My oldest, Allison, is a gifted writer. Allison is a rising senior in college and a creative writing major. Her writing has been commended for her frank, sometimes touching and often humorous insights into her topic. I asked her to submit the tips below to a writer friend of mine and this was the result. I liked hearing these novel tips from the “boots on the ground” so to speak – where her insights were learned the hard way and very personally – as I am sure you will as well.
We all make mistakes – that is how we learn. Writer Terri Cettina asked me how to handle kids money mistakes and was surprised when I cheered the idea!
The holidays are just around the corner, so it’s time to start thinking about how you can start saving now to get all those gifts on your family’s and friends’ wish lists. My friend Andi guided me to a post by Lila Quintiliani on the Military America Saves site which offers some great tips to help you get started.
#7 of 10 things NOT to say to your kids about $$$: “We’ll get that or do that when we win the lottery.”
Since the chance of winning the lottery are one in 12 million, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning (1 in 1.9 million). So what you should say is…”Let’s make a list of what we need and want and start to save and invest towards those goals.” Much better chances!
Last week I shared some money tips with journalist Kim Palmer of U.S. News & World Report. Here is the full list she published to help families get off to a good start this school year. Let me know what you think of these tips and some other things your family does to get off on the right foot each school year.
In this past Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, our award-winning app for kids, Savings Spree, was featured in an article about apps to teach kids the basics of savings and spending wisely. Here’s a link to the article: “Thrift? There’s an app for that”
Thanks to our friend, Lou Carlozo of Reuters, for including our app in this great resource article for families. If you haven’t tried Savings Spree yet, here’s a brief video demo to see how kids can learn about money choices and the impact of those choices with the Money Savvy Pig as the host:
If you want to see more, here’s the long version of the demo:
Recently I started a list of posts on Facebook for the top 10 things not to say to kids about money. So I thought I would add them here as well. So here’s the first of the top 10:
#1 of 10 things NOT to say to your kids about $$$: “We cannot afford that”
Instead we should say, “That is not in our budget but we could plan for it!”
My youngest is a gifted young woman. From a very early age she has been able to be that pal or friend of a special ed kid and not have that child think they are any different than any other kid. She is also completely turned on by mission work. Her idea of fun is to spend an entire summer going from one desperately in need town to another helping other high school kids paint houses, build porches, change out flashing on a double-wide and so on. Her dream career is to work with special ed kids in some way – we haven’t gotten that all worked out just yet – but we are definitely seeing a trend here.
As she applied to colleges this Spring, we discovered that her gifts were not measurable by ACT, SAT or GPA. There was no box for “tireless special ed volunteer”, or “youngest member of church council”. (more…)
Holiday money mistakes are a great teachable moment for kids. It’s easy to break the bank during the holiday season. Talk openly with your kids – always in an age-appropriate way – about gift-giving this past season and discuss options to make sure next year’s spending stays within budget.
Discuss starting a holiday savings account now where money is deposited each month in preparation for the end of year spending. Consider layaway options for bigger gifts. Plan for homemade gifts. Maybe a summer garden will provide the family with the makings of some homemade jam to gift next December. And don’t forget to think about the opportunities to earn some extra cash this summer when school is out. A good old-fashioned lemonade stand could help make a nice contribution to the holiday savings account.
It’s that time of year again. The holidays are done and the New Year’s headache is cured. Or is it? Now we wait for the end-of-the-year bills to arrive.
If you did not overspend, let your kids share in the victory.
Talk as a family about how you stayed within your budget. Did you make a list of all those you wanted to remember and take that list with you to the mall each and every time you shopped? Did you place a dollar amount next to the name and make sure you did not exceed that amount? Did you discuss what you had to “give” to gift-giving before you went out and shopped? Did you come up with ideas that would replace a purchased gift – like baking or a gift of time or a talent?
Leverage your “purchase fatigue” and your family’s contentment as you think about next year. (more…)
#7 of 10 things NOT to say to your kids about $$$: “We’ll get that or do that when we win the lottery.”
It’s that time of year again. The holidays are done and the New Year’s headache is cured. Or is it? Now we wait for the end-of-the-year bills to arrive.
