Your Kids are Watching You

Recently I saw two blog posts about teaching kids about money. One was about an upcoming webinar about teaching kids about money. The other was how Kids Inherit Bad Money Habits.

Besides listening to what you say, your children also watch your actions. As with other parts of your life, they will also imitate how you deal with money and finances. Three of the habits mentioned in the article are maxing out credit cards, accepting store credit cards and ignoring bills. I feel it is important to teach children how to use credit cards and how easy it is to get into trouble with them. It may seem easy to swipe the credit cards but they need to understand the money needs to be paid back and how interest and finance charges can add up. Also, that store credit cards may be easier to obtain but they can have an affect on your credit scores.

The free webinar by Nathan Dungan, founder and President of Share, Save, Spend will be on Wednesday, April 18 from 12 pm to 1 pm. Some of the topics covered will be how to recognize your own dominant money characteristics and how they can impact your family’s well being. Nathan Dungan will provide simple tips to help your family develop critical life skills about money and values. You will leave the webinar equipped to change the way your approach conversations with your family about money.

When you are shopping and using credit cards, it may be a good time to explain how they work. Recently, when I was volunteering for Junior Achievement the subject of credit and debit cards came up. One of the 3rd graders asked what the difference was. I told them that with credit cards you receive a bill each month of what you owe them and if you don’t pay the amount in full they will charge you interest each month until it is paid. I also explained that debit cards are tied to your checking or savings account and the money will be withdrawn from your account just like if you were writing a check. It is important to keep track of the checks you write and purchases you make with your debit card so you know how much money is left in your account.