“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” – Margaret Mead
Teaching your children to be financially literate can be one of the greatest life gifts you give them. You’ll be teaching them about the values of financial independence and management. Learning about personal finance at home can be a more enjoyable and enlightening experience than at school.
In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki agrees, as he says, “One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt is that the subject of money is taught at home, not in school. Most of us learn about money from our parents.”
Your perspective, spending habits and attitude towards money will influence how your children think and feel about their own money. Your children are always watching and learning from you.
It’s pivotal to instil positive thoughts and model constructive behaviours that will make it easier for them to deal with the challenges of managing and working with money.
You don’t need to teach them everything all at once, though. The understanding of preschoolers is different to that of high schoolers. Share information based on their maturity level and speed of learning; you don’t want to overwhelm them.
A good start is to help them be comfortable with numbers and develop a firm grasp on basic maths skills. From there you’ll gradually introduce more sophisticated financial topics when you note an improvement in their comprehension of new concepts.
Furthermore, your motivation in teaching your children healthier financial habits should be routed in improving their lives. When your motivations are to change someone, it’s easy to be perceived as telling them they’re wrong. This process should ideally be as positive and affirming as possible – working with money doesn’t need further stress!
Remember, the idea is not to prevent your children from financial problems in their future but to give them a balance of wisdom to identify and fix those problems.
Financial literacy, at its core, serves to develop within us a prosperity consciousness. Encourage your children to set achievable goals that will improve their sense of accomplishment so that they can continue working on improving their lives. Give them a license to thrive!
We, as Wellsfaber, take it upon ourselves to help you in creating a thriving life for you and your family. The ideas and advice we share are aimed at inspiring you to continue having a happy life with those you love.