Money Management and How to do it Right

My son just turned twelve, and for his birthday all he wanted was money. He managed to rake in almost $500! As a parent, I am using this as an opportunity to teach him about money management and how to do it right. Information for this post is sourced from Genworth Financial in partnership with the SheHeard Influencer Network.

Money Management

The first thing my son wanted to buy was a pair of custom designed shoes with a price tag of over $200. Ugh. You can imagine my horror. For one thing, his feet are growing at an unprecedented rate and he’s going through gym shoes about once every 6 weeks. Plus, the wear and tear he puts on his shoes is insane. With football and his general energetic spirit, shoes are trashed relatively quickly despite his growth spurts.

While explaining that expensive shoes would be an irresponsible, frivolous and wasteful purchase, I realized how important it is for me to teach him about money management. While researching money-wise tactics, I decided it’s never too early to bring up the topic of retirement too. I’d love to see him able to retire early and really get the most out of life without financial stress.

To help teach these complicated topics there are many resources available including Genworth Financial. Since, I am no expert on these things, anything I can learn will be great to pass on to my kids. I want nothing more than to lead by example and show my kids that anyone can be empowered with knowledge.

I realize that at the age of 12, a lot of this is way too heavy to slam down on a kid. However, little seeds should be planted early and regularly in hopes that eventually this valuable information will sink in.

Oh, and by the way, we talked some sense into him! He no longer wants those extravagant shoes! 🙂  Setting up a goal board helped him visualize all the money it’s going to take for him to achieve his big dreams. Seeing his dream car next to a pair of shoes helped put things in perspective.