Financial literacy has been part of the school curriculum for a few years and is now being taught as part of maths, science and English lessons. So kids these days are learning about money at school. In theory.
On the whole I think teachers do an amazing job. When I think back to some of the teachers I had at school I remember some people who had a wonderful ability to impart knowledge. Mr Baird was a fantastic English/history teacher, Mr Thompson was brilliant in Legal Studies and Mr Fox turned our Economics class around from a class who were going to fail to one that passed. But for all the good teachers, there were some shockers – people who shouldn’t have been passing on knowledge in their chosen field, let alone in something outside their area of expertise, like money.
In practice children learn about money every day – every school day, weekend, public holiday and right throughout the school holidays. They learn about money when they see mum get out cash from the grocery checkout, when dad pays for the takeaway with a credit card, when they see the daily coffee bought on the way to school or soccer, and when their parents argue about how the next big bill will be paid. Chances are, kids learn the same way that their parents learnt – from their family.
This means it’s up to the family – to mums and dads, aunts, uncles and grandparents to ensure the next generation is financially savvy. Of course, this means that those passing on the knowledge need to pass on the right information in the first place. They need to get the message across that money doesn’t come from the supermarket, but from work. Children must understand that when dinner is bought with a plastic card that there is an underlying exchange of money and often that means the purchaser is buying on credit. Kids learn by seeing their parents giving up buying the daily coffee for making one and putting the daily savings into a glass jar. And when parents argue about money without resolving it in front of the kids, their children get a negative message about finances.
It’s a bloody tough gig being a parent, partly because finding a resource that shows you how to sort your own finances out and how to pass that knowledge on to your children are very hard to find. Finding this resource that’s engaging, interactive, accessible, up to date, relevant for Australians, funny and interesting has been virtually impossible. Until now.
Kids And Money is a new chapter in Financial Freedom For Gens X and Y that covers everything you need to know about the topic. From what to expect before you fall pregnant, through to the best investments for children, how kids are affected by tax, available government assistance for parents and paying teenagers pocket money, Kids And Money is the new resource that parents need and it’s being launched today. With all the research I have done, I have found no resources that covered all these areas.
To celebrate the launch we are discounting our normal price of $24.95 to just $10 until the end of September. For less than the price of three takeaway coffees you can sort out your finances and learn how to teach your children the money message they will need for life. Visit our Facebook page for the discount code.