Money for Kids - One Cent At A Time

6 Financial Lessons I’d Teach My Son

August 30, 2018 8 Comments

The picture below is of my son and I. He is just 2 and a half but already quite a handful. He always keeps us busy. He’s very smart in a way to tell us what he needs. Just in a few years, he’d soon be getting his pocket money, then his own college expenses account. We want him to be smarter than us in money matters.

I grew up in a frugal lifestyle in India, our son is growing up in a relatively well-to-do household in the USA. What I am saying is, compared to where I grew up my son is getting a better lifestyle in terms of spending money on various necessities of his young life.

So it’s more important to not spoil him with things that he doesn’t need. Spoiling him will make him now but in the long run, he might be in trouble.

5 Things Parents Need to Teach Teens about Saving Money

April 3, 2018 1 Comment

If there’s one huge gift we as parents can give our kids, it’s the knowledge they need to grow up to be financially stable adults.

5 Things Parents Need to Teach Teens about Saving Money

As National Teach Your Child to Save Day rolls around this month (April 20), now is the perfect time to start teaching best practices for savings. And with the graduating class of 2018 about to walk the stage, it’s urgent that parents make sure their teens have the information they need to manage their money.

How Money Moves

April 23, 2016 2 Comments

Money constantly moves in a cycle from consumer to business to employee. Every time you send or receive money, you take part in that cycle. Money can move an impressive distance as these transactions happen. On average, a dollar bill moves two miles per day and changes hands 55 times per year. And that’s just printed for currency — digital transactions help move money even farther and much more quickly.

The lifespan of a $1 bill is less than six years, so new money is constantly printed to replace old. As a matter of fact, 90 percent of all new money merely replaces currency already in existence. Moreover, new money is getting more advanced, including measures to prevent counterfeiting.

U.S. dollar bills are printed in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, TX, by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and U.S. coins are minted in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver. Then the money travels across the United States to Federal Reserve Banks, where many smaller banks have accounts allowing them to pay for cash withdrawals.

Importance of Personal Finance Lessons for Teenagers

October 17, 2014 2 Comments

Earlier this year, I came across an article from the Los Angeles Times. It’s about how millennials won’t be able to get mortgages on their own and will rely on their parents to co-sign on loans and mortgages in the future. More recently, I came across this article on CNN Money – it’s also about how the student loan debt is making home ownership out-of-reach for millennials.

While home ownership is not a goal for everyone, I strongly believe that financial independence should be a goal for everyone. Unfortunately, millennials are not there yet for a number of reasons, including: no financial literacy skills, dangerous amounts of student loan debt, and not establishing credit early enough. I think starting the conversation about financial literacy early is the best way to prepare young people for financial freedom, just as about educating teenage girls about the importance of personal finance.

Talking About Finance to Your Teenage Girl

September 25, 2014 20 Comments

I received very early lessons on managing finances and investment from my father. Read more on my about page. I feel teaching your children about money is an essential part of their education. Unfortunately it’s not taught in schools, so it’s your job as a parent to make them financially aware which should help them become a better at managing their finances. I had written about early financial lessons to your children and financial advice for young adults. This is a guest post from Patrick he runs the blog Daytodayfinance. Enjoy the post!

Are you parent of a teenage girl? If yes then you already know that your little girl is all set to take her own decisions and plan her future. All she needs is your guidance and advice. If you think that she is too young to manage finance then you are wrong. Teenage is the perfect time to explore all the fields of life and learn financial lessons.

10 Cost Efficient Kids Summer Camp Alternatives

June 3, 2013 9 Comments

We do not have a kid to send to a summer camp. That day won’t come in next few years. But we have friends and family members who regularly send their kids to summer camps.Some organize events on their own. This post is about the summer camp alternatives that you can consider this summer.

Giving what’s best for kids is what every parent’s primary goal. Needless to say, being a parent is not an easy task particularly because you have to take care of everything from the littlest details to the biggest ones. Kid’s happiness and welfare are surely what every parent works so hard for.

How to Teach Your Child to Adopt a Saving Mentality

October 19, 2012 9 Comments

We don’t have a kid, not yet. But, ever since I visited the site money as you grow, I was thinking of writing something around it. It’s so important to impart early financial lessons on your kids! This site is promoted by federal govt. If you are a parent and want to start teaching money to your kid, you can start with this very simple and powerful site.

Although I don’t have a child, that shouldn’t stop my thought process on educating kids about money so that they can be financially responsible with money when they grow up. It’s so important in today’s Topsy-Turvy economy. I wrote about the importance of teaching personal finance early before, I also mentioned how you can use garage sells as money lessons for your kid.

This article is about ways to teach them the importance of saving money, which is the first step before you teach the concept of credit to them.

5 Steps to Introduce the Concept of Credit to Your Teens

January 2, 2012 20 Comments

I stated on many forums that I got a sound education on finance from my dad. Quietly strangely I learned investing first before learning how to manage personal finances. This seems quiet reasonable to me and I can’t thank my father enough for taking this route. I learned all the benefits of investing, how money grows, why banks pay interest to depositors.

It was a natural question for me to ask, “how the money for investing come then?”. My dad explained that my monthly salary or business income would be the only money I will have. He taught me how I can save money from my paycheck to fuel the investment. The more I save the more investment I can make. During my childhood (almost 25 years back) the concept of credit card was not there in India, where I grew up.

When I joined the workforce in the year 2000, Indian economy was growing at a rapid pace, multinational corporations were setting shops there and within my first month of employment, I was offered a credit card. Fortunately my credit limit was too low to incur any debt, but, soon I realized that credit cards are too dangerous for people who don’t know how to use them and at the same time, too good for people who can use it for their advantage.

Get Your Kids Started on Personal Finance Early

July 2, 2011 2 Comments

Probably this will be a very short post, in continuation of the earlier article Teach your Kid about money through garage sale, this is about kids and importance of their knowledge about money as well. This is about, why it is farsightedness to grant them access to banking privileges at an early stage.

Personal finance is obviously very important for all of us, and it seems to be one of the most important factors that contribute to a person’s success. That’s why getting your kids started on it early is so important as, if they are responsible when it comes to money, they will find themselves in a much better situation when they enter the workforce, and start making money.

You can achieve this by getting them their own bank account – this will allow them to begin saving for the future and allow them to see where it all goes. Credit Cards aren’t available to children, yet you can get them a debit card, which is just as exciting. Importantly this will teach them the ins and outs of banking, just make sure that it is a joint account so you can stay in control.

Let Children Learn Money From Garage Sale

June 15, 2011 7 Comments

What a change! Just in my last post, I bragged about the fact that I do not get enough time to write blog on week days. Surprisingly today I got a chance to pen (key) down this post.

This post is about garage sale for sure, but not about how you can make maximum profit out it, 100’s of writers covered the topic with 1000’s of articles already. You, yourself must have read 10’s of those. There’s nothing I can write which they didn’t already. I would cover another useful aspect of garage sale today.

We have internal discussion board at my work, where yesterday the hot discussion was about garage sales and how we can leverage it to impart valuable lessons of money to our kids. The decision to make it my next blog post subject was no brainer. Here I only need to present the ideas discussed today. I will change the names and pick four of the most motivating stories.

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