5 Wealth Building Rules Rich Families Teach Their Kids Early

Most people grow up being taught one thing about money. Get a good job, pay your bills on time, and save what's left. But wealthy families, they teach something completely different. They teach their kids that money isn't just something you earn. It's something you build, multiply, and use intentionally to create freedom. I'm Mark J. Kohler, CPA attorney and family man. And after working with thousands of successful entrepreneurs, I've noticed five powerful lessons the rich consistently pass down to their kids that most of us have never learned. These lessons aren't about luck, inheritance, or a secret trust fund. They're about mindset, discipline, and learning how to make money work for you. Let's jump into this. I also want to share something with you and be transparent. When I was getting ready to shoot this video, I thought a lot about my family. When I was growing up, my parents drove a Buick, each of them, and we would go out to dinner one night a week at a restaurant that truck drivers would stop at and eat at. We grew up in a small town. Later did I learn that my mom and dad were actually quite wealthy. All those days of the week and weekends where we would clean buildings and paint and fix up some of the properties my dad had his office in. It was all about properties they owned and they were teaching me work ethic. And we had some land around our house and we'd work the land. And there was this millionaire next door concept that I learned later that my parents instilled in me. And I really chose these topics today for this video based on that experience I had too, with very successful parents, but not flashy parents. And I want to tell them how much I love and appreciate what they taught me. First thing I want to talk about is entrepreneurship, essentially building wealth with ideas. Rich families teach their kids that wealth doesn't start with money. It starts with ideas. They show their kids that anyone can build something of value if they can solve a problem, whether that's selling cookies at school or designing an app. They plant the belief that you can create money instead of waiting to be paid for the time you put into something. Well, my parents were entrepreneurs, and growing up, I didn't know anything different. But it was interesting how subtle. My parents would talk about an idea and having it come to fruition. I thought that's how everybody did it. It wasn't. Now when I teach this, I'm not forcing anyone to be an entrepreneur or forcing parents to teach their kids to be an entrepreneur, but it's the concept, it's the idea. It's the mindset. It's teaching about ownership and taking initiative. And you don't have to have a million dollars to start a business. You just need some. Some hard work and an idea to start serving people. When I started college, I started a janitorial business. I ran that business for seven years as I went through undergrad and my master's degree. And I'd be cleaning buildings and restaurants at night and had up to 20 employees. At one point we had a carpet cleaning van. But man, it was tough. And I loved every minute of it. See, entrepreneurship is less about business and more about belief. The belief that you can turn your creativity into freedom. Now, some may say a janitorial business isn't freedom, but it certainly was flexibility. I could go to college, I could become a young father, and I could work the hours I wanted to work and create the income I wanted to create. Although I didn't get rich doing it by simply owning a business and rolling up my sleeves. That was a mindset my parents taught me. The second concept is that education opens doors, but not the way you may think about it. My dad used to tell me this all the time. He was like, get as much education as you can because it gives you options. And wealthy parents, don't fret, frame education as a checklist. They see it as a toolbox that lets you build whatever you want later. It opens doors. They encourage learning, not just degrees. Whether it's business classes, YouTube tutorials, trade skills, mentorship. Education is, bottom line, the foundation for confidence and opportunity. Rich families tell their kids, don't sacrifice education for entrepreneurship. Combine them. Do both. I taught my own children that when you go to college, I don't care what your degree is, I don't care what your grades are, but I don't want you in colle debt. And you're going to run a business and graduate with a business that's making money. Doesn't have to be a lot, but you're going to learn the skills of entrepreneurship while you go to school. Now, if you want to get a doctorate degree or become a rocket scientist, you knock yourself out and I'll support you every step of the way. But you're going to learn how to have a rental property and manage tenants while you're going to college running your own little rental property. My kids learned about entrepreneurship while they went to college. Bottom line, the more you know, the more control you have over your destiny. School teach teaches you how to make a living self education teaches you to make a fortune. Being an entrepreneur is so much about self education. Third, successful and wealthy parents will teach their children to work for someone else first. Some call this being an intrapreneur. Before launching their own