Sunday, March 10, 2013

Life Lessons about Money



Life Lessons about Money 

By Keith Bunn Jr.
March 10, 2013

Its all my fault!

I have told my kids for years, "You kids don't have a clue what the real world is like or what it costs!" And you know who's fault that is? Mine!
As parents, it is OUR responsibility to teach our children everything they need to know to make them functional citizens when it comes time to release them out into the world, and that includes teaching them life lessons about money.

Money Lessons

Here are a couple lessons you can do to help teach your children about money and how much life's necessities cost. One of these lessons we did and the other I learned later on.

1) The one lesson we did was we sat our kids down at the kitchen table and pulled out some play money. In our case, we used Monopoly money. We pulled out enough money to equal out our household take home pay. We then explained to our kids that, that money was what we received in pay for the month. Right then, I'm sure they thought we were loaded with money, but what we did next blew their minds. We began to subtract what our monthly bills, food and gas was at that time. It also showed them what was left, if we had anything left. It also proved to them that we weren't kidding when we said we didn't have the money that week/month for something they wanted or wanted to do.  

2) We've all seen this scenario if you have young to mid teenager in your home. They want to go do something with their friends and you say no. Which then leads to an argument and them not believing you that you don't have the money for that sort of thing. Or you've told them over and over again to turn off the lights when leaving a room, don't leave the refrigerator door open while making their lunch, shut the doors to the house when the heat and air is on, etc... you talk to your teens until you are blue in the face and they still don't seem to get it. Well that's because they don't get it. So here is something you can do to help them get it.
The next time you start paying your bills, whether you are still writing checks or entering the amounts through your bank's online Bill Pay. Sit your teen down and have them fill out the amounts on the checks or in Bill Pay. This does a couple of things. It gives them practice to do these things when they are out on their own. It also shows them the reason why mom and dad get after them for leaving the lights on when they are paying $200 a month for electricity.

These are just a couple of things you can do to help your kids to understand about money and what the simple things cost we all take for granted from time to time. Show your kids your budget. This will help them understand some of the things you tell them about money and how to manage it. It also gives you the opportunity to point mistakes out you did to your kids. Explain to them why they were mistakes so they don't make the same ones you did.

Questions

1) Do you have kids that could benefit from these lessons?

2) What other lessons have you done or can come up with to teach your kids about money or how much things cost?

I hope my posts inspire you to look at what you’re doing financially and if needed, make some changes that will cause you to win financially. I also look forward to reading your views on any articles or postings that I may post. For more money news, facts and ideas, follow me on Facebook, or Twitter. Thank you!

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