Teaching Kids About Money [The Complete Guide]

If you’re like me, you want to teach your kids about money so that they can create a life of freedom and independence for themselves.

Maybe you struggled with money a bit when you were younger, like me, and you don’t want them to have to go through the same problems (credit card debt, not getting ahead, etc.).

Here’s the thing. You have the ability to help your kids succeed. By learning about money yourself, you’re giving your kid(s) the best example they could hope for. I’ve got three kids of my own and I’m taking every chance I get to give them proper money habits.

You can help your kids succeed financially by taking good care of your own finances and making sure money is not a taboo topic in your house. Then give them opportunities to make their own financial choices, even if that means they make some mistakes along the way.

In this guide, I’ve taken everything I’ve learned in ten years of dealing with the subject of money and kids all into one big guide for you to check out.

Pick your favorite section and get started:

Table of Contents

Be the Example
Year-By-Year Guide
– Under 3 Year Olds
– 4 to 6 Year Olds
– 7 to 9 Year Olds
– 10 to 13 Year Olds
– 14 to 16 Year Olds
– 17 to College Aged
– College Grads that Move Back Home
Daily Learning Opportunities
12 Financial Apps and Resources
Teaching Kids to Save More
Teaching Kids to Earn More

Be the Example: Fix Your Own Finances First

I want my kids to be as prepared as possible to navigate their wants and needs and have a healthy relationship with money.

I’m still a young father. I have two little girls and a little boy, but I’ve learned a thing or two about what’s important. I also had a great example in my father.

1. Protect Your Kids Financially

Your kids are currently able to live their stress-free life because of your paycheck, business income, etc. If you aren’t there to earn that money, then their world isn’t as stress-free. Not only will they not have you, but they’ll also now have a widower parent who’s left with the burden of your debts, and forced to work to get by.

For this reason, life insurance is key for any new (or older) Dad or Mom. Term life insurance is likely all you need. It’s cheap and simple to set up. Go get it, Moms and Dads.

If you have assets, you want to make sure you have a last will so that those assets can be properly allocated if something were to happen to you. But a will also help direct for the care of your children. Take some time to have a will set up. Write your own will free if you have to.

Avoid too much debt. Debt puts you and your kids at risk.

Finally, make sure you have a financial cushion, an emergency fund, in place. This helps to ensure that when you lose your job, or when you have a huge financial burden, you don’t have to make radical changes to your financial situation (bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc.) just to get by.

Related: The Best Online Term Life Insurance Companies

2. Don’t “Check Out” Financially

One of your main priorities as a parent should be setting financial goals with our spouse so that you are both on the same page and working together. If you don’t know your families financial goals, that’s a problem. Grow up. Plan a meeting with your spouse and create accountability for your finances.

Your spouse may be better at “paying the bills,” but that’s no excuse to not be aware of your current financial situation. At a minimum, you should know what’s in your accounts and where the money is coming and going on a monthly basis. Check out the easy to use Empower to see all of your accounts in one place.

3. Teach Your Kids the Importance of Giving

Giving isn’t necessarily easy (I’ll be the first to admit that), but it’s easy to teach giving. Simply let your kids see you give. Take them with you on a volunteer mission. Let them help you prepare the weekly Church offering. Let them put it in the offering plate.

Tell them what the money will be used for. Next time you give online to your favorite cause, bring them over to the computer and show them what you are doing. Again, reinforce what the money (or your time) is going to do. If you are giving, your kids will see it and will be more prone to live a life full of giving.

4. Love Your Kids

Hug your kids. Tell them you love them. Show them you love them by spending time with them, playing with them, teaching them things, and my favorite, wrestling with them. Show them that you love your spouse by hugging him/her and treating them with honor and respect.

Kids who get loved will have a great opportunity to thrive financially in life, no matter what their financial situation is now.

Year-by-Year Guide to Teaching Kids About Money

Parents can easily get caught up in the day-to-day needs of their children and forget about imparting the big life lessons.

But our kids need more from us than just diaper changes, peanut butter sandwiches, bandaids, and hugs.

They need to be prepared for their lives as adults, particularly when it comes to money management.

Here are ways to teach your children to be frugal, giving, and money savvy at every age:

Children Under 3

Very small children don’t yet have an understanding of what money is or how it works. Your job is to introduce them. Making realistic-looking play money is a great craft project that will give you an opportunity to talk about how much each coin and bill is worth.

