You will be back here supplementing that appropriation again, again and again,

Work - get paid; don't work - don't get paid. Everybody is on commission, ... Try not coming to work for six weeks. Work gets paid; don't work, don't get paid. When they earn those dollars, and when you're 4, and you clean up your room, it really means mom cleaned up the room and you did two toys. When you're 14, it means you cleaned up your room. But still, we got the money caused by work, and then, we have teachable moments on how to handle the money they earn.

It is pretty much for the wealthy in the sense if you have over $1 million in assets, you've got to have some other things you're doing to keep the government's hands off the money in the process. Of course, the first element of the big estate plan is the will. There may be trusts, some other things built into that. That's not for everybody. It is something you kind of need to think through.

Once you agree, then pinky swear and spit-shake that you will both stick to the budget.

Too many people try to do the new job, new spouse, new house, new car thing in 18 months. That's a good way to end up broke. We've got to resist the temptation to catch up with our parents in 18 months. Slow down. You have the rest of your life to play catch up. After all, it's just stuff.

My children were taught at an early age how money works and that it comes from hard work. They've been on a commission - not an allowance - since they were little. They learned that if they worked around the house, they got paid. If they didn't work, they didn't get paid.