Growing up, my dad taught me everything I know about money. He has a way with words and can drop these backwoods one-liners that make you think and laugh at the same time.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t care how much money anyone had, he cared how you acted. He would say things like, \u201cpeople are either good, bad, or broke.\u201d To him, being broke was never a moral failing, it was just a symptom of fear. He taught me how to treat money like a boomerang saying, \u201cif you have the courage to ask for it, money has no choice but to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just money, though. He used the same approach for everything in life to show me that I was in charge of my own destiny and success. I was probably Beau\u2019s age when it dawned on me that daily tooth brushing was my first never-ending responsibility. Every time I would complain about it, my Dad\u2019s response was always \u201cwell just brush the ones you want to keep!\u201d<\/p>\n
I know his parenting style might not fly in this day and age but back then, he gave me a sense of agency and confidence that has served me well in my adult life and that\u2019s something to cherish.<\/p>\n
But not everyone learns about money from their parents. In fact, most parents don\u2019t feel ready to talk to their kids about money at all. A survey by Capital One found that only 22% of parents<\/a> felt prepared to have money conversations with their kids.<\/p>\n A separate study by Merrill Lynch<\/a> reveals how this problem actually cuts across all income levels. They looked at the family dynamics of high-net-worth individuals and asked how parents felt about different financial tasks. The one they felt the least confident about was \u201cteaching children about finances\u201d \ud83e\udd74.<\/p>\n It turns out that even rich parents don\u2019t want to talk about money with their kids, and it\u2019s not like they don\u2019t have their reasons.<\/p>\n The most common reason given was they worry that telling their kids about their wealth will make them lazy and spoiled. Some of them want their kids to stand on their own feet and earn their own money. Others feel nervous or guilty about the money talk and don\u2019t want to mess up or confuse their kids. The rest say they just don\u2019t know how to talk about money because no one ever taught them.<\/p>\n But none of these reasons are good enough to avoid \u201cthe money talk\u201d because our kids are watching us anyway. If we don\u2019t talk to them about money, we\u2019re leaving them in the dark about something that will affect their lives every day. We\u2019re setting them up for unrealistic expectations or misunderstandings about how much money we have and how we use it. And we\u2019re risking conflict and resentment later on when money issues come up.<\/p>\n So I want to help take the pressure off. You don\u2019t have to worry about how your kids will use the information you give them in the future. Research shows that half of them<\/a> may choose to do things differently anyway, just like our generation did.<\/p>\n You also don\u2019t have to be a perfect communicator or a financial expert to talk to your kids about money. There\u2019s a study that shows that kids as <\/a>young as 5<\/a> understand that the world is not fair and that some people have more power and money than others.<\/p>\n Kids already understand what\u2019s happening around them and they\u2019re capable of more. But when we don\u2019t tell them the truth or answer the questions they have, they freak out. They look for answers elsewhere and they find stuff that is wrong, biased, and scary.<\/p>\n Our kids are the first generation of kids who will grow up in an incredibly information-rich environment. A lot of it is crap, but we can help them build a stronger knowledge base than any other generation if we just focus on the facts.<\/p>\n What matters the most is that you give them the facts when they\u2019re young. That\u2019s when their brains are most receptive and curious and they\u2019re soaking up everything like a sponge. That\u2019s when they\u2019re building the foundation of knowledge that will help them make smart decisions later on.<\/p>\n This is not about ruining their innocence, this is about helping them grow. I want caregivers and parents to see these hard and important conversations as a way to make their kids more caring, smart, and aware of the world.<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/richandregular.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/MMG-728-x-90.jpg?resize=728%2C90&ssl=1\")