How Parents Fail Their Kids With Money
In this 16‑minute personal‑finance video, Rob Moore argues that most parents unintentionally set their children up for financial failure by repeating five common mistakes. He explains how a scarcity mindset, giving pocket money without work, paying for routine chores, over‑emphasising saving instead of liquidity and investing, and neglecting to teach taxation all shape a child’s relationship with money. For each mistake he offers concrete counter‑measures – encouraging an abundance mindset, requiring kids to earn allowances through extra work, rewarding only non‑essential chores, teaching a 1/3‑1/3‑1/3 split of spend‑save‑invest (or even adding a tax component), and modelling tax on any allowance. Throughout, he stresses that the problem stems from a lack of financial education in schools, not parental malice, and he promotes his own educational platform (Rob.team), the Young Entrepreneur Summit, and a suite of online courses as resources for parents and kids to gain better financial literacy.
Chapters
How parents fail their kids with money. Maybe your parents failed you with these 5 ways that parents fail kids with money. Maybe you're accidentally failing your own kids with these 5 ways that parents fail their kids around money. Now look, it's not your parents' fault. They didn't get a good financial education. A good financial education is not taught in schools, and it bloody well should be. I was taught geography in French— geography— yeah, I wasn't taught money budgeting, managing money emotions, mindset around money. How crazy is that? And my mission is to help as many people on this planet get better financial education and knowledge. So I'm trying to change that day by day. I've been smashing this stuff out for 16 years. I wrote the UK's best-selling book on money on it. So I'm going to share with you the 5 main ways I believe that parents fail their kids around money. Now, if you relate to any of these, please share this video because I think this could do a lot of good in the world. Okay, so the first thing is parents accidentally instill a scarcity mindset around money onto their children, and they raise you to believe that money is hard to come by. There's not much money. You have to hoard money. So for example, our money doesn't grow on trees. They say things like that, but the government seemed to have no, no worries printing it like it's infinite. And actually, when you work out the GDP of all the world's economies and all the assets that are backing them and all the other digital assets. There is probably a relatively— there's a finite supply of money, supply of money, but it's virtually infinite. So you must remember, money is abundant, not scarce. Your resourcefulness is as beneficial to you as your resources. It doesn't take money to make money. It takes creativity, innovation, ideation, solutions. But your parents probably instilled a scarcity around money. Why? Because they had a scarcity around money. And Kay Hill, Adam has said, is this a parent bashing? Absolutely not. At the start I said it probably wasn't their fault, that, you know, we don't know what we don't know, do we? Um, but money is abundant, and if your parents had you believe it was scarce or hard to come by, had to hoard it, that's going to affect you. The second thing, um, parents give pocket money to kids without them earning it, and I think that that's wrong. I would love your thoughts, by the way, in the comments, but giving pocket money to kids is like the government giving benefits to people who don't work. To me, it's exactly the same. Like, why should kids get pocket money? You can buy them stuff if you want, because that's up to you, because people will buy people stuff when they grow up. But actually, I believe that kids should earn their pocket money Because when you're an adult, you don't get pocket money. You have to earn your money. Pocket money when you're an adult is called work. So I believe it's really important that we teach our kids and we raise them how the world works and how it is when they're an adult. And pocket money doesn't exist when you're an adult. And you could be teaching your child to want to be given money, which is ultimately benefits. So get them to bloody work for their pocket money. Now, on the other hand, I think many parents aren't giving their kids enough opportunity to work to earn more pocket money. So I don't pay my kids any pocket money, but they could earn limitless money if they want to work every day for extra money, because in the real world, when you work, you earn money. Okay, the third thing I believe where parents fail their kids with money is that they pay their kids for chores that they should do anyway. So this is kind of a paradox. On the one hand, I'm saying that you shouldn't pay your kids pocket money, but then I'm saying you— the chores that they do, you should be selective about. So they should do basic chores around the house. They should load the dishwasher. They should tidy their room. They should help maybe wash the cars and do things. So you shouldn't pay them for chores they should do anyway to— for their upkeep. You should pay them for chores over and above, um, because certain things I think that they should do naturally. The fourth thing that parents fail with, um, money and their kids is they say things like, save the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. They teach you to save. Now look, saving is not all bad. You need some money for emergencies. Ideally you want 3 months worth of savings. But there's a big difference between liquidity and savings. Liquidity is access to money. Savings is what you've got saved in the bank. I'd rather you have less savings but more liquidity, i.e., you could access cash, lending, liquidating liquid assets, selling stuff quickly, you know, being, um, creative and resourceful. So I would rather teach my kids liquidity than saving. But the problem is saving will make you broke. Rosemary has said savings is good for a rainy day. I think you need maybe 3 months living costs of savings, and that's it. That's it. Because if you have any more, it is going down 10-15% plus a year with inflation. It is being debased by the government printing more and more money. And actually, you know, that saying, save the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves— well, it takes a lot of pennies to save a pound, and by the time you save the pound, you've lost 10 or 15 pennies because it's been eroded by inflation. So actually, I don't think that parents should be teaching their kids to save the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. Teach your kids to be liquid and be able to raise and access money. And teach your kids to invest, not save. So for my kids, they can save a third, spend a third, invest a third, and I want them to, to learn how to invest early doors. And this is the big one, number 5, and you know what, most people, they don't really get this or like this, but you should tax your kids because the government will tax the hell out of them. So anytime I give my kids anything, it like If I give— if I buy them an ice cream, I always take a bite and I say, "That's the tax, 'cause I bought it for you." And if they do get money, it gets taxed and I take it off. If they get sweets, I take some and I say, "This is your tax." 'Cause that's what happens in the real world. So they should be taxed on money they earn or money you give them if you do decide to give them pocket money, even though I don't think you should. Bit of a controversial one, But you, like, you don't get 100% of your money. You'd be lucky if you get 50% of your money. Now, by the way, this is not parent bashing, like I said earlier. And yeah, parents make mistakes and kids make mistakes, and that's all normal. That's why I'm doing this video. So if you think this has been useful, please share it, because I think parents and kids need more help. I don't blame people for not knowing this stuff. They don't know this stuff. I blame the school system, not the parents. You don't know what you don't know. But here's the thing, sometimes we want to be generous with our kids, but we're teaching them that they can be given things without a fair exchange, without creating value. And our teach— our kids should be taught fair exchange. Create value. Always do a good job. Always do more than you're paid to do. Do the job you want, not just the job you've got. I mean, we have to be careful because we're raising our kids in a very entitled society here, aren't we? Where people want to work less and earn more. No, that's not how it works. Maybe in prosperous times, but not in difficult times. I remember I learned personal development and business. Donald Trump, you know, Brian Tracy. I learned from all these original— like, get up earlier, work harder, go to bed later, work through your lunch. Brian Tracy taught me, always do more than you're paid to do. Whereas now people want to do less than they're paid to do. You've got to teach your kids to do more than they're paid to do. And if they want more money, go find work. And if they want to get tipped, then do a really good service, because you only get tips for great service. So if you do more than you're paid to do, you're more likely to get tips. Whereas the societal culture now is I want to do less. There's this study going on now, 300 companies I think, there's loads of companies involved in it, where staff are doing 80% of the work for 100% of the money. I think it's fucking bonkers. Bonkers. Gotta get rid of this entitlement culture, this woke culture needs to swing back the other way because it's swung too far. So please share this video and let's get this education out to as many parents, as many kids as possible. We don't know what we don't know. This is why I do content every single day. My mission is to help as many people on this planet get better financial education. I'm going to do content every single day. So let's do a quick summary then. Number 5 ways I believe parents accidentally and inadvertently fail their kids around money. And you can get your kids to watch this, by the way. I haven't sworn once, so that's pretty unique. You can get your kids to watch this too. So number 1, the parents instill a scarcity of money. Money is hard to come by. Money is really difficult. Money doesn't grow on trees. Hoard your money. Save your money. No, no, money is abundant. It really is. And if you believe it's abundant, you find what's abundant. You don't find what's scarce. Number 2 is parents give kids pocket money without them earning it, and I think that that's wrong. But number 3 is they pay the kids for chores that the kids should be doing anyway. So there's a certain benchmark amount of chores they should be doing anyway. Over and above, they get paid, and that's how they get pocket money, by being paid to do chores over and above their upkeep. And I think you should get them in upkeep and earning their keep, not at age 18, but at age 6 or 7 or 8. Because it's not