Thursday.

Oh, a mash all of our truckers out there on the road.

Well, I'll tell you what we're doing with a couple of people that probably deal with truckers.

No.

And then Peter and Tracy fluke fluke.

Um, we bike dot org getting ready for the biking season.

These people have gone literally worldwide on their bikes and they are here to talk about it.

You guys, you know, you guys brought up something one time that I thought was interesting when I asked about trucks, you know, on the road and you guys.

said, you know, the real professionals, they're awesome.

It's the people that drive trucks that don't quite know what they're doing.

You know what I mean?

They're the ones that are the issues, correct?

Yeah.

First

of all, great having you guys back.

Oh, thank you, by the way.

So into the trucks.

Yes.

Yeah.

I actually used to be really nervous about them because they're large.

They make a lot of noise.

There's wind blast, but

They're professionals,

right?

Exactly.

They

make their money by being safe.

They're also trained.

They're trained to interact with motorists, bicyclists, other truck drivers.

If we're interacting with them in a positive way, they have wide corners they have to make.

I'll often stop by or stop back a little farther, little thumbs up, little toot toot on the horn.

It's like, brother, I'd rather have somebody who sees me all about being safe and sharing the road.

That's cool.

Did you guys ever see the movie?

We were talking about this the other day.

Neither of these two guys saw the movie, so just forget about them.

Breaking away.

Yes.

Tell me about that movie.

Was that a great movie back in the day?

It was a great movie back in the day.

Yes.

Yes.

Is that the one where the guy is going past the truck?

Yes.

Well,

that's what I'm going to say.

It's where the truck

driver, the guy was training for the big race.

Yes.

Okay.

And the trucker knew it.

So what he did is the guy kind of drafted right behind him and the trucker would let him know what speed he's going to train.

Yeah.

Well, Todd, can you believe we missed that?

It's Dennis

wait.

It was Dennis Crates

first big movie.

You know

who else made us debut in that movie that became huge I can never remember his name, but he was what he was one of the bad guys in home alone The tall guy.

Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

Wow

Great, you know the guy that was following that truck and then he did

the voice he did the voice of Kevin Arnold right in That show.

Yep.

Yeah

Probably worked out really hard to be going that fast.

That's what I'm saying.

Yes.

Yes.

And that's one of the things we do in the spring when we're getting ready to go.

you know, we do a lot of working out to be in shape to be able to go out and get going on our bike in the spring.

So, um, you know, let's get there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, the other thing

we just talked casually about before you guys came on and I asked, can you drive down like us 41 or 43 or anything like that?

Or people are going 90 miles an hour.

Can you legally ride a bike down those roads?

Yeah.

So paraphrasing basically what the law says is that you can ride any road in Wisconsin and less prohibited by sign.

So we're all familiar with those white signs.

on the on-ramps or the freeway that say no bikes, no pedestrians, no whatever.

So if there isn't a sign on the road, you can use it.

Now the things that we're always looking for is how much traffic is there, how fast is the traffic, how wide is the shoulder.

So if you've got a good wide shoulder, it's probably reasonable.

Yeah.

You're professional bikers.

Are you called?

I mean, you are in a category.

Unlike many, many people, right?

Like Johnny said, you biked all over the world.

You guys have books, videos for us laypeople that like to bike, but it's biking season coming up, right?

Like soon this, did you see that weather next weekend?

It's like unbelievable, 60, 65.

I think a lot of people, what do we do to get ready?

Yeah, I think the first thing we do is what we call the ABC Quick Check.

So you want to make sure your bike is ready to go.

So that's air, that's brakes.

That's chain and your crank arm and then you do a little ride and you check your quick releases as well.

and take a little ride, make sure your bike's ready to go.

Because you don't want to get out

there.

I'm not going to underestimate, because I'm just going to say this, because this TV show I watched, it was a great series on the LA Lakers called Showtime, or Winning Time, it was called, OK?

And it was all based on fact.

And it was about their coach, their new head coach for the Lakers.

And he was on his way to go play tennis with his assistant coach.

