After opening their gifts, did your teen want something more than what was under the tree?  Here’s a Schoolhouse Rock! music video that might help you begin a conversation about what options there are to help them pay for those other items.

Dollars & Sense by Schoolhouse Rock! 

The market news is sobering and scary to many of us. Our “money” is causing stress that our children are bound to pick up on in our behavior and conversation. Right now is a good time to focus our nervous energy on putting the “DO” in Donate. Continue reading

Let’s take a look at compound interest as a way to help your child understand why saving is so important. Remember that $4 spent each day on “I want” items? With that $4 of “I want” money, pose this question to your child: At age 12, you decide not to buy soda or snacks. Instead, you save the $4 a day and put it into a savings vehicle, such as a long-term CD that pays 5 percent annual interest, and leave it alone. At age 67 when you are ready to retire, your savings totals how much: (a) $1,159, (b) $25,355, (c) $80,352 or (d) $427,025?

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