When you first start out in life, the question you should ask yourself is “how much should I save?”  It is a question to answer by considering all your savings options for retirement – like a company plan that matches a percentage of your savings.

I am all for saving – and saving early is my mantra.  So, this article of a 28-year-old who, having only held jobs in the $50,000 pay range, had saved $250,000 caught my eye:  “How to Invest and Save Money Early to Retire a Multimillionaire” – BusinessInsider.com

I was nodding my head in agreement with the author’s clear understanding of the power of compound savings:

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Summer is a great time to build your child’s money savviness. Here are 6 tips to help you take advantage of the slower pace of what’s left of summer to help your child learn more about money:

1.  Teach choice.  Introduce the four choices for money (save, spend, donate and invest) to your child this summer using a divided bank like our Money Savvy Pig or a set of jars – one for each money choice.  These visual reminders of the choices a child has each and every time they have money to work with will teach them that there is more to do with money than just spend.

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In 1999, my husband Michael and I started Money Savvy Generation to help teach kids about money – starting in our daughter Allison’s first grade classroom. Now in her twenties, Allison is putting into practice many of the money tips I shared with her growing up.  I asked her what advice and tools she values most now as a working adult.  Here is her response – in her words – and a link to a video with my top 5 money tips to help you teach your own kids about money.  Enjoy!

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Walter Isaacson, author of “Steve Jobs,” reportedly clocked a lot of time at the Jobs’ family home, giving him the opportunity to observe Jobs’s parenting priorities. “Every evening Steve made a point of having dinner at the big long table in their kitchen, discussing books and history and a variety of things,” Isaacson explained. “No one ever pulled out an iPad or computer. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.”

Dinnertime is a window of opportunity to reach your kids that most parents undervalue.

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