How to Teach Your Kids About Finance

Baruch Silvermann July 20, 2021

A surprising finding by the Council for Economic Education is that only one-third of U.S. high schools require students to take a personal finance course as a prerequisite for graduation. One in five American 15-year-olds lacks basic financial literacy in 2017, as the Program for International Student Assessment found through a global exam measuring areas such as science and math.

Parents are now responsible for teaching financial literacy to their children, as there are no state-mandated personal finances programs. There is no quick way to do it, so parents should be prepared for the long haul.

To teach children about money and other money topics, you can’t start too young. Grade school is the best age to teach kids about money. What better way to help them learn addition, subtraction, and other match concepts than by focusing on money? These times can be used by parents to teach their children valuable financial skills, such as saving money. As they get older, they will be able to make decisions and make choices about money. You can allow them to decide what they want. They have the option to decide how to spend or save their allowance, as well as how to allocate money (budget) for family vacations.

What should you tell your children about money? These are the most important:

Savings

Start your children with a piggy bank, or a Disney character wallet. Whatever it is, you can identify a place they can store their money. Experts suggest that your child have three containers: one for savings, one to spend and one for charity. You can then discuss with your child how you will divide the weekly allowance between the three containers.

You can open a savings account if your child is good at saving.

Explain how money grows in a savings account and how compound interest works. Once they are ready, you may move to a checking or savings account.

Budget

Your children can help you plan and budget for family events. This can be used to highlight the potential cost of spending money on a particular thing, and the consequences of not having enough money to pay for other things.

You can teach children about personal finance because they are already familiar with modern technology. You can teach them how to use a spreadsheet, so they can see the changes in numbers when they enter items or change amounts. The apps will be a hit with kids of all ages.

Let them make financial decisions

Let your children decide how they want to spend their money, but be aware that mistakes will happen and that they may waste some of it. Experience is a great teacher. Be ready to help them when they need it.

It is important for children to learn that money does not grow on trees, even though it may seem so in their family. This means that they may not have enough money to purchase other items if they spend on certain things. This is a good lesson in everyday choices. For a learning opportunity, take them grocery shopping. Let them pick from one of the three favorite foods, but tell them that they can only buy one type of food.

Also, making mistakes

We’ve already said that they will make mistakes if you allow them to make their spending decisions. It’s important that they learn from their mistakes and process them. It is better to let them make a mistake now than to waste too much. It’s better to have them waste $ 50 now, than $ 5,000 later.

Do not rush to save your child’s life by being a hero when he’s on the verge of making a poor financial decision.

Don’t spend the money you have already spent to appease your child. The child will not learn. Allow the children to do all the work, and let them learn from their mistakes. You might share with your children your stories about financial mistakes you made when you were younger so that they can learn from them.

Be patient for success

You can teach your children the concept of “delayed satisfaction” because it will help them avoid many problems in the future. It is possible to help your children avoid the “buy now and pay later” trap, as well as avoiding overwhelming credit card debt. Every opportunity to remind them that patience pays off. Talk to your child about making a bigger purchase and how you can save up. If they are open to saving, or if they feel the need to purchase the item completely outright, you might offer to split the cost.

Being financially responsible means that children must see that there is no goose that can lay the golden egg. When they are young, they need to learn that in order to purchase something they must wait, save, or work for the money, and then buy it when they have the cash. They will be able to practice financial discipline now and have financial success in the future.

Let them know that happiness doesn’t require you to spend a lot of money.

To give them an incentive, you can offer to match their savings. Track their savings and let them see the benefits of earning interest over time. This will allow them to track their progress and show that the money they save makes more money.

Let them make money

Children should help with the house chores because they are part and parcel of the family. A few of these chores are making their bed, washing their clothes, and setting up or cleaning up the table. If they are willing to help, you can pay them for some of these chores. Although this may not be something parents like, it is possible to make money by helping them find work. This concept should be taught to them as soon as possible.

They can also babysit, clean homes, mow lawns and be a lifeguard. To earn college money, some people work in factories and shops. Your children may not want to stack crates in a warehouse for minimum wage, but that is enough to motivate them to go to college. They will learn this and strive to succeed in school, so that they can obtain higher-paying jobs.

Be a role model for responsible financial behavior

Remember that modeling is powerful. Children will imitate what their elders and parents do. Children are observant and pick up subtle details and make them their own self-belief systems. Be careful about what they see and learn from you. Present the positive financial habits and principles day-to-day, moment to moment.

These could include sticking to a budget and using coupon codes and discounts to save money, as well as allowing for pre-owned items to reduce expenses. Discuss money management with your partner. Do your research and point out the potential costs.

Invest in Their Success

Teaching passive investing is a way to teach your children how to invest. This involves putting money in a few things, and then letting it grow (without selling or buying often). This is a great way for them to get started in investing. Later, they can learn more about active investing.

It is a good time to teach your children money basics at preschool. They can understand basic concepts of investing at a young age. Expose them to basic banking transactions once they have a good understanding of the stock market. Then explain to them how savings instruments such as CDs and savings bonds can earn interest.

Find mutual funds and stocks that will give them capital gains and dividends. Allow them to choose a few investments that are low in capital. They can learn how to track their stocks so they can gain valuable lessons from observing how they fluctuate in price. They will be able to ask questions, study financial news, and determine the impact of factors on stock prices.

Bottom line

As your children get older and have more experience with saving and investing, you can slowly let them run the show.

They can only receive feedback and advice from you occasionally. You could help them move from being dependent on you as children to wanting to be more independent as teens.

As they travel together, money could be an excellent tool for learning. Teaching your children money skills is not only a smart investment, but it is also one of your greatest legacies.

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