HOW do smart dads handle money? In time for Father’s Day, we asked some dads to share valuable tips to you fellow dads out there. Here are some wise advice:
1. Live within your means. “The general tip is really ‘living within your means.’ It is an attitude that should not be equated to being stingy; rather, it entails planning the family’s lifestyle to cover the basic necessities, leisure activities, and savings. It is also an attitude that makes the family define its own happiness instead of being dictated upon by the happiness of others.” — Noel M. Cortez, head of marketing and graduate school professor Dad to Popet (11), Peping (7), and Kimi (4)
2. Spend for experiences rather than stuff. “As dads, we have a tendency to lavish our kids with material things, partly out of guilt for not spending enough time with them and mostly because we just enjoy seeing the smiles on their faces. But their excitement is gone weeks or even days after getting something they want. So instead of buying more and more stuff, spend for experiences–trips to the zoo, the park, the beach–since memories of happy experiences last much longer than the fleeting enjoyment of toys and gadgets. Plus you get to spend quality time with them. More experiences, less stuff.”– Heinz Bulos, editor-in-chief of Money Sense magazine and dad of Kimi (2).
3. Cut down on your unnecessary spending. You’ll be amazed at how much you can save. And don’t get discouraged when times are bad. A downturn also creates opportunities to earn good money.– Benjie Oliva, commercial banking director for a leading multinational bank, and dad too
4. Teach kids about money early on. “Train up a child in his ways and when he grows old he will not depart from it. Teaching our kids financial literacy at a young age is very important. The best person to teach children about handling money is you. We cannot leave our child training to the TV, to teachers, to MTV, to their idols. It is the dad’s main responsibility.”– Chinkee Tan, lifestyle trainer (www.chinkeetan.com) and author of the personal finance book “Till Debt Do Us Part” Dad to Kayla (8), Jethro (6) and Destiny (4)
Happy Father’s Day to all dads!
June 24th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
In this trying times living within one’s means is the golden rule. We should also teach our children the value of saving and the importance of hard work and last but not least to be humble and live a simple life. These are the teachings of my departed dad, and this is what I teach to my children now.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
live within your means….spend for experiences rather than stuff……cut down on your unnesessary spending….teach kids about money early on…..this are good tips a father can share to fellow fathers.
following these tips alow me to demonstrate the how, the why and the because of all this tips
live within your means is like saying that the head of the family must make a
budget as guidance for his financial management on spending, investment and savings.
spend for experience rather than stuff….
this is one of the best tips that is must for parents….just to test the effectiveness of this tips, ask your children about the toys you give them and what happen to it, next ask them about the field trip you have with them. about the bonding and closeness to each other that it creates. the memories that lingers in their mind. the toys they will forget and set aside but the visitation to zoo, parks, the beach the picnics all together are memories that will not fade away and its valued will last forever.
your success on inhibiting yourself from unnessesary espending will realy increase your savings for future investment
teaching your kids about money matters about spending and saving and most of all about the effect of economics in their life and their savings.
they also need to be taugh on how to earn money on their own and not just rely on what is given to them by their parents to save.
because if they understand economics on money matters they will not become a burden to their parents and to the community..by teaching the children to be answerable to their deeds. they will learn how to be responsible for their actions.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I like most advice no. 4. Teaching the kids to handle money while they are still young will carry them through the rough times in adulthood when they themselves are the breadwinners. The wants of children nowadays is innumerable so that parents that always cave in to their children’s desires oftentimes find hard time budgeting their finances.
My family of 5 children live in the province. I work here in the metropolis. I go home only every other weekend to save on fares and to avoid travel fatigue. Early on I teach them to save by giving them 25 or 50 pesos each to save every time I go home. This plus 10 pesos (as motivation) for every perfect score in every quiz or exam will go to their savings. Their respective savings now run into thousands.
They are not tempted to spend their savings because they have the daily allowance from their Mom.
Another upside to this strategy is that whenever my wife is short of cash she can always borrow from the kids and, of course, return it back later with some add-on sort of interest. This way we are also teaching the child some rudiments of business.