It’s a new year and, if you’re like a lot of people, you may have money goals this year.
But what if you have kids? What can you do to ensure they’re being set up for success when it comes to financial education? I have some good news…. you can help them no matter where you’re starting from with just a few things.
Even if you’re not where you want to be with your finances, you can still pass on the skill of learning about money right now no matter what your bank account balance looks like. Here’s a few things to start doing today:
1. Change the way you talk about money to your kids
How you talk about money will impact the way they think about money and the beliefs they have about their ability to make, spend, save, invest and handle money. If they’re hearing that it’s stressful, you’re always struggling and that you can’t afford things, they will grow to believe that money is difficult and stressful. I’ve never met someone with those beliefs about money that is thriving financially.
Here are a few swaps you can make:
- Instead of: We can’t afford it.
Switch to: We have other priorities in our budget right now. - Instead of: I don’t make enough $
Switch to: I’m working on ways to increase my income - Instead of: We’re broke
Switch to: This month is going to be a bit tight for us so we’re getting creative with our budget
2. Incentivize them learning about finances like you would chores or good grades
If I want my kids to learn something that I don’t currently feel equipped to teach them, I reward them for reading a book or watching a video about it.
For example, we’re not quite at the stage yet where we’re looking at colleges but I know it will be here before we know it so I offered my daughter $5 to watch a detailed video about paying for college, what student loans are and the financial aid that is available to her. After she watched we discussed it, and we both learned a lot!
3. Let them see you handling money, making buying decisions, and having money conversations
Grocery pickup is awesome, I get it! But going into the grocery store is just one way kids learn about money through watching you use it in the real world.
What if you committed to bringing them with you just once a month? Tell them what your budget is for that trip, allow them to bring their own money if they want to buy something, explain adding sales tax, have them hand the cashier their money, see you comparing prices, all the things.
These 3 things are simple but will help your kids in their journey towards lifelong healthy money habits.
It's a great place to start!
If this was helpful, you can learn a lot more about money and motherhood (usually a mix of both) over on my podcast Money Mindful Moms. Click here if you have Apple podcasts (or you can search for it wherever you listen to podcasts)
