Passing Down More Than Wealth: Teaching the Next Generation Financial Values

For many families, passing down the values that shaped their financial success is just as important as transferring the wealth itself. Yet parents and grandparents often find it challenging to clearly communicate principles around education, charitable giving, wealth preservation, and more to younger generations.

While there’s no single blueprint for preparing the next generation to become thoughtful stewards of family wealth, early and ongoing financial conversations may make a meaningful difference. That’s because children and young adults who are provided with opportunities to develop appropriate financial skills are more likely to develop the confidence and competence needed to carry family values forward later in life. The following tips are provided to introduce children, teens, and young adults to basic financial concepts and boost financial literacy in a fun and engaging manner.

1. Introduce the Spend-Share-Save method. Gather three small containers that will hold money earmarked for spending, sharing, and saving. This simple activity helps children visualize how financial choices can reflect core values like responsibility, generosity, and security from an early age. Consider adding a small amount of “seed money” to each container and offering “matching gifts” when children choose to allocate earnings from chores or other sources toward saving or giving. 

2. Open a youth savings account. Once savings begin to add up – or as children get older – consider opening a youth savings account. Many credit unions offer savings accounts for minors with no minimum balance or monthly fees to encourage savings habits. When my children received checks for their birthdays from relatives, those checks were deposited into their savings accounts and I matched those gifts to sweeten the deal. When they turned 18 and moved out, the accounts served as a nice nest egg to put a down payment on their apartments, etc. 

3. Make learning fun. Books, apps, and online games can help kids of all ages understand basic saving and investing principles. The App Store and Google Play offer a variety of age-appropriate apps that allow kids and teens to learn about earning, saving, and spending with educational quizzes, games, and videos. Some tools allow kids to practice money skills in a more hands-on way, sometimes with parent-managed spending features. 

4. Consider a Roth IRA. Teens with earned income may be eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA in 2026, up to the lesser of $7,500 or their taxable compensation for the year. A Roth IRA can introduce teens to long-term investing and the potential benefits of tax-free growth. The longer the time horizon, the more impactful compound interest can be. 

5. Share decision-making. Invite children to participate in your charitable giving strategy by giving them a meaningful voice in selecting organizations and articulating why those causes matter to them. Over the holidays, one of the gifts to my children was a pay-it-forward sum to the charitable organization of their choice. 

6. Don’t make money taboo. Your kids and grandkids will deal with money for the rest of their lives. Talk openly about the role it can play in supporting your family values and developing sound financial habits for life. Speak to them about how you view it and how you might like them to think about their inheritance once you are gone. These guiding principals may help engender respect and thoughtfulness in their choices rather than viewing it as money that they didn't expect or have to earn. 

To learn more about aligning your values with your legacy plan, call the office to schedule time to talk or select a time on our calendar at www.calendly.com/kfn.