It’s time to have ‘the talk’ with your kids – the money talk.

I came across this article today and thought it was very useful. It provides helpful guidelines on how to introduce your children to the concepts of Earning, Spending, and Saving wisely. Of course you can add Giving to that as well.

We The Savers: Having the Money Talk with Your Kids (I found the article was slow to load, but it eventually will.)

They include a helpful chart of how to introduce these concepts by age:

• Age 3-5:
• You need money to buy things
• You earn money by working
• You may have to wait before you can buy what you want
• There’s a difference between what you want and what you need
• Age 6-10
• You must make choices about how to spend your money
• You should shop around for the best deal
• It’s dangerous and costly to share too much information online
• Put your money in a bank account to protect it and earn interes
• Age 11-13
• It’s smart to save 10% of what you earn
• Entering credit card or Social Security numbers online puts you at risk of identity theft
• The earlier you save, the more you’ll have in the long run
• A credit card is a loan and you’ll owe more than you spent if you don’t pay your bill in full each month.
• Age 14-18
• College is expensive and you should choose a school and student loans based in part on your career expectations
• You should avoid using credit cards for things you cannot afford in cash
• You pay taxes on your income and should budget for take-home pay, not gross pay
• A great place to save and invest is a Roth IRA
• 18+
• You should never be without health insurance
• You should use a credit card only if you can pay off the balance every month
• You should always diversify your investments and pay attention to the costs associated with various investment products

~Susannah