SAN ANTONIO — Parents, you are a major influence in your kids’ lives. You can help them build good money habits.
Schools have core subject areas including math, science and history. But it’s rare to find a dedicated financial literacy program. KENS 5 spoke with two experts who shared ways you can step in to be their teacher.
Anthony Delauney, a certified financial planner and author of several financial self-help books, has helped families successfully navigate their finances.
“I was voted in high school as the most worrisome person in our school. So, maybe I picked the best or worst career path to have with helping people with financial advice,” said Delauney with a laugh. “If you ask me what my parents told me to do growing up, I couldn’t tell you. But I can remember experiences in my childhood and adult life that molded the decision making I do today.”
He released a new book called "Dash and Nikki and the Jellybean Game" that teaches a lesson about money that can only be learned through an experience. Delauney said while it’s difficult for kids to grasp the concept of money, candy is a commodity that they can understand.
Parents can also play the jellybean game from the book in real life.
“It’s brother and sister, Dash and Nikki, who happen to be similar to my kids,” said Delauney. “One might be a little impulsive and eat her jelly beans early. But the other shows the results of what happens when you wait. The fruits of your labor, the compounding interest of your portfolio or your jelly beans.”
He’s written other books that dive into family planning and financial literacy for children.
In 2019 he published his first financial self-help book for young families called "Owning the Dash." Delauney will soon release another book in March called "The No-Regrets Retirement Roadmap," which focuses on retirement planning with a step-by-step guide. You can purchase his books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Mascot Books.
Angela Holliday, president of Frost Investment Services, also spoke with KENS 5 about ways to successfully teach kids money-management skills. She has helped numerous parents expand their bank accounts to include their children.
She recommends starting with the basics.
“From budgeting to how money works, using money whether it’s for chores, saving money, using coupons. But getting to that credit card step by doing those preliminary pieces are really important to understand what your child’s perspective is about money,” she explained.
If you are interested in opening an account for your child, she says freshman year of high school is a good time. It's the age when kids can get a part-time job.
“You can take that opportunity to test the waters, to see how responsible they are because they know you’ve got some oversight there,” she said.
Holliday said a contract is an effective tool to hold your kids accountable. She shared that she opened a bank account for her son when he turned 18 years old.
Till this day, he believes it’s a shared account.
“He’ll call me at midnight and be like, ‘I have an overdraft! I’m going to take care of it first thing in the morning,'” she recalled. “I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' I told him that I’m going to lose my job if he ever had an overdraft. I forgot I said that.
"But it’s them having a respect for the gravity of this is really, really important. You have to take it seriously. This is a lifelong deal.”