When it comes to allowances, there are those who say you should just give kids some money since they’re part of the family. Others say they should earn it. Dave Briggs is in the earn it camp. “I do not believe just giving kids money prepares them for the real world,” he explained. “When you […]
Archive | Teaching Kids
The Scared-to-Invest Generation
The recession has left workers in their 20s and 30s wary of the stock market. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the percentage of workers between 25 and 35 who say they have saved for their retirement has fallen by over 20 percent in the last decade. A Newsweek article about the research noted […]
Encouraging Your Kids to be Entrepreneurs
There was a good post on Get Rich Slowly recently about fanning the entrepreneurial flames in your kids. The author suggested connecting money making ideas with your kids’ interests (as opposed to just making money for the sake of making money), supervising the set-up of their business but giving them enough room to fail since […]
Kids Ask The Darndest Things About Money
Have your kids ever asked you a real stumper of a question about money? Consider this one, culled from a great series of blog posts from Ron Lieber at The New York Times: “You tell me all the time that the reason we have nice things and can go to a nice school is that […]
High School Grads Not Ready for the Real Financial World
Nearly half of recent high school grads say they are unsure how to manage their own banking or personal finances, according to a survey by Capital One. Now for the good news: the survey also found that money is one topic where parental advice can actually get through to teens. Among the students who said […]
The Lawn Mowing Millionaire
If your child plans to work a summer job, encourage him or her to open a Roth IRA. According to a Mainstreet.com article, money you pay your child for chores won’t qualify, but money the child earns mowing other people’s lawns, babysitting, working a paper route, and many other jobs probably will. A Roth IRA […]
Teaching Kids to Feed the Pig
Looking for ways to teach your kids about money? Consumer Reports recently highlighted “Feed the Pig for Tweens,” a financial literacy program for 4th through 6th graders. The free program teaches kids how to save, spend smart, and distinguish between needs and wants. Teachers can use the materials in their classes or parents can use […]
Kids Who Do Chores Do Better With Money
Parents of adult children who regularly did household chores while growing up are more likely to describe their kids as “very financially responsible” than parents whose kids did fewer or no chores. That’s one of the findings from a new Charles Schwab & Company survey. Parents whose kids did no household chores also described themselves […]
Should You Pay Kids to Go Green?
A new web site, Green Allowance, encourages parents to use allowances to motivate their kids to develop environmentally friendly habits. The site fosters a deal between parents and their kids: the kids take on various energy saving projects, the parents split some of the estimated savings with their kids. Green Allowance sends report cards, showing […]
Kids’ Media Use Growing Fast
Today’s’ young people ages 8 to 18 spend over 7 and a half hours a day using entertainment media such as televisions, computers, cell phones, and MP3 players. As reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation, daily media usage among young people has grown by over an hour in the past five years. Broken down into […]