3 Ways To Involve Children In Money Matters

The other day, I read "Make your kid a Money Genius (even if you're not)" by Beth Kobliner. Just the title alone reassured me because even if I were nowhere near financial freedom, I could redeem myself by raising my son to be terrific with money. Plus, Beth Kobliner got down to business quickly by listing down practical and sensible and easy-to-implement suggestions for kids that run the gamut from toddlers to college students.

As a language person, I particularly resonated with the part where she suggested that we praise children by saying "Wow, you really invested time and effort!" after they complete a task. When we think about being an investor, our adult minds will gravitate towards ways to make our money grow, so it was refreshing for me to learn how I can sensitise my boy to the notion of investing through his daily activities. Another suggestion that will be pertinent in our local context is the planting of seeds. It is typical for children in Primary 3 and 4 to bring seeds back home for planting, so we can introduce them to the concept of investing by discussing how the plant will grow and reap dividends when provided with sufficient air, food, water and sunlight.

Before this turns out to be a book review, I thought that while Beth Kobliner provided a lot of useful suggestions, she placed a lot of emphasis on the parents guiding the children on what to do and what else to avoid. However, if we approach things from the Self-Determination Theory, we will find that people learn best when they have the autonomy to make their own decisions, the competence to succeed as well as the sense of relatedness to their community. Hence, instead of advising children on what to do, why not we empower them with tasks that they can handle?

1) "Bossy" Accountability Partners

Children make the best accountability partners. Here's why: they care about what adults have to say, take their words to heart and are not afraid to voice out when they sense something amiss. I realized this recently because I announced to a class of students that my New Year's Resolution for this year was to always ask for (free) tap water if the eatery I patronised provided it, and to always buy bottled mineral water if it didn't do so. No more buying of $5 lattes for me this year!

Since my announcement, I have been stopped at least twice at the canteen by children who questioned me in regards to why I was flouting my New Year's Resolution. I had to explain that my resolution involved me dining out at fancy restaurants, not me taking a break at the school canteen.

But there you have it. If we could make ourselves vulnerable and rope our children in as accountability partners, it could work wonders for our budget. For they will remind us of our money goals every chance they get!

2) Resourceful Researchers

Parenting is exhausting, so we ought to "outsource" whatever tasks we can to our children so that part of our mental load will be alleviated. At the same time, our children will pick up the necessary skills and knowledge to forge their own lives in future.

Children are already introduced to the topic of Money when they are in Primary One. Hence, a quick way to heighten children's awareness of money is to place them in charge of the family's grocery list, let them run from supermarket to supermarket and record down the prices of the various items. Of course, the grocery list cannot be too long, or else it will overwhelm the children. I reckon that 3 to 5 items will be enough for a start. What's great about this idea is that children are likely to view the whole thing as an adventure. It not only makes them feel needed, but also enables them to gather valuable data for the family. Which supermarket sells the family's desired items at the cheapest prices? Or which supermarket brings about most value for money? Parents can then take their children's data and think strategically about how to spend the household budget.

Another way children can do research is finding out the best interest rates for saving accounts and fixed deposits in Singapore. This will especially be relevant for upper primary children who need to learn percentages in Mathematics and can do with an introduction of how their money will grow with the available interest rates. Such exposure will help groom them to be savvy savers as they learn to differentiate the best offerings from the run-of-the-mill products out there.

3) Strategic Financial Planners

No discussion of money would be complete without a mention of our one and only CPF system. In recent years, CPF Board has done a great job in creating awareness of the nuts and bolts of CPF through varied means. (https://seedly.sg/opinions/leveraging-multiple-intelligences-to-learn-about-cpf .)

Its short and snappy infographics are presented in such a way that upper primary children can understand. (Perhaps you will like to use these infographics to reinforce Mathematical concepts of rate and percentage!)

Retirement is something that many adults would rather not think about, so why not let our children motivate us into doing it? The newly launched CPF planner, for instance, allows children to move a slider in order to arrive at a desired CPF Life payout. It will then reveal the figure that you will need in your CPF account when you turn 55 years old. Like magic!

(Source: https://www.bereadywithcpf.gov.sg/cpf-planner/dashboard/result-3a/)

Of course, children cannot wrap their minds around such a gargantuan sum, but I feel it's still a great idea to let them know that their parents need to save huge sums of money to prepare for retirement. This will in turn influence how they need to save and spend and share strategically so that they can stretch their parents' and their own money. Hopefully, they will learn not to badger their parents to fulfill all their wants!