10 secrets about money parents should teach their children

The impact of successful parenting

For all the benefits offered by modern school systems, most people are of the mind that schools are missing some crucial aspects. And, to an extent, I have to agree with them. Schools don’t teach us anything about essential things like:

• How to stay healthy
• How to make money
• How to succeed in life
• How to treat each other
• And so on

Most of us learn how to handle money at home — from interactions with our parents and siblings.

When my daughter Dayana arrived in the UK, she was barely 13 years old. I gave her six months to improve her English and get used to the new place. Not long after, she began showing interest in my business. She found the entire thing fascinating and wanted to learn more. Naturally, I was happy to oblige. Of course, I took my time in showing her the ropes. After all, there is only so much business information you can pour into a teenager without overwhelming, or risking to bore them. As the years passed, however, she didn’t show any signs of getting bored. Quite the contrary — she was actually more and more engaged in the whole adventure! And, since I could really use a hand with my marketing campaigns, it was a great and useful experience for both of us.

Back then, a friend of mine suggested that I start rewarding her for her efforts, and I took his advice. I was giving her a sizable portion of additional “pocket” money that she could spend on whatever she liked. I believe that this can be extremely beneficial in teaching young children responsibility both in terms of work and handling money. She’d help me during the weekend, she’d learn about marketing, creating websites and SEO alongside me, and she’d get additional funds to buy stuff.

Getting your children involved in things that you do is a great way to not only strengthen your bond but also convey valuable life lessons. With younger kids, something simple, like making them an active participant in taking care of the house is more than enough. As they grow older, however, you can do a whole lot more than that.

Here’s a list of 10 things that you should teach your children to help them succeed in life:

Teach your children patience

Learning how to do something takes time. Becoming a master takes both time and dedication. Sadly, for many people, mastery is not even on the table, be it due to the lack of passion, patience or just plain desire to learn. If you want your children to get anywhere in life, do your best to teach them patience.

Don’t encourage behaviour based on instant gratification. Encourage them to set small goals and work towards them. Celebrate their successes together. Show them the value of dedication, and they’ll be happier for it.

Teach your children how to be productive

Consistency is crucial for success, and if you want your child to one day have a successful career or business of their own, you should try to teach them productivity. As we all know, business and success aren’t a one-and-done type of deal. For most of us, myself included, success only comes after long years of consistent work and dedication. Without self-discipline and productive habits, getting far in life is almost impossible for all but the luckiest of people.

Teach your children the importance of money

Whether or not you believe that money is both a requirement and guarantee for happiness, you should do your best to teach your children the importance of having money. At the end of the day, regardless of your views, money is a means to an end. A person with money will be able to do a lot more things that someone without a penny to their name. And that’s not an easy concept to convey to a child.

Teach your children to manage money

Doing what I did with Dayana, and letting your children see the nitty-gritty details of managing your household income will help them build a solid foundation. While children are young, they won’t have the concept of needing money to live. For many, things just sort of appear out of nowhere when they need them. However, we all know that’s not true. A lot of people subscribe to the notion that you shouldn’t burden your child with concepts like budgeting or income planning.

That you should “just let the kids have their childhood” free and unrestrained by adult worries. Sadly, this type of successful parenting usually leads to disaster. Any responsible parent (even those guilty of the above mentality), will naturally want to do everything in their power to prepare their offspring for what awaits them further down the line. By disconnecting your child from the process, you’re not doing it a favour. As a matter of fact, you’re doing it a disservice — you’re essentially forcing them to learn things the hard way on their own.

Teach your children how to earn money

Show your kids that there are many different ways of making money. Have you ever wondered why so many of the wealthy and successful people encourage their kids to look into different types of jobs? They do it because it shows them how the various ways of earning money work and highlights the differences.

These practical demonstrations serve to teach the children that you can make money in a myriad of ways and that you aren’t limited to working for someone else. More often than not, these children will then go on and create businesses of their own, using what they’ve learned.

Teach your children the difference between assets and liabilities

You can roughly split things into two categories — things that make you money and things that cost you money. Naturally, if you want to have an easier life in general, you’d want to focus on obtaining assets and minimising liabilities. Learn the importance of investing and teach your children how and why they should invest (link to that blog in the resource section).

Teach your children that nobody owes them anything

Children growing up in wealthy families can often develop the notion that stuff comes to them from thin air. That just because they exist, they’re entitled to owning things and having their needs met. Of course, they couldn’t be farther from the truth. As most self-made business owners can tell you, success is earned, not granted.

It doesn’t fall out of the sky, and it doesn’t come to you just because of who your parents are. And while children coming from a successful background will generally have a much easier time getting through the early stages of their lives, they will eventually need to develop themselves as well. Unless they’d rather lose their fortune, that is.

Teach your children social skills

Networking is vital for business success — that much is obvious to just about everyone. More importantly, however, are the social skills crucial for a happy and productive life. And, as with most of my other business-related article, this tip goes beyond the “building wealth” aspect. The more reliant we become on technology, on social media and other methods of digital communication, the more our social skills suffer.

A vast number of people today perform most of their “social” interactions online, and this takes a significant toll on their ability to hold a conversation face-to-face. Don’t let your children fall into this trap and encourage them to lead a balanced and healthy social life.

Teach your children to always aim higher

You can always do better. No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you are doing, there is always room from improvement. And yes, with time progress slows down as you become better and better at your craft. In many areas, be it business, physical fitness, mastery of a language or skill at your job, progress begins in small steps.

Then, as you build up your experience and gain confidence, you will start taking longer strides or even leaps forward. Eventually, you will feel as if your progress has slowed to a crawl. This is natural. It’s nothing to be afraid of or get discouraged by. Teach your children this simple truth and make sure that they don’t give up when faced with the inevitability of it.

Teach your children that helping others is the best way of making money

Not only does helping others feel like the right thing to do, but it also is, in essence, at the cornerstone of successfully selling a product or service. Think about it — the most successful and famous companies around the world have only got to where they are today because they’ve solved problems.

Everyone has problems and pain points. By focusing on dealing with them, you’re paving your road to success. And by teaching your child about the logic behind is, you’re essentially helping it set the foundation for its future success in life.

And what about you? Did your parents ever share such ideas with you? Were you taught anything about building wealth, or did you have to learn it all by yourself? Are you doing it for your kids, or do you believe that first-hand experience is the best teacher? Leave me your thoughts, opinions and experiences in the comments below — I always love hearing from you!

Thank you all for reading and I’ll see you next time!

Stay green and motivated!

© Lifestyle Tips by Antoaneta

RESOURCES:

• Your Success Factors — All of my articles on Success and Effective Living
• It’s time to talk about ISA rates — Understanding Individual Savings Accounts
• The best investments out there — How and why you should look into investing
• Investing for beginners — How I got into property investing and why I like it so much
• Debit and Credit Cards — A quick write-up on the differences between credit and debit cards
• Rich Dad Poor Dad — Robert Kiyosaki
• Money: The Top 100 Best Ways To Make And Manage Money — Ace McCloud
• Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ — Robert Kiyosaki
• The Ultimate Finance Book -Roger Mason