I’m hoping you can instill in your kids good manners, honorable principles, and a healthy diet. But can you impart financial stability to them? Can you genuinely advise them on money matters?
I recently had the chance to sit down and speak with Mike Zisa. In addition to teaching at Pennsbury High School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, he is now a financial consultant. The Early Investor: How Teens & Young Adults Will Become Wealthy is written by Zisa.
We discussed the importance of high school financial education as well as its rarity as it relates to our neighborhood-based kids. Lisa discussed the most crucial lessons that all secondary school students should keep in mind after they graduate.
The Difference Between Spending and Saving Money
Saving essentially involves depositing funds into accounts like checks, deposits, or cash in a bank. Cash deposits, such as short-term CDs, are also permitted (Certificate of Deposits). You can even increase the safety and accessibility of your money by investing.
Investing is the process of using money to buy assets that are anticipated to increase in value over an extended period of time, such as stocks, shares, real estate, and other investments. The finest performer of your career was investing your money.
Put compound interest to use
When you compound, additional money is produced from your savings and/or dividend income. To put it another way, aggregation is where income is generated. Wealth can actually increase enormously thanks to compounding! The more time you have to collaborate, the younger you are.
begin your investment early
The stage on which Zisa is the most adamant is this one. He had a burning desire to write his book. The sooner you start investing your money, the longer it will take for the long-term capital-generating effects of combining to take effect.
Think about it: if you start spending $3,000 year at a 6% average growth rate at age 25, you’ll be close to $680,000 by age 65. You are worth $260,000 even if you are just 35 years old. The biggest factor affecting the creation of long-term wealth is time. Get investing right away.
Avoid purchasing items you cannot afford.
Today’s world is one where things are needed and desired. It’s wrong if you don’t spend your money, but there’s nothing wrong with waste it. Your spending does not add to the amount of debt that will eventually cause a financial disaster.
Use Credit Cards Caution
Your financial life will be heavily reliant on credit cards. Credit cards could also be the cause of your financial well-being being lost. In order to avoid extreme debt, many adults have utilized credit cards to buy pointless and frivolous items.
It’s crucial to remember that whenever you use a credit card, you are borrowing money that you must pay back. There are a few critical points to remember with a credit card:
If you don’t pay the entire sum, you’ll be assessed extremely high interest rates. Avoid using your credit card to make purchases unless you have the funds to cover them.
Initially low interest rates and balancing bargains should be considered.
Scan the credit card’s print to avoid reading the very small text. By the due date, pay the entire balance.
Invest in properties instead of obligations.
Buy things that will make you money, not things that will leave you in debt! For instance, you can earn money simply by investing in a stock that pays dividends (a percentage of the company’s income) every three months. Interest payments are received on a mortgage every six months.
Passive profits are what are meant by this. On the other hand, if you purchase a loan of any type, you already have debt that you must pay back with interest. It goes without saying that such loans, like a mortgage, may be necessary to purchase a first home or even a car loan.
However, other debt types will increase your burden and limit your potential to accumulate money.
Budget Your Spending to Save for Rainy Days
A budget is essentially an estimate of expected income and expenses for a specific period of time in the future, typically done monthly. Setting a timetable will help you keep track of the money you spend on various items and services. Establishing a cash account, often known as an emergency fund, each month is a crucial component of the budget.
You set aside money in an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses in your life. Have a money set up for emergencies that can cover your expenses for three to six months. The emergency fund should be kept in secure, simple-to-access assets like a deposit certificate (CD), a money market account, or merely a savings account.
Evidently, Zisa believes that the path to financial stability begins at a young age. In order to teach their children financial literacy, parents should serve as positive role models. If you live above your means and pick up the habits necessary to lead a less demanding and more fulfilling life, you will save yourself and your own children.