• Parents who have retired early or hit financial independence are teaching their children finances.
• Parents said their children are investing, opening retirement accounts, and starting businesses.
• The FIRE movement emphasizes financial literacy and early retirement through careful investing.

At 9 years old, Ramat Oyetunji's daughter made money cleaning friends' and teachers' cars in her neighborhood, put her savings into a stock portfolio, and co-published a kid's book on money with her mom.

"If we can start our kids young, then that's a great way to pass down that financial literacy and generational wealth," said Oyetunji, 48, who retired at 44.

Oyetunji is one of many parents who have embraced the Financial Independence, Retirement Early (FIRE) movement over the last decade. The movement, part of the broader Financial Independence movement, stresses principles like paying off debt, long-term investing, and building passive income streams, all in hopes of retiring from a 9-to-5 job while pursuing passions like travel or financial coaching.

While much of the movement's emphasis falls on amassing enough to retire early, some principles extend to the next generation. Half a dozen parents told Business Insider they wanted their children to be more financially savvy than they were, teaching them how to invest, budget, and delay gratification.

Some said because managing finances is rarely taught in school, they wanted their children to buck the trend and recognize the advantage of starting early.

However, some parents are split on how to best prepare their children for the financial world. Some said teaching their children financial advice early would be key to their success, though they weren't sure how far to go without taking the fun out of childhood.

Another fear is that because they retired early or work part-time, their children may lack a model for working hard.

According to experts, simplicity wins out: Susan Hirshman, director of wealth management for Schwab Wealth Advisory, advised parents to introduce money lessons through "simple, practical ways," such as allowance, budgeting, and goal setting.

"The most effective lessons often come from daily life — whether it's setting a savings goal for a concert ticket, comparing prices while shopping, or helping plan a family vacation activities based on a specified dollar and time budget," Hirshman told BI. "These hands-on experiences build confidence and set the stage for smart financial decisions down the road."

Starting their children young

Oyetunji grew up in Nigeria and moved to the US at 20 to finish her studies in mechanical engineering. She started her career working on offshore oil rigs before transitioning to working as a process engineer, vaccine manufacturer, and closing out her career as a quality director at a chemical company. Along the way, she adopted principles of the FIRE movement.

Oyetunji, who lives outside Philadelphia, retired at 44 with a seven-figure net worth. In her spare time, she continued building her company The FI Woman LLC, which she started in 2015, and wrote books on financial planning. She said her early retirement has allowed her to spend more time with her family and community and teach her daughter financial literacy.

Oyetunji found that the most effective way to teach her daughter is through daily tasks. For example, her daughter plays Minecraft and Roblox, so Oyetunji suggested she buy shares in the games' publishers alongside other blue chip companies to understand how stocks are connected to the real world. She also gives her an allowance to help her understand budgeting.

Brennan Schlagbaum's 1- and 3-year-old daughters are too young to start buying shares in companies, but he's started investing on their behalf. The self-made millionaire, who quit his day job to run a financial literacy platform full-time, said they both have a 529 plan, a brokerage account, and a Roth IRA.

He and his wife Erin opened a 529 plan, meant for education expenses, for their daughters before they were even born. The Dallas-based parents contribute about $250 a month, which they settled on by working backward from their goal: to cover 60% of the cost of an in-state, public university.

"They're required to handle the rest, whether it be a scholarship or paying their way," said Schlagbaum. "We want them to have a role. They're still going to contribute and understand its relevance."

Hirshman said parents should ask themselves if they can afford financing college for their children without losing track of their financial goals, then determine how they should encourage financial responsibility in their children.

"It is so important to understand that a person's relationship to money and wealth starts with their experiences in childhood," Hirshman said. "Teaching children about money shouldn't be about placing pressure on them — it's about equipping them with tools to make confident, informed choices as they grow."

They also contribute about $250 a month to the two brokerage accounts that are earmarked for each daughter. Schlagbaum said they plan to gift them that money in their 20s when they start looking for houses or opening a business.

As for the Roth IRA, a retirement-specific account, the account holder must have earned income to contribute. Schlagbaum contributes any money his daughters earn from baby modeling into their Roths, he said, to "get that compound interest rolling at a very young age."

In the meantime, he's starting to familiarize them with investing terms.

"Recently I sat them down and I was talking to them about what we're investing in my solo 401(k)," he said. "Obviously, they had no idea. But it was just to introduce them to the subject."

Teaching by example

For some FIRE parents, demonstrating techniques for financial success is more powerful than teaching their children about advanced economics.

Cha'Lea Stafford, who quit her sales job to pursue a more entrepreneurial career, didn't learn about personal finance growing up.

"I was born into a world where survival came first," said the podcast host and online course creator. "My family arrived in Georgia with nothing. We were homeless, living in a shed behind the farmers market where we sold produce."

Her two sons, 11 and 17, are both entrepreneurs. They first learned about business basics, and she encouraged her oldest to start a lemonade stand. Her youngest, a toddler at the time, observed, wanting "nothing more than to be like his big brother," she said, and started his own entrepreneurial career.

His first venture was selling books to neighbors out of a red wagon. He's also done mailbox makeovers for neighbors and created an online course to teach other kids how to make their first $500.

