All in Kids and Money

DIY Financial Education for my Daughter

From time to time I take an hour to google personal finance-related media that is close to home here in New Zealand. It’s not exactly plentiful and it all too often revolves around my least favourite topic of housing or the proliferation of easy credit and how as a country we think it’s a good idea to educate our children about money, but then fail to do so. On this last topic, I’m all for educating our kids, but when I read on, we always seem to focus on the “why we should” yet lack the “how we should”. It always leaves me wondering about the financial education of my own child.

The Family Christmas Newsletter

Christmas at my house when I was growing up was always a busy, crowded and fun time. We used to receive heaps of Christmas cards and the most exciting ones were the cards that contained the “annual Christmas letter” from the sender. So, I thought I would write you a Christmas Newsletter from my whanau, with a personal finance twist of course…

How to avoid a student loan. Start saving today!

A few weekends ago a young guy was scanning my groceries and he was chatting away about his final exam and his finish date. When I asked him what he had planned for the summer, he said he will be working for about 35 hours a week. Although I was desperate to ask him the finer details of his financial life, I didn’t want to freak this young guy out so I kept my questions to myself. But my absolute main one was “what is a 16-year-old proposing to do with all the money they will make this summer?

When is the right time to get your child an Eftpos card?

Those of you who have read my blog for a long time have been on a journey with me as I teach my daughter, now 11 years old, about how money works. Like every parent, I’m just making it up as I go along and I’m slowly working on her education around how money and life interact. So far, I’m pleased with how things are going and the time has come for her very first bank account.

How I Help My Daughter Invest

Every week I receive one or two emails specifically asking about how to help children invest and there are often comments on various social media about whether you even should help your kids and if you do, whether you should tell them about it. Over the years we’ve evolved an investment methodology for our daughter that appears to be working so I thought I would share with you what we do in our own whare and that might give you some tips for what you can do in your own household.