When it all began, Dad explained the importance of giving and saving, and suggested that he gave at least 20p and that savings were at least 20p, but it was up entirely up to him.

Next Saturday the son milled the coins around in his hands for ages, seemingly separating them out and reckoning. Eventually, he put 40p in the Save piggy and the rest in the Give piggy.

Concerned his son might not have understood, he asked him why he’d chosen to give all but 40p.

He said, “I thought I’d Save twice as much. I don’t need anything, so I don’t need to put anything in Spend, so I’ll give the rest to those who do.”

Dad, full of joy, with tears in his eyes, picked up the kid and thew him up in the air. “Come on son, we’re going down the sweet and toy shops: I am SO proud of you!” and promptly spent £20 on him!

Teaching Your Kids Early On Is The Best Way To Ensure Financial Responsibility…

Tine Fortune – That is awesome Tina! I too, look forward to watching them make their own decisions as they get older. I plan to take advantage of every teachable moment I can. You should of seen Isaac at the store trying to pick out a toy. It was almost as if he was on a shopping spree and when we told him he couldn’t get something because he didn’t have enough money he seemed confused by that. I have to say it was mighty cute!

Angie – Yeah I agree Angie! I want them to learn to live on less so they can save and give more. I am very excited to be able to teach my children about money. I like Dave’s car program too. I believe he calls it the 401Dave. He recalls a story in FPU where his daughters took advantage of that. The first one saved a lot, but the second one, after realizing Dave was serious, saved almost $10,000. She bought and paid for her first car with cash, and that must have been a very influential part of her life. The pride that must come from being able to do that is the best.

Dave – It’s okay that we disagree Dave, it’s a part of life. I would love to know of these Governments you speak of that spend the money properly. Bottom line for me is that freedom is more important. By taxing the people into oblivion you are limiting their potential and making them more dependent on the Government. That is not freedom. Working to give almost half of your money to an inept and wasteful Government is servitude which is far from living free. I tell you what. When, or if, the tax system in this country ever changes, you can give extra come tax time and I will give my money to charities that can better and more efficiently help those that it intends on helping. That is the difference for me. Where Government is involved there is likely gobs of waste and red tape. To each is own my friend.

Ken – I know what you mean Ken. For me, we never talked about money either and I know of many people who consider their finances to be TOP SECRET. In my opinion that is how your children learn the value of a dollar, or in our current state, the devalue of the dollar. lol I plan on sharing our entire financial situation with our children so that they may see just how it works. If you want your children to take over the family business you wouldn’t keep the operational and financial plans a secret. You would instead teach them hands on so that they may successfully run the business themselves one day. That’s the way I see the money side of teaching kids. Nothing is a secret. Thanks for your thoughts Ken! Keep on making that progress my friend!

I think you should reference the US government. Many other countries are taxed by their government much greater, the money is properly used and the people don’t complain about higher taxes. I understand your US government theory (disagree with your tax and government stance..that’s for another day), but saying ‘the government’ is much different than ‘the US government’.

Just saying…

Dave Damron
LifeExcursion