For Dad: A fiscally responsible kid 5 Tips: Teaching your kids to be responsible about money. http://money.cnn.com/ Friday, June 17, 2005
What better way to celebrate Father's Day this year than to give him exactly what he wants: A break from his role as the National Bank of Dad. Whether he's getting hit up for new sneakers or college tuition, Dad has been to the rescue with an open wallet. But it's time for a little payback. In today's top 5 tips, we're going to tell all those fathers out there how to raise financially fit kids. 1. Start young Even with toddlers, you can start teaching the concept of money. The first step is to simply take your little ones to the store. This can be an opportunity for kids to see how much things cost or how money is handled by a cashier. The toddler will be able to see how you pay for things, according to Armin Brott, the author of "Fathering your Toddler." Children can also participate by handing the money to the clerk and taking change. Make it a numbers game. Have your toddler count out forks and spoons while setting the table. For more practical experience, use real coins to show your child that a nickel equals five pennies and that five nickels are the same as a quarter. But don't confuse them too much, Brott warns. Two dimes and a nickel may be too complex at this age. 2. Send the right messages It's no wonder that kids can get a case of the "gimme gimmes" these days. Last year kids 18 and under spent and influenced the spending of more than $1 trillion according to Nathan Dungan, the president of financial services company Share, Spend, Save. And advertisers are drooling. American children consume, about 40 hours of media per week says Dungan. He recommends that parents just sit down with their kids in front of the TV and help them decipher the messages they're seeing. Along with decoding ad messages, parents need to take a good hard look at the messages they're sending about money to their kids. Neale Godfrey, the author of "Money Still Doesn't Grow on Trees: A Parents Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Teenagers and Young Adults," says that kids see parents as ATM machines because they only see their parents dispensing cash or credit. "Kids don't see parents saving or paying bills or giving to charity," she says. 3. Get budget-happy Setting a budget doesn't have to be a grueling task. It's just a matter of setting boundaries. To draw up a budget Dungan recommends that parents analyze how much they are giving their kids each month, how this money is spent and whether the product is a necessity. He says teens shell out $100 a week on average. But when it comes to their own money, they're usually tightwads. Give them a chance to see how a family budget works. A great way to get kids involved in budgeting is to let them plan out aspects of the family vacation. By working with a limited amount of money, your kids will learn that money really doesn't grow on trees. For more kid-friendly help on how to budget, check out the National Council on Economic Education's Web site http://www.ncee.net/ http://www.choosetosave.org/ 4. Giving allowance Teaching the value of money goes beyond hypothetical dollar signs. Giving your children allowance can give them a personal stake in money management. There are no set rules on what is the best way to give your youngsters allowance. Some families pay their children according to how old they are. Payments may come once a week or once a month. And allowances don't necessarily have to be tied to chores. Washing dishes, taking out the garbage and vacuuming are tasks that each family member should share. Of course, if a child takes on a task that parents would normally pay someone else to do, like washing the car or mowing the lawn, it would be a good idea to add extra money to their allowance. Encourage your kids to save a portion of their allowance. This will let them experience the value of setting long-term savings goals. 5. Approach plastic cautiously High school seniors get a failing grade when it comes to financial know-how, according to the personal finance group Jumpstart. And when these students enter college, more than 75 percent of them have credit cards. Over 90 percent of college seniors have credit cards with balances over $2,800 according to Nellie Mae. All the major college campuses have exclusive marketing agreements with credit-card issuing banks, according to Robert Manning, the author of "Credit Card Nation." He says that the nature of these agreements vary, but in some cases schools can sell lists of students names to the banks. Sometimes credit card companies can negotiate with the schools to get the best location and access to students at events like a Homecoming parade or a football game, he says. And these agreements can be worth a pretty penny. Schools can make two to three million a year off of these agreements, according to Manning. Unfortunately there's very little that parents can do because college students are considered adults at age 18. The best defense is education. Godfrey advises parents to get their college-bound teen a pre-paid card before they go off to college. This way all the mechanics of credit can be taught under close supervision. President Robert Duvall of the National Council on Economic Education says it's quite common to see college graduates with a diploma in one hand and $4,000 in credit card debt in the other. ------------------------------------------------------------ Gerri Willis is a personal finance editor for CNN Business News. Willis also hosts CNN's Open House, Saturday mornings, at 9:30 a.m. (ET). 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