Categories
Spend wisely

If I Could Teach My Child Just One Financial Lesson, It Wouldn’t Be To Save

Last week I saw a tweet from Adam at Money Savvy Daddy that said, “If you could teach your child just one money/financial lesson… what would it be?”

I love to learn what people are teaching their kids so I was eager to read the responses. Not surprisingly, many people said, “Save!” Saving is definitely important, but saving without context… how can that be successful? What are you saving for?

Categories
Financial education

Pay Day – Our New Favorite Board Game

I don’t normally go out on Black Friday, but my sister and her husband came home this past Thanksgiving, so a trip to Target was in order. While shopping, I stumbled on a magical game called Pay Day.

A quick scan of the box showed that it was a money management game, and I knew I had to have it. Plus it was the “retro” edition, which made it even more desirable. (Why is that?)

I bought the game (for a discount because the Cartwheel price was lower than the in-store price) and we played our first game that weekend.

The Game

The rules are easy. Everyone starts out with $325 (in the retro edition). The board is a month, and before the game starts, you decide how many months you want to play.

Categories
Money conversations

My Kid Is Not Motivated By Money

At the end of every school year, the teacher sends home a few summer learning packets. There is normally a packet for math and one for reading/language skills.

You’ve probably heard the statistics on summer learning loss — that kids lose at least one month of learning over the summer. I’m in favor of the idea of these packets, but in practice they’ve never worked for us.

We just don’t get around to it. Summer is busy and fun, we’re outdoors trying to soak up every last bit of warm weather and daylight that we can. We’re doing all of the things that we don’t get to do the rest of the year — swim, camp, picnic and hit the local amusement parks.

So this summer, I had a brilliant idea (or so I thought). I had the solution that would motivate J to want to do those worksheets.

Categories
Financial role models

Does Your Money Talk Match Your Money Walk?

If you’ve been around awhile, you know that my focus on National Bank of Mom is 1) teaching my son kick-ass money management skills and 2) fostering good communication between us.

I teach him how to balance his savings, spending and giving accounts, how to plan for a large purchase and how to save at least 10% of his income.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that talk will only get me so far.

If I want to instill these skills in my son, I have to make sure I’m walking the talk. I have to look at my own actions and behavior and ask myself, “Is what I’m doing contradicting what I’m saying?”

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”

That couldn’t be more true. So much of what we learn is unspoken. We pick things up from our friends, family and society around us — what’s “normal” and expected. How life works.

To that end, ask yourself the following questions and examine your behavior:

Categories
Real-life money lessons

Results of the No Present Party Experiment

J’s 9th birthday party was last weekend! If you remember, we asked for no presents, phrasing it like this: “Please, please no gifts for the birthday boy.” And if guests wanted to, they could bring something to donate to our local animal shelter. We said: “J would like to make a donation to [Specific Shelter] for his birthday. If you would like to donate with us, please consider something small from their needs list: [link].

I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. J mentioned that some kids said they were still going to bring him a present (in addition to a donation), even though he told them not to. I even heard one mom make a comment to another – that her husband said, “Are they trying to make us feel bad? Are we supposed to do this now?”

A few parents texted before the party with questions, and I reiterated what the invitation said and how we wanted to focus on giving.

J and I had a few talks before the actual party as well – that the party was the present and getting to spend time with his friends. (Just to try to avoid a potential upset kid when he realized there were no presents for him.)

But all in all, it DID seem to work!