Teach Your Teen Financial Responsibility #3: Pinpoint your Focus: is it Fight or Fun?

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When you hear the word %u2018money%u2019, what is your reaction?

When you hear the word ‘money’, what is your reaction?

Do you recoil in horror, picturing all the scary bills that must be paid? Do you frown, wondering how you are going to afford Christmas presents this year? Do you cringe, knowing you spend your cash on little treats instead of big adventures?

Or when you hear the word ‘money’ do you glow with pride, pleased with your bank balance? Do you feel confident in how you’ve mastered your income and expenses? Do you smile at the thought of being independently wealthy?

No matter your response, I hope you’re sitting down for this next bombshell. Are you ready for this? Here it comes…

Your teen is developing their money focus based on your financial attitude.

If you believe money is hard to come by and there’s never enough, chances are that’s what your teen will leave home believing. They will fight for their money.

If you believe money flows effortlessly and there’s always plenty, you’re setting your child up with an abundant attitude. They will have fun with their money.

When I was fourteen I was dragged clothes shopping by my parents. In one store I saw the most amazing sweatshirt – it was awesome. It fitted me, I looked good in it, it was the latest style and colour. I loved it!

According to my parents, it was too expensive and they refused to buy it for me. Gutted!

I now understand my parents were giving me their ‘enough for the basics’ money belief. Their highest money value was Security – as farmers they could never guarantee how profitable each season would be, so it made perfect sense to plan for the long-term unknown.

My highest money value is Freedom. I want the flexibility to take advantage of sudden opportunities, to fully enjoy my dollars and not feel constrained or tied down. While planning for my future is still vital, I lose my creativity and sense of potential if I focus too intently on Security.

As you would expect, I have always had enough money for the basics, but it’s taken a bit of ‘reprogramming’ to step into my true Freedom money value.

So how do you set your teen up with a constructive money attitude? Simple – play with it!

Instead of fighting with money, have some fun with it. I don’t mean taking your cash and splurging at your favourite shop. I mean playing with your financial beliefs and rules. So let’s play… here’s

Game #1 : Choose it

Ask your teen this question: Would they rather receive $1million right now, or one dollar – doubled every day for a month?

Which would you choose? Cold hard cash-in-the-hand right now, or wait a month for one-dollar-a-day-doubled?

When I ask this question, most teens glaze over as they picture the million – and how they could easily spend it on cars, clothes, house and trappings of wealth. Nearly every time they forgo the dollar-doubled and choose the million.

If they had the self-control to invest it (say at 10% per year) they would have – thanks to the magic of compound interest – a tidy sum of almost $9,000 extra at the end of that first month. “Beats working!” they claim.

Occasionally I encounter a teen who picks the dollar-doubled, but they usually don’t know why. “Seems like a trick question” might be the explanation.

Their first dollar today is added to two dollars tomorrow, four the day after and eight the next. By the end of the week it’s grown to $64. After two weeks it’s sitting at just $8,192 – nowhere near a million!

But keep doubling. It reaches the one million mark after just 21 days. At the end of 30 days it has swelled to an amazing $536million.

Go on, ask your teen if they’d like a million dollars. It’s an awesome example of how waiting for the reward is sometimes the best money option.

Game #2 : Spend it

This exercise is also called the Prosperity Game. The aim is for your teen to experience making big financial decisions before they start risking the real thing. Plus, it opens their mind to what might be possible and also what they truly want.

How does it work? Each day for three weeks you spend an increasing amount of virtual money. The challenge is you must spend the entire amount – anything left over isn’t carried forward to the next day.

Some people create their own play-money so they can handle the ‘cash’. Others keep a detailed record of each purchase, or journal why they want the item and what it means to them.

Use the simple grid to record your purchases. Today you can spend $100. Tomorrow spend $200, then $300 and $500 – each day increases by adding together the last two totals. By the end of three weeks you’re trying to spend over a million.

Are you and your teen up for the challenge?

Have fun with these games. Start talking with your teen about money – it’s not a taboo subject and is definitely not worth fighting about. Play with ways to cut your financial umbilical cord and give your teenager a secure financial foundation.

Richard JaramilloRichard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com,
a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children.
RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents
“Make Life Happen…Again!”