It’s never too early to start teaching your kids about the importance of money.

There is no doubt that children recognize the importance of money at an early age.  They see you exchange it for all of the stuff that you get and bring home.

By teaching your kids about money and being financially responsible, you can make a big difference in your children’s lives.

My wife and I started teaching our 2 boys about how to handle money at an early age.  Now, at ages 10 and 12, they are on their way to avoiding the costly financial mistakes we have made in years past.

Let’s take a look at our strategy for training our boys about the handling of money…

We give our boys an allowance without conditions… no chores are required and it is not a reward for anything. Their allowance is not reduced for things they fail to do, or things that they might do wrong.

Before you say that they will not learn about earning money, take heart… our boys have assigned chores that they are required to do each day, just like mom and dad… they do not get paid for these chores.  They can however earn additional money by doing non-house related work.

Saving money is encouraged and we match every dollar that they choose to save.

They pay their own way when it comes to toys or the “extras” that we do not provide.  If there is a special item that they “just have to have”, they must save for it and purchase it with their own money.

By allowing then to have their own money and being required to pay for the special things that they desire, our kids have learned the important lesson that money doesn’t grow on trees, it is earned.  And things that you have to earn mean more than things that are just given to them.