Leaving the Classroom: A Transitioning Teacher Podcast

Leaving the Classroom 44: How to be Financially Prepared to Leave the Classroom with Chris Shamblin-Former Teacher Turned Financial Advisor

In this episode, Kristi Oliva interviews former teacher Chris Shamblin about transitioning out of the classroom and preparing financially. Chris shares his journey of leaving the classroom after experiencing burnout and wanting more fulfillment in his career.

Kristi Shares:

• Her experience with burnout leading her to leave the classroom after 15 years of teaching.
• The toxic culture in education that discourages self-care and leads teachers to believe they won't succeed outside of teaching.
• The importance of asking for help when transitioning careers and not being afraid to admit what you don't know.

 Listen to the episode here:

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This podcast is sponsored by IDOL Courses and is the only authorized vocational school and implementation program of its kind that not only shows you exactly how to create your job application assets and build a portfolio from scratch, but also includes credentials, mentorship, expert coaching, and paid experience opportunities in corporate instructional design and online learning for life! Learn more about the program here.

Enjoy the podcast transcription:

Kristi Oliva 

Welcome to Leaving the Classroom. This is a podcast for teachers who are ready to transition out of the classroom and into a new career. Each week, I'll share stories about what I've learned moving from education to the corporate world. I'll answer the most common questions and share my best tips to help you get started. If you are considering leaving the classroom, this show is for you. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Leaving the Classroom. I'm Kristi Oliva. I'm so glad you're here. Today I'm talking to Chris Shamblin, former teacher turned financial advisor with Edward Jones. He now helps transitioning teachers prepare financially to leave the classroom. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Shamblin 

Hi, thank you for having me.

Kristi Oliva 

Yeah. Thanks for being here. So you're a former teacher. So I'd love to hear about your journey out of the classroom before we dive into the financial stuff.

Chris Shamblin 

Absolutely. So I taught English for a total of seven years. So I started teaching at the middle school level, I taught sixth, seventh and eighth going across a period of four years. And then I transitioned to high school English. And I taught for three years, mostly freshmen and juniors, but I had some sophomores and seniors in there, too.

Kristi Oliva 

I figured you were a math teacher since you moved into financial advising. That's so funny.

Chris Shamblin 

No, I kind of get to work in both fields now.

Chris Shamblin 

I put my time in with literature. Now I'm with numbers.

Kristi Oliva 

Yeah.

Kristi Oliva 

Oh, that's cool. Both sides of your brain. So what made you start to think about leaving the classroom? Like, what was the final straw? Tell me about that.

Chris Shamblin 

Absolutely. So this was a process that I really started to look into over the course of the last probably three years of my teaching. And so I had... coming from a middle school level, I really loved working with those kids, they were fantastic. Most of the time, right?

Kristi Oliva 

I taught middle school, too. I know what you're talking about.

Chris Shamblin 

Exactly, but overall, they were great. But it was definitely a lot of the red tape and other issues that are pretty systemic, that led me to start to question whether this was a career I wanted to continue in for the long term. And I had invested a lot of time and money and effort into this career too. But I also knew that there was something that was kind of missing. So I originally tried, maybe if I changed districts, or I just changed schools. And so I took both of those paths. And it really... the grass was not greener. And then when I decided to move up to high school level, then I thought, Okay, this will be where I really settle in. And for a time, it did feel that way, high school was definitely a great fit for me. I had a fantastic school with wonderful co workers that I'm honored to be able to call my friends. But even then, in what I think was the best possible situation for me, I wasn't fulfilled. I was coming home stressed every single day, anxious, I started to really exhibit some mental and physical signs of that anxiety and it was a struggle. You know, it really was, and my wife was also a teacher. And we met through teaching, actually. And she transitioned out at the same time that I did, for really the same reasons where we were tired of coming home not having energy, being anxious, waking up in the middle of the night with just this worry of what are we doing with our lives? And so, as a result of those kind of things all coming together, I decided to really start looking at what are some things that I'm interested in? And I've made a list, I wrote things down, you know, what are some things that I'm really good at, and what are some things that I'm not so good at and things that I really want in a job and things I don't want. And once I started kind of taking those little bits of data, and crossing them with other types of jobs, I decided to throw in, what things that I actually care about. And I've always kind of had a passion for personal finance and investing. And I thought it's time to marry my profession with my passion. And I started to go down, go down that route and it's what's led me here. I would need to go back to school and get all kinds of extra degrees in a field that was totally unrelated to what I had been doing. And the truth was that I didn't. I was fortunately able to speak with the right people who gave me some wonderful advice on how to get into the world of financial advising and what those requirements were, and I was able to fulfill them without having to go back for an extra degree. And it was a very, you know, a wonderful transition for me.

