Help me come up with discussion topics for my son

[rodi]

These are all GREAT ideas. Thanks!

 

[papadad111]

If money talks come easily, then the birds and the bees should be a breeze too.

And I think Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruz have a new book out about money for kids. Might be worth buying and using that as a syllabus of sorts.

Finally, Somewhere along the line, teach him about the perils of women and espeically gold diggers... I actually read part of this article to my two teen age boys at dinner the other night... well...edited some of the more graphic parts but they got the idea...

Gold Digger academy: Russia’s Gold Digger Academy - The Daily Beast

 

[Dash man]

The time value of money.

The cost of money. Why it's better to receive interest than to pay it.

Bills. How to pay them. What they are for. I had my son sit with me when I paid the bills to show him where the money goes.

Taxes. Show him receipts and bills so he can see how taxes are added to everything. Have him sit with you while you do your income taxes. Show him a pay stub so he sees how taxes come out of your paycheck.

Concept of creating wealth by providing a product or service and someone paying more for it than it cost you.

 

[Idnar7]

Rather than giving my daughters a weekly allowance I gave them a "purchase credit". I put up a whiteboard in their room to show their account balance. They could buy something by saving enough credits or they could go into debt (credit). Also added to this for birthdays/Christmas etc. Older daughter showed an interest in saving (she still does as an adult) and younger daughter was usually in debt (she is a saver now). Since it was always visible, it became competitive too. Nothing like saving enough credits to buy something they really wanted.

 

[sengsational]

Rather than giving my daughters a weekly allowance I gave them a "purchase credit". I put up a whiteboard in their room to show their account balance. They could buy something by saving enough credits or they could go into debt (credit). Also added to this for birthdays/Christmas etc. Older daughter showed an interest in saving (she still does as an adult) and younger daughter was usually in debt (she is a saver now). Since it was always visible, it became competitive too. Nothing like saving enough credits to buy something they really wanted.

When I was a kid, my dad issued a small "composition book" (book with lined, blank pages) and recorded our allowance. If we wanted cash, we took him the book and he subtracted the cash he gave us from his wallet from the total. So it was "Bank of Dad". I think that was good training. But the best part was that if you had a "big purchase", like bike or something, he'd match your amount. So I'd only need to save $25 for a $50 bike. But absoluted NO CREDIT, NO ADVANCES! If you didn't have the money, you didn't get to buy anything.

I would have liked to do that with our kids, but my wife simply bought them anything they wanted

 

[Taxman59]

Loans to friends and family. I think that kids want to "help" their friends and make "loans" to them way too often, and have no idea that the loans are never going to be paid off. I wish that I had seen that when I was his age!!

 

[rodi]

Idnar7 and Sengsational - we already have the composition book. As they have money come in from various sources they can keep it or put it "in the conti". In the sicilian dialect it's pronounced "gundi" - so you hear references to the gundi book. I have a section for each of them. As they earn money for chores, I add. As they spend (usually online credits for video games - so tied to my paypal account, but sometimes cash withdrawals) I deduct.

I allow negative balances under certain circumstances - if they can show a plan to get back to positive in the short term AND if they don't abuse the privilege. They both have chores that are paid for... (and some they have to do just because they're part of the family and we all contribute.).

Younger son usually keeps close to a zero balance. Older son is better at delayed gratification.

 

[rodi]

I just had the first "lesson". Subject savings. Started with the Ben Franklin "Penny saved is a penny earned". Asked them what it meant... (they didn't have a clue and made pretty funny guesses)... then talked about the "Your money or your life" tradeoffs of work/earning vs freedom... and how it all starts with saving more, spending less. Then I used an example of an old IRA I'd rolled from a job I left in 1993. It was $9k then... had them guess what the value was now - knowing I hadn't added any money to it, and had basically had it sitting in less than optimal funds until about 3 years ago. They guessed it was worth $20k... They were shocked it's over $50k.

My older son (the one that requested this) asked me to set up regular transfers from his cash flow section of the conti book, to a new account that is less available. So he's going to transfer $10/month to savings I'll pay interest on. I'll pay 1%/month (high enough so he'll appreciate compounding.) Younger son was less interested in this message... but did ask for more money earning opportunities.

I gave my standard reply - Weeding always pays well in our house. (A chore none of us like, but needs doing all the time.)