In response to: What do you think? Should you discuss finances with your children?
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We both waffle back and forth on these two perspectives and right now we’ve settled somewhere in between. Our children know we have debt, but don’t know the amount. They know I make pretty decent money, but don’t know how much. Our older boys pretty much know the details of our monthly expenses, such as the cable bill, phone bill, utility bills, etc. We’ve shared this with them to help them appreciate things a little more.
I definitely think talking about finances with children is important. I don’t have kids, but I was one 
I don’t think you need to get into exactly what the figures are to have valuable conversations. Far too many people become adults with far too poor an understanding of personal finance. Given how important managing money is today I think it is like hunter-gathers not teaching a kid how to hunt.
Books: Money Sense for Kids - Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids - The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens - Raising Financially Fit Kids - A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money: How to Make It, Save It, And Spend It
A few blog posts on teaching children about money: Personal Finance for Children and Pre-Teens - 5 Tips for Savvy Parents - Teach your teen the basics of money management
Related: Questions You Should Ask About Your Investments - Why Americans Are Going Broke - How Not to Convert Home Equity
Comments
4 Comments so far
I most certainly think that kids need a better understanding of money earlier in life; I wrote a post about similar. It’s strange how we have home ec and shop class still, but nothing in the realm of Personal Finance…
This is such an important issue and one that is rarely discussed. It’s so strange to me that we send teens out in the world without a basic understanding about money!
I just did an interview today on teaching children about money– it would likely interest your readers.
http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/7-tips-to-help-children-learn-good-money-habits-interview-with-money-man-sam-renick/
In addition, I’ve written some articles on the topic and provide tips to help parents teach children about financial literacy (one of which you site above) http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/teaching-children-how-to-manage-money-5-tips-for-savvy-parents/
Thanks-
Dr. Robyn
Children definitely need to be educated about finance management at home. What is taught at school is not enough because parents can show real-life examples. Anyway, it’s natural for teens to follow the lifestyle lead by their parents. Saving and spending habits are very hard to change afterwards.
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