The allowance curse.
Read time: 1½ minutes
Welcome to issue #021 of Unicorn Parents. Each week, I share practical insights and reflections to help you build a profitable business without missing the magic at home. If you’re serious about winning at work while raising great kids, you’ve come to the right place. This is a community built for ambitious parents who want both.
The money we give our kids might be teaching the exact opposite of what we think.
Allowance is supposed to teach financial literacy. Responsibility. Independence.
But have you ever noticed what actually happens?
Most kids spend allowance money like it’s air.
Gone before the weekend.
No attachment. No reflection. No ownership.
BUT…
My niece treats money she earns completely differently.
She guards it. Refuses to spend it. It’s sacred to her.
The moment it’s allowance?
She’ll blow through it like it’s fake.
Same kid. Same dollar.
Different psychology.
Warren Buffett once said that the worst thing you can do is give your kids “unearned money.”
Charlie Munger agreed:
“The best thing you can give your kids is the example of good behavior and the habit of work.”
Neither believed in endless allowance.
Both believed in exposure.
They believed in showing kids how money actually works.
So maybe the lesson isn’t about allowance or chores.
Maybe it’s about agency.
Most parents are split between two camps.
Camp 1: “I don’t give my kids a dime. They should earn it.”
Camp 2: “I give allowance to teach saving and budgeting.”
Both camps make sense.
But both might be missing the real point.
Money earned from chores? It teaches transaction.
Money given as allowance? It teaches entitlement.
Neither teaches creation.
If we’re raising future founders, not just future employees,
the question isn’t:
“How much should I give?”
It’s:
“What can we build together?”
Start a lemonade stand.
Sell an old toy.
Design stickers, launch an Etsy page, or flip collectibles online.
Don’t just talk about money—touch it, create it, trade it.
That’s how they learn.
You can’t teach entrepreneurship with allowance.
But you can model it through creation.
When kids make money with you (not from you)?
They learn something allowance never will:
That money follows value.
And value comes from building something that matters.
So maybe the best financial education isn’t in a wallet.
It’s in the world you build together.
BTW, 🎃 Happy Halloween!
Instead of handing out treats (or tricks), maybe this season we hand out something better—the gift of value creation.