on Nov 29th, 2009Real education for your children
College notwithstanding, your children’s real education about money will take place all through their childhood, in the way you talk about money, in the way you present what working is all about, in the way they learn what they have a right to hope for in this world.
Children can absorb so much, if you will just trust yourself and open up to them. Play money games with them, using mail- order catalogs and price tags in stores—teach them value. When they’re old enough, tell them about your 401(k), your strategies for investing, and what this all means in the context of their young lives. Rather than a traditional passbook savings account, give your children a little money in a mutual fund and let them keep careful watch over it. Talk to your children about how the world presented in advertisements, with a stunning array of things to consume, is different from the real world. Turn the dinner table conversation to the subject of money, and talk to your children about what it means to save for college, for example. Explain what credit cards are, and what you’re doing when you go to the bank, and what the cash machine is all about. Talk about what it means to be poor. Talk about what it means to be rich. Talk about charity, and let your children see it in action often. Talk about prices, and values, at the supermarket. Talk about mortgages, and debt, and insurance, and how you make choices about money.
By talking to your children about money, you will be talking to them about the way the world really works. And teaching them well.