Parents need to provide financial literacy for children as soon they become curious or familiar with mommy/daddy paying for something at the store. No one else will play this important role, and this is a crucial life skill to pass on.

As a financial planner, I’ve often been asked by clients how they can teach financial literacy to their children. Often with endless wants (and wishes), they’d like their kids to learn the real value of money. So what does work, and what doesn’t when teaching our kiddos about money? Where do we start? When do we start?

Money management starts at the age of seven

Our children begin to naturally associate emotions between the ages of 3-4. This is a great opportunity to teach them money values such as:

• The finite nature of money (it has a limit) – mom and dad do not have an endless supply!
• Delayed gratification (good timing) – it takes time to save before you spend
• Happiness in giving (opportunity for generosity) – it is a joy to give than to receive

I honestly think we will all learn awesome lessons from this YouTube video. With all the easy ways to spend money these days, we owe it to them what we ourselves wished we knew when we were their age.

Phil McGilvray of Grandma’s Jar joins Wealth With Purpose CEO Alex Cook in discussing Financial literacy for children.

Here’s an interesting article about an awesome lesson we also need to teach children, generosity. Click here.