"My sons now understand money in ways I never did at their age," said Stafford, who is saving and investing aggressively to hit financial independence. "They invest. They create as budding entrepreneurs. They see wealth as a tool, not just a number."

Susan Cesarini, 57, has made it one of her goals to teach her grandchildren to know the value of a dollar.

Cesarini ran a cat grooming business before retiring at 50, though she unretired during the pandemic after feeling she lost her sense of purpose. Despite retiring with a seven-figure net worth, she restarted her business at half the size and set boundaries on when she works.

Cesarini said she didn't have the time to educate her children on financial advice, as she worked multiple jobs as a single mom. Instead, her children followed her lead and lived frugally.

Cesarini is now guiding her grandchildren more directly. She's taught her 12-year-old grandson about compounding, putting your money to work by investing, and the difference between a "need" and a "want." She's taken her grandchildren to thrift stores so they know how to look for cheaper options and she encourages them to fix things on their own instead of hiring someone. She used her own property, which they painted with her, as an example.

"Seeing me work hard, seeing his mom and dad work hard, I think he wants to work hard and learn new things," Cesarini said. "I definitely see property flipping in his future."

• Leila Lieberman, 93, retired on a tight budget and still lives with a roommate in Manhattan.
• She worked as a counselor in Illinois and New York, earning a modest income.
• Despite financial challenges, she's found peace of mind knowing she has people close to her.

Leila Lieberman, 93, retired over two decades ago on a tight budget after working for years as a counselor. Lieberman lives in Manhattan and said that following her passions allowed her to live a fulfilling life, even if it meant retiring without enough to live comfortably and having a roommate. Lieberman said life in her 90s has its perks and said there's more to retirement than money. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

After I retired, I knew I didn't do enough to get money, because you have nothing to do all day, and going places and doing things all require money. I volunteered and went to work part-time. I kept getting part-time jobs because I needed the money. I have enough now, surprisingly, to make me capable of doing things.

I would say that, in addition to getting an IRA, you've got to do what you like doing. It's so rewarding, and you do that for years and years while saving some money. You can't spend your whole working life hating what you do.

A dream job paying less than ideal

I lived in Chicago, which is where I was born, and I was a counselor for the state of Illinois. As a counselor, I would set up trainings, and I was working for the Labor Department. At that time, I had a 16-year-old son from a previous marriage and a 10-year-old daughter, and I felt that the education in New York would be a lot better than it was in Chicago.

I then moved to New York. But my son refused to come with us. He went to live with his father and stepmother.

After moving, I worked at a methadone clinic as a counselor for the patients that came in. I was there for two and a half years. I later became a rehabilitation counselor and worked for the state with disabled people. It was a lot more person-to-person.

But it was a low-paying job. I only earned $30,000 a year in the 1970s, but I was going to get a big pension from the state and get Social Security. I figured that was fine, and I'd be able to live on it.

I was wrong because expenses just kept going up. It was totally erroneous thinking that I was going to be able to get along on that, though somehow or another, I did. My husband died, but he wouldn't work at all. He played the stock market. Sometimes he won, and sometimes he lost.

I went back to work. After I left the State, I went to work at a hospital and became an administrator, but I still didn't earn a whole lot.

I was working at the hospital one day, and I didn't feel well. They escorted me up to the emergency room and decided it must have been my heart. I took a couple of tests, and they said I had to have open heart surgery in 1995. My legs also started hurting, and I was in a lot of pain. I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. I still have heart problems, and I had a procedure last week where they pull all the cholesterol out of your veins. I just keep living because my cardiologist insists on it.

A rough retirement

I had money in my retirement account but not much. I have an investment portfolio, and I have somebody else take care of it. I just can't make investment decisions. It's totally foreign to me.

I didn't realize how much I was going to need. I retired in 1994. I got a retirement benefit from the State but not the full pension if I had stayed at the job long, which would have been 50% of my salary in retirement. When my husband was alive, we got a reverse mortgage.

In retirement, you've got all day, and if you don't have too many doctors to go to, you've got to figure out something for yourself to do. That is the most crucial thing in retirement because you have to fill in your day with something unless you like to sit and watch television.

The first thing I did when I first retired was take advantage of quilting lessons. All the money that I earned went into quilting supplies.

I also volunteered to help people with problems with their Medicare benefits. I worked part-time for a real estate agency two days a week, and I retired when I was about 71. That was the last job I had. I really just didn't want to work anymore. When I fully retired, I had about $130,000.

Retirement gets better, somewhat

I don't have a lot of money, but I'm not feeling unhappy about it. I can't do a lot now that I'm in my 90s, but I went to a big party out in Queens, and the day before, I went grocery shopping. I get so tired afterward, and when that happens, I don't do anything and just sit here.

I'm pretty happy I have things to do, but I just can't do that much more. When your friends all die, you have to start making new friends, and that's difficult when you're older. I do have some friends, and I'm very happy. We had a party, and it was so lovely. We play cribbage, and they're mostly in their late 60s or 70s. I don't have a big social life, and I often go to things alone because I don't want to ask a million people.

A man that I know is renting one bedroom of my apartment. He made good money, but he also thought his pension and Social Security were going to help more in old age. He was a stage manager in television, and he's 78. We chat every day, but we don't spend our lives together. As soon as my husband died, our landlord made the maintenance 15% higher, and I just didn't have the finances for that. When he died in 2010, I was left with doing everything on my own.

