Money and Kids

4 tips : How to avoid children business failure traps

2010-02-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

4 tips : How to avoid children business failure traps

Working hard to build children’s Business?

In order to teach my child about money I helped her start what seems to be a successful “jewelry Business”. My goal continues to be to teach my 12 year old daughter about money. To teach her how money works, how to manage money, create an income stream and the difference between working for money and having it work for you. So far, it has been a successful lesson but one that is difficult and an on going process.

Blogging honestly about Children, Money, success & failure

It has been several days since my last Post about my efforts to teach my daughter, a 12 yr old child, about money. I really have been busy with the efforts to teach her what I believe she needs to learn in order to have a better chance at having a successful financial future.

Like I said - it has been a successful start, but difficult and repetitive. There have been a few issues I have been making notes on in order to address on this blog when I found the time. I have a lot of notes so I’ll break it up for easy reading.

How to deal with :

1. “Repetition”; to a child repetition can be a negative thing?
Most to all children consider repetition to be a bore, especially annoying when it is a parent constantly reminding them of what they should or can not do. To children, a parents constant reminder can mean “are you saying I’m stupid” or a reason simply to rebel.

2. Overcoming the desire to do it for them
Children are not stupid, I believe they are the smartest humans on the planet. They will ultimately find away for you to do all the things they do not want to. Even if they have real issues that hinder them from a goal, they learn how to manipulate that to carry over into everything they want us to do.

3. Parents need to teach, build and Release
It is almost like second nature - parents want to teach their kids to be independent, the problem is when they become independent - we don’t know how to them go. We begin to create dependant children because we can't stand to see them grow up.

4. Make them responsible, even with Money
Nothing has given my 12 year old daughter a greater sense of freedom, power, ownership and responsibility than when I opened a checking account for her and she received that “new debit card” in the mail. Her words exactly were: “Mom, I feel so grown up now.”

Building on small successful steps in order to grow

Children need approval, appreciation, acknowledgement and patience parents - nothing builds a child’s confidence level than working out a problem into a successful result. The trouble arises when the child faces his/her natural instinct to be a child - you know, easily bored, distracted, the desire to avoid work or failure.

As I try to teach my daughter how money works, give her basic first level understanding about making money work for you, having a business pay for itself and other financial necessary knowledge - I deal with the facts - she is only 12 years old.

It scares me, I see high school students who know very little about the world, about money, unsure of their capabilities and sadly enough - do not even know how to balance a check book. I know an 18 year old girl who is talking about getting married, starting a career and here I am helping her plan her financial future. I asked her if she file her tax returns yet, her response: “I am waiting…” so I asked - “for what?” she replies, “well, to be honest, because I don’t know how to file my taxes….”

I think of my daughter and I can not help but wonder - am I doing enough? I want her to be more, do more, live more, not just be another cog in the machine stuck at a dead end job because she has no options available to her. I want to believe that if my daughter decides to be a plumber, a sanitation worker or work as the CEO of a company - it is because she wants to, not because she has to.

I want her to be a “millionaire next door”, she doesn’t have to be rich if she doesn’t want to - but I do not want her living pay check to pay check because Dad never showed her that their was more to life than just debt, going to work and more debt.

I also remind myself to continue to educate myself, to strive to do more and be a better example. It may be too late for me, but that does not mean I can not improve my situation or be a living example of what I want to teach my children.

On a side note:
My five year old has improved his reading and is trying to read some of the Rich Dad, Poor dad book. I am not sure if he just wants to compete with his sister or just because he sees what we’re doing he is motivated to do the same. I love it when he reads a few sentences of my book in the car on the way to school and says: “Dad, am I smart with my money?”

Overcoming the desire to do it for them

2010-02-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Overcoming the desire to do it for your kids

Children are not stupid, I believe they are the smartest humans on the face of the planet. They will ultimately find a way for you to do all the things they do not want to do themselves. Even if they have real issues that hinder them from a goal, they learn how to manipulate that to carry over into everything they want us or others to do for them.

When I started to teach my child about money one of the first things I did was to sit down with her every night and have her read a book called “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. While the book was not way over her reading comprehension level almost every night the first challenge I met was with my daughter wanting me to read her the book instead of her reading to me. Ofcourse I always found a way to convince her to read - but my goal in having her read was for her to understand, for her to 1- practice reading 2- learn and retain because she was reading [ using her brain and not pretending to listen ] and 3- by her reading I knew she was listening and not just ignoring me as I talked. After all, this was not a bed time story, this was a lesson, time of learning - even if it was also time of togetherness and more.

Fighting the Urge to do it for them

As Parents we have two options when our children do not do what they were asked or told to do - you do it for them or you give up on them. My wife sometimes falls into both categories - the problem is that both of these options does nothing to help the child, except teach them to be lazy or incompetent.

The challenge I face now is fighting against the over whelming Urge to do it for her - her business is doing so well and like children do, they lose interest or have a tendency to taper off and relax when they should be pushing forward. At a point I was ready to take the jewelry material and make some jewelry pieces on my own in order to keep the selling going. But I didn’t. I know if I start I wont stop because she will begin to rely on me to do the work instead of her doing the necessary work to keep her business going.

When I was a teenager my Mother always asked me to “help” my sister with her homework - which I hated to do. Not because I did not want to help, but because I already learned that the help my sister wanted was not help but for me to “give” her all the answers.

So despite my “URGE” to keep the sales coming, the business moving, I have to sit back and bite my nails as I watch and hope that my little girl learns that this is what she has to do if she wants to succeed.

A tip to help with lack of desire is goal and reward

Children are children and they will lose interest, desire and occasionally take extended breaks because - they are children. Children have no worries of paying the bills, providing food or anything else for that matter. If they are hungry they ask Mom for dinner. If they miss school they just make up the work later. The mind set of a child will always be - I have time to do it later - we all did this as children.

The goal of a Parent is to give a child goals, time constraints and purpose or rewards if you like.
I have set up 2 goals and time constraints for my daughter:

1. She set her own goal of raising $1,000 dollars by Oct 31, 2010.
It can be achieved, she made over a $100 dollars in 3 weeks selling her jewelry pieces. If she accomplishes this goal she will learn that even though she thought it was impossible - if she works hard she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to.

2. If she reaches the $1,000 dollar goal I will give her a lap top.
We were getting a new computer and my daughter was franticly asking me when she can get her own - she even asked if she could use the money she is making from her jewelry business to buy the lap top - I used this opportunity to build some interest and a goal for her - I told her that when she reaches $1,000 dollars in October I will buy her a new laptop and she will not have to use her own money. That put a fire in her belly for awhile at least.

Ultimately you know what works for your own child. You know what motivates them, drives and interest them the most. I suggest you use that not to manipulate but to motivate.

Another thing we have to learn as Parents is to allow them our children to work at their own pace. Yes, I know kids forget, lose interest and we already knowing that life is short and time is money want everything done today or better yet - yesterday. But we have to remember that this is a lesson, training, that our goal is to teach them the principals and tools they need in life in order to succeed - not to make them multimillionaires at the age of six.

I was watching a show a while back about extra ordinary kids - children who had their own clothing line, toy business and were already CEO’s of their own companies at age 10, 12 and 16. They were ordinary kids, one particular boy who like to invent fun underwater pool toys that his father licenses to a toy company.
It made me think: Why can’t my kids do that?

We have to remember that no one is happy trying to be some one else - and we have to let our kids be themselves - the goal is to teach them how to think, to understand that there are more ways to doing things than that of just being a follower, an employee. To instill in them the principal that made this country great and why millions of people still come from all over the world to this country, a land of opportunity.

Too many people think that they are trapped in a dead end job - but they are only trapped if they refuse to try and learn about all the opportunities that are out there for them.

“Repetition”; to a child repetition can be a negative thing?

2010-02-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

Children making money can be easily motivated into doing more. The problem is that as time goes on as most parents do - we begin to “repeat” ourselves because children tend to need constant reminders of how we want things done. In teaching my child about money and how to run her small business - I have to be careful not to be a nuisance by nagging [ constantly reminding her ] about what she needs to do.

Repetition; being repetitive can be a hindrance to your efforts

As a parent I know children need constant reminders ofwhat needs to be done and how it should be done. We parents repeat ourselves so much we tend to believe we are talking to the wall when it comes to our kids listening to us. It is simply second nature for us to Nag:

Pick up your cloths
Do your homework
I told you clean up your room
I said walk the dog now!

My daughter is a shy but independent child, I expect much of her because she is extremely smart and I see so much potential in her - but some days, I just want to kill her.

Children are just that children, they do not listen, they ignore you, they easily forget things when it is convenient to them and they act like it is never their fault. We as parents start to do the natural thing - we complain, we repeat everything a million times and they think we are nagging them to death. So in my efforts to teach my daughter about money I have to stop myself from being the nagging parent and figure out ways to convey why I want things to be done in such a fashion, manner or time.

Do you want independent self motivated children or a Slave?

While every parent wishes thier children did everything they were told to do - I want a self motivated independent child not a slave. My goal in teaching my daughter about how money works, business and other financial knowledge is not so that she could be a follower but a leader. In my attempts to teach and train I sometimes forget and simply start barking orders at my daughter expecting her to follow my lead. Which basically defeats the purpose of everything I am doing.

When I first told my daughter that she had enough cash in the bank that she will now start paying for her own materials and supplies: what I really meant to say was: “Now that I helped you build up your cash reserves, the next step is for you to become more independent. To learn how to manage your business and money so that your business can pay for itself.”

But no, I didn’t think and just blurted out that she had to pay for her own materials now - which caused her to complain and argue accusing me of wanting to have her “ waste” her savings. She was illogical, but what can you expect from a 12 year old - I did a poor job of explaining what we were doing and why.

Once I explained what I really meant to say and took her through the motion of having her go to the store, buy new materials, create new jewelry and ultimately sell it for a profit - she began to get a sliver of understanding about what I was trying to teach her. The business should be able to sustain itself - pay for itself - if it is to be successful. It took a few days but she is starting to understand and is happy with the concept.

Slow long process and you need to Push

My daughter is smart but she is shy, which makes the business she is in a bit difficult to accomplish. Besides the fact that I have to remind her that if she does not make product - she can not sell product and make money. The hardest part of this process is to teach her and to motivate her to actually do the selling .

She enjoys making the jewelry, she is a girl and what girl does not like to go shopping even if it is for jewelry supplies - but she is simply too shy to go out their and sell. For the most part I have been their to help and occasionally I had to push her into selling her jewelry. Most of her selling experience has been with family, friends and acquaintances. I push her because as I have explained to her, she needs to grow and build her customer base - she can not rely on the same customers to always buy her products. I also want to continue to teach her how to sell - as I stated in a my post “Teaching children how to sell“, is important. Every child has to learn how to sell because everyone is always selling something - if your not trying to sell yourself for a promotion, a mate, friendship, your selling a product or something else.

Communication is important, yet most people have few skills in selling because they lack communication skills. People fail before they even start because they fear rejection or do not know how to handle rejection. Learning how to sell helps with learning how to deal with rejection.

Finding myself at Odds

As a parent it seems natural just to lead - you tell your kids lets go just follow me - it is just a part of being a parent. It also breaks a parents heart not just to see your child fail but to actually see them ready to fail [ fall ] and not to be able to stop it. In my case, I actually have to stop my natural instinct of wanting to lead, of wanting to protect my child from failure [ falling ] in order to teach her how to succeed.

This puts me at odds with my wife who has taken an active part in my daughters jewelry business and is mistakenly helping her by doing most of the selling [ she calls it helping ].

I also find myself looking forward and not realizing that my daughter is not yet ready for the next step or the next four steps I already planned out for her. My daughter is the typical slick kid - if she can get her mother to do something for her - then why do it herself. But I also have to remind myself that she is only 12 and even though I have to push her at times - I have to move forward at her pace - because then I am simply nagging, being a nuisance and she will hate the business and then my efforts to teach are all in vain.

Children need help to make money

2010-02-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

Here I am trying to help my daughter reach her goal of buying a Laptop - my 12 yr old that is.
It's my fault, I gave her the idea - so now I have to help.

She's been working real hard and has already earned $100 dollars through her own efforts [ no money from Dad, except for paying for supplies and materials ]. But she found a new way to make some extra money and she wants, needs, is telling me I have to help. Ofcourse, she is a girl so she is selling jewelry [ a bit out of my expertise...]

Help Kiki buy her laptop

Necklace Sets CC Beads W Large Drop
$7.00 each
S&H $3.00
Can take 2-3 weeks to ship
Duaghters Profit $1.50

* send check with item#3 to address below

She is using a drop ship kind of program and selling other peoples jewelry. She is selling the piece at a very low price in order to get sales [ smart idea ]. Since she is only 12 her goal is not to make millions just enough for that laptop.

I hope she succeeds because that's money I don't have to spend - and what dad doesn't want that.

I know this maybe too much to ask but she is my little girl and I am proud of her for trying to make her own way. I've been trying to teach her in these rough economic times that money does not grow on trees and that she has to learn how to make money, budget her money and think in more terms of being "owner" and not just employee. I have to say, so far she has been doing a good job.

So I am asking you - help a father help his little girl out. If you want to get something nice for valentine, mothers day, a birthday or just because - maybe this nice necklace can help [ it's cheaper than what you will find in the store?

Please mail Check [ $10 includes S&H ] with return address to:

* make check out to Keira Medina

3550 Youth care Lane

Sebring, Fl 33870

Making money and loving it !!

2010-02-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

My daughter is making money – I can’t believe it.

I shared with you a while back about my endeavors to help my 12 yr old daughter learn about money. One of my goals was to help her understand that she needed to think in terms of being the boss [ a business owner ]. Well, good news, in the short time that she has started her jewelry business has easily earned more than $100. Her goal to “make” $1,000 dollars by Oct 30, 2010 is not that impossible as she first thought.

The money she has earned has been made in the last 2 weeks, the more she sees that she can sell, can make money and with her own business – the more she wants to do. Ofcourse there are still some challenges.

As with any business she has to learn about inventory, price points, sales and returns and so much more. The biggest obstacle was her shift to saving mode. Most of her supplies and materials have been provided to her thru gifts and her biggest investor - me. I tried teaching her that she needs to budget her money and that she needs to use her income to buy her supplies. Boy did that bring on an ugly scene. Right away she was accusing me, dear old dad who has supplied 80 percent of her materials of wanting her to “waste” all her money.

Learning how to run a business is a process

I don’t expect my daughter to understand everything I am trying to teach her. I expect to have to butt heads with her especially when it comes to “motivation”, she is twelve after all. But if I want her to learn what she needs to learn about money in order to be a success – she better stop crying and start listening.

I did take the “I’m your parent” approach for a second and threatened to stop buying her the supplies she needs – then I calmed down and explained to her that I am trying to teach her more, one day dad won’t be around and I need to know she can do it on her own. That helped a bit, but like life – learning is a process and we have to take steps [ in a twelve yrs olds case, it’s baby steps…. ].

Teaching, learning and working together

One of the things I love most about this process is the time we spend together; I even make jewelry with her. It’s a fun way to make money I have to say and I never thought I’d be working for my daughter [ just a joke ].

It’s nice to sit there with her, watch her be creative, talk and just spend time together. Ofcourse I also get the old juices flowing when I start being creative as well – who knew that jewelry making could do so much.

Can you make a profit?

A friend saw the jewelry my daughter was making and asked me if she was making a profit. Yes- ofcourse! Right now the jewelry pieces are priced at $3 or $4 a piece and my daughter is making a killing, especially since I am paying all the bills in this business. But I can not put a price on the time we spend together or the knowledge she is learning.

It may look simple, childish – a small jewelry business run by one child….. But she is learning how to make money, run a business, dealing with customers, filling orders, marketing and so much more. This may be a small operation, but what she is learning, the confidence she is building, the understanding that she is gaining – it’s priceless to this dad.

