When it comes to teaching kids about money, surveys indicate that most parents would rather not, so much so that they wait until their kids are 15 to start. This oversight may be generational; another poll indicates that only one in four American adults learned money lessons from their parents. The gap shows: America continually rates poorly on financial literacy indicators; 60% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency with their savings; and 61% of Americans don’t know how much money they need to retire. Surveys indicate that 80% of newly graduated teens rank financial pressures as either a “major or minor problem.” Stress about money is a huge problem in this country, one which parents presumably would like very much to help their children avoid. But how?

Almost everyone has a family story about what happened when Grandpa got sick and eventually passed away, and there wasn’t a will. Or, worse yet, there was a will, but its stipulations were dramatically different than everyone expected. In either case, chaos can ensue, with family members first arguing over Grandpa’s care, then vying over any remaining assets. (And if you think your family is too close for arguing to happen, think again! Nothing tears families apart like negotiating an estate.)

Budgeting—the word alone brings shivers to the spine. When we think about budgeting, we usually imagine piles of excel sheets and bank statements, calculators, stress, and lots of cutting of things we actually enjoy doing. No wonder only 41% of American households follow a budget. But budgeting is crucial for a lot of reasons, some of which have more to do with your relationship quality than with money.

Research has shown that increasing income does grant most Americans some level of increasing life satisfaction and emotional well-being—but only up to a point. After that point, satisfaction and well-being actually start to decrease. The authors of the study speculate that although money is useful in paying for daily needs, repaying debt, and providing some basic “extras,” after this point, “people may be driven by desires such as pursuing more material gains and engaging in social comparisons, which could, ironically, lower well-being.”