• Warren Buffett socked away $321 billion while waiting for the market to crash like it did this week.
• The legendary investor specializes in buying cut-rate stocks during periods of market panic.
• Buffett gurus told BI the billionaire may wait for lower prices or a clearer outlook before buying.

Warren Buffett famously says to "be greedy when others are fearful" and "when it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble." The legendary bargain hunter has been waiting years for the stock market to crash like it did this week — but he might not be buying yet.

President Donald Trump's unveiling of near-universal tariffs and foreign countries' threats of retaliation vaporized upward of $5 trillion — more than double Nvidia's market value — from the S&P 500 over the course of Thursday and Friday.

Some of Buffett's favorite stocks got spanked, with Apple, American Express, Bank of America, and Occidental Petroleum all sinking more than 15% in two days.

Buffett's longtime secretary, Debbie Bosanek, told BI in a statement: "Mr. Buffett is not doing interviews but instead is saving his commentary for the Q&A session on May 3 which is held before the Berkshire Annual Meeting."

The downturn is likely to hearten the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, given he's a value investor who looks to buy businesses at a discount to their worth. He's also known to capitalize on crises, for example when he deployed $26 billion across five deals between 2008 and 2009.

Buffett wrote in his 2017 shareholder letter that sharp sell-offs can create "extraordinary opportunities" for investors who heed the writer Rudyard Kipling's words to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs."

However, surging valuations have priced him out of buying stocks, acquiring businesses, and even repurchasing his own company's stock in recent years.

Buffett, 94, has also off-loaded a net $158 billion of stocks over the past two calendar years. Berkshire's cash pile has roughly tripled from under $110 billion in September 2022 to $321 billion at the end of 2024 — that's bigger than Coca-Cola's market value.

Armed with an overflowing war chest, Buffett appears well-placed to wade into the market rout and scoop up stocks on the cheap. The internet certainly agrees — social media is rife with comments and memes about Buffett sitting pretty while markets are in chaos.

Wall Street has also rewarded Buffett's cash hoarding: Berkshire's stock price is up about 9% this year, trouncing the S&P's near 14% decline.

As of Thursday's close, the share surge had added $23 billion to Buffett's personal fortune and vaulted him past the likes of LVMH's Bernard Arnault and Oracle's Larry Ellison into fourth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Yet the famously patient and disciplined investor might wait longer before embarking on a shopping spree.

"When prices fall, it certainly encourages Buffett to buy unless he views new permanent damage greater than the price discount," Steven Check told Business Insider. Check oversees $2 billion in assets as the CEO of Check Capital Management and has attended every in-person Berkshire annual meeting since 1996.

Stocks may be cheaper than before, but Check said Buffett will likely "require a much larger drop to do significant buying."

Waiting game

Buffett's followers will likely have to wait until Berkshire's meeting in May or its second-quarter portfolio update in August to learn whether the investor topped up his holdings this week.

Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University who's been teaching Buffett-style valuation to students for decades, told BI he's "watching his next move with the most careful and anxious attention" as it will "tell us a great deal about where he thinks the economy is going."

"If he plunges into the market and starts buying, it will signal that he believes the Trump tariffs were nothing more than a minor economic annoyance that created wonderful buying opportunities," said Hanke, who is a former economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan and was the president of Toronto Trust Argentina when it was the world's best-performing mutual fund in 1995.

If Buffett holds off, Hanke said it would suggest he's keeping in mind the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of March 1930, which "broke the back of the stock market and helped to plunge the world into the Great Depression."

Hanke's "tentative guess" is that Buffett's knowledge of economic history will lead him to "remain on the sidelines, at least for a while" until the scope of the economic situation becomes clearer.

If the frantic sell-off in markets continues, Buffett's moment might come sooner rather than later.

• Rental property owners can leverage tax deductions to lower taxable income significantly.
• Depreciation and cost segregation studies can maximize tax benefits and increase cash flow.
• One CPA says that her high-income clients regularly save seven figures in taxes from cost seg studies.

There are tax advantages that come with owning rental properties — most notably, deductions that will lower your taxable income.

Investors can deduct any expense associated with managing and maintaining their properties, from homeowner's insurance and mortgage interest to business equipment and travel.

One major deduction worth strategizing around is depreciation, CPA Kristel Espinosa told Business Insider — and there's an "easy strategy to maximize that depreciation deduction," she added.

Depreciation is the loss of an asset's value, and investors can claim the value of depreciation as a tax deduction for the entire expected life of the property, which the IRS has determined is 27.5 years for residential buildings and 39 years for commercial buildings. To calculate the annual depreciation on a rental, you divide the value of the property (not including the value of the land) by 27.5 or 39, depending on the property type.

A cost segregation study can help investors accelerate depreciation deductions and, as a result, increase cash flow. It reviews all of a building's external and internal components, some of which can be written off much quicker than the building structure.

"An architectural engineer actually goes out to the property or reviews the blueprints and basically says: 'You could break this building down into smaller components. There are partitions, there's flooring, there's electrical,'" explained Espinosa.

