What Money Lessons Have You Passed Onto Your Kids, And Other Money Questions

Have you seen the money related conversation starter cards circulating in the social media lately?

It is the Financial Service Council NZ teaming up with Hatch investment platform who brings us these downloadable cards that each have a money related question to answer.

I thought I’d do a post series of personally answering a few of these questions in each post and inviting you to share your own answer to the same question in the comments! You can download your own set here.

How did parental leave affect your KiwiSaver or investments?

I was conscious about the fact that I had to specifically opt-in to pay KiwiSaver out of my Paid Parental Leave payments, and that’s what I did.

Of course, it meant that no employer contributions were made during the time, but at least I was contributing something.

I also did my best to meet the maximum amount that the New Zealand government would contribute, but was a bit low both years I had parental leave, despite making voluntary contributions as well.

Going on parental leave, and afterwards dropping down to part-time work has had a big impact on my KiwiSaver balance.

When we purchased our house, both my partner’s and my KiwiSaver balances dropped to $1000.

It has been frustrating to see how quickly his balance has climbed compared to mine!

How important do you think it is to talk to your kids about money?

I think it is very important to talk to kids about money.

It is an essential part of life that should be spoken about more in general. Talking about money alone could prevent so much financial stress!

It is important for kids to understand the ins and outs of it, and for them to be able to witness good money management habits and practice budgeting in a safe home setting before going on their own.

Having simple conversations at home could easily prevent the kids from getting into unnecessary debt and help set them up for good money management habits for life.

After all, they will learn one day, but you never know from who so wouldn’t it be better if it is the parents who their best interest at heart?

What money lessons have you passed onto your kids?

At the time of writing my daughters are 3 and 1. So, so far, not much!

But, my 3-year-old does know that we need to work to get money, and has done some little chores for some coins.

She knows that money buys things and has used her own coins from her piggy bank to buy a couple of little things.

I’m excited to keep teaching her more and hopefully set her up for life!

You can find my answer to all previous money questions here.

I’d love to hear your answers to these questions in the comments below!