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Begin Financial Education Early: It Makes Perfect Cents!

September 21st, 2017 Posted in financial education, kids and money
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As a responsible parent, you want to ensure that your child is healthy, safe and happy. Part of instilling confidence and self-esteem within your child is making sure that they understand money and finances, and that they’re ready when they do eventually fly the nest into the big wide world. It’s never too early to start teaching your youngsters about money. Having an open and transparent attitude to family finances and being there to answer any questions that your toddler, adolescent or teenager may have means that they’ll be clued up when they have to make major financial decisions later in life. Take a look at how you can teach your kids the value of money.

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Structured Play

Two-year-olds are now able to open up an iPad, swipe across the screen and watch their favorite nursery rhyme on youtube.com without any intervention from mom or dad. Technology is taking over, and this is the same when it comes to money. Internet banking and paying by card means that toddlers rarely see any real money. When you are playing shop or heading down the local store to purchase a small item, get your real life notes and pennies out. Allow your child to feel the genuine article, not a plastic replica. Little kids love nothing better than feeling more grown up than they are, so allow them to pay the guy behind the counter when you pick up your newspaper and see if they can count their change.

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Family Finances

As your kids grow older, they may begin to want for more things whether this is the latest smartphone, console or tablet. If you are struggling to afford their wishlist, it’s vital that you tell them why. You may have recently renovated the kitchen, had to fork out for a new gasket on the car and paid for them to head off on their annual school trip. This meant you had to take out more short-term loans and credit cards putting you into debt. Explain to your child that this is manageable but only if you reign in the spending for a while. If this situation is familiar to yours, consider heading to a site like consolidate.loan and compare debt consolidation lenders. This way all those tiny chunks of debt can be merged into one monthly repayment.

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Incentivise

The best way to get kids saving is to make it worth their while. As you give them pocket money, they may choose to save up for something like a drum kit or a trip to the cinema. Motivate them by pledging to top up their funds with $5 every time they save $20, giving them an extra impetus to save. As they see their nest egg accrue, you may want to introduce the idea of a bank account or other avenues down which they could see their money grow even further. As they get older, it’s important that children understand the importance of saving, so they don’t become frivolous with money as they enter college and adulthood.

Financial education is only sometimes taught in schools, but it should also be an integral part of the home. Teaching sound money sense from an early age will enable your child to grow up feeling confident, content and happy when budgeting, saving and spending.

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Children of Debt: Using Your Financial Struggles as Tools for Teaching

September 7th, 2017 Posted in family finance, kids and money
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All households can experience tough times, and some more than others. Having less to spend is not all bed new, though, and It’s actually quite common that children of low-income families grow up to be more financially savvy than their peers. If your family is going through a dip in finances at the moment, you can easily take advantage of this to teach them a few valuable lessons – just avoid the pitfalls.

Here is how some families use financial struggles to safeguard their children from similar problems, as well as a few words of warning on what to steer clear of.

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Have constructive money conversations

Talking about money problems with children is on the top of the to-do list. When times are tough, and you keep it to yourself, it tends to cause a bit of confusion. Be open about it and you’re giving your children a chance to understand the situation.

Explain that you need to save money, as a household, and that they can be of big help by simply remembering to use less electricity. These conversations are healthy and constructive; the problems are presented together with a solution, rather than mindless worries.

Some parents take the money-talk too far and burden their children with it. The conversations about money are used to unload themselves of worries, and the parents may even feel a sense of relief afterwards – while the child is left with a sense of being unable to help.

Admit your mistakes

While we should all learn from our own mistakes, your children are in the unique position of being able to learn from your mistakes as well. Take responsibility for the situation you’re in, admit that you haven’t been as on top of your finances as you should have, and avoid blaming it on your circumstances.

However tempting it may be to point out that you’ve gone through a costly divorce or that the economy is tough, save these blame-shifting talks for your friends. When you’re talking to your children about it, it’s all about being the grown-up, and grown-ups take responsibility.

