Young people today are getting a somewhat distorted concept of money, watching their parents swipe their phones and walk away with Starbucks coffee, or put plastic into a box at checkout and walk away with bags of groceries.
Gregg Murset, a financial analyst, has six kids and developed an app called BusyKid to help parents teach the value of a dollar. “Parents need to know that kids’ perception of money is that it’s invisible. They don’t get it because they don’t see it,” he tells KTRH News.
Parents enter their account information, and as children check in after completing chores, money is transferred from the parents’ account to the child’s.
Murset says you have to be firm in your instructions. “Actually get off the couch for five minutes. Go out and feed the dog or bring out the trash, or mow the lawn or whatever the chore is.”
Only 21% of parents say they talk with their kids about money. Only 10% say they’ve talked to their kids about how to manage credit card accounts.
“If you really want to impact your child’s ability to become what they can become they have to get these two things into themselves: they’ve got to learn how to work and how to make smart money decisions,” Murset suggests.