By the time most kids take their first personal finance class in high school, they’ve already formed money habits that will follow them into adulthood. Here’s the wake-up call: 66% of Americans are financially illiterate, and the consequences are devastating, crushing debt, poor credit, and a lifetime of financial stress. But here’s what most people miss: this crisis doesn’t start in adulthood. It starts in childhood.
At The Grant Cardone Foundation, we’ve seen firsthand that waiting until high school to teach kids about money is like waiting until senior year to teach them how to read. By then, you’re not building a foundation, you’re playing catch-up.
The High School Myth
There’s a dangerous assumption floating around that kids “aren’t ready” for financial concepts until they’re teenagers. Parents think they need to protect their children from the complexities of money. Schools push it off until economics class junior year. And in the meantime, kids are absorbing money messages anyway, just not the right ones.
They’re watching you stress about bills. They’re seeing ads that tell them happiness comes from the next purchase. They’re forming beliefs about scarcity, value, and self-worth based on what they observe, not what we intentionally teach them.
Grant Cardone says it best: “Knowledge is power.” But if we’re not giving kids financial knowledge early, we’re leaving them powerless in a world that will absolutely take advantage of that gap.
What Financial Literacy Actually Looks Like at Every Age
The good news? Kids are far more capable of understanding money than we give them credit for. Financial literacy isn’t about teaching kindergarteners how to file taxes, it’s about meeting them where they are and building age-appropriate skills that compound over time.
Kindergarten – 2nd Grade: The Foundation
At this age, kids can grasp the concept of earning and saving. Teach them that money is earned through value exchange, not magic. Let them “earn” money for extra chores (beyond normal household responsibilities). Help them save for something they want and feel the satisfaction of delayed gratification. These early experiences wire their brain for patience, goal-setting, and cause-and-effect thinking.
3rd – 5th Grade: Building Complexity
Now they’re ready for budgeting basics, the difference between needs and wants, and the concept of growing money. This is when entrepreneurial thinking can really take root. Can they start a small business? Sell lemonade? Create something of value? At The Grant Cardone Foundation, we encourage kids to think bigger than a piggy bank, we teach them to think like creators and problem-solvers, not just savers.
6th – 8th Grade: Real-World Application
Middle schoolers can understand credit, compound interest, investing basics, and opportunity cost. They’re old enough to make spending decisions and young enough to learn from small mistakes in a safe environment. This is when we introduce them to business concepts through our Shark Tank-style competitions, where they don’t just learn about money, they learn to pitch, persuade, and create value for others.
High School: Integration and Independence
By high school, students should be managing their own budgets, understanding taxes, researching career paths through an income lens, and making informed decisions about college costs and debt.
But notice, this only works if they’ve been building these skills for years. You can’t cram 12 years of financial education into a single semester.
The 10X Approach to Financial Education
Grant Cardone’s 10X Rule teaches us that massive action creates massive results. The same principle applies to financial literacy, starting early creates compound benefits that are impossible to replicate later.
Think about it: a child who learns about earning, saving, and investing at age 7 has an 11-year head start over the kid who first encounters these concepts at 18. That’s 11 years of practiced decision-making, 11 years of building financial confidence, 11 years of learning that they can create value in the world.
At The Grant Cardone Foundation, we don’t just teach financial literacy, we teach kids to think like owners, not employees. We teach them that they don’t have to wait for someone to give them opportunities; they can create their own. This mindset shift is especially critical for the underserved and at-risk youth we serve, many of whom don’t have a father figure or positive role model showing them what’s possible.
From the Foundation Floor: A Real Success Story
Last year, we worked with a group of 7th graders from an underserved community in South Florida. Most had never talked about money at home, it was either a taboo subject or a source of stress. When we asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, most gave vague answers: “I don’t know” or “something that makes money.”
Then we introduced them to basic business concepts and our goal setting workshop. We watched these same kids take their doubt and objections to success, design solutions, completely disregard the how, and step out of our classroom with the confidence of seasoned entrepreneurs and dreamers.
One student, Prince, left believing that instead of just going on cruises when he grows up, he can and will own an entire cruise line. He broke down the important connections he will need to make, the number of ships he will own, and the ports he will need to connect with to make it happen. He didn’t leave with the “how” to do it, he left with something better, the confidence to make it happen despite the circumstances he faces. And more importantly, he stopped seeing himself as someone who “hopefully could go on a cruise” and started seeing himself as someone who creates value and solves problems.
That’s the power of starting early. That’s the power of financial literacy paired with mentorship.
The Cost of Waiting
Here’s what happens when we don’t teach kids about money early: They hit 18 and sign up for credit cards they don’t understand. They take on student loans without calculating the real cost. They make career decisions based on passion alone without considering financial sustainability. They repeat the same money patterns they grew up watching, even the destructive ones.
Financial illiteracy isn’t just about not knowing how to balance a checkbook. It’s about feeling powerless, making fear-based decisions, and missing opportunities because you don’t know they exist.
But when kids grow up with financial confidence? They negotiate their first salary. They start businesses. They invest early. They break generational poverty cycles. They become the adults who teach their own kids about money without shame or stress.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If you’re a parent reading this and thinking, “I didn’t learn this stuff either, how am I supposed to teach it?” you’re not alone. Most of us weren’t taught financial literacy as kids, which is exactly why the cycle continues.
If you’re an educator thinking, “I’ve got 30 kids and a packed curriculum, where does this fit?” we hear you.
That’s why The Grant Cardone Foundation exists. We bring financial literacy and mentorship programs directly to schools, nonprofits, and community groups. Our programs are designed to meet kids where they are, regardless of background or prior knowledge.
We provide the curriculum, the mentorship, and the real-world experiences that make these concepts stick.
Start Today, Not Tomorrow
Financial literacy isn’t a luxury skill your child will eventually need. It’s a life skill they need right now. Every day we wait is another day they’re forming money habits without guidance.
The good news? It’s never too late to start. Whether your child is in kindergarten or high school, there are age-appropriate ways to begin building their financial confidence today.
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And if you’re an educator or work with groups of young people, explore our programs to see how we can partner together to bring financial literacy and mentorship to your students. Because every child deserves the chance to think bigger, dream bigger, and build a future they’re excited about.
The Grant Cardone Foundation provides mentoring and financial literacy education to adolescents in underserved and at-risk populations, especially those without a father figure. Through hands-on programs and real-world experiences, we’re equipping the next generation with the knowledge and confidence to break cycles and create opportunities.