The Wolf of Wall Street for Kids
- Will Rainey
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
The Wolf of Wall Street, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, is one of my favourite movies of all time.
Whilst it's not a movie I will let my kids watch for many years, I recently talked to them about it, as it's packed with brilliant money lessons such as investing, scams, greed, and sales skills.
Quick note: this blog references investing in the stock market. If your kids are not familiar with investing yet, I recommend reading How to Teach Kids About the Stock Market.
Below is how I shared the story and lessons from the movie with my kids.
Humble Beginnings
I explained that Jordan Belfort started his career wanting to work in an investment company straight out of university. So he went to the area in New York filled with investment firms, known as Wall Street, which explains the movie title.
Jordan managed to get a job at an investment brokerage firm where he was tasked with buying and selling investments for rich people and large companies - to help those investors grow their money.
He worked with experienced investors who taught him how to talk to clients and how to sell the idea of buying different investments.
Not long after he started, the stock market crashed, and many investors lost money. As a result, people got scared and withdrew their money from their investments, which meant that Jordan's firm started to lose money (as it relies on people making big investments). This led to him and many of his colleagues losing their jobs.
Teachable Moment: I reminded my daughters that investors only lose money when they sell during a stock market crash. If they leave their money untouched, markets can recover and historically grow higher over time. However, many people panic, sell at the bottom, and lock in their losses.
👉 Learn more: Mr Lazy’s Trees (Patience when investing)
A Fresh Start
After the crash, Wall Street jobs were hard to come by. Jordan eventually found a job at a tiny brokerage firm outside the city.
This firm was completely different. Instead of helping wealthy people invest, they sold investments to everyday people, often with small savings.
Jordan learned that this company sold Penny Stocks, which are tiny companies worth very little. Most were unlikely to grow into successful businesses. But brokers earned large commissions for selling them.
Jordan gave it a try. Using the sales skills he learned on Wall Street, he quickly outsold people who had been there for years.
The problem? His tactics weren’t honest. He started inventing stories to convince people to buy:
“This company is launching a new product. If you get in now, you’ll become rich.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“You strike me as someone willing to do what others aren’t. I know exactly what you should invest in.”
He made a lot of money, even though the investments rarely grew in value. His earnings came from selling, not from helping clients succeed..
Teachable Moment: If someone reaches out promising to make you rich quickly, it is usually the person making the promise who gets rich, not you.
👉 Learn more: Money Mules, scammers are targeting kids
Starting His Own Business
With his success in selling penny stocks, Jordan started his own company, Stratton Oakmont, to compete with bigger Wall Street firms.
He recruited an ambitious team and promised them wealth.
He taught them his sales scripts, which were designed not to help clients but to persuade people to buy poor investments.
I talked to my kids about the famous “Sell me this pen” scene. It highlights the sales skills Jordan taught his team.
Most people, when asked to sell a pen, talk about the features of the pen, such as how smoothly the pen writes or what materials it is made from. But Jordan explains that selling starts by identifying a need.
In the film, when the challenge of selling the pen arises, the experienced seller asks Jordan to write his name on the napkin. Jordan replies, “But, I don't have a pen”. Demonstrating that in order to sell something, you need to focus on creating a ‘need’.
Jordan's team mastered these techniques, and the company grew faster than most legitimate firms.
Teachable Moment: Even though Jordan used these tactics unethically, the underlying lessons about selling are incredibly valuable. Your kids might grow up to have the best CV or build the best product, but if they cannot communicate or sell it, they may lose out to someone who can.
👉 Learn more: Why and How to Teach Your Kids to Sell
More Wrongdoing
As the firm grew, it attracted attention from regulators. There are strict rules for selling investments, especially to people who are not financially knowledgeable. Jordan’s firm ignored these rules and hid its behaviour.
The team enjoyed making money and began buying big houses and fancy cars. This greed drove them to look for ways to make even more money.
This eventually led to their biggest scam: The Pump and Dump Strategy.
Jordan's company bought shares in tiny companies.
They convinced their clients to buy those same shares using made-up stories and pressure.
As clients bought in, prices rose (especially as they now had so many clients). This is known as the "Pump".
Jordan and his team then sold their own shares (to make large profits). This is the "Dump".
Prices crashed, and their clients lost money (but Jordan and his team didn't care as they made money for themselves).
This strategy is illegal, but because the firm hid what they were doing, it took years for authorities to gather evidence.
Eventually, regulators uncovered the truth. Jordan went to prison, and the company shut down.
Teachable Moment: People who try to get rich quickly, by taking 'tips' on which companies to buy and sell, become easy targets for schemes like the pump-and-dump. Investing in the stock market requires patience. The best investors are those who ignore short-term tips and don't try to time when is the best time to buy and sell.
Life After Prison
After prison, Jordan wrote a book about his story, which later became a film.
Since then, he has focused on teaching two big themes:
The dangers of greed
Ethical sales skills for businesses
Why Share This Story With Your Kids?
I never sit my kids down for a formal lecture about money. Instead, I look for teachable moments, such as telling them a cleaned-up version of one of my favourite movies.
I encourage you to look for your own moments. Talking about money not only teaches your kids important skills, but it also helps remove the taboo. Money should not be something families avoid discussing - we need to all do our part to break the taboo.
What Should You Read Next?
Thank you for reading! Please don't forget to subscribe and share.
Will
P.S. With Christmas around the corner, what better gift than a book that is fun and teaches kids about money? Grandpa’s Fortune Fables is available on Amazon and is perfect for your kids, friends’ kids, employees, or clients.
