This is definitely a tough one and I think it’s largely based on mutual trust with your child. You don’t want your child blabbing to all of their friends about your finances, but they have to learn somehow. I’m not sure how I’m going to approach this problem when my daughter grows up. I think I’m going to feed her information little by little and see how things go. I’ll let you know what happens when I cross that bridge.

I plan on sharing all that with my kids but I know that means I’ll be sharing with their friends and parents. But whatever, that’s a small price to pay. The kids need to have a realistic view. Maybe even a friend (or friend’s parent) will also get a reality check.

The kids can only use the info against you if you let them. When you explain that you have XX in savings then you also need to explain why. That you are saving up for a car so that you don’t have to waste money on interest. Or for retirement, or emergencies, ect. The kids need to know that the money represents sacrifices and purpose. The savings fairy didn’t bring it.

I always wanted to know how much my parents made growing up but they used to always brush off the question. I naturally assumed that they didn’t want me to know because they didn’t want me to use it against them. Your kid sounds like he’s a bit young at this point, but clearly he’s curious, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked you the question.

I’m 33 years old and I just recently found out how much my parents make. They aren’t doing bad, but my salary estimates were way off. Back when I was in high school, I was probably off by 4X. It turns out that I would be mired in student loans had they not gotten lucky during the stock market boom of the late nineties. Actually come to think of it, just 2 stocks, Oracle and Microsoft.

Once had my son ask why I don’t pay for something (I’m divorced) for him, and that his mother does. I told him that his ma does not work, I give her a lot every month to pay for their stuff – and he said that the money I send was for her. My kids really have no idea.

Thinking back in my childhood, I think I didn’t have too big misconceptions about how much money my parents were making. I more or less knew the sum. Then again, because I didn’t understand household expenses at all, I too thought my family had a lot of money…

For some reason, now that I’m grown up, the roles seem to have changed. I know that my parents don’t have that much money, but for some reason they think I do. Which quite frankly isn’t so.

Talking about money is always so tricky… Thanks for the great post! I’ll try to not make these mistakes with my son.