As a personal finance consultant, I also teach money management workshops for teenagers and college students, as well as for young or soon-to-be parents.
Many of them worry about how to raise kids who won’t take their family’s hard-earned money for granted. They want to instill values of generosity, hard work, thoughtfulness and compassion.
When clients ask me about this, my initial answer is that if you’re asking the question, that’s a good start. But there’s much more to say about raising children who are grounded with money.
We all know people who have a lot of money and live a very rich life in material goods: big houses, fancy things. Parents who grew up with less often want to make sure their children have the best of everything, but that can backfire.
Just because you can afford for the family to travel first class or book the most expensive accommodations doesn’t mean it’s always the best decision. If you want to raise grounded children, display grounded values. It doesn’t make sense to spend money on things that aren’t important to you just because you have it available. And your kids will notice if you do.