Kristi Oliva 

That's pretty amazing, because I would assume that too, especially... I guess that's why I assumed you were a math teacher that you had a maths degree and that that would make that a little bit more seamless for you. So tell me, first of all, how long did it take you like from start to finish that transition? And what were those paths that you took that allowed you to do that without more education?

Chris Shamblin 

Absolutely. So I really started thinking about it about the last two years of my teaching, where I started to look at what are some other options, and I applied for other unrelated jobs that were honestly just kind of things that I thought, this will do while I find something else, right? And of course, those didn't ever pan out. And then going into my last school year, which was my seventh year overall teaching is when I finally decided one day where I had been so stressed, and just so tired of working my butt off, and not seeing any extra benefit for that work, you know, when compared to some other folks who did not put in the same amount of effort, but were earning more than I was. And, you know, continued disrespect that was coming from students and from parents, and, honestly, just society as a whole. And it was a real breaking point for me. And that's when I really thought you know what, I'm going to get off of Google, I'm going to stop just trying to search on Reddit, what's it take to be a financial advisor. I'm just gonna go and talk to one. And so I pulled up a list on my phone of nearby financial advising offices, and I noticed that Edward Jones had about, you know, a ton of them in the area. And so there was one that was close to where I happened to be driving. And I decided, you know what, I'm just gonna go in there look like an idiot, ask, Hey, how do I do what you do. And I was thinking, I probably get laughed at and then told to go away. And then the opposite happened. I walked in and I had just a wonderful conversation with the advisor and with the branch office administrator, whose daughter was also joining Jones and had also been a former English teacher. And it was, I mean, we spoke for a long time, they told me what I needed to know, and encouraged me and supported me. And, really, from there, I didn't ever even look at any other firms other than Jones, because I knew that if two strangers took time out of their busy schedule to talk to some Yoo-Hoo like me about something they didn't have to talk to, that these were folks that I wanted to work with. And I was very, very fortunate that I was able to join the firm after that.

Kristi Oliva 

I love that story. And I think that that is something that all teachers can take is just I love what you did, where you just went to the source of... this is what I want to do. Let me just see what they did and if that's possible, and I love that you got a really warm reception. I think... I mean, what do you think it is about teaching? Where... because I think this is teachers specifically, where we just immediately think everything else is going to be a dead end, like you thought that they even weren't going to give you the time of day. And then it turned out completely different. Do you think that was part of like teacher culture just ingrained in you?

Chris Shamblin 

I think so. I really do. There's that idea that when you're working in a service field, which I still view myself as still doing. I still work in the service field but especially when you're working in education. There's that idea that your needs come last. Your wants come last. Any sort of hint of self care, or self preservation is viewed as selfish. And that's frowned upon. And of course, we know now and it's way easier to see when you're outside of it, that's just not true, right? And that, even for those folks who love education, and want to stay in it for their whole career, if they're not taking care of themselves and putting their needs first, then they can't do their job well. They can't take care of folks, they can't teach kids, and they can't be there for their families. And ultimately, that leads to all kinds of problems. And so I think that that mentality really did exist within me, where it's like, you know, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna say I'm a teacher, I'm gonna not know anything. And this, like, maybe if I'm really lucky, they'll be nice when they ask me to step outside, well leave. And I do think that that is just ingrained in us, you know? And I think that it starts in teacher preparation programs where as interns and student teachers, oftentimes you're told that you can't work outside jobs. Which makes paying for that program extremely difficult. You can't really have a life outside of it if it's particularly demanding. Everything that you know about yourself really kind of changes and it starts there and then it continues in different ways when you get into your career. And we're just seeing more and more and more things from a societal level kind of piled on to teachers, that just compounds that problem, and really gives the message overall that we are less than, less than others.

Kristi Oliva 

And we're the root cause... that teachers are the root cause of every problem that's happening, it always comes back to, well, what was the teacher doing at that time, and I'm sorry, like, if we did that to other professions, it just wouldn't fly. And so it's really hard to see that happening to teachers over and over and over again. And I think what you brought up is so valuable that like, we kind of get groomed to be that way, all throughout, intentionally or unintentionally, I'm not sure. But I mean, it definitely affects how we feel in the profession, and then look at how it even affected your ability to get out. And that's why I compare, and I've done this in other previous podcasts, I compare the education system to a narcissistic abusive relationship, because it's that same trend of like constantly telling you, you're not enough, you'll never make it outside of education. And then you believe it. And the only way you end up not believing it is once you're out, and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that I was believing all these things this whole time. It's insane.

