Episode 298: How to Raise Rich Kids Without Spoiling Them with Sarah Megginson

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Want to raise kids who feel confident with money, save with purpose, and make smart choices on their own?

In this episode of Perth Property Insider, Sarah Megginson from Finder joins us to share how parents can teach kids about money, saving, and investing from an early age.

Sarah wrote How to Raise Rich Kids. In this episode you’ll learn all about giving your kids the skills and mindset to build security, freedom, and choice (even if you’re not wealthy yourself).

The truth is, your kids are forming money beliefs right now, from watching you.

Which means that whatever you haven't sorted out from your own childhood gets passed down to them.

The good news is small changes can have a big impact. Sarah shares the exact systems she uses with her own kids - and they're simpler than you might think.

In this episode, you'll discover:

✅The age kids start forming money beliefs (it's earlier than most parents think)

✅The signed contract that turned a laptop into a two-year money lesson

✅How to teach kids the difference between wants and needs

✅Why Sarah pays pocket money in cash, never into a bank account

✅The simple system that gets kids helping without nagging… PLUS how to fix whinging

✅The one weekly habit her family cut to fund a Disneyland trip

✅A grocery shopping skill her kids mastered that most adults don't learn until their twenties

✅How to introduce kids to property investing, tenants, and rent without overwhelming them

Let’s go inside 👇🎙️

Episode Highlights:

1. 00:00:00 Intro
2. 00:04:35 When money beliefs form
3. 00:09:45 Values-based spending decisions
4. 00:13:23 Work hard, not enslaved
5. 00:16:39 The laptop contract
6. 00:20:33 Delayed gratification
7. 00:25:00 Pocket money systems
8. 00:30:00 Pay kids in cash
9. 00:33:46 Super co-contribution scheme
10. 00:37:00 Kids and property investing

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Connect With Sarah Megginson

https://www.instagram.com/moneymargarita
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-megginson-857a2717b/

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Our Services:

