Welcome to Financially Savvy Kids

Welcome to Financially Savvy Kids.  Our goal is to equip parents and kids with knowledge about how money works.  Public education does not teach our children what they need to know about money.  Society teaches them to buy what they want through debt and then work hard to pay for it. This vicious cycle typically starts before they are out of college and unfortunately, once in this cycle it can be very difficult to climb your way out, much less get ahead.  Breaking the cycle, once in it, takes great discipline.  Again, a concept counter intuitive to society’s teachings.    We want to educate kids about money BEFORE they fall into the trap.

For instance, you were probably raised with the idea that you should work hard to get good grades, go to college and get a high paying job. I would venture to say most of us want that for our kids today.  This path jump starts the cycle mentioned above and puts our kids at a great DISADVANTAGE. 

1.  As a reward for all their hard work and for securing that high paying job, they will buy a house, get a new car, and acquire a new wardrobe that will make them look and feel like a million bucks.  They are feeling pretty good about their money management skills because they have two new “assets” in their house and car, and they even throw a little money into the company 401K.   In a matter of a couple of months their entire paycheck is allocated to expenses, many of which they wrongly believe are assets, to support their new found and richly deserved lifestyle.  And so the cycle begins.  The ground work is laid for a lifelong pattern of dependency. 

2. They are thrown into the highest tax bracket and once the impact of that is realized, they begin spending money on things they think are assets to reduce their tax bill, such as golf clubs, boats, R.V.s and a second home.

3. All creativity and any entrepreneurial spirit is squelched by the realization that without the pay check they have grown accustomed to, they will  drown in their own expenses, and they are lured into believing working for a paycheck equals security. 

I am getting cold sweats writing this, because it is the exact path that I took.  About 7 years into my professional career and shortly after I had my son, I decided to take on the daunting task of breaking the cycle and replacing w-2 income with investment income.  It has been a long, slow and at times scary process.  I am not seeking a path of lavish luxury and wild riches.  What I am after is even better...financial freedom.  The ability to spend my time with my family, doing the work that I want to do, having the financial capacity to give to my church far and above my ten percent tithe, and to give my son a different example than what he sees among  most of society.  I want to teach him how to make money work for him rather than being a lifelong slave to money!

Through this blog we will share fun and easy ways to teach our kids about making money, spending money, creating wealth and giving back.  We hope to create a forum where you will share what you are doing to teach your kids about money for the benefit of our readers and together we can pull out the entrepreneurial genius in our children!