What If Wealth Isn’t What You Think It Is?
It’s January, and everywhere you look, someone’s talking about money goals. Save more, spend less, build that emergency fund. Those things matter, but here’s the question we should be asking instead:
What if we’ve been teaching our kids the wrong definition of wealth?
Most of us grew up believing wealth equals a number in a bank account. Success means a bigger house, a nicer car, a retirement fund that grows every year. Financial security matters, but when that’s all we teach our kids, we’re leaving out the most valuable parts of what makes a life truly rich.
The Stuff Money Can’t Buy
Think about what you treasure most in your life right now. Is it your savings balance? Or is it the Sunday morning pancake tradition with your kids? The way your grandmother taught you to make tamales? The patience you learned when life got hard? The community that shows up when you need help?
That’s wealth too. And it might be the most important kind.
When we teach kids that wealth only means money, we set them up to chase a number that never feels like enough. But when we teach them that wealth includes knowledge, values, relationships, and resilience, we give them something no market downturn can ever take away.
Why This Matters Right Now
We’re raising kids in a world that will ask them to make a lot of financial decisions. Student loans, career choices, homes, investments. But here’s what we’ve seen in our years serving this community: the people who build lasting financial well-being aren’t just the ones with the best investment strategies. They’re the ones who understand why they’re building wealth in the first place.
They know that money is a tool, not the goal.
They’ve learned discipline, curiosity, gratitude, and generosity.
They understand that their family’s true wealth is measured in more than dollars.
That’s the kind of foundation that lasts.
How to Start the Conversation
You don’t need a finance degree to teach your kids about wealth. You just need to start the conversation. Here are a few questions to ask around the dinner table this month:
- “What makes our family wealthy besides money?”
- “What’s something you learned this year that you’ll always remember?”
- “If you could save up for something meaningful this year, what would it be?”
- “What family tradition or memory do you treasure most?”
Their answers might surprise you. And those conversations? They’re building wealth in ways that compound for generations.
A Resource to Help You Do This
We’ve partnered with My First Nest Egg to bring you a free family activity called New Year, New Ways to Grow Your Wealth. It’s designed to help kids (and parents!) explore what wealth really means through hands-on activities:
- Treasure Chest of Wealth – Kids identify five things that make their life feel rich (spoiler: most won’t cost a dime)
- Family Crest of Wealth – Design a crest that shows your family’s values, skills, and what matters most
- New Year’s Wealth Goals – Set goals that include both saving money and growing as a person
You can download it right now or pick up a copy at any of our branches. Use it at home, in the classroom, or with a group of families. However it works for your world.
Because here’s what we believe at Chief Financial Credit Union: financial well-being for everyone means helping families build wealth in all its forms. Not just the kind you can deposit.
Let’s Grow Together
This January, let’s help our kids start the year with a bigger, richer understanding of what it means to be wealthy. Let’s teach them that success isn’t just about what you earn. It’s about what you value, what you learn, who you help, and how you grow.
That’s the kind of wealth that changes lives.
Ready to start the conversation?
Download the printable here or stop by any Chief Financial Credit Union branch to pick up your free copy.