Important Lessons You Can Teach Kids About Money

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When I was growing up my parents didn’t really talk to me about money or about how important it is to plan for the future.  During my younger years I didn’t make the right decisions and I feel like I lost a lot of time because I was not managing my money wisely back when I didn’t have kids and had a large percentage of my income was disposable.  That is why I think it’s so important to teach children about money from an early age.  Here are some important lessons you can teach kids about money:

Learn to say no. Ok so technically this is not a lesson for the kids but for the parents, and for me it was the hardest one, but teaching your children that you will not be buying them something every time you go to a store is an important lesson.  My kids now know that they get something for their birthdays, for Christmas and they might get smaller things for special occasions like Easter or El Dia del Niño or for getting good grades in school.  They know that going into a toy store to buy a gift for a birthday party does not mean they can also pick something for themselves.  Ware also trying to teach them that material things are not the most important thing and encourage them to pick going out on a family dinner or visiting a special destination instead of getting another toy.

Organizer for kid's allowance
Organizer for kid’s allowance

Teach kids to save through the concept of delayed gratification.  Start by helping your child set a goal for something they want; this will teach them that when you have patience and wait the reward will be so much better than if you just run to the store and spend all your money immediately.  My little gets really motivated when he is saving for a specific toy he wants and this also helps him learn about math and about money, he counts his savings weekly and figures out how much he has left to save to get to his goal.

Teach kids that money is not just for spending.  It’s easy for children to see that money is used to buy things and pay for things, but it’s harder for them to grasp the concept of long tern investments or of how important it is to give back to the community. A few years ago we got the kids piggy banks that have 4 different slots one for saving, one for spending, one for donating and one for investing.  Dividing their money to put in these 4 different slots on their piggy banks help them understand that there are other things to consider.  Spending and saving where the easier concepts to teach them. When it came to giving back to the community getting them involved in activities live volunteering was key. Once they understood the importance of giving back they both chose their own charities based on things they are passionate about: my daughter chose to help lost puppies by giving to the Humane Society. Investing was the hardest concept to explain but I was able to teach them that the money that went in here they could transfer to a savings account that would grow and grow as they got older and that  when they graduated they could use this money for something like a car or apartments for rent in charleston scapartments for rent in charleston sc. To make it easier for kids to keep up with their money and where that money is going I created a fun printable where they can record how they are diving their weekly allowance. You can download the free money saving printable for kids HERE.

money saving printable for kids

Help kids make their own choices.  At first my little guy just wanted to go into the toy store and buy the toys there.  But one day as he was complaining of how hard it was to save for that special toy he wanted and how much money he still had to save for it based on the price he saw on the toy store I showed him how he could look for the same item online and choose where to buy it and save money.  He realized it was so much cheaper online, even with shipping costs and now every time he wants to buy something he will ask me to help him look for it online so he can save money.  I also try to help the kids realize that maybe they don’t need the latest toy that is being announced on TV, I help them research what is out there according to their interests and we have even started to look at reviews for those products. I explain to them that if a product has low reviews and if some people are talking about how frustrated their kids where when this toy broke after one use then it might not be wise to spend their money in that.

Researching online
Researching online

In looking at better ways to make sure my money lasts my lifetime, I came across these great resources that will help you learn more about everything from life insurance to financial planing, you can access them HERE.  I was also checking this article: 3 Lessons on Saving Money All Parents Can Teach Their Children which has some useful information. I would love to know: how do you teach your kids about finances?

 

Cesar Diaz
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11 thoughts on “Important Lessons You Can Teach Kids About Money”

  1. Great lessons, my kids know that we don’t reward all year long. They have to earn their on way and must save every extra penny they can. We have bank’s accounts for each one of our kids and they must put all their Birthday and Christmas money in there. Thank for sharing your tips with us.

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