Teaching children financial responsibility: Start with Halloween!

It may sound a little strange but Halloween might be one of the best holidays for teaching children financial responsibility. Leading finance experts were asked to share their financial wisdom and strategies surrounding Halloween and the answers were shared on WalletHub, one of the web’s best personal finance resources. Experts agree that trick-or-treating might be one of the best metaphors for life in general.
Think about it: trick-or-treating requires effort. The more effort put in, the better the outcome. From creating the perfect costume to spending time ringing doorbells, the more effort, the better pay-off. Think of candy as you would any other commodity: we want something, we treasure it, we save for it, and if we don’t like it, we might trade it for something else.
It is also a great way to teach children about making choices. Over Halloween, there can be numerous pieces of candy to choose from. Use candy choices to forge a conversation about making everyday choices. You can also discuss the concept of supply and demand. Bartering with siblings can be the best way to learn about money management. Young children can learn to count and sort their candy into groups.
Even getting ready for Halloween offers great opportunities for young ones to learn about personal finance. Whether you’re scouring stores for Halloween costumes of your kids’ favorite characters or shopping for Halloween décor online, invite your kids to join you in the process of comparison-shopping online and offline. Warehouse clubs such as Costco are perfect destinations for rounding up Halloween candy on the cheap. You can find all your favorite brand name chocolate and candy, as well as generic candy, in larger bag sizes. Teach young shoppers the importance of bulk buying certain items, and show them the price savings of their favorite bags of candy as part of the lesson.
Finally, postponing indulgent behavior, even for a day or two, will instill a sense of self-discipline and help kids learn the value of waiting and anticipation, which can definitely be utilized in teaching children financial responsibility.
If your own financial responsibility includes an investment in a new home, or the sale of your existing property in Santa Barbara, Montecito or the surrounding communities. Just call me at 805.886.9378 or email me at Cristal@montecito-estate.com and I’ll happily show you what’s move in ready on the market right now, as well as share my pocket listings.