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Real-life money lessons

We Did It! An Update on Saving for A BIG Lego Set

A few months ago, I had a parenting win. J received a gift that he couldn’t use, and instead of exchanging it for something right away, he returned the item and put the money aside for something he really wanted — The Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon Lego set.

This BIG set cost $99.99, and with 6% tax, he needed a total of $105.99.

He started on August 26, 2017 with $25.17 in a Target gift card.

By saving $8.00 every two weeks (of his $9.00 allowance), he calculated that he would reach his goal on or before January 19, 2018.

The Power of a Goal

Not only did he save part of his allowance, but J was inspired to do chores for extra money and also added in some gifts from relatives. Both accelerated his progress towards the goal.

On November 10 (2.5 months in), he had $90.67.

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Start saving young

Having “The Talk” About Making Your Money Work Harder: Part 5 – Net Worth

Welcome back to our five part series on making your money work harder! This series is part of a BIG conversation I had with J where we talked about other ways to invest his money beyond the Bank of Mom.

In part 1, we talked about savings accounts, in part 2 savings bonds, in part 3 CDs, in part 4 stocks and today in part 5 we’ll wrap up our discussion with keeping track of your net worth.

Paying attention

It sounds a little pretentious, doesn’t it? Keeping track of your “net worth.” Like something only rich people do.

But think about this. If you go on a diet, do you log your meals and calories? What about if you’re training for a marathon? Would you write down your runs and workouts? And if you want to cut back on social media? Would you track your time?