Becoming a Certified Financial Education Instructor with Vince Shorb | Ep. 255

Intro/Outro: You know what it is, that’s right. It’s time to talk money with your money, nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears. It’s the money talk with Tiff podcast.

Tiffany Grant: Hey everyone. I am so excited. I’m excited because today I have Vince Shorb on the line. Now Vince is the head, the CEO of NFCE.

So the National Financial Educators Council. So I wanted to have him on so that way he can give us a little bit about his story and how he got there and then also why we should consider that certification. So hey Vince, how are you today? Good. Good to be here, Tiffany. Yes. I’m so excited that you took time out of your busy schedule to come on the podcast and share with my audience, um, some of this information.

So let’s just hop right in, um, cause that’s, that’s how we do around here. Um, so let’s hop in with your personal financial journey. Like what did that look like? Why did you get interested in financial education? And then what made you say, you know what, I’m going to start this to educate other financial people?

Educators, . Yeah. I

Vince Shorb: always had an interest in money ever since I was a kid and always studying books and, and reading about it. I, I think I followed my, uh, dad’s and, and grandfather’s footprint on reading, studying, learning, investing, so I would always had an interest. I started investing early, bought real estate when I was in my teens and in early twenties.

Uh, so I really got enjoyment of that purchasing real estate, that investing mentality. But what I really loved most was my friends. My parents, friends, them asking me how I did it. Right. So I loved explaining that. Um, and I made some early mistakes that a lot of people do got behind the eight ball a little bit with college debt and so forth.

And, uh, I really wanted to go out and help people. And I entered into financial services, spent about 15 years, uh, in that. And I realized in my time, there are a lot of people made some simple mistakes that put them in positions like I was in my college year. So I founded the NFEC. Back in 2006 and really we were boots on the ground and conducting programs really partnered with a lot of higher level celebrity sports stars doing these concert level venues and great success.

And we have a lot of organizations, corporations, colleges reach out and say, Hey, can you help us conduct a program? At our campus or at our workplace, et cetera. So we really transitioned then to helping and serving other people. And we quickly noticed that, uh, the, the ability for me to travel, I lived off of a hotel, soap and shampoo for many years.

Um, it just, there wasn’t the ability for us to scale. So we really said, Hey, how can we help scale and bring quality programming into communities across the country? And that’s when we started to train others. So we trained other. Educators, we trained other coaches so people can execute programs, uh, in their local communities that make a real difference.

And that leads us to today where we have over 6, 000 people in every state, uh, in, in 60 countries certified and looking to continue to expand.

Tiffany Grant: Awesome. Awesome. So that was an excellent CliffsNotes version of your story. But I want to dive a little deeper into one of the first points that you made. And you said that you bought real estate in high school.

So I know you said you love explaining, please, because I’m over here like, I want to know.

Vince Shorb: It was 19. Um, but, uh, yeah. My grandfather took me to this real estate investing seminar, right? And he bought me this thousand dollar package and I read through it 20, 30, 40 times. I really just craved information.

Actually my first piece of real estate was a little piece of land in New Mexico. I still have not worth anything, not a. The good investment, but I didn’t know better back then. And the second piece was a, uh, 24, 28, 000 condo in Phoenix, Arizona at the time. And that was a rental property for me. Uh, so I did like an FHA loan, minimal qualifier, uh, 3% down.

And that I kept that for about, uh, uh, 20 ish years, maybe, uh, 15. Teenish years, um, that was producing a rental income for me. So that was my initial interest in that whole investing world. But what I found, I was always attracted to the, how do I make money grow? How do I invest? I always had a passion there.

How do I start businesses? I love those aspects. I missed a lot of the basic foundations. The credit, the budgeting, the fundamental things that I overlooked because I was excited on the shiny object. And that did end up costing me early on in my college years. Uh, but, uh, you live, you learn. And now I’m in a position I can teach and I understand the feeling of worrying about bills, scrounging through couch cushions, you know, sleepless nights and wondering if your car is going to break down to be able to make it to work the next

Tiffany Grant: day.

