Did your parents talk to you about money?

Oprah today was about talking to your kids about money and I was wondering what your thoughts were on the subject.

When my kids are old enough I will tell them how much we make and how much we pay out each month. I will have them participate in the bill paying process. I think it will help them out later in life.

I did know how much my parents made growing up and had a pretty good idea how much was going out. I knew what the mortgage was. My dad would always grumble about the high electric bill :D so I knew how much that was. We almost always bought groceries as a family so I knew how much groceries cost. The only things I didn't know for sure was how much the car payment and insurance was.

We talk to the kids about money all the time. They are still abit young to understand amounts so we just talk to them in relative terms. Such as "Ok we dont make enough money to buy a house like that" etc. They understand that pretty well. Even my 4 yo has a pretty good grip on it. They also learn alot of frugalness from me. They both love to shop thrifts stores, yard sales and even dumpster dive with me LOL My son who is 10 has learned to haggle for a better price. He also has learned that if he asks what a price is for a toy at a yard sale or thrift shop 9 times out of 10 its cheaper when HE asks LOL Which is true :) He always asks me what a fair price is on something before he offers them a lower price than marked. He is polite and will say "Would you take $3 for this instead of $5?" and if they say no he will stil thank them.
My 4 year old is learning now how quickly money can be spent on junk. So I think its a great idea to start them early with aleast letting them buy things on their own. That way they will understand in the future why we cant buy a brand new 2003 Ford Excursion LOL
~Michele~

My boys are teens so we talk to them a lot. My oldest paid the bills for a month to see where all the money goes. When things get tight and we have to tell them, they always understand and are good about keeping us on track. If we want to go out to eat, the oldest always asks if we have something at home.

I am working on dd,though she is still young she understands her wants versus her needs.And she also knows she can get things cheaper from other resources

My parents told me nothing about money,when we moved to Georgia I went with my dad to find a house,of course I wanted one that was real nice and had no idea what they cost.I do now though

My kids are still small but with all of them we have 3 different piggy banks one that opens easy and is for spending one that they need help to open for giving, and one that doesn't open for saving. We divide any money they get up in the banks 30%give,50% save and 20% spend.

I am sure the %'s will change when they get older and want more things (they will buy with there $) so the spend save% will change.

I have always talked with our boys about money because that's what my parents did. My two are eight and nine and understand that we can't have everything in life. This is tough sometimes, but I want them to have a realistic picture of our monetary means.

Due to his disability, dss does not understand the concept. I do believe in discussing the financial realities with children, I was raised in a house where money was not discussed-until it became an issue. An arguement would happen, I would hear part of it, not understanding and it was really stressful. When kids only hear part of things they tend to let their imaginations run away. I remember my parents arguing about an unpaid Macy's bill and fearing we would be banned for life.

I feel it is extrmemly important to talk to your kids about the household finances. My ds is only 2, but I intend on being open with him. My mom didn't sit down with me and tell me how much they made a year, or what the exact bills were. But, she taught us the basics- I knew if you didn't pay your bills on time, you'd get nothing you want in life with crappy credit. I knew if you wanted something bad enough, you had to save up for it. My mom also told me how credit cards and mortgages worked. I feel when I moved out on my own 2 months after HS graduation, I had a pretty good grip with my money, and I did good.

My BF in HS, on the other hand had zero concept of what was going on. He'd blow money like it grew on trees. His parents never taught him- and sheltered him from the "real world". I remember one time we were talking about mortgages, he thought they were for only 10 years, I told him more like 30 years. So he asked his mom and her response to him was that it was none of his business. Yeah- that's really preparing your 18 year old for the real world. So after he graduated, he stayed at home, and his parents charged him $200.00 a MONTH rent. He thought that was rediculous. As far as I know, he still lives there.

So I have witnessed first hand what happenes when you don't discuss money with your kids. I will not raise my child to be that way. I was reading somewhere, a lady gave her daughter a "checking account". Of course, mom was the bank. Mom gave the daughter some checks from an old account and every week, the daughter would make a deposit with her allowance. Whenever the daughter wanted something, she'd write a check out to mom, who would give her the money. The daughter had to keep track of her receipts and deposits and record them in a ledger. That way the daughter knew how much she had for spending. I thought that was an excellent idea, and would like to try something like that when ds is old enough.

Laura

We will talk to ds and include him once he is a bit older - he just turned 3. When he was about 2 1/2 I was filing coupons in my coupon binder one day and he walked up to me and proudly said "Mommie, coupons save money." He still tells me that! :D

That show that Oprah did was really interesting!! I thought it was a really neat idea how the first family sat down with play money and the monthly bills and the kids paid the bills and saw where the money was going for themselves!!! We talk a little to dd about it, probably not as much as we should, she is 14!! Ds is 8 and he is probably old enough too but we haven't talked to him either!

We talk to our kids about money quite a lot, but they are both teens (14, 16) so very ready for it. I've had dd pay bills with me. I let her see what was deposited into the checkbook, get the bills out and see what/who needs to be paid, write the checks, balance the checkbook, and come up with a total that is left. It's a very big eye-opener for her!

I haven't done that with ds yet, but maybe next month we'll sit down and get started.

They both know about being frugal, buying only what you need on sale, and generally saving money. DD has a job now and it's getting harder to keep the reins on what she spends. But I knew it come to when she'd be in charge of herself so better now than when she's older and out of the house I guess.

They also both know the dangers of credit cards after listening to us tell them since they were little "Don't use credit cards.... Don't use credit cards". I think that's working. DS is a great saver and doesn't have a problem waiting for what he wants. And DD had a boyfriend who just started going to college. First thing he did was open a credit card that he was offered on campus. She told him that he didn't need it, not to use it, cut it up, it's too expensive etc. So I guess they do listen!