Make Your Kid A Money Master With Eva Baker

Summary: Good personal finance habits start young. Today you’ll learn how to make your kid a money master with Eva Baker.<br> Our children don’t get much personal finance education in school so it’s up to parents to provide that education. There are things we can do throughout their childhood to turn our kid into a money master.<br> Teens Got Cents<br> Eva started <a href="http://teensgotcents.com">Teens Got Cents</a> as a home school project. Her mother started listening to audio books by <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/total-money-makeover/">Dave Ramsey</a> and Eva got interested in personal finance because she never wanted to have to dig herself out of the kind of hole those who need Dave Ramsey have gotten into.<br> She started doing some research but found that most information was geared toward adults and there wasn’t much to help kids.<br> Eva saw a gap and decided to fill it and that’s how her site started when she was just 16. Eva blogs about how teens can shop smart, get a great part time job, go to college debt free, save money, and start their own business.<br> In 2015 she founded The Teenpreneur Conference. This annual conference brings together teen business owners as well as <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/online-jobs-for-teens/">teens</a> who want to start their own business in a community that truly is by teens, for teens.<br> Kids Notice<br> Even very young kids notice things happening around them and are interested in them. If you’ve ever had a kid who used a swear word they overheard you say at an inopportune moment, you know just how much they absorb, even if you don’t think they’re paying attention.<br> If your kid only ever sees you swipe a credit card to pay for things, they notice. What they might notice is that money is infinite. A little kid can understand that if you have $1 and you spend that dollar, it’s gone. You handed it over to the cashier and they kept it.<br> When you swipe that card, the cashier hands it back every time so obviously, you can buy an infinite amount of things as long as you have one of those magical cards!<br> Ages 5-8<br> Even kids this young can absorb personal finance lessons. And some of those lessons are best taught at this age because any mistakes the children make will be minor and not life to destroy like they can be later in life.<br> The envelope system is a great way to teach kids how to budget. Give your kid three envelopes, one for spending, saving, and giving. Let them decorate each envelope in a way that represents what each one is for.<br> Some parents give allowance like Universal Basic Income. The kids get a certain amount of money just for existing. Some parents give money in exchange for chores and some combine the two; the kids get a certain amount of allowance independent of chores but can make more if they do chores.<br> The envelope system is great for little kids because it lets them see the cash and see when the cash is gone. There are a few ways to implement the system. Some parents insist that the money is split evenly between the envelopes. Some let the children divvy up the money any way that want so long as each envelope gets some portion.<br> Buy your child a wallet to keep their spending money in. When you go shopping with them and they want to buy something, you can use it as a teaching moment. Maybe they want to buy more than one thing but don’t have the money for all they want to buy. You can explain that no one has the money for everything they want so they have to make a choice.<br> If they want something they don’t have money for you can explain that they need to save up to buy it. You can offer to let them to chores to earn extra money to buy that thing. This shows that we have to delay gratification and work in order to afford the things we want.<br> For kids this small, some extra parental input is needed when decidi...