What is Money Mindset?

Money mindset is a manifestation of your attitudes and beliefs about money. Your money mindset is influenced by your family of origin, your early experiences with money, and your life experiences. Studies show that your success with money is often determined by whether you have a positive money mindset or negative one.

What is YOUR money mindset?

How can you create a positive money mindset that enables you to tackle difficult problems, feel in control of your behaviors, and stay optimistic?

My Interview with Perry Satterlee

I am fortunate to have in my own “backyard” a person who has successfully manifested a positive money mindset. My husband, Perry Satterlee. Perry has had a successful career in the wireless industry.  He helped start four companies and throughout his career he’s worked in a variety of roles from computer analyst to CEO. I wanted to understand where his positive money mindset came from and how he cultivated it throughout his life. As you read through this interview, try asking yourself the same questions, and be sure to read to the end, where Perry shares how his money mindset changed to know when enough was enough!

1.   Question: What is your first money memory?

Answer: My Aunt opening a savings account for me at the age of five and putting in $50. I was earning 6% interest on this account.

2.   Question: What was your first job?

Answer: Mowing lawns for my neighbors during the summer at the age of 12.  I was paid $1.25-$2.50 an hour. I mowed four lawns. I took over for my older brothers, who had the jobs. After two years, I hired other kids on the beach to work for me to rake the lawns and do odd jobs.

3.   Question: What motivated you to work?  

Answer: My parents didn’t give much beyond basics-so if I wanted to buy stuff for myself or go out with my friends—I had to pay for it. My first big purchase was a stereo system at age 16 for $300 ($1,480 in 2021 $$). I was motivated by paying for my own stuff and doing things with my friends without begging my parents for money.  As soon as I turned 16, I got a job at a restaurant as a dishwasher. It was a good-paying job at $3.25/hour. I worked four shifts a week while in high school. My parents encouraged me to work summer jobs because they were only paying for my college tuition, room & board, and books—everything else was on me. They established the same expectations for my brothers. I had a summer job as a carpenter, so I could no longer work the dishwasher shifts.

4.   Question: What was your family’s money narrative growing up?

Answer: We don’t have any, so don’t ask for any!

5.   Question: How did it feel to make money?

Answer: It provided freedom from dependence on my parents, if I wanted to go to a concert-I did, if I wanted to go skiing- I did.   

6.   Question: What was your first job out of college?

Answer: I had just got my MBA and couldn’t find work, so I was a bartender, (I bartended for two years while in college), for twelve days, then got hired by Boeing Aerospace as a cost accountant. After a year of cost accounting, I became a computer programmer.

7. Question: As a young man, what was your most challenging money mindset?

Answer: My self-confidence during interviews. I was not good at selling myself.

8.   Question: Why did you leave a solid company like Boeing?

Answer: I left Boeing due to the wage structure, and it was boring. I started at $9.00/hr and after three years and three reviews, I was making a whopping $10.38/hr. There was no way to get increases in pay based on effectiveness and quality of work, only tenure. I realized others made way more money and contributed way less- they were "asleep at the switch."  I'm working way harder, but that didn't matter- even after a raise discussion, my boss would come out and tell me, "You get the same as everyone else."  It killed me that one of my “cubemates” made more money and spent large portions of the day in the bathroom reading the newspaper. So, I spent six months applying for jobs to have a shot at making more money based on my effectiveness and hard work. When I was offered a job at McCaw Cellular (Cellular One), I took it because I found a young company that would pay me based on my actual work not my tenure. I received a 40% increase over my Boeing salary… and they gave me equity.   

9.   Question: When you started work out of college, did you have a number in mind for how much you wanted to make?

Answer: As much as I could, but being practical, I had little work experience, so I could not command great wages. To start out, I just wanted to get a job where I could make enough money to live the lifestyle I wanted – because at age 24- I was barely making enough money to buy drinks with friends. Most of my friends were in sales or engineers. They all made much more money than I did—it was both frustrating and motivating—if you don't like who you are, get motivated and find a different path so that’s what I did.

10.   Question: What did you do with your money once you started making more?

Answer: Once I made more money, I bought a house and a better car. My Aunt encouraged me to invest in a home and loaned me the money for part of the down payment. So I bought a house that I could fix up and modify. I spent most of my spare time for two years working on converting my basement into an apartment. I lived in the three-bedroom upstairs apartment (and rented a bedroom) and then rented the one-bedroom basement apartment. This really helped cover the costs of the mortgage and continue to upgrade the rest of the home.  

