One Year To An Organized Financial Life: September

Children and Money – This is an important topic; we need to teach our children about money, by our example as well as “in the class room”.  I don’t think I’m teaching our kids much, except that there is never enough money around.  Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true.

 

If you will remember from past posts, this book provides a habit and a tool for each month.  These two items are meant to help us reach our financial goals faster.

Habit of the Month: Read advertisements carefully.  We do this from time to time with our children, but not as in depth as suggested.  Granted though our children are young.

Tool of the Month: A money management binder for children.  I think this is a good idea overall.  However, we don’t pay a regular allowance or commission (as Dave Ramsey calls it).  As my husband and I learn more, maybe that will change.

 

Week One: Frugality for Parents.  This section deals with two main issues – parents giving to their children out of guilt and teaching children to manage money.  The authors encourage parents to trade the money they spend ON their children for time spent WITH their children.  The money saved could be put towards retirement or an education fund.  Children need to learn how to manage money, so that when they hit the real world they are not falling into a lot of the same traps some of us parents have.  I do not want my children to experience a bankruptcy; I want them to be further ahead financially than my husband and I were when we got married.  By our examples we need to show our children a balance between working and taking care of ourselves / having fun.  We work so that we can take a holiday, for example.

 

Week Two: Educate  Your Children about Money.  I love this section.  The authors show us how to teach age appropriate money lessons. They have a number of different age groups with ideas for each.

 

Week Three and Four: Save for College and How Your Child Can Contribute.  These are great chapters.  We believe that our children need to pay most of their way into and through college themselves.  We will help but they need to prove that they want to be there and work hard to get there themselves.

 

So much good information here!

 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,