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] G'day and welcome to Perth Property Insider. Today we're going into a bit of a topic that's been on my mind a lot, especially with two girls, three-year-old and seven-year-old. We want them to have a better life. We want them to have the right mindsets and habits around money and wealth, but how do we translate and help them develop that?
So I've got Sarah Megginson from, finder.com. I'm back on the show. We've had you on before, so great to see you again. Thank you so much for having me. It's my favorite topic to talk about is kids and money, so I'm so thrilled to be here. Yeah. Well, I saw that you've written a new book and, and we're gonna unpack some of this today, but it's called How to Raise Rich Kids, and I like that it's got a bit of a provocative title- Yeah.
because what, what does rich mean? And, you know- Yeah … how, how do we even go about this, and, and do you have to be rich to, to raise them that way? Like, lots of things- Mm … come to mind, so. So many things.[00:01:00] yeah, you-- thank you for saying that. It was deliberately provocative because I wanted people to think about their own relationship with money and wealth as they think about what they wanna teach their kids.
Um, and I know for me, when I was growing up, rich was a very foreign concept. Like, I grew up in a, a pretty financially insecure household, and rich to me was someone who… It felt very unattainable, very unrealistic, that th… I couldn't even put a proper shape to it because it was so far out of my realm of normal.
So therefore, it felt very like, "That's just not me. That's not me or my lifestyle, not anything I can ever have." And as I got older and developed my own money habits and investing and all of that kind of stuff, and my, my h- my beliefs around money shifted, and I realized that I was probably thinking rich people were not very nice people.
In my head, somehow I picked up- Mm … a story along the way that to be rich means you have to, like, work really hard and treat people badly and, you know. I'd, absorbed all of the trope that you get off [00:02:00] TV shows and media and all of that kinda stuff. So some investigating there was very helpful as well to help me kind of redefine what rich means to me.
And then by the time I had kids, I was redefining it again in what is actual wealth? And I think a lot of parents go through this, where we, we wanna give our kids financial security and things of course, but we also… You know, what is wealth? Uh, wealth to me is health, and it is, like, choices and freedom.
It's being able to be there for my kids on their sports days and watch every concert and do all of those kinds of things. It's time. Like, real wealth i- is a, is a form of currency that can be,, translated in different ways. It's having freedom and choice and time and all of those types of things. But in the society we live in, that all starts with financial foundations.
So that's what inspired me to write this book. I wanted to kinda set my kids up. I, I know that I've got the tools to set them up financially, but I wanted to help their peers and other parents learn some of the stuff that maybe isn't so obvious if you haven't worked in finance for 20 [00:03:00] years. Yeah. And, I'm sure by writing the book you've…
it's helped you get really clear on your own thinking and sort of take that back around as a parent as well. 100%. That's such a good point. And I really like being challenged on my own thoughts, and sometimes I challenged myself when I was researching and writing. And I would, interview different people, or I would just do a bit of research and figure out a different strategy and different ways you can do things.
And it's… I think it's always good to investigate what you believe is the right way, because, uh, that's how you learn and grow and change and all of that stuff. So, it was a, it was a fantastic process writing it. I mean, very long, full-on process, but I loved it. Yeah. Awesome. Well, I love this topic too, and I, I sort of think back to when I was, young and I'd go to recess, and different other friends of mine got lunch orders every day, and I had a Vegemite sandwich and an apple.
And, and it sort of, that's how I started getting some impressions that [00:04:00] we didn't have much money and, and that- Mm … Dad had to work really hard for it. And, and the answer was sort of always, "No, you know, money doesn't grow on trees," and some of those things started to get built into my subconscious. But what age do the kids actually start forming these beliefs around money?
And when do we sort of, as parents, need to start being a bit more, conscious of, of- Yeah … what they're taking in? Yeah, such a great question, and I had a very similar upbringing where I can remember my school uniform was never the one from the school. It was always a one you'd get at, you know, Kmart or Best & Less or whatever.
And that was one of those points that challenged me as a parent. I can remember my eldest daughter was in grade five, and I had bought her just, like, a school jumper from, Big W, say, for, like, 10 bucks, and she said, "I really want the school one with the logo on it," and that was $50. And in my head at that time, this was almost, what, like, eight years ago, I couldn't justify it 'cause I'd grown up where I was like, "Well, no, I was fine with the plain jumper."
Mm. "Why can't [00:05:00] you?" And one of my friends said to me, "But don't you want your kids to have, like, better than what you had?" And I went, "Oh, yeah, that's true." but I also had, through my childhood, really learnt that you make do with what you've got. Like, you don't necessarily need… Just 'cause you want it doesn't mean you need it, all of that kind of stuff.
And- I was really challenged by her. She was… I mean, she's so stubborn. She did not wear a jumper for all of grade five- Oh my gosh … 'cause I said, "You've got a perfectly good jumper. I'm not getting you another one," and she refused to wear it. So I would send her off to school, like, freezing. It was like we're at this stalemate.
Yeah. And then finally in grade six it started again, and I was like, "What am I doing? I will go buy you the jumper." Like, this is ridiculous. And so I've had a bit of growth in my money mindset since then. Like I said, that was probably about eight, eight or nine years ago. But it shows how, like, those childhood things, they can really, they can stick with you long after you think you've dealt with them.
And my, my mindset was very, like, tuned into, , making sure we've got enough for a rainy day, paying all of our [00:06:00] bills, you know? Not, not quite scarcity, 'cause I had worked through a bit of that, but just, like, don't waste money on things you don't need to. And my perception of her was that she was being a brat.
