Money matters… no matter your age. That is why David Andrews and Ed Scoby of Barrington Wealth Management say it is never too early to start teaching children about watching their dollars and cents.
After many years working as investment advisers and financial planners with larger firms, David and Ed joined Barrington Wealth Management as partners in 2010 where they help clients create, preserve and pass-on substantial wealth, using a global toolkit with a local focus. But their brand of building wealth is based on building relationships; with businesses, with families and with individuals of all ages.
To help parents tackle important money topics with their children, the partners of Barrington Wealth Management are inviting adults to an upcoming free seminar offering smart & simple strategies for teaching kids to appreciate the value of money.
The seminar is inspired by the award-winning book, Yes You Can Raise Financially Aware Kids, by Jack Johnathan. It is scheduled for Thursday, May 9, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. upstairs at Makray Memorial Golf Club, 1010 S. Northwest Highway in Barrington.
While the program is for parents and grandparents, they’ll be concentrating on how to discuss money matters in a meaningful way with children ages 3 to 18.
They’ll also be joined by Casey McCarthy from American Century Investments to discuss a number of topics which include:
Should we give our children an allowance?
How do we help them make wise spending decisions and create savings goals?
At what age should they have access to a credit card?
Ed says, “Kids will learn about money one way or another. This program is for parents who want to be intentional and proactive about it.”
For a taste of the tips they’ll discuss at the seminar, we asked David and Ed to share a short-list of easy things parents can do daily to help kids develop good money habits. First, they let us in on a few personal techniques that have worked in their own homes.
David, for example, says he set up his own form of a 401k for his two boys, Graham, who is 15, and Justin, who is 13. “So if they go out and make 20 dollars babysitting or cutting lawns and they put it in the bank, I match it.”
Ed, who has two sons Andrew, 23, and Will, 17, along with an 11-year-old daughter, Bella, says he works hard to make his children stop and think about what they want to spend their money on instead of making impulse purchases. “For a lot of people — even adults — one of the hardest things is to develop delayed gratification. But now, if I can get my kids to delay a purchase, to really think about it, I’ve succeeded as a parent.”
Beyond these two personal approaches, David and Ed offered 7 Easy Exercises to help kids become more financially aware and responsible…
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1. Encourage Goal Setting
Encourage saving toward a tangible goal, such as a snowboard or video game. Be willing to help pay for part of larger items. Children learn the importance of goal setting and the value of self-reward, creating a virtuous circle.
2. Discuss Money Openly
Talk openly about money in a positive way that is age appropriate. How much things cost and how long you’d have to save or work to buy something. The importance of saving and giving to worthy causes. Making your children comfortable talking about money now will help foster a healthy attitude about it later on when they’re adults.
3. Ask Questions
Uncover your child’s “money personality” by asking open-ended questions such as “What would you do if you won $20,000?” Spend it, save it, help others with it? Ask out of curiosity: “Which choicewould make you the happiest and why?”
4. Empower Kids Financially
Give kids spending power, ideally with an allowance. Let kids be in charge of part of their own spending. Consider giving them a budget for clothing or sports equipment.
5. Share Buying Alternatives
Illustrate money choices and the concept of opportunity cost. “If I spend all my birthday money on fast food and candy, I won’t be able to buy the Wii game I really want.” Which is going to have lasting value to your child?
6. Cultivate Self-Sufficiency
Encourage work and self-reward. Teach them how to make money either through a part-time job or entrepreneurship. Cultivate the satisfaction that comes with a little self-sufficiency.
7. Set Examples for Spending vs. Saving
Be attuned to your own money attitudes and how it rubs off on your children. Are you a saver, spender, worry-wart, optimist? Your kids pick up on this and it influences them, sometimes for the better and sometimes not. Kids will have a healthy relationship with money if they can appreciate both sides of the coin—being cautious about it at times and enjoying it freely at other times.
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At Barrington Wealth Management, Ed and David help, not only with investment management and financial planning, but also with personal insurance, retirement planning, asset preservation and college funding and selection.
“We’re comprehensive wealth managers,” says Ed. “We’re an independent firm, we’re not driven by a corporate parent and we care a great deal about the people with whom we work. David and I intend to spend the rest of our careers here in Barrington, helping people in our community.”
Barrington Wealth Management is located at 330 Main Street, Third Floor in Barrington.
To sign up for the May 9 seminar or to schedule a meeting with Ed and David call 847-304-1990 or visit BarringtonWealthManagement.com.
Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC
