CHAPTER ONE
I Was That Little Girl
Rachel Ramsey was born into the family of Dave and Sharon Ramsey with a brother and a sister. Rachel was delivered when the family was going a financial crisis of bankruptcy, but they could fight through this situation due to some principles the father coined out. These principles are now universally applied and they are working for financial stability and debt-free life in families, and for the kids in the families.
CHAPTER TWO
WORK (It's NOT a Four-letter Word)
From childhood, Rachel has been exposed to work and discipline, and it helped her grow up to be great, parents should ensure that kids should understand that the source of money is work and not commissions from parents, but rather commissions for the works done. This habit I'll help the children robe hardworking when they grow up, but they can't start bucky at a young age. But here are few guidelines on how to teach children to be hard working in the age range.
First, Ages 3-5
*Picking up toys
*Putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket
*Making his or her own bed
*Matching socks in the clean laundry
*Setting the dinner table (with supervision)
*Collecting the indoor trash cans from around the house
*Helping carry in light groceries
Second, Ages 6-13
*Making their own beds
*Feeding the pets
*Vacuuming and sweeping
*Sorting, folding, and putting away laundry
*Cleaning the dishes
*Watering plants
*Cleaning windows
*Washing the car and doing yard work
*Help cleaning the bathroom
And as they get older they can be assisted with brainstorming for business ideas like
-Babysitting
-Pet walking and doing yard work for others
But for those with entrepreneurial skills fliers could be made for them.
At this point start adopting measures like:
*Weekly payments for work done only (but it should not be done under pressure)
*Teach them how to divide the incomes they earn into savings, giving, and spendings, you can do this by giving them envelopes tagged with the values.
*Get them out
Getting them out entails sending money for the upkeep of the kids into their accounts and exposing them to business ideas.
CHAPTER THREE
SPEND (When It's Gone, It's Gone)
As time goes on they tend to realize the money allocated for spend has limits and even kids belonging to the spender specie adjust and become responsible with their spending. The best way to show your child how to spend is by being an example. Let them make mistakes but neither be harsh nor too nice so they can learn, and also teach them opportunity cost and patience so they can decide on what they really needed. And then teach them how to bargain so it can help them to save costs while making purchases.
CHAPTER FOUR
SAVE (Wait For It)
Personal finance is more of a behavior than head knowledge. It has been a difficult thing to find people saving at this age, and debt has also been the other of the day. Based on research the adults that did were parentally influenced and the ones that didn't save were also due to parental influence.
Age grade for savings
*Age 6-13; At this point one needs to make the child understand the value of saving by working to get some of the things they want, not to frustrate the child's effort. To make it look real, the allowance should be increased gradually as the age and work increases. But this should not give them the right to be in charge and do what they please, because they worked for the money. At intervals, the kid's hard work should be compensated with a little support or maybe a gift to complement their achievements.
*Age 14 to college
At this stage, the need rises to own big properties and college fees. This is the right time to teach the child discipline, with savings and spending to meet his/her needs. This can result in making the child work harder and do other jobs to save for other needs like cars. From this, the child gets to maintain things gotten and manage them well because he/she earned it.
*Saving for life
When these difficult but benefiting skills and knowledge have been inputted into them, they can live a debt-free life while still investing.
CHAPTER FIVE
GIVE (It's Not Yours Anyway)
Giving is an attribute that's rare in society and if it's done it's for recognition which should not be so. Every aspect of giving which includes tithing shouldn't be taught alone but practiced for the children to see and learn, by letting them know God owns it all. Giving goes way beyond money alone but extends to other aspects like time, talent, and materials, these tools can be all someone else needs aside from money.
As the kids grow older their willingness to give might drop but the parents should do everything to keep the child-like act up I'm them. some of the hints that might help are
From age 6-13, let them have the "give envelope" to save money so as to give to God and others.
From age 14 upwards, teach them to add service to their giving, such as giving their time, energy, talent, and resources.
CHAPTER SIX
BUDGETING (Tell It What To Do)
For kids within the age of 6-13, their budget is; spend, safe, and give. Still, they need to learn from the way the parents budget. It gets to a point when the safe-spend-give envelope wouldn't seem to work again. Therefore, a budget needs to be set based on the five priorities of a teenager.
THE FIVE FOUNDATIONS
1. Save a $500 emergency fund.
2. Get out of debt.
3. Pay cash for a car.
4. Pay cash for college.
5. Build wealth and give.
At age fourteen it's time for the child to have an account, but most parents are always afraid the child will mismanage the funds. Mismanagement might happen but at this point, corrections can still be made. The paper method of budgeting should be adopted, but the approach to this should not be harsh, so it will be a thing of pleasure for the kid.
The items to come first must be the sum of all the means of income at the top, then give comes first and then save comes next before others and miscellaneous in case there's any unexpected occurrence in the future. If there is any future event it should be planned for, by getting the estimated sum that will be enough and divide it into the number of months left, so save for that event could begin in another account preferably.
There is one big event that should not be underrated which is planning for a wedding, budgeting should be agreed on by the couple and they should work towards it. A wedding plan no matter how it sounds has nothing to do with the parents, but they can help to supplement the budget of the couple. Here is a percentage budget that will help.
