5 Essential Strategies to Talk About Money With Kids

Available for Interviews: Chris Janeway

Chris Janeway is Founder & CEO Fourth Point Wealth and coaches investors throughout southern CA.  He is also a national speaker, financial coach and an advocate for financial literacy.

What Chris Janeway can say in an interview about
Kids & Money:

Kids aren’t taught about money in school or often at home.  We don’t know how to appropriately teach good money habits.  Often, this is because we haven’t ever gotten educated ourselves.

• 1. The saving and growing concept. Some kids are naturally curious and driven by financial gain. You can harness this to encourage entrepreneurial approaches and “earning” through hard work, but those same kids are often the spenders.  Making sure they understand saving/growing their money is key.
  2. Positive Reinforcement. When they do the saving, help them with the reward too. We can’t take it with us when we go and while we can’t just blow it all on “stuff,” it’s important to teach them how to prioritize their wants.  It’s ok to go have the nice new toy as long as we’ve paid ourselves first and figured out the right item, the right price, and what we’re giving up instead.
  3. Education Is Key. Teens are getting ready for life and are desperate for the feeling of independence. Many naturally soak up the education about credit cards/debt, student loans, negotiating cars, and learning to invest. They are sponges for the information at this time in their life, and if you talk to them like an adult, they naturally feel the responsibility for the information. Making sure it’s the right information and not the WRONG advice is the key to success here.
  4. Estate Planning. Avoid the family fight.  We need to also learn how to talk to adult children about estate planning (their inheritance). We see it over and over. Mom and Dad think they’ve got everything under control in their trust.  They’re organized and detailed. Then, when they die, the knives come out. Mom and Dad failed to communicate and now their legacy is being ripped up by family fighting. There’s a natural stress and overwhelm during a time of grief and failure to communicate the “plan” BEFORE you’re gone only leaves a mess behind, even if you think you’re organized.
  5. Host the family planning meeting with a financial advisor.  They can help walk the family through your wishes, goals, etc. Having that 3rd party navigate the talk keeps people on task, working together, and organized with you. You won’t have the same fight amongst the kids when they’re all on the same page ahead of time.

 

When Chris is away from the office, he loves to golf, coach youth sports, and enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife, Katy, and their sons, Brennan and Graham.