If This Were My Kid: Why I’m Writing This Series

I often get asked a question that pediatricians probably hear all the time: “If this were your kid, what would you do?”

After 23 years in the financial services industry, I’ve learned a lot about business, taxes, and strategy. But the most honest answer I can give to this question is: the lessons that guide me most come from raising my three kids (15, 13, and 10)—not from a textbook.

This series is personal. It’s about the choices we make at our kitchen table, the boundaries we set (and sometimes revisit), and the ways technology has reshaped our kids’ relationship with money in a way we never had to adjust ourselves to growing up: instant alerts, in app purchases, social pressure, and fewer natural “friction points.” The tools are powerful; the pitfalls are subtle. I’m writing to share what’s actually helped in our home and with the families we work with.

At 3Sixty Legacy Financial Group, this isn’t a side topic. It sits at the heart of who we are. Our kids are the “Legacy” in our name. We work with affluent families through complex decisions. But the culture those decisions create for the next generation matters just as much as the math.

The Four F’s

Here’s the lens we use at home and with clients: money must live inside your broader life goals. We organize those goals around the Four F’s—Faith, Family, Fitness, and Finances. The culture around money is really the culture around the relationship among these four immutable aspects of life.

• Faith: points us toward meaning and generosity. It grounds our giving and our gratitude.

• Family: reminds us that time together is the rarest currency.

• Fitness (physical, mental, and emotional): fuels our capacity to show up—sleep, sports, counseling, if needed.

• Finances: provides the structure and stewardship that help the other three thrive.

In practice, the conversations generated by this consistent framework are priceless and ever evolving as my kids get older. Over the years, you can almost watch this evolution happen as they mature and begin to relate to each of these aspects differently at each stage. But without a common language, this communication would never be possible.

Here are a few convictions I carry as a dad first and a financial advisor second:

• Family culture beats any clever system. Consistency, clear expectations, and calm conversations matter more than perfect rules.

• Agency at every age. In the early years, keep it small and visible—jars, pictures, simple choices. In the teen years, grow responsibility—budgets, debit cards with guardrails, part time income—and let natural consequences do the teaching.

• Stewardship over scarcity. Especially in affluent households, it’s not about manufacturing deprivation; it’s about cultivating judgment, gratitude, and discipline.

• Technology is an accelerator, not a babysitter. We neither fight nor ignore technology in our household. It is a topic of constant dialogue that can fuel the four F’s conversation.

• Inclusion matters. For families navigating Special Needs, routines and clarity make participation possible and meaningful.

What I’ll cover next:

I plan to expand these concepts in future monthly articles beginning with the early years, or how to build an age-appropriate money culture that teaches patience, tradeoffs, and generosity. Then we’ll move into the teen years, where we come alongside our kids’ decisions, by coaching, not controlling, so they can make smaller mistakes now and avoid bigger ones later. Along the way I’ll share how I talk allowance without entitlement, savings as a barometer of your broader life goals, talking income, giving, banking basics, talking about investing, digital safety, and taxes in the teen toolkit.

I don’t have all the answers, and I’m not handing out rigid rules. I’m sharing personal thoughts and experiences so that others may learn from or adapt. If you’re a parent, I’d love to compare notes. If there is a topic specific to raising financially responsible kids that you would like for me to address, please share that as well. The financial adults our kids become will be shaped by the culture we build at home today.