Some of those components can have tax lives that are much shorter — either five, seven, or 15 years — than the standard 27.5 or 39-year timelines. The cost segregation study may find that $100,000 of interior fixtures can be depreciated over five years, for example, and another $100,000 can be depreciated over seven.

"There's a rule out there for tax purposes that says, if you have property that is less than 20 years in depreciable life then you can go ahead and take an immediate write-off of that depreciation expense up to 60%," said Espinosa, referring to allowable deductions for bonus depreciation, which is 60% for 2024.

"That percentage changes every year but, as you can see, you can now take this huge depreciation deduction instead of having to wait the whole 39 years to get that depreciation," she said. "You can take a big chunk in those first couple of years and basically put yourself into a loss position because the deduction is so large, and not have to pay any tax — and that loss generally carries over. If you don't need all of the loss in the current year, that loss carries over into subsequent years, so those losses could shelter the rental income from this property for years to come."

Timing is important, she added: "Act before bonus depreciation phases out completely, post-2026."

How investors are saving seven figures in taxes doing 'cost segs'

Hiring a professional to perform a cost segregation study will cost thousands of dollars, but the tax savings can easily outweigh the cost.

"Last year we helped one of our clients save probably $1.8 million in taxes just by doing a cost seg — and the cost seg only cost them about $10,000," said Espinosa, whose firm operates out of Irvine, California. That wasn't an extreme case for her client base, which includes high-income earners in top tax brackets who typically own large portfolios and commercial buildings.

The savings from a cost seg study can vary significantly depending on a property's purchase price, type, and depreciation reallocation. As a general rule of thumb, "a cost segregation study typically allows 20% to 40% of a building's cost to be reclassified into shorter depreciation periods," said Espinosa. "This can generate first-year tax savings of $50,000 to $150,000+ per $1 million in building cost, depending on the study results and your tax situation."

She gives the example of a $15 million commercial building. A cost seg may reclassify $3 million to $5 million into five-, seven-, or 15-year assets, she said. Assuming $5 million is eligible for bonus depreciation, multiply that by 60% to get $3 million in depreciation deductions.

"Take the $3 million in deductions and multiply it by their tax rate of 37% and that's $1.11 million in federal tax savings alone," said Espinosa. "There is even more benefit if you live in a state with high-income taxes."

Smaller investors can also see big tax savings, she added: "Even a $2 million property can yield $100,000 to $300,000 in federal deductions.

Not every property will benefit from doing a cost seg. The strategy typically works best with commercial properties, as there are more components than a residential home.

While there is no IRS rule limiting the number of cost segregation studies you can do, you'll want to use them strategically, said Espinosa: "Focus on new properties or major renovations. Avoid double-dipping on already classified assets."

She advised retaining engineering reports and tax filings to defend against audits and work with CPAs and cost segregation specialists for accurate studies.

"Cost segregation is powerful but requires careful execution."

• Charlie Munger called Alibaba one of his worst investments before he died in November 2023.
• Warren Buffett's late business partner may have been too harsh, as the stock has soared 74% since then.
• As Daily Journal's chairman, he built a $72 million stake that made up nearly 30% of its portfolio.

Charlie Munger labeled his Alibaba wager one of the worst mistakes of his career shortly before he died. The legendary investor may have been too hasty in writing off his last big bet.

A broader Chinese tech rally has boosted Alibaba stock by 56% this year, and 74% since Munger's death in November 2023. The e-commerce giant's shares have rallied to their highest levels since November 2021, although they still trade at less than half their October 2020 peak.

Munger, Warren Buffett's right-hand man and Berkshire Hathaway's vice-chairman for more than 40 years, invested both his family's money and some of Daily Journal's spare cash in Alibaba.

Daily Journal is a newspaper publisher and legal software supplier that Munger chaired from 1977 to 2022. Starting in 2009, he grew its stock portfolio from scratch to be worth more than $300 million.

Munger bought 165,000 American depositary shares (ADS) of Alibaba for the company in the first quarter of 2021, marking the first new addition to its US stock portfolio since at least the end of 2013.

Even as Alibaba's stock price nearly halved that year, the billionaire raised the stake to about 602,000 shares worth $72 million at the end of 2021, accounting for 28% of the US stock portfolio's total value.

Munger shifted gears the following quarter, paring Daily Journal's holding to 300,000 shares. That position remained intact until after the investor died, just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

In the first quarter of 2024, Daily Journal cut the stake to 195,000 shares worth $16.5 million at the end of March that year, and it was still that size at the end of December, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

Owning up to mistakes

In the same quarter that Munger began buying Alibaba, he scolded cofounder Jack Ma for publicly criticizing the Chinese government, calling him "very arrogant."

Following Ma's comments, authorities nixed a planned initial public offering for Alibaba's mobile payments affiliate, Ant Group. They also demanded Ant restructure its business and hit Alibaba with billions of dollars in antitrust penalties. Meanwhile, Jack Ma disappeared from public view.

Munger intentionally rubbed his nose in his missteps to avoid making similar ones in the future. So it's unsurprising that he openly described Alibaba as a terrible error.

"I regard Alibaba as one of the worst mistakes I ever made," Munger said at Daily Journal's annual meeting in February 2023.

"I got charmed by the idea of their position in the Chinese internet. I didn't stop to realize they're still a goddamn retailer," he continued. "It's going to be a competitive business, the internet — it's not going to be a cakewalk for everybody."