And it kind of showed when he moved from like someplace and they had the bike, you know, the old 10 speed with the narrative on top of the roof.

And they kind of, you know, and then they showed that I think it was the brake cable.

Something happened with the brake and he didn't know it.

You know, they move take it off the car and he got such a terrible accident that obviously he was unconscious for like a month and and was never the same ever again and lost his job at the lake or something simply because he didn't

check

that

one

little cable on his bike.

Well, that's just it.

There's not a

There's not a backup.

I mean, if you

try to stop

like

you were a little kid, there's no break.

So yeah, check it yourself.

Make sure it's ready to go.

The other thing that's really important is to have lights on your bike.

We use them day and night, rear and front.

So make sure you have some lights on there.

And the other thing is, if the bike isn't ready to go, take it to a shop and get it, get some work done on it.

many shops in the area and they're all great.

So take your bike in, do it early before they get really busy and have them take care of your bike and check it all over for you.

So you're ready to go on your bike.

Are there people that come to your house and tune them up?

There

was a guy that,

I

know there was

a guy that did that.

Yeah.

The bike guy.

Okay.

Just

go on Facebook or something and find somebody that

can do that.

Yeah, it's great.

It's super convenient.

Those just roll right up with their mobile bike repair.

Well, you

guys do have quite a network though.

I mean,

if you're

in a bike enthusiast, there are others there for you,

right?

So if you look at the number of bike shops per capita, we shouldn't have anywhere near as many bike shops as we have.

And what that's a really strong indicator of is just how strong the bicycle community is, how many people are riding in northeastern Wisconsin.

And every one of these shops has been here for years.

So we're real stable.

It's a great place to ride.

That's awesome.

I just pick up on something you said about that.

I had the guy from the DNR on here, state DNR guy, talking about boating.

I just want to pick up on what you said.

He talked about boating.

We are like number three for boats.

Can you believe that?

Wisconsin, if you look at all the states, you would think with the coastline of Florida and some of these other places, but he goes, very often Wisconsin is really up there, which I think says a lot for our community, biking, boating.

I think that's great that people...

What we tend to take for granted because we live here is the paved, farmed market roads because of our dairy history.

Say that again.

I'm sorry, Peter.

states have a lot of gravel roads.

And most of our roads are paved.

Think about how hard it is to find a gravel road around here.

And that's because if you're hauling milk to the wherever you take milk to, the road needed to be paved because otherwise in the spring, you're not getting your milk there, right?

So those roads are absolutely idyllic, too lane, quiet, rural.

That's exactly where bicyclists want to be.

And our coastline is amazing as well.

That's awesome.

That's awesome to hear.

Oh, so the ABC.

All right.

So we have to do that.

And you think we should have light house?

And this is

stuff that might seem minor.

But like I said, with the coach for the Lakers, if you don't do these things, it can be catastrophic.

Yeah.

The number of times that I've checked over our bike as of.

I learned it when I was a bike cop because I had to be able to respond.

I needed to be safe, but we still do those same things.

The number of times I've hopped on, I've been teaching a class, transported my bike and went, whoa, no break.

I wouldn't have caught that without that habit and that routine.

Exactly.

And just like we check over our bikes, we need to do the same things with ourselves.

So when I was going to work as a cop, I needed to make sure I had all of my gear, right?

I was gonna get gigged by the Sergeant or I might not have my gun when I needed it, right?

Well, the same thing is true with the bike.

You want to make sure that you've got, with yourself, you want to make sure that you have the correct stuff on.

So starting at the head, we always wear helmets, glasses to protect your eyes, gloves for the hands, bright colored clothing, you know, shorts, padded shorts, if you're going to be riding a long time.

And then the one people forget about is they wear their normal shoes and you've got that lace, those lace shoes, flopping around.

you will go down like a ton of bricks if you hook that in the chain ring of the bike.

So most of my biking shoes don't even have laces on it, but I double and triple tie.

My shoes Because you want to make sure you check that because there's nothing that'll kill a good ride faster than it's like when you're a kid and your jeans or whatever get caught in the chain remember those

Oh, yeah, you may or

may not want to look at some of the pants on my

Okay, I gotta ask you because Brittany Merlot sir or forecast everything like that.

