Nikki Foley:
The real world doesn’t hand out report cards. It rewards people who can communicate, adapt, lead, recover from failure, and take ownership. So the question becomes, are we preparing students simply to perform academically? Or are we preparing them to succeed in life?

And because this is a financial podcast, we also have to ask, how do these same traits influence future earning potential, career growth, financial discipline, and the ability to make smart decisions as adults?

So, welcome to Paladin Financial Talk. I’m your host, Nikki Foley, and today I’m joined by featured guest Megan Stone, leadership director at Gentry Academy, but also author and founder of Stone Foundations of Learning. And she’s going to discuss the traits that truly prepare students for life beyond the classroom.

Megan, welcome to the show.

Megan Stone:
Thank you for having me.

Nikki Foley:
Oh, Megan, I have Megan on a pedestal here, and I just said before the show started that she is somebody that when she speaks, I just want to absorb all of it so that hopefully I can be a better parent and take just a few bits that she shares along the way and infuse those into my kids and my parenting.

With our topic today — and this is part of a series we’ve been doing — we are exploring how families navigate education and financial decisions, leadership development, and preparing students really for life beyond the classroom.

So we’re hoping with your knowledge and some of our featured guests that we can examine how money and identity and opportunity and all these life skills really intersect through college and life beyond college.

So Megan, let’s start by talking about you. We got to know each other through our time at Gentry Academy, where I served on the board and helped in a lot of different capacities through the years as the school evolved from a private school into a charter school.

Today I want to talk about you. You’re an author of a book for students titled Own Your Education, you have your own company, and you’ve done tons of research through the years. You bring such good perspective to leadership development and helping young people prepare for life beyond the classroom.

Walk us through your background and tell us what might be important to our conversation today.

Megan Stone:
Yes, I’d be happy to. Thank you. That’s very humbling for you to say because I think very highly of you as well, so I appreciate you letting me be here.

A quick background about me: I’m actually a human biologist by trade and went into pharmaceutical sales. It probably would have been a little more lucrative to stay in that career, but I had a passion for helping kids, so I went back and got my master’s in education.

I taught in Eden Prairie and Edina before I ended up starting my own company. Throughout that time, when I was helping kids, I recognized they didn’t know how to “do school.” And that’s their job. From kindergarten until post-secondary education, their job is to be a student.

When you don’t feel good about your job, a lot of other things suffer. So we need to help these young people learn how to do their job and have confidence within that.

As you said, I wrote the book Own Your Education. Before that, my publisher asked me to interview post-secondary educators to see where they saw the disconnect with students entering two-year colleges, four-year colleges, and trade schools.

When I polled over 500 professors across the country, the main issues they identified were:

• Critical thinking
• Effective planning skills
• Study strategies
• Accountability

Those are the things I’ve really focused on over the years. Whether I’m working at Gentry or with school districts, the question becomes: how do we prepare students not just for this year, but for five or six years down the road?

These are skills they need to be successful in school, in life, in their jobs, and ultimately with their finances.

Nikki Foley:
Such good perspective.

So the life skills students need today that really translate beyond traditional education are critical thinking, study strategies, accountability, and effective planning.

Would you say there’s anything outside of those that the traditional education system sometimes overlooks, or does a lot really boil down to those four categories?

Megan Stone:
I think you can throw out a lot of buzzwords — leadership, ownership, resilience — but ownership is really central.

I often ask young people: do you want to rent your life or own it?

When we rent something, we don’t have the same pride or confidence in it. If you rent a car, most people aren’t running it through a car wash before returning it. But if you saved for that car, paid the insurance, and truly owned it, you treat it differently.

That’s the same concept with life. How do we help young people have the confidence to own all aspects of their life?

Again, there are lots of buzzwords, but those four core skills are the ones professors consistently said students were lacking.

Nikki Foley:
If a student begins developing those skills early, how does that influence their confidence and identity?

Megan Stone:
I don’t know how you can have confidence if you don’t know that you can do something.

Sometimes parents ask me, “Is it okay that I make my child’s lunch every day?”

I always say: if your child knows how to make their own lunch and you choose to do it as an act of love, that’s fine. But if they can’t make their own lunch, that’s a problem.

That’s the difference.

The issue isn’t whether you help your child. The issue is whether they are capable of doing it independently.

The same applies to planning, accountability, and communication.

Nikki Foley:
What a great way to boil it down. If your child can’t do something independently and it’s a skill they’ll need later in life, that’s where you focus your time and energy.

Megan Stone:
Exactly.

And sometimes the things that exhaust us as parents are actually signs that we’re doing something for our child that they should be learning to do themselves.

Maybe it’s homework battles. Maybe it’s organization. Maybe it’s communication.

That’s when we should step back and ask:

• Do they know how to take control of this?
• Do they have the tools?
• Have I taught them those tools?
• Am I holding them accountable?

Nikki Foley:
You know, one thing you said that really stood out to me is how deeply these experiences affect kids internally.

As parents, we often focus on surface-level behavior — like forgetting homework or not writing something in a planner — but what you’re saying is that these moments affect trust and confidence within themselves.

Megan Stone:
Exactly.

For example, I worked with many students who insisted they didn’t have homework. They weren’t lying. In their minds, they truly believed they had completed it because they had started it.

But then the day moved on, distractions happened, and they forgot.

When they come back the next day and realize they missed something, they begin losing trust in themselves.

That’s a huge issue because adults rely on systems all the time:

• Calendars
• Banking alerts
• Reminders
• Planning tools

Young people need those systems too.

Nikki Foley:
And those same patterns clearly carry over into workplace success and leadership.

Megan Stone:
Absolutely.

Simple things matter:

• Making doctor appointments
• Sending emails
• Communicating professionally
• Calling someone on the phone

A lot of young people are uncomfortable doing those things because they haven’t practiced them.

Parents can support without taking over. You can be the helper or secretary without removing ownership from them.

For example:
“Tell me what you want the email to say and I’ll type it.”

That’s supporting them, not replacing them.

Nikki Foley:
That distinction between “helper” and “taking over” is huge.

Megan Stone:
It really is.

As parents, we often take shortcuts because we’re busy, but efficiency in the short term can create major struggles later.

Sometimes we fix things because we love our kids and don’t want them to struggle. But ultimately, we’re not setting them up for long-term success.

Kids are capable of so much more than we think.

Nikki Foley:
What can families do today to intentionally build these life skills before adulthood?

Megan Stone:
First, don’t overcomplicate it.

Start with language.

The words we use change our thoughts, and thoughts change actions.

Instead of:

• “Do your best”

Be more specific:

• “What tools do you need?”
• “How can I help?”
• “This is not optional.”
• “You can do this.”

Also, stop and ask:

• Can my child articulate what they need?
• Can they reflect on what went wrong?
• Can they explain what they’ll do differently next time?

That self-reflection is critical.

Nikki Foley:
You’ve also brought up such an important point around finances.

Megan Stone:
Yes.

Kids need exposure to financial responsibility early.

Don’t give unlimited access to money.

Help them:

• Make choices
• Prioritize
• Understand trade-offs
• Learn budgeting
• Experience small consequences

Those lessons are much easier to learn in middle school or high school than later in adulthood.

Nikki Foley:
One thing I loved was your idea of a family “contract” around school expectations.

Tell us more about that.

Megan Stone:
Every school year, our family created an expectations contract together.

It included:

• Academic expectations
• Communication expectations
• Accountability
• Weekly meetings
• What “trying your best” actually meant

Because “do your best” means something different to every child.

The meetings were student-led. My husband and I each met weekly with one child.

The point wasn’t perfection. The point was ownership and communication.

Nikki Foley:
That really brings your earlier point to life that school is their job.

Megan Stone:
Exactly.

And just like in a workplace, expectations need to be clear.

Nikki Foley:
If you could leave parents with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Megan Stone:
Your child is capable of far more than you think.

Technology and convenience have made life easier, but sometimes we’ve accidentally removed opportunities for kids to develop capability.

Confidence changes everything.

And confidence only comes when kids are allowed to:

• Try
• Struggle
• Learn
• Recover
• Succeed

Nikki Foley:
That’s such a perfect summary.

Before we wrap up, one thing we like to offer our listeners is a resource download. This month’s checklist is titled: What Issues Do I Need to Consider as My Child Becomes Independent?

It includes important conversations around:

• Financial access
• Health records
• Academic information
• Emergency planning

You can download that resource at:

• PaladinFinancial.com
• PaladinFinancialTalk.com

Megan, it has been an absolute pleasure having you today.

Megan Stone:
Thanks for having me.

Nikki Foley:
And for our listeners, if this conversation resonated with you and you’d like a second opinion or simply want clarity around planning for your family, the team at Paladin Financial offers a complimentary 15-minute consultation.

You can also learn more about Gentry Academy and Megan’s work through:

• GentryAcademy.org

Thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you on the next episode of Paladin Financial Talk.