Teaching Your Children About Money

One of the best things you can do for your kids is teach them good money habits, and a great list was recently posted over at the Simple Marriage Project. Here’s a summary of their best pieces of advice:

• Give children some control of money, for example by having them do some weekly chores in exchange for pocket money
• Teach them to save up to buy something that they want
• Help them to invest their money as they get older, and teach them about the various kinds of investments
• When children have a savings goal, demonstrate to them how cutting back on some expenditure will help them reach their goal faster
• Get them used to the physical action of paying bills (even if they aren’t paying with their own money)
• Explain how various kinds of debt work and as they get older, let them use a credit card with a small limit and encourage them to pay it off in full each month (and if they don’t, let them learn the consequences)
• Discuss materialism and impulse buying with your children
• Above all: practice what you preach. Children will learn the most from your example, so learn as much as you can about managing your own money well and set a good example.