Children that learn financial principles early in life tend to save more, invest smarter, and make better financial decisions than children that learn about money after college, when they have a much slimmer margin of error.
Children that learn financial principles early in life tend to save more, invest smarter, and make better financial decisions than children that learn about money after college, when they have a much slimmer margin of error.
I frequently talk with adults that can barely articulate the difference between a stock and a bond or how the banking industry works. We are ill equipping our children for a society that has little mercy on the financially challenged and economically illiterate. Will Medicare and social security be there for our children? Maybe or maybe not. So, we need to help them plan as though they may not be options. We have no idea, really, what programs will be there, so we need to make sure our kids are equipped to deal with life as they
find it.
With all of the financial turmoil around us, the chances for children to obtain the American dream are becoming slimmer. We can fight back by equipping our kids with the skill sets to manage, appreciate and accumulate assets at the earliest age possible. When your child is born, open up a brokerage account, online discounts are fine, and purchase small affordable amounts of shares.
Start off with what you are most familiar with…for instance, when my son was born I was very familiar with Proctor & Gamble, Beechnut, Gerber…get the picture?
Enroll your children in economic and financial literacy courses. Start checking and savings accounts for them early to help them value fiscal responsibility and learn how to manage money. Start building credit for them as soon as possible. All these things will jump start your child’s financial strength.
Choosing to let your child learn about finance later in life may cost them more than you can imagine.
Cathy Clark, Money University (312) 626-2602, WWW.MONEYUNIVERSITY101.COM
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