Steps to teach your child to build wealth rather than just consume

Parents are always faced with the same problem – their children asking for money, acting like if mom and dad are simply atm’s that dispense money when ever they want it. How do you teach your child to value a dollar? How do you teach them that money doesn’t grow on trees? More importantly, how do you teach them not to be just an employee, but to build wealth?

Have them start their own business.
It will require more time, effort and even money from you the parent, but I think you will like the results.

1. Teach your child about money, even if only the basics.
2. Help your child understand that they can make their own money.
3. Help your child find a business [ you decide if it’s a good and profitable business ]
4. Help your child start that business.
5. work with your child [ understand you are not only Mom / dad and child but co-works ]
6. Be extremely patient with your child.
7. Teach through example, be the lead but not the leader [ motivate ].
8. When successful, multiply that success, help them understand how they were successful and help motivate them to repeat it.
9. Face failure correctly, teach perseverance.
10. Make it fun, enjoyable and a hidden learning tool.
11. Give them a real goal, help them want a goal and to desire to accomplish that goal.

The rest is simply you, your child, learn thru experience. And hopefully, what you will treasure most is the time you spent with your child.

Children need to know about tax breaks and benefits

2010-01-29T07:01:00.000-08:00

Children need to know about tax benefits and tax breaks

If you want your child to learn about money, business and be successful – talk to them about the benefits of “Tax write off’s”. That is right, tell your child about the wonderful world of taxes and then tell them the deference between the write off’s a regular person has and that of a business owner has.

Why do I bring this up, because as I spent some time with my daughter last night – making jewelry pieces; she said something that gave me hope. She said “Dad, it’s good to have your own business.” She doesn’t realize how good it really is just yet.

I have spoken to my daughter about the general differences in tax burdens between the rich and the poor [ meaning the working class ]. She understands that the working class pays more taxes than the rich because of the lack of knowledge and no working class tax breaks. But once I am done with this years tax process – I have decided to show her how it works in the real world.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with all the possible tax write off’s a business gets – you should get professional help for that. But in general I will tell you how I plan to explain a difficult tax system to my 12 year old and the benefits I personally see.

Tax benefits for having own business [ * even if only side business ]

1- Tax write off’s : you can write off in whole or in part things like a new car, a new computer, business supplies, and even things like health care. Yes it all has to be for the business but – it belongs to you, you use it and you get tax break.
2- Deferred tax burden: employees have their taxes taken immediately they get paid, companies can have their tax burden deferred to every quarter or even till the end of the year.
3- Pay less taxes: here is a double whammy (a.) business’ like corporations can pay fewer taxes than the average person even though they make much more money. (b.) if you have a side business you can claim all your dependants pay as little taxes as possible on your employee check and still get government money back at end of year.
4- You can itemize: my tax guy told me not to itemize on my personal taxes unless my itemizing gave me more than the government allowed tax break for being married ($6,000) and of course there are little to no tax breaks to itemize on the employee side of the tax table. But, in a business you can itemize several items and as you can see by example #1 it can get very beneficial.
5- You do not have to cheat, lie, steal: it’s all legal and above board. All you have to do is know the laws, follow them and get the benefits [ this is where a good tax person helps ]. Plus your tax person should always prepare you for next year.

Now what does all that mean to a twelve year old ?
It means that even though a business can be fun and can be difficult – when you look at the big picture you can see the larger benefits, gains, monetary value. Most people say they want to be in business because they want to be the boss, in control, have freedom. But the truth behind it is based on money. Not to sound greedy or too capitalist, but think about it, being the boss, freedom – it is simply away of saying I have the money to do what I want.

My daughter tells me that she wants her own business but still wants to grow up to be a doctor. Hey, that’s fine with me. Having a business will give her the freedom she needs to do what ever she wants – be a doctor, lawyer, a school teacher if she wants, as long as she has a profitable business to take advantage of all the American opportunities.

Does your child “Have big Dreams”

Like I said, my daughter wants to be a doctor, for awhile she wanted to be an astronaut – all children have big dreams. Like me and many Americans those dreams are squashed or pushed aside because they do not have the financial freedom to even try to attempt them.

As a parent we all want the best for our kids, but between high cost of living, taxes and living – some of us can barely afford to live week to week. Your child may not become the next Bill Gates or even a millionaire, but you don’t need millions to live comfortably. Then again, your Childs small business may propel him / her to bigger and brighter opportunities. All I am saying is, atleast give them a chance.

Children, Business and who is the Boss ?

2010-01-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

Children, Business and who is the Boss ?

One of the problems teaching your child about money and starting or creating a business - is when you run into the issue of : Who is the Boss?

It is hard enough dealing with your child in a parent child relationship and they reach that point that they believe they are independent individuals who do not need to listen to mom and dad. That stage most parents call “rebellion” is only multiplied when your trying to teach your child how to be a business owner and not just an employee [ follower].

You tell your child that they have to think, be independent, don’t let their friends influence them, learn how to deal with rejection - but what does a parent do when their child says: “this is my business and I think I can do it like this”…..

I’ve been thinking about this for the last three weeks. I saw an altercation between my daughter and my wife over how a piece of jewelry needed to be fix. A piece of jewelry my daughter sold to a customer had broken and the customer [ a friend ] asked if it could be fixed. My daughter, the twelve year old was dragging her feet in fixing it. When “Mom” forced her to fix it, she did just that, she fixed it. But Mom wanted more, she thought she should improve the jewelry, that it was too short, not centered and so forth. Ofcourse my daughter argued back that she only needed to fix the clamp and that she put everything back the original way - just like when the customer bought it.

That started a long debate which ended in “Mom” playing the parent card. She scolded her for being an individual and told her that she was “MOM” and that she had to do what she said.

That left me in the middle - First, she had to fix the jewelry piece. Second, she should put more effort in pleasing customers in order to retain repeat loyal customers. But she did put it back just the way the customer first bought it. So here I am trying to ease my wife’s ego - trying to help her understand that even though she was right, she is not the boss, her daughter is the boss of her business. Succeed or fail, we can only advise.

On my daughter’s side, I explained to her that Mom just really wanted to help, that she wants her to succeed and just pushed a bit to far. But that she should learn to be more open to suggestions, just because she is the Boss does not mean that she is always right. The Boss can learn to improve, that she should stop and listen because someone else may have a better way or idea.

So what advice do I have to give:

1. Parents have to understand the dynamics of the relationship with your child. They run their own business [ depending on age] so you advise, help, encourage, help some more and work with them.

2. Understand that they are children - plus individuals, they have their own ways of doing things and yes they will falter, make mistakes and even fail. That is part of the learning process.

3. Remember your not the boss - but you are an investor, chairman of the board and the bank, so you have a say in the business. You want them to succeed, they need you to start and to succeed. So compromise, find a happy medium where both of you can agree to do what needs to be done to make your Childs learning experience and business a success.

4. Be ready to let them fail and to let them succeed. If they fail help them back up with encouragement, if they succeed, help them use that success to move forward.

Please, tell me what you think, and I would appreciate any advice. Leave me a comment below and I will be sure to read it.

Teaching Kids 2 important business & life concepts

2010-01-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Teaching Kids 2 important business & life concepts

I was joking around with my daughter and my wife got very offended at a joke I made. I thought about what we talked about and realized this was a good opportunity to talk about two very important business and life concepts that children today are not taught.

The joke, well it was what I thought to be a witty childish comeback – I told my daughter that she was a garbage picker and my wife mistook it as a put down on the fine institution of Sanitation. Which it wasn’t, but she wanted to point out that people always look down at people who work in certain jobs.

So, while I explained that the joke was not a putdown intended to insult the fine profession on the sanitation department – I quickly informed both my wife and especially my daughter about two important factors in life:

1- It is not how you start but how you finish.

2- It is not about what you do, but if you are the Boss.

I know that society [ especially parents ] view doctors, lawyers and so forth as wonderful prestigious professions that their children should aspire to attain. Few parents tell their children “Son, your life will be great if you grow up to be a janitor”. No, we all want our children to be the next President of the United States or atleast the next CEO of a large corporation.

But the truth is, if you are happy in the sanitation field or picking oranges – that is what you should do. No one should feel ashamed of their profession – But with that said: we need to teach our children that while they should not be embarrassed or ashamed of a profession, they should not settle for less either.

Concept # 1: It is not how you start but how you finish.

Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth or a parent that sacrifices everything to help their child reach high goals. Most if not 90 percent of all the population in America have to start at the poor or middle class level. That means we all come from or are all working class individuals who have to struggle through life.

Weather you started as a Sanitation workers child or a janitors son – be proud of an honest days work. There is nothing wrong with having a dirty job – some one has to do it, do it with pride. But also plan for the future, to improve your life. A couple of Blog post back I wrote about an elderly woman who I worked with, she was a millionaire and she showed up at work everyday with a smile on her face. Was she happy because she had money – yeah, I am sure of that, but she also enjoyed her work. I have known people who have large business, a lot of money, big houses and are the most miserable people on planet earth.

A job is just a job – you may need this job to reach your goal, you may need this job until you get a better job, then move to the next and so forth. But ultimately your success is based on you reaching your goals and being happy with what you do and how you live.

I received an email a while back with a wonderful story about being content: the short version of the story is that this big business man saw a fisher man in Mexico and asked him why he stopped working so early in the day. The Mexican fisherman said that he caught enough fish to feed his family so he is going home to play with his children, love his wife and spend time with his friends at the bar.

The man said no, you should work hard all day and catch more fish. The fisherman ask him why – the man replied by saying that if the fisherman worked hard he could get extra fish to sell to the cannery, then with the extra money and work he could get more workers, extra boats, eventually have his own cannery and then do so much more. The Mexican fisherman asked him “after I do all this, what do I do then?”

The man said, well after ten or twenty years and your successful, then you can spend your time playing with your kids, loving your wife and hanging out with your friends…

Concept # 2: It is not about what you do, but if you are the Boss.

When I was a child all I wanted to be was a lawyer. That was it for me, be like Perry Mason and all those rich smart TV lawyers, ofcourse my family could not afford that kind of an education so I settled for air force pilot, then I just did like everyone else – took what ever job I could get.

But I have learned one thing, it doesn’t matter what you do – what really matters is, if you’re the Boss.

The last year I have meet some very interesting people, they love what they do, enjoy going to work in the morning and most of all – they are pretty much content. Why, because they are owners, not workers – owners. They all owned one form of business, some were large business, others were small business – what mattered to them is that they loved what they did and they owned the business.

Now, I know everyone can not be a business owner – everyone can not be a chief, we need Indians [ a work force ]. But not everyone has to be a worker for life, living pay check to pay check, struggling to get by.

Remember, it is about your goals and what makes you happy and content.

The reason I say it is best to be the boss is because of the freedom it affords you. A worker has to ask for days off, a boss just takes the day off. A worker needs to work everyday – the boss just needs the business to work. Don’t get me wrong, I know several business owners who love working at and in their business every day. The difference is they go to work because they want to; the employee goes because he/she has to.

Again, you may love your job; you may love your life – that is ok. What I refer to is, how long before you can no longer do your job anymore? I have a friend I’ve mentioned on this blog before. She cleans houses and she’s proud of what she does. Her customers can’t live without her so she doesn’t have too much trouble making a living. But a while back I talked to her about maybe expanding and starting a business where other people would work for her. Her response was: my customers only want me and it’s too much trouble to have people working for me. We talked for some time and I could not change her mind – what concerned me most was “time”.

Time is a factor in everyone’s life. Eventually she will get too old to be cleaning homes, then what? What will she do if she is too old or if she gets ill and can not work? Being the boss, being an owner is not with out its pit falls and trouble. Being the boss, an owner has it’s ups and downs – but if you’re the boss [ owner ] when you get sick, old or lazy – you can stop working and still earn an income. Every time I visit my local grocery store I am reminded of that fact – people who are 65, 75 years old working as cashiers or baggers because what they use to do when they were young and healthy – they can no longer do now.

I think of my situation, how long it took me to get my head on straight – I do not want the same for my children, I want better. Does my daughter have to end up a millionaire? No. But I would like to think that her situation turns out better than mine – time, it’s the only thing in life that can not be restored, replaced or manufactured. Once it is gone, time, it is gone forever.

So remember to teach your children these two essential concepts: 1- do not be ashamed of what you do, it may just be a step on the way to something better – be proud and do it with pride. 2- Plan for more, plan for something better in the future. Do not get stuck or content with doing what is easy, one day you may find that it is no longer easy and you have nothing to fall back on.

In the end, be happy with yourself and what ever you do, do it right, with pride in the work you do.

Teaching children how to sell helps financially and w/ self esteem

2009-12-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

Teaching children how to sell helps financially and w/ self esteem

One of the reasons poor people are poor is because they have nothing to sell. The fact is that the minute you have something to sell, you can start making money. The art of selling is a skill that can help children financially and even with low self esteem issues.

I know what you’re thinking; putting a fragile child to sell products does not help with low self esteem issue – it would only hurt a child to have to face rejection. First lets be honest – selling is just part of every day life, so is rejection and how you deal with rejection.

I use to frown upon the girl and Boy Scout organization because they exploited children to sell cookies to raise funds. While I still believe their being exploited, I believe the experience can be a positive plus when it comes to life. Every person on earth is always selling something, selling themselves to potential friends, schools, colleges, jobs and vice versa, every day we are faced with rejection. Rejected in love, work promotion, friendships and more – how we deal with rejection and the skills we have when it comes to selling is what really makes some people stand out more than others.

Shy children need to learn how to sell

While I am not advocating some emotional training here, I am stating the fact that “selling” and I mean learning how to sell and overcoming rejection – can help a child with low esteem and could definably help a child’s financial future.

As I wrote this, these two children walked into my office looking to sell some candy bars to help raise funds for a scholarship. I knew what they wanted because this is the third group that has come by here. The minute I said that a group had already come by here one of the girls said “Well you could give us a donation too” the second girl burst into a loud grunting compliant “Ah man dog, this sucks, this is a lousy Christmas….” Ofcourse It did not seem like they suffered from low self esteem, but their attitude [ as if entitled ] to receive something from me only proves that their lack of “selling skills” is what inhibits them from reaching success – a sale.

My daughter is generally a shy girl, she can be loud, boisterous, a regular pre-teen, but ask her to talk to strangers and she emotionally shuts down. As I have mentioned before in my blog I am trying to help her convert her hobby of making jewelry, into a jewelry business. This Christmas I told her that during Christmas break we [ meaning her and I will just accompany her ] were going to go door to door to try and sell her jewelry. She freaked, she said she could not do it. Apparently unbeknownst to me the last day of school was half a day and she was spending most of the day with her mother at work. My wife, always the "sneaky" individual decided to take the jewelry with her to work and she and my daughter sold all but one set and made $27 dollars in 40 minutes.

I would have preferred for my daughter to have done all the work by herself, but the lesson I was trying to instill in my daughter was successfully made. That while the fear of rejection can hold you back, the sweet smell of success will drive you even farther forward. At first she didn’t want to face rejection, she said “who would buy my jewelry”, but when I arrived home that night, she could not stop talking about how people liked her stuff and how much money she made. While this is just her first step in selling a product, it is a good first step. I have always taught my daughter that she had to be her own person, to believe in herself. This helped bring that lesson home, it was not just dad, but total strangers who approved of her, of her work and paid cash as proof.

Selling is a skill to be learned, honed and practiced

I do not have the space to go over all the techniques about how to sell, how to deal with rejection. But selling, understanding how to deal with people and rejection changed my life. I was a shy kid and even a more shy adult – I called it being a loner, but in reality it was my inability, my fear of dealing with people and having low self esteem [ lack of confidence ]. I was forced to sell when the only job I could find was in the retail business selling shoes. Then over the years retail [ selling ] has seemed to have stuck with me. Selling is partly knowing how to converse with people - many people today lack the simple skills to carry a conversation with others.

