Participants: Dwain Esmond, Karen Thomas
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000058
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00:30 Welcome to Issues and Answers.
00:32 It's great to have you with us again for another program. 00:34 And for you children who are watching this program will say, 00:37 is there something Issues and Answers for children? 00:39 Yes, today there is. 00:42 Our topic today is money skills for kids, 00:45 something for children, parents, grandparents, 00:48 anyone who has children 00:50 and who wants to learn or who is a child 00:52 and who wants to learn more about how to manage money. 00:55 We're here today talking with Dwain Esmond, 00:58 he is the associated editor for the Message Magazine 01:01 which is a part of their Review and Herald publishing. 01:03 And he is accomplished academician. 01:08 He has an English Literature degree from Oakwood College 01:12 and a master degree in English 01:13 from Pittsburg State University. 01:15 Welcome to the program, Dwayne. 01:17 Thank you for having me again. Good to have you back again. 01:19 Now how all of that qualifies me to talk about 01:22 money skills for kids, I have no idea. 01:24 But we're gonna stretch and make it work today. 01:26 So-- 01:28 No, you wrote a book now I understand 01:30 that's "Beyond the In-A-Pinch God." 01:32 So pinching pennies is also value isn't it? 01:35 Well, little bit about pinching, yes. 01:36 I would know a little bit about that. 01:38 But this money issue, especially involving children 01:42 is something that people ask us about 01:46 especially when they write 01:47 and we have a new column in the magazine called, 01:49 "Let's Talk" which is kind of a parenting column, 01:52 it also deals with relationship issue 01:56 and people often write in and ask about you know, 02:00 hey, how do I get my kids you know, to do such and such 02:03 or to stop begging and you know being very, very-- 02:06 Yeah, asking for money for tours. 02:08 Yes. Now how do I do that? 02:11 So we-- we've been trying to kind of meet that need 02:15 and provide some skills 02:17 and I don't want to just talk about the skills 02:20 and there's something that we talk about more importantly, 02:22 what did kind of principles and kind of standards 02:26 that you want to establish for them to evaluate 02:29 how they use this resource. 02:32 Okay, we'll see I have my note book here 02:34 and I'm ready to take some notes 02:36 because I have ten-year-old and eight-year-old. 02:38 Now, I think you should be doing this not me. 02:42 But actually can I begin by reading a scripture 02:47 that I think is very important? 02:49 It's found 02:50 in the Book of Philippians 4:11. 02:58 The Bible says here, 02:59 the apostle Paul is speaking again, 03:01 "Not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned, 03:06 in whatever state I am, therewith to be content. 03:11 I know both how to be abased, 03:13 and I know how to abound every where and in all things 03:17 I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, 03:20 both to abound and to suffer need." 03:24 And then verse 13, 03:25 the one that we enjoy according so much, 03:28 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." 03:32 Amen. 03:34 We tend to remove verse 13 from the context a little bit 03:39 but the context is, I know how 03:42 or I have learned where God has shown me 03:45 how to be content where I am and in whatever state I am. 03:49 To me it says that Paul understands 03:51 that God owns everything 03:55 and that God apportions things according to His own will 03:59 and at sometimes my portion won't be big 04:02 but it maybe smaller than usual 04:04 and then at other times it may have a lot. 04:07 But in whatever stayed I've learned 04:08 that God is in control of it all 04:10 and that I'm gonna be okay. 04:12 I want to begin there because that to me 04:16 is the essential principle and standard 04:21 that parents must try to somehow 04:24 get across to their children, 04:26 to learn that God is in control of everything 04:29 and how to be content and to abound also. 04:35 You got that? Yeah, we got that. 04:39 All right, what's next? Money skills. 04:44 I should probably begin by talking about myself. 04:46 I remember as a kid, 04:47 my mother used to go to the grocery store 04:50 and buy my tender shoes for school. 04:53 Now I had like a bunch of friends and every kid is 04:58 probably had this, who had everything. 