Category Archives: Kids & Money

Financial Fun and Games for Kids

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Now that school is out, most children will be looking forward to participating in enjoyable activities throughout the summer. If you’re a parent of kids with an overabundance of energy, you know how difficult it can be to keep them engaged in useful endeavours during the holidays.

If your vacation budget is tight and you don’t want your children to spend countless hours glued to the TV screen, tablet or telephone, you will have to get creative in serving up summer fun. Here are a few ideas that will keep your kids entertained, while learning about money and finance.

Explore our money history

Our coins and banknotes can provide a wealth of information about our history and national facts for younger children. By creating entertaining activities around the units of currency, you will help them to recognise them and appreciate interesting tidbits about our country. Continue reading Financial Fun and Games for Kids →

Holiday Reality Check for Kids

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It’s often been said that the Christmas holiday period is best enjoyed by children (or those who are young at heart!) Most youngsters look forward to a visit from Santa Claus, who travels around the world on one special night, rewarding all the good kids with the presents they wished for.

Many other children, who are old enough to realise that the celebrated tale is just a fantasy, still expect to see their brightly wrapped gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. Going out to a few parties or festive events is also a major part of the seasonal excitement that children really want to enjoy.

For most parents or caregivers, the squeals of delight and enthusiastic hugs that they receive from their satisfied kids help to make the holidays extra special. I believe that there are very few adults who would willingly take away their children’s joy by denying them their heart’s desire at Christmas. Continue reading Holiday Reality Check for Kids →

Practical Money Lessons for Your Children

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Money is such an integral part of our lives, yet it is often misunderstood, misused and mismanaged. One of the reasons some adults find it hard to make the most of their money is that they never learned good financial practices at an early age.

If you are a parent or have the responsibility of teaching children, then one of the most important things you can do for their development is to help them appreciate money and finances when they are young. One way to do this is to incorporate money lessons into their everyday activities.

Money will be less of a mystery to children when they see it being smartly utilised in their real-life experiences on a regular basis. Here are some simple ideas on how you can help your kids to understand money and give them a head start on becoming financially well-adjusted adults. Continue reading Practical Money Lessons for Your Children →

Is Borrowing for Education a Good Idea?

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Back-to-school time is here and many consumers are busy sourcing books, supplies, uniforms and other items for their children or for their own schooling. During this period, there is usually an increase in advertisements promoting educational assistance loans.

The reality is that many people have to borrow money to pay for these school expenses. While the ability to access financing for school purposes may seem like a blessing when your budget is tight, is it always a financially smart move? Continue reading Is Borrowing for Education a Good Idea? →

Jamaican Money Resources

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Over the years, I have observed a steady increase in the number of Jamaicans who are trying to develop their money skills and find ways to improve their finances. There is a wealth of financial information available on the internet or in books and CDs; but very often the material has been developed for an overseas audience, so some of the details might not be relevant to our situation.

While basic money principles are the same regardless of the country of origin, there are certain financial issues that are unique to our culture that can only be adequately covered from a local viewpoint. It is therefore encouraging to see that some Jamaican authors have risen to the task of spreading financial literacy by sharing their knowledge and experiences about money.

Let’s look at some of the locally available books that aim to educate persons about personal finance and business matters. Continue reading Jamaican Money Resources →

Money Mission: Raise Money-Smart Kids

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Many people, upon reaching their twilight years, will look back with regret at some of the choices they made in life. Remorseful memories of ‘youthful exuberance’ are often money-related; as the poor financial decisions that we made long ago have consequences that can negatively impact our fortunes forever.

Sometimes, I wish I could take a trip on a time machine so that I could change my past. One of the first things I would seek to rectify would be my imprudent actions regarding money. I would erase the careless spending and non-existent saving habits that characterised my early years, and replace them with sensible money practices.

If you’re like me, and you have a less-than-impressive history with money, don’t hold your breath waiting for that time machine to be invented! While we can still make smart decisions today that may eventually turn around our finances, life would have been definitely easier if we had learned and applied the right principles when we were young. Continue reading Money Mission: Raise Money-Smart Kids →

More Money Lessons I Wish I Had Learnt In School

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In nine years of experience in providing personal financial advice, I have trained thousands of persons from all walks of life about the principles of money; I have coached highly paid doctors and lawyers and counselled lower-income workers.

There is one factor that unites the majority of persons who seek my assistance – they are facing financial distress because they are unaware of the basic steps that they should take to successfully manage, multiply and maintain their money.

I can recall the frustration of a professional who earns more money in one month than most Jamaicans will see in a year, as he painstakingly tried to organise his finances to get out of debt. “I can’t believe that I don’t know how to budget,” he sighed, “why didn’t they teach us about this money stuff when we were in school?” Continue reading More Money Lessons I Wish I Had Learnt In School →

Money Lessons I Wish I Had Learnt In School

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Recently, while planning for a trip to a Spanish-speaking country, I realised that I had forgotten all the lessons I had learnt in high school about this foreign language. Although I had passed the subject in external examinations many years ago, I had no recollection of even the basic concepts.

Unfortunately this problem is replicated with many of the subjects that I studied in school from primary up to tertiary levels. Although I may have excelled at them in class, the reality is that I did not practise their principles outside of school, so their content became distant memories.

I know my situation is not an isolated case of ‘school-subject Alzheimer’s’. I have often wondered why our education system focuses on teaching children so many obscure topics, while ignoring some practical areas that are crucial to the development of our students. I believe that more attention needs to be paid to imparting important life skills to help them to cope in the real world. Continue reading Money Lessons I Wish I Had Learnt In School →

Should Children Be Allowed To Earn Money?

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Upon mention of the words ‘child labour’ many people might envision a harrowing scene straight from a Charles Dickens’ novel; with malnourished children slaving away on an assembly line, producing goods for cruel, predatory adults. The concept of kids working for money has somehow been associated with a denial of childhood rights and forced employment.

Unfortunately in Jamaica, poverty and ignorance has driven too many parents to curtail their children’s education at an early age, turning them out onto the fields, markets and streets to contribute an income to the family home. We have all seen young children in uniform plying their wares, explaining that they needed to collect enough money to go to school the next day.

The question about children working for an income came to the forefront a few months ago around a television commercial featuring youth, obviously not yet in their teens, singing for a cellular telephone company.

A complaint was raised that the advertiser was unethical to use children to promote its product. Eventually, a warning from the Ministry of Labour and Welfare was issued reminding people that children of a certain age should not be employed. Continue reading Should Children Be Allowed To Earn Money? →

Balancing Boomerang Kids

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Twenty-nine-year-old Robert was confident that his MBA in finance would secure him a solid career and a comfortable future. After getting laid off from his enviable position at a top financial institution, he found it difficult to replace his income and had to accept a job with a 50 per cent pay cut.

Unable to afford his rent and faced with mounting unpaid bills, Robert had no choice but to move back home with his mother.

Susan, a 46-year-old divorcee, had very little to fall back on after her husband of 25 years left her. She had not worked for a long time and was desperate without a place to call home. With no children, the only place she could turn to for help was her elderly parents.

Despite her best efforts, Susan has been unsuccessful in obtaining a job and feels frustrated about being dependent on her parents for survival. Continue reading Balancing Boomerang Kids →