The basic’s of selling:

#1 - Know your product, is it good, do you believe in it?

When it comes to self-esteem, do as I did, I taught my child that she was special, not because she was better but just one of a kind. No one, no one at all can be her equal because there is only one of her, being different, unique, one of a kind keeps her special.

Does not matter what you are selling – the question should be, do you believe in it?

#2 – It is a numbers game do not take it personal.

A sales person should know and understand that not every one will love, accept and buy your product. Be that product a cell phone, a car or you yourself. People are different and have different wants needs and likes. A good sales person knows he/she has to offer a product 4, 7, 10 times before getting one sale. You have to keep trying.

#3 - Because they said no today they may say yes tomorrow?

People have needs and those needs change with time, often times it takes people a bit of time to even realize that they need something or that something they rejected is of use or to their benefit. The old saying is try, try and try again - never give up.

#4 - Presentation is key, likeability is a factor.

People never think of how they look, speak, act or even how they present themselves to others until it's too late. The first time most teenagers ever realize that how they present themselves is important is when they are trying to get accepted into a college or applying to a job. Ask any young man who is trying to impress his new girlfriends Dad, presentation, likeability, personality - it is very important.

#5 - Look, listen, understand then SPEAK?

One of the things they first taught me when I started any job or profession that required selling a product or myself was these simple tips: look, listen, understand then you speak.

If you want to start a conversation with some stranger [ to sell a product or make a new friend ] you have to:

a- look, if in a home at the decor, pictures so forth, if not in the home, at the person how they dress, act, speak present themselves.

b- Listen, be slow to speak and quick to listen. Listen to what they are talking about, get to know who they are, what they like, what interest them.

c- Understand; try to understand what and why they say what they are talking about. Understand their point of view and try [ it's a guessing game ] but try to keep their topic of conversation going if you know and understand it. Never try to pretend to know something you do not - people can tell a fake. Be honest and genuine about learning if you do not understand, most people like to know things and teach others.

d- Speak, people like to talk, and usually they speak too much. Learn how to look, listen, understand then speak. Plus always try to stay on topic, with in the current conversation. One of the flaws of most sales people is that 2 minutes into the conversation and they are throwing out their sales pitch. You have to learn about the people, let them get to know you to get comfortable with you and then you slowly begin to sell them.

Ofcourse there are some sales situations where a quick sales pitch is necessary - shoe store, cell phone, home depot and so forth. But in general with real estate, life insurance and making general friends it is best to follow the steps mentioned: look, listen, understand and then speak.

Why would my child ever need this selling technique?

You are probably wondering why a child would need to learn these "selling techniques"; he/she does not need this to help them make friends or to help them over come shyness.

Think of it as you like, but this would give your child a step up on all his/her friends. Even if your child is at ease and makes friends easily, what about college, job interviews, selling cookies or high school prom queen? One day your child will have to sell him/herself in order to sell a product or get a product or service. Maybe your child will need these techniques to simply win out a colleague at getting a scholarship, promotion or some other prize.

It's up to you; after all it is your child.

When 5 Cents is worth more than 5 Cents

2009-12-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

When 5 Cents is worth more than 5 Cents
Helping children learn about money

Parents are always running into a brick wall when it comes to the subject of money and children, I mean teaching children the value of a dollar that is. It’s one of the reasons I started my blog: Money and Kids.

One hot topics is on Allowances.
Parents are tossed between giving a child an allowance, fearful of having a child believe money grows on trees or having the child earn his/her allowance which seems unfair to child and others who believe in the policy that we are a family of citizens and depend on one another to survive, therefore we should not pay our children to do what is already expected of them as part of the family [ chores ].

Whether you want to have your child earn his allowance or give it to them freely does not, in my opinion, really teach a child the value of money.

When is 5 cents worth more than 5 cents?

In order to teach a child [ for that matter most adults ] about money, you have to understand money. Many people quote the bible in saying: "My people suffer for lack of knowledge." But many of those same people who promote study and education - learn little to nothing about money.

How can you expect to teach a child about money by simply making them work? All your doing is training them to be good employees for the rest of their lives. And if you try to teach them how to budget, how to live beneath their means - what does that say about you, all your unfulfilled dreams and wants? So if you give them allowance [ money ] free or if they earned it - what did you really teach them?

Open your mind to More than what you see
Here is a tip to help teach your child to grasp some knowledge and understanding about money.
There are a lot of things we have to teach our children about money. How to make it, what it is really worth, what happens to money, how to manage money and best of all - how to make money work for you.

But lets start with this: When is 5 cent worth more than 5 cents?

Find yourself a nickel with a date of 1964 or later [ sometimes they are hard to come by, and there is a reason why ].

Then sit your child down and ask them which would they prefer: would they prefer to have the nickel or a quarter?
** Chances are all children with the basic knowledge of money will choose the higher "face" value money

Then ask them why they would prefer to have the quarter verses the nickel?
** Normally they will say that the nickel is worth less than the quarter.

Then take the time to explain to them why you would prefer the “Nickel” over the quarter.

Why would you choose the nickel over the quarter?

The reason why you would chose the nickel over the quarter is because in truth the nickel is worth way more than the quarter. This should start the jaw flapping and questions flying.

Answer: In simple terms when coins were originally made they were made from “GOLD” or “SILVER”. Money was not the paper we have today and money was not the coin - money was based on the amount of silver or gold and the weight as it was related to it’s value in gold and silver.

So after 1964 coins were no longer made of precious metals like gold and silver but of copper, nickel-plate and other non-value metals. So if I took this 1964 [ or later date ] nickel to the bank, they would say I have a nickel, only 5 cents. But if I took this 1964 or later dated nickel to be sold as silver, I would be told it is worth 97 cents - almost a dollars [ as quoted in silver prices during December 2009 ].

1942 - 1945 Nickel / silver value 0.97 cents
1946 - 1964 Roosevelt Dime / silver value $1.25
1932 - 1964 Quarter / silver value $3.12
1948 - 1963 half dollar / silver value $6.25

I don’t know about your kids, but when I explained this to my kids, their idea of money changed, the way they treated coin changed. They went for days first looking at the date on coins before they ever put it away in a piggy bank or to buy something at the store. They realized that money is not just money, that there is more to it. I believe that is a good lesson to start with. Plus, we now are storing our 1964 and later dated silver coins in a jar as Silver and not as coin.

* Since the dollar is debase and losing value, silver helps fight inflation and increases in value.

Below I have included my resources and I believe it will help you to better understand what I wrote about above so you can use it to help your children learn the true meaning and value of money.

90% silver cionage

Traditionally, all United States coins have been dated in the year of their production. This policy was interrupted, though, because of the coin shortage and the speculation in rolls and bags of coins that took place in 1964. As a result, Congress passed legislation so that after the calendar year 1964 coinage was produced, the United States Mint could still use the 1964 date. Starting in 1965, therefore, all denominations of United States coins continued to be struck with the 1964 date.

When the Coinage Act of 1965 was passed, it became mandatory that the Mint continue to use the 1964 date on all 90 percent silver coins (half-dollar coins, quarter-dollar coins, and 10-cent coins). Therefore, all of the 90 percent silver coins that the Mint manufactured in 1964, 1965, and 1966 bears the date 1964. The last of the 90 percent silver quarter-dollar coins was struck in January 1966, the last of these 10-cent coins was struck in February 1966, and the last of these half-dollar coins was struck in April 1966. The Coinage Act of 1965 also made it mandatory that the clad coins be dated not earlier than 1965. Therefore, all of the clad coins actually manufactured in 1965 bear the 1965 date. All of the clad coins made through July 31, 1966, bear the 1965 date. The first clad 10-cent coin was struck in December 1965, the first clad quarter-dollar coin was struck in August 1965 and the first clad half-dollar coin was struck in December 1965. In December 1965, the decision was made to change the 1964 date on the five-cent coins and the one-cent coins to 1965, as one step in catching up on normal coin dating. From December 1965 through July 31, 1966, all one-cent coins and five-cent coins were struck with the 1965 date.

http://www.usmint.gov/faqs/circulating_coins/index.cfm?flash=yes

The Mystery of Banking

How debasement profits the State can be seen from a hypothetical case: Say the rur, the currency of the mythical kingdom of Ruritania, is worth 20 grams of gold. A new king now ascends the throne, and, being chronically short of money, decides to take the debasement route to the acquisition of wealth. He announces a mammoth call-in of all the old gold coins of the realm, each now dirty with wear and with the picture of the previous king stamped on its face. In return he will supply brand new coins with his face stamped on them, and will return the same number of rurs paid in. Someone presenting 100 rurs in old coins will receive 100 rurs in the new.

Seemingly a bargain! Except for a slight hitch: During the course of this recoinage, the king changes the definition of the rur from 20 to 16 grams. He then pockets the extra 20 percent of gold, minting the gold for his own use and pouring the coins into circulation for his own expenses. In short, the number of grams of gold in the society remains the same, but since people are now accustomed to use the name rather than the weight in their money accounts and prices, the number of rurs will have increased by 20 percent. The money supply in rurs, therefore, has gone up by 20 percent, and, as we shall see later on, this will drive up prices in the economy in terms of rurs. Debasement, then, is the arbitrary redefining and lightening of the currency so as to add to the coffers
of the State.6

Money: Its Importance and Origins 11
6This enormous charge for recoinage is called “seigniorage,” payment to the seignieur or sovereign, the monopoly minter of coins.

A Game can Change a childs life Financially

2009-12-13T12:40:00.000-08:00

A Game can Change a childs life financially

A game can change a life; it can be a window to the future, a portal to a fairytale world or a downward spiraling staircase leading you to destruction. Or atleast that is what people believed when you talked about the dungeons and dragons game.

I remember the first time I played the board game “The Game of Life”; it gave me the sense, the hope of a better future. Growing up in poverty living in the ghetto, apartments upon apartments filled with hopeless people all dependant on the government and the welfare system. The game of life board game taught me that my future could be different, could be better. Then ofcourse I moved on to Monopoly and then on to video games, but in the end – these games were more than just games to me.

Games as a Teaching Tool

Because of these games like “the Game of Life” and “Monopoly”, I knew that there was more to life than what my eyes could see in the projects I lived in. When I played these games I hated losing because it meant that my hope for a better life could be impossible.

Today my children have a better life compared to what I had as a child, but I still believe that they can learn to do more, be more, by playing games.

I try to have a family game night atleast once a week. It’s the best way I know to insure that the family has fun family quality time, but I also use it as an opportunity to teach my children about finances, about thinking outside of the box. If you have read some of my blog post, you’ve read how I have been reading “Rich dad Poor dad” with my twelve year old. How I’ve been encouraging her to start a business with her home made jewelry hobby.

You have read in my blog how I purchased the “Cash Flow Game” for kids. It’s a big hit at my house, we’ve even had some of my daughters friends play the game and my son who is only five years old simply loves it. Recently I purchased the Monopoly city board game, even though it is a hard game to play and not intended for ages under eight, it’s all my son wants to play. Cash Flow or Monopoly city, that is all this five year old wants to play.

Yes, my son plays video games, with his toy soldiers and runs around the house pretending to shoot enemy soldiers. But if you ask him what does he want to play for family night: the answer is always cash flow or Monopoly city.

Changing the mind with Games

If you want a simple way to reach your children, a way that engages their minds and captures their imaginations – play a game.

I know that with all the technology we have today it is very hard to sit with your kids and play a board game, especially when they would rather play the Nintendo Wii or there Xbox 360. And while there are video games out there that can teach them about business and so much more – nothing compares to a board game, the interaction of playing a game face to face with other people.

My daughter wanted me to buy one of the other monopoly games because it came with a credit card machine so she wouldn’t have to count out the cash and do the math – but I said no. Why, because the point of the game [ from my point of view ] was to involved her brain, cause her to think, to exercise the biggest muscle she needs - brain matter.

I have watched as my five year old who could not stay still for two seconds to read a book, can sit still for two hours to play cash flow for kids. I’ve written in my blog posts how my son has a desire to learn to read because he wants to read the game cards from the game on his own. As we play my twelve year old and my five year old are secretly learning about finances, budgeting, leverage and other business principals, while playing a game.

Making The Game Real

Now I know that just playing a game is not going to change the life of a child. But it’s an opening for a parent, an educator to teach a child more because the game sparks an interest for things a child would customarily find uninteresting.

A few days ago I was talking to my wife about some of our finances and like all children my daughter was listening in, she just jumps into our conversation and says “yeah mom, just like the game …” and started explaining what she believed we should do based on the principals she learned from the game. Mom was not happy she rudely interrupted us, but I was proud that she was thinking, learning from the game.

When I take my children out, when I talk to them or when the opportunity for me to show them that what happens in the game happens in real life – I make it a point to teach.

I remember when we were driving to my son’s flag football practice and we drove by this small community, my daughter asked me “why would someone build homes way out here?” I took the opportunity to explain to her about basic real estate principals, renting, location, and city building planning. How builders see what the future plans are of a city and build accordingly, in order to take advantage of a cities growth today.

I am sure that most of it went way over her head, the name of the game is to teach. Little by little she is learning, as long as we keep them interested and learning - the sky is the limits for our children.

Social Securities: Hidden problem for your kids future

2009-11-25T06:41:00.000-08:00

The tricks of congress - those who wish to get their way with no concern of the rights or choice of the people - is to work on dragging the process of "law making" out so "we the People" get tired or bored and leave the issues alone. You take health care reform right now - as much as the Democrats say and push to rush this, they also do everything to drag it out [ who goes on vacation when you believe that there is a life and death emergency happening - congress does...]

But if you think that big government is good, that your children do not need to learn more about money because the government will be there to help - please read the article below about some of the things "congress" our leaders have done for you, me and what they are doing for your kids.

Social Security: the hidden problem
There is much debate today about how solvent Social Security is, but most of the debate is over when the trust fund will run out of money, not about whether or not the trust fund actually holds real assets. The conventional wisdom, prior to the economic downturn, was that the trust fund had enough money to pay full Social Security benefits until about 2041. That date has now been revised to about 2037.

In order to understand the true status of the trust fund we need to go back to 1982, and then examine the events that have taken place since that date. In 1982, the Presidential Commission on Social Security, chaired by Alan Greenspan, warned that Social Security would face serious problems when the baby boomers began to retire about 2010, unless Congress took immediate action to begin building up a reserve in the trust fund that could later be drawn down in order to pay full benefits to the baby-boom generation.

In 1983, Congress enacted the legislation recommended by the Greenspan Commission, which included a hefty hike in payroll taxes. In essence, the legislation required the baby-boom generation to pay enough taxes to fund the benefits of the previous generation, as was customary, plus enough additional taxes to prepay most of the cost of their own benefits, which was not customary.

That payroll tax hike has generated about $2.5 trillion of surplus Social Security revenue to date. If the money had been saved and invested, as it was supposed to be, Social Security would be in good shape today. But the money was neither saved nor invested in anything. Instead, it has been used as a giant slush fund to pay for tax cuts, wars, and other government programs for the past 25 years. The government has "borrowed," or "stolen" every dime of the surplus Social Security revenue. If the government eventually repays the looted money, we can say that the government "borrowed" it, but, unfortunately, no provisions have been made for repaying the money. Furthermore, it may not be politically feasible to raise taxes for the purpose of replacing tax revenue that was misspent in the first place. If the looted money is never repaid, it will have clearly been "stolen" from American workers who paid the extra Social Security taxes.

This is the hidden Social Security problem. The trust fund holds no real assets. This was made clear by David Walker, Comptroller General of the GAO, in a speech given Jan. 21, 2005. Walker said, "There are no stocks or bonds or real estate in the trust fund. It has nothing of real value to draw down." On April 5, 2005, President George W. Bush shocked many Americans, during a speech at West Virginia University at Parkersburg, when he openly admitted, "There is no trust fund, just IOUs that I saw firsthand that future generations will pay -- will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs."

The government was successful in keeping this dirty secret from the American people for a long time, but, little by little, the secret is slipping out. Even the 2009 Social Security Trustees Report acknowledges the problem with the following words. "Neither the redemption of trust fund bonds, nor interest paid on those bonds, provides any new net income to the Treasury, which must finance redemptions and interest payments through some combination of increased taxation, reductions in other government spending, or additional borrowing from the public." Because of the empty trust fund, in just seven years, when the cost of Social Security benefits begin to exceed payroll tax revenue for the first time in a quarter-century, either benefits will have to be decreased, or taxes will have to be increased.

Dr. Allen W. Smith, is professor of Economics, Emeritus, Eastern Illinois University. The author of seven books, Smith has been researching and writing about Social Security financing for the past 10 years. Visit his Web site at www.thebiglie.net.

Friday, November 20, 2009 - www.newssun.com/col-1120-social-security

Cultivating a business - 4 necesary steps for kids

2009-11-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

Cultivating a business with your eyes wide open ?

People are always telling how me impossible it is to make money. I mention to them how they should teach their kids about money, how they should change their own way of thinking about money - and I get all these stories how impossible it is. Well, here is a story in the newspaper how a gentleman found a new way to make money simply by opening his eyes and his mind.

The gentlemen I am speaking about is Mr. Bill Kurek, apparently he has driven the same road and route for over forty years and one day he simply opened his eyes, saw something [ in this case signs that have been there since the town was founded ] and his mind finally woke up and said “maybe I can do something with this “. It’s a short synapses of his success but you get the point.

Quote : LAKE PLACID - Bill Kurek had been coming here from Broward County for 40 years, and he kept passing the sign that boasted Lake Placid was the caladium capital of the world.
And even though he retired in July 2002, Kurek said to himself, "I ought to be able to do something with caladiums."
He wasn't a salesman; he was a project manager for a company which installed fire alarms. "I managed crews that installed systems in high rises and hospitals," he explained.
But he went to the Internet and typed "caladiums."
"I almost fell out of my chair when I realized how much people were paying for caladiums," he said. "I've got to be able to sell bulbs cheaper than this."
“Cultivating a business” By GARY PINNELL / Highlands Today

Open your eyes [ mind ] or be open to opportunities

Sometimes it sounds like a whole bunch of hogwash - the rich guru person telling you that you have to envision wealth first because you have to believe it first before you can become a success. Yes it sounds ridiculous but in part it is truth…

Many people go thru life never noticing the obvious, that which is right in front of them. They lose opportunities for love, joy, happiness and even prosperity because their simply oblivious to what is right there before their very eyes. Others simply can’t seem to believe that the opportunity of love, joy, happiness or prosperity in front of them is possible because they some how refuse to believe they can achieve that love, joy, happiness or prosperity. Then again, some simply wont take the step, work or risk to reach out and grab for that opportunity.

So in part - all those “gurus” selling the principal of “think and believe it” first speeches are in part - correct.

Teaching kids about money means more

My post are mostly about teaching kids about money, that as parents we have the responsibility to teach our kids about money. Teach them how to make money, how to manage money, how to think about money and all the different things that go along with it like investing, starting a business and so forth.

One of the most important things I try to teach my kids about money is that it all starts in their mind first.

Not that I am trying to teach them some fancy guru’s belief of “see it and you can achieve it “ nonsense. I want them to understand that just like Mr. Bill Kurek , an opportunity could be passing them by simply because their not open to it. I try to teach them 4 basic principals that they can use in everyday life:

1- never say you can’t - no, always say; how can I do or achieve this
Too many people say they can’t without even trying first. If you train yourself to think that everything can be done, that you simply need to find the solution to “how” then your less likely to give up without trying. Everyone knows the story of Tomas Jefferson - how many tries did it take for him to invent the light buld - 2, 3, what 1,000. But what we really should consider is - what if he would have thought: "light bulb, that is impossible. Why even try. "

2- it’s too late, it’s already been done - no; say, how can I improve this or benefit from this
Mr. Bill Kurek could have easily thought, hey this is an old idea, to many people are already doing this and kept on driving, but he thought to himself, how can I sell this cheaper [ meaning - how can I improve on this ]

The Bible is more than two thousand years old and it says “there is nothing new under the sun” - trust me nothing is new. I heard someone describe the Iphone as just a touch ipod that makes calls. Which came first the iphone or the ipod ?????? … the ipod.

3- I give up, no; say - I need help or I’ll come back to this
Many people get excited about this or that and when they run into trouble they soon give up - it doesn’t matter how close you come to success, if you don’t accomplish success - failure is still failure.

How many stories have we heard about millionaires who become rich because they took someone else’s efforts and made millions while the creator of that product or idea is still poor. Microsoft - it’s said that Bill Gates didn’t create the program he bought it from someone [ do you know that mans name ??? No… ]
McDonalds - Ray crock bought the rights to franchise the McDonalds concept [ with fast hamburgers ] McDonalds is worth billions - and what happened to the McDonald brothers ????

My life, your life, everyone has a story about an opportunity they let slip by because we gave up, because we couldn’t capitalize on an opportunity. We will always say - I almost, I tried, but we fail to say - I never went the extra mile, I didn’t seek out help. We failed because we gave up. We failed because we thought it just couldn’t be done.

4- I don’t understand, no; say - I’ll take time to learn
My children come to me and always say the same thing -”dad, help me with this. I don’t understand it”. Like most children, what they really mean is - dad can you do this for me.

I always try to teach my kids through hands on approach [ meaning they have to do it in order to learn ]. It does not matter if it is homework or life’s lessons - they have to process it, learn by thinking and doing - they will not learn from me giving them the answers.

The reason people lose money in the stock market is because we just don’t take the time to learn. Why do people fall for email scams about some unknown face saying they will give you 10 million dollars if you send them $400 dollars to transfer money from Africa to America…. We do not stop to think, investigate, learn - we just react.

Most people have car insurance - they don’t know why they have it, some even hate it, but they have it. Did you know that even though the stock market is risky, you can buy insurance on your risky investment [ I bet your mutual fund advisor doesn’t tell you that ].

The next time you see your child struggling with homework, or you have an opportunity to teach that child about money - help them open their eyes and their minds. Because believing is not enough, but if you keep an open mind, look to find answers, never give up, ask for help and learn what you need to learn to be a success - your chances of success are a lot greater than you think.

Down market is best time to teach children about investing

2009-11-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Down market is best time to teach children about investing

The market is down; stocks are lower than they have ever been before - that means it is the best time to teach children about investing. That is right; the best time to teach children about investing is now – with hands on trading!

The market is low and some stocks have been beaten down to almost incredibly cheap prices – that means you can open an account with little money and use this as an opportunity to teach the kids how to invest. Why… You ask?

Why teach children about investing now

Because it is cheap!
The reason why “Now” is the best time is because stocks are so low. You can open a free account online [ I did it with sharebuilder from NIG ], you deposit a $100 dollars that your not afraid the kids will lose and go at it. My daughter bought 300 shares of CITGQ for $65 dollars [ not my best choice but hey, she’s learning and she wanted a high risk with high return – probably thinks the govrn’t will bail them out ]

The next best reason is because they are young – they have time on their side. Even if you just teach them how to play it sensible, safe and just take advantage of good companies who are making money but their stock suffers only because of the current market claimant. Take for instance AIG, it dropped down to $6 dollars and then 1 year later it was up to $47 dollars. They [ children ] have time to ride out the nonsense.

Why you should consider “penny stocks”

Another reason why this is the time to teach your children about investing in stocks is because they can generate greater returns with “penny stocks”. Penny stocks basically means stocks that are trading below the five dollar mark. Some may be $4, $2 or even .56 cents – but they are all classified as penny stocks.

You can leverage more with your money, low stock price and your child’s luxury of time with penny stocks.

Here is the reason why I let my daughter make her crazy stock pick of CITGQ:

If she bought 3 shares of stock that totaled $100 – the odds of her making money is small. Even if each stock rose a $100 dollars at most she makes $300 dollars profit.

But if her 300 shares that she bought at 0.23 cents each rose by:

Each share up $1 x 300 = $300
Each share up $2 x 300 = $600
Each share up $3 x 300 = $900

Do you get the picture? The stock 52 week high was $6 and 52 week low was 0.17 cents. If her risk pays off and the stock only goes back up to $6 she can sell and make $1,800. Now that’s a big risk [ bet ] but a really hefty return; plus she has the youth [ time ] to wait for it to bounce back [ that is if it doesn’t crash and burn ].

The ultimate reason to teach children how to invest now

The ultimate reason to teach your child to invest now, with hands on teaching is – because it’s the best way to teach. Reading and talking about investing can only take you so far. When your child has real money, real world experience and an opportunity to get a real return on that investment - they are motivated, more interested in learning.

My daughter plays online games about business but in her mind she knows that it is not real, she takes big risk becuase it is a game. But with real stocks, market conditions and real money at stake – she has to put her emotions in check and has to actually think about what she is doing and why.

Learn about money, kids learning math

2009-11-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

Learn about money, kids learning math ?

While some may say that teaching my kids about money, building a business, investing for the future is a way of teaching my kids to be greedy - that I should be teaching them better qualities like giving, sharing and etc… to them I say [ *&%$#@! ] no just joking…

I would like to let them know that while I have been teaching my kids about money I have noticed that their learning about math. Yes math. Not just learning about math, but an appreciation of math and how “ boring math “ can be applied to every day life. My son calls it “Fun Math”.

" Fun Math " being fun causes desire to learn

My 5 yr old son has a bit of trouble staying still. When it comes to learning - lets say he has a low attention span. But since we started playing "cash flow for kids" where we have him count the dice so he knows how many spaces to move. Or when he counts out his moves or counts his money - it has given him a desire to learn more about math. He sits around the house, takes a book with him in the car and he practices math. Currently he only does adding, but he is only in kindergarten and I already showed him how to solve adding equations of up to three numbers.

Imagine that, a five year old who is solving how much is 300 plus 300 or 250 plus 200.… and he thinks that math’s fun! I love it, it just tickles me pink. Today he asked me if I had the day off, when I said yes he shouted "great, we can play the money game today…. Right?" What parent doesn’t want to see their child interested and excited about learning.

Math can be used in everyday life

When math gets complicated [ like algebra ] people usually lose interest because after all - when will we ever use it in average everyday life? Really - how do you convince a child that one day walking down the street he/she will need to take time to find out what "X" equals???

But while I was online with my daughter playing this game about running your own business, I ran across something that helped me show my daughter that yes, you can use complicated math in everyday life situations. There we were trying to solve how we can figure out how to make a profit from selling ice cream. All of a sudden they were asking us for percentage, how to solve the problem of profit ( X = sale minus cost ). Can you imagine that - the math most kids hate and say they will never use in ordinary average everyday life being used to solve an everyday situation.

Yes, I took the opportunity to point out to my daughter that math is important - learning how to solve for X, learning percentages and all the other boring math kids hate. It can help you in your business, in making you money, making you rich.

Why teach your kids about money

Why teach your kids about money, how it works, how to make it, manage it and invest it - well because you want a better future for them. And if that is not a good enough reason for you and you need a more noble just cuase… then because it’s an interesting fun way to teach your kids math. An excellent method to build interest in math and how learning math can help them in everyday life.

Even if they start learning because they want to be rich - atleast that interest in being rich will fuel a desire to learn more.

Simple way to teach your kids how & why to Invest

2009-10-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

You can make money with stocks in the long run - your children have the time.
I was speaking with an older gentlemen the other day and he was explaining to me how he was retired from AT&T before it was broken up by the government. He explained to me how he now owns stock in AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and many other “phone” companies because he was smart enough to put his retirement fund at his job to buy stocks.
After the years went buy and the government broke up Ma Bell [AT&T] he just keep getting stocks every time a new company was split off. Now he is 65 years old and receives high devidens from all these companies. He laughed as he said that several times he received checks for $2000 dollars on several occasions in the year because the companies were merging and splitting and merging again... He advised me that I should buy good stocks and hold on to them.

How do you teach your children the importance of investing?
In a simple fashion they can understand?

The goal is not to invest for them, but teach them how to manage money, make money and how to invest thier money. So when thier grown they can do it - and take care of you when your old :)

Here is how I started:

How Does Money Grow?

Investing is a way to make money with your money. First, you have to earn money. As a kid, you get money from allowance, gifts, services, or from selling goods such as lemonade or small business. Try to save some, if not all of this money. The next step is to make your money grow through investing. The chart illustrates this process.

Why Should I Invest?

There are two main reasons why you should invest:
* To stay ahead of inflation
* To achieve financial goals
Inflation causes the increase of prices. When a Big Mac goes up from $1.20 to $1.50 or when gas goes up from $1.30 to $1.70 a gallon, we say that is inflation. You need to make more money just to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Financial goals can be separated into two types:

* Short-term goals - Things that you need or want now or within the year, such as a bike, a computer, or a video game. Generally, it takes less money to reach these short-term goals.

*Long-term goals - Things that you need or want in a few years or more, for example, going to college, buying a house, and even starting a business. Generally, these goals are expensive and require some planning.

When Should I Invest?

The earlier you start investing, the sooner you can reach your financial goals. Investing is like "planting" money. A small amount of money invested will often grow to a larger sum over time. You’ve heard the phrase, "Time is money." With investing, time also makes money.

What are the Risks?

Although investing can make money with money, the downside of investing is that there is a risk of losing your money.

The key to investing is to minimize the risk and to maximize the financial reward. For this reason, it is important to understand the many ways to invest money.

There are hundreds of ways to reduce risk - which have to be learned. That is why it is very important to always be learning and to work with smarter people than you are. People that are in the field you need to learn and understand, like stock brokers, day traders - all complicated terms for people who know and make money with stocks, bonds and all sorts of investing.

But the technical stuff comes later - first lets start small because learning also comes from doing. Also - only invest what you can afford to lose. Don’t bet the grocery money or the mortgage payment.

To start investing first save.. Save your income [ allowance, gift, earned income thru chores and etc.] and split it into three saving banks [ pools ].
1- saving long term [ can be split in 2 - short and long ]
2- saving charity, giving
3- saving money to invest [ money that can be lost with out you going hungry ]

While your investing money [ #3 ] grows, learn about the companies you like, are interested in, how to invest, become friends with brokers and day traders and etc.. When you reach that specified number [amount] open an account and start investing.[ you may lose money - but that is part of the learning process ].

The importance of money, business & investing Early

2009-10-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Importance of Money, Business & Investing being taught to children early

I was sitting with a few friends at a group picnic that my local church was having. The sun was shinning, the weather was mildly cool for Florida and people were having fun. Then a friend of mine started complaining "I have to leave early, I have to go clean my house - I haven't had time to do anything at home." Another friend sitting by us asked her why - so she went on to explain that she runs a cleaning service and she's been real busy cleaning other people’s homes and hasn't had anytime to do any of her own things.

I couldn't help it, I just had to chime in and ask why didn't she expand, grow her business, have people work for her? She went on to explain "it's too much work. I tried it before and I can't find the right people that can do it as good as I want or like me. Besides my clients trust me and only want me - I would have to do commercial business to do that." At first I tried to explain to her that hard work [ working by herself ] and hard work managing people [ having people working for her ] is still hard work, except that she would have more free time and she would be able to enjoy days like this picnic rather than wasting it doing more work at home. It didn't work.

