Teaching Kid's Finances

I really am loving Dave Ramsey's advice about finances! My husband and I are both on board and we have a vision.

I like a LOT of what he says about children and finances. We were blessed to get three of his children's books in Chick Fil A meals a year ago. And I found another one at a garage sale that she wanted 50 cents for, but I got it for free (because she refused to take a dime for it). LOL!! So I have four of his six books. :)

My girls LOVE these books! When we first got them (before Brian and I were even watching the Financial Peace University videos), our girls would BEG us to read them in the evenings (during our reading time). I would even get hounded several times a day "READ MINE PLEASE!" :)

Well, Dave Ramsey has created a kids site! It has a few games and print outs as well as one of the books is read online!! It is really nice!

The one thing I disagree with him on (and he is fine with disagreement...he shares what he did and what has worked for him) is paying kids commission for chores. I agree with him in no allowance. But I believe that children need to have daily chores that they are responsible for and are required to do JUST because they are a part of the family. There is a time when they will be grown up and have to do daily chores just because they have to and they will not get paid for them.

HOWEVER, there are PLENTY of jobs in every house hold that are above and beyond the daily chores. Where mopping might be required daily, a commission could be paid out on wiping down the walls or doing the windows (admit it, when was the last time YOU did windows?). I remember that Gary Smalley had a list of extra chores (moving the lawn, cleaning the garage, etc.) that he posted on the fridge along with a price next to each. His children could pick and chose to do those extra chores for extra cash but only after they had already completed their daily required chores.

I had never really thought about giving money to younger children. But Dave starts as young as 3! I really had to think about it. If you don't start giving extra money until the teen years, then you throw a teen into handling money without the training! It is STAGGERING how many TEENS and young adults are in deep deep debt!

So start them out early. Dave has a Financial Peace Junior kit, but if you know the principles you can do it without the kit. This year we are starting fresh with our children and the way they think about money. They will each have their SAVE, SPEND, and GIVE envelopes. I bought some wallets at Goodwill some time back. They will each get one to put their envelopes in.

Dave brought up a good point that it is different for a child to give money in Sunday School that they EARNED rather than just being a carrier for Daddy's money. And they need to learn about taxes and being good stewards of their money. Don't pay the tax for them. And don't say "you've been a good little girl, here is the extra money to get what you want." That is hard, but I know that my children will learn the value of money and hard work if they have to earn enough money to buy what they want. Having them do an extra chore or two and WAIT PATIENTLY to come back when they have enough money will increase their character.

Be sure to check out Ben and Arthur's example. It is really powerful.