How do you teach your kids about money?

I've got two little ones now for whose education I am responsible. As I high school Mathematics teacher, I am not concerned that they will fall behind in their school work. But I am concerned that current educational institutions are not teaching our kids what they need to know about money.

I'm sure that everyone here is teaching their kids about money management. What are your techniques? Are there any lesson plans that you are aware of?

I went in search of money management books for teens but came up empty. At least, I didn't find anything that was short enough to not look threatening to my former students (who didn't read books anyway).

So with the small amount of time I have while my toddler and baby have their afternoon nap, I've been writing some books on the subject.

My first book, "Do I HAVE To Get A Job?" is FREE this weekend on amazon. I'd love your feedback.

 

I love games!

I have been meaning to get those. I love games. I used to play monopoly for hours when I was a kid. Loved all things mathematical too: Lemonade stand, Yahtzee, any card game.

From Memory, Kiyosaki bases his whole investment theory on Monopoly. I think I heard it in a podcast recently: "Buy four houses then trade them in for a hotel"

 

There's a couple of good threads here

How did you teach your children about money...ideas please.

Is 5 years old too young to start eductaing about money

even

Growing up poor

 

DO you know if you can still buy this game? Does anyone know of a good app that kids could download?

 

I think this is a great place to start: Money Savvy Pig - Blue - Piggy Bank, Saving Money, Money Box, Educational Toys

I love the idea of a money box that is transparent - so that they can see their money grow - more motivation to continue to add to it.

Plus, the idea of having 4 different compartments for 'spending', 'saving', 'investing' and 'charity' helps educate them about delayed gratification, introduces the idea of investment at a young age (without being too technical, yet!), and a sense of community and humanity (through charity).

 

A bit of an oldie and probably pretty obvious, but monopoly is a great way to teach kids (teens) about money handling and how trade works.

 

I dont have kids personally but I feel that the most important thing my parents did for me was never covering the full cost of a few basic things.

First car they matched what I saved, incentivising me to save as much as I could leading to more money from them and therefore a better car.

My 18th birthday present was them giving me a cash sum matching once again whatever I could save.

These couple things laid some good foundations for me on top of the school piggy bank etc.

 

Great question. Integrate learning and responsibility into their daily schedule - ever increasing the levels so they can own their decisions and react with the world.

Give them a task to buy something (maybe ingredients to bake a cake) - they have x amount of money and have to work out how much they'll need to spend etc.

Just don't make it boring.