Don’t underestimate the buying power of kids. These days, the pool of consumers is getting younger and younger. In fact, credit card debt now begins in high school as young people get more financially independent and have access to more resources. Inflation has even hit piggy banks—the average allowance is now $15 a week!
Warren Buffet encourages parents to teach their little kids about money, “There was a study many years ago questioning how to predict business success later in life. The answer to the study was the age you started your first business impacted how successful you were later in life.” He adds, “Sometimes parents wait until their kids are in their teens before they start talking about managing money when they could be starting when their kids are in preschool.” Buffet even started an animated TV show called Secret Millionaire’s Club to help teach young kids how to make good financial decisions.
We teach our kids the value of money and how to save up, but is that all we should be teaching them? Cameron Herald, also known as “The Business Guru” started his first business at age 7. He claims we should be encouraging entrepreneurial skills in our kids from the beginning, qualities like tenacity, leadership, and networking. We should teach them how to handle failure and how to spot bad customer service. According to Herald,
“Unfortunately the school system is grooming this world to say, ‘Hey, let’s be a lawyer or let’s be a doctor,’ and we’re missing that opportunity because no one ever says, ‘Hey, be an entrepreneur.’”
How do you start?
- As often as you read THEM stories, encourage your kid to tell YOU stories. By the time they’re in their first pitch meeting, they’ll be completely confident.
- Teach them to notice things. Instead of assigning chores, Cameron Herald has his kids find things that need to be done around the house and tell him about them.
- Help them make goals, and then have them make specific action plans to make the goals happen.
- Reward initiative – not just work done, but work done really well.
Kids are equipped with unlimited imaginations, so, like entrepreneurs, when they’re confronted with a problem, they’re likely to come up with a pretty creative solution. And now they have the financial backing to see it through. If our next generation knows how to start something new and not plan to get a job and climb the ladder from within, think of what they’ll accomplish.