5 Most Important Money Lessons for Kids

1. Life isn’t about stuff. The most important lesson a child needs to learn to lead a healthy money life is that stuff isn’t the most important thing. A great way to teach this to your children is to lead by example, and have conversations with your kids about what their perceptions of rich and poor are. It’s sometimes shocking what comes out. Another way to instill this important principle is by giving gifts for birthdays & other special events that aren’t things but memories to make. A family play day at a park, or hosting a sleep over for friends.

2. Money is earned! Kids have a completely abstract concept of money. They need or want something and money appears to acquire whatever that something might be. Instead of just purchasing something for your child make them earn it. Everyday they make their bed, take out the trash, or put their toys away they earn money toward their new toy.

3. You can’t always get what you want. Instant gratification is not just a problem for children. Many adults have to deal with it too. This is why so many people end up with mountains of credit card debt. Instead of buying them a new video game when they see it in the store make them wait a week and see if they still really want it. Most of the time they have already forgotten about it.

4. Save for big ticket items. Too many adults rely on credit to buy a new big screen TV. If they want a new bike have them save for it. Get your child a savings account. ING has a free one online. See if they will start saving on their own, and as an extra incentive match what they save. Every month sit down and look at how much they have saved, how close they are to their goal and how much interest they have earned.

5. Have a rainy day fund. My mother always said, “keep a quarter in your pocket so you can call home.” This is obsolete now, but the idea is still important. This is a hard lesson to teach children since we want to make sure our children are taken care of. But next time the unexpected happens, the air conditioner breaks or the car needs repaired sit your children down and talk to them about how you financially deal with the unexpected.

By: Gracie Mohr

Letter to the President elect

Up early this morning, I found myself on the President Elect's web site, http://www.change.gov/ On the home page were these words, "Your story and ideas can help change the future of the country."

I decided to take that as an invitation and hit the contact us section. Here is the letter I posted to the transition team:

I am a CPA and financial advisor. My company, Mackey Advisors, primarily serves baby boomers in the middle market. The financial turmoil created by excessive leverage and lax or no regulation is being felt exceptionally hard on the middle class. Unlike the poor, they do not qualify (and do not want) government assistance. Unlike the ultra wealthy, this kind of market volatility impacts their day to day pocketbook.

Over the last few months our primary job has been to create calm and keep our clients from making moves in this market that seriously impact their future.

In contrast to the evening news, what is needed now are positive stories. Tell us how people are managing. What they are doing to survive and thrive in the recession. Find ordinary, everyday people who
are managing their life in fiscally responsible ways, and capture their
stories.

We need to use this time as a call to financial literacy. If people understood how to use credit, how to save, how to invest, we would not be in this mess. Wall Street certainly played their part. Personally I am sickened by greedy executive walking away with millions after praying on those who do not understand basic finance.

How do we solve this dilemma?

Do we continue to regulate Wall Street? Or do we empower Main
Street? I vote for some of both, but focus on the latter. It is like
the old adage, teach a person to fish and feed them for life. Let's teach people to understand money and finance, so that when they are offered these high commission, trash investments and loans, they say no.

Turn your thinking upside down. Focus on empowerment, personal responsibility and personal choice. This is your answer.

I welcome the opportunity to serve in this effort.

Mackey McNeill, CPA/PFS
President and CEO, Mackey Advisors
Member, AICPA Financial Literacy Task Force

Think about it, what better way to insure the future of our country and our citizens than thru empowering them to make good choices?

If you agree with me, I encourage you to post your own comment on the Obama transition site. Feel free to copy and paste any part of my comments into your post.

Click here to go to the Obama team's transition site

The AICPA has an advertising free web site, www.360financialliteracy.org full of great information and ideas on gaining control and empowering yourself for a more prosperous today and tomorrow.

At Mackey Advisors, we are playing our part every day with our clients. New for 2009, we will be offering on line classes and webinars on basic finance, along with our award winning course, Joy and Money 101. Sign up for our newsletter at www.CultivatingProsperity.com to stay in the loop of upcoming events.

Today and everyday, may prosperity be yours,

Mackey McNeill, CPA/PFS, IAR
President and CEO
Mackey Advisors
www.CultivatingProsperity.com
859-331-7755
Mackey@CultivatingProsperity.com