Do you talk to your kids about money, loans, and credit cards? I try to when ever a teachable moment comes up. Today my 10 yr old daughter was talking about what car she wants when she grows up. She asked about paying for a car every month. I told her thats how some people do it, but her dad and I save up money and pay the whole amount at once. Then I talked to her about borrowing money from banks, and interest, and car insurance. She decided when she turns 15 she is getting a job and saving up her money for a car. She doesn't want to owe the bank money and pay back more than she borrowed. Smart girl. I think she listens sometimes when I play Dave Ramsey's radio show while I cook lol.
I think it's important to get them a piggy bank as kids and get them to learn about saving. That will get them to learn how much things cost when they have to break the bank out to buy something. A friend got her two children to save money in a piggy bank so they could buy ipods. Another friend did it with his son for hockey equipment.
I started talking to my kids about saving for college and cars when they were about 10. I taught them to balance their checkbooks and make a budget when they were teens. As soon as they got out of high school I taught them about credit cards and interest rates and loans. None of the basic financial stuff is taught in schools and so many parents don't teach their kids, that an awful lot of adults are really financially illiterate in a lot of ways. Now my daughter is 21 and just started her first 401(k) plan through her employer so it was fun to teach her about that as well.
I think it is vital to talk about money with your kids. They need to understand that using their money properly will shape their lives. I wish my mother was more detailed with me about money. If it's not already, it should be taught as a class.
I strongly feel that talking to children about money...but more so, showing them how to work with money is VITAL to their development as a human being and will ease many possible future decisions. We were never spoken to about money in our home...and it was like a foreign entity that even now I am still learning to work with. It is quite painful. And I feel it could so easily have been simpler if I was spoken to about it.
Yes it is very important to talk to your kids about money so that they will know it's value and how to save for a rainy day. I use to let my daughter take care of all the bills when she was coming up so that she could see exactly where the money was going and how much was paid out for bills and how much was left to do other things with. Such as we need to save this for you, and we can only spend this on grocery, and mother needs gas to go to work, and a few other little odds and ends and showed her that the money that I made don't go very far and we need to stick to a budget.
One of the easiest ways of teaching children about money is to pay them to do chores. Another way is to teach them how to save money by matching their savings dollar--for-dollar. It's a very basic skill that they must learn.
When my brother and I were young, we were paid for doing household chores, and we were also told to save money for Christmas and holidays from our pocket money. If we didn't save, we had nothing to spend. I was always very good about saving, but my brother wasn't so hot - his money burned a hole in his pocket. However, after one holiday when he had almost nothing to spend, he soon got into the savings habit. I did the same thing with my children, and although they've had the odd silly moment when they've run up unnecessary debts, they're pretty good with their finances these days. I think modern children need to be taught the value of money - so many financial transactions are done with plastic these days, so many children never see cash being handed over. That means that it doesn't have much impact, whereas if you hand over a wedge of cash to pay for something, you're more likely to think about whether you really need to spend that money.
I have 4 grandchildren one grandson is very aware of his money, he saved his money to buy his games and now he is saving to purchase a gaming computer. When he goes to store he knows how much change he is suppose to get and when an forums a good deal.
I think it is very important to teach kids the value of money. It is vital to know to spend and more importantly how to save. You never know when you'll need the money for an emergency. I don't think everyone likes the feeling of taking loans and owing money. At some point you get fed up and may also find it stressful to know that you've borrowed much more than you can repay. It will be easier for kids to understand how to value money if we give them examples from our daily lives.
Wait you're actually saying that talking with a 10 year old about the money is good ? I think that's totally wrong !
It's a different time though. Some people think talking to a 10 year old about sex would be appropriate for a parent to do. Since it's 2012 and kids are becoming "active" in some cases at 14. So you want that talk to be set in by the time they reach 14. If you start having that talk at 12 or 13. It might be somewhat too late. So talking to kids about money at 10 makes perfect sense to me. I still think allowing kids to spend, spend, spend and enjoy buying power is a good idea. Just so long as it's debit cards or cash. Not credit cards. Because years down the road, you'll be the one paying them off.
I totally agree with you. And I cannot see why or how talking to a 10 year old about money could be seen as a bad thing! What could it possibly hurt? I have a 7 year old and a 10 year old and I've been teaching them about the value of a dollar once I thought they could understand how it works and how it's applied to everyday life. They have their own little change purses that they take to school with them. They can use their weekly $ for snacks at school or save it all up and spend it on the weekend. If my children ever ask me about anything, I answer them and I'm not uncomfortable with it. If I am uncomfortable, I certainly don't show it. I answer as truthfully as I can while trying to keep it age appropriate. I want them to feel comfortable asking me any questions about anything!
I don't have any kids but I was one recently, and I did ask my parents about money. I was very organized and kind of obsessive. All the money I got for years, from birthdays or just extra cash, I saved it to "buy a house when I grew older". My mom was always like "Oh, that's a very good idea sweety, but houses cost too much!". That was my first impression that making money and knowing how to spend it was no easy task for a 6-year-old
This thread has been especially useful to me because the value of money is something I am trying to address with my sons (12 and 9) at the moment. While my eldest has some idea that money doesn't grow on trees, his brother is terrible - he is always asking me for money for something. The eldest doesn't do this but occasionally he will ask for something really expensive (a PC or a new phone) and be totally offended when I say I can't afford it. The amount of times I hear "But so and so has one...." is unbelievable. I am following this thread with interest and thanks for the tips so far.
I talk to my kids about money all the time. I explain how long mommy and daddy have to work to make x amount of money. I explain that this is how much it takes to run our house and we make this much, how much is left over, etc. It's helping them to not ask for toys/stuff all the time by understanding that what me make goes to running the household, not all material things.
You should get your kids to sell stuff to make money. I'm sure your kids have old toys or stuff that they cannot use anymore but might be useful to someone else at this time. I sold my old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection for close to $6,000. My talking pull-string Roger Rabbit doll for $1,000. And my Talking ALF doll for $950. I didn't want to give away those childhood memories but when I desperately needed money for something important I decided it was time to let go for the greater good.
