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How to teach kids about money without giving them financial anxiety
I have 2 kids who are under the age of 12. They both understand basic math and luckily, even like math (they didn’t get that from me). Ideally I’d love for my kids to be debt free (quickly after college). I never want them to have to eat into their retirement savings. While it might sound early to think about, my husband has been in the finance world for years and there’s been a lot of tactics we’ve picked up to teach our kids now, so they’re hopefully better off later.
For one: We teach our kids about money whenever we can by playing shopping games. We play with toy cash and make super markets and clothing shops with their toys. They love playing it as a game and don’t really even look at it as playing it as an educational exercise. They absolutely love it — and we’re seeing that they’re more comfortable and confident talking about money.
What are some ways you’re teaching/planning to teach your kid(s), or nieces and nephews about money?
Maggie B
Business and Data Analysis Consultant
983
08/01/19 at 4:01PM UTC
Giving them an allowance and seeing what they do with it for the first month or two would be a good place to start - see what their instincts are.
I think Big Discussions like setting up a savings account can start when they're old enough to work, and Even Bigger Discussions like college funding, retirement savings, car buying, apartment living, etc. will naturally follow that.
Really the key is to leave the door open for discussion with them rather than dictating what they can and can not do with money. I had a roommate who's dad was in the tax business and was very strict with her and the only result of that was thousands of dollars in credit card and student loan debt because she never actually learned by experience but by dictation.
Georgene HuangCEO & Co-founder of Fairygodboss
5.22k
07/30/19 at 12:35AM UTC
I find an allowance helps teach the value of money and we tie allowance in my household to chores. We use paper money that then gets converted to items they want (e.g. Lego sets) and they both learn math, the idea that things take work and "earning" money through work.
Anonymous
07/24/19 at 2:14PM UTC
This is a great idea- I love it! I love the idea of incentivizing good behavior with money (as a gentler way of parenting than punishing bad behavior). So for every A, you get a certain amount of money, and the child can buy anything they want with it... but once it's gone, they have to wait until the next money making opportunity to earn more. I saw this work very effectively with some of my friends when we were kids!
Daena PadillaMom of 4, Architect, wine lover
13
07/24/19 at 1:52PM UTC
It's summer and I'm lucky enough to be working a reduced schedule from home at this point. We're also lucky enough to live in a great spot for setting up a weekend lemonade stand. The benefits of this are incredible! They make the lemonade, design their sign (marketing), set up the stand, and are out there for hours on end each weekend. In addition to the obvious lessons, we're also using this to learn a few other lessons. They are learning about budgeting - I donated the first week's supplies but they have done the shopping each week since and paid from the prior week's earnings. They are also learning about being charitable. Each week they have chosen a different 'kid' charity to donate a chunk of their proceeds to. By advertising their weekly charity, they also get to witness the charity of neighbors. It's been an incredible adventure so far this summer and I can't wait to see where they take it.
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