Understanding How Your Family Business Makes Money

It starts off, first of all, of what is money? What is wealth? Understanding that and starting them at a very young age so they truly understand the base of what wealth is, what the value of a dollar is and then giving them an exercise at a young age where they might do a chore in the house to get an allowance. So, then all of a sudden, you are at the grocery store or you’re out shopping, and they see something, well it comes out of their wallet. So, they understand, my gosh, so it took so long to accumulate this and how fast is it to let it go. As the ages increase, as they get older, you also definitely want that opportunity to have them sit at the table. Some people choose an age, 18, 20, 22, where they actually sit when the boards get together and they see the financial statements for the first time and they’re understanding then if they’re seeing that on a yearly basis or a quarterly basis, slowly, slowly those numbers start to make sense to them. If they’re not exposed to it, then all of a sudden, they’re brought in to be the successor, and they’ve never seen the growth of that business, or even the downfall of that business, you’re not giving them all the tools they could have by starting them younger, by bringing in how the business makes wealth from an earlier age so they’re understanding as one grows. So, when they are in the business, it makes more sense, they connect much better and it’s always one of those things; the more you see, the more you can give back, the more you can discuss, and the more you can talk about.