Money-Smart Kids: Drip, Drip, Drip

Whenever I talk with clients, prospects or friends about the Money-Smart Kids Program, I share our “drip, drip, drip” strategy for raising financially fit kids. “Remember, you are water; they are rock,” I say. “Do a little something often. Keep the subject of the financial apprenticeship front and center in your kids’ lives in small, steady ways.” Rain in the garden. Drip, drip, drip.

Almost always, however, I’ll run into a parent who admits, “I’ve been using more of a fire-hose approach and I can see they just wait me out. ‘Here goes Dad again!’ And sure enough, things go back to normal. Then, in a few months –when I get sick of doling out money– I sit them down for another ‘talk.’ I need a new strategy.”

Summer is a good time to launch the “drip, drip drip” strategy with your own kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews but you can begin anytime. During summer, you have three months to drip expectations, information, and practice into their lives. Begin by letting them know what you are going to do. “We have three months to get you up to speed with your financial apprenticeship,” you can say to them. “By the end of the summer, I expect (pause) something. And here’s where you let them know what you do expect. Kids will deliver when they know what is expected, and for what they will be held accountable. However, share your expectations in a quiet moment, not in a fit of frustration with some behavior that reminds you they are financially clueless!

Then, use their e-mails, drives to the mall or the park, notes under their pillows, special lunches… Ultimately, you can utilize whatever opening you can find to let them know that there is a connection between their financial competence and independence; between financial skills and self-confidence; between financial behavior and responsibility. You don’t have to be heavy-handed or interrupt summer fun. You just have to give a consistent message that this summer you want them to acquire information and skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

Drip, drip, drip.

Insurance offered through Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and other fine companies. Securities offered through registered representatives of MML Investors Services, Inc., 530 Fifth Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10036, 212-536-6000. Investment Advisory Services offered through Lenox Advisors, Inc. Lenox Advisors, Inc. is not a subsidiary of, nor affiliated with MML Investors Services, Inc. Lenox Advisors, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Financial Partners Corporation [NFP], a financial services holding company, New York, NY. NFP is not an affiliate or subsidiary of MML Investors Services, Inc. C
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