just about the money, it's about what you're teaching them. And the problem is, if you give them without them earning, um, that's what the government does to people on benefits. I'm not accusing anyone on benefits because we've all got different stories, but, you know, we, we need to teach them fair exchange and value. So the fourth thing is, your parents said, save your pennies, save your money. No, no, no, no, no, no. Save a small amount of money for an emergency and then you invest. And that's the only way that you grow, um, and you make more money, gain wealth. And then the fifth thing is parents don't tax their kids. Parents should tax their kids. I tax my kids everything. There's always a bite off the lollipop, there's always sweets out of the bag if I buy them, because that is tax. And I teach my kids save a third, spend a third, invest a third. Maybe I should teach them Tax 25%, save 25%, invest 25%, spend 25%. Who knows? Cool. So let me know what you think about my 5 ways that I think parents mainly fail kids around money in the comments. Please hit the share button right now so that we can get this education out to more and more people, because I don't think there's really enough being taught about money in schools. I think it's a real shame because we're setting up our kids for failure, and our kids are the future of our planet. We should be looking after our kids. And also, um, a couple of things that you might really like. I've got the Young Entrepreneur Summit coming up in August. And do you know, as part of Rob.team, you can get a special price for just a small donation to the Young Entrepreneur Summit instead of paying the full ticket price. So if you have got kids and you want them to, to be on a one-day Young Entrepreneur Summit and you want them to get better financial education and knowledge, I recommend you sign up now to Rob team. Now, if you're a parent and you sign up to rob.team, I'll by all means let you give your login code to your kid because that's a way to give back. So if you open a page right now and you type in r-o-b dot t-e-a-m, rob.team, you can join there for just a large cup of coffee a month. That's it. That's— I'm gonna say this and it's freaking true— that is a better financial education for your children than your parents and you than you get in school, guaranteed. Or you can cancel and I give you subscription money back. I'm that confident. So in Rob.team, which is my, um, platform— like, do you want to be an entrepreneur? Let me know in the comments. Just give me a yes if you want to be any of these. Do you want to be an entrepreneur? Do you want to start a business? Do you want to scale business? Do you want to get better financial education and knowledge? Would you like to create multiple streams of recurring income, digital income? Would you like to build assets, learn how to invest? If you'd like to do any of this stuff, if you open up a window right now, you know, when you just type in an internet browser and just type in rob.team, rob.team, and you can join for the large cost of a large cup of coffee. You can cancel anytime. In rob.team, you can learn, earn, and invest. Learn, earn, invest. Now look, some of these lessons for kids, they're not nice and fluffy, but the problem is we've got to teach kids how the real world works. And often parents are inadvertently not teaching kids how the real world works. By the way, I've just launched a 9-module, 10-hour How to Invest series in rob.team, and you can get that instead of paying $1,000 for that course. It's a 10-hour course, $1,000. Um, that would be the retail. You can join now on rob.team, and it will cost you just your subscription membership to rob.team, which is virtually nothing— cost of a large coffee a month. So if you'd like to get the 9-module, 10-hour How to Invest series to learn how to invest safely, securely, diversely, and to protect your cash from this soaring cost of living crisis, just go and open a new page right now and just type in rob.team. I'll see you in the members area. Go do that now. Thanks for tuning in. Um, try and raise your kids around money in a way that rewards them in the real world and teaches them how the real world works around money. Get them to earn money, get them to add extra value, always do more than they're paid to do, offer great service so they can get tips. Don't instill a scarcity mindset, instill an abundant mindset. Don't give pocket money without earning it. Don't pay chores they should do anyway. Encourage them to do more work. Make sure you bloody tax them. I know it's bad, but man, we get taxed to heck, and they need to know that because otherwise they'll think they've got more money than they actually have. Okay, JJ has asked for the link again, so the link is rob.team. If you open a new page and type in rob.team. You can join my members area for the cost of a large coffee a month. That's it. You can cancel anytime. There's hundreds of hours of content going back 3 years. I've actually just done a relaunch, which is why I'm talking about it a lot more now. The 9-module, 10-hour How to Invest series is live. The 21 Ways to Monetize Social Media is live. The special access to the Young Entrepreneur Summit will be live any day now. You get all of that and a load more. I'm doing a course on how to hack virality and go viral, how to build your personal brand. There's the content creation masterclass. You name it, it's on rob.team. I'll see you there. Oh, and remember, if you don't risk anything, you risk everything.
