YNAB You Need A Budget

[rollercoaster]

I am sure if I showed the least propensity to being casual about money or guarding their good name, I am certain I would not have been given the opportunity to learn.

And this is why my sister has never been an authorized card holder on my parents' cards, it would be like infinite money to her. My dad did co-sign a loan for my sister, though, against my mother's wishes and it's Mom and Dad who are paying off that loan right now. Thankfully the loan is finite. When it's paid off, it's paid off for good. Our parents have also co-signed for both my brother and I, but never had to pay a cent of their own money to satisfy the loan.

[bookman413]

I like Trent at The Simple Dollar's approach for instilling good (prudent and effective) money habits in his and his wife's children.

[tallison]

When I first started a savings account (I was 6) my parents were giving me an allowance. I had choices with my money. I could either put it in savings, and if I didn't touch it for two weeks they'd match it, or I could spend it straight away. I'm pretty sure the matching was a way to exaggerate interest so I could see it happening with my kid-sized attention span. I always had savings growing up and from that point forward.

I think the matching stopped when I was 10 or so. By then they had opened a mutual fund for me as well as my savings account.

When my kids were about 6 I set up a savings account at the local credit union for them and did an automatic deposit every Friday for $5.
They didn't pay much attention to it for years but every once in a while it would occur to them to check the bank to see if they had money. Sometimes this would be over $100! For the most part, I forgot about it too.

As a rule, if they ever wanted to buy a "big ticket item" I would offer to pay 50% of it provided they came up with the rest. And begging relatives was specifically prohibited.

When they turned 18 I increased it to $10. But by then they had been working on their own jobs and buying things on their own.

Now that they are both off in college they love the fact that they have a trickle of $10 coming in on the side all the time. If nothing else, the understand the value of having an alternative, yet low, source of income and the idea of leaving it alone to accumulate.

As for reading material: Rich Dad, Poor Dad and I Will Teach You To Be Rich are excellent.

[fleurfavs]

Talking to our kids is very essential and it will help them become efficient financial investors in the future. I teach my 6 years old kid about it and she liked to be as wealthy as it is.

[glenndon]

Some excellent information from this thread! I just started my 7 and 5 year olds on an allowance with a mandatory portion going to savings. Will be interesting when they are older and starting to ask about adult stuff. I know I didn't get taught a whole lot growing up, learned as an adult (including many mistakes!) and hope to teach my kids a thing or two before they move out. I know they will make mistakes too.... all we can do is try!!

Anyways, this website has some articles specifically dealing with kids and money, just scroll down to the bottom. The 4 part series on prepping kids is an interesting read in particular.

http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/articles.html

Have a nice YNAB day,

Glenn