In his final TV interview in late 2023, Munger said: "My worst trade was buying a block for the Munger family in Alibaba, which is a pretty good company. But I think it got overhyped, and Jack Ma made mistakes in dealing with the Chinese government. Everybody has some bad ones. The greatest tennis player goes out there some days to the center court and has a bad day. It happens."

Winners and losers

Alibaba has proven to be less disastrous than Munger feared, and may even turn out to be a winner. Even if it doesn't, he has other stellar bets to hang his hat on.

For example, he pitched BYD to Buffett, resulting in Berkshire paying $232 million for 225 million shares of the Chinese EV maker in 2008. BYD's stock price has surged from the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of $1 then to record highs of above $50 in recent days.

Berkshire cut its stake from about 20% in 2022 to under 5% by mid-2024, and may have exited the bet completely. If untouched, those 225 million shares would be worth more than $11 billion.

Even though it cashed out, Berkshire likely made well over 20 times its money based on BYD's trading range during its selling timeframe.

Munger may have died believing that investing in Alibaba was a bad decision when it wasn't. Even if he was wrong to buy in, he's knocked it out of the park with bets like BYD.

• Harvard MBAs are launching Twenty25 Ventures to invest in their classmates' companies.
• The fund will take contributions from the class of 2025, starting as small as $3,000.
• In the past five years, students at several top business schools have launched similar funds.

Students in Harvard Business School's graduating class have made an executive decision — fortunes are made through access, not exclusion.

Seven members of HBS's class of 2025 have collectively raised close to $1 million for a class fund they're calling Twenty25 Ventures.

The fund is built through contributions from the graduating class and will invest solely in startups founded by peers — an investment structure that's taking off at business schools as students look to find footing in a traditionally rarefied funding ecosystem.

The founders — Yoav Anaki, Yuval Efrat, Lisa Yan, Insoo Chang, Lindsay Atkeson, Madison McIlwain, and Rob Muldowney — began discussions during the 2023 to 2024 school year, and started fundraising in earnest in September. They're closing the fund this month and will begin deploying it in April over a five-year period.

They also recruited a cadre of high-profile venture capitalists as advisors including Alex Kayyal, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bryan Kim partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Sara Choi, partner at Wing Venture Capital, and Sanjay Rao, managing partner at Tau Ventures. Several of its more than 10 advisors are alumni of HBS.

"It's no surprise that Harvard Business School people are doing business together, right?  That is the genesis of the school," McIlwain told Business Insider. Twenty25's "thesis is if you just backed an index of HBS graduates in your class you would outperform the S&P."

Harvard MBA graduates have raised close to $80 billion in venture capital funding in the past decade, more than any other business school, according to PitchBook. The school's top-funded companies include battery maker Northvolt, used car marketplace Kavak, and cloud security startup Lacework. It came in second after Stanford Graduate School of Business for the greatest number of unicorn founders, producing about 4.2 per 1,000 graduates, according to a LinkedIn post from Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev.

Twenty25 will invest in startups raising $500,000 or more in rounds led by institutional investors and select venture capital firms. The average investment check size will be between $10,000 and $50,000.

Its goal is to give more HBS students a chance to tap into their exclusive network before they embark on their careers and build wealth.

"We wanted to lower the barrier to entry and give more of our classmates the chance to participate in venture investing," McIlwain said. "Generational wealth creation begins with access."

The fund takes student checks as low as $3,000 and caps them at $100,000, or 10% of the fund.

Students want to bet on each other

Harvard's fund is inspired by Stanford 2020, a venture capital fund launched by Stanford Graduate School of Business students in 2020 to invest in their classmates' startups. The fund garnered backing from nearly half of the 2020 class, raising over $1.5 million, and had a minimum of $3,000 for contributions.

In a 2020 interview with TechCrunch, Stanford 2020 founder Steph Mui said the fund was born from the inaccessibility of angel investing — through which high net-worth individuals put capital into early-stage ventures: "Only accredited people can do it, it feels very elite," she said.

"We started thinking more about if we can actually make this something that the whole class could participate in, or at least make it more accessible to more than just like these small pockets of people that do it behind closed doors," she said.

She later told the outlet that the majority of people who contributed to Stanford 2020 were first-time check writers.

PIN, which stands for Power in Numbers, is a platform that Mui spun out of Stanford 2020. It handles all of the administrative, legal, and tax work for investment clubs. Twenty25 is utilizing it because it makes it easier to handle smaller-scale checks than a standard platform for syndicates.

In recent years, student-backed funds with similar structures have sprung up at other business schools.

Students at University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business launched Courtyard Ventures in 2021, which has since deployed over $3 million across multiple funds, investing about $50,000 to $100,000 per startup, according to its website. Its general partners also invest about half of their performance fees into campus groups supporting startups.

Last year, two members of Wharton's class of 2026 launched Center City Ventures. The fund collects contributions from students in the class of 2026 starting at $3,000, and will invest the money into startups founded across the university, according to its website.

The past few years have been tough on MBA graduates including ones from the most elite institutions. White-collar hiring has taken a hit and cut the amount that companies are willing to pay post-MBA hires. The share of graduates from top schools like Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton with jobs three months after graduation has declined since 2021.

