When I was a kid, I always wanted to buy what my friends were buying. I remember when the Reebok Pump basketball shoes first came out, all of my friends bought a pair except for me. I never was allowed to buy my own pair because they cost 160 dollars, enough to buy 4 reasonably priced pairs of shoes. I remember playing basketball and not getting picked to play because all of the “Reebok Pump” kids wanted to play on the same team. (I assure you that not getting picked had nothing to do with my basketball skills:))

My point is that your child’s spending habits are very heavily influenced by peers and other societal pressures. Take my Reebok Pumps story as an example. We all wanted the shoes because Reebok did an excellent marketing job. Kids who couldn’t afford the shoes wanted them even …

Part of the reason most kids in America have no concept of money is because parents don’t share their financial information with them. Most kids have no clue how much their parents make nor do they have any idea how much it costs to survive in the real world. Because this information is not readily available, it is only natural that kids will make assumptions regarding their household finances. Most of the time, their assumptions are grossly incorrect. Next time you have the chance, talk to your kids and check to see if they have the following misconceptions.

Your Kids Think You Are Wealthier Than You Really Are
My dad is an electrical engineer and my mom is a biochemist. When I was growing up, I used to think that their combined income was around 300k a year. Why did I think this? I blame …

I received an extremely well written and thoughtful comment from Bleu Panda regarding my article on 5 Crucial Subjects Schools Don’t Cover That You Should At Home so I thought I’d respond to his comment in a blog entry as a token of my appreciation. Please take the time to read his comment below followed by my reply

Thanks for the being open and honest in your posts. I’ve really enjoyed reading some of them and look forward to the rest, as well as future ones.
Regarding your post about 5 crucial subjects schools don’t cover, I would suggest another one that isn’t really taught – collaboration. You may have alluded to it in the section on how to deal with people or in other entries about entrepreneurship, but perhaps you may have some additional thoughts

Photo By Capra Royale

on it. I think it would be helpful to learn about …

In my previous article on mistakes parents make with kids and money – part 1, I pointed out 3 crucial mistakes that parents make with their kids and money.

1. Parents use credit cards in front of their kids
2. Parents buy their kids stuff because other kids have it
3. Parents hide financial details from their kids

If you happen to fall into any of the above categories, chances are you’re already sending wrong messages to your children about money. What’s worrisome is that this isn’t even an exhaustive list. In this article, I’m going to point out even more things that parents commonly overlook regarding kids and money that I’ve both experienced and observed first hand while growing up.

Photo By RedGlow82

Probably what is most disturbing is that we as parents make these mistakes with only good intentions in mind. We want our kids to look back on their childhood with …

My parents came to the United States with practically no possessions and very little money. They had to take odd jobs just to scrape by and could barely afford to have a roof over their heads. Every morning my Dad had to carry 2 buckets of water with outstretched arms up a mountain barefoot in a snowstorm to the water well a mile away. Okay, my Mom and Dad may have exaggerated some of their hardships but the fact is they didn’t have many luxuries growing up.

Because my parents lived a difficult life, they did their best to make sure that I had a fun and memorable childhood. In doing so, they always tried their hardest to provide me with everything a kid could want and need. In fact, they tried so hard that I kind of grew up a little confused. What could …

If you take the time to sit back and reflect on all of the knowledge and experience you’ve gained throughout your life, you’ll inevitably come to the conclusion that only a very small fraction of practical knowledge was actually learned in school.

Looking back, I used to think school was the be all and end all of education. Growing up, I took my classes very seriously and was encouraged(euphemism for forced) to get straight As. I was the epitome of a model student and studied hard to ace my way though high school and college. But looking at my life today, what knowledge from school do I actually use on a day to day basis? Maybe 5%? Why are so many important and crucial subjects overlooked in school? Why do schools do so little to prepare us for the real world?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the …