She's unbelievable outdoor enthusiast She's right in your alley.

I mean everything you guys like she likes to but and I told her about my issue where Anatomically, you know my thighs are a little

bigger than normal and whatever, whatever.

And I can't find a comfortable seat.

Okay, but she says she gets some shorts that are completely padded and you don't really see it But that makes it so much more comfortable tell me about these because when I go I just wear my biker shorts There's my tight biker shorts and there's not a lot of padding so go ahead

when you said tight biker shorts I looked at Jim and Jeff just

shook his

head This is

the

guy that burned his pet on Christmas But that

bothers him.

Did you hear that story?

Yeah, why

don't we

talk about okay?

Go ahead, but what about no?

Yeah,

you can buy them anywhere and they have a shamby in them, so they've heard a shami.

It's a pad.

Okay, and it just protects your bottom.

Okay, and the thing is

You can get them.

So they look like shorts and they're really tight, but they also have somewhere you are a liner that has the pad in it.

Okay.

And then you can wear regular shorts on top or they have shorts that you go on top.

So it looks like you just have a regular pair of shorts.

So if you really don't like the look of the bike shorts, that's what I mean.

So

the first time we were riding across the country, we met this 20 something year old guy and he was a hoot,

but

he thought he knew everything, right?

And so we're talking to him about bike shorts and he goes, Oh yeah, those things stink.

You know, I wasn't going to wear those.

He said until about the third day and then I stopped at Walmart and got myself a pair of

You

know, I will say it's Mark Houston.

Was it you guys?

Or was it Mark Houston that got me that bomb?

That was probably Mark.

That

stuff actually does

work.

It does work.

It

really does.

Honestly, the cheap alternative, Vaseline.

Yeah,

I imagine.

There's a trucker thing too.

I've been in truck stops where there's truckers.

There's a thing that truckers buy because they get chafed

too from sitting.

Yeah.

Why are you laughing, Peter?

Why are you laughing?

It's a

truck stop.

It's got to be good.

All the things we're talking about, just even the shorts, is getting some education before you go out and bike.

And there's two really good organizations that you can go out and get some information.

Wisconsin Bike Fed has stuff online that you can go on.

do a little self-check and even take a little quiz out there.

And the Bike League also has some educational programming out there.

League of American Bicyclists.

So yeah, if you don't feel comfortable out there, you don't know where to actually ride on the road, you don't know what to do, just check into it and then you'll feel more comfortable and you'll enjoy it more then.

You'll have more fun out

there.

And we talked about getting the bike squared away and then getting yourself squared away.

Better places to ride than others, or trails, what do you recommend?

And let's say at five.

And

whatever you say, we're taking as gospel

because

nobody knows the streets, the roads

of Wisconsin better than you.

And really, we have listeners, Appleton, Oshkosh, is there some?

Sure.

But we recommend in terms of not specifically the roads, specifically the, like the area.

It sounds like you like the country.

Oh, and the great thing here is we live in the southwest corner of the Green Bay area, so.

five minutes after we leave our house, we're out no night.

I

mean,

there's

no quiet, rural

roads, there's just nothing out there.

Actually, you need to know where the gas stations are so you can get a snack or some water, right?

Door County is clearly wonderful.

We tried to do it on the off season and 42 and 57 can get a little tricky So our rule of thumb in Wisconsin if you stay away from the state highway and from the interstate You can literally ride almost any road.

Cool.

All

right.

Stick around Peter and Tracy fluke we bike.org They are the gurus of getting on your bike

in

biking season back after this

my luck held out this

way

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started.

And gave his life to save that bunch of kids.

And there at that crossroads.

Red

Sovine,

man.

Phenomenal.

Phantom 309.

Beautiful song.

Hey, it is Drucker Thursday.

We got Peter and Tracy Flucke here.

WeBike.org.

They're the gurus of biking in the state of Wisconsin and all points beyond.

I'm just going to turn it over to you guys.