Like, "You've got a jumper. You don't need the school logo one." and then when I was able to, like, step out of that, I'm like, "Why am I forcing her? Like, we have the means to be able to get her this jumper." It's actually the school's policy for them to wear the jumper. It's, you know, making her feel like she's getting attention for not wearing that jumper, you know?
It's like it's all very reasonable- Yeah … from her perspective. Lot of different dynamics to it. She wasn't… Yeah, she wa- It's… Exactly. And that's why I think having open and honest money conversations, like, as soon as they can talk, is the best way forward. Because I was working through all of that and figured it out, and then I talked to her about it afterwards, and she was very grateful by the time we got the jumper.
But afterwards I said to her, like, "I'm really sorry it took me a whole year to get you this school jumper. That is absolutely… Like, I should have done it for you earlier." And she was like, "No, that's okay. I understand." And I was like, "No, that was [00:07:00] me. Like, that was my childhood stuff. Like, you know, I've told you how I grew up without any money, and that really, like, kind of was, was activating me, and it wasn't your fault."
And I just think all of that context is stuff that is so missing. I certainly never grew up talking to my parents about those types of things, and it makes our relationship so much deeper because I can kind of apologize and take my ego out of it a bit and go like- I'm sorry, I kind of messed that up.
Like, I often say to my kids, "This is my first time being a parent to you at this age, and I'm learning as well." "So, you know, bear with me." But I think having age-appropriate conversations with them from when they're young is really important for you just as much as for them. And, and in the book… So I've written the book structured around the different age groups.
So it's got- Oh, awesome … like under five, like zero to five, five to 10, 10 to 15, 15 to 20. So there's kind of a, like a guideline on how you can start to introduce pocket money and deal with the different conversations and what investment [00:08:00] strategies work and all of that kind of thing for, like age-appropriate ways.
But I think for most of us, we'll find that we're working through our own money beliefs and challenges- Mm-hmm … and things at the same time as we're teaching our kids. So that's where having a bit of, bit of guidance and a bit of help can be really helpful, I guess. I used help twice there. But it just really does give you a bit of extra support so that you can be intentional with what you're teaching them rather than just passing down maybe the habits that you had.
Hmm. That sounds all really helpful. And- I was just thinking w- as you were talking that at least if you're discussing with your, your child the decisions that you're making around it, what's w- important to one child might be very important- Mm … very different to another. So it's, you wanna teach them the value of that, of money and, and the school jumper, but likewise, another child might not care- Yes
whether they, they have that. And so because she cared so much, if you're finding that out, then you- Yes … the cool thing is being able to at least make a choice where- [00:09:00] Exactly … you know, you're not forced into a, into getting the secondhand stuff or the, the big W version. It's like, okay, she'll value the- Yes
the school jumper. Like, I can choose that, and we've had a convo, and, and you know where it's gonna land with, with them. So that seems to be way different approach than just- Yeah … have this, too bad, so sad- Too bad, so sad … get to school. Yes. Like I was given, so. Exactly. And I think you raised such a good point there.
Like, one of my biggest goals with my kids is to try to teach them to make values-based decisions, and I do think our economy now is so geared towards convenience. It's so frictionless. There's no actual cash in the economy anymore. Yeah. It's all a card. It's all card, real, yeah. And the, again, I've taught my kids h- that…
I've tried to teach them and model for them the value of being really mindful of spending the least amount you can on the things you need so that you can spend more on the things you want. And we involve them in a lot of household decisions. I mean, if I'm getting a plumber, I'm not, like, sitting down with them going, "Now which [00:10:00] plumber should we use?"
But- Yeah … when we are making big household decisions, we talk to them about it. And one example was we saved up to go to Europe last year. We went on a big family holiday, first time my husband and I had ever been, and we involved them in a lot of the planning, and it was really exciting to kind of show them the different places we could go, and we picked the itinerary together.
And we went to France, so we went to Disneyland in Paris, which was phenomenal. Mm-hmm.but as we're looking it up, you know, it costs a mortgage payment to go to Disneyland in Paris. It's very expensive. And we looked at the tickets. We're a family of five, and you buy the tickets, and then you spend, you can spend basically the same amount again.
It was like, ooh, it was about $800 for tickets to get in, and then it was about another $1,000 to get FastPass tickets- Yeah … which means you cut right to the front of the line. And I talked about it with them and I said, "You know, we're gonna… We c- we can have either, we save up this extra money," which is such a huge amount of money, but it means we get the most out of our day and we don't spend hours waiting in lines, "or we save [00:11:00] that money.
That's another $1,000 we have of spending money in Europe, but we just have to wait around a bit more." And we all talked about it, and they were like, "Oh, but then if we have to wait two hours, it's too long," and da, da, da. We had lots of discussion. And in the end we decided we wanted to do the, the, the $1,000 extra for the FastPass.
And I said, "All right." This was maybe three months before we went. I said, "If that's what we're gonna do, we need to find that $1,000. So normally Friday nights we have, family movie night and we get takeaways." And I said, "Maybe between now and Europe we don't get takeaways anymore. We just, like, make-" breakfast for dinner or pancakes for dinner or something fun at home, and we bank that money and save it towards Disneyland.
And so we did that, and there would be times where we're out and, you know, hungry, "Shall we get lunch out?" "No." And my son, who was nine, he'd be like, "No, Mom, let's just go home and have sandwiches 'cause we can put that money towards Disneyland." It's kind of- Mm-hmm … those types of really, I mean, I wouldn't say they're every day.
It's not every day we're going to Disneyland, but just involving them in part of our everyday conversations. It means they're on the journey as well. And as luck would have it, by the time we went it wasn't even peak season, so [00:12:00] we got there and we didn't even need to buy the extra- Just don't know, yeah