She politely said she appreciated the advice and that I was right, but - "it's just too much work" for her, she went on to give me a long list of excuses. That's when I realized that no matter what I said to her - she was not going to budge or change her way of thinking. Even though she was tired, over worked and complaining that she had no time for herself and family - she didn't want to put in the extra effort to improve her situation.

Why teach your children about money, business, investing at an early age

Children have something that most adults don't have - it's called options. Once your set in your ways it's hard to change. Once your an adult with bills, children, a dead end job - it becomes very difficult to make changes to your life or to take [ what adults consider ] risks.

But children have options because their young, they have time and freedom on their side [ mom & Dad pay the bills ]. While most parents are busy asking their kids "what will you do when you grow?" we forget to teach them that they have a world of opportunities. Opportunities they can take advantage of if they simply learn how to manage money, invest money and time in a business. No one says there is a set rule on how to do anything in life. If your child wants to be a doctor - fine, great, learn and prepare to be a doctor. But does that mean a doctor can't also have a business?

What of instead of a doctor only working for a hospital, the doctor opens his own office? Then that same doctor opens other offices and has new doctors needed experience to work in those offices? Then that same doctor buys a coffee shop, a gas station and then after 15 years with several businesses, the doctor retires. Then that same doctor just spends his days managing the business from a golf course he enjoys to play at?

It's not wishful thinking; the above mention hypothesis is real. It's a short synopsis of a doctor I know in my home town in Florida.

Teach your kids about their opportunities not get rich dreams

My daughter is currently twelve years old and I've been talking and teaching her about her options. That she could do more, be more, achieve more than her old man [ me ]. That is if she wants, she doesn't have to be just an employee, she can be the boss - that being an owner gives you more freedom, liberties, opportunities.

When she came home last summer from New York, she came back with a jewelry making hobby - we've tried to convert that hobby into a business [ opportunity to teach ]. This weekend she had her first sale, she was excited. It was her first tangible lesson about business. Her work had paid off; her struggle to push her shyness aside, to show her jewelry and actually make a sale cemented in her that what she was doing was not just wishful thinking. She could make money with her business, it was no longer just a hobby - it's an opportunity.

I am not trying to teach my child that being rich is better. I do not want her to look for the next "get rich scheme" only to be scammed. What I want is for her to understand that she has options, opportunities that are hers. That because she is young she has time to learn not just a profession but the knowledge necessary to be more than just another employee in a see of millions - but a business owner, an investor. That because she is young she can learn to make money, manage her money, build or buy a business, invest wisely and take calculated risk that will give her more opportunities and more options in life.

Do you want to work hard or work hard ?

As I said, I was trying to explain to my friend that there is no difference between working hard and working hard. What I mean is - that if she works hard to get by and complains that she is tired, overworked and has no time - it's no different than her working hard to build a business, manage people to work for her and dealing with all the hardships of being an owner.

The only difference between "hard work" as an employee [ or slave to a job ] and "hard work" managing a business that has others working for you, is that you have options.

If you’re trapped in a job your boss tells you when you work, how much you work and how much you will get paid. If you work hard to build a business that grows to where people work for you - you decide when you work, how much you make and if you even want to work...... to quote the bible: Jesus said "The poor you will always have with you" .

Now you may have a good job, lots of bills and feel like your doing ok. If that's what you want, good - as long as your happy. But if you want more and feel trapped and can't seem to get anywhere... like if you don't have any options. Why not teach your child that they do have options, opportunities and start today?

your child needs to learn how to read a cash flow statement if they want to be rich?

2009-10-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

Cash Flow and the need to teach kids about money

Last night was more of a lesson to me about the need for children to learn about money, cash flow and how to make money than it was to the kids? I was really surprised.

Last night my daughter had a friend who was sleeping over - we didn't get a chance to play cash flow for kids last Wednesday night so I told her we were going to play this Friday night [ friend or not ]. Which she didn't mind.

After a few minutes of simple instructions on how to play the game - her friend, my daughter and my five year old started the game. After a few rolls of the dice my "girl' excited son was spilling the beans... "the way to win is not to get debt and get money" [ his interpretation of passive income ]. At first I was surprised how my daughters friend who we will call "silly" did not seem to understand the basics of the game. I kept jumping in to help her understand that the name of the game was to create income [ passive income ] thru building business' and other financial venues. It took a while but she started catching on.

It's so easy a caveman can do it
I love the Gieco commercials where they make fun of the caveman - you know: "it's so easy a cave man can do it". Well, even though silly was not yet understanding the concept of the game, she applied the time tested tradition of "monkey see, money do" method. Once she saw that by buying a business or investing can generate extra money - see cuaght on to the game.

It surprises me to see how when you compare what these kids are learning today - buy this, get it now and "credit" is the answer to everything - no wonder we have so many people facing poverty. The sad thing is - "silly" my daughters friend said - "If I go broke when I grow up I'll just marry a rich old dude"... I couldn't tell if she was joking or not?

Granted my daughter has read most of "Rich Dad Poor dad" and has played the game atleast 8 times by now - it still disturbed me how this young girl had no clue how to manage money or why building a business was better than just working at a job.... Ofcourse once she saw how fast her cash pile was growing when her "assets" [ meaning "business & Investment" ] were making her money - that even though she didn't understand the principal - she had no problem applying the principal in order to make more money in the game.

Easy way to teach kids about money [ cash flow ]
While reading the book "Rich Dad Poor" did make it easier for me to teach my daughter about money and to give her a simple understanding of how a "cash flow" statement works - you may want to take a different approach. Here is a basic simple definition I use:

Cash flow: is a report that shows how you make money and how you spend money. Plus it also shows you if you spend more than you make [ profit, break even or get further in debt ].

Why Cash flow is important: if you want to be rich or just live comfortable [ kids prefer "being Rich" theory ] you have to learn how to track your money so you know how to manage it. You need to know what makes you money so you can duplicate it. [ you can later teach about passive income verses earned income ]

Cash flow - Asset or liability: I prefer to stick with rich dads definition - "an asset puts money in your pocket, a liability takes money out of your pocket".

[ it's not about not buying nice things - it's about building a steady passive income first so your passive income pays for your nice things. We poor & middle class people work hard to buy nice things first and are overwhelmed by all our debts from our nice things... car, boat, furniture we soon replace a year or two down the road and we're still paying for...ten years later???]

** Even though I am an adult, like most parents I get a bit overwhelmed with trying to understanding all the complexities of finances, income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. My suggestion would be to teach thru a method that best suits your child. My daughter loves reading more than games - so I started with reading a book. Your child may be more hands on and may learn more easily through "interaction" with a game - use your judgment - but above all, their children so remember to keep it simple and at their learning pace.

Here is an adult version of the definition of the importance of cash flow:

Importance of Cash Flow Statement
A cash flow statement is a document that shows how much cash (or cash equivalents) comes into a business and how much goes out. A cash flow statement is considered a necessary companion to an income statement and a balance sheet when evaluating the financial condition of a business. A cash flow statement can be presented in several different formats. However, complete, concise and clear disclosure of the movement of cash is the only true requirement for a cash flow statement. Cash flow statements commonly cover periods of one year or more, with more or less detail, depending on the intended use of the cash flow statement. How to prepare a cash flow statement

Blank Cash Flow statement
here is a link to a blank PDF file of a cash flow statement for you to play with and use.
http://www.wflains.org/graphics/Monthly%20Cash%20Flow%20Statement.pdf

Online Games That Teach Kids About Money

2009-10-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

Online games that teach kids about money

Teaching your kids about money can be fun - it can also be a long process but thankfully there are some board games and online games that can help you make it a more interesting and fun subject, especially for the younger kids that easily get distracted.
** If you know of any online games to help children learn about money, please feel free to share them with us.

Online Games That Teach Kids About Money

The internet is filled with fun games that teach kids about money. Below are links to some of our favorite games.

Planet Orange Discover Planet Orange, and open your eyes to the world of money! Brave the desert, climb mountains, and dodge alligators while you explore everything there is to know about earning, spending, saving, and investing. Source: Planet Orange

Practical Money Skills Games A number of addictive games from Visa that teach kids about money. Source: Practical Money Skills

Reality Check What kind of lifestyle does your child want? Have them answer these few basic questions and they'll be given a Reality Check. Source: Jump$tart

Savings Quest Interactive online budgeting game that tests kids' ability to save for the things they want while paying for all of the things they need. Source: Wachovia - Savings Quest

It All Adds Up Online games and simulations that teach kids about credit management, buying a car, paying for college, budgeting, saving and investing. Source: National Council on Economic Education

Escape From Knab Travelers stranded in the Cyberspace world of Knab must earn money and invest it wisely to get back home. Source: US Bank

FedVille Welcome to FedVille, a friendly town built just for kids where there is something to learn around every corner! Source: Federal Reserve Bank

H.I.P. Pocket Change A number of games from the U.S. Mint that teaches kids about currency and managing money. Source: US Mint

Fraud Scene Investigator Welcome to FSI: FRAUD SCENE INVESTIGATOR, an online interactive investor education program that teaches and empowers students how to detect and stop Source: NASAA

Bad Credit Hotel Have your child visit the Bad Credit Hotel, where a one night stay will teach them to control their credit. Source: Department of Treasury

The Financially Intelligent Parent

2009-10-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Financially Intelligent Parent
by Eileen and Jon Gallo

“Mom, I need money for the dance. Money for the book fair. Money for my best friend’s birthday party. Money to go to the movies with my friends.”

For a parent, this conversation never seems to end. At what point do we have a solution to this problem of the desire by our children to receive an endless supply of money? At what point do we turn this demand for money into a lesson about money? Are you tired of trying to figure out how to teach your 14-year-old to manage money? Or, are you worried about how you are going to teach your 6-year-old to manage money as they grow older? If you are a parent and you have these concerns, then the lesson plan has arrived. The Financially Intelligent Parent is more than just a book. It is a collection of resources designed to teach parents how to educate their children to be responsible money managers.

Authors, Eileen Gallo, Ph.D., and Jon Gallo, J.D. are a husband-and-wife team who are experts on children, families and money. Eileen Gallo, Ph.D. is a licensed psychotherapist who works with individuals and families dealing with the psychological and emotional issues related to money, children and family wealth. Jo Gallo, J.D. is a nationally known estate-planning attorney. Their book, The Financially Intelligent Parent, identifies the eight key behaviors of financially intelligent parents:

1- Encourage a work ethic.
2- Get your own money stories straight.
3- Facilitate financial reflection.
4- Become a charitable family.
5- Teach financial literacy.
6- Be aware of the values you model.
7- Moderate extreme money tendencies.
8- Talk about the tough topics.

Each of these behaviors is the topic of one chapter in the book. Each chapter provides you with interactive exercises and checklists. You will be challenged to think about parenting and money in all new ways. The Gallo’s have worked with countless parents and, as a result, have many valuable stories to share. They will introduce you to parents that have made money mistakes with their children and parents that have managed money success with their children. You will find their stories touching and funny, but most of all identifiable. By recognizing yourself in one or more of the stories you will be able to relate to the tasks that must be accomplished as you seek to become a more financially intelligent parent.

The Gallo’s will not preach to you about what you should or should not do. Instead, they have a unique talent for allowing you to travel with them on this journey to becoming a financially intelligent parent. You will feel like you have found a friend who truly understands your desire to raise your children to be successful and responsible. A friend who not only understands, but is able to guide you in the right direction.

One of my most favorite chapters in the book is Chapter 8 – Teach Financial Literacy.
This chapter will teach you:
* Three Great Ways to Make Allowances Work for Your Kids
* The Art of Saving and Checking: How to Teach a Present-Oriented Kid to Think About the Future
* Introducing Your Child to Credit Cards
* Money-Management Opportunities for Children
This chapter is a perfect example of the entire book.

The Gallo’s don’t just tell you that you should teach your children to save money; instead, they tell you how to teach them to save money. They provide step-by-step instructions to guide you on your journey.

The Financially Intelligent Parent website is a tremendous resource and a great compliment to the book. You can sign up for their newsletter, participate in the community forums, and read articles written by the Gallo’s. For a small monthly fee, they offer a Financially Intelligent Parent membership which includes an allowance advisor, a chore chart, and more. For a limited time, use the promotion code NEW3 and receive 3-months free trial membership.

Read an excerpt from the book: Chapter 1 - The Money Beliefs of Financially Intelligent Parents

Talking about Debt to my five year old?

2009-10-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

Talking about Debt to my five year old?

It’s funny, but talking about money with my kids is not as hard as I thought it would be. Teaching them about money, making money, managing money, investing and debt – has turned out to be kind of simple and fun. Even my five year old understands that debt is bad for you.

We were eating lunch this last Saturday and I mentioned to my wife about some money issues and my son just jumped into our conversation and said: “dad I don’t want debt, debt is bad right?” he was so cute. I was glad that the game [ cash flow for kids ] was having a positive effect on him.

Yes he is only five and he doesn’t understand that sometimes you can’t buy things without using debt [ home , car, etc ] or that there is a difference between bad debt and good debt – but the goal of teaching him sound financial knowledge at an early age seems to be a success [ even if it’s a small step ].

Teaching children Financial knowledge [ about money ]

We have been talking [ my daughter and I ] on the subject of money, how to manage it, not just how to save and budget but on how to make it. She already has a jewelry business she is trying to start. We play cash flow for kids as a family, so my five year old has a chance to learn some basic principals as we the family share some time together. But the goal is basically to teach my kids about money – the first step being that I change how I handle money and learn more on the subject in order to teach them how to manage and make money.

I guess the basic thing we as parents who want to teach our kids about money have to remember and learn is that it is a life long process. It took me years to get where I am; it’s going to take years to teach my children how to manage money correctly, make money and to be financially savvy. After all, I have been messing up financially for 30 years – can’t expect to change over night – can’t expect them to learn everything over night.

That is why I think using games as teaching tools and using family life experiences as an opportunity to teach is a better way than just letting my child sit alone reading a book on finances and making money.

Learning thru games cash flow for kids and new Monopoly City

I was reading some blogs on how to teach your child about money – many simply focus on teaching your kids about money thru budgeting, spending wisely – but very few hit the subject of building a business, finance. I did run across an article about a teacher who has a high school class that he teaches them about stocks, investing, building a business – but I think you have to start at an earlier age.

I am actually excited about the new monopoly game – my daughter turned me onto it. It looks fun, a bit more complicated than the old version and a good way of teaching thru playing games.

It is fun but also hard work to teach kids about money

Now I know I make it sound simple – teaching kids about money – wow it’s so easy – not so. It takes as much work as everything else in life. You have to learn the subject, find interesting ways of teaching the subject, find the time to prepare and find the time in a busy families day to sit an actually teach the subject of money to a child. Plus on top of all that you struggle with distractions from yourself, your children who always have a knack for putting things off and your own self insecurities.

I can not tell you that it is easy and I don’t want to give that impression – but if something is important to you, you push yourself forward, you do what you have to – to get it done.

On a side note: Remember the post on “paying yourself first” – I started doing just that last month. So far I have $500 dollars put away for investing or starting a business - $500 dollars I thought I didn’t have before. Ofcourse it does obligate you to choose what is more important and if necessary – find a way to make extra cash to pay for bills and luxuries – instead of thinking “hey I ran out of money at end of month so no savings “….

Teaching kids about money is Fun !

2009-10-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

I just finished a two hour session with my kids [ 5 yr old & 12 yr old ] - I was teaching kids about money. In fact it was a fun experience & the kids seemed to learn more than I did.

It all started with a simple game called "Cash Flow for Kids". I've been posting about my endeavors to teach my kids about money, how it works, hot to make money, manage money and most of all have money work for you.

