Showing posts with label Teaching Your Children the Value of Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching Your Children the Value of Money. Show all posts

Friday 3 February 2012

Talk More About Money


Money can be a hard topic to talk about, but having open conversations about finances with your loved ones can be important to both your future and theirs.

One of the most important gifts you can give the children in your life is a healthy attitude about money and the tools to make sound financial decisions. Teach children living in your home how to manage money on a small scale through weekly allowances, saving for a coveted toy or working on the family budget. Have honest conversations with adult children or grandchildren this year about money mistakes and successes that you have made during your life. Take the time to listen to any concerns or questions that they may have. (To learn more, see Teaching Your Children About Money.)
If your parents are senior citizens or nearing retirement age, talk with them about their financial wishes as they age and get a clear picture of their finances. You should also make sure that you or a close family member has all of their financial account information and a copy of their will to alleviate stress if they pass away.
While it is easy to view financial resolutions as a one-time goal or something to check off your list, spend time throughout the year measuring your progress and making adjustments. Think about any personal financial goals that you have and create additional resolutions that are meaningful to your situation.

Friday 2 January 2009

Teach Your Children the Value of Money

Teach Your Children the Value of Money

There are a number of ways you can teach your children to form healthy savings habits. This article offers some age-specific teaching tools.


Your Child Could Become a Millionaire

This chart shows the growth, compounded at 8% monthly, of an investment of $100 per month beginning at age 4 and ending at age 18, assuming that the investment remains untouched until age 62. This example is hypothetical and does not represent the performance of any actual investment.


Summary


  • The benefits of teaching your children about money can be both short and long term. Let your children help you determine how to teach them. Use their questions to develop lessons.

  • Explain to children that money is earned. Consider paying them for helping with certain chores.

  • Use a piggy bank to help teach about savings and interest. Set a savings goal to encourage your children to save some of their allowance. Calculate how much is saved each month and chip in a certain percentage as interest.

  • Take your children to the bank to open a savings account requiring a lower minimum deposit.

  • If you extend credit, issue an IOU, set a repayment schedule, and charge interest.

  • Review compounding, or the ability of interest to build upon itself.

  • Once your children begin earning their own money through part-time jobs, introduce them to investments such as stocks and mutual funds.

Checklist


  • If they're old enough, help your children set up a plan to save for their own goals (such as a new video game) and other accounts for family goals (such as paying for college).

  • Agree on an amount of their savings that you'll "match."

  • Schedule time to talk about how investing works and how it may enable people to reach their financial goals faster.

  • Talk to your children about good shopping habits. Perhaps you can ask them to clip coupons and let them keep some of the savings.


Source: Teaching Your Children the Value of Money


Topics
Teach Your Children the Value of Money
Earlier Is Better
Where Does Money Come From?
Children and Allowances
Make Saving Interesting
Banking and Investing
Compounding
A Little Learning Can Pay Off