School's In But No Financial Education
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My kids are back in school and once again buried in homework. Lots of reading, writing and arithmetic, but no financial education. That's my responsibility and teaching finances to my kids has been a big challenge. I tried to get my oldest son to read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," over the summer - one of my favorite personal finance books, but I couldn't get him to engage in it - even when I offered a Silver Eagle coin for him to read it. Fortunately, he took a summer school class entitled "Entrepreneurship." It was actually pretty good and taught by a woman who owns her own business and from what I could tell she was pretty successful, not only in her business but in teaching basic concepts of entrepreneurship to 8th graders. They developed snack products to sell during recess and had to make enough money to pay back the loan they got to buy the materials. Any profit they earned could be used for a class party at the end of the session. Although he didn't like it at first, he ended up liking it in the end and I'm glad for that.
I try to encourage my kids to be entrepreneurs and not feel like they have to simply get good grades, go to college and get a job with a good company. While that's what they may end up doing, it's important for kids to understand that what matters most is loving what you do so you can be successful at it and have the potential to make enough money to live on, or even become wealthy. It's also important to have a few "irons in the fire" and not be solely dependent on one thing for your income. Not surprisingly, the kids have evolved their own system of profiting off of each other by selling old electronics, games or other junk to one another - the older child is always trying to rip off the younger one, so we have to watch to make sure the deal is fair. They also have a fairly complex candy barter system, I have learned.
I have tried to teach them about money by instituting an allowance for chores program - for a long time no chores were done and no money was paid out. Recently, I have gotten more interest in the money so the chores get done, so they are learning and my wallet is thinner as a result. I also make sure to take them down to the bank to deposit birthday or holiday money and while we are filling out the deposit slip and waiting in line, we talk about what the bank does for you. My son, of course, said "So you mean my account is only earning $1 a month? That sucks." Kids.