Money Skills Kids Need to Know

Many parents don’t talk to their kids about money. As a financial planner, I’m an exception to that norm. My kids would be quick to tell you I talk to them about money a lot.

Here are a few of the things I want my kids to know about money. Many of them are concepts from my good friend, Richard Wagner, a CFP from Denver.

1. Money is a social agreement. In its simplest form, money is whatever you and I agree that it is. It can be almost anything portable: coins, sugar, tobacco, sheep, or dolphins’ teeth. In our modern world, money is what our federal government says it is: metal coins and paper bills.

2. Money isn’t good or bad, it just is. I’ve asked my kids to look at a paper bill and tell me what is good or bad about it. Always, anything good or bad about money is a projection on what can be done with the bill, not the bill itself. A paper bill doesn’t have much utility, power, or value in its physical form.

via Rick Kahler: Money Skills Kids Need to Know | Kahler Financial.