extra ticket. But as anyone who's ever been to Europe knows, we, we found ways to spend that money very quickly in other ways. Very expensive. Um, but you know, those types of conversations- Mm-hmm … I think is really important to model for them and really important to talk about with them so that they can make more intentional decisions.
Because- Yeah … I think one of the biggest challenges people have, I certainly see amongst my friend group, is that unintentional spending and habitual spending, and not, uh, understanding the impact of just- Buying this and that here or there, and not realizing that that's actually probably, you know, 10 grand a year of- Mm
habitual spending. That could be an overseas holiday for your family. If you were to rein in some things that actually wouldn't even impact your life that much. Yeah. Yeah. It's a- Well, there's a lot- … long game … it's great that you're discussing the trade-offs because to just think that you get all this without, you know- Mm
trading off [00:13:00] on something, I think that they've been part of that conscious intention, so sounds good. Yeah. Absolutely. And I, and you kind of, you know, as a parent, you want them to know that you've gotta work hard for money, but you also don't want them to be a slave to money. Yeah. So you're always riding that line of trying to impress
or for me anyway, I'm trying to impress upon them that money is not f- it's abundant, but it also is something that you have to be intentional about. So you can't just sit back and go, "Money will flow to me." But I feel like the m- whatever your values are, this is just my view and my opinion, and whatever your values are, you wanna try and instill them into your kids.
My eldest is almost 16, so she's gonna be buying her first car soon. and she jokes about saying, "I wanna buy a Tesla," or, you know, "I wanna buy this or that," and we laugh 'cause I'm like, "You've got $1,000." I think she's got $1,100 saved, so I'm like, "You're, you're a long way off the Tesla." But we were talking about some family friends who gave…
their dad gave his car to his son, and then he bought himself a new car. And my daughter [00:14:00] went, "Oh, no, I wouldn't like to do that." And I was like, "Oh, really?" And she goes, "Oh, sorry. I mean, that would be really nice if you did that. Like, I'd be really grateful, but I don't want my first car chosen for me. I really wanna choose it myself."
And I thought that is, that's a really great kind of by-product of having these conversations so frequently- Mm … because for her, that's a choice. If we hadn't been having those conversations, then maybe that's just something that happens. And I could imagine if I said to my daughter, "Guess what? We're gonna give you our car so you don't have to buy one, and you can have mine," and she reacted negatively, I would be like, "You spoiled brat."
Yeah. Because we, we very much involve our kids in conversations, and she feels like, you know, a stakeholder in the conversations. It means that we, we got to have that conversation well before we were anywhere near thinking about doing something like that. I mean, I've got a people mover car, so she would never want mine.
Um, I just think that's the power of having lots of great conversations and investigating your own beliefs around money and your own habits while you are [00:15:00] raising your kids to develop their own. Because otherwise, we make out by our own… Well, certainly, I know I didn't, from the s- few things you've said- Mm
you probably did as well, based on the things our parents tell us growing up. "We can't afford that. Money doesn't grow on trees. Y- that'll do. You don't need it. Because I said so." All of those kind of one-way directions- It means we then kind of make up our own stories about money, that it must be hard or that it's, it's not for us to make a decision on.
It's something that is given to us, not something that we can claim, and all of those kind of beliefs around it. So the more we investigate what we think, the more we can be really intentional about what we teach our kids. I guess that's where probably some of the bigger mistakes well-meaning parents make.
Did you have any sort of common ones that you, you discovered? I mean, that classic one you just said there of giving them something that they may not even want- Mm … that's, that sounds like a pretty big one that any of us could make. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think the mistake… I don't like saying [00:16:00] mistakes 'cause I don't think parents, they're not intentionally ever making mistakes.
No. We're all trying to do our best. I think there are missed opportunities though, and I'll give an example of something that I did in our family that I think was a great opportunity to teach our kids that perhaps other parents wouldn't do. So when our daughter started high school, she needed a laptop.
It's like a tech requirement for all, pretty much all schools now, you need a, a laptop. And I said to her, "Okay, great, you need a laptop. They're about $600 for a student laptop. I can get that for you." And she said, "I don't want a student laptop. I don't want a Dell. I want a Apple Mac like you and dad have."
And I laughed and I was like, "Ha ha." You know, I wasn't even gonna spring for a jumper for her. You can imagine how I felt about- … the Mac. So I said, "No," you know, like, "that's something you, you get when you're older and you can afford it. I'm just gonna get you the student one. That's all you need." And she goes, "I really don't want that.
Like, I've always used yours and dad's. I know Macs. I've had an iPad at, at, um, primary school. I want a Mac." And I sat on it, and my first reaction as a [00:17:00] parent coming from ego was like, "You'll, you'll like it and you'll lump it," and I was like, "No, that's not how I wanna go." That's probably your- Or how- … your mum speaking through you.
Yes, exactly. Exactly. And I thought, "No, I don't wanna proceed like this." So I looked at it, looked up the computer she wanted, and there was about a $750 difference between what I was prepared to pay and what it was. And so I came back to her and I said, "Look- I'm prepared to give you 600 bucks. The one you want is 1,350.
You can pay it off. If that's the one you really want, I will buy it for you, and the difference worked out to be, I think, $32 a month. And I said, "I'm even gonna be really generous and I'm gonna round it down to 30, but you have to pay $30 a month for the next two years." And she said, "Yes, I wanna do that." So we- I typed up a contract and we both signed it, and it had every month there, and she had to tick it off each month.