Your little one will love using the homemade money to play store in your kitchen or living room. Together, you can make price tags for food and toys and “sell” them to each other.

Small children also love mimicking Mom and Dad, so now is a great time to include them in your bill paying. I used to sit my one-year-old son on my lap while I balance my checkbook.

He loves to play with the calculator, and I’m letting him know that I manage our money regularly. Eventually, I may give him his own “checkbook” and calculator so he can plan his own monthly finances.

4 to 6 Year Olds

Once your child has reached pre-school age, she’s ready for an allowance. There is a longstanding parenting debate over whether allowances should be earned or given, but no matter how you decide to give your child her first taste of money, you do want to teach her how to save it.

A great way to do that is to make three coin banks–one for spending, one for saving, and one for giving away to charity. Creating and decorating banks out of clean jars will add to your child’s excitement at controlling her own money.

Once your child has some money in each of the banks, make an event of depositing money in a savings account, donating money to a charity of your child’s choice, and spending the rest on whatever strikes her fancy.

She’ll quickly learn she could have a lot of cheap candy or one new toy for the same amount of money.

If you don’t typically carry cash, there are some good digital solutions to the jars concept. Goalsetter is a digital savings and gifting tool that helps kids save up for their goals. The goals can be as big as college tuition or as simple as amusement park tickets.

Then parents can set up Auto-Save to help their kids save towards their goals. Family members and friends can use special events like birthdays to give GoalCards, which are digital gift cards that help kids reach their goals faster. And kids can cash out any time once they’ve reached their savings goals.

7 to 9 Year Olds

Now is a great time to start including your kids in your grocery budgeting and shopping. If you clip coupons, ask your child to help you cut them and have him identify the products at the store. Talk about how you determine what is the best deal by comparing unit prices. Practice math skills by adding prices together while you shop.

This is an age when you can impart to your kid just how much fun it is to budget and save money (which it really is if you make a game of it!) and you’ll help him understand the importance and value of money.

10 to 13 Year Olds

Pre-teens are old enough to learn about investing money, and they’ll have a great time with an investment game. As a family, do some mock investing in companies of your child’s choosing. Keep track of how these stocks fare over a set period of time. Your kids will get excited when their stocks are up and they will learn about what can affect market value when they go down.

If the entire family plays this game, you can decide that whoever picked the stocks that have “earned” the most money at the end of the game wins some sort of family prize–like a special dinner or a movie night.

14 to 16 Year Olds

Encourage your young teens to find new ways to make extra money. This is a prime time for children to want to keep up with their friends in terms of clothing, electronics, and other material items. When your child asks you for the hottest jeans because “everyone is wearing them,” ask her how she can pay for them.

She could do odd jobs around the neighborhood for extra cash; she could sell some of her old belongings on eBay, or she could get a part-time job. No matter what she chooses, you’ll either be encouraging her entrepreneurial spirit, her frugality, and resourcefulness, or her work ethic.

Related: 40 Summer Jobs for Teens and College Students [Plus What to do with the Money]

17 and College Aged

Teens this age are ready for the responsibility of a checking account and possibly even a debit card. Depositing allowance and found money into this account can get them prepared for the money management strategies they will use as adults.

Encourage your teens to continue to divide their money into spend/save/give categories and help them figure out how to do that through their accounts rather than a coin bank.

Another important lesson that teens this age will enjoy is determining which charities are worth their hard-earned money. Help your child to research charities to learn what the charities do and what percentage of donations go toward the cause.

If it’s a charity your child really believes in, suggest that he volunteered his time as well as his money. It will help set up a habit of social responsibility and a sense of gratitude.

Making money lessons a part of your daily routine with your children from cradle to college will be one of the best gifts you’ll ever give them.

Parents, while you may have looked forward to being an empty nester, if your child has recently graduated from college, you’re likely to have your adult child as a new roommate.

Graduates, while you may have looked forward to finishing school, your chances of ending up back at home with mom and dad are pretty high.

College Grads That Move Back Home

But what if they do move back home? According to a Pew Study done in 2014, “31% of college graduates [ages 18-29] live with their parents.”

Between the up and down job market (and the fact that unemployment tends to be higher in the under 25 demographic), the amount of student debt most college graduates face, and the cost of housing, it’s no wonder that college is turning into more of a hiatus from home, rather than as a launch into independence.

