Moms Model Money Muscle!
Celebrate M-O-M as the Household CFO
Tips from Women & Co. on Being a Financial Role Model
Today’s women are more involved in financial decision making — not because they have to be, but because they want to be. A recent Women & Co. study found that 63% of women are the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of their household, responsible for making the majority of financial decisions. And women who are the CFO of their household are more likely to come from mothers who are CFOs and have daughters who become CFOs. While only one third of today’s adult women feel they had a female financial role model, 92% now consider themselves a financial role model to their children!
Lisa Caputo, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Women & Co., and Linda Descano, CFA®, President and COO of Women & Co., offer the following tips to help women continue to be an inspiration to the next generation:
- Talk to your children about money: Similar to the birds and the bees, money should be an ongoing topic of conversation with your children. It’s never too early or too late to help your children develop a strong foundation of financial knowledge.
- Get financially fit: Financial fitness, like physical fitness requires exercise. Get a piggy bank (or make one!) and create a scenario in which your children can “work” for money, such as payments for household chores or tasks outside the household routine like wrapping presents for charities at holiday time.
- Practice what you preach: The financial decisions you make today have a lasting impact — now and for future generations. Be financially responsible, and your children are more likely to follow suit. Define your financial goals and put a plan in place to work toward them.
- Create a common goal: Get your kids involved in financial planning early by starting a family fund that will be put toward a common goal such as a vacation, gift, or a specific charity that family members would like to support. Let the whole family experience the positive end results of saving and budgeting.
- Know why money matters: Strike a balance between your family’s finances and your family life as a whole. Your finances should support your life, not control it. Help children build a positive relationship with money by demonstrating that money is not a status symbol, but one of the many components to building a stable and fulfilled life.
And, perhaps most importantly, If you need financial help — ask. Talk with a financial advisor or visit womenandco.com, which provides access to a suite of financial education resources and a vibrant community of financially-minded women.
About Women & Co.
Women & Co. is a financial resource program from Citi, dedicated to helping women achieve their financial goals. Women & Co. provides members with education on a vast array of financial and investing topics, which members access through womenandco.com, where members can read newsletters, listen to audio conferences, and find out about Master Class seminars in major metropolitan areas. For more information, visit womenandco.com.
Teens and Money
June 22, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Martin Hurlburt
Your story is wanted for my new book
“The Advice Collection for Parents:
77 Tips About Money, Life and Succes
How do you teach your children about money, life and success in an age appropriate way? What is the best lesson your parents taught you?
Read sample stories or submit one of your own at www.TheAdviceCollection.com.
Together we can change a generation, one story at a time. Please tell other parents about the site!
Tip 1
More work equals more money.
When I was a teenager, my step dad put a chart on the wall. On it he had broken down all the household chores and attached a dollar value to each one. Whoever did the chore, put their initials by it and at the end of the week he tallied up our “payday.” My youngest sister, for the first time in her life, discovered the joy of housework and the joy of earning her own money. She regularly out-performed her two older sisters and always got the biggest payday. Submitted by Toni Graybill
It’s your money. It’s your future. TAKE CHARGE!
Martin Hurlburt is a speaker, author and financial advisor. He is writing a new book to help parents teach their kids important lessons about money, life and success. To read sample stories or submit one of your own, visit www.TheAdviceCollection.com. The best submission will win $150! Together, we can change a generation, one story at a time. Please tell other parents about the site!
Tip 2
The Clothing Budget
Age 12 for girls is a magical age. It’s the age when they discover “The Mall.” This was especially challenging in my house. My husband and I were married in the spring of 2007. We have a blended family of three girls ages 11, 12, and 13. We have noticed that all three girls want to spend all of their extra time at “The Mall,” which must seem like heaven to them. I remember being mesmerized by the vastness of the shopping mall in southern California when I was 12.
When school released for the summer in late May, 2007, our oldest daughter came to me and asked me when I was taking her summer clothes shopping at the mall? She insisted that this activity needed to happen immediately because her best friend’s mother had just bought her over $300 worth of summer clothes. My daughter desperately indicated to me that she had no shorts to wear.
