The financial education for kids is one of the topics that I like to discuss the most. Based on Robert’s (author of “Rick Dad, Poor Dad”) point of view, in Information Era, kids need not only the traditional acadamic education( like math, reading, etc) and professional education in university, but also need financial education which teachs them how to be able to have financial security rather than job security after graduation. The traditional education is to teach kids how to work for money, while financial education is to teach them how to make money work for them. In my opinion, this concept is strong enough to affect the whole life of our children. Although people have lots of debate on this issue, but one thing is for sure: I want my children to be able to have their own financial security in the future. And I also believe in this point that entrepreneurship should be introduced to kids as part of the financial education at early age as well.
Recently, me and my 8-year-old son Patrick are reading a book together, “You Call the Shorts”, the author of this book is a 21-year-old Cameron Johnson who started his business at age of 9 and achieved his financial freedom before graduating from high school . Although this book seems to be the inspiring book for young entrepreneur, but I’m using it to teach my son the money game: how to have money work for us. I like the stories how Cameron started his business venture when he was 9-10 years old, and how he figured out the value of money through his business and investing, so does my son Patrick. From selling tomato in the neihgborhood to selling Beanie Babies online, start from small, take calculated risks, control the money, we learnt from Cameron that kids can do a lot, financially.
By reading this book together with my child, I understand that we should never underestimate the potential of kids. So if you haven’t already started financial education for your kids, start doing it now, it’s never too early.
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Lillian & Benjamin, we help families achieve financial success
contact: lillianwenli@yahoo.ca
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