Many of us learned the value of money when we reached the age of majority and when it began to come into our hands we did not know what to do with it, sometimes we felt so guilty about making money that we gave it to our parents so that they could get it. they administered or we threw it with full hands in everything that crossed our eyes.
Today over the years, many of us have learned with pain to know the true value of money, to value every penny that comes to us, to invest it properly and to assertively recognize what an investment is and what it is an expense.
Some are still unable to learn the lesson and live in a hurricane of debt, bad investments, losses and even problems that may have involved security.
Many of the experiences that we live with money today were acquired as habits during our childhood, some parents pay all the expenses of their children, give money without earning it or do not allow themselves to pay for their cravings.
Today I am going to teach you some activities that you can do with your children so that you can teach them from now on the true value of money and learn to manage it, but above all to invest it and make it grow.
1. Determine a reasonable amount each week for basic food expenses at your school.
If you are one of the parents who still send their children a lunchbox, add a little money weekly for him to use to buy a sweet or something he wants during the break at school, it is good that they begin to know the costs of food and start paying a price for your cravings. Deliver a limited amount each week, do not extend it or refund the money if he spent it all the first day, let him learn to save for the coming days, that teaches him that you have to reserve something for tomorrow.
2. Offer to earn money doing extra activities, like washing your car, washing the windows of the house, or another activity that you know you can do and that you normally pay for it.
Of course, you must pay the value that you would pay a strange person to do it, do not deceive your own son to save you pennies, this does a lot of harm to your little one because he gets used to thinking that his work has no value and will grow with this mentality.
3. Involve him in market purchases
An activity that I enjoy a lot with my daughters since they were babies was going to the market, there they learned to identify good offers, make good purchases and save money on some products to pay for snacks that always came our way on the way to the cash register.
Involve your children in shopping, teach them the differences between brands and prices. Let them be the ones who keep the accounts, before leaving home agree on the budget and the products you need and run a contest among yourselves to see who makes the best purchases.
4. Encourage him to save a weekly amount to buy himself something he has always wanted to have.
Don't buy him all of his whims, allow him to learn the value of saving himself, motivate him to deprive himself of a craving and save that money to buy something bigger that he has long wanted, for example, an MP5, a PSP2, a new video game, a television for your room. You will see how this helps you control your expenses and in the future you will know how to set goals but above all to do what is necessary to meet them.
5. Help him have his first business.
Inquire about his tastes or what he would like to offer to other people to earn money, support him and give him a first push for his venture, teach him to set the prices for his products, accompany him to buy the raw material or the product he will resell and teach him to choose good products and at a good price. Support it to grow your business, reinvest in it and keep your savings.
6. If you lend him money, remind him that he must pay you back. And if he lends you money, pay him in the time they agreed.
Even if you are his father, you must teach him that the debts must be covered in full, even if it is the smallest amount and you do not need it or later give him back the money he paid you, teach him to pay all his debts. This is one of the worst habits that our parents taught us, when we had a debt they took over and we didn't even know it, over time we grew up thinking that you acquire debts and someone else pays them for you, but life doesn't work that way and at this time if you don't pay…
7. Teach him how to multiply his money
When my daughter Sara was 4 years old, she lent me $ 500 one day and told me that I should pay her $ 100 more, I laughed and accepted, two days later I returned $ 600. She was understanding how to make money work for her, and since that time she has been perfecting her technique (and logically learning not to be a usurer), all the money she lends must return to her with a percentage of profit according to the days he stays outside his piggy bank. Today in some moments she has more money in her wallet than I do in mine (and she's only 13 years old).
Teach your son to help other people but also to put money to work for him, money is our slave and we, by not knowing how to handle it, have become his, we are the slaves of a slave!
