Only 17 States Require Financial Literacy Classes in High School – Here is How to Teach Your Children About Finances

David Chen is the founder of Millennial Personal Finance

Ironically, as reliance on student loans to finance higher
education continues to rise, students are not learning financial literacy as part of their primary or secondary
school education. If you live in one of over thirty states where financial
literacy classes are not part of the curriculum, it’s up to parents to ensure
that their high school-aged children are graduating to adulthood with a basic
understanding of paying bills, balancing a checking account, and managing debt.
The ability to build good credit is increasingly integral to a modern day life,
and many adults in their 20s end up mired in debt that they can’t afford.
Eventually, their credit scores show the damage, which results in higher
interest rates and a debt cycle that is tough to get out of. This situation
could have been easily prevented by a few hours of money management education.
If you aren’t sure how to approach money discussions with your children, here
are some topics and approaches that will help you get started, whether your
children are in elementary school or high school.

Explain What Money Is

            Although
this discussion isn’t necessary for older kids, if you’re starting financial
literacy with young children it helps to explain exactly what money is and what
it does. You might start with an explanation of bartering, and why societies
evolved from a tit-for-tat trade economy into a cash economy, and eventually,
credit. This can be a fun introduction, as you have them imagine what life
would be like if we still used a barter system. Have them think of something
they want but haven’t gotten yet, such as a new toy, and what they have already
that they would be willing to trade for it. You might have them imagine how
hard it would be if parents had to take items with them to the grocery store in
order to trade for groceries, instead of using cash or a card to pay for items.

Create Budgets

            A great way
to introduce kids of all ages to financial literacy is to help them create a
budget. This works especially well if your kids get an allowance or are paid
for chores, but even if they aren’t, you can create a micro-economy for your
household by substituting something else for real money, such as tokens or
beads. Younger ones may have a harder time with the concept of saving, but
older children in middle and high school can benefit from creating and
maintaining real budgets with concrete goals. Younger kids can use coins or
money substitutes to learn about earning and spending. Don’t forget to
establish how much money substitutes are worth when it’s time to “spend” from
the budget. For instance, five beads might be worth one lollipop. When working
with older children, help them to articulate short-term and long-term budget
goals, such as “I want to save $20 by next month to go to the movies” or “My
goal is to save $500 by summer to go on a trip.” It’s easier and more
satisfying to watch saved money grow when there’s a definite purpose to saving.

Pay Your Children

            Many
parents don’t provide an allowance or pay their children for doing chores,
instead preferring to encourage housework participation as a family
expectation. And while there’s nothing wrong with this (and every child should
be expected to help out around the house as a member of the family) there are a
lot of side benefits to establishing a payment system for chores. It impresses
upon them that good things in life come from hard work, teaches them
responsibility at a young age, and will introduce them early on to the idea of
earning specific money for specific work. Consider making some chores a family
expectation and others an optional amount of work that can be done for specific
pay. You might go about this by setting a weekly amount of chores for a
specific allowance, or by creating a “chore list” or “chore board” that
children can check that tells them which tasks are available and how much they
can earn for completing them. Most parents find that this works equally well
with younger children as with older ones.

Discuss Money Openly

            It wasn’t
that long ago that discussing family finances at the dinner table, or anywhere
within children’s hearing, was considered crude. These days, we know that
children benefit from hearing their parents have frank discussions about money
management, and even from participating in these discussions themselves.
Excellent opportunities to discuss money openly, and engage your children in
the discussion, include planning vacations, choosing service providers such as
for cell phone and cable, and planning grocery trips. Even when the financial
discussions are more serious, children benefit from seeing and hearing how
their parents compromise and make decisions on difficult money matters.

Don’t Forget About Debt

            Teachingyour children about debt is increasingly important as they get closer to
adulthood and will be faced with credit card offers, car payments, and student
loans. But, the debt conversation can begin as young as you are comfortable
with, by explaining how and why debt exists. Cover both the pros and cons of
borrowing money. For instance, borrowing money allows parents to purchase a
house without waiting and saving for thirty years, but in exchange more money
has to be paid over time. As much as possible, pepper your conversations with
real examples from your life and the lives of your children.