Here’s a retirement strategy no one’s talking about: Raise your kids to be wildly wealthy. You will spend less on their financial independence, and they might let you retire in the east wing of their mansion.
Like building wealth, teaching kids about money requires early and ongoing action. Without the right guidance and support, many kids will enter adulthood without basic money skills. A recent survey from financial educator EVERFI concludes that most high school juniors and seniors aren’t confident they can manage credit or create a debt repayment plan.
Keep your kid ahead of the pack with this list of ten expert-recommended money games and financial activities for parents and their children. Expert recommendations were captured in interviews.
1. Magical Money Kingdom
Tom Eyre, co-CEO, co-founder at credit-building business Loqbox, recommends turning story time into a financial literacy lesson. “What kids really pick up from us isn’t spreadsheets,” Eyre explains, “it’s our stories, our feelings and our habits.”
Together with your child, create a character who rules over a magical money kingdom. Talk about the choices this leader must make with a limited supply of golden coins. Options can include dragon rides, castle-building, education for kingdom residents or anything else. Let your child lead the story, as you ask questions about the long- and short-term benefits of each decision.
2. Coin Toss Challenge
For ages four and up, Kristen Miller, director of education at Celebree School, recommends a coin toss challenge. Start with jars labeled for spending, saving and giving. Provide the coins and ask your kids to toss them into the labeled jars. The activity creates a context for conversations about budgeting, philanthropy, and the differences between spending and spending.
This activity can evolve as your kids mature. Once they are old enough for chores and an an allowance, they can use the spending, saving and giving jars to manage their earnings thoughtfully. Use a target savings percentage to encourage a save-first mentality.
3. Need Versus Want Flashcards
Flashcards can also introduce the concept of thoughtful financial decision-making to young kids, according to Miller. Work with your kids to create cards showing different items, labeling each as a want or need. For example, a house would be a need, while a toy would be a want.
This activity can lead to conversations about budgeting and prioritizing needs over wants.
4. Grocery Store Games
Stephen Day, director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Economic Education, advises parents to tap their kids for help with grocery shopping as early as four years old. Day offers two grocery shopping activities to introduce the concepts of pricing and value.
- Ask your kids to find store items that are large in size but have small price tags, as well as small-sized items with large price tags. Talk about how prices work, what value means and how you make buying decisions.
- Ask your kids to help you find the items on your grocery list. As Day explains, this activity focuses their attention on needed products versus all the other items in the store you don’t need. You can discuss why some items are on your list and others are not.
5. Compound Earnings Fitness Challenge
Many adults do not grasp the power of compound earnings, so activities introducing this topic may benefit you and your children.
Compound earnings occur when earnings from previous periods generate more earnings. Consider a savings account with $10,000 in it, earning 3% annually. After one year, the account balance will be $10,300. In the next year, the account earns more because the starting balance is $300 higher. The earnings potential rises every year you leave the money in the account. After 20 years, you will have made over $8,000 on the initial deposit of $10,000.
To demonstrate this concept to kids five and older, try the compound interest fitness challenge, an activity recommended by Jennifer Seitz, certified financial education instructor and director of education at Greenlight Financial. Have your kids do rounds of simple exercises like jumping jacks or squats. They’ll start with two jacks or squats and double the number in each round.
This exercise quickly becomes physically challenging, despite its easy starting point. You can explain how small numbers can rise rapidly with simple math, just like money in savings or investing accounts.
6. Compound Earnings Blocks
Mike Wallberg, principal and head of marketing and communications at Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel recommends using stackable toy blocks to demonstrate compound earnings. Here are the steps:
- Gather colored blocks in two sizes, with the larger block roughly equal to three small blocks. You will 10 large blocks of one color. The rest of the blocks should be colored differently than these 10.
- Stack 10 large blocks of the same color to represent a starting point. Explain the tower will grow by 1/10 of its height annually.
- For year one, add one large block. For year two, add another large block plus a small one. For year three, add a large block and two small ones. You will have 13 1/3 blocks.
- Explain that the different colored blocks are earnings or rewards for keeping the money saved. If you repeat the process for seven years, the tower will nearly double in size.
- With teens, you can also introduce the rule of 72. According to the rule of 72, you can estimate how long it takes to double your money by dividing an expected interest rate into 72. So if you’re earning 10% annually, it takes about 7.2 years to double your money.
7. Buy The Brand Game
Brian Colvert, CEO of Bonfire Financial, encourages parents to introduce their kids to investing as early as nine years old. You can broach the topic when your kid wants something made by a public company—such as a pair of Nikes or an iPhone. Try asking: Would you rather own the brand or just buy from it? The question encourages a perspective shift from spender to owner.
Use these conversations to start a simulated portfolio, jotting tickers, prices and dates in a notepad or spreadsheet. The two of you can check the earnings weekly or monthly. You can also discuss and research why stock prices change from one period to the next.
8. Comparison Shopping Challenge
Inviting your kids to comparison shop can help them learn about smarter spending, intentional decision-making and the concept of opportunity cost, according to Daniela Alvarado, certified financial coach at Golden 1 Credit Union.
When your children want to make purchases, challenge them to comparison shop for better prices and product alternatives. Explain the process: Read labels, check reviews and evaluate product value. Find prices from three or more sources. Consider what you may have to forgo to make the purchase, such as lost interest earnings or the inability to buy something else.
9. The Lemonade Stand
Clorissa Ritchie, senior content manager at Westerra Credit Union recommends helping your kids run a lemonade stand as a holistic money exercise. You can encourage the kids to budget for ingredients, set pricing with profits in mind, make sales projections and calculate their results.
Ideally, you can conclude this weekend business venture with a financial debrief. Ask your kids how their sales and profits compared to expectations. If there were differences, discuss what happened and ways to improve the business model next time.
10. Conversations To Teach Kids About Money
Alongside games and money challenges, talking to your kids transparently about money is also essential. Julie Beckham, financial education officer at Rockland Trust, explains, “By starting early and having open, honest, age-appropriate conversations about money, you can nurture a child’s natural curiosity and model healthy financial behaviors that will set them up for long-term success.”
The funny thing about raising wealthy kids as a backup retirement plan is that you won’t need their help if you follow the lessons you teach. But there will be rewards. You can spend your senior years living the good life with your successful adult children—a win/win for two generations.
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