Parents, while it’s natural for parents to want to help their children, no matter their age, it is important to make sure what you do during this (often trying) time will help, rather than hinder your child’s chances for success.

Here are some tips for making sure that your boomerang kid can successfully navigate this tough economy. Graduates, we’ve also included some tips for you to navigate this phase of life as well.

1. Make a Plan Together

While family should always be welcome, it is also important that you and your child sit down together and decide ground rules for living at home–including a tentative end date. These ground rules will be different depending on circumstances, but it is important that you make it clear that as an adult, your child is expected to contribute like an adult.

That might mean paying rent, helping around the house, applying for jobs within her field while working a McJob, or making some sort of job or career progress (like finding investors for a business or starting to send out freelance articles). It’s also good to let her know that eventually, you expect her to find her own place.

This might be an uncomfortable discussion, but it will be part of helping your child to feel like an adult. It will be much easier for him to put on his big boy pants and take on the challenges the world throws at him if he knows everyone–including his parents–thinks of him as a grownup.

Graduates: Even if you don’t have a plan, communicate with your parents. Respect their boundaries and desire for structure in their post-college relationships. This is a healthy approach and one that will serve you well as you make your way out of the house.

As soon as you are able, take steps to get out of the house. Consider alternatives like moving in with a friend who’s also struggling to find steady work, or doing volunteer work that comes with room and board.

2. Think Twice Before Giving Money

While it can certainly be tough to watch your child struggle financially, swooping in with your checkbook might not be the best strategy. Helping her put together a financial plan to get her feet under her will give her a better sense of how she can stay afloat on her own. You are giving your boomerang child a place to stay, but you should not be financing a lifestyle she can’t afford.

You also want to make sure that your retirement funds are sacrosanct. As tempting as it might be to dip into your retirement savings in order to help your child, you can’t sacrifice your future security. Your child has years of earning potential ahead of him, while you are nearing retirement.

Graduates: Continue living like you’re in college. Keep the expenses low and stay resourceful with your methods for bringing in extra cash and making those dollars go further. Think twice before asking for financial assistance. Only use it as a last resort.

3. Expect Some Bumps

This is a tough emotional time for everyone. Your child is in a twilight in-between stage where she isn’t quite a child and isn’t quite an adult, and you have no doubt gotten used to a different dynamic in the house while she was away at college.

It’s inevitable that you will have some conflict, and it’s good to anticipate these issues. Treating your child as the adult she has become will do a lot to help ease the situation–and it will help her to take the steps necessary to become independent.

Graduates: It’s reasonable to expect your parents to wish this to only be a temporary engagement. You are now way past the age of accountability. Go find that job, even if it’s a part-time job, and get out of that house as soon as you can to avoid any future conflict with your parents. Don’t put them in the position of having to kick you out.

12 Daily Learning Opportunities

If you’re able to make money lessons out of everyday situations, you’ll be more likely to create good habits in your children.

I thought it would be nice to come up with a list of life’s everyday opportunities you could use to teach kids about money. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

1. Take Your Child to Work

I like this idea because it can fill in the blank when it comes to the “spend less than you earn” concept. Kids can grow up never knowing where the money comes from. It’s important to show them that Mom and Dad spend time and effort away from home to be able to afford to spend money later.

The money for spending doesn’t just appear. This is also a good opportunity for you to ask them how they think they could earn money if they needed to.

2. Avoid the “Can’t Afford It” Excuse

I’m guilty of using these words from time to time. But I know it doesn’t add any value. Instead, I aim to use phrases like “it’s not our priority right now”, or “we’re spending our money elsewhere.” It’s a way of giving you back the control and showing your kids that you are making a decision instead of having life dictated to you.

3. Talk With Them at the Register

When shopping, use the time at the cash register to tell them that you are purchasing things with money that has been earned at your job. If you use a credit card, explain how that works and how it’s actually still using your money. And not some magical “get things free” card.

4. Show Them How You Pay Bills

Have them help you with the monthly bill payment process. Show them how to write a check and explain that concept. Discuss with them your online bill pay set up and how that works. While you’re online, show them these kids and money online resources.

5. Volunteer for a Charity and Discuss Needs vs Wants

Spend some time together as a family involved in a charitable cause. Teach them how you are providing for the needs for others.

