Children and Money – Impacts as an adult???

When I was young there was no such thing as pocket money, now this is not because I am from the archaic ages but because as one of four my mum did not have the spare money to give us to spend as we liked.  The priorities in our house were paying the bills and food on the table, but this in no way meant that we went without.  I had a TV in my room, latest trainers, nice clothes (latest design albeit not in large numbers).  There were other items my siblings had, like dolls, prams, Nintendo console and games.  

What my mother did though which was very different, is that she sat the four of us down and went through the household budget of what had to be paid that week and what was left over for the extras.  This process meant we would all chose what the priorities were for that week or month.  To this day other than her mortgage she has never had any debt, credit cards, catalogue account or store cards.  When her washing machine broke she washed all our clothes in the bath for 2 months until she had enough to buy one. 

Now my mother is a very unique lady and I am not in any way suggesting that you take this extreme course of action, as even I would not go to those lengths, however, what she did teach her four children, is the value of money. We had to save to get what we wanted, we had to be patient and we most definitely did not get everything we wanted.  

Today as adults we have a good handle on money and are never disappointed with life when we do not get everything that we want.  

If I then think of the young clients who sit in front of me wanting to start their financial plan, normally starting with the purchase of their first home, I am no longer startled with amount of personal loans and credit cards they hold for such young people or the individuals who have no pension plan in place and say they cannot afford a pension even though they have £ 1,000 surplus based on their expenditure. 

When I say surplus this is not in their bank account, this is either paying their debt or going on the ‘must haves’ for either themselves or their children.  Children getting ‘everything’ they want but not want they ‘need’, creates a footprint into adulthood.  The land fill sites in this country are filled with ‘wants and must haves’ but also filled with people who have no concept of how to budget or utilise their money appropriately. 

So today reading this article, perhaps think of giving children something REALLY valuable a lesson in managing money.  Perhaps instead of saying yes to everything they ask for maybe suggest that they save for it.  Alternative say no and if the guilt is too strong put a small amount away in savings for them, which will have a positive benefit of giving them a start in life, rather than increasing the land fill sites of items that will only last a couple of months.  

Children rely on parents for money but more and more people are relying on their parents into adulthood.  I often hear “ I don’t need to save I will inherit my parent's house”, “my parents have a large amount of cash I will live off that when they pass away” or “if I get ill my parents will pay my mortgage”.  What happens if that money is not there? 

Passing the real value of money onto the next generation offers real value, but it is up to us to teach it to them as it does not happen automatically.  Our children deserve to be taught the ability to manage in life, so NO is a fantastic word, with the odd yes thrown in!