“What’s scarier: you teaching them to do it now under your supervision, or them learning it on their own?”
Financial advice is something most people could use in some aspect or another. For parenting, it can be a topic that isn’t often broached, but should be, especially for teenagers. Money management is a skill that should be learned before leaving the house and living at college or on your own. The best way to learn money management is at home over time. Teaching kids how to use money wisely is a long process involving steps that build upon each other, which is what is talked about in Smart Money, Smart Kids.
With children on the verge of becoming teenagers, I want to make sure we teach them solid money management skills. I haven’t taken any Ramsey course, but have listened to his show and think he has offered some very solid financial advice. While I don’t subscribe to everything he suggests, I think he offers a good way for people to get a handle on their finances when they haven’t been taught good money management skills. I saw that he wrote a book with is daughter focusing on teaching children money management, I decided to check it out from the library and see what they suggested for parents to teach children.
Smart Money, Smart Kids starts out giving some of the Ramsey’s financial story. Dave Ramsey faced bankruptcy and decided to change how the family viewed and dealt with money. Chapters focus on teaching kids how to work, spend, save and give. Beyond the basics, kids also need to learn to budget, avoid debt and be content with what they have. There is a chapter dedicated to helping children pay for college without taking out student loans. The book ends with tips for parents to follow the same principles as their children, but also to plan for the future by doing estate planning.
I am glad I picked up this book and found a couple tips we hadn’t thought about when it comes to teaching our children money management. I don’t think you have to be a Dave Ramsey follower to appreciate the advice given in this book. It takes intention to teach children money management over years so they don’t go off at 18 and make huge financial mistakes that can affect the rest of their lives. I would recommend any parent read this book, whether your children are 6 or 16.