Yes. Yes. And I think most of us have been in those types of situations and it’s, it’s great that you took that and gave, and it gave you motivation to say, you know what, not only do I want to get out of my situation, I also want to teach other people how to do it. And then on top of that, going further and teaching the teachers how to do it.

So, um, I think that is phenomenal. Yeah,

Vince Shorb: you know, it was an interesting path. And when I left financial services, I thought I can really share because I had, you know, I was already studying for, you know, 20 years in personal finance topics and, and in financial services for another 15 in there. And I really thought I would be a great teacher.

Right. And so I went into my first classes. My first class was actually with the Orange County Juvenile Hall and just volunteered, right? They’re desperate for volunteers and I wanted to teach tough audience, but very rewarding. But what I realized, even though I had all this knowledge, I did not know how to teach.

I was talking over their head. I was just speaking instead of utilizing education methodologies that help them learn. So it was a long learning experience for me that lasted. I’m still ongoing today. And what I did, I partnered with teachers. I shadowed teachers. I hired contract teachers to say, Hey, how can I improve this aspect?

I’m watching. Eyes glazed when I’m going through that and they introduced me to things like visual learning cues, utilizing case methods or case studies in the training, uh, allowing people to preview what’s coming up, building strong reasons. Classroom management strategy. So all the fundamental education methodologies, which we still see missing quite often a financial education, uh, I was learning and implementing, and I saw the success of what I was doing in the classroom.

Increased drastically.

Tiffany Grant: Very interesting. Very interesting. And that actually leads me to one of the questions that I had. And that is, you know, as someone that’s in the industry and a few people listening, I know are interested in getting in the industry or already in the industry. There’s a lot of certifications out there, right?

So let’s get into what type of certifications you offer. Um, Based on what you just said, it sounds like it’s for the educational piece. So actually getting in front of audiences and teaching financial education. But what type of certifications do you all offer if someone listening was interested?

Vince Shorb: Yeah, we offer two main classes of certification.

One is education, which is teaching groups, right? The other is coaching, which is working one on one with individuals or partners. That’s very common as well. On the education, there’s really three tiers. We start with making sure they have content knowledge. Do you know credit? Do you know budgeting? Do you know basics on loans and debt, right?

That’s the content. Knowledge. We call that our certified financial literacy professional. The next level is how do I, now that I have this knowledge, how do I teach? Effectively. So how do I communicate this in a classroom setting? We call that our certified financial education instructor. That’s our most popular.

We’ve been, that’s our longest running certification as well. And it’s really for those that are looking to teach you their Facebook lives, classroom workshops, or, or what have you. And the third levels are accredited level. We are a IACT accredited organization. Um, in our credit level, you’re proving. Your ability to teach by conducting classes and reporting on those results.

So it’s really taking it from, Hey, I know the content. I can teach the content to I’ve executed a program successfully. And on the coaching side, it’s somewhat mirrors that we have two levels. They’re a certified personal financial wellness consultant is our. Base coaching for those that want to work one on one with individuals or in a, in a very small setting partner, uh, typically.

And then we have our credit level again, for those that demonstrate they’ve been able to coach successfully. Um, and with all those, we just don’t train you. Uh, we also provide all the resources. The processes, the systems to scale, grow your program, execute it. So even little things like emails, um, and, and, and marketing materials and funding resources are included because our goal is not just to have qualified educators and coaches, it’s to help them avoid the years of construction that it takes to build a program and provide everything in a turnkey format.

Tiffany Grant: Gotcha, gotcha. Now, with your programs, are these mainly focused on adults or if someone was interested in teaching kids, would this still apply?

Vince Shorb: Great question. Yeah, for the coaching, that would just be for the adults because, you know, kids and teens, they don’t have a financial situation yet. They do have habits.

Behaviors and things that develop at a young age. In fact, Brown university points to financial habits forming by age nine. Uh, so we have extensive resources for kids. We promote kids financial education extensively. The training is good for that as well. Sadly and surprisingly, that’s the younger kids under eighth grade.

