The Art of Allowance Podcast | Parenting | Families | Money Smarts | Financial Literacy

In this episode, I talk with Pam Andrews, The Scholarship Shark! Pam helped her son win over $700,000 in scholarship money to help pay for his undergraduate and graduate schools. As a College Admissions Coach and Scholarship Strategist, she’s helped her clients win over a million dollars in scholarships. My wife and I are in the early stages of our own college search with our kids, so this discussion was very timely and I think you’ll find it packed full of great, actionable information. I hope you enjoy my conversation with The Scholarship Shark.

Curious as to how to tackle the financial literacy conversation both at home and in the classroom? In this episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast, I talk to Breanna Reish, a Certified Financial Planner and the owner of the fee-only financial planning firm Wealth of Confidence. Over the years she has spoken out about the broken 403(b) retirement system, and recently she decided to educate teachers on a larger scale by starting a financial podcast called One Million Apples. Breanna is a wife and mother to two kids. She believes in teaching children about financial literacy and practicing what she preaches by starting at home.

Here’s a little something new at The Art of Allowance Podcast. This is the first of our mini episodes, which we’re calling “Small Change.” Each “Small Change” episode is shorter than our typical interview-format shows and is filled with bite size chunks of nutritious info. Think of them as yummy snacks (please ignore my mixing of metaphors). In this first taste of “Small Change,” host John Lanza selects his top takeaways from the first five episodes of The Art of Allowance Podcast. Please let us know what you think of “Small Change."

  Are you interested in changing up your tween's or teen's allowance program but worried about giving him too much money responsibility too early? In this episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast, I speak with Larry Hagner. Larry interviewed me on his popular Dad Edge Podcast last year and also invited me to speak to his dad mastermind group. In our discussions, Larry challenged me (in a good way!) about chores and about the amount of money children should receive as allowance. Our conversations ended with his adjusting his own allowance program, and he shares how those changes are working for him during this episode. We also delve deeper into kids and money, as Larry, a father of four boys, is quite experienced when it comes to family finances.

Want to know how money impacts happiness (and how you can talk to your kids about it)? I tackle this important question in this episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast with the help of my guest, Ashley Whillans. Ashley is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Business School in Negotiations, Organizations and Markets. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of British Columbia and was named a Rising Star of Behavioral Science. Her research, which focuses on understanding how the daily and long-term decisions that people make about time and money (in their personal lives, relationships and workplaces) impact well-being, has been published in leading academic journals as well as The New York Times, The Economist and The Los Angeles Times, among others.

Interested in the secret to raising high achieving kids? In this episode, I talk to Ronald Ferguson and Tatsha Robertson. They teamed up to write The Formula, a book that explores how parents raise high achieving kids. Tatsha is an award-winning journalist who left her editing job at People Magazine to begin a decade-long investigation into whether parents of very smart people were following particular patterns in raising their children. One of the first steps in her journey was to travel to Harvard University to talk with Ron, whom The New York Times called the nation’s foremost authority on the “achievement gap.” Ron saw similar patterns and we discuss their combined research that became The Formula and how their insight might also apply to money-smart kids. I hope you enjoy our discussion as much as I did.

Looking for ways to facilitate better money-smart conversations with your family?Interested in investing with your kids but unsure of how to cultivate "the right relationship with risk?" Then be sure to check out the latest episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast.   This is the first episode to feature two guests, Evan Wilson and Todd Yuzuriha. Evan is the CFO of The Official Manufacturing Company and serves as a board member and a strategic advisor for several young companies. Todd is the retired Vice President of Engineering for Logitech and a current board member of his local library and school districts. Together they host The Money JAR, a weekly podcast helping families navigate their kids' relationships with money.

This was a fun episode to record. Financial coach, Kelsa Dickey, is my guest and we discuss so much that I think will be valuable for you: the importance of simple conversations, even with very young kids, the power of intentionality, how to think of a budget as something liberating and not restricting, and even dealing with a family member who may be spoiling your kids. Is your interest piqued? I hope so. 

Dave Hanley is CEO of Tomorrow, an app that helps families make long-term financial and legal decisions together for the first time, in an easy-to-use app designed to protect their futures. Dave is an incurable entrepreneur (his words) who has been involved in many successful ventures, including Shelfari — later acquired by Amazon — and Real Networks. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Dave was not only a Fulbright scholar, he was also selected to the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader program, where he remains an active participant and advisor. Dave is an adoring husband, loving father of four children, adventure traveler, and spirituality seeker. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in public policy from Brigham Young University. He brings lots of good information to chew on about how to get your kids involved in business and more.

This episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast features Ashley LeBaron, a researcher in Family Studies and Human Development at The University of Arizona.  Her research focuses on family finance, including couple finance and financial socialization. We discuss the importance of money conversations and real-world practice with money, both of which are stimulated by an allowance.