Chris Shamblin 

So my wife and I have talked about that very same thing so many times, because we changed and we don't have any children of our own, just cats but they are our little fur babies. But that was still a huge, a massive transition for our family and for our household, both leaving this career at the same time and going into new things. And she works now with a nonprofit organization in a role that she's fantastic at and that she loves. But we've talked about that before where we're looking back. And it's like, how did we not realize at the time, how toxic that these things were or how unhealthy that these attitudes and mentalities were. And I do think that a lot of it is unintentional. I think it's been ingrained in administrations, and it's been ingrained in decision makers and other teachers, you know that this is the case, and I don't think that it's consciously... there's a conscious awareness of it, for most. Now some absolutely do I have a negative mentality that they purposely push, but for the most part, I think it's just kind of learned behavior that just kind of goes in a cycle.

Kristi Oliva 

Yeah.

Chris Shamblin 

But yeah, and really when you're outside... and this is something that I stress to folks a lot... because I talk to a lot of teachers who are still in education, and looking to get out. And then also other former teachers too. The thing that I stress so much is that when you are outside of education, all of a sudden those glasses come off, and you can see clearly, and the amount of things that you realize are so just staggering. It's almost worth talking to a therapist about, for a lot of folks I think it's beneficial to do that, because it's a lot to process. And in some folks, depending on their experience, it can even be akin to, you know, like a minor trauma.

Kristi Oliva 

I mean I totally agree. I mean I think the word trauma is overused these days but I don't think it's inappropriate to talk about teachers in that way, if you look at what they're dealing with. Let's move into our next topic. I know that you said that you help transitioning teachers to kind of plan that financial journey and I think that's one of the things teachers are most afraid of. They're afraid of the benefits. They think they have the best benefits. That's another thing that's ingrained in us. You'll never have it so good with benefits, time off, all those things. But at the same time they're making so little I don't know how we believed this. But we did. We just believed that if we took that leap, that we wouldn't be able to make more that we'd have to settle for a lateral move. So, tell me about what teachers should be thinking about? Like I know a lot of them, most of them, are probably already thinking, What would happen if I left the classroom? So just maybe give me a couple of things that they need to keep in their mind and maybe some myths that a lot of teachers believe that aren't true from a financial standpoint.

Chris Shamblin 

Absolutely. So really, some of the biggest things to remember and this applies to financial advising and things across the board is that the vast majority of it actually doesn't have to do with numbers. It has to do with behavior and psychology. And that is the same exact thing here for teachers who are looking to get out of the classroom. Ultimately, those hang ups of okay, but the benefits are really good and the retirement is really good. And the time off right? "Time off," in quotes there, is excellent. What am I going to do? And those are realities, right? Because the cold hard truth is that depending on what state you're in, and your career, those benefits can be really good. They can be and then the "time off," again in quotes can be really something that you get used to, and that you like. But the thing I push back on is that if you're having to live your life, for those breaks, and you use that time to just rest and recover, and just kind of heal, that's not a break. Right? That's not a break. That's akin to a hospital stay.

Kristi Oliva 

And that's one of those myths that like, everybody's like that. No, everybody's not like that.