You tell us what you want to talk about here heading into the biking season.

I just want to jump in with a question on...

biking and I think a lot of us, I think everybody grew up biking and maybe there's some people that haven't biked in 10, 15 years, right?

It's like, you know what?

We got these trails and we heard the flookies say out in the country, it's very safe and people are nice to you biking and dogs aren't bad.

I want to get back into it.

I haven't been on a bike in 20 years.

The biggest thing is, like anything, take it slow.

Do it, take and do a short ride.

um, learn what you're doing and then start first very slowly.

I don't know.

I

don't know if Peter just tried telling you.

They must communicate different levels for there.

Yes.

I had shoulder surgery.

Like that one guy

said, I want to get married.

So I don't have to finish my

sentences.

Yeah.

He's trying to tell me I had shoulder surgery in January.

So I'm rehabbing.

So I couldn't jump on my bike and go 30 miles.

right after rehab.

So I've been very gradually going slowly and riding and getting used to it again.

And that's what you need to do when you're starting to bike again.

you know, just take it easy, go around your neighborhood, go somewhere where you're comfortable and you're aware of the area and then start from there and then just keep increasing and...

Think about the time of the day, the day of the week also, right?

So there are places that we'll ride on a quiet Sunday morning that we typically would shy away from, certainly at four o'clock on a Friday, right?

Because the traffic patterns change.

So we always tell people when you're learning to commute, you know, don't try it at 8 a.m.

the first day, do it on a Saturday or do it on...

Sunday, get familiar with your route.

We can handle a lot of heavy traffic on many of the roads in town because we know where every crack in those roads are.

We're already set up for the intersection.

We have not figured out something yet and Jim has stymied on this as well.

There's the marker that says 1.5 miles, but there is no marker that says like starting where, because I've walked the trail completely as far as you can go the other way.

I've walked up earlier.

There is no other marker that says this is where it starts.

Ground zero.

Yeah, I don't know.

That was done by an Allaway firefighter, did a fundraiser, and did that many, many years ago.

So I don't know where that starts either.

Is that crazy?

I have no idea.

There's one marker that's

1.5

miles.

From which

direction?

From where?

Yeah, I think it starts from the north and heading south, is my understanding.

So someone should do another fundraiser and get started.

Get another marker.

The first one, yes.

It needs to be the golden marker.

But it turns

out that somebody who hasn't ridden a bike in 20 years, there's no...

There's no fear of not having your balance.

It's it's that's innate and that's you're the old saying about riding the bike You really don't lose that.

Do you do you?

You'll get up pretty quick.

The other thing you can do is find someone that rides Regularly and see if they'll get you going help you out and you know, so you feel comfortable and they can teach you how to do it and

be more comfortable out

there.

I just think we have an environment for that and people need to exercise.

That's all you're reading.

Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move.

I

like to call bicycling as apprenticeship sport.

Very few people learn how to be a black belt by standing in their garage by themselves.

So the way we learned how to ride was with other people who had experience and then we just aggregated that over the years.

So again, like Tracy said, find somebody to ride.

What do you guys think of e-bikes?

I'm fine with them.

So

here's what I always tell people.

I'm fine with somebody driving a Lamborghini in my neighborhood.

I think it's super cool, but I do care if they go over the speed limit and I do care if they don't stop for the stop sign because those things are dangerous.

So if you're using an e-bike in a manner that's consistent with the law that, you know, it's safe, but we saw a couple of people this morning on our way over here.

not stopping for stop signs, going the wrong

way on the road.

But honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with an e-bike anymore than I would with a motor vehicle doing that or with another

bicycle is doing

that.

So it's really about riding safely, reasonably, prudently.

And the other thing that is the problem, if you're that person who's just doing whatever you want,

If, God forbid, you get involved in a crash, you're toast.

You have nothing to stand on.

I've spent plenty of time being an expert witness, and those people do not fare well in court.

You're going to owe somebody a lot of money, or at a minimum, you're going to be paying for your own medical bills.

OK, just comment on scooters.

Yeah, so scooters, micro-mobility, right?

