Teaching Kids About Money: Easiest Way EVER!!

Teaching kids about money might sound daunting, right? It can especially be intimidating if you feel like you were never taught adequately but the goal is to raise CAPABLE kids that become CAPABLE adults! 🙌 I promise, what I’m about to teach you can really be super simple and fit into your everyday life! Watch my new video to learn all about teaching your kids about money! 

In this video, I show you how to:

1. Teach your kids about money in everyday situations
2. Teach them how to earn
3. Teach them how to save
4. Teach them how to SPEND wisely (an often neglected skill)
5. AND teach them how to grow their money

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SijcDBh8a5c[/embedyt]

Why Teach Kids About Money?

“Let kids be kids; they’ll have plenty of time to learn adult stuff, right?!” WRONG. In the grand scheme of things, we have a very small window of time to teach our kids everything they will need to know for the rest of their lives. They will spend more time as an adult than they do as kids, so the more we can teach them while they’re young, the more equipped they will be to face the adult world with confidence. That’s what our capable kids movement is ALL about! 

The Benefits of Teaching Kids About Money Early

Even though they will reap most of the benefits as adults, there are plenty of benefits to enjoy while they’re young: 

• They will appreciate what they have more if they have to earn it.
• They will take care of their stuff better since they had to earn it. 
• They will learn patience and delayed gratification.
• They will learn the value of hard work. 
• They will learn to make tough decisions. 

And what’s in it for you? It will take so much mental load off of you when kids are asking for stuff whether is be at the store, at an event, or at home! 

When to Start Teaching Kids About Money

My general rule is that as soon as they understand basic addition and subtraction, they can start learning about money. But you can also incorporate teaching moments when they are younger. Let them give the cashier your card. Let them pay for a small treat in cash. Those small interactions don’t require them to do any math but introduce them to the concept of exchanging money for things. The toddler years are also a good time to start teaching the difference between needs and wants. 

As they get older and learn addition and subtraction, you can start teaching them the basic concept of budgeting and spending. “Oh, you have $10! That toy is $7. If you buy it, how much will you have left?”

As they get even older, you can teach them how to bargain shop, how to look for quality, how to earn extra money, how to invest, etc. etc. The better foundation they have, the easier it will be to teach them the more advanced stuff. 

Resources for Teaching Kids About Money

I know this might all seem overwhelming with everything else you have going on, but there are plenty of resources to help you get started: 

• Shopping with Kids: These are some of my best tips and resources for teaching older kids to shop on a budget. 
• How to Do a Family Store: This is a fun way to reward your kids when you catch them being awesome and teach them some money fundamentals without actual money. 
• My allowance system: This is where I give more details about how my kids earn and manage their weekly allowance. 
• Greenlight Card: This is the card I talk about in the video. It makes it so easy for me to electronically distribute allowance and teach my kids about money. 
• Budgeting for Kids: This site has some great printable resources for teaching kids financial literacy. 
• Simple Budgeting Method: If you need a little help getting started with your own finances, start here! 

I promise you, you will never regret the effort you put into teaching your kids how to earn and spend money.

Resources for Raising Confident, Capable Kids

And because we want kids that are capable in all areas of life, here are some additional resources: 

• 52 Modern Manners for Today’s Teens by Brooke Romney
• Parenting Teens With Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Foster Cline
• My Capable Planners for kids and teens!

The key is to start somewhere. Start small, and work your way up from there! YOU are capable and so are your kids! Let us know in the comments what has worked for you or what your pain points are when it comes to teaching your kids about money.