Chris Shamblin 

Yeah. I know that for me... and then I'll get into more specific financial things in a moment but I know with me, going into this field, I work more now than I did as a teacher. But I get to do that by choice, right? I get to make... for the most part, I make my own hours, I run my own business, I am my own boss, and I choose to work more. I work more and I have way more energy. When I come home in the evenings, I... and on the weekends too I'm not having to recover. I'm just able to live my life and feel so much better. And so the thing that I would try to encourage teachers to keep in mind is to, first of all, before you even start looking at your finances, is to keep your eye on that particular behavioral piece, know that the time that you may be sacrificing from your breaks, really, you're getting back for the rest of your life, all right. And you're just in your evenings, in your days where you don't have to be tired, you don't have to be worn out all the time. Financially, one thing to always make sure is that you... especially for folks who are married or have families or partners is that you are on the same page as your partner. Right? That is incredibly important. Because if you are working together, and you're not in sync, then you can start to have all kinds of issues that go deeper than just finances. So that's number one. Number two, is to make sure that you're... that you have a plan going forward. Speak with somebody who's in your corner. I always tell people, hey, talk to other teachers who have transitioned out, know what they did. Talk to a financial advisor as well so that you can make sure everything is set for your particular transition, because everybody's stories different. And then also too, it might be worth looking at a CPA or a tax specialist to have them in your corner to get a team of people to support you. And then with your retirement plans, make sure you know your options. Right? One thing that tends to happen a lot is teachers who are transitioning out forget about their 401k's. And so you typically have a few options with your 401k really you've got about four. You can either leave it like with your current employer, which means that it'll continue to exist and if markets do well, you might even get a little bit of growth, but it's really not working for you much anymore. So it's just kind of floating off in space, you can also move those funds to your new employer plan and kind of combine it with your new 401k as well, if you wanted to give that one an extra boost. Sometimes employers will allow that sometimes they want. You can also roll it over into an IRA, an individual retirement account, which is sometimes something that scares some folks, because we have this idea and other myth that oh, if I touch my 401k in any way, it's going to be disaster and I can't retire. And no, that's not really true. There's responsible ways of changing those aspects to work for you and not against you. And then your other option is to always cash it out. You have tax consequences if you do that and that is something that can be detrimental but in some emergency situations that may be a person's only option. And so typically, those are four options with the 401k's and this also applies to other types of accounts as well.

Kristi Oliva 

Is that difficult to do for somebody to transfer that over? What's the list for a teacher?

Chris Shamblin 

Yeah, so it can be. It can be difficult if you try to do it on your own. If you're working with an advisor it's a very simple process. We advise your... calls the company up and basically just says, Hey, we're going to be transferring this fund over to us. And we want to give you a notification. And then we wanted to make sure that all the paperwork is signed. And this is a process that happens pretty easily and pretty quickly. Individuals can do that on their own too. That's certainly an option. But it tends to be harder when they don't have an advisor on the phone with them. Just because a lot of times companies will give you the runaround, right? And they don't typically do that with advisors. And that's just kind of a an unfortunate reality.

Kristi Oliva 

I always use my advisor, that's for sure. And this is good advice for anyone because I think a lot of people forget about that account, that employer 401k that the employer was also contributing to in a lot of instances and don't leave that behind. Don't forget it, like bring it with you wherever you go. I'm not saying this is advice necessarily, but I always just make sure it's all in one place because otherwise you may just forget that it's out there.

Chris Shamblin 

Exactly. And you know everybody's situation can be different. But that's a huge thing that I see a lot is folks who've just forgotten that those existed, or especially for teachers who realized within the first two or three years, that teaching is not for them, well, their 401ks probably not going to be very big but it still exists.

Kristi Oliva 

Still there. Still got money in it.

Chris Shamblin 

Yeah, it's still there and we can put that to use for them in other ways to help them out. And teachers also too, we hold on to the idea of the pension. Pensions are a dying breed the world these days.

Kristi Oliva 

Does that even exist for teachers anymore?

Chris Shamblin 

In some states it does. In most states it does. There is still a pension. They've changed it over the years but I know here in Tennessee, where I am, there is still a state pension that's available. And teachers will hold on to that and think that, okay, but if I leave teaching, I give that up and well, now what? Or I cut it short and that's a real thing, right? The longer... because reality is the longer that you're in teaching, the larger that pension is going to be if you've been contributing to it. But just like a 401k, just like your other plans, there are other options with a pension, besides just leaving it there. And you know, that is also something that can be pooled and can be reallocated into other accounts to work more for you just depending on the situation. And sometimes I will tell people, that that may be something for them to consider. And other times, nope let's leave it exactly where it is. It really just depends.

Kristi Oliva 

And that's where a good advisor comes in. I love that, like, don't just try... you don't have to be on your own, I think is a trend I'm seeing in this conversation is please ask anyone for help. And they'll either help you or they won't but I mean, I've experienced a lot of what you have. There are so many people willing to help you. If you just ask.

Chris Shamblin 

Exactly, you know, have a team in your corner. I believe that's true for life and I definitely believe it's true for your finances.

Kristi Oliva 

But I think teachers get used to being siloed. You know, we're siloed in our classroom, we don't get help with hardly anything, right? Even if it's an emergency, sometimes we're just on our own, like there's nobody in the office or they're just like, I don't know what to tell ya. There's nobody up here to help you.

