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Guiding our Youth – by John Yeigh

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AUTHOR: John Yeigh on 1/31/2025

I have come to believe that we retirees can and should help younger generations understand the benefits to get going on their saving, spending, budgeting, planning and other aspects of life’s financial journeys. Yesterday’s article, which touched on this subject, was entitled “Getting Going” which also happens to be in honor of our humble editor’s Wall Street Journal byline.

We retirees have experienced the impacts of compounding, inflation, tax-creep, tax-law changes, up and down stock markets, high and low interest rates, debt, healthcare payments, job issues and family issues. We can also see the benefits of savings held in the three tax buckets – after-tax, tax-deferred, and tax-free Roths.

While Humble Dollar’s writing and its Guide nicely covers life’s financial issues, the audience and vibe are purposefully retirement oriented. I have been forever searching for a Humble Dollar equivalent geared toward younger generations to recommend to my children. I have yet to discover a Gen Z or Millennial oriented financial blog that comes close to Humble Dollar.

Humble Dollar benefits from the variety of views from the many contributors combined with Jonathan’s tight and consistent editing. Individual financial bloggers cannot match the scope and consistency of Humble Dollar.

Do you have any favorite financial bloggers or internet sites geared for our children or grandchildren?  My favorite is Nick Maggiulli’s Of Dollars and Data.

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B Carr
8 days ago

My late father was a professor of business for decades. My late mother repeatedly said, “Money is the root of all evil!” Not sure how they got together. My sister took after my mother’s teaching and is a disaster with money. I followed my father’s instruction and am good about money.

parkslope
9 days ago

This thread got me to thinking about Gen Z’s preferences for social media content. It seems clear that younger folks prefer online sources with visual content such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and video podcasts.

Taylor Price appears to be one of the most successful of the young financial influencers with over 1 million followers. I briefly checked out her website and a couple of podcasts and was positively impressed.

https://pricelesstay.com/

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-tiktok-influencer-wants-to-end-the-silent-pandemic-of-financial-illiteracy-11631036708

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/video/make-money-moves-2021-75032059

https://fortune.com/2022/10/01/gen-z-taylor-price-personal-finance-tiktok/

luvtoride44afe9eb1e
9 days ago

A worthwhile endeavor to try to guide our youth but how do you get them to focus let alone READ anything? In their world of social media, online friends they have never met and trying to keep up with the needs of their own kids aspirations of dance and sports they join at don’t have the interest to learn these things. Beyond working for companies that offer 401k retirement benefits with decent matches there seems to be little interest to learn more (at least with my kids and their spouses).
if there is a tik-tok or social influencer who espouses these topics for their generation I’d love to find out!

Marjorie Kondrack
9 days ago

Luvtoride, yes, TikTok does have videos for kids about money, budgeting and financial responsibility..YouTube also has a few.

I hear your frustration. During a recent light snowfall a neighbor’s boy shoveled snow for us.
it took him an hour and half just to do the driveway because every few minutes he would stop and check his cell phone.

Dont get me wrong, I love that family, including their 3 boys but it’s a different world out there today.

stelea99
9 days ago

When my youngest son finally finished school and began a tenure track job at a university, it was the first time he had to make decisions about what to do when he signed up for benefits. I think this was maybe 15 years ago, and when he asked me for help, I referred him to Scott Burns and his series of articles on personal finance. Scott had that Couch Potato thing where he kept track of results on a series of investment portfolios using various low cost index funds. He had portfolios that went from 2way all the way up to a ten fund allocation plan. My son picked one of those plans and has been following it since. Besides HD, where I have referred many people, I have also sent people to the Bogleheads Wiki and Forum.

BUT, the big issue here is having young people recognize that they need to know more about money and finance. Then, if they get to that nexus, they need to perceive you as an either a source of that kind of information or at least someone they can approach. Parent/child relations after kids leave home can at times be problematic. Parents tend to offer unsolicited advice/instruction, when see possible problems. JMHO, that if you can avoid doing this you will be more successful.

One of the things you can do is to discuss your own finances with them, mentioning things like asset allocation, low cost index funds, and how you used a 401k, for example. This might establish you as a person who knows something……

jan Ohara
10 days ago

This is a topic that I have thought about fairly often as a mother of two young women with growing families.

