Mike David
What They Don't Teach Us About Money
Here's what nobody tells you: AI just rewrote every rule about who gets to win. This is not a financial literacy lesson… it's 90 minutes to meet future you. Same person. Same town. Big decisions ahead. Big life on the other side. Compounding rewards time. You have more of both — AI and time — than anyone older than you ever will again. You're not behind. You're early. Let's get started.
Not a lecture. Not a test. We're going to talk about money the way nobody talks about it in school — honestly, and in plain language.
A different way of seeing money. A workbook with your own answers in it. And at least one thing you can start doing this week.
Our parents and ancestors rebuilt food, infrastructure, sovereignty from scratch. We get to keep building. Money is one expression of that. AI is another. Owning the business is another.
We're teaching you the skills today so that future you will thank you. By the end of these 90 minutes, you'll know exactly who future you is — and whether you want to become them. Everything else in this class is built around that decision.
Money is an emotion delivery system. There are four ways to make money. Compounding is unfair leverage. Future you doesn't make those up — they learn them and use them.
Saves 10% off the top. Treats every dollar like a vote. Asks Claude before they ask Google. Stacks days. Stacks dollars. Stacks habits. Doesn't wait for permission to start.
Our parents and ancestors had to rebuild a nation from scratch. You're not catching up. You're Generation One of what comes next. Future you is the version stepping into that role.
If you forget everything else today, take these five lines with you. Future you operates from them.
You don't want money. You want the feeling you think it'll give you — freedom, safety, pride. Figure out the feeling first, and money makes a lot more sense.
Employee. Self-employed. Business owner. Investor. Most people only know the first one. Knowing all four changes your whole life.
It's not what you want. It's who you decide to be. Wealthy people have habits. Broke people have habits. The habits make the person.
Time is the one thing you have right now that nobody older does. A little money + a long time = a lot of money. Start now.
It can teach you anything. Start a business. Build a website. Make a plan. Free, in your pocket, right now. The only barrier is whether you ask.
Before we talk about how to make it, let's get honest about what it actually is — and what we really want from it.
Every single thing you wrote down — the car, the house, the trip — you're not chasing the thing. You're chasing a feeling. Freedom. Respect. Safety. Pride. Money is just the delivery system. Your job for the next 90 minutes: figure out which feelings you actually want, and the smartest way to get them.
Six levels. Each one shifts the one below it. Vision at the top — the bigger why. Identity right under it — who you decide you are. Change those, and everything underneath rearranges itself to match. Try to fix things from the bottom up — change your environment, change one habit — and it slips back. That's why future you isn't a goal. It's a vision and an identity.
Identity is the long game. State is right now. How you feel is not random — you control it. Three things make every emotion you've ever had. Change any one of them and the feeling changes in ten seconds. Try it.
We're not here to dwell on what was. We're creating a brighter future. The Indigenous economy is upward trending — and the curve is steepening. The only question is whether you've got the mindset and the skills to position yourself in it.
"Moving from a 'happened to us' to a 'designed by us' approach."
— Carol Anne Hilton · IndigenomicsSomeone had to name it. She did.
"The rise of Indigenous economic empowerment is shaping the future of this country."
— Carol Anne Hilton · Indigenomics"The future value of Indigenous wealth is based on the quality of our relationships — for its return with interest over time."
— Carol Anne Hilton · Indigenomics
"It is time to increase the presence, visibility, and role of the emerging modern Indigenous economy. This is the highest intention of Indigenomics."
— Carol Anne Hilton · Indigenomics
We're not pretending the present is fair — it isn't. But this is the starting line. Not the story.
Couldn't be mortgaged. That blocked a whole generation from compounding wealth the way the wider economy did.
No mortgages. No business loans. No way to compound wealth across generations.
It might not look like you have a lot of resources right now. That's fine — resourcefulness wins anyway. Use what's there. Get creative with the rest.
"It's time for a new story — of economic empowerment, inclusion, and of Indigenous Peoples taking our seats at the economic table of this country."
— Carol Anne Hilton · IndigenomicsOnly four ways anyone makes money. Most people only ever learn the first one. Every dollar anywhere comes from one of these four boxes.
Trades 8 hours, earns ~$120 a shift. Stops working — paycheck stops.
Owns the restaurant. Profit-share monthly. Hires E's to run it.
Owns a sliver of every store in the world. Dividends paid for sleeping.
