How To Raise A Millionaire
By Erwin Bogs Rempola, author of the book "Discovering True Wealth" available at online bookstores worldwide.
I remember a long time ago when I was still in elementary, my mother always told me to study hard. She told me that education is the only thing that I will inherit from her. Everyone thinks that I was an easygoing person then, but now everyone's saying that I inherited my mother's brain. It's true my mother is very talented; she was a Mathematics teacher in college, high school, and in elementary. I'm lucky to have her as my mother. She was very understanding and very confident in us children.
When I was in college, I couldn't concentrate on my studies. I realize now that I was probably just bored. In college, they teach you how to memorize the books, how to do reports, how to be on time, and how to follow rules. They teach you how be the best worker. They teach you how be successful as an employee. They don't teach you how to become a millionaire.
In college, there is no Money 101, Stocks 101, Real Estate 101, Investing 101, or Home-based business 101. These courses do not exist in college. Instead, they teach you how to create reports, how to follow rules, and how to be a manageable person. They teach you how to make other people rich such, as your employers.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against education. I'm not telling you to stop your children from going to school. In fact, I learned a lot from going to school. I tell my children to study hard and stay in school. Nevertheless, at home I teach them what they don't learn from school. I teach them what I learned on my own about money management.
I learned the hard way. Nobody taught me about money management in high school or college. I learned bookkeeping from the navy. I learned about stock market from my friends and self-research. I learned real estate from vocational courses and self research. I learned sales from Navy Recruiting. I want my children to learn now what I had learned the hard way. I want them to learn while they are still at school--something that I didn't learn when I was at school.
Here's what you should do to raise a financially intelligent child:
1. Education is the best inheritance. Tell them to stay in school and get good grades.
2. Reward them when they get high grades (A+). It is not a bribe. It is something they look forward to. Children will do their best when they know that they'll get something from it. My son is in Taekwondo. Whenever he has a tournament, I tell him that I will buy him a video game if he brings home a medal. One tournament, he was so motivated that during the first fight, he made his opponent cry. However, every time he loses, I don't discourage him. I tell him, son, there is always next time.
3. Give your children monthly allowances (just for kids in high school and up). Kids should learn how to budget their own money. If they spend their monthly allowance in one day, it's okay. The next month they will learn from their mistake. Spending all their money in one day is not good because now they know how to be broke. Next time they will save it for future use.
4. Don't take them whenever you go shopping. If they do come with you, don't buy the anything they want. Next time you go shopping they will not go with you even if you ask because they think you're boring and they know that they will not get anything they want. Buy them only what they need.
5. Assign them chores in the house. In other countries, rich children have maids and when they grow up they don't have skills because they never had the chance to learn housework. When their parents are gone they don't know what to do with their inheritance that they lose in a heartbeat.
6. Don't buy them gifts on their birthdays. Instead, buy them savings bonds, stocks; put the money on their savings or educational IRA/ESA. Encourage guests not to bring gifts. If they really willing want to bring gifts, tell them to give cash or buy savings bonds instead.
7. Teach your children (elementary) how to count money. Teach them the value of the dollar. Tell them that money will grow if they save them.
8. Tell your kids (high school) to watch CNBC or History Channel instead of watching MTV. You parents too, instead of watching drama series, you can learn a lot by watching CNBC and History Channel.
9. Talk about money at dinner. As a Parent, if you are in real estate, talk about real estate at dinner, if you are in stock investing, talk about it at dinner. If you want them to be a lawyer, doctor, or engineer then talk about it at dinner. Just don't force them to be what they don't want to be. Talk to them about successful people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump.
10. The most important thing you can teach your children is to teach them how to manage money (bookkeeping). For elementary age, whenever you give your children money, ask them what happened to it the next day. You'll be surprised what happened. If they lost it, then they need money counseling. Bottom line is they have to account for it. With teenagers, tell them to give you a breakdown of how they spend their allowance for the month. It doesn't matter what they spend the money on. Don't be mad if they bought something that you don't like. Bottom line is they have to know what they spend their allowance on. Bookkeeping is one of the skills a businessperson should have. If they can't account for what they spent on monthly, then how are they going to account a large amount of money in the future.
There are more ways to teach you children about money. The most important thing is you have to teach them when they are really young. Teach them now!
For more information on How To Raise A Millionaire, please read the book "Discovering True Wealth" written by Erwin Bogs Rempola available at online bookstores worldwide.