When we are in a growing age, our learning curve and retention power is double that at a middle or older age. Well! We are pretty much sure you would agree to this, yet you can test it out yourself by recalling the learning of your formative years. You will find them on the tips of your fingers. Most of the things you will remember by heart. Isn’t it? Knowing this truth, our parents teach us tons of things during out formative years.
From learning how to eat properly to combing our hairs independently standing in front of the mirror every morning or organizing our toys, we undergo several lessons through the initial years. However, even the most learned and educated parents tend to lack an attention to financial training. This could result into financial troubles or even bankruptcy at a later stage. We believe you can relate to this. You must, therefore, frame and execute a financial training to make sure your little one knows and wants to understand about the following:
Effective Budgeting
This is simply about penning down every expense in a given month or within a pay cycle. This exercise helps you create a brief yet effective projection of your spending much beforehand. Without a proper budget, your kid will eventually tend to over spend or suffer a crisis or debt. Budgeting is an ongoing process and needs a progressive approach. Your kid will learn this as soon you help him understand the relevance of expenses and budgeting.
Judicious Use of Credit Cards
Credits cards can be a boon or bane for your kids – depending upon the effective usage. If you pile up the expenses and fail to clear the entire out standing in one go, the credit card will keep haunting you. What you need to make them understand is that one day, the entire bill is to be paid too. The bills that come almost later than the purchases made a month ago are heart-warming. You must also teach them the importance of identifying short term instalment loan rates before spending too much using the card.
Limited Use of Debit Cards
Similar to a credit card, a debit card is should be used judiciously too. What your kids must understand is that the money reserve in the debit card account finishes up fast and a debit card is not Aladdin’s magic lamp that could magically fulfill your wishes. In this kind of a crisis, only a money lender from Singapore can help them out.
Upkeep of Reserved Funds
Call them an emergency fund or reserve money, you should help your kids learn the importance of placing a decent sum of money in the cold freeze. Having kept this amount frozen, they must understand the reason for this. This reserve must keep up funds to help you fight a crisis situation. Of-course, the Singapore money lender can support, but keeping reserves is a good practice.
Identifying Needs Amid Wants
Within this factor, your children must be able to identify and practice the right sequence of fulfilling them. They need to learn that needs always come prior to wants. That simply means that the moment they receive a pay check, partying with friends comes later in the order and fulfilling budgeted expenses is a greater priority.
Specifying your Financial Goal
In finances, you cannot effectively achieve a target unless you clearly define them. For instance, for buying a car or a great gift for your father, you need to categorically fix a focus. This focus helps you trend in a specific direction. What your kids need to understand is that they should set their financial targets in advance and try to fulfill them at the earliest. Within this they must learn to always keep track of short-term installment rates to borrow funds at the right time and evaluate the payback.
Brief Understanding on Stock
Investing in stock markets plays a significant role in our financial lives. When done efficiently, stock investments can fetch a great amount of money to us. You need to start explaining reasons and significance of this kind of a financial investment at an early stage in their lives. This subject is quite complex and requires evoking the interest of your kids. Unless they get curious about this, they will not be able to learn even an iota on the stock exchanges.
A Balance between Greed and Desires
Saving and maintain reserves is crucial and you should feel blessed if you kids are able to get that right in their heads. However, it becomes a greater challenge as well as responsibility for you to help them not to become too greedy or materialistic. The line is thin, you would agree.
Thoughtful Donation
Amid a world full of hypocrites, your kids should learn to prioritize their donations. You should introduce them to the different forms in which donations occur. Here, teaching them money donation is not all. It could be about donating goods etc too to the needy. But they must be able to clearly figure out where is the need greater and why they should donate more to churches etc.
Shielding against Debts
As soon as your kids get to their own, their lacking experience in budgeting and immaturity will likely have them fall into traps od debt. An over spending or injudicious use of debit or credit cards could lead to undue debts. Avoiding new and clearly the older debts will become a challenge for them. It is important you sound them well in advance.
Understanding on Tax Regimen
Your kids will not be able to consider the extra payments on the retail price initially as they would take some time understanding the concept of taxes. A mandatory tax is ultimately a reflection on what the government gives us back. However, they will always budget their expenses at the minimal costs failing to consider the taxes. This may affect their budget. So, you need to teach them to always consider a higher side when calculating cost of products or services.
Future Proofing or Long-Term Savings
Saving for the retirement or the rainy day must begin at the beginning of the payment inflow. Your kids should be told the importance of future-proofing the money reserves for a comfortable old age. Though it is really hard for them to imagine their old age, especially, when they are just too excited thinking of earning money on their own, it becomes imperative you make them understand how this saving practice will help them eventually.
Conclusion
In fact, not just the parents but also the academicians should take up the responsibility to teach financial management to the kids. This teaching should be such that the kids learn to relate it to their everyday life and include the practical learning in their routine. This doing by learning or vice-versa will then become an inherent part of their personalities fulfilling the very purpose of financial literacy. This can also be introduced as a formal subject in educations institutions!
