🤑 4 Tips for talking to kids about money

Plus, how to deal with debt

View this email online Becky Harlan/NPR A few weeks ago, I received a note from my neighbor. She wasn’t issuing a noise complaint or a final plea to get my yappy dogs under control. (Though if you’re in that situation, we have some advice!) Instead, handwritten on torn notebook paper in pink and green sparkly gel pen was an advertisement for her summer pet-sitting service. She’s in elementary school.  Entrepreneurship at such a young age. It made my day! Do you remember how you first started learning about money? Setting up a lemonade stand? Or maybe watching how your parents dealt with household expenses?  April is financial literacy month, so we’re sharing some advice on talking to kids about money from Jen Hemphill, an accredited financial counselor and host of the Her Dinero Matters podcast. She helps people take control of their own money stories and aids parents in finding their family's best financial footing. Money is hard to talk about. Teaching your kids how to have conversations about money — and that it’s OK to do so — is an important investment. Read on for four tips to help you get started.  — Beck Harlan, Life Kit Visuals Editor Newsletter continues after sponsor message Start the conversation — and include the kids. Try including kids in small acts of financial decision-making. For example, if you're at the grocery store, give your 5-year-old a chance to pick the bread you’ll buy from a few options. Then talk to them about their reasoning. Know that an allowance isn't one-size-fits-all. Think about your own budget, what’s age-appropriate, your kid's money needs and any financial goals you've crafted with your child. You’ll also want to consider the terms of the allowance: Will it be tied to chores, behavior or neither? Are they required to save? Will older kids be responsible for some of their necessities? Start saving as early as possible. Make saving a regular part of life when kids are young, so it becomes a habit as they grow. Try a give-save-spend bank, which can teach even little kids to think about financial goal-setting and helping others. Don't wait. If you wait until your finances are perfect before talking to kids about money, "then you're doing a disservice to your kid," says Jen. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to start the conversation. Listen to the whole episode here ⬇️ Keep scrolling for more tips from Life Kit. Access Sponsor-Free Episodes Want to support our show? Try a subscription to Life Kit+ and get all the tips and tricks you love sponsor-free! Learn more at plus.npr.org/lifekit.  Learn More 🗣💸  More Life Kit tips on talking about money  "Credit card debt is rising at one of the fastest rates ever," says NPR’s global economics correspondent Stacey Vanek Smith. She sat down with Life Kit host Marielle Segarra to talk about how to approach paying down different types of debt. They even role-played specific scenarios, like declining a bridal party invite, because of financial constraints. Watch the video here:  One thing Stacey makes clear: talking about money is mushy and personal because “money is like an abstraction of value.”  “Money is this stand-in for so many things for people. It gets tied into feelings of security, freedom, possibility, adventure, opportunity, intelligence. So when people are talking about money, they’re almost always talking about something else, and it’s not usually what you associate with money." It’s important to remember, she says, that oftentimes two people might think they’re talking about the same thing when they’re talking about money, but they aren’t actually speaking the same language.    Here are some episodes to help you start productive conversations about money with the people in your life:  😬 How to face your own money avoidance  👯 How to talk about money with a partner  💳 How to talk about money with friends  💰 How to ask for a raise  ❌ How to tell people you won’t work for “exposure”    Coming up on Life Kit:  🖍 How to parent without being reactive 🩺 Tips for talking to your doctor  💵 Advice on a tricky money situation  Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can find more of our digital stories here. And if you liked this newsletter, share the love and forward it to a friend. 🥰 Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: LifeKit@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Daily News, Code Switch, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Life Kit emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy