Teaching kids financial literacy: practical, fun learning

[Irulan]

Another thought... I bet it's harder for kids today to manage debt, we couldn't get credit cards and NO bank would loan you money if you were poor, so we never really had that issue.

The college students who work for me all have credit cards and think nothing of charging a pizza four nights a week. Long gone are the days of pooling your change with your friends to see if you could scare up enough to buy dinner.

Be assured not all college kids think like this. Son #1 got through school debt free, and now that he's working he just bought a house with a very reasonable down payment. He goal is to retire as a millionaire. He's very good with money.

Son #1 likes to live on the cheap.(ie, choosing the ramen and sack of carrots menu)

We did show our kids the power of compound interest, and went over certain kinds of expenses with them. I'd show them a credit card bill and how to read it, what everything meant. They had to work and save for certain things that I just wasn't going to buy for them: a Nintendo, for example.

Certainly they learn from example. We've pounded into them the evils of credit and spending more than you have, and it's nice to see them "get it".

[Antaresia]

My mom took care of the finances growing up, she didn't work and there were 5 of us. I don't remember any lessons, but I know absorbed a lot. I don't budget, but my spending habits are pretty tame and I manage to save a bit of money every month.

Hypocritical as that sounds, seeings as how I just spend all of last night reading up on the "wool wennies" thread and now have 3 items in my cart from Smartwool. A year ago, if you told me I would buy a $20 pair of socks I would have said you were crazy. It feels kind of crazy.