23 Oct 2018

How to help your kids get money-smart

From Nine To Noon, 9:24 am on 23 October 2018

Parents can set their kids up for financial independence by giving them some key money lessons early, says Australian investment advisor Scott Pape.

sand piggy bank

Photo: 123RF

Pape has sold over a million copies of his 2016 book The Barefoot Investor, which he says he wrote as if he was advising a mate at the pub about money management.

His new book The Barefoot Investor for Families takes the same straight foward approach to teaching children how to manage money.

Scott Pape

If you've got primary school-age kids, find yourself three jam jars.

Assign your kids some jobs to do around the house that they'll receive money for.

Once a week, they put their earnings into three jars labelled Save, Spend and Give (money they give to less fortunate kids).

The number one fear of the 10,000 parents Pape surveyed for his book was that their children would become spoilt brats with no idea how good they've got it, he says.

Handling physical money helps keep it as a tangible thing, he says. Pape says he doesn't really like banks.

"A lot of banks here in Australia set up these little kiddie accounts because they want to catch customers."

coins in jar

Photo: 123RF

Every parent says they want their kids to be financially literate, but how do know if they are or they aren't, Pape says.

For high school age kids, he has a checklist of 10 "money milestones" they need to tick off before leaving home, which he calls the 'Barefoot 10'.

These milestones include setting up a fee-free bank account, selling some of their own stuff second-hand and learning to cook a couple of low-cost, nutritious meals from scratch.

Kids don't learn or build 'financial confidence' from lecturing, but they do from actual experiences, he says.

"You sit down once a week, generally on a Sunday night, and you have an experience."