10/20/2025
We have been telling clients this for years. Shalie even has her own kids on payroll for these same reasons.
Rather than save money for your kids at 1-3% interest; bring your kids INTO the family business....and save a ton on taxes while doing it.
If you put your kid on payroll, you can pay them up to $14,600/year (that's the 2024 standard deduction).
When you do that, here's what happens:
👉 Your business writes off $14,600. You save about $5K in taxes (if you're in the 35% bracket).
👉 Your kid? They pay zero taxes because they're under the standard deduction.
👉 And if they're under 18 working in your sole proprietorship? No payroll taxes either.
So they actually get to keep the full amount.
Now, invest it. Here's is what we mean:
Take $7,000 of what they earned and put it in a Roth IRA.
Do this from age 15 to 25. That's $70K total invested.
Fast forward to age 65 at 8% growth?
📊 $1.5 million. Completely tax-free.
Think about what you just did...
✅ Cut your tax bill by $5K every year
✅ Set your kid up with $1.5M for retirement
✅ Taught them actual work skills
You're probably paying 35% in taxes right now.
Your kid pays 0%.
If you shift $15K to your kid, that's $5K that stays with your family instead of going to the IRS.
Got 3 kids? That's $15K/year saved.
Over 10 years? You just kept $150K that would've been gone.
It has to be real work. Fair pay.
Legitimate stuff they actually do.
The IRS isn't stupid.
They'll audit you if it looks fake.
But if your teenager can handle social media, filing, content creation, or marketing help?
Why wouldn't you hire them?
Most parents think: "I'll save up money and give it to them when they're older."
