To The Moon

Talk About Money Every Day

This 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. For example, at the supermarket you can look at the circular together to see what’s on special before deciding what to make for dinner. Or you can ask them to make budget-based decisions, like they have $20 to spend on dinner each night.

These activities will get your child to start thinking about the role of money in everyday life.

Making it happen

Good money management won't be hard for your child if they learn the basics and have experience managing small amounts of their own. To implement the ideas above, why not pick one activity a fortnight and explore it with them. Within 6 months they will be little cash generals and ready to learn what they can do to grow their money in order to reach bigger financial goals.

Or you can normalise money for your kids by using our MoneyTime program for 10-14 years olds. In MoneyTime, children have to solve problems regularly throughout the modules. They are rewarded with money for each correct answer to spend on avatars and investments within the program, which builds confidence in making their own financial decisions. There is a strong emphasis on them having to choose between spending, saving, donating and investing – just like they will have to do in real life. www.moneytimekids.com