Kids and Risk | Charts & Setting New Goals
Challenging Our Kids to Take Risks
I remember a conversation I had with my youngest son that hit home. I asked him: “Are you living your life more safely than the average high school kid?”
He asked what I meant, understandably. As we talked, I reflected on the significant risks my wife and I have taken to build the lives and businesses we have today. We took risks to build financial abundance for our families. Have we inadvertently sent a message to our kids that all the necessary risks have already been taken on their behalf?
Think about it. When families achieve financial success, it’s tempting to create what I call a “padded room financial plan” – fully funded college education, supported young adult years, and protected career paths. But in our effort to provide security, are we chasing out the very elements that built our success in the first place?
The truth is, there’s something powerful about having that first job, contributing to your college expenses, paying your rent, and making your way. These aren’t just financial challenges—they’re character-building experiences that involve risk, trial, and hard work.
If we’re not careful, financial abundance can transform from a tool for opportunity into a barrier to growth. Maybe the real challenge isn’t about protecting our kids from risk but rather creating an environment where taking calculated risks is clearly understood and expected. Because sometimes the riskiest thing we can do is protect our children from all risks.
Charting the Data: We think charts are usually a good visualizer for how things look. Here are a few that recently caught our attention:
Home purchasing is often a cultural indicator of adulthood, but as the economy shifts, that might need reconsideration:
S&P500 Record Highs over the past 5 years:
The business fundamentals of US companies paint a strong case for the dominance of US stocks over every major asset class:
Credit card debt rose 3.9% last quarter (Q4 2024) to $1.2 trillion. However, credit card debt is under 7% of overall household debt. Total debt rose just 0.5% in Q4 to $18.0 Trillion, the slowest quarterly increase since Q2 2023. That’s because most of the debt is mortgage debt ($12.6 Trillion), and that’s barely increasing—for obvious reasons, since mortgage rates are running close to 7%.
Living the Dream: One hundred-year-old Gordon Precious is living the dream—well, his dream anyhow. He has a heli-skiing trip on the books for April which will also mean he is the oldest person to ever do this. Quite the accomplishment and more about the story here. Or the video about when he set the same world record at 94! It’s never too late to accomplish your goals! In the words of author C.S. Lewis, “You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.”
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