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money management

Despite a combined net worth of nearly half a billion dollars, Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian wanted to teach their daughter the importance of hard work.

In 2022, Vulture declared it was the “year of the Nepo Baby,” with a jaw-dropping, borderline-controversial cover story featuring various famous offspring of celebrities, including Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet), Maya Hawke (the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), and Jack Quaid, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid’s son.


“Like psoriasis, the label was something you were born with, and those who had it found it equally irritating.” - Nate Jones, Vulture

According to the article, the phrase “nepo baby” quickly became synonymous with “the child of a celebrity,” insinuating that people born into the lime light were out-of-touch and over-privileged, and it was the Internet’s job to keep them humble. However, tennis superstar Serena Williams and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, won’t rely on online obsessives to instill humility in their children. As is the case with their seven-year-old daughter, Olympia, they’re playing a different game. Despite the power couple’s combined net worth approaching half a billion dollars, the two formally drew up a surprisingly modest $7 per week allowance system, in the hopes of teaching their daughter the value of hard work.


“Yes, Olympia’s got a contract,” Ohanian revealed in a video posted to social media. “[A] $7 per week allowance, negotiated by her mom (who, yes, got her weekends off).”

The duo’s approach to parenting has gone viral, withs fans praising their commitment to keeping Olympia grounded, rather than just spoiling her rotten. Which, of course would be easy to do, given that Williams, one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world, has an estimated net worth of $340 million, according to Business Insider, while her husband earned a net worth totaling $150 million.

During the negotiation, Ohanian insisted on creating a formal contract to outline expectations, while Williams served as Olympia’s counsel, creating an opposition Ohanian jokingly described as "really frustrating. The final terms of the contract? In order to receive her weekly allowance, Olympia’s responsibilities include:

  • Feeding the family’s dog, Chip.
  • Putting her clothes in the hamper.
  • Making her bed.

serena williams, daughter, tennis, champion, olympiaSerena Williams with her daughter, Olympia. Credit: Fotonerd

Typical for a seven-year-old, but thanks to her mother’s formidable litigation prowess, Olympia gets the weekends off, ensuring chores are completed five days a week. Ohanian describes the compromise as a “flywheel” between effort and reward, explaining that “neither Serena nor I grew up with wealth, so we’re both trying to navigate how to create the circumstances for [Olympia] to be a functional adult while also having resources that we couldn’t have imagined.”

Their plan is already working: in the same video, Ohanian also shares an anecdote about how Olympia’s mentality is slowly shifting to understanding that work equals reward, and that good things come to those who hustle.

“She really wanted this Tamagotchi watch. She had saved up quite a bit of money, probably almost $100. [The watch] was like, $125. I asked, ‘You got money?’ And she’s like, ‘I don’t have enough.’ I replied, ‘Okay, good. Embrace that feeling. How many more weeks of allowance do you need to be able to save up for it?’ So, as soon as she gets it, we clear out the bank and she got the Tamagotchi watch.” - Alexis Ohanian

But it doesn’t end there—just like the adult world, there’s always something shiny and new to desire, to covet, to buy. And before long, Olympia had her eye on an American Girl doll dress. However, after emptying her piggy bank on the watch, financially, she was back at square one.

“She gave me the cute puppy dog eyes. Believe me, she knows how to work Papa,” Ohanian recalls with a smile. “[But] I need her to feel that little bit of pain of like, 'Oh, I got to wait two more weeks for that paycheck.’”

butters, south park, paycheck, money, earningsSouth Park Gifmedia4.giphy.com

Commenters flooded Ohanian’s posts with praise, applauding the couple’s level-headed approach, with people writing, “Amazing lesson here. This is the how privileged children should be raised so they can understand the value of money,” and “Reminds me of how my mother did almost the same, except that I got my favorite books and a small treat for ticking off everything on her list. You two are good parents.”

Others even tried to negotiate a higher allowance for Olympia, with one person saying: “This is good, it’s exactly how my allowance went, I also got $7 a week. But that was in the late 90s/early 2000s. I think she should renegotiate for inflation.” Another attempted to give the seven-year-old financial advice, writing, “Have her flip or resell the Tamagotchi on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or [with] another kid in school or in the neighborhood. Learn how to sell and position. I involve my 5-year-old in as many negotiations as possible” (To which Ohanian replied, "Love this.").


Financial experts are also on board with Williams and Ohanian’s strategy. Investopedianotes that when children are taught money management early, they tend to develop better financial habits as adults. And in their groundbreaking paper, Habit Formation and Learning in Young Children, Dr. David Whitebread and Dr. Sue Bingham of the University of Cambridge discovered that by age seven, children are able to “cognitively ‘represent’ value,” and that “several basic concepts relating broadly to later ‘finance’ behaviors will typically have developed,” which has been taken to mean that by age seven, a child’s money habits are already set.