And she earned money through pocket money, so I was paying for it anyway in the long run, but she had to work for it. And, uh, it was one of the first, I think, lessons in wanting… The difference between a want and a need. [00:18:00] Like, she needed a computer, she wanted a Mac. So I helped her decide what level of sacrifice she was willing to put in.
Does she want to just, you know, be a kid and just get what I give her, or does she wanna be part of making this financial decision? So we set it up and she was great. She was never behind on a payment. I think there was maybe one month where she didn't have enough money and went, "Oh, what chores can I do around the house?
I need to make money for my payment." Mm. We got to the end of the two years, she fully paid it off. I think literally the same week that she pulled paid it off, her younger sister joined-- went to high school and started her contract 'cause she'd seen her sister do it. But it's now-- She's had that for four years and it's still in pristine condition.
She's taken care of it so well because- Mm … she's got skin in the game. She knows that if she breaks it, I'm not rushing off to get it fixed. Like, she's gotta take care of it. And not that I would leave her without a resource for school, but just by having that approach, my kids tend to take better care of their stuff.
And so her younger sister started high [00:19:00] school last year. She's done the same thing. And then their younger brother, who's only in grade five, he's seen this happen, and he's already saving. So he's already actually got his $700 set aside in a savings account 'cause he's like, "By the time I get to high school, I don't think I wanna do payments.
I think I just wanna, like, give you the cash." So he's benefited from their lessons, I guess. But I think that's-- it's a way that you can think about what you want your kids, what you want their relationship with money to be. And the, the part of the reason I wrote this book was to try and help parents really easily identify with that.
I think it can feel like a huge body of work to get your head around. Like, how do I… I don't even know my relationship with money. How do I put my kids on the right path? Mm. So that's why I've, I've written a book to try and help you work out where in your life- You're really happy with how you're doing things, where you feel like you could have a little bit more structure or guidance, and what you wanna do with your kids.
And that's just one of those ways that I think helps set them up for success in the future. [00:20:00] Yeah. Nice. So you've got your different ages that you take people through. I guess one of the bigger challenges for people of all ages, and even for adults- Mm-hmm … is delaying gratification. And- Yes … with the world being so instant now, we've got, you know- Yeah
just put it on Afterpay or- Ugh … it's so hard to… I, I, I don't even know where we begin as a parent to try to show them that waiting for things is okay and, and- Yes … and having that sort of future in mind when everything is brought back to the now today. Yeah. I mean, it's such a good point. When I was, when I was in high school, if I wanted something and I couldn't afford it, I could go to Kmart or City Beach, and I could lay-by it and pay it off over six or eight weeks.
Yeah. And now we've flipped that, uh, where we give you the item up front, and then you pay it off. So we've flipped the delayed gratification, and there's a, there's a purpose for it. Like, the- Mm … there's a reason we're meant to stretch those dopamine hits out and work for something, and then get that ultimate [00:21:00] satisfaction when you get it.
And doing it the opposite way, it really robs us of, of those opportunities, and it's not healthy for us. We've really shifted as a society into a space where we really prioritize and pay a premium for-- premium for convenience and early access. So as a parent, that is definitely something that was on my mind with my kids, and we, we, like, don't use Uber Eats or delivery food, things like that.
Would be very rare for us to use that in our household because, well, I used to own a restaurant, so I know how much- Mm … the restaurants get gouged on it. But also, I- it's a really high value for me that we get value for money, and that we are not spending more than we need to on things just for the convenience of it, because we maybe didn't plan ahead as, as well as we could have or I think it's become really normalized for a lot of people to spend money on Uber Eats multiple times a week or, you know.
A- and again, this comes back to what I was saying before about intentional spending. If that is a high value for you and it adds- Mm … [00:22:00] joy to your life, then that's fantastic. I remember being on a girls' weekend away where one of the girls said, "Oh, we've run out of cheese, and I want more Cheezels." And she jumped on some sort of app and got, like, three items delivered.
And 45 minutes later, it arrived. For me, I, I was like, "This is great. Like, thank you for doing that." That's not something I would do ordinarily. Like, that's a one-off bonus for this moment when we had six girls in an Airbnb. Fantastic. But would I wanna get into that habit in my day-to-day life? Probably not.
But for some people, that would be a really good benefit. So I, I guess I'm not knocking the convenience aspect, it's just pulling those threads a little bit to see is this something that I actually really value, and want, and need? And I'm always a big fan of paying less for essentials. Like, I don't wanna pay any more for groceries than I have to.
I wanna pay the least amount I can get away with. I want the discounts, I want the coupon codes, I wanna get that bill down as much as I can. Because when I go for a date on the weekend with my husband, I [00:23:00] wanna be able to order a cocktail and not, you know, be freaking out about the price. It's like, so I wanna be putting the essentials in the cheapest possible bucket so that I have more fun money, I guess.
Yeah. And I guess talking through those decisions, as you've said earlier, can help show your kids why you're making them and translate that. Yeah. Absolutely. And I, I will kind of- And I'm harping on about the point of, like, talking to them a lot. But we do talk to them a lot about all different kinds of, I guess, grown-up concepts.
And I will talk to them about turning the lights off or not having long showers and stuff like that. Yeah. 'Cause I say that costs money. I can remember growing up with my dad going, "Turn the lights off. We're not made of money." I understood what he meant, but I didn't really. I d- I had no understanding of why turning a light on and off had anything to do with money.
I just knew that somehow they were correlated. But my daughter had a f- 15-minute shower the other day, and she got out and I said, "Mate, that's crazy. Like, you're in there for… I know it's cold, but you're in there for [00:24:00] 15 minutes. You weren't even washing your hair. That costs us so much money to heat up all that water for you to have a shower, and it's okay if it's every now and then, but you're doing this every day now."
