TRUSTED BOOKS TUESDAY

RAISING FINANCIALLY FIT KIDS

by Joline Godfrey

I was looking for a financial book that gave me better ideas of how to teach my younger children more than just the “give, save & spend” philosophy you can find everywhere. This book gave me great tips on what to do at each age range. I highly recommend it especially if you have children interested in money.

I’m bent on giving our children an education in personal finance while they’re still home. I hope they make the bulk of their mistakes, and take to heart the lessons my husband and I share with them, before they leave our nest. In all things, not just financial, I hope our children start adult life with more tools than we had.

Here are some of the ideas found in the book.

9-12 year olds:

• Take calculator shopping
• Discuss needs vs. wants
• Introduce utility bills
• Order annual report of favorite company & research
• Start a collection of items that increase in value over time
• Read a biography of an entrepreneur who turned a passion into a business
• Introduce other savings vehicles besides savings accounts
• Discuss importance of interest rates over time
• Work a charity
• Let them be in charge of their savings account
• Have them call for competitive prices on an item they are going to buy
• Discuss impulse buying
• Discuss the concept “Dreams+money+self control=reality”
• Learn how to read the stock section

Teenagers:

• Put together a group of financial mentors
• Mother-daughter investment club
• Let them open a checking account and be in charge of it
• Research different careers and how to get paid what you’re worth
• Discuss insurance policies and their importance (health, life, home, car)
• Discuss accumulation vs. consumption
• Research credit cards fully
• Discuss the concept “money=independence”
• Have child handle larger and larger shares of spending budget
• Internships
• Using skill/talents to earn money
• Discuss tipping
• Discuss estate planning (yours and theirs)
• Teach how to check own credit rating
• Review child’s budget quarterly
• Deeper teaching of giving and social responsibility

This entry was posted on 4. March 2008 at 23:10 and is filed under TRUSTED BOOKS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.