One thing that stands out for me from that is: teaching your children financial lessons from a young age is important. My dad told me about some finance-related matters, but the biggest lessons are not the things he said but the things that he did.
It’s important to teach your kids about money. Let them be one step ahead of the herd. They will be able to manage their budget, understand investing, know the importance of saving money, know what they value when spending money.
I found that material things are not important in my life. I figure that if something is still good, you shouldn’t throw it out just because you want something new. There are many more important things in life to pay attention to.
What we did do instead of buying new things, was spend a lot of time together. My dad took permanent sick leave from his job to spend as much time as possible with our family.
He taught me that I can do anything I wanted. Did I want to become a firefighter? I could do that. Did I want to become a princess? I could do that. Did I want to become a dolphin trainer? I could do that.
My dad always raised me to be independent of others. He never wanted to be dependent on his boss, on his parents, on money, on anyone else for that matter. He most certainly didn’t want to be dependent on his paycheck. That’s what I learned from a very young age.
Now I think about it, that has taught me two things: – Negotiate everything and anything – Insurance is important
Reading has to lead to a neverending hunger for knowledge. I want to learn more, know more, teach more. Every day I want to learn at least one thing that makes me a better person.
My dad would explain to me that if I would save my weekly allowance for an X amount of weeks, I would be able to buy it. I would eagerly go into it and I would save most of my money to buy what I really wanted.
One of the most important things that my dad taught me, is to value the things you have. I’m not talking about material things. I’m talking about your friends, your family, your health, your happiness, your time here.