Here's a great post from one of my favorite personal finance authors. It's from David Bach, who wrote The Automatic Millionaire, and talks about some wisdom his grandmother imparted to him when he was young. That wisdom got him started on the road to wealth and I wanted to share the key points of the piece with you:
But more important than how well my first stock pick did is the lesson my grandmother taught me. Opportunity is always around us. You can spend, work, or own. Owners get rich.
Grandma started teaching me about investing when I was seven. Kids are even smarter today. You can start them even younger. How can you tell if a child is ready to learn about money? Put a $10 bill in one hand and a $1 bill in the other. Then ask them which one they want. If they are smart enough to choose the $10 bill, they're ready to be taught.
Teach them what you've learned about money from your own personal experience, the bad as well as the good. If you had a bad experience with credit-card debt, share that with your kids. If your home has been a great investment, share how and why that is. Above all, teach a child you love how to see, hear, and notice opportunity.
Financial education is the gift that keeps on giving. The mistake in our school systems is that we don't make teaching about money mandatory. For our kids' sake, it should be. Until it is, do it yourself.
Well said, David! I've written before that any learning, even reading a book, represents a tremendous investment that will grow your net worth. If you want to know more about how education is a very profitable investment for you, see these links:
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