海角大神

Children look for role models (as do adults, to some extent). They look for people who embody the things they see as successful and important and emulate their behavior to some degree.

I recognize that, for my children, I鈥檓 going to be a role model, both consciously and unconsciously, but I also know that I鈥檓 not going to be their only role model. Far from it. They鈥檙e going to draw on a lot of people for ideas on how to live their life, and they鈥檒l be exposed to them in a lot of different ways.

The challenge for parents is that聽positive uses for money are rarely lauded in popular culture.聽Instead, the media tends to shine their light on expensive items or people with exceptionally high incomes who can afford to spend in a way that鈥檚 inaccessible to most of us.

What can I do as a parent to ensure that my child has money heroes that behave in a sensible fashion?聽

贵颈谤蝉迟,听I need to act in a financially responsible way at all times, not just when my children are watching.This is true for any aspect of parenting. If you don鈥檛聽live聽what you鈥檙e telling them, they鈥檙e smart enough to ignore the words and watch the behaviors.

The person you are when no one else is watching is eventually revealed to be the person you are when everyone is watching. Putting on a show works for a while, but as people see more and more of the full picture, your true nature is revealed.

At the same time, though, you can train yourself to behave better and naturally make better choices. The more times you make the conscious choice to act in a better way, the easier it becomes to always naturally act in that way.

So, the first step for establising money heroes for my kids is to simply make financially strong choices as often as possible until those choices are completely natural for me.

厂别肠辞苍诲,听I need to watch for and identify those who make smart financial choices.聽If I read about someone who has made smart financial choices and put themselves in a secure place for the rest of their life, that鈥檚 something I鈥檓 going to save for later.

The flip side is also true, to some extent. There is value in the cautionary tale of people who spend their money foolishly and end up without anything at all.

Once I鈥檝e identified people who have achieved financial success in their lives,聽I filter those people to find those who might be role models for my children in other ways.

Tony Hawk is a great example of what I鈥檓 talking about here. My son has a fledgling interest in skateboarding and has enjoyed watching videos of exceptional skateboarding talent on YouTube.

Not too long ago, I聽聽concerning how Tony Hawk has wisely leveraged his skateboarding success into long-term financial security. In that article, he talks about how he took some of his skateboarding earnings and invested them in Tony Hawk Inc, building lasting financial security for himself and his family by bridging what he was good at (skateboarding) with financially lucrative opportunities.

鈥淭ony Hawk is an amazing skateboarder, but he鈥檚 also聽smart. He figured out how to turn that skateboarding skill into money that will last for the rest of his life. He didn鈥檛 just blow what he earned on more skateboards. He saved and built something lasting, and now he can skateboard for the rest of his life without worry.鈥�

It鈥檚 a lesson my son gets. It connects something he鈥檚 interested in and thinks is 鈥渃ool鈥� to the idea of financial security, so financial security becomes a 鈥渃ool鈥� thing.

My children see Sarah and I making constant financially sensible choices (budgeting, careful thought about purchases, etc.), and they see the positive outcomes of those (my career freedoms, a lack of worry about making ends meet, etc.). They also learn that some of their heroes and role models do the same thing.

Our goal is to聽present financially sensible choices as the 鈥済ood鈥� and 鈥渘ormal鈥� way to behave, and overspending as the 鈥渂ad鈥� and 鈥渁bnormal鈥� way to behave.

With a little bit of Tony Hawk鈥檚 help, of course.