Good to know you parents gave you that large head start. I am really surprised how little is taught about finance given so much of our economy in Australia is based on it. Then again, depending on how you define it, you could say our entire economy is based on finances…

Sounds like a good plan. Nothing better than letting them choose with some guidance (age appropriate of course). I’m also a big fan of zoos – I love animals and photography and kids enjoy it too.

Just today we talked to them about money we already spend on something in the zoo. They wanted something else later. We consider giving them a small budget on days out and they have to manage.

The oldest one will most likely get an allowance when she gets 6.

Exciting times that will be

“Making things fun is really important” – something I still need to be reminded of regularly 🙂

Very nice article, I enjoyed reading every point, quite good timing considering we’ll have our IVF baby (hopefully!) in the not too distant future.

I think understanding money and how it works should be the number one thing people learn from their parents AND school. If Australians (and any other nationality) were to actually learn budgeting, the power of compounding, then the country would be in a much stronger position for it (a few loan lenders wouldn’t get much action..)

I think a really underestimated point in society is that that habits of young kids become the habits of older kids, which become the habits of the teenager which is who they become as an adult for the rest of their lives. This is true with personality traits, habits, money. If a person starts life with a good money outlook, they won’t have to go through some terrible, debt-laden experience to set them straight.

I think having a good work ethic, earning the pocket money, is a great point. Something I wish I would have learned as a young teen (or younger) rather than in my early 20s. It really sets them up as a hard-worker. I like your tip regarding that.

Making things fun is really important, I enjoyed a lot of different PC games that had a financial element (not just shooting), which I think is a big reason for who I became today.

Tristan

Yeah agree with this for sure Tom! It’s a big passion of mine to get around to creating greater financial literacy in schools!
I feel that having teachers (unless they’re financially literate themselves) teach financial literacy / education skills it’d be like me being a doctor

Cool post!

17 years of education for me (not counting the 3 years of preschool/kindergarten), and while some of it is very valuable it is defiantly missing some basic “real world” skills. I think I learnt most of them from my friends and family (normally older but not always).

I like the idea of having 3 buckets a spending, savings and givings (as a starter) to teach and give them control over what they want to do with their money.. This then creates accountability and an insight into what it’s like once you get out there after finishing school.. I don’t have kids yet and they’re possibly a while away ha but I wouldn’t want to start too early, possibly 5 or 6 and then I’m sure there natural curiosity will take over..

This is like war and peace I’ve written here but something I’m super passionate about & why I started my blog 🙂