Right.

They are here.

They're going to stay.

I mean, that cab is out of the bag, so to speak.

Again, if you use them in a safe, consistent, appropriate manner, they're fine, right?

Do they have the same rules as bikes?

It's interesting.

We've changed the rules over the years.

So it used to be only bicycles, for instance, could use a bike lane, but now scooters are allowed to use them, e-bikes are allowed to use them.

There is some variability with certain trails, depending on what the funding source was.

We're still kind of...

Figuring out where these things all fit in sort of like when the segways came out the personal assisted mobility devices So the bottom line though when I'm training cops what I always say is if they're Using these things in a way that's safe.

You can tell they're you know watching for other traffic They're not endangering anybody else's safety or their own

Do I really care?

Not really, because the laws were created when people were doing things that were so heinous, we had to say as a society, you cannot do that, right?

People that don't stop for stop signs in their cars kill people.

Well, you don't fare very well on your bicycle or on your scooter if you're ripping through those same stop signs.

That's kind of my default.

Does the cop and you come out sometimes?

You know what I'm saying?

I don't stutter either.

There is so

low below the

surface.

But it's

true.

I was waiting for

him to cite the statute,

right?

Yeah.

Well, 340 seconds.

The thing is, is that I've been to these crashes, and they're horrific.

It just rots your gut out when you're a police officer, and your job is to keep people safe.

when people aren't doing their part, I end up coming in after the fact.

It's really just a way for me to, you know, I'm a humanitarian, but I'm dealing with my own stress here.

It's really, really hard for me to see people doing things that I know makes it less safe for them and other folks.

I remember one time I

asked him what he carries, you know, weapon-wise, he goes, nothing.

I know.

He goes, well, I know 16 different ways to kill a guy, right?

I don't need that.

Speaking

of the same, let's just end with talking about helmets.

Sure.

You don't have to wear one legally.

Do you think that's a good idea?

So here's my problem with the helmet issue, right?

We know it's a fact that if you wear a helmet, you are going to fare better in a crash.

but a helmet does not keep you out of a crash.

So you need all the skills that we're talking about in terms of stopping, you know, looking left or left.

A false sense

of security, maybe?

Exactly.

But the helmet does keep you safer.

I do not get on my bike without one.

And apparently I'm an expert.

And I've fallen three or four times every time I've been, oh, thank goodness I had that on.

Wow.

Peter and Tracy Flucke, you guys are awesome.

Biking season starting.

Please come back again.

Keep this rocking.

The website one more

time.

We bike.org.

All

right.

We're there.

Where do I

buy

those padded shorts?

Yeah.

Any bike shopper.

Okay.

They have at the dollar store.

That's all right.

Take Mino and the mayor with you anywhere.

Download the Civic Media app today from the Apple Store or Google Play Store and text the studio directly all from the Civic Media app.

Download it today.

Now, once again, here's Mino and the Mayor, John Mino and Jim Schmidt.

Hey,

welcome back.

Special thanks, Peter and Tracy Fluke for being in here with us.

Also, Selena Dero from Rooted In Incorporated.

Very special guest right now, Erin.

And I'm going to, you know what?

I'm just going to let you pronounce your last name.

Vojkiewicz.

Oh, it's a V. Yes.

Okay.

Vojkiewicz.

Yes.

That's nice.

Erin Vojkiewicz.

That's Polish.

Yes.

You're from Menominee, Michigan.

I am, but I live in Pulaski, so.

Oh, OK.

I was going to say, there

are not a lot of Polish people in Menominee, Michigan, right?

No.

Now, you said you were actually from Cedar River?

Yeah, near Cedar River.

Where did

you go to school then, Menominee?

I went to Menominee.

How long of a

drive was

that?

15, 20 minutes.

Oh, that's it?

Yeah.

Oh, OK.

He had to watch for a lot of deer.

Oh, my gosh.

One time, I'm driving up there where she's from.

I'm driving up there and it's kind of like getting dusk.

And a deer runs out.

Okay, a small deer and he starts running alongside of me in the other lane.

