Money and Kids

Pay an AllowanceAs your children get older, even interest earning will have its limitations, because it won't teach them to budget for themselves. The best way to do that is to give them an allowance and make them learn to use it wisely. Genera...

Your Child, Your Money, and Online AuctionsTo Bid or Not to Bid?The toy section of eBay reads like a Christmas list, and for consumers of all ages, this is an irresistible way to make a purchase: Place a bid, then bid higher, then hope against ho...

Print this play money to help kids learn to count and manage dollars and cents! Cut out the realistic bills and coins for hours of math-related fun. ...

Allowance and Your Preschooler Before the age of four or five, most children have little concept of money and its function. Older preschoolers begin to understand its usefulness—and may want some of their own. Giving your four-year-old a smal...

Providing Financial Help to Your Independent Child Your child is your child for the rest of his (and your) life. Just because he's on his own doesn't mean that you need to stop providing help and guidance. True, your abilities in this regard bec...

Loaning Money to Your Child What if an advance on an allowance just isn't enough to help your child out? For example, what if your teenager wants the latest electronic game platform that costs a few hundred dollars and he doesn't want to wait un...

Teaching Basic Money Concepts to Children As song writers Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson once said, the best things in life may be free—but most things cost money. Buying toys and candy, going to the movies, and renting video tape...

Advancing Money to Your Child When a child gets $5 or $10 a week, it may not go as far as she likes. She may have to put some money into savings that you don't let her touch, and she may be required to pay for some things on her own. This doesn...

Collecting for Fun and Profit Collecting has been around forever. People like to save things. The wealthy have been collecting antique paintings, porcelains, and furniture for generations. Today, however, collecting isn't limited to the rich. It...

The Rewards of Stock Market Investment In the past four years, we've seen record returns of more than 20 percent annually in the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 (explained in Understanding Financial Terminology). You know that today you...

How Much Allowance to Give Your Child Piggybank on It Whatever your decision, your child's sex shouldn't have anything to do with the dollar amount of the allowance. Boys and girls should be paid the same (and statistics show that they generally...

IRAs for Kids Unless your child becomes an Internet mogul or hits the lottery, he probably won't earn a million dollars in one lump sum. Still, he can amass this kind of fortune with very little effort. The keys to becoming a millionaire are st...

Teach Kids to Diversify Their Investments When your child is saving her pennies in a jar, it's probably a good idea to keep everything in one place. This way, she'll see how her savings grow by looking at how high the coins rise in the jar. As y...

Teach Kids About Investing Their Savings Savings accounts are Mickey Mouse investments: In today's low interest environment, they pay only a very modest rate of interest. You can consider several alternative investments that pay interest as well...

Online Trading for Kids Kids with an interest in computers and computer games probably read PC, Wired, EM2, and similar magazines. They see people in their 20s who were formerly called geeks but now are creating the fastest-growing Internet comp...

Savings Accounts for KidsMoney ABCs A deposit is an addition of money to your child's account. It's the opposite of a withdrawal. When I was in elementary school in New York City, we used to be able to bring in coins each week that we privately ...

Teach Kids to Save Money for the Wish List Did you ever dream about owning a Ferrari? Did you ever want to put a pool in your backyard (or even have a backyard to put one in)? An adult's financial goals generally require a heavy savings commitme...

Teach Kids About Giving to Charity Piggybank on It If the dollar amount that's appropriate for your child to spend seems too little to buy what he might consider to be a decent present, suggest that your child pool his funds with a sibling (when...