But class funds at these schools make the case that students see real value in their network.

"This fund isn't just about startups," she said. "It's about inclusion, ownership, and community."

• Robert Furst is a wealth advisor at Merrill Lynch and the father to a four and six year old.
• Furst said investing and charitable giving are core habits he wants to instill in his kids.
• He has also set up 529 plans for each child and he and his wife live frugally to build wealth.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 38-year-old Robert Furst, a senior VP at Merrill Lynch, a wealth management division of the Bank of America. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was really fortunate to have amazing role models in my life, and I'm very intentional about being a role model for my kids.

I joined Merrill Lynch in 2013. I provide wealth management advice to our clients, who include business owners, professional athletes, doctors, and lawyers.

At my job, I've focused a lot on educating the next generation about finances. It's given me a cheat code for dealing with my own kids, who are six and four.

Here are some of the key ways I've decided to teach my kids about financial literacy and how I'm planning ahead to set them up for financial success.

Encouraging charitable giving

I don't think my children are too young to learn about gratitude, compassion, and appreciation. If we start those habits early, they will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

My kids save money in piggy banks for charitable giving. When they've accumulated enough funds, they'll choose, with a little guidance, where to donate those funds. At four and six, my wife and I want our kids to focus on saving for charities and helping the less fortunate.

When my six year old turns seven and starts first grade, I'll introduce him to investing and we will explore what stocks he would want to create his first portfolio.

My kids have a head start in life with two loving parents with good jobs. We've already started putting money away for college. I want to teach them that once a family has "enough" it is crucial to give back.

Letting them try out investing

My dad worked in finance and would cut articles out of the Wall Street Journal for me to read. He treated me like his "junior partner" and talked to me about business decisions he made at work.

When I got birthday money as a kid, I told my dad I wanted to invest it. He let me and this spurred my interest in the market. I saw the power of making a good investment.

I'm planning to introduce my oldest child to investing soon. I want him to use his money to pick some companies to invest in, so he can feel the impact of decisions he makes. Nowadays, it's relatively easy to open a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) account and let my children pick some stocks.

I do a lot of investment coaching with the children of our clients. Once, a 12-year-old visited our office. We pulled the research reports for companies he'd picked and discussed what can indicate an advisable or ill-advised investment. By pulling research reports of companies he selected, the child felt heard and respected.

The child learned financial terms associated with stock research, so next time he wants to do some digging, jargon will not be a barrier to entry. I absolutely intend to do this with my children.

It's not about getting kids to have amazing returns. It's about getting them engaged. If they invest for long enough, they can also see the power of compounding. Time in the market beats timing the market.

Teaching them the value of hard work

I once asked my parents for a video game system, and my mom told me she wouldn't pay for it.

I ended up working in a friend of my dad's factory doing simple jobs like packing boxes. Soon, I had enough money to buy myself the game system.

I won't have my kids working in factories, but they do know that their parents value hard work.

Sometimes, my children will ask why my wife or I have to work late. We let them know that we strive to provide a good life for the family and that we work hard to earn money to pay for food, our home, and their education. I want them to know that nothing is guaranteed in life.

I intend to pay them for chores. It could be as simple as making their beds. That's not a high-value item, but it's worth something to me if my wife and I don't have to do it.

Saving for their future

One of my financial goals is to send both of my kids to college debt-free, so I set up a 529 plan as soon as they had Social Security numbers. A 529 is a tax-advantaged education investment account that can help a child to attend college without incurring debt.

Each child has their own 529. This is important because my children are of different ages and I'll invest in their 529s in line with when they go to college. As we get closer to college, we'll lessen the risk level because the money will need to be spent sooner.

I also want to accumulate enough wealth to give my children choices in life. If one wants to work in finance or tech, they may not need help from my wife and me. But if one of them wants to become a social worker, the financial rewards might look a little different.

I don't want my kids to be held back from doing amazing work in the community for financial reasons. We want to support them so they can make that choice without worrying about the salary difference.

Several families I have counseled help subsidize a child who worked diligently in a less lucrative career, and this is something I admired.

We're planning for this by setting money aside and only buying what we need. We can afford to buy more luxury goods than we do, and that's by design.

I'll probably tell my kids that we've got this money set aside for them when they're around college age. I don't want to tell them too early as I wouldn't want them to rely on it.

Do you have a story to share about planning for your children's financial future? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com

• There are a variety of ways to invest in real estate beyond buying rentals.
• Investors are using private money lending, build-to-rent, and syndication to build wealth.
• Private money lending and syndication are relatively hands-off while offering good returns.

One of the most straightforward ways to get into real estate is to buy and hold a rental. Another popular strategy is flipping properties.

However, there are multiple ways to invest in real estate.

Business Insider has spoken with investors who are using less traditional strategies to hit financial independence. Here are three.

1. Private money lending. If you want to participate in the real estate space without actually buying and managing properties, one option is lending capital to other investors.

It's one strategy that financially independent couple Carl and Mindy Jensen are using to continue to grow their net worth. Having spent years buying property and doing time-consuming "live-in flips," they appreciate how passive lending can be.

The way it works is they'll lend other real-estate investors' money to rehab a house, for example, and earn interest on the loan. The terms are determined by the lender and borrower and vary from deal to deal. The Jensens said that they're earning between 10 and 12% from lending.