The simplest test in finance. An asset puts money IN your pocket. A liability takes money OUT. Most adults get this backwards their whole life. Tap each item below to sort it. Some are sneaky.
Tap an item to flip it between asset (white) and liability (struck-through). Phone? Liability. Apple stock? Asset.
Money is one piece. Not the whole thing. Before we run any numbers, we widen what "wealthy" actually means.
The bumper-sticker version vs. the real one. Most people learn the first. The second is what builds an actual life.
"An abundance of money and valuable possessions." That's the textbook answer — and it's why people end up rich in dollars and broke in every way that matters.
Relationships. Time. Purpose. Revenue. You can have all the money in the world — if you're broke in the other three, you're not wealthy.
In your workbook, rank them in your own life right now — 1 (most free) to 4 (least free).
Who you spend time with. Who you love. Who loves you back.
How you spend your hours. Whether you're rushed — or in control of your day.
Knowing why you're here. What you're meant to build. The fire underneath.
Money works for you. Bills don't keep you up at night.
Forget the person for a second. Look at the habits. One set builds future you. The other keeps you stuck. Which list does your week actually look like right now?
Some of you already have jobs. The rest of you will soon. Every single one. The moment you cash that first real paycheck, you're going to have a decision to make: burn it, or build with it. This is the math behind that decision.
Minimum wage in Quebec is around $16/hr. Work 20 hours a week part-time — that's roughly $1,280/month. Minimum 10% off the top, before anything else, is $128/month — less than what most kids spend on coffee and door-dash. More if you're comfortable with it.
$16/hr × 20 hrs/wk = ~$1,280/month. Real number. Real job.
$128/month minimum — or whatever you're comfortable with. Auto-transfer. Don't see it. Don't miss it.
Into Wealthsimple. Into an index fund. Set it. Forget it.
Ten cents on hole one. Double it every hole. By hole five it's still a joke. By hole 12 it's getting real. By hole 18… you'll find out in class.
Two people. Same $128 a month. Same 10% return. The only difference is when they started. Watch what happens.
Person 1 invested $15,360. Person 2 invested $58,368 — almost 4× more money. Person 1 still ended up with $382,713 more at age 65.
Time + compounding beats more money started later. Every single time.
Move the sliders. Plug in what you actually think you could save each month. Watch what it becomes by the time you're 65.
Real story. I bought a new iPhone every year since 2007. Here's what happened — and what I could have done instead. This isn't "don't buy a phone." It's: every dollar is a vote. Vote for the company, or vote to be the company.
* Estimates. We don't know the exact future price of Apple stock or iPhones — but we know the direction. The point isn't the exact number. It's the trade-off.
Right now you are the engine — you work, you get paid, you stop, the money stops. The Future You flips it. The Future You owns the engine. The engine runs whether you're there or not.
Stuff your phone can already do — that you probably aren't using yet. Two tools your generation has that mine didn't.
When I was your age, you needed a stockbroker — a guy in a suit you called on the phone. Today it's this app. Five minutes. No fees.
Buy a piece of Apple, McDonald's, almost any public company.
No phone call. No broker. No suit. Five minutes to open an account.
Own a slice of hundreds of companies at once. Set it. Forget it.
Set your 10%. The app moves it for you. You never see it.
The bank makes money when you carry a balance. If you don't, the bank loses — you win. Four rules, that's it.
Set up auto-pay. No exceptions. Ever.
If you'd hesitate with cash in hand, hesitate with the card.
Even 1% back is free money. Starter pick: Tangerine Money-Back · no annual fee.
$1,000 limit? Don't carry more than $300. Your credit score watches.
Everyone older than you is panicking about AI. You're the first generation that gets to grow up with it — the way kids in the 90s grew up with the internet. Those kids built Shopify, Facebook, TikTok. The next layer is yours.
One prompt turns any 17-year-old's idea into a real 12-section business plan in 60 seconds — then hands it to Claude Code to build the website. Two versions: the blank template and the filled-in live demo.
Future you's first two moves. Not a contract with me, not with the school. A contract with the version of you we just spent 90 minutes meeting.
A portion of every paycheck. Off the top, before you see it.
Put that money to work. Compound interest is your unfair advantage.
Use it to teach yourself anything. Build new skills. Free, in your pocket.
Do all 3. You're already ahead of 95% of adults.