Tonight [ Wednesday Oct. 7, 2009 ] at 5 pm I cracked open the game for the first time and started playing. It was me, the wife and the two kids. I quickly read over the rules and off we went.

The first life lesson from the Game

The first lesson my daughter learned from the game is that "life is not fair".Oh, she was happy and excited when she heard that she was receiving a salary of $1,000 dollars - "man that's a lot of money!" she blurted out in glee. But the shocker was when she learned that she had bills and expenses to pay as well. Every time she is paid she gets $1,000 dollars and then has to pay $700 dollars in expenses [ mortgage, electricity, etc...] She didn't like that.

"What, that's more than half my money! That only leaves me with only $300 dollars - that's not fair!?"

I explained to her that, that is life. "Don't forget, the minute you get paid in the real world, your uncle Sam taxes money away from you in government taxes. Then comes the bills and expenses - that is just how life really is." After a few minutes of hysteria and explaining the concept of the game - we started playing.

Second life lesson of Game - small adds up to a lot over time.

After a few turns my daughter learned her second life lesson - my wife was taking her turn, and she picked a card that gave her the opportunity to buy an investment. The investment would cost her $600 dollars but it would give her a recurring income of $10. Now I was the bank and my 5 yr olds helper so I simply watched the game and observed much of what was going on. My daughter quickly blurted out to her mom: " don't buy that investment it cost too much and you get only a little bit of money!" My wife was quickly taking the advice of my daughter so I explained to my was that it was her choice if she wanted the investment or not, but that every time she was paid her salary, she would also get an extra $10 dollars. My wife thought about it and then said " sure why not, it's not real money."

I was surprised, that after all the reading my daughter and I have done and talked about - that she would so quickly turn down passive income. The funny thing is that the moment she notice that every time her mom got paid she received an extra $10 dollars - she changed her mind quickly about small investments. She realized that even though her initial investment was big $600, her long term returns added up over a long time would be great even if it was only $10 dollars at a time.

Yes it's just a game, but you can learn a lot from a game

Now yes, the game is for kids and it doesn't factor in stock market crashes, business failures and the reality of life’s "up & down's". But it does teach you a lot, the moment my daughter realized that she could make extra money by spending cash [ money on hand ] to purchase an investment that created a long term income - she couldn't stop buying. None of them could, even the 5 yr old who had very little knowledge of what he was doing. All he knew was that the green cards meant he could make more money if he agreed to buy them.

It's funny how the mind works, when it's a game, paper money, it is not that hard to step out and invest. But once your in the real world, some how paper money has more value, fear of loss attached to it and a completely different sense comes over you.

The reason we fail in life is because we put so much pressure on ourselves and we allow fear of loss to take over logical thinking. But in the game - hey there is no real threat of loss, so we just act. During the game my wife said that we could do this because it was a game - but that in real life you need money to make money.

It's a lie: Need money to make money

When real estate was booming in 2005 & 2006 I learned a little bit about contracts, real estate and let's say - the art of a deal. I went out on a limb and placed a contract on a residential lot with no money for down or to purchase the lot. My wife thought I had gone mad. She was frantic with fear, concern, she just kept asking me "how are you going to pay for it, we have no money..." Swallowing my fear, I found a buyer that would take over the contract and at the end of the sale I ended up with $10,000 cash in my pocket. I did this two times in a span of 60 days - with no money, I made $20,000 dollars. Ofcourse now my wife wasn't asking me "how are you going to do this?" But now she wanted to know when I was going to do my next deal.

Then came the real estate bust and the credit crisis of banks - but I only mention this because I want to show you and remind my wife that "You don't need money to make money" - what you need is knowledge, opportunity and action.

Dealing with Kids is easier than Mom !

2009-10-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

A few days after our family business meeting I found a leak in the master bath sink, it was small but enough to do damage to cabinets and walls. After assessing the situation - then figuring out exactly what was wrong and what I needed to repair it [ two months back I tried to replace the water heater - that was a mess, wont repeat that again ] … I told my wife I was off to home depot.

I’m not sure how or even why - but the conversation went from needing to fix a leaking pipe to - “Why don’t you love me the same anymore?”
I was confused and had to ask… What the….?

“You don’t love me the same any more. Before, If I asked you for something you would find a way to get it for me. Now you don’t… “ she replied.

Say what? Is all I could think of…

In all honesty, it is true that when we first were married I did do what ever it took to get her everything she wanted, the same for the kids when they were born - that is if it was possible.

What is the true reason behind it?

I explained to my wife that my love for her has not changed - infact the reason I do what I do is because I love her. We’ve been married 17yrs and I have given her most of all she has asked for [ and she never forgets to remind me of what I haven’t given her ] and after 17 years, we have nothing….

Our finances are a mess, savings are dismal, retirement plan is a virtual joke - unless you really believe social security will be enough for us to retire on [ if it’s still there that is ]. If I were to die today - who would take care of my family? Even if I lived to a ripe old age - who would take care of us?

The reason behind saving, trying to build wealth [ mainly assets that will create income for us to live on ] is because I love her. Because I want to supply her needs, even some of her wants, today, tomorrow and for as long as she lives. Because I save or cut down on waste doesn’t mean I don’t want to buy her things - it just means I have goals, priorities and I want to achieve those goals for us, the kids, for her.

I am a Material Girl in a Material world

Madonna said it best when you describe the mentality of this generation: “I am a Material girl in a material World”. I am not sure how my wife equates the level of my love by how much stuff I buy her - but I sure hope the kids don’t have that same mentality.

I love my wife and my kids - while I try to turn my finances around, change the way my kids think about money and hope I can help them have a better life than I did…. I hope they realize that I do this for them. I strive, I work, I struggle and sacrifice for them. The only difference now compared to then is - instead of working pay check to pay check hoping I can afford all they want, I am working to build them a future, a business, a way of life.

I have been there done that.. 17 years of paying taxes, working hard, buying trinkets and I have less today than I had 17 years ago [ financially ]. I have more debt than I’ve ever had in my whole life today and my paycheck is not growing. In 1987 when the stock market crashed I said “I’m going to buy stocks and make some money" but I was afraid so I did nothing. The market bounced back and I kicked myself. In 1992 the stock market slumped again and I said "I’m going to buy stocks this time…" this time I had no money to invest. In 2007 the stock market crashed and AIG stocks were at $6 dollars. I told a friend I’m going to buy some AIG stocks… I did nothing, in Aug. 2009 AIG stock jumped to $40 dollars and I’m kicking myself again. Next time I will be ready and have the mentality and the free cash to invest.

If I could change the World

I think that song from Erick Clapton, where he sings “ If I could change the world “ sums it up best for how I feel about my family. I can’t change greedy corporations or the men that run them. I can’t change corrupt government or the over baring taxation we face. I can not change the cruelty of this world, but I can change the way my kids think. How they work with their hands, money and teach then how to have their money work for them. My kids can do what ever they want to do in life, but I know that they can’t say that dad didn’t try to teach them a better way. Instead of being an employee be the owner. Instead of buying junk, buy a business. Instead of being a slave to taxation - play by the governments rules and pay less taxes?

There is only so much I can do with my life now, but I am hoping to give my kids the information, the mentality, the courage and the opportunity to do more, be better, enjoy the prosperity this great country promises everyone.

Work all your life for nothing ?

2009-10-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Work all your life for nothing ....

I sat my family down, even the five year old and announced - “it’s time we had our first family business meeting.” My wife looked at me as if I were crazy, my daughter gave me an excited expectant gaze ( we have been reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad” together for several days now ) and of course my five year old son just played with his toy cars at my feet.

Taking a page from Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book, I decided we the family should mind our own business. I have been working on improving my financial situation and to teach my children about money - So being a big believer in " a family that works together, stays together" I decided to involve the whole family. To be honest I have doubts when it comes to my wife and money [ terrible spender and money manager ] but I figured I would give her the benefit of the doubt and that this would helped to involve my children in the family financial process.

“ There is a big difference between your profession and your business. Often I ask people, “what is your business?” And they will say, “oh I’m a banker.” Then I ask them if they own the bank? And they usually respond. “No, I work there.”

In truth, my business is to teach my children about money, parents often never teach children about money - they leave it up to the school or life in general to teach children about money. I don’t want that for my kids. I want to teach my kids about money - I want them to know how to manage money, make money, make money work for them, even how to create money from nothing.

Our first Family business meeting

Like I said, our first family business meeting was called to order. I turned the TV off, gathered them around and went over some of the things I have been doing.

1- life insurance, how much, who is beneficiary.
2- Bank accounts, beneficiaries.
3- opened new account for kids
[ * goal to save $10,000 for each child by the time they turn 18 yrs old. I want more but lets start with a simple goal and work from there. ]

4- Went over my Daughters goal of creating and raising $1,000 by Oct. 31, 2010.
[ * she has to start a business, make money, manage it and save it. ]

5- My wife has to make extra money……..
“ ??? What….Why ??? ….”

Yes, that is when the business meeting really got lively. Emotions took over, fear lead my wife into panic mode. She started complaining that we can’t just save money, we have to live life too. She went on to say that she already works, that she can’t spread her money out any more. Then she cracked and started talking about “when are we going on vacation? What about the things I want, how will I buy my things?…”

Once the meltdown subsided I explained to my wife that the money she currently earns at her job will not be touched - But like my daughter and myself - if she wants extra things…. She’s going to have to come up with the extra money to get it. Plus - the goal is to make money, save and manage our money to buy assets that in turn make us more money.

Golden Years - Work all my life to have nothing ?

Earlier that morning we were watching the news before taking the kids to school and going off to work. There was a report on a special event in Tampa Florida that many banks were holding in order to help families who were losing their homes to Bank foreclosure. They talked with one particular sweet looking elderly woman and her husband… the elderly woman said “I worked all my life to get my dream home and retire… it looks like I worked all my life for nothing….” Between health problems and the bank foreclosure - this sweet elderly woman was losing everything she worked hard all her life for.

I reminded my wife of the news report, of that sweet old woman and asked her… “Do you want to end up like that one day?” Her response was no. I know that life is full of unexpected disasters and misfortune… I can’t control that. But I can control how I work, manage my money and how I create my wealth. Do I buy a business and take a chance at the business failing or succeeding…. Or do we sit back and pray that Social Security will be enough to keep us happy in our golden age of life. Can you say - “Welcome to Wal-mart”… Because that’s where many are today who believed the government would take care of them when they retired.

Fighting against fear that stops Improvement

When the meeting was over and my wife and the five year old dispersed - I turned to my daughter and asked her “did you see what happened?”. I explained to her that Moms reaction was exactly what Robert speaks about in his book. That no matter how logical or smart a person may be - fear can trap them from doing what they know is right and best for them. That instead of being concerned about “How can we better prepare for our future?” Mom was more concerned about the fear of not buying extra shoes or not going on vacation. That fear caused her to have a defeatist attitude and she could not see a way out. That the minute she said “I can’t” her brain closed off to finding a solution to her problem.

When it comes to money or life in general - do not allow fear to consume you. To stop you from acting, changing, taking a chance [ logical thought out opportunity ]. I tried to convey to my twelve year old child - that life is full of adversity and challenges. Fear will cause you to freeze, cause you to avoid the hardship of overcoming a challenge to the soft comfort of the norm [ what you always do ].

I tried to to help her understand, like all parents should - that you should never say you can’t. Leave your mind open to opportunity - don’t say you can’t, ask yourself: How can I do this….

Pay yourself first - What?

2009-09-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Pay yourself first - What?

We [ my daughter and I ] were sitting and talking, of all things - about the subject of money. We had just finished reading the last part of chapter 4 of “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. My twelve year old was asking questions that proved she may not completely understand but had a deep interest in the subject.

I was trying to encapsulate what we had just read so far and go over some of what we’ve discussed these last few days. I tried to keep it very simple so she could understand.

Recap:

Q. What is an Asset?
A. Something that makes you money and you own.

Q. what is a liability?
A. Something that cost you money… expense monthly..

Q. Example of an Asset?
A. Business you own.

Q. Example of a liability?
A. House, car - your always paying out.

She had that concept pretty much down but I wanted to help her get a better understanding of what and why I was teaching her all this.

Government Taxes you to Death !

So we spoke a little on the subject of “Taxes”. I didn’t go into the details of when taxes started or how taxes effect the poor more than the Rich. The book did a good job of that - I was more concerned with her getting the concept of “Paying yourself first”.

When I explained to her that the minute an “employee” gets his/her paycheck he/she already loses money [ in taxes]. She was shocked. When I explained to her that she will be taxed to death, she was puzzled.

Federal tax, state tax, social security, medical, County tax, city tax, sales tax, gas tax and even hotel bed tax - there is even a federal tax for cellphone use….

I could see she was confused & blurted out as only a child can - “ But that’s my Money”. I explained to her that even in death - the government taxes you. “how unfair” was her response.

The reason behind Paying yourself FIRST.

I tried to explain to her that as long as she only works for someone else - she will never be in control & will be overwhelmed with all these taxes. So I tried to condense what we’ve been reading, discussing and putting into practice in short form.

The reason people are poor, can never truly get ahead is because they always pay everyone else first and by the time they are done - they have nothing left for themselves. Nothing ….

Using myself as example:
1- I work
2- taxed by government before paid
3- pay mortgage
4- house ins. & car ins.
5- taxed when I buy gas, clothing, do things….
6- at the end of month, I barely have anything left of my money to save much less invest.

So I asked her: “What should I do?”
My daughters response: “Make more money…?”

She has the right idea but missed the real crux of the principal. So I tried to explain - it’s not about how much money I make, but how you make & manage that money.

Simple out line

1. Make Money
A. work my job [ make money]
B. find ways to make more money
C. save to buy “Assets”

2. Manage Money
A. Save money [ pay yourself first ]
B. Budget your money
C. Protect your money [ a fool & His money are soon parted ]

3. Invest Money
A. buy assets [ start small ]
B. learn how to make money work for you [ buy bigger assets ]
C. Multiply your efforts [ re-invest, grow ]

* above is just an outline of my speech .

I’m not sure if she totally understood it all, but it did peek her interest. I explained to her that Google is a business - every search, every click makes them money. Now that really got her asking questions. I explained to her that she has to decide what she wants for her life tomorrow, make a plan & a goal today, and work towards that goal everyday of her life.

Ofcourse she wanted to know more about Google - so I explained to her that there are millions of ways to make money. Just take for example her FREE interactive online penguin game she and her friends play with online everyday. The penguin is an imaginary thing [ does not really exist ] but thousands pay that website “Real” money to place virtual [ fake, imaginary] clothing on non-existing penguins. She defended herself & her love for her online penguin - but I could see she understood what I was saying.

Creating a goal to Pay yourself first

Understanding that the best way to learn is by doing - we came up with a small goal [ a year long goal ] as a lesson. Starting October 31, 2009 - my daughter has one year to earn $1,000 dollars on her own [ I can help but not do work for her or any allowance ]. So by Oct. 31, 2010 - my duaghter has to create, make, earn or work to build up $1,000 dollars.

To her last a lot of money.
To her it may be a game.
To her it could just be a test.

She has until Oct. 31, 2009 to think up of a way to earn income to reach that goal. I can see she is not really into it, yet. But I am hoping that once she gets started she’ll want to reach that goal and more. Then the real lesson begins.

Side Note: I just ordered “Cash Flow” for kids board game. I brought my family together and showed them the game online - I wanted them all to be interested in playing it [ learning ]. The kids were stoked, the wife…. She just gave me a funny look and said: “ what ever you say honey.”

I’ll tell you how it turns out… I can’t wait to try it. At minimum I spend time with the family - best case scenario - my kids learn how to manage money and invest.

Rich "Exploiting" children & Parents help?

2009-09-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

The Rich exploiting children & parents help?