That’s the least popular segment. But that’s so critical simply because habits begin to form at a very young age. We have advertisers, we have influencers, all these people contributing to this consumerism mentality that’s shaping our generation today. So I think it’s an important age and the teens, um, it is very important because this is a lot, the last chance that we have to educate them.

Before they’re making financial decisions. One simple mistake, messing up credit, uh, you know, defaulting on some rent or other thing, or messing up your bank account can have very long, uh, and drawn out and sometimes painful consequences. So, uh, yes, the CFEI credentials work well. The certified financial education instructor.

They’re designed for kids, teens, and adults. Um, so yeah, but the coaching again is simply for the adult side of things. Gotcha.

Tiffany Grant: Perfect. And I know quite a bit of people with the CFEI and that’s why I wanted to ask that question to see if it translates well for kids and adults and teens. And it sounds like it does now.

I wanted to hit on when you said consumerism. The thing that just stuck out to me was Prime. Like all the kids are on Prime right now. Um, the drink and it’s because they have all of these influencers and they’re like, get Prime, get Prime, get Prime. Or they’re doing these silly videos with Prime. And my kids, just a funny story.

Every time we get a new flavor, they put it in their collection because now they’re collecting Primes, but. Like you said, this is consumerism at its finest. And unfortunately it gets them at a really young age, especially if they’re watching YouTube or, you know, things like that. Um, so I definitely see how this could be beneficial.

For, you know, the younger ones, because everybody’s focused on the high schoolers, right? Um, you know, a lot of the states are enacting policies and stuff for high school, but what about the little kids?

Vince Shorb: There’s a huge gap there. Um, and I think that’s where we really need to tackle so that they can evaluate something as simple as being able to evaluate ads.

You know, these advertisers spend billions annually targeting kids and kids under age between seven and eight, they can’t really distinguish. Reality from commercial content. So there’s a problem there when they’re experiencing so many ads at a young age, and then they see their celebrity influencer, the, the, those, you know, YouTube stars, all that reinforcing these ads, it makes for a very challenging experience.

If you want to really be able to save and invest and grow your money, especially those formidable young ages. Right. Once you leave that high school and you maybe go to college or not, but once you start joining the workforce, that younger age is critical for compounding interest. We want to make sure our kids, Hey, shape positive financial behaviors.

So our, our educators, they not only teach the kids, but they’re encouraging parents to be involved as well, because it really takes that. Parental involvement to modify or mold positive behaviors and with the teens, it’s really about prepping them. So they’re not making those mistakes. Uh, so again, Hey, they’re selecting the college based on ROI, not what school looks coolest or like the biggest party school.

So they’re determining, you know, exploring career paths before they drop a lot of money on school aid. Do they need college or should they go into the workforce in their trade that they want to? So a lot of considerations at those ages. Um, but you hit the nail on the head. A big focus is on the high school students, uh, here today, uh, which is I think good, but the state standards, we, we put out a study here, uh, just, uh, about three, four weeks ago, and we said every state fails.

Uh, we launched this, uh, campaign with Kevin O’Leary, uh, Shark Tank. He did a video for us and, uh, uh, basically it’s our United for Financial Literacy campaign that really raising awareness for the low academic standards across all financial literacy programs in every state. Basically we’re saying elevate those standards so they meet the minimum level of education standards required by.

Other subjects that really aren’t used to generate any income, like science, less than five, 6% of people use it after high school at all. Um, so we’re really trying to raise awareness for the importance of elevating the quality of financial education in schools.

Tiffany Grant: That’s awesome. And I’ll make sure that I have a link to that study, um, in the video and the show notes.

So if you all are listening and you’re interested in reading or learning more about that, I’ll make sure I have that for you. Now, one thing that is usually. on the table for discussion when we talk about bringing education into schools, is who is going to deliver this education, right? Um, because the teachers, you know, they’re already, um, you know, overworked, underpaid, and then also they might not be financially savvy themselves.

Um, and so what are your thoughts around that as far as like, If they do change the standards, or if let’s say every state adopts this, um, what are your thoughts about who should be teaching this information or how do they teach this information? Yeah.

