I started a podcast for parents. The idea was simple — help them build a financial head start for their children, early enough to matter. That series is called Baby to Graduation.

Now my son Rodrigo is heading to university. And that made me think. What does he do when he starts to earn? When the real decisions begin?

That is what this series is about.

Welcome to The Foundation Years — a Beyond PiggyBanks series. Whether someone gave you a head start or you are beginning from zero, this window you are in right now is one of the most powerful financial periods of your life. Income. No dependants. Time on your side.

Your salary. Your emergency fund. Your debt. Your investments. Your taxes. The decisions that shape everything that comes after. Simple. Practical. No jargon.

I'm Jorge and I'm here because your child deserves the advantage we never had. We are done hoping for the best. We have built it. Subscribe to Beyond PiggyBanks on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. The clock is ticking.

Have you just started earning and want to make sure you are making the right choices? Welcome to The Foundation Years — a Beyond PiggyBanks series.

Three starting points. One thing in common: income, no dependants, and time on your side. This is the most important financial window of your life — and what you do with it is everything.

In this episode I set out what this window is worth, the three traps that quietly waste it — comfort, lifestyle inflation, and complexity paralysis — and what this series builds from here. Practical, direct, no jargon. Built for wherever you are starting from.

The next episode starts where it always starts. Your salary. What actually lands in your account. What is already gone before you touch it. And the habits that determine whether what is left builds something or disappears.

This is the last episode of the Baby to Graduation series. Imagine it. Your child is sitting across from you. They are 18, or 20, or 22. You open a screen and show them a number.

That number represents years of quiet discipline — monthly contributions that never stopped, markets that rose and fell and rose again, compounding that worked in the background without ever asking for your attention.

You built that for them. Before they were old enough to understand what you were doing. This episode is about that moment. Not the legal paperwork. Not the account transfer. Those are administrative steps. This episode is about something harder and more important — how do you prepare your child to receive what you built? How do you hand over not just the money, but the understanding of how it got there? Because the number on the screen is not the gift. The understanding of how it got there — that is the gift.I walk through the handover conversation: what to tell them about time, compounding, diversification, fees, and automation. I cover the two temptations that follow a handover — cashing out, and simply stopping — and what each one actually costs. And I share what this moment really is: the most powerful financial education you will ever give your child.13 episodes.

The engine is built. The handover is made.