Introducing Kids to Money and Bitcoin \ stacker news ~Personal

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947 sats \ 11 comments \ @hodlpleb 8 Jan Personal_Finance

Several years ago, read the book The Opposite of Spoiled and have since implemented these core ideas with my kids:

Have Spend, Save, & Give jars
They get their allowance each week
Allowance is not dependent on chores, etc
Divide the allowance evenly between the 3 jars

Some other rules we have:

Anything less than $20 comes out of the Spend jar
Anything more than $20 comes out of the Save jar
The Give jar is used to make a donation every 3 months

This system has enabled a ton of great conversations. My 8 year old has learned about credit worthiness, how credit works, the choice between buying a used or new item, etc.

In addition to all this, my kids get Satoshis every week, delivered to a Lightning Wallet on our family iPad.

This has enabled some great conversations about how money works, how the Bitcoin network works, how inflation works... really amazing questions coming from kids and they are excited about the conversations.

This week, they didn't even care about the dollars - just wanted to make sure they got their Satoshis.

I recommend this to all parents out there. Make it a weekly ritual, stick with it for a bit, and watch the questions start to roll in.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @go 7 Feb

This week, they didn't even care about the dollars - just wanted to make sure they got their Satoshis.

Love it

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @TNStacker 8 Jan

I read this to my 6 year old (started at 5).

ABCs of Economics: Simple Explanations of Complex Concepts Like Supply, Demand, Capital, and More for Toddlers and Kids

https://m.stacker.news/11350

Please he hears Bitcoin podcasts in the background a lot.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @hodlpleb OP 9 Jan

You know it's funny, my kid got 3 of these books from a friend, but not the economics one

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 8 Jan

You mentioned credit. This system doesn't implement any credit though right?

I'm wondering if it's better to offer both fiat & bitcoin, keep a record and over the years they will come to their own conclusion. I think having a little to donate is good, but maybe more like 10%

111 sats \ 0 replies \ @hodlpleb OP 8 Jan

The credit conversation has come up when we are at the store and my kid does not have cash with them. I "give them credit" by paying for an item at the store and then they pay me back. In the past, the "paying it back" became a big argument, so they had bad credit.

Also came up in a conversation about how to people buy houses that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bank gives them credit, the same way I give my kid credit at the store.

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @bief57 8 Jan

wow, thank you very much for this, for days I was thinking about ideas on how to teach my daughter about money management and how to teach her about bitcoin, but I couldn't think of anything that was educational or simple options that would be easy for her to understand, she has 7 years and I think your method is pretty cool.

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @hodlpleb OP 8 Jan

Happy to help and share ideas.

My kids get really excited about making the invoice (I have to help them), scanning the QR, seeing the numbers change on my phone and their wallet, etc.

Will prompt conversations over time, you really don't have to force anything once they get into the routine of it.

I do think that making it a regular thing is very important, doing it once in a while is not as productive.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @bief57 8 Jan

Excellent, I understand you have to make it a habit. I only have one question, the sats and the money from the jars... how do they earn it? That is, do they have to do a specific task to earn their "income" or do you just hand it over without any conditions?

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @hodlpleb OP 8 Jan

The suggestion from the book, and what we do, is that the money is not dependent on chores. They get the money every week.

The money is for learning about money.

Chores are an expectation for being part of the household.

If you tie the money to chores, then you'll likely get a kid who says "I don't care, I won't do my chores." - then they miss out on the financial education.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @bief57 8 Jan

I think the same with respect to household chores, they are activities that children must learn to do no matter what, without conditions or rewards, because they are responsibilities that any functional human being must carry out. Only that I had seen that some parents "pay" their children to do "work" (not with respect to the home), for example: "I pay you to assist me in some tasks at the office." But I repeat, your method seems extraordinary to me, I'm going to read the book. thank you!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @hodlpleb OP 9 Jan

We have, on rare occasion so far, paid the older kids for doing specific tasks - raking leaves, pulling weeds, etc - but it's only been when they get a wild idea about earning some extra cash.

We are formulating a plan to make and sell muffins, but the discussion is ongoing.