Teaching kids about money

[MSChioma]

As a responsible parent, do you have a duty to ensure that you teach your children about money from an early age?

I certainly do, and invested quite a few pounds in ensuring that I gave most of the children I bought Christmas presents for a useful gift (a workbook that helps them learn and practice how to set goals, budget, save and spend wisely) as opposed to toys and clothes that are a passing fancy. However, apparently, the gifts did not go down too well with their parents as the gift seemed to apparently imply that they were not parenting properly by already teaching their kids about money. And some felt it wasn't a topic the kids needed to bother about until they were much older.

Am I the only one out here who believes that the sooner a child starts learning about money and the value of money, the better off they'll be in the future. I mean, the kids I bought the workbook for were aged between 9 and 14 and it wasn't a book about investing on the stock market or trading in listed derivatives. It was simply a workbook that highlighted the benefits of setting goals, saving and spending wisely and provided them with a tool for tracking their saving and spending over the year. Please refer to the website to see what I mean. It is www.moneysmartworld.com

I would like to know other people's thoughts on the issue of if parents should teach their children about money and when is a good time to start.

I think its a great idea. I dont think theres an age to start at tho, depends on personality, maturity etc. My 14 year old ds is great with money, always has been. My 8 year old dd would rather spend what she has than save. We've done nothing different with her, she's just different personality/attitudes etc. It will come to all kids in time but i think teaching must come from the parents.

Personally I think it is up to the parents, and it is not an appropriate gift for someone else's child.
or
FFS what child wants a workbook as a present?

I think MSChioma is spamming us

I agree with emmaagain. And by the way mschioma, I talk to my children about money matters, I don't buy them a workbook about it.

I'm not quite sure what the accusation about spamming you is about. I was trying to start off an intellectual discussion following my "christmas gifts" experience about people's general views on teaching their kids about money. However I must say that I am quite dissapointed by the nature of responses and intellect levels displayed. First, the language (FFS) put forward by chasingsquirrels and reference to spam etc are below expectation.

With so many people in debt, and the age of those declaring themselves bankrupt getting younger and younger (I work in that area, so I know!), I would have thought that it was a topic that would be taken more seriously.

I have personally seen (first hand) the effects of a lack of financial planning and education, thus my personal determination to ensure that I teach my kids about money and how to handle it from an early age. I don't believe that trying to share what I've found with others and trying to invoke discussion about it is a crime.

With regards to chopchopbusybusy's comments, if you already speak to your children about money, well congratulations, about 75-80% don't. I speak to my children about money and use the workbook to support what I do. Everyone has different methods. Please note that no one has asked you to purchase a workbook.

I agree that financial education is important, but the workbook you linked looks completely and utterly OTT. It is possible to be careful (I should know - I'm frugal to the point of meanness) without accounting for every single penny in the piggy bank.

I don't in general have a problem with friends trying to introduce my children to issues I haven't thought to raise yet, but I'd worry about that workbook producing a financial version of anorexia. And Christmas presents ought to be fun - you're clearly not a candidate for favourite auntie status.

I do talk to my children about money, whether particular items are a good buy, the importance of avoiding serious debt, and I allow them to experience looking after money, saving up for things they really want etc. As for the right age to start, I'd say from 3 onwards at a very basic level (need money to buy things), working on more detail as their understanding increases. By the time they start secondary school they may well have to handle money for fares, lunch etc.

Ha - you beat me to it Waswondering!

I suspect she is, and it's a good, if not very subtle, try at promotion.

To be honest I think kids will learn more from parents on a day-to-day basis than from any workbook, but I can see it might be useful in schools if parents are completely hopeless.

Waswondering and Gameboy, I think the OP is an earnest newbie (as I'm sure we all were once ) who genuinely did buy the books for friends' children. The website and workbook seem very American, and the OP doesn't.

Hi Hallgerda, thanks for your support . I am very, very new to this and was a bit overwhelmed and surprised by the initial comments. I did not write the book.. I only bought it for my son and a combination of 7 nieces and nephews !

Agree it's an important thing to teach but not a good Christmas present for other people's kids.

OK - sorry MSChioma. Are you from the US by the way - I agree the site looks very American.

