Comments on: When & What To Teach Your Children About Money.

By: Great money post…or advertisement? - TRNT.com/LIFE at TRNT.com/LIFE

Great money post…or advertisement? - TRNT.com/LIFE at TRNT.com/LIFE — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:13:02 +0000

[...] morning, sorting through all the wonderful RSS feeds that I’ve subscribed to, and I found this great article linked by Wide Open Wallet. I’m actually past the first stage for one of my kids, but with my [...]

By: MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators

MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:05:33 +0000

I agree on many of these points, especially the one about not connecting an allowance to chores.

I also agree that budget training has to play a role here, and along the lines of what CreditMom said, giving your kid his allowance with the idea that it’s for a certain period of time accomplishes a couple of things, like budgeting and constant requests for money.

We plan to do this with our children, but progressively increase the length of the allowance period and the amount of the allowance. So our kids might get $5/week at age 8, and $1000/year at age 16. Our kids will be responsible for purchasing everything that they want or need with this money, so school clothes, athletic fees, CDs (if they still exist), etc. will all be fair game.

We also plan to teach them about credit cards and debt by allowing them to borrow against future allowance. With any luck, they’ll get burned by this in an environment with a safety net and therefore avoid the same mistakes with real credit.

By: J-Bird

J-Bird — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:50:57 +0000

Seems like a good plan, but is it realistic for a lot of parents to think they can keep their kids from getting a credit card until the end of university? It may be the system is different (I’m in Canada), but I know at our campus any kid who signed up at any of the 12 credit card booths could get a card, and there certainly wasn’t anything requiring parents to allow it. I agree that this plan has ignored budgeting, something that we could all do with learning early on.

By: david

david — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:09:02 +0000

I know I got in trouble!

By: Pinyo

Pinyo — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:59:28 +0000

Good overview David. Although I tend to disagree with credit card, I can see why some kids *will* get in trouble with one.

By: Financial Planners at Respond

Financial Planners at Respond — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:27:57 +0000

Personal finance needs to be taught in high school.

I am totally agree with this. Financial planning is such an important part of life that everyone should know it at the early stage of life.

By: Start-Up

Start-Up — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:46:44 +0000

I think introducing kids to the stock market at such an early age is kind of pointless. I don’t think I would have gained much insight into how it works at such an early age. I think budgeting and savings accounts are the best things you can teach your kids about.

Also, I think kids should have credit cards as soon as they go to college. There are too many emergencies i can think of that having a credit card around would help with. Personally I had to fly to school, so a credit card made flying infinitely easier. Get a card with very low limits to prevent excess debt from piling up. Check the online account weekly to make sure they aren’t abusing the card. Really hammer home the idea that credit card debt is unacceptable. Find an online story about someone with terrible debt so hopefully they don’t have to learn with personal experience. Credit cards are extremely valuable to have as a safety net for college kids. Plus, it’s good to start working on your credit score at an earlier age.

By: Ways For Teens To Make Money

Ways For Teens To Make Money — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:13:16 +0000

You should start teaching your children early the value of money. If you don’t, it may be too late and they will get their money values from their friends which may be a disaster.

By: CreditMom

CreditMom — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:54:57 +0000

I enjoyed this post. I also agree with the budgeting commet above. I found I was peeling off $20’s every time every time my 14 year old needed something. Instead of giving him an allowance I was just giving him money ad hoc. Of course he didn’t always remember to give me the change…who would?

So, this week I gave him $50 for the week. This will include his going out money, lunch, and whatever else he wants. He also needs to put some money aside. If he spends all of his money in one day, he doesn’t get any more. Funny, this morning I asked if he was making lunch or buying and he said, “making”. Guess when it’s your dime you think twice before spending it!

By: david

david — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:32:36 +0000

Budgeting would be a good one to include, I agree. My parents taught me to save, but they did not teach me to budget.