Financial Literacy for Children

 

We work hard to ensure our kids gets the best in land and what they need to succeed in life. We need to give them the tools they need to thrive financially .Engaging them in our daily money saving and spending activities acts as a great learning lessons.

 For example sending them to buy bread and a packet of milk, gives them a sense of responsibility and a notion that you have to pay money to buy goods and services. Getting the right change and knowing the actual cost of the product improves their mathematics and accounting skills.

Good financial habits are cultivated by using kids friendly methods for example piggy banks to save, deposit spare change, cash gifts from family members and friends.

Familiarize your kids with the bank procedures. Let them deposit their savings physically.

Help them understand if they save money for some time, they will be able to buy their desired items. This encourages them to save and helps them learn about goal setting. Since we do not want them to grow up spoilt and we know that they will be happier if they work for the stuffs they need.

 Instead, they are more fortunate through this teaching on life lessons and will pass it on to the next generations.

The following are tips to put in place in enhancing kids’ financial literacy.

Identification of different notes and currencies

This is the first step in financial literacy. Teach on different notes and denominations, coins and different currencies. Let them know how that Euro, dollar and shilling look like and their value.

Expose to them the concept of investing

 Encourage them to seek knowledge and mentorship from the successful people in the field of interest. If you do not find a means of multiplying money, you will wake up one day to realize that the money you thought you had, has finished. Investment is key.

Importance of money

 Money is a medium of exchange and without it, we cannot trade. It gives you security, options and freedom. We earn, save, invest and spend because of its availability.

Teach them the difference between assets and liabilities.

Assets are items that one owns ,they help in generating revenue. They can either be fixed or current.

On the other hand liabilities are obligations that needs to be paid in the future. They can either current or non current liabilities.

Teach them on spending habits

Encourage your kids to plan how to spend their savings. Spending on what is necessary and of importance. Spend more on your needs than in wants. Prioritizing things matters

Money management

This is the best gift that the kids can get from us parents. Plan your monthly budget together, stick to that plan and review it monthly. Put everyone on board and this will ease the goal achieving process.

 

Different ways of earning money

There is always s money out there you only need to get a way of bringing it closer to you. Most people come from a point of scarcity making this not to settle well in their mind. Even if you are an employee, there is always other streams of income.

Invest in real estates and stock markets. The internet has opened up many opportunities for example Tiktok and Instagram if you build up a following, look fly and on trend, the you can get brand deals and partnerships.

Developing productive habits from the early age

 Teach them to do a private budget, manage credit wisely.

Deal with the sense of entitlement

No matter how wealthy your parents are, let your kids learn to earn their own success. Be financial independent and Stop clinging to that inheritance.

 Delayed gratification

  It takes time to build an empire and patience pays eventually. All hard work will be worth it.

To solve other people problem always pays back

Every multi billionaire in the world provided the so much needed solution to a certain problem. Always strive to be a solution giver and not a complainer.

Being financially knowledgeable places you high above giving you opportunities to flex your muscles and make it in life.

 Do not be poor and look rich, be rich and look poor because you invest in secret.-Robert Kiyosaki saying looking good but going nowhere has proven to be true to some visionless individuals.

 Always remember clean earned wealth makes one proud of his hard work and efforts giving satisfaction and fulfilment.

Let us bring up a financial literate generation making the world a better place to be.

Couple Money and Finance

Many studies have shown that money is the root cause of most of the marriage turmoil’s for example Divorces, separation and marital misunderstanding caused by either the abundance or the scarcity of money. Though love cannot be bought by money it’s a sure bet that it can actually complicate it.

Lack of clear and constructive conversations about it are the main reasons for both small and big fights. Money carries emotions, when you don’t have money one feels insecure unsettled but when you are expecting or have money in the Bank, one feels safe .When one gets money those emotions are evoked and the true characters now comes in.

When you start having more money one becomes insecure of the surrounding leading him/her to look for safety if it’s a man he tends to think the woman was submissive to him because he  gives her or even earns more money hence leading to infidelity.

Transparency is the key, spouses should know how much the other partner earns. You don’t have to know exactly each and every coin made and spent. This because one has some personal bills. For example the woman does not have to disclose how much she spent in girls meet ups .The same case applies to the man he does not have to report to you that he met the boys and did coffee, footed all the bills. Honesty and openness acts as a best policy. This comes in handy in times of financial crisis

Respect and discipline matters. Its high time men accept girls empowerment, lets them appreciate when their wives earn more in fact they can even be a fall back plan  in case one loses his income. At the back of your mind, know that you are together in this and it is not a competition. Provision can come from either side wife or husband. A wife may be good at making money but be a very poor manager. On the other side, the husband can be a wonderful manager and a great decision maker hence complimenting one another.

God is a master planner and a great match maker. For men do everything possible to empower your wives, pay for that course, help her start a new business, coach and train her on how you do that business successfully because of continuity in case the unfortunate happens. Succession planning is key to achieving a long term legacy in a family business  among other things defining when the family members may work in the business, how profits  should be distributed, who may serve on the board and other matters such as taxes, liability and estate planning.

For a family run business, this is not an easy process unless the family had developed a committed vision, mission for its future protect your company, business, and other assets put a clear strategies in place for its future.

It is important to set ground rules as a couple on budgeting, saving, spending and investing; we cannot ignore the personality differences effect on the couple managed finances. People look at money differently according to their personality and environmental background and what they have been exposed to. Somebody could be a spender the other one is a saver and cautious. Then the investors who always want to plough the money back to the business. Other are areas of convergences and balance.

Life is about balance and one should be placed in his/her area of strength to manage expectations and differences. It’s important to look at what the other person is bringing on board .The oneness means a lot in this matter and safeguards the partners interest making major decisions on your own can land the deal in great trouble. Cooperation and collaboration rather than competition will help in realization of goals and objectives. Goals should be aligned plan about money even when it is not there.

Money to spend should be spent wisely .Couples should capture their incomes and expenditures list them one by one. Allocate savings in the beginning stage of budgeting and not what remains from expenditure. Are you spending more than income at the end of the day you get either a surplus or a deficit .You should balance between needs and wants? Are you spending a lot of money on wants?

For women if you earn more than your husband maintain respect and submit to him. Sit on that throne well as a wife, mother, and sister friend and an employer.

It is never too late to make good choices. You can never make a positive progress with a negative attitude and no one can choose for you unless you let them. Don't let the past immobilize you. Learn from the bad choices and move on.

Make that right decision today, as a couple and your financial life will never be the same again. It is forward and upwards only.

See you on the next blog.