Serve Magazine from Concordia Plan Services Winter 2017 | Page 13

Remember that this applies to eating
out and other activities, not just
purchasing items. You can explain
that your budget (or jar) for eating out
allows you to go out only once a week.
Explain Taxes
You walk to the checkout, and there are
$0.99 candy bars. Your child has $1,
which won’t cover the tax. How do you
explain it?
Talk to your kids about how taxes go to
pay for all kinds of necessities that are
provided by the local, state and federal
government. Everything from the road
that you’re driving home on, the police
station and park you pass along the
way, the streetlights near your road — all
these things are made possible by the
taxes that are collected. And because
everyone uses these services, everyone
helps pay for them.
If your daughter is saving for a special
t oy, have her add taxes to the cost of
the item. You can round taxes up to be
about $0.10 for every $1 spent, so she’ll
know for sure that she’ll have enough
for her purchase. If it ends up being a
little less, the leftover money can be
placed back in the jar.
Using Credit Cards Let Them Give
You’re checking out with a cart full of
necessities, and you pull a magic card
out of your wallet that lets you leave
the store with everything you need. You
didn’t have to give them money — all
you had to do was swipe! At least, that’s
how it looks to your child. So take the
time to explain that you’ll receive a bill
from the “magic card” company that
has your grocery store purchases on
it, so they understand that you’re still
responsible for the payment. The older
your child is, the more details you can
give about interest and fees that are
associated with the credit card. Remind
them that what goes on the card comes
out of your bank account later. Help your children realize that as
Christians, they need to share their
resources and blessings with others.
It’s our duty out of thanksgiving to God
to help support our church and the
preaching of the Gospel, and contrib-
uting financial support is just one of the
ways that we do this. You don’t want to
dictate how much they give, because
you want them to give willingly and in
thanksgiving for blessings received,
not because of pressure. If your kids
want to give back to the community,
help them choose a charity that has
special meaning to them. In addition,
letting them purchase items for a char-
ity can help them make a connection
about helping others. For example,
let your daughter use the money she
saved to purchase dog toys for a local
animal shelter.
Make Saving Fun
To a kid, putting money in a saving jar
may be boring. But there are many
banks and financial institutions out
there that have special youth savings
accounts that can help make saving fun.
Some will have special sticker books to
help kids see how much they’ve saved,
others have special youth events or
newsletters, and still others will provide
financial incentives.
For example, the Lutheran Church
Extension Fund (LCEF) has a special
Young Investors Club. In addition
to receiving a small joining gift, kids
receive birthday cards and newsletters.
Young Investors can also complete a
form to receive monetary rewards for
good grades, and older investors can
receive rewards for service work to the
community (see their ad on page 14 for
more information).
These kinds of accounts can help create
excitement for saving and visiting the
financial institutions. When their state-
ments come in the mail, praise your
children for how much they’ve been
able to save.
Resist the Temptation to
Interfere
Your children won’t learn about money
overnight; after all, we all struggle with
spending, saving and giving on a daily
basis. And you might be tempted to
step in and dictate how their money is
spent. But just because you know that
a $20 stuffed animal is going to end
up on the floor in a pile with other toys
that hardly ever get touched, you still
need to let them make their purchases.
You can provide advice, but you can’t
dictate how they spend their money.
They’ll learn on their own about spend-
ing wisely, but it’ll take some time.
You’ll also need to resist the temp-
tation to give them “credit” toward
their purchases — $15 in the spending
jar means they wait another week to
purchase that stuffed animal, otherwise
you’ll open up a jar of worms.
Sources: DaveRamsey.com and Forbes.com
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