Forming Strong Young Attitudes When It Comes To Money

I was recently contacted by a gentleman from the USA who was on his way to take his final mortgage payment in person to the loan company’s office that coming week and was asking for some lasting celebration ideas for his sons aged 8 & 9. I offered some Kids Money Packs as a gift and suggested opening a Future Financial Account for his sons on the same day as paying off his mortgage, amongst warmest wishes for the future.

Without a doubt the USA and many other countries around the world have a much better understanding of allowing children to develop young strong attitudes and become involved with money at a much younger age than in the UK. I was reminded of this most recently when the gentleman from the USA had introduced some excellent principles to his sons already, including a regular donation to the Lord. I believe that being able to give is one of the greatest assets of wealth, it does not necessarily mean money, but time and experience too.

I have also noticed that the list of customers who have been able to resonate with the principles of Kids Money Packs so far are hardly ever British. I have been privileged to speak to people from Africa, Italy, India, Canada and of course the USA and am left wondering whether the culture here is more different than we realise ourselves. Unlike a lot of other countries, we do not have a strong religious base, sure we are for the main part Christians and there are many other religions with a strong following in this country. but we do not have the community spirit, a joining together, a place to say thank you for everything you have already and in general sharing and giving.

I was in a restaurant last night surrounded by extremely polite, well behaved children, truly their manners were impeccable. The restaurant is set in a wonderful country setting and the food is sublime so it is very popular. We arrived at an earlier time than usual as it is an adults only environment after 7pm and there is a notice outside stating the rules for entry when bringing a child. It quite clearly requests that children should be well behaved at all times for the enjoyment of others. Now as a mother myself, some may take offence to this, but if you bore witness to the effect of those rules, you would be amazed. It is a vibrant, enjoyable atmosphere of talking, stories, laughter and good food, whether you are young or old.

The reason I mention these thing together is the question of rules. If you are brought up to regularly give money to charity or your church, you will always do so. If you place yourself amongst other like minded people, you will adapt yourself to the environment around you, and if you handle money well at a young age, you will always be able to handle money. It’s all a matter of following the right guidelines, whether they are spiritual, parental or something within you.

 

Bank of Mum & Dad ? That’s What You Call a Solution?

I am a follower of Motley Fool, although I find some of the articles lack real content but I have never felt cause to comment on any until this morning. I like to keep up to date with business, money and the economy every morning and am following the trends of the credit squeeze which I feel simply has to get worse yet.

Then an email this morning from Motley Fool blunders in with 5 Tips for First Time Buyers, 4 out of the 5 were to ask your parents to help you out. The 5th was get a second job, although the article went on to not recommend that option. Needless to say I felt compelled to leave a comment about what was a completely useless article aimed at helping nobody in particular.

Having reached a stage in my life that I can concentrate on investing, I came to realise back in 1999 that financial education starts and finishes with one person – yourself. Just as it is not up to the Bank of England to bail the Banks out, everyone should invest in their own financial education and stop looking for someone else to give them a hand out.

The UK used to be a land of homeowners, this is clearly changing rapidly, let’s hope we are better than a nation looking for a hand out.

Money Smart Parents produce Money Smart Kids

To me, children are just little people. They usually have far more imagination than adults and are far more open minded. It is only when we grow up that we get conditioned by our own paradigm that we struggle to dream big dreams. In the writing of Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom I was lucky enough to work with some very financially literate people and I noticed they usually had a family background that revealed they had financially smart parents.

They grew up with the subject of money from a very young age. It was this conditioning that put them on the fast track as an adult. This was the seed for Kids Money Packs.

Kids Money Packs offer parents an opportunity to help their kids learn this valuable information in a very easy to understand way. Available as a dowload from the website www.kidsmoneypack.co.uk you receive the Parents Guide, The Pay Day Agreement and the Kids Money Book ready to print and give your children a better chance at not becoming yet another of the UK’s debt statistics of the future.
Best wishes, Diane

Tips on How to Teach Your Kids to Save Money

A lot of teens nowadays do not understand the value of earning and spending money. They were not oriented that investing is necessary even if they are still students. As parents, you play a crucial role in this area.
You should be able to teach your kids on how to save money. They should be able to understand the concept of money and investment as early as childhood. This will prepare them to learn money management, as they grow old.
Here are some tips on how you can teach your children how to save money:

