To The Moon

Talk About Money Every DayThis weekend, how about talking about money as part of your day-to-day conversations with your child. You can even turn lessons into games. If you’re talking about a profession, see who can guess closest to the median salary. If you’re at a restaurant, let your child guess how much each dish costs. Compare that amount against what they have in their bank accounts to give them some perspective. When you are grocery shopping, ask them why some things cost more money than others. Is it the same product with different branding? Or does it have more features or is it of higher quality to justify the higher price? When you're paying bills, take the opportunity to explain fixed household expenses versus discretionary ones. Include your children in financial decisions. F

Teach Them How To Do A BudgetDo you follow a budget? If you work in a business you have no choice, however not many people follow a budget at home. It’s still important to teach your kids the fundamentals of budgeting though as budgets are one of the most powerful tools you can give your child to learn how to control their spending. Prepare a budgetStart by explaining what income and expenses are. Then discuss the difference between needs (e.g electricity, rates, insurance) and wants (e.g chuck steak vs fillet steak, holidaying in a camping ground vs staying in a motel). Tell them they should prioritise their needs first then allocate the balance amongst their wants. It’s highly likely they won’t have enough money for everything so they have to learn to accept they can’t have eve

Teach Kids How To Spend WiselyWhen your child has their own hard-earned money to spend, you’ll want to teach them ways they can get the best value. Here are some activities to help them learn how to do this.Comparison ShoppingPick a product and ask your child which stores they would go to to compare prices. Ask them if they can find a similar product at a cheaper price. If so, should they automatically buy the cheaper product? Not necessarily. Cheaper is not always better. Ask them what they think “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low cost” means. The answer is cheap products may not taste as good, or be as good for you, or work, or last, or have to be repaired or replaced a lot sooner than a quality product. How do they know if a product is a quality

Teach your child about Saving and InterestInterest is a very simple way for your child (or anyone for that matter) to make money without them having to work for it. Start by explaining what interest is. It's the reward banks pay for depositing money into a Savings account (lending them money). Then explain the difference between Checking (Everyday) accounts and Savings accounts. Checking accounts don’t typically pay interest. Savings accounts do but the interest paid will generally be less if money is withdrawn or there hasn’t been another deposit made within a certain period of time (usually a month).Open up a Savings Account on their behalf (if they are under 18). The world has been in a low interest rate environment since the global financial crisis in 2008, so returns on bank

You expect your child to learn about math, reading and science at school, but what about personal finance? Dealing with money is an important part of their everyday lives. It will affect the choices they have and the decisions they make. Most of us had to learn lessons about money the hard way but it doesn't have to be that way for your child.Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to post five ways you can teach your child how to be successful with money. I hope they will serve as practical guides and inspiration.#1   Pay them an allowanceA good way to start teaching your child about money is with a weekly allowance as this lets them test the principles of budgeting, saving, impulse control and delayed gratification with their own money.How much?This depends on your financial me

I’m Neil Edmond, co-founder and CEO of MoneyTime. Our award winning financial literacy program is designed to equip children globally with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to make good financial decisions as they go through life.Right now I want to explain why teaching your children about money is important, now more than ever.The mountain is steeper for our childrenIn case you were wondering, it has been harder for our generation to get ahead financially than it was for our parents; and it’s going to be even harder for our children. I’ve identified 5 reasons why this is and why it’s important that your children learn about earning, saving, borrowing, lending and investing in order to not just maintain the level of financial security they were brought up with, but to imp