Money Matters
Brought to you by: OneAscent Wealth, www.oneascentwealth.com
“I want to go to the jump place!” Our three-year-old son loves a trampoline park and often expresses his love with this simple statement. Bless his little heart, he’s yet to develop the categories of what the trip costs and how often we can go based on said cost.
Most kids head into adulthood without a good understanding of money, but it does not have to be that way. As parents, we can teach our kids stewardship by orienting their hearts toward a world that is bigger than just their desires. Here are three ways parents can teach children the value of the dollar and start them on a path toward wisdom, stewardship, and generosity.
1. Let kids help budget for a family vacation. When kids think about a big family vacation, they picture endless entertainment. Putting a tangible value on rides, shows, and meal costs can help kids set realistic expectations and prevent the trip from turning into a spending spree. As a family, make a bottom-line budget for your trip. Then sit down and make line items. Start with essentials: gas, hotels, and park admissions. Add in the cost of meals at a destination restaurant. As the leftovers from your top budget number shrink, your kids will see how additional spending changes the substance of the trip.
2. Help kids set short-term and long-term financial goals. Buying everything your kid points to any time you go shopping can form a certain thought in your child’s mind. “I can have what I want when I want.” The next time your child eyes a new toy, talk to them about what that toy costs and how the child can help pay. A couple of extra chores might help the child appreciate the connection between work, money, and spending.
3. Encourage kids of all ages to earn money. A part-time job for a teenager is a great way to create a mindset of stewardship. They are paid a wage based on the labor they provided. Help them open a bank account for depositing those wages. Begin talking with them about saving, giving, and investing early.
Our great hope for our children is they would be fellow inaugurators of God’s kingdom. How they steward their money is an important component of their journey. When your children get a little older, consider bringing them into our office for a meeting. We can reinforce this idea of stewardship to your kids by talking through basic investing and savings principles all with the hopes they would view money as a gift to steward rather than a resource to exhaust.
-John Beatty
Advisor at OneAscent Wealth
205-313-9142, [email protected]
Investment advice offered through OneAscent Wealth Management, LLC, a registered investment adviser with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
