Don't you wish you'd gotten practical financial education when you were young? Financial literacy month provides a great opportunity to help children, teens, and young adults obtain the personal financial knowledge you wish you'd received. Take the time this April (financial literacy month) to reach out and help, your children and/or students. If they just pick up a few lessons they can live richer, fuller and more rewarding lives.
  

Current economic conditions make it critically important that your children, as well as the youth you serve, have 21st-century financial skills. The National Financial Educators Council recommends the following ten tips will help you teach our children about money.

Tip 1: Relate Money to Lifestyle. Who cares about money? Money itself-that silver coin or piece of paper-is not an intrinsic motivator. It's what money allows us to do that will motivate our children to learn about personal finance. Talk to your children about their individual hopes and dreams. What are their passions? Their visions for an ideal future? Help kids see that achieving their aspirations is tied to a healthy understanding of money basics. Learning to earn, manage, save, and grow money makes people's lives easier and helps them reach their goals sooner.

Tip 2: Get Rid of Limiting Beliefs about Money. Many of us have had difficulties handling our finances over the years, in large part due to a lack of financial education in our youth. But even though we've experienced money problems, we should avoid passing along a negative money mind-set to our children. Frame your talks about money in the positive. If you're going through challenging financial times, use that experience as leverage to teach your kids how money can work positively in our lives.

Tip 3: Develop Foundation Skills. There are key personal traits that will make it easier for a child to achieve the level of success he or she desires. Give children a financial head start by helping them build these vital skill sets: organization, time management, ethics, consideration for others, a positive mind-set, a belief in living one's passions, and the ability to communicate with and relate to others effectively. Help your children identify tier own strengths and build upon the skill sets that support those strengths.

Tip 4: Create a Savings Plan. Lack of savings is the biggest fiscal problem plaguing Americans today. Get young people into the habit of saving money. Help them avoid debt and encourage them to develop a savings plan as young as possible. Kids can begin learning about savings and interest at a very early age. Even if their only income is the allowance you provide, have them set aside a portion. By the time your kids become teenagers and begin earning their own income, saving will have become second nature.

Tip 5: Build a Solid Financial Foundation. Make sure your child opens checking and savings accounts as soon as possible. Managing their own accounts will enhance their sense of responsibility, a characteristic essential to developing strong financial skills.

Tip 6: Teach the Power of Compounding Interest. When harnessed at an early age, compounding interest becomes a powerful financial force. Learning this principle leads kids quickly toward securing the future and lifestyle they want - plus the results are exciting. Sit down at the computer with your child and play around with a compounding interest calculator. You may be surprised at how quickly investing just $100 per month can grow to over a million dollars, even at a below-average rate of return.

Tip 7: Raise Free Thinkers. Teach kids to evaluate advertising. Ask, "What are they trying to convince you of?" "Who are they targeting?" and "What is the goal of this ad?" Such analysis will help your child evaluate advertisements logically instead of emotionally, and they'll pick up marketing knowledge-a key skill to achieving success.

Tip 8: Credit. Building a rock-solid credit history can save today's youth tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. There are companies whose sole purpose is to measure a person's ability to pay back borrowed money. They grade people-just like students are graded in school. People who pay bills on time and have low debt are allowed to make purchases on credit. Good credit gets you a better interest rate, which saves you $5,000 to $10,000 on an average-priced car. Help kids understand how to build and maintain good credit scores.

Tip 9: Investments. Investing can seem overwhelming to many, simply because they don't know which investments to choose. Encourage young people to learn about the stock market, real estate, and entrepreneurial endeavors. Set up a monthly "Family Investing Night."   Spend at least 30 minutes watching an investment program, reading articles together, or sharing your personal investment strategies. And the next time you meet with your financial advisor, insurance agent, or tax preparer, take your child along.

Tip 10: Entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurial skills are essential to 21st-century success. Employers seek people who "think outside the box," so entrepreneurial skills not only help people start their own businesses, but also help them stand out in corporate America. Encourage your kids to start a business and give them the resources so they know what steps to take.  

Take time this financial literacy month to provide children and students a healthy, fundamental financial knowledge base. It is one of the best ways ensure future generations get a head start toward a successful future. Get started now, and your kids will thank you for a lifetime.

The National Financial Educators Council (http://www.FinancialEducatorsCouncil.org) is a proud partner of Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. The NFEC provides a variety of financial literacy resources and produces larger campaigns to improve the financial capability of people in over eighteen countries while raising awareness for the financial education movement. Leveraging the support of celebrities, sports stars, and the entertainment industry helps raise interest and improve program effectiveness to reach this demographic.