Last week, we talked about when to start talking to your kids about money.

I suggested you start at the age of 7.

If your kids are older than that, start today!

And, you don’t just want to start talking about it, but you want to take action with them.

Have a plan for the next time your child receives money. Instead of just letting them put it in their wallet and spend it on whatever (or lose it!), plan to introduce the idea of invest/spend/give.

There are many methods of this, so choose one that is easy for you to remember. The key is that you want your kids to begin to experience the core values you want to pass on.

I’ll illustrate using my core values and you can apply these principles to your core values. One of my core values is that money is an energy that must be circulated to create more.

When my daughter receives any money from anyone she must divide the money she receives into 3 shares - spend, give and invest (save).

The only rule I have is that spend and give are equal and invest gets the rest and that she can’t invest all of it.

Then, with regard to the part that goes into invest, part of it gets invested for something long term, like college, and part of it gets invested for something short term, like a $100 American Girl doll.

And, unless she is saving for something specific, she has to do something with the short term investment $$ when it gets to be around $100. I don’t want her just saving for the sake of hoarding her money as I don’t believe in that.

So, first determine the core money values you want to pass on to your child.

Then, come up with some rule start to apply next time your child receives a gift or earns some money.

And, as you are laying out the rules, explain the core value you are teaching in as simple terms as possible.

Have fun!

© 2007 Alexis Martin

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