It's a two lane highway Crazy highway.

I mean, okay, and he's I didn't know what to do.

So I pulled over a deer is running down the middle of the highway like alongside of me But that's the way it is up there with the deer.

Isn't it?

Yeah, you just live with them Such

a beautiful area Cedar River.

I was telling Jim about those cabins up there in the water I mean people don't realize it's hour and a half ish from here

Just a beautiful, beautiful

area.

Beautiful sand, beautiful water, beautiful beaches, sand beach.

Beautiful, white, beautiful.

I know a guy used to work with a guy.

He used to take his daughters, he had three daughters and he would take them up just to go swimming and hang out at that

beach and then drive back to Green Bay.

That's

how cool it was.

An hour and a half.

That's far enough.

I mean, that's as far as I would go.

Because when you set out your limits, you know, you got to, obviously, price, but then how far away... Well, the good

thing is, you can get from here to Monomony like nothing.

It's that.

But then when you get the next stretch, Monomony to the Escanabe

area,

where it's too late and slow and...

We have a cabin in northern Wisconsin, and it takes two and a half hours to drive there, and I tell you that is... What

area is that?

Boulder Junction.

Oh,

Boulder Junction?

Yeah.

When we looked for a place, it was like an hour, and it is...

it's just the two lane, I mean, it's just one lane each way, but it's an hour, hour and 10 minutes, but I just can't see a Friday afternoon driving for three hours, especially if it's a stressful drive.

If it wasn't, maybe I could.

Well, that's

right, people, so many times.

I might know, how come you don't buy a cabin in the UP?

You love the UP, you love it.

And it's like, well, because...

On Sunday night or whatever you got you can't you know, it's not I'm gonna get up early and go to work or it's you got to leave on Sunday night and it's three and a half hours and say But you know what I mean?

Just do as quick sometimes we go and I get up at four o'clock in the morning on Monday morning.

Oh you do

Try that and you know what I ended up doing the last time I tried that pulling over in that little parkour just talking and sleeping for about 20 minutes So that's

that's tough, but if

If we need the money, we're going to capital.

That we know for sure.

Hey, I am a big proponent of what you're working on right now.

And that's this financial literacy.

I'm very concerned when I got into public life that this was not neglected, but it sure as heck wasn't focused on, you

know.

And actually, believe it or not, worked with Herb Cole on this,

you know,

because he thought he agreed, you know, although he just wanted to do it.

He didn't really need that help, because he ended plenty of money.

You

didn't have

to say that.

Everybody

knew that.

Nice guy, though.

You know, I hit him on one time, half time, a GWGB game, he was in Tower of Seven.

He was just, you know what I mean, he was fun to talk

to.

Give me his seats for the box.

Is he giving to you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He just, you heard Cole write, as soon as you're

a

senator and own the box.

But he wasn't.

Anyway,

I want to

talk about you.

Hi, Aaron.

He just was, yeah, oh, here.

Aaron, you are working on this?

This is your project?

Yeah.

Tell us about this financial literacy month.

You must see it as a really, really important

thing.

I do.

So April is National Financial Literacy Month.

It was actually dubbed National Financial Literacy Month from the Senate, actually.

So it's interesting you brought up Herb Cole there back in 2003.

Wow.

And it's really designed more for youth financial literacy, but we really feel financial literacy is important for everybody.

In my

era, I'm going to be at gyms in our two.

We had nothing like this.

Nobody talks about

money.

Your parents would

try to teach you.

We had

nothing.

Yeah, but we, I don't know that we needed it as much.

We had dads that were pretty.

Yeah, exactly.

Not

that they

don't know, but anyway, I just, sometimes I talk to these kids and I'm like, are you kidding me?

It's so tough.

I think we have this assumption as human beings that people know and understand about one another.

And you don't magically understand.

you need to learn it.

And we learn it a lot by watching our parents and watching our family and our friends.

Well, if

I can jump in, one of the things that's, I'm sorry to be in touch, but one of the things that's gotten really big now for the NFL draft is they'll have classes for these prospective players.