But you don’t have to explain that to Serena Williams or Alexis Ohanian. The two came from humble beginnings and learned early on the important connection between hard work and financial success. Williams began her prodigious professional tennis career at just 14, when she competed at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City in 1995, earning her first $240 in prize money (approximately $500 today). Ohanian, on the other hand, was 23-years-old when he co-founded Reddit in 2005, then sold the website to publishing giant Conde Nast a year later for a mere $10 million; a deal that’s been described as “what turned out to be pennies on the dollar compared to its most recent multibillion-dollar valuation.”


serena williams, alexis ohanian, tennis, met gala, redditWilliams and Ohanian at the Met Gala.Credit: Ron Buckmire

Compared to her peers, Olympia is already ahead of the curve when it comes to financial education. But that’s not because her parents are famous: while she may only be earning $7 a week now, she’s being set up with a toolkit filled with invaluable lessons to succeed in life—by earning it.

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TD Ameritrade

How have you been investing your money lately?

With so many options at your disposal, finding out what’s best for you and your family can feel like quite the challenge.

This young man, however, seems to have one of his future financial goals pretty figured out.


GIFs via TD Ameritrade/Facebook.

"I want to get money when I'm 40." 

OK, that’s pretty late for most people to start earning. How much do you think you'll want to make?

$118? Hmmm. Not quite what I had in mind. Unless you plan to invest it?

Go on. I’m listening...

WHOA! There're some irregularities in the pricing there, but do you know what you could do with a billion and a hundred bathtubs?!

YES! MAKE BUBBLES!

My goodness. What does one even begin to do with so many bubbles?

Awww. An endless supply of bubbles and the first thing he wants to do is share it with his future niece. You're pretty amazing, young sir.

Yes, you are.

Obviously, this young man’s plan — while funny — is a bit outside the realm of possibility. But if you read between the lines, there’s a takeaway in what he's saying that actually makes a lot of sense.

All of us have varying degrees of financial success, but one thing remains true across the board — what matters most are the people you share it with. They're the ones who truly make us happy. And by investing with them in mind, you’re setting yourself up for a fruitful future filled with priceless returns.

After all, what good are hundreds of bubbles if you can’t share them with the people you love?

GIF from "The Bachelor."

It's not uncommon to hear about the financial struggles of former NFL players who, in spite of multimillion-dollar deals, are now living paycheck to paycheck.

It's easy to judge them, but that's ignoring a very real truth: Financial literacy is a privilege often afforded to the already wealthy, not the newly wealthy.

As Justin Tuck, retired Giants defensive end, told Reuters, "Look at the average NFL roster, and most players come from low-income families. They go from being 18-year-old kids with nothing to being 21-year-olds with millions of dollars. ... They get all this money all of a sudden, and they just don't know how to handle it."


Image via Heath Brandon/Flickr.

That kind of wealth isn't easy to manage, and when it happens in such a short period of time, at such a pivotal moment in the player's lives, it's too easy to lose control and wind up in dire financial straights.

That's part of the inspiration behind Tuck's R.U.S.H. for Literacy.

The solution to being poor isn't just to acquire more money; it's also to know how to manage and grow your money. So in 2008, Justin and his wife, Lauran, founded Tuck's R.U.S.H. for Literacy, an organization dedicated to addressing a number of issues, including financial literacy for low-income families.

R.U.S.H. stands for read, understand, succeed, and hope, and Justin and Lauran set out together to encourage those ideals by donating lots and lots of books — over 86,000 of them, in fact — to children who needed them. They wanted to help decrease summer learning loss, when kids lose a lot of the momentum gained throughout the school year.

Image via Ginny/Flickr.

But they noticed that encouraging regular literacy was only part of the equation when it came to keeping the kids motivated and invested in their academics. Financial literacy is also a huge factor. So they set out to equip students and their families with the skills, tools, and hope needed to thrive in school, college, and beyond.

Financial literacy is directly related to which kids pursue undergraduate degrees.

As explained in a 2010 Center for Social Development research brief by William Elliott III and Sandra Beverly, financial planning has a huge effect on college attendance:

"We assume that savings and wealth may have two effects on college attendance. The first effect is direct and mainly financial ... . The second effect is indirect and mainly attitudinal: If youth grow up knowing they have money to help pay for current and future schooling, they may have higher educational expectations."

Image via Tax Credits/Flickr.

The people behind R.U.S.H. noticed this link between having a college savings account and going to college. Lauran told Upworthy that in spite of efforts to even the playing field, "there were still barriers to college access. A lot of the kids — especially those that were at risk — were responding saying they still didn't think they were going to go to college. They said it's too expensive."

Seeing this problem, R.U.S.H. stepped in with a long-term solution.

Lauran and Justin partnered with a number of organizations and began seeding college savings accounts and raising matching funds. Megan Holston-Alexander, R.U.S.H.'s program director, shared that the initial "seed was $150,000, given at $100 per student. As of June 1, 2015, the accounts have risen another $40,794." And that amount will only continue to grow.

