HOW TO FINANCIALLY PREPARE YOUR CHILDREN FOR THE WORLD

It looks like a normal phenomenon that the children of the rich don’t usually turn out rich like their parents; most of them end up unable to manage wealth.

However, this situation is not limited to the rich alone; we have some middle-class and even poor people whose children can’t manage wealth.

There is common denominator: they are not financially prepared for the future.

It is very vital to financially prepare the children for the future, in order to give them financial freedom, especially away from the parents. There are several ways in which we can financially prepare our children for the future.

And we will be checking them out subsequently.

I must also state here that you don’t have to be rich to be able to financially prepare your children for the future.

We are going to be looking at a few strategies to adopt in preparing the children financially for the future.

They are as follows:

Adopt PS - Preventive Spending:

It is a deliberate refusal to give your children everything they demand, even if you are capable of giving.

Giving your children everything they ask from you is the best way to financially forfeit their future. You have to find out what they want to do with what you are giving before deciding to give. You do not have to give because you have it, give because they need it and don’t just assume until you find out.

God uses this same strategy too, you’d agree with me that he does not just give you everything you ask of him, he weighs them, gives us what he knows we need and withdraw what we want but do not really need.

As Image of God, who is to our children as God is to us, we should be able to do the same. This will enable the children understand the value of everything giving and not abuse them.

Teach them TAOMM – The Art of Money Making:

Teach your children to work for their money and you can start it at very early stages of their lives. A child grabs anything they are thought at age 3 and decide to live with them before they turn 6years old. Whatsoever they learn at these stages in life will remain with them for life if situation did not take it away from them.

Does this mean it is wrong to give your children allowances? No!

Giving allowances to your children is good, but don’t give them excessively. Talk to them about working for money, let them understand the reason you adopted “Preventive Spending” is due to the scarce resources, which must be worked for. Also take them through the practical by allowing them to do house chores, and several other household duties.

Decide to pay them occasionally for washing your car(s) or doing certain unusual works for you. Let them know you didn’t dash them the money, but they are paid for what they did.

This will let them understand how important it is to work of their money, especially the ladies, who might be tempted to use their body to get what they want.

Let them go out and work for their monies when they are grown enough to do so, decide not to provide all they need, teach them to work for a part of them, it might be hard, but it pays.

Tell them how you make and spend your money:

Most times because of the big cars, well furnished homes, the children lives in the illusion that their parents pluck money from the tree and won’t understand it until you decide to let them know how you make your money.

It might be hard to convince them you don’t earn much, if you live in a big mansion and drive big cars. Breaking down how the money goes will make them reason with you whenever you adopt “preventive Spending”.

Tell them about house rents, school fees, mortgages, debts, investments and other vital things that take your money away.

This will teach them the art of budgeting and effective spending.

It is not necessary you tell them how much you earn, regardless of how small, it might look big to them and they might expose it outside, but it is cool to use the word “I don’t earn much”, the work you do and how hard it is to make money.

Teach them MMS - Money Management Skills:

Financially, there are two types of people in the world; people that manage money and people that allow money to manage them.  The latter could be worse, because money is a good servant, but a bad master, allow it to master you and you will be on the highway of destruction. This is why it is vital to teach the children how to manage money in order to financially secure their future.

Before your children reach the age when they can work, let them do their budgets by themselves i.e. their school budgets, holidays and welfare. Teach them the influence of money, how it can manage people’s lives if not well managed.Teach them the importance of opportunity cost, which entails going for what is more important and forgoing the less important ones whenever money is limited. It is very important to prevent budget deficit. This will also justify your “Preventive Spending” tactics on them and they will appreciate it much later.

Teach them TAOS – The Art of Saving:

When I was much younger, I was taught how to save by my Grandmother, and I grew with it, even when I earned a meager sum of N8, 000 monthly, I still found a way to save.

While growing up, I usually save money that people give me as gifts, you can’t catch me without money, but at the same time, you catch me buying what I do not need.

This is a type of financial discipline that has been inculcated into me since I was young.

Likewise, any child that is not trained to save money might never become financial independent of his/her parents.

These are the types of children that end up as liabilities in the society; they can’t seem to deal with unforeseen circumstances or take advantage of opportunities, simply because they are always out of fund.

Train your child to save the money they are given as gifts.When I was young, we used what we call “Kolo”, some are made from mud and some are made from woods, with a tiny opening, which enable us to keep money in them and make it very difficult to remove them.

But now, you can open bank account for your children and, also prevent them withdrawing them. This is one of the best ways to prepare them financially for the future.

Teach them TAOI - The Art of Investing:

Sometimes saving doesn’t just help enough, but investing is always important and helpful, depending on how you invest and what you invest in.

Nothing can take the place of investment if you want to be financially buoyant. Teaching the children how to invest is one of the best ways to financially equip them for the future.

Out of what they are saving, teach them to take from it and buy books or other things they might need in school.

When I was in secondary school, I usually save my money to buy school books, so when I got to SS 1 and my Granny didn’t have so much, I took all I have saved and travelled to Lagos and bought the text books I needed. My Granny, whom I was living with, had no choice but to add more money to what I already had and we got the books I needed.

That’s one type of investment in my education, which will eventually earn me financial freedom.

Investment of time is also vital. It would have been useless to buy the books and not spend my time to read them.

For you to prepare your children financially for the future, you have to check what they invest their times in.

You can also buy shares for them in banks and teach them how to go about it. In fact, it is very vital to buy shares for your children, not only with your money, but with their own money too. This will make them be proud of themselves and be financially independent in the future.

Written, edited and delivered by Soul’e Rhymez

Delivered as lecture The Singles Network – TSN & Soul’e Rhymez And Friend – SRAF on 12^th October, 2016.

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