Money habits

Managing money

Earning money

Spending money

Building confidence

Leading financial commentators, David and Libby Koch,share with parents and carers their experiences of bringing up their children in a world of consumerism and changing finances. Topics discussedinclude money habits, managing money, earning money, spending money and building confidence.

Being MoneySmart is a core life skill in the twentyfirst century. Children are growing up in an increasingly complex world. Money is less visible, online shopping is growing, credit is easy to access and the choice and complexity in financial products is increasing.It is essential that young people are provided with the knowledge, understanding, skills and behaviours to establish good consumer and financial habits from a very young age. This is critical to establishing the foundations for their future wellbeing.

As parents and carers, you are the first teachers of your children and play a major role in positioning them to make informed decisions about the way they use money and understand the impact this can have on their future wellbeing.

How you can support your child'sconsumer and financial literacy learning

Young people learn from their parents from an early age. You will have already began introducing them to ideas about, and attitudes towards, money before they start school and are modelling your money behaviours to your children.It is important for you to help your childrendevelop discerning skills and behaviours across a range of consumer and financial real world contexts.

To help ensurethe next generation areinformed consumers and more financially aware,consumer and financial literacy education is now an important part of the school curriculumin all states and territories. ASIC's MoneySmart Teaching program has been developed to support schools in teaching consumer and financial literacy through the provision of professional development for teachers to increase their capability, and the provision of high quality teaching resources to support their classroom lessons.

Schools welcome the engagement and support of parents and carers. The activities you do at home with your children in relation to money help support and reinforce the consumer and financial learningthat takes place at school.

With the assistance of the Koch family, ASIC's MoneySmart Teaching has developed a short series of videos with hints and tips foryou.These can beused to develop your own plans and ideas to raise your family's financial awareness and support your children's school learning.

These videos have been developed for:

  • Parents and carerswishing to assist with their children's learning at home;
  • Parents, carers and young peoplewith varying levels of consumer and financial literacy knowledge;
  • Parents, carers and students with varying ICT skills.

Each of the five videos runs for an average of five minutes. At the end of each video a summary of the main points is provided which could be used for family discussion.

A guide is also providedwith ideas and tips to support family discussion. Parents and carerscan add their own notes and ideas to engage their

children in these important family discussions, preparing them to be financially independent in the future.

Based on the videos, some suggestions for family discussion include:

  • Pocket moneyteaches young people the value of earning. Talk about what jobs your children could do for pocket money, the benefits of earning pocket money, and what they are expected to do at home without payment just because they're part of the family.
  • Discuss needs and wants – how do your children know if they really need an item or if the item is something they could live without? What strategies could they use to stop and think about whether to spend or save their money?
  • What good examples can you set for your children to learn from when it comes to budgeting and saving money?
  • How couldyour children develop a sense of responsibility and family and community ethics?Perhaps they coulddonate time or money to the less fortunate, or even to a local project as these are great ways for them to learn about becoming part of the community.
  • Consider giving your teen the opportunity to earn more by offering additional jobs or helping them with finding a casual job. Discuss what your teenmay need to know if they get a casual job such as payslips, super and tax.
  • Discuss the influence advertising, brand names and peer pressure have on whatyour family spend.
  • Discuss various types of scamsand what your family might need to be aware of - especially when browsing or buying online.
  • How will growing up bring with it more responsibility and more complexity?What financial responsibilities will they take on as they get older?

  • What are some of your children'ssavings goals? Discuss approaches to help your children reach these goals.
  • Talk about the importance of budgeting;show them simple budgets first then help them with more complex budgets as they get older.
  • What are some of the many ways that individuals and households receive income?
  • Raise your children's awarenessabout money being finite rather than something that is always readily available.Reinforce with them that you can only spend what you earn. Discuss the value of money.
  • What's the difference between debit cards and credit cards, and what effects can come from using them? Explain how getting into debt can affect a credit report and make it difficult later on to get a loan for a car or a home. Discuss how credit card interest rates mean you're likely to pay a lot more money for something that's on sale, and how using your debit card means using your own money and using a credit card means using a financial institution's money.

Further resources

Resources for you to work through with kids and teens:

See the list of digital resources on the next page, or visit moneysmart.gov.au/teachingfor more videos and resources.

For your teaching at home in support of school learning:

Talk to your children's teachers about what they're learning in school so you're able to become involved by supportingand reinforcing what is being taught in the classroom with every day experiences at home.

For yourpersonal money management:

ASIC’s MoneySmart website is a free consumer site that helps you make the most of your money. It has information, calculators, tools and tips. For simple guidance you can trust, visit moneysmart.gov.au or call 1300 300 630.

For your better mobile phone management:

To find out more about mobile phones visit:
moneysmart.gov.au
acma.gov.au
lawstuff.org.au

MoneySmart Teaching consumer and financial literacy resources

Alongwith these videos and notes, there are many fun and entertaining learning resources available for young people of all ages. ASIC's MoneySmart Teaching has developed a range of digital activities and videos that you can access and work through with your children. A list of these resources is shown below in relevant school and age levels. View or download these resources at:moneysmart.gov.au/teaching/teaching-resources.

Foundation to Year 2(Digital activities)

Needs and wants

Goods and services

Money match

Pay the price

Ava makes a difference(Interactive PDF)

Money match

Needs and wants

Pay the price

Needs and wants

Year 2 to Year 5(Digital activities)

Party time

Fun day out

Money and people

Money maps

Our big weekend adventure

Helping out

Year 7+(Mobile phone digital activities)

Consumer rights

Advertising

Calls, messaging and browsing

Choosing a plan

Entertainment

Mobile credit

Mobile phone advertising

Premium services

Security

Social media

Year 10+(MoneySmart Rookie videos)

moneysmart.gov.au/teaching/teaching-resources/moneysmart-rookie-for-educators

In the driver's seat (First car)

Credit hangover (Understanding credit and debt)

Phoney deals (Mobile phone deals)

Moving out (First home away from home)

Too good to be true (Scams)

Show me the money (First job)