What can parents do?

You might be a parent, a caregiver, an older sibling, a grandparent, etc. And you might be wondering what YOU can do to help your young one with financial education. I thought I might help - since my parents do have a lot of knowledge on this sort of thing.

My dad just loves finance. Maybe not love, but it was an understanding of the art. However, he gained his knowledge from taking courses. What about me and my brother? How will we learn? I was young when he gifted me a Robert Kiyosaki book. I don't remember reading it, and maybe I didn't. Was I really interested? Not really. It's nothing against Kiyosaki. It's just that I only read fiction, and what does finance have to do with a twelve year old girl?

Or so I thought.

Affinity for finance is not something that is simply passed down from parent to child like genetics and DNA. I cultivated my appreciation for finance. I put in work to learn it. Your child can too. If they dislike reading text-heavy materials, strive to make the material easier to understand. Put the material into the form of a game.

Monopoly may seem like a fun family-oriented game, but it does teach children a lot about money: how to save it, when to use it, pro-con evaluation, etc. Give allowances if they do certain tasks. They will understand how to earn the money by doing work. Ask them, would you rather have one dollar now, or three dollars after an hour? Talk more about finance-related things, like companies merging or bankruptcy. Understand that your child will be curious, like all children, and fuel this curiosity. Let them make their own connections.

In high school, they can join clubs like FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) or DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America). Even if they are not that interested in competing, becoming Treasurer or VP/President of clubs can show them: fundraising, maintaining money, using money, etc. Watching Shark Tank is always interesting, especially for more mature children who can understand valuation and some language. They could start working at age 16, or intern at a company or non-profit. Let them make a bank account. Watch their money grow as a result of compounding and interest.

And so on. There are many daily activities in life that you can tie into finance.

There are numerous links and websites with worksheets for young children, which will be posted later.

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