55% of the money goes to the reception
12% for the ceremony
10% for photography
10% for a wedding planner
8% for dress and tux
5% for miscellaneous
CHAPTER SEVEN
DEBT (It IS a Four-Letter Word)
Debt is owing anything to anyone for any reason. Debt is not recognized to be a bad thing ethically but to live a stable life you need to make your own ethics by seeing it as a bad thing, Credit cards have been discovered to be more by people with no budgets, and it's now a universal thing, but yet it does not leave people without an impact of debt. The best path out of debt is to live a life committed to discipline and savings when it comes to finances. It can be taught to children when parents an exemplary lifestyle of debt-free.
CHAPTER EIGHT
COLLEGE (Don't Graduate from I.O.U)
Student loan has kept lots of students in bondage after graduation, some can't fulfill lots of their visions because they have to live their lives paying loans, but here is a little escape route; parent planning, school choice, financial aid, working while in school, and your student living a reasonable lifestyle. One of the basic solutions to debt is planning by saving ahead and also working hard, but student loan of debt is never an option, neither should one cash out his/her retirement fees to raise a child in college.
Building on the statement earlier said, encouraging the children to save at the stage of 14 upwards. The savings from the work is used for the high school/college education or to buy a car.
Schooling should not be a pressure on the parents and when an expensive school is not affordable the affordable institution should be the option for the child. There is also an option of scholarship and for students that are not too bright, not all scholarships are based on academic performance, some can be on creativity too. There's also a grant, a grant is like a scholarship with a condition of specific academic performance for it to continue.
Then there is a belief that the child performs poorly when he/she engages in extra work aside from school, but the child does not spend the whole day aside from school hours reading either. If all these idle moments could be used at work the child would save enough for the semester and will take the academics seriously either, because he/she worked for it.
CHAPTER NINE
CONTENTMENT (The War for Your Child's Heart)
Contentment is not about how much you have but instead a thing of the mind. Contentment is being satisfied with what you have. The absence of contentment has led some people to acquire what they don't need and debt. The best time to teach a child is when the child makes minor mistakes so it can be a vaccination for major mistakes, another method is by making the child realize his/her importance despite what he/she has or does not have by some eye-opening experiences of needles who are still contented and happy.
Things to notice in your child to realize the need for an emergency cure for discontentment jealousy and envy, anxiety, and defining themselves based on what they have. Then an immediate attack is needed against the source of discontentment but in most of the association from the root of discontentment is advisable. One major solution to discontentment is gratitude, being grateful and happy with what one has. And to actualize this is humility by giving.
CHAPTER TEN
FAMILY (Put the Fun in Dysfunctional)
As good as all these financial stability skills are, it would be a dysfunction if they would never be achieved in some families. There is going to be some outrageous result if kids are spoiled. There's a major difference between spoilt kids and blessed kids, spoilt kids acquire gifts from their parent's entitlements, while blessed kids see them as an expression of love.
As time goes on the kids might want to have a possessive mindset, but building on this is dangerous so there should be a strict but not harsh boundary between the achievements of each member of the family.
Another tool to be aware of is the enabling disaster, the ability of a parent to say no to some desires by living based on example. The time will come in a child's life where you make him absolutely responsible for his/her survival by not spoon-feeding the child anymore.
Types of family
*Conventional families
Every family should have a pattern and the couple/parents must be strongly bonded to the knowledge of the children to maintain orderliness and discipline in the family.
*Single-parent families
To actualize all these skills for kids to make money as a single mother or father this is advisable, first, stand your ground on each and don't make your kids outnumber you with their suggestions and secondly try as much as possible to get reinforcement to back up your believes for your kids to yield.
*Divorced families
Any of the parents who believe in this principle should be clear of not being part of any action that will result in future financial crises to the ex and the kids, though it might be difficult.
*Blended families
When you know as a parent that the kids are traditionally yours, then you do everything possible to avoid disjoint from your partner and children so you can imbibe these principles accurately in them.
Adoption is another thing that needs patience, discipline, planning, and saving not to suffer from else adoptions might be a regret eventually.
For Special care kids, study your child and know how best you can keep impacting the money-smartness skills in them continuously.
For grandparents, it is expected they might lose it at the sight of their grandchildren and allow frivolous spending, but one needs to call them to order and make them realize the money-smartness training needed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GENERATIONAL HANDOFF (Blessings or Curses)
No extreme view helps in parenting, there should be the aspect where you allow your kids to take responsibilities and another point where they answer to your principles, not be extreme with your parenting. But at a point, you have to let them go with love so effectively practice what you've taught them and reach out to them once in a while.
Note: Money is not evil but the love of money which is extreme is the root of all evil.
How to safeguard your kids from the evil in the love of money?
*Teach them to have a manager and not an owner mentality
*Teach them to always be good in their behavior because money magnifies one's behavior.
*Surround your children with people of the same mindset when it comes to finances and values.
How to instill these guidelines in your kids?
*Have honest conversations with them and don't be secretive about things that to their lives.
*Have a simple guiding rule like a mission statement, believed and understood by all members of the family.
*Get a fair will to caution and encourage your children when you're gone, give to the ones that it and don't to the ones that don't deserve on the basis of love, not partiality.
*Make sure you will is backed up with the organization, like necessary documents to avoid controversies.
*Honour your parents per time with your financial or material substance.
*Don't give up on the training no matter the challenges it comes with.
Photo credit: Amazon.ca
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