My computer geek 6th grader has me in an awkward dilemma!!! Help

My wife and I give our 6th grader 20.00 a week for allowance and he must deposit it in his little checking account. With this money he is responsible for all his expenses with his friends such as movies going to eat at the mall ect.. and paying for his shoes. He likes the Kevin Durants and I refuse to pay for expensive sneakers. He must budget his money and make decisions for himself.

My mom and my brother also give him 500.00 for xmas and 100.00 for his birthday that must be put in his account. His allowance and his gifts from my brather and mom are his and my wife and I cannot touch it..... that is our agreement with him. If you spend your money and want more tough... you did not manage and budget wisely!!!

Here it goes.... he is a computer and science geek and loves everything technology. I told him tonight he needs to get some more sneakers and he told me he has no money for them at this time. I got a little upset and he went to my wife and told her the deal.

He told my wife he has has taken all his gifts this year and most if his allowance and has been buying ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin this year. She had never heard of it and for the most part I had heard of it but have no idea how to buy it and never thought twice about it.

Well well well....aftwo lots of questioning and threatening to take away his allowance he told me that he had taken all his money this year he told me it was about 1400.00 dollars so far and it is worth Lost 30k. He told me his goal is to pay for his college because he felt my wife and I should not have to do that so he invested it in the only thing he knew about being the technology worm he is.

You tell me what should I do? He has turned 1400.00 into almost 30k in less than a year by investing his money but now has no money to buy his shoes or go the movies with friends which is what the allowance and gifts were for.

A 6th grader sitting on 30k in ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin. He told me his goal is 100k in next 2 years and pay for his college.

....I told the Chief you gotta be fucking kidding me.

How is that for getting flowed on a Sunday night at the dinner table.

I am really at a loss but also very very proud of his thinking, I had no idea what this kid was doing on his Ipad at night. I still don't understand understand what he is doing but it's his money and I gave him his 20.00 allowance tonight for the week.

Unbelievable

 

My son did not show me the account but he did show my wife and brother and they were able to verify it. She told me It is at a website called Coinbase she wrote everything down with notes as she was talking to my son.

She asked him how he heard about it and he said his friends at the country club do it and told him about it. These kids he plays golf and swims with are anywhere between 6th grade and high school.

 

I do monitor his online activity, he is 12. These kids today know far more about technology and covering their tracks and deleting/erasing their footprints than you could imagine. He also told me most of his activity (buying) was being done at school or the public library.

I give him him allowance, birthday and Christmas money without any strings attached. If he wants to buy Tom Brady Jersey or Sneakers or go to movies ect....he can do what he wants. I'm still not buying him his basketball shoes he wants and tryout are this weekend.

I know that he will run to his uncle/my brother (he and my son are very close and i am sure brother knows everything and i will see him Friday when he takes care of the lawn) but I am staying out of it.

My son toldthe Chief all his friends all do it with their allowinces.

He did tell me though if it falls below a certain point he will sell it.

I have no idea what ehtereum, litecoin or ripple or bitcoin is. It is far beyond my ability to comprehend. This shit is a virtual currency. WTF

I told my son if I can't see it or smell it I don't mess with it and I am not changhng.

 

I bet your parents took care of your shoes, movies ect... i made the conscious decision to make my kids accountable and responsible about money. When it is gone, it is gone and they get no more. That way they are very careful how they spend and budget....something most college kids and adults can't even do hence the of dollars in credit card debt people carry around, its an albatross around their neck. Valuing a dollar is knowing it does not grow on trees and you must make tough decisions about what is important.

As for the 20.00 a week.... As a parent i feel that is suitable for a 6th grader (12 years old). For gods sake a movie can cost that much and going to get a pizza with friends is that much. He has tough decisions to make and budget.


you worked odd jobs, hence you feel he does not help around the house and the allowance is just a gimmie. He has to keep his room clean, make his bed, help with dishes, take out the trash, ect.....

Full Disclosure: if he has to babysit his 2 other younger siblings for whatever reason we do pay him 10.00 an hour, that is less than the 12.00 an hour kids in the neighborhood babysit for.

 

Well, Well, Well.......My son quietly opened my bedroom door last night for what i thought was a good night hug and kiss (The Chief and i were flipping back and forth between HGTV and the Redskins/Cowboys game) as it was around 9:30 and he said he just finished his homework.

BUT

he wanted to talk to me about his Bitcoin, Litecoin and Etheruem.....I have no clue about any of this stuff but he said he we need to talk!!!

To make a long story short he said he was not comfortable with having so much money and wanted to sell some of his cryptocurrencies and if he could transfer some of his money to my bank account and have me keep it for him when he wants it.

I said sure just trying to be nice and told him he has an account at Schwab that mommy and i have for him and he could just do that if he wanted, but he could not touch it once it was in Schwab. He said ok.

He said he did not want to sell all his bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum just some of it. Not wanting to get involved and wanting him to gain confidence i gave him his account number to schwab to have it transfered.

This morning i checked to see if he did it and low and behold his account balance increased by almost 40k.

I just looked at a website he gave me and saw that this stuff was over 10K for a bitcoin and litecoin and ethereum was going crazy as well.

I told him i would not interfere but i feel i have a right to know what is gong on and just how much this kid has in cryptocurrencies and where this is all going.

As of a few weeks ago he is still getting his allowance but he is also working at one of the funeral homes here in the area for me on the weekends doing odd jobs like helping wash the vehicles, helping with vacuuming and other odd jobs for extra money.

At first i was like ok this will crash and burn and he will learn a lesson but now i am concerned and feel i need to know more even though i promised not to get involved.

Tough call for me but he is only in the 6th grade and yet he is well on his way to paying for his education and car and who knows what else.

I will talk to the Chief tonight about it as well as my brother as he is one who set this account up for my son.