With the new school year just around the corner, it’s time to fill your shopping carts with No. 2 pencils, folders, markers and all the goodies the kids will lose by the second day of school.
If they’re headed off to college, it can be even more exciting. But, instead of needing you to replace their pens on day two, your college-aged child will probably be calling to ask for money by then.
It’s such a ritual that, at this point, many of us don’t really question it. But how much do our kids actually know about money?
Common core guidelines don’t always include requirements for teaching budgeting skills, how to manage a checking account or even explanations of basic concepts such as credit, loans or mortgages. Basically, the last time your children learned about money at school, it probably involved finding out how many apples and oranges they could buy in some middle school math word problem.
Pay yourself first. No one else is going to make you a financial priority, so don’t make them your financial priority.
If you want to know if you can afford something, check your budget. If you have to check your checking account, you can’t afford it. If you reconcile your accounts every month, you’ll have a pretty good idea how much is actually in each account. But having money in your checking account isn’t the same thing as having enough money. Plan ahead. Make a budget. Execute the plan by sticking to that budget.
Take risks while you’re young. You can afford to be more aggressive with your retirement and college funds while you have plenty of time to make it back up, so don’t be afraid to push those funds a little bit. That said, not saving for retirement is not a risk. It’s just a bad idea.
Make sure the Joneses are keeping up with you. It’s easy to get lost trying to compete with your peers and almost as easy to ignore those consumer pressures entirely. But what about the third option? Instead of ignoring their financial situation, check in every now and then to see if they need help. Our communities are better when we care about each other.
Whether your kids are in diapers or taking their driver’s test, it’s never too early or too late to teach financial literacy. Make sure you’re instilling the right lessons, and check back in with Genisys Credit Union often, as we’ve always got plenty of resources for young people to learn the lessons they aren’t getting in math class, like our Financial Wellness Toolbox.
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