I wouldn't expect a relative to buy this sort of thing for my kids to be honest.

Like others I do teach my DD about money topics, and she has since learnt about money at school too.

However, I wouldn't buy a workbook for a child's present unless they had requested it. Not all children enjoy these types of workbooks.

I totally agree with the importance of "financial inclusion", as the policy term has it - ie, making sure that money, its sources, its uses, its management, is properly taught to everybody, & thoroughly understood. In fact I am half-thinking that I might work in that area as my next job. So I will have a look at these resources.

But I think money-wisdom, & Christmas presents, are, well, perhaps mutually exclusive? - & OP should interpret the reaction in that light.

Hi Gameboy, I am not from the US. I now trully GET IT (re: getting the kids the workbooks as a christmas present) and will try to win back my street cred next Christmas.

However, I am really passionate about the topic of equipping kids with the financial savvy they need to navigate today's world. On Sky news tonight, one of the leading stories is the record high number of people going bankrupt and as mentioned earlier, they are getting younger.

Anyway, in order to avoid overdoing it with my 2, I do appreciate and welcome suggestions as to how best to tackle teaching kids about money in a way that will have a lasting impact. I've looked at the Free moneysaving expert download and it seems to be relevant to teenagers (ages 15-19). My oldest isn't 10 yet.

I think it's a great idea, and I think the sooner all children learnt about how to make money work for them (and not to necessarily work for their money) the better, you only need to look at the crippling debt levels, which only will get worse.

I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad only fairly recently, and wish that I had started years ago.

DS1 is only 3, but we do want to start him early to think wisely about money.

To the OP, I took and take your post at face value, and don't think you did anything wrong, hopefully in fact it will make the parents of the kids think a bit more about messages they are giving their kids.

Returning to the broader question of how to educate younger children about moeny, here's what we do.

My children are 13, 10 and 8. DS1 has a train journey to school, so is used to buying tickets. All the children come on the weekly shopping run, and are occasionally sent out to buy things from the corner shop, so they know how much various household essentials cost and are used to handling money and checking change. When we go to the library we need to spend over £10 in the supermarket next door in order to park free, so I let the children (particularly the younger two) work out how close we are to that figure (though they do try to hijack the exercise by making a very convincing case for buying cake).

Various relatives give them money for Christmas and birthday presents, which they save up to buy things they want.

We talk about such matters as insurance, mortgages, total costs of holidays and all the hidden extras, gambling, and the cost of keeping a horse or maintaining a castle (I don't gamble, keep a horse or live in a castle in case anyone was wondering - just the sort of subject that comes up, honest).

What I would love, and would commission if I were anywhere near the publishing world, is a volume in this "The Knowledge" series - avowed objective is "demystifying" - about the financial world - including corporate debt, third world lending, the lot.

I do very much as hallgerda does - children (8.5 & 7) have their own savings accounts, pocket money comes via a double-entry little cashbook, ds (the 8yo) is completely priggish about Gambling - but it's things like how interest works, the difference between debt and equity, why foreign exchange is the maelstrom it is, that ds would really really love, and I would love to see it explained in terms children can get hold of.

The Murderous Maths books are quite good, here & there - compound interest & probability (so Don't Gamble, You Fool), but it's not focussed.

It smacks of giving children something else to worry about to me. At 9 they shouldn't have to think about money, how to budget, make more etc.

Thanks guys , this is really great. I shall be taking on board many of these wonderful practical tips.

I agree with others that a workbook about money is not the sort of xmas present I would buy for others' kids or my own but I also agree on the importance of long-term planning and education about money (esp. pensions and the cost of university fees which are often neglected and lack of planning in these areas can lead to financial ruin at worst and limited future opportunities at best). I also hate the waste (of money, time and environmental impact)involved in Christmas and am trying to find ways of reducing this. I've started to detest the armfuls of plastic tat that come in every year from dp's family for the children and us. There's so much of it anid it's usually such awful quality that it's not appreciated and just becomes a pain to try and get rid of in an environmentally sound way. So I've started to try and buy and ask for presents like theatre visits or whatever which are appreciated much more and the memories of which last forever. And also put money in the children's bank accounts for university. Or buy stuff from ebay.