"The private lending generates such a nice return that it's difficult to be like, 'No, we don't want to have the easy money. Let's go do another live-in flip,'" Mindy told BI.

2. Build-to-rent. Brannon Potts likes the idea of owning rentals but has found it challenging to make the numbers work in his area: "The resale market is a little bit harder to pencil out and work financially."

His solution is to build his rentals. He admitted that the strategy is "a little more niche," and time-consuming. He's designing the layout and working with a builder to bring it to life — a process that can take up to nine months for a multi-family property. "But I'm seeing a lot more financial reward from it at this moment than doing the resale side."

As of March 2025, Potts has 10 completed doors and said he's averaging $330 a month per door. That's about $40,000 a year of relatively passive income, as his properties are new builds and don't require much maintenance or attention. He expects to hit financial independence once he gets to 20 doors, which he plans to do in the next five years and before turning 60.

He's earning more than just financial reward.

"I love building — to be able to put my fingerprint on a property," he said. "I really wanted to be proud of what we did so that our tenants got something wonderful that they could live in and hopefully take better care of it because it's just a little bit nicer than the ordinary."

3. Real-estate syndication. With real-estate syndication deals, a group of investors pools their capital to purchase a single property managed by the syndicator.

New England-based investor and self-made millionaire Tess Waresmith owns rentals, but she started investing in syndications in 2023 and says the strategy comes with unique advantages: It opens the door to bigger investment opportunities and is much more passive than managing rentals.

"I check out the deal and make sure it's something that feels good to me, and then when I invest the money, I'm hands-off," she said. "I'm not involved in the day-to-day decision-making of the property. But as an investor, I get to benefit from investing in the larger unit properties."

The Jensens, who are in two syndication deals, also appreciate the hands-off nature, but it can be difficult to predict your returns.

"The people running these syndications will tell you they're expecting numbers, and it's infrequently accurate," said Carl. Keep in mind that the syndicator is "probably using their best, sunny-day scenarios."

That said, "every syndication we've had has actually outperformed the original numbers."

• Anthony Mackie said actors need to behave like investors and diversify their portfolios.
• The "Captain America" star warned it's risky to rely solely on acting income as it could dry up.
• Mackie said he keeps his four sons "humble" and they've "never had a pair of Jordans."

Actors should think like investors and make sure to spread their bets, Anthony Mackie says.

The "Captain America: Brave New World" star recently told "The Pivot" podcast he's seen many of his peers get "hot" and land a bunch of leading roles, only for their careers to flatline a few years later.

"It's like, yo, you have no staying power," Mackie said, "because you're not diversifying your portfolio. If all you're investing in is Walmart, and Walmart has a bad week, you're fucked. So you've got to be able to do all the other shit, and that's what I always tell young actors."

Investors typically buy multiple assets to avoid betting the farm on a single horse. They might offset the risk of holding stocks by owning bonds too, and within a stock portfolio, they might balance the higher volatility of a growth stock like Tesla with the stability of a more staid name like Walmart.

Mackie repeated his point when asked how to achieve longevity in an entertainment career. "By diversifying your portfolio," he said, adding that now he's in his mid-40s, he's eager to do more producing and curate his own experiences for moviegoers.

"Tyler Perry has shown us the mold," Mackie said, adding that the billionaire filmmaker behind the "Madea" franchise has "created the wheel, so it don't make sense for me to get a chisel and try to make another one."

Perry's income streams include his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, along with other investments.

Mackie — known for portraying the superhero Falcon in past Marvel movies and his roles in "The Hurt Locker" and "8 Mile" — said athletes have been parlaying their fame into owning car dealerships, barbecue joints, and other businesses for decades.

George Foreman, who died earlier this month, made way more money from his grills than from his boxing career.

Mackie also echoed Warren Buffett's famous advice to find a job you're passionate about. The legendary investor has often said he enjoys being Berkshire Hathaway's CEO so much that he tap dances to work.

Similarly, Mackie said that "if you love it, you never work a day in your life."

The actor also spoke about ensuring his four sons remain grounded despite his success. "I keep my boys humble," he said, adding they've "never had a pair of Jordans."

Mackie said they "don't do all that internet fly shit," and the message he sends them is: "I could be the biggest star in the world, do not let me catch you being stupid."

Ben Affleck, another actor who's played multiple superheroes, recently said that he frequently gives his teenage son a reality check.

"There's always some grift why I need to be buying," the "Daredevil" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" star said about his son's taste for luxury goods. "I'm like, bruh, you do not need $1,000 shoes. He's like, 'We have the money.' I'm like, 'I have the money — you're broke.'"

• In the 1980s, Cynthia Jones wanted to own a home, but her husband didn't. They later divorced.
• After the split, she spent $28,000 on her first home for herself and her young daughter to live in.
• Jones, now 68, has taught her daughter the value of investing in real estate as a single woman.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cynthia Jones, a 64-year-old retired librarian in Toledo, Ohio, who purchased several homes without a cosigner or spouse. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was in my mid-20s, I discovered that my husband had no interest in becoming a homeowner. This, along with other factors, ultimately led to our divorce.

