Today is the start of My Money Week (10-14 June) and I am delighted to have partnered with Reach Media to give some important top tips and advice for parents on how to best teach their children about money.
Research shows that it's best to start teaching kids about money management at a young age to instil lifelong financial knowledge and habits.
'My Money Week' – is a national activity week that aims to get children and young people aged 3 to 19 excited and interested in financial matters and to help them gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to thrive in money matters.
This week Reach published a feature that I have written to promote the importance of talking to your children about money at an early age.
I am delighted to say that the feature was published in over 30 regional newspapers including The Manchester Evening News, The Liverpool Echo, and The Coventry Telegraph. All helping my aim to spread the word and underline the importance of the need to integrate financial education into our children's lives.
Did you know that children in the UK are estimated to receive 3.3 billion pounds in pocket money and cash gifts - so proper financial training is a necessity and it's up to us parents primarily to teach our children how to manage their money well because the child's first point of call when it comes to money habits is picked up from home.
Leading by example is the key to instilling good money habits because children learn best practically. Demonstrating responsible financial practices and discussing your goal-setting process can have a significant impact on their attitudes toward money.
My Free Parent's Guide - “Teaching your kids the value of Money and Entrepreneurial Thinking”
Don’t panic if you don’t feel confident enough to teach your children about money!
To coincide with My Money Week, I have produced a FREE guide to help you have meaningful conversations about money. The Guide will help you to tackle such diverse subjects as the importance of goal setting, budgeting, savings, investing, borrowing, and how children form habits and learn about money by following your example.
You can download a FREE copy of the Guide HERE
The importance of conversation
One thing that I wanted to pull out from The Guide was the importance of conversation.
Just think - how do we prepare our children for the future when our education systems lag behind in a fast-paced world? One of the greatest challenges we face today is the accelerated technological advancements that have caused exponential and monumental changes. It is alleged that 45% of jobs today will not or may not exist ten years from now.
According to Singularity University, between 2016 and 2021, we will see
as much change in the world as the entire technological change seen between 1900 and 2000! That's a lot of change in a very short time!
At the heart of what we do at MoneyMatiX, is our emphasis on having quality conversations with young people.
Quality conversations cultivate critical thinking. They encourage children to think outside the box and come up with different and innovative solutions to the challenges that they are facing.
So rather than ask your child what they want to be or what job they want to do when they grow up, ask them what contribution they want to make to the world when they grow up. This question changes their mindset and gets them thinking about exploring and finding solutions. Such questions will get them to explore the ever-changing world around them.
Children need to learn the culture of problem-solving. What problem can they solve in the world they live in?
How many people are willing to pay for their pain points? For example, Facebook makes money connecting people; they solve a connection or isolation problem, and through that, they make money advertising and creating other by-products around the problem they are solving.
We need to foster an environment of open discussions where children are allowed to express their thoughts and ideas without being afraid of being ridiculed. We need to reward creativity and idea generation. This demonstrates to young people that their ideas are important and valued.
This type of positive affirmation will build self-confidence and increase their level of achievement.
Resources to help you talk to your children about money
The internet is full of extremely good and valuable resources to help you find ways to talk to your children about money.
I have found Money Helper incredibly useful. Their site is full of lots of excellent tips and advice. You can check them out HERE
If you haven’t heard about, Go-Henry, they provide a Visa debit card and financial education app for children aged 6 to 18. Their goal is to help kids and teens learn about money in a practical, fun way and provide all the tools to help parents nurture healthy financial habits in their children. They are excellent for helping to start your children's banking journey. This is a very useful article that they have produced, which is worth a read HERE.
Children need to learn about credit scores and Equifax offer some useful tips and advice around this. Check them out HERE
In addition, the debt charity Step Change has produced some simple budgeting tools to help you work with your children to understand the value of budgeting. You can check them out HERE
Finally, YouTube is packed with brilliant videos to help give you guidance on how to talk to your children about money. The FCA has produced a really useful video about ‘why it’s good to talk to your children about money’ – you can watch it HERE
My final thought
As a parent I would suggest you check out the parenting coach Sue Atkins – her website is full of really useful tips and advice, especially her Podcast. She lists over 30 valuable resources to teach your children about financial literacy – check it out HERE
And for those parents in and around Scotland, why not:
Enrol your child in our 'MoneyMatiX Youth Money Camp' - a life-changing event for them taking place in Edinburgh this September and in Glasgow in October.
We base our Money Camps on the virtues of discipline, prudence, and generosity to turn money lessons into unforgettable experiences.
Ultimately, young people need good role models, and this three-day event will give them a foundation for making sound money decisions. It will include mentors and tools for life at the aspirational Edinburgh University Business School and an unforgettable event to showcase what they have learned during the Camp.
To enrol your children in one of our 'Youth Money Camps'
Let's work together to shape a generation prepared for financial success.
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