When do children start learning about money? Likely before you realize. They see how adults treat money and make connections as only kids can. Even if they see good habits, they probably won’t really understand.
My parents were always good with money - we didn’t have a lot, but bills were paid on time, some money was saved, and debt (other than a mortgage and a rare car loan) was non-existent. But growing up in the 70s meant that you really didn’t talk about money, especially around the kids. Kids couldn’t be trusted to know or obey the social taboo to not discuss the family finances with others. That’s how misunderstandings happen.
For years I watched my parent’s money habits. Cash was placed in labeled envelopes for food, gas, gifts, school lunches, etc. Purchases such as clothes and household items were made with a blue Visa card. Notice I can still remember the color of the card.
The above is all I knew or was told about the family finances. Any questions were given a response that boiled down to “None of your business”, although it was never said in so many words. Again, fairly typical in the late 70s when I was about 8 or 9 years old.
So, I connected the dots and made what seemed like valid assumptions. Since my parents used cash for most everything, it was easy to understand how that worked. That darn Visa card was another story - a pretty good one at that. It was obvious that everybody must have this blue Visa card and they could use it to pay for things up to a certain dollar amount each month. (At least my parent’s had taught me that there was a limit to how much could be purchased with the Visa.) It was free to use and each month your allowance was reset.
That illusion stuck with me for a couple of years until one Saturday morning when I asked my mother what she was writing a check for. I was devastated to have my financial model ruined when she told me it was the Visa bill. Who knew Visa wasn’t some grand social wealth distribution model?
One would think that the conversation that came out of the above revelation would have thawed the ice, but it didn’t. I was 18 before I knew what the mortgage payment was or had any clue how much my dad earned. My guess was only half of his real salary. At least I learned about paying off the credit card bill each month.
I wonder what my oldest, now 3, will learn about money from me. Cash is a rarity for us - all our purchases go on the Visa card (not blue, by the way). He’s in bed when I write checks - unless I’m doing an electronic payment. He does know his coins and loves putting money into his various banks in the house.
I’m not chomping at the bit to explain finances to a three-year old, but it’s important to have a plan on gradually working financial education into a child’s life. If we don’t teach it to our kids, who knows where their imagination will lead them?
Comments(0) 