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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 04:00 |
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Ah, a child"s world - full of magic and fun. As parents,
grandparents and other assorted relatives, a child"s conception,
understanding, and knowledge of money comes in many forms. There
are birthday and holiday gifts, going shopping with grandma, and
even helping a small child select a gift for mom and dad. While
on the surface all this is just fine and good, have you ever
stopped to think exactly what you are teaching this small person
about finances and money - knowledge that will last them a
lifetime and either make life easier to handle or more
difficult. Money sure doesn"t grow on trees - but to today"s
small children, it does come out of machines. Mom or Dad just
press some magic keys and a whole bunch of money comes out - In
a store, a small plastic fit-in-your-hand card will get you
anything from candy to a new outfit. Kids have a lot of fun
playing grown-up and using credit cards and taking cash from
ATM"s - but do they know that the credit card bill has to be
paid, or that the money from the machine is really your money -
first placed in an account, then being able to be taken out.
Even the smallest of children can understand some basic facts
about money. A lost glove or shoe will result in a trip to the
store and money paid out for shoes and gloves. School lunches
cost money and the teacher will collect that envelope before the
child gets a meal. The friendly person behind the counter at
McDonald"s will not give you your food until you give them some
pieces of paper and some metal coins. You are not taking the fun
out of an outing if you do visit an ATM or use a credit card
with a child. Just a few words - explained as simply as you
can-that the machine is not actually giving you the machine"s
money - and that that plastic card is not actually buying the
toy or the lunch. Letting a child have some money and then spend
it on whatever they choose is a great way to teach a bit of
finances. They will soon realize that if they buy something,
they will have less to spend somewhere else on something else.
Children are great imitators - whether we act the way we want
them to see us or not. If you show very little concern for money
- so will the child. If you let the child in on family
discussions about sacrifices that will have to be made in order
to buy a new car, etc. that child may not understand the full
ramifications of the family project, but will begin to see a
pattern forming. You must do something in order to get
something. "Let"s not go to dinner tonight - instead we"ll stay
home and watch movies so that we can go to the carnival
tomorrow." Give up something in order to get something - simple,
and yet this simple message will leave an imprint that will
equate thought before spending, and wanting to know more about
the wonderful world of money. Money is here to stay and will be
an integral part of a child"s future. They are never too young
to being forming a good impression of money and how to use it
properly to enhance their life or bring pleasure to others
through gifts and through charity. Whatever you do with money,
while you are with a child, take a moment to explain a bit -
just a few short sentences to let the child know what you are
doing and why. The magical world of money will nto be something
to fear or to use without responsibility - a few moments for a
life-long lesson of value. Seems fair-so ENJOY!
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Friday, 07 March 2008 09:00 |
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If you are single and don"t have kids this tip won"t mean much
to you. For the rest of us that have others to consider when
making money decisions it just may make things a little easier.
I guess the best knock-down, drag-out fights my wife and I ever
had was about money. No, it never came to blows because she"s
meaner than I am. Believe me you can have a lot of fights in
almost 39 years.
At some point we realized that it wasn"t accomplishing anything.
We still didn"t have any money but we never earned a nickel
fighting about it.
To get a handle on your finances it is going to take a team
effort. The whole family has to be working in the same direction.
My suggestion would be to sit down and talk your money situation
over with your spouse and the kids. It"s important for everybody
in the family to know what is going on.
You may be surprised at what the kids will come up with.
When I bought my first house I made a miscalculation on how much
I would need to come up with for the down payment. When I
realized it we had maxed out our credit cards and wasn"t sure
where we would get the rest of the money.
My wife and I discussed this with the kids and they offered to
baby-sit and mow lawns. They came up with enough to cover the
down payment. I"ll never forget how proud that made them feel
and how proud we were of them.
All too often one person in the family is strapped with making
the money decisions. This is a great idea and the best way to
keep things organized but they shouldn"t take all the blame when
something doesn"t work out.
A family solves difficult problems everyday. Money is just one
of them.
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Monday, 14 January 2008 21:01 |
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When I was a kid, I can"t believe that was almost 50 years ago,
my folks used to give me a nickle, dime or sometimes even a
quarter to go to the corner store. When I got that money I had
to go directly to the store and make sure every penny was spent.
Things didn"t change much when I grew into an adult. I got my
paycheck and made sure that it was gone just as soon as I could
get rid of it. Sometimes I even paid some bills.
It took me a long time to realize that some of your money is
meant for tomorrow and what is meant for today has to cover your
obligations first.
It would be easy to blame my folks for not teaching me the right
way to manage my money. It would be even easier to blame the
schools for not having a class for real life finances. The
problem is that my folks or the schools didn"t pay the price for
me not learning these lessons. My wife and family did.
It"s time that things change. We have gone generation after
generation of having more debt and less knowledge of how to deal
with it. We have to educate our kids, starting as soon as they
know how to count, about the necessity of saving and controlled
spending.
I believe that, if we can afford it, we should consider giving
out kids an allowance, not to ensure that they have money, but
to pay them for what they do to help. Giving them money and not
expecting anything in return is sending the wrong message.
If you can"t afford an allowance, encourage them to find ways to
earn their own money. Running errands, babysitting, mowing lawns
are all things that neighbors and friends would be willing to
pay for.
Just as important as encouraging them to earn their own money is
to emphasize the importance of putting some of it away for
things they want in the future. Believe me, as a Father of 3 and
a Grandfather of 6, they all have a big ticket item they have
either seen on TV or that all their friends have that they just
have to have.
One trick I"ve used is to make a deal with the kids. If they
need tennis shoes, I would buy them. If I paid for them they got
the $20 pair. If they wanted the more expensive shoes, they
would have to make up the difference. It"s amazing how often the
$20 pair would do just fine when they found out the money would
have to come out of their own pocket.
What I"ve been talking about up to now is just spending and
saving. There is a whole lot more that our kids need to know
than that. They need to learn how to budget their money,
effectively manage a checking account, know how to apply for
loans and what they can expect to pay for the priviledge of
using someone else"s money, learn what they have to do to make
theirselves eligible for loans, how to control impulse buying
and the list goes on and on.
One other suggestion that I have is to get the kids involved in
your finances. No, they shouldn"t have any control, but they
need to find out just how hard it can be to keep everything
going financially. It may even show them why you say no to that
$80 pair of Nikes.
It"s not too late for our generation to get control of our money
but, for many of us, it has been a struggle from day one.
Wouldn"t it be great if we could save our kids from going
through what we had to. All it takes is knowledge and the
willingness to pass it on to our kids and grandkids.
I have put together several links that may help you teach your
kids what they will need to know about their money. I hope they
help:
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html The Complete Budget
and Bill Organizer
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/articlearchive.html Several
Articles That Might help http://www.kidsmoney.org/ KidsMoney.org
http://www.metlife.com/Lifeadvice/Money/Docs/kidintro.html
Helping Your Child Understand Money
http://www.makingallowances.com/index-fs.htm Making Allowances
http://familyeducation.com/subchannel/0,2794,65-189,00.html Kids
& Money
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