This can be a casual chance for financial education for your kids. It might be one of the questions that you’re asked or will be asked by your child when they start to pay more attention to money.
Whether their curiosity comes from a new cool toy that their friend just got from his parents or the latest trendy stuff everybody owns on social media, kids naturally become aware of what they have and don’t have, and start to compare their family with others in terms of finance.
So, how best to answer this question?
Would you tell them the exact number or even show them your payslip or would you just tell them they don’t need to know that as it's a personal matter?
The thing is, whether or not you tell them now, they’re going to find out one way or another either from a tax form or, eventually, an inheritance.
And keeping them in the dark won’t help them build their financial skills.
This doesn’t mean that you should just show them your statement straight away as you probably don’t want their whole class to know how much you earn.
Actually, there’s an easy way to turn this question into a money discussion starting point - without having to spread your personal information.
You can tell them where you are in relation to the average income.
For example, “We make a bit more than the average”.
However, If the outcome you want from this conversation is for them to know that money is limited resource then you can tell them that you make enough money for the “needs” of the family such as food, accommodation, clothes, electricity and other necessities, but it doesn’t cover all the “wants” or fancy things every time they want them.
Financial education for kids is super important in this day and age as we all know, and there are many opportunities for you to slip it into everyday life situations.
Stay tuned for the next opportunity you can help your kid build financial literacy or take a look at our Financial Education for Kids Course below.