Heh. You think I have really responsible kids?
December 2, 2010
All kids are different. Don’t all parents know that? It’s actually incredible to see how different your kids can be from one other.
I have two boys, thirty months apart in age, who nearly look like twins. It’s funny. But they couldn’t be more different.
Jon, my elder son, has a credit card and a mobile phone and manages both of them pretty well. This month, at least, he is a straight A student. He is affable and sweet and compassionate and generous. He has a wide worldly view and his empathy can be astounding.
And then there is Max. Max is my younger son. He is sweet and charming and devious and cunning and brilliant and a very good liar. As his mother, I love all those things about him. I have to.
But Max is also pretty immature for his age of twelve and a half years old. In my opinion, relative to my other kids and kids his age.
I tell you this because Max just isn’t on the same learning track as my other two kids when it comes to money. We’ve already learned a lot about Max. We gave him a mobile phone when he entered the sixth grade, in middle school, as we had done with our two older children. But Max never used the phone and it just sat in his room. So we just let it fall away. Based on that, we haven’t helped Max get a credit card. He just doesn’t seem interested, and frankly, I think he is going to be more of a challenge with a credit card than my other two kids.
In fact, now that I think about it, our son, Max, owes his dad about $400 in charges from iTunes that he made with his iTunes account. We’ve shut that account down and are dealing with this latest issue.
Just because I write a blog about Parents Teaching Kids About Money doesn’t mean I have all the answers. Or that my kids are all great at this. But hopefully, that makes me a more credible and authentic teacher and counselor to you, my readers.
Justine
Third Post – Reasons why I am creating this blog
September 27, 2008
OK, I realize that this is my third post, and we should be getting down to business. But for Heaven’s Sake, this is a blog. It’s not like this is a book that you paid money for! 
And goodness knows I get criticized for being too fastidious and having too high of expectations. So, let me practice some self improvement skills and justify this blog a little bit more. Maybe that will then keep you coming back.
Yesterday I told you I was qualified to write this blog because I have three kids. And I have been teaching them about money for about 15 years. I also am well educated in Finance. Or at least that is what the diplomas on my wall say. But I don’t really feel that smart, particularly among all of the fast talkers in the finance industry. And who understands this durned Financial Bailout, anyway?
I am also writing this blog because I am passionate on this topic of teaching money to my kids. I really became conscious of this passion when I wrote to the author, Amy Baldwin, of an article she had written in the Charlotte Observer one Sunday in June, 2007. I just spewed off an email message. Next thing I know, the email is being edited, a photo is being sent and all of this is being published in the Charlotte Observer the following Sunday. Then I got lots of feedback. I guess I was on to something.
I write this blog out of passion for a few other big areas in my life. First, I love being a mom and I take my responsibilities of raising my children very seriously. (I am trying to be a little less serious, I promise.) I also am the wife of nearly 25 years to David Tobin. And I am passionate about this marriage. And most days about him. And third, I am a person of faith on most days. Not every day, but I do try.
So these three areas of motherhood, being a wife and being a person of faith are all key factors in my passion for teaching my children about money. OK, these things don’t fit neatly in the package. Yet. But they will.
Lastly, I am an investment banker and an entrepreneur. I love business. I enjoy making money. I think that business and money are keys to success and a happy life. You might think I am wrong, and that is great. But that is the bias I bring. I want my kids to understand business and to understand money before they run away from my reign of terror. And that is probably the biggest idea that fuels my passion for this topic.
Justine
Why am I starting a blog about KidsMoney?
September 26, 2008
OK, so you are asking yourself. Why is Justine Tobin writing a blog about KidsMoney? How is she qualified to be helping me teach my kids about money? Very good questions. I never listen to anybody unless I think they are qualified to tell me something. OK, so I am courteous and I pretend to listen, but I don’t really listen. Instead, I study the person’s eyelashes to see if they are longer and more full than mine. (This is not hard for other people to accomplish.) Or I try to figure out if my conversation partner’s nose is equally proportional on each side. (OK, those were tips on how to be a good listener. Sorry – back to topic.)
Well, I am qualified in many ways. But let me tell you about the most important way in which I am qualified. I have three kids. And I have been teaching them about money since each of them was born.
Hannah just turned 15 and she is a sophomore in high school. I have less then three years to try to complete most of my lessons in money management with her before she leaves my house and goes off to college and probably tries to get into a heap of trouble financially. Right?
Jon is twelve and will soon turn 13. He is a seventh grader in middle school. I’ve got six years left to teach him as much as I can about money. But he is a boy. The boys, in my experience, seem to learn more slowly than the girls in the large arena of money. So remember that when you are teaching your kids. It might take a little longer and it might be a little harder to get the information to stick in your boy’s brain that it will in your girl’s brain. So plan accordingly.
Max. Then there is Max. Yes, another boy. But he has this large, large IQ and it is difficult for him to learn from anybody. But he loves to teach himself, especially if you put a problem in front of him. It will be fun to tell you about the lessons we’ve taught Max. Max is only ten, and just a fifth grader in elementary school. So we have a long ways to go in teaching Max about money. Eight more years by my count.
So, my three kids are the first reason I am qualified to write this blog.
Now, a lesson. Notice that I am talking about timelines. Timelines are important when teaching one’s children about money. It is important to start very early. It is also important to think about all of the things you have to teach them and to plan (well, kinda) how you are going to teach them all of this before they go off to college or to work or to technical school. Whatever you have to do to get them out of the house by the time they are 18. That is the whole point of teaching our kids about money, right?
Justine
Starting One’s Own Blog
September 25, 2008
Welcome to Justine Tobin’s KidsMoney Blog. Thanks for joining me.
We have started this blog because there is a dearth of information out there regarding the topic of how to teach your kids about money. Yes, there are lots of sites, but they all seem so shallow, don’t they? These sites give you some ideas, but they don’t tell you how to do it. And many want you already to know so much about finance and money before you start teaching your kids. But the problem is, you DON’T know so much about finance and money. Well, neither do I.
OK, that isn’t completely true. I have an undergraduate degree in Finance. I also have an MBA in Finance. From Columbia Business School in New York City. But they didn’t teach me how to teach my kids about money. I had to figure it out. And I am still figuring it out.
But I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who think I am really knowledgeable in this area. I also have encountered a lot of people who want to argue with me on this topic of teaching our children about money. So. It is time to start a blog and get all of this on the table.
This is a blog. A web log. It will be a journal of my efforts in teaching my kids about money. I will tell you about the things I have done, the things I have left undone. I will tell you about the recent comedic episodes in teaching my children about money. I will answer questions. I will deliver really strong opinions and I will tell you that I just don’t know (but that I will try to find out.)
I will probably delve into other topics, like marriage, faith and work, all of which touch this important topic of teaching our children about money. I hope you will find this blog informative and entertaining. I hope you will come back often.
Justine
