Your Guide to Teaching Children About Money - Starting Steps

These are truly unprecedented times. One thing is for sure, I have never appreciated healthcare workers, truck drivers, or cashiers more than I do now. Turning our economy off, like a light switch, while necessary to ‘flatten the curve’, is a shock with no historical precedent. There are many small businesses that will quickly run out of cash, and likely never come back. Sadly, and at the risk of sounding like I am kicking people when they are down, today’s events have also exposed the fact that many families, far too many, live paycheck to paycheck with no savings at all (no safety buffer or rainy day fund). Can we use this forced and unnatural pause in our lives to begin to change this?

I teach financial literacy to students and young adults, engaging their parents in the process. That is, I help parents help their kids become financially literate (psst…if you, a parent, learn something along the way, you don’t have to admit it to anyone).

My mission is to show people, especially young people, that financial literacy is a tool to achieve better life outcomes. I teach why we NEED to save (for many future financial needs), why you should WANT to save (because money can grow), staying in POSITION to save (by avoiding college debt or underemployment), and HOW to save (with an emphasis on the mindset and daily lifestyle choices needed to succeed).

I aim to deliver epiphany moments; sudden bursts of insight that change you in some way. Here is a sample:

• Have you ever considered that we need compounding?  It isn’t a bonus or luxury that our savings can be put to work for us and grow.  We need savings to grow because it is unlikely that we can set aside enough for all of our future financial needs.

• Have you fully considered how powerful your mindset is?  You are more in control than you might think.  You can choose a lifestyle of daily decisions to save and build wealth.

• Have you ever thought of ‘saving first’, then living off what remains? Saving first prioritizes savings and requires discipline but can be life-changing.

• Do you agree the real goal is to get a job and career, and not just a degree (you can’t begin to save if you have too much college debt)?  I teach a personal process to set career goals based on your true passions, to understand the future earnings power associated with those career goals, and to avoid selecting a college that would require more debt than you can reasonably pay back with your future earning power.

• Have you ever realized that nobody owes you a career?  It is your responsibility to embrace the change that is occurring around you and to keep investing in yourself to stay employable (you can’t save if you can’t get and hold a good job).  One technique is to view your career as a business.  Your business is you.  You must position your business to compete.  No one can or will do that for you.

For more information see www.yourfinancialsherpa.com