And I kind of literally spell it out for her. I'm like, "The reason that we get to go on holidays and have, like, the beautiful life we have is because we keep an eye on our money. So this is something that I just want you to be mindful of." So that, to me, is more effective than just saying to her, "Have shorter showers.
It's too expensive." Like, I'm kind of giving her the context- Mm-hmm … around it and helping her connect the dots between, like, that intentionality of spending, I guess. Yeah, nice. One of the other ones we've started to try to experiment but haven't really found a way to make it work well yet is with pocket money for our seven-year-old.
What age do you think they should start getting pocket money? Should they get pocket money, or should it, should they be given- … sort of, uh, an allowance, or should they have to work for it? Or, like, where does that s- Yeah. I know, I know there's probably lots of different [00:25:00] ways that you can do this. Yeah. And maybe no one right way, but what are some of the ideas- Yeah
around how to approach it? Yeah, I would agree with that statement. There's no one right way. There's a right way for you and your family. And I, I really, I dig into the weeds of this a bit in the book to help you know, spell out the different things you can do and what the consequences of that can be.
For me, my biggest goal with pocket money with my kids was I wanted to get rid of the mental load for me. I didn't wanna create some very highly structured- Yeah … you know? Well, that's why we haven't really sort of- Yes … continued with it. And- Yeah. Part of me is also like, oh, I wanna teach them to be creative as well and not necessarily train them to be- A wage earner.
Yeah. so it's like that balance of like, you know- And that's funny. There's, and that's why I guess there's no one size fits all solution here- Mm … because every parent will have their own money beliefs. I remember speaking to one friend once who was really glad when her daughter tried to negotiate about how much she got each week.
And she's like- Mm … "I'm so gl- [00:26:00] she's negotiating. She's standing up for herself." And one of my other friends there was like- … "No, I don't want my kids, like, trying to hype me up for more money." So we all bring our own beliefs and, and values into it. So that's a really good place to start, is to think about what you really wanna teach them in that moment.
For us, we really, I thought, thought it was really important for them to understand that contribution is important. So it was, yes, it was important for them to contribute and work, and I, I like tying pocket money to, chores. I know lots of people who do it lots of different ways, and some people are like, it's a, a set amount per week, or even they've gotta do a set number of chores per week with no money because that's just contributing to the family.
Mm. It's what they should do. I found my kids were not very motivated, and that made life harder for me when I tried to do a, like, you must do A, B, C, D each day with no money. Didn't really get me very far, and I wanted to make it f- rewarding for everyone. So the platform we ended up with is I've got a l- [00:27:00] small blackboard, it's probably like A3 size, that lives in our kitchen, and they write…
They've each got a column on it, and, they get points for doing chores. So they can really earn as much as they feel like. If they want feeling really motivated and they wanna do lots of chores, they could easily make 20 or $30 in a day. But if they're feeling like kids and they just wanna watch TV after school, and they don't feel like walking the dog, or they don't feel like feeding her, or unstacking the dishwasher, or whatever it might be, then they won't earn any money that day.
Uh, they get 10 cents per point, certain amount of points per chore, and it's up to them to add it to the board because, like that mental load thing, I didn't wanna have to be monitoring their points. So if they forget to put the points up, they miss out on the points. That was a really good way of helping them get self-motivated.
For us, I also added into it, and my kids were- Five, seven, and 10 when we started. But I added in an element for attitude as well. I said, "I don't expect, when I ask you to do chores, I don't expect you to turn around and go, 'Yes, I can't wait. Let me go hang out the [00:28:00] washing.' But I also don't love it when you whinge and go, 'Oh, but I'm so tired and my legs hurt,' and blah, blah, blah."
Mm-hmm. So we introduced bonus points for attitude. So it might be unstacking the dishwasher gets you 20 points, but if you do it and you don't whinge, or you do it quickly and I don't have to ask you five times to do it, then I might give you 25. Like, you know, if you just come in and offer to help clean the kitchen with me, you see me doing it, you just come and offer to do it, I might double your points.
So there's that kind of extra bon- it's like getting bonuses at work, I guess. it's… But just I wanted to do the best we could to incentivize them and really also make sure that they knew what they were doing was contributing to the family. And so I would often say to them, "If you don't do the dishes now, it's me or dad that's gonna end up doing it, and we already do heaps."
So do, you know, like, give them that sense of satisfaction too of, "I'm contributing to our household." So that, that, as you can see, like that, my setup is very specific to our family. And that, you [00:29:00] might be listening, going, "That is a great setup. I wanna do that." Or you might be listening, going, "Oh, that's exhausting.
Like a pocket-- Like I don't wanna have a blackboard- Mm-hmm … in my kitchen and like none of that. Don't want any of that." It really depends on you and what you wanna do with your kids and what you wanna set up. I know one of my friends who, uh, loves- Apps. I think she has… What is the Squigy one? But they have an app system where her daughter, like, just checks off her tasks in there, and then she gets an automatic payment and stuff like that.
There's so many different ways you can do it, but I think it's, if it feels too hard for you, then it's probably not the right fit. Because we tried a few different things- Yeah … that just felt like too much work. The only thing I would say that's really important is, at the beginning at least, pay them in cash.
Don't send it online. Like, don't put it in a bank account. Give them the actual cash. And even if they have a savings account, pay them in cash and then say, "Would you like me to put that in the bank for you?" And take the cash back off them. But you wanna give them that opportunity to experience currency and cash, and spending and saving in that way.
