Teach Kids to Set Financial Goals – Video

Here’s the next in my Kids and Money video series:  Setting Personal Financial Goals

The Mystery Charge – A Teachable Moment

The cell phone bill came in.  It was a little higher than usual, not by much, but enough to get me looking for the reason why.  I consider the cell phone bill a fixed expense.  Technically, it’s not since there is always the possibility that we could go over minutes at which point the charges [...]

Teaching Kids to be Wise Consumers

Teaching kids to be wise consumers requires that we have them reflect on their purchases…before they spend the money. And an easy way to do this is to teach them the Three Money Questions: Do I need it? Can I afford it? Does it add value to my life? Do I need it? This gives [...]

The Cell Phone: A Powerful Learning Tool

There was a huge graphic of a cell phone on the front page of the Sacramento Bee this morning. It was all about the love affair tweens and teens have with their cell phones confirmed in a study by Pew Internet and American Life Project. If you have a tween or teen, this is not [...]

Is It Worth It?

Ryan just spent $204.44. He didn’t do it lightly. That’s because he knows just how long it took him to earn that money. His one-day-a-week paper route earns him $11/week. That’s 19 weeks of folding and throwing papers. But he also gets $10/week in allowance. Enough to help him get some of the things he [...]

He Spent How Much On A Jersey?

John and the boys traveled to the Bay Area this past weekend to attend a San Jose Sharks game with John’s brother, Thomas. The Sharks are an ice hockey team and Thomas has season tickets. Nice. All four of them had a blast. Apparently it was a nail biter near the end. And those are [...]

$100 Jeans

I love watching commercials.  Especially with Ryan.  He wants to go into marketing as a career so it’s always fun to critique commercials with him. But last night, Ryan wasn’t with me while I had tuned in the Olympics so John got to hear me get annoyed at the t.v. instead.  It was a Tide commercial and a [...]

Girls = $

We were driving home from Nathan and Ryan’s basketball game yesterday when I asked Nathan what he planned on giving his girlfriend, Shea, for Valentine’s Day.  “I bought her a rose,”  he said.  “My math teacher did an equation in class the other day where he proved girls were evil,”  said Ryan. Ryan often throws [...]

To Share…But Not With My Sister

I was in a third grade classroom today doing a lesson on saving and spending wisely.  It’s a fun lesson because kids get to “buy” things with $25 that I “give” them.  With third graders, it’s important to let them know that the money isn’t real, nor are the items they buy.  I learned this [...]

Too Much of a Hassle?

I was talking to a friend of mine recently about setting up an allowance program for her six-year-old daughter.  Six is the perfect age to get an allowance going.  Kids this age understand a lot about money and it’s time to start giving them some responsibility managing some so that they can begin to get into [...]