November 14, 2011
Teaching Kids to Save and Educating Them on the Value of Money
The very key to enhance your kids understanding of money is the effective communication between you and your kids. Parents nowadays are too busy to have a chat with their kids bout money and kids, unfortunately, get to grow up without basic understanding of money.
Do you know that half of US children population has never had a conversation about money management with their parents, according to a recent survey? This is a wake up call for parents to start teaching kids about money, to save, to budget, to invest, and to be wise with money.
It is important that kids know and understand what they are doing with their money. The earlier the money education gets started, the better it is. It is also important to have intimate discussions on money matters with kids. Interact with them on the topic and let them ask you questions. Get kids to be involved with family budget discussions.
Teaching kids about money does not have to be in classroom-like environment. It can be done in more informal settings such as family dinner table. Parents and kids can openly discuss their issues with money and parents can definitely take advantage of this opportunity to lecture their kids a few money principles. Keep it fun and interesting and the kids will respond to your teaching.
Encourage kids to talk to you about any money concerns they may have. Setting a set time to talk about money issues will keep everyone a little more serious about it. For younger children, parents can talk to them about the differences between cash, credit cards and loans – the basics. For teenagers, the discussion should be on more complex topics such as economics, inflation, exchange rates, jobs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, term deposits or anything that is of particular interest to them.
Experts suggest that five fundamentals of financial fitness if learned before age 30, can lead to a financially sound lifetime. They are: saving 10 percent of earnings, taking advantage of retirement plan through your job, working towards owning a house, having enough liquidity to deal with an emergency and importantly avoiding debt. Budgeting and saving habits will determine the children’s future financial health and communication between the parents and children is no doubt very important to help foster these fundamentals.
Parents should note that every child is different. Just because your neighbor’s kids love calculators, do not expect your kids for the same. As parents, it is assumed that they know their kids best. Parents should recognize the children’s personality, strengths & weakness and personal traits and best means of communication with them when it comes to money. Do not give them pressure by saying what other kids are doing well. Some kids may like counting money on calculator. Some kids may like more visuals. Some kids may prefer do it on computer. Maybe kids may not like numbers at all. It is important to recognize kids’ personalities and try to educate them in the most effective way about money.
We need to do something today for our kids! Kids learning about money should be enjoyable and make sure you set goals for them. Saving Money For Teenagers Saving money is an important topic to learn about, you can find information at our website.
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