What a 15 Year Old Taught Me About Financial Parenting.
Today while driving Scaley to a friend’s house I asked her what her adult financial goals were.
The Interview
The conversation went like this…
Mom: what are your adult financial goals?
Scaley: To not be poor.
Mom: okay, how do you plan to go about not being poor?
Scaley: by getting a job.
Mom: okay, what do you feel will define you as “not poor?” (Mom looks over and notices Scaley realizing I’m not going to stop asking questions).
Scaley: (sigh) First, I have to buy a car so I can get to my job. Then, I need to go to college and still have a job, finish my degree, and find a career. I need to buy a house and save money at a seven percent rate of return,which will result in compound interest, save at least a million dollars, and hopefully retire off of that.”
The Results
This was the first of four conversations and it was a learning experience for me. Clearly, my teenager is listening, kind of. She has heard about working toward goals, retained something about rates of return, but she has no plan in action.
In that way, I have failed. This child is so conscious of cost it isn’t even funny. If I say I’m going to buy milkshakes she says she will have a dollar sundae instead to save me money. But I can’t send her out into the world with just that knowledge!
So, Scaley got homework. She has to research different saving and budgeting techniques to find the one she wants to follow. And then…she has to follow it and update the world on her progress.
It’s what I did!