It’s April which means it is Financial Literacy Month! But you already knew that. We are in mid-month now and I know you have been busy decorating your house in the customary Financial Literacy Month (FLM) style. The US currency wreaths. The budget balloons. The “pin the debt on the consumer” game for the kids!
OK, maybe it is not America’s most celebrated holiday (yet), but it certainly does provide ample opportunity to think about how we can all get better at managing our finances. So, if you don’t already have your own favorite FLM tradition, here are a few ideas to get you started no matter your age.
For Young Kids
- Play store using play money to teach buying and selling.
- Start a chart of chores kids can do around the house. Some chores might be expected because they are expected to do work to contribute as part of the family, but other “stretch goal” chores might have a dollar amount attached to them.
- Teach your kids about budgeting using the three buckets of Spend, Save, and Give (or Share if you like them all to start with “S”). You can easily use three containers that you create yourself, or you can buy a three-part bank from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small percentage if you buy from this link. All of my affiliate funds go toward the creation or purchase of financial educational materials.
- Open a bank account for your child and explain the concepts of saving for a long-term goal.
For Teens
- Play a game of financial “Would You Rather” using questions like these:
- Would you rather get a free 2 week trip anywhere in the world each year or drive your favorite car for free all year?
- Would you rather get $1 million today or $100,000 every year for the next 20 years?
- Would you rather run a business or run a charity if you knew it wouldn’t fail?
- Would you rather have a well-paying job you hate or a low-paying job you love?
- Discuss with your teen a financial goal you set in the past or would like to set. Talk about what you did to achieve the goal or how you plan to achieve it. See if your teen has any goals they want to set for the next year, especially if you are also working toward some goals. Look for ways to encourage each other towards those goals.
- Talk about the power of compound interest with your teen. If you aren’t clear on what that is or don’t know a good way to explain it, give this link a look. It explains the math and has a video about a third of the way down the page that walks through two examples for you.
- Have a discussion with your teen about what they want their future to look like. This could include what line of work they want to go into, what type of lifestyle they want to have, and some key future goals they might want to set like getting their first job, owning a house one day, or contributing money to a cause they care about deeply.
For Adults
- Audit your expenses to see where you can save. Good places to start:
- Insurance policies (car, homeowners or renters) – shop around to see if there is a better deal
- Eating out – pull up your credit card and bank transactions online and add up your actual eating out expenses for the past month. Most people are floored at how much they spend compared to how much they think they spend eating out each month.
- Groceries – do the same exercise for your grocery bill. If you are not such what is average, check out this chart from the USDA published in February 2024 that you can use to calculate what they think is a typical grocery budget. Hint, for a family of 4 it is roughly $1,000 per month. There are ways to reduce that number (perhaps that is a good goal for Financial Literacy Month!), but first make sure you know what you are spending today.
- Make a budget. Budgeting is a lot like flossing. You know you need to do it, but you don’t do it nearly as much as you should. I have learned that most people don’t like making a budget. I’m a people and I don’t always want to make one, but I can tell you it will pay off in the long run. If you want help getting started, check out this article.
- Review your retirement investments and see if you need to make any adjustments. Are you on track for retirement? How much do you need to retire? You can use this retirement calculator to get a rough idea of what you might need to save and when you can pencil in that retirement party. If you want to do some extra credit reading, here is a quick article about retirement basics as well as an article I wrote about Roth vs Traditional IRAs.
For All Ages
- Set a goal and track it on a graphic in your home. If you are single, set a goal (pay off debt, save for a specific purchase or trip, or save toward retirement) and track it on chart on your fridge. If you have kids and you are saving for a car, have your kids draw a car on graph paper where each square is a portion of the money (perhaps $100) you plan to save. Each time to save that amount, color in squares to show your progress.
- Find ways to earn extra money to reach your goal faster. For adults that could be food or grocery delivery, doing side work in your field, or working overtime. For kids that could be mowing lawns, cleaning pools, or babysitting. For the younger crowd it could mean doing extra chores or running a lemonade stand in the front yard.
- Host a garage sale. You’ll get rid of some of the clutter in your home and you’ll make a little extra cash to put toward your financial goals.
Conclusion and Offer
No matter how you plan to celebrate Financial Literacy Month, I urge you to learn about a financial topic and take a small step toward improving your financial future.
That’s the conclusion, now here is the offer. Personal finance is a passion of mine. In particular, I love empowering people to learn about how to handle money and help them create and execute a plan to move toward a brighter financial future. I considered creating a business where I would provide fee-based financial coaching services, but God has really put it on my heart to trade in the business plan and for community outreach. Translation: I provide financial coaching for free.
I have learned a lot through the years, and I am happy to share that knowledge and wisdom with others. While there are a lot of fine people providing financial services for a fee, I believe you shouldn’t have to pay to learn some foundational skills that will help you improve your life.
If you are ready to apply the knowledge and wisdom you receive, I’m happy to share it with you. In this equation, you have nothing to lose, and I have nothing to gain so it removes any money pressure from the relationship. I know that if you don’t have any skin in the game, you may not follow through, which means we are both wasting our time talking. With that in mind, my ask is that you be invested in yourself enough to incorporate the information from our time together into a plan to help you move forward. If you are unwilling to do that, please don’t be offended when I politely decline to work with you. I am taking time out of my week to help, and if you aren’t willing to apply the help, I know we both have better ways to spend our time.
I can be of service to you as you are learning and planning your financial future and if you are ready to build and execute a plan of action, please reach out and I’ll see how I can help. I have a website where you can schedule an appointment using any of the big red buttons on the page (they are hard to miss). If you are a cautious soul — something I know a thing or two about — check out the free content near the bottom of the main page to get a sense of my approach and to read articles I have posted.
Happy Financial Literacy Month! Now go do something to make your financial life better so you will have a reason to smile when you celebrate this time next year.
KJ Financial Coaching 