Hmm. Yeah, that's a good one. [00:30:00] And that probably leads nicely into spending and saving, and how, how do you sort of set them up to start thinking about that more intentionally? Is there any advice? And it probably depends on the ages as well. Yeah. It depends on the ages. It depends on your money values and blocks and and- Mm-hmm
how you spend. I mean, they will… You're definitely their biggest influence, so that what they see you do is gonna be their first version of what they think is normal. And I, I… Yeah, it's, it's an interesting one. I think… I definitely had moments with my kids where they spent money, and I was like, "Oh, why'd you spend that?"
And then I could see their little faces fall when I… But, you know, they'd go shopping, and they'd bring home and go, "I just bought this." And I'm like, "You spent $8 on that crappy little…" I didn't say- Yeah … that. Be like, "Oh, you spent $8 on that? That's all of your pocket money for the last two weeks." Um, and then they'd be like, "Oh, don't you like it?"
"Oh, no, no, I love it." And tried it again. Like, you know, reigning my own childhood wounds- Yeah … around money. [00:31:00]I certainly learnt a lot through that. And, and I also learnt that I want them to, I want them to make their own mistakes and have their own experiences- Yeah … and come to their own conclusions, not my conclusions.
Like, I wanna guide them, but I want them to get there in their own way. I've got three kids who are all wildly different, and my eldest, like I said, she's almost 16, and she is obsessed with music. Her dad's in music, and she just loves concerts. So the reason she doesn't have much money saved for a car is because it all goes on concerts.
It's her favorite thing., but she's so disciplined. Like, whenever a concert is announced, she's always got money ready to buy concert tickets, 'cause that's her highest value. Whereas her sister, as soon as money comes in, it's gone. She just- Yeah … can't save money because, uh, she really gets that dopamine hit from going to the shops with her friend, and going into Kmart and buying a face mask or whatever it is she buys.
But she's had a few moments where she's kinda taken her pocket money. She's had $50, maybe birthday money and things, and she's gone to the shops and come home with nothing left. And she'll go, "Ugh, I'm [00:32:00] so annoyed- Yeah … because I've spent all my money, and I don't have any left, and I didn't need any of these things."
And I'm glad she's having those experiences now when she's 13, not- You know- Yeah … learning when the stakes are a bit higher, I, I'm glad to get some of that work done now. Yeah, our seven-year-old's a bit the same where she's like, "Oh, what? Is that all I've got left afterwards?" Yes. and, and just actually working out the value of, of money and how much things cost as well.
Yeah. And, and then that whole, you know, was it worth it? Afterwards she could make her mind up on, on it, on that- Mm … and decide n- better next time whether it is or whether it isn't hopefully. Exactly. I mean, we all have to go through that process ourselves to some degree, and it's like you were saying earlier, we wanna l- protect them from it, but we also need them to experience those moments.
And I, I feel like I'm very privileged to be in a position where I can give my kids those lessons and safety nets. You know, I, I have- I cr- certainly grew up in a family where my brother, when he [00:33:00] was in high school, he would get a bit of, I think they called it odd study back then, but a bit of Centrelink payments- Oh, yeah
and it all went straight to my mom because she needed it for bills. Like, we just were living week to week. So, and I've had friends and had friends growing up, who they would work a part-time job and the majority of that money would go to mom and dad 'cause they just needed it for life. And so the fact that my daughter has a part-time job and that money becomes her money to spend on concerts, I'm like, there's…
that's not lost on me what a privilege that is and how lucky she is and how lucky we are. And it's also why I'm so passionate about financial literacy because you actually don't need heaps of money to feel financially secure. You just need to know how to, you know, get the right financial foundations in place.
And I'm not saying that someone, you know, I, I- Money's not important … know many people who if you're a single parent and you're making ends meet on next to nothing, y- uh, you can hear a statement like that and feel very triggered by it, and I understand that. Absolutely not saying [00:34:00] money is easy, but there are things you can do once you know about them to put yourself in a, a better financial position.
And, like, one really, like, kind of small but impactful one that, um, I've started with my daughter, and it's available to anyone up to the age of 70. As long as they're working and earning some sort of income, they might be eligible for the superannuation co-contribution scheme. So if you're a low-income earner and you earn up to $47,000, you're eligible for this, and it means that for every $20 a week that you put into your super, the government will match you with another $10.
So I do this with my daughter. I said, "I'll give you $10, you put in $10, and the government will give you $10." So between the three of us, that's $30 a week going into your super. And we're do- she's, we started when she was 15. We'll do it for five years, and that means we will be contributing… I'll be, my husband and I, 2,500.
She'll get 2,500, and the government puts in 2,500. And if we do that now at her age now, by the time she's [00:35:00] 60, it will be worth, it should be worth around $300,000. Mm-hmm. Wow. And that's like a small thing. I'm not saying it's the only thing you should do. I'm not saying it's better or worse than other investment classes.
Like, it depends, you know, you get to make those choices. But to me, there's an immense amount of peace of mind that comes from knowing that for just $10 a week, I'm helping her secure a pot of money for her retirement, and that's something that- is quite accessible. If you have a teen who has a job, you can encourage them to put that $20 a week away.
I had, I, I shared about it on my social media, and I had this really sweet 18-year-old kid reached out to me and he said, "Hey, I'm an electrical apprentice, and I just saw that thing. Can I do this? I earn 40 grand a year, and I'd love to set myself up." And I said, "Absolutely." I gave him all the criteria, and he's set himself up now to put this extra $20 a week away.
It's something he can afford to do, and is gonna help him build six figures of wealth for his retirement. So that's what I'm really [00:36:00] passionate about, is helping everyday people understand what options are available to them. Mm. And how they can make small tweaks to get, better outcomes for their future.
