06/11/2026
Dumpling or squishy? No one knows.
My wife took my oldest daughter to a boutique to buy some clothes for her birthday, but she also came home with a couple of "dumplings." Don't ask what it is, because I still can't explain it.
When she opened one, she wigged out because she got the "REALLY RARE GOLD ONE!" I still didn't know what was happening. With how excited she was, I did what any good financial advisor and dad would do. I started researching the value.
There was a moment where I thought I might have a responsibility to protect the "family's" newest appreciating asset (see what I did there, family… even though it was hers) by replacing it with a knockoff.
Turns out, it wasn't worth the knockoff replacement risk. She got to keep it. I'm not that mean.
The funny thing is, kids instantly get excited about the things they buy or the gifts they receive. Similar to kids, whether it's a gold squishy, a first savings account, a retirement account, or a business they've been building, people care deeply about what belongs to them.
This is why wealth planning isn't always just about numbers. It's about helping people protect the things they've worked hard to build and the people they care about most.
So yes, I did turn a 6-year-old's birthday gift into an opportunity to talk about wealth planning. And also yes, if she ever pulls something worth four digits, we might have to revisit who "owns" that item. Kidding… kind of.
