Financial Responsibility
Ages & Stages
Here are some appropriate developmental goals you can establish to help your child understand money:
Preschoolers and Kindergartners
- Start teaching preschoolers the values of coins and bills (a quarter = 25 pennies).
- Teach your three- to five-year-old that money is earned by working and that goods and services are paid for.
Elementary Age Children
- Teach your six- to eight-year-old the difference between a nickel and a quarter and how much they are worth.
- Work with your elementary aged child on
making change. Let her practice paying for items, and after buying
something, let her count the change she has received.
- Allow your elementary-aged child to develop responsibility for money. If money is lost, it is not automatically replaced.
- Teach your elementary-aged child that goods and services cost money, and that her home, cable TV, and the car all cost money.
- Give your elementary-aged child an allowance.
- Replace your child’s piggy bank with a savings account.
Middleschoolers
- Set up a savings plan for your tween. As kids grow up, they’re better able to set goals that are more far-reaching.
- Encourage your middleschooler to give to charity.
Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents
- Prepare your teen for adult financial responsibility by teaching money management skills.
- Introduce your teen to concepts such as 401K and retirement savings.
- Openly discuss financing for college with your teen and the teen’s responsibility in that plan.