05:00 You know they had that nice shoes that were in it, 05:02 the Nike shoes or the Adidas or whatever 05:05 and I remember man, she would go there 05:07 and my shoes will be in a big bin you know 05:11 and she'd have to find one side 05:14 and then dig around and route around 05:16 and there find another side and it was traumatic. 05:18 I'm laughing because I remember though. 05:20 I mean that is, that is-- 05:21 All the tender shoes that has little whites on the top of it. 05:24 Yes. Oh you remember that. 05:26 So when I went to school everybody knew 05:29 where I got my shoes from. 05:31 And I remember just feeling like, man, when I get older 05:34 and I get to hold of some money I'm just gonna buy 05:37 that most expensive, that most in shoe 05:40 that I could find and I did that. 05:42 You know, when I started working as a teenager 05:44 or whatever you know, all my money was just going to things 05:47 and I was thinking to myself you know lately, 05:51 Dwain, some of the habits that you have now, 05:54 that you're struggling to break financially bad habits, 05:58 bad financial practices began when you were child. 06:02 You know because you perhaps 06:03 wanted something that you could not have. 06:06 So that started me thinking and then with the questions 06:10 that we get from parents and guardians 06:12 sometimes is that you know, 06:13 there must be a need out there and how do we equip parents? 06:17 So how do you communicate something like, 06:20 contentment to your child? 06:22 Any ideas? 06:25 Contentment in my estimation, 06:29 say for instance if your child wants something 06:32 that's extremely important to them. 06:38 Something that may cost a little bit. 06:40 I think it's important to not only have the child work 06:44 and somehow contribute to that thing, 06:46 I think that's a very important principle. 06:48 But I think it's also important to perhaps steer kids 06:53 in the direction of toys or things 06:58 that they purchase being more interactive, 07:01 something that they could not only enjoy for today 07:04 but that they will learn to enjoy 07:06 and create other uses for in the future. 07:10 And I think some parents-- 07:15 and parents you know, I want to be clear here, 07:17 parents have a tough job as it is. 07:21 They are working hard, 07:22 they are trying to make ends meet 07:24 so I don't even want to, 07:26 someone who is not even a parent yet, who am I? 07:28 I'm not qualified to tell parents what to do. 07:30 I bet you grew up. 07:31 But I think I understand growing up. 07:34 I could speak through that, right? 07:37 I think it's important that parents give the children 07:40 or allow their kids to get things 07:43 and learn how to be creative with the things that they have. 07:49 And you know, its, you can buy things at different stages 07:53 but if they have everything right now 07:55 they will never learn the issue or the principle of contentment 08:00 because as we know things make us want more things. 08:04 You'll never satisfy by the things that you get. 08:07 By the way, adults are the same way. 08:09 I wonder where they got it from? 08:11 Where do they get it from? Where do we get from? 08:12 Where do we get that from? 08:14 But the same kind of principle holds so one of that-- 08:16 Being creative. Being creative. 08:18 So now give us an example of way 08:23 that to teach children or that children 08:27 who maybe watching the program could develop this contentment, 08:32 by they having some future use. 08:33 I have, I have two nephews 08:38 and one of them is extremely creative. 08:43 He has a very creative fertile mind. 08:46 And he has these play things that he enjoys, 08:49 some of the kids might even recognize 08:52 this building set is called connects. 08:55 And kids, I mean kids 08:58 must love this stuff and he loves it. 09:00 He can make all kinds of different things with that. 09:03 I mean, he can make trucks 09:05 and he can make airplanes and he can-- 09:07 you know, kind of like building blocks on steroids 09:10 you know, you can do everything with this stuff. 09:12 Now he is, he can get everything 09:18 and I'm glad that, you know, he's not able to get everything 09:23 because he has learned 09:24 and his little brother is learning 09:27 how to be creative with the sets that they have. 09:30 Now after a while he have-- 09:33 Yeah, those connects or not cheap. 09:35 They are not cheap. 