Arlington School & Family

District Programs
This will help them see why saving can
be fun!
Three Money Basics Your
Kid Needs to Know
by Rachel Cruze
Rachel Cruze is a seasoned communicator
and presenter who has been speaking to groups
as large as 10,000 for more than a decade.
The daughter of Dave Ramsey, she uses the
knowledge and experiences from growing up
in the Ramsey household to educate America’s
students and young adults on the proper ways
to handle money and stay out of debt.
The earlier you teach your kids about
money, the better off your kids will be in
the long run.
Believe me, I know. As Dave Ramsey’s
daughter, I was blessed to be raised
by parents who have a healthy view of
money. My dad filed bankruptcy when
I was a baby then turned his life around
when he started taking a biblical view on
money.
For me, that meant a healthy dose of
learning how to save, give and, yes, even
spend. Those are the basics, and that’s all
you really need to teach your kids at this
point.
So let’s break down these three basics.
Spending: This is the easy one, right
What does your 8-year-old want to do the
first time he gets a $10 bill Spend it all in
one place! But that’s where you come in
to the picture. Teach your kids this basic
principle: When it’s gone, it’s gone!
That’s why I always received a
commission, not an allowance, from my
parents. With a commission, I got paid
when I helped out around the house. An
allowance is simply giving money for
breathing.
When you give a commission, you’re
teaching your kids the connection
between money and work. So when
they head out to buy something with
their money, they’ll think long and hard
about how they spend it because they
understand what it took to earn that
money in the first place.
This applies to kids at any age. Don’t feel
like you’re a failure if your kids are in
high school and you haven’t been talking
to them about spending wisely.
As you talk with them, remember that
spending is easy, but disciplined spending
takes more practice. Teach your kids how
to spend money the right way.
Saving: To save, you need to learn
patience. With kids, you’ll benefit by
giving them a saving goal to aim for. My
parents told me they would match any
amount I saved for a nice, used car when
I turned 16. They called it the 401Dave
plan because of the match. And it worked
great!
I was motivated to save because I knew
how I would benefit, and thats a lesson
that’s stuck with me the rest of my life.
Even if you can’t do a matching plan,
think of ways you can incentivize your
kids to save at an early age.
If your kid wants a toy or a video game,
help them understand how saving will
allow them to reach those goals faster.
Giving: Giving is what all this is about.
When you have a healthy view of money,
you understand how important it is to
give. The whole reason your kids should
learn how to save and spend is so that,
one day, they’ll be in a position to give,
give, give.
But they shouldn’t be waiting to give.
Start now. When I was a kid, I saved 20%
of everything I made. So if I got $20 for
babysitting, I would stash away $4. I used
an envelope, but your kids might find
it easier to have three buckets or piggy
banks dedicated to spend-ing, saving,
and giving. There’s no magic number, so
your kids might store away more or less
for giving, but the important part is that
they learn to give!
And remember, more is caught than
taught. So if you aren’t modeling giving
in your own life, you can’t expect your
kids to grow up to be unselfish givers.
My parents could have sat me down and
lectured me until I was blue in the face,
but none of it would have mattered if
they weren’t actually giving themselves
to charities, to church and through acts
of service in the community.
One of the most important things you
can teach your kids is gratitude. And
givers, by nature, are grateful people.
Whether your kids are 4 or 18, you still
have the opportunity to make a difference
in how they view money.
Even if you messed up, you can still be a
major influence. Just look at my parents
story I mention earlier! What matters
most is that you’re making an effort to
do things the right way now—no matter
what happened in the past.
So take the time to help your kids
understand the basic principles of
spending, saving and giving. If your
son or daughter can graduate from
college know-ing these basics, you will
put them in a position to win the rest of
their lives! †
14 Arlington School & Family - January 2015