Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are each millionaires — but that doesn’t mean they’re trying to raise entitled children.
Williams and Ohanian give their 7-year-old daughter Olympia a modest weekly allowance, Ohanian, 42, said in a video posted to social media platform X on April 24. “She gets $7 a week. Serena was her lawyer in the negotiation,” said Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit in 2005. “I drew up a real contract ... Her mom was her counsel, which was really frustrating.”
Before receiving her payout, Olympia has to complete chores — five days per week — like feeding the dog, putting her clothes in a hamper and making her bed, Ohanian said. He and Williams want to teach their daughter the value of working for what she wants, he added.
At one point, Olympia saved up $100, and she wanted a $125 watch, said Ohanian. Closing that gap herself helped her “embrace that feeling” of work leading to reward, Ohanian said: “We’re trying to create that flywheel between doing the work and getting the money.”
Ohanian and Williams have also have a 1-year-old daughter named Adira. Both parents worked from young ages: Williams, the highest-earning woman athlete of all time, made her professional tennis debut at age 14, and Ohanian was only 23 when Conde Nast acquired Reddit for $10 million in 2006.
Williams now has an estimated net worth of $340 million, according to Forbes. The publication estimated Ohanian’s net worth as $70 million, as recently as 2019. Both are currently active as startup investors, with Williams launching Serena Ventures in 2014 and Ohanian founding VC firm Seven Seven Six in 2020.
Balancing their family’s comfortable lifestyle with a bit of frugality could help instill the same drive and responsibility in their kids that they felt growing up, Ohanian said.
“I need [Olympia] to feel that little bit of pain of, like, ‘Ugh, I gotta wait two more weeks for that paycheck,’ and then start to remember, ‘Because I do this work, I get this money,’” he said.
“We’re trying to build the muscle: work = reward,” Ohanian added in his post on X. “Good things come when you work for it.”
Teaching your children about financial literacy at a young age is a great way to set them up for success, according to parenting expert Margot Machol Bisnow, who interviewed the parents of 70 highly successful adults for her 2022 book, “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams.”
“Although the parents I spoke to never pushed their kids towards pursuing a high-paying job, all of them made an effort to teach their kids about money in one form or another,” Bisnow wrote for CNBC Make It in July 2022.
For example, try using physical cash to make purchases when your children are around, recommends Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of asset management firm Ariel Investments and author of the bestselling kids’ book “Priceless Facts About Money.”
Swiping a credit card or tapping a phone against a screen doesn’t quite convey the value of a dollar to kids as effectively as paper money or coins, Hobson said on a January 28 episode of “The Oprah Podcast.”
“For children, it’s on a credit card, a phone, or it spits out of a machine, so trying to explain that you work for it [is] super hard,” Hobson said, adding: “Use cash so they can see that it’s finite ... and you don’t have an endless amount of it.”
Want a new career that’s higher-paying, more flexible or fulfilling? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Change Careers and Be Happier at Work. Expert instructors will teach you strategies to network successfully, revamp your resume and confidently transition into your dream career. Start today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $67 (+taxes and fees) through May 13, 2025.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
