Category Archives: Kids

Financial Lesson For My Son – Savings

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A few months ago, around my son’s birthday, I tried to teach my son a financial lesson about savings.  Unfortunately, it was foiled by birthday money that he received.

For the past few years, my son was spending a lot of his allowance money on pokemon cards.  A few times he got disappointed because he wouldn’t have enough money to buy other things like Nintendo DS games, Legos and the like…  Of course, I would explain to him why he should save his money, but when we would talk about the interest gaining aspects, he never quite grasped the idea or at least he didn’t  until a few weeks ago.

You see, my son has converted from an impulsive spender to a thoughtful saver!  While I’m not entirely sure what brought out this change other than the example that my wife and I set, I’m impressed!

So yesterday, I decided to try to explained the financial lesson on savings again.  I pointed out how the interest gains can work with his saving dollars.  He understood the idea of interest this time around, especially the geometric (also called exponential) growth aspect.  When it’s my daughter’s time to learn this lesson, I think I’ll create a “what if analysis” spreadsheet as a fun interactive visual to the lesson!

My Son The Budget User?

My son created a type of budget journal!  It actually more like a checkbook balancing kind of journal, but he created it by without any help from adults!

The most important thing is showing encouragement for both this new activity, “Savings“, and the newly created system that my son created to help accomplish his new savings habit!

I created excel process to help me with my finances all the time.  Do you use spreadsheets or other such document to give you a leg up on finances or other decision-making processes?

-MR

Shout Outs:

My Yakezie Membership Post! – Want to know more about my background?  Check out my membership post at Yakezie!

 

Raising Savvy Business Kids

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Flash to the Past

When I was growing up, my dad wanted me to get a college degree so that I wouldn’t follow in his footsteps by creating my own small business like he did (and my grandfather too).  Sadly, I was not destined to be a savvy Business kid…

Both my dad and grandfather had fairly successful businesses (my dad still have his business, my grandfather has past away).  They were trying to save me from the hours they put in to grow their businesses.  I remember my dad, looking at blueprints during basketball games down in a recreation room many a night!

Flash Forward

I’m doing the opposite with my kids!  I’m actually trying to raise my kids as Savvy Business Kids!

I decided to change direction from my dad because the company employee paradigm from his era no long applies today!  Company loyalty (while still may exist at a very small subset of companies), is going the same way of company pensions, they are becoming nonexistent…, extinct…, dust in the wind…

So what have I done to help my kids become business savvy?

  • I started introducing basic math early, especially getting them to recognize which coins had more value!
  • I bought a game called “Cash Flow For Kids” and to give them an incentive to play, I embellished the game for doing the following.  If they won, I paid them whatever they would spin on a spin dial.  the had the opportunity to win a 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar, 2 dollars or 5 dollar.  So far, I’ve been luck and they haven’t won the highest amount yet ($5.oo).
  • I started an eBay business with my son so he could learn that it’s possible to make money at an early age.   Ironically, this ended up working really well for me too!  We were able to buy a product from a supplier and sell the item on eBay at a pretty decent markup.  It was a good experience for the both of us (the taxes did sucked though).
  • We put prices on their toys and sold them in garage sales.
  • They would occasionally put up a lemonade stand.
  • My son has a deal with my dad to mow my parent’s lawn.  This actually works out great because he gets paid for mowing, but plays for a bit on the riding lawnmower at the same time (it’s a win-win).
  • My son has expressed an interest in selling some of his Pokémon cards on eBay.  We will start this adventure next!
  • ICarly has inspired son to think about blogging, but we haven’t done anything yet because he’s got too much going on as is.
  • My daughter has created drawings for sale (most of which my wife and I bought), and also had her own lemonade stands.

I’m hoping that the small business experiments that I’ve been working on with them will help in the future!  I think the lessons in investing and some small business exposure will help them see opportunities that others might miss in the future!

Do you think I’m trying too hard?  Do you have any suggestions? 

I’m an employee, so any suggestions would be appreciated from any small business folks out there!

-MR

Losing Technical Relevancy With Kids

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I just realized something today, I’m losing technical relevancy with my kids.  Not in the way that they think of me as their dad, no… more along the lines of knowing what’s important in their lives!

I thought I would be able to cherry pick the best things from my childhood and let them share in those experiences that I deemed incredible.  Well, now I realize that what I thought was important is no longer relevant!  Time has moved on and my personal childhood joys are now obsolete.

I would like to say that kids are different today, but really they aren’t.  What different is technology and the way kids adapt to it and thrive! 

From an early age, kids are exposed to electronics… even at the infant stage!  They push a button on a bear and it growls, or its eyes light up, or it sings a song or whatever the new fancy is.  Next, it’s the portable gaming systems like the Nintendo DS, my kids (including my 6-year-old) take them everywhere!  Then it’s cell smart phones, like the Apple IPhone, that do everything except iron your clothes!  My son and daughter already plan on laptops, soon I’ll hear one of them ask for an Apple IPad for a Birthday or Christmas…  it’s just a matter of time.

Electronics and computer (and computing devices) are exposed to them constantly… and they soak it up like a sponge!   The stuff I had as a kid looks like a joke compared to what kids have these days!

Then there is the sports!  Kids need to start sports  when they are young because the competition is so fierce!  If you didn’t start your kids out in sports around the ages 5, 6 or 7…  it may be too late!  And the other parents involved; OMG, you would thing that sports were a matter of life and death.

Yes, it was different when I was a kid, the things back then now seem very slow and hokey to kids today.  Electronics and the internet have really changed the game with respect to kids. 

My poor parents can no longer understand what I do on the computer, let alone my kids.  My parents are truly of a different time, and watching them on a keyboard is like watching a fish out of water flop up and down in the grass.  The technical chasm between my parents and my kids is huge!

Readers, do you feel the same as my parents sometimes? 

I know that I’m personally trying my best to keep up…  I don’t want to become totally irrelevant with respect to technology!

-MR