After accepting the opportunity to join the staff of Sound Mind Investing in 2012, but before my family moved from Chicago to Louisville, SMI founder Austin Pryor sent a welcome package. It contained three T-shirts, one for each of our children, commemorating the University of Kentucky’s recent win in the NCAA national basketball championship. (Austin is a big UK fan).
The package was accompanied by a card that simply contained these words: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). I believe the word “should” was underlined.
I can’t say that our kids have become UK basketball fans (somehow, I’m still gainfully employed), but that’s a key verse for all parents.
It’s been my experience that children are capable of learning about money, even complicated aspects of money, such as investing, at an earlier age than we might assume.
That was the topic of conversation when I talked with Kurt Sauder and Chad Russell recently for an episode of their Solid Steps podcast.
If you’re the parent or grandparent of a child between the ages of 2 and 18, I would love to help you teach that child a biblical approach to money. That’s why I wrote, Trusted: Preparing Your Kids for a Lifetime of God-Honoring Money Management.
Raising our children with biblical financial perspectives and practices will deepen their relationship with Jesus, greatly benefit their future marriage, and set them up for a lifetime of using money in the most meaningful, impactful ways possible.
Instead of gifts to my grandkids who are/were spoiled and got what they wanted, I decided my hard earned money wasn’t going to toys which would soon be forgotten, or worse yet, stolen for theor carelessness of leaving scooters in the front yard, even in Orange County. So I started bank accounts for them, then wondered why I wasn’t investing in stocks for them. So I opened a trading account foreach of them and put all the funds, about $1K to $2K for each of them into stocks and mutual funds. When my oldest grarndson turned 18, they bought him a good used car. Soon after it needed a transmission. So I took $3K out of his account and sent it to him to get his transmission fixed. He learned then how saving can help him in the future. Fast forward to this year, he’s now 19 and started paying that account for him back, we converted it to a Roth IRA. Now he’s in the Marine’s, still in boot camp due to catching pmeumonia in boot camp. He didn’t graduate with his class, but hopefully will soon when he gets a medical release. I was ESTATIC when in one of his letters to me he said he opened a ROTH in the military with 7% of his income and they match another 5%.!!! I was so happy and proud. My efforts paid off. I told him to let me know what funds he’s got available to him and will start investing in a good S&P 50 and Nasdaq funds for him. I’m still investing in stocks in his other account and will have him fully fund it also. Now to work on his younger brother who is 14 and sister who is 9.
This is all so great, Kathy. It’s a wonderful moment when you see that they are starting to get it and taking positive action on their own!
Thanks, Matt. This article reminded me of a conversation I had with one of my friends yesterday. He told me how his son, now in his late 20s and married, had recently shared with him how much he appreciated learning the financial principles of managing money from the Bible. My friend took his two children through a small-group Bible study on finances when they were teenagers, and it had a huge impact on this young man’s life. Your book Trusted: Preparing Your Kids for a Lifetime of God-Honoring Money Management is a great resource for parents.
Thanks for all of this, Leo. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but there is so much incredible good that could come about through our kids growing up learning a biblical approach to money. I’ve met some parents who say they don’t feel equipped to teach their kids about money. Hopefully, “Trusted” can help. If parents will just take even small steps toward more fully incorporating biblical teaching into their own use of money, and if they will bring their kids into the process, I know that God will multiply all of that for good.