Nurturing Wealth: How Motherhood Shapes Financial Futures
Beyond the million and one things she has to juggle, becoming a mother is a reflective time for change—shifting a woman's beliefs, values, and relationships, especially her relationship with money. She becomes responsible for someone else’s financial well-being, shaping generational wealth, and how their sons or daughters will approach spending and investing money down the line.
Money is about security, freedom, and choice—choosing how to spend, save, and invest and having the ability to support your family.
Featuring words of wisdom from some of our own incredible moms on The51 team, here are thoughts on how motherhood influences financial decisions, practical tips for teaching financial literacy to children, and advice for building generational wealth.
Motherhood's Influence on Financial Perspective
Women are already major forces in wealth management:
Canadian women control $2.2 trillion in assets today, and that’s projected to nearly double at over $4 trillion by 2028
By 2035, women’s share of global wealth is expected to be 35%
Women are the largest beneficiaries of the Great Wealth Transfer and live an average of five years longer than men
With wealth comes influence: women’s agency over their money and spending and investing differently than men do. Consequently, our unique perspectives, and those of our mothers, friends, colleagues, and business partners, are shaping markets and transforming how we talk about and control money.
Now, enter: motherhood.
Being a mom has a remarkably beautiful way of reshaping priorities and perspectives. Your financial planning is no longer just about yourself; it's about your family's well-being. Motherhood completely changes the financial game with long-term planning and securing their future with considerations like childcare, education, unexpected expenses, and more.
When asking our team if motherhood changed their approach to finances or investing, we heard:
- I was inspired to find other ways to make more money.
- I opened up to the idea of investing more, to make my money work for me.
- It made me more thoughtful about how to talk about money with kids from an early age—where it comes from, decisions about spending and saving, and being deliberate about talking to my daughter about investing, not just saving. They’re still very young, so I have a long way to go!
Raising a child and watching them learn and grow is eye-opening to our own potential and how we’re capable of much more than we think. It can be a motivating experience to manage your own finances and investments proactively and to seek knowledge on actions that can positively impact yourself, your children, and your family in the future.
Building Generational Wealth & Securing Your Family's Future
On the topic of benefitting your family in the future: let’s look at generational wealth.
Essentially any assets passed down to one’s family member (think: savings, investment funds, stocks and bonds, real estate, or even businesses), generational wealth transcends individual prosperity; it represents a legacy of financial stability and opportunity passed down from generation to generation. More than $80 trillion is estimated to be passed down from today’s older generations to their children and other heirs over the next two decades (but note, multigenerational wealth is not equal across the board).
With that, mothers have the unique opportunity to lay the groundwork for generational wealth, ensuring their children and grandchildren have the resources they need to thrive. Whether it's through strategic investments, entrepreneurial endeavours, or prudent financial planning, building generational wealth is about creating a foundation and giving the future generation a chance to reach their full potential.
By making thoughtful decisions about wealth preservation and growth, we can leave a lasting legacy that extends far beyond our own lifetimes.
Passing on Financial Literacy to Children
One of the biggest challenges of transferring wealth from one generation to the next includes differing levels of financial literacy. Because building wealth and maintaining it requires a certain level of understanding, boosting financial education is as valuable as the assets you’re passing down.
If you’re strategic, daily money decisions can add up and amount to long-term wealth. Involve children in financial discussions and decisions, starting young and letting the knowledge compound.
Some practical advice and tips some of The51 moms have passed on to instill financial literacy and independence in their children include:
- By the age of 8, we paid the boys for chores around the house. This helped them have money to learn to budget. They had piggy banks labeled save, spend, invest, and donate. They would choose how to divide up their money from chores for each of the categories. Since donation and investment time was set around their birthdays in December, if they didn’t have any money allocated to donate or invest (if it was all spent), they would ask for chores to earn the money.
They are now 17 and are mindful of donating and investing. Those piggy banks were valuable in helping create the habit! - My kids received some framed stocks and silver coins when they were born; they have fun learning about how much their stocks and coins are worth now and why the price fluctuates.
- We let them make mistakes with their allowance; they’ve all learned to be better savers because of it.
- We teach them about compounding interest at an early age.
- Get them involved with making financial decisions; if planning a vacation, give them a budget for activities and let them plan what they want to do. I think it teaches mindfulness around money and delayed gratification.
Additionally, leading by example is essential. Kids learn a great deal by observing their parents' financial habits and mindset. It’s never too early or too late to start chatting about financial concepts, you just have to help make sense of it in their world.
By ditching the money talk taboo, demonstrating responsible financial behaviour, and involving them in decisions like budgeting and saving, you can instill lifelong money skills your children will carry for generations.
Helping Moms Navigate Building Generational Wealth
As mentioned, building generational wealth goes beyond accumulating assets; it's about creating a legacy of financial stability and opportunity for future generations.
Advice that our team had for moms looking to start or continue the journey of building generational wealth was:
- Don’t forget to start those RESPs early on.
- Invest every month and make it automatic because life gets really busy with the kids and so you don’t want to make it a separate task, build it in.
- Talk about investing with your kids & as family.
- Engage kids in the conversation—don’t treat talking about money as taboo or impolite. Encourage them to understand financial tradeoffs and decisions early.
And at the end of the day, you won’t have all the answers, so don't hesitate to seek professional advice. People with a financial plan have 2.7x the net worth of those who don’t. Moreover, the money confidence gap between men and women shrinks if a woman is working with a financial advisor. Confidence is key because having a financial plan, coupled with the confidence to make it happen, is how women will make the most out of their money—particularly during the Great Wealth Transfer.
Imagine the impact moms and women overall could have by sharing our financial choices and goals to secure our future—paving the way for our children and the next generation. Staying informed about new investment opportunities and strategies is essential for long-term success, so let's start exchanging our stories and lessons learned with one another.
Motherhood reminds us that money is not just about numbers. It’s the important ability moms have to make their money work for them and their families. It’s approaching money with the mindset of freedom and security. It’s about making thoughtful, long-term decisions. It’s making choices that reflect your own beliefs and values.
We hope you take some advice from the moms on our team and continue this conversation with your circles and your kids. We’re here anytime you want to talk money matters in motherhood or womanhood and bounce ideas off about prioritizing financial education and championship, ensuring a brighter future for ourselves and our children.
And to all the badass moms taking extra care to raise your tiny humans into responsible, independent, and ideological warriors: we see you, we respect you, and we applaud all that you do.