6. Split Allowances Into 4s

If you give them a weekly allowance, implement a 3 or 4 jar method. Use mason jars to split up their allowance into savings, giving, spending, and taxes (optional). Tell them why it’s important to allot money to each jar. To explain compound interest, offer to match the amount that they put in their savings jar each week.

7. Open Up a Real Savings Account

Visit your local bank and have them open up a savings account. Or simply open up an account for them at one of the many online banks. I still remember opening up my very first savings account. It was a “passbook savings account” at my hometown bank.

Check out our recommendations for the best high-yield savings accounts.

8. Enlist Their Choices When Shopping

Don’t just pick everything out for them at the store. Give them choices as well. Let them choose between two different types of healthy cereal. Have them look at the price of each and allow them to make a decision based on that. Show them how to find a coupon online for their favorite items.

9. Discuss Commercials and Other Ads

We’re bombarded with thousands of advertising messages each day. My goal will be to avoid many of these messages by not watching too much TV and by counter-acting the messages with discussions about intent, as well as wants vs needs.

This is also a good time to refer back to that savings account. If kids see something they want on TV, have them go count their funds in the piggy bank or savings account.

10. Don’t Tie Grades and Basic Chores to Allowance

One opportunity I wouldn’t think would be a great time to talk about money is when you’re discussing grades and basic household chores. I view these as things my kids should be expected to do without pay.

11. Teach Your Kids to Respect their Stuff

A kid’s world is full of stuff: stuff they have, stuff their friends have, and stuff they want. When you talk to them about their things, they naturally understand. Expect them to take care of their things, to put them back in their place, and keep them clean.

Having a healthy respect for their things will help them to spend their money wisely in the future.

12. Use Gifts to Encourage Positive Habits with Money

Most of us think of buying our kids gifts and teaching them how to save money as mutually exclusive areas of parenting. But what if you could accomplish both at the same time? It turns out you can.

From buying your kids games that teach them how to manage money to gifting them company stock, there are lots of creative ways to reinforce positive financial principles through the gifts that you give.

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these 20 Fantastic Financial Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids.

12 Financial Apps and Resources

1. FamZoo App

FamZoo is a virtual family bank that teaches kids giving, saving and spending principles. Parents create chore lists and to do lists that are shared with family members.

Virtual accounts are created to track earnings once chores are completed.

The app provides for a collaborative budgeting environment and the money can be managed virtually, allowing parents to pay the kids real money outside of the app based on earnings and what they accumulate in their account.

Or you can link FamZoo prepaid debit cards to your account which can be funded right through FamZoo. No cash needed.

Check out our full review of FamZoo here.

2. GoHenry

GoHenry is a kids’ debit card & financial learning app that tries to grow with your kids, from age 6 to 18.

With GoHenry (started in the UK), kids learn how to save, spend, earn, and more, while parents get peace of mind with automated allowance, flexible boundaries, and real-time spend notifications.

Try GoHenry free for 30 days.

3. Goalsetter

Goalsetter is a digital version of the piggy banks or savings jars. Parents can deposit money in their kids’ digital accounts to help them reach their goals.

Family and friends can also contribute by gifting GoalCards.

Get started with Goalsetter.

4. Moonjar

Moonjar provides several products to help educate kids about money. The Moonjar Moneybox is a visual-based learning kit to help kids understand wants and needs, budgeting and goal setting.

You can also purchase the Moonjar book to understand the story behind the tools of how two characters learn together about financial principles and achieving their goals.

Moonjar provides several products to help educate kids about money. The Moonjar Moneybox is a visual-based learning kit to help kids understand wants and needs, budgeting and goal setting.

You can also purchase the Moonjar book to understand the story behind the tools of how two characters learn together about financial principles and achieving their goals.

5. Cash Crunch Games

Cash Crunch Games has created several awesome games that teach kids about money. Cash Crunch Junior is a board game designed for kids ages 5-12. And Cash Crunch has three games designed for kids 13 and up: Cash Crunch 101, Cash Crunch Bitesize, and Cash Crunch Careers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo0bbiESDNw

6. Money Mammals by SniggleZoo

Money Mammals offers products for kids and resources for parents to make learning about money fun.

Their product line includes apps, DVD’s picture books, and teaching kits. The family kit includes all the products for teaching kids about money, including an allowance planner.