Cause these guys, it's like, they, you know, they get their cut and right away they bought my mom a home.

Okay.

And then their buddy who was whatever, you know, whatever.

And then, okay.

And then I mean, I saw, I watched one of the things he goes, okay.

I'm gonna I'm just gonna say you're good just to make it simple you're gonna get a one million dollar bonus you're set for life aren't you yep okay here 30% right now you got okay you got a uh a little kid you got a baby mama from call yeah yeah

Okay, there's another X percent.

You know what I mean?

Until you literally sit somebody down and show them on the board how much money you don't have versus what you make.

And that's why so many of these guys that made unbelievable amounts of money are broke.

Exactly, exactly.

It's super important.

You know, we

I think budgeting is probably one of our most popular classes that we teach.

And you would think budgeting, that's kind of a basic, that's a given.

Everybody knows how to budget, but we don't.

I think back to myself and the mistakes I made in my life, and boy, oh boy, I would have loved to have a class like that when I was 18 years old.

And another thing I read

about in regards to that, for mental health, do those kind of things, because that is always gonna be on your mind.

And that budgeting, and you can even go back to your young, but your great grandma.

the mayonnaise jars with the envelopes.

Put the money in there because people write a budget and it's like, yeah, we'll take a little bit of this and I'll send the end of the month and send the money's gone.

But I just want to talk about falling into money.

But I want to talk about the people that are making, you know, just, you know, thousands of dollars a year.

But Dave Ramsey, I'm listening to him, but I'm a big fan of his.

And just this guy won $22 million in the lottery.

And hasn't, and this is like, I don't know, eight years ago, hasn't told anybody.

Well, I'm told obviously smart and he and because one out of five people are right back to where they were.

Yeah, is that correct?

And didn't even tell those kids which yeah, and they're Just really I just give the guy so much credit for what he's doing and he's just really really was but that's discipline Anyway, we had

a

guy in here

was it yesterday or two days ago Jim talked about a former Brewer player I won't even say his name who lived in his station wagon

Make huge money.

Huge

money, but it lived in his station wagon.

So

What grade do you think kids should start taking this

course?

Yeah, well, I'm of the philosophy.

It's never too young.

You're never too young and you're never too old to learn about money.

We partner with a lot of our local schools and have gone in and taught classes to as young as third grade.

And it's not, we're not teaching, here's how you count bills.

We're teaching, okay, you're shopping in the store.

How do you make a smart choice?

What's the better value for your dollar?

someone in third grade, they can understand that.

They've seen their parents do that, right?

So I think it really doesn't matter.

It really does

not

matter.

there is a kind of fun for them.

It is kind of fun.

And what we have a class coming up towards the end of the month where we teach parents how to raise money smart kids.

And there's several techniques in there, but it's designed to make it fun.

It's designed to make it more like a game.

So for example, when you take your child shopping at the grocery store, it can be fun to figure out, okay, I'm going to give you $10.

And this is your budget for our meal for Thursday night.

And the child will walk through the grocery store and

pick out ingredients for that meal to having a discussion with their parent about what makes the most sense and what will fit into that $10 budget.

And you can do that at any age, you know.

And how

interesting is that to sit down with a young couple and that house that's $150,000 and they take out a 30-year mortgage.

That house is 400,000.

Isn't it?

To be totally

honest with you, I just want to reverse that.

I think this would be a great project for my son to take me out and show me how to buy things and I'm not even joking about that.

You are never too old to learn.

I learn things every day and I've been at the credit union for 16 years and I learn things every day.

Give yourselves a plug

again, who guys are?

Sure, so I'm from Capital Credit Union in Green Bay here.

We have locations all across Northeastern Wisconsin and I am the assistant vice

the president of learning and development.

So I oversee all the internal employee education as well as all the education in the community.

Is that your

Bronco out there?

It is my Bronco.

That is a very

sharp looking Bronco.

Very much.

Wow.

Paid for.

I guess so.

It is.

That's awesome.

Are the schools receptive or is this after

school?

Because to get in front of the students is difficult.

It just is.

And they look, they've got their tests that they have to teach to.