11.   Question: Can you pinpoint the source for your desire to make more money?

Answer: It’s not a simple answer: There are many sources/experiences that you have over time that create a desire to earn money. I think it started with my home environment--My mom’s friends were all affluent people that she grew up with. My mom always talked about what they had and she desired more wealth for our family. My dad’s company went through bankruptcy when I was born, which had a big impact on how he wanted me and my brothers to go through life. My dad grew up believing he had a lifetime job working at his father’s Car Dealership, but when that went bankrupt, he realized he didn't have a lot of career options. He had walked through life with a plan that was given to him. He wanted us to create our own plan and create our own path in life, instead of expecting one to be handed to us. So he made sure we went to college.  

12.    Question: When did you feel comfortable with the amount of money you made?

Answer: Never!  

13.   Question: Why never?  

Answer: I knew I could do better—others did, so why couldn’t I? I held myself to a high standard.

14.   Question: How would you describe your ability to move up in your career?

Answer: I think it was a mix of hard work, good emotional intelligence, a quick study, and perseverance. I knew how to get along with people, and I learned things quickly.  I’ve always enjoyed connecting with and being around people. In competition tennis, I always enjoyed playing doubles over singles.  I like winning as a team. Whether working with dishwashers, carpenters, programmers, bankers, or CEOs, I always found that working with people was the best part of my job. 

I believed that if you were going to get ahead, you needed to be the first one into work and the last one out.  Hard work seldom goes unnoticed. 

I always believed that you could find a way to win in any work situation. Yes, work was challenging and draining, but the most fruitful things I experienced came from persevering through the tough stuff.

15.  Question: Previously you answered that you were never comfortable with the amount of money you made. So I am curious, what factors came into play to help you say, “I Have Enough?”

Answer: It was a convergence of many factors.

o  You start to realize that you will never “have enough”-you’ll never be rich enough, cool enough, athletic enough, or smart enough.

o  The company I helped lead, Clearwire, merged with Sprint, and I didn't want to ever go back to a Boeing-like culture. 

o  I went to work for another start-up called Recon Dynamics, thinking I could pare back my hours and have more work/life balance. Still, start-ups are an ‘All-In’ deal—if you aren't willing to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for some period, then the chances of success diminish. So, it was a fallacy to believe I could run a start-up with a standard workweek.

o  For most of my career I worked from 6am to 8pm, traveling 2-3 weeks a month and I realized because I liked start-ups, I wouldn’t be able to “wind down” my career.  It was time for me to reassess my path.

o  A friend of mine told me, "Ya know- I wasn't around when my kids were in high school, and I am struggling to have an adult relationship with them.” 

o   Our kids were just starting high school, and I decided I wanted to be more present in their lives, to do projects, and work with charities. In my mind, I could always go back to work-I'm not worried about making money.  

16.  Question: When did you get the mindset that “I can always make money?”

Answer: After twenty years of helping lead successful companies, I knew how to do it.  I had a unique skill set and experience that I considered to be valuable to growing companies.  

17.  Question: What advice would you give people who are trying to figure out when Enough is Enough?

Answer: I believe that the answer is different for everyone. I felt like I had invested most of my time into my career while balancing family life, and it was time to flip-flop that equation. It was time to invest in my kids. Retiring isn't as easy as it sounds. You spend so much time developing your career; it defines you to some degree. For example, when you are the starting quarterback of a popular team, everyone knows who you are, but when you are no longer playing, who are you? I think the same holds true for many people and their careers. If you are not prepared to be fine with the answer to that question, then you have some pondering to do. To me, my family will always be more important than my job.  Being a good father and husband became my top priority. You can always find another job, but not another family.  

Thank you, Perry, for being willing to answer such personal questions. Your answers reveal, that throughout your life, you were consciously invoking a positive money mindset that enabled you to tackle difficult problems with a solutions-oriented attitude, be in control of your decisions, learn new things along the way, and most importantly, stay optimistic!   

As a financial advisor, I can help you understand your money mindset and how to move toward a positive one. Please contact me and we will have a great conversation about your experiences with money and your future desires.