As my children get older, I'm thinking more about the money lessons I'd like to teach them and with that, the money lessons I wish someone had taught me. I was chatting with Miss Frugal about some of the money mistakes that I've made in my life and that prompted me to write today's post - a letter to my 16-year-old self.Dear 16-year-old me,I'd normally start a letter like this by asking how you are but seeing as you're me then I already know. ;-)I know that you're about to take your GCSEs and that you're super nervous about them and even though I'm not going to tell you … [Read more...]
The Five most important money lessons to teach kids….
Today I'm going to share with you the five most important money lessons to teach kids - something which has been on my mind a lot lately with the launch of the Family Budgeting Fink cards.As parents, we all want to make sure our children are as prepared as possible for the real world that they're going to be living in before too long! For me, with a 17-year-old in college and a 14-year-old fast approaching the end of his time at school, it's really something I'm trying to focus on. Budgeting Skills are vital. This is a huge one for me and I've written about it in detail before but … [Read more...]
Let’s Talk about Family Budgeting {the launch our new ‘thing’}….
Do you talk about money with your family?Today, I want you to think about the conversations you do have with your partner and with your children and the impact that talking about money (or not talking about it) can have on your family finances.To me, there are two different types of conversations you should be having about money. The first is with your partner and they need to be more in-depth than the conversations you probably already have. Mr Frugal and I have never really discussed money in that much detail - we have a joint account and I oversee most aspects of our … [Read more...]
10 things I do to teach my teenager how to manage her own money….
I've written before about the different ways that I've taught my children how to manage their own money but things have changed as far as Miss Frugal is concerned now that she's 16 so I thought I'd update you.The older children get, the more responsibility they should have as far as money is concerned in my opinion which is why you might be surprised to see some of the things I do to help Miss Frugal learn.These are some of the things I do to help Miss Frugal learn how to manage her own money... More pocketmoney I'm a big believer that older children aren't going to learn to … [Read more...]
Five secrets to teaching teenagers about money management in the real world….
Today's post is all about teaching teenagers about money - something I take very seriously as I want my two to leave home as well equipped as possible to deal with their money in the real world. I'm not going to tell you that my two teenagers are particularly frugal or that they don't crave the latest Xbox games or designer goods because they're normal teenagers who want the nice things they see their friends with.What I am going to tell you is how I'm teaching them money and giving them what I hope to be the skills they need to manage their money in the real world when they don't … [Read more...]
Why you should NOT give your children a piggy bank….
Today I'm going to tell you exactly why I don't think you should give your children a piggy bank if you want to encourage them to save!I should say before I start that all children are different and this is my opinion based on my experience of my two who are great little savers. ;-)Both of my children are brilliant at saving, Miss Frugal especially although I think that's more because she's older and gets more money each month, therefore has more money to save. When we booked to go to New York, she saved more money than I managed to with a combination of pocketmoney, babysitting … [Read more...]