5 Money Lessons Grandparents Can Teach Their Grandkids
5 Money Lessons Grandparents Can Teach Their Grandkids
Starting as young as age 3, your grandchildren could reap a lifetime of rewards from these five basic financial skills.
If you are like many grandparents, you like your kids, sometimes, but you LOVE your grandkids. Being a grandparent is a special honor. You have a unique ability to shape your grandkids well beyond just spoiling them with sweets and sending them home.
Given how important financial skills are to succeeding at life, it’s surprising schools don’t teach our children more about money. As a grandparent, however, you can teach your grandkids important financial lessons — and you should! These lessons can leave a positive mark on your grandkids for decades to come.
Lesson 1 (ages 3-8): Delay gratification.
You may have to wait to buy something. This is a hard lesson for people of any age to learn, but building the foundation early is a key to financial success. It’s easy for adults simply to buy things for grandchildren who are looking up at them with pleading eyes.
Instead, help them save money and set a goal to buy the item of their dreams. Create a “savings jar” that is clear, so they can see the progress, and help them count the money as they add to it.
Lesson 2 (ages 8-14): Hard work never hurt anyone.
There is a sense of satisfaction in us all when we work hard for something and achieve it. While we’re certainly happy to live in a country and time where 8-year-olds are not working in factories, completing some kid-friendly chores around your home — like raking leaves, dusting or cleaning up the garage — could help teach a valuable lesson about work and reward.
As your grandkids get older, encourage them to become entrepreneurs by starting their own business babysitting, pet sitting or mowing grass. It’s a lesson that will serve them well throughout life.
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