The Skittles Trap: The Money Lesson Every Kid Needs to Hear
- Will Rainey
- Jun 6
- 4 min read
A professor at a top US university gave his students what sounded like a brilliantly simple challenge.
Each student received a packet of colourful Skittles. Their mission? Gather as many of one colour as possible by trading with their classmates. Collecting reds? Find someone collecting greens and swap. Simple enough, right?
There was just one rule: every trade had to be logged. Students had to report each swap to the professor so he could record it on his spreadsheet. And for every single trade, one Skittle went to the professor. Any colour. Just one small Skittle per student per trade. No big deal.
Some students took a careful, strategic approach, thinking several trades ahead. Others threw themselves in headfirst, trading as fast and as furiously as possible to rack up their collection.
When time was called, the professor asked each student to count their Skittles. They beamed with pride, many had done well. But then the professor revealed his own collection. Not only had he amassed a huge pile of Skittles from doing absolutely nothing, but for some colours he actually had more than the students who had been desperately trying to collect that very colour.
The students had been so focused on playing the game, they never stopped to question who the game was really designed for. We need kids to be aware of the Skittles Trap.
3 Examples of The Skittles Trap in the Real-World
This is one of the most powerful money lessons you can teach a child. Whilst everyone else is caught up playing the game, someone else quietly set the rules, and built themselves a winning position before a single trade was made.
Here are three examples hiding in plain sight:
💳 Credit Cards
Every time you tap your credit card, the credit card company collects a small commission from the retailer; automatically, invisibly, every single time. The more you spend, the more they earn. It doesn't matter what you buy or whether you can afford it.
So what's credit card companies incentive? Get you to spend as much as possible, as often as possible. That's why they dangle sign-up bonuses, loyalty points, and exclusive rewards in front of you.
They're not being generous, they're being the professor. They've set up a game where every time someone uses a credit card it puts a Skittle in their pile.
📈 Stock Trading Platforms
Each time someone buys or sells on the stock market, the trading platform takes a commission. Whether the stock rises or falls is completely irrelevant to them. What matters is that you keep trading.
So when your platform sends you an alert saying "This stock is surging, don't miss out!" or "Analysts say it's time to sell," ask yourself: is this genuinely good advice, or is it just encouragement to make another trade? Every click of the buy or sell button is another Skittle sliding into their pile.
📒 NEW BOOK ... COMING SOON
Later this year, I’ll be releasing my second book, Frankie Fortune: The Boy Who Believed The Internet
It follows a kid on a mission to get rich… by copying what he sees on the internet. As you can imagine, it doesn’t quite go to plan. Along the way, your kids will learn powerful money lessons through Frankie’s misadventures.
👉 Subscribe for updates.
📱 Free Apps & Social Media
Kids will instantly relate to this one. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, and games that are "free" to download make their money from advertising. The more time kids spend on the app, the more ads they see, the more money the app makes. Every feature, notifications, streaks, likes, is designed to keep them trading their time and attention. Their engagement is the Skittle.
Try This With Your Kids Today
Tell them about the Skittles experiment, but before you reveal the ending, pause. Ask them:
"How would you play that game?"
Watch what happens. Almost every child will immediately start planning their trading strategy. Which colours to collect. Who to trade with first. How to get ahead.
Very few will stop and ask the most important question of all: "Why am I playing this game and who set it up?"
That moment of realisation, when their eyes go wide and they see it, is worth more than any pocket money lesson. Teaching kids to look for the professor before they start playing can protect them from a lifetime of costly decisions made without ever questioning who really benefits.
Many of us grow up thinking credit card rewards are generous, stock tips are helpful, and free apps are amazing. Once you understand the game being played, you start making very different choices, and those choices can save you an enormous amount of money over a lifetime.
👉 What to read next:
The 14-Year-Old Making Money With AI (Popular)
Manosphere: Teach Kids About Money Before Influencers Do (Interesting)
How to Teach Kids the Most Important Sales Skill (Essential)
Thanks for reading.
Will
P.S., I really appreciate all the reviews of my book Grandpa’s Fortune Fables. If you have read it, it would mean a lot if you could leave an online review. It really does help the book reach more families.
