How to Recession-Proof Your Kids

In a tough economy, talking about money and investing can be more important than a primer on the birds and the bees. Here are some simple lessons you should be sharing with your children.

Tweet

Aside from the usual worries about massive layoffs, foreclosures, and a tumbling stock market, what appears to be a looming recession is presenting another kind of personal dilemma: How much should we tell our children about the gloom and doom, and how can we best prepare them to face the economic monster in the closet when they grow up?

Explaining your family's financial situation and giving your kids responsibility early on can help promote confidence and an ingrained understanding of the money cycle. And don't be afraid to encourage creativity: Developing entrepreneurial traits often begins with inspiration at home.

Given all the grim economic news lately, it is perhaps ironic that April marks National Financial Literacy Month. In that spirit, below you will find six tips for guiding your offspring through a recession.

Have the money talk. Signs of an economic downturn may be an adult worry, but it doesn't mean that your kids should be left out of the picture when it comes to talking about finances. While the discussion may vary depending on the age of your children, the topic isn't any less important for the elementary school set.

"Parents generally don't want to bother their kids with their whole money situation," says Elisabeth Donati, founder and executive director of Creative Wealth International, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based organization that runs camps and programs to teach kids (and their parents) about money. "Then parents wonder why when their kids leave the house and they hand them a checkbook that they don't know what to do with it."

From the time they start elementary school, show your kids your pay stubs and bills to help them conceptualize where money comes from and how it is spent, Donati suggests. You can even have them watch when you write checks and pay bills online.

If you have teenage kids, chances are they're hearing the word "recession" a lot lately, but might not know exactly what it means. "Start by explaining to [your teens] why the economy is in this position," says Gabe Graumann, an entrepreneur and author of "Money Talk with Gabe," a financial coaching blog. "A lot of teens don't understand how credit works," he adds, but you can "educate them that when you borrow money there's interest that you pay to someone else, that's a risk you're taking and there is liability attached."

Lead by example. Involving kids in daily finances can help them gain an intuitive sense of basic economics -- not to mention make your own daily routines with bills and balances more appealing. If rising costs during a recession prompt you to clip out coupons for the grocery store and make creative use of cheaper ingredients, you might want to use the opportunity to demonstrate budgeting to your children.

Karen Hoxmeier, founder of mybargainbuddy.com, a discount tracker service, says that her three kids get a kick out of comparing prices on cereal boxes and finding good deals on produce. "They look at it like a scavenger hunt, and they compete with each other," she says.

Dan Henderson, founder and CEO of Summit, a Trussville, Ala.-based toy company, and a father of two daughters ages 18 and 21, says that when his children were growing up, he sent them allowances in check form and allotted himself checks for spending and family entertainment as well. The habit, he says, helped his daughters understand cost and limits.

Instead of agonizing over the bank account after the kids are asleep, parents should allow them to throw in their own votes on what luxuries the family could do without. "Let's say you want to take a family vacation to Disneyland," says Jim Del Favero, group product manager for Quicken personal finance software. "Tell your kids that in order to go on a vacation, you need to save up. Ask them, 'What can we do as a family in the next three months to save up?' Give them a goal and help them participate in saving for that goal."

Encourage entrepreneurship. Another way that children learn about money is by watching how their parents work and seeing what it takes to generate an income. Business owners can offer their kids firsthand knowledge and advice on how to start a small business and maybe even generate some of their own income.

On the most basic level, running a lemonade stand or selling baked goods in the neighborhood are popular and fun ways for kids to start thinking like entrepreneurs. And the opportunities for entrepreneurship are only limited by their imaginations. "You can challenge your kids to find other ways to make money," Del Favero says. "If you have a child who likes playing a musical instrument, maybe they can tutor other children. Train children to take the things that they are good at or like doing and see if they can find a way to generate revenue from it."

 1 | 2  NEXT 

Read more:

Sign-up for our Finance Newsletter

Email Address: