September 25th, 2009 by john 
in Categories: 
Teaching our kids about money at a young age is absolutely necessary in today’s complicated financial world. As parents, we need to ensure our children develop good money habits that they will carry into adulthood. Children who don’t learn basic money management skills will pay the price for a lifetime. Setting up some chores and paying an age appropriate allowance is a great way to help introduce your children to the basic concepts of money. Paying a regular allowance will help teach your kids to take some responsibility for their money decisions. And talking to our children about money is an important part of the process. This can be a daunting task, particularly if we were not taught solid financial skills ourselves.
Help Is Available
I recently came across a site called ThreeJars. I signed up for the free 15 day test drive and was very intrigued with what I found. They have developed a process to help teach kids to earn, save, spend and share. I sure wish something like this had been around when our kids were growing up! Our children had weekly chores and were paid an allowance. But, ThreeJars automates the process and lets the kids take ownership in what happens with their money.
Money Wise, Caring Kids
ThreeJars goal is to help parents in “Raising a Financially Responsible Child”. The jars represent Saving, Spending and Giving. The system allows you or your kids to set up predetermined percentages in each of the three categories. For instance, you could set Saving to 30%, Spending to 50% and Giving to 10%. In the setup process you choose a payday and on that day the allowance is automatically divided and placed in the “jars”, according to your instructions. You will then receive an email reminding you to pay their allowance. By automating their allowance, your kids will save more, spend less and share too.
Check out ThreeJars and see how they:
1. Transform how kids think about money,
2. Accelerate kids’ interest in saving, and
3. Teach concrete charitable giving.
Give It a Try
Three Jars is a great tool to help teach children some basic financial responsibility. Not to mention the value of giving to others. This is definitely worth checking out. And I have made that easier with 5 FREE – One Year Family Memberships and a coupon code for 30% off!
Give-a-Way
I have 5 FREE – One Year Family Memberships to ThreeJars (a $30 value).
How To Win a Membership
Leave a relevant comment, related to teaching kids about money. As always, spammy, “Great blog” comments will not be accepted.
On Friday, October 2, 2009, I will pick 5 winners using Random.org.
Additionally, I have a discount code for readers of EZGreatLife. It’s good for 30% off the annual membership of $30.00. Use code EZGL1234 when signing up. This code is valid until October 31, 2009.
That’s it! Good Luck!
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My name is John.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That is a wonderful way to teach children about budgeting. Mostly kids think you put your card into the machine and it gives you money. They have no idea where the money comes from. And jars (or envelopes) are a very real manifestation of the concept of where the money is allocated. It also creates the concept of giving. Excellent.
Jan from BetterSpines´s last blog ..The Wilk Antitrust Lawsuit, etc
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John reply on September 26th, 2009 7:02 am:
I agree Jan. I think this is a wonderful way to teach kids about handling money. Especially with today’s busy families, the automation is wonderful!
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As a parent, this is invaluable information. Teaching kids to understand and respect the value of money will only put them ahead of the curve as they get older. Alas, my son is all grown up and will have to make do with having me as his money mentor…hmmm, wonder how that’s gonna turn out?
peace,
mike
livelife365
Mike Foster´s last blog ..Landscape Escape
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John reply on October 1st, 2009 7:08 am:
I agree Mike, most kids today get little or no financial education at all. Any information we can pass on will prove invaluable for the rest of their lives.
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