business, many wealthy individuals learn the ropes inside someone else's company. They teach their kids to become intrapreneurs, applying all the same concepts of an entrepreneur. Owning their own business, but applying it to someone else. Learning those people skills, marketing skills, learning how to apply determination and creativity in someone else's business before they practice on their own. Working for someone else also teaches structure, management, customer service and humility. All the things that make your business thrive later. And they become the kind of employee that they want to hire someday. Before you become a good leader, you have to learn how to be a good follower. And I would also suggest not rushing the process. Parents don't place timelines or deadlines on their children. They know it's more about the journey than the destination. Number four. Wealthy parents teach their kids how to save. And not only save, but in tax advantaged accounts like the Roth ira. With my own kids, we started to set up competitions with Roth iras, rewarding my children that saved the most and their Roth IRAs. One year at Christmas time, when we were handing out awards where I was going to match dollar for dollar, one of my kids said, hey, you were serious about that. I better start saving. It was a lot of fun. But when kids started to understand that their Roth IRA would grow tax free and become a tax free ATM in the years to come, they started to get energized and wanted to learn about investing. Learn about stocks, bonds. They wanted to learn about ETFs, mutual funds, Wall Street. They wanted to learn about cryptocurrency. We're going to estate too. But when kids understand why they're saving, it's a lot easier to save. And wealthy families don't just teach their kids how to make money or save money, they teach them how to keep it. One of the simplest tools is the Roth ira. Every dollar you contribute grows tax free and comes out tax free for retirement. Parents will often help their children open these accounts as soon as possible while having their kids earn income inside the family business. This allows them to take that earned income and fund these Roth IRAs ages average. People don't even consider, for example, a teenager who invests just $6,000 a year in their Roth IRA starting at age 16. By even age 46, they'll have a million dollars tax free build up in that account. Now that's a 12% return. And wealthy people know how to get 12% returns or more and are going to teach their children that along the way. Rich families use tools like this to teach the discipline of savings and the power of compound growth. And you don't have to be rich to use a Roth ira, but you do have to think like the rich to start early and consistently make contributions. Now number five, Wealthy families teach their children about real estate and how to build wealth in real estate. My parents would teach me this as well. We owned rental property and I would start to learn about this at a very young age. During the week and on Saturdays, my mom would load up my brother and sister and I and we'd go in and clean the office while my dad would finish up work and then we'd load him up and head home and have dinner. This went on for years and we talk about rental property around the dinner table. The truly wealthy understand that real estate is the best asset class to build wealth over time. They teach their kids that the stock market can keep their wealth, but real estate builds wealth. Property can generate cash flow and appreciation, tax deferred or even tax free and be passed down to the next generation. Real estate can create tax benefits and it allows an investor to use leverage to even buy more real estate estate with less money down to get a bigger roi. Now all these concepts can be taught around the dinner table and this is what wealthy people do. Bottom line. Parents teach their children about rental real estate and the concept of investing in real estate and cash flow. This concept will allow them to build equity and long term wealth like no other asset class. Now what this may mean is that some of you need to start buying property yourself now and be an example of to your family and your children learning the concepts of real estate and what real estate investing is all about. And it's not just about owning property. It's about building a legacy that works for you even when you're asleep. The wealthy just don't work for money. They buy things that work for them. Hopefully now you see the difference between rich and poor and it's not luck, it's literacy, financial literacy, entrepreneurial literacy. It's the ability to understand how money really works and how to pass that on to your family. So here are the five lessons again. Think like an entrepreneur. Your ideas are so, so valuable. Keep learning. Education can be one of your most powerful investments. Work for experience before you work for yourself. Teach saving and tax advantage accounts at the same time and investing in real estate that builds generational wealth. If this video inspired you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, maybe even your kids. And if you want to go deeper into strategies that help you build and protect wealth for your family, check out my other videos here on this channel. I'm Mark J. Kohler. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.