If today’s economy is any indication of the future teaching our children to be financially savvy and independent is more important than ever.
There are several things you can teach your children, no matter their age, that will help them become fiscally responsible adults. By starting early, you can ensure that your children will be responsible money managers as they grow into early adulthood.
Many children get an allowance but some parents make the crucial mistake of giving their children money at the end of the week as a matter of course.
Children should be taught to do chores, but they should also be taught that allowance comes for those things done beyond what they are ‘assigned’ to do. For instance, if your child is responsible for keeping their bed made and their room clean, that is not an allowance earning chore.
However, if your child keeps their bed made, their room clean and volunteers to take out the garbage, that’s how they get an allowance.
Spending and Borrowing
Sometimes the best lessons are those that are self-taught. Don’t get overbearing if your child decides they want to spend their money on something you find frivolous. Let them spend! The opportunity to teach a valuable lesson will come when they want something else and all of their money has been spent.
Don’t deny your child a loan but do make sure they know that by borrowing money from you they will be in debt. Hold their allowance for a week or two so that they pay you back (even if it doesn’t add up). Once they have this information, you may find that they don’t want to borrow your money after all!
Many parents pay the bills after the children have gone to bed or when they are in school. This is a missed opportunity if there was one!
Let your pre-teen and teenage children sit down with you while you pay the bills. Allowing your children to understand the budgeting of the household finances will better enable them to make it on their own when they are of age and may just prevent them from returning to the nest! This is another way of teaching them how to be financially savvy children.
If your child is doing well in school, encourage them to get a part-time job. Have them put at least 10% of their paycheck into a savings account and utilize the rest of their money for things they want. Draw up a contract that states you will pay for the essentials but any extras will have to come out of their own pockets.
This is one great tip to raising financially savvy children.
Make-up, movie tickets, dinners with friends; these are all things that your child should have to pay for with their own money and just a small example at that. If your child is unable to secure a part-time job and you can afford it, bump up their allowance and utilize the same contract.
Help your child establish credit. Between the ages of 18 and 21, a child needs a parent to co-sign on any credit card that they apply and are accepted for.
Co-signing on your child’s credit card may be a bit nerve-wracking, but there is no better way to monitor your child’s credit card and teach them about responsible charging.
Helping them establish credit now will enable your child to set up utilities in their own name, rent an apartment without the need for a co-signer and even purchase a car on their own. Alternatively, you can add your child as an authorized user to one of your own credit cards.
There is no better time to start teaching your child responsible money handling than now. If you wait too long, you run the risk of raising a child into adulthood who doesn’t understand how to budget their money. One of the biggest favors you can do for your child is to teach them how to stay out of debt.
He specializes in raising financially savvy children.