The Financial Apprenticeship-More Tips - Excerpt from Raising Financially Fit Kids

By Joline Godfrey

Begin a Savings Program

Compound interest has been called the "eighth wonder of the world."
And no wonder -- even a modest savings plan, growing over the course of twenty years or established just before your child leaves for college, can reap dramatic results. Visit www.bankrate.com to calculate a savings plan that will fit your own circumstances. Whether you have a sophisticated estate plan or are managing more limited resources, creating a nest egg for your child emphasizes the importance of savings, and can be a crucial part of helping him achieve independence.

Calm Yourself; Calm Your Kids

If money makes you uneasy, remember that lots of parents feel that way -- but your job is to communicate to kids that managing money is as normal as brushing teeth. In this first stage, kids will approach issues of money through the eyes of influential grown-ups. If you're anxious and uncomfortable about money yourself, you will pass this attitude on to your kids.

Here are a few suggestions for finding the calm that will make your children's financial apprenticeship a much more pleasurable experience:

- Before taking your kids shopping, spend some quiet time with them -- a warm bath, a short walk, even a few minutes of quiet talk and hugging can lower the excitement level considerably.

- Remember that when you're in a store, your kids are being intentionally and cleverly overstimulated. This is to the store's advantage and your disadvantage. Too much time spent looking, wanting, being revved up by the lights, the sounds, the visual displays will exacerbate your kids' hyperactivity. Limit the time and expectations of your kids while shopping. Decide what you are going to get before you go, and try to avoid turning the trip into a recreational afternoon.

- Help kids associate spending money with managing real needs, not filling empty places within the soul. Shopping to cheer up your kids, reward good behavior, or entertain them establishes patterns that will only be exaggerated as they grow older. There are far more emotionally satisfying ways to cheer kids up (chicken soup and an hour spent playing a game together are quite effective), reward good behavior (gold stars and a note from you saying how proud you are), and entertain them (read to or with them, build something together, go for a walk together).

For some people, yoga offers another vehicle for calm in the context of dealing with money. In an interview for Yoga Journal, Linda Wolff, who owns and operates a boutique in New York City, said, "I see people in my shop doing this neurotic shopping, spending way more than they can afford. I recognize them easily. There's a certain look in their eyes, a nervous energy, sort of a rush or a high? I used to get that high myself, sometimes running up credit card bills of $30,000! I remember it used to feel great when I was buying. I'd feel free and alive -- until I got the bill! It was like a disease. But my disease was cured by yoga. Something changed within. There came a calm, a balance, a feeling of being filled by myself and not by material stuff."

In another interview in the same magazine, Margaret Roche added, "Yoga helps me to maintain a peaceful attitude about money, as it does about all things. And it also helps me to budget. Because of yoga, I do not need to go out and spend money when I am feeling depressed. Instead I'll meditate, do some exercises, or paint."

You may not feel drawn to yoga as a way to calm yourself. But it's worth paying attention to any hyperactivity that emerges for you and your kids in relation to financial matters, and working to soothe counterproductive feelings.

Moving On

Stage One, "I'm just a kid," is a time to have fun with and enjoy the 5-to-8-year-olds in your life. They are curious, always exploring and discovering. When you can introduce them to something new that helps them master their growing world -- while having a great time with you -- you are launching great kids.

Joline Godfrey is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and mentor, leading the movement to increase financial literacy and empowerment in young people. Her most recent book is Raising Financially Fit Kids. Ms. Godfrey has been featured on Oprah, NBC's Today Show, the CBS Early Show, Lifetime Television, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fortune, etc. Independent Means Inc. is the nation's leading provider of financial education programs, summer camps, products, and online subscription services.