09:37 So if you're gonna buy them one every week, okay. 09:40 You'd be out of luck. You'd be in a poor house, okay. 09:42 But he has learned 09:45 how to create different things over time 09:48 and as he grows and as his mind matures 09:51 they get more complex and that's the kind of gift 09:53 I'm talking about something 09:55 that increases his capacity for creativity 09:58 and that capacity will help them in future. 10:00 Well it's quite better than get in a bunch of little matched 10:03 box toys or cars, maybe for two bucks 10:07 and you would get into something may be there 10:11 though it maybe more money on the front end of it. 10:13 Right. 10:14 He's gonna have hours of creativity 10:15 that much from there. 10:16 Hours, days and you won't have to worry about 10:20 you know, next week till he is tired of it 10:23 and throwing into the side 10:24 and this also points out another important thing here 10:28 and that's that some kids have different temperaments. 10:31 So not, not every child will you know, 10:34 want to be creative all the time 10:36 but because of the world in which we live, 10:38 a world that now values creativity 10:42 and adoptability in focus on careers 10:47 and that sort of thing you have to be flexible. 10:50 I think that's an important skill 10:52 in addition to the contentment which is learned 10:54 that's an important skill to communicate to kids today. 10:58 That's one way I think to teach contentment. 11:01 Another principle I take that has to be taught 11:04 is the principle of sharing. 11:09 I grew up-- Very important skill. 11:11 Yeah. 11:12 I grew up in a family, now I have three elder brothers 11:16 and I have a baby sister, she is the youngest, four, 11:20 she has four older brothers. 11:23 I feel sorry for her 11:25 but its like sharing was something 11:29 that we had to learn, we didn't have much. 11:32 So my oldest brother would get a shirt 11:37 and it would come all the way down the line. 11:39 I mean it would come down whether you want it or not 11:41 you know, it came down the line. 11:43 You knew you were gonna wear that shirt. 11:45 So if you let cool on him you hope 11:47 that it still had a print or a pattern 11:49 when it got to you. 11:51 You know, because it'd be washed out and whatever 11:53 but you were kind of forced to learn this thing of sharing 11:57 but when you became independent, 12:01 had your own stuff, you know, 12:05 I wasn't always ready to be as sharing oriented because now 12:11 I was tired of just getting things that were not mine. 12:13 So when I got of hold of something that was mine, 12:15 it's mine and that's it. 12:17 But one of the great ways 12:19 I think parents can teach kids about the value 12:23 and the ability to use money for good 12:26 is through sharing projects 12:28 that churches maybe involved with. 12:31 When you know, someone stands up or in front and says 12:35 we have a need in the church or our community has a need 12:38 and we would like to contribute to it 12:40 often the kids get divorced from that process. 12:46 The parents and the adults take over. 12:50 They give the money. 12:54 They put the money in and in essence 12:56 we miss an opportunity with the kids 12:58 because if you are per say giving them an allowance 13:03 you can teach them to designate 13:06 some of that allowance for their children. 13:09 I mean for this need 13:10 some of their allowance for their special need 13:13 that the church or the community is having. 13:15 And so doing it we teach the principle of service 13:18 and you teach the principle of sharing 13:20 and you teach the principle that God owns everything 13:23 and that is not all mine 13:26 which I think is extremely important. 13:28 So the idea of connecting an allowance 13:31 is something that the child can plan on, 13:33 may stop some of the spontaneous 13:36 requesting in the store you know, 13:37 you're giving so much every week or whatever. 13:41 Which is a terrific skill for, easily learned. 13:46 Yeah. 13:47 You know, if you give your kids a very simple allowance, 13:51 incidentally I found out, now this is interesting, 13:55 in Michigan, I think it's the Michigan area 14:00 kids get some of the highest allowances in the nation. 14:04 Now this is weird. Is that so? 14:05 I grew up in Michigan. 14:08 Did you get-- did you get-- 14:09 Oh, what are we better bargain here? 14:10 Did you get $100, $150 a week? Oh, no, not. 14:14 Well, that's what kids are getting today. 