We all want our kids to be money geniuses, don’t we? However, when it comes to teaching our children financial skills, we as parents fall short. Why?? Because most of us are not sure of our own methodology in handling finances based on our past mistakes, while a few others find it tricky to talk money with children. As a result, discussing money within the family has become a taboo subject and isn’t spoken about openly. Many such controversial topics have been dealt with by us in the past and we now openly discuss sex, drugs, and alcohol with our children. But money and money management are still considered off-limit topics and children are more often than not, left to learn on their own.
Unfortunately, our school curricula also fail to equip our children with even the most fundamental financial skills and knowledge required to manage today’s increasingly challenging financial world. A recent poll of millennials revealed a widespread lack of financial understanding and poor financial preparedness, leaving them massively unprepared for unprecedented financial crises.
In such a situation, it becomes all the more important that financial literacy skills be taught to kids at a very young age so that they do not fall victim to today’s world of easy credit, online shopping, and rising inflation. And they are able to adapt and thrive in the quickly changing financial landscape by planning and managing money wisely.
In fact, the sooner the better, because a child’s brain is like a sponge – it absorbs all nearly all information that is being put across to them. Thus, by equipping them with the right skills at an early age, children will be far more capable of making critical financial decisions in their life and stay away from financial worries.
Financial literacy for kids involves learning about many aspects of money and finances, such as:
1. Banks and Bank Accounts
2. Analyzing Needs & Wants
3. Understanding Income & Expenses
4. Budgeting
5. Savings and Investments
That being said, we truly believe that to navigate through today’s tough financial landscape, it’s crucial that financial education is introduced to children at an early age as it’s undoubtedly an essential life skill.