You want to raise your kids the right way and make sure they are streetwise in many different things, but one conversation that too many of us don’t have with our kids, is a talk about money.

Making sure your children are financially literate and getting them to understand the importance and consequences attached to money could prove to be time well spent, and should help them avoid a few common mistakes and misapprehensions along the way.

Filling in the gaps

You children will get a school education that teaches them how to read and write as well as a good grounding in mathematics, but financial literacy is noticeably in short supply when you look at the curriculum taught by many schools.

It seems that many schools simply don’t have a requirement to teach financial literacy and therefore it can often be the case that your kids could finish their education and head out into the world of employment, without having some of the basic financial skills they need as an adult.

This is why it is so important to talk to your children, answer their questions and give them some sort of grounding on how to handle money.

A lifetime relationship with money

It goes without saying that if you teach your children about money you are laying the foundations for a lifetime relationship with money, where they understand the significance and difference between earning, spending and saving the cash that comes their way.

Financial literacy is not something achieved overnight and it has to be age appropriate to a certain extent, but even at a young age, the simple concept of putting money in a piggy bank in order to save up for something they want, is a valuable lesson that they can carry with them in later life.

Teaching your teens

If you have teenagers, you will probably already be aware from their behaviour at times, that they are preparing for adulthood and testing the boundaries.

It is also the time where you can have a more adult conversation with your kids about money and actively involve them in some regular transactions so that they can see how it all works. Explaining to them about budgeting, even discussing the difference between short and long term loans, can all be useful guidance and definitely worth having a conversation with them about.

It is a good idea to talk to your teenage kids about things like credit cards, and answer any questions they have about the subject. Make no mistake, banks tend to target teenagers and offer them financial products as soon as they are old enough to apply, so you want to ensure that they know what they are getting into and how to handle credit responsibly.

There are several important conversations you should have with your kids, some of them are going to be awkward and even embarrassing, but if you want to set them on the right path when it comes to money, make sure you talk to them about it at every stage of their childhood.

Ben Head loves to share his money saving insights and research. With the economy the way it is there’s never been a better time to learn how to make savings in everyday life. If you find Ben’s content useful, you can read more of his work at https://www.everyday-loans.co.uk/news/