If your child or teenager ever find themselves in the same situation, they won’t spend time on pointing fingers but instead get right to work and sort things out; just like you taught them.

There are so many words of wisdom to be found in financial problems, and you can use the situation to teach them about the importance of budgeting, the code of practice 9, and general saving alternatives. By being stubborn and proud, you’re just letting a fantastic teaching opportunity slip away from you.

Growing up in a family that needs to save money rather than spend it can actually be quite healthy for their future finances. It teaches them to understand the value of money and how important it is to have a backup fund in case something should happen, so keep teaching the right kind of values while picking yourself up. http://credit-n.ru/microzaymi-blog-single.html

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5 Ways to Making Saving Exciting for Kids

August 22nd, 2017 Posted in kids and money, learning about money
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Saving money is a valuable life lesson that it is important to teach from a young age. The more good practices are instilled in childhood, the more likely it is that they will be continued throughout life.

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There are a wide variety of different techniques that we will talk a little bit about here, but teaching the relationship between family and money is something that should be ongoing. So, let’s get on and look closer at some money-saving teaching tips.

Make a Savings Chart

If your child wants to save for a particular toy, you can make a chart to figure out exactly how much money they will need to save. Your son or daughter can then place a sticker in the chart each week that they save money so they can actually see themselves getting closer and closer to their overall goal which certainly builds up excitement.

Offer Rewards

You will probably be all too aware how effective rewards can be when encouraging your kids to do something, so think about what motivates them – whether this is an extra half hour playing video games or a trip to the movies – and offer this as a prize if they hit a particular savings goal. This helps to reinforce the positive link between savings and rewards.

Teach Them About Shopping Around

The internet has opened up a whole world of financial opportunity, and one thing that is a good idea to teach your children is about shopping around for a deal. This helps to show them about getting the most for their money and the knowledge that their savings will go further if they always get the best price that they can.

Set a Good Example

Of course, kids learn by example, so if they see you regularly saving your money then they are much more likely to follow suit. If your kids are particularly young, you can show them about saving money by putting your money in a jar. You can then get your kids a jar of their own so they can start to copy you. If they are older, you can set a good example by helping them to open up a savings account at your bank.

Play Games

Board games such as Monopoly and The Game of Life are useful in promoting the value of saving. They also help to demonstrate the consequences of certain decisions and the fact that unexpected costs sometimes spring up in life. While you are playing the games, you can talk to your kids about the similarities and differences that they have with real life financial decisions.

These are just five basic techniques that you can use to help get your kids saving money. Ultimately, it is all about showing them the rewarding aspects of saving money by getting them excited about it. As well as this, you should always be looking to teach them small financial lessons whenever you can that they can apply to real life situations. http://credit-n.ru/calc.html

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Invisible Money – How to teach kids about money in a cashless society

July 17th, 2017 Posted in kids and money, teaching kids about money
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Think for a moment about how many of your day to day transactions are made with actual notes and coins. In a world without cash, what are the implications for teaching children about money?

The Global Issue of Invisible Money

In 2014, the US Parents, Kids and Money Survey suggested 73% of parents agree that because of digital transactions, kids think of money differently than they did when they were growing up. An Australian survey revealed that over one in three (35%) children simply don’t know how digital purchases are paid for. Whilst in the UK consumers recently passed an important milestone on the path to a cashless society, with cash now used for less than half of all payments. These statistics highlight the influence digital technologies can have on how children understand money.

Not seeing physical money exchanged for purchases makes it harder for kids to get their heads around what things cost and how money works. They might not easily see the link between the ‘invisible money’ of online payments or contactless purchases with real money eventually coming in and out of their own bank account.

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Where Money Comes From

It’s not difficult to see how in an age where we can slot a plastic card into a ‘hole in the wall’ and obtain physical currency, or where you can ‘tap and go’ to pay, how our children might not fully understand where the money used to pay for things comes from. One method of explaining this is to describe to your kids the purchase path or the flow of money; from earning it, to depositing into the bank and ultimately the final purchase and receipt.