I was listening to the Presidents speech about the need for government to create more jobs and to protect the union workers. That we have to change the old ways of government helping the “Rich get Richer” while the middle class and the poor suffer. It was a good speech.

When the speech was over I flipped the channel over to VH1 and watched an episode of “How the stars make their millions”. It’s an interesting show - depressing to see how many millions of dollars some of these stars are making compared to the average American worker. But I watched, I thought about the Presidents speech, about how he believes the Rich are taking advantage of the poor and I thought: “ We the poor deserve to be taken advantage of”… We ask for it. In fact, we go looking for it.

Taking Advantage of the Poor

As I watched the program and wished it was me making all those millions - I had to stop day dreaming and take note of a few comments made by some of the commentators.

“ Hillary Duff is worth $25 Million Dollars …”

As of this episode and the tax year of June 07 to June 2008 - Hillary duff has an estimated worth of $25 million dollars. How did she do it? Well, according to the shows commentators she [ intelligently ] tapped into the $100 Billion dollar Tween market. The tween market is made up of 11 - 12 year old children who buy anything and everything the stars they love so dearly sell, endorse and push down their throats.

As one commentator put it:

“Hilary is making millions because all these tweens have Parents who buy them everything they want.”

Not only are our kids being taken advantage of by marketers who are selling them junk saying they need this or that to look cool, grown up - or grow up to fast, but now they push garbage endorsed by the stars they love at them. The sad thing is these kids have no money - their Parents are the ones who are going out of their way to buy these products and going to extremes to get them what they were told by some commercial they needed to have.

* need a book bag - get the $60 dollar Hillary bag.
* you want your third pair of $100 dollar sneakers - no problem.
* Oh how cute - your dog has a thirty dollar Hillary Duff sweater.

Why the Rich get Richer

People always get angry and blame the rich for their problems. We all say things are “unfair” - but we forget, who ever said anything in life is fair? But since we have to blame some one - lets blame the Rich, then the government and the schools. After all, it can’t be our own fault - can it?

The reason why the rich get richer is because they think & lead - the poor just follow. We want to work less, get paid more and spend even more. In fact, we have sunk so low as to allow ourselves [ Parents ] to be used by marketers, as the tool to train our children to spend with no control, on garbage they really don’t need [ and if you think about - don’t want ].

A $3 dollar T-shirt can sell for $25 dollars if you slap Hillary Duff’s name on it. So what do we parents do? - we go out and buy our child three or four of these poorly made, over priced pieces of garbage. Do you remember those Cabbage Patch dolls? Tickle me Elmo? Parents were killing each other to get one of those stupid dolls…. I wonder where that $300 dollar Elmo doll is now????

Teaching our kids to invest in themselves

Martha Stewart [ Sept 16, 2009 ] on CNBC said that

“ Due to the recession people have gotten use to living without the things they don’t need. It’s our job to get them to start buying again & find that which will drive them to the stores. “

Interesting that she would choose to say “things we don’t need”…
My daughter is 12 yrs old and she’s being bombarded by TV shows, commercials, movies and even by her gullible friends - who all want to influence her on what she should wear, how she should dress and so forth.

I find myself trying very hard to teach her how to be wise with her money. To learn how to think for herself - invest today rather than wait until tomorrow. Who really needs 20 pairs of shoes … gosh you only have two feet. I try to teach and instill in her the idea that she is her own person and that pier pressure comes in all forms - even when it comes to money, saving and investing. Instead of being a blind follower - set goals, be independent, work on reaching those goals, strive for financial independence. Despite what she hears on TV - the government is not there to take care of you.

I sit with my daughter now almost every other day and we read “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. I talk to her about self worth, preparing now for the future, managing money, instilling the idea into her that it is better to be the business owner than the employee of a good company. I teach her about principals that can help her in all the facets of her life. That mistakes does not mean failure - but an opportunity to learn and succeed. That what others say about you does not define you. That just because the crowd is scared to excel - that we should not conform to mediocrity.

Even simple every day situations are used as a means to teach:
* You want new shoes? Save for it or create more money.
* You want to have fun - fine but don’t forget your responsibilities, goals.
* Your young - not dumb!

Today she might think dad is a bit pushy, she may enjoy the time we spend together & our talks but not grasp all the concepts I share. But my hope is that little by little - what I share with her will sink in. That what we’ve read and talked about will make sense and she’ll be able to weigh both side of the argument. Do I try to be a follower and poor - or be my own person and have financial freedom. Even if she doesn’t become rich - she will be better off in the long run.

As a side note: As I strive to learn in order to teach my children a better way - I put what I learn to practice. Your never to old to learn and improve.

Kids become RICH in 21 days

2009-09-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Kids become rich in 21 days !
Ok, not really - it can and has happened, but that’s not what this article is really all about. At least the title may have caught your attention and that’s good - because YOU CAN TEACH YOUR KIDS TO BE RICH IN 21 DAYS.

It is a proven fact that habits are formed and/or broken in a span of 21 days. If you want to break a bad habit - just force yourself not to do that deed, action [or what ever] for 21 days. Studies have proven that if you repeat something over and over for a time span of 21 days it becomes a habit. You start to do that action, deed or such without even thinking. The same goes for breaking a habit - you just have to stop for 21 days and usually the habit is broken or replaced with a deferent habit that is.

As I found myself trying to teach my kids about money I ran into the same old obstacle every parent faces - a child with no desire to learn a difficult or uninteresting subject. In fact I said in my earlier post “ Money is not evil - being poor is evil ” that I was going to get my daughter to read the book “ Rich Dad Poor Dad “ by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

Do not be lazy

The effort was difficult at first - because I first tried the easy lazy approach - I asked her to read the book. I figured if I wasn’t pushy [ and she does love to read ] that she would do it and that would be that. It was the lazy approach and it back fired on me. Three weeks passed before asking turned into demanding her to read it. That approached failed as well - because she just could not grasp much of what she was reading [ even if some of it was basic to me ], why - because she had no real interest.

So I decided to take the familiar proven approach - be involved and sit with her to read the book. Ofcourse my rule was that she had to read out load to me so I knew she was reading and not zoning out and I was available to answer questions and be helpful. After all money is not an interesting subject to kids and this not only helps her but gives us a time to bond.

Our fist attempt was difficult - a lot of why, I don’t get it, do I have to read and the famous of them all - “I’m tired”….. But after four days of reading 1 or 2 chapters every other day - it’s turning into a bonding experience that has resulted in my daughter grasping on to some insight really quickly.

Keeping it Simple?
As we read one of the chapters last night - I found one of the books simple sayings to be very true - KISS - “keep it simple stupid” . It was one of the sayings the rich dad would tell his son and Robert as he taught them about money and how it worked. Robert was stating that the book had a simple way of teaching about money because 1- it was the way his rich dad could convey many complex ideas to them [ they were kids ] and 2- to point out that the book is not simple because it’s for dummies but rather that we over complicate things in our life.

I want my children to learn about money - and I just can’t let some one else teach them - I simply can not sit back and wait for them to figure it out on their own. To top that off, it will be a process that will have to take time. A process of teaching them on a daily and slow process. Slowly but surely she is now finding it a nice time to sit , read and talk. She still complains some times when the chapter is long or she really wants to go watch TV - but like I said - in 21 days it will become a habit for us to sit and read about money, how it works and have a small conversation afterward.

Yes, she wont be financially rich in twenty one days - but she will have something most kids will not - a habit. The habit of sitting down to learn about money and to actually talk about how it’s made, how money works and what she can do to shape her tomorrow today. She asked me a simple question last night - can you work and own a business - my answer was yes.

My children, your children are smart. Smarter than we give them credit for. We want them to get good grades, graduate from school and find a good job. But we forget to teach them how to avoid the traps and pitfalls we’ve been in for years. Even a dead end job may seem secure - but if your laid off or have to work twice as hard for the same pay because your afraid of being laid off - only means you’re a slave. Stuck in a pitiful resentful life and you have to ask yourself? If you want better for yourself - why not do something to make it better for your kids. You can start with 21 days… 21 days can change your life and it can change the future of your children’s lives.

It is as easy as reading a book ..

Money, Kids and Failure

2009-09-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Money, Kids and failure

I grew up in a time where “success” meant everything. It didn’t matter what you did or how you did it as long as you won. The funny thing growing up in a poor neighborhood - there really wasn’t much to succeed in - so like most kids today we excelled at being the worst, best dressed and even the worst drunk. That’s right - our goals didn’t amount to much - just like today. Kids have nothing more to look forward in life but video games, music videos and TV.

Yes, there are the few smart kids and sensible ones who want more in life - but everything that is being taught our kids today is geared toward - depending on others to survive [ not succeed ]. Example - in school their told study hard get a good grade for success - then they go home and parents, friends, the news tells them that only the government can help them and that they can’t succeed without help from the county, city or government.

Yes, this is a bit political and no I do not agree with all the Obama agenda’s. But think about it -we tell our kids that they can become what ever they dream - then we tell them that the reality of life is that they will never succeed in life unless some one else helps them. We tell them that they should be their own person - but then turn around and tell them to conform in order to fit in???? Amazing.

What brought this up..

Well, I’ve been trying to change the way my kids think about money, how it works and creating wealth. I expect my five year old not to understand - but I expect more from my eleven year old who is smarter than the average kid. When she came back from NY she came back with a new hobby - making jewelry. She surprised me when she said she was thinking of making some and selling them to make extra money. That’s a good idea - until days passed and weeks passed and she just stopped making jewelry. She just lost interest, desire - she was more interested in hanging out in front of the TV or talking with friends. What happened??

What happened was “challenge”, “adversity” and the desire to give up than rather over coming. That’s right, she caved when the first problem came along. Yes, I know, she’s eleven and I should expect this - but really, we all act like this. We all run into problems and we simply give up. So few of us truly strive when faced with struggle… which brings me back to the political aspect of this.

With all the economic turmoil we’re facing - we are losing the opportunity to teach this generation to face trouble with a stern upper lip and to face adversity and to fight to over come it. When you read about the great depression you see how people struggled to survive - but you see how the country came together, how people , families worked together to save, penny pinch - rubber drives, food drives and so much more. An entire generation saw the worst and over came. Today, our children only see the government throwing worthless “stimulus packages” at a failed economy and doing little to change the root cause of the problems around them.

I was helping this family of seven [ mom, dad and five kids ] and they told me they had to leave early because all the kids had to go work [ don’t worry they were all of legal age ]. I thought about the things they shared with me. How they all pull together, struggle together, sacrifice what many consider necessities in order to survive this week.

This is why it’s important to teach your kids about money and how it works. Teach them that sacrificing today can help you tomorrow. That money isn’t everything in life and if you made it once you can make it again. That life is not made up of how much you succeed but about how you over come. That there are things more important in life and that family, life, freedom are a few of those treasures in life. Teach them, because no one else will.

Making Money: Finding the extra Cash

2009-08-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

In changing the way I and my family think about money, making money, saving and spending money - I had to become a bit creative. I've read plenty of books on the subject of "managing money" and I know some of the ideas behind managing money - but sometimes it's just a matter of having an open mind and staying focused on your financial [money] goals.

Rich Dad Poor Dad Quote:

The Government
..." They protect widows and Orphans, not idiots.."

Ok, I know I have to invest, but I've written up my budget and there is no surprise in realizing that my budget doesn't give me enough to put aside money to invest with. So as most books and advisors tell you - start with small amounts, just start.... easier said than done buddy.

So my goal is to "teach kids about money", so finding money [ even if a small amount] is for their financial long term benefit, not mine. So I have to find the money if I want to reach my financial goals with my kids.

That still leaves the question: Where do I come up with the money?

Here is a tip [ it fell into my lap so be patient ]

Be open to opportunities to save money by cutting cost.

Perfect example: The other week my water heater stopped working - no hot water, so cold showers for everyone. So, desperate for a "HOT" shower I went into my emergency fund [ always good to have an emergency fund just for this ].

Then a thought ran thru my head - the last time I needed repair work done I felt so stupid when a plummer came to my house, took 40 minutes to fix a leak [ It was something I could have done on my own ] and then proceded to charge me $300 dollars. Ofcourse I felt dumb and my wife was probably thinking "I'm with stupid..."

So I decided to look into making the repairs on my own.. save money you know. After lots of cold showers and a lot of info. searching I realized I could save about $300 dollars in mostly labor cost if I did the work myself. Now I'm not very tool and mechanically incline so this was scary for me. But, in the end I replaced the entire water heater, have a bigger water heater and saved the $300 dollars in labor cost. Ofcourse this all came out of my emergency fund... then it hit me..

I thought, instead of leaving that $300 in my emergency fund - why not use the money I saved to start an investment fund for my kids. It was money that would have been spent and if the investment goes belly up - well, it's no great loss to my finances [ it's not like I need that cash to eat next week ].

Being open minded and cutting cost in order to invest

Ofcourse this tip doesn't work for every occasion - their are things I or you just can't do on our own an we need to call that high priced professional to get repairs done. But the point is - finding ways to get that extra money that is needed to help you do what you need to do to improve your financial situation. My goal is to teach kids about money - I can't afford to throw money away, so I have to make every dollar count. What's your goal? What are you doing to achieve your financial goal?

The most difficult part of my goal to teach kids about money is that I have to change in order to help them change. I have to stop the way I think, start thinking the way I want them to think. It's not about knowing best or saying I know it all here do what I say - this is life. Life is about learning, growing and the pursuit of happiness. If I want a better life for my kids - I have to start doing things that will help them in the long run. Like I said before - if all my kids learn is to save and invest a bit here and there while their young - they can grow to be a "millionaire next door" simply by using time to their advantage and letting the principal of compounding interest work for them.

Hell, I remember 1991 when the market started tanking and I thought - hey a repeat of 1987 - I should invest... What did I do, I put aside $1,000 and forgot to invest it. It’s 2009 and what do I have to show for it… nothing, I don’t even have that $1,000 dollars I put aside back then.

Making money, Saving money & staying the course

2009-07-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

Changing the way my kids think about money means I have to change as well. Making money and kids is not written [ my blog ] so I can convert my kids into "money hungry" little capitalist. I started this Blog in hopes of improving the life & future of my kids and sharing this trip with others. I am X yrs old [ meaning old ] and I want more for my kids - it's that simple.

But like any diet, exercise regime or training requirement you have to fight the urge to quit. The first thing you learn about changing anything about yourself is - that there are a million and one nay sayers telling you why you can't or that your wrong.

I mentioned my "Money and Kids" blog on one of these news websites I visit and all hell broke loose. I had total strangers telling me that I knew nothing about money, how it worked, that the rich are against the poor - that I will never get rich. Some one even called me "stupid and Blind", another criticized my grammar [ hey, I know my grammar ain't good - but I'm not in school or asking you to grade my writing skills].

Making Money means Minding your Business

In my last post I quoted Rich dad Poor Dad
"Minding your Business"
It's your life and no one [ not even the government ] is looking out for you when it comes to your money - except you. When you try to change for the better, every crack pot "Nay Sayers" will come out of hiding to knock you down.

Hey, I'm not blind about greedy CEO's, ignorant that the rules are stacked against me or that the government is corrupt. I just want to make a better life for my kids [ I just don't mean materially - but also have freedom to spend time with my kids ].

Goal to Teaching kids about money

One of my first goals in teaching my kids about money is to start them young. Get them thinking now, rather than later when their 20 yrs old and have more than $25,000 dollars of debt in credit cards and college loans [ like most young Americans today ].

If you've never read "The Millionaire Next Door" you should, it's a very good book.

I personally have experience talking with average people who were secretly millionaires, I just wish I had taken thier advice way back then.

