Do you want your kids to become wealthy?
First ask yourself this: Will they become wealthy if they spend ALL the money they receive this Christmas?
You know the answer is NO. There are two reasons why they won’t build wealth if they spend ALL their Christmas money.
The first and obvious reason is that if they are spending ALL their money, they won’t have money left to build wealth (I note the capital ALL, as there is nothing wrong with spending SOME, or even MOST, of their money).
Secondly, if they spend ALL their money their brains are forming a spending mindset / habit which will be hard to change as they get older and therefore hinder their ability to build wealth as they grow up (many adults today struggle to save as they formed a strong spending habit as they grew up).
Becoming wealthy takes time and importantly requires the right behaviours and habits. The sooner your kids develop good money habits, the sooner they can start their journey to becoming wealthy.
Now is the best time to start
Lots of kids will receive cash as their main Christmas Present. This money is a great opportunity to start them on their journey to becoming wealthy.
1. Create the right habits: Not spending ALL their money
As mentioned above, make sure they don’t have to save ALL their money. They can spend some, or even most, of their money, just not ALL of it. It doesn’t matter if the amount they save is only small in terms of a monetary amount. The key is that they are starting to save and build wealth.
It is super important for kids to understand that spending ALL their money now might make them feel good now but having savings (which makes them more money) will make them feel good for many years.
If they then repeat this (not spending ALL their money) every time they receive money, it will become a life-changing money habit.
Remember, kids form many of their habits by the age of 7, so the younger they start to save the better.
“Wealth beyond your wildest dreams is possible if you follow the golden rule: invest 10% of all you make for long-term growth.” Warren Buffett
2. Develop the right mindset: Talk to them about saving
Most kids will focus on what they want to buy, and will start comparing what they have to what their friends have, from a young age. This is what large companies want kids to focus on. They want kids to buy more of their stuff.
Without guidance, your kids will develop a mindset where money is for buying 'stuff' and the more stuff you have, the better. This is what I call a 'Rich Mindset'. This can be dangerous as it leads to spending lots and not saving. We need to help our kids understand that spending ALL your money means you are actually poor (as you have no money left!).
What we actually want is for our kids to have a mindset where they have money working for them. This is called a 'Wealthy Mindset'. Those that have a wealthy mindset don't care about what others spend as they care about having money which is growing whilst they sleep.
I’d strongly recommend you read my blog Rich Kids vs Wealthy Kids after this - this will help you teach your kids about the beauty of building wealth and becoming Wealthy!
The other key message is that you can’t build wealth quickly. Whilst they might hear stories of people making a lot of money quickly, these are usually told by people who have a strong interest in you believing that getting rich quickly is possible. For example, people who are selling very expensive courses to give away secrets to becoming ‘Rich Quick’ but they don’t actually give you any secrets and they make a lot of money from selling you the course! Building wealth takes time so the younger your kids start saving, the greater the advantage they will have in life.
3. Make their money grow: Open a savings or Investment account
One of the differences between wealthy people and other people, is that wealthy people use their money to make more money. They put the money they don’t spend away in a savings or investment account so it can grow. The amount of money they make in the early years might be very small but over time this money just keeps on growing. Especially those that invest their money over many years.
Help your kids do what wealthy people do and get them to put their money into a savings account, or even better an investment account. This money isn’t to be spent, it’s there to spend anytime soon. This money is there to help them grow more money and become wealthy.
Simple rule of thumb for building wealth: Money invested in the stock market can be expected to double every 8 to 10 years (based on history).
If you are not familiar with investing, which is completely OK as most people were never taught about it, then please see our guide here. This answers many of the main questions or fears that people have when it comes to investing. What you need to understand is that investing can be as easy as putting money into a savings account. You don’t need to know when to buy / sell or to read the Financial Times. In fact, when it comes to investing, the less actions take you take once set up the better. I should know, I’ve helped some of the world’s largest investors (retirement schemes, insurance companies and governments) invest tens of billions of dollars. You can even teach your kids about the Stock Market by reading this blog.
If your kids don’t have a lot to invest then you can open an investment account in your name and share this with them. This means even if they want to invest very small amounts then it is very easy to do as they just get a slightly bigger proportion of your investment account. This is what we do. You can use the Blue Tree Digital Piggy Bank to keep track of how much they have invested.
Summary
Whilst their friends are out spending ALL their Christmas money, your kids will be on their journey to becoming wealthy (and still spending 'some' of their money). Trust me, your kids will thank you in the future as they start to see their wealth build up over time.
Now is the right time to start them on their journey to becoming wealthy. Remember, most adults today wish they started saving when they were younger.
Simple actions:
Create the right habits: Not spending ALL their money
Develop the right mindset: Talk to them about the importance of saving
Make their money grow: Open a savings or investment account
With these actions they will be well on their way to becoming wealthy and having a completely different financial experience than so many adults today.
Let these actions just be the start of your kids journey to becoming wealthy. Learn how to teach your kids about the most important money topics by signing up to our online course
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Thanks for reading!
Will