When to Start Teaching Ur Kids About Money.

It's never too young!! We started the concept of saving very young even just with candy - eat some now, save some for later. My two kids learned very quickly it was fun to save and have some for a "rainy day" instead of gobbling it all up at one time.

As for chores - folding kitchen towels was the first thing my kids did. Didn't do them perfectly, but I didn't care. Dusting, mopping, etc.; little chores that I knew they could handle. They each had two piggy banks; one for saving, one for spending. They were excited about putting two coins in their banks. Whatever coins they were, I would always give two so they could see one was for saving and one for spending if and when they thot of something they wanted to buy. As they got older the chores got a little harder and the money was increased accordingly.

Now that they're teenagers they both have nice little bank accounts and have really learned responsibility. My son has been working a part-time job, socking it away and is getting ready to buy a used car. I'm very proud of my kids!!

Good luck!!

There are tons of theories out there and I'm not sure which is the best yet.

I've been doing a weekly allowance since DS was about 3.5 years old. I followed the $1 per year of age model. He has a chore chart which is basically little things he can help with daily (help make the bed, dress himself, clear the table, clean up his toys, that kind of thing). However, I don't really tie the chores to his allowance and have not yet threatened to withhold his allowance for anything. It's more to give him a feel of what it is like to have money, what a dollar can buy and having a limit on what he can spend.

I don't control his money or tell him what he can't buy. I do give advice (like, if you don't waste your money on that chintzy little thing this week, you'll have double the amount next week to buy something bigger and better, or if you wait until the end of the month, you can buy something really big). In the beginning he didn't get it at all, but now that he's 5, he's really starting to understand the value of things.

I still have him at $4/week right now, haven't bumped him up to $5/week yet. It may seem like a lot, but it's really hard to save up for anything good at much less than that. Most things he wants are in the $15-$20 range and it's very do-able to save up for those types of things within a month. His sense of time doesn't really stretch much further beyond that. Also, as someone online pointed out, $16/month is a heck of a lot less than what I used to spend buying toys for him. Now he's in control of picking out what toy he REALLY wants and how long he's willing to wait for it. It has virtually eliminated all whining in the store.

I'm thinking when I finally do bump him up to $5/week, it will be with the caveat that he save that extra dollar per week for a year, building up to $52 in reserve so he can get a sense of the value of saving. Then we will discuss whether he wants to spend that or continue saving to build up towards something really big.

Anyway, that's my system and it's worked out pretty good for us. However, I'm curious to check out how other people handle this as well. I know we should add in some charity money to our formula too.

This is how Dave Ramsey says to do it. 4 is not too young. Get a big see through jar. Have your daughter do little chores, and give her a dollar when she completes the chore to your liking, and have her wad it up, and throw it in the jar. When she keeps doing little chores, the dollars add up. Soon she will be able to go wow!! look at all the dollars I have. Then when she wants something, take her to the store with her jar. Let her buy only what she can get from what's in the jar. That way, she will learn to work for what she wants. Of course you can give in occasionally but that is not teaching her responsibility for herself or her money. Do this in place of an allowance. I mean, an allowance really is getting money for work, this is just a neater way to do it. Good luck.

Keep in mind that this is a learning experience for your daughter. She's still just learning how to work, so her skills aren't up to adult par.

Her chores need to be ones she can do pretty well, though. Some parents pay for all jobs done, and others consider some jobs "family jobs" (ones you do just because you're part of the family) and others as "allowance jobs."

She's old enough to you to teach her that when she does a job faithfully, she get a little money, just like mommy/daddy does at work. You could have her put it in her bank, and then you can start teaching her how it's good to spend only part of her riches and save/give other parts.

Good four-year-old jobs might be picking up her toys and putting them away; making/spreading up her bed (depending on her size and the size of the bed); putting her dirty clothes in the hamper; fetching things for Mama or Daddy when she's asked; maybe helping to clear the table after breakfast and lunch; maybe bringing you the mail (depending on what you have for delivery). If you have a pet, maybe she could check the status of food and water; she's not ready to care for a pet on her own.

Other posters will have to give you an idea of an appropriate allowance; I would probably guess too low! But then I'm the sort of person that is glad to see a penny that I can pick up off the sidewalk. I don't think of allowances in the same dollar terms many people do! :^)

you can have her fold hand towels and wash cloths, sweep the floor, dust, help rinse dishes. she can earn a quarter for every task she does.

Have her help dust or sweep the floor. These are easy things for small children. I had gotten my daughter her own duster and a small broom (her size). I would give her change for helping mom (which she has always wanted to help) and she puts it in her piggy bank. Every now and then we will take her money out so she can buy something herself. Now she has figured out that she would rather use mom’s money than her own she doesn’t want to spend her money.

Just as Jane K puts it. That's the better way.

my son is 5 and has been eating his own money since he was around 4. we started with little things, making sure his dirty clothes were in his hamper, picking up his toys ect. he earned 1$ a week then. Now he gets 3$ a week, and he helps vacuum, helps clean his bathroom, and feeds the pets. Notice i say "help" he's still young and even though he tries i still need to make sure he's doing it ok.

4 is certainly not too young. We started very young. We are not Dave Ramsey people but I do understand he has a good plan. If you are not very detailed or numbers oriented, it is helpful to have a guide such as a financial planner or someone like Ramsey.

We are very numbers oriented, very involved with investing, living debt free, delayed gratification etc.

We would give our daughter a small amount of money a week. She had the option to use it or save it but if she chose to use it, there would be no more for the week. We've done this for years.... she is 17 now. She babysits and gets cash from clients and I have her on my payroll of our company where she is paid once a month.

She is good at budgeting her money now and she has a good bit saved up. There were many weeks she regretted spending her money and wished she had saved it instead. She now buys all of her clothes. We provide money for lunch, car insurance, gas, and her car which is paid in full. We explain what we are doing and why with investment decisions regarding her college fund (which is fully funded right now)

At this point, I have her working with me on the company books so that she gets a better feel for accounting and financials which are critical to be accurate in order to run a successful business.

I think your daughter is a perfect age to be learning about money. Children need to know that money does not grow on trees and it takes work to get it and very little work to let it go. We are fortunate to be solid but instead of giving her everything she has learned that money is earned and the value of it.

Good job S..