The Beginning of a Movement

I remember growing up in the projects of Birmingham, Alabama.  I don’t remember us having a lot of money, and there were certainly times when things were tight financially in our house but we always managed to get by. Shortly after graduating from high school I enlisted into the United States Marine Corps and spent eight years serving my country.

You are probably wondering where I am going with this story at this point, I said all that to say, when I got out of the military I had with very little of the money that I had earned during those eight years. In fact when I look back on my life I don’t ever remember when or where I was taught about money.

I’ll bet when you look back at your financial life and all the mistakes that you have made with money you don’t remember being taught about it either.  I can vividly remember my darkest hour when it comes to mine and my wife’s personal finances. In February 2001, we were two months behind on our mortgage. The sad part of the story is that during the year 2000 we had earned close to $128K between the two of us. It was then that I came to the realization that I really didn’t know anything about money and how to handle it. This brings me to where I am now; in 2003 I created Alliance Financial Ministries, Inc. a non-profit financial literacy company. Since then I have been on an unending mission to change the lives of all who hear me speak about money.

Today, financial literacy or the lack of financial literacy has reached epidemic proportions among America’s youth. In today's world, many teens work for their own money and don't know how to handle their new-found freedom. Many young people fail in the management of their first consumer credit experience, establish bad financial management habits, and stumble through their lives learning by trial and error. According to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, nearly a third of all high school seniors use at least one credit card, nearly half use ATM cards and more than three-quarters have a savings or checking account. However, just 20% of high school seniors graduate with any formal instruction in personal finance. Many are unable to balance a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved with earning, spending, saving and investing.

So I ask you what we are going to do about this problem. I realize the many times parents and other adults fail to help young people with money because they themselves are having financial problems so the cycle continues. I have decided that enough is enough, if not me who, if not now when.  I have taken necessary steps to create an event to teach high school through college age students about money using a real life perspective. As far as I am concerned this is not just an event it is a financial movement to change the lives of America’s youth.

This is where you come in; I need your help to make this event happen. What I need are first your prayers that I make wise decisions. Secondly, if you are in the Houston and surrounding areas I need for you to volunteer to help during the event, and lastly and most importantly I need funding. Alliance Financial Ministries, Inc. is in the process of raising funding to start the movement. We want to show our youth that they can have a better life and that they can achieve all the things that they are destine to achieve and that we are here for them.

So my friend if you have a teenager, if you know a teenager or if you have ever said to yourself or out loud, “I wish I had learned more about money when I was younger” now is your opportunity to make an impact in the lives of America’s youth. You can do that by joining this movement, to learn more about this live change movement that is about to happen please take a moment to visit our website. Also like our MoneyLive Facebook page and pass this message along. More importantly I need for you to take the time to make a donation to the cause. You can give whatever your heart says to give. We are trying to change generations and that starts with a small donation on your part.

For more information on this life changing moment checkout our website   http://www.moneylive2012.com/  

 Thank you for your time and thank you in advance for your support

Kids and Money – 5 tips to raising money smart kids

I recently  did something that I hope will change my legacy forever. I am hoping that this single act will have a future impact on all my decedents for generations to come. What is this profound act that I speak of you may be asking, well eighteen months ago I took my then 8 year old and 11 year old daughters to our local credit union and open them a savings account.

I have come to realize that many adults are in financial trouble today because they were never formally taught how to properly handle money. I can honestly say that I don’t remember ever being taught a system of money management to get ahead in life.

The results of students who took the 2008 Jump$tart Coalition Survey of Financial Literacy for personal finance received failing scores. A majority of the 4,000 High school students scored an all-time low score of 48.3%. This month I want to share tips on how to raise money smart kids. Like all parents I want my kids to grow up happy and to have some of the things life that I wish I’d had growing up. At the same time I realize that we as parents have to find a balance between giving our kids too much. In the end I want to instill habits in them that will allow them to be productive and to thrive. So how do you make sure your children grow up to understand the value of a dollar, hard work and to pay their bills. It’s simple you teach them, here are five tips to raising money smart kids.

Be an example – when it comes to teaching children about money the best example will be the one that you set. If a child doesn’t ever see their parent(s) exercise discipline, how can we expect them to understand the concept? I am convinced that the reason that more parents don’t teach their children about personal finance is because they themselves haven’t gotten a handle on money. This may mean that in order to be an example you may have to get yourself educated on financial matters before teaching your kids about money.

Start Early – It is never too early to teach kids about money. However, what you teach then should be age appropriate though. To teach kids to be responsible about money you have to first teach them how to be responsible period. You can start as early as two years old to teach children how to make choices. Making choices is a part of life and a big part of learning how to handle money. You can start by teaching kids the concept of, you have to choose from two or three items and you can only have one for now.

If you don’t start the process of making choices early in life how do you expect a 16 year-old to understand that they can’t have both a laptop and an I-pad. Especially if all their life you have given them what they want, when they wanted it. I remember when my kids were younger and we would be shopping and one of them would say “Dad can I have this?” my response to them would be “we do not have the money for that today but if you save some of your money then perhaps we could come back and get it another day”

Let them have skin in the game – It is vitally important that you allow kids to participate in the purchasing process especially if it is something that they want. I have learned that humans, particularly kids are very impulsive. If they see something that looks cool then they want it, no matter what. Like anything else in life we tend to be a little less careless when we have something to lose. If there is something that your child really wants you can test how bad they want it when you make them use some of their own money rather than using yours all the time. I remember when my oldest daughter wanted an electric toothbrush that she had seen on one of our trips to the store. She pleaded with me to get the toothbrush and that she would pay me back with she got her allowance.

I told her “why don’t we wait until you have enough money to buy the toothbrush and I would gladly bring you back to the store to get it.” Several weeks later, after saving her allowance my daughter finally had enough money to purchase her $10 electric toothbrush. We get to the isle where the toothbrushes were and I asked “do you have your money” my daughter looked at the money in her hand and she stared at the toothbrush for a long time. Finally after about three minutes of thinking she said “Dad now that I have some money I think I want to wait and get something that I really want. I already have a toothbrush at home” PRICELESS!

Work = Money – This concept is quite simple, we must teach our children that money comes from working for it. I know I spoke of an allowance earlier in the article and that is something that my mother has chosen to give my kids. For me I choose to let them earn the money to buy the things that they want. There are certain chores that have to be done and my kids won’t get paid for them, like keeping their part of the house clean or folding their own clothes. However I have set aside a short list of other chores that my kids can choose to do and earn some extra cash. The list doesn’t have to be complicated something simple like sweeping up my man-cave (garage) or helping me with a project around the house. The important thing here is to help kids make the connections that you have to work in order to earn an income, nothing is free!

Develop good money habits – Where you are today financially is the result of the decisions that you have made and the habits that you have developed up until this point. To get kids on the right path you have to help them develop good habits early in life. If you were taught to save at an early age then it won’t be hard for you to understand the concept when you are an adult. Good habits lead to good decisions and good decisions lead to prosperity and the opposite is true about bad habits.

Look at where you are financially and compare that to the habits that are a part of your everyday life. If you have made good decisions and have developed good habits then you are probably in a good spot financially if not then – I don’t have to say it do I? There is no secret to raising money smart kids; it’s about making the effort to make sure they understand how money works early and often.

This article was written by Lonnie R. Mathews for the Who's Minding Your Money blog. Lonnie is an author and speaker in the area of personal finance. To learn more about Lonnie or to contact him visit www.lonniemathews.com