Dollars P By Sarah J. Yakel, CFP® professional & Sense open their bank statements and keep track of the interest they’ve earned in a bank ledger. In addition, increase the weekly allowance to cover more of your child’s expenses—perhaps a clothing allowance or a small stipend for eating out. Continue to discuss budgeting—and offer a list of extra chores available if your child would like to earn extra money. Avoid caving in to a request for additional funds without your child completing additional chores! Your child may need to “fail” at budgeting by running out of money too soon in the week—a valuable life lesson to learn now, when the stakes are much lower! Introduce “Invisible” Finances (Ages 15-18) Teenagers are able to understand the connection between spending actual dollars versus swiping a debit card. To build this cognitive skill in your teenager, go with them to the bank to open a checking account and direct deposit their weekly allowance into this new account. Many bank accounts geared toward teenagers offer free budgeting tools to help your child split their income and monitor their progress. Allow your teenager to obtain a debit card for their checking account, but confirm with a bank representative that any charges that would overdraw the account will be denied. Monitor your teenager’s use of the debit card and continue to review their bank statements with them to keep an open dialogue about money running. Finally, encourage your teenager to seek part-time employment outside the home— this begins their first foray in to the “real world” of earning a paycheck and budgeting wisely! Our job as parents is to make ourselves obsolete—the better job we do as parents, the less our children really need us. One of the best gifts we can give to our children is the ability to handle money responsibly. If we equip our children with the skills and tools they need to be independent financially, the return on our investment of time and energy will be huge! Sarah J Yakel is a vice president at The Fauquier Bank. As a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, Sarah focuses her time on comprehensive financial planning and investment management for wealth management clients. arenting seems like a string of impossible tasks—getting a baby to sleep through the night, coaxing a toddler to eat a green vegetable, convincing a middle-schooler to turn off a video game. So, when faced with teaching our children responsible money habits, it just feels like one more impossible task. How can we teach our children when we, as grown-ups, barely have a grip on the basics of smart money management? The great news is that our children can form responsible money skills, especially if parents start early with small, age-appropriate lessons. And, in focusing your children on good money habits, you might be able to improve your family finances as well! Start Young! (Ages 5-9) Even at a very young age, children are very receptive to learning about the basics of money. Assign simple, ageappropriate chores, paired with a weekly allowance. When explaining the assigned chores, it should be made clear it is the child’s responsibility as a member of the family to contribute to the good of the family. This begins to set the stage for productive children who desire to contribute their time and talents for the greater good of the community in which they live. The allowance should be paid weekly, and parents should help the child “budget” the amount. In our family, we have three small bins with lids, “SPEND,” “SAVE,” “GIVE.” Every week, when we give our children their allowance, we guide our young children into a responsible split of their small allowance. Ironically, it is the “GIVE” jar that our kids have the most interest in—they love learning about how they can help people and animals in need. We treasure this weekly conversation, as they are growing into caring and compassionate little people. Increase Responsibility (Ages 10-14) This age is a great time to introduce the concept of banking to your child. Visit a local bank together to open a savings account with the amount in the “SAVE” jar. Many banks have educational programs that offer rewards to encourage children to save. Encourage your children to Teens & Hygiene continued from page 5 Specifically this can be a sign of depression. Talk with her about your concerns. Ask her if she would like to talk to an outside counselor. Tackling these tween topics is never easy. Remember, however, your kids look to you for support and guidance. They only know what they know. Sometimes it takes a quick chat to ensure that they are always presenting themselves appropriately. Even if their reaction is far from grateful, think about the potential consequences if you reframe from redirection. Reprinted with permission from www.itsatweenlife.com. Dr. Jennifer Powell-Lunder is a clinical psychologist specializing in work with tweens, teens, young adults, and their families. She is the author of the book Teenage as a Second Language (Adams Media 2010). She is the creator of www.itsatweenslife. com” www.itsatweenslife.com an interactive and informational website for parents and tweens and creator and co-writer of www.Talkingteenage.com. 6 Piedmont Family Magazine 2013 • Issue 2