7. Centsables

The Centsables is a new breed of superheroes on Fox Business Saturday mornings at 11 AM ET. The program was created to help children to understand money and how it impacts their lives. The Centsables website provides a full multimedia experience in educating both parents and kids about money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ci8ZaLKq8g

8. Dollars & Sense by H&R Block

Dollars & Sense is a series of financial literacy courses that H&R Block provides for free to parents, teachers, and students. Their courses cover a broad range of topics including budgeting, understanding taxes, insurance, savings, payment methods, and credit.

9. Next Gen Personal Finance

Next Gen Personal Finance mostly focuses on equipping teachers to educate kids about personal finance in the classroom. But some of the awesome tools they’ve created are available for anyone to access on their site. They’ve created quizzes, games, puzzles, and more that are all designed to help kids improve their financial literacy.

10. My ClassRoom Economy

My ClassRoom Economy built a system that teachers can use to help kids learn financial responsibility by allowing them to earn “dollars”
so that they can “rent” their desk. How cool is that!?

And if you’d like to modify some of their concepts to use in the home, their materials are all available to print for free on their site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h3sgAlXnH0

11. Ally Wallet Wise

Ally Wallet Wise offers a suite of family education tools that could help you teach your kids about money. From their “What’s Zee Answer” interactive game to their fun kids’ book “Planet Zee and the Money Tree,” they’ve created some really great tools that you may find helpful.

12. Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement is one of the largest and most respected organizations that focus on educating kids on money, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. To make their programs possible, it takes over 200,000 classroom volunteers, many of which our parents. If your child’s school doesn’t already have a Junior Achievement financial literacy program, perhaps you could be the one to start one.

Check out some of their courses, including the fantastic month-long “Finance Park” program.

13. Stockpile

Want to teach your kids or teens about investing in a fun way? Try Stockpile. This investing app allows you to set up a custodial account for your children. Add funds to the account and they can use it to buy fractional shares on 1000+ stocks and ETFs. It’s free to sign up for an account and there are no monthly fees or minimum investments. Stock trades are just 99 cents each. When your kids are old enough, they can transfer their assets to an individual account. This is a great low-risk way to introduce your kids to the world of investing.

Teaching Kids to Save More

I see this question a lot.

“How can I convince my kids to save more money?”

Here are my thoughts on this subject. When it comes to your kids (as opposed to your spouse, parents, friends, etc.), do all the convincing you want.

In fact, you should be making your kids handle their money properly. Be heavy-handed and knowledgeable about where every dollar goes.

They are your responsibility until they are 18, so stay on top of things there.

At the same time, you want your kids to learn to make decisions and face the consequences of those decisions. Therefore, if we’re talking about “extra money,” let them take the reigns and be there to explain things to them when things go bad.

Don’t bail them out.

More importantly, show them how you’re saving. Open up the banking account details and show them your emergency fund.

Show them your retirement accounts.

If they see you preparing for the future, they will believe in the concept more and see it as an option for their extra funds.

Here are some extra ideas focused on helping your kids become better savers:

1. Matching Contributions

One fun way to entice your children to save money for a specific goal is to match their contributions much like many employers match their employees 401k retirement plan contributions.

For example, if your child wants a new toy, tell them you will match them dollar for dollar or 50 cents on the dollar to boost their total. This could really spur them into action.

2. Making a Savings Chart

Most of us are visual learners and our children are no different. Having a chart listing your savings goals (and how much you have saved towards that goal) hanging in a prominent place in your home is an excellent motivator and discussion piece.

3. Use Multiple Coin Jars

This one has been mentioned but it’s worth repeating: Set up three coin jars to separate children’s savings into the categories of saving, investing, and giving. There are even piggybanks like the Money Savvy Pig who have separate compartments to help visualize the separation.

4. Kids Need Cool Piggybanks

Let’s face it. Traditional piggybanks are boring. What is your child passionate about? Does he or she love soccer? Then consider a piggy bank shaped like a soccer ball. There are even talking ATM-style banks. Find a cool bank that your children would get a kick out of using instead of the traditional pig.

5. Setting the Right Example

How our children grow up thinking about money has a lot to do with how we interact with money in our own lives. Parents know and understand their children are always watching their every move and eavesdropping on their conversations. The first time my son said a swear word brought that realization quickly to my consciousness.

How do you interact with money? Do you dread going to the mailbox, answering the phone, or paying bills each month? Do you talk disparagingly about money around your children? Your children hear and see that interaction and feed off it. They sense your money struggles. Setting the right example can help set the stage for their future money success.