Lauran explained that the financial contributions have been supported by efforts to educate the families so that "parents and students understand why we're saving for college and so that parents understand that their money is going to be matched."

Image via Nazareth College/Flickr.

Justin emphasized to families that "if it's important to you, then you have to be prepared to sacrifice."

R.U.S.H. isn't making college free; it's planting the seed of hope and arming families with the information necessary to prepare for their children's futures.

As Lauran stated, "what keeps us going is the 'H' in the acronym, the 'Hope' piece of it. We want to provide for so many kids and families hope, where the opportunity gaps do exist. It's the hope that motivates us."

By giving parents the skills necessary to maintain financial health and enabling them to set up college-savings accounts for their kids, R.U.S.H. helps these communities to build a legacy of achievement. They're making it possible for the kids and their families to see and work toward goals that may have felt impossible. R.U.S.H. is making it possible to dream. But more importantly, it's making it possible to achieve.

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Money management: We’re all dealing with it, and we’re all a little confused.

Money management doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Here are three quick ways to turn your finances around.

Work isn’t just a part of our lives, it’s one of the biggest parts.

Some people may only be obligated from 9 to 5, but with smartphones and evolving work cultures, we’re connected 24/7. A lot of us are logging over 70 hours each workweek because our phones enable us to take our work with us.

Jennifer J. Deal, Ph.D., author of "Always On, Never Done?" reports that remaining connected to work for so many hours each week leaves employees "only about 3 hours on workdays for 'discretionary' activities such as being with their family, exercising, showering, and all of those chores at home that someone has to do."


Only three hours per workday. We’re essentially never "off."

Despite working nearly nonstop, when payday rolls around, a lot of us can be left feeling like we'll never make enough.

GIF from "Finding Nemo."

Rent and mortgages, car payments, groceries, gas, nights out, pet emergencies, extracurriculars for the kids, family obligations — all of this takes a toll on our bank accounts.

It can feel like money is flying out of our accounts faster than it’s coming in. We’re working all the time but feeling like we’re just making it. We know we need to get a grip on our finances but have no idea where to start.

Here are three simple steps toward total financial domination.

1. Saving should be a part of the plan.

We hear it all the time: Save, save, save. Save for retirement. Save for emergencies. Save for travel. Figuring out how to save seems like it’s the holy grail, but how do we make that happen — especially if we feel like our money is already stretched too thin? The easiest first step is to, well, start with baby steps. Drink coffee at work or home instead of from a coffee shop, carry snacks and a reusable water bottle with you rather than buying them, come up with a quirky and fun challenge like saving all the $5 bills you accumulate, start a piggy bank — whatever is fun and doable for you.

2. Then, it all comes down to planning.

Don’t be afraid to budget. Yes, budget. It’s not a dirty word; it’s the way to freedom! Or at the very least the way to some financial flexibility. Take a look at how you’re spending money and figure out which items are needs versus wants.

Pro tip: Laura Shin, a Forbes personal finance writer, suggests keeping necessary expenses to less than 50% of your take-home pay.

Image view Tax Credits/Flickr.

Now, this isn’t always possible. Necessities are what they are, and for some of us, no amount of finagling can get them to that ideal amount.

Alan Dunn, founder of HowtoSaveMoney.com points out that, for some, "the sheer cost of survival may be very close to their total incomes." Still, it’s a pretty good benchmark to aim for, and having insight into your finances is step one on the road to financial security.

Now that you’ve begun to sort out the things you can’t live without, what about the things you want?

3. Give yourself an allowance! No, really.

Once you’ve broken down your finances into needs versus wants, build an allowance into your budget. Doing that gives you clear parameters — how much you can spend in a given pay period on things that aren’t necessities — and makes it easier to stay on track without feeling like you’re never able to treat yourself.

Make it easy for yourself to stay "on track." Image via Ben Sutherland/Flickr.

It's as simple as setting aside a fixed portion of what remains in your account after bills are taken care of. You may not be able to get everything you want at once — sometimes it’ll take a few months to put aside enough for a big purchase — but with planning, you can indulge a little.

Let's say, after all of your bills and savings are taken into account, you're able to spend $100 per month on anything your heart desires. You're dying to go to a music festival, but the tickets cost $175. It's not the end of the world! You don't have to forgo the festival, and you don't have to break your budget for the month — that would be a slippery slope. Put the $100 aside and wait until the following month when you'll have $200 at your disposal to get the tickets you want, guilt-free.

Payday might still suck…

Money will still leave your bank account at an astonishing rate that makes you believe Hogwarts is real, but you’ll feel more in control once you know where that money’s going and how to make it work for you.

Don’t feel guilty if you hit a few bumps in the road! We’re all navigating these murky money-management waters together.