I took Nathan and Ryan to our broker this morning to discuss Roth IRAs. Both boys have jobs and I thought it was time to have them begin thinking about their retirement. John and I decided to match any money they made this summer, dollar for dollar, and, well, my boys have never been known to turn down free money. They were all in. I could have easily set up their custodial accounts online but I wanted the boys to…
Excerpted from Beyond the Piggy Bank, a 15-Day Challenge One of the goals for this Challenge is to develop healthy attitudes about money in our children. Since YOU have the greatest impact on what your kids learn about money, it’s important to take a little time to reflect honestly on the money messages you are sending them. Ask yourself the following questions. To help clarify your thoughts, you may want to write your responses down on paper. ~What is my…
Long story short, kids who know how to delay gratification tend to grow up to be adults with higher paying jobs, have happier relationships, are physically healthy, and are persistent in their pursuits. Let me know if you want the details to this longitudinal research. Using money, we have an unbelievable way to help our kids learn to delay gratification. It’s all about setting personal financial goals. There are three types of goals kids can set: ~to purchase a specific…
We impart our values to our kids through our words and our actions. Mostly our actions. Take a moment to reflect on the things you value. Integrity, compassion, honesty, persistence, courage, patience… Now think about an action that can be associated with each one. For example, returning the unpaid can of tuna you discovered in the shopping cart ~ honesty. Or volunteering to speak at the board meeting even though the thought of speaking in front of people makes you…
When Ryan was seven years old, John and I discovered he had a spending problem. As serious as a seven year old can have. It was all about Pokemon cards. Each week he would drain his money on the cute cards in hopes of striking it rich with a rare Charzard. But not wanting that spending problem to grow into a bad spending habit, we decided to introduce Ryan to compound interest. We wanted to see if the idea of…