Parents often have money questions, both big and small.

Last year, we held a KiasuParents Huddle webinar about teaching children essential money lessons for life. You can watch a short clip on YouTube, or purchase the full recording.

One of our webinar panellists was Ernest Tan, and he’s also been providing advice to readers via our Ask Mr Money column. Ernest is the founder of Jopez Academy, the author of Raising Financially Savvy Kids, and a Certified Financial Planner with over three decades of experience. A father and grandfather, he loves teaching families about financial wellness, and he has conducted financial literacy workshops for students at Hwa Chong Institution.

Below, Ernest reflects on a question that is highly relevant for Singaporean parents: Is the amount that we “invest” in tuition really worthwhile?

Read on for Ernest's thoughts.

First, I would like to ask: Are we raising straight-A students or future asset owners?

Second, if you total up everything you’re spending on your child’s tuition and enrichment this year, would you dare to calculate the 15-year cost?

In many homes across Singapore, the weekly schedule looks something like this:

Monday – Math tuition
Wednesday – Science tuition
Friday – Chinese compo
Saturday morning – Coding
Saturday afternoon – Piano
Sunday – “Rest” (which means assessment books)

Your child has more worksheets than CPF statements. But somehow, despite spending thousands every month, you still feel it might not be enough. Because in Singapore, tuition isn’t just education. It’s insurance.

The $300,000 Question

Let’s be realistic. Spending $1,000 to $2,000 per month on tuition and enrichment is not unusual. That’s $20,000+ a year.

Over 12–15 years? You’re looking at $250,000 to $300,000 per child. Half a million if you have two.

That’s not a small expense. That’s a serious capital allocation decision.

Now imagine if tuition were a stock. Before putting $300,000 into a stock, you would ask:

• What’s the expected return?

• What are the risks?

• What are the alternatives?

• Is this the most efficient use of capital?

But with tuition, the analysis often becomes: “Other parents also doing.” End of due diligence.

This article is not anti-tuition. Education matters. But here’s the uncomfortable thought: Are we optimising for grades, but not optimising for financial independence?

Who Actually Holds the World’s Wealth?

Look at names like:

• Warren Buffett

• Jeff Bezos

• Elon Musk

• Bernard Arnault

They are not famous for topping exams. Instead, they are known for:

• Owning equity

• Allocating capital

• Leveraging talent

• Taking calculated risks

• Thinking long term

They may not all be academic superstars. But here’s the key:

• They hire academic superstars

• The highest wealth holders are usually not the top performers within systems

• They are the owners of systems

Performers vs Owners

Academic excellence trains children to perform well inside a structure. It rewards:

• Accuracy

• Compliance

• Optimisation

• Execution

And that’s valuable, because academic achievers become:

• Doctors

• Lawyers

• Bankers

• Engineers

They earn a strong income, but income is not the same as wealth. Wealth is built through:

• Ownership

• Leverage

• Compounding

A surgeon earning $300,000 a year is selling time, very valuable time but it’s still personal time. An investor owning 30% of a growing company benefits from the time of thousands of employees.

That is leverage.

In school, the formula for success is Effort × Intelligence. In wealth building, the formula is Leverage × Ownership × Time.

Take Warren Buffett. He does not run daily operations of the companies he invests in. For that, he has CEOs, who are often highly credentialed and academically strong, so they execute.

Warren Buffet allocates capital. He owns, and ownership scales faster than effort.

The Irony of the Straight-A Graduate

Fast forward 20 years: Your child graduates from a top university. Gets a good job. Earns $6,000 to $8,000 a month. Sounds impressive.

Then comes the following:

• Car loan

• Home renovation

• Lifestyle inflation

• Fear of investing (“market very risky”)

• Waiting for bonus season to feel secure

At 35, still dependent on salary.

At 40, still trading time for money.

At 45, stressed because expenses are growing faster than assets.

Not because they’re not smart, but because they were never taught capital allocation.

Here's what happened:

• They learned calculus

• They didn’t learn compounding

• They memorised formulas

• They never studied leverage

The Tuition Opportunity Cost

Let’s run one scenario: If $1,500 monthly were invested at 6% for 15 years, that’s roughly $435,000.

At 8%, it's over half a million.

That’s a fully paid HDB flat.

That’s a meaningful dividend portfolio.

Again this is not about cancelling tuition. It’s about balance.

Are we investing even 5% of that tuition energy into teaching our children how money actually works?

The Quiet Truth About Singapore

In Singapore, academic excellence is seen as the safest path to stability. And yes, it improves income security. But income security is not wealth security. The individuals who build substantial wealth typically do the following:

• Own businesses

• Invest early

• Accumulate property strategically

• Understand markets

• Use leverage wisely

Even institutions like Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation are built on capital allocation principles, not exam scores.

• They manage assets

• They allocate capital

• They think long term

• That mindset difference matters

So, What Are We Optimising For?

Are we raising children to compete for the best jobs? Or build and own valuable assets? The ideal answer is both. But right now, many families are allocating 90% of their energy to grades, and 10% (or less) to financial capability.

This imbalance may matter more than we think.

A Different Kind of Competitive Advantage

Imagine a 16-year-old who understands:

• What compound interest really does

• Why starting early beats chasing high returns

• The difference between income and assets

• How to evaluate risk

• Why leverage multiplies outcomes

That teenager may not top every subject. But they will not enter adulthood financially blind.

Some families are beginning to approach this intentionally, not as another tuition class, but as a mindset shift. You could call this “Financial Parenting.” It’s not about removing tuition, but adding ownership thinking. Because good academic grades build employability, while money skills build a lasting wealth system.

If You’re Thinking, “So Where Do I Even Start?”

Many parents tell me: “I agree money education is important. But I don’t feel confident teaching my kids about money management or investing properly.”

That’s completely understandable. Most of us were never taught these things either.

If you’re exploring structured, age-appropriate ways to introduce money concepts to your children, Jopez Academy is running two small-group programmes in March 2026:

Children will learn about:

• Needs vs wants

• Where money comes from

• Values of money

• The Save–Spend–Share system

• Basic compounding concepts through games and simulations

Teens will learn to:

• Understand the real earning power of their dream career

• Quantify the cost of waiting to save

• Master the fundamentals of compounding, risk, and opportunity cost

• Differentiate clearly between active income and passive income

• Grasp core investing principles

• Recognise the difference between earning money and building assets

• Develop disciplined, long-term financial thinking

• Begin thinking like an asset owner

These are not investment trading classes, and they are designed to complement academics, not compete with them. If you'd like to explore the full programme details, please visit the Jopez Academy website.

This article is brought to you in partnership with Jopez Academy.