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How to Teach Your Kids About Money

How can I set a good financial example as a parent?

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Janet Bodnar
Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine
www.kiplinger.com  

Janet Bodnar is deputy editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, for which she has written articles on a wide range of topics, including investing, money management and the economy.

Bodnar is a nationally recognized expert in the field of children's and family finances. Her latest book is Money Smart Women: Everything You Need to Know to Achieve a Lifetime of Financial Security (Kaplan). She speaks frequently on the subject of women and money.

Bodnar's "Money-Smart Kids" column appears regularly in Kiplinger's magazine and at <a>www.kiplinger.com/columns/kids</a>. It was chosen by Moneysmartz.com as one of the top financial columns online. Bodnar is also the kids and money coach on the AOL Coaches site.

Her book Raising Money Smart Kids (Kaplan Publishing) was a finalist in the personal finance category of the Books for a Better Life awards, honoring the best self-improvement books of 2005. It was also a selection of the Washington Post's Color of Money book club.

Bodnar has appeared on Oprah, Today, Good Morning America, The Early Show on CBS, Fox, CNN and PBS. She has done hundreds of radio and TV interviews and appears regularly on WUSA, the CBS-TV affiliate in Washington, D.C., and WTOP, the major all-news radio station in Washington. She is a popular speaker and has been quoted in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor to Parents and Glamour.

Bodnar has been recognized by American University for excellence in personal finance reporting, and by the National Council on Family Relations for her televised reports on children and money. The audio version of her book (read by the author) received three "best of" awards, from Publishers Weekly (business category), Library Journal (nonfiction) and the Audio Publishers Association (educational category).

Prior to joining Kiplinger's, Bodnar worked for The Providence Journal and The Washington Post. She received her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism.

Married, she is the mother of three children.

How can I set a good financial example as a parent?

In this video, Deputy Editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance and author Janet Bodnar answers questions on the many issues surrounding what kids should know about money.

This series: 35,395 views

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Host: How can I set a good example as a parent?

Janet Bodnar: What you have to be aware of as a parent is that your kids are going to learn most of what they learn about money from you and they are going to pick up on everything that you say. It really is true that 'Little pictures have big ears.

' So you have to be very aware of the example that you are setting and the things that you are discussing within your household, within your spouse. If you are arguing about money the kids are going to pick up on that, if you are discussing money they are going to pick up on that. So, I think don't ever say to them, it is a 'Do as I say' not 'As I do' situation and you don't want that to happen because they are going to learn all the wrong things about money.

So, you want to be very aware of what's going on and obviously, you want to have some good money habits of your own. You want to be a saver you want to be putting some money aside. If you want to be teach your kids about philanthropy it helps if you are a philanthropist yourself and that you give money to charity and that sort of thing. If you don't want your kids to get into credit card debt then you don't want to be in credit card debt. If you are in credit card debt you certainly want to pay it off.

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