I spent 16 years in the education system. Whisconier Middle School, Brookfield High School, four years at Boston College. And in all that time, across every class, every textbook, every exam — nobody once taught me how to balance a checkbook. Nobody taught me how to negotiate. Nobody taught me how to sell, how to manage my health, or how to actually think for myself.
I had to learn all of that on my own. Most of it the hard way.
I wasn't exactly a model student either. My grades weren't great. There was a class I literally slept through. And looking back, I don't blame myself — because most of what they were teaching had nothing to do with what I actually needed to know.
Now I'm watching my kids sit in the same system, learning the same things I learned 25 years ago, and I keep asking the same question: why are we still doing this?
Here are five skills that actually matter — skills that build wealth, freedom, and a life worth living — that school refuses to teach.
1. Financial Literacy
This is the big one. The one that affects everything.
I graduated from college without knowing the difference between an asset and a liability. I didn't understand compound interest, credit scores, tax strategy, or how debt actually works. And I'm not unique — most adults in this country can't explain these things either, because nobody ever taught them.
In our house, we're fixing that. Malakai and Lucas are learning about assets, cash flow, and investing right now — at 16 and 14. We're working through real numbers, real budgets, real conversations about money. Not theory. Not a chapter in a textbook. The actual mechanics of building wealth.
When your kid understands money before they leave the house, you've given them something no school ever will.
2. Sales and Communication
Everything in life is sales. Everything.
Applying for a job? You're selling yourself. Asking someone on a date? Sales. Pitching a business idea, negotiating a raise, convincing your kid to eat vegetables — it's all persuasion and communication.
But school teaches you to sit quietly, raise your hand, and wait to be called on. That's not communication. That's compliance.
I learned to sell out of necessity. When I was building my real estate business, nobody was going to hand me clients. I had to learn how to talk to people, how to listen, how to present value, and how to handle rejection. Books like How to Win Friends and Influence People taught me more about human interaction than four years of college courses combined.
Now we're teaching our boys the same thing. We're building a podcast together, and that's where the real communication training happens. When you have to sit across from someone, ask the right questions, hold a real conversation, and put it out for the world to hear — that's a different level of growth. It's uncomfortable at first. It's supposed to be. That discomfort is where growth lives. And every time they do it, they get a little sharper, a little more confident, and a little more prepared for the real world.
3. Discipline and Health
School teaches you to follow a schedule someone else made. That's not discipline. That's obedience.
Real discipline is waking up early because you have a mission, not because a bell told you to. It's choosing to work out when you don't feel like it. It's putting down the phone and doing the hard thing when every part of your brain is telling you to take the easy route.
And health — physical and mental — is the foundation everything else is built on. You can have all the money in the world, but if your body breaks down, none of it matters.
This is personal for me. Building a business with my brother and sister taught me that mental and emotional health aren't luxuries — they're necessities. Stress, anxiety, burnout — these are the things that destroy people, and nobody in school ever teaches you how to manage them.
In our family, health isn't optional. The boys train. They move their bodies. They're learning that discipline isn't punishment — it's the thing that separates people who dream from people who build.
4. Problem-Solving and Adaptability
School gives you a problem with one right answer. Life gives you problems with no clear answer at all.
When the real estate market collapsed in 2008 and I lost everything, there was no textbook for that. No study guide. No professor to ask. I had to figure it out — adapt, learn new skills, find a new path forward. That ability to pivot and problem-solve under pressure is what eventually led to building a successful business from the ground up.
The world is changing faster than it ever has. AI is rewriting entire industries. The jobs that exist today might not exist in four years. In a world like that, the most valuable skill isn't what you know — it's how fast you can learn something new.
We're raising our kids to be problem-solvers, not test-takers. When something goes wrong with a project or a plan, we don't hand them the answer. We let them sit in the discomfort, work through it, and figure it out. That's how you build people who can handle anything life throws at them.
5. Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence
This might be the most underrated skill on the list. And school doesn't come close to teaching it.
Self-awareness is knowing what triggers you, what motivates you, what your strengths are and where your blind spots live. Emotional intelligence is the ability to read a room, manage your emotions under pressure, and connect with people on a human level.
These are the skills that determine the quality of your relationships, your leadership ability, and ultimately, your happiness. And you won't find them in any curriculum.
Malakai experienced this firsthand at Tony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within. Being in that room, surrounded by people doing deep personal work, he started to understand himself in a way that no classroom could have given him. He came back different — more aware, more intentional, more grounded.
As a family, we prioritize processing emotions, managing stress, and staying clear-headed. It's not something most 16-year-olds are doing. But most 16-year-olds aren't being prepared for the world that's actually coming.
The Real Curriculum
Here's what I believe: the five skills listed above — financial literacy, sales and communication, discipline and health, problem-solving, and self-awareness — are more valuable than any degree you can hang on a wall.
If you're a parent, you don't have to wait for the school system to catch up. You can start teaching these things at home, right now, today. A book. A conversation. A real-world challenge. That's all it takes to start.
If you're a young person reading this — pay attention to the skills that actually move the needle. Not the ones that earn you a grade, but the ones that earn you a life.
That's what we're building here. And we're just getting started.
