ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A new survey from T. Rowe Price is showing parents are using the pandemic to pull back the curtain and talk about money with their kids. This is bringing up an important topic during a time when many families struggled.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down restaurants, malls, small businesses, and facilities for months, leaving families a lot shorter on cash than usual in some cases. Local financial expert David Hicks says this reminded families, including his own, the importance of budgeting and being prepared for anything.
This is something he brought up with his own daughters. “If you are on the same page that helps you stick to a budget, that helps when you go to the grocery store and they ask for certain things like kids usually do. You can always tie it back to ‘here’s why we are only having this amount,'” said Hicks.
Hicks says talking about money can be easy and recommends teaching kids how to save, learn to budget, and let mistakes happen now as a learning experience. Giving an allowance can also be a good start.
Hicks says when he is working with clients heading towards retirement, a majority of them wish they would have learned more about finances and saving earlier so they’d be better off now.
The 13th annual Parents, Kids & Money Survey also shows kids’ money habits are formed as early as age seven.