Making the point of using cash occasionally, rather than electronic funds can also help to provide younger children with a visual representation of how currency works. Once they understand physical money you could slowly introduce them to the idea of online and credit purchases.

 

Pocket Money and Chores

Many parents recognise the value of using pocket money, or an allowance, to teach children about budgeting. Giving your children pocket money in return for jobs around the house can help them understand the connection between time spent doing work and money. A weekly pocket money allowance can also help to develop your kids’ budgeting skills. If you give them a weekly sum which includes both an element for daily routine activities plus some personal discretionary money, it can teach them to prioritise between needs and wants and make choices around spending and saving.

Understanding the True Cost

Mobile phones and tablets make it easier for your children to spend money online sometimes without even knowing it. Another example of invisible money is where many games and apps are now ‘freemium’ – meaning that whilst the app was initially free to download, it will proceed to ask users to purchase special features or content for a fee. If making app purchases is not prevented by a password prompt, then a couple of accidental taps in a game could cause your children to make real-money purchases.

Figures show that 61% of kids are buying apps or making in-app purchases every month, it’s important therefore as parents to establish some ground rules to ensure your child is conscious and aware of the money he or she may spend and its consequences. One useful tip is to ask for the money from your child before they make the purchase to establish the connection that it is still real money.

Setting up a bank account.

Once they are old enough and especially when your child has a job or gets an allowance, having a bank account and watching the balance grow (or shrink) is important. By downloading the bank’s app they can easily monitor and track his or her spending. Another important habit for later in life.

If you can’t beat them join them

The ease and convenience of cashless transactions puts us on an irresistible march towards a cashless society perhaps in your child’s lifetime. Get them prepared early by giving them a prepaid card with a weekly or monthly allowance. These cards can be monitored online and teach the principle that money, whether invisible or not, can only be spent once.

 

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Tips on Teaching Children About Money

May 9th, 2017 Posted in kids and money, learning about money, Money Tips, teaching children about money
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Children tend to think that money grows on trees. Most children can’t walk through a shop without asking if they can have something. A simple ‘no’ may result in a meltdown if you have an infant in the family. It’s all part and parcel of parenting, but so is teaching your child about money. There will come a day when your children will have to know that you work hard to give them what they have and that the value of money is important. So, how do you teach a child about money?

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Let Them Handle It

As your child gets old enough to do sums, let them handle money. Use the money to work on their mathematics skills at home. You’ll be surprised how a jar full of pennies can occupy a child. You may also want to let them calculate what they spend when you’re out shopping. For instance, if your child has birthday money to spend, ask them to stay within their limit by adding up the cost of their items. You can also ask them to pay at the till and wait for any change.

Give Them a Goal

If there’s a particular toy your child wants to buy, ask them to save for it themselves. As parents its an instinct to provide your child with their needs and wants, but it’s a valuable life lesson. Offer to give your child pocket money in exchange for good behaviour, completed homework and completed chores. Agree on an amount per week and let your child work out how long it will take him/her to save for what they want.

Explain Bills

Unless you explain it, your child may not realise there’s such a thing as an electricity bill. Children have a habit of leaving lights on, wasting water and leaving the TV on when no-ones watching it. If you explain that every time they put a light on it costs money, they may think twice about doing it. You can also save money by switching energy providers. You can compare energy providers at Selectra energy comparison specialists.

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Teenage Spending

As your children get older, their wants get more expensive. When your children turn sixteen, encourage them to get their first job and save for the things they want. That may be their first car which could be the most money they’ve ever spent. Teach them how to budget their money so they have money left over to save and put towards a reliable car. Here are some of the best new cars for first time drivers.

Be Open

Remember the old chestnut, ‘not while you’re living under my roof’? Past generations didn’t tend to explain why they had to say no. If you haven’t got the money to buy something your child wants, tell them why. Explain that your money has to go towards higher priorities. They won’t always understand but giving them a reason is better than telling them that you know best. They’ll thank you for being open and honest in the long run.

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