How to Teach Money Management to Your Children
Our kids will learn the money function quite easily since they will watch the parents use the money. To teach your kids about the money value, there are several ways you can follow.
Start When They’re Still Young
When you think that your kids are ready you need to start telling them how it works. You will also have to make sure your kids understand that in order to have money we have to earn it. You also need to tell them that most things we need and use in daily life must be bought with money. If we have no money then we can’t get the stuff we need.
Another good topic to cover is the importance of saving money. Let them know that a child with a two or three dollars could buy candy that will only last about 10 seconds, or even a cheap toy that will likely break in about 10 minutes or be forgotten about the next day. However, if that child saves the money, they can buy a better item that will probably have more value and last longer.
Have A Savings Plan
One way to teach children about savings is setting a percentage they should save every time they earn money. Ten percent is an easy sum to learn; simply move the decimal point one space to the left. For every $1.00 earned, $0.10 will be saved ($23.48 earned, $2.34 saved).
Make sure that they know that the account is not for the better short-term item, but for a “rainy day”, a car or even their college fund. With the remaining 90% they get the candy or “better item” that you previously told them about. This principle is a good way to teach the about child being discipline and saving for long-term savings; like when they want to buy a house or retirement when they’re grown.
Sure, a six-year-old won’t understand the “rainy day” concept, and driving in ten years may be discouraging. But after saving 10% over the years, it’ll add up. This teaching is especially helpful when they get their first job and are already in the habit of saving that 10% for long-term use.
You can also share with them about putting some money to the side to give to a charity they are interested in. Concepts like this teach them even more about managing their money.
As Your Child Grows
When your child is older,take him or her to the bank with you and open savings account for them. Decide to take them to the bank monthly so they can deposit their savings into the account. Allow them to view the bank statement so they can see how money is grows with the assistance of interest.
Interest is a large part of spending and saving money. You will either pay more than what the item is worth or you can earn more money. Teenagers need to learn the concept that if you don’t pay the debt owed within 30 days, they will pay more for the item they purchased.
One way to show how detrimental or great interest can be is by doing some role-play. Pick an item your teenager currently wants to purchase on a credit card. Make a chart showing how making only the minimum payment affects the total debt (you’ll also need to explain APR), how long it takes to pay off the debt with minimum payments, and how much interest is paid in total.
Then you can take that same amount of months it will take to pay it off and compare the interest they pay with the interest they could earn if they save money for the item. While the interest earned won’t be much, your goal is to show them that if they save money to purchase the item, they will only have to pay the cost of the item plus tax, but they won’t pay any interest.
The purpose of teaching your child about money is to get them to see the value in proper money management.
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