Talking to your kids about money

The Money Dad Podcast, with Robert Adams and April Adams

This episode started with a breakfast conversation. April’s friend has a son heading into high school who runs a small side hustle pulling in neighbors’ trash cans — five clients, $10 a month each. When his mom sat him down and walked him through what college actually costs, his eyes went wide. That conversation is what sparked this episode: how do you actually teach kids to manage money, at every age?

Robert’s answer: it’s a progressive process that starts way earlier than most parents think.

Preschool: make saving visible

Robert’s own introduction to saving was a piggy bank he could never see into — he just shook it and guessed. His advice: skip the opaque piggy bank and use a clear jar instead. Watching the money pile up matters. Since pennies barely move the needle anymore, use nickels, and make it a small competition — count it together, add to it, celebrate the growth.

Elementary school: spend, save, give

Once kids are earning small amounts (allowance, chores, odd jobs), introduce three clear jars: one to spend, one to save, and one to give. Robert is intentional about the third jar — giving is a value worth teaching early, not something kids pick up automatically. The point isn’t the exact split; it’s building the instinct that money gets divided on purpose, not spent as soon as it shows up.

Middle school: open a real savings account

Around ages 11–14, it’s time for an actual bank account. Robert recalls his own dad taking him to deposit $5 a week — by the end of the year he had $252 plus interest, and watching it compound was its own lesson. At this age, let kids save toward bigger purchases themselves. If a middle schooler wants a bike, the money you “give” them should go into their account first, so when it’s time to buy it, it feels like their money — because it is.

High school: real-world tools

By 14–18, shift toward real financial mechanics: monthly budgets, debit cards, credit cards. Robert suggests parents who feel out of their depth here go back and listen to the podcast series with their teenager — a shared learning experience works for both of you.

The core lessons to teach at every age

Needs vs. wants. Milk and eggs are needs. Donuts are wants. Robert’s rule: cover the needs first, then let the wants come out of what’s left.

Opportunity cost. Let kids spend their own money and watch the balance go down. When they can’t afford the next thing because they already spent it, don’t bail them out — let the lesson land. Robert tells the story of taking April’s brother Michael, then six, to Walmart with his own money. Michael picked out items, paid for them himself, and got visibly deflated when he saw how little change he had left. “This is what you chose to spend your money on,” Robert told him. “This is what you have left.” That’s the lesson — not a rescue.

Let them make mistakes. Buyer’s remorse is a real teacher. Don’t smooth it over.

Consequences matter. If a kid misbehaves, don’t cave and buy the thing anyway. Giving in — just to stop the whining — teaches kids they can manipulate you, and they will.

Lead by example. Let older kids see what things actually cost — tuition, groceries, bills. Robert points to April’s friend’s approach of walking her son through real numbers as exactly the right move. The goal isn’t guilt; it’s giving kids a realistic picture before they’re on their own. Robert’s seen the alternative go badly: young adults whose parents died unexpectedly and who had no idea how to manage anything, because it had always been handled for them.

Tie effort to reward. When Robert’s kids asked how they could help pay for college, his answer was simple: keep a B average, since that’s what state scholarship money required. It gave them a concrete goal and a sense of ownership over the outcome.

Match their savings. Just like a 401(k) or 403(b) employer match, consider matching a percentage of what your kid saves from their own work. It rewards effort and gives them an early, tangible feel for how compound interest builds wealth over time.

Make it a game. Monopoly is still a great teaching tool for the elementary and middle school years — losing everything and building it back up in a board game is a low-stakes way to feel real financial swings.

Take them grocery shopping. Send kids to compare prices on milk or cereal. Robert’s broader point: a lot of people grab the priciest option without checking if a cheaper, near-identical product exists — sometimes literally the same product in different packaging. He shares a story about touring a facility where workers sewed “Victoria’s Secret” tags onto bras that were otherwise unbranded — a reminder that brand premiums aren’t always about quality.

Save the big gifts for milestones. Robert and Rhonda made a point of not buying big-ticket items throughout the year, saving them for Christmas instead. Kids who get everything year-round tend to stop appreciating any of it. Saving it for one occasion made it mean something.

A new savings tool: Trump Accounts

Robert also flagged a newer program worth knowing about: Trump Accounts, a tax-advantaged savings account for children, created as part of the 2025 federal budget legislation.

Key details as Robert laid them out:

• Available to children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, who have a Social Security number.
• The government seeds the account with $1,000.
• Parents (or others) can contribute up to $5,000 a year on top of the seed money.
• Funds grow tax-deferred and must be withdrawn by age 30.
• Intended uses include education and a first home purchase.
• Accounts can be opened starting July 5, 2026, via IRS Form 4547, at trumpaccounts.gov.

Robert’s take: the extended timeline to age 30 takes pressure off both parents and kids, and it’s a solid incentive for families to start building savings for children early. As with any government program, it’s worth verifying current details directly at trumpaccounts.gov before opening an account.

Bottom line

Money lessons should scale with age — visible saving in a jar at preschool, spend/save/give buckets in elementary school, a real savings account by middle school, and real-world tools like budgets and cards in high school. Along the way, let kids earn it, let them spend it, let them feel the consequences, and don’t rescue them from the lesson. That’s what actually sticks.