What are your plans for teaching your kids about money? Are there good books that you read with them? Do you talk about money with them? Make sure they sign up for a high-school economics course? Anything else?

Share with us your ideas for how you plan on teaching your kids about money.

I can Teach them about budgeting and from an early age. By giving them money to buy Christmas gifts. Ok they only have so much and they have to get something for everyone in the family. It was how my mom taught me about budgeting.

I can Teach them about the importance of savings and am doing so right now by saving for them. $5 every month goes into DDs account so when she is old enough to start doing something with her allowance she can have saving as a big option and I can show her how saving just a little bit every month adds up. Maybe even let her keep track and record the interest.

I think having an Econ class is a good deal I had two one in high school and one in College

Also I would like to be much more open with my kids then my parents were with me. I never and still don't know the details of my parents finances. Honestly I always had to eduacate myself. I have read books on personal finance and when it came to buying our first home I had to read up on that too. I would like to be much more open with my own kids.

Still time will tell DD is only 2 so other then feeding the piggy she doesn't do much with money.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

This is a great thread for mom's with more experience than me! My kids are 4 years and 9 months. So far I've attempted to discuss with my daughter regarding choices. My husband, and me, but mostly my husband really got her in a bad habit of buying something everytime we went to the store. She had too much! So I've started preparing her (and my husband) in advance about what she can get and even that there will be times, when we go to a store, that she isn't going to get anything. It does seem to be working. We went to WalMart today and she never even asked to go to the toy department!

Right now, we're teaching as we go DD is 8 and DS is 6. They have had piggy banks since birth and when they get money, they save half, spend half...or at least we try to do that. It's a work in progress. DD sees me doing the bills and sometimes will sit with me when I budget. I kind of explain what I'm doing (I don't overwhelm her with info).

They do have chores and understand working for their money (asking to do extra "jobs") they understand 'why' Daddy goes to work.

There is only so much you can explain at this age, but like I said, We'll teach as we go.

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Does Money Matter?

I just found this today after asking the question a few days ago.

Great article!
ABC News: Teach Your Child How to Handle Money

Not that I agree with it all ... there is no way, no how, I'm giving my teen a credit card.

What do you agree or disagree with?

I have 3 boys (6, 4 and almost 5 months). I have two piggy banks for each child, and this applies to mainly the 2 older ones. I have told them that whenever they get money for anything, they are to split it up between the two banks, and one is to spend the way they want and one is strictly savings that we make a trip to the bank and deposit once every few months. The one they can spend freely is to get things they really have beening wanting and saving up for. My boys are pretty good at saving for their goals. Right now they both want webkins and a game for their Wii, and I tell them, it's not your b-day soon nor it's christmas, so you need to save up. And it works for our family.

Thanks KathrynHannah for sharing that link. I agree with most of that article and most of it we already do with our kids. The only idea I don't really know about is the credit card thing. I agree that kids should be aware of them before college, but I don't want my kids have a card as a teenager. We have 2 kids 9 and almost 16. They have their piggy banks and saving accounts. They know how to earn money and how to carefully spend it. We always talk about finances on a certain level with them.
Our DD just left to go on a band trip for a week and one of the ideas for sending spending money with them was to give your child a card that was attached to your checking account. You as the parent would have control of how much was on the card & the option of adding more money to it. IMO, yes this is a good thing, but I also don't want to give my child the sense that 'Oh, I can spend everything on this card and my parents will put more money on it'. I don't feel that this is teaching them responsibility.

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My parents never discussed their financial situations with us as teens, and always made it appear they were in great financial shape. I grew up thinking money grew on trees, and I thought we had a lot of it! Of course, now I know that wasn't true.

Our kids are teens, and they know much more about our finances than I knew about my parents' finances. If we're struggling, they know it, and if we can't afford something they think would be nice to have, we just say "we can't afford that". I think kids learn by example, and for teens at least, I think they can learn a lot be seeing how their parents handle finances. My parents always kept that part of their life hidden from their kids, and I'm not sure that was such a good idea.

Best book I've read has been Mary Hunts "Debt Proof Your Kids". She recomends starting early, at age 6, teaching your kids how to manage their own money. Gradually you give them more and more of the money that you would budget for them so they can learn how to budget and manage their own finances. My oldest is on the "plan" with my 5 year old eager to start. Both kids are very smart about money, they know how much they have to spend and that they need to save up for things they want.