How do you teach your kids about money?

Dinorah - posted on 05/30/2012

no matter what you teach them< they will first see how you spend or dont spend your own money.

Lianda - posted on 05/29/2012

@tammy sharing the reality of family budget is fine helps them understand why sometimes you have to say no,eg. if they understand they cant do tennis lessons this term because dad lost his job and having money for food and bills is more important its good for them! sets priorities

Lianda - posted on 05/29/2012

my 7 year old has a job list. she does at it her own free will during the school term and ticks off on the chart when shes done a job. Each job is worth $1 (dishes, vaccum, sort socks, .. shes pretty much capable of anything).. she doesnt get paid until the school holidays (so its about $50 for a term of jobs to spend on the holidays rather than $5 week or whatever) and then if she wants to do anything or buy anything on the holidays will tell her if she wants it she can have it if she pays for it herself. Shes really good with her money! always makes her think about what she really wants! after a few experiences of spending a bit here and there on rubbish like lollies and useless things then realising she doesnt have enough for something she REALLY wants later she quickly learnt to hold on to it a bit longer. eg. she finds a toy she wants for $30 and only has 20 left I tell her if she didnt buy that..*insert what ever she bought recently here that was about $10) she would have enough but she doesnt now. so then I suggest she save up to buy it next holidays

Christine - posted on 05/29/2012

when my kids were small, i would compare something in money with something they buy or know how much it is. for example, my son loved mcdonalds mcnuggets and it was a treat to go get a happy meal. he knew it was something he liked and always knew the price and he even would count it out, with me when time permitted. so when he wanted something and i would ask him, how many happy meals do you think it costs? he would answer and since he was usually off, then we would have a quick lessen in money and math. you could use anything, with my other son it was a certain sucker he liked and super balls and green army men, etc. as they got older, the lessons became more complex and when they were in high school i made them take a personal finance class, as an elective. they hated it but they learned a lot. money they received for gifts was always 50% in savings and 50% for them to use however. any investments we made are still held for them with us and they know about them, but have no legal access to it, through us being the owners of the investments and even if we were are dead, they know who is charge until they are 25. money is a touchy subject but it can be done. they never received an allowance, because we didn't believe in paying our children for being a part of their own family and helping like everyone in the family does. when money was tight, they knew the truth and they knew ABOUT how much our income was. we never hid anything, we just made sure it was talked about in their age development. realistically, most people are within an average range of assets, so it would be an injustice, to let them think, they could attain everything money can buy without knowing it takes clear thought and hard decisions/work:) i think the reason most people don't want to tell their children about money is because they are embarrassed or they spend it all on themselves or they have bad money habits....just saying:)

Tammy - posted on 05/29/2012

At Jules,
no child needs the burden of the family
budget, and they don't need to know
about family money problems....

Tammy - posted on 05/29/2012

My son age 7 works for his money house chores and yard work ....that way he sees how hard
it is to earn money and you have to work
For it...he's so proud of himself when he earns money and wants to save it..

Jurnee - posted on 05/21/2012

I have the 9 yr old save his money for things he really wants. he has also sold or traded video games to get new ones, and we talked about how much more he could get if he bought used instead of new. I also always talked to them about the savings when grocery shopping, coopons, generics. and when buying things for them. Like you can have that 1 pair of jeans that cost 60, or 2 pair that cost 30, etc. As they got older I made them more responsible for their own purchses, when they had their own job.

Jules - posted on 05/09/2012

well, start with talking to them about your family income, then show them how you budget for it, show them how you always take off a portion for savings, and then finally show them the important things that you have acquired with your savings. this will teach them the fact that savings are always kept for those important things you require. sometimes they may need to buy something like Christmas gifts, or a birthday present for a friend, tell them to save for it. most of the tie they may not be able to gather as much but it will teach them that we acquire these things after we have worked hard to save.