The Financial Fairy Tales Blog

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Financing is a scary topic of conversation for most people. The majority of adults struggle to maintain a financially secure situation, but with children, the concept is foreign and boring. It can be hard to make the topic seem a little less dull when explaining it to your kids, but some of these conversations are better had now. I’m sure you’d rather you helped them now, as opposed to when they’re adults and they come back to you with financial problems out of which they’re struggling to wiggle.

The reason you should be asking yourself whether your children will be financially secure is because one day they’ll be sorting out their finances for themselves. There’s only so much you can help them, but one day you won’t be there and they’ll have to make decisions by themselves. It may not be a pressing issue on their minds now, but considering most adults are perplexed by money and how we’re ‘supposed’ to be using it, it’s best to ensure your child never ends up in such a tricky, confusion, unstable situation.

Aiming for success rather than money is a crucial skill.

If you’re in a financially secure position, the reason you most likely ended up here was through a good career at some point in your life, whether that was in the past or you’re currently in a very stable job. The most invaluable advice you can give to your children is to focus their energy on finding out what their true goal out of life is and pursuing their talents. Their skillset will lead them a good career and that will financially support them much more than any savings account or investment scheme.

Teach your children to take advantage of opportunities in life and seek out their own happiness and success before all else. If they think about this, money will come as a result. Just focusing on money can be a damaging way to live, as it doesn’t actually provide any solutions or methods to achieve financial independence and security. If your child ends up in a company with great career progression, they can chase goals rather than money. Of course, the two go hand in hand, so it’ll work out perfectly for them. It’s all about the right mindset.

Goals should be short-term.

We’ve already discussed the importance of reaching for goals and happiness, rather than simply money in and of itself. Of course, this doesn’t mean your children should be stretching endlessly for distant future objectives. When they become a young adult and enter the working world, they’ll still have their whole lives ahead of them. This will be a time for them to learn about the fine balance between socialising and working. They might benefit from getting help from companies such as Blueprint Wealth – financial advisors; as there’s only so much you can do to teach them how to use their money. It is their money, after all.

Of course, saving is still important.

Whilst building a career and striving for happiness is key, let’s not discourage the importance of saving. It’s always important to think about future investments, rather than encourage your kids to blow money as soon as they earn it. Some element of planning should be involved. That’s a crucial thing to teach your kids, because, as recent educational reforms have shown, we haven’t done a great job at educating the younger generation about debt as of the last few decades.

Whilst that may change in the future, it’s up to you to act now to educate your children. They might have a secure job, but they need to know what to do with their salary once they’ve earnt it.