'I was shoveling sidewalks at 8 years old': I'm a 73-year-old boomer dad with two kids. Here's what I teach them about finance

By Quentin Fottrell

'My parents knew nothing about finance and investing, so my buddies and I had to figure it out on our own'

"My dad insisted I get a job before he'd help me buy a car, but I said I couldn't get a job without a car." (Photo subject is a model.)

Dear Quentin,

Thank you for your answer to the parents who are worried about their child inheriting $19,000 ("An older relative wants to give my daughter $19,000 when she turns 18. I said no. Who's right?"; published March 26, 2026).

I have a 30-year-old and a 34-year-old. I'm 73. Your suggestions were right on. My parents knew nothing about finance and investing, so my buddies and I had to figure it out on our own.

I did the best I could with my kids. They are both 1099 workers, and your points about when they turn 18 are absolutely critical. You've got to stay relevant because you do lose control.

One of my children refuses to learn about investing and wants me to handle everything. What happens after I'm gone? My other child is very savvy and plays the market with small amounts. I gave him $5,000 a few years ago to help kick-start him.

It sounds like the parents who wrote to you and worry about their 18-year-old having too much responsibility with $19,000 in her bank account have their hearts in the right place, but they don't realize their limits.

My daughter got into trouble with credit cards as a freshman. There's so much more that can go wrong. One thing they may not fully understand is how many avenues for financial disaster are out there for young people:

-- Filling out credit applications without understanding the implications.

-- All the things financial advisers can do - both good and bad.

-- Forgetting about liability insurance as part of an umbrella policy.

-- And more mundane tasks, such as how to choose the right car insurance.

When I was 8 years old, I was shoveling sidewalks. In my teens, I didn't understand my dad's concerns. He was fixated on my getting a job after school.

We went back and forth several times until he realized that we lived on Long Island and there was no public transportation for me to get to work. My dad insisted I get a job before he'd help me buy a car, but I said I couldn't get a job without a car.

He finally relented and gave me some money. Within days of getting the car, I had a job. That's another option: If she needs a car to work, this can be a way to leverage it - similar to how you're framing "starting" a business.

Anyway, that letter hit close to home.

A Septuagenarian Dad

Don't miss: 'I want safe returns': I'm 73 with $300,000 saved. I'm not interested in the stock market. What should I do?

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com. The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

If you really value something, after all, you will do your utmost to preserve it.

Dear Dad,

Thank you for your thoughtful letter and for sharing your story. I, perhaps, don't say that enough to people who write to this column and share their experience, strength and hope! Yours is the kind of letter that lifts my spirit on a Monday morning.

Whether you're shoveling snow, doing a paper round or studying long hours in high school and college to turn that C into a B, and that B into an A, it helps to build character, stamina and patience. You'll need all of those if you start saving in your 20s.

So how can you help a child who doesn't want to actively manage their finances? Automate everything from bills to 401(k) matches - and create a visual picture of the stages of their life and how their finances should grow. Big picture stuff can be just as helpful as the minutiae.

What you're describing - both with the parents who are worried about their daughter being given $19,000 and your discussion with your father about getting a car and finding a job - represents the same tension between parent and child.

The parent, as you have discovered, wants to promote fiscal responsibility and make sure that their child/children appreciate the value of a car, home, job and savings - and invest enough of their blood, sweat and tears so they can appreciate it.

If you really value something, after all, you will do your utmost to preserve it. That could involve everything from paying your credit card every month as a 20-something to paying your rent and mortgage on time as a 30- and 40-something.

Related: 'Several hurricanes have come close': I'm 73 and live in a mobile home in Florida. Do I ditch my $2,400 home insurance?

Saving for a snowy day

It's no coincidence that you mention you were shoveling snow at 8 years old. Your father made sure you earned your allowance, and you got your first sense of what it was like to contribute to the household and - critically - be a stakeholder.

That is probably the biggest lesson for all of us: being a stakeholder, paying our taxes and contributing to the wider community. It's also the one sticking point politically as well as personally: big government versus small government, parent versus child.

How much does a child contribute to a household? And how much does a parent give a child so they can have a head start in life, but just enough for them to go out and seek their fortune independently? How much do we contribute in taxes for the greater good?

This manifests itself in many ways, as seen through the Moneyist letters over the years. Families with millions of dollars sometimes wrestle with the burden that money will put on their children. Will they work as hard in college? Will it exacerbate addiction issues?

It also works the other way, as some parents want to give their child every financial opportunity they never had. This woman wrote to me a couple of years ago about giving her daughter $5 million so she can travel the world and enjoy life with abandon.

Don't miss: 'She has taken my inheritance': My mom bullied my grandmother to change her will and physically abused her. What can we do?

A fortune for nothing

"I would like to create a trust fund of $5 million for her and suggest she quit work and travel for a few years to see the world," she said. "Would this ruin her life - or transform it? I just worry that she does not have the same opportunities."

I felt like such a gift could turn her daughter's life upside down, and I suspected - rightly or wrongly - that this mother could have been trying to encourage her daughter to fulfill her dreams rather than the dreams of her daughter.

"Your daughter," I told her, "takes pride in her career and the years of studying it took to get there. Has she told you that she would like to give it up? How would she feel if you effectively told her to throw it away and travel the world?"

The hard truth is that, for many people, the happiest time of their lives was when they had very little, and everything was ahead: heartbreak, success, failure, wrong turns, recessions, pandemics, job loss, promotion and, finally, retirement.

The flatshare in your 20s, the first job when everything is known and that modest salary feels like a king's ransom. That's probably how you felt when you were shoveling snow as an 8-year-old kid. You were earning your keep and learning the value of a quarter.

The value of being skint

How can you help your kids? You can set up a trust and estate plan to ensure a smooth transition. Make sure passwords are accessible, and documents - wills, trusts, life-insurance policies, retirement funds - are organized for your children when the time comes.

Let me share a story with you. When I was a kid, my father used to do what you have endeavored to do with your kids: He didn't want me to think money grew on trees, but he did want me to believe that money could be found among the leaves.

"Look what I found when I was cleaning the yard?" he once said, holding up a 5-pound note. At that moment, I thought, "Man, if only I'd been cleaning that yard instead, I'd be 5 pounds richer right now." I may have taken a bigger interest in picking up litter after that.

Memory is a funny thing. It might have been moments, weeks or even years later when I realized that he had placed the money among the fallen leaves. It didn't matter. I got the message. Pick up a sweeping brush, even if no one asked you to.

Ideally, we take those familial lessons to the workplace. We endeavor to encourage younger colleagues to negotiate their salaries but we must always show the value we bring to the table. Inflation-related pay hikes reward time. In a low-hire, low-fire environment, the rest is up to us.

All these years later, I am doing what your father did, what my father did and what you are doing with your kids: passing on my own philosophy - work hard, save while you're young and enjoy every moment - and perspective.

There's a 5-dollar bill hidden in these pages if you choose to find it.

Related: 'This is a first-world problem': I can't roll over my $800,000 401(k) from my prior employer. What did I do wrong?

More columns from Quentin Fottrell:

'We're living the simple life': I was a fisherman and my wife was a nurse. We retired with $6 million. Here's how we did it.

My PayPal account received money from the Philippines with two phone numbers listed. I called them. Big mistake.

'The bank told me I could be liable': I found out why my brother, who has a reverse mortgage, ran out of money

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