Teaching Kids About Money, Generosity and Spending with Dr. Alex Schloe

🎙️ Welcome back to another insightful episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast with your host, Dr. Alex Schloe!

💡 What if one of the greatest financial legacies you could leave your kids wasn’t in your portfolio—but in what you teach them about money?

In this special solo episode, Dr. Schloe shares how he’s introducing his 4-year-old son Jack to the foundations of financial literacy through a simple, powerful 3-jar system: Save, Spend, Share. Inspired by the work of Scott Donnell, this episode unpacks a practical framework that any parent can start using today to raise kids who understand money, value work, and give generously.

👨‍👩‍👦 This episode isn’t just about money, it’s about character, consistency, and laying the groundwork for generational freedom.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ How the Save-Spend-Share system teaches kids discipline, decision-making, and generosity
 ✔️ Why Dr. Schloe doesn’t give his kids an allowance—and what he does instead
 ✔️ How to turn household “gigs” into powerful earning lessons
 ✔️ How natural consequences can replace punishment while building responsibility
 ✔️ The weekly money rhythm that’s helping Jack develop lifelong financial habits
 ✔️ How a 4-year-old’s lemonade stand became a lesson in entrepreneurship

🔥 Key Takeaways:

✔️ Financial literacy isn’t taught—it’s modeled and experienced early
 ✔️ Kids don’t need allowances—they need opportunities to earn
 ✔️ Conversations about money should start as early as possible and be part of daily life
 ✔️ Real freedom comes when children learn that money is a tool, not a master
 ✔️ The best ROI might just come from the next generation you raise

If you're a parent, future parent, or just someone who wants to pass on more than wealth—this episode is for you.

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Transcript

Dr. Alex Schloe:  I've gone down the rabbit hole of real estate investing and financial freedom, and I've realized something. What if we could teach our kids the basics of financial literacy before they even felt the pressure of bills burnout or taxes?

 Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast, the show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor. Now here's your host, Dr. Alex Slo.

   Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Physicians and Properties. This is where we explore how physicians can build wealth, create freedom, and live intentional lives through real estate investing and entrepreneurship. Today's episode is a bit of a departure from our usual episodes.

We're talking about something more important than real estate, more important than entrepreneurship. We are talking about how to teach our kids about money. I am sharing how I started financial literacy training with my 4-year-old son, Jack. And if you're a parent or you plan to be one, I think you'll walk away with a framework that could change the way your family talks about and experiences money for generations.

So here's the truth, both of us. Most of us didn't learn about financial literacy until adulthood or at all. I didn't learn about investing cashflow tax strategy as a kid growing up. I certainly didn't learn about it in med school. I had to figure out after the fact, after I was already busy in medical school and in residency.

Now I've gone down the rabbit hole of real estate investing and financial freedom, and I've realized something. What if we could teach our kids the basics of financial literacy before they even felt the pressure of bills burnout or taxes? Kids learn by watching. They learn by action. And in a world where swipe to pay and tap to order are the norm, delayed gratification, intentional spending and generosity are rare.

That's why I knew I had to start with Jack now and not later. Jack was constantly asking about money. He was very interested. I share with him what I'm doing in real estate, what we're doing to create financial freedom, what we're doing to have the ability to afford to do the things that we do. So money is not a.

Taboo topic in our house. And so he has shown a lot of interest in money. He would find a quarter or find a penny and get so excited about it, but didn't really understand the power of saving. The power of spending, the power of generosity and sharing. So here is what we're going to do at home and I've spent a lot of time learning about how to teach kids financial literacy.

Scott Donald is one of my favorites in this category. And some of what. I discuss here is a system I took from Scotts Scott Donald's work and how I adapted it to fit our family. So here's what we're doing at home. We're using a very simple tool, just three jars. One jar is labeled save. One jar is labeled spend, and one jar is labeled share.

So saving, this is for the big things that Jack wants, a specific toy, a trip, a special outing. He puts his money into this jar. And we tape a picture of the goal right on it. So when he determines what he wants to save for, we'll put that picture on there and he'll be able to see what that is that he's saving for.

But here's where it gets fun. We match whatever he puts into the save jar. So if he saves a dollar, we put in a dollar. If he saves $2, we add $2. It turns saving into a game and shows him the power of consistency, delayed gratification, as well as interest. The next jar is the spin jar. This is his money to use.

Now he can do whatever he want with it.  We just had this money conversation yesterday and today he was very excited to spend a dollar 25 at a vending machine at the YMCA and buy some fruit snacks. That's the point of the spend jar. It is his money and he can do with it what he wants. We guide, but we don't control.

 We want him to experience spending. We want him to experience buying something that he may not be happy with. He's going to make mistakes with the spending jar, but it is his.  We guide, we don't control. He's gonna learn best through experience, even if that  experience includes buyer's remorse over a squishy, bouncy ball  that he loses.

