How to Help Your Kids Set and Achieve Financial Goals
Parenting isn’t easy. Every choice you make can either positively, or negatively, impact your family! When it comes to teaching your child those big, important life lessons, finding the right technique can be difficult.
The number of ways you can help your kids plan ahead for their futures is as numerous as the stars in the night sky. Breaking down the methods to find what may work best for you doesn’t have to be like finding a single star!
Here are a few ways that you can help your children set goals for their future, then achieve them!
Short Term Goals
A great way to start down the path of helping your kids achieve their financial goals is to start off with short term, little goals. Don’t make the mark so high that they start off with failure after failure. Start with something little, and something short term, then work up to long term financial goals from there.
Short term goals like a new pair of shoes, a new toy, or a day of doing something special with mom and dad is easy to earn! Get your child on board with saving up for that small item. Once they learn that it’s ok to shop second hand, or it’s ok to not spend all their money in one place, you’re on your way!
Start with the little things, like saving your candy until after dinner, then work your way up to putting away money for your child’s college fund. Once you allow your child to feel the positive impact that saving can have, then they will want to keep moving forward towards their long term goals!
Long Term Goals
Setting long term goals for your child can be tricky. At such a young age, they are probably very uncertain of what they may want to do with their future. However, you can start to help them make better decisions that will help them no matter what path they decide to travel down.
Whether it is helping your child set up some of the best savings account for kids options, or helping them apply for the college of their dreams, there are so many ways to help them achieve their future financial goals!
Here are just a few examples of long term financial goals you can discuss with your child:
- College Fund
- Car Fund
- Future House Fund
- Travel Funds
- Trade School Fund
- Accelerated Degree Programs
- And so much more!
Once your child hits high-school age, they can have a more solid idea of where they want their life to go. That way you can sit down with them to help them set their long term goals, as well as help them break down how they can accomplish them!
Finding the Way
In order to help your child achieve their goals, you need to first teach them how to plan ahead properly. There are many ways you can go about doing this, but one of the best ways is honesty.
Tell them it’s going to be hard work. Tell them it’s going to be challenging to see their money stowed away and they need to keep their eyes on the prize and not spend it. Tell them it’s going to be difficult, and they’ll want to give up, but that they should stay focused! It may be about praising the effort or the ability in the end, but it is also about letting them know it’s not all on easy street!
Once your child has set their long term financial goals, whether it be saving for a car, or saving for college, you can help them plan out how they will manage to get to the finish line! Break it down to the smallest, easiest steps, then work your way up to the harder parts.
Watch Your Child Set and Achieve Their Financial Goals!
It is important to set goals, achieve those goals, then relish in a job well done! Start with setting simple, short term goals with your child for them to get a sense of control and success. Then help them set long term goals for their future. Once they have a financial dream laid out in front of them, you can help them plan out the steps they need to take to make those dreams a reality!
What are you doing to help your kids set and hit their financial goals?
