When you think of your “finances” do you cringe? Is it a hushed subject that you chose not to talk about? People often don’t like to talk about their financial goals and situation because they aren’t 100% sure how to talk about them. We often think of our finances as money coming in to pay bills and hoping we have some extra left over to save or spend on something special. I never talked about how to budget or make financial goals growing up. I use to think credit cards were just something you used to buy things not really understanding the impact they have on your credit, interest rates, or paying them back.
Due to this thought process lets just say I learned my lessons from my own experiences. It has taken many years with many pitfalls along the way for me to get to a place in my life where I feel confident about my finances. I have learned how to balance my money, my bills, and my credit in a way that I feel empowered about my financial situation. I no longer cringe when someone asks me a financial question. I can pay for unexpected bills without stress on how I’m going to manage to do it.
After all the pitfalls I have experienced in my life from high credit card balances, to no savings for important things like medical expenses and car repairs, I have made it my goal to teach my children early about finances. I want them to understand their finances will play a big role in their lives. I want them to set financial goals for themselves but also know how to achieve them. I want them to have confidence and not just get by and hope everything is going to work out. I have required both of my boys in high school to take a finance class. This class goes into how the economy works, about banks, loans, interest rates, and more. Having a basic knowledge of how our finances impact both us and the world around us will help them see the importance of their own finances.
Ways To Encourage Financial Confidence in Children
- Start speaking about finances at a young age, no age is too young
- Give or have your children earn an allowance and then use that as a learning opportunity on handling their money
- Teach them to save and put money away for unexpected expenses
- Open a checking or savings account for them when they are old enough
- Look into finance classes they can take at their local school
- Take them to the bank with you and expose them to financial institutions
When our son graduated high school and turned 18 he came into some large responsibilities all at once. He got a car, a job, a girlfriend, and bills! My husband and I sat down with him to explain to him that his full time job was going to bring in money in amounts he was not use to having. We worked with him on a plan to save a % of his money in a separate savings account, putting away the needed amount for his bills, and what he should use as “spending”. I think we have done a pretty good job because even when he has money in savings if his account is getting low he will mention that he doesn’t have any money.
This weekend I am excited to be attending the Capital One Banking Reimagined Tour. Capital One is hitting the road on a ten city tour designed to give people more confidence in their relationship with their money. The Tour is coming to Florida to mark the upcoming openings of Capital One Cafes from Miami to West Palm Beach. I will be visiting their state-of the art 54- foot trailer equipped with some amazing experiences and hope to walk away with even more insight and ideas to manage my personal finances and reach new goals.
Capitol One Baking Reimagined Tour
- Advanced Interactive Touchscreens –allow people to interactively scroll through values and goals, giving them an understanding of how their outlook shapes the way they view their money
- HoloLens Augmented Reality – a cutting-edge technology that lets people interact with 3D holographic imagery in real space and time, bringing their financial goals to life
- Video Selfie Booths – participants can record a message for their future selves with the knowledge they’ve gained from the experience
I would love to see you at the tour this weekend in Miami. Bayside Marketplace, 401 Biscayne Blvd, March 11-12, 2017 from 10am – 6pm. I will be there during the afternoon this Saturday enjoying all the fun digital experiences. I’m intrigued and can’t wait to try out the HoloLens!
Thank you Capital One for sponsoring this post! This is a paid endorsement. All opinions are my own and were not directed by Capital One. To learn more about Capital One visit www.capitalone.com/cafes.
