I wanted to come back here and write that it was my mistake. My money did carry over. I now see that when you are choosing your next generation it shows the amount of money in the previous generation's acct. (if that makes sense)

Yes, that is absolutely correct. The amount of money in the bank at the time you hit the Second Generation button becomes the amount of money the new "adoptee" brings with with them. The amount should be exactly the same for each child that is available to you for the second generation choice.