How I Am Teaching My 13-Year-Old To Be A Future Millionaire
If you didn’t know, I’m a new dad as of almost a year ago now.
I have a 13-year-old bonus son and I’ve been learning the ropes of parenting by studying the Top 1% of parents.
And when I study Top 1% parents, the good ones set their children up with knowledge to create a wealthy life and to make the world around them a better place as an adult.
I didn’t have that growing up and many of us didn’t. And while parents work very hard and to say they play an important role in society would be the understatement of a lifetime (I’m now experiencing just how hard they work and how much time, attention, and energy it takes to raise another human being), financial success is a place where I have experienced and observed almost all parents missing the mark.
Now, it is hard for us to teach something to our kids that we were never taught ourselves. I’ll give you that if you’re a parent. Our parents didn’t teach us how to be financially successful and really nobody in our lives has taken responsibility for helping us learn it and the result is that we don’t really know how it works as adults and as parents that prevents us from teaching it to our kids. I get that.
But I also get that this is a vicious generational cycle of financial illiteracy. In 2023 alone, it is estimated that financial illiteracy cost working Americans $388 billion in money lost simply because we made bad financial decisions or didn’t know what we were doing.
So I want to share with you what I am doing with my son to help him become financially successful at the age of 13 and to set him up to create a wealthy life and a better world around him.
The things he gets as a basic benefit of being in the family is love, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, health, and education. That’s about it. Anything else beyond that, he’s got to earn. As a parent coming into his life late in the game, I didn’t have all of the emotional attachments most parents have. I looked at it like “this is an adult living in a little body and he’s going to win or lose in life based on the experiences and education he gets from me and his mom”. Many parents are concerned with their child having the perfect childhood and this weird idea of “letting them just be a kid” and they don’t realize they’re setting their child up for a very hard life. What is the expectation going to be from a person who for 18 years has grown accustomed to everything being given to him? Well, he will probably think this is how life works and then expect things to be given to him when he’s an adult and when they aren’t, he won’t know what to do. Take a look at our current generation of young adults and you’ll notice that’s exactly what’s happening now. We have an entire generation who doesn’t think they need to work for things and that those who did work for things must have an unfair advantage and they feel they are entitled to aspects of life that truly require someone to earn them first. One of the best lessons you can teach your child is that everything is earned in this world and nothing comes for free.
How do I apply that? Well, my son has a points system with various chores around the house. His mom and I created a grid with different values for various chores and he knows the role and exchange he has in our household is to free up the time and attention of his parents so they can help the family and help others. He also has a statistic we measure each week which is “number of chores done without being asked more than once”. Each time he does that, he gets points for the chore he did and at the end of the week, if he had more points that he had last week, he gets paid money for his contribution.
2. I’m teaching him that ONLY up-statistics gets rewarded. If his stats are lower than the previous week, he doesn’t get paid. If they are higher, he gets paid.
3. When he is paid, we give him CASH so he can experience having and seeing money. Growing up, I didn’t learn money with digits on a screen. I learned it with paper and coins. And I think that’s important to instill so that it is more real for him.
4. The other thing I teach him is that YOU SAVE 40% and DONATE 10% of what you make. So, each week he gets paid, 40% of his pay gets set aside and it goes into his Sacred Account. Yes, my 13-year-old son funds his own Sacred Account. If you’re an adult and not paying yourself first and funding a Sacred Account, my 13 year old is officially beating you at adulthood…better kick it into gear!
His donation money goes into an envelope and when we go to charity events, he gets to donate his own money and learn what it means to use money to make a positive difference in the world. Last week, he went to a charity event with his mom and he walked up to the front of the room with his donation money and gave it to charity and the gave a small talk about how every little bit helps when it comes to making the world a better place and he inspired adults in the room to follow in his footsteps. This is because we teach him to lead by example and that well done is better than well said, but if you can do both of them, do it.
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5. The money he has left over after he funds his Sacred Account and donates, he gets to SPEND. He’s learning to save up his “spending money” because he does need to contribute to things like going on trips and family outings. He loves pizza, so on Fridays when his stats are up, we all go out to pizza together and he pays for his own meal out of his spending money. This is important too because we are teaching him that productive people don’t like hanging out with non-productive people. So if he wants to hang out and do a pizza night, even if he has money, his stats need to be up for the week too.
I understand this may be extremely unconventional, but I believe raising a child is a form of art. You’re creating a human masterpiece who is going to go out into the world and behave in the way you taught him or her to behave.
If you’re a parent, I would actually suggest you apply the things I’ve written in this article first to yourself. Children observe and copy. Those long talks you give them are only a fraction as powerful as the things they watch you say and do day after day. Lead by example by earning income, being productive, paying yourself first in a Sacred Account, donating money to good causes, etc. before you try and teach them to do it. And better yet, do it together so they can learn with you.
Yours in Purpose, Wealth & Freedom, Jerry Fetta
Founder & CEO of Wealth DynamX
My mission in life is to help good people build more wealth who will in turn use that wealth to make the world a better place. Concepts like the one I am teaching about today are tools and educating meant to help accomplish that aim. So if you’re a good person who wants to create a wealthier life and help make the world a better place and you’d like more information on how my company can help you achieve that, email [email protected] .
If you’re a follower of mine and have not read my book The Blueprint to Financial Freedom yet, that is the place to start. This book covers the specifics for each level in the various chapters and you can grab the book for FREE as my gift.
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The Blueprint to Financial Freedom by Jerry Fetta
Jerry Fetta is the CEO and Founder of Wealth DynamX. He has achieved financial independence by the age of 31, built a multi-7-figure financial education and coach firm, was named an Inc 5000 Top 100 fastest growing financial firm in the U.S. and is a nationally recognized financial expert featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fox, Chicago Weekly News, New York Finance, interviewed on hundreds of podcasts with world renowned experts, earning endorsements and affiliations throughout his career with names like Kevin O’Leary, Grant Cardone, Dave Ramsey, and Pamela Yellen.
Jerry’s mission in life is to help create millions of financially educated and solvent families achieving greater financial freedom and sharing the truth about money with those around them.
Learn more at www.WealthDynamX.com
(DISCLAIMER: The information in this content should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Wealth DynamX can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.)