If you're like me, then you may continually be looking for ways to teach your children valuable life lessons. I only know of a handful of topics that are as important as money.
If you love your kids enough to arm them with the information they need to develop good spending, giving and saving skills, then read on.
More and more in our world, I see kids well into their teens and twenties whose parents are still paying for the majority of their expenses. While there is nothing wrong with this, let's think for a moment about what this may be teaching them.
First, if they have no worries (paying bills, saving for retirement, etc.) then how will they ever learn to do things on their own? I can't think of anything better than teaching a 14-year old about saving money for retirement by opening a Roth IRA. Your child must have earned income, but don't you think beginning to save at 14 years old is much better than figuring it out at 50 years old? Talk about Love!
When I was in college, my dad helped pay for my rent. At first he gave me $200 per month, but later decided that the hassle of writing a check every month wasn't worth it. Instead, he gave me one check for the entire year.
Having very few money-management skills at the time, that scared me an awful lot! If you know my dad, then you also know that if I spent the entire amount that month, I was not going to get more. Is that tough love, or is that teaching a valuable life-lesson?
As it turns out, I actually managed to budget the money correctly and I didn't have to ask for more. Looking back now, I see that (whether he knew it or not) he really taught me a wonderful lesson. I bet there are a lot of things you could do every day to teach your kids... if you just look for them.
If you love your kids enough to arm them with the information they need to develop good spending, giving and saving skills, then read on.
More and more in our world, I see kids well into their teens and twenties whose parents are still paying for the majority of their expenses. While there is nothing wrong with this, let's think for a moment about what this may be teaching them.
First, if they have no worries (paying bills, saving for retirement, etc.) then how will they ever learn to do things on their own? I can't think of anything better than teaching a 14-year old about saving money for retirement by opening a Roth IRA. Your child must have earned income, but don't you think beginning to save at 14 years old is much better than figuring it out at 50 years old? Talk about Love!
When I was in college, my dad helped pay for my rent. At first he gave me $200 per month, but later decided that the hassle of writing a check every month wasn't worth it. Instead, he gave me one check for the entire year.
Having very few money-management skills at the time, that scared me an awful lot! If you know my dad, then you also know that if I spent the entire amount that month, I was not going to get more. Is that tough love, or is that teaching a valuable life-lesson?
As it turns out, I actually managed to budget the money correctly and I didn't have to ask for more. Looking back now, I see that (whether he knew it or not) he really taught me a wonderful lesson. I bet there are a lot of things you could do every day to teach your kids... if you just look for them.