Chris Shamblin 

Yeah, I think about times where I had to do exactly what you just said had to do things on your own. And if you ask for help, it's almost like you're looked down upon. You can probably get away with it in your first year, but after that, the expectation is that you know what you're doing and rarely is that true. And so I think teachers sometimes do get embarrassed about asking for help admitting like, Hey, I don't really understand what investing is, how do I do this? And I want to encourage folks, if they are feeling that, that A you are not alone. There's nothing wrong. That does not say anything bad about you as a person at all. All it says is that you've been working hard in a job that's been exhaustive to you. You've been maybe taking care of your family and you've been focusing on other things that you need to do to survive. And there is zero shame in that also.

Kristi Oliva 

But you're also not supposed to know all that. I mean, that's... I don't have your job. Like that's why I have a financial advisor. I can take that off my brains plate, so to say and not have to think about it. But I think... I mean, there's just such a good lesson in here to just make sure that you are reaching out and asking for help. I still struggle with this. Not financially but you know, I just moved into a new role at Amazon. I've been at Amazon for several years but now I'm in a new role. And my manager told me yesterday, you're not asking enough questions. I was afraid that I would be looked down upon, similar to what you were talking about, for asking questions and not knowing already. Things that, how was I supposed to know? And so I want to just state that out loud that like, I'm still getting over some of these teacher things that were pushed on me and ingrained in me for 15 years, you know? You can't just... I don't just snap and I move into a new role outside of teaching and that goes away. So give yourself permission. It's going to take a long time. I have to shed that 15 years of what I was being told and how I was being taught, and it still shows up to this day, and I'm sure it does for you too, Chris.

Chris Shamblin 

Absolutely. That's something that's still, especially in my early days here with Jones there's a lot of questions. Alright, there's a lot of things that I need to make sure I'm doing right. And getting over that fear of just asking the question, was a hurdle. But once I did, then I realized, oh, wow, people actually want to help. They don't look down on me at all. In fact, they view it as a positive because it shows that you're engaged and that you actually care about the people you're working with and the clients that you are taking care of. And so, really when you get outside of teaching, I'd say 99% of jobs really value folks who ask questions to get better. They really truly do.

Kristi Oliva 

Yeah. And I mean, I also excelled. I mean, I'm learning how to ask the questions better. But I excelled quickly in a lot of my roles simply because I was really good at going and finding the answer. It's a valuable skill that teachers bring along with them. But I do have to break that a little bit and make sure that I'm not just thinking I'm the single source of all the answers here. Well, as we wrap up here, Chris, any other financial things that teachers need to be thinking about?

Chris Shamblin 

Yeah. So again, just the biggest thing I said earlier, is make sure you have somebody in your corner to talk to about with the transition, because everybody's situation is different. I know, you can definitely Google and find all kinds of really great tips and advice on there. And you can I mean, it's true, but you want to be very careful with your own self research, because what it doesn't take into consideration is your personal situation. And so reaching out to an advisor, talking to somebody who can walk you through that process is really, really important. Because there might be something and there probably is something with your situation that could change the approach that you need to take. There is always a solution. There is always a path. There is always something that we can do to help. That's not an issue. It's just simply finding the right path.

Kristi Oliva 

Yeah, I love that. So if there are some transitioning teachers out there who are looking for just that kind of help and want to run some things by you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Chris Shamblin 

Yeah, I'd love to speak with them. So LinkedIn is definitely a good way to get in touch with me. I work with transitioning teachers all across the country. So not just folks who are in Tennessee. So LinkedIn is probably the fastest way to get me. You can also search for me. If you search my name Chris Shamblin and Edward Jones and you can go straight to my company webpage that has an appointment, kind of setting option on there too. And I'd love to speak with anybody who is just wanting to look at their options, and wants to talk to somebody who's been where they've been and walk through what they've walked through.

Kristi Oliva 

That's awesome. Thanks, Chris. Teachers, I really encourage you to reach out to him and just see what your options are. If that's one of your biggest blockers. Let's get that out of the way because it doesn't need to be a blocker for you. Well, thanks for coming on, Chris. I really appreciate it and I think this is valuable advice for the teachers out there.

Chris Shamblin 

Thank you for having me. I've really enjoyed it. Thanks.

Kristi Oliva 

Do you want to leave the classroom but you're not sure where to start? Take the free Leaving the Classroom career quiz at idolcourses.com/leavingtheclassroom. It's time to take control and make the career change that will change your life. It changed mine. See you next time.

Kristi Oliva 

That's all for this episode, but you can find more at idolcourses.com or subscribe to the podcast. And if you are ready to leave the classroom, use my code classroom100 and get $100 off enrollment to IDOL courses Academy.

Send your stories or questions to [email protected] or share them with me on Instagram @leavingtheclassroom.