What resources or approaches can you recommend when teaching your kids about money management and business?
My daughter has desperately wanted chickens for some time now and this last summer we gave her the opportunity to earn and raise a flock of 10 birds. This girl has big plans but I’m having a hard time coaching her through it. She is only 7 years old, but has already made quite a bit of money selling her eggs to neighbors. She has goals to save money to invest back into her flock and their coop by expanding in the spring. Her ambition is both inspiring and dizzying. 😂🤣
2 answers
My approach as a parent of young boys 8 and 6 is I’m open about my work. I share in my experience. Explaining what I do. The ups and downs. I want them to value work. And for them to understand that Daddy works. I love what I do but I do have setbacks. Yes we do lemonade stands, chores, but I want them to understand that daddy works.
- courtcarp—That’s great. And I think they have a pretty firm understanding of work and the value of it. But my question is specifically in relation to money management, which is also something I’m afraid I feel inexperienced lending good council on personally. My daughters instincts appear to be much more entrepreneurial than my own have ever been. Beyond telling her to save half and pocket the rest, I would love some resources to help teach her how to make her money work for her as she envisions what she wants from future endeavors. The whole discussion feels very out of my element personally. 😆
rachel9802
Do you follow Simply on Purpose? She has a family economy system that we roughly follow (she bases it on the system in The Entitlement Trap by Richard and Linda Eyre).
In summary, we do not give an allowance (who gets something for nothing in this world!) and instead we pay them to do chores.
On Saturdays we do a hourly rate for cleaning up the house, yard work, etc. We pay a standard rate of $2/hr (my kids are 8, 8, and 5 for reference). I boost pay for unpleasant tasks (hello cleaning the toilet!) to $3/hr. Each Saturday there is a list of things I need done, and they can work as long as they want to help (these are my bigger weekly tasks, like cleaning bathrooms, getting laundry done and put away, doing a full toy room cleanup, weeding, mowing the lawn, etc).
On a daily basis I do a per task payment. So they get paid for doing any of the following: \
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Morning: be ready for school on time, clean up breakfast.
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Afternoon: piano, homework, get their backpacks ready for the next day
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Daily cleaning task: I’ll have a list of daily tasks they could do — vacuuming the living room, clearing and wiping down the kitchen table, set the table, put toys away, clean up books, etc. Just little things that would keep our home nicer, but that if they don’t do isn’t the end of the world. And nothing too time consuming.
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Bedtime: brush teeth, put on pajamas, in bed on time
Each task pays a dime, with the exception of piano and homework, which each pay a quarter. total, my 8 year olds probably earn about $10-$20/month?
All the money they earn goes into their piggy bank or a digital account (aka just a note on my phone, haha). Anytime we are out and they want something (a toy, a candy bar, a hot chocolate, etc) I tell them they are welcome to buy it with their own money. We pay for food at our house, clothes needed, and transportation at this stage. Anything else, they buy.
And it’s so cool to see them evolve in what they use their money for. They’ve started learning to save. My son bought a farewell gift for his friend who had a military move this summer. They use their money to buy each other Christmas and birthday gifts, and their friends birthday gifts. They buy their own souvenirs on trips.
And the whole system is optional, because they’ll have what they NEED from us. But anything else they have to EARN.
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