I want a spouse to do the collecting even if they are still a teen. It is still 7 days till the oldest ages up then he has to wait for his girlfriend a couple of days behind him to get married. One picked up Pangu's Axe and another bought Tears of Horus. Their kids one the other hand, I am sending traveling and their spouses when they get them will do the collecting. I am also playing them as non-travelers, non-collectors to keep funds to a minimum.
In my latest game, I started with a couple, bought an empty lot and emptied their bank account (familyFunds family name 0). But, I am starting to miss my pregnant teens. With Story Progression, townies now age at the same rate so that is not a problem. Before I had Story Progression, I used to try to get my teens to get teens to make a baby so they could get married because I used custom aging and if I waited till they were adults, the townie sims would age up and be way ahead of mine, sometimes near elder stage.