I do remember getting an allowance at a young age. I also remember, around 8-10 years old, my parents taking me to the bank to open my first savings account. We did Christmas Club through the bank: every month we added a little bit of money so that at Christmas time we had money for gifts. I still have the same Chirstmas account.

I feel like my parents did a good job of teaching us about money. They did help us out, but everything they did was working towards financial independence for us. For example, when I was 16 my brother and I shared a car that my parents bought and paid for the insurance--but we had to pay for gas and repairs. Then when I was 19 years old, I bought my own car and my parents paid the insurance, but only for the first 12 months. That was also when I got my first job and first apartment!

Only once, as an adult, I had to ask my parents to borrow money. It was to buy a computer to start my own freelance design business. It was an interest-free loan. I had a small monthly payment I had to make and then he also got a percentage of the profits from my free-lance jobs until he was paid in full. Hopefully I never need to borrow money from them again!