Jun 28, 2026
Before he donned his famous KISS facepaint and platform boots, rock legend Gene Simmons was a responsible young man working multiple jobs to help support his mother.
In a recent Wall Street Journal story, Simmons, 76, reflected on being raised by a single mother who survived the Holocaust, moving with her as a child to live with her two brothers in Queens.
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“She found a job in a Brooklyn factory sewing buttons on coats for half a penny per button,” Simmons said of his mother, Flora Klein, adding that, at age 12, he found work “to make my mom’s life easier.” His early gigs included “lugging heavy meat” as a butcher’s assistant, newspaper routes and, later, “pushing a cart with dead frogs to biology classes.”
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Simmons noted that his earliest jobs allowed him to contribute “nearly $30 a week” to the household. After striking a deal with his mom to finish college, he went on to pursue his musical dreams and, in the early 1970s, form KISS — launching a half-century of rock superstardom.
Musical fame and fortune helped afford he and his wife, actress Shannon Tweed, six homes — including five in California, for which, he added, they “pay for a private fire department” to protect against wildfires.
And while a rock legend boasting a fortune isn’t surprising — especially considering KISS reportedly licensed their likenesses to countless products, from condoms to caskets, for $1 billion over the years — Simmons, in his 2014 finance and career strategy book Me, Inc., still paid tribute to “[his] mother, who taught [him] the value of a penny.”
How parents, like Simmons’ mother, shape their kids’ relationships with money
Simmons has spoken extensively about his mother’s influence on his attitudes toward money.
In 2017 he told The Guardian about how she worked “7 a.m. to 7 p.m., six days a week” but still always managed to put food on the table. He added that, after getting his newspaper route, he had “never seen anyone look as proud as [he] was when [he] put the money [he] made from [his] first day down on the table.”
Last year he said in a People interview that watching his mother’s struggles helped him develop “a harder skin” and that he knew he “didn’t want to be poor, because [he knew] what that felt like.”
That also helped shape his work ethic. He told Forbes that, at age 13, he picked up a second paper route “since [he] could put those papers in the same shopping cart” and “had discovered you could make almost twice the money without putting in twice the time.”
Moneywise reached out to Simmons for comment but didn’t hear back by press deadline.
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Strategies for teaching kids about money
An Intuit survey from March 2026 found that “81% of parents say their current financial stress has made them realize how important it is to teach their kids about money.” That, experts say, starts with setting healthy examples at home.
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Studies have shown that, as young as age three, “basic values and attitudes related to financial concepts begin to form.” Between ages six to 12, kids both begin to understand money management and “observe how family members and peers interact with money.”
Research also found that kids who learn from parents how to budget and save early in life exhibit significantly higher financial literacy later. As well, everything from greater levels of parental love to conversations about finances to having some of their own pocket money to spend themselves all increases financial knowledge and literacy in adulthood.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) also recommends involving kids in conversations about your own earnings and spending choices, including activities like budgeting for grocery shopping and bills. Board or digital games, they add, are also good ways to impart money lessons.
Playing “store” with kids using play money and eventually opening their own bank account so they can experience real savings also prove constructive in building financial literacy.
As for Simmons’ own financial ethos, last year he distilled it down to one simple philosophy: “Work hard; work harder than your next-door neighbor,” he has said. “Amass your fortune, whatever that is. And living well is the best revenge.”
From rock stardom and product licensing to starting film production and record companies, a restaurant chain, reality TV series and a wealth advisory firm, among other business endeavors, that early work ethic followed Simmons throughout his life.
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Mike Crisolago is a Sr. Staff Reporter at Moneywise with nearly 20 years of experience working as a journalist, editor, content strategist and podcast host. He specializes in personal finance writing related to the 50-plus demographic and retirement, as well as politics and lifestyle content.