When I was 19 years old I started working at Pfizer as a temp [ Pharmaceutical company ]. The first time I ran across a secret "millionaire" was at Pfizer on a packing line. I was a temp so they placed me wherever they needed bodies, so for several weeks I sat next to a cranky, grumpy old woman and placed little bottles of medicine into boxes - 12 to 16 hours a day 5 days a week. Ofcourse after several days she warmed up to me and gave me some tips on how to keep up with her and then one day she decided to share some financial wisdom with me - which I was not asking for.

She told me if I was hired fulltime I should join the company stock option program - that she's been working at the company for 27 years and has 1 year to retire and has $2 million to retire on, not counting her savings or social security.

[ I should have listened ]

I also found several other long time workers at Pfizer that when they cozied up to me said the same exact thing.... all of them were millionaires.....

[ I should have listened ]

Now while the stock today may not be worth much as back then, the simple lesson to understand:
" Start early, allow time to compound and multiply your investment "

So even if I teach my kids about money and all they learn is that one simple rule - at age 40 they could retire and be better off than I was when I was 40. Again, I'm not saying I want them to be greedy stinking rich, no morals kind of people, but I do want them to be smart, be better off than me. Yes, $2 million may no be worth much 20 years from now, but that would be $2 million more they have to work with than I do today...
think about that Nay Sayers....

Teach kids about money - Budget !

2009-07-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

Making Money means Making a budget

I started with the idea - “Teach kids about money” in particular - my kids. I want them to have a different mindset about how to make money and how money works than what I grew up with. Making money is easy to those in the know - that’s why we the middle class and the poor blame the rich for our woes - because they know about making money and we don’t. I want to teach my kids about money because I want them to have more in life [ not just money and material things - but freedom ]. You know the freedom that comes from owning your own business or having money work for you instead of you going to work 60 hours or more a week.

I realized that thou I wanted to teach my kids the value of a dollar and that money doesn’t grow on trees they would have to work for it… [ Value of a Dollar ] I ran across a two fold problem. First: I work and for years I was financially “stupid” instead of wise. Second, you can’t fix a problem until you know what the problem is…. So in order to make money you need to know how to create a budget and stick to it.

Making money and a Budget

Anyone who has a check book knows about trying to make a dollar stretch - there is always too much month left and not enough cash. In order to teach my kids about money I need to fix some of my finances - I need to create a budget. Why?

[ The secret is:

“Mind your own Business.”

Financial struggle is often directly the result of people working all their life for someone else. Many people will have nothing at the end of their working days ]
Rich Dad, Poor Dad: by Robert T. Kiyosaki

A budget is like a map - it tells you where your going and how you are doing.. and like Robert said in the book, mind your own business! Creating a budget also [ my opinion ] helps you realize that your financial woes are your own Fault. You can blame it on the Rich, the government or your spouse - it’s of your own making. You put yourself in that financial mess and you keep yourself there .

Teaching kids about money [ my kids ] means I have to teach them about a budget. After all, for years I’ve worked and spent my money and gotten no where. A budget will show you where and how you spend your money - it will also help you save money. That is if you are serious about it.

So creating a Budget to make money I go?

All good financial books have a subject about saving and making a budget. Each book I’ve ever read says one thing - in order to save and budget, you have to accurately track your expenses. They all say take one entire month and track [ write down ] every expense you make. At the end of the month you sit down and categorize all the expenses and therefore you should be able to see where your money is going..

I have two problems with that.

One: My spouse is terrible at spending and couldn’t save a dime if life depended on it.

Two: I’m terrible at writing things down.

So I came up with a way to cheat but get same results. I simply paid everything with my ATM debit card. Every other day I sat at my computer and wrote down all the entries into my check registrar. It made it easy for me plus hey no records to lose.

Tip: Married / couples who share financial burden need to work together to make this work.

In my case my spouse is terrible at saving money so we came up with an arrangement both of us can live with. I would be in complete control of the finances and the paying of bills and my spouse would receive $75 to $100 every pay period to spend in any way so desired. There are no strings attached on how my spouse spends that money - except that once that money is gone - can’t come back for more…..

Tip: here’s a cheat for a single person - if you use your credit card or debit card to pay 95% of your expenses and purchases [ and don’t want to wait a month ] just use last month bank statement to see what and where you spend your money.

How a budget can help you make money

A budget can help you make money in two simple ways.

One: the obvious, you realize you need more money [ income]

Two: It reveals to you how you spend your money and forces you to realize you need to be responsible with your finances.

I’ve been married 17 years [ as of this post ] and my spouse always said “ Don’t worry, I get paid next week.” It’s been 17 years and we are no better of than we were when we started - scratch that - we’re worst! Two kids, mortgage, no savings or retirement fund and still living pay check to pay check…..

Quick look at my finances - income verses expenses.

I realized I can’t do this alone, this is going to take the work of the whole family. My decision to teach my kids about money means I have to start by improving my financial situation and while they will have to learn as they watch Mom and Dad fix their financial woes… their first lesson can be this:

“Life is full of choices. In order to reach your goal you have to make sacrifices.”

In creating my budget I am going to have to factor in how I’m going to pay my children - teaching them the value of a dollar means they have to earn money…. That money has to come from somewhere right…

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Making money is not Evil - teaching kids about money ?

2009-07-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Making money is not evil - but being a slave to money is evil..

I’m trying very hard to teach my kids about money - get them to see things a bit different. You know, get them ready for the real world when they have to make money in order to pay their own bills instead of the “Dad has money” mentality. Or the work, make money, spend it mentality many Americans live with. And one of the things I am trying out currently is - trying to teach my kids [ especially my eleven year old ] that one - money does not grow on trees and two - making money can be easy…. [ oxymoron - contradiction… No ]

I’ve been listening to my kids talk.. Even my five year old - they have the same mentality….

I need that new toy, gadget, or other nonsense. And they face two dilemmas:
1- the true value and understanding of assets [ things ] .
2- Dad will pay for it cause he works and has money [ understanding money] .

Now - making money is not easy, until you change the way you think about money, assets and value system. Yes I’ve been working on how to change the way I think as well - but I want to change the way my kids think about money because they can start early in life while I - I already wasted half of my life expectancy.
Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad Poor Dad. , by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Teaching my kids about money - Rule # 1

Well - sounds simple but not so :
RULE ONE
You must Know the difference between an assets and a liability, and buy assets.
Rule #1 is the only rule, the only rule you need ???
Again - sounds easy, but really isn't.
If you want to make money [ be Rich ] - and I’m not trying to focus on being rich just the knowledge of wealth building - this is all you need to know. It is Rule No. 1.

"The Rich acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities, but think that they are assets."

Trying to teach kids about money and this rule 1 concept is harder than you think. But I gave it a whirl - and I’m still working on it. [ let you know when it sinks in ].

How I tried to explain this “Make Money thinking concept” Rule # 1 to my kids.

In Making money - “What is an Assets and what is a liability?”
Well - hell, how do you teach a kid the difference between an asset an a liability? I think I ate off more than I could chew here ... ???
Talk about the most important thing they believe they own - Home.....

It’s easier if you own your home [ which you don’t if you have a mortgage ] but if you rent, kids still believe they own the home.

Simple approach - is a home an asset or a liability... Kids and adults alike believe a home is an asset. My wife thought so too, until I explained it to her using the book and the example from Rich Dad Poor Dad. ( see image below )

Your home is not your biggest asset - it’s a liability to you and a asset to your Bank. Why? - simply put you derive no income [ make money ] from your home. And dispite the fact that it can grow in value - you spend more cash on your home than you ever will get out of it. So to you it’s a liability - to the bank it’s an asset. Why is it an asset to the bank? Because you pay them to live in it. They don’t have to fix it, paint it, pay utilities or live in it for that matter. But they get that check every month from you or they will take it from you !

So anything you buy that does not pay for itself or make you money [ today not twenty years from now ] is a liability. That ipod my daughter wants so bad that she is willing to do extra home duties for - liability. That bike, that movie, that book, everything my kids find oh so necessary to have - liability. What makes it worst is that they have no concept of money because I pay for it all.

Teach kids about money - the value of a dollar

Putting my kids to work!
That’s right my plan to teach my kids the value of a dollar is to put them to work… even the five year old.. [ let you know how that turns out ].

Dad is not a cash machine and they have to earn and make money like I do. They also have to track it - see where their spending it and figure out ways to make money. I know - a lot to ask of a kid. But hey, this is a life long process. Making money isn’t easy - but it isn’t that hard either. You just have to change the way you think. And teaching kids about money - well, that is a job in itself.

Get to work boy - you lazy bum... love you son....LOL

The reason I want them to make money, so they can feel the pain of losing money when they have to pay for those trivial things they think they need. It's not about not spending - but about building wealth building ideas so they can do more in life, with their lives than I did with mine.

Money and Kids - Ignorance & Stupidity is Evil!

2009-07-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

Making money is not evil - Ignorance & Stupidity is Evil!

Making money is not evil - ignorance and stupidity is evil. In every economic
hard time people want to figure out ways to making money and more of it. The problem is that many of us are just plain stupid when it comes to making money and especially spending money. That's right - I said "Stupid".

" Why do some people work less, earn more, pay less in taxes, and feel more financially secure than others? It is simply a matter of knowing which quadrant to work from and when. It's time to get out of the rat race. "
Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad Poor Dad. , by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Why are we Stupid, because we are.
I thought I was ignorant when it came to making money, investing and business.
I just realized that I am just "Stupid". And I'm sure I am not alone [ not with
such a large poor and low income middle class we have in America ].

WE are stupid when it comes to making money

I was reading the book and it hit me like a ton of bricks - how stupid I've
been about making money and how I spend and manage my money. Like all
Americans who are tight on cash - I gripe, complain and blame the rich for my
woes. But the fact is - my troubles are of my own design, my own work. I have
put myself in this financial turmoil, not my wife, not my kids, not the
government, or the rich - just stupid old me.

As I read the book I can see how I've spent years doing myself financial harm
as I tried to satisfy a moment of gratification. In many cases - that one
moment of satisfaction cost me years of financial set back.

I've been teaching my kids about money.. so I've been looking at my life first and the mistakes I've made. I'm working on changing things - but my kids can't wait five or ten years while I straighten myself out. So I have to teach them about money today, while their still young and have time.

I look back at my life and realize that I've wasted my life - literally. I've worked 60 - 80 hour weeks at a job only to turn around and use that hard earned money on wasteful things.

Think about it:
* did I really need a motor Bike?
[ I ride once a month and paid over $10,00 dollars on that loan ]

* Did I really need to take that trip to NY when I first got married?
[ It cost me $700 dollars and I ended up paying an extra $500 dollars in credit
and overdraft fees - for a two day stay in NY]

Making money only to stupidly give it away

One of the realizations I've come to is that I've worked very hard at making money, but I've been foolishly - no stupidly giving that hard earn money away.

Think about what the book says - figuring out where you make your money so you can know where you stand. Well, like most Americans I work a job - so I am a “E” [ employee…] So before I get paid my uncle - uncle Sam takes his cut. Then every time I buy something I pay a tax. Some people pay on things they no longer own - like my brother in law… he is still paying for a car he no longer even owns. When it’s all said and done I am always paying out…

The only way to get ahead is to move from just being an employee to being a business owner. Yes I know - first thought was…
“What the hell kind of business can I start?
“Where can I get money to start a business?”
“I can’t afford to start a business?”

Then I saw a friend of mine open a lawn mowing business… something I thought of doing for years but always had an excuse why I couldn’t. And he did it with little or no money, with help from friends and one job at a time. After reading the book, I realized how stupid I’ve been. So scared to do something never realizing it was costing me more by doing nothing. Too scared to take a risk, and now I see twenty years later… the risk was in waiting till now to actually do something.

I use to do what most parents do - tell my child to study hard, get good grades so she could get a good job. But look what a job has done for me. Look what just having a job has done to the millions who lost their jobs in the real estate and bank crisis… Even when times were tough economically - I watched as many of my friends struggled to keep their business afloat. I had one friend who closed up shop - and that was because he simply gave up. The rest, they buckled down, cut cost, did more with their business and now that the economy is better - their doing better. Some even were able to expand. Me, sadly enough - I simply just still have a job.

I have to teach my kids to think different. Look for more than just getting a job - but rather creating something that will make them money. Call it a business, a system, what ever you want. Just be a business owner….don’t own a job, or worst - be a slave to a job.

Making Money is not evil - being poor is evil...

2009-07-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Making Money is not evil - being poor is evil...
It’s a quote from a book I just finish reading : Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad Poor Dad.
It’s an interesting read - I know I’ve read it twice and the reason why I bring up this topic “Making Money” is because of the economy. Really - I look at my kids and I wonder … have I wasted my life. Have I been so busy in the pursuit of my own happiness that I can’t offer more for my children because I thought wanting to make more money was “evil”… or maybe because I was scared or too lazy to try?

This kind of book - how to make money or the mentality behind it really makes you think.

Yes I know - I’m not trying to make it rich or even become rich over night. But I do have that urge to do more, make a little extra so my kids can have it easy. If anything - learn a couple of money managing or wealth building skills I could teach my kids so they don’t end up like dear old dad - a slave to a job - always wondering if this recession or hard time will destroy all my dreams [ if I have any ].

What parent doesn’t want the best for their kids and who doesn’t dream of “making money effortlessly” … I mean seriously! It’s not like it can’t be done - People today are making money sitting at home. You have people who make six figure incomes because they came up with some lame application for the iphone that millions just had to buy.

The other reason I bring up the “money and how to make it” plus the mentality behind how you think and spend your money - is because of my loving wife. We are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to money. I am more of a saver thinking of tomorrow and she is more of a “lets have fun today before we die tomorrow” kind of person. Which really makes it difficult when it comes to money and our finances.

I’m trying to get my daughter to read - Rich Dad Poor Dad
, by Robert T. Kiyosaki…
Not because I want her to be money hungry but rather I want her to think differently when it comes to money. In today’s economic crisis - millions of people are learning that having a job is not having security. We are all learning that depending on the government truly is more riskier than playing the stock market.

Wanting Better for your Kids Financially

Really is it bad to want better for your kids, financially speaking? Or maybe just the chance to change the way your kids look and think about money and how it works. I went to the book store yesterday and saw hundreds of posters and stickers about “buy 2 get one free” deals. Everyone is hurting in this economy - but the wealthy or smart people weather it better because they have options and a deferent mind set - as where regular people like me are stuck making money [income] at a dead end job. If you love your job, career hey that’s great. But when the kids ask for toys, milk or an unexpected expense comes along that breaks your bank - you only have X amount of dollars to work with because your boss is not going to give you a raise.

I watch the gas pump like a hawk [ not that it does me any good ] and at my job [ where I make most of my money after taxes ] I see people purchase with the gas pump in mind. I mean that people will say things like - “I have to watch my pennies, gas is too high”. Why, because even with a job - we live on a fixed income and every time gas goes up, food prices go up - our dollar [ spending power ] drops.

No I don’t want my kids to be greedy make money at all cost kind of people. But I do want them to think different, see the world different. Have the insight to take educated risk and plan wisely for the future. Rather than be like dad and save , save , save and be no farther ahead than I was 20 years ago. Or worse - be like Mom and millions of other Americans who live for today and now 20 years later still can’t see that their no better off than they were before.

Growing old and finding out that making money was important

I watch my father in-law who only has a year to go before he retires at age 50. It’s great that he has a job that gives him that ability - but he wonders if he could afford to retire. He is concerned with the fact that the money he makes, the money he saved, … will it be enough for him to live a comfortable life? I listen to him and wonder - what will I be thinking, doing when it’s time for me to retire - will I be able to retire?

Do I want my kids to do the same or can I teach them to do things, think in ways that will better them in the long run. That when they reach age 40, or 50 they could retire with little worries and if they work, it’s because they want to - not because they need to make money in order to survive.

I'm not talking making them into millionairs - just better off than me.