What age is the right age to start talking to your kids about finances, savings, investments, and whatnot?
Do we tell them from as early as when they start knowing the worth of every coin or do, we wait and let the universe teach them?
I remember the first time I ever saved my money was after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, back in primary school.
The only thing I understood was savings and investment because bonds and shares were too hard for me to make sense of back then.
However, recently, I started having much interest in financial literacy and found myself going back to Kiyosaki’s book.
Not because I now have any understanding about bonds and shares, but because I want to know how a rich dad and poor dad mindset works in the financial upbringing of kids.
It’s also because I know it can be the thing that separates me from being the next Folorunso Alakija or Ngina Kenyatta, who knows?
Kiyosaki used a comparison of a rich dad and a poor dad’s mindset in his upbringing.
Maybe sharing some of the things I learned could be mind-opening for you on how to go about teaching your kids about financial issues.
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Strive and work for a corporation vs strive and own a corporation.
Are you the dad that tells their kid to strive and work for a corporation or do you tell them to strive and own a corporation?
My African dad often told me to work hard so that I could be hired by a corporation. This is good advice, I may say, but then again for how long?
Mold your kid to dream bigger, tell them to at least strive to own that corporation.
That way, you keep telling them to aim higher and reminding them that the sky is not the limit.
Attempt to be the smart person vs hiring smart people
Kiyosaki emphasizes the importance of leveraging intelligence and skills in the pursuit of financial success.
Just remember, there is a reason why they say A students work for B students at companies founded by C students. Please, don’t be discouraged if your kid is an A student, this is a saying.
Tell your kids that in this corporation they should hire people who are wiser than them.
Do you ever wonder why most companies will immediately retain a smart kid to work with them after internships?
The fact is hiring smart people expands the horizons of the companies.
Be the dad who encourages their kid to embrace working with smart people and having them in their circle.
These are the people who might come up with the ideas only your kid can turn to a corporation.
Playing it safe vs learning to manage risks
A rich dad will encourage the kid to take risks and more importantly, learn to manage them.
I wasn’t brought up in a world where I was told to take risks but I grew up and taught myself that.
I have seen people who got to school after taking risks in financial decisions and I have also seen people retire early from taking some big financial risks.
Sometimes taking the risk may also not work but playing it safe limits the potential of financial growth and opportunities for wealth accumulation.
Be the rich dad who tells their kids to venture into entrepreneurship, investing in assets, and teach them about bonds and shares as soon as they start reading Kiyosaki while they are still young.
Remember, every billionaire got himself to the list by taking a big risk and managing them other than playing it safely!
Do children make you poor?
Do you look at your kids and wonder how maybe they are the reason you are not rich or do you look at them and think that they are the reason you should be rich?
According to Kiyosaki, a poor dad’s mindset involves feeling that having children is the reason they are not somewhere on the Forbes list.
For a rich dad mindset, having kids is considered a source of richness.
They therefore hire smart people and create corporations instead of working for one because somebody has to create the generational wealth and it might start with them.
Do you encourage talking about money and business or do you forbid your kids from money and business conversations?
When you talk to your kids about savings, money, investments, and business, they get involved and invested as early as possible.
Instead of always asking about homework alone, how about you also give them their homework on financial skills?
Kiyosaki encourages telling kids where the money goes and why. You may not say it exactly that way, but you can create your language.
Sometimes give your kid an amount and ask them how they think they can multiply that amount. Maybe that way you are giving them the business ideas.
Also, by fostering a culture of financial literacy within the family, you can set your children up for long-term success and financial well-being.
Work your way up the ladder or build the damn ladder?
When I got my first job, my mother sat me down and told me about how hard I should work to get promotions and climb my way up the corporate ladder.
I get that she has a poor dad mentality of parenting according to Kiyosaki, and I don’t blame her.
While this working your way up the ladder could lead to my financial stability, it also means trading time for money.
It also comes with limitations in terms of income potential, job security, and control over one’s destiny.
My thirst for financial literacy has me thinking on ways to own the ladder.
Building the ladder means controlling my financial destiny and retiring even as early as my twenties!
If I wait to climb the ladder, I might retire in my sixties and what’s the point of all that hard work? Sorry mom.
Saving your extra money vs investing your extra money
Do you emphasize the importance of investing extra money or saving it while talking to your kids about money?
Maybe because of age, we might give them the idea of saving but Kiyosaki advises that we teach them to invest too.
Saving money in low-return accounts does not lead to significant wealth.
Remind your kids to use their extra money to acquire income-generating assets that have the potential to grow and produce passive income over time.
By investing their extra money wisely, they can create multiple streams of income, build a financial foundation, and achieve their financial freedom at an early age!
Be the dad that encourages more investing than more saving. After all, investing is riskily saving money.
Which category of dads do you fall into?
As parents, knowing how to guide your kid to grow financially can be difficult.
That’s why, when you think you are not getting it right, Kiyosaki comes in handy.
His views can be mind-opening to creating generational wealth and many more!
Maybe incorporate the rich dad mindset!
That way, you might see your kid climbing the ladder that they own.
The earlier you let your kid know the basics of savings, investments, and entrepreneurship, the more likely they might end up as a Mohammed Dewji or Chris Kirubi, who knows?
