Whether you work from home or not, being a parent is no easy task. But at the end of it all, what your main objective is is to nurture your children into becoming productive adults.
Your children’s formal education will take care of a lot of this for you. But when it comes to finances and preparing kids and youth for the financial aspects of adulthood, there’s a lot that gets left out. So to help ensure you’re able to raise children that become adults on firm financial footing, here are three of the best personal finance tips to teach your kids.
Think Twice Before Making Impulse Buys
One of the first interactions most kids have with money and consumerism is when they’re with their parents in the checkout line at a store. These areas are filled with items that are often considered to be impulse buys. And for small kids, there are usually toys or other treats strategically placed at their eye-level so that their parents get asked to make this additional purchase.
Now, while one small impulse buy like this might seem harmless, it could be setting your kids up for a life of instant gratification that their bank account may not be able to sustain. So before you make an impulse buy or acquiesce to an impulse buy for your kids, it can be helpful to teach your kids how to keep from making these types of purchases.
Earning Money Requires Work
In many households, kids will be given a weekly allowance. And while giving your kids access to their own funds can help them learn many valuable lessons, it’s also important that they learn that money won’t come to them for nothing.
Rather than just giving your children an allowance, a more beneficial way to help your kids have their own money is to make them earn it through doing some sort of work. This way, your kids can learn the value of hard work and the value of the money they earn through this hard work.
The Importance Of Budgeting
Knowing how much money you have coming in and how much money you’ll be spending each month, and then being able to stay within these parameters, is the recipe for a secure financial life. And while this might sound easy, many people really struggle with executing on this concept.
To help your kids learn this, you should involve them in the budgeting aspects of your family finances as early on as you’re able to. This way, your kids will get some first-hand knowledge about a family budget before they actually have their own family.
To help your kids maintain control of their finances throughout their lives, consider teaching them some of the principles mentioned above as part of their early education.
