Parenting Mistake #4 :: Not Teaching Them About Money

Yahoo has an article discussing how overspending on kids can risk your financial future.

In that article they discuss four common mistakes that parents make with regard to spending on their own kids to the detriment of their own financial well-being.

Over the next few days, I am going to list each one of these mistakes and provide you with my thoughts and comments on each of these mistakes.

Parenting Mistake #4 :: Not Teaching Them About Money

“Parents who are struggling themselves to get the most out of their money become terrible role models and teachers for their children,” Allvine says. “Instead of preparing their children to be financially independent by the time they get to college, I see parents either overprotect or educate inappropriately. Tracking Disney’s stock is not going to teach a child how to balance a checkbook, learn to be charitable or communicate some day with a spouse or partner.”

As I’ve previously discussed here on this site, my wife and I are very open with our discussions about money and try to involve our children in financial decisions. For those that may have missed some of my original thoughts on this topic, please take a look at the following posts:

• Teaching Your Children How to Save
• Set an Example for Your Children
• Children Managing Their Allowance
• Do You Discuss Money With Your Kids?

When a parent is struggling with their own finances or does not understand basic financial concepts it makes sense that they are less likely to share and educate their children on financial topics. After all, how can the parent educate the child if they lack the education themselves?

It is very unfortunate to see this because often times the children that are not educated on personal finances will grow up to be adults that do not understand personal finances, thus continuing the cycle with their own children. I feel very fortunate to be in a position to have educated myself on personal finances and to share that knowledge with my own children. In addition, that is the primary motivation behind this blog as I would love to be able to help even one person educate themselves about personal finances so they can pass that knowledge along to people in their lives.

Do you discuss personal finances with your own kids or is that a taboo topic in your household? How does that compare to when you were a child?