Schoolin' the Boys Young!

As promised I have finished up my blog on Financial Peace Junior [which Mas uses] so here we go…

Once Vince and I finished up FPU and started implementing it into our daily life we knew that we needed to get Mason involved somehow [I mean really…any age is a good age to learn about money]. Luckily we didn't have to look too far because Dave Ramsey also has a program for kids called Financial Peace Junior!  It is a great kit that comes with everything you will need to get your children started on the right track. He has his own chart set up on the fridge along with his own little envelope system; each envelope is labeled “save”, “spend” and “give”. Here is a snapshot of how this works in our house!

We have a list of chores for Mas, mainly the basics like picking up his toys, making his bed, vacuuming his room, putting his clothes in the laundry room and helping with the dishwasher after dinner. He receives a quarter for each chore completed and this goes into a piggy bank in his room. Each chore is listed on his chart and once he’s finished with a chore he goes and colors in a bubble on the chart showing he has completed it. So he could potentially earn up to $1.25 a day [21 days on average out of the month, he is with his mom the other days], add it up and in a year that’s $315.00!!! At the end of each month we empty out his piggy bank and divide up:  40% of his earnings into his “spend” envelope another 50% into his “save” and then 10% into his “give” envelope. My husband Vince then takes Mas to what he calls the “big bank” to deposit his “save” money into his very own savings account.  The idea behind the savings account is that by depositing 50% of his chore money into this account and letting it earn interest for Mas as time goes on then eventually we hope that he will be able to use this money to buy his first car one day without having to take out a car loan. Without even factoring in interest and using $157 [50% of his yearly earned] starting today [he has been on this system since he was 3 years old] but let’s just say he started this today when he turns 16 years old [which is a scary number and I can’t really picture my sweet baby being a teenager] he will have about $1,900 in the bank to buy a car and that's not even factoring interest earned! I think that would buy a pretty nice ride for his first car!

Mason helping out with the laundry!

Even though we are very adamant on him saving his money we also realize that he is a kid and kids want things [especially plastic toys made in China] so usually every couple of months we will take him over to Wal-Mart or sometimes the flea market and give him his “spend” envelope to use on whatever he likes. What we have noticed the most from this program is the change in Mason’s mind set on how he chooses to spend his money. For example, the other day we were in Sam’s picking up a few things and we came across the Sonic Wii game [Mas’s current obsession --> SONIC] and of course he wanted to buy it. Then he noticed the Skylander gaming set and of course like most kids he wanted that too! Now, he had enough money to buy himself the Sonic Wii game but not enough for Skylander and nowhere near enough to purchase both at full retail. So we gave him a choice, we told him that he could either buy the Sonic Wii game because he had enough money for that or he could wait and daddy could find both the Sonic Wii game and Skylander online for much less and then he would have enough money for both…without skipping a beat Mas put back the Sonic Wii game and said “Okay you find it online, I can wait. Find it cheap!”  Not only is he learning how to spend wisely but he is also learning how to resist the sudden urge to buy something right away just to take it home that day [Mommy is still working on this habit...hey! I'm getting better at it...ha]!

Mason vacuuming his room, he had just turned 3 years old.

Another important part of this program is the “give” envelope, we go to church every Sunday and Mason is involved in Sunday school. We want to teach him at an early age that tithing is important and should be budgeted into his finances no matter how old he is. This in our eyes just sets a habit in place for him as he gets older, he understands that every month he gives 10% of his money to church. He even gets excited about it, I remember the first time he tithed to the church [it was 75 cents]! I filled out the envelope for him and he put the money inside then sealed it, he was so happy to give the envelope to the women as we walked into church. We just hope as parents that these lessons stick with him as he becomes an adult.

Praying that they will own they're own possessions and not let the possessions own them.

We are [of course] planning on doing the exact same thing with Nash as he gets older...poor Nash, now that we have this down to a science with Mas we are just gonna start even earlier with him! Our goal is that between the money the boys are saving for themselves through this program plus what we as their parents are putting away for them each month towards college that by the time they are adults they will be able to own a vehicle and go to college with no debit. By not relying on credit cards during the college years we are hopefully teaching them not to get sucked into that never ending cycle of debit! We will instead be giving them the opportunity to start their life and careers debit free!