{"id":1126,"date":"2011-09-24T15:13:24","date_gmt":"2011-09-24T15:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/?p=1126"},"modified":"2011-09-24T15:13:24","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T15:13:24","slug":"opportunity-cost-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=1126","title":{"rendered":"Opportunity Cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making decisions can be tough for kids.\u00a0 Especially when they’re confronted with two very appealing choices.\u00a0\u00a0I can go to my friend’s sleepover birthday party or attend the premiere to the new Harry Potter<\/em> <\/em>movie with my family.<\/em><\/p>\n

If\u00a0they choose to\u00a0go to the sleepover,\u00a0they’ll be able to hang out with\u00a0their friends and stay up late.\u00a0 On the other hand, if\u00a0they go to the movie, they’ll be a part of an elite group that has insider scoop on the popular new flick.\u00a0 The choice they do not pick is the opportunity cost of getting the other.<\/p>\n

As parents, we want to guide our kids to think through their choices without making the choice for them.\u00a0\u00a0And as difficult as making these decisions can sometimes be, opportunity cost teaches our kids that\u00a0they can’t have everything\u00a0they want and that life is full of trade-offs.<\/p>\n

The Money Connection:<\/strong> Consider a child who\u00a0has just received\u00a0$5 in allowance.\u00a0 He could spend the money now on hot wheels or he could put his money in his (KidsSave<\/a>) account and earn interest on it.\u00a0 Of course, the benefit of choosing the interest isn’t as concrete as the benefit of choosing the hot wheels.\u00a0 After all, waiting for interest to accrue is not as exciting as playing with a new set of hot wheels\u00a0right now<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But if we can begin to get our kids to reflect on how the money choices they make today can ultimately benefit them later on, they’ll be better prepared to take on some of the choices they’ll be confronted with one day.\u00a0 Things like,\u00a0should I take advantage of my 401(k) plan?<\/em> or\u00a0should I set up a (Roth) IRA?<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition, teaching our kids about opportunity cost helps underscore the difference between\u00a0needs\u00a0and wants (do you really need those hot wheels?) and can help reinforce delayed gratification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making decisions can be tough for kids.\u00a0 Especially when they’re confronted with two very appealing choices.\u00a0\u00a0I can go to my friend’s sleepover birthday party or attend the premiere to the new Harry Potter movie with my family. If\u00a0they choose to\u00a0go to the sleepover,\u00a0they’ll be able to hang out with\u00a0their friends and stay up late.\u00a0 On the other hand, if\u00a0they go to the movie, they’ll be a part of an elite group that has insider scoop on the popular new flick.\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teachable-moments","category-teaching-kids-financial-literacy","category-using-kidssave"],"yoast_head":"\nOpportunity Cost - Karyn's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=1126\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opportunity Cost - Karyn's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making decisions can be tough for kids.\u00a0 Especially when they’re confronted with two very appealing choices.\u00a0\u00a0I can go to my friend’s sleepover birthday party or attend the premiere to the new Harry Potter movie with my family. 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