My own financial education was motivated by an unstable and impoverished childhood until we finally lived in a place long enough for me to begin earning my own money (which was at first paid “under the table” until I became of legal working age). The silver lining in this rough start was that I was highly motivated by fear at a young age to figure out how to never experience that poverty again. The internet didn’t exist so the library became my first resource and I slowly taught myself some basics of personal finance. Entering the workforce full time while in college exposed me to new concepts and decisions such as how to navigate an employer matched savings plan and 401k plans, which in turn led to more research to try to figure out what it was that the professionals I worked with seemed to know that I didn’t. (And I continue to feel that to this day as I scour HD articles/comments and guides to find that elusive “key” to feeling financial secure.)

I sometimes wonder if my children not experiencing true financial insecurity has decreased their curiosity about personal finance and growing wealth through investing? Although I was fully committed to providing a different life for them than I had, I did require them to earn their own money to purchase the trendy “lifestyle” things they wanted through high school and to contribute to the cost of their higher education with the goal of helping them understand cost vs. value and living below ones’s means. As they grew, I tried to sprinkle our conversations with “tips” that I thought would help them achieve financial stability and I’m happily surprised when I indirectly learn that some of them “stuck.”

All of this being said, I have found that my adult children are now busy growing their families and seeking career success and seem to be more open to learning when I offer up ideas “in passing” by telling them what specific thing I learned on HD or Clark.com/podcast or any other site that could directly benefit them. With social media being a big part of their connection to the outside world, they seem to be used to receiving and processing information in small bites, so I adjust accordingly and continue to share what I learn on my own journey.

Marjorie Kondrack
10 days ago

John – this is a worthy topic. I believe we should start teaching children about money at an early age. For example, when my brother and I were young, we did not have a weekly allowance but always had a little pocket money has a reward for a job well done or for other occasions. If we saved some of our money our parents would praise us. So my first introduction to money was that it was a good thing to save, and in addition you got praise for it.

Now, my brother had different ideas. Money burned a hole in his pocket. Although we were both brought up with the same values, his thoughts about money revolved around the immediate enjoyment of it. Some children are just naturally more practical than others. And I basked in the praise, which I valued more than any material object I could spend my money on.

There are several books on money available on Amazon geared to children. I don’t have a recommendation for any but I note that Warren Buffett has written one. There are a lot of videos on YouTube and other sites that could be helpful and I think, for smaller children, picture books help hold their interest.

Whatever we can teach others is a gift we can give, but I think the spark that gives children the impetus to learn are the lessons we learn at home from our parents.

Dave Melick
10 days ago

John, you’re probably correct that some young people might not be as interested in some of the information available on HumbleDollar, but I think that the information in the Guide is very appropriate for younger people. In fact, I will be recommending that as valuable readings when my grandchildren reach high school ages and start having part-time jobs. Others have suggested a site perhaps written by those who are younger, and that would probably also be valuable. I will check out the Of Dollars and Data site!

David Lancaster
9 days ago
Reply to  Dave Melick

I bought my thirty something young adults a basic investing book years ago. I’m not sure they have ever cracked it open.

Ben Rodriguez
10 days ago

I’m also an Of Dollars and Data subscriber. I get your point, but I honestly believe that younger investors can benefit from HD. I was in my 30s when I became a regular here. Frankly, I think the biggest problem with younger folks is the lack of interest in these topics.

IF they have an interest, they’ll end up finding the info. But, I’ve found that you can’t make someone interested in something. So I’ve taken a more laissez faire approach. I try not to offer unsolicited advice. And because no one solicits my financial advice, I end up rarely providing it.

Dan Smith
10 days ago

I searched “financial blogs for young adults” and found a long list of available sites. I did not check them out.
Sadly, my attempts at motivating disengaged people of all ages to take an interest in personal finance is the same as Jeff Bond, below.

Last edited 9 days ago by Dan Smith
Jeff Bond
10 days ago

All I know is that my offers to provide assistance have been met (politely) with a pocket veto. I offer, my kids say they’ll think about it, and then I hear nothing more. One son is a bit more forthcoming about his savings efforts, but that’s only in comparison to the other.

If a site for young adults is available, I’d love to know about it, too.

DrLefty
10 days ago

This is a great question, John. In your view, who would be the best type of person to run/write for such a site? “Veterans” like us? Successful people in middle age who got off to a financially healthy start and can speak with credibility? Young adults giving peer advice to each other? Or some combination of the above?

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