Money Musings: 💭 How I’m teaching my kids about money 💰
You hear me say this a lot - most of us didn’t learn about money and personal finance growing up. It wasn’t taught in schools and it typically wasn’t something that was okay to talk about - even with close friends and family.
I know this community wants to change that. And I do think things are going to look different for this current generation of kids.
I’m seeing more and more personal finance programs pop up in schools, which is great.
We can also commit to teaching the children in our life about money in age appropriate ways.
At dinner one night with friends I learned that they paid their kids an allowance if they completed certain tasks like bringing their plates to the kitchen, putting their clothes in the hamper, and cleaning up their toys. I was inspired to start something like this with E.
Growing up, I received an allowance. It was a really cool system where I could spend ⅓, had to put ⅓ into savings and gave or donated the last ⅓.
E (age ~4) has not fully grasped the concept of exchanging money for goods and services so for now we’re keeping it simple - earn money to spend. And instead of cash, we’re using poker chips.
At the end of each day if E has done his tasks, he gets a poker chip (each is worth $1) and he can trade them in to buy things.
He is obsessed with a show called Octonauts (a group of undersea explorers who rescue animals) and he saved up to buy himself an Octonauts lunch box. He asked me every day when that lunch box was arriving and he’s so proud to carry it to school every day.
When I interviewed Brian Walsh for my book he shared that research shows that kids under 10 years old aren’t going to understand the ins and outs of personal finance but "their attitudes and core relationship with money are forming so it’s really important to support that."
I’d love to hear from you. How have you introduced money concepts to the children in your life or do you remember fun ways you were taught about money as a child?
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
SPRING CLEAN YOUR EXPENSES.
Spring is here (technically) and many of our finances could use a spring clean. I know mine could! That might mean getting reorganized, cleaning up our spending or even becoming more aware of where our money is going.
If you think you’d benefit from more awareness around your spending (hint, most of us would!), here are some strategies to help. For this week’s money move, choose one strategy you think would be helpful and test it out for the next 7 days.
Keep a money journal. Write down (or type out) everything you spend.
Spend in cash (when possible). This can make spending feel a lot more real and potentially more painful than swiping a card.
Unsave or don't save credit card info. This adds an extra step when we’re looking to make a purchase.
Try the 48-hour rule. Wait 48 hours before making a purchase that’s not part of your regular spending.
from sales emails. If you’re tempted by email sales, this keeps companies from having direct access to you and your wallet.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
IN HONOR OF EARTH WEEK - EARTH + MONEY WIN-WINS.
This week is Earth Week. I like to think of it as a week to dedicate some extra love and time to learning about the earth and how we can save it. Here are some ways to take care of our planet while also saving money:
Eat less meat. Meat creates a large portion of the greenhouse gas emissions and is expensive. I love the idea of committing to eating less meat rather than trying to cut it out entirely (especially if it’s a big part of your diet now). We all know how well restrictions work with our money and our diet. A recent study shows if we all reduced our meat consumption by 25%, greenhouse gas emissions would go down by 1% (which is no small deal).
Sometimes buying nothing is the best option. We talk a lot about consumer activism around here. I mean, it’s an entire chapter of my book! BUT sometimes the best option for the planet and our wallets is to not buy anything at all. Easy enough! Gotta love simple tips.
Shop sustainability. Yes, choosing companies with more sustainable practices can be more expensive BUT when we do the research and choose companies that align with our values it takes time (a lot of time). This makes our purchases more intentional and in the process we may weed out some impulse buys. If you want to decrease the amount of time you need to research, we have a channel to help in the Fiscal Femme Slack community.
Reassess how you travel. This can go for our every day getting around as well as one-off trips. Check out a tool like Map My Emissions (thank you for the rec Tanja Hester!) to see how your commute or trip affects the planet. Depending on your situation, there might be something you can do. And if you needed another reason for your company to let you work from home more frequently, here you go!
Reduce your utilities. There are a bunch of ways to reduce our utility bills and lower bills means using less resources. Is there a room that could really use some better insulation? Can you wait to run the dishwasher until full? Using cold water when washing your clothes is another easy switch (and it’s less risky for your whites!). Here’s a list of ideas to reduce your utilities.