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Down the Same Path
Is Your Child Destined for Financial Ruin?
With the government spending money it doesn't have, with credit card companies encouraging consumers to buy now and pay later and with most Americans living paycheck to paycheck, it's no wonder our children are failing financial literacy tests. Look at who their teachers are!
Financial institutions see that schools, parents and society are not doing an adequate job teaching our children about money. Banks, credit unions and nonprofits have stepped up in teaching our children financial literacy. Why do they care? Knowing that children are their future consumers and customers, these institutions realize the importance of teaching our children how to manage money.
Most parents do not talk to their kids about money management. Our children are learning from the kid down the street, from advertisers fighting for their attention and from credit card companies with free Frisbees and T-shirts. If parents do not take charge of who teaches their kids about money, statistics show kids will follow the path of living paycheck to paycheck, stressed out and debt ridden. Sound familiar?
"Money management is so simple, and when you start early, you can secure a child's financial future," says Lori Mackey, author of Money Mama & The Three Little Pigs (P4K Publishing, 2004). "There are 1,001 money-management books for adults but not one for kids. If we would have been taught money management as a child we would not need these books as adults."
Financial literacy principles are very simple: Pay yourself first, give back and live beneath your means. According to Mackey, the four most important financial lessons are these:
