Recently, while traveling to visit family, I ran into a fast food restaurant to grab a quick coffee before we got on the road. When I returned to the car my husband joked " I thought you just went in for a coffee!" Because of how long it took for me to run in, grab my coffee and run out. I explained to him that the time wasn't spent waiting for my order but waiting for the cashier to give me my change. Watching the cashier somewhat struggle through giving me change I was trying to figure out what was going on but shrugged it off as they were just having a rough morning. (I once worked in food service and also in retail, so, I get it!) This later got brought up with a few of my friends who are teachers and they simply told me, "they don't teach kids how to count change anymore!"
I was shocked. Sure, I'm well aware that electronic payments are used much more often than the good old paper dollars and coins. However, it's still around! The issue, it seems, was likely that the cashier wasn't entirely sure what each coin was valued. Immediately, I jumped online to find those little play sets of money because regardless of where the world is on paper currency, when my son starts to earn an allowance, I'm going to make sure he knows the difference in value of a dime vs a penny.
What more concerned me though, is that it sounds like, with the demanding curriculum schools have, Finance 101 seems to be taking a back seat. With our college graduates entering the workforce tens of thousands of dollars in debt, this seems to be the exact opposite of what we should be doing.
It's still important to teach our kids the value of $1. They're going to need to know it. It's also important to teach our kids how to put their money in buckets. We can do this at the youngest of ages. For example, if you give them $10 to use as they wish, $7 can be used to purchase a toy, $3 gets put into the piggy bank. This my friends, is the simple basics of budgeting.
So, parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, let's make sure the next generation doesn't forget the quotes we grew up on that make us think twice about spending when we shouldn't and make sure we save a little for a rainy day. Let's work together to make sure the next generation makes educated financial decisions.
Bottom line: We're big on education. We have complimentary educational materials available for kids of any age on the basics of Finance 101 provided to your family.
Why? Simply, we're passionate about saving early and education and we're happy to share. Contact us to learn more.