14:16 Some kids are getting $100 a week. 14:21 But there are high incomes with the lot of you know 14:23 you got the all the dealerships 14:25 you know many factories that are there. 14:28 Some of the needs maybe, maybe a little different. 14:29 Well, a kids been a $150, you said a week? 14:32 Some of them get a $100 a week and I want to know 14:35 why their parents are not giving them more. 14:38 The spending power of this kids between the, 14:44 from, the cradle almost to about teenage hood 14:50 the spending power is over a $100 billion. 14:53 And that's counting-- that's just the money 14:55 that they have that's not counting 14:57 the influence that they exert on the families purchases. 15:02 Now that's a whole different bowl of wax, right? 15:07 I never quiet thought of it that way but it's true. 15:09 But when you go into a store with your children 15:12 they influence their nag, right. 15:15 I mean I'm talking about things I did. 15:16 And they used to put the request through, 15:19 well, as long as you are in this 15:21 then there is a famous pitch number into the basket. 15:24 Yes. 15:25 You know and kids will not let you rest. 15:27 I mean, you go to the grocery store and you get in a, 15:29 you get in a cereal aisle, you know, 15:31 you could be in a cereal aisle for hours. 15:32 You know, they want this, this and this 15:35 and parents basically brake down and give in. 15:38 So if we're talking about teaching them these principles 15:42 maybe it'll save you some headache you know later on 15:45 but the kids have tremendous spending power today and they-- 15:50 if you're giving them a consistent allowance 15:53 10% of that ought to go for tithe 15:57 and 10% of that ought to go for offering. 16:01 You know that's another thing it's not just tithe 16:04 but what-- the offerings, as my wife likes to say, 16:08 my wife is a finance Google type person 16:10 so she says to me the offering demonstrates our love. 16:16 You know the tithes we return but the offering says 16:19 how much we love the Lord in a sense you know. 16:23 So to teach your kids not just how to tithe 16:26 but how to provide something for an offering 16:30 and then there's the issue of savings. 16:33 10% ought to go for savings. 16:37 This principle of paying yourself 16:40 is so important for kids to learn 16:44 because if you don't learn, 16:46 if you don't get into a consistent savings pattern 16:49 and we're told now in our society that 16:51 we don't even save 2% of our income. 16:56 Not even 2%. 16:58 Let alone 10% of our income 17:00 but we are maxed out 10 years ago, 17:05 credit card debts to that around $250 billion. 17:09 You have any idea what it is today? 17:12 It's about $750 billion that was just 10 years ago 17:17 and we are basically putting ourselves into the grave 17:21 because we have no grasp 17:25 of how to control our financial lives. 17:28 The Bible says, "Owe no man anything but love." 17:32 And in our society, yes, credit and that sort of thing 17:35 is kind of a necessary evil to some degree 17:38 but imagine if you taught your kids 17:41 that if you consistently save 17:45 and you were content with what you had 17:47 and you gave the Lord what was His, 17:50 imagine how much better of they might be later on at all. 17:55 So that's important. 17:56 That whole principle is extremely important. 18:00 The principle of thankfulness, for what God has given 18:06 whenever you give something to your children 18:10 whether it be money or not 18:13 I think the parent should gauge the thankfulness. 18:17 What is their response? 18:19 Do they say, mom, "Thank you very much." 18:22 Do they say, "Oh, good," and run off, you know, 18:28 are they thankful, will they come back and say, you know, 18:31 "Hey, that really thank you ma, I really needed that." 18:34 And you know kids learn these things over time 18:36 so we're not gonna expect the ten, five-year-old 18:38 or seven-year-old to come back with a deep, you know, 18:41 path holes in his voice thanking you. 18:44 You won't expect that but they do need to thank you 18:48 and they need to also realize 18:50 that mom and dad didn't get this 18:53 from the man at the place where they worked. 18:57 God is the person who supplies the needs in the home 19:02 and who will supply this amount of money that you can now have. 19:07 And what about that Bible example about the 10 lepers? 19:13 Nine ran away. Excellent example. 