I will be the first to admit that my savings /investment strategy is a mess. With that it mind, I have tried to impress upon my daughter the concept of saving for the future, especially having money for college.
Recently, on the way to school, after I had a melt down about my brother taking the $20 off the desk that I needed to do laundry, she told me “you don’t have to pay to the trip videos.”
Yes, I worked out a deal to pay my daughter to take our videos and photos from our London and Paris trip and make videos on iMovie.
This sounds ludicrous but let’s face it’s been 2 months and I have done nothing with them and I need the space on my phone so rather having nothing happen to those movies, I figured I would pay her and I get some videos done (my very own video assistant.)
“Mommy, you don’t have to pay me for the videos, you should keep it and save it” and she was dead serious when she said this.
“No, that was a our agreement. You can start taking that money and put into the bank for college. I’d rather pay you then spend thousands paying some one else.” I tried to explain to her.
“Plus you need to plan for the future, this doesn’t make sense know but you need to have money for college because I may not be able to help you. That’s why I want you to be able to start saving now. Yes, I want you to be able both save and spend. I don’t want you to end up like Mommy. Okay!” I rambled on.
“Okay, that makes sense.” she said happily.
There was a time that I used that it’s not in budget language when I told my daughter that we could not afford to buy her something but no more. She has reached the age where I have to be pretty direct with her that I’m the only person supporting three people (the third person is my brother who lives with us and is getting started as a real estate broker.) And frankly, she is old enough to “see and feel” my insecurities of our financial situation.
In the end, I’m happy to pay my video assistant because not only do I get my videos made, she can add to her savings account but she also is building her technical skills that will help her in the future.
Are you honest with your children about your financial situation? And how do you explain the concept of saving to them?
We give them an allowance each week and get them to separate their funds into savings, tithe and spending just to get them into the habit of learning to set aside for a rainy day when they grow.
I have always been very honest with my kids about what we will and will not spend our money on. Even if it is something we CAN afford but do not feel is important. Kids need to learn about money at an early age!
My son has no concept of money and we’ve been working with him on it. I think “hiring” your kids to do tasks teaches them both the value of work and money!
I am always trying to save, and a little here and a little there helps.
My daughter is only 3, so it’s hard right now. But we try to explain that she can’t always get something every time we go to the store. And we play store with a little pretend cash register, so I think she’s starting to understand the concept of money.