Teach Your Pre-Teen to Spend Money Wisely

We want our children to grow up to be successful adults. We want them to make good choices, to live well and to manage their money wisely. Many of these habits are formed when we’re children, and they can affect the rest of our lives.

For this reason, as parents, it’s important for us to teach our children to spend money wisely. When they’re toddlers, it’s a bit too early and once they’re teenagers it may be too late - their concepts about money may be already formed. This makes the pre-teen years great years for money-management lessons.

#1 Be a good role model. One of the best ways to teach your child to spend money wisely is to show them through your actions what it means to manage your money responsibly. Don’t buy everything you want and see unless you can afford it, and don’t use credit cards to pay for things unless you pay off the credit card each month. Save money and talk about making savings a priority.

#2 Talk about money. So many people are reluctant to talk about money. It’s not a taboo topic and if you’re open and honest about your finances, your children will learn a lot from you. If you’ve made money mistakes, tell your children about them. Talk about saving, talk about credit cards and debt and talk about budgets.

#3 Give them room to make mistakes. It’s important for children to learn to manage their own money. That could mean paying them for jobs around the house. Not an allowance, but a pay-per-job type of set-up. For example, you can post a chore chart for each child and the amount of money they earn for each job, which you expect them to do regularly.

If they don’t do the job on the day they’re supposed to do it, no money. But if they do their chores, they get paid. Then they can set aside money to save, spend and donate.

#4 Help them set financial goals. Does your child want an iPhone? Do they crave a new pair of designer jeans? Help them set financial goals and create a plan to save for the things they want. This will help them establish good saving and spending habits early on.

Helping your pre-teen learn to manage and spend money wisely is helping them prepare for a financially successful and satisfying life. If they learn good money habits, they’ll never have to suffer through the bankruptcies, debt, and financial stress that plague millions of Americans today.