Really cool stuff is everywhere. It’s brightly coloured, it does amazing stuff, it’s advertised during peak TV-watching periods and positioned at strategic heights on shop shelves. It’s no wonder that kids want all this amazing treasure. Parents, though, can find them stuck between always saying “no” and breaking the bank spoiling the kids with too-often “yeses.”
But Sheila Walkington, one of the authors of Unstuck, How To Get Out of Your Money Rut and Start Living the Life you Want reminds us that saying “no” is part of a parent’s job.
“Teenagers and youngsters want, want, want,” Walkington says. “Our culture tells them they’re entitled to the latest everything — phone, iPad, jeans, even cars. But they’ll be in debt for the rest of their lives if you don’t teach them some financial responsibility.”
The following are some tips laid out by Walkington that can help parents teach their kids about managing money successfully.
Give them an allowance. It’s okay if they make mistakes in their spending decisions; it’s how they learn.
Give them financial responsibilities. What expenses are they expected to cover with their allowance? Decide on, and let them take care of: lunch money, clothes, cell phone bills, movies or slurpees.
Talk to them about money. You can’t learn anything new if you never talk about it.
Involve them in some of the decisions about family finances. Give them a choice or hold a family vote. Should the family buy a new TV or go on holiday? Do they want to play hockey at $600 a year or take weekly guitar lessons?
Encourage them to save for things they really want or insist they pay half. Are they willing to save for a must-have pair of $200 dollar jeans or squirrel away spending money for a holiday?
Don’t get your teens hooked on credit. That means not continually shelling out money in return for half-hearted promises to pay it back.
Don’t let them off the hook. If you do agree to advance them money, clearly set out the terms and stick to them. And don’t bail them out if they spend all their money in the first few days of getting their allowance. They need to learn to make it last.
Setting up a foundation of financial education is becoming more and more important as credit is easier to obtain, interest rates are huge, and toys, trinkets and technologies are so alluring and ever-changing.
“They most likely won’t thank you today, next week or even next year. But they will thank you eventually!” says Walkington.
Learn more money tips at: moneycoachescanada.ca
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