Mm. Well, I think that opens up getting some really great habits with- Mm … the delayed gratification that we mentioned earlier with the- Yes … you know, seeing things, what, how could it actually compound to something bigger, and then starting to open up, you know, the concepts of investing and, and doing it over time.
So that's a good way to open up all those sort of habits and concepts for pe- for the, for children. Absolutely. Is there any other… I guess with us, being Perth Property Insider with us focusing on property investment, with, um, like, how do we start to maybe translate- And, uh, expose our kids to investing, the larger picture of investing, and, and what ages should we even start to think about that?
Mm-hmm. That's something that goes through my mind a bit, you know. Like, I have my seven-year-old come along to,when we've bought a [00:37:00] property, view a property, and check it out- Yeah … and sort of be involved in that decision. And, and other times when we're improving properties, I get her to come around and help, help with that.
Yeah. And sometimes I like to… You know, when we've got a tenant changeover- Mm-hmm … I like to go see it and, and just get her head around, okay, we need to maintain the properties. We need to sort of put, put money into them to do that, and then we can get a better- Yeah … better rent back. And, and sort of start opening up some of those concepts and she's sort of, like, "What's a tenant?"
Or, or, you know, "What's renting, Dad?" Yeah. And, and so those are the s- some of the things I've done at least so far, but, um- Awesome … she's only young still, and I'm still- Yes. … asking myself how much is too much. Yeah. Well, I don't… I think all of that is brilliant, and I think we should be doing all we can to normalize all of those types of things, because kids are so naturally curious, and they'll ask all the right questions.
We don't even have to overthink it from our side. They will ask and they will question things. And that's why for me, I think talking about… Like, my husband and I talk about everything [00:38:00] very openly in front of the kids kind of all the time. Like, whether it's politics or money or what's happening at work and whatever.
We kind of involve them in all those conversations just because when I was growing up, I felt a very big distinction between the grown-up conversations that happened over here and what I was allowed to know over here. And when you have that gap, you make up the answers yourself, 'cause you have to. Like, you have to make sense of it.
So as a kid, you go, "Oh, I overheard this." What does that mean? Does that mean we might be moving? Does that mean I'm changing schools? Like, you, you take all that on. So I have instinctively been very open with my kids- Yeah, that's great … about all different kinds of things, and it just normalizes. I think when she goes along to these places with you, it normalizes that as being part of the everyday conversation.
Another thing I do with my kids is I get them involved in grocery shopping. We do it online now, and we have a list, and all three of my kids can do the grocery shopping now. They're at a point, initially I had to do it with them, but they're at a point now where they know there are [00:39:00] certain things we only buy when they're half price or they know now how to look at unit pricing and go, "Oh, that butter's cheaper," but it's actually half the size.
That one's more expensive, but it's the bigger size. Mm. That's like a life skill I didn't learn till I was in my 20s. But I've kind of got my… You know, doing these small things to get your kids, like, accustomed to all of these normal everyday money things that often we just have to learn, like, through trial and error as we get older.
So I think, uh, any conversation is appropriate. It depends on your comfort level. I know someone who his kids are six and eight, and their routine is every Sunday to check the stock market in their app. He's got little apps set up for each of them- Mm … and they'll check and look at how their stocks have performed and stuff.
That to me is like I don't have the time or energy for that, but it works for them. You know, everyone has a different spot where, where their values shine through and they decide, "This is what I really want to teach them." And I, I, I was speaking to someone just last week actually. I was doing a TV spot, [00:40:00] and the girl who was doing my makeup was like, "Oh, what are you talking about on the news today?"
And I said, "I'm talking about kids and money and stuff." And she said, "Oh, I've got two boys, and we've been… My eldest, who's 18, he's had a job for a number of years, and all of his money comes to us and we put it in a savings account for him." So all the money that he gets- He doesn't spend. And she's got a 16-year-old as well.
She said, "We're gonna do the same for him. He's just got a job. We're gonna do the same for him. And once they move out of home, we'll, we'll give the money to them to, to hopefully buy a house or something." But she said it, you know, "We've talked to them about maybe buying a house together as brothers, buying an apartment together or something because it's hard to get on the property ladder."
And I thought, what a fantastic reflection of the discussions they've had, and that might not work for everyone, you know? it, but, but it might. There might be someone listening now that goes, "Oh, that's such a great idea." Like, there's no one single way to do everything. Mm. There's so many different ways you can approach it, but a lot of people don't even know where to start, so they don't do anything, and that's the, the…
That's where I think we have the biggest [00:41:00] opportunity to help people get ahead a little bit. Yeah. Awesome. Well, I can't wait to, to dive into y- your book. Like, h- where do we actually find it, Thank you. Yes. It's, it's called How to Raise Rich Kids. It's, … I don't have a copy here, but, oh, it's hiding behind me up there somewhere.
It's called How to Raise Rich Kids, and it's got a beautiful, bright yellow cover, so it's easy to find in the bookstores. We'll get some links up for the Show Notes as well with- Yeah, that'd be great. You can get it anywhere, like online bookshops,any bookstores, the airport. Big W has them as well.
They should be pretty easy to find. You can get it as an e-book too, and on Amazon. So hopefully- Awesome … wherever you normally get your books, you'll be able to find it. Well, I'm about to do a flight in a couple of weeks, so that could be, could be my one- Excellent … opportunity Keep an eye out at the airport.
Thank you so much for coming on, Sarah. I've got heaps of ideas for my,, two girls and, … and I'm, yeah, can't wait to get stuck into it. Yeah, that's where you are working. Yeah, exactly.