Parents are the biggest “influencers” when it come to how their kids think about money and financial matters, a bevy of studies show. Even throughout the teenage years, kids say they would turn to their parents for financial advice over their teachers, friends, and social media. But as on many other topics, parental influence starts to ebb as kids age. So starting early with conversations around money is the right thing to do, although many find it difficult.
Most of us have no problem talking to our kids about reading, writing and math, but we tend to struggle when it comes discussions about money. That’s especially the case for families with significant wealth, where the parents are more opt to avoid talking about money in an effort to avoid “spoiling” the kids. Having worked with successful families over many generations, we believe avoiding the topic of money and finances as children age is more likely to spoil them for a productive life of their own.
Getting Started Is Key
As as parent, you might feel that your attempts to talk about money topics will be unproductive or even counter-productive. Realize, however, that those feelings are subjective and can stop you from taking the opportunity to connect with your children about a topic that will have great bearing on the rest of their lives. What is important is that you make a conscious effort to send constructive messages about money to your children and keep adjusting over time to reflect your child’s interests and capabilities.
To help with that, we put together our best advice for helping you, as a parent or grandparent, to start and build on money-related conversations and activities with your young people as they age. In that, we explore the nature of financial literacy, and the money challenges facing young people today. Drawing on techniques used by both financial advisors and teachers, we present strategies for teaching children the skills essential to their financial well-being — before they leave for college or a life of their own.
Raising Money Wise Kids: A Parents’ Guide.
Keep in mind that as children age, parents become less influential. This is a key reason to start while kids are in their teens or younger. Working with multiple generations within families, we have witnessed first-hand how lessons from parents can have a lasting effect. When we encounter financially astute young people, we always ask what got them ahead of the curve.
