Since I just shared about shopping and budgeting with my kids, and about using DoughMain to help teach your kids about finances, I thought I would answer one reader’s question about discussing major financial decisions with our kids. I hope you’ll share your thoughts on this matter too!
Tracy asked this question after I posted about a big financial decision my husband and I had made recently:
I had a question regarding the big decision you and Matt recently made regarding not purchasing a local property. Did you share the details of your decision or the decision making process with your boys? Just asking because I wonder how much is enough or too much for kids to know about, especially regarding financial decisions. I ask because I am not at that point yet, but I will be someday.
Our boys are now 14, 11, 9 and 6. While I would say that the majority of this particular decision-making discussion took place between just Matt and me, we did share a good part of the conversation with our boys. We felt that it was important that they know what we might be taking on if we did buy that building. Purchasing this commercial property would have effected our lives dramatically. Since our boys are old enough to understand much of what this purchase would mean, it could have been a big blow to them if we’d just worked on it after they were in bed, and then suddenly announced that we’d purchased a building. In addition, we were even encouraging Asa, our oldest, to be an “investor” with us in this since he’s done a good job of earning and saving. Matt talked through that process with him in detail.
In the end, Matt and I made the decision on our own – well, with God’s help, but without our boys help – not to purchase this building. After the decision was made, we then discussed with our boys the reasons for our choice. We felt that it was very important that they understood why we chose not to make this investment and how we came to these conclusions. They needed to hear about our thought process, and even some of the dollar figures so that they could have a clearer picture of how we had arrived at our decision. Our six year old became much more interested in his Legos about five minutes into the discussion, but we kept talking to our older boys until they had no more questions.
I’d love to hear how you handle decision-making in your family, financial or otherwise.
How much is too much (or too little) to share with your kids when making a major family decision?
