This is a guest post from Jane Atkins.  Thanks for contributing Jane!

There are literally hundreds of ways you could decide to teach your children how to handle money. Introducing concepts at an early age will help them understand the importance of saving and making proper financial decisions later in life. When you use some of these simple steps, you can encourage your children to learn about personal finance and prevent them from making financial mistakes in the future.

Start Early

The first thing you should know is that your children will benefit most if you start talking about money early in their lives, and then continue to teach the topic often throughout their childhood. Everyday activities, such as a grocery store run, an ATM stop, paying with your credit card at a restaurant, or even paying your own bills could be used as teaching moments for your children. As soon as they can count, introduce them to coins, and teach them about counting money. Use terms that they will be able to understand at their age, and teach more difficult topics as they grow.

Working for Money

Encourage your children to earn their money by working. Don’t simply hand out an allowance every week without assigning odd household jobs for them to accomplish. Give them the option to babysit, do yard work, or clean the house in order to earn their allowance. This will make them see a connection between the work they do and the money they make. A video game won’t just be $60, but it will also mean mowing the lawn six times.

Wants and Needs

Help your children learn the difference between wants and needs. This will prepare them for tough decisions in the future.

Goal Setting

Teach them about setting goals and how they can reach them. When your child wants you to buy them a new toy, this is a great opportunity to show them how to achieve a goal. Once they are able to get that toy themselves, they will feel much more gratified, and the whole process will help them learn to be responsible.

Saving

All children should learn the benefits of saving. You can start this lesson young, but as your children get older, you can start to talk about earning interest, building credit, and saving
for retirement. Teach them about the hazards of borrowing, and how spending with a credit card could mean paying more in the end with interest. One saying that I like to use is, “There are two types of people in this world: those who earn interest and those who pay interest. Which do you want to be?” My father used that one and it’s stuck with me ever since. 6. Lead by Example – Your children will never learn the proper way to use money if you don’t “practice what you preach.” Explain how to write a check, pay a bill, or why you don’t keep a balance on your credit card. When they see how you handle money, they are much more likely to follow your example.

Give Back

One important part of making money is learning how to give back. Children should learn at a young age that giving to others makes you feel good. Tell them that money isn’t the only important thing they can give, but they can also give their time, their toys, or their cloths to help others. Let them choose a charity they would like to help so that they stay interested in the project.

Allow Them to Make Some Decisions

Whether they make a good decision or a poor decision, they will learn from the experience, and they will know what they can do better for next time.

Jane Atkins is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about credit cards for no credit.