This post was underwritten by BMO Harris Bank, which offers a matching $25 on a new savings account opened for your child through their Helpful Steps for Parents program. Learn more at bmoharris.com/parents
When I was young, I thought my family was poor. My parents would continually tell me, “We can’t afford that,” when I wanted something and I felt bad asking them for things as I got older.
I got my first job when I was fourteen and I spent every single paycheck on make-up, clothes, CDs and continued to want and need more material things as I made more money.
Job after job, I never quite learned how to manage money responsibly. I was really good at spending it and found myself working quite a bit during college, just to keep up with the minimum payment on my credit card bill that quickly got out of control after turning 18.
By the time I was twenty-five and making a decent paycheck, I had college loans on top of credit card debt and unable to save anything after paying my monthly bills.
Fast forward ten years and I’m now in recovery mode. With even more debt after my divorce, I had no choice but to file for bankruptcy.
After years of making poor choices surrounding money, I am finally able to get a fresh start and learn from the mistakes I made in the past.
My oldest son is nearly eight years old and already, I’m anxious about what he’s learning about money. The language I use with him is much different from what I heard at his age.
I tell him, “I am not willing to buy that for you right now,” or “I would rather spend my money on other things.” I encourage him to add things to his wish list for his birthday or Christmas and support his goals to save his money for future purchases instead of impulsively spending his cash the minute it lands in his lap.
In the past few years, I have read several books on money management. I’ve also discovered websites geared toward kids which help to teach him about money through interactive games and activities.
The Zone has games and activities, categorized for specific age groups, which has been a great way to start the discussion of financial responsibility in our household.
I still have a lot to learn about being financially responsible. For the sake of my children, I’m going to do everything I can to make better choices and help them get a head start on saving for their future.
What are you doing to make sure your kids are financially fit?
I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about BMO Harris Bank, visit their website http://bmoharris.com/parents
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What was the best book you read on finances and kids? I try to use similar language with my kids but it can be difficult at times.
Hey Steve – I honestly have not read specific books geared toward teaching children about finances, but have taken what I’ve read from books geared toward adults and catered it to help teach some basic tips to my son.
I think the most important thing I can do is to use my own personal examples to help him learn from me. We talk about setting aside money for family vacations or for larger purchases we intend on making. While not disclosing the dollar amount – that he would no doubt obsess over – we instead explain that when I say NO to smaller purchases on items for myself, I’m choosing, instead, to set that money aside for bigger items down the road.
Using this example and telling him how I would really, really like something but that I’ve told myself “no” has been helpful. When asking if he can spend his own money on something, impulsively, I remind him that if he chooses to spend money on this one thing, now, it’ll take him longer to save for that one thing (a video game system, for example) he’s been saving up for. Sometimes he chooses to spend impulsively and other times he realizes he’d rather save his money for the video game system. It’ll take him a long time to earn that money, but I know that he’s eager to get there himself and will have learned so much about money management along the way and – more importantly – feel much more grateful and appreciate those larger items when they’re finally in his hands.