Teaching Kids to Earn More

Don’t neglect the income side of the equation. Helping your kids navigate their first job or the ins and outs of starting a side hustle or business can go a long way toward their future success.

Here’s my friend Amanda L. Grossman from MoneyProdigy.com to share some excellent advice for us on how to teach your kids how to earn money. She grew up on a dairy farm where endless hard work was a way of life but it did teach her how to work hard and run a business. Here is what she has to say about teaching your child to be ready for the working world, and in particular how to run their own business someday.

Encourage them to Negotiate Allowance

Whatever type of allowance system your child is on–there’s a whole Kid Money System Landscape out there, ranging from chore commissions to educational pay–you can build in the ability for your child to negotiate their pay.

I know, I know. That might sound like heresy, or at the very least, an invitation for a whine-fest, in your household. But hear me out.

The lessons your child entrepreneurs will learn by being allowed to negotiate allowance money from you has direct correlations with what entrepreneurs need to know how to do:

• Entrepreneurs Need to Sell Themselves: Let’s face it, as entrepreneurs ourselves, we realize that selling involves a whole lot more than hocking a product or service. We actually have to sell people on ourselves. A child who is comfortable pitching themselves to adults is a child who will be more comfortable selling themselves to anyone when they get older.
• Entrepreneurs Need to Know How to Price: Underpricing or overpricing our products and services, especially for those of us who mistakenly associate our money with our self-worth, is an easy thing to do. And it can cost untold amounts of missed opportunities. Your child will start to get feedback on their pricing from you at an early age by going through the allowance negotiation process.
• Entrepreneurs Need Incredible Self-Confidence and Resiliency: Look–it’s rough out there. I don’t need to tell you how difficult handling rejection can be. By being the person your child practices their negotiations on first, you get to show them how to handle rejection well, plus how to not take it personally. These are key in getting them back to the batter’s box again, and again, which is terribly important for an entrepreneur.

Involve them in Your Business

Have you ever stopped your side hustlin’ long enough to think about who is going to take over your business one day?

Most likely, it’s going to be one of your kids!

You’ve got an incredible opportunity to not only pass down a form of income to your child but to also use what you’ve built to teach them basic entrepreneur skills from an early age.

I highly encourage you to create your own Take Your Child to Work Day–from the comfort of your own home office, Starbucks sweet spot, couch, or wherever else you conduct business.

This is an amazing opportunity to:

• Show your child what the heck Mommy/Daddy does on the laptop, such as who you serve, what you offer, and why.
• Give your child a task to help you with–who knows, they might take over as your VA one day!
• Help your child come up with their own business plan.

Bonus: You can get a free Take Your Child to Work Day Kit to make building your own day a snap, complete with a schedule, list of activities to choose from, and kid prep-work.

Related: Skratch.co Review: An App to Help Teens Find Work

Hire Your Child as a Consultant

Businesses exist for the purpose of finding needs they can fulfill, and fulfilling them.

Yeah, there’s more involved than that. But you get the idea.

What better way to introduce your budding kidpreneur to the business world than hiring them as a consultant for your next event?

Choose an upcoming holiday or big event that you’re willing to work with your child on. Call a family meeting, and tell your child that they get to be your event consultant.

In kid-language, this means that in exchange for their time, energy, and work, they get to earn a little money.

Here are the basics for setting this one up:

• List out the tasks you want your event consultant to head up.
• Hold a few meetings where you coach them, while also allow them to ask you questions and share their own ideas.
• Hand them a budget to work with for the tasks you’ve handed over, such as a budget for decorations, and a budget for children’s games.
• Allow them to negotiate a price for their services (read this to figure out if they’ll need to pay taxes on their earnings.)

Child entrepreneurs aren’t just born, they’re made. Even if your child isn’t destined to become the next kid on Shark Tank, they’ll still learn valuable money lessons by going through the steps above. It’s a win-win.

The Bottom Line

Most of us spend 40+ hours a week earning money to support our kids and provide for their needs. But it’s easy to forget that our kids won’t be able to rely on us forever.

Before they’re grown, our kids need to “learn how to fish” for themselves. They need to learn how to make money, manage it wisely, and give generously. As parents, we can’t expect anyone else to take the responsibility of teaching this to our kids.

You and I must make it our priority. And if we do, it may just end up being one of the greatest legacies that we leave behind for our children.

What has worked with your kids to get them interested in money? Is there anything that didn’t work?