What Wall Street Taught My Son About Money

Tuning in from New York City, and today I brought my son somewhere I believe every kid should see at least once: Wall Street.

Not because I expect him to become a stockbroker.

Not because I want him staring at stock charts all day.

But because I want him to understand something much bigger:

Money has rules. Business has rules. And the earlier you learn them, the more choices you have later in life.

Walking through the Financial District with my son got me thinking about something we don't teach children nearly enough.

We tell them to work hard.

Get good grades.

Go to college.

Find a good job.

Save their money.

Those aren't necessarily bad lessons.

But they're incomplete.

Because eventually I want my son to understand the difference between working for money and building things that can produce money.

Wall Street Isn't Really About Buildings

When you're standing there, you see skyscrapers.

Banks.

Investment firms.

The New York Stock Exchange.

People rushing from one meeting to another.

But underneath all of that is something much more interesting.

Ownership.

Businesses need capital.

Investors provide capital.

Companies create value.

People buy pieces of those companies.

Capital moves toward opportunity.

And over long periods of time, ownership can become extraordinarily powerful.

That's a lesson I want my children to understand early.

You can earn money.

You can spend money.

You can save money.

Or you can eventually learn how to own assets.

Those are very different things.

I Don't Just Want My Children to Inherit Money

I'd rather they inherit knowledge.

Because you can give somebody money and they can lose it.

You can give somebody a business and they can destroy it.

You can give somebody an opportunity and they can waste it.

But if you teach somebody how money works, how businesses operate, how to recognize opportunities and how to make disciplined decisions—

you've given them something much harder to take away.

That's why experiences like this matter to me.

My son may not remember every building we walked past.

He may not understand everything I'm explaining today.

That's okay.

I'm planting seeds.

Teach Children the Language of Business Early

Imagine if children understood basic business concepts before graduating high school.

Revenue.

Profit.

Debt.

Interest.

Investing.

Ownership.

Credit.

Taxes.

Negotiation.

Contracts.

Compound growth.

Risk.

Imagine how differently they might approach their twenties.

Financial literacy shouldn't begin after somebody gets their first credit-card bill.

Business education shouldn't begin after somebody loses money.

And investing shouldn't feel like some mysterious world reserved for wealthy people in suits.

These concepts can be explained simply.

A business sells something.

If it spends less than it earns, there's profit.

If you own part of a successful business, you participate in its economics.

If money compounds for long enough, time can become incredibly powerful.

You don't need to make the lesson complicated.

You just need to start the conversation.

Exposure Changes What's Possible

This is one of the biggest reasons I bring my children places.

Sometimes seeing something changes your understanding of what is possible.

Walk through Wall Street.

Visit a university.

Tour a business.

Walk through a courthouse.

Visit a construction project.

Take them into the office.

Let them hear conversations about business.

Show them how things actually work.

Because children can't dream about worlds they don't know exist.

Exposure expands the map.

Don't Just Tell Them to Work Hard

Teach them what their hard work is supposed to build.

There's nothing wrong with having a job.

There's dignity in working.

But I also want my children to understand leverage.

Build skills.

Build relationships.

Build businesses.

Build investments.

Build intellectual property.

Build assets.

Own things that can appreciate or produce income.

And most importantly, learn how to create value for other people.

Because wealth isn't simply about accumulating money.

At its best, business is an exchange of value.

You solve problems.

You create something people want.

You serve people well.

And the marketplace rewards that value.

The Real Inheritance

One day my children will be adults making their own decisions.

I won't be able to make those decisions for them.

And I shouldn't.

My responsibility now is to give them as many tools as possible before that day comes.

Character.

Faith.

Education.

Discipline.

Confidence.

Financial literacy.

Business knowledge.

And exposure to possibilities bigger than what they already know.

That's why taking my son to Wall Street meant something to me.

We weren't just sightseeing in New York City.

I was showing him a world I want him to understand.

Maybe he'll become an entrepreneur.

Maybe he'll become an investor.

Maybe he'll choose an entirely different path.

That's his decision.

My job is simply to make sure he understands that he has options.

Because the greatest inheritance we can leave our children isn't simply money.

It's teaching them how to think, build, create and steward whatever eventually ends up in their hands.

— Corey Flores