| Teaching your kids to be money-savvy |
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The Dzurays of Columbia, Md., have
used the topic of financial responsibility to instill a sense of
gratitude and charity in their two young children. Hadley Dzuray,
age 9, is planning to organize her own separate tables at the family's
garage sale to sell her belongings.
"She's already decided that she is going
to donate all the money to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center,"
says her mother, Jodi Dzuray. She has made donations to the hospital
in the past, and Johns Hopkins seems to be her charity of choice
-- and for good reason. Her younger brother, Jon, was diagnosed
several years ago with leukemia. Jon is now cured after receiving
a bone marrow transplant from Hadley.
Beacham, also known nationally as "Mrs.
Money," agrees that this is the perfect age to really grab
children's attention about social goodwill and giving back to the
community. "It's like teaching children good hygiene. If we
get them to start thinking about others at a young age, just like
we teach them how to brush their teeth and pick out their clothes,
it will become a way of life for them," she says.
Ages
13-18
Some teenagers are mature enough to handle more advanced money-management
strategies. For example, Griffin taught her son Evan, now a student
at UCLA, and daughter Elise, a high school junior, how to budget
for clothing, spending money, school supplies and other necessaries
for an entire year's time through the use of a Visa
Buxx card. Visa Buxx works in stores like a regular credit card,
but it's actually a prepaid card.
Parents
decide how much money should be loaded onto the card and can use the Visa Buxx
Web site to monitor their teen's spending habits. This offers teens financial
independence within the safe and structured limits imposed by parents.
"We agreed on how much money should be
put on their card and what types of expenses they would be responsible
for," Griffin says. Griffin's son used his Visa Buxx card until
he left for college and now uses a debit card. The process was seamless
for him because of his prior experience with successfully managing
his Visa Buxx. "Now he has both a debit and a credit card and
manages them successfully, but I'm not sure that all kids at his
age are ready for that," Griffin says.
As society becomes more consumer driven and
children are bombarded with endless advertising, teaching money
management has become a critical part of parenting today. Using
some of these techniques will help your child learn how to manage
money and become a more financially responsible adult.
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