I went to a mayor's conference and we wanted to get in front of all the, I think it was fifth or sixth graders and teach him all the Heimlich remover.

Do you think I had that Dr. Heimlich?

He's got a condo up in Durkheim.

He died.

Really?

He was like, he's like, I'll come.

He's from like Germany

or someplace.

Yeah.

He had a place up there.

We're talking.

And I said, well, I'd be good.

And I talked to Dan Nier.

He's also gone.

He said, look, to get time in front of the kids is so difficult.

Are you finding that?

You know, I will say our local school districts do an amazing job with financial education already.

When we come in to help out is with some of the topics that maybe they're not so comfortable with.

loans and credit scores and things super comfortable on currency and teaching, counting and things like that.

But when it comes to a little bit more of that in-depth stuff, that's where we really go in and help out with the school districts.

And they do a fantastic job.

We just enhance that program a little bit when we come

in.

And it's never too early for that.

I mean,

it

really truly

isn't.

No, it isn't.

No, it isn't.

We do all the way from third grade to seniors.

taught last night at UWGB for college students.

It doesn't matter the age.

We do classes for seniors.

We do classes for first-time home buyers, first-time car buyers, all sorts of things.

How

interesting is this?

That

Bronco is so... I had to get up and take a look at that.

That is the coolest thing on the road.

That's like the old scout,

the old Bronco scouts.

That is

a beautiful...

It gets terrible gas mileage.

I don't care.

You

look...

bad bleep driving something like that.

Is that a good financial decision then, if it's bad on gas?

No,

it is not

a good financial decision.

There are some

things that transcend

fiscal awareness.

There are needs versus wants.

Exactly, thank

you.

She's worked hard, I deserve that honey.

Tell me about, is it getting better?

I just wanna say that I think there was a time where it was a little scary, I gotta be honest with you.

You know, I think it is getting better.

There was an act that was recently passed that says that all high school graduates as of 2028 need to have at least a half a credit of financial literacy to graduate high school.

The good thing is, is nearly every school that I've worked with, they already have that in place.

Okay, what does

that look like though, a half a credit?

Like what is that?

It's usually a one personal finance class during a semester is typically what we have found and that's usually where we come in.

Are you

surprised at college age people sometimes?

Yes.

How little experience they have in this?

Yes, I am.

You know, I think it goes back to that we really don't talk about it.

you know, as a society, we don't talk about money.

It's kind of a taboo subject.

And so I think that they're not picking up on the money lessons from their parents, like maybe the parents assume they are, but kids are always watching and they're picking up on the good things that you're doing and the maybe habits that you wish you weren't doing.

So it's an interesting way of teaching your kids.

I think that's true.

I do think

I think kids are also super super busy with other stuff, you know, and I just Think I was like something you put off down the road.

They're oblivious to it.

They just I don't know I I would agree with you I mean I I just remember youngest daughter and I was asking her some questions and she was I think she wasn't she was clueless I'm like what do you mean?

You don't know that and then I think wait a minute.

That's kind of my fault You know what I mean?

I

just think they're good kids, but

I don't think we can rely on parents like I could with my dad sitting down saying, hey, look, this is the way this

works.

So I

feel kind of bad about that.

They'll come to you when they're ready.

Yeah, for a

loan.

We're advised to.

My son, he's in his late 20s, and we still talk about money and house payments and things like that.

But last night at UWGB, those college students, they were so curious and so inquisitive.

And I was just so proud of the level of knowledge they already had, but how much they wanted.

to gain out of it.

Well, I remember too, even like in that era, when somebody would be getting like in TV, okay, you're just working a small market, and then you always try to jump up 10, 15, 20 mark, whatever, whatever.

And I remember sometimes, oh my God, I can't believe this.

I'm gonna be making six figures with this contract.

You're making over 100,000.

Well, spread all over three years, but I'm rich.

And it's like, you know, you go to somebody's other...

area and all of a sudden the rent you paid in Twin Falls, Idaho versus Detroit.

And they're still, even though we're, it's a different day, there's still some percents that should be consistent.