19:15 Excellent example. Nine ran away one came back. 19:20 And if I would dare say that the same ratio 19:23 holds in our society today most people are not thankful. 19:28 Because we always feel like we don't have enough. 19:31 What do I have to be thankful for? 19:33 One of the great skills that I think you can give your kids 19:36 is each week have them just, at the end of the week, 19:40 this could be a great little Friday night activity, 19:43 you just pull out a pad 19:44 and have them make a list of things 19:47 that happened this week that they are thankful for. 19:51 What are you thankful for this week? 19:54 You know, if and you may have to remind them, 19:58 you know, hey, do you remember that 19:59 I gave you $10, do you remember that? 20:02 It might be gone by now but do you remember that. 20:05 You know, in so doing they learn 20:10 to always remember that things 20:12 they will not take stuff they get for granted, 20:15 they will remember that these things 20:16 come from the Lord all the time. 20:19 So that's the thankfulness thing 20:21 is a great principle that they have to learn 20:26 and there is also the issue of teaching them 20:30 kind of how to deal with investments. 20:34 There are some people 20:37 who don't kind of share this view 20:40 and I respect that investment 20:42 is a principle that's in the Bible also. 20:45 I mean, we are told for instance 20:47 to take the talents that God gives us, 20:50 Ellen White even mentions the fact that talent is-- 20:54 money is a talent that is to be used for God service 20:58 and that's the key to be used for God service. 21:02 You can meet your needs 21:04 but it's also to be used for God's service. 21:08 One of the very easy ways that kind of teach our kids 21:10 this principle is have them 21:12 perhaps start an investment club 21:15 where they can put, take little bits of money 21:19 and learn how to track socially responsible stocks. 21:25 For instance companies and these funds are out there, 21:28 they are mutual funds for kids and that's sort of thing. 21:31 I mean, you can go on any internet financial site 21:34 and they have them, where you can, 21:37 kids can learn the time value of money. 21:40 For instance, if you put money in over a period of time 21:44 it can grow and become something else. 21:47 That teaches them not only about their savings, 21:49 how their savings can grow but also how you know, 21:52 if you investing in certain companies 21:55 and if they do all over time 21:56 and again socially responsible investments. 22:00 We're not talking about companies that you know, 22:03 tobacco companies for instance 22:05 I would not recommend something like that. 22:07 You can find out what different mutual funds 22:10 hold in their portfolios, these kind of things 22:13 are kind of good for kids to learn 22:15 because this is the world and in which they live. 22:17 If you just kind of cloister them from it 22:20 I think you do them a little bit of disservice 22:23 even if you don't believe in it. 22:24 Now it makes me think about when we were, 22:26 when I was in a business school 22:27 they had us an exercise in it for students 22:29 do not have any money to invest or you know, 22:32 or maybe before we actually do 22:34 put the money somewhere either it was in land which you know, 22:38 a lot of people would prefer to put their money in the land 22:40 or into real estate or may be into business enterprise 22:44 that we would actually 22:45 take the Wall Street Journal out and do the math. 22:49 And you know, you maybe what to just have okay 22:51 I'm pretending that I have this much money 22:54 and does this look like a good investment 22:55 because people get so lured into you know 22:58 going into certain kinds of speculative investments 23:03 and then they have put the money in 23:04 before they've actually gone 23:05 through the exercise to the even see 23:08 you know, some wondering, you know. 23:10 Oh, absolutely. 23:12 The research piece that teaches you, you know, 23:16 how to track something before getting involved. 23:20 You know, I've, I think all of us 23:23 have been approached by people 23:25 who have some scheme that's gonna make you 23:28 a bunch of money in a short period of time. 23:31 Have you had that? 23:32 Offshore banking and other things from-- 23:34 Oh, yeah. 23:35 All kinds of stuff, people have got 23:36 you know, this product-- 23:37 Not that there is anything wrong 23:39 with offshore banking in other places, you want to say that? 23:41 No, not exactly wrong with that, okay. 23:43 There's a people are more speculative than magical. 