Top Highlights

• Provide a modest allowance. Giving your children a small weekly or monthly allowance that they can spend as they wish will help them learn the value of money. If your wallet is always open for them, they’ll never appreciate what it means to budget or save.
• Just listen. Be there for your kids. Really be there. If you take the time to talk to them, especially your teenagers, you’ll be surprised by what you learn. They’ll appreciate the time as much as you will.
• Not just this year, but every year brings a new set of challenges. Take the time every year to set goals and priorities for the year to fit into your long-term goals so that you can achieve your financial objectives and retire when and how you want.
• Save for a rainy day. It will rain. A major appliance will break. Someone will need surgery. The car will need a new transmission. You or your spouse will be out of work. Don’t worry; something will go wrong. One day it would be nice to have a full year’s expenses in savings as a cushion against almost any foreseeable disaster.
• Set a savings goal, measure progress publicly and celebrate milestones. Together as a family, set goals for putting money into savings each month. Monitor progress. When you reach the goal and put the target amount—or more—into savings, celebrate in a fun but budget appropriate way. Everyone in the family has an interest in spending money, but if e...