The top 8 Things To Teach Your Kids About Money

Did you know that many people retire broke? It's true. After a lifetime of hard work and having earned literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, they end up with nothing. So where did all their hard-earned cash go? The answer is, right through their fingers. Schools are great at teaching algebra, calculus, and geometry... how many of us learned about the basics of personal finance and creating financial security for ourselves?

The earlier you learn to handle money, the more likely you are to manage it properly and live a prosperous life.

So why not provide a little home schooling for your family and teach them the basics? Here are 8 essential lessons to instill in your kids about money:

1. Save something of what you earn
Acquiring the savings habit is one of the smartest things you can ever do. If you're reading this now as a middle-aged parent, imagine how much you'd have in the bank today if you'd saved 10% of everything you'd ever earned. (It's almany scary to think about, isn't it?) Teach your kids to save a little of everything they earn. Even if its seems like an insignificant amount, it will certainly not be over time.  $70  a week saved gets you a deposit on the average family home in 6 years.

2. Don't borrow what you can't pay back
Debt is one of the greatest social diseases of our time. The price to pay for the "have now, pay later" philosophy is that you certainly will pay later. Debt imprisons you in a job you don't like, creates stress and anxiety in your life, and erodes your wealth creation program. You will never become rich while you're in debt. Period. Teach your kids the value of delayed gratification. "If in doubt, go without". It is a great risk to borrow more now against the hope of higher income in the future being able to support your debts.

3. To give is to get
Managing money doesn't mean hoarding it and locking it away in its own purpose-built high security jail. It simply means being careful, spending wisely, and acquiring a regular savings habit. Teach your kids that donating money to worthwhile causes is a noble thing to do, and that the money returns to you in more ways than you can imagine.

4. Money isn't evil
"Money is the root of all evil"  is a common phrase you'll hear banded around. Ignore those who say it.  Money actually brings enormous good into the world. For example:

- Creating wealth helps create jobs for others

- Investing in business helps to bring solutions into people's lives by way of innovative products and services

- Acquiring a great fortune allows you to donate more money to charity - or even start your own trust fund

Teach your kids that money is neither good nor bad - it's what you do with it that makes the difference.

5. If you don't spend much, you can't lose much!
One of the oldest wealth-creation maxims is, "It takes money to make money". Unfortunately, it also takes money to lose money. Teach your kids the value of caution when entering into financial affairs. And let them know that many self-made millionaires started with literally nothing. Spending money to make money will not work, unless the money speant is speant wisely.

6. Get the best price for everything you can
Your financial health is really the difference between how much you earn and how much you spend. It therefore makes sense not to pay any more money for something than you have to. Teach your kids that bargain-hunting doesn't make you a "miser" - just sensible.

7. The fast buck is your last buck
Sooner or later everyone gets offered a "surefire" method of making a fortune, whether it's the three-card trick, a once-in-a-lifetime investment plan, a pyramid sceheme or some time-limited business opportunity only available to a select few... If it sounds too good to be true?  It probably is.  Who ever heard of someone emailing the "secret to great wealth"... when by emailing it anyway it was no longer a secret?

8. Gambling is not like in the Commercials.
I remember as a kid peaking into the Casino attached to the hotel I stayed in once with my parents and thinking I must have come on the wrong day.  Not present were the beautiful, smiling, everyone winning people I saw in a TV commercial.  The people I saw, were... what I now recognise as the soul destroyed. Gambling is more evil than terrorism, and its generally state sponsored.  God forbid you win the first time you gamble and win big, you will be hooked for life, and likely lose for life.  Only very few people succeed at being professional gamblers, and they did not do it at the Casino, at the track or sitting at a slot machine, they did it gambling with other gamblers who were not so good, so save your money and don't gamble.  You can bet your last dollar you'll be better off.