Next week is Thanksgiving…a time for my annual chat about gratitude. Money and gratitude are a powerful combination. Joined hand-in-hand, they keep us grounded.

When is “enough”, enough?

Jean Paul Getty, the American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company, was worth more than $6 billion at the time of his death (which would be approximately $21 billion today).  But once asked how much money he needed to feel secure enough to pay the ransom requested by the kidnappers of his grandson, he responded, “More!”

When is what we have “enough”? When do we stop wanting more and start being grateful and content for what we have? And how do we teach our children to feel that what they have is enough?

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You no doubt have read many articles on the pros and cons of financial education.  Well, as a parent you already know the truth.  Financial education works, like any other education we give our kids on the right and wrong way to do things.  What we teach them now, they will use – eventually.  And teaching them about the choices they have for money when they are young is a surefire way to insulate them from unintended financial consequences.

Proof in the Research

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Yes, there may be an “app for that” – but there isn’t an app that can replace YOU in your child’s education about money.

The apps that are available today give you a place to start – some structure. But the stuff that will make your child succeed with money comes from you.

Your money values?  Not in the App.

Your money stories about your money mistakes and money successes?  Again, not in the App.

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It is better to teach kids how to do something themselves than to just do it for them.   Now, I did not say “easier” 😉 , I said “better” – in the long run.

You may have heard the proverb: “ If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”

In this podcast I spell out why it is so important to teach your kids how to get what they want or need – not to “give” your kids what they want or need – all the time.  Delayed gratification is a learned behavior – it’s not instinctual (unfortunately).  So taking the steps in this podcast to help them learn how to earn will empower them.

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