When Should You Share Details About Family Wealth with Your Kids?
When Should You Share Details About Family Wealth with Your Kids?
I’m Katherine. I’m a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, a financial advisor for inheritance, and a fellow inheritor.
Each week on my Instagram page I create a quiz for current and future inheritors to test their knowledge.
Now, I’m bringing these quizzes to the blog.
Read here to test your knowledge and see how you did compared to my 10,000 Instagram followers.
Posted on August 20, 2025 by Katherine Fox.
When Should You Share Details About Family Wealth with Your Kids?
Most of the parents I talk with don’t know how to answer this question.
In fairness, it can be tough.
And there aren’t a lot of resources for families who want to tackle this issue head-on, with openness and transparency.
If you’re trying to raise money-smart kids and kind humans who understand their privilege, this post is for you.
There’s a lot of bad advice out there in the financial industry.
I’m not talking about technically incorrect advice.
I’m talking about advice that reinforces the fear-based notion of “protecting” your wealth from your heirs.
I know it’s how our parents think.
Their advisors are pushing that narrative, along with the legal and tax structures to keep money “safe.”
But that doesn’t mean we need to carry that fear forward.
Instead of protecting heirs, wealthy families need to focus on age-appropriate discussions with their heirs, and creating a family culture of money transparency.
Not sure how to get started?
This post is for you.
Keep reading to learn:
When you should start sharing money information with your kids
Age-appropriate strategies for talking to kids and teens about family money
Where to find resources to continue growing your confidence in family money conversations
First, let’s test your knowledge on the right age to bring your kids into discussions of family wealth
Spoiler alert: there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to any of these questions.
#1 What’s the right age range to tell kids how much money your family has?
A.l15-18
B. 18-22
C. 22-25
D. 25+, maybe not ever
#2 What age should you start discussions about family wealth, without specific numbers attached?
A.l11-15
B. 15-18
C. 18-25
D. 25+
#3 What’s the right age range to tell kids how much money they* directly have access to?
A.l15-18
B. 18-25
C. 25+
D. Depends how much $ it is
“When your kids are old enough to start googling and learn how much your house, car, and vacations cost, you need to start talking about money.
Start talking about it HONESTLY. ”
What did my 10,000 followers think?
My followers were a mixed bag. How do you stack up?
The most important parts of raising money-smart kids?
Starting family money conversations early
Avoiding secrecy and shame around money questions
Sharing details of family wealth openly, when kids are old enough
Remember when I said these questions don’t have a 100% correct answer?
That’s true, but I do have opinions based on my personal and professional experience.
The right age to tell kids how much money your family has is 18-22.
At this age, young adults are in a sea change, trying to find their place in the world and their path forward into adulthood.
I believe that knowing where their family stands, financially, is an important part of this process.
I would advocate for having these conversations BEFORE a teen leaves for college.
If you raised your child in a relatively privileged environment (and most of us do) college may be their first experience with a larger amount of socioeconomic diversity.
I acted like an a**hole a lot of times in that environment. Because I didn’t understand what it meant not to have money.
I knew how much my family had, but I didn’t understand how to authentically relate to people who had less (aka poverty cosplay).
Framing conversations about how much wealth your family has through this lens can be helpful to young adults launching into the world.
It also helps teens make decisions about their future life and career choices.
Not to say they’re going to decide not to work, but they may be comfortable taking bigger risks or pursuing a more values-aligned profession than they would otherwise.
The right age to start general discussions about family wealth is usually in the pre-teen years.
When your kids are old enough to start googling and learn how much your house, car, and vacations cost, you need to start talking about money.
Start talking about it HONESTLY.
I’m not saying you need to drop numbers on an 11-year old, but you need to establish a pattern of healthy money discussions.
What does that mean?
It means answering the questions they ask about money and status. Not obfuscating or making them feel ashamed for asking.
It means explaining why you spend money on the things you do and, equally important, why you don’t spend money on things you could afford but choose not to purchase.
It means helping them understand bank accounts, credit cards, and personal finance.
When you practice these conversations early and often, you establish a pattern of open communication around money that will serve you and your heirs well as they grow into adulthood and begin to assume responsibility for their wealth.
The right age to tell kids how much money they have access to is 15-18.
This might be my most controversial take.
Ultimately, you know your child best.
I was given this information around 16. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t understand or conceptualize what that money meant.
But I knew it was there.
And when it came time to make career decisions after college, I didn’t have to adjust to having that money and figuring out how to use it.
I already knew I had money; I just needed to decide how it would factor into my life.
Your kids also probably won’t fully understand what you’re telling them at this age. But they will be able to start growing into their understanding and responsibility with time.
And when you still have them at home for a few years, you can continue these discussions with more oversight than you have over a college grad.
Are you ready to have healthy money conversations with your kids?
Sign up for a 3-part workshop co-hosted by Sunnybranch Wealth and Family Wealth Dynamics to learn from our personal experience growing up as “rich kids” and our thoughts on age-appropriate money strategies to raise kind humans instead of entitled jerks.
Let’s take the next step together
Understanding how to create a positive impact with your inheritance is not easy. Inheritors can encounter a wide variety of different situations requiring knowledge and finesse to manage. If you need more help, you can download The 20 Inheritance Terms You Need to Know, or reach out to Katherine Fox, CFP® and CAP®, a fiduciary, fee-only financial planner to learn how Sunnybranch can help you build a plan to align your inherited investments with your values.