Now, the other thing that's really cool about this spend jar is we want him to understand. Spending money to make money. And so we are starting a lemonade stand for him. This was actually his idea is to start a lemonade stand  and we are gonna use some of his money from the spend  to purchase the supplies that he needs to set up his lemonade stand.

 And he is going to keep all the profits, but this is  his initiative.  He wants to do this  and so we're gonna help him with that.  The last jar is the share jar. So we talk about generosity a lot in our family,  whether through the church, whether that's donating to another cause,  and the Share jar is a jar where Jack is going to choose who he wants to help,  whether that's a church offering,  whether that's buying a toy for another child, or donating that to a cause.

 We don't just talk about giving.  We do that with him.  Because we want that meaning to really sink in  and we're trying to reiterate the, the power of giving. The power of sharing  that money is a tool.  Money is not something that should be controlling our lives.  Now we don't give Jack an allowance.  No,  no, weekly, just because payments, no allowance.

Just because he exists,  because I don't want him growing up thinking that money just shows up every Friday.  Instead, he learns through gigs.  What are gigs?  These are small jobs around the house that go above and beyond everyday expectations. So we made a gig menu for Jack,  for example, if he picks up 10 toys.

 He gets 25 cents if he cleans up the whole playroom, including his brother Owen's toys,  he gets 50 cents  if he waters the garden 25 cents.  If he matches socks 25 cents,  we want him to have the ability to earn, the ability to understand that he can work for money, and it's visual, it's consistent, and most importantly, it is earned.

 That's the message that we really want him to understand,  that if he goes above and beyond and takes initiative, then we will reward him for that. So he learns that money is something that is earned. And he controls that.  Other things are occasionally, if he is  overtly kind to his brother without us asking or he shares his toys,  we will use that to reward  his behavior.

 And what I love about this system is it teaches more than money. It teaches character  saving, teaches discipline. It teaches patience, goal setting,  prioritization. This is a lifelong skill that is gonna benefit him.  Spending teaches responsibility and decision-making. It also teaches that once the money's gone,  it's gone.

And sharing teaches empathy, kindness, awareness, the idea that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.  These are not financial habits, they're life habits that are gonna serve Jack well in the future.  One of my favorite ideals from Scott Donald, one of his ideas is that this system can also be used to reinforce natural consequences rather than punishment.

 So let's say for example,  Jack breaks something carelessly, instead of me yelling at him, we might say, Jack. That costs $5 to fix. Do you want to help cover that from your spend jar?  No guilt, just responsibility. That's how adults handle money and it's powerful to show kids that early on as well.  Or for example, if he has an outburst in a tantrum and he won't share his toys, we will ask him, Hey Jack, please go get a quarter  from your spin jar.

 Then he realizes the reinforcement with that and he realizes that he has to give us something that he worked hard to earn.  Because he did not obey.  That's discipline without shame.  So what this looks like week to week is we're gonna sit down with Jack, we're gonna look at his jars, count his money, and choose where it goes.

 He has to save at least 50% in the save jar  and then at least 25% in each of the other two jars. Okay? Now we might let him  drop down the save jar to 10% so he, he can learn that. But at least 10% is the minimum for the save, sorry for the share jar.  And 50% is the minimum for the save jar.  This is gonna become a rhythm in our house.

Sometimes he is gonna wanna save, sometimes he's gonna wanna spend and sometimes he's gonna surprise us with a generous choice to share.  We want  money, the conversation about money. We want this to become a rhythm  in our house, like brushing teeth.  For financial muscles. And here's the best part, he is so excited about this.

I mean, so excited.  There's no whining for random toys or meltdowns at the store because he understands that money is earned and it's not given.  Now, of course, we still have those moments. He's four years old, but he's learning the responsibility. He's learning that this is his, and he's learning that he can earn.

 So here's the challenge I want to give you. If you are a parent,  start now.  It doesn't matter if your kid is three or 13.  It's easy to start with some cash. Use some jars. Make it visual, make it simple, and most importantly, make it consistent.  As a physician, we often feel like we're pulled in a thousand different directions, but this is one of the most high impact things that we can do for our kids.

 Teaching your child how to earn,  save, and give and spend with intention.  One of the most important things that we can do  to set them up for success going forward.  So that's it for today's episode of Physicians and Properties.  I hope this gave you a practical, heartfelt framework to bring home  that can help benefit you as well.

If you're already teaching your kids about money, I would absolutely love to hear what you're doing.  And if you're just getting started, reach out.  I'll send you our gig menu and jar labels and we can talk more through this.  I want us to raise a generation of kids who are financially free before they even hit adulthood.

 So until next time,  let's invest wisely, live fully, and remember that our greatest returns  are in our little ones at home.  Thanks for joining me on today's podcast, and with that, it has been Dr. Alex Lowe with another episode of Physicians and Properties. If you learned something from this podcast episode, share it.

 Share it with a parent who would benefit from learning about how to teach their kids more about money.  As always, thank you.  Cheers.

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