I love being a parent. I have two boys ages 7 and 5. Just listening to them laugh is enough to make my day complete. Their happiness is my goal in life. Helping them achieve that happiness is not an easy task. We want our children to be happy. We want to protect them from all the pain of the world.
We do so many things to protect them. We put them in the best child-safety seats money can buy. We sort through every piece of Halloween candy and examine each piece carefully to make sure they are good to eat. We teach them the value of nutrition and exercise so their bodies will be healthy and grow. We make sure they do their homework and are making good grades to school. As parents we take great care in making sure our kids will have happy lives. The truth is that we want them to be happy kids, but more importantly we want them to be happy adults. Our children will spend 75% or more of their life as an adult. Almost all things parents teach children are for the child’s future as an adult. Ironically one of the things, as parents, we fail to teach adequately to our children is how money works in our world.
When it comes to money we have a tendency to make two major mistakes. First, we hope the schools will teach them. After all the schools teach them to count and make change. I know plenty of adults who can count and make change, yet they cannot retire. They have too much debt. They have filed bankruptcy. Being able to count and make change does not create an understanding of how money works. The second mistake we make is we assume our kids will catch on using allowances and piggy banks. As a child I had an allowance, I saved change in a piggy bank, and yet in early adulthood I found myself broke. How about you? We were all told to save. We were all told to work for money, but the majority of our country has been financially brought to their knees. So as parents why are we repeating the same mistakes that our parents made.
Having general knowledge about eating healthy and exercising does not ensure a healthy lifestyle. Would you tell your kids to eat vegetables and then serve them candy? Would tell them the advantages of exercise and then allow them to sit in front of the television 24 hrs a day? No, as parents we get them involved in that lifestyle. We enroll them in sports activities. We give them nutritious meals. They live the lifestyle we teach them. So how do we transfer that same experience to financial behavior?
If you want to reach your children for a better financial future, look at how money works in your life. You earn it, you spend it, and if you do not have any you cannot do the things you need or want to do. Create that same economy for your children in the home. For instance, in my house if my children want to play a game console it cost them 15 Moola Monsters per hour. If they want junk food, it cost them 5 Moola Monsters. My kids live in a child friendly economy in our house so they understand cash flow, savings, investing, etc. I built an economy for my kids so they live by the same financial principles I live by. I want them to understand how the world works, so when they grow to be adults, they will have the foundation to make the right decisions financially.
To learn more visit our website at www.moolamonsters.com. Remember, no matter what interest your child has as they grow up money will be a part of their lives, so give them they best education you can regarding managing it responsibly.
Sincerely,
J. Grant Magers
CEO
Moola Monsters, LLC
www.moolamonsters.com
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