Hi all,

Given the current economic crisis, I have been thinking a lot about how we teach our children about how to handle money. I was looking at some products to help me teach my kids to make decisions, but nothing seemed great. I started thinking about developing something that would really support people teaching kids about how to use an allowance, track how they want to spend their money, make sure to set aside money for charities, etc.

I would really appreciate it if people from this group would give me some of your thoughts about helping teach kids about managing money – I put together a quick survey just to see if what I’m thinking about would be interesting and helpful for people. If you have any comments about what could help you, it would be great! The 10-question survey is linked here for you – [url]http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8ehKyAsol0et_2fN_2f4ReB4sg_3d_3d [/url]it’s a quick one!

Thanks so much for your time!!! I hope we can help raise a new generation of kids who are smart about their money!

CashFlow game from Robert Kiyosaki (www.richdad.com) and products from Dave Ramsey are both designed to teach kids about money.

I was introduced to an interesting product last week called Munny Journey...this might fit your requirements http://www.munnyjourney.com/

My grandfather started teaching me about the value of money when every time I get cash for a present on my birthday or Christmas, he would accompany me to deposit it at the bank.

I think the best way to teach children about money is by involving them in the family financial transactions. If you are going to buy a home, take them to the closing. Talk to them about your family finances.

Children often grow up to mimic their parents' behavior. It is amazing what talking to them can accomplish.

Actually demonstrating the value of saving and delayed gratification is probably helpful. That is my theory, anyway.

I gave my niece a certificate of deposit when she was ten. It's a two-year CD, funded before the meltdown, so the interest rate is 5% or higher (I don't remember excactly). Her mom checks it with her every once and a while, and the CD principal is big enough that the interest accruing is actually interesting and not just pennies. She's pretty excited by the whole thing.

When she starts earning taxable income, I've agreed with my sister that I'll be her "employer match" if she puts some of the savings in a Roth IRA. Which she will; the kid is learning to like free money.

She's my only niece and I'm not having kids, so I figure that I will end up giving her a lot of money over time, regardless. I could give it to her in presents, or birthday cash, or help her pay for college -- or I could give her money she can't touch, that will teach her the wonders of compound interest, and that will help her get a good start in life.

I agree with the idea of getting children involved in family financial matters - as witnesses and observers. Also, have the child go into the bank (with an adult) and open an account of their own. I think it's a crime that there are people opening their first bank accounts as adults, and many adults who don't have a bank account and probably never will.

Also, all money should be earned. Nothing should be given. We need to mirror how life in a competitive world is, lest we allow our children to be less prepared to be good competitors.

I'm certain there are fine games out there that children can use to learn about money, but nothing beats real hands-on experience. If you want a child to learn about vegetable gardening, you wouldn't use a board or card game, you'd get them into the garden with seeds, shovel and supervision.

I think kids should be introduced to money and taught about its importance as early as possible.... if possible, when they start speaking. I suggest getting a piggy bank and encouraging the kids to put coins into it.

Kids are visual learners - if you can make up charts for them that show the exact steps they need to reach their goals, it really helps. Younger kids especially love to "check off" in the columns when, say, they put half of their allowance in the "Save" jar. Older kids may be inspired by a running tally sheet of how much is in that "Save" jar.

Keep them actively involved in their finances, don't just say "well, I guess you better save up for that if you want it". Help them write down their goal, the steps needed to reach it, and praise them along the way!

I think we can begin to teach by examples. Instead of giving children beautiful material (easily perishable) presents for birthdays, etc, giving them instead something that will help them to start learning to have a healthy relationship with money is helpful, such as CDs (as someone mentioned above), piggy bank, small shares to start them off and so on. I think the excitment of seeing the money grow will inspire the child to replicate such act.

This is something I struggle with, not just financial responsibility, but responsibility in general. It's better to show kids, than to tell them (but not as easy). And some kids get it, other kids don't no matter what one does. A struggle I have is that I want to take my family on a trip to Walt Disney World. But that goal is not conducive to other goals we have (remodeling house so both kids could have their own room, saving for their college). Just to get feedback, I asked my kids what they would choose if she can only have one. My 8 year old daughter REALLY wants her own room. Surprisingly, she picked saving for college. As she said she could always get her own room once she is an adult (our 4 year old of course chose Disney World). It touched me that she could look at the big picture and put it into perspective. I would love to give them all those things. By allowing them to participate in our conversations they are learning that even if one has money, everything involved a choice, and the choice are about values. But to do that, I need to put my money where my mouth is and not spend money in areas which are not where my values are. I don't know if this makes any sense.

What I am trying to say, is that there are a lot of intangible benefits to having children. One of those is having to be more accountable, because they are watching (and learning) from me. Financial accountability is just one part of the picture.

I like the piggy bank idea. That is how my parents started giving me money and i got an understanding of how it shouldn't be spent unnecessarily. Kids realize that when using a piggy bank, their money gets exhausted and doesn't come back if they keep spending. So they learn to spend wisely. We as kids got money on occasions like Christmas, New Year, birthdays etc. So till then we saved up and used little by little.

Actually, having small goals in mind help a lot with the bigger picture. Starting small is great. I remember when I was 9 my parents planned a trip to Disney World a year in advance, and they told me then that if I wanted to buy any gifts for that trip, I had to pay for them myself. During that time, I did chores that earned me up to 75 cents for doing them, and over a year period I saved fifty dollars and was able to buy some gifts on my trip. It was simple and small, but I did it.

Fastforward to my teens, my parents told me I need to pay for my driving lessons and to save up for a car. I not only paid for my lessons, but I saved up over three thousand dollars. As a reward, my parents told me to hold onto the money and they paid for my car. I held onto most of it for other things such as prom expenses and my first year in college.

I'm graduating college in a year and feel these small goals are going to help me prepare for bigger ones. However, I also learned that educating myself with money is the best thing I can do (that is also thanks to my parents).

Thanks for sharring sevarn14 these are great examples of positive parenting influence of money handling.