Financial literacy — for children and adults — starts at home

By Kevin Theissen
Skygate Financial Group LLC 

April is officially recognized as National Financial Literacy Month since the passing of Senate Resolution 316 in March 2004.

The effort was to highlight the importance of financial literacy and teach Americans how to establish and maintain healthy financial habits. Many government and private efforts have been established, and some schools have implemented financial literacy courses. There has been much improvement, but there is still a long way to go.

It starts at home

It is easy for us to demand more from our government and our schools but we all know that education starts at home.

One of our favorite initiatives is Famzoo.com, which is an online virtual family bank that helps parents teach their kids good money habits with minimal hassle through hands-on practice.

They suggest that the first step for teaching your kids good money habits is to be a good role model. Hmmm, you may be thinking that you may need some lessons of your own first. It doesn’t matter. Start teaching your kids good money habits anyway.

Here are some thoughts:

• You don’t need to be perfect to help your kids.
• Children can learn from your mistakes.
• There’s no time to waste. Money habits form very early in children.
• The good money habits you’re teaching your children will rub off on you.
• Children can be really good accountability partners.
• Remember: “Perfect is the enemy of good.” So don’t wait around for perfection.

The Top Five

Another good site to reference is mymoney.gov that addresses the top five building blocks of managing and growing your money.

Earn – Save and Invest – Protect – Spend – Borrow.

All of these five are important but we believe that much more time needs to be focused on earning, saving and investing.
Important actions include:

• Start saving, form a savings habit, and pay yourself first!
• Track your savings and investments, and monitor what you own
• Plan for short-term and long-term goals
• Build up emergency savings for unexpected events
• Consult with a qualified professional on investments and other key financial matters
• Save for retirement, children’s education and other major items

A Fool and His Money
As April Fool’s Day starts off the month, here is a famous quote from the 16th century poet Thomas Tusser:
A foole and his monie
be soone at debate,
which after with sorrow
repents him too late.

The more common form of Tusser’s rhyme is: “A fool and his money are soon parted.”

So get going on getting your house in financial order and teaching the next generation the basic principles of financial literacy.