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How to Teach Your Kids About Money

What do I do when my children ask for expensive things?

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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.

What do I do when my children ask for expensive things?

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: 35,476 views

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Host: What do I do when my children ask for expensive things?

Janet Bodnar: When we have kids ask for expensive things, you need to say no. They really do need to hear you say no. A part of what they need to learn about money is the idea of setting limits and making choices that they are never going to be able to have everything they want as soon as they want it. So, they are going to have to make some decisions about what they want to spend their money on and when. It really helps to hear their parents say no. But you do not just say, "No you cannot have this.

" You say no with a reason and the reason maybe very simple. "No, we cannot afford that. We are spending money on other things right now," or "We are saving money for a vacation," or "We are spending money to send you through private school. So, right now that new video game system does not fit into our budget," or it could be, "No, we do not think you need a new video game system. If you will like to purchase it with your own money, that would be okay, but we are not going to do that right now because it just does not fit into our budget and we do not think we need it right now or that you need it right now," or, "No, we are not going to get the super humongous 100 inch a flat screen, a TV just like your friend has because we think that we just do not need that in our household. It is not something that we put a lot of priority on. We have other priorities right now.

"They need to know what your priorities are. So, as long as you are telling them no, but with a reason, again, parents, you have power, you can make any rule stick that you want and you can make no stick if you are very serious. Now, the kids are going to push on this and they are going to keep coming back, coming back asking you again and again, but again, if you say no, if you are firm and you give them a good reason for it, they are going to accept it.

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