Vince Shorb: Yeah. Just a basic premise of any type of education.

The, and this is all research based that the, the results of the program. Are most closely tied to the quality qualifications of the educator. You can have the best curriculum with a bad educator. The kids won’t get anything, but I can give a great educator the worst curriculum and they’ll make that class successful.

So they are the backbone of any program. There’s a few ways that schools and states can go. First, they can outsource to our certified financial education instructors. Second, they can train. Their staff through that program, but what we see occurring right now is there’s no training for teachers. They spent, let’s say a math, English, social studies teacher.

They spent eight years in elementary school studying the subject. They spent four years in high school studying that subject. Then they went to college for four to eight years, depending on their degree to study that subject. And now they’re teaching with confidence because they know the material. They know the education methodologies.

But what states are doing is they’re just throwing untrained teachers in to teach a new subject. It doesn’t work because every single student has a different habits. Behaviors come from a different socioeconomic status, have different goals, have different ways they want to direct life. So if you’re a math teacher.

One plus one equals two. If you’re a personal finance teacher, there’s so many variables plus so many variables and we need to understand, they need to understand the basic concepts of behavioral finance behaviors. Um, and the fact that not people don’t, and you know, this to be that people do not. Make logical decisions always with money.

It’s typically leans more toward the emotional side or the reactive side. So we need to make sure that teachers are qualified and trained and confident. When we do teacher training for school districts, what we find it’s hijacked with the teachers asking, Hey, I have a question on my retirement plan. I’m like, that’s great.

I’ll I’ll stay after we’ll try to help. Here’s what I’m tasked with here. I need to get you prepared to teach these kids. I would love to get into that, but I need to get out. They only gave me a half a day. I need to get through some material. Right. So, um, I see they’re craving it. Uh, they don’t, the teachers that I talked to that are given the task of teaching, Do not feel confident they haven’t had these, you know, 15, 20 years of training on that subject.

So we need to elevate that quite significantly, uh, so that they’re prepared to really lead this next generation of kids to be self sufficient contributing members of society.

Tiffany Grant: That is awesome. That is awesome. And I’m glad that you have a solution. Um, you know, a lot of times we have these discussions, it’s like, all right, here’s the issue, but now what, you know?

Um, so I’m glad that you’re offering your program in order to, um, you know, have these teachers trained on how to deliver this content efficiently and effectively, uh, which like you said is key. I know. for me, I teach at a local university and my class is not about personal finance, but after I tell them what I do, they have so many questions.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and it’s like, everybody’s so hungry and thirsty for this knowledge, but You know, where are they getting it from? So I’m glad that, you know, your organization NFEC is stepping in and saying, Hey, we have a train the trainer program. We want to get financial education out there to the masses and we have the resources and now all of the people certified to do so.

So this is great news, great information. And if people were interested in finding out more about NFEC, about you, about your programs, how could they find you? Yeah.

Vince Shorb: Thanks for that. They can join us at financial.

Educatorscouncil. org financialeducatorscouncil. org or connect with me via LinkedIn at Vince Schorb, S H O R B. And really, we just, I love my days because I’m always talking with people passionate about promoting financial literacy, helping the next generation or the adult generation, right? Um, and it’s, it’s really filled with a lot of goodwill of people that have good hearts that want to make a difference.

And people like yourself, you know, that are. Educating on masses here, Tiffany, your educator, just on the massive scale. And we welcome everybody. Uh, no experience necessary. If you have a passion for it. You can learn it and you can make a difference in your community.

Tiffany Grant: Amen. And amen. Um, I feel like that was a sermon and you all definitely we need more people out here doing this work Because there’s a lot of people in the world and All of us need financial education in one form or another.

So please, please, please, please, if you find any interest, just a little tiny bit remote interest, definitely check into getting into this field and check out NFB CE and just browse around and see if it’ll help. But thank you so much, Vince, for coming on the show today. And I appreciate you taking time again, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Vince Shorb: My pleasure. Thank you. Bye.

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