1. Your children should be educated of the meaning of money. Once your children have learned how to count, that is the perfect time for you teach them the real meaning of money. You should be consistent and explain to them in simple ways and do this frequently so that they may be able to remember what you taught them.
2. Always explain to them the value of saving money. Make them understand its importance and how it will impact their life. It is important that you entertain questions from them about money and you should be able to answer them right away.
3. When giving them their pocket money, you should encourage them that they should keep a certain amount for the future. You can motivate them to do this by telling them that the money can be saved and they can buy new pair of shoes or the toys they want once they are able to save.
4. You can also teach them to work for money. You can start this at your own home. You can pay them fifty pence to one pound every time they clean their rooms, do the dishes or feed their pets. This concept of earning a little money will make them think that money is something they have worked for and should be spent wisely.
5. You can teach them to save money by giving them piggy banks where they can put coins and wait until they get full. You can also open bank accounts for them and let them deposit money from their pocket money. You should always show them how much they have earned to keep them motivated.
Money and saving is not something that is learned by children in one sitting. You should be patient in teaching them and relating the value of money in all of their activities. Children will learn this easily if you are patient and consistent in guiding them and encouraging them in this endeavor.
Have a great 2008! Diane

Kids Money gets the Dollar Thumbs Up!

Exciting news! Kids Dollars is underway – aiming to spread the message round the globe. There really are no shortage of parents needing to find a better way to consistently introduce simple money management to their children.

Some of our articles are now being published in various article directories and the buzz continues to grow.

My apologies for one of early Kids Money Pack owners, Alex who has successfully saved up for his first Next Special Thing only to find that the money box we provided was large enough to take a £2 coin in the slot – but was impossible to retrieve it out the bottom!

Maybe there is a good reason why we went digital instead! Alex had to sacrifice the money box in favour of being able to buy his Next Special Thing with his own money!
Well done Alex – we are very proud of you!
Until next time Diane

Must read Robert Kiyosaki book Rich Kid Smart Kid

Rich Kid Smart Kid written by the amazing Robert Kiyosaki is targeted straight into the reason why Kids Money Packs are so important. The title of his book, Rich Kid Smart Kid goes on to say – Giving Your Child a Financial Head Start. This brilliant author, famous for the thought provoking Rich Dad, Poor Dad is the reason why I came to understand that “the good old days” and the “it’s what we have always done” ideas belong in a museum.

An excerpt from the book, Rich Kid Smart Kid says:-

“Is it possible that every child is born with the potential to be rich and smart? There are some people who think it is possible and there are other who don’t. The first part of this book is dedicated to protecting that possibility for your child.”

Learn the new rules – money may not be everything – but it’s right up there with oxygen! Buy a copy from Amazon Now or direct from www.richdad.com

Enjoy! Best Wishes Diane

BBC Radio 4 News Item – Who Is Doing Anything for The Kids?

It always amuses me when someone pops up somewhere on the radio and announces “There is a problem here!”

They then go on to declare who is going to help the schools to help children learn finances?

Wow! It’s only taken about 3 years campaigning so far to get ZERO results. We wrote to Tony Blair, and we were passed on to the Education Department to be told that this is an educational problem to be addressed through schools.

As there is no current education on money management in schooling, this leaves the subject matter completely and inadequately laid bare, without a care it would seem in the world.

So I am heartened that at least last week, someone somewhere was trying to make a difference too!

The only concern is that it will be sending in IFA’s to help teenagers and students cope with their debts, which is pretty much the same as crashing your car then taking driving lessons.

My mission as I say is to change a nation, because that is what it will take to stop the current high speed train most people are on racing it’s way towards a crash barrier!

Until next time! Kind regards Diane ( Thanks to Nadine for her lovely comment this week!

Do Your Childen Value What You Give Them?

I had an interesting encounter this week with a familiar scenario. A parent was puzzled when their small child seemed to disrespect their own belongings which then spiralled into a full scale war of words about the parents exclaiming something along the lines of ” I work very hard for the money that bought you that! Don’t just throw it on the floor! Pick it up!”

Perplexed, angry and frustrated, it is all too familiar a story. The way in which a large percentage of parenting has evolved into is the all too familiar lack of showing children that money really does not grow on trees.

The amazing thing is that whilst as parents we expect ourselves to get up at the crack of dawn, gather everything for the day, do a hard days graft for in most cases precious too little money, it NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME that the thought that your children should do something similar ie effort = reward does not even cross their minds. For some inexplicable reason we think we should just give them everything they want.

I have seen this behaviour in “children” as old as 27 and above, still present, still looking for someone to Give them things! It is so vital that you address this early in life – believe me, children are a lot better equipped at 6 to 12 years old to change than later in life!

Until next week, Kind regards Diane