Grandparents can take an active role teaching kids about money and personal finance
The essay topic for our annual personal finance scholarship is ‘How my parents taught me about personal finance’ but that doesn’t mean we only learn about money from our parents.
Through the essays, I’ve seen hundreds of stories about how kids are learning great personal finance habits from teachers, friends and everyone in their lives. Grandparents can have a huge influence on your personal finance habits, teaching you just as much as your parents or anyone else around you.
Today’s scholarship essay is by Taylor Fouts, a student at Grace College & Theological Seminary. She shares how her grandparents taught her personal finance lessons from an early age and made all the difference in her financial life.
Check out Taylor’s story and please share on social media. The most-shared essay on how parents can teach their kids about money will win one of our two $500 personal finance scholarships, announced August 31st!
What My Grandparents Taught Me about Money
I was taught about personal finance at a very young age, and my grandparents continue to teach me new things about personal finance every day. From playing with the toy cash register to counting worms to make money in our family business, I was constantly learning about money.
I started making money at a young age, I started counting worms and got paid $5.00 a day. As I got older I started getting an allowance every week, as long as I did my chores. My grandparents taught me the importance of making money, and how not to spend every cent of my paycheck the day I get it.
Eventually, as soon as I turned 16, my grandparents made me go get a “real” job to make my own money.
The Art of Saving Money
I was taught the art of saving money on my 7th birthday, my grandma decided that I was old enough to not spend all my birthday money on useless toys.
After my birthday, she took me to count all my birthday money, then we divided the money in half. Half the money I got to spend on whatever I wanted, the other half we took to the bank and got a savings bond. Ever since that birthday I have always taken half my birthday or Christmas money to the bank to get savings bonds.
As young as seven I was shown that saving money is smart. I was told if I save my money I can get something bigger and better later on. Instead of just going to the store and getting dolls, if I saved up my money I could go to the store and get a bike!
My grandparents have helped me learn the importance of saving money, I like to think I am good at making sure I do not blow my money and always making sure I have enough in the bank to cover my bills.
Grandma’s Money Lessons Keep Teaching
When I turned 18 I got my first credit card, every girl’s dream right?
I was so excited to get whatever I wanted and still have money in my bank account for other things. My grandmother quickly shut that dream down, she explained that I would be paying that bill every month and I would be making the payment as soon as the bill came in the mail.
I quickly learned that having a credit card is not like having endless money, and that I would still need to have that money in my bank account for when the bill came in the mail. My grandma taught me about how to use a credit card appropriately and how to pay my own bills on time or in advanced to avoid those darn late fees.
They say that the elderly are sources of wisdom. If it were not for my grandparents I would probably be broke with many maxed out credit cards, but because they had such amazing knowledge about personal finance and were able to pass their knowledge onto me, I am a successful saver that makes her own money and pays her bills on time.
I want to thank Taylor for her story about learning personal finance habits from her grandparents. Be sure to support Taylor by sharing the article through social media and check in August for the winner of the personal finance scholarship.