I went to my husband with this dilemma. What should we do as a newly married couple with three girls frequently asking for new clothes each season? After discussing the problem at length, we decided to go to Wal-Mart and price what it would take to clothe a teenage daughter for an entire year, including shoes, socks, undergarments, coats, etc. A year’s worth of clothing added up to almost $600. This figure seemed reasonable and logical. So, we came up with the plan: The Clothing Budget.
Beginning June 1 and December 26, each person in our family is allocated $300 to spend on clothes, shoes, coats, etc. Therefore, in a given year, each person, including parents, have $600 to spend on clothes. Each time clothes are purchased the receipt is recorded in an excel spreadsheet to keep track of who spent clothing budget money, which store, and the amount. Each month family members are alerted to how much they have spent so far and how much is remaining. As an incentive to budget soundly, if someone does not spend all of their money by November 1 or May 1 (one month before the period ends), that person receives the remaining balance in cash.
Basic rules include:
- Parents have the right to veto any purchase they deem extravagant.
- Purchases can be made at any store or on the internet so long as the budget does not exceed $300 for each 6-month period.
- If a child runs out of clothing budget money before the end of the period and needs clothes, then the parents will take control of the child’s clothing budget for the next period and all purchases will be made at Wal-Mart.
- Jewelry, hats, purses, and accessories are not part of the clothing budget. Those purchases must be made from the child’s personal money.
Advantages:
- Children have control of their clothing budget money and experience first-hand how purchases quickly add-up.
- Children learn to budget the monies allocated to them.
- Family members shop year-round, not just at the beginning of season, school year, birthday, or Christmas.
- Incentives are given to spend wisely. Any excess monies are given to the family member in cash 1-month before the period ends.
- Parents must adhere to the same program as the children. Children perceive that all family members are treated equally.
- Encourages wise spending of finite resources.
Amazingly, our oldest daughter never did buy herself any shorts or summer clothes the first summer we started “The Clothing Budget.” Our children now shop wisely, purchase items on sale, have more clothes than they need, and always have fun every time they go to the mall. Two years later, 2009, the clothing budget is a big success in our family; no one wants it changed. Best of all, there is no quarreling about new clothes — when to buy them and how much to spend. Submitted by Carey Sue White
Money Talks, Sex Takes a Walk
June 17, 2009 by Dr Jenn · Leave a Comment
Word on the street is that mothers are talking to daughters about money more than they are talking about the birds and the bees (or cultural challenges). Seems the tanked economy is front and center in most people’s minds. Mother’s know all to well, the real issues their daughters will face concerning money when they are adults.
Women and children are the fastest growing population of the homeless. Poverty still affects more women than men. Men still earn more money than women. Divorced women lose income, husbands usually recover and go on to make more money. Those are reasons enough that moms need to talk to their daughter’s about money.
Money is energy. It flows in and out of our lives. Money is power. Most men know that. But your teen daughter reads magazines, watches movies and music videos and listens to lyrics that teach her that “sexy” is her ultimate power. What are we teaching our sons that makes them want to be the CEO of a corporation and our daughters want to be Miss USA? I know that’s a broad stroke, but you get my point.
As more mom’s become money savvy, more daughters will get the right message. Start teaching your daughter about earning, saving and investing. Talk with her about her feelings about money. Does she understand it’s value? Is she afaid of it? Most parents know the value of the “birds and the bees” talk. Now, it’s vital to have “the money” talk. It’s never to early to start teaching your daughter about earning and investing.
I recently heard from some amazing experts about teens and money. When www.parentingteengirls.com goes live in a few days, I’ll have links to them for you.
For now, ask your daughter how she feels about money. In fact, ask yourself how you feel about money. Grab your journal and add a new entry. Write down the first time you can remember having your own money, what you spent it on and who taught you about money? What’s your relationship with money? Chances are whatever it is, you’ll pass that down to your daughter, for better or for worse.
Want a creative way to save money? Check out one of my favorite websites for stoking up the imagination. If you surf over to it, check out BioColor while you are there, one of the most amazing PLAY tools for teens. (email me for all the secrets about it!)
More coming from money experts. Stay tuned.
