Valuation
The other day, Junior lost her phone. I was in her room helping her look for it. I opened up a small box she had squirreled away and in the box was a wad of cash. I counted it and it was a few hundred dollars. I asked her where she got the money and she told me she’d just saved her birthday, Christmas and other holiday money she gets from the grandparents. I told her that keeping it in a small box in her room probably wasn’t the best idea and we should get an envelope, write her name on it and put it in my safe. She says “you have a safe?” I say “yes. It’s in a safe place.” She laughed. And I put it in the safe.
So, I got curious and went into my son’s room and I said “Son, do you have a bunch of money in your room too?” He tells me that, oh yes, he has a ton of money in his room. I asked where it was and he went into his drawer and pulled out a jar of money. About three $1 bills and a few miscellaneous coins. And that was it. A bunch of money, by volume or weight.
I’m guessing Junior is better at convincing mom to buy her stuff and my son will just spend his own.
March 5th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
Interesting data point. Sounds like my grandson and granddaughter.
March 5th, 2013 at 9:40 pm
Junior has a phone?
March 5th, 2013 at 11:14 pm
Heh… Friend of mine’s daughter (15) has $11,000 in the bank. That kid has never spent a penny of the money she’s been given/earned… Her brother never has two nickels to rub together.
March 5th, 2013 at 11:34 pm
Sounds like a future investment adviser… Though I wonder how you teach kids about saving today. The passbook savings account is a thing of the past I’m sure.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:38 am
I’m guessing Junior is better at convincing mom to buy her stuff and my son will just spend his own
Could be that Junior will ‘shop’ with Mom and son just wants to go ‘buy’ and leave.
Much like going through any store with my wife. From a 7-11 to SuperDuperMart she has to eyeball EVERYTHING!
Drives me nuts.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:44 am
Trouble is, with the Fed printing money non-stop, she may be better off spending the money wisely now rather than sitting on it.
The World Turned Upside Down.
March 6th, 2013 at 11:31 am
Actually Zendo, they still do have passbook savings accounts, at least at my Credit Union. Boy 1 has managed to save up nearly 400 in his in the past three years or so. Boy 2 is not doing as well :(. But he did buy his own guitar.
March 6th, 2013 at 11:34 am
Both my girls have several hundred in the bank. Both have a natural tendency to prefer delayed gratification which leads naturally into saving. If you offer them a cookie now or two in a few hours, they’ll wait because they understand that 2 is better than 1 and waiting doesn’t suck that bad.
So, any money they shove in the bank, we match with the understanding they can’t touch it for a year. My oldest is saving for a very expensive Lego set and every time she sees something she wants, she has to do an opportunity cost evaluation on it. I’ve heard her say “I want this new XYZ, but if I buy it, it’ll take me longer to get my Lego Death Star”. She’s also determined that yes, she did want an item, even at the cost of taking longer.
At this rate, my daughters will rule the world by the time they’re out of high school.
March 6th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
If our schools taught Dave Ramsey, …
If Dave Ramsey taught our government…?
It’s good to see parents teaching saving.
March 7th, 2013 at 1:32 pm
@ Zendo
Shop around for kid friendly accounts. We just opened one for the kids at a local bank that will match up to $40 in deposits; gives $10 for an A on a report card (once a year), and $10 if you help w/ any community project. All that w/ $5 to open. $60 a year and 1/2% interest beats just the 1/2% everyone else offers.
March 7th, 2013 at 10:43 pm
find the phone ? start a story, then chase a rabbit…