Mr. Shulman was my junior high school social studies teacher a million and a half years ago. I still remember when he announced that he was going to teach the class about the stock market and buying shares of companies. He told us he’d give us all a hundred mock bucks for us to invest and by the end of the semester, we’d see who had made the best financial choices.

My daughters are now eleven and sixteen. Sixteen years is a long time looking back at my years as a parent. And I know I’m not getting any younger. I forget stuff all the time; I mean all the time, at least I think I do…I don’t really remember. Last week I met a guy on the basketball court. I told him I was a teacher. “Oh, at what school?” he asked.

When I was in seventh grade, my social studies teacher, Mr. Shulman, announced to the class that in a few weeks we would be given $100 of phony money to play the stocks. And, whoever ended up with the highest valued portfolio at the end of the semester would be stock market royalty.

My wife and I have been told that we are the luckiest parents on earth…many times. We have two daughters, Grace and Riley (11 and 16). They are by no means perfect children. Communicating with the teen is like pushing a very large boulder up a very steep hill. When she gets a snack, it looks like a hurricane decided to touch down on our kitchen and leave everything else unscathed. And, due to her teen brain, Riley forgets everything: “When did you tell me that?” “Wait. Were you talking to me?” “Can you go get my bike? I left it at school again.”