Teaching kids about money doesn’t have to be hard or scary! Check out these tips that will make it easy to introduce financial concepts to your kids and help them learn how to save, when to spend, and how to be confident with their money.
The first step to teaching your kids about money is to learn to parent on purpose.
About six years ago I attended a conference for moms all about “purposeful parenting.” At the time, I had a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old, and this was a very new concept for me. Up to that point I was just trying to keep everyone alive and happy.
Fast forward six years to 2018 where I have an 8-year-old, a 5-year-old, and a 2-year old, and nearly every day that phrase “purposeful parenting” runs through my head because I’m trying so hard to be conscious about what I’m teaching my boys.
I’m still trying to keep everyone alive and happy, but I’ve learned that parenting is so much more for me.
I don’t want to just hope they grow up learning good values, or hope they learn how to manage money, or hope they learn how to work hard.
I’m the parent, and I’m my job is to TEACH. So I’m trying my best to do that with these three special little boys.
Capital One has the same goals to help your family make smart money decisions to reach whatever goals you may have.
I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Capital One today to talk about three specific things we’re doing to teach our kids to be smart with their money. Capital One has the same values as us when it comes to money, helping families make smart money decisions and be as knowledgeable as they can about their finances. The Capital One blog has a great article about raising your kids to be responsible with money here!
Capital One’s goal is for you to be SMART with your money, recognize what’s important to you and adjusting your finances to support those goals.
My husband and my goal for our kids AND for ourselves as a couple is exactly the same.
Three simple ways to teach kids about money
The first thing we’re doing to teach our kids about being smart with money is to have an open dialogue from an early age.
When I was growing up, I had no concept of how much things cost, or how much money people made. I could never have told you how much my parents’ house cost, or roughly how much money per year my dad made. If you’d told me a five–bedroom house cost $30,000 I might have believed you — I just had no idea.
I understood very small picture finances, but didn’t get the big picture at all.
So, my husband and I have a very open and regular dialogue with our 8-year-old about how much things cost, like our home in Southern California that we just bought, how much we pay each month for our mortgage, how much his future college tuition will cost, how much we invested into the stock market, etc. He certainly doesn’t understand all of it, but introducing these numbers early on makes it easier to talk about it more specifically as they get older.
It took me a long time to understand and feel confident about money, and I’m still learning. So I’m a big believer in starting a money dialogue early so that confidence and perspective can grow over time.
The second way to teach kids about money is to give them a chance to earn, spend, save, and donate their money.
Last year we implemented a Family Economy into our home. It’s a work and pay system where they have daily assignments and earn money for the completion of each assignment.
I wrote in depth about it in THIS POST!
Every two weeks we have payday in our home, and the two older kids get paid (our youngest is only 2, so he’s not part of the family economy yet). After they’ve been paid their lump sum, they separate their earnings it into a “savings account,” “checking account,” and “donations account.” We donate a percentage of our earnings to our church, so we have the kids do the same with their earnings.
Every time we do payday, they’re excited to see how their accounts have grown, and it puts those small bi-monthly deposits into perspective!
They are free to spend money their money in their checking account, and they often do, but seeing the account grow is already motivation enough to re-think some of their silly impulse purchases (ahem, gum).
They’re only going to learn how to spend money wisely if you let them make mistakes, so I try not to step in too much when they decide to buy something. But I do show them how much their account goes down with the purchase, and sometimes the deduction hurts!
As an added bonus, this Capital One article shares family apps for saving money and having fun.
The third way to teach kids about money is to help them set and reach financial goals
I am very goal oriented, and I’m working to teach my kids the importance of making and reaching goals.
It’s a skill they can use in all areas of their life, especially their financial life. At the beginning of the year we sat down with our kids and had them set a couple of personal goals, one of which was about money. They determined a dollar amount that they wanted to have in their savings account and checking account by the end of 2018, and it’s helped them be more conscious of their spending and their saving.
Teaching your kids how to set money goals at a young age will be an invaluable skill in the future as they work toward saving for college, saving to buy a car, or paying off their mortgage. And the feeling of achievement and personal satisfaction when you reach that financial goal is invaluable.
To me, being a purposeful parent means that I help them learn these skills and values as early as I can
I’d love to know more about how you are teaching your kids about money! Leave a comment below – we always welcome new ideas!
this post is created in partnership with Capital One
Photos by Priscilla Frey