{"id":9579,"date":"2017-12-12T16:35:11","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T16:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ec2-18-204-179-35.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/?p=9579"},"modified":"2019-08-27T23:22:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T13:22:44","slug":"breaking-the-inter-generational-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wealth-mentor.com.au\/breaking-the-inter-generational-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the Inter-Generational Cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, the school system is not that great when it comes to teaching kids about managing money.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

So, if you have kids of your own, teaching them how to manage their money is your job. We want you to enjoy your parenting, and we want your kids to enjoy managing money. More often than not, we always face the issue of time getting in the way so we have collated some simple tips to help you pass on the right values to the next generation.<\/p>\n

Understand that they are watching you.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Managing money is not just about words and numbers. Many things affect whether a person manages money well. These include things like temperament, personality \u2013 and whether people learn to spend money in order to feel better. (Retail therapy, anyone?)<\/p>\n

Guess where kids learn about this \u2018emotional\u2019 side of managing money? By watching their folks at very close quarters for the first couple of decades of their lives. Like it or not, the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ strategy of learning about financial literacy doesn’t work and from first hand experience, this sets them down the path to learning the hard way. So the absolute best way to teach kids to manage their money well is to manage your own money well- brilliant right?<\/p>\n

Accountability is the key driver of results and as such, use this as means of accountability and self-assessment to get yourself financially fit to set the right example.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t bother with kids\u2019 savings accounts.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Many people (grandparents can be the worst) set up specific savings accounts for kids when they are born. These accounts usually pay virtually no interest \u2013 making them just about the worst place for the family to put money. Think about it: mum and dad are paying 5% (after tax) on their mortgage while junior is earning at most 1.5% (essentially also after tax) on their savings account. That makes no sense. Put the money into mum and dad\u2019s mortgage (or an offset account) and help the family be wealthier.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say the grandparents get together and give $1,000 to a newborn baby. If mum and dad repay $1,000 off a loan with an interest rate of 5%, then they will save $1,653 in interest by the time bub turns 20. If bub invests it at 1.5%, he or she will make just $340 over the same period. Repaying the mortgage is almost 5 times better.<\/p>\n

Remember what we said about the kids watching you? Well, don\u2019t let them watch the family do something dumb. Manage the money well and when the time comes, explain your thinking to the kids (see our last tip below).<\/p>\n

And hold off on the savings account until the kids are old enough to make sense of them. Until then, let them handle cash.<\/p>\n

Let them blow a little bit now and learn how bad that feels.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The other problem with savings accounts for really young children is that the money is in an account that the kids can\u2019t touch. The thinking is that, if the kids can\u2019t touch it, they will become automatic savers.<\/p>\n

That is not actually correct. If the kids can\u2019t touch the money, then they are not actually saving it. (That is why compulsory super gets \u2018locked up\u2019 until you retire).<\/p>\n

Learning to save means actively deciding not to spend. You can only decide not to spend if spending is an option. So, the money needs to be available to be spent if the kids are really going to learn how to save. And if spending is an option\u2026 then blowing it is an option as well. All kids will blow some money at some stage. Don\u2019t worry when they do. Let them feel bad \u2013 and don\u2019t bail them out!<\/p>\n

After all, feeling bad is a great teacher. Letting the kids feel a little bit bad now is better than letting them feel very bad later in life \u2013 when they blow a much bigger amount.<\/p>\n

Let your older kids sell stuff second hand.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

This is a great tip for getting kids to look after things of value. Things like school text books, uniforms etc can often be sold secondhand online. The better the condition, the higher the price. So, if you want your kids to look after their stuff, let them sell the stuff and keep the cash when they no longer need them.<\/p>\n

There are a number of benefits here. One is that the kids are encouraged to think long term \u2013 what I do in February will have an impact on my cash flow in November. This is a really important lesson to learn (especially if they ever end up running their own business).<\/p>\n

If you can get your kids thinking in terms of months and years ahead, you are 75% of the way there.<\/p>\n

Secondly, if they look after their things, they will be less likely to need to buy replacement things.<\/p>\n

Tell them you can\u2019t afford something.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

(Even if you can). There is nothing wrong with kids learning that there is a limit to what can be afforded. Kids are growing up in a consumer society that tells them to buy all the time. There is nothing wrong with learning that they can\u2019t afford everything. So telling kids that you can\u2019t afford something won\u2019t bruise them \u2013 it will liberate them.<\/p>\n

You do need to contend with your own \u2018peer group pressure\u2019 here. Who likes to admit that they can\u2019t afford something? But try it. And recommend it to your friends as well. It might liberate them too!<\/p>\n

If you will pardon the French, comedian George Carlin is credited with pointing out that \u201cWe buy sh*t we don\u2019t need, with money we don\u2019t have, to impress people we don\u2019t like.\u201d Not a great lesson to teach our kids.<\/p>\n

Buy quality.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The flipside of not buying \u201csh*t you don\u2019t need\u201d is buying quality things that you do need. So, if something is a genuine need, like good food or a safe car, then buying the best quality you can afford is a great lesson. Very often, in the long run, the better quality thing lasts longer and ends up costing less anyway. That great deal on a car that turned out to be a money pit (and a health hazard)?<\/p>\n

Remember, no one ever saved a lot of money buying home brand jam. If you are going to buy jam, buy the good stuff. But if you don\u2019t need the jam\u2026<\/p>\n

Put up a no junk mail sign and watch the ABC.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

OK. This might sound a bit extreme. But kids are bombarded with messages to buy things. McDonalds sponsors Little Athletics, for goodness sake.<\/p>\n

Some estimates are that kids see 10,000 TV ads during their childhood. This is a lot of messages telling them to \u2018buy.\u2019 So, think about how you can give your kids a break from relentless messages to spend that commercial media gives them.<\/p>\n

Remember, for a lot discretionary spending, out of sight means out of mind.<\/p>\n

Maybe Netflix is a happy compromise. No ads.<\/p>\n

Teach them their reading, writing and arithmetic.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\u2018Financial literacy\u2019 is a buzzword these days. But financial literacy is really just a combination of two more basic skills \u2013 everyday numeracy and everyday literacy. Trust us, if kids are good at maths, this will translate to understanding money.<\/p>\n

If they are not good at maths, work on it. And use money to teach them.<\/p>\n

Explain. Explain. Explain.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Talk to your kids about money. Explain that you have a mortgage and what that means. Explain when the media announces a famous personal declaring bankruptcy. Explain how taxes work. Explain how credit cards work when you are \u2018tapping and going\u2019 at the supermarket.<\/p>\n

Explain big things about money and small things about money. Teach the kids that marketing can be sneaky. Tell the kids that it costs the cinema the same amount to make a small or a large popcorn. The cost of making the popcorn is basically nothing. But by offering two prices, the cinema gets to sell something \u2018small\u2019 to people with a little bit of money and sell something \u2018big\u2019 (and more expensive) to people with more money.<\/p>\n

You knew that, didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Passing on the knowledge of wealth all starts with you. We know that most of us learn about money through experience or from our parents so we are working on new and exciting ways to help you get access to the information you need to get your own financial world in order so you can set the right example for your kids and break the cycle of learning through trial and error.<\/p>\n

\n

Watch this space for our first ‘Aureus Education- Foundations To Financial Freedom’ course along with my first book ‘Enjoying The Journey’ due to be released in January 2018!<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Thanks for reading,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jackson | The Wealth Mentor<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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