My husband cannot save money. It is not genetic, it is a learned lesson from his mother. If he has $5, he will go buy someone lunch, he is generous and giving to a fault. I am a saver, a militant saver. My behavior was a learned behavior as I watched my mother make some less then good decisions in her life because she did not have money. I decided at an early age I would never be without money, because money provides you with options. Needless to say we differ greatly on our attitudes towards money.
Now enter our son, how will we teach him what he needs to know about money without giving him our “baggage”? How do we both give our son the good things about money and not make money distressing for him? Setting his money blueprint correctly can be the difference between him feeling like he has enough money and feeling like he doesn’t deserve to have money. Money can be emotional and our goal is to teach our son that money is money without emotion, without baggage. How to do it? Here are some ideas that will teach children and parents how to manage money and kids.
Set some rules for how your kids can earn the allowance for instance chores, grades, achievement of certain goals, etc… Some experts think parents should not link the allowance money to household chores as children should be expected to help out around the house because they are members of the family, not because they are paid. I believe, your values, traditions and the age of your children will all influence how you structure your plan. Your kids are individuals so don’t forget what may work for one, may not work for the other. Plan individually if need be.
Once they are earning some money, develop a structure where your kids make most of their own day-to-day financial decisions. That way, they learn to plan their expenditures and shop for value. One mom wrote that she and her daughter went to a carnival with some other parents and kids and she gave her daughter $5 and called it HER money and told her she could do anything she wanted with it. Suddenly her daughter did not want all the candy and toys, she wanted to save her money for another day.
Help your kids decide how much money they want to spend and how much to put away. Make them a chart that keeps track of their money so they can watch it grow. This is how my husband and I are trying to give our son the good of what we both have rather then the bad. Save some and spend some, have a plan and execute on it.
Let them spend some of it and be silly. Part of the fun of having money is spending it. Once they are old enough to want something big like an X-box or a as they get older a car, sit down with them and put a plan together. Give them options of how to earn extra money, i.e. selling your stuff on ebay for commission, getting a part time job, extra chores, etc... Also, if you are inclined, offer a matching funds program, especially if it is an educational item. One mom that came into my husbands store had a 10 year old that wanted nothing more then an iMac, so he and his mom sat down and created a matching funds plan and within 4 months the boy had earned over $700 doing odds and ends for neighbors, the mom matched dollar for dollar. He really appreciated the computer and took impeccable care of it.
Letting your kids spend their money teaches them the value of things and how to use money wisely. Make sure your kids only spend what they have. Do not loan money against the allowance they will receive. Teaching them to spend only what they have is an important lesson about credit that they will need in the future.
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