In 1982, as a single woman, I purchased my first property for my toddler and me. Since then, I've bought and sold four homes. Now, at 68, I live in my fifth — and final — home.

I love being a homeowner because whether I use my home equity to make improvements, invest in other ventures, or simply enjoy the stability of ownership, it's mine to do with as I please.

I've also passed this lesson on to my daughter, who happens to be single, too.

Before turning 30, my daughter also purchased her first property alone, without a spouse. Prior to that, she earned her graduate degree. Now, at 44, she's enjoying traveling and her career.

We're two women embracing single life, traveling, and making the most of our future.

I have always encouraged single women to build wealth through homeownership and real-estate investing. Owning property is one of the few investments that allows you to retain the asset while still making money. In contrast, with investments like stocks, you must sell to realize any profit.

Owning a home could also have developmental benefits. Some research has shown that children who live in a family-owned home may fare better in school, among other things. I have seen some of these benefits firsthand.

I didn't need a spouse to be a homeowner

Homeownership wasn't the sole reason my husband and I got a divorce, but it was, as I say, the straw that broke the camel's back.

In 1981, I was living in Toledo, Ohio, in a townhouse with two bedrooms and one bathroom that my ex-husband and I rented for around $500 a month.

At the time, I was considering setting up a private music studio to teach violin lessons from home, which required more space. The apartment was under about 1,000 square feet and felt cramped. Plus, when you share walls with neighbors, you hear them, and they hear you. There was also no laundry facility in the complex, so we had to go to a local laundromat.

With a young child and the possibility of expanding our family, I realized it was the right time to stop renting and start building equity in a place of our own.

While owning a home is a core value for me, my ex-husband never wanted the responsibility of homeownership. He believed it would be too costly. My counterpoint was that while there are expenses associated with owning a home, you can't build equity in an apartment, pay it off, or pass it down.

Buying my first home after the divorce was surprisingly easy. Fortunately, my former boss's wife, a real-estate agent, knew an elderly man who was looking to sell his condo. He offered seller financing, and the process went smoothly with no issues.

In 1982, I paid $28,000 for his two-bedroom, one-bathroom condo. The master bedroom and closet were spacious, and my daughter was thrilled to have her own room. I also enjoyed a nice balcony overlooking a pond, which was a peaceful place to relax.

We lived in the condo for eight years before selling it for around $35,000. Although it was just a starter home, I was thrilled to finally own something. And now, even after all these years, my daughter and I still talk about the memories we made there.

I taught my daughter the importance of homeownership

After my divorce, I remained single and returned to school to study fine arts and business. My focus was solely on my education and raising my daughter.

Over the years, I purchased four more homes, with each sale helping to finance the next. I bought my final home — a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house — for $187,000 in 2019. It's now valued at nearly $300,000, according to Realtor.com.

In the future, it will need a few repairs, so some of my equity will go toward that, and the rest will be saved, perhaps in a high-yield savings account for emergencies. That's the beauty of homeownership — while real estate goes through up-and-down periods, over time, you're generally building equity.

In 2013, my daughter purchased her own home in Toledo for $130,000 — a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house in the same neighborhood as mine. My 90-year-old mother and my nephew are currently leasing it. Last year, a house across the street from hers sold for $313,000, so I estimate her home is now valued at around $300,000.

My father passed last August, so we're transitioning my mother to my home, which has a first-floor bedroom and bathroom. Although my daughter's house has a chair lift, my mom is reaching a point where even that could become a challenge. It's safer for her to be here with us.

In this situation, owning a home is definitely a benefit compared to living in an apartment because we can adjust or renovate it to suit her needs. Some apartments have accessibility issues. While some complexes are required by law to make accommodations, this isn't always the case. Even if a landlord agrees, renters can be expected to pay for the upgrades.

My daughter plans to sell her house, and then we'll all be living together in my home. We are joining the ranks of others enjoying a multi-generational household.

Our neighborhood is fantastic. Everyone knows each other and looks out for one another. Plus, we're lucky to be right next to a park that offers plenty of nature. This will definitely be our forever home.

I want to encourage more single women to become homeowners

I've made many financial blunders in my life — but owning homes hasn't been one of them.

My only regret in my homeownership journey is that I sold my previous properties instead of keeping them as rentals. I'd be in an excellent financial position now and could have passed that portfolio on to my daughter.

It would have also helped with retirement. The rental income would have served as my primary source of retirement income, alongside other sources.

A friend of mine, who also bought her first home as a single mother, has paid it off and also owns a paid-off investment property. Now, in retirement, she's reaping the rewards of those smart investments.

Many years ago, I obtained my real-estate license, but due to various circumstances, I didn't pursue using it at the time.

As part of my "encore career" or second act, I plan to return to real estate — not just for income, but to educate women about the benefits of homeownership and investing in real property.

I've kept up with reading about the real-estate market, and I'm aware that single women are outpacing men in homeownership. I think it's because women like me are no longer waiting for marriage or a partner to invest in their own homes. I think, in many cases, they are thinking long-term about securing their retirement and building wealth.

More women understand the financial benefits of homeownership, and as I always say, you'll always need a place to live — so why not make it something you own?

Berkshire Hathaway stock is up 17%, proving Warren Buffett's ability to strike a win no matter how shaky the circumstances.