Helping kids appreciate money
The most important thing BPA has given to Delaney is a new mindset—one where anything is possible. She’s learned new skills and strategies that she can use in school, while traveling, and for the future.
Read MoreYFL presented their biggest donation check yet to the Detroit Academy of Arts & Sciences after 400 students passed the FamilyMint/YFL youth financial literacy program. These students also appeared on the Ellen show. Check out this great video!
…In Portland, Oregon it is legal to beg for money on the streets but it’s illegal to sell mistletoe – even if you’re only 11 years old? If you haven’t heard the recent news, that’s the absolute truth. Just ask Madison Root. Her efforts to sell mistletoe in a public park at Portland Saturday market were recently thwarted. Thanks to extensive coverage in the press, the market has now offered for Madison and her father, Ashton, to become members without paying the vendor fee.
So, what caused all this uproar in the first place?
Here’s the story…
That was me. Waiting in line out in the cold at Best Buy. Checking my phone every few minutes in case another potential deal was posted. Driven by a desire for a great deal, anxious that I might miss something I really need anyway, anticipating that feeling of success. Imagining my wife and my friend's looks of surprise and admiration as I described the unbelievably small amounts of money that I paid for the most amazing things.
"Your strings are being pulled," the inner voice whispered as I danced to the advertising around me...
Read MoreGoal Accomplished = Joy
Take a look at the 30 second video below. At the end, I bet you'll be smiling and laughing along with him.
Take a deep breath in. Hold it! Breath out sloooooooowly. Ahhhhh, school is out, and the decompression has begun.
As you think through all the fun things you'll do with your kids this summer, consider one that will challenge them to develop great money habits.
My oldest son is going to college next year and is considering getting an apartment. I don’t know about you, but when I hear these words (“college” and “apartment”), lists of various expenses quickly start scrolling through my mind. I wanted to help my son develop a similar mental picture of this new, expensive world he is walking into. But what’s the best way to relay the enormity and variety of the expenses of this new world to my son?
Read MoreWe get many testimonials on the ease of use of FamilyMint, so we're very careful about adding features that add complexity that may not be used by a large portion of our user base. Many FamilyMint families have indicated that they actually prefer to track chores manually / outside of an online application. The chore tracking and maintenance implementations we've seen online are anything but simple, and in our estimation, actually seem to cause more work in the end vs. simple manual methods. This is one area where technology hasn't yielded a better result.
In line with keeping things simple... we thought we’d share what we do personally in our own families in hopes you might find it useful.
Read MoreFamilyMint is organized and focused first and foremost on SMART goals. You can use this setup to track very simple loans as well.
Read MoreMy 9 and 12 year olds were laughing so hard in the back of the car they had tears in their eyes. The kind of laugh that just makes you laugh along with them even though you have no clue what's so funny...
Read MoreWhat do kids want to know about money? Who do kids turn to first with their money questions? Do kids think parents are setting good money examples? What’s the most common financial regret for parents? These questions and many juicy others are tackled by the 2012 Annual Parent, Kids & Money Survey by T. Rowe Price.
Read MoreIt's an uncomfortable thing to talk about. You're not sure how to bring it up, and your kids aren't jumping up and down to talk with you about it either.
Read MoreHow much allowance should I give my kids? What do other parents do? Is giving an allowance even a good idea?Many experts will say $1/week multipled by your child’s age is the “right amount”. To this, we say nonsense! Here is some quick information that really will help.
Read MoreAdam and Matthew are serial entrepreneurs and have boiled the subject of kids starting businesses down into 60 short and enjoyable pages. The look and feel is like that of a fun, colorful scrapbook rather than boring business book. I would definitely recommend it for parents with kids between the ages of 7 and 14.
Read MoreThe NFEC recently honored FamilyMint with the annual Best Practices in Financial Education Award. FamilyMint won this award in the Kids Financial Education Software Category.
Read MoreIn this last entry of the series, we cover methods to overcome obstacles, cynicism, laziness, and bad habits, as well as concrete ideas to getting started
Read MoreToday we learn that money can be created, and your financial IQ is the way to create it.
Read MoreWe continue the series and focus on Lesson 3: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS and Lesson 4: THE HISTORY OF TAXES AND THE POWER OF CORPORATIONS
Read MoreWith Summary #3, we focus on Lesson 2: WHY TEACH FINANCIAL LITERACY, and answer the question WHY DO THE RICH REALLY DO GET RICHER?
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