23:46 Very, very speculative 23:47 and it's very challenging to navigate that 23:52 if you don't have the right skill set. 23:56 People are coming at you and they are saying 23:58 I've got this product, it's great. 24:01 We can multilevel market it 24:03 and we can make do-- we can make our live bets. 24:07 Some people don't know how to evaluate that, 24:12 that opportunity if you call it had. 24:16 And in so doing they lose their shirts 24:19 you know, they lose a lot of money and-- 24:22 Even 401(k) plan 24:23 which people have on their business 24:25 in their some employers have they may say okay 24:28 we're gonna give you a 401(k) plan 24:31 and they're basically investing parts of that 24:35 into other these sort of pools or whatever. 24:36 Right and you've got to be careful 24:39 and be hands on to know for sure 24:42 you know, to be proactive 24:44 so that you know for sure that they are investing 24:46 where you want your money to go. 24:48 But if you think of a kid who's never been taught 24:53 these kind of financial skills attempting to-- 24:56 How to run a business for example. 24:57 Yeah, to navigate something like that is just, 25:00 it's almost impossible. 25:02 So this is like essential equipment for life, I feel. 25:09 That sounds good to me. 25:10 As for review for those 25:12 who maybe just joined this program and progress, 25:16 God is in control is what you said. 25:19 And maybe you want to give us 25:20 some recap of what we talked about. 25:22 Well, I talked about the fact of that God 25:24 was in control of everything 25:25 and I mentioned the text Philippians 4 25:29 beginning in verse 11 and going to verse 13, 25:32 learning the essential principle of contentment 25:37 in whatever state that we are 25:39 and we talked a little bit about how we might be 25:41 able to communicate that to our children. 25:44 We also talked about sharing 25:46 the importance of that principle in everything 25:50 that you give your children 25:52 they ought to be some portion of it that, 25:55 you know, they set aside for someone else. 25:57 The principle of tithes and offering 25:59 that's an important consideration, 26:01 probably should be one of the highest one, 26:03 should be the first amount pulled out. 26:05 We talked about thankfulness. 26:08 Making sure engaging and encouraging activities 26:12 that kids where your children can look back and see 26:16 over the course of say a week or so 26:18 the things that God has done for them 26:20 not only financially but in other ways 26:22 where that they are thankful for. 26:25 Those were some of the principles 26:26 and skills that we try to communicate. 26:29 Well, for those of you who watch the program today 26:31 I hope you've learned something I know that I have 26:33 that I've taken careful notes but if for some reason 26:37 you didn't have your pen and paper handy 26:38 you can very much get a copy of the program today 26:41 by calling that 800 number on your screen 26:44 or you can also go to the website 26:46 and know more about these publications 26:48 Message Magazine and Insight. 26:50 The website is www.insightmagazine.org 26:54 this is a magazine dedicated to young people 26:57 to teach them about Christ as well as life skills 26:59 that we've talked about today and Message Magazine 27:02 there is a section in Message magazine 27:04 called message junior which highlights 27:06 a lot of nicknames for kids so to encourage. 27:10 A lot of these kinds of principles we talked. 27:11 Okay. 27:12 Oh great and let's have a closing prayer 27:14 if you would please, doing. 27:15 Absolutely. 27:17 Our Father and our God, 27:18 we thank You so much for this privilege of sharing 27:22 on an issue that is so important. 27:26 Lord, You gave us the resources, 27:29 everything on this planet is Yours 27:32 and we pray that we might be able to communicate 27:34 to our children to those around us 27:37 how to correctly use the resources 27:39 that You have gave us. 27:41 Bless us and keep us until You come 27:44 as I pray in Jesus name, amen. 27:46 Amen. 27:47 Thank you so much for coming to our program today, 27:49 it's been a blessing. 27:51 And for those of you who've been watching at home 27:53 we hope it has been a blessing for you as well 27:55 and until next time have a great day. |
Revised 2014-12-17