Interested in teaching kids about money? You can never start too early. This post will give you eight great ideas to start educating your kids about money at home.
I have a 7-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son.
My daughter is in the first grade. Some of the homework assignments she’s brought home include counting money (identifying the number of pennies equivalent to a nickel, a dime, and a quarter; determining the value of a collection of pennies, nickels, and dimes whose total value is $1 or less, etc.)
My son is in the 8th grade and he is in Algebra I. Word problems with money, simple interest, and calculating the likelihood of having certain coins with certain variables all show up in his homework.
Thank God I was good in math! 😉
We don’t give our kids an allowance, per se. We expect that certain tasks and chores are required for personal responsibility and maintaining the home we all live in.
READ MORE: Allowances for Children: To Give or Not to Give?
If they want to perform additional work or are trying to save up to buy something, we will come up with a project and assign payment to that project.
We encourage them to save their money from Christmas, birthdays, and other windfalls. If they want to use it for junk (food or toys), we are usually able to discourage them from doing so.
I try to teach my kids How to Budget, Involve My Kids in Saving Money, and sometimes Share Financial Struggles with Children.
Today’s post was written by Gregg Murset, CEO of BusyKid, the first online chore chart where children can earn, save, share, spend and invest real money wisely.
When BusyKid offered to share a post with my readers, I loved the idea. The site suggests age-appropriate chores, encourages kids to complete chores/activities for a real allowance, and automates the whole process for parents.
Nearly 25% of US states receive a failing grade when it comes to teaching kids personal finance in schools. Twelve states don’t attempt to teach it at all. This could be one of the reasons that only 35% of credit card users pay off their bill every month, and that only 1 in 3 Americans is saving for retirement. We don’t expect kids to learn how to read, write or drive without instruction, but another essential life skill, money management is ignored for the most part.
April is Financial Literacy Month, the perfect reason for parents to take the initiative to supplement their kids’ lacking personal finance education at school with lessons at home. Here are eight unique ways of teaching kids about money.
8 Ways Of Teaching Kids About Money
- Check Out Your Schools – Visit your school to see what (if anything) is being taught about personal finance or if personal finance is required to graduate high school.Once you have this information, you can determine your next moves to ensure your kids know how to manage money when the time comes. With a majority of U.S. high school students failing to learn about money, there’s a good chance your children won’t either.
- Leave Books To The Adults – There are thousands of books available on finance
and managing money, but don’t waste your cash buying these for your kids.Kids learn best by doing, so sitting down with a book that explains percentage rates, credit, loans or budgeting won’t leave a long-lasting impression. They would learn more from watching movies like “Moneyball
” or “The Big Short
”.
- Use Teachable Moments – Each we are faced with numerous financial decisions that you could use as a “teachable moment” for your children.The next time you are grocery shopping, show your child how to compare prices and brands. If you’re paying bills, let your child sit with you and see how you manage money.
- Look Differently at Chores & Allowance – While a majority of parents agree that kids should be doing chores and receiving an allowance, some parents feel money shouldn’t be the reason kids help around the house.It’s those parents who should look at chores and allowance differently. Think of it as a child’s first job and a parent’s first chance to teach them everything they need to know (work ethic, direct deposit, budgeting, opening bank account, taxes, etc.) before they head off to get a real job someday.
- Learn As a Family – Many parents don’t like to talk to their children about money because they believe they aren’t knowledgeable enough.If you are one of these parents, jump in and learn with your children. You’re never too old to learn, erase bad habits or set good examples. Plus, doing it with your children could be fun!
- Practice What You Preach – If you already practice good personal finance habits, congratulations! If not, this is a great time to start. In either case, practice what you preach to your children since the greatest influence on your child is you.
- Understand, No One Is Perfect! – Let’s face it, if everyone was great at managing money there would be little National Debt, no bankruptcy, and everyone would have a savings account. So, accept these facts and do something to get better at it.I believe we are so afraid of what our children will think about our bad financial status that we forget how the current situation could be a great lesson. Don’t let your pride get in the way of teaching your children how NOT to make the same mistakes.
- Don’t Quit! – This might be the hardest thing of all. Being good at money management is a never-ending process. However, your kids are going to be faced with hundreds of thousands of financial decisions in their lifetime, so you never get to the point where you can stop teaching, supporting or guiding.Quitting now only puts them on a path to be living back with you when they are older, full of student loans and moving from job to job.
About BusyKid
BusyKid is the first online chore chart where children can earn, save, share, spend and invest real money wisely. Formerly known as My Job Chart, BusyKid is easy to use, revolutionary and allows kids to receive a real allowance from their parents each Friday. No more points or trying to convert imaginary money.
BusyKid is committed to helping children learn the important basic financial principles they don’t get anywhere else.
Designed as a platform that is easy for parents to implement, BusyKid features pre-loaded chores based on children’s ages and making chore payment approvals is as simple as answering a text message.
BusyKid is the only online chore/allowance platform that allows children to earn real allowance and use it immediately to buy gift cards, make a donation or invest in real stock. For more information, go to www.busykid.com.
That is such good advice – hard to get our kids to understand the value of money in